Hummel H5

Mooney Fan

Mooney Fan

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This plane (H5) is growing in my like crazy. See them for sale now and then and am giving one considerable consideration. I would obtain the inspection and repairman certificates and all that.

Anyone have experience with the Hummel H5? Pro's/Con's?
 
Pretty cool looking airplane, but there really weren’t that many built. The 1/2 VW tiny Hummelbird was pretty successful. It’s hard not to recommend a Onex if you want a VW powered single seat airplane. It out performs the H5 in pretty much every way, and has way more support and completed examples.

Mooney Fan said:
I would obtain the inspection and repairman certificates and all that.
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Do you plan on building it? If not, you will not obtain a repairmans certificate for it and will be required to get an A&P to sign off the annual.
 
Direct C51 said:
Pretty cool looking airplane, but there really weren’t that many built. The 1/2 VW tiny Hummelbird was pretty successful. It’s hard not to recommend a Onex if you want a VW powered single seat airplane. It out performs the H5 in pretty much every way, and has way more support and completed examples.



Do you plan on building it? If not, you will not obtain a repairmans certificate for it and will be required to get an A&P to sign off the annual.
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It's not E-LSA?
 
Mooney Fan said:
This plane (H5) is growing in my like crazy. See them for sale now and then and am giving one considerable consideration. I would obtain the inspection and repairman certificates and all that.

Anyone have experience with the Hummel H5? Pro's/Con's?
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I would prefer the BK-1, by Bruce King. A development of the Hummel.

36505-4e7488e774aecfa91376f6bca6167cb1.jpg


More time and money would get you the Midget Mustang:

serveimage


Plenty of speed, there.
 
Mooney Fan said:
It's not E-LSA?
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No, it's E-AB, so only the original builder can get the repairman certificate.

It may not perform as well, but it's a lot better looking than a Sonex...
 
Mooney Fan said:
It's not E-LSA?
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It's "Sport Pilot Eligible," but has not been approved as a Special or Experimental Light Sport. Hence it must be operated as an Experimental Amateur-Built aircraft, and only the original builder can receive the Repairman Certificate.

Looking in the FAA registry, I see about seven examples of the Hummel H-5.

Ron Wanttaja
 
Snot a big deal to have the A&P wander by once a year for the condition inspection. Anything else, you can do yourself. The "repairman" certificate should be called the "Condition Inspection" certificate.
(Well, my guy also drops in every once and a while just to say "hi" and to find out why I am pounding rivets on a rag and tube airplane... :-) )
 
Were I scratch building an all metal aircraft I'd tend toward the Midget Mustang. Fast as hell, and aerobatic to boot. Way more "ramp appeal" than a Hummel. if I'm going to put that much time into a home built I want it to do something more than just look good.
 
steingar said:
Were I scratch building an all metal aircraft I'd tend toward the Midget Mustang. Fast as hell, and aerobatic to boot. Way more "ramp appeal" than a Hummel. if I'm going to put that much time into a home built I want it to do something more than just look good.
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Meh, at 2x more the cost for the Mustang. The Hummel pic above 19K. You get what you pay for
 
The H5 is a cool little airplane. I'm a big guy and sat in the H5 cockpit demo they had set up at Oshkosh a couple years ago. Pretty roomy for such a small airplane. The Midget Mustang and the H5 are about as far apart as you can get with respect to low wing single seaters. I have MM-1 plans, and that thing is more structurally complex compared to the H5 construction. Not to mention the H5 is much roomier. I believe the MM is like 19" or 20" wide. H5 will be much cheaper to operate as well with a 4 cyl. VW as opposed to an O-xxx in the MM. I like the H5, but ultimately I went with a Sonerai IIL.
 
Yeah, that's why you see so many of them flying around...
 
I think scratch built aircraft are on the rare side because there are small two-seat kits that aren't that much more expensive to build.
 
That is a beautiful airplane. Wonder how long it takes to polish?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
The guy asks about a Hummel H5 and gets suggestions for a DA2. This isn’t a “what’s your favorite experimental airplane” thread. At least suggest similar aircraft. Single seat, VW powered, etc.

There just aren’t many H5s out there so not very many people have experience with them. It sounds like you are trying to buy a flying H5. There really aren’t many to choose from. Get someone knowledgeable to look at it if you do attempt to buy one. These aren’t RVs where everyone knows what to look for. The gotchas are not well known simply because there isn’t a big builder database to draw on.

If you plan to build it, do not expect the support that you get with Vans, Sonex, etc.

And no, they are not E-LSA. About the farthest thing from it in the experimental world.
 
I have a friend that had a Hummel for a very short time. I don’t know which version it was. He’s not a very large pilot and thought it would be a very economical way to log hours.

He flew it twice then sold it. He said the handling was ‘way to sporty’ for him. He’s been flying for a long time but I’ve never ridden with him so I don’t have any idea what his pilot qualifications are or what he’d flown before other than the 150 he had when I first met him. He got another 150 after he sold the Hummel.
Gary
 
I built an H5...sweet little airplane and fun to fly. It is for sale now...always hanger kept at KFKL Franklin, PA. Unusual in that I put a BMW motorcycle engine in it...neatest sounding airplane on any runway!!! Respond here if interested.
 
JFAPILOT said:
I built an H5...sweet little airplane and fun to fly. It is for sale now...always hanger kept at KFKL Franklin, PA. Unusual in that I put a BMW motorcycle engine in it...neatest sounding airplane on any runway!!! Respond here if interested.
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I think this site limits your ability to post pics until you have a minimum number of posts, maybe 5? But, you should work on posting a pic.
 
JFAPILOT said:
I built an H5...sweet little airplane and fun to fly. It is for sale now...always hanger kept at KFKL Franklin, PA.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing you knew a good friend named Dick Fisher that passed recently. He had a Cessna 172 and was building a Panther (SPA) a few years ago.
 
I purchased the H5 plans to get some idea of the construction complexity. It's stone simple, and looks like a fun project. The plans include a tricycle gear variant, and a company called Xflight Technologies is using a tri-gear H5 as a test bed for a very inexpensive panel mounted 2 axis (roll and pitch) autopilot.

This is a screen shot from a video posted on YouTube by Xflight Technologies.
N18XF Hummel H5 Tricycle Gear med.jpg

 
JFAPILOT said:
I built an H5...sweet little airplane and fun to fly. It is for sale now...always hanger kept at KFKL Franklin, PA. Unusual in that I put a BMW motorcycle engine in it...neatest sounding airplane on any runway!!! Respond here if interested.
Click to expand...
I am in western N.Y. and am wondering if you have sold your H5 yet. If not what are you asking for it. Can you send pics to my phone?
 
JFAPILOT said:
I built an H5...sweet little airplane and fun to fly. It is for sale now...always hanger kept at KFKL Franklin, PA. Unusual in that I put a BMW motorcycle engine in it...neatest sounding airplane on any runway!!! Respond here if interested.
Click to expand...
Hi...I am in Fla. and also wondering if you have sold the H5? Thanks,dave
 
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