CONTACT! ISSUE 79 PAGE 1 Sun-n-Fun is just around the corner. PO BOX 1382 This event usually signals the begin- Hanford CA 93232-1382 ning of the fly-in season for us at CONTACT! Magazine We will once United States of America again be at Sun-n-Fun, in our usual 559-584-3306 spot; Building C, space 63, but for [email protected] the first time, Associate Editor John Moyle will be joining me. We will again be hosting the engine forums Volume 14 Number 2 this year. We’ll be in tent #10 all July 2004 - Feb 2005 week long. Issue #79 I’d like to try something a little differ- ent this year, and ask for some vol- MISSION unteer assistance. We can always CONTACT! Magazine is published bi-monthly by Aeronautics Education Enterprises (AEE), an use some help in the booth, as it Arizona nonprofit corporation, established in 1990 gets difficult to get away and actually to promote aeronautical education. CONTACT! see the planes we’d like to showcase promotes the experimental development, expan- in CONTACT!. So if you’d be inter- sion and exchange of aeronautical concepts, information, and experience. In this corporate age ested in helping a minimum of 2-3 of task specialization many individuals have cho- hours per day, each day of the show sen to seek fresh, unencumbered avenues in the pursuit of improvements in aircraft and power- Continued on page 15 plants. In so doing, they have revitalized the pro- gress of aeronautical design, particularly in the general aviation area. Flight efficiency improve- ments, in terms of operating costs as well as airframe drag, have come from these efforts. We fully expect that such individual efforts will con- tinue and that they will provide additional incen- tives for the advancement of aeronautics. 3 Tom Aberle’s Phantom EDITORIAL POLICY The success story of one team of Reno pylon racers. CONTACT! pages are open to the publication of By John P Moyle and Patrick Panzera these individual efforts. Views expressed are exclusively those of the individual authors. Ex- perimenters are encouraged to submit articles 10 Gary Walsh's Prop Problems and photos of their work. Materials exclusive to One man’s woes with his NSI cockpit controllable propeller and the CONTACT! are welcome but are returnable only resulting airworthiness directive. if accompanied by return postage. Every effort will be made to balance articles reporting on com- By Gary Wolf, President, RAA Canada mercial developments. Commercial advertising is not accepted. All rights with respect to reproduc- 13 Planning Your Charitable Giving tion, are reserved. Nothing whole or in part may Just in time for tax season, CONTACT! Magazine supporter Percy be reproduced without the permission of the pub- lisher. Lorie offers a little food for thought, by way of the first of in series of informative articles. SUBSCRIPTIONS Six issue subscription in U.S. funds is $24.00 for 14 Second Annual Alternative Engine Round-Up, Laughlin NV USA, $28.00 for Canada and Mexico, $40.00 for overseas air orders. CONTACT! is mailed to U.S. By John P Moyle addresses at nonprofit organization rates mid January, March, May, July, September and No- 16 Turbines vember. Please allow time for processing and Is it turbine time for homebuilts? delivery of first issue from time of order. By Vance Jaqua ADDRESS CHANGES / RENEWALS The first line of your label contains the number of 22 Light Plane Power with Racing Car heritage your last issue. Please check label for correct- The HKS engine. ness. This magazine does not forward. Please notify us of your date of address change consis- By Michael Friend tent with our bimonthly mailing dates to avoid missing any issues. On the cover: Tom Aberle’s Mong biplane “Phantom” at the 2004 Reno COPYRIGHT 2005 BY AEE, Inc. National Championship Air Races. Photo by Atsushi "Fred" Fujimori CONTACT! ISSUE 79 PAGE 2 Before his time of education in the mechanical aviation arts, while still in high school, Tom took flight instruction from a man with a brand new CFI rating, his father, Harry Aberle, and was the first student his dad ever signed off for solo. That was on the occasion of Tom’s 16th birth- day. Harry soloed Tom’s son Jerry as well, many years later. By John P Moyle and Pat Panzera At that time, Harry Aberle had an aircraft rental and flight Photos by Pat Panzera school business at Compton Airport, and leased hangar In most cases it takes a team effort to space to some operators of aerobatic bi- break new ground in any field, and air planes, including Harwood (Skip) Hellen racing is no exception. The require- who owned a Stolp Starduster, and the ments of adequate funding, enlight- late Bob Herendeen, who kept his first ened engineering, meticulous prepara- Pitts S-1 there. tion, and skillful piloting must be brought together to form an alliance A NEW RACE DIVISION IS BORN which can compete effectively, let Back during these early days, air racing alone win the National Championship. promoters thought it would be a good idea This story is about one such group, put to feature some less expensive type air- together by Tom Aberle of Fallbrook, craft at the feature races, something to California. help introduce pilots to the field and initi- ate them into pylon racing, as well as Tom is a graduate of El Rancho High rounding off the racing schedule. Consult- School in Pico Rivera, (Los Angeles ing with the best acrobatic pilots (who dur- County) California. After graduation he ing the mid 1960’s were sharing the Reno attended the nearby Northrop Institute of Air Race venue at Stead Field) a new Technology where he earned his Airframe class of biplane racers was conceived. and Powerplant ratings. Tom then ac- quired an Inspection Authorization two Biplane Division restrictions which all en- years later. He’s been involved in aircraft tries must adhere to, included an engine construction, modification, and mainte- not larger than 290 cubic inches at the Tom astride his desk in his nance ever since and currently operates time of the first biplane races in 1964. This office/hangar in Fallbrook Aberle Custom Aircraft, where he and his was later increased to 320 cubic inches, CA. In front are his trophies son Jerry dabble in all things aviation. and ultimately to the current maximum of from Reno 2004. Their company slogan is, “We are purvey- a 360 cubic inch displacement. A fixed ors of fine aircraft. We build, maintain, overhaul and pitch propeller, a minimum weight of 500 lbs. and wing modify in nearly any way one might conceive- to provide area of at least 75 square feet (of which neither wing for the improvement of the general aviation aircraft upon could be less than 30% of the total wing area), as well as which we work.” The first plane Tom ever built was a several other physical attributes define the limits. By the 200-hp Pitts S1S. time the class was fully outlined, and several years into CONTACT! ISSUE 79 PAGE 3 wingspan and an empty weight of 550 lbs. Tom chose to start with the more slender fuselage the Mong allows when he designed the #62 Phantom, as it benefits from the lower drag produced by less frontal area. If you compare the early pho- tos of the original Mong Sport (pictured on the opposite page) with the Phantom race plane, it appears to be a com- pletely different design; but there is a core section of the classic homebuilt aircraft right in the center. From the fire- wall aft to the seat back, the Phantom is pure “Mong”. The balance of the plane however is completely unique to this version, but wholly within the regulations for the Biplane Photo courtesy Aberle Custom Aircraft Division. This 1987 photo of Tom and the highly modified “Long Gone Mong” was shot just after the return from a victorious time at Reno. The paint color was an accidental, THE NEED FOR SPEED coincidental match to Tom’s 1976 Corvette. The appeal of going faster than the other guy is one that actual racing, the class began to look like the “Pitts touches many pilots, but some find a way to pursue Race”, as about the only preexisting biplanes on the those dreams and live life a little further out on the edge market (other than Pitts) that fit the design criteria were than the rest of us. Tom Aberle and his partner Andrew Smith Mini Planes, Mongs, EAA Biplanes, the original Buehler, of Port Orchard, Washington, are two such fel- Knight Twister, and the Starduster I. None of these were lows, and they have surrounded themselves with a small really as popular nor as prevalent at the Pitts. The Knight cadre of very hard working, highly motivated associates. Twister had been eliminated from the class by virtue of Bob Busch was a consulting engineer on the project its wing area failing to meet the minimum criteria of 75 and made four trips from his Pacific Northwest home to sqft. The Mongs were somewhat excluded, but only be- work on the race plane, a week and a half per visit during cause they had a slightly narrower fuselage than the rule the 7 months of construction. Andy and Stewart Pater- specified. It was found after the rules were formally son, owners of Paterson Motorsports, applied their tal- drawn that the cockpit dimensions were often less than ents to various airframe and propulsion issues. Stewart the rules allowed, so the Mong was 'grandfathered' into became the liaison between the engine builder, Ly-Con, the class when class officials discovered their error.