Why the Velocity?

I'll readily admit that I was first impressed with the appearance of the Velocity. It is a gorgeous airplane, and I loved the fact that it was pointy-in-the-front, like a jet.

Then I learned about the inherent saftey of the canard design. It is, when properly loaded (it's critical to stay within the established center-of-gravity limits), impossible to stall the main wing. So, at high angles of attack, the front (canard) wing stalls first. This is due to its slightly higher angle of attack. This is one of the most important aspects of construction, to insure this relationship between the main wing and canard.

When canard stall happens, the canard stops generating lift and the nose drops slightly. As soon as the nose drops, the plane accelerates due to it's low drag, and the canard begins to fly again. This behavior is often described as "pitch bucking" where, even with full aft deflection of the stick, the nose will gently bob up and down. With power off, a slight descent is typical, but if full power is applied the plane with actually climb with the canard stalled (this is typically part of the factory demonstration flight). During this "buck stalling", full directional control is still available as well, the plane can be rolled without the 'falling off' that is typical of standard configuration aircraft. This nearly eliminates the possiblity of "stall/spin" accidents on approach to the airport, which is one the leading causes of fatal accidents in GA aircraft. On similar power, the speeds are nearly identical, with the Velocity having slighty better range.

When you add the sheer speed and range of the Velocity to its safety and stunning, modern looks, you have a plane that's very hard to beat. With that said, I've got a buddy who's building an RV-10. That aircraft was not available when bought my kit, thank goodness. Now, I don't like the look of the RV-10 nearly as well as the Velocity, however, now that I know how easily they can be assembled (from helping my buddy Kent), it would give me pause. I think I'd still purchase the Velocity, but they are very comparable right down the specification and peformance sheets.

One other point I want to touch on is speed, and more specifically speed versus many of the other "Long-EZ" based aircraft. There is, on occasion, a friendly rivalry between Velocity owners and (for example) Cozy MKIV owners. Some would say that the Cozy is a faster airplane. This isn't accurate, though you could say that it is more efficient, or said another way it is faster on the same horsepower. A Velocity with an IO 540 is as fast (and often faster) than any cozy. So, why is that, and what's the point? Well, there are a couple of things going on here, the first is the Velocity has a larger cabin, and thus more weight and drag, and this is particularly true with the XL. The Cozy has a gross weight of 2,050 pounds, and you can see below that even the small body Velocity SE has a gross weight of at least 2,300 pounds. Also, the Cozy uses the same basic wing as the Long EZ. The Velocity started out with a wing very similar to the long-EZ wing, but this was change to a wider, slower wing when the Deep Stall issue was encountered. This eliminated the need for cuffs on the main wing, but increased drag. Notice in the picture below, on the right is the original wing, the left is the redesigned. At points (1) you can see the original wing stopped well before the winglet, whereas the new wing goes all of the way to the back of the winglet. Then you can also see at points (2) the overall extra width (fore-to-aft) of the new wing.

All of the data below is borrowed (with love and respect) from the Velocity Factory website, so check them out as well.

Child's Play XL/RG	Sunset XL/RG	Two Shot	XL-5 RG
XL/FG	SE/RG	SE/FG	Dual Yoke
XL-5 Back Seat	XL Front Seat	XL Head On	XL Overhead
XL-5 Profile	Dave Ferrell in Child's Play	Big Orange	XL Fixed Gear
Turbo Charlie

Production Aircraft Specifications
	Velocity TXL	Velocity XL	Velocity XL-5	Velocity SE
Length Overall	20'	20'	20'	19'
Height	7'9"	7' 9"	7' 9"	7' 9"
Wheel Base	110"	110"	110"	100"
Track Width	80"	80"	80"	80"
Wingspan	31'	31'	31'	29' 4"
Canard Span	188"	188"	188"	164"
Main Wing Area	122.5 Sq Ft	122.5 Sq Ft	122.5 Sq Ft	102 Sq Ft
Canard Wing Area	22.8 Sq Ft	22.8 Sq Ft	22.8 Sq Ft	19.8 Sq Ft
Total Wing Area	145 Sq Ft	145 Sq Ft	145 Sq Ft	121.8 Sq Ft
Empty Weight	1790 lbs	1700 lbs	1800 lbs	1300 lbs
Suggested Gross Wt	2900 lbs	2800 lbs	2900 lbs	2300 lbs
Useful Load	1110 lbs	1100 lbs	1100 lbs	1000 lbs
Standard Fuel Qty	70 gals (93 opt)	70 gals. (93 opt)	70 gals. (93 opt)	60 gals.
Wing Loading at Gross	20.0 lb/sq ft	19.31 lb/sq ft	20.0 lb/sq ft	18.88 lb/sq ft
Design Load Factors	+9/-7	+9/-7	+9/-7	+12/-7
Tested Airframe Load	+6 G-Load	+6 G-Load	+6 G-Load	+6 G-Load
Cabin W/L/H	47.5" x 94" x 43.5"	47.5" x 94" x 43.5"	47.5" x 94" x 43.5"	42" x 84" x 42.5"
Seating	2+3	2+2	2+3	2+2

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Velocity XL Performance
	TXL	XL-RG	XL-FG	XL-RG	XL-FG
Engine	Cont. TSIO-550-C (310hp)	Lyc IO-540 300HP or Cont IO-550 310HP	Lyc IO-540 300HP or Cont IO-550 310H	Lyc IO-540 260HP	Lyc IO-540 260HP
Takeoff Distance	1300 ft	1300 ft	1300 ft	1400 ft	1400 ft
Rate of Climb (@ sea level)	1600 fpm	1500 fpm	1300 fpm	1350 fpm	1200 fpm
Landing Distance	1500 ft	1500 ft	1500 ft	1500 ft	1500 ft
Cruise Speed @ 75% Pwr	250 ktas @FL250	205 ktas	185 ktas	190 ktas	175 ktas
Vne	200 kias	200 kias	200 kias	200 kias	200 kias
Ceiling	25,000ft+	20,000 ft +	20,000 ft +	20,000 ft +	20,000 ft +
Range at 65% Power	1250 nm	1000 nm	816 nm	950 nm	875 nm
Minimum Speed	65 kts	65 kts	65 kts	65 kts	65 kts
Landing Speed	75 kts	75 kts	75 kts	75 kts	75 kts

Velocity SE Performance
	SE-RG	SE-FG	SE-RG	SE-FG
Engine	Lyc IO-360 200HP	Lyc IO-360 200HP	Lyc IO-320 160HP	Lyc IO-320 160HP
Takeoff Distance	1400 ft	1400 ft	1600 ft	1600 ft
Rate of Climb (@ sea level)	1200 fpm	1000 fpm	1000 fpm	900 fpm
Landing Distance	1500 ft	1500 ft	1500 ft	1500 ft
Cruise Speed @ 75% Pwr	187 ktas	172 ktas	170 ktas	155 ktas
Vne	200 kias	200 kias	200 kias	200 kias
Ceiling	20,000 ft	18,000 ft	18,000 ft	16,000 ft
Range at 65% Power	1000 nm	930 nm	1240 nm	1160 nm
Minimum Speed	60 kts	60 kts	60 kts	60 kts
Landing Speed	70 kts	70 kts	70 kts	70 kts