The Pietenpol Sky Scout is a parasol wing homebuilt aircraft designed by Bernard Pietenpol.^[1]

Development

The Sky Scout was a lower-cost follow-on to the Pietenpol's first homebuilt design, the Pietenpol Air Camper, using a lower-cost Ford Model T engine, rather than the more current Ford Model A engine. The aircraft was redesigned for the heavier engine by reducing it to a single-person aircraft. The new pilot location required a section called a "flop" to be installed, essentially a section of the wing that was hinged up to allow the pilot to stand up when getting into and out of the aircraft.^[2] The aircraft was designed to be built of spruce and plywood. The drawings were published in the 1933 Mechanix Illustrated magazine.

Survivors

• A Sky Scout is on display at the Pioneer Flight Museum in Kingsbury, Texas.^[3] This Scout is powered by a Model A engine. It is intended to be a flyable aircraft but for the present is only occasionally run up.
• The number one Pietenpol with a 1921 Model T engine is on display at the Model T Museum in Richmond, Indiana.
• Sky Scout N1933A is on display at the Western Antique Aeroplane & Automobile Museum in Hood River, Oregon.
• One is on display at the Minnesota Historical Center, Fountain, Minnesota, just 15 miles from Pietenpol's home town of Cherry Grove. Bernard Pietenpol is also buried in Fountain.
• Sky Scout CF-BAA was tracked down and found in a trailer in Saskatchewan, Canada, where it had been stored for a quarter of a century. Some parts are missing, including the engine, propeller, two elevators and a rudder.^[4]

Variants

Claude Sessions developed a finned head modification on his Sky Scout for lighter-weight air-cooling. The engine was featured in Modern Mechanics magazine in 1931 and formed the basis for the American Flea Corporation Universal 50-60 engine.^[5]

Specifications

Data from Sport Aviation

General characteristics

• Crew: one
• Length: 16 ft 3 in (4.95 m)
• Wingspan: 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)
• Height: 8 ft 5 in (2.57 m)
• Powerplant: 1 × Ford Model T engine Inline four cylinder piston
• Propellers: 2-bladed

Performance

• Maximum speed: 54 kn (62 mph, 100 km/h)
• Cruise speed: 48 kn (55 mph, 89 km/h)
• Stall speed: 30 kn (35 mph, 56 km/h)
• Rate of climb: 200 ft/min (1.0 m/s)