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General Design Goals

The Phoenix design goals encompass the nine areas listed below. As you can see from the listed items, we are aiming for very substantial improvements in areas that cut across the spectrum of aircraft characteristics. The Piper J-3 Cub had a real impact on the General Aviation community and the Boeing 707 revolutionized airline travel. The Phoenix design goals are intended to result in an aircraft having the same sort of impact. In order to accomplish this, the design goals had to be set very high, indeed, and that’s what we’ve done. As in any new aircraft program, the proof of the pudding is in the eating and the eating comes with flight test. We haven’t gotten to flight test yet but we can tell you that things are looking reasonably good. If Phoenix performs as intended, the airplane is going to give new meaning to “The Joy of Flight”.

Performance – You know, when pilots talk about “performance”, they generally mean to say “speed” and, more definitively, “how fast”; but, there’s a lot more to performance than “how fast”. How about “how slow”? The ability to fly reasonably slow is important. It means, among other things, that shorter runways are usable and it means that, in the unhappy event that you hit something unintended, you’re less likely to get hurt. It also means that you can comfortably look at the country side on that sunny Sunday afternoon. So, one of the major Phoenix design goals is the ability to go both fast and slow (comfortably). Fast while not using much power, that is, so as to produce very good range and low fuel bills (significant considering the current situation with the price of oil). And, yup, the bird is designed to cross the Rocky Mountains on a Hot Summer’s Day with room to spare (our contribution to eliminating the High Density Altitude accident).
Handling qualities – The nuances of handling qualities are virtually impossible to describe in words and, so, we won’t even try (however, see Design Goals (Handling) to get a feel for where we’re coming from); but we will tell you this. Phoenix been designed to meet the stringent handling qualities requirements of the Military Specifications (rather than the Civil specifications). Specifically, Phoenix has been designed to fly like a fighter trainer. If you haven’t flown a fighter trainer (or a fighter for that matter), you won’t be able to appreciate what that means until you get your hands on this airplane. We will say this. The bird will NOT handle like a Cessna 172. Imagine an airplane that seems to read your mind. Think “Joy of Flight”.
Room - It’s our view that the cockpits of most General Aviation airplanes are just too darned small; so, the Design Goal was to size the cockpit/cabin to accommodate two 95^th percentile guys (these are big guys) with room to spare and without having to worry about whether the other guy used his underarm deodorant. Our cockpit mock-up showed that the Phoenix cockpit will do exactly that.
Cockpit noise – General Aviation airplanes are just too noisy and shakey and there’s no good reason why that should be so. Aside from the more obvious “pain in the butt” aspects of high noise levels, noise (and vibration) have been convincingly shown to contribute to pilot fatigue and, therefore, there are also flight safety ramifications. There’s no doubt about it. No one operates efficiently when fatigue sets in. Consequently, simply put, the Design Goal was to reduce the noise level in the cockpit to the point where those darned earphones ain’t needed any more. Test data show that the typical noise level in a cruising Cessna 172 is approximately 115 decibels. Our noise test data indicate cockpit noise levels of approximately 75 decibels, a very large decrease and a noise level approaching the noise level in your car. If we can get there (and, hopefully, simultaneously reduce vibration), we’ll have done a very good thing.
Visibility – You know, it’s very nice to be able to see where you’re going and, as you know, it can make the difference between hitting the other guy and not hitting the other guy. The Design Goal was to approach the Military Specification visibility requirements for a fighter. We think we’re there.
Entry and Exit - You’ve got to be kin to an Orangutan to get in and out of General Aviation airplanes. Period. The Design Goal was to do something about that so that people could get in and out of this airplane while maintaining some degree of decorum, similar to getting in and out of your car. We thought that those of us not trained as Olympic level gymnasts would appreciate that (in particular, the ladies among us). We think we’ve got this Goal pinned down.
Cockpit Human Factoring - This is the discipline (along with handling qualities) that (done right) causes you to think that the airplane is an extension of your mind. Our Design Goal was to accomplish just that. Utilizing Military Specifications human factors requirements, that’s where we’re going and, yes, this airplane uses a stick, not a yoke. You see, way back when, General Aviation manufacturers (mistakenly) assumed that, if they put “steering wheels” in their airplanes, airplane folks would be fooled into thinking that flying was like driving your car and they’d sell more airplanes. Well, it ain’t so and a yoke has no place in a small airplane.
Gadgets- Yes, Phoenix incorporates some neat “gadgets” but we’re not going to say much about them here. You’ll have to wait and see. Well, OK, here’s a hint as to one of ‘em. How many times have you wished you hadn’t had that second cup of coffee (three hours into the flight)?
Esthetics - The Design Goal was to create a good lookin’ airplane while simultaneously getting to all the other goals in this list. That ain’t easy but we think we did it. The over-all design results in a shape that is best described as (we think) "very sexy". Take a look at the pictures and let us know what you think.