January 8, 2025

Draco HyperSTOL making a comeback

Smoke On Go

In 2018, a modified Wilga STOL aeroplane flew into Oshkosh and gained immediate celebrity status as Draco, built by Mike Patey from Utah. The four-seater Wilga PZL-104 is the aircraft platform on which Mike did the remarkable modifications, turning it into Draco, able to take off and land in less than 100 feet on any surface. But there’s a twist to this story.

Images: Draco

Wilga relaunched the aircraft in 2006 as the Wilga 2000 and Mike bought Serial No: 1, flew 1,000 hours and sold it, making “the biggest mistake I could because they stopped producing them”. He hunted for 10 years to find another one, eventually finding Serial No: 24, the last Wilga 2000 ever made.

“I’ve always wanted to be able to take my family into the backcountry at a really high elevation. I live in a high mountain desert; we have mountain elevations that are more than 14,000ft. And I just couldn’t find a plane that could go up to 14,000ft with a density altitude of nearly 17,000ft and land with camping gear and four people, so Draco was an idea from owning a Wilga 10 years earlier. I wanted to take a plane I loved with great visibility and a lot of neat characteristics and make it exactly what I wanted for a backcountry extreme bush plane,” he told Pilot Mall.

Redefining the Wilga

What he needed was more power, so the most noticeable change is the 680hp Pratt & Whitney PT6A-28 turbine engine that replaces the 250hp Lycoming iO-540. With an MT 102-inch, five-blade propeller up front and a huge “bite”, the torque launches the plane more like a drag car, says Mike.

There was a redesign of the suspension and braking systems to accommodate larger wheels, a new fuel system that stored fuel in the gear for the thirstier engine and a complete redesign of the wings to reduce the stall speed.

An avionics overhaul saw the steam gauges removed and replaced with a Garmin suite, including an autopilot and a couple of Mike’s quirks in powerful landing and rearview lights and a night vision camera.

The result was a stunning aeroplane with astonishing STOL performance and a build quality that seemed as if it came out of a factory.

On 6 September 2019 the dream became a nightmare at the Reno Air Races when Mike, his wife Chandra and a third passenger left Reno Stead Airport in dodgy weather and a gust of wind lifted the left wing on take-off causing the plane to bank, bringing it down hard, collapsing the landing gear and a wing.

A new dawn

Now this aircraft is being brought back to life in Polish-based startup Draco Aircraft and Mike has agreed to transfer the design to the company and support it with his advice. Airbus Poland will transfer the intellectual property rights on the original Wilga as the foundation platform and the intention is to fully certify the Draco both by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Draco Aircraft will bring it to market, led by former Airbus Senior Vice-President and CEO of Airbus Poland, Johannes von Thadden, along with a team of partners and senior designers. Airbus Poland’s former head of design for Wilga, Tomasz Wolf, will bring in his expertise as chief engineering and design adviser, making sure that the transfer of knowhow and the buildup of the Draco Aircraft design and engineering team will be seamless.

Airbus Poland says it will not only transfer the IP rights, the type certificate and tooling, but also support Draco Aircraft with the EASA-required design services until its own design organisation is certified.

Says Von Thadden: “With this contract signature, we can now concentrate on finding investors, building up design and production capacities in Poland and reaching out to customers. We are eager to get started. Draco will come in several versions: first, the aircraft for private customers, then a version for public customers for safety purposes, for example border control, then an aircraft with electric propulsion and, finally, a version for military needs. Draco will become a whole aircraft family responding to different needs.”

Draco is scheduled for market in 2028. Read more about this aircraft here