Aventur a ii It’s a Bird! It’s a Boat! No…it’s a HOOT!

JULY 2006 Big Feet, Little Feat

Gear Maintenance Made Easy $4.99US $5.99CAN Flying to a Fly-In: 07 Sun ’n Fun 2006 All the News From Lakeland What You Can Do Odyssey of the Young To Make It Safer 0 09281 03883 2 Levi Self is 15—and a Builder airPlay.

The Lancair Legacy. Acceleration meets exhilaration.

You climb at a rate of 2500 fpm to 10,000 feet, level off, then swallow up a 1200 mile route at 280 mph on a single tank of gas. You want to pinch yourself. But you are not dreaming. No, you are flying, first class, in the sleek Lancair Legacy—a combination of speed, control, comfort and economy that translates into unparalleled performance and pure flying fun. There is also an extra measure Cruise 280 mph Useful Load 800 Lbs of satisfaction that comes from having built this beauty yourself. And with simple, Range 1200 miles straightforward instructions as well as optional one-week to eight-week builder’s Stall Speed 67 mph Rate of Climb 2500 fpm assistance programs you can dramatically cut the time to that first flight in your Horsepower 310 new Legacy. Fuel Burn 15 GPH

The Lancair Legacy and the fixed-gear Legacy FG. Two aeronautical masterpieces that deserve serious airPlay.

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Copyright © 2005 Neico Aviation Inc. All rights reserved, specifications and pricing to change without notice. Photograph by Mark Leet Photography. CONTENTS July 2006 | Volume 23, Number 7

On the cover: Dave Higdon photographed the Aventura II fl ying boat over ideal terrain near Aero Adventure’s Rockledge, Florida, base. Flight Reports 10 AVENTURA II Want an airplane that makes a splash? Aero Adventure’s Aventura II off ers amphib fun; by Dave Higdon. 48 READY FOR PRIME TIME With 77 airplanes delivered, this composite cutie has jumped to the head of the LSA class; by Dave Higdon. Builder Spotlight 17 15 AND FLYING, BUILDING TO SOLO 48 Th is Mini-MAX builder wasted no time turning his dream into reality; by Levi Self. 31 DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT: DARRYL MURPHY Renegade? Rebel? Moose? Are we describing the man or the machines? By Tim Kern. 62 COMPLETIONS Builders share their successes. Shop Talk 25 FLIGHT TEST LIKE A PRO Wringing out your new Experimental isn’t just about adrenaline; by Marc Cook. 53 GET IN GEAR You may only use it twice a fl ight, but your landing gear is an important subsystem; by Tim Kern. 65 ENGINE BEAT Take a look at Rotax’s fab 582; by Tim Kern. 73 AERO ’LECTRICS A quick and dirty 12-24 up-converter; by Jim Weir. Designer’s Notebook 59 THE “SECRET OF FLIGHT” DVDS Aerodynamics like you’ve never seen them before; by Murry Rozansky. 68 WIND TUNNEL Bumpy air? Make your airplane a smooth operator; by Barnaby Wainfan. Exploring 2 AROUND THE PATCH 10 Who’s next in LSA? By Marc Cook. 8 WHAT’S NEW EAA’s new Homebuilt Aircraft Certifi cation Kit simplifi es paperwork; edited by Brian E. Clark. 36 FLY-IN FLYING Before you venture out to special events, take time to prep; by Ed Wischmeyer. 40 SUN ‘N FUN 2006 At this year’s spring fl y-in in Florida, engines were the name of the game; a staff report. 45 LSA MIDTERM, PASSED! A year aft er approval of the fi rst SLSAs, we surveyed the Kit Bits landscape of the FAA’s newest category; by Brian E. Clark. 4 CONTRIBUTORS 6 LETTERS 63 SPORTPLANES ADVERTISING SECTION 64 LIST OF ADVERTISERS 70 BUILDERS’ MARKETPLACE 17 75 THE CLASSIFIED BUILDER 80 KIT STUFF Drawing on experience; by cartoonist Robrucha. KITPLANES July 2006 1 AROUNDthe Patch MARCBY COOK

the trainer is smaller doesn’t mean it’s a whole lot less complex or time-consum- Who’s Next in LSA? ing to build. And yet you can’t charge mong the juicier rumors at Sun ’n Fun, fl oating like mosquitoes over the scrub- nearly what you’d like for it, given its Agrass, was this one: Our little corner of aviation, now showing signs of growth with place in the line. the new LSAs, might just be joined—invaded, some say—by a big player. Now, were I Th e answer to the second question slightly less patient, I might have jumped in with, “Yeah, Van’s. Everyone knows that.” partially covers the fi rst one: Create an Not so fast, hotshot. It’s true that Van’s has displayed interest in LSAs and would entirely new airplane that’s easier to doubtlessly put out an excellent kit—likely to be a conventional 51% rather than an build and therefore more profi table at ELSA, I’m told—with fi ne performance and stellar handling qualities. It has been what amounts to the entry-level price of assumed that once Van’s enters the market a good many of the marginal players, those around $100,000 equipped. with limited production capacity or off -shore facilities that are subject to the whims of Now we can have a bit of fun specu- local government and shift ing currency values, will wither and die. It’s a familiar topic lating what it might be. A plastic 152? around the ice-cream tent at these airshows that LSA simply can’t support 30 or 40 or Something like a Diamond Katana? 50 diff erent manufacturers and more times that of individual aircraft models. It’s a hot How about a new design that mirrors area now, certainly, but will it be that hot long term? No one really knows. some of the elements rumored to be part But these rumors I’m hear- of Cessna’s other new project, supposedly ing don’t have to do with Van’s. a replacement for the 210 and a Cirrus Th ey’re centered on none other battler. Th e sudden emergence of the than Cessna. Yes, that Wichi- Very Light Jets (VLJs) has shown that ta juggernaut, once the largest Cessna can react—and react quickly—to manufacturer of light aircraft fresh threats. (Th en again, that’s the jet in the world and holder of set, practically awash in cash.) Or might what will probably stand for all we be in for a strategic alliance, putting time as the record for number the Cessna name on another design and of units produced. (Hmmm. bringing the Textron-owned compa- Better wait on that. China, in ny’s marketing and support structure to a decade or so, may prove me work? wrong.) Word is that Cessna has Is this the next new LSA? Don’t count on it. And let’s not forget that Cessna is vir- watched the fi eld carefully and tually alone in making a serious go of the taken the opportunity to watch trainer market—at least until Diamond the successes and failures of the other manufacturers. For a smaller manufacturer, this showed up. Beech, Mooney and Piper all would be a suicidal stance. When a market segment shows life, it pays to be early to the tried special-built trainers, and failed. party, if not necessarily the fi rst one through the door. Anybody remember the Beech Skipper? A company the size of Cessna, with far-fl ung service centers and plenty of corporate How about the Mooney Cadet? In fact, dough to make such a project happen in a reasonable amount of time, might do well the only way Piper made its trainers work among the smaller fi rms with unfamiliar names and designs. was to use the same bones in most of But this postulation begs a couple of questions. One, how might Cessna conclude its single-engine line. Cherokees every- that it could make suffi cient money in the category when it’s said that the single-engine where you look! line, particularly the 172, are hardly profi table enough to put Twinkies in the corporate But here’s the kicker: Th e rumor with- vending machine? And, two, what would Cessna build? in a rumor was that Cessna will not I can’t really answer the fi rst question without seeing the books—fat chance of that— adhere to the ASTM-created LSA specs but that’s always been an issue with models low in the lineup. It used to cost Cessna but in fact produce a FAR Part 23-cer- nearly as much to build a 150 as it did the 172, and likewise the 182 or 206. Just because tifi ed airplane that happens to meet the speed/weight/stall speed requirements of LSA. Would that be enough to get you Marc Cook has been in aviation journalism for 19 years and in magazine work for 25. He is a shopping at the Cessna store? Or has the 3800-hour instrument-rated, multi-engine pilot with experience in nearly 150 types. What’s more, he’s mad about homebuilts. company been too long from glory? It’s going to be an interesting ride. 

2 KITPLANES July 2006 ©2006 Garmin Ltd or its subsidiaries

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NASDAQ GRMN CONTRIBUTORS

DAVE HIGDON Some guys have all the fun. Globetrotting journalist Dave EDITORIAL Editor-in-Chief Marc Cook Higdon was on assignment for us in Wichita and Florida [email protected] this month, fl ying the Flight Designs CTSW reworked Editor Brian E. Clark Technical Editor Ed Wischmeyer LSA off ering as well as the Aero Adventure Aventura II, a Art Director Suzanne Stackle long-ago cousin of the Buccaneer. Dave returned from his Contributing Editors Ken Armstrong, Mary Bernard, meeting with the Bosswells muttering something about Dan Checkoway, Cory Emberson, Dave Higdon, Dan Johnson, needing extra cash for a seaplane. Maybe we could take up Gary R. Jones, Tim Kern, a collection. John M. Larsen, Howard Levy, Rick Lindstrom, Dick Starks, Barnaby Wainfan, Jim Weir Webmaster/Data Manager Julia Downie Cartoonist Robrucha

TIM KERN ADVERTISING In addition to his usual duties creating the Engine Beat Publisher/Ad Director Cindy Pedersen column every month, we had Tim Kern working under [email protected] Sr. Advertising Manager Chuck Preston some airplanes to see just what goes wrong with landing [email protected] gear. Dismiss this kind of story at your own risk: Chanc- es are good that if your homebuilt is acting squirrely on BUSINESS OFFICE 531 Encinitas Blvd., Suite 105, Encinitas, CA 92024 the runway, there’s something wrong with your (air- Main Number: 760/436-4747, Fax 760/436-4644 plane’s) feet. Tim also contributed to our engine-news Editorial: 908/647-2770, Fax 908/647-2722 coverage from Sun ’n Fun 2006. What a guy. PRODUCTION & CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING Production Manager Marsha Blessing 717/433-7985 [email protected]

CIRCULATION LEVI SELF Circulation Manager Lisa Evans How’s this for inspiration? Levi Self built his fi rst airplane SUBSCRIPTION DEPARTMENT at age 15, choosing to craft a fl ying machine rather than have 800/622-1065; 386/447-6318 a car. (We’re fond of his priorities.) Coming up short, he www.kitplanes.com/cs Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235 traded his parents construction of furniture for his siblings For Canada: Box 7820 STN Main, London, ON N5Y5W1 for the cash to complete his dream. Just when you thought today’s youth were all about Internet chat rooms and BACK ISSUES P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235 PlayStations. 800/622-1065 www.kitplanes.com

QUALITY REPRINTS AVAILABLE Minimum Order: 500 Contact Mona Kornfeld, 203/857-3143 BACK ISSUES: Call 800/622-1065 WEB SITE INFORMATION: General homebuilt aircraft information, back issue availability, online directories ordering info, plus a KITPLANES® article index and selected articles can be found at www.kitplanes.com. Unsolicited manuscripts: Are welcome on an exclusive basis, but none can be acknowledged or returned unless accompanied CHANGE OF ADDRESS? by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. No responsibility is assumed for loss or damage to unsolicited material. KITPLANES® (ISSN 0891-1851) is published monthly by Aviation Publishing Group, LLC, an affiliate of Belvoir Publications, 800 Connecticut MISSING ISSUE? Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06854-1631, Robert Englander, Chairman and CEO; Timothy H. Cole, Exec. Vice Pres./Editorial Director; Philip L. Penny, SUBSCRIPTION QUESTION? COO; Greg King, Exec. Vice Pres./Marketing Dir.; Marvin J. Cweibel, Senior Vice Pres., Marketing Operations; Ron Goldberg, CFO; Tom Canfield, Vice Pres., Circulation; Michael N. Pollett, Sr. Vice Pres., General Counsel.

Periodicals postage paid at Norwalk, CT, and at additional mailing offices. Copyright© 2006 Aviation Publishing Group, LLC. All rights Visit www.kitplanes.com/cs. reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited. Printed in USA. Revenue Canada GST Account #128044658. Canada Or call 800/622-1065 Publishing Agreement #40016479. from the U.S. and Canada. Subscriptions: One year (12 issues) is $29.95 U.S. $41.95 in U.S. funds in Canada, includes GST. $41.95 in U.S. funds for Foreign surface mail or $57.95 in U.S. funds for Foreign Air Mail. Single copy price $4.99 U.S., $5.99 Canadian. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes and subscription inquiries to: Foreign, call 386/447-6318 KITPLANES®, P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235 or call 800/622-1065. KITPLANES® is a registered trademark of Aviation Publishing Group, LLC. or fax 386/447-2321.

4 KITPLANES July 2006

LETTERS [email protected] Making the Conversion imbalance and adjust a voltage to In your “Target Fixation” story, under the subhead of “Engine Conversions” you spoke compensate for the imbalance. A trim of the reliability of auto-powered airplanes to the eff ect that “some work just fi ne” and pot could adjust the circuit to provide “can be just as reliable as certifi ed engines.” As an enthusiast, I am attracted to auto- yaw trim. power, but totally agree that a “pine box with six handles” is not a good alternative. Th ere could be a servo attached to the Could you give me more insight into alternative engines (auto conversions, non-cer- rudder controls to apply force in the anti tifi ed aircraft engines and two strokes) by name as to which ones are more reliable, or yaw direction or the servo could oper- at least which ones have low ratios of accidents to units in use, and how that compares ate a tab on the rudder. On airplanes to certifi ed designs? with rudder trim controls there could be an interconnect to the trim mecha- CLIF ANDERS nism. Of course there would have to be a manual override to disconnect the auto- Clif, we’d love to be able to categorically state that Engine A is a reliable, wonderful matic control and center the trim. Th e powerplant and that Engines B and C are troublesome lumps that shouldn’t be caught out- system should not have enough author- side of a lawn mower. It’s not that easy, because there are simply too many variables and ity to overcome the pilot’s ability to because problems with auto-engine conversions are oft en the result of a poor conversion, not control the aircraft in the event of a an indictment of the engine itself. Th at’s why simply looking at accident statistics or indi- runaway malfunction. vidual accident reports and correlating back to engine brand isn’t very useful. What caused Th is system as suggested would reduce the crash? Was it the engine’s failure or something on the part of the designer or builder? Th e yaw but not eliminate it. If some sort of best way to get a read on reliability is to follow the adventures of other builders and watch logic was added though zero yaw could the “established” names in the industry. be achieved, even negative yaw.

See, It’s Not So Bad! DAVID RILEY In “Around the Patch” in the April issue you misleadingly quote only the retail price of a FAR 33 912S. Th e engine roughly 80% of all SLSAs use is the ASTM-compliant Anybody Seen Franklin? Rotax 912ULS, which currently retails for $14,354—even with the crummy exchange In the engine directory of the April ’06 rate. Th at’s roughly $10,000 less than the $24,000 fi gure you have printed. issue I was surprised and disappointed by the omission of the Franklin engines. PHILLIP LOCKWOOD Th ese engines are readily available and LOCKWOOD AVIATION the company is willing to work with builders to produce a FWF package. It Phil’s right. Th e beauty of the current LSA regulations is that manufacturers can save a would be nice to see their specifi cs in substantial amount of money by using ASTM-compliant engines. your format. DEVIN CECIL Adverse to Yaw? I have a suggestion for a project for Jim Weir. I would like to see a control circuit with Devin, you’re not the only one to notice Franklin’s absence. However, the engines sensor and amplifi ed output for controlling adverse yaw on an aircraft . Of course there have been out of new production for a cou- are always those things sitting on the fl oor inside the pilot’s shoes. My personal opinion ple of years now. Th e PZL factory in Poland though is that a machine should do it’s job as completely as possible with minimal input was purchased by Pratt&Whitney Can- from the user, no matter what the machine does. Th at leaves the crew with more time ada and soon shuttered. Now, however, and brain cells to enjoy the view or whatever. a group of investors has purchased the Th ere will always be those who think if the pilot doesn’t want to learn to use the rights and tooling to the Franklin line and rudder he should drive his car instead of fl y. But if that theory had prevailed from the intends to set up shop once again. Th ere are beginning we would still have aircraft that are inherently unstable and dangerous. many Franklins still fl ying and though Th is ideas is nothing new of course, but I don’t think anything aff ordable is avail- the engine has an excellent reputation able. It shouldn’t be very diffi cult to design and build. I’m thinking something along for durability, new components are sorely the lines of a spring-loaded ball bearing in a clear tube with a photo resistor on one side needed. According to the new company, it and a light source on the other. As the plane yaws the ball would move aside exposing plans to build enough parts for 100 engines diff erent parts of the resistor, unbalancing a circuit. A control circuit would sense the in the fi rst batch, late this year.

6 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com CompatAbility. Meet the Chelton EFIS SV-10— a plug-n-play EFIS for your RV-10. Like the RV-10, it’s useful, stable, reliable, and perfected by many years of development.

An all-glass panel in a new aircraft makes sense, but having it with a full Flight Management System (FMS) Wiring simplifi ed with with an integrated 16-channel GPS makes more sense. While everyone a complete airframe else is promising, Chelton is delivering. Not merely an EFIS that does wire harness some things OK, the Chelton SV is a fully-integrated EFIS that does everything—and does it well. At the heart of it is the new Pinpoint Inertial GADAHRS sensor suite. It’s the fi rst and only GPS/Airdata/Attitude With the Chelton EFIS SV-10 package you Heading Reference System optimized for reliability while working within receive the following components: the dynamics of your RV-10. Our new dual-screen EFIS SV-10 package • Two screens 5.575”h, 7.91”w, 2.95”d also comes with a complete airframe wire harness to ensure an effortless installation—reducing your build time considerably. Plus, our support and • Pinpoint Inertial GADAHRS dedication to our customers leads the industry. • Comant GPS antenna You’re making a smart choice building an RV-10. Now make the same • SmartMedia Card smart choice for what gets you to your destination safely—and gets you • Operation Handbook and fl ying sooner. Go Glass. Go Safe. Go Chelton. Installation Manual Visit www.d2av.com for more information on this new package and • Training system operation others or see us at Oshkosh for an up-close view and take advantage and CAWS system DVD of a special introductory offer. • Complete system wire harness A dual-screen EFIS SV designed and fi tted to the RV-10 installed in the RV-10

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Copyright © 2006, Direct To Avionics. All rights reserved. Specifi cations and offer subject to change without notice. WHAT’S NEW Sonex Adds Trim, Throttle Quadrant to AeroConversions Line Sonex Aircraft announced the addition of two unique items to its expanding AeroConversions product line: the Aero- Conversions Trim System and the AeroConversions Th rottle Quadrant. According to Sonex, the Trim System is a simple and attractive trim solution for sport aircraft ; through the use of a trim wheel jackscrew assembly, it off ers precise pitch trim control via spring-loaded elevator control bias. Originally designed for use in the Waiex and Xenos Y-Tail airplanes, which can’t use traditional pitch trim tabs, the system has proven to work eff ectively for traditional-tailed sport aircraft as well. Th e Sonex staff unoffi cially dubbed the unit Dial-a-Speed, “because it off ers precise-enough pitch control to actu- ally control airspeed at fi xed power settings,” explains Jeremy Monnett, Sonex GM and CEO. “Want to fl y a little slower? Turn the knob clockwise and give yourself a little trim up. A little faster? Turn the knob counter-clockwise and lower the nose. We really like this system on approach with full fl aps where you can select whatever speed you want to fl y at. Just dial it in.” Priced at $95, the system includes all the items needed for a typical installation including cable, springs and hardware. Th e companion installation manual gives step-by-step instruc- tions and is written with enough general information to accommodate installation in a wide range of aircraft . Designed to work with the AeroConversions AeroCarb and other carburetors, the unre- lated Th rottle Quadrant product gives pilots positive and precise throttle control at a com- petitive price ($75), the company says. It works with the newest AeroCarbs fi tted with optional pull control (older AeroCarbs may be upgraded), or with any other carb equipped for reversing pull-throttle actuation. Customers may optionally attach external linkage to a hole provided in the upper throttle arm to convert the Th rottle Quadrant to a non-revers- ing control. Again, the package includes all required items for a typical installation along with detailed instructions. For information on these or any of the AeroConversions products, call Sonex Aircraft at 920/231-8297. A direct link to the company’s web site can be found at www.kitplanes.com.

EAA’s New Homebuilt Aircraft Certifi cation Kit Simplifi es Paperwork A new Experimental/Amateur-Built aircraft certifi cation kit created by and now available from the EAA gives aircraft builders a simplifi ed way to complete the required FAA paperwork for their new projects. Th e Amateur-Built Aircraft Certifi cation Kit includes everything you need to register and certifi cate a new homebuilt aircraft in the U.S. Th e 15-page, step-by-step certifi cation guide walks you through the entire process from getting an N-number to the aircraft inspection, and provides samples to help complete each required form. Joe Norris, EAA Senior Aviation Information Specialist and FAA Amateur-Built Designated Airworthiness Representative, reviewed all of the materials included in the kit. “Whenever I inspect an aircraft for certifi cation, the paperwork is what causes delays more oft en than anything on the aircraft ,” Norris says. “Th is guide will make the aircraft inspection go a lot easier.” Th e certifi cation kit also includes all FAA forms, an Experimental sticker (in black), dataplate and a convenient placard decal sheet. Cost is $12.99 plus shipping for EAA members. Th e kit is also available for non-members for $19.99 plus ship- ping. To order, call EAA Membership Services at 800/JOIN-EAA. Or order online—a direct link to the EAA’s shopping page can be found at www.kitplanes.com.

8 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com Pinhole Problems? Try Loehle Wonder-Fil Loehle Aircraft Corporation, manufacturer of the Loehle Aero Coatings paint product line, announced the availability of a new product called Loehle Wonder-Fil, a chemical designed to fi ll pinholes and large scratches prior to painting. Any builder familiar with composite aircraft construction can attest to the chore of battling pinholes, which are created when an insuffi cient amount of liquid resin is applied to the woven cloth fabric. When paint is applied to one of these resin-starved areas, the paint simply fl ows into the hole and continues to soak down into the fab- ric weave. Th e purpose of Wonder-Fil is to plug a hole and stop the fl ow of paint. Th e Wonder-Fil substance actually combines with paint to thicken it, so it will not fl ow away as it dries. How is it applied? First, you wash the Andair Debuts Remote pinhole-infested component with soap Fuel Valve System and water to remove waxes and oils from Adding to an already extensive line the manufacturing process. Th en, sand the of precision fuel system compo- surfaces with 180- to 220-grit sandpaper nents, Andair Ltd. has introduced a and blow it clean. Wipe the Wonder-Fil remote fuel valve system that keeps over the entire part in a circular motion, the fuel itself and related plumbing as if you were applying wax to a car or air- out of the cockpit. Th e fuel switch plane. Th e Wonder-Fil will be forced down retains the elegant design and qual- into any pinholes and will quickly dry to a whitish haze. ity of the rest of the Andair product Remove the excess with a clean cloth, and your pinholes and deep scratches will be line, but adds green and red LEDs visible. Coat the surface with a fl exible urethane-type primer and the pinholes should that confi rm fuel position aft er the fully disappear. If additional pinholes are discovered during the painting process, you left , right or off position has been can apply more Wonder-Fil at the off ending spot and repaint. selected. Further, the LEDs will Loehle notes that the product was initially used to fi ll scratches on wood propellers. show an amber color should the sys- And it works equally well on fabric-covered airplanes, where pinholes are just as com- tem require any sort of servicing. mon. Th e product is sold in both quart ($49) and gallon ($179) cans. In addition to the obvious safe- For more information on Wonder-Fil or the Loehle Aero Coatings line, contact the ty factor of keeping fuel away from company at 931/857-3419. A direct link to the Loehle web site can be found at www. the aircraft occupants, this micro- kitplanes.com.  processor-controlled fuel switching system allows the builder to place the actual valve mechanism itself closer to the tanks and eliminate in-cockpit fuel lines. Price has not KITPLANES SUBSCRIBER ALERT! yet been fi nalized. Several of our KITPLANES subscribers have received what For more information, call the company’s U.K. base at +44(0) appear to be “renewal notices” from a company known as 2392 473 945. A direct link to Magazine Billing Services, Publisher’s Billing Services, or other Andair’s web site can be found at similar names. Addresses for these firms include www.kitplanes.com. San Luis Obispo, CA, Salt Lake City, UT, and Margate, FL. These firms have NOT been authorized to sell subscriptions for KITPLANES and we cannot guarantee that any orders sent to them will be forwarded to us.

To submit a press release on a homebuilt-related product, The only valid information for KITPLANES is: e-mail a detailed description and high-resolution pho- tograph to [email protected]. Mailing address is toll free at 1-800-622-1065 KITPLANES® Magazine, New Products, PO Box 124, Liber- www.kitplanes.com/cs ty Corner, NJ 07938. Visit www.kitplanes.com/freeinfo.asp for instant information on “What’s New” items and adver- or contact us at our Florida Customer Service Center: tised products. Select the issue in which the item appeared, and then select the categories of information or individual 386-447-6318 advertisers you’re interested in. You’ll receive an e-mail. PO Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142

KITPLANES July 2006 9 A clear day in Florida and all the world’s a landing spot. Wet or dry, the Aventura II can fi nd a place to light and, chances are, it’ll make that spot a center for unrepentant fun fl ying.

10 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com grets and herons cleared a path during my fi rst hangarmates, the single-seat Aventura Eapproach to a water landing in Aero Adventure’s HP Experimental and Aventura UL Aventura II amphibian, as sure of their need to ultralight. leave as my doubts about what I was doing. With more While it is admittedly well evolved, than a decade past since my last water landing in there’s no denying that the Aventura anything with wings that fl oat, my instincts urged II is a product of its ultralight lineage, me to advance the throttle and head for the comfort employing an airframe structure of of a dry runway. But at the urging of demo pilot Bill riveted aluminum tubing and strength- Simmons, I left the Rotax 912ULS at approach ening gussets wrapped in a composite power, kept the nose pointed down at about 70 mph boat shell. (Fiberglass is standard, a The Rotax 912 pusher mounts indicated, and waited for the water to arrive. Kevlar-reinforced hull is $1496 more.) aft and slightly above the And just as Simmons had shown me earlier, my left Th e one-piece hull provides a water- aluminum and Dacron wing. hand gradually eased back the power as my right hand tight structure on which the airplane eased off the stick pressure. Th e Aventura II defi ed my fl oats. Ahead of the cabin, a top deck expectations and drew itself onto the water, bouncing tamely off the 1-foot chop that seals up the forward structure and pro- rippled across the surface of one of Florida’s countless pools of shallow water. vides a small storage area for up to 70 “Th at’s the way to do it,” Simmons’ voice crooned through intercom. “Now, let’s try pounds of gear. Aft of the cabin, another another one.” I was not to be let off with a single good water landing; he demanded single top piece encloses the rear of the more. Perhaps to disprove that it was luck, but more likely to prove just how docile the airframe and provides a sturdy step for Aventura is. In fact, by the time Simmons let me try landing on terra fi rma, he’d coaxed and coached me through a half-dozen aqua arrivals. In the process, my anxiety about tipping or breaking the sturdy Aventura dissolved. Gradually, water fl ying felt, well, fun. And those mild splashes of water off the twin-tunnel hull reminded me that the watery runways of Florida number many times those solid strips. Such was my reintroduction to the world of the airplane that fl oats. Pilots who have not sampled seaplane fl ying have, er, missed the boat. More Than Just Fun Sitting in the wide, comfortable side-by-side cockpit of the Aventura II, I allowed my mind to briefl y fl irt with fantasies of aviation’s golden era, when the true globetrotters of aviation all shared a boat hull and sponsons mounted outboard beneath Lined up in front of the hangars adjacent to the factory are several each wing. Now this isn’t to say you’d want to transit the Aventura IIs completed by builders. Atlantic or tackle the Asian-Pacifi c route in an Aventura II. A Boeing Clipper it’s not. But with its retractable conventional gear, sturdy hull, reason- able luggage capacity and a fuel-stingy 100-horsepower Rotax humming along behind the wing, an ambitious pilot could sure cover a lot of a continent at 85 mph—a speed that’s genuinely respectable for an amphibian. And with the option to alternate between earthen runways and watery strips, the Aventura II pilot could enjoy venues and views land-plane pilots can only fantasize about. Son of a Son of a Buccaneer If you fi nd the Aventura II somewhat familiar, well, it may be because you’ve seen its ancestors—starting with the early 1980s Buccaneer. A product of the early years of ultralight aviation, the Buccaneer came into the market as a FAR Part 103 machine Aero Adventure’s facility in Rockledge, Florida, houses both the build- designed to bring amphibious fl ying to the tight-budget pilot. up shop for subassemblies as well as the corporate digs. True to form, Over time, the airplane evolved into today’s Aventura II, and its the place is friendly.

Photos: Dave Higdon KITPLANES July 2006 11 Aventura II continued II, shielding occupants from the chill of both air and water. (Assuming you’ll be fl y- getting up to check the powerplant. ing outside of Florida, of course.) Behind the seats is more space for gear. And more advances are in the making, Th e pusher powerplant mounts aft and Bob Bosswell pointed out, including a new slightly above the wing; struts support the electric drive for the landing gear to replace aluminum and Dacron wing, while drag the long-used Johnson bar. wires help keep the tail in line. Pretty stan- dard stuff , nicely detailed and fi nished. Walkarounds Made Simple Bob Bosswell is, well...the boss. He and Normally my prefl ight routine starts with New Owners, Continued Evolution wife Sandy are the current owners of the the prop and engine, works around the All the way through the history of Aventura design. Their stewardship has port wing and gear, aft to the tail, and back helped bring improvements to the airplane the Aventura, the makers evolved the and set a path for growth. to the spinner via the starboard side. But design—a process that continues to this starting with the powerplant on a pusher day under the ownership of Bob and installation pretty much puts you in the Sandy Bosswell in Rockledge, Florida. middle of the airplane—so, it makes sense to me to start at the nose even when there’s One example of the newer advances no engine there. And starting at the front of the Aventura II lets you appreciate the is the twin-channel hull, which provides boat-like quality of the airplane. So you check the stainless-steel mooring ring, which greater strength and water stability com- can double as a tie-down point. Next to check is the forward-deck hatch cover, secured pared to the original V-shaped hull. with a set of quarter-turn fasteners. Another example is the molded plastic From there, the prefl ight becomes more airplane-like with strut bolts, wire anchors, Full Lotus sponsons, which add durabil- gear mounts and the like. A pair of zippered inspection ports in the lower wing surface ity to a component critically important let you peek into the inside of the wing to see the control linkages. Aft er fi nishing the for keeping the wingtips from contact- port wing, you get to the Rotax powerplant, where there are plenty of items to watch ing the water. and touch—mounting bolts, muffl er springs, oil and coolant reservoirs, prop bolts, Th e large—maybe overly so—fl aps inlet collars between the carbs off er improved lift at normal setting or and the heads. Overall, the Rotax huge drag when deployed past the nor- installation is tidy and, with so mal takeoff and landing settings. Th e much hanging out in the open, diff erential ailerons aid roll-yaw coor- makes a thoughtful, thorough dination. Th e revised aileron linkage prefl ight a relative snap. helped improve roll response but the fac- Pilots new to the Rotax 912 tory’s change to push-tubes from Telefl ex should learn the proper way to cables also reduced friction in the system. check the oil level. Th is is a dry- Clearly, the Aventura II is growing well sump engine with an external oil beyond its ultralight roots. tank. Oil in the case is returned to Other updates that helped coin the the reservoir by the normal blow- “II” suffi x include a new radiator mount by action but some can leak down Although you could have it with the Rotax 582 and the accompanying fairing-reduced overnight, which causes a low dip- two-stroke, we expect most Aventura buyers to pop drag and improved cooling. Th e slick stick reading. It’s customary to for either the Rotax 912UL or the more powerful, 100-hp 912ULS (shown). new doors and a cabin-heat system bring turn the engine over by hand until expanded seasonal utility to the Aventura you can hear air gurgling in the tank; then check the level. Fail to follow these steps and you’ll likely overfi ll the can. eTh mess left by the slung-overboard oil is not pretty. Th e aft upper hull incorporates two threaded access covers through which you can check the aft control linkages, cables—and look for water, for which the Aventura II carries an internal bilge pump, standard procedure on amphibious aircraft . Time To Earn Some Water Wings Settling into the Aventura II does take a little technique—not the contortionist moves demanded by some designs, but a bit of fi nesse, nonetheless. Place your backside on the It’s a simple panel for simple fl ying. The doorframe, one leg in and on the fl oor brace, then the second leg—and settle into the Aventura off ers just enough space for VFR deep, well-padded seat. Aero Adventure supplies the kits with a pair of four-point har- instruments including a portable GPS. The nesses with old-style latches that secure the occupants against the bumps of both air large lever in the center console “retracts” the gear. and water.

12 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com Coming soon: The Aventura will get an optional electric motor to lift the gear clear of the water, replacing the existing Johnson bar.

A pair of common toggle switches makes the ignition (we dare not say “mags”) hot, while a separate key switch serves as both the master and starter switches. Typical of the 912ULS, the engine fi res on a couple of spins. In a few moments the temps move into the green and it’s time to fl y. Taxiing is as easy as any tailwheel air- plane and easier than many; pressures are solid, not heavy, and the airplane responds nicely—without being overly sensitive. Th e low deck angle allows a good view forward and also enhances the taxiing experience. Gone Float Flyin’… With the fi nal cabin checks and engine runup complete, Simmons directed me to taxi onto Runway 36 at Rockledge Air- park (the company’s home base, nestled between I-95 and Merritt Island) for the start of my Aventura introduction—and a trip to a few of the wide, shallow pools of water that dot the landscape of main- land Florida just east of Cape Canaveral. Winds blew across the runway at about a 70° angle to provide some instant chal- lenge for the novice Aventura II pilot.

The Dacron wings and plethora of aluminum tubing give up the Aventura’s ultralight background, but the II version is considerably grown up.

KITPLANES July 2006 13 Aventura II continued Aventura II climbed easily with our load—approaching 400 pounds of occupants and 40 pounds of fuel—and within a With the engine at redline, the Aven- couple of minutes we cruised along at about 1500 feet msl—a tura II rushed ahead; the instant the air- fl ight level that might seem low to wheel-shod fl yers but more speed indicator moved off the stop to the than high enough for this amphib. Like waterbirds, they want fi rst mark (20 mph) we raised the tail, to be close to the liquid. accelerated to about 40 and pulled back Easing the throttle back to a cruise setting of 4800 rpm the stick. Five, maybe six seconds, and reduced the noise level as we headed westward toward our those 100 horses thrust us skyward into watery practice area. As we neared the lakes area, we raised a clear blue sky ripe with the bumps that the landing gear—with less eff ort than I expected. Th e gear come with a windy, gusty day. doesn’t really stow as much as get out of the way for water Th e Aventura’s strong rudder authority work. If you’re departing a paved strip and intend to land at was able to counter the torque reaction of There’s no question it’s another one, you might as well just leave the wheels down. the engine, while the powerful ailerons a boat. The new hull comfortably tamed the crosswind. Con- provides better on-the- water manners and of- Getting Used To It sidering its light weight—1430 pounds fers two riders a wealth Along the way a couple of aspects of the Aventura II emerged, maximum gross weight—and conse- of elbow room. and they warrant comment. First, a pilot of this airplane with quent light wing loading—8.84 pounds this engine needs to stay well ahead on the rudder. On the per square foot of wing—the Aventura departure, easing handled the bumps admirably. Th e wings in the power to about 75 percent until outboard of the struts fl ex noticeably in the tail’s off the ground, then adding the rough air, but the airplane itself stays the remaining power and right rudder seemed course with commendable dedication. A tight right turn took us east toward Ground handling is improved through the Indian River; but we kept turn- a fully steerable tailwheel. Overall, the ing until on a westerly heading toward Aventura makes friends with pilots during ground operations. the inland lakes and their marshes. Th e

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14 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com to help avoid running out of rudder eff ec- Full Lotus sponsons help improve water stability and have proven tiveness. to be much stronger than the previous design. Second, the ailerons proved them- selves amply eff ective, but roll pressures Aventura II pitches down as power increases; as power comes felt disproportionally high compared to back, the opposite happens—the nose pitches up. And using pitch pressures, which felt both some- “pitch” to describe this attitude change may read more severe what light and overly responsive in the than is warranted. But the trait is there, nonetheless, requiring middle half of elevator travel. And this the pilot to deal with the change with stick pressures in some condition was despite the changes to the instances. (It should be noted that all high-thrust-line aircraft control system that should have light- tend to have this power-pitch linkage, some more than others. It ened roll forces. Th e Bosswells admit becomes more of an issue the lighter and nimbler the airframe there are still improvements to be had, and the greater the installed power. Th e Aventura is light and and I have to admit that the overall fl y- nimble; the Rotax stout.) ing qualities of the Aventura are so well Th e good news is the well-trained, practiced pilot should adapt to these tendencies worked out that this stands proud as one and use them as part of the control regimen, as Simmons demonstrated and taught me. of the very few areas that I think could For example, that water approach, with the steep descent angle, actually works well be improved. when you take advantage of the thrust-line related pitch changes that result from power changes. The Thrust of the Matter By keeping the engine at about 4000 rpm, where it’s producing about 60% power, we One more: Not until Simmons started literally drove the Aventura II toward the water. Th e nose just naturally came up upon coaching me on water approaches, land- easing power back to neutral thrust—about 3000 rpm; to sustain the energy needed for ings and launches did the Aventura II a smooth arrival required me to counter the thrust change with a little forward stick. In give me my only other quibble with its this case, it’s possible to take a handling quirk of the design and make it work for you, fl ying: its reaction to thrust changes. not against you. With the engine mounted above the Once in ground eff ect, reducing power to idle let the nose rise more dramatically, a wing and the gearbox moving the prop result of both the lower thrust and the braking action of the three-blade prop. Hold- hub above the crankshaft centerline, the ing the nose attitude required a little more pitch forward until we started to lose energy

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KITPLANES July 2006 15 Aventura II continued speed taxiing, water skimming, and yaw- ing the airplane into a crosswind. In fact, —then a smooth pull on the stick all the normal demonstration of a fast, on-the- the way to the back stop gave us the fl are step turn in choppy water will make any needed for a full-stop landing. pilot with fl oatplane experience predict an Th ese traits are also evident in land- immediate fl ip into the sawgrass. Nothing ings on dry strips, dictating that the pilot of the like happened in the Aventura. For become practiced in the proper tech- the amphibious novice, it was all exciting, a niques regardless of the landing surface. little scary and a lot of fun. It sounds more complicated than it is in Robust control linkages mate the sticks practice—but to some these techniques Don’t Forget the Gear inside to the ailerons outside. The Boss- will feel counter-intuitive until they log Another positive aspect of the Aventura wells have changed the Aventura’s design recently from Telefl ex cables, but the roll hours enough for the routine to become II is its landing gear—mounted just aft of control remains a tad stiff . second nature. the cabin area and under the center of the Conversely, in the event of an engine- wing. Should you leave it down for a water out situation, the landing technique landing, its placement and length do little more than dramatically shorten your water reverts to something more conventional landing. We didn’t try this exercise, but several Aventura pilots noted that gear-down —and practicing real engine-out land- water landings do not come with the high risk of fl ipping tail-over-nose. ings is a snap with thousands of acres of Slow fl ight and stalls are straightforward and friendly, with no tendency water available for touchdown. to drop a wing when the power-off stall occurs at about 36 to 38 mph indicated. Over the course of the fi rst hour or so, Power on, the stall never really happened, with the nose hovering high above the Simmons gave me a thorough intro into horizon, the airspeed indicator quivering around 30 to 35—and the VSI showing about the Aventura II’s other aqueous etiquette, 500 fpm of climb. Maneuvering the Aventura II requires the pilot to know how to lead a including high-speed arrivals, high- turn with the rudder to keep the skid-ball centered; response isn’t snappy, but it’s predict- able. All in all, the Aventura II proved itself a fun machine for fl ying in strong, bumpy cross- AERO ADVENTURE winds, mild turbulence and mild chop on the AVENTUR A II water. Base Kit Price ...... $21,995 Estimated completed price * ...... $37,000 - $60,000 Estimated build time...... 250 - 500 hours Dollars and Sense Number fl ying (at press time) ...... 130 For an amphibian, the Aventura is very rea- Powerplant ...... Rotax 912ULS 100 hp @ 5800 rpm sonably priced, even with the strong-willed Propeller ...... Warp Drive three-blade fi xed-pitch Rotax 912S, which accounts for more than Powerplant options...... 65 - 100 hp Gear up! The Aventura II’s wheels move $14,000 of the total build price. Other AIRFRAME up and out for water work. They don’t so engine options: Th e 80-hp 912UL is $1561 much retract as get out of the way. Wingspan ...... 30 ft 8 in cheaper than the S, or you could fi t the 65-hp Wing loading ...... 8.84 lb/sq ft Rotax 582 two-stroke, which is less than half Fuel capacity...... 12 gal (18 gal optional) Maximum gross weight ...... 1430 lb the cost of the four-strokes. Typical empty weight ...... 850 lb For the pilot interested in building less and fl ying more, there will be good news Typical useful load...... 580 lb in Aero Adventures’ plans to certify an LSA version of the Aventura II. But Bosswell Full-fuel payload ...... 508 lb Seating capacity ...... 2 says that LSA approval is a year out—in the meantime, those builders who had their Cabin width ...... 49 in Aventuras registered as ultralight trainers are deep into the process of converting to Baggage capacity ...... 70 lb ELSA status before the fast-approaching January 2008 deadline. PERFORMANCE And the Bosswells and their staff are working hard to continue their improvements Cruise speed ...... 85 mph (74 kt) TAS to the airplane in an eff ort to raise it to its full potential. From the alterations already 5000 ft @ 75% power, 4.5 gph brought to the design, I expect they’ll continue to beaver away at what few handling Maximum rate of climb ...... 1200 fpm Stall speed (landing confi guration) ...... 30 mph (26 kt) IAS quirks the design harbors—outside of the endemic high-thrust-line issues, of course— Stall speed (clean) ...... 42 mph (37 kt) IAS until the Aventura II is nearly ideal. Takeoff distance ...... 150 ft (land), 250 ft (water) But even as it is, with a reasonable build time of 250 to 500 hours, a well-fi nished price Landing distance ...... 300 ft starting in the mid-$30,000 range (make that the low-$40,000 range if you insist on the Specifi cations are manufacturer’s estimates and four-stroke engine) and continuing upward to around $60,000 for an airplane with just are based on the confi guration of the demonstrator aircraft . * Estimated completed costs range fr om about every option in the company’s catalog plus light avionics, and the effi ciency and a bare-bones, 582-powered version with minimal options to a fully optioned 912ULS-powered aircraft power of the Rotax 912ULS, the Aventura II off ers a great package for the widest range with a single comm radio, transponder/encoder and of fun fl ying many pilots could ever want. Wet or dry. But watch for egrets. GPS navigator. Option costs are calculated fr om the company’s web site and may change without notice. For more information on the Aventura II, contact Aero Adventure, Inc. at 321/635-8005. A direct link to the company’s web site can be found at www.kitplanes.com.

16 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com This Mini-MAX builder wasted no time turning his dream into reality. BY LEVI SELF

s a 12-year-old, my dream was to solo. How I brought this dream to reality is what Amy story is all about. It was my dad who fi rst introduced me to airplanes. I remember him taking me to buy a U-control airplane when I was six years old, and since then my love of avia- tion has continued to grow. Aft er soloing my radio-control trainer at 11, I spent a cou- ple of years building and fl ying models. Although it was a thrilling hobby, I still had the desire to be in the air myself, to feel the forces and to see the sights. Th at’s what pushed me to consider building and fl ying a real airplane. Having fl own with my dad quite a bit, I just knew I wanted to be a pilot! Build a real airplane? Th e question came from many people. How could I, a 13-year- old, build an airplane? You can imagine my mother’s fi rst reaction! But nobody was too nervous because, aft er all, it was just talk. Or so they thought. At that point, I didn’t know what I wanted to build. All I knew was that to solo legally I needed something The author, 15 at the time, learned the that was FAR Part 103 compliant, though I defi nitely wanted something that looked covering process by watching a how-to and fl ew like a real airplane. Th en there was the issue of fi nancing the project. My $9 video. The results were great, he said, and the covering process went quickly. weekly allowance and occasional mowing job weren’t going to go far. Photos: Courtesy Levi Self KITPLANES July 2006 17 15 and Flying continued

An Idea! Th en the August 2002 edition of KITPLANES® arrived, in which Hank Clark was featured building a MAX 103 for his son, David. I was hooked. Th e air- plane was built out of wood, looked cool and was supposed to fl y like a real plane. Could I build an airplane like this? I read the article over and over. I researched the airplane and found that it was made by Ison Aircraft (now JDT Mini-MAX), a company that designed and sold kits for a line of wood airplanes based on the Mini-MAX 1100. I also found Hank’s e-mail address on East Tennessee Lone- some Buzzards, a web site dedicated to First fl ights were conducted from a 2500-foot grass strip near Fort Scott, Kansas, and then aircraft built by Wayne Ison. I began the plane moved to Fort Scott Municipal. But...the author and family are in the process of e-mailing Hank and searching for an building a grass strip on their 30-acres property. Nice! engine and a Mini-MAX kit. Hank was invaluable through the building process. He not only answered my questions, he had already found a Rotax 277 on www.barnstormers.com, complete with gearbox, was a great source of moral support. carburetor, exhaust and propeller. In February 2003, I received a lead on My parents had decided to match up to $2500 for a car when I started driving. Aft er a kit from Larry Vetter. Th is Mini-MAX reading the KITPLANES® article and a book about the need for boys to seek adventure 1100 kit had been started by a gentle- (“Wild at Heart,” by John Eldredge), even my mom agreed to divert the matching funds man in Nebraska who built the tail and toward the airplane project. Once matched, I had enough money for the engine, but not some of the fi ttings. He hadn’t worked quite enough for the kit as well. My parents came through again and made me another on it in several years, so rather than see deal: I would build them three wood loft beds for my siblings in exchange for tools and it just collect dust, he decided to sell it. I enough money to buy the kit.

The Mini-MAX features a single-cylinder, With a handful of hours on the ultralight, the author and his dad (and building partner) are two-stroke Rotax 277 up front; it’s attached about to start the engine for their air-to-air photo mission. to a wood motor mount, which attaches to the airframe via rubber mounts.

18 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com +LEIN4OOLSHASBEEN MAKINGPRECISIONHAND TOOLSFORNEARLY YEARS*OINTHEGROWING NUMBEROFTECHNICIANS ANDBUILDERSWHO DEMANDTHEBEST #HOOSEA,EADER #HOOSE+LEIN4OOLS The fuselage was the fi rst major portion the author completed; work started in a two-car garage but was transferred to a barn eventually. !SKYOURDISTRIBUTORABOUT+LEIN4OOLS Building the Mini-MAX I began construction with the fuselage. s3CREWDRIVERS.UT$RIVERS Th e plans were very straightforward, and s7IRE4WISTING0LIERS progress went quickly. Woodworking was not new to me, but some of the tech- s7RENCHAND3OCKET3ETS niques of airplane building were. None s0REMIUM0LIERS of them, however, was very diffi cult, s!VIATION3NIPS and I soon had something that looked like a fuselage. Altogether, I spent two years and two months on the project— about 400 hours building and nearly an hour a day reading the new posts on the East Tennessee Lonesome Buzzards Squawk page. As anyone who has built an airplane knows, building is never completely with- out troubles and mishaps. I had my share WWWKLEINTOOLSCOM of them. Th ere were days when I just wanted to scrap the whole thing. Th at wood sure would make a nice campfi re! One such time was when I had to pull the two fuselage sides together at the engine AutomatedAutomated EngineEngine mount. When a problem like this arose Monitoring...Monitoring... and I hadn’t worked on the plane for several days, Dad would ask where ..of up to 29 parameters with 62 alarms. From RPM to peak-detection leaning, the the hang-up was and we’d brainstorm EIS does it all. Includes graphical and together about solutions. Some blend digital displays, customizable screens, and alarms with external warning light. Models Actual Size 6"W x 2.75"H x 2.5"D of ideas always got the job done. Start- forall engines up to 9-cylinders. Find out why the EIS is the choice of thousands of All-cylinderAll-cylinder EGT/CHTEGT/CHT analyzeranalyzer ing the spars was also diffi cult because pilots. ffunctionsunctions forfor 4 4,, 6 oror 9 cylindercylinder e engines.ngines. I didn’t quite know where to begin. Just looking at the wing drawing was Grand Rapids Technologies, Inc. overwhelming, but I had constant online $473 $553 $995 3133 Madison Ave SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49548 2-cyl2-cyl 4 4-stroke-stroke 4-cylinder 616 245-7700 Fax 616 245-7707 support from other builders who helped 2-stroke Prices include probes. www.GRTavionics.com me to realize I could do it.

KITPLANES July 2006 19 EVENING THE SCORE “Balloon Gone!” At 1600 feet, the enemy was on the loose and descending to his refuge of the earth below. Time was not on our side—with a ground elevation of 400 feet rising sharply up a forest-covered hill, the attack must be swift and precise. And worse yet, houses dotted the farmlands, where innocent people lived, probably unaware of the air battle that raged overhead. Keep 500 feet from any struc- ture—this is a rule of war that must be obeyed. The response came in only a few seconds: “I’ve got visual on the balloon.” It was a calm, confi dent voice that came over the airwaves, one that could only come from experience. This, despite his age. David was the youngest of the balloon busters. Since childhood, he had seen the Hmmm...the author (left) looks like he’s great ones in action at Rhinebeck. Cole Palen had led his band of pilots to such stunning victories over the about to confess, doesn’t he? Must’ve rubber devils to the roar of applause from the grandstands! The aerobatic Stampe, the Tiger Moth and the changed his mind! beautiful blue and yellow Davis monoplane would swoop and dive for the kill, like children playing games in the sky. I’m sure he never dreamed the day would come when he too would sit at the controls of his own aircraft, Balloon Buster, alone, at just 15 years of age. It’s not like he was unprepared. Oh the kid was good, he was real good. And not the cocky sort like the fi ghter pilots you may have heard about. He seemed almost lackadaisical about his fl ying prow- ess and his beautiful new cream and orange fi ghter, a mid-wing Ison MAX 103. It featured a 30-hp Kawasaki turning a three-blade composite prop with razor-sharp edges, sure death for any balloon foolish enough to get in the way. But balloon busting is no cakewalk. I’ve seen high-time pilots who couldn’t even fi nd the balloon, let alone hit it with the prop. But this was now David’s favorite sport. Back at Top Gun Kindergarten, he had killed dozens, fl ying dual with me in the venerable old J-3. In just the last 20 minutes he had downed two, playing with them fi rst like a cat with a mouse, but ultimately sending them to the ground in defeat. “One,” he later reported, “exploded and got caught on the tip of the prop blade where it spun around for a second before fl ying off into space.” After so many victories, I’m proud to say that he still considered me to be better at it than he was. But now I only watched from above, circling like an old buzzard over the battle zone. The MAX accelerated in a dive for the kill, only an ultralight, but looking for all the world like Tex Hill’s P-40. The dark, blood red balloon was done for. But not yet. “Why kill it so soon?” I knew he was thinking, as it sailed over his right wing. The open fi elds of upstate New York provide “Please announce your intentions next time, or else it looks like you missed,” I radioed. The MAX the perfect venue for a Cub and Mini- did a hairpin turn in mid air. MAX to team up on a battalion of balloon “OK,” came the reply. “I’m going to miss this one.” enemies. “Stinking kid!” I thought. I meant he should be specifi c! Where will the balloon go? Over the wing, left or right? Through the prop without breaking? What? He should call his shots. Again it fl ew just above his wing, being thrown lower each time, with the downward wash from the airfoil. He was getting bored, and so I called out the ultimate challenge. “Slap it with your hand!” That had never been done before. It meant getting the balloon through the prop unbroken and actually reaching out of the open cockpit to contact the balloon. Looking back, keeping an eye on the balloon constantly, he whipped the little fi ghter around with a tight 60° bank back toward the target. I guess reaching for the balloon was asking too much. The red party favor fl oated freely by, missing his hand by a yard. But now it was time to get serious. The forest loomed below as a growing menace. David Clark, the author’s son, became the proud “I’m going in for the kill,” he radioed, now on his fourth pass. owner and pilot of this Mini-MAX at age 15 thanks to This would be the easy part. Just keep the bandit dead in his sights and it would be his dad’s handiwork. all over. But it was not to be! Inconceivably, the tricky devil bounced forward off the propeller blade and up and around the prop! What was this balloon made of? The enemy was on the run and escaping to the safety of the woods! This would mean victory for the rubber devil and defeat and humiliation for David and Balloon Buster. Wisely though, the young man called off the attack. Thus he would live to fi ght another day.

20 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com Me? I’d been slowly descending with the action. I could still see the dark red balloon shining defi antly in the sunshine above the forest, drifting ever nearer to the hillside. It looked back at me, laughing at me! It had defeated my son, and it was now taunting me! I was the master. I had the Cub. And it was getting away! Let’s pop this puppy and go home. Carb heat on! Down we dove for what would be, for me, an easy strike. Diving, banking, I at- tacked with guns blazing. An easy kill... Overconfi dence had ruled my thinking. The old master had missed, and my rival shouted insults from behind. The frontal at- tack had failed. I would have to outwit this enemy. This bloody red devil must die! Being below the ridge of the hill, I turned toward the open farmland, purposely losing more altitude as the Cub and I swung around for the fi nal assault. With the enemy now in my windshield, I poured on full throttle. It The World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration. would be impossible to escape a prop turn- ing at high rpm. Now climbing up at his belly You Gotta be there! from underneath, he was dead in my sights, and all the laughter stopped. July 24 — 30, 2006 He darted left and right, up and down in desperation. The old trick, trying to get the pilot to over-control. Cool handedly, I made only the slightest corrections. Steady… www.airventure.org/igottabethere steady! We’re dead on target. I’ve got to hear the pop! But there was no pop. The red blur fl ashed past my left window not 6 inches away and seamed to vanish. I looked behind but saw nothing. Heading back to the fi eld, climbing to pat- tern altitude, I radioed the MAX 103: “I got FOUR STROKE POWER! THE 700E - 60 H.P. that balloon for ya.” That must be why fi ght- ers fl y in pairs, I thought. • LIGHTPLANES • 122 LBS. COMPLETE But, as I write this now, I confess—it was • UL TRAINERS • LOW FUEL CONSUMPTION a lie. I had no proof of a kill. There was no • GYROS • SUPER QUIET MUFFLERS pop. It could have gotten blown down out of • TRIKES • 2 REDUCTION RATIOS my sight. But I couldn’t return and tell my son • REPLICAS • PUSHER OR TRACTOR that I too had been defeated. • PPC’s • WARRANTY And so I wonder…is there, somewhere in HPower - LTD. the forested hills of Argyle, New York, a dark P.O. Box 690 red balloon laughing at me? Ellington, CT 06029 —Hank Clark 860-875-8185 • Fax 860-870-5499 • HUNDREDS FLYING www.HKS700E.com - SPECS • 3 VIEWS • INSTALLATIONS

KITPLANES July 2006 21 15 and Flying continued knew who was profi cient in a Mini- MAX and lived near enough to Had my dad not been there, the kit come test fl y it. Th en there was my would have never been completed. dad. He had more than 400 hours, Between the two of us we did all the but I couldn’t bear the thought of building. Although he liked to help, something going wrong with the his time was limited by a busy medical airplane and his getting hurt. practice and the needs of a growing Who did that leave? Me, of family. I am his oldest son and second of course. I was reasonably confi dent nine children. In the end, I built most of in my stick and rudder fl ying skills. the airplane (Dad says 96%) and did all I had a little time in a Citabria the covering and painting. I covered it for tailwheel practice, and I had with 1.6-ounce fabric and then painted fl own with my dad enough that the When the author purchased the in-progress kit, it with latex. Th e latex was not in the Citabria instructor, my dad and I some of the ribs, the tail section and part of the original plan, but when it came down were all comfortable with my abili- landing gear were complete. The wings, however, were up to him. to it, latex was the simplest and cheap- ties. So the question was in the air- est method. I painted the wings and tail frame: Was it built well? in my bedroom, one at a time, and the Looking back, I laugh. Th e Mini-MAX is designed to be extremely strong, and I had fuselage in the shop. I am happy with built it exactly to the plans. Th ere was no reason that I should not have had complete the paint job, as it has proved to be quite trust in the airframe right from the beginning, but like many builders I was very ner- durable. Th e only negative property I vous on the fi rst few fl ights. have found to latex is the low gloss. Th e fi rst day that I had my Mini-MAX assembled at the airport, I just taxied up and Building a plane is an amazing learn- down the 2500-foot grass runway, eventually raising the tail. It was getting dark, so I ing experience! put it away and went home. I was so excited I didn’t sleep well that night. Th e next day was May 1. Dad and I drove to the strip, pulled the airplane out and looked it over. It Liftoff ! looked good to me—all the nuts, bolts and pins were in place. My dad did a very careful Spring 2005 came, and the plane was prefl ight inspection and so did Joe Youvan, the owner of the strip. ready to fl y. Th ree years had come and Satisfi ed that all was well, I taxied up and down the runway. Th en I went for it. With gone. At the age of 15, I became both full power, it came right off the ground! I fl ew it about 1000 feet along the runway, then builder and test pilot. Th e question had slowly eased the power out and brought it down like a leaf to a perfect three-point land- been a troubling one: “Who is going to ing. Th ere was no wind, so I fl ew it up and down the runway. When we put it away for fl y this airplane fi rst?” Th ere was no one I the night, I was all smiles; I had soloed! On the next trip out, I fl ew the pattern. Currently, I have about 10 hours in the Mini- MAX, but that number is The author calls the airplane’s takeoff climbing with every nice amazing—with just 25 hp, the MAX gets evening. Oh, and I did off the ground in just more than 100 feet fi nally let my dad fl y it; he and climbs at 500 fpm at 40 mph. said I looked like an expect- ant father in an obstet- rics ward when he fi nally taxied in. He had that smil- ing problem, too. Some Personal Touches Th e airplane itself is as sim- ple as possible. Keeping it light was key. I used one Grand Rapids EIS for all of my instrumentation. It is amazing that the little EIS can do so much. I have my airspeed, altitude, rate of climb, tach, EGT and CHT all on the digital readout at once. I guess you could say I have a glass panel!

22 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com ENGINE COMPONENTS, INC. Th e most enjoyable part of building Aviation.Manufacturing.Innovation. was craft ing the fi nishing details. I gave the 1100 my personal touch by hand- carving my stick grip and throttle knob, ® coming up with a way to mount my head- rest without any external hardware, and fi tting a fl atter, wider fuel tank into the front of the fuselage to accommodate my size 13 shoes. (OK, so maybe it wasn’t built exactly, exactly to the plans!) I have had a ball fl ying the plane, and I give my thanks to Wayne Ison who designed such a beautifully fl ying plane. It fl ies extremely well on just 25 hp. I have a climb rate of close to 500 fpm and a cruise of almost 50 mph. Landings will continue to be a lot longer than take- off s until I add brakes. I am planning to streamline the struts to clean it up a little bit and add just a little to the cruise speed. Many thanks to my parents, Max and Karen Self, for the use of the garage for most of the building process (especially to Mom, who loaded kids into cars in the rain and cold for months), for putting up with all my messes and for the moral

® Kit Engines support I got from them. I couldn’t have YOUR PLANE•YOUR CHOICE Call for your FREE done it without them. KitEngine Information Th is coming summer, I’d like to fl y my Packet (MKIT101B). Visit our website for Mini-MAX to some local fl y-ins and air- suppliers nearest you. shows. I would love to fi nd some kindred spirits and do some formation fl ying. I 1.800.ECi.2FLY Kit Engine™ with All New FAA-PMA Parts have tossed the idea of fl ying to Oshkosh www.eci2fly.com around in my head. It would be quite a [email protected] feat in this plane, but I am sure it would be an unforgettable adventure. And my ECiECi XperimentalXperimental ProductsProducts Quality Management System EXPTM private pilot training is soon to begin in ISO 9001:2000 ECi Xperimental Kit Engine™ for the Kit Builder REGISTERED my dad’s 1953 Piper Tri-Pacer. ©2005 ECI Engine Components, Inc. | 9503 Middlex | San Antonio, TX 78217 | Tel 210.820.8101 | Fax 210.820.8102 So, What’s Next? Th at’s the question I am most oft en asked, of course. Well, who knows? Maybe an AIRCRAFT TOOL SUPPLY COMPANY RV-7—I don’t really know. But one thing 1000 Old U.S. 23 l Oscoda l Michigan l 48750 I do know: I will always enjoy fl ying the Tel: 989-739-1447 l 24-Hour Fax: 989-739-1448 Mini-MAX! ATS PRO TUBE BEADING KIT AIRCRAFT TOOL As for my dad, he now foresees a The Parker Beading Tool has SUPPLY COMPANY fl eet of six or seven of his boys fl ying been the number one choice their homebuilts in formation. Maybe of mechanics for making Tools To someday… clamping beads in metal Fly By... tubes. Capable of making For more information on the Mini- mar-free beads in aluminum, ATS copper, brass and mild steel PRO TUBE MAX designs, contact JDT Mini-MAX BEADING www.aircraft-tool.com KIT tubes ranging from 1/4” to 1” PAGE 107 at 574/773-2151. A direct link to the Call for your new AP145....$399.95 diameter 2005 company’s web site can be found at www. catalog Order on-line at: www.aircraft-tool.com 1-800-248-0638 kitplanes.com.

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ForFor fasterfaster serviceservice andand thethe lowestlowest subscriptionsubscription raterate www.kitplanes.comwww.kitplanes.com oror callcall 800-622-1065800-622-1065 Wringing out Flight your new Experimental Test isn’t just about adrenaline. Like BY MARC COOK A Pro

n the broad spectrum of pilot beliefs is Ithis: Flight testing Experimental air- craft —an RV-9 or an FA-18, doesn’t matter—is a test of steely nerve, courage overriding caution and requires the likes of a Yeager or a Crossfi eld. It also says here that the prototypical test pilot has swag- ger to spare and leaves the trifl ing details of This is the perception of fl ight testing: fl ight test to the pocket-protector-wearing Get-your-kicks fl ying fun. Well, it can be, engineers on the ground. Be sure there’s ice but you won’t get good fl ight test data if you’re grinning all the time... for my highball aft er the fl ight because this is going to be a kick in the pants...is what you might imagine. Like most pilots with a rich and well Welcome to the Real World illustrated fantasy life, this depiction of Genuine, no-kidding fl ight test work—the kind that pilots actually get paid to do—is fl ight test is both stereotypical and utter- exacting and arduous. It seeks the truth among a variety of performance parameters ly, completely wrong. Watch the pros, and is designed to prevent (or reduce) confusion, inaccuracy and misperception. And the real pilots tasked with fl ight test, while the Phase I portion of your fl ight testing need not be quite as exacting as, say, and you’ll be watching the aeronautical development fl ight test for Boeing, borrowing some of the pros’ methodologies and equivalent of drying paint. From the out- philosophies can only be a good thing. side, it’s dull, tedious work—all numbers Before we get started, though, it’s worth going over the ground rules of fi rst fl ights and notes and fl ight-test profi les yet very and fl ight testing overall. Most important, you and the airplane both have to be ready little yank and bank. Th ere’s not a silk for the endeavor. For you, it’s experience, rest, practice and metal state. For the air- scarf in sight. plane, it means paperwork and insurance, as well as three additional items: inspection,

Photos: AGE Photostock, Marc Cook KITPLANES July 2006 25 Test Like A Pro continued

One of the best ways to gather data and re- inspection, inspection. All good kits view fl ight testing is to photograph or tape it. come with a thorough post-built/pre- Here, a digital video camera is mounted high behind the copilot’s seat so that it has a broad fi rst-fl ight checklist that you should fol- range of view. Even so, this camera required low closely. If your kit is not so endowed, an add-on wide-angle lens to place the whole spend a bit of time on the web or at your instrument panel in the frame. Other tests, local bookstore for guidance. Th ere is a looking at just the engine monitor, were run wonderful series of fl ight-test (and test without the adapter. preparation) articles on the web from Sequoia Aircraft , the company selling the Falco kits. (For a direct link to this an other fl ight-test resources, visit www. kitplanes.com.) Similarly, there’s guid- ance from the FAA in Advisory Circu- lar 90-89A, also available as a PDF from your favorite feds. Take the time to integrate any gener- ic (or other-aircraft -specifi c) prefl ight checklists with your builder’s manual so that you don’t miss anything. Th is, the time just before fi rst fl ight, is the time to slow down, take thorough stock of what you’ve done and how you’ve done it, and to include your ever-growing circle of fel- low homebuilder friends in the fun. Ask your local builders, tech counselors and even production-aircraft A&Ps to spend time looking over your airplane. Every Audio commentary is also hugely homebuilder has a story about a part put valuable. This adapter (arrow), sold by in wrong, safety wire missing, or other Aircraft Spruce, allows tapping into the aircraft intercom system to place audio miscues that had been under his direct on the video tape, or it can be jacked gaze for months and many, many opera- into a voice recorder. tions. Aft er awhile, you can easily fail to see the forest for the trees. Create Your Plan Th is is not a tale about how to do fi rst to follow, starting with fi rst fl ight. Th e purpose of which, you’ve probably heard, is to fl ights. Th ere are many excellent resourc- carefully validate some very basic performance parameters of the airplane. Namely, will es that will take you by the hand from it fl y safely? Th at fi rst sortie should be brief and careful. You’re there to make sure the those last days of building, through fi nal- engine continues to run in a fairly narrow range of power and mixture settings; you’re izing the paperwork, getting the signoff there to determine the airplane’s basic stability profi le—is it or isn’t it?; and you’re there and steeling yourself for the day you’ve so to get the fi rst tiny taste of what the airplane is like at low airspeeds that just nudge the long anticipated. Instead, what we’d like stall. And you’re doing this not to fi ll out a lot of boxes in the flight test card but, per- to off er are both guidance in tools for a haps ironically, to be sure that your fi rst takeoff is sometime later followed by a safe successful fl ight test program and a look landing. at the underlying philosophy that props Th e second fl ight? If you’re like the pros, it will be a carbon copy of the fi rst, gently up professional fl ight testing. Aft er all, exploring a small portion of the fl ight envelope while verifying that any discrepancies you get only one fi rst fl ight. Beyond that, noted on the fi rst fl ight have been satisfactorily fi xed. (More on squawks later.) the process must take on new meaning, In order to actually fl y your plan, create something to pros call “fl ight test cards.” with ever-expanding goals. Th ey are exactly as they sound: Th ick paper cards with every step of the fl ight outlined. Looking down that long road of fl ight Th ey contain benchmarks for things like airspeeds and confi gurations, as well as each testing—whether you get the perfunc- step in the testing regimen set in a logical order. Trust us on this: You will be too excited tory 25 hours or are expected to put in during the fi rst few fl ights—perhaps from anticipation or just unbridled joy that your the full 40—it helps to have a plan. AC collection of parts is now an airplane—to keep many numbers in your mental memory 90-89A provides a good general outline bank.

26 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com Flight cards provide critical quick-look information and, if you do them well, will also include a place to make notes. It’s very likely that the excitement of the fi rst few fl ights will make your memory less than sponge-like, so it’s worth jot- ting down any and all performance and engine-related information you can. But There’s A Better Way So much fl ight-test data acquisition takes place that putting everything on a note- pad strapped to your leg isn’t the best route. Enterprising builders—now fl y- ers—have come up with many ways to improve data-gathering tasks during fl ight test. Here are a few of them. •Tape Recordings. One of the best ways to relive the fi rst fl ights is to record them to tape. We like those new digital voice recorders that allow you to directly place the audio fi les on your computer. Why is this such a good deal? Because they also contain an inherent timing track that you can later use for performance moni- toring and validation. Th ey’re extraordi- narily good for doing the climb testing. It’s a snap to begin the climb phase, call out “start” and then call out altitude increments along the way. When you review the audio fi le later, you’ll have an accurate, running timeline to use to cal- culate average rates of climb through spe- cifi c blocks of altitude. Fine, but how do you get the audio into the device? Th ere are a couple of good options. Many devices can be fi tted with “pass through” microphones that fi t into your ear. Wear one of these under your headset and everything you hear will go onto the recording...grunts, notes, heavy breathing, the lot. An alternative is a patch cord. Air- craft Spruce sells a patch cord/imped- ance matcher that you can plug into the headset jack on the airplane and have the output routed to the audio recorder. You may have to play with the gain settings on the recorder to get the audio to sound good, but it’s worth the eff ort. Remem- ber, though, that the recorder will only hear what’s coming through the radio and the intercom in this mode, so be sure to check all jacks and wiring for function- ality—and literally speak your mind. •Video Recording. Better, from a total- ity of data point of view, if slightly more

KITPLANES July 2006 27 Test Like A Pro continued just about every data point, including air- speed, attitude, altitude, heading, and so complicated, is to record your fl ights on. Th e missing element, usually, is con- in video. Done with an audio hook-in, text. For this reason, it’s useful to back up you’ll have redundant data paths—what- this data stream with time or event mark- ever the camera can see on the instrument ers. Watch the clock on the device that’s panel and out the windows, as well as the sending the data stream and note—on audio track on which you’ll be making the tape or on your fl ight cards—the start verbal notes of the fl ight. (Yes, you’ll feel and end times of each maneuver. Th at odd talking to yourself, but even the Yea- way you’ll have some chance of picking gers of the world do it. Relax.) Moreover, them out of the data later. you’d be surprised to learn how many Incidentally, storing data from an things have missed your attention while EFIS will require a serial connection to fl ying that you notice only aft er seeing the a laptop computer and logging soft ware. fl ight on fi lm. “Humm. I never noticed RV-8 builder Kevin Horton has creat- the prop overspeeding for a second or ed excellent recording scripts that will two on the takeoff roll,” you might say. absorb and massage the fl ight data. (Link Or: “Hey, that pre-stall buff et wasn’t as on our site.) pronounced as I thought it was.” Th e key to getting good video in the Getting the Numbers cockpit is understanding your camera. As we’ve suggested, much of initial fl ight Will it focus where you want it to, or test involves performance-data acquisi- Sensors, sensors everywhere. But are they hunt? Can you manually set the focus? tion. You’re doing this to validate the per- accurate? No good fl ight-test program starts And there’s exposure. It’s possible to formance of the airplane, sure, but also to without a baseline calibration of all sensing systems, airspeed included. have the camera adjust for light com- make certain that the engine and other ing in the windshield to the point that systems will be up to harsh treatment in you can’t read the instruments. If you’re real life. Th at’s why one of the most chal- more interested in these indications— lenging fl ight-test items on the production side of the fence is called the climb-cooling and you should be—see if you can manu- test. (It simulates worst-case conditions of high ambient temperature with the airplane ally set the exposure so that the needles climbing at its best-angle airspeed at maximum-gross weight using max-recommended are always properly lighted even if the climb power. If you’ve wondered why some production turbocharged airplanes have view outside is signifi cantly overexposed. massive inlets and cowl fl aps large enough to hide a donkey, this test is probably the one Remember, this is not vacation footage; responsible. It’s also been said that the engine manufacturers’ CHT limits are also set it’s about learning your airplane. by the airframers trying to squeeze extra performance out of the airplane. Aft er all, who •Electronic Measures. If you’re run- would willingly allow their engine to run 500° CHTs?) ning a newfangled EFIS system, it’s possi- Early in the traditional fl ight-test program comes calibration of the pitot-static sys- ble that you can jack into the data stream tem. Of course, you should have had it checked on the ground before you fl ew—and if created by the unit that drives the dis- you’re using an altitude-encoding transponder in controlled airspace, you’ll have had play. Th e current Dynon boxes, for exam- this inspection to be legal—but there are inevitably errors that show up in fl ight due to ple, output a data stream that presents placement issues with the static ports and/or instrument integrity.

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Contact Avemco now to save up to 10% on your premium with our Safety Rewards Program. 411 Aviation Way, Suite 100, Frederick, Maryland 21701 PHONE WEB MAIL 888-241-7890 • Fax: 800-756-7815 Call 888-241-7890 Log on to Send your information Mon. to Fri. 8 - 7:30 ET, Sat. 10 - 6 ET for an immediate quote www.avemco.com to Avemco www.avemco.com Traditionally, fl ight testing of the pitot/static system involved fl ying a course of a known distance and calculating the true airspeed at any given altitude. Now with GPS navigators aboard just about every airplane—and probably in your car sitting in front of the hangar—it’s possible to get accurate groundspeed and heading data that can be reduced to determine instrument error. Speaking of errors, in our January issue, we posited a simplifi ed method of check- ing TAS against GS that prompted builder Horton, a professional test pilot himself, to point out as an error. It is not strictly true that fl ying four legs, 90° to each other, and averaging the groundspeeds will give you TAS. In fact, this process works only when the wind is calm—and, for that matter, when it’s perfectly calm, GS equals TAS—or relatively light. He points out that with a 30-knot wind at altitude, a 150-knot airplane will calculate out to a 1% error on the high side; with 60 knots of wind, the error grows to 4%. Horton is correct, of course, and we should all strive to hit 1% accuracy or better. A better way, he says, is to use a formula developed by Australian Doug Gray that takes the GS and heading from three legs and calculates out the wind triangle. By working the geometry of the air- plane’s path against the wind, it’s pos- sible to get extremely accurate TAS data. In practice, it’s a matter of plac- ing the airplane on a heading. Th en you wait for the GS to stabilize; note the heading and GS. Turn 90° or 120° and repeat. When you get down, you’ll have six sets of data for that altitude and power setting, three headings and three groundspeeds. Plug them into Gray’s Excel spreadsheet, and you’ll get a TAS calculation that’s just as (and, for that matter, only as) good as your raw data. But there’s more to it than that, there’s an entire philosophy behind data acquisition that many builders either don’t fully appreciate or choose Here is a sample fl ight test card developed by to gloss over. Th e cardinal rule: Never RV-9A builder Andy Karmy. It’s available for rely on one set of data points. When download in Microsoft Word format from the you think you’ve got good data, go out web. (See our web site, www.kitplanes.com, for a link to this source.) and do it again. Verify results always, and keep doing so until the results agree very closely. Some other things to consider while doing this part of your fl ight test: •Consider weather eff ects carefully. Don’t try to gather data when the winds are up and the atmosphere is all atwitter. Rapidly moving airmasses will introduce signifi cant errors into the data. Wait until the air is smooth and stable, or nearly so, before trying to get TAS data. Th is is especially true when you work through the bottom part of the airplane’s speed range. (You were planning to validate the airspeed indicator’s accuracy near the stall and at high angles of attack, right?) •Take your time. When sitting there, doing the GS triangles, allow the airplane to fully accelerate from the turn and give the GPS time to read a consistent GS. Attempt to stay within a defi ned box for all data points so that the wind eff ects are relatively constant. If the airplane settles on a diff erent indicated airspeed on one of the legs, retest and throw the anomalous leg out; absent up- or down-draft s, the airplane should return to the same indicated airspeed as long as the altitude and power setting has not changed. (Watch carefully for mixture creep.) Test Like A Pro continued

•Create a full matrix. Early in fl ight test, it’s suffi cient to spot check airspeed errors and see how your airplane stacks up in speed to the specifi cations, but as you push ahead through Phase I, it’s important to try various altitudes at vari- ous power and mixture settings. You may fi nd that the optimum cruise speed—for effi ciency—is not where you expect. And, for that matter, the specifi cations pre- sented by the kit manufacturers might be either inaccurate or incomplete. (Th e truth is that most kit manufacturers are too busy to complete a Boeing-like fl ight- test program to validate performance claims.) •Calibrate the other sensors. Dou- ble-check the veracity of your outside- air-temp probe or gauge by fl ying with another airplane to see how they match up. If they’re off , one of you is wrong. You can take a very rough hack by cross- checking the forecasted winds aloft , which come with temperature data, but the best way is to error check among three aircraft with similar OAT-probe placement. (Wasn’t long ago that some kit manufacturers knowingly placed the OAT probe in an area prone to picking up engine heat. Th is would make the true airspeeds seem higher than they were.) A Last Word On Note Taking Th ere may be nothing more boring than writing every part of your fl ight test in a notebook, but it should be considered good form. Everything you can think to record on the fi rst fl ight should be, including fuel and oil consumption, speeds, power settings, and so on. You are in uncharted territory, and because most savvy airplane owners and pilots know that trouble oft en lurks not in the movement of a needle into the red zone but from a divergence from “what is normal” for the airplane, it pays now, and in the future, to know precisely what is normal. Th at, images of white scarves aside, is what professional fl ight testing is all about. 

Links to fl ight-testing resources can be found at www.kitplanes.com.

30 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com Designer Spotlight: Darryl Murphy Renegade? Rebel? Moose? Are we describing the man or the machines? BY TIM KERN

f you had been born the day Darryl Murphy started building kit airplanes commercially, Iyou’d be well past voting age by now. Over the course of those 20 or so years, the homebuilt aircraft landscape has evolved dramatically. Th at evolution, of course, has forced tremendous turnover in both designs and the companies that build them. Along that “trail littered with dead and resurrected companies” (as Murphy describes it), Murphy Aircraft has been a survivor. “I was told there were over 200 kit manufac- turers in 1985 when I started,” Murphy says. “Now there are maybe fi ve or six still under the same ownership: Challenger [Quad City], RANS, Van’s, Zenair and Murphy. Even Kolb, even CGS—they’ve taken on partners, or gone bankrupt, gone out of and back into business, or something.” A bit of a stretch, maybe, but not by much. Hard pressed, it would be diffi cult to come up with too many more operations successfully pro- ducing kits under original ownership, especial- In 1979, Murphy started work on the JDM-1, ly with any kind of signifi cant volume. Murphy a rigid-wing hang glider. Little did he know is undeniably proud of his company’s longevity, that he would end up spending his life for good reason: “Lasting 20 years or more is a producing aircraft kits. big deal,” he declares. An Aircraft Designer Emerges Murphy grew up in a Royal Canadian Air Force family, traveling from base to base like many military families do and spending four years overseas, in France. And like so many lightplane designers, Murphy succumbed to the serious fl ying bug aft er getting a taste of gravity-powered fl ight.

Shades of Mr. Murphy, over the years. Top right, 18 months old and already into biking. Bottom right, class photos at age 11 and age 17. Top left, Murphy in 2004, a slew of aircraft designs later.

Photos: Rick Lindstrom, Kevin Wing, Courtesy Darryl Murphy KITPLANES July 2006 31 Darryl Murphy continued mechanical engineering technologist. All my aviation design is self-taught. I like read- ing aviation books, and I have quite a library of them.” “In the mid 70s, I saw my fi rst hang Hang gliding also gave him his fi rst try at homebuilding—in 1979, he built the JDM- glider,” he said. “I got together with some 1, a rigid-wing hang glider. (JDM are Murphy’s initials.) Unfortunately, it was crushed other wannabe fl iers and hired some in a home move, and it never got the chance to fl y. Little did Murphy know at the time, hang-gliding pros to come to Moose Jaw, however, that there would be a whole line of JDM designs to follow. Saskatchewan, to show us how to do it. I Over the next few years, Murphy worked as a manager at a door manufacturing enjoyed hang gliding. I didn’t do a lot of company. He designed equipment for disabled people (hydraulic lift s for showers and it, but I really enjoyed it.” swimming pools, for example) and also designed some farm equipment. Still Murphy His thrill-seeking tendencies weren’t liked fl ying, and he had that engineering tech degree. He knew the time for a change was upon him, and misfortune brought him the oppor- tunity to contemplate his future. “I had a [hunting] accident that put me in the hospital for four months,” he said. “Th ey told me I wouldn’t walk again. When you’re sitting in bed four months, you have a lot of time. Th at’s how the Renegade biplane got designed.” In the beginning, Murphy wasn’t looking at the Ren- egade as a commercial venture. He just liked biplanes and wanted to go fl ying. Fortunately, his technical skills and stress-analysis skills meshed. “A biplane is basically a sim- ple truss, and I was good at trusses,” he said. Murphy also wanted the plane to fi t Canada’s ultralight category, so it had to be light, and he wanted it to be capable of aerobat- ics. Building the fi rst Renegade was diffi cult, though, with Murphy fi rst on crutches and then using a cane. It took more than a year. Oh, and Murphy didn’t have a pilot’s license, either. He had a friend conduct the fi rst fl ights in the original Rotax 447-powered Renegade, but then Murphy did something The Renegade concept was hatched as Murphy lie in a hospital bed recover- few of us ever get to do. “I was actually able to do my fi rst ing from a hunting accident. Murphy designed it around Canada’s ultralight solo in an airplane I designed,” he said. “I spent a lot of category and selected the biplane confi guration because of his skill with time taxiing it, getting used to it.” trusses, he says. Here, he checks the fi t of the prototype. Murphy sold that original machine 20 years ago and bought it back about seven years ago. “Th e guys in the limited to hang gliding. A true adventur- shop did a total restoration, and when it was ready, they asked me if I wanted to fl y it,” er, Murphy’s recreational pursuits also he said. “It was pretty windy that day, so I said I’d rather wait until the wind calmed included motocross, snowmobiling and down. It was destroyed in the windstorm that night. I still have it, and it’s restorable, but judo. By 18, he had his black belt and a it’s not fl yable right now, that’s for sure.” bunch of provincial championships. He also tried parachuting but found it bor- A Kit Company is Born ing. “Th e ’chute opened, and the thrill Murphy, then 35 (now he’s 55 “going on 25, was gone,” he said. sometimes”), loved fl ying his new creation. Murphy took a shot at becoming an “I’d just set a Slurpee on the dashboard and Air Force pilot, but he couldn’t pass the fl y to all the ultralight airports in the area,” eye exam. Instead, he was off ered a nav- he said. Aft er a while, the Renegade began igator position. “Th at didn’t appeal to to attract attention on the local fl ying me,” he said. “If you’re not in charge, circuit. Fellow pilots starting chirping then there’s not much point.” about the airplane, wondering if it might Murphy had quit high school in the be available commercially. Murphy pilots the fi nished Renegade over 10th grade and gone to work on the Soon, Murphy put the shingle out and the Fraser Valley in British Columbia. A few railroads, but he returned to earn his started selling plans and kits for the design. minutes later, he suff ered a power failure and put it down in a corn fi eld. diploma at age 21, still railroading on But despite the initial interest, he closed the midnight shift . In 1978, he earned just one sale in the fi rst four months he was an Engineering Technology degree in business. Th at changed quickly, thanks to the aviation press—a little ink made the at Saskatchewan Institute of Applied venture commercially viable, Murphy said. “A friend fl ew it for an editor, who then fl ew Science and Technology. What that it himself while wearing a ’chute. He did a big write-up, and that was instrumental in means, Murphy says, is that “I’m a getting those fi rst few sales.”

32 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com Twenty years later, that original tube-and-fabric Renegade biplane is still being produced. “We sell probably a dozen a year,” Murphy says. “We’re at 703, in serial numbers.” When Murphy got serious about building a commercial oper- ation, he realized that the Renegade alone wouldn’t be enough to succeed. “Th ere have been some great airplanes designed that haven’t been commercial successes, because the designers weren’t good businessmen,” he said. “Conversely, many a bad design has been a commercial success, at least in the short run.” Th e solution? A new design—the Murphy Rebel. A major departure from the tube-and-rag Renegade, the Rebel featured all-aluminum construction around a design built for utility, back country, heaver-hauler fl ying. Murphy knew the design would appeal to a much larger market segment than a vintage biplane design. The year is 1985, and Darryl (front) and his father, John, try the two- Of course, there were plenty of skeptics. “When I went to place Renegade II on for size. the Rebel, everybody thought I was stupid,” Murphy said. “I was making tube-and-fabric airplanes, and I wanted to build a sheet-metal airplane. Th e reaction was the same when I wanted to build a Super Rebel, and I’ve sold 295 of them so far!” From The Rebel to the Moose Th e Rebel concept ended up so successful that it spawned a line of designs that now comprises most of Murphy’s current product line. Th e beefed-up Super Rebel fol- lowed the Rebel—though originally dubbed “SR2500,” the Super Rebel ended up with a 3000-pound maximum gross weight, a 500-pound increase from the original plan. Murphy says it was simply a matter of giving the customers what they wanted. “Before we fi nished the original Super Rebel design, people approached us and talked us into the 540 and 470 engines. So, we put a 540 in the airplane and took advantage Murphy bought the original Renegade of the extra horsepower. We re-evaluated everything and made a 3000-pound airplane. back in the late 90s and restored it. The Th ey sold extremely well.” night before the fi rst fl ight, a windstorm destroyed it. Time for another restoration.

Th e SR2500 soon grew to the SR3500 Seven Questions for Darryl Murphy… (for 3500-pound gross weight), a natural evolution. “A customer put an M-14 At what point in your life did you know you’d make a career in aviation? radial engine in one, so we had pressure At age 35, bored stiff while managing a glass door company. to make it,” Murphy said. “I thought it was a novelty at best, but some customers Which of your designs are you most proud of? modifi ed their airplanes, and I saw the Th e Renegade Spirit, a wonderful-handling aircraft . need to make modifi cations to bring it to 3500 pounds (on wheels).” What homebuilt aircraft designer do you most respect? Customers dubbed the new design Richard VanGrunsven—excellent performance with conservative design. “Th e Moose,” and the moniker stuck. Since then, Murphy’s biggest machine Other than the aircraft you’ve designed, which currently available homebuilt has received a lot of attention and a lot would you most like to own? A Turbine Legend. of orders, partly because the aircraft can adapt to so many missions. “We recently What’s the most signifi cant change you’ve seen in the homebuilt industry since demonstrated the M-14-powered Moose you fi rst began designing aircraft? Th e introduction of quickbuild kits. in Mexico City,” Murphy said. “Th ey were looking for an airplane that could What question do you hear most often from customers building your aircraft? catch drug runners; it needed the ability What gross weight can I really fl y at safely? to get into the same short strips the run- ners use.” What’s the key for a company to stick around in the homebuilt industry? Th e Moose has also become a favor- One owner and a new design every few years. ite with engine-swappers. Its looks are reminiscent of the DHC-2 Beaver,

KITPLANES July 2006 33 Darryl Murphy continued especially with the M-14 radial up front, and its ability and capacity have made it a dominating heavy-hauler in its arena. However, it isn’t for everybody. Murphy cites the fuel costs and the pilot work- load as considerations. “We [at Murphy Aircraft ] want an airplane that’s going to use 8-10 gph, not 14-16,” he said. “So [for everyday company fl ying] we’ve gone back to the original Super Rebel.” Th e Moose made a another splash Murphy and Co. made a splash with the Renegade Spirit at Sun ‘n Fun 1987. The team, clock- a few years back as the test bed for the wise from top left—Dave Walker, Darryl Murphy, Randy Rouck and Robin Dyck. new six-cylinder, V-shaped engine being developed by Bombardier and represent- original version of the Super Rebel [the one that was never built because customer- ed here by Florida-based Aircraft Engine demand led to the increased gross weight of the SR2500]. Twenty-fi ve hundred pounds, Services. “Th ey needed a fairly large air- reasonable capacity, comfortable and with reasonable range,” Murphy said. “It’s a big plane that could fl y at safe speeds,” Mur- airplane, a true four-seater, not a 2+2. Gross weight is 2550 pounds with a 360 in it, but phy said. “One that could land and be it will also handle a 390.” survivable with a power failure. Th at’s Th e Yukon is the lightest of the four sheet-metal designs, and it has the greatest wing why they chose the Moose. I fl ew that area. Lowering the wing loading gave it better fl oat performance, and it’s also the easiest airplane, and it was very smooth,” Mur- to handle because of its lower landing speed. “We’re not interested in high speed,” Mur- phy said. phy says. “We want to get off the water with four people and full fuel. We’re looking for a good all-around airplane.” At the present, Murphy is working on prototype design. Th e fi nished project will look like a lot like the Moose and Super Rebel, but it’ll have that lower wing loading and an O-360 up front. Th e biggest diff erence, aside from weight and power, is that the Yukon will also be available in a nosewheel confi guration. It’s an important philosophical shift for Mur- phy, who made a tri-gear version of the Rebel Elite that never really sold well and has suggested that it might not have been worth the trouble. Times are, apparently, changing, and so is Murphy. Build, Don’t Redesign One of Murphy’s hot buttons, common among designers, is builders who modify his designs. “An airplane is only as strong as its weakest link,” Murphy says. “You have to look at every single part when you modify one. One of the things that keeps Murphy (white sweatshirt) Th at’s one of the reasons we did the upgrade for the M-14 on the Moose.” going, he says, is his customers’ enthusiasm for building and Th e company has the resources to do the engineering where builders fl ying his designs. Here, he instructs at a builder workshop. almost certainly do not. It’s a critical issue with something as complex as an engine change. Recent Exploits Some of the company’s biggest problems have been caused by unauthorized rede- Th e single-seat JDM-8, unveiled in signs. “Let’s say you have a 1-inch link chain,” Murphy says. “You cut out a link and 2002, is an exception to the Rebel-based replace it with a 2-inch link. Have you made the chain any stronger? I’ve seen people line. Originally designed strictly to FAR improvise welding 6061 tubing, not realizing what that does to the material strength, Part 103 rules, the tiny low-wing, open- even though it welds easily. And some of the older guys say you can’t use a ‘pull’ rivet. cockpit plane was the result of Murphy’s You can use anything, as long as you design for it. Th en again, I’ve seen people use a hol- long-time hankering to design a true low rivet where a solid one is called for. All I can do is shake my head.” ultralight. Th ese days, it cruises behind At the top of his peeve list, when it comes to modifi cations, are converted automo- an HKS 700E four-stroke and reaches a bile engines. “I think we have 35, possibly 40 airplanes powered by auto conversions,” cruise speed of nearly 100 mph. he said. “I’ve talked with maybe a handful of customers who were happy with them. Murphy’s original plan was to kit the And there are even fewer who say that in the end, they’ve saved money over just buying ultralight, but the project has been side- an airplane engine.” tracked for the moment—his attention Another thing that irks him, Murphy says, is when people make assumptions about has instead been focused on another the motivations behind improvements to his designs. He says that Murphy Aircraft addition to the stable. “Th e Yukon is the consistently evaluates its products and refi nes them to off er the best possible aircraft

34 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com at the moment. “But some customers say, ‘You’ve made a change; obviously something wasn’t correct. We should get that mod for free!’” Murphy’s response? He suggests that they try the same with their local car dealer the next time an upgrade comes out for their auto. But that’s just a select group of customers, Murphy admits. Grumbling aside, he truly admires pilots and says he appreciates their basic psychological makeup. “It takes drive to be a pilot, to get through the courses, to learn the skills,” he says. “Most pilots have an ego—that’s a good thing. You don’t want to fl y with somebody who won’t or can’t make a decision. If he’s up there and he’s wishy-washy, I don’t want to be with him.” The Rebel was Murphy’s fi rst foray into building with metal. Skeptics scoff ed, but it An Industry Stalwart proved a key turning point. A service time of more than two decades in homebuilt aviation has and I still like it. I’m the same with sports given Murphy a realistic perspective cars. I still have a Triumph TR-3, a Jen- on the industry. “We’ve been in busi- sen Healey and an XKE Roadster.” ness 21 years now, and it’s been pret- When he decides to leave manufac- ty good,” he said. “It’s a more exciting turing behind, Murphy says he’ll wait a and more interesting career than most couple of years and then go to Oshkosh Oh, the Moose, every pilot’s dream. If you can people get. It hasn’t been easy, and it and Sun ’n Fun just to enjoy them. “Th en aff ord to operate the M-14 radial engine, you’ll hasn’t been a big money-maker, like maybe I’ll design an airplane just for me, have one heck of a heavy hauler. some people think. People try it all the to my specs, without worrying about time—they show up at the airshows whether it’s a commercial success.” with a new product, and then they’re gone two years later.” Th at’s a mistake that some of his com- One of the things that keeps him going is the enthusiasm that his customers bring to petitors have made, he says—designing their projects. “It’s amazing how many customers have a passion for airplanes,” Murphy for themselves rather than for the com- says. “Building a recreational aircraft isn’t something they have to do—it’s something mercial market, and it has hurt a lot of they want to do. Our job is to make it a pleasurable experience.” clients along the way. “I don’t know how And Murphy has seen a large shift in his clientele during the course of his career. many times I’ve heard people say they’re “Twenty years ago, we saw a lot of guys building in their basements, doing it on the leery about putting money down,” Mur- cheap. We still sell the airplane in parts—the tail, the wings, then the fuselage. But phy says. “A lot of customers have only today’s Moose customers want quickbuild kits, and then they have somebody build it enough money to buy one airplane in for them.” A bit diff erent than the scratch-builders of yesteryear. their life. We can’t please everyone, but But that trend hasn’t necessarily been bad for business. Th e quickbuild option has we try to do what we can.” been one of the biggest changes over the years, and it’s opened up new markets. “It’s Designing a personal cruiser may be brought in a whole group of people who weren’t available to us,” Murphy says. the perfect end to a successful design Regulation has also had an eff ect on the industry. “It would be really nice if the CAA career. As Murphy says, he’s just aft er a and FAA would come up with the same specs in the U.S. and Canada,” Murphy says. solid all-around airplane, not an all-out “We can actually hire someone to build our airplanes here in Canada. In most cases, it speedster. may result in a safer airplane, but the pilot still doesn’t know how to fi x it.” “So what if the airplane goes 125 ver- Despite the restrictions, both the U.S. and Canada enjoy tremendous freedom, sus 150 on a typical 150-mile trip? [Th e Murphy says, and he attributes the industry’s advancement to this liberty. “Th at’s why faster airplane will] get there, what, 5, 10 we’re so far ahead. Look at Europe—they’re catching up now. As much as we [gripe] minutes before us?” Murphy says he can’t about government interference, we’re still lucky that we don’t have the interference that help but wonder why so many pilots are pilots and builders in other countries have.” in a hurry to get to their destinations. Don’t they like fl ying, he asks? Don’t So, What’s Next? they want to improve their skills? Murphy and his family keep busy. He’s a director, partner or owner of four other active “Flying is like being a doctor,” Murphy companies. Over the years, he’s explored all kinds of projects, from riverboats to motor- says. “You continually practice. You never cycles. His knees won’t let him play basketball anymore or run his 5Ks, 10Ks and half get it right.” Th en a little more practice marathons. Still, he and his wife, Patty, devote their time to maintaining an acre of en route is sure to benefi t, right?  landscaping, ongoing home improvements and three grandchildren. Looking ahead to retirement, Murphy keeps a mental list of projects he wants to For more information on the Murphy Air- tackle. He has a number of motorcycles that he plans on restoring, and he says he has a craft kits, contact the company at 604/792- design for a sidecar unit that turns both ways equally well and goes like hell. “I’ve driven 5855. A direct link to the company’s web it around here a lot,” Murphy says, “and it’s a lot of fun. I started riding when I was nine, site can be found at www.kitplanes.com.

KITPLANES July 2006 35 36 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com here are always risks involved with and their skills and awareness will be degraded. Th en there is the additional demand of Tfl ying into any airport, but when trying to comply exactly with the published fl ying procedures for the event. there’s a fl y-in going on, those risks are Other pilots in the area can be a big distraction. At any large fl y-in, the law of averages higher than usual: lots of traffi c, pres- says that there will be pilots who are unskilled, unprepared, clueless or just plain rude. sure, excitement, special procedures and Don’t let their inadequacies provoke you into risky behavior. Anticipate what someone pilots who may not be up to the task. else might do and fi gure out how you’ll address the situation. Go through approach and (Present company excepted, of course.) departure patterns, and determine how you would handle having the radio blocked, Nevertheless, you can arm yourself for or getting cut off in the pattern, or fi nding somebody suddenly fl ying close formation the demands of fl y-in fl ying by preparing on your wing, or having someone stop in the middle of the landing runway, or some- mentally, studying the event’s special one taxiing across the runway in front of you, or anything else you can think of. I have procedures and polishing your fl ight encountered many such situations, and all of them have happened to somebody. Your skills beforehand with a certi- main objective is to keep you, your pas- fi ed fl ight instructor. sengers and your aircraft safe. Controllers are the last and poten- Mental Preparation tially most insidious source of stress Just about everybody knows for pilots. Controllers don’t know your that the human element is a skill level or stall speed, and they can major contributor in many be insistent that you put it down “right aviation accidents and inci- on the red dot” or “right on the num- dents. By thinking things bers.” Every year, some pilots forget through before the fl y-in, who is in command and get so focused there will be fewer surprising Closer to thee. Many airshow arrival procedures require tight- on the controller that they neglect to situations. er-than-normal spacing between aircraft. If you haven’t been fl y the airplane. It almost happened First, consider your main properly trained in formation work, this may seem unnerving. to me last year at AirVenture, but I objective when attending a got away with it. How? I had a docile fl y-in. Th is does not mean put- airplane and appropriate skills, and I ting the airplane exactly on the numbers concentrated on those rather than letting the controller be PIC of my airplane. when the controller tells you to, and it is If you can’t safely put the plane right on the red dot, be a good citizen: Get on the not even attending the fl y-in. Your main radio and tell the controller, land as close as you can or go around. (Aft er working with objective is to arrive alive and well and be your CFI in preparation for the fl y-in, you might prefer not to land at the primary air- able to fl y your airplane the next day. Th is port because doing so is inconsistent with your skill level and risk profi le. That may seems obvious, but there are all kinds of be the most mature and wise decision.) examples where pilots do not keep their Your best bet is to review the situation in primary objective in mind. Military advance, when you have the time, people pilots sometimes get “target fi xation” with whom to discuss the alternatives and and fl y their airplane into the ground no pressure. Nothing beats good prepara- while trying to put a bomb on target. tion. Civil pilots sometimes get so intent on a particular task, such as landing exact- Studying the Procedures ly on the numbers, that they don’t keep One of my best instructors, Barbara Mock, their airspeed and vertical speed under said that “instrument fl ying is like war.” control. “Flying the airplane” is a good Fly-in fl ying requires the same level of way to meet your objective. respect and preparation, and if you’ve done Another part of mental preparation your homework, it becomes a lot easier. is briefi ng your passengers on what to Procedures come in many fl avors: FAA- expect and what to do. I tell my passen- published NOTAMs, web pages and even gers that I want to know about airplanes some who disseminate their own “simpli- that are within 500 feet vertically and fi ed” procedures. All have their strengths within 1 mile laterally, or those that are and weaknesses in varying proportions. within 2 miles but closing fast. I don’t Anything with FAA on it will be defi n- have time to worry about every airplane itive and authoritative, if not necessarily they see; I only care about those that all you need. For example, the AirVenture might aff ect my fl ight path. Oshkosh NOTAM does a good job of Th e last point of mental preparation describing normal procedures, but at Special procedures may include watching is to anticipate distractions. At major least through 2005 off ered absolutely ground personnel for instructions rather fl y-ins, most pilots will be excited about no help with what to do when things go than talking to a controller. This is no time for a heads-down attitude. landing; their stress level will be elevated, wrong. Th ere are no published go-around

Photos: Richard VanderMeulen KITPLANES July 2006 37 Fly-In Flying continued near where you live, you could fl y there in advance, before the traffi c builds, and famil- iarize yourself with the local landmarks and conditions. procedures and no mention of what to do Sometimes you can fi nd “simplifi ed” procedures on private sites. You still need safety when the Piper Cub right ahead of you and contingency information, and that will almost certainly not be part of the sim- slows to 50 mph on a 2-mile fi nal and plifi ed procedures. However, they may be useful as in-fl ight reminders of frequencies, you can’t go that slow (which happened headings and altitudes. Don’t count on them to tell you all you need to know, but con- to me one year). No published procedure sider them as supplementary sources. is perfect, of course, and if every remote possibility were covered, Practice With Your CFI the document would be the size You can’t necessarily prepare for of a big-city phone book. None- everything you might encounter theless, you’re still PIC and have going to a fl y-in, but you can improve the commensurate responsibili- your skills in the meantime. Only ties, regardless of what is or isn’t you and your CFI know what per- in the NOTAM. formance you can get from your air- Another source of information plane with what level of risk, and the is the Internet. For example, Air- Federal Aviation Regulations state Venture’s site (www.airventure. clearly that the pilot-in-command org) has pictures of the so-called is the ultimate authority for the safe Fisk arrival—named aft er the operation of the airplane (not some tiny Wisconsin town that forms magazine article). Th e purpose of the primary entrance path for At the show, you’ll be wedged into a varied mix of traffi c the following exercises is to help you show traffi c—and such informa- and, likely, given considerably less space on the runway than determine your skill level so that tion can be a big help. Unfortu- you’re used to. It’s actually fun once you’ve done it. you will know, at the fl y-in, what nately, that web site still might you can and cannot attempt safely. not tell you how to distinguish It should be obvious but we’ll restate Fisk from other wide spots in the road, so it here: Don’t take excessive risks during these exercises. You and your CFI can discuss only when you study the NOTAM and and perhaps practice the maneuvers below. Most of them are based on situations I’ve the website together can you gain famil- encountered over the years at fl y-ins. iarity and reduce your risks. If the fl y-in is •As warm-ups, get competent at all those ground-reference maneuvers you had to do to get your license. Chances are they’re rusty skills worthy of some sandpaper. •Tight traffi c patterns: Try traffi c patterns so tight that the turn from downwind to fi nal is a continuous 30° banked turn, and you turn fi nal at 150 feet agl. One major fl y- in has a traffi c pattern at least this tight. Practice both left and right patterns. •Tracking a route over the ground: Fly along the very center of a road or railroad at 900 feet agl (where safe and legal) and 90 knots. Try to hold within 5 knots and 50 feet of altitude, while also looking all around for other traffi c. Hint: You don’t have to be looking straight ahead to determine your pitch attitude. •Fly the fi nal approach at varying speeds: Try these from just above stall warning horn to 20 knots above normal speed. Depending on traffi c or obstacles on the runway, “normal” approach speeds may not give you the separation you want from other traf- fi c. Become accustomed to your airplane’s responses when you try to shed that extra approach speed quickly. •Changing landing points: On a long runway—at least 6000 feet—designate short, medium and long landing points. Be able to land on any point aft er your CFI tells you, at 200 feet up on fi nal approach, which one to land on. If your wheels touch 2000 feet short of a point, do you add power to fl y down the runway, or add power to taxi at 40 or 50 knots? What is it like to fl y 2000 feet along the runway at 3 feet of altitude? How well can you judge your speed, and how much time do you have to look at your airspeed? What do you do if the stall warning comes on at 10 feet of altitude? •At altitude, practice 45° banked turns at speeds just above stall warning, with just Ah, the happy result: Special airshow pro- enough power to hold altitude. What happens if you chop power during this turn? cedures help get scads of traffi c into and What happens if you go to full power? out of the host airport with minimal delays, •Practice landing on both the left and right sides of a wide runway, and learn what it giving you more time to shop, see and enjoy. Oh, and don’t forget to bring your looks like when you’re well off the centerline. own tiedowns. •Practice landings on narrow runways, no more than 50 feet wide. Some fl y-ins tem- porarily use taxiways as runways, and they can be narrow.

38 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com •Practice recovering from overshoot- ing a turn to fi nal, as might happen if you get cut off in the pattern or fi nd that there was more tailwind on base than you anticipated. •Be ready to handle all kinds of land- ing winds: crosswinds, headwinds, tail- winds, and quartering headwinds and tailwinds. Changing active runways at fl y-ins is hard to do, and you may end up with unfavorable conditions. Additional Situations to Ponder How much separation from other air- craft on the runway do you really need to be safe, regardless of what’s customary? (Customary separation may be legal- ly waived during a fl y-in.) How does the required separation vary with your speed, and with your speed relative to another airplane ahead? As you change your speed in the pattern, on fi nal, or on rollout, can the pilots behind you adjust to your speed changes? Aft er you land and are rolling out, do you want to stay in the middle of the run- way, or get off to one side in case some- body behind you is too close, can’t slow down and needs to pass, or perhaps doesn’t see you? Practice getting off to the side of the runway with your CFI. If you need to turn off the runway quickly, what works best in your air- plane? Do you approach the intersection at speed, slow down in a straight line and then turn? Parting Thoughts Th ere are lots of other ways to reduce your risk at fl y-ins. You can plan to arrive when traffi c is lightest, such as early in the morning. You can talk to other pilots who have fl own there, or you can fl y in with somebody who has been there before. You can also plan to arrive when winds are likely to be lightest, or when the crosswind component is least. What- ever the situation, remember that you are legally pilot-in-command, so be pilot-in- command. Having an accident or inci- dent will ruin the fl y-in experience, so do whatever you can to minimize risks. Stay cool, calm and collected, and be ready to have a great time! 

Direct links to major airshow fl y-in proce- dures can be found at www.kitplanes.com.

KITPLANES July 2006 39 At this year’s spring fl y-in in Florida,engines were the name of the game. A STAFF REPORT

ood weather, cold lemonade, lots of fl ying, a sizable contingent of Van’s RVs airplane. Th e folks at Just told us that Ghogging the homebuilt fl ightline…there are certain things that we’ve come to Schmitt was seriously injured but should expect from Sun ’n Fun over the years. Loads of exciting new airplane designs, not also make a full recovery. so much—at least not in this millennium. (Although there were hints of big things to come And what’s a fl y-in without some excite- at Oshkosh.) Groundbreaking, you wouldn’t call it, but this year’s Central Florida fl y-in ment on the grounds? Th oughts turned to proved an interesting show with a number of announcements in other arenas, the most the worst when we saw plumes of thick, compelling in the world of engines. Oh, and a runaway airplane always livens things up black smoke rising about the trees early a bit, right? On to the news… in the show, but a parking lot fi re was to blame, not an airplane crash. Seems A Bumpy Start the catalytic converter on a Maserati Within minutes of arriving on the grounds, rumors of a journalist going down while started the grass on fi re, and nine cars ferrying an LSA to Sun ’n Fun swirled. A few hours later, we were shocked to learn that it was one of our own—Dan Johnson, contributing editor and long-time “Light Stuff ” columnist, was injured aft er mak- ing an awkward emergency landing following engine trouble on takeoff . Johnson was fl ying the Parrot LSA demo plane from Sport Aircraft Works. He’ll spend the near future recovering in a West Palm Beach hospital, but the prognosis is for a full recovery down the line. Similarly, Gary Schmitt, partner in kit producer Just Aircraft , was injured on takeoff a few days prior to the show. Schmitt was fl ying the company’s Highlander design, which had just earned its initial SLSA approval so it can be produced as a ready-to-fl y

Ouch! An inadvertent start at its display area sent this Skylark LSA prototype for an early exit from the airshow.

40 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com were destroyed. Th at’s one expensive parking fee, huh? Other mayhem included the Sky- lark LSA that started inadvertently and plowed across the LSA display area, through a stand of trees and onto an access road. No one was hurt, but it could have been much worse had the airplane been started in the main exhibitor area. Th e next day, fl yers were handed out to exhibitors requiring all aircraft be dis- abled from starting by either removing the starter cable or disconnecting the battery—or by other approved means. One of the few new homebuilt airframes on the fi eld, the Arion Aircraft Lightning can be confi gured for a high-speed cruise Kit News or in an LSA-compliant version. We’ve watched over the past year as the low-wing, two-place, composite Light- ning from Arion Aircraft has taken shape. Arion displayed the prototype, wing “Lo Camp,” the parasol “Hi Camp,” and the self-explanatory “Bi Camp.” Th e which now boasts 70 hours fl ight time, fuselage, controls, systems and approximate weights are the same; the wing areas and and off ered specs and prices for a stan- airfoils diff er on the bipe. All feature open tandem seating, with laser-cut wood instru- dard model and an LSA-compliant ver- ment panels and leather-covered seats and trim. To maintain the vintage look, designer sion with speed-limiting techniques Francesco Rizzi designed custom faces and needles for the VDO gauges, which keep employed. Both versions will be sold as the pilot VFR legal and the seven-cylinder, 110-hp Rotec 2800 under surveillance. 51% kits only, and kits are shipping now. Aerocomp announced some organizational changes including the retirement of long- We’ll get our hands on example No. 2 for time partner Steve Young and a name switch to Comp Air, Inc. Th at leaves designer fl ight review as soon as it’s ready. Th is is and test pilot Ron Lueck as the sole owner, and Lueck says the company plans to return one to keep an eye on. focus to its piston line of high-wing designs. Does that mean the jet and turbine proj- A modern “old” airplane, a new design ects are done? Nope…a bunch of ambitious designs are still in the works, but Comp Air called the Sport Camper stopped a few plans to further develop its “low-end” kits as well. passersby in their tracks. From an Ital- As part of that program, Comp Air is resurrecting—reinvigorating, perhaps—its ian company called Aerolab, the airplane four-place Comp Air 4 and bundling it with a Superior XP-360 engine and all airframe will be sold as a 51% legal kit in the U.S. options for $89,900. According to Lueck, this set price includes everything but “paint, once a distributor deal is secured. It can upholstery and a battery.” be ordered one of three ways: the low- Fixed pricing seems to be an emerging trend, as Glasair Aviation announced at the show that its 2 Weeks To Taxi program for the Sportsman 2+2 will come only as a package, not a la carte, as most kits are. Th e program, including time at the company’s Customer Assembly Center, starts at $128,900 for a Sportsman powered by a stock Lycoming O-360 engine of 180 hp, a fi xed-pitch prop and VFR avionics includ- ing a GPS, nav/comm and transponder. Th ere are pack- ages and options that expand the avionics choices, and the builder can choose powerplants as large as Lycom- ing’s IO-390 mated to a Hartzell constant-speed prop. Th e company expects to have the fi rst customers attend- ing the program in August. Th e pilots who couldn’t make Reno last year got a fi rst The Aerolab Sport Camper, a look Relentless, Kevin Eldredge’s Sport Class Nemesis Pietenpol derivative to be sold NXT. He fl ew his turbocharged Lycoming 540-powered in kit form, made its public racer to Florida. “I trued at 300 knots, at 13,500 feet,” he debut at Sun ’n Fun. Even the instruments on this Italian said. “When I fl y it higher, it’s faster, of course.” At 17,500 beauty are designed for a feet, Kevin saw 327 knots (250 KIAS). He ran 32 inches nostalgic look. of manifold pressure and 2300 rpm at both altitudes, and burned 22 gph. “Th at’s a 1200-n.m. range, with reserves [on a racer!],” Eldredge said. Th e TIO-540NXT is the

Photos: Brian E. Clark, Marc Cook, Tim Kern, Howard Levy KITPLANES July 2006 41 Sun ’n Fun 2006 continued line of factory-built, “custom” Experimen- tal engines that will come directly from its twin-turbo, 350-hp engine that’s stan- Williamsport, Pennsylvania, facility. Th e dard equipment with Jon Sharp’s Nem- new Th underbolt line gives homebuilders esis NXT kit. (Sadly, Relentless suff ered the chance to get just the engine they want, from a forced landing on the way home accessories and all, completely built by the from the show, aft er Eldredge reported factory. Engines 320 inches and up will an engine fi re. Kevin was unharmed in be available under the program. For the the crash but the airplane was damaged.) record, too: Lycoming’s hydraulic lift ers are Th ere have been numerous develop- now available on all 320+ factory rebuilds, Proving that not only is dog man’s best ments at Sonex Aircraft over the past and are standard in all engines except the friend but that he’s worth $50 are these: month including a 30% increase in staff , 235s. Th underbolt engines join Lycoming’s Mutt Muff s. The molded-plastic hearing protectors are said to be comfortable and a new web site, successful fi rst fl ight of kit-engine program, in which outside shops safe for your favorite canine. How much the fi rst customer-built Waiex as well as a are allowed to build entirely new engines longer before Bose gets in on this? number of enhancements to the compa- from Lycoming-supplied kits. ny’s AeroConversions kit engine line. Good news on the Europa front. Th e new company has fulfi lled all of the obli- gations to builders left hanging by the bankruptcy of the original operation, and it’s once again producing kits. Sales Director John Wheeler said a deal with a U.S. distributor was imminent, so the design should again be well supported domestically. Stay tuned for details. On the subject of formerly popular designs that were temporarily defunct… we received word that the assets for the Kitfox line of aircraft were successfully purchased by John and Debra McBean, who run Sport Plane, LLC, in Idaho. McBean has a long association with the Kitfox design; we’ll bring you up to speed on the company’s further plans as soon as they’re available. Down in Choppertown, all eyes were Designer Larry Neal shows off his fl ying motorcycle, a hit attraction at Choppertown. The on the fl ying motorcycle from Th e But- vehicle is street and air-legal and has 10 hours logged to date. terfl y, LLC. Th e brainchild of designer Larry Neal, the vehicle is registered fi rst as a motorcycle and then as an Ama- ECI displayed it new IOX-340, which is essentially a stroked, fuel-injected Lycoming teur-Built aircraft . It’s totally street legal, 320 with minor changes to the cylinder head to improve breathing. Th e company antic- and Neal has 10 hours on the prototype. ipates 185 hp—in part from the cold-air induction system—and a 2000-hour TBO. What’s more, Neal says this is just the pre- Th e engine is considerably lighter than a 360 and has a decent weight advantage on cursor for further developments includ- a stock 320, ECI President Ed Salmeron said, due to its magnesium sump and intake ing a fl ying car. Stay tuned for a further plenum and some Continental-like tapered cylinder-barrel fi nning, which saves, by report…this thing is just so experimental itself, nearly 3 pounds on the whole engine. MSRP is $24,995. that we need to cover it in more detail. Superior Air Parts, acquired in March by Th ielert, brought a new iteration of Lycom- HeloWerks showed off its turbine- ing’s 360 to town. Th e XP-400 is a stroked version, providing more torque at any given powered WASP kit helicopter and fl ew rpm. Superior’s president, Tim Archer, said we could think of the XP-400 as, “an angle- for the crowd a few times. As reported valve 360, with a quarter-inch more stroke.” Th at’s great for builders, because they can last month, the WASP is currently in expect the same “packaging” as a Lycoming 360: weight, footprint, inlets and outlets, fl ight testing. c.g., mounts, and so on. (Th e same can be said of the various IO-390 iterations, for that matter; the bigger engine has the same profi le as the familiar angle-valve 360.) Engines, Engines Everywhere! Since the “re-introduction” of its O-200 at Oshkosh (“It’s never been out of produc- Lycoming invaded Sun ’n Fun armed tion,” President Bryan Lewis kept saying), Continental has been putting these 100- with big news for the Experimental hp beauties into a number of LSAs. Don Fitzgerald, the manager of TCM Link, said arena—the company introduced a new there’s a lightweight O-200 in the pipeline. It features a lighter starter and alternator,

42 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com tapered barrel fi ns and lightweight avi- ation spark plugs. Weight will drop to “several pounds below [the current] 175,” he said. Jabiru has made important changes to its 120-hp, six-cylinder 3300: it now has American Graffi ti hydraulic lift ers, which the smaller 2200 For the past two years at Sun ‘n Fun, we’ve armed up-and-coming aviation photographer Katie has enjoyed for a couple years. Addition- Wainfan with a Canon and asked her to shoot at will. She had the time, that’s for sure. ally, it has bigger fi ns on the head. Both “My dad [Guess who?] is a no-nonsense airshow attendee,” Katie says. “The entire family is at of the engines sport now carb jetting that the airfi eld as soon as humanly possible, and we stay late into the night. While he’s busy picking makes cruise adjustments easier. Th e apart the interesting airfoil in the design of a new airplane, I’m left to my own interests.” result? A 3- to 3.5-gph cruise in the 2200, Letting her eye guide her way, Katie chose to focus on the cool paint schemes so many and 5 to 5.5 gph for the six-cylinder. Th e homebuilders design for their creations. First reader to detect a theme gets a prize... 180-hp, 5100-cc eight-cylinder, with a couple dozen in the fi eld, also sports the new carbs, plus twin 25-amp alternators (continuous output 40 amps). At Oshkosh ’05, DeltaHawk predict- ed 35 customer deliveries by January 1, 2006. How’s it going? Th ose deliver- ies are slated for this summer, said new VP Operations and acting GM Dennis Webb. What happened? Th ere’s a whole new fuel system, from pump to injector, that makes, he said, “more horsepower on less fuel.” Th ere are a dozen or so changes overall on the turbocharged 160- and 200-hp (to be revised upward) two- stroke diesels, both of which make rated power to 18,000+ feet. Deliveries? A cou- ple are fl ying in UAVs, plus two outside customers (in addition to the perennial Velocity). We’ll keep you informed. Cliff Coy of Gesoco detailed changes to the 263-inch, fi ve-cylinder radial engine that should raise the output: there’s a new supercharger providing 31.5 inches pressure and bringing the output to 140 hp at 3000 rpm. “By June,” Coy said, “we’ll have a new gear ratio on the supercharger’s impeller, to give us just over 150.” He’s planning to fl y the test bed to Oshkosh. Aft er everything’s proven, Coy said, and only then, will the compa- ny accept orders. Hexadyne’s electronically fuel-injected 60-hp opposed twin was sitting pretty in Hangar C and was the star of three forums, though the inventor himself was right now, with a 4- to 6-week delivery time, according to Williams. A dozen plus are still in Utah. “Th e fi rst OEM is in the delivered to customers, though only the OEM is currently fl ying. middle of a testing program right now,” Mistral Engines wasn’t at this show, but CEO François Badoux was, and he said that said CEO Cy Williams. “He’s fl ying a lot, two of the 190-hp rotaries are already with customers (in an RV-8 and a Glasair II RG), and he needs us to be available.” How’s and two of the twin-rotor G230TS engines will be delivered before Oshkosh. Mistral it going? “We’re a bit behind where we will fl y a 300-hp, three-rotor before the end of the year. Th e solid-state, in-the-bellhous- would like to be—I’d like to be in Flor- ing, 160+amp starter/alternator is well along in development (it has demonstrated a ida—but we’re happy with what we’re capacity to generate 16,000 watts!), and the telemetry and soft ware (more details later) learning.” Hexadyne has a small backlog will amaze the crowds at Oshkosh.

KITPLANES July 2006 43 Sun ’n Fun 2006 continued

Jan Eggenfellner displayed his new reduction drive for the six-cylinder Subaru engine. It uses six toothed belts in a cantilever, concentric shaft arrange- ment for, he says, belt redundancy. Using belts also helps eliminate vibration/har- monics concerns. Th is engine combo is intended to be fi tted to the business end of RV-10s. After a slew of announcements at Sun ‘n Innodyn skipped Sun ’n Fun this year, Fun, you’ve got more engine choices than but the company says it will display at ever. Superior’s XP-400 (top left) presents a higher-power package that fi ts in a 360’s Oshkosh this summer. One thing’s for footprint. ECI’s IOX-340 (top right) expects sure—homebuilder interest remains to make 185 hp with a 2000-hour TBO and strong, regardless of how unsure the provides another option for designs that industry is about whether Innodyn will call for a 320 or 360. Finally, Lycoming’s big live up to its claims. announcement was the Thunderbolt series of factory-built, customized powerplants like this 580 (right). Avionics Advanced Flight Systems added two GDL-90 transceiver. Th e combo will display traffi c information on the moving map new systems: the AF-3400 and AF- in all areas where ADS-B is functional (currently Alaska and much of the East Coast). 3500. Each can be confi gured as an Additionally, XM weather is available via a WX Worx box. EFIS, engine monitor or a combina- Adding even more capability to its PDA-based soft ware, Anywhere Map has now tion of both. Th e AF-3400 ($6995) fea- added graphical TAF information and integration with the Zaon airborne collision tures a 6.5-inch transfl ective dual screen, avoidance system. Th e text-based, color-coded blocks not only contain forecast but and the AF-3500 has an 8.4-inch screen. actual observed weather at pilot selected stations. And using the data stream available Both systems use the Advanced Avionics from the Zaon units, perceived airborne threats are now displayed any time they close Buss, which allows the pilot and copilot within specifi c altitude and distance parameters. displays to exchange screens. Lowrance Avionics has added the AirMap 600C handheld GPS to its line. At just Archrival Dynon had its FlightDEK under 9 ounces with batteries, the 600C features a 2.83-inch-diagonal, 16-bit color D-180 in display at the show—it’s a screen and all of the features found on its 2000C bigger brother. Th e split screen capa- 7.0-inch-diagonal all-in-one EFIS and bility allows the pilot to customize the display to show a wide variety of information, engine monitor. It also had prototype including both plan and profi le terrain, a virtual HSI, and even detailed airport and soft ware on display to enable the DSAB, taxiway diagrams. Price? $500. Dynon’s interoperability data bus, so that Trio Avionics has added the EZ-1 Altitude Hold to its EZ Pilot autopilot. Th e three the D-100 can also display information piece system includes the servo, the altitude hold computer module, and the deceptively from the D-120 engine monitor. It also simple-looking panel-mounted multicolor LCD display and control. Th e EZ-1 can also showed new soft ware to allow an HSI- be ordered with a programmable vertical speed select option for $275 that allows the like display from GPS navigation data. pilot to adjust the unit’s pitch commands in 100-fpm increments. For another $425, Another nift y piece of glass was the altitude preselect rounds out the off erings in the top of the line EZ-3. Th e base price of Direct-To Avionics’ SV-10 EFIS, which the EZ-1 system is $1795, or it can be had in a package with the companion EZ Pilot just happens to fi t neatly in the Van’s RV- autopilot system for $3565. 10. Highway-in-the-sky navigation and I-K Technologies added the AIM-Sport and AIM-Lite to its line of monitoring sys- real-time Terrain Awareness Warning tems. Both are customizable for use with automotive engine conversions and sell for System (TAWS) are paired with a heads- around $700 (including probes). Th e Sport uses the traditional I-K six-fi eld digital dis- up display superimposed over a 3-D syn- play to monitor engine parameters and rpm, augmented by a strip of annunciator lights thetic vision artifi cial horizon. Direct-To underneath to call immediate attention to any engine function headed out of bounds. Avionics president Kirk Hammersmith Th e Lite uses vertical, color-coded LED segment bars to convey the same information, estimates that the rudder-to-tail and augmented by a single yellow digital display that provides precise numeric values for any wing-to-wing wiring will save about two of the selected engine parameters. months of build time; it will even tell you Th at’s it for 2006. It’s never too early to start planning for next year, especially if you when your door is ajar. need to brush up your skills before fl ying in (see Page 36). Here’s hoping for a repeat of PC Avionics, makers of the Mountain- this year’s excellent weather and big news stories come April 17-23, 2007.  Scope soft ware for PDAs and tablet com- puters, showed off its ADS-B interface For more information on any of the products mentioned, visit www.kitplanes.com. We’ll capability when paired with a Garmin publish a list of direct links to all of the manufacturer web sites.

44 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com LSA Midterm, Passed! A year after approval of the fi rst SLSAs, we surveyed the landscape of the FAA’s newest category. BY BRIAN E. CLARK

While those and other questions tem- pered our enthusiasm just a bit, we were no doubt thrilled to see the long-devel- oped LSA rule start to turn out hard- ware. A year later, we headed to Sun ’n Fun 2006 poised to explore the crevasses of the LSA movement as a bit of a prog- ress check. Some of the results might surprise you.

The Numbers Game A design must successfully earn an initial SLSA certifi cate before a company can sell it in ready-to-fl y (SLSA) or advanced American Legend debuted its Legend kit (ELSA) form, you’ll recall. Over the Cub Special model at Sun ‘n Fun. In past year, we’ve done our best to keep up addition to the new two-tone paint with the cumbersome task of maintain- scheme designed after the original ing a list of approved SLSA designs. To 1947 Cub Special’s, this version features new leather seats and a high-end date, the number of approved designs on instrument/avionics package with an our list stands at 31; check the chart on optional Dynon FlightDEK D-180 EFIS/ Page 47 for the current list. engine monitor.

xactly one year ago, a gaggle of industry insiders, impatient journalists and consum- Eers armed with checkbooks stood sweaty and sunburned outside the FAA exhibit building at Sun ’n Fun and rejoiced at the news they’d been waiting for: Th e FAA had issued approval for the fi rst handful of Special Light Sport Aircraft (SLSA) designs, EAA President Tom Poberezny told us. Th e opening bell had offi cially sounded, and the LSA marketplace sprung to life. Aft er the initial rush of enthusiasm—from us, aviation in general and from a pilot population hungry for something new—we had to wonder: Just how quickly would that sprunging get done? Th e lion’s share of LSA designs were overseas products due for Sport Aircraft Works displayed the newest import, and skeptics hypothesized that actual airplanes would trickle across the border of its three models—the SportCruiser. At at a rate rivaling the fl ow of molasses. In Duluth. In January. $65,000, the all-metal, low-wing, 100-hp LSA is one of the more economical choices And even if supply were not an issue, would stable demand materialize aft er the on the market, and it even comes with 20 initial rush subsided? And more: Would a few early accidents turn the LSA movement hours of fl ight training. into a scene reminiscent of early ultralight days? Photos: Brian Clark and Marc Cook KITPLANES July 2006 45 LSA Update continued cruising U.S. airspace by December. Not too shabby for this fl edgling cate- But while keeping track of the num- gory! (Another incidental note: Th ere ber of models available is simple enough, are spreadsheets making the rounds estimating the total number of units among the Fourth Estate predicting a sold is little more than guesswork. You’d total LSA fl eet of some 6000 aircraft think a quick call to FAA Central would in the next two years. Uh, sure...) produce an instant number, but air- craft certifi cation is managed by district, Who’s Buying? and reports aren’t always made instan- But in addition to polling the com- The Evektor SportStar was the fi rst approved taneously. With the goal of coming up panies on how many units they’d SLSA in the U.S.—the company has delivered 14 with an estimate, we tracked down all delivered, we also asked for a char- airplanes and expects a total of 50 by year’s end. Live near St. Louis or San Diego? You can train in but a couple of the 22 vendors selling acterization of customers. Are these a SportStar now, if you’d like. approved designs. guys new Sport Pilots buying air- So go ahead, take a guess—how many planes before the ink dries on their individual SLSAs would you guess have certifi cates? Or fl ight schools eager for new primary trainers with price tags below the been approved in the U.S. and delivered $100K mark? Older pilots of certifi ed and homebuilt airplanes who are in danger of los- to date? Coming in, we honestly didn’t ing their medical, perhaps? Or maybe experienced pilots who want something new and know. One hundred, maybe? One fi fty? innovative but can’t stomach the payments for a new Cirrus or Diamond? More than that, it turns out. Th e total Yes, yes, yes…and, ummm…yes! Certain planes seem to appeal to particular seg- count was 298. (Incidentally, in private ments, in some cases (or the manufacturers think they should appeal to that particu- talks with several movers and shakers in lar segment, at least), but others seem to be serving a variety of missions. According the LSA world, their guesses were amaz- to Tom Peghiny, president of Flight Design USA, about 60% of CT buyers are expe- ingly close to our tally.) We’re assuming, rienced pilots downgrading from of course, that the vendors didn’t infl ate more advanced airplanes, 30% are numbers much if at all. Even so, a total new pilots who want aff ordable close to 300 is encouraging—it tells us new hardware, and the remain- that at least some manufacturers have ing 10% of customers are fl ight been able to successfully produce and schools. deliver airplanes. Mathieu Heintz of Aircraft Th e leader board? Th e Flight Design CTSW (see Page 48 for a full review) topped the charts with a whopping 77 U.S. deliveries. And three more designs Here’s a new SLSA with a unique concept: saw at least 30 examples delivered: the AMD’s Zodiac 601 XLi is an IFR-certifi ed air- Sportair USA Sting Sport (at about 50), plane and can be fl own legally on instruments by an appropriately rated pilot. Changes from the Fantasy Air Allegro (about 40) and the VFR model include advanced instrumen- the Legend Cub, the leader of the Amer- tation (of course), lightning protection, an ican-manufactured designs with 30 alternate static system and stall warning, deliveries. among others. Cost? $89,900. We also queried companies on the number of deliveries estimated by year’s Manufacturing & Development, end. If predictions prove accurate, the on the other hand, says the com- forecast says close to 800 SLSAs will be pany’s all-metal, Continental-powered Zodiac 601 XL has appealed primarily to high- time professional pilots who like the fact that it’s built much like a Part 23 certifi ed airplane. Kurt Senhert of American Legend says the company’s Legend Cub clearly appeals to those private pilots looking for a throwback design, something like the sim- ple airplanes that started many pilots’ careers. Th e nostalgia factor, you might call it. But Where Can You Train? While there are plenty of instructors across the country willing to train new Sport Pilots, another of our goals was to determine approximately how many actual SLSAs were being used for training. Flight schools are clearly a target for many of the designs, and it’s our guess that many potential Sport Pilots will be more comfortable fl ying a Tecnam Aircraft off ers three models, and newly built CTSW than a 47-year-old Aeronca that meets the specs. the low-wing Sierra has proven a popular Th e unoffi cial count produced about 20 SLSA airplanes operating in fl ight schools. choice for fl ight schools. Fantasy Air VP Doug Hempstead says at least fi ve Allegros are working as trainers,

46 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com and the professionalism of most of the importers has gone a long way toward assuring underwriters that these issues can be conquered. Th is is one category in which time and fi eld experience will tell. And though educating the insurance companies can be a challenge, Mackey says he’s yet to turn down a customer. Th at means insurance shouldn’t be a roadblock if you’re aft er a ready-to-fl y LSA. Approved SLSAs—31 and Counting Aircraft Manufacturing & Development Zodiac XL ELSA Kits, Anyone? Zodiac XLi Not much doing, here. Doug Hempstead of Fantasy Air USA has American Legend Aircraft Legend Cub Out of the companies graduated seven Sport Pilots through Legend Cub Special polled, only a handful his Allegro-based fl ight school in North said they’ll consider sell- Carolina. AveoUSA MD-3 Sport Rider ing advanced kits. Why? Evektor America SportStar A couple reasons: First, Fantasy Air USA Allegro and his company’s North Carolina fl ight the demand has not been school has graduated seven new Sport FK Lightplanes USA FK9 Mark IV there. Price diff erence Pilots to date. Peghiny listed fi ve CTs Flight Design USA CTSW between a kit that’s well being used in schools, and three Evektor Tecnam Aircraft USA Bravo along (say, 85%) and a SportStars and three Indus Th orpedos Echo Super ready-to-fl y airplane isn’t are in use as well. Sierra enough to encourage cus- With only about 20 in service, chances IndUS Aviation T-211 Thorpedo tomers to take some of the are that a fl ight school with a new SLSA building into their own Jabiru USA J170-SP isn’t in your backyard. According to the hands. Th at margin is so J250-SP companies, a number of schools have air- slim that most are willing planes on order, however, so the training Just Aircraft Highlander to plunk down the extra landscape may change for the better in Kappa Aircraft KP-5 bucks to have the airplane the next year or so. Light Sport Flying.com Aerostar Festival R40S ready to fl y. Oh, and the other good news? For the North American Sport Aviation ZLIN Savage And the easier route SLSAs that are being used for training, Pacifi c Aerosystem Sky Arrow 600 Sport toward being able to per- the demand is incredible. Th e schools Prestige Aircraft Company Storm Rally LSA form maintenance and have to conduct 100-hour inspections inspections on an aircraft RANS S-7LS monthly, in many cases. has provided little incen- Rollison Light Sport Aircraft Eurofox tive for ELSA purchases, Insurance, Please Remos G-3 at least to date. Perhaps Another popular topic a year ago? Insur- Sport Aircraft Works Mermaid that’s an indication that ance. Today, it seems as if many of the Parrot the majority of customers kinks have been worked out, thanks Sport Cruiser are coming from the world largely to the eff orts of Bob Mackey, vice Sportair USA Sting Sport of certifi ed aircraft , where president of Falcon Insurance Agency. SportsPlanes.com Breezer professional maintenance According to Mackey, the last year has is a way of life. (Th ey are, C42 Ikarus been devoted to educating the various no doubt, buoyed by the Taylorcraft Aviation Taylor Sport underwriters about the LSA movement fact that the LSAs are, and about the particular aircraft models by nature, simple aircraft arriving on the scene. Of the nine major that suggest comparatively low maintenance costs.) We’ll keep an eye out and see how aviation underwriters Mackey works the ELSA off erings develop in the future. But our early prediction is this: Don’t hold with, fi ve now off er insurance on LSAs your breath. Better, if you’re hot to transition to Sport Pilot status, to fi nd an existing to some degree compared to just one Experimental/Amateur-Built kit that can be fl own as an LSA. (Global Aerospace) a year ago. Customers, of course, will be forced to Finally… pay premiums about 30-40% higher than We’ll end this update with an announcement of things to come: A couple months aft er those for standard-category airplanes. the retirement of original columnist Dan Johnson, our trusty “Light Stuff ” column will Why? Repairability of the airplanes and be reintroduced next month. Th e department will be largely devoted to those designs replacability of parts. Because many of that qualify for the LSA category and the issues surrounding the movement, though the designs are new to the U.S., the num- we’ll spice it up from time to time with Part 103 ultralight content as well. Our new col- bers simply don’t justify comparable umnist will tackle all of the issues touched on in this piece in the coming months. rates yet. But, Mackey says, the apparent Oh, and you’ll like the new author…we promise. In fact, he may be someone whose high quality of the designs being off ered work you know well. Want to know who it is? Tune in next month. 

KITPLANES July 2006 47 With 77 airplanes delivered, this composite cutie has jumped to the head of the LSA class. BY DAVE HIGDON

hat many call “alternative” aviation runs deeper here in the general-aviation want more—he’s doubled his commit- Wcapital of the world than you might expect from the home of Beech, Cessna, ment from the airplane’s manufacturer, Mooney and Learjet. Wichita is the hatching point for two-thirds of the world’s based in Germany. GA aircraft , it’s true, and despite the long history of conventional designs—what could be Aft er spending an aft ernoon with the more conventional than a Cessna Skyhawk?—pilots here seem to appreciate designs poured CTSW, courtesy of Tulsa-based dis- from a non-traditional mold. tributor Airtime Aviation, it’s easy to Judging by the response to Flight Design’s slick CTSW, it wouldn’t surprise me to understand the airplane’s appeal, even see newly manufactured LSA-category machines buzzing about the airports here in the at a price near six fi gures. It’s well built, near future. Th e planes fl own to Westport Airport for this report attracted a steady excellently fi nished, reasonably fast, nim- stream of admirers. Moreover, people seem to like this airplane, if a fi rst-year sales tally of ble, fuel effi cient and extremely roomy. 77 means anything. Tom Peghiny, president of Flight Design USA, believes people will To fi nd these attributes working in

48 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com harmony in a sports coupe of an airplane is even more attractive. Leader in its Class It was my blind luck at Sun ’n Fun 2005 to be hanging around with Peghiny when he got the news that the program he’d been working toward for three years was about to pay off . Th at call confi rmed that the FAA had made the CT one of the fi rst LSAs approved under the new community- created standards. Peghiny, who worked as a committee chairman on the ASTM-led project, was as ecstatic as I’ve ever seen him in the 20-plus years we’ve known each other. Aft er fi rst aligning his company with the maker of the CT three years earlier, Peghiny fi nally saw his eff orts bear fruit. The diminutive CTSW looks smaller than it feels once you ease through the gas strut- Th e plane fl own for this report is the supported doors and into the comfortable bucket seats; with the stubby nose, visibility is newest CT incarnation, developed specifi - as excellent as the CT’s fl ying qualities. cally for the SLSA market with its shorter wing (that’s the SW) and a prop dialed in to limit top speed. Th is is a ready-built airplane with great fl ight manners, above-aver- A Slick Exterior age comfort and real-world utility. Assembled in Ukraine, the CTSW employs a carbon/Aramid-fi ber, sand- An Egg-selent Shape wich-core construction that lends itself My fi rst response to the CT was purely visual—it’s an egg, I told myself, an egg with to the compound curves and clean lines wings and a tail and tricycle gear. Th en Peghiny arranged for me to take a demo fl ight of the airframe. Th e wing shows not a in the CT2K model shown at Sun ’n Fun three years ago. Airtime owner “Tulsa Tom” seam or line from root to tip; the same Guttman’s son, “Little Tom,” saddled up with me at South Lakeland Airpark. Tom the goes for the deeply tapered aft fuselage, elder is a big guy, and his son isn’t exactly svelte. And slim isn’t a word used to describe the fully fl ying stabilator with its wide- me in my current fi replug shape, but the younger Guttman and I roomed nicely togeth- span pitch-trim tab, and the vertical stab er in the egg-like cabin. At 49 inches across, it beats many larger aircraft in comfort. and rudder. Th e cabin of the CTSW fl own for this report shows some improvements since that Th ere is a joint where each wing joins early model, thanks to nicer adjustable seats, a refi ned panel assembly and a redesign of the fuselage, but the quality of the fi t the console. Th e cabin’s shape and size work with the seats to accommodate pilots rang- renders the seams barely perceptible. ing from 5-foot-4 to 6-foot-4. Th e large doors hinge at the top, and fi rm gas struts hold them up and out of the way while you enter, pos- terior fi rst. Swing your legs and you’re in. Unlike some aircraft , the dual center sticks are short enough for contortion-free egress and long enough to fi nd your palm as you’re seated. Despite its width, the shape and position of the T-shaped panel and center console assembly keep all the controls, breakers and switches within easy reach. Th e center console contains the throttle, brake and pitch-trim wheel controls. Our demonstrator sported the optional black leather seats, which are comfortable enough that they left my mind shortly aft er adjusting the standard four-point belts. When you close the doors, the single- lever latch engages three pins per door to assure a tight, quiet fi t. Or you can remove the hinge pins and fl y the CTSW without doors. Even buttoned up tight, the cabin feels airy thanks to the tall, full- width windscreen, overhead skylight and a large concave window in The non-structural tail skid is user replaceable if damaged, while each door. Both windows have sliding vent openings to add fresh-air the tail/strobe light—like all four position and strobe fi xtures— fl ow. Th e CTSW’s short, pug-like nose allows a view ahead that is employs ultra-bright LEDs that boast a lifespan many times that of conventional lights. above average. And thanks to the plane’s cantilevered design, noth- ing obstructs the view out the side windows, either.

Photos: Dave Higdon KITPLANES July 2006 49 Prime Time CT continued easily than the 912, and in a couple of spins we’re running. Th ere is another joint where the large With the engine coolant and oil temps fi n/skid mounts beneath the aft fuselage. in the green, we start our taxi to Runway A non-structural part, this assembly pro- 17 at Westport, a 2500-foot asphalt strip tects the actual structural area, and it is about 2 miles southeast of Wichita Mid- user-replaceable, should a mishap occur. Continent Airport. With fl aps at 15° and Th e only other bump is on top of the the brakes set, I advance the throttle to fuselage—a blow-out panel hides the full power, then release the brakes—the standard-equipment BRS-1350 emer- CTSW accelerates quickly. In seconds gency parachute system. we reach 40 mph and the airplane rotates Th e CTSW has two luggage hatches, smoothly skyward, accelerating to 55 and one aft of each cabin door. Each side is climbing at 1000 fpm. rated for 55 pounds, but the total limit Limited initially to 3000 feet by Wichita is stated at 100 pounds. Th ese hatches Departure and with traffi c ahead, a lower also provide access to the control link- nose angle seemed prudent, so I thumbed ages between the cockpit and the control the trim wheel forward until the airspeed surfaces. Th ere should be no mistaking settled at about 85 mph and the climb was whether the luggage hatches are closed. 500 fpm. We got off the ground much Unlatched, the hatch top tilts outboard; quicker than I expected, even with more fully open, those hatches hang inverted than half fuel (call it 20 gallons/117 pounds) below their openings. and 450 pounds of occupants—approx- The Rotax 912ULS powerplant fi ts snugly Access to the engine comes quick- imate all-up weight was 1265 pounds, under the cowl and provides enough oomph to propel the little bird along at ly and easily with several quarter-turn some 55 pounds under the maximum gross up to 138 mph, the legal limit for an LSA fasteners that secure the upper cowl weight for the CT. We also had a quartering aircraft. cover. For prefl ight checks, a small trian- crosswind at takeoff , and the CTSW easily gular hatch on the port side of the cowl overcame the push with just a hint of right provides inspection access to the engine aileron and right oil and coolant tanks. rudder. Under the cowl resides the Rotax Th is Rotax 912ULS, a stout little engine that makes struck me as one 100 horsepower at 5800 rpm. With a of the smoothest 2.43:1 gearbox reduction ratio, the fi xed- I’ve fl own, par- pitch propeller (either the standard two- tially due to the blade or optional three-blade Neuform) optional three- turns at 2386 rpm at full power. At a blade Neuform cruise setting of 4800 rpm, the prop propeller. Accord- turns at 1975 rpm, barely fast enough to ing to Tulsa Tom, make a sound. the three-blade helps acceleration Let’s Wring This Thing Out and is smooth- Th e CTSW employs a couple of smart er than the two- touches designed to preclude common blade prop. This CTSW sports the optional black leather seats, which adjust fore, problems. For example, the fuel valve Once outside aft and vertically to fi t pilot sizes to more than 6 feet; the 49-inch-wide literally blocks the ignition key when it’s ICT’s Class C cabin keeps even large pilots from feeling crowded. in the shut-off position. Lift the lever to airspace, Depar- the run position, and you can insert the ture Control key. (Presumably, if you have to turn cut us loose to explore the CTSW further, so we put the plane through the regular the fuel off in fl ight, you’ll have the inventory of checks. Turns required little to no rudder input at bank angles up to almost wherewithal to take the key out fi rst.) 30°. At 45°, the need for rudder was small, and the plane showed no desire to fall into Th e single-lever handbrake has a park- the turn. At 60° and 90°, I could hold altitude to plus or minus 50 feet with less work ing function you can feel as well as see, than I’m used to in more conventional designs. and you must engage two circuit break- Power-off stall breaks came below 40 mph indicated and were pronounced enough ers before the engine will start. Typical to let you know you’d stalled. Th ey felt closer to a mush than a break, but the nose did of the Rotax, you crack the throttle drop slightly in something akin to porpoising. With the powerful ailerons, keeping the slightly, give it a little choke and turn wings level wasn’t diffi cult without resorting to the rudder. Power-on stall breaks were the key. Few aircraft engines start more more pronounced, much slower and just as easily recovered. In both cases, easing off the

50 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com Authorized Kodiak Service Center For:

AIRCRAFT ENGINES Engines, Parts, & Related Accessories. Serving the industry for over 10 years 250+ page catalog 1-800-LA-ROTAX (1-800-527-6829) Orders Phone: (863)655-5100 Fax: (863)655-6225 e-mail: [email protected] www.lockwood-aviation.com The spacious panel provides room for a wide variety of fl ight and engine instruments. On Lockwood Aviation Supply, Inc. the fl oor, simple construction and sturdy stainless-steel hardware give the rudder pedals Master Service Center 1998/99 the strength to stand up to heavy-footed fl yers. Lockwood Aviation Repair, Inc. Specializing in the repair and overhaul of stick brought the plane back to fl ying status, with minimal altitude loss of about 50-60 ROTAX Aircraft Engines feet, power off , and about 75 feet, power on. FAA Repair Station #L2DR339H If anything was missing, it was a sense of buff et preceding the stalls, not that the (863)655-6229 extreme angles wouldn’t be a giveaway. Stick pressures, whether rolling up tight or eas- ing into a stall, were light, growing proportionally higher as defl ection grew. Control was harmonious throughout the CTSW’s envelope. And…It Can Go Places! Overall, the CTSW handled nimbly and predict- ably—and it required such a light touch as to be instinctive aft er only a few minutes. It reminded me of a sports car or motorcycle; you merely think about where you want to go, and the machine seems responsive to the thought. Th at’s not say- ing that the CT is in any way touchy, twitchy or unstable. Given its relatively low wing loading— the constant-chord wing covers 107 square feet across its 27.9-foot span, giving it less weight to carry per square foot than a Cessna 172’s—the CT exhibits strong dynamic stability with a responsive streak that makes fl ying it fun. It is not, as you might fear, even remotely “kitey” as a result of the low loading. Th e fl aps are designed to refl ex upward (a setting shown as -6 on the fl ap control) to improve cruise effi ciency a few percentage points. With 34 gallons available, the low consumption rate of the Rotax at economy cruise means the CT can carry you, a friend and gear as far as 1000 n.m., with reserves. At 75% cruise speeds of 115-118 knots true (133-136 mph), burning 4.5 gph, you’re still looking at a still-air range exceeding 800 n.m., if you can sit for 7 hours. Turning in 118 knots true means 300-mile week- end trips can be fl own on existing fuel in less than 5 hours, round trip. Many pilots regularly fl y such distances and longer in 150s, Cherokees and Skyhawks, carrying no more stuff but burning far more fuel. Pilots of those airplanes may fi nd the CTSW a little more demanding to land. Th e clean lines, low overall weight and light wing loading make it reluctant to descend, even with the power at idle. Th e fl aps help some, but slips help more. Th ankfully, the CT shines in slips, though you should be wary of easing off the stick when you leave the slip.

KITPLANES July 2006 51 Prime Time CT continued

Managed properly, the CTSW requires only entry-level pilot skills, while off er- ing far more in performance and utility than the two-place trainers of decades past. Exploring Your Options Th e basic $89,900 CTSW off ers pilots a package that includes everything need- ed for fl ight under LSA rules for sport pilots: fl ight instruments, an ELT, the BRS parachute, wheelpants, four-point harnesses, even LED strobes and posi- tion lights, electric fl aps and a couple of choices in engine-monitoring packages. Th e CT is also available with a variety of EFIS packages (including the popu- lar, economical Dynon unit), VFR GPS navigators and the TruTrak Systems two-axis autopilot with altitude hold. Th e demo plane incorporated into one box an attitude indicator, DG function

FLIGHT DESIGN CTSW

Base SLSA cost ...... $89,900 Price as equipped ...... $100,000 Number LSAs certifi ed (at press time) ...... 77 Country of manufacture...... Germany/Ukraine Powerplant ...... Rotax 912ULS 100 hp @ 5800 rpm Flight Design now off ers a three-blade composite prop from Neuform; the unit improves Propeller ...... Neuform two- or three-blade fi xed-pitch acceleration and smoothness compared to the two-blade unit standard on the plane. AIRFRAME Wingspan ...... 28 ft (actually GPS ground track), skid indicator, turn coordinator and controls for the auto- Wing loading ...... 12.33 lb/sq ft pilot. Slick. Fuel capacity...... 34 gal Maximum gross weight ...... 1320 lb Of course, the more the pilot loads up the options, the lighter the wallet. But at Typical empty weight ...... 698 lb around $100,000 equipped, the CTSW delivers a package suitable for everything from Typical useful load...... 622 lb primary instruction to comfortable medium-distance travel. Th e CTSW is legal for day Full-fuel payload ...... 418 lb Seating capacity ...... 2 and night VFR fl ight (though you need more than a Sport Pilot license to fl y at night), Cabin width ...... 49 in brand new and modern, and you won’t have to crack an assembly manual. Baggage capacity ...... 100 lb Th e CTSW may not be the high-utility $40K LSA everyone’s aft er, but here’s a dose PERFORMANCE of reality—that aircraft won’t be on the market anytime soon. And when you consider Cruise speed ...... 138 mph (120 kt) TAS the fact that your other brand-new, ready-to-fl y options (Part 23 certifi ed airplanes) 7000 ft @ 75% power, 4.5 gph Maximum rate of climb ...... 1000 fpm will cost a good deal more, it’s not such a bad deal at all. Th e LSA market is bloom- Stall speed (landing confi guration) ...... 43 mph (37 kt) IAS ing with sharp, sporty little airplanes that cost less but still deliver a high-value fl ying Stall speed (clean) ...... 51 mph (44 kt) IAS experience. Takeoff distance ...... 400 ft Landing distance ...... 500 ft If Flight Design can continue to meet demand and exceed expectations, one day its name may be to the LSA community what Cessna or Beech became to the larger GA Specifi cations are manufacturer’s estimates and  are based on the confi guration of the demonstrator community—a pioneer revered for the value its product brought to sport fl ying. aircraft . For more information on the CTSW, contact Flight Design USA at 860/963-7272. A direct link to the company’s web site can be found at www.kitplanes.com.

52 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com Get In Gear You may only use it twice a fl ight, but your landing gear is an important subsystem... BY TIM KERN

Landing gear is often overlooked but it’s a key ingredient in safe fl ying. This Celebrity’s steel- tube main-gear system employs robust tubes and small springs to absorb landing loads.

hen your aircraft is new, everything is right because you built it that way. Th is Pilots tend to forget that wheels and applies to the engine, avionics, airframe—the whole deal—and especially to the brakes (and tires) are all critical elements of W the landing gear. Take care of them, won’t landing gear. Aft er all, where would you be without it? It’s embarrassing to have you? to drag your beautiful homebuilt out to the runway on a red wagon. Th at’s new. How about aft er a few years of service? Are you doing what you can to keep your gear maintained and safe? Consider, also, what you should be looking for if you’re going to buy someone’s project, completed or not. In other words, don’t ignore Th ey’re also the most expensive to man- the gear! ufacture (though not always the most expensive to repair). Th e leaf spring is ubiquitous. It’s easy Wheels, Floats, Skids...the Works to make, easy to inspect, lightweight Th ere are three basic types of main gear, plus nose or tail; and there’s fl oats, skids, and and rugged. Th e bungee (or related coil a few others, which we won’t look at in this article. Main gear generally fall into three spring) suspension, typical on a J-3 and categories: oleo (for “oil” as in oil damped), leaf spring and bungee. myriad homebuilts, is easy to construct Designer Jim Bede, whose aircraft have used one of everything, has an opinion, from tubing. It’s easy to repair piecemeal, “Obviously there is no system that is the best, because everybody would use it. Oleos so it was most popular on tube-and-rag are probably the ‘best’ system, but they are expensive and need a lot of maintenance; and designs, when labor was less expensive tires do some of the shock-absorbing, too.” than steel. Oleos (struts) are prevalent in higher-end machines, as they provide good econ- Nosewheels are suspended from struts, omy of space and a great ride. As such, they predominate in retractable applications. mounted on levers, or added to an oleo. Photos: Tim Kern, Ed Wischmeyer, Marc Cook, Courtesy Glasair Aviation KITPLANES July 2006 53 Get In Gear continued there is wear in the bolts, or in the bushings, or the fuselage or gear legs. Find that wear. Tailwheels are generally found at the end (It’s even possible that the builder made the of a leaf spring, though some aircraft do hole the wrong size from the beginning.) have retract systems for them. Th ere shouldn’t be any clunking.” Check for broken welds, while you’re Inspection Basics there. Move to the spring mechanism: Virtually all systems terminate in a wheel “Check the bungee cord condition and and tire. Jim Metzger, with thousands of installation. Th e Cuby [and others] have hours in, under and around airplanes, was two giant O-rings that require a tool. Th e the general manager of Avid Aircraft and Avid and early Kitfox use long pieces of now is director of the Twin Command- cord that get lots of wraps. If these are oily, The Monarch gyroplane uses an innova- er Flight Group and an “offi cially retired” they’re no good—they need to be changed. tive double A-arm main gear supported though active A&P and AI. He advo- If they’re clean, dry and show no cracks, by rubber biscuits. These rubber compo- nents will wear out over time and require cates starting from the ground up in any they’re probably good. Oil, in particular, replacement. assessment. “Make sure your tires are in will ruin them.” good shape and that they have the proper pressure. Tires and tubes normally leak a Bungee Jumping little, but if your seller isn’t paying atten- Bungee cords are dated, using a system of tion to the easiest part of the structure, he interwoven colored threads that also tell may not be paying attention to the trick- the cords’ strength. Th e patterns repeat ier parts. Have a look at the brakes, too: every fi ve years, so fi gure on a fi ve-year is there enough friction material? Do the replacement schedule...and fi gure that the brakes work smoothly?” previous owner didn’t, unless it’s logged. Where to start looking: “If you’re look- Also, “On all bungee type gear, there is a 1 ing at a used airplane like a Kitfox (or safety cable, /8 inch or so—that will wrap Avid, or Cuby), you’ll need to look at the around the bungee cord pack in such a way [gear legs near the] lift strut,” Metzger that, if the cords pop, the airplane won’t go Big gear for a big job: The White Knight, tow says. “Have a buddy pick a wheel off the fl at on its belly.” Check the condition of vehicle for SpaceShipOne, uses massive, ground with the lift strut. While he’s this cable and its attachment. oleo-damped main gear. doing that, wiggle the gear leg. You’re Bungee cords hold checking the upper gear/fuselage attach a surprising amount points. If you can rattle it, you have more of energy, so be care- to do. Prop the wing up and check to see if ful. Richard Bogert (of Bogert International, Pasco, Washington) is best known today for electrical stuff : cus- tom wiring and cable kits; numerous STCs and PMAs covering hundreds of models. He also has performed thousands of annual inspections and knows what to look for. He reminds us all of Th e Bungee Cord Rule of Th umb: A simple shackle (arrow) connects the massive main-gear legs “Th ey’re spring-load- to the fuselage in this Citabria. Any wobble between gear and ed in a p*****-off posi- fuselage should be investigated immediately. tion.” Treat these with respect! On tubular and spring gear, Bogert says, “Look for deep scratches—those Oleo struts are popular with retractable- are stress risers. Dents aren’t any good, either—they’re like a crack in an egg. Beware gear aircraft because the entire gear leg unauthorized welding repairs, even if the welding is professional appearing. Th e gear stows neatly; space is always at a premium. is heat-treated; welding destroys the heat treating, changing the whole character of the gear. I’d look for unauthorized welding—a ‘repair,’ or an added step—those kinds of

54 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com even though that particular component manufacturer has gone under. “As long as you don’t destroy the housing, we can fi x anything,” he assures. Speaking of the nose gear, determine how long it’s been since the last service and that all SBs have been complied with. Hawkins off ers that, “250 hours is a good amount of time. Check all seals, springs, pistons and the big parts.” Still, “We like people to send them to us for inspection and rebuild. We can’t ship them back under pressure; the cus- tomer needs to charge them locally.” Th at’s because of regulations that prohibit ship- ping high-pressure items by air (kind of funny when you consider their use). Bede adds, “Th ere’s a couple things to look for on an oleo—check the logs, and make Tailwheels should always get proper care. sure the previous owner wasn’t using ordinary compressed air. Th at will eventually This F1 Rocket’s uses a compression spring cause rust.” Instead, “Use dry nitrogen. Rarely much happens to the steel struts them- to transmit rudder loads to the steerable selves. Th e damage seems to accumulate at the attach points.” tailwheel. Wheels and Tires repairs can have nasty consequences. If Great gear includes good rubber and good brakes. Metzger says, “Check the brakes for you see fresh paint over a welded area, leakage. Look down, where the caliper surrounds the disc, at the thickness of the pads. 1 3 especially if the paint doesn’t quite Th ey should be a minimum of /8 inch thick; they’re about /8 inch thick when they’re match—be suspicious.” new.” Check the wheel bearings. With the wheel off the ground, give it a spin and listen. Oleos With Milk? Quiet is good. Th en grab the leading edge and trailing edge of the wheel, and check On oleos, Bogert says, “Look for unau- for any play as you twist them in and out, top to bottom. Wheel bearings need a con- thorized welding, leaks, cracks, wear in stant light load; they’re tapered. Metzger says, “Tighten the axle nut until it’s snug, then the torque links—worn-out hardware or tighten to the next fl at; don’t loosen it. If they’re loose, your alignment is independent hardware that doesn’t look like it belongs of the landing gear. Secondly, if the wheel is loose, when you use the brake, the brake there. If it’s retractable, look at linkage itself aligns the wheel. You can get a funny brake feel from that.” that may be worn and allow the gear to possibly unlock when you hit a bump.” Look for new paint that may be hid- ing a strut repair. Cast parts are oft en repaired with epoxy. Sometimes (only sometimes) that’s OK—check with the manufacturer to be sure. Justin Hawkins (at Lancair) has advice: “On the [Lancair] IV, look for any bows or bends, and make sure the trunnions are in good shape. [On this machine] there’s no strut. On the Legacy, look at the needle valve and see if there’s any leakage” To dispel a rumor that surrounds an Australian supplier of oleos, Hawkins says that parts aren’t really a problem,

Commonly, homebuilt—and even LSA— Gear alignment is critical, and it starts when you build the airplane. This Sportsman 2+2’s aircraft use free-castering nosewheels. main gear legs fi t into tubes pre-welded into the fuselage, but they still must be indexed They should be tight enough to resist and drilled (for retaining hardware) by the builder. shimmy but not so tight that you have a hard time maneuvering.

KITPLANES July 2006 55 Curing Tailwheel Trouble There is an old axiom in hanger talk that there are only two types of tailwheel pilots—those who have ground looped their planes and those who are going to. Even though the tailwheel on a plane is regarded by some pilots as being synonymous with the word trouble, up until the middle of the last century virtually all planes were taildraggers, so the presence of the pesky little wheel was taken for granted. Although the tailwheel-equipped plane is harder to control, still there is a lot of diff erence between a taildragger that is set up right, compared to the same plane with the tailwheel out of adjustment. Drawing on my experience from working at kit-aircraft factories troubleshooting tailwheel problems, I will go through some of the problems that a tailwheel pilot may encounter. The plane has unstable ground handling. This could a problem with the main gear wheel alignment rather than the tailwheel. I have found that experts will disagree on main gear wheel alignment; but to check out your taildragger alignment, fi rst level the fuselage so its water line shows a zero bubble when using a leveling device. With the fuselage level, then measure the landing gear wheel alignment. If the plane is equipped with spring gear, there should be no (zero degrees of) toe-in/toe-out. If the plane is equipped with bungee-cord gear, trial and error has shown 0 to 2° of toe-out is recommended. This will give the proper tracking when the tail wheel is on the ground. Hint: The weldments that make up a bungee cord main gear are rarely perfect. When the main gear has been adjusted to be within limits, then take a look at the tailwheel. Most tailwheel instability is caused by improper fork (pivoting arm) alignment. The tailwheel of a properly set up taildragger will have the part of the fork, where the tailwheel pivots in its bracket, slightly forward canted to the taxi surface when the plane is unloaded. The fork should be inclined slightly to the rear when the plane is loaded and when the tailwheel spring naturally bends. This puts the fork in the trailing position where it will naturally want to trail straight. If, on the other hand, the fork is inclined forward when loaded, the fork will be hunting for a stable situation and cannot fi nd it. The result: a squirrelly handling aircraft. Having too much rearward inclination will make the wheel only want to trail and it will resist turning. The pilot will have a very heavy handling plane that is hard to steer. This condition will tend to develop as the tailwheel fork bearings wear out, letting the tailwheel sag into an exaggerated rear-trailing condition. Shopping Cart Shimmy. Some planes experience a shimmy in the tailwheel. This is usually the result of lack of trail in the fork, as previously mentioned. However, tendencies for this annoying condition can also be caused by wheel axle wear. A tailwheel that is set up with neutral trail may shimmy because the two tailwheel springs have a harmonic balance where there is no damping force. A cure is a tailwheel spring kit with each spring of diff erent frequency. There is considerable debate over the springs used to control the tailwheel. The rudder must be set up to allow a spring to be placed in line between the rudder horns and the steering arms of the tailwheel. This is necessary as the distance between the steering arm and rudder horns will vary as the tail- spring fl exes. There are two types of springs used: tension andcompression. The most popular springs are the tension-style, which can stretch infi nitely as demand is placed on the wheel by fl exing the rudder. A compression spring is like the springs used to retain screen doors, ni that there are two wire loops placed inside the spring. The result is that the spring will compress when the two loops are pulled in opposite directions until the spring bottoms out, therefore limiting the amount the wheel can resist the pull from the rudder. If tension springs are used, there need be no slack in the spring-chain attachments to the wheel. If compression springs are used, most builders leave a little slack in the spring-chain set up. Tailwheel Breakaway. The more sophisticated tailwheels will break away when the rudder is fully held. This feature is desirable as it allows the pilot to pivot the plane around in a circle by full defl ecting the rudder and then stepping on the opposite brake pedal or swinging the fuselage to create momentum.. Trouble comes when the tailwheel breaks away either too soon or too late to match the pilot’s demands. Too soon: If you have any signifi cant forward motion and apply full rudder, the resistance of the tailwheel should stretch the spring before it takes the wheel to its limit, and the tailwheel should not break away. If, however, the rudder is held in full defl ection until the plane’s fuselage begins to swing, the inertia of the pendulum action of the fuselage can force the tailwheel past its limit and break it free. Hello ground loop. (Note that the ground loop was not caused by the tailwheel breaking loose, but rather the exaggerated momentum of lost directional control broke away the wheel.) If the tailwheel is improperly adjusted, it can break away too easily. Be sure the springs are set up according to the tailwheel manufacturer’s specifi cations. If the springs are correct, then you may have to adjust the part of the mechanism in the tailwheel that releases the wheel. The Maule wheel, for example, uses a ramp that you may lower or shim up to modify the wheel’s break point. Not soon enough: What causes a tailwheel to break loose is the fork is traversed past its limits. The distance between the horns of the rudder must be equal or greater than the distance between the ears of the tailwheel. One situation I encountered was when a diff erent tailwheel was put on the plane and the distance between the tailwheel-spring-attach-points on the rudder was 5 inches and the distance of the-attach-points on the rudder-horn was 6 inches. That tailwheel would not break away no matter how hard you stood on the rudder. I hope this helps if you are having tailwheel trouble. Maybe the fault is not your own but rather an improper setup and alignment. If you look at it from a tongue-in-cheek attitude, the tailwheel is never a problem until you put it down on the runway. —John M. Larsen

56 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com Get In Gear continued

New tires can be signs that the owner is meticulous, or they may indicate a coverup of an alignment, brake or other problem. If your dream machine has brand-new tires, ask KITS! to see the old ones and the logbook—and examine them for indications of trouble. FREE CATALOG! All About Tailwheels If there’s a multiple-spring arrangement, make sure there’s actual motion between the leaves. And if there’s too much or too little caster, it’ll shimmy. (Caster is the dis- tance between a line drawn through the steering head of the wheel to where it hits the ground, compared to a plumb line that’s dropped from the axle. In some cases, it may be possible to add shims to the tailwheel saddle to increase caster.) Metzger says, “Check CALL the steering springs on a tailwheel. Th ere should be a tiny bit of slack built in the little TODAY! springs that go from the rudder horn to the rudder. You should be able to move the rudder a few degrees before the steering springs move the tailwheel. Th en you have to QUICK BUILD SPORT TRAINER KITS. tap the opposite rudder to center the wheel. HAVE YOUR NOSTALGIC J-3 REPLICA IN NO TIME! “Ideally, there should be the spring, then a little bit of chain, and there should be a tiny bit of play there, so the tailwheel can center itself.” If you have a locking tailwheel, check the locking action. Make sure that there is absolutely no looseness at all in the INCLUDES A FREE SET OF SPORT TRAINER attachment of the main leaf spring to the airframe. Looseness there can make your han- DRAWINGS WITH THE dling a nightmare. Usually it manifests itself as shimmy; sometimes, it’s worse. PURCHASE OF A QUICK BUILD KIT! With the tailwheel in the air, grab and shake the tailwheel, too—there should be no fore-and-aft play and no looseness. On grass, it really doesn’t make any diff er- ence; but on pavement, it’s painfully important. Both the Maule and Scott-type WAG-AERO tailwheels have a centering detent. Make sure that your detent works properly. “When they’re worn,” Metzger warns, “the detent may not hold, and you’ll have essential- 1-800-558-6868 ly a full-castering tailwheel.” Bogert says, “As with mains, pay attention to the attach www.wagaero.com KIT66 store.wagaero.com points—shackles, bolts, and the structure it attaches to. On a tube-and-rag airplane, you can have signifi cant rust—it’s where condensation runs to, or where the tail sits ® when the fi eld fl oods.” Th ough everything may look great from the outside, check. “I KITPLANES DIGITALIGITAL EDITION [began the restoration of an agricultural] plane that needed some structural work, and iiss Perfect for every time we tried to weld, well, some of the tubing was paper-thin, and it just exploded when we put heat to it.” InternationalReaders If the spring is multi-leaf, make sure there is some sliding between the leaves—that Readers the leaves aren’t just rusted all together. At the other end of the airplane, “if it’s a pivot- ing nose wheel, look at the bearings. Th ere should be a certain amount of resistance. If it’s mounted on an oleo, look for the usual—rust, pitting, repairs and hardware, torque linkage repairs.” As for nose wheels, the usual advice applies: Make sure everything that

★ Instant online access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week ★ Email announcement of each new issue ★ 12 monthly magazines in convenient PDF format to view on your computer FREE unlimited use of KITPLANES® ★ searchable online Aircraft Directory, a $239 annual value! ★ FREE unlimited use of KITPLANES® searchable online Product and Supplier Directory ★ FREE unlimited use of online article archives, regularly $7.50/article The nose wheel arrangement of this BD-18 ★ Annual Aircraft and Engine employs a torque tube—that would be a Buyer's Guides included long steel rod for the rest of us—and a rub- ★ Subscribe to KITPLANES® Digital Edition ber doughnut on the inside of the fi rewall to absorb shocks. This component should www.kitplanes.com be inspected regularly. Subscribe now to receive a full year of electronic access for just $49.95 (US $).

KITPLANES July 2006 57 Get In Gear continued ularly aft er a rough landing. Both toe and camber are important for should be tight is tight and that every- tire life and handling; and they thing that should move, moves; but can become factors in airframe ensure that nothing’s overly loose. fatigue, if they’re out of spec. Back to the mains. Bogert says, “Take Metzger says, “Alignment is criti- a look at the area where the brake mecha- cal. Look at how the airplane sits. nism attached. It takes a lot of twisting Before you do anything else, make force, and cracks can develop there. Also, sure it is parked on level ground on a lot of low-wing airplanes, brakes can and that the wings are level. Make induce wing-panel cracking.” On Chero- sure there’s nothing bent, and kees, for instance, particularly if they had that the bungees (if so equipped) a lot of hard braking, “you’d get a spider are equal. Check visually for any crack near one of the corners of the lower Here’s a clever idea from the ultralight crowd: unusual wear patterns on the inboard panel.” Obviously, it can happen Carbon-fi ber rods carry the landing loads right to tires. Th ey should look pretty to any plane; just know where to look. the central spine of the, er, airframe. The bending consistent in their wear pattern. If properties of composites can be fi nely tuned. they’re not, look further.” Straighten Up, Fly Right Taildraggers are particularly Chuck Slusarczyk, designer of the CGS susceptible. “If the tires are toed in, the airplane can be almost unfl yable. Conversely, if 1 Hawk line, off ers the following advice: the wheels are set with about /2° toe out, the ground handling will be benign.” Don’t “Watch out that the gear isn’t ‘splayed try to sneak by with a less-than-perfect alignment job. “No toe-in is acceptable,” Metzger out.’ Th at probably means it’s been land- says. “None. When you test-drive the airplane, this should be apparent. If you fl y both ed too hard.” In addition to seeing that grass and pavement, and the gear doesn’t look like an elephant the grass is OK (but the landed on it, it is important that the pavement is not), there’s alignment be proper, so the airplane will an alignment issue, and handle well in ground operations, from it’s probably toe-in. On takeoff to tie-down. Alignment is espe- the Avid (and original cially important on pavement, because Kitfox) gear, you can traction is so much better than on grass. oft en use a piece of pipe Lancair’s Hawkins says it’s important to on the axle and bend it check your alignment frequently, partic- to get the toe-out that you want.” On a fl at spring gear, there’s plenty of ways to adjust alignment; most involve shimming axles or the landing gear saddle at the fuse- You can just barely see the bungee cords protruding from the lage attachment points. bottom of this Kitfox. Bungees are like massive rubber bands None involves heating. encased in cloth. Use extreme care when replacing them, as they’re preloaded to poke out an eye or clean off a fi nger. (If For each application, you’re not careful, of course.) check with the manufac- turer for best practices. Some guys build their airplanes and never fl y them from pavement, Metzger says. “If you only test it on grass, you’ll never know. Infl ate the tires properly, jack the tail to hor- izontal, lay a straightedge across the wheels, and measure the distance between—it had better be wider in front.” Th ere’s little you can do about camber, evident as the amount of “lean in” at the tops of the tires. (Camber is measured in degrees positive and nega- tive. Positive camber has the tops of the tires leaning outward.) On most bungee air- planes, the gear will snap closed as soon as you’re in the air, causing the wheels to dangle Trailing-link main gear gives the wheel at the stops. Looks funny; works OK. additional travel for a given amount of oleo displacement, and can smooth touch- downs. Naturally, the quality and condition Not Too Glamorous? of the bushings is critical. In the end, inspecting and maintaining the landing gear isn’t the sweetest job on the condition-inspection checklist, but it may well be one of the most important. Take the time to do it right, won’t you? 

58 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com Product Review: Product he centennial of powered fl ight has drawn attention to aviation’s Tbeginnings and may have made people aware of the incredible speed of aviation’s development in its fi rst half century. From barely being able to get off the ground with a primitive internal combustion engine to jets and a tailless rocket-powered fi ghter doing more than 600 mph in less than 40 years is a “scientifi c and technical achievement of unforeseen rapid- ity.” Th e designer of that rocket fi ghter, the Messerschmitt Comet, Dr. Alexander Lippisch, was a young man when he saw the fl ight demonstra- tion of the Wrights’ airplane in Berlin. It set him on a path to become one of the most important aircraft designers of the fi rst half century of fl ight.

Early Development in Germany These photos, taken from screen captures, Th e end of WW-I put tight limits on aircraft developments in Ger- show much of the feel of the 1950s-era many, which led to a concentration on gliders and sailplanes. Dr. Lip- educational fi lms. Here, Dr. Lippish is happy to share “The Secret of Flight.” pisch became one of the leading sailplane designers between the wars. Besides conventional sailplanes, Dr. Lippisch designed the Storch series BY MURRY ROZANSKY of tailless gliders, one of which was converted to rocket power as those The Secret of Flight DVDs early rocket experiments had the tendency to set fi re to the cloth tail coverings of conventional gliders. He is considered the inventor of the later ones. I believe the fi lms were shot delta wing and a pioneer of wing in ground eff ect and powered lift fl y- originally with 16-mm black-and-white ing machines. fi lm and have the look of WW-II train- From my interest in aviation history and technology, I was aware of ing fi lms, which is not surprising as they some of Dr. Lippisch’s work. Back in the pre-VHS age, the EAA had were made in 1955 as an educational 16-mm movies to borrow and I had access to a B&H, Film-O-Sound series. Th e period look, sound quality projector. For an EAA Chapter meeting program I borrowed two fi lms and Dr. Lippisch’s accent do not detract of Dr. Lippisch, “Th e Laws of Fluid Motion” and “Flight in Nature.” from the quality of the information pre- Th ey were two parts of a series of 13 half hour educational fi lms made sented. by and for the University of Iowa. Th e two fi lms that I saw way back With the second fi lm, ”Th e Laws of then were so good that I occasionally wondered if the EAA would make Fluid Motion,” Dr. Lippisch demon- them available on VHS, but of course did not do anything to try and strates the air pressure, velocity relation- make it happen. You can imagine my surprise when I saw that the ship; pressure goes down as the velocity whole 13-part series was available on three DVDs. I had to have them, goes up, which can be seen by the closer of course. spacing of the streamlines in the tunnel. Th e series is titled, “Th e Secret of Flight,” in which Dr. Lippisch pres- Th e actual pressures on test points on the ents the secret to the viewer. In the fi rst fi lm, “Th e Mystery Story of the model in the tunnel are shown on a multi- Streamlines” is given. “A picture is worth 10,000 words,” Dr. Lippisch tube manometer in front of the test sec- says as he introduces and describes the smoke tunnel, which is used to tion to prove visually that Bernoulli was generate the streamlines and make them visible. Being able to see the correct. An additional technique is used fl ow phenomena is, for me, the most impressive part of this series. to clarify the fl ow phenomena, pulsating Th e fi rst demonstration in the smoke tunnel is a fl at plate that fl ips smoke in combination with slow motion. up from the fl oor of the tunnel, and you can see the fl ow defl ecting well By periodically interrupting the smoke before the plate, rising over the plate and the wake behind it. What fl ow, the diff erences in fl ow velocities, you can’t see is how the wake is formed the time history of the fl ow around dif- because it happens too fast. Slow motion ferent parts of the models in the tunnel is then used to show the vortex formed is made clearly visible. Th e tunnel model behind the plate, as it is moving upward progression from a venturi, to a half ven- and how the vortex drift s backwards as turi, to an airfoil-like shape and then to the plate reaches its vertical position an airfoil, is used to introduce and dem- leaving the wake behind the plate. Th e onstrate the basics of fl ow and illustrate oscillating vortex wake behind a 90° fl at concepts such as the stagnation point, A fat streamlined section has plate, a Karmann Street, named aft er wakes, separation and the stall. its drag reduced by bound- the professor who fi rst studied it, is also Dr. Lippisch shift s gears in the third ary layer suction as shown by demonstrated. fi l m , “ Th e History of Early Flight.” With its small wake. You might be able to see the steps in the the use of detailed models, photographs streamlines closest to the sur- The Man Himself and early fi lm, the pioneers of early avi- face at the suction slots. Dr. Lippisch seems a bit stiff in the fi rst ation are introduced. Aft er another fi lm but is much more relaxed in the fl ight of the Penaud model, Dr. Lippisch KITPLANES July 2006 59 Th e Secret of Flight DVD continued describes the contributions of Otto Lil- KK lienthal, the fi rst hang glider developer, and Octave Chanute, who added the wire-braced biplane confi guration for his hang BB gliders, which the Wrights later incorporated in their designs. Th e Wright 1902 glider is covered in detail, as it was the fi rst fl ying machine to have an eff ective aerodynam- ic control system. Th e 1903 Wright Flyer and other early fl yers such as Glenn Curtiss, Louis Bleriot, and Henri Farman and their aircraft are described. new At the start of the fourth fi lm, “Discovery of Dynamic Lift ,” Dr. Lippisch gives the three conditions necessary for fl ight; lift , control and propulsion. Because the second two are useless without the fi rst, we are shown the evolution of wing sections from the fl at plates of kites, to the cambered sections of Lillienthal-derived from bird’s wings to the modern thick cambered sections. With the use of by models inside the Zeke smoke tunnel, free Smith fl ight and demon- Boundary layer control like you’ve never seen it. Left, with the stration models out- boundary-layer jet on. Right, with it off . Understanding Composites side the tunnel, in the New Edition - Basic materials and fi ft h fi lm, Dr. Lip- techniques of aircraft composite pisch demonstrates “Stability and Control.” With a glider model with movable parts, a construction including component conventional confi guration is changed into a canard and fl own to show the conditions for stable fl ight can be achieved by both confi gurations and what those conditions are. design, moldless techniques, plugs How control surfaces aff ect airfl ow and how the elevator controls the wing’s angle of and molds, and other practical attack are demonstrated in the tunnel. procedures. $29.95 To open the sixth fi lm, “Propulsion,” Dr. Lippisch shows a fi lm clip of a takeoff and spectacular initial climb of his 1938 design, the Me 163A Comet, which reached more Advanced Composites than 630 mph in 1941. Starting with a windmill, a propeller as a wing on a spiral sur- Vacuum bagging techniques using face is developed. Th e improvement in static thrust by the addition of a duct around a tools and procedures suitable for propeller is demonstrated. In the tunnel the eff ect of a prop on the fl ow fi eld is made the homebuilder are decribed in visible using the tools mentioned earlier. Th e prop is rotated at an angle to the fl ow to detail along with a 17 step course show that the streamlines are turned just as a wing turns them, demonstrating powered progressing from a simple skin to lift like that produced by a helicopter rotor. Demonstrations of simulated jet and rocket a complete closed wing. $34.95 engine’s eff ects in the smoke tunnel are also given. Film seven, “Th e Problem of Drag,” is one of my favorites. Dr. Lippisch explains set of two $59.95 wake drag and reintroduces the Karman Street and goes through the development of a streamlined shape in the smoke tunnel. Th e smoke tunnel’s test section is only 3 inch- es wide, limiting the size of the tunnel models. Film clips from a larger 3-D tunnel are used for some of the demonstrations such as that of straight and swept wings with FREE leading edge smoke. By using very slow motion, things that I have read about or seen evidence of in still pictures are visible in motion. Laminar fl ow and its transition to a SHIPPING turbulent boundary layer and the eff ect of sweep on that transition are clearly visible Free UPS Ground Shipping and therefore no longer an abstract theoretical concept. on orders over $50 Drag reduction by boundary layer control using suction or blowing through slots is demonstrated in the smoke tunnel with the wake sizes clearly reduced. Th e last demon- stration is of space capsule type shape with a diameter greater than its length. With the 400+ titles on building, tunnel on you can see the large wake around the cone shaped aft er body until Dr. Lip- flying, & maintaining pisch turns on the single aft facing jet at the vertex of the cone. In slow motion you can your kit built aircraft see the streamlines start to wrap around the tight radius corners of the body and start to follow the surface of the aft er body leaving a dramatically reduced wake and drag. www.KITPLANESbooks.com In fi lm eight, “Th e Induced Drag” is explained and illustrated with models in the 800 780-4115 wind tunnels. Th e eff ects of span, diff erent wing plan forms and tip tanks are explored. PO Box 270 Tabernash, CO 80478 In “Diff erent Aircraft Systems” (fi lm nine), Dr. Lippisch explores the evolution of air- craft types from the wire braced biplane with its light weight and potentially lower

60 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com induced drag, to the monoplane to the fl ying wing, one of his specialties. He rearranges the parts of a conventional A 2 Place Cross Country Gyroplane! Tax deductible confi guration model glider into a fl ying Crop dusting wing and fl ies it to show that it works Predator control Windmill inspection and explains why. Th e use of sweep and Stock count & inspection the development of the delta wing for Arial photography & mapping high-speed fl ight along with their low Power, pipe & fence inspection speed problems are discussed. Brochure • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Free Info pack • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • $12 USD “Lift Th eory and High Lift Devices,” Info pack & video NTSC (110v) • • • $28 USD is fi lm number 10 and rates a 10. Dr Lip- Info pack & video PAL(220v) • • • • $40 USD pisch illustrates the concepts of circula- tion and translation by fl ying a spinning cylinder across the room. He expands the explanation with a chalk talk and a spin- ning cylinder in the smoke tunnel. Con- ROTARY AIR FORCE MARKETING INC. TEL: 306-463-6030 ventional high lift devices like fl aps and Box 1236, 1107-9th Street West FAX: 306-463-6032 slots are explored. Th e use of suction and Kindersley, SK. Canada S0L 1S0 Email: [email protected] blowing for increasing lift is powerful- For more details visit www.raf2000.com ly demonstrated. Dr. Lippisch mentions that the theory of boundary layer control dates to the early 1900’s. Due to practi- cal considerations, it is still rarely used today. In “Th e Story of the Vortex” (fi lm 11), vortex motion and its relation to lift pro- duction is demonstrated. Many vortex phenomena in nature and demonstra- tions in the lab are shown. “Flight in Nature” (fi lm 12) starts with the flight of a rubber-band-powered ornithopter and goes on to explore bird and insect fl ap- ping wing fl ight in some detail. “Mod- ern Problems Of Flight,” the last fi lm, /!,IKE&LYING+IT0LANES?BPDF0- covers high-speed fl ight. Th e diffi culties of transonic and supersonic fl ight are explained. Dr. Lippisch fl ies a model of his Aerodyne. It is a ducted-fan VTOL concept for high-speed transport. To close the series Dr. Lippisch expresses his 3EAT#USHION3YSTEMS3EAT#USHION3YSTEMS hope that the development of air travel will bring people together and help lead to greater understanding and a more peaceful world. ) )TT&& IIKKEE& Well Worth a Watch EEEELLSS,, &LLYY Th is series is an excellent introduction to I Z „=Š‚{Š ‹ˆ ‚z‰{wŠZ „=Š‚{Š ‹ˆ ‚z‰{wŠ INN aerodynamics and the history of fl ight. GG Dr. Lippisch’s expression, “A picture is xˆ„} ‹z „Dxxˆ„} ‹z „Dh{„{ ‹ˆˆ„} ‹z „Dh{„{ ‹ˆh{„{ ‹ˆ Ø worth 10,000 words,” needs to be multi- †w‰‰ „| ˆ|‚}~ŠŠ~eˆ{} „W{ˆ †w‰‰ „| ˆ|‚}~ŠŠ~eˆ{} „W{ˆ plied by ten or more.  i{wŠY‹‰~ „i‰Š{ƒ‰Di{wŠY‹‰~ „i‰Š{ƒ‰Dfw„‚{‰‰B‰w|{ˆw„zz‹ˆwx‚{Bfw„‚{‰‰B‰w|{ˆw„zz‹ˆwx‚{B  ‹ˆ„{‰{wŠ‚‚ƒw{|‚„}|{{‚‚{Š‰~ ‹‚zDi{{ ‹ˆ ‹ˆ„{‰{wŠ‚‚ƒw{|‚„}|{{‚‚{Š‰~ ‹‚zDi{{ ‹ˆ To order “Th e Secret of Flight,” call the Uni- „‚„{ywŠw‚ } ˆyw‚‚| ˆw|ˆ{{ywŠw‚ }D „‚„{ywŠw‚ } ˆyw‚‚| ˆw|ˆ{{ywŠw‚ }D versity of Iowa Video Center at 866/287- ® 1234. A direct link to the school’s web site NFFCNNNCLOGF Deˆ{} „W{ˆ Dy ƒ Painless • Safer • Quieter™ can be found at www.kitplanes.com.

KITPLANES July 2006 61 COMPLETIONS BUILDERS SHARE THEIR SUCCESSES

COMPLETIONS BUILDERS SHARE THEIR SUCCESSES

Tom Uppman’s RotorWay Exec I started dreaming about my own helicopter when I was a kid. I saw an ad in the back of Popular Mechanics that you could Ted Callahan’s Nieuport 11 Replica build and fl y your own helicopter. I followed the evolution and Aft er fi nishing my SkyStar Kitfox Model IV back in 1996, growth of RotorWay, watched their introductory video in 1995 empty-nest syndrome hit hard. I needed to build! For my next and ordered the kit a few years later. project, I decided to build a replica Nieuport 11 fi ghter based I made a lot of changes to the instrument panel, overhead on 7/8-scale plans from Graham Lee. Inexpensive and simple panel and interior. Most of the wiring harness was redone to to build, the Nieuport is a great way to own a replica fi ghter accommodate the instrument changes I made. Th e factory- without a lot of cost and complexity. supplied cyclic grips were customized to accommodate 12 My Nieuport is powered by a direct-drive Subaru EA-81 switches. Th ey control the radio memory and fl ip-fl op tran- turning a Tennessee Propellers 60x26. Th e radiator is embed- sponder ident, electric clutch, strobe, nav and landing lights. ded in the fi rewall, and the cooling system works great here in Th e starter switch is installed on the end of the collective. the hot and humid Houston air. Cruise is 65 mph. Th e Lewis Th e custom interior has an ultra-leather headliner and door machine gun replica mounted on the top wing sounds off via a posts. Seats are leather, and the fl oors are carpeted. Custom propane/oxygen gas gun setup. Th e aircraft is equipped with a ultra-leather boots are around the cyclics and pedals. All of the smoke system as well as a BRS 750 ballistic ’chute recovery sys- aluminum is polished including the rotor hub, pitch links and tem. Fabric and paint is Poly-Fiber. Th e paint scheme is based horns, thrust blocks, skids and other components not visible on the original Nieuport 11 hanging in the air museum at Le with the panels on. Bourget in Paris. I was fortunate to win the 2005 Grand Champion Award in My replica was fi nished before AirVenture 2005 with the Oshkosh. RotorWay has been very supportive. Special thanks fi rst fl ight in September 2005. Build time was 1200 hours. to Tom Smith and Mark Johnson—they are always available Th e Nieuport 11 is certainly an attention-getter at every fl y-in. for questions and help. And thanks to my wife, Kristine. She Th ere’s nothing like wind in the wires! was very understanding and supportive. Magnolia, Texas Belle Plaine, Minnesota info@foxfl ier.com [email protected] Jon Scholl’s Van’s RV-6 I started this RV-6 standard build in 1996. Submissions to “Completions” should include a N968JS fl ew for the fi rst time in April 2005. typed, double-spaced description (a few paragraphs Since then, it has accumulated 90 hours of only—250 words maximum) of the project and the nearly fl awless fl ight time. My fi rst thought fi nished aircraft. Also include a good color photo- when I fl ew it: “Th is is exactly like Van said graph (prints or 35-mm slides are acceptable) of the aircraft that we may keep. Please include a daytime it would be!” phone number where we can contact you if neces- N968JS has a 160-hp Lycoming engine, sary. Also indicate whether we may publish your Blue Mountain EFIS/One and EFIS/Lite. address in case other builders would like to contact A friend and I did all the prep work and painted the black basecoat and the clearcoat. you. Submissions should be sent to: Completions, ® Mike Lavallee put the color on it. [Photos don’t do the scheme justice. We saw this airplane c/o KITPLANES Magazine PO Box 124, Lib- erty Corner, NJ 07938. Digital submissions are also at Sun ’n Fun, and were bowled over by it. —Ed.] acceptable. Send text and photos to editorial@kit- Th anks to my wife, Chuck Wilson, Jeff Hanson, Dave Dalski and Ken Everill— planes.com with a subject line of “Completions.”Photos I may still have some of their tools! must be high-resolution—300 dpi at a 3 x 5 print size Plano, Texas is the minimum requirement. [email protected]

62 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com SPORTPLANES MARKETPLACE

170 Duck Pond Road Walhalla, SC 29691 • 864-718-0320 MARKETPLACE

This section is dedicated to aircraft and accessories for the new Sport Pilot and Light-Sport Aircraft category. For details on this new rule, go to: http://www.kitplanes.com/sportplanes ESCAPADE tricycle or tail wheel Aircraft manufacturers state that these designs meet the required can be reconfigured in one hour. light-sport aircraft specifications and can be operated Can be used for training or recreation. within the performance limitations of the rule: GRAND CHAMPION Sun-N-Fun 2004 E-LSA and S-LSA manufacturers state that they meet the ASTM consensus standards. Aircraft may be available to register as Experimental/Amateur-Built, Experimental Light-Sport (E-LSA) or Special (ready to fly) Light Sport (S-LSA)

HIGHLANDER back country STOL. Folding wing aircraft with a large baggage area.

GRAND CHAMPION on floats Kit Built, OshKosh, 2005

Central US Cornell Aero Works 28250 State Hwy 64, Cornell, WI 54732 715-239-3716 • www.cornellaeroworks.com Oregon Pacific Custom Aircraft 60193 Pierce Road, La Grande, OR 97850 541-663-0930 • www.aerocomppca.com Alaska Just Kit Planes 560 Keeling Road, North Pole, Alaska 99705 907-490-9080 • www.justkitplanes.com [email protected] California Jabiru Pacific LLC 255 W Fallbrook 202B, Fresno, CA 93711 559-431-1701 • Fax: 559-277-3231 MARKETPLACE www.jabirupacific.com • [email protected] Edenvale Flying Club — Our new dealer for Canada! www.edenflight.com BACK ISSUES List of Advertisers ❏ June 2006 Titan T-51, Land a Pitts!, What's Next AVAILABLE NOW — ORDER for 100LL Fuel?, Modem O2 Systems, Economy Headsets ❏ May 2006 Van’s RV-9A, Tips to Fly (and Buy) More Effi ciently, Hazard Avoidance Hardware ❏ April 2006 Zenith STOL, Loehle 5151, Mustang and www.kitplanes.com/fr eeinfo.asp P-40, Annual Engine Directory ❏ March 2006 ViperJet II Flight Review, Earl Hibler’s Glasair II-and-a-half, Lance Neibauer KITPLANES® ❏ February 2006 AviPro Bearhawk Flight Review, Fisher interactive makes it quick and easy for you to receive additional information Flying Dakota Hawk and Tiger Moth, fr om our advertisers. 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64 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com

0706 Reader Service.indd 64 4/19/06 12:04:33 PM ENGINE BEAT TIMBY KERN

Take a look at Rotax’s fab 582. he two-stroke engines that brought ultralights to the edge of light aircraft were Tnecessarily tiny and light, air-cooled little creatures of one or two cylinders. Th ey got those machines off the ground but they were, for the most part, overtaxed as they tried to achieve acceptable performance in machines that oft en weighed more than the FAR Part 103 limit of 254 pounds. Even the larger air-cooled two-strokes, while producing more power, didn’t seem adequate to the tasks that were being presented to them; reliability gains failed to join the newfound power. In the late 1980s, Rotax, aware of the situation and already producing reliable, Before Rotax created the Model 99—ar- high-powered, water-cooled engines for snowmobiles, brought its single-ignition, 65- riving here in 2000—there was the plain hp 532 to the aircraft market. Th ere was promise, as liquid cooling held the potential version of the 582 with an unpainted head. The 99 wears a blue-painted casting and a to improve the none-too-rosy reliability of the two-stroke. But the 532 had a peaky host of improvements. Normally the block powerband, and was thus not well-suited to aircraft use at steady-state cruise settings. is silver as well. Enter the 582 Soon, Rotax produced a bigger engine, the 582, Nearly 20 years aft er its introduction, with same peak power the water-cooled Rotax remains a popu- but a fl atter, more usable lar powerplant. With so many of them on torque curve. Physically the market—some with incredible time the same size as the more- on them—we thought it would be good powerful 583, the 582 to review some of the things to consider looked to have “the two- if you’re in the market for a used example. stroke problem” cured. It Naturally, what you’ll learn here will also was rugged and compar- help you maintain the 582 you already atively reliable, sported own. (First, this: Although at least one dual electronic ignition, manufacturer actually encouraged the and still had a power-to- use of the 583 in its planes, don’t do it! weight ratio that made Th at engine, designed for high-pow- it attractive to airplane ered snowmobiles and watercraft , isn’t builders and kit manufac- suitable for aircraft , where an engine is turers. expected to run at a high percentage of Th e Rotax 582 was a Thanks to the Rotax’s disc valve—a device to control the maximum power for hours on end.) huge success, making pos- movement of intake air (and fuel) to the crankcase and sible a new wave of practi- thence to the cylinders—one intake is always open. This is a breeding ground for corrosion in seldom-used engines. Now It’s the Blue Head cal light aircraft , perhaps Th e original 582 had an unpainted head. most typically machines Any aircraft that’s running one of the from the pens of Dean Wilson and Randy Schlitter, but pressed into duty in slick glass “plain-head” 582s should come with a machines and twins (the Pulsar and Air-Cam are two examples) as well. detailed logbook that shows how and when the engine was upgraded, because no “original” 582 should still be fl ying Tim Kern’s start in homebuilding came early, as he helped his dad build Luscombes and a wood without a major rebuild. glider as a kid. Since then, he’s been involved in building three homebuilts: a Preceptor Pup, a Range Th e Blue Head 582, known internally Rider and a Baby Lakes. From a professional background in motorcycles and auto racing, Tim began as the Model 99 (the year its design was his aviation career at Mosler Engines in 1990. Visit his web site at www.timkern.com. fi nished; the engine arrived in the U.S.

Photos: Tim Kern KITPLANES July 2006 65 ENGINE BEAT

in 2000), had signifi cant improvements: a closed-loop water system, new ceramic seals on the water pump and easier hand- starting. Gearboxes and Clutches Th e 532 had the A gearbox, identifi ed by its separate adapt- er that mated the aviation gearbox to a snowmobile-engine block. In 1989, that separate adapter was integrated into the (still-available) B box. Modern gearbox off erings include the C (hand-start) and E (same internally as C, but with an elec- tric starter). Th e C box is identifi ed by radial ribs at the hub shaft ; the E doesn’t have the ribs… but it does have a starter. What Goes Wrong? Phil Lockwood, who has been inside as many 582s as any living human, advises that logs are essential. Th e Rotax 582 has a realistic TBO of 300 hours—realistic if it’s used regularly, under proper care. If it’s used intermittently, or in humid or Shrapnel (left) and detonation (right) ruined these pistons. Notice, also, salty environments, or without the care it requires, 300 hours the discolored piston pin on the left; heat and friction take a large toll. is merely wishful thinking. “Flying once a week, at least, is a good idea,” Lockwood says. It keeps the fuel fresh; more importantly, it inhibits corrosion propagation. “Th e little of lubrication not only emboldens corro- bit of oil that remains when the engine is shut down provides corrosion protection for a sion but creates additional working fric- fi nite period of time. And when the engine is stopped, one intake port, at least, is open tion and heat. to the crankcase,” inviting moisture buildup, which precipitates corrosion. Corrosion— In the older engines, Lockwood says, rust is a form of corrosion, so the jet needles in the carbs would wear consider it included in this rather quickly. Th e Model 99 design discussion—makes surfaces includes an O ring that keeps the needles rough, increasing friction from waltzing around too much. Th e and heat. Excessive heat carbs can be updated, but even if they’re overcomes lubrication and not, replacement of the needles is quick kills bearings. Needless to and relatively inexpensive; still, they’re say, corrosion is bad for the worth a look when inspecting an engine. engine and will dramatically One way to quickly determine an shorten its life. Keep an eye engine’s wear is to pull the exhaust sys- on your powerplant for signs tem and stick a light and mirror into the of corrosion, and inspect exhaust ports. Look just above the open- with great care any engine ing, on the cylinder wall. Lockwood says you’re considering for pur- that the cross-hatching (honing marks) chase. Even what seems like should still be sharp and pronounced. minor corrosion can have a If they’re gone, or polished-looking, the Set the idle too low and this is what you get: trashed big impact on the health of engine is probably due for a rebuild. reduction gears. The specs say 2000 rpm. the engine. And if it isn’t used at all, Seizure Clinic the 582 has a TBO of fi ve While you’re looking, see if there are any years. You can’t just let this baby sit around as you build your airplane. Better to wait on signs of seizures or scoring on the pis- the purchase than let the engine molder; be aware of this fact if you’re buying an engine tons, which can be caused by overheat- from someone who is taking more time than expected building his airplane. ing, improper oil metering—remember, Th e cross shaft on which the rotary valves turn is another spot for corrosion; the this is an oil-injected engine, not a pre- water-pump-side seals wear out, allowing coolant to contaminate the shaft ’s lubricating mixer—or inadequate air fi ltration. The oil. (Lockwood pioneered machining for an upgrade that uses the new seals. When you visual cylinder check is the best way to get your engine rebuilt, insist on the upgrade if it hasn’t been done already.) Th is lack tell if there’s a history of the engine’s

66 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com eating sand, or standing idle near the ocean, been cooked, or if it’s just been run ragged. Incidentally, when dramati- cally overheated, the engine will usually seize before it will warp the head. Additionally, check the logs to see if the crank has been replaced. Sometimes, rebuilders cut corners here. Lockwood warns that “Rebuilt cranks are not reli- able.” Make sure the replacement part in your candidate engine was new—verifi - ably new, for that matter—at overhaul. If your engine has been “rebuilt,” make sure it was a total rebuild and inspection, by a Kodiak-authorized repair station. It is not unheard-of for sellers to repre- sent nothing more involved than a carb rebuild as a “rebuild,” implying that the whole engine has been inspected and repaired. Check the logs. See what was replaced, what was re-used and what was remanufactured. Th e 582 has turned out to be a fi ne engine in service, much better than its air-cooled predecessors, but it’s worth understanding that any two-stroke, the 582 included, runs hard to produce rated power. Th ey don’t have four-stroke-like TBOs or tolerance for neglect—but if you know what to look for, and how to care for these little critters, Rotax’s seemingly evergreen 582 will provide economical fl ying with just a whiff of burned oil. Mmmm. 

The cross-hatching pattern on this cylinder has been polished away in spots. At a mini- mum, this cylinder needs to be honed and the rings need replacement. Kitplanes.com/aircraftdirectory

KITPLANES July 2006 67 WIND TUNNEL BARNABYBY WAINFAN

Note that, as expected, increasing the gust velocity increases the AOA incre- ment caused by the gust. Increasing Bumpy air? airspeed, on the other hand, actually decreases the AOA induced by the gust. Make your airplane a smooth operator. (But this does not mean that increasing airspeed decreases the air load caused by ny pilot can tell you—the air through which we fl y is rarely completely calm. As the gust, as we will see shortly.) Athe airplane fl ies through the air, it encounters gusts and turbulence that change As the airplane enters an upward gust, the aerodynamic forces acting on it and disturb its fl ight. Th at being the case, there are the wing’s AOA increases. Th is AOA two related serious considerations for the designer: (1) the loads on the airplane’s struc- increase causes the wing’s lift coeffi cient, ture caused by gusts, and (2) the eff ect that turbulence has on the ride the occupants and hence the lift , to increase unless the experience. Th is month, we’ll examine gusts and how planning for them infl uences the change in AOA is large enough to stall design of an aircraft . And, for that matter, how an airplane’s response to turbulence the wing. Th e increase in lift increas- infl uences ride comfort. es the loads on the wing structure and Gusts: Up, Down, All Around A gust is a sudden change in the movement of the air. Typically, an airplane experiences a gust by fl ying into a mass of air that is moving relative to the air mass the airplane just left . For this discussion, we’ll concentrate primarily on vertical gusts where the air is moving either up or down. If the air in the gust is mov- ing up relative to the ground, it’s called an updraft ; air moving downward is referred to as a downdraft . Makes sense, right? Truly vertical or nearly vertical gusts are usually the result of convection caused by uneven heating of the surface of the earth. Th e air above a hot spot on the ground warms up relative to the rest of the air, and natural convection causes it to rise, form- ing an updraft . (Or, as glider pilots call it, a thermal.) As the upwelling air reaches higher altitude, it cools and will begin to descend, forming a downdraft . Strong updraft s and downdraft s can also be caused by wind Fighters like this F-111 have variable-geometry wings: For effi cient fl owing over mountains or hills. In mountainous areas, these high-altitude cross-country fl ight, they cruise with their wings in a draft s can be very strong and can become dangerous if the air- moderately swept high-aspect-ratio confi guration. plane does not have enough performance to overcome their eff ects. causes an upward acceleration of the air- Gust Loads plane that induces inertial G loads on the When an airplane in level fl ight encounters a vertical gust, the primary eff ect of the gust rest of the airplane. is to change the angle of attack (AOA) of the wing. Th e AOA increases when entering Th e magnitude of the gust load is deter- an updraft and decreases when exiting an updraft or entering a downdraft . Th e magni- mined by several factors including AOA tude of the change in AOA is a function of two factors: airspeed of the airplane and ver- change. Th e lift change caused by the tical speed of the air in the gust. For a square-edged gust, where the change in vertical gust-induced change in AOA is a func- air velocity is instantaneous, the change in AOA is given by: tion of the airspeed, the density of the Δα = arcsin (airspeed/gust velocity). air, the wing area and the lift -curve slope of the wing. Th e lift -curve slope (repre- Barnaby Wainfan’s day job is in aerodynamic design for Northrop Grumman, where he serves as sented in equations by “a”) is the change Technical Fellow for Aerodynamics Design and Analysis. A private pilot with single engine and in lift coeffi cient per change in AOA. For glider ratings, Barnaby has been involved in the design of unconventional airplanes including example, if a wing has a lift -curve slope (a) canards, joined wings, fl ying wings and some too strange to fall into any known category. of 0.1 per degree, that means that a one-

68 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com WIND TUNNEL degree increase in AOA will increase lift A quick aside: We should note in passing that (Nz /α) can have a large eff ect on the coeffi cient (Cl) by 0.1. safety of an airplane in aerobatics or aggressive maneuvering. If the airplane has a high Th e change in lift caused by an AOA (Nz /α), then a relatively small change in pitch attitude can generate a very large G change is given by: load on the airframe. Th ere have been several nasty accidents in kit airplanes that com- ΔL = q S a Δα bine a relatively low wing loading with a clean airframe capable of high speed. Such Where: an airplane, even if designed to the standard FAR Part 23 aerobatic category require- q = dynamic pressure (proportional to ments (+6G, -3G limit load factor) is relatively easy to overstress at high airspeed. Why? airspeed squared and the density of the Because the wing can generate enough lift to pull much more than 6G, and it takes a air), relatively small change in AOA to do so. S = wing area, For gust loads, (Nz /α) is not the whole story. For a given gust, we also need to look a = lift -curve slope (as explained at how much the gust changes the AOA. As we saw earlier, for a given gust velocity, the above), AOA increment gets smaller as the airspeed of the airplane entering the gust increas- Δα = change in AOA caused by the es. Th is variation is approximately linear, so the AOA increment induced by the gust is gust. close to inversely proportional to the airspeed of the airplane. And, as we covered, the load factor change for a given AOA change is proportional How Much Gust Is Too Much Gust? to dynamic pressure. Dynamic pressure is proportional to airspeed squared. Accord- Th e critical thing a designer needs to ingly, even though increasing airspeed decreases the AOA increment due to the gust, know is how much G load a gust will it increases dynamic pressure faster. Th e net result is that the load increment due to a induce. Th e load factor (Nz) is the ver- given gust increases approximately linearly with increasing airspeed. tical acceleration (measured in Gs) that the airplane is experiencing. In level Confi guration Eff ects fl ight, Nz = 1. But, as we’ve seen, a gust Gust loads are a concern for designers because they oft en size the primary wing struc- produces an increase in Nz. ture. Th ere are two major parameters the designer can work with to alter the airplane’s Th e rate of increase in load factor response to gusts: wing loading and the lift -curve slope. caused by increasing AOA is written as Increasing wing loading reduces (Nz /α) and therefore reduces the amount the air- (Nz /α) and referred to as “Nz per alpha.” plane responds to a gust. We can only go so far with this, of course, because increasing For any given fl ight con- wing loading increases stall dition, (Nz /α) is deter- speed, takeoff roll and land- mined by dividing the ing distance. change in lift produced by Lift -curve slope is a func- a one-degree AOA change tion of the aspect ratio by the weight of the air- of the wing—it increas- plane, yielding the follow- es with increasing aspect ing: ratio. While the relation- Nz /α = (q a)/(1/W/S) ship of lift -curve slope to Where: aspect ratio is not linear, W/S is the wing loading low-aspect-ratio wings defi - of the airplane. nitely have lower lift -curve Th is equation shows slope, and hence lower val- us how various factors ues of (Nz /α) than higher- change the load induced aspect-ratio wings fl ying at by a gust: the same wing loading. •Higher dynamic Th is is one of the rea- pressure (higher airspeed) For the low-altitude portion of the mission, the F-111 sweeps its wings back sons why military airplanes increases the load induced to convert to a low-aspect-ratio, highly swept delta confi guration. designed to fl y at high by the gust. speed at low altitude (where •Th e lift -curve slope dynamic pressure is high, aff ects gust loading direct- and the air is likely to be tur- ly; the higher the lift -curve slope, the bulent) tend to have low-aspect-ratio delta wings. It’s also one of the primary reasons why higher the loads a given gust will cause. low-level strike airplanes and bombers such as the F-111, Panavia Tornado and B-1 have •Gust loading is inversely proportion- variable geometry wings. Such airplanes can cruise at high altitude with their wings in al to wing loading. Increasing wing load- a moderately swept high-aspect-ratio confi guration suitable for effi cient cross-country ing decreases the response of the airplane fl ight and then sweep their wings back to convert the confi guration of the airplane into a to the gust. low-aspect-ratio, highly swept delta for the low-altitude portion of the mission.  Photos: Richard VanderMeulen KITPLANES July 2006 69 BUILDERS’MARKETPLACE

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72 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com AERO ’LECTRICS JIMBY WEIR

A quick and dirty 12-24 up-converter. Capacitors like to keep a constant volt- age across themselves. Th at’s why they are o this point, we’ve successfully completed the relatively simple linear 28-14 volt so useful in smoothing out noise and the Tdown-converter (May) and the more complex but much more effi cient switching like, because they supply energy to the 28-14 volt down-converter (June). Now our task is to try the supposedly complex up- noise voltage trough and absorb energy converter to take a 12-volt system and convert it to 24 volts. Guess what? Th is “com- from the noise voltage peak. Inductors plex” up-converter is actually simpler than either the linear or digital down-converter. do pretty much the same thing, only they Once again, you can use either the μA78S40 or the MC34063 as your switching like to keep the current constant through device. For the purpose of this simple circuit, they are absolutely equivalent. And, as themselves. When a load is removed from we noted last month, the usual gang of parts suspects (Digi-Key, Mouser) carries them an inductor (say, when the points in both. the distributor open up), the inductor uses the energy stored in its magnetic But How Can We Increase Voltage? fi eld during the points closure to let My students have oft en asked me a basic question: How can you get out more voltage the voltage rise to a very large value in a than you are putting in? My usual answer is to ask them if they’d like to hold on to vain attempt to keep that current fl ow- a spark plug wire while I turn on the 12-volt ignition system of their automobile. Of ing. When all the energy is expended in course not! Well, then how can I start out with 12 volts and have enough to knock making this voltage rise, then the induc- you on your keester? Th e answer, of course, lies in the constant-current property of an tor is ready for its next round of energy inductor. storage.

Jim Weir began acquiring Aero’Lectrics expertise in 1959, fi xing Narco Superhomers in exchange for fl ight hours. A commercial pilot, CFI and A&P/IA, Jim has owned and restored four single-engine Cessnas. Th ese days, he runs RST Engineering and teaches electronics at Sierra College. Ask him questions at rec.aviation.homebuilt or visit his site at www.rst-engr.com/kitplanes.

Photo and Illustrations: Jim Weir KITPLANES July 2006 73 FREE AERO ’LECTRICS AVIATION NEWS

If I select my inductor value carefully and choose my timing of the open-close ratio, I can pretty well pick the output volt- age that will be generated by an inductor generating a high voltage and the capacitor that smoothes the pulse voltage out. Th e integrated circuit chosen for this application does just that—as the schematic shows. We see that L101 (the inductor) receives its input voltage from the +12 volt line (through short circuit limit resistor R101) and is either shorted to ground through Q101 or allowed to The switching 12-24 volt up-converter, in pass its energy through D101 to smooth- fi nished form. Wasn’ t too complex, was it? ing fi lter capacitor C102. Note the heat sinks on both the transistor and the diode. Internal to the integrated circuit is a very accurate band-gap 1.2-volt reference voltage. Th e drill is to sample the output through R102/R103 and have the voltage divider formed by these two resistors in con- junction with R104 set the voltage at Ci to exactly 1.2 volts. I could have chosen a fi xed 240KΩ resistor for the R102/R103 combination to set the output voltage to 26 volts, but my thought was that most of you would want to set the output voltage to something SAMPLE between 24 and 28 volts, so I made R102 variable.

Want Even More Current? 1-Ampere Design SAMPLE Th e design as shown has been tested to provide 1 ampere of current at 26 volts. Reference Mouser P/N While I have not tested it to higher D101* 821-MBR1045 ($0.64) currents, here are some thoughts about L101 542-2110-H ($2.13) how you might proceed to increase the C102 647-UPW1V152MHD ($1.59) current capability. Q101* 512-TIP29 ($0.17) •For each ampere of average current you draw at 24-28 volts, you draw a peak *Plus a small heat sink. See May 2006 column for typical part numbers. current of 4.5 amps through both Q101 and D101. Th us, if you want a 3-amp power supply, you will need devices capa- ble of 14 amps peak current. While these aren’t exotic devices, they need to be selected with some care. (Th e Tip-3055 for the transistor and MBR1545 for the catch diode.) •Drawing more current means more ripple at the output, so your fi lter capacitor is going to have to triple in size if you triple the current. •R101 (the short circuit set resistor) needs to be reduced proportionally. Th us, if you want to triple the current, you must reduce the length of the #30 wire you are using for the resistor to 6 inches. •I think that a power darlington transistor for Q101 might be advisable for double or triple the current. In that case, I’d double the value of R106 to 56Ω and double the value of R105 to 10Ω. A power darlington capable of triple the output current would be something like the Fairchild KSC5047. •Th e rest of the components should remain the same. Th e included table shows the critical parts and the Mouser part numbers. Th ose of you using Digi-Key or some other supplier can cross the Mouser part to your supplier. www.avweb.com/kit Next month? A digital thermometer to measure case temperatures of our power supplies—among other things. Stay tuned. 

74 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com THE CLASSIFIEDBUILDER

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76 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com AT300 COLOR TERRAIN MOVING MAP NEW - COMPOSITE TECHNIQUES COWLING, upper & lower fiberglass moulds for Subaru EA-81, complete with all vents, oil cool- Two new books for the homebuilder by Zeke Smith: 307- One, is a new edition for the beginner; the second er cut-outs, etc. Photos available. $675 book applies the technology to real structures. 660-1755 (cell) MDT 307-682-6650 (office) FOR THE DETAILED STORY ON BOTH, SEE NEW MORE POWERFUL Super Oxidizer with www.aeronautpress.com oscillator produces million volt charge, use ozone and nitrous oxidein in your engines instead of just plain air. Nitrous oxide pro- The AT300 moving map display shows GPS data overlaid on Engines, Parts, Services vides the oxygen and power to drive Burt TAWS-like terrain. Affordable and easy to install, the AT300 Rutan’s space rocket. For all engines, all sizes. fits in even the most crowded panel. From $3495. 25 YEARS FLIGHT-PROVEN reduction Info http://hometown.aol.com/JACSIL4/ ASPEN AVIONICS, LLC drives for 4.3L V-6 and 350 V-8 Chevy small 8360 Corona Loop NE, Albuquerque, NM 87113 EXHAUST Performance exhaust for most block engines. Belted Air Power, 1408 505-856-5034 • [email protected] makes and models. Custom systems for www.aspenavionics.com Western Ave., Las Vegas, NV 89102, Ph/fax: Lycoming, Continental, Rotax, and many others. DISCOUNT PORTABLE GPS. New and used. 702-384-8006. 1-800-770-7287, www.aircraftexhaust.net Buy, sell or trade. All makes and models. PS VERNER engines; 84hp; 134lbs; dual ignition; and pilot supplies. Visa/MasterCard/Discover. STRATUS 2000 INC. electric start; gear reduction; 1000hr TBO; in Tropic Aero, 800-351-9272 or 954-491- Specializing in the Subaru Ea81 100+ HP engine: 2.2 to 1 Belt Drive w/ prop extention, dual Bing carb kit, stock; APEX AVIATION; 480-236-6783; 6355; fax: 954-772-3327, 24 hours. Alternator kit, Cam grind, mounts, stainless steel muffler. [email protected] www.ultrikes.com STRATUS 2000 INC. Books and Manuals 5145 SE 3 Rd St., Corvallis, OR 97333 UltraVair 2-cylinder Corvair conversion ultra- Tel: 541-754-4114 • Email: [email protected] light engine. 80lbs and 35+ hp. www.ultravair. LIGHT AIRPLANE CONSTRUCTION FOR www.stratus2000.homestead.com com ph# 319-981-6761. Conversion manual THE AMATEUR BUILDER. Mods, tools, jigs, $56.50 US/Canada, $65 International. Send PERFORMANCE exhaust systems and Rotax 311 illustrations, 92 pgs., $35. LIGHT AIR- payment in USD to: UltraVair Aviation LLC, parts and service. We sell performance exhaust PLANE DESIGN. Statistics, weights, simple P.O. Box 2741, Cedar Rapids, IA 52406. systems for Rotax 277 through 618. We also calculations, 61 illustrations, 80 pgs., $35. rebuild Rotax ultralight engines at great prices LANDING GEAR DESIGN FOR LIGHT AIR- AEROVEE 2180 ENGINE KIT using genuine Rotax parts. Approximately CRAFT. 245 pgs., 463 illustrations, $50. Books: $1,200 for 582 and $1,000 for 503. We also mail/ins. USA $7, foreign $18. Pazmany PL-9 rebuild crankshafts. Call for prices on rebuilds Video: $30, mail: US $5, foreign $18. PAZMANY AIRCRAFT CORPORATION, PO Box 85001, and parts. R&D Aerosports L.L.C. 715-675- San Diego, CA 92138. www.pazmany.com 7055. www.rdaerosports.com Email: [email protected] Fax: 619-224-7358. ROTAX Sales and Servicing Authorized Kodi- Affordable Power for the Sport Pilot, 80 hp. 161 lbs. - State of the art complete AeroVee Engine Kit NEW! Practical Stress Analysis for Design ak Service Center for ROTAX engines. Service features: Sky-Tec Starter, Alternator, Engineers — Deluxe hardbound edition, 474 from inspections to overhauls. FREE 216 page Dual Ignition, AeroCarb, Manifold. Resource Guide and Parts Catalog available Assembly DVD and Info Pack: $25. illustrations and drawings, 685 pages. Solu- WORLDWIDE DISTRIBUTOR: SONEX, LTD tions based on “real” aircraft structure. A sim- upon request. Leading Edge Air Foils, PO Box 2521, Oshkosh, WI 54903-2521 plified, easy-to-understand reference book — www.leadingedgeairfoils.com or 800-532-3462. Tel: 920-231-8297 • Fax: 920-426-8333 contains no complex mathematics. Aircraft www.aeroconversions.com designers and experimenters can master the VESTA INC. PROPULSION SYSTEMS CONVERSION CONCEPTS, INC. Rotary principles and fundamentals of stress analy- engine conversion motor mounts and compo- sis. Price $98. Satisfaction Guaranteed. Lake nents. RV Series, Canard Aircraft, several City Publishing Company, Tel: 208-772- other designs. www.conversionconcepts. 7721, www.psa1.com com 502-231-8124.

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KITPLANES July 2006 77 THE CLASSIFIEDBUILDER continued

ROTAX® AIRCRAFT ENGINES Helecopters/Rotorcraft VAN BUREN, ARKANSAS. Kitplanes and Easy ordering - Fast Shipping - Expert Advice - Fair Price other fine books, publications, and videos are New and Used Engines and Parts. Our commitment to Customer available at Dave’s Hobbies, 600 Main Street Satisfaction and Technical Expertise guarantees premier service to ROTORDYNE High performance bonded alu- EVERY customer. in the Anheuser Busch Building. 479-471- minum rotor blades: Proven Reliability, 0750 www.daveswebshop.com WWW.RTX-AV-ENGINES.ca Advanced Airfoil Design, Custom Fit Service, [email protected] 1-866-418-4164 Toll Free Worldwide Delivery. Call Rotordyne Aero HI-TECH FOAMS. Seat foam, sit for hours, L.L.C. www.rotordyne.com 805-239-9714 unsurpassed comfort and impact safety. VW Reduction Drives & Culver Props @ Noise and vibrarion foams for experimental Valley-eng.com. Try our new Prop Pitch Homebuilders Supplies and general aviation aircraft. All products calculator @ CulverProps.com Valley meet FAR 25.853 and FAR 25.855 burn speci- Engineering, LLC, 573-364-6311. TERMINALTOWN–Wiring supplies: mil-spec ficiations. Many kit drawings and seat pack- terminals, tefzel wire, crimpers, heat shrink, ages available. Send SASE to: Hi-Tech TIRED OF ROTAX PRICES? fuse blocks & cable ties. Terminal, connector Foams, 3710 Airpark Rd., Lincoln, NE and fuse block kits. Online catalog–secure 68524, 402-470-2346, www.seatfoam.com ordering. www.terminaltown.com

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KITPLANES July 2006 79 KIT STUFF BY ROBRUCHA

80 KITPLANES July 2006 www.kitplanes.com Home Field Advantage

Zodiac XL “Sport Pilot Ready”

2-Place STOL CH 701 “Sport Pilot Ready” 4-Place STOL CH 801

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Check out our website Demonstration Video for complete performance specs, pricing, and builder resources. Now Available On DVD Zenith Aircraft Company Information Kit: $15 Mexico Airport, P.O. Box 650, Mexico, Missouri 65265 USA Demonstration Video: $20 Tel: 573-581-9000 (Overseas Airmail add $10) Kit Planes For The World™ www.zenithair.com

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