First Flight: Larry Wohlers

by Alfred Scott

This article appeared in the September 1982 issue of the Falco Builders Letter.

On June 14, 1982, Larry Wohlers flew his Falco. This was the first flight of a homebuilt Falco, and it happened to be on the eve of the 27th anniversary of the first flight of the Falco. Larry's Falco, N33LW, has a 160 hp IO-320-B engine and the extended prop from a Twin Comanche. This propeller isn't suitable for acrobatics, and Larry has the airplane placarded "no acrobatics", which he isn't interested in doing anyway.

The nose bowl of the cowling is from a Twin Comanche and Larry's Falco has a completely different appearance from the firewall forward. It's a very nice airplane, finished in metallic gray Imron and maroon stripes.

Larry wanted to be the first to fly and to have it at Oshkosh, and the interior was not completed. Even with the 58 lb propeller, his airplane weighed only 1,167 lbs before he put on the final coat of paint. Larry expects the airplane to weight about 1,200 lbs when he finishes the interior and re-weighs the airplane.

He has not yet opened the throttle, but he is indicating 175 mph at altitude with 23" and 2450 rpm. That makes Larry's Falco about 40 mph faster than my Falco, and I suspect that he may be able to true out at between 200 and 210 mph at altitude. He has 45 gallons of fuel on board and calculates that he has about 1,100 miles of range.