Oldfield Baby Great Lakes
These figures describe a typical build. Each aircraft of this design was built by its owner, and the one you are looking at may differ.
The Baby Great Lakes is Barney Oldfield's single-seat scaled-down homage to the 1929 Great Lakes trainer, a 16 ft 8 in span steel-tube-and-wood biplane built from plans since the 1950s: 475 lb empty, 850 lb gross, a 65-100 hp Continental, and Jane's figures of 103 knots cruise, a 43-knot stall, 2,000 fpm and +/-9 g.
A Baby Lakes is a tiny aerobatic biplane for one small pilot - the cockpit is narrow and the useful load 375 lb including fuel - with handling that is quick and a landing that is blind over the nose, and no two-seat version other than the rare Buddy Baby Lakes to learn in. Plans-built over seventy years, so welding, spruce spars, ribs, rigging and fabric are the inspection and the builder's log the history, and engines from an A-65 to an O-200 have been fitted with the weight and climb following; the figures here are Jane's for an A-80 example. It is cheap to own and fly for an aerobatic aeroplane. The owner may maintain it and the condition inspection needs an A&P or the repairman certificate.
Variants of the Oldfield Baby Great Lakes
- Baby Great Lakes · 41 active · this page
Also consider
TAILFAX SCORE
Partial: 7.4 out of 30 (safety not scored, too few records)
Among 1–2 seat pistons (321 models)
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Put Oldfield Baby Great Lakes side by side with up to three other models.
- Oldfield Baby Great Lakes
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What it is
| Seats | 1 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tailwheel |
| Engines | — |
| Engine | Continental A-80 (80 hp; 65-100 hp Continentals fitted) |
| Horsepower | 80 hp |
| Fuel | — |
| Certification basis | amateur-built |
| Production start | — |
| Production end | — |
| Endorsements required | — |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 103 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | — |
| Service ceiling | 17,000 ft |
| Climb rate | 2,000 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 43 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | — |
| Landing over 50 ft | — |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 1 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 375 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | — |
| Max takeoff weight | 850 lb |
| Empty weight | 475 lb |
| Usable fuel | — |
| Fuel burn at cruise | — |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | — |
|---|---|
| Price, high | — |
| Prices as of | — |
| Engine TBO | — |
| Overhaul cost, low | — |
| Overhaul cost, high | — |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 137 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 41 |
| Median year built | 1982 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 2 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 0 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 48.78 · thin base (low)1 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 48.78 · thin base (low)2 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 6 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 14.63 · thin base (low)3 |
| Airworthiness directives | 1 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | low |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 41 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 41 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 41 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 1-2 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | —1 |
| Severity | —2 |
| Access | 1.7 of 103 |
| Support | 3.1 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 2.6 of 105 |
| Overall (sum of the categories shown) | Partial: 7.4 out of 30 (safety not scored, too few records)6 |
- Accident record: class median 36.69 · 321 models in class.
- Severity: class median 13.04.
- Access: class median 1,000.
- Support: class median 77.5.
- Liquidity: class median 20.
- Each of the five categories places the model within its peer class, from 0 (the worst of the class) to 10 (the best): a position among comparable models, not a grade. The overall score is the sum of the categories shown that are scored, out of 10 for each (50 when all five are); it is given only when at least 4 of the five are scored, and it can be set against another model's only when both are in the same peer class and scored on the same categories. When accident record and severity cannot be scored because the model has too few records, the other three give a partial score out of 30, labelled as such; it is never set against a full score.
Data as of: FAA registry Sep 28 · NTSB Oct 2 · ADs Oct 6 · scores Sep 30