By Dick Knapinski
Pilots usually aren’t very fond of turbulence. This time, though, pilots will be eager to see it.
The phenomenon this time is Turbulence, the Mike Patey-built and record-setting airplane that officially became part of the EAA collection on December 13, when Mike and his team brought it to Oshkosh on a wind-chilled afternoon. They immediately began reassembling the airframe, which had to be cut in two to make the truck journey to Oshkosh.
“EAA is absolutely the best home for it because I’ve been coming to Oshkosh for 22 years straight,” Mike, EAA 1118534, said. “I’ve brought several of my unique builds to EAA and I’ve got a couple of Lindy Awards from EAA. … It’s the only home for Turbulence.”
The airplane, which began life as a Lancair Legacy before it was heavily modified, also grabbed people’s interest when it clocked 438.02 mph during the 2016 AirVenture Cup race. The airframe features two monolithic spars that extend from wingtip to wingtip, which supports the higher speeds and G-loading. Bolt on an 850-horsepower Pratt & Whitney turboprop engine and, well, you’ve got something that even has veteran air traffic controllers stumped at times.
“The climb rate is so steep that multiple times when I was in a new area, the air traffic controllers called out and said my transponder wasn’t working,” Mike said. “I called for an IFR clearance at 7,000 feet and they called back and said your transponder’s showing 16,000. I called back and said negative, [by that time] I was leveling at 17-five.”
Then there was the time Turbulence raced (and beat) a Premier jet flown by Mike’s brother, Mark. And the times getting a “best rate climb’ request and doing 7,000 feet per minute on rotation. And one ATC conversation coming out of Centennial Airport near Denver…
“I was asked to do max climb by ATC, so I just rotated and went for it,” Mike said. “I was handed off to a controller who wasn’t familiar with the airplane and he said, ‘Can you deviate 10 [degrees] to the left because you’re overtaking a Citation jet by 80 knots.”
But Turbulence was at the point where it needed a new engine – another Mike Patey story in itself – and there were other airplane and helicopter projects in the works. Decisions had to be made as to what was next. So, after some thought, Mike decided it was time to retire Turbulence and move to the next projects — or as Mike always says in his videos, “Back to work!”.
He’s looking forward to seeing the airplane in the EAA Aviation Museum eventually, not only because of the warm fuzzy memories he’ll get from it, but hopefully as an inspiration to other visitors.
“I hope that when they see this aircraft in the museum, they’ll say you know what, that is not a standard plane and they can dream a little,” Mike said. “If you want to try something, whether it’s aviation or anything else, go for it! You can take a plane that does 220 miles an hour and end up at 440. It just takes a little work and the decision.
“And you know what? Sometimes it doesn’t always work and that’s okay. Go do it anyway.”
