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Fly-By-Wire for Homebuilt Aircraft?

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Fly-By-Wire for Homebuilt Aircraft? ® www.kitplanes.com $4.99 CANADA $5.99 $4.99US $5.99CAN Fly-by-Wire 07 for Homebuilt Aircraft? 0 09281 03883 2 JULY 2004 VOLUME 21, NUMBER 7 ADVERTISER INFORMATION ONLINE AT WWW.KITPLANES.COM/FREEINFO.ASP ® On the cover: Brian Raeder’s dream of building an Flight Reports award-winning Sky Raider became a reality last year 32 THE ITALIAN JOB when he was honored at Oshkosh AirVenture with the How two builders constructed Italy’s most pop- Grand Champion award. Read about his triumph—and ular kit in six months; by Geoffrey P. Jones. what led up to it—on Page 8. Photo by Jim Raeder. 73 ROTOR ROUNDUP From helicopters to gyroplanes, continued; by Ken Armstrong. Builder Spotlight 8 GRAND CHAMPION SKY RAIDER How to build a show plane; by John M. Larsen. 14 GEAR UP! An RV-4 with a difference; by Ishmael Fuentes. 39 A LITTLE PERSONALITY Builders get creative on aircraft interiors and exteriors; edited by Cory Emberson. 44 BUILD A SEAREY, PART 3 We prepare the SeaRey for inspection and first flight; by Don Maxwell. 60 COMPLETIONS Builders share their successes. Shop Talk 55 AERO 'LECTRICS We test the ILS radios; by Jim Weir. 67 ENGINE BEAT Want to be your own mechanic? by John M. Larsen. Designer’s Notebook 52 WIND TUNNEL We discuss critical mach number; by Barnaby Wainfan. Exploring 2 AROUND THE PATCH Light-sport aircraft? Not quite yet; by Brian E. Clark. 6 WHAT’S NEW 8 Garmin’s 296 arrives; edited by Brian E. Clark. 19 LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, PLEASE BE SEATED How Oregon Aero “un-engineered” a safe seat for the RV-10; by Dave Martin. 26 FLY-BY-WIRE—ON THE HORIZON? Will fly-by-wire systems soon become a reality for homebuilts? by Mike Perkins. 49 FROM STEAM GAUGES TO GLASS COCKPITS The glass cockpit promises a clear view, but don’t forget training; by Gary Jones. 58 GETTING YOUR FEET WET, PART 2 6 We examine specific floats available for home- builts; by Rick Lindstrom. 32 65 LIGHT STUFF Are these the future LSAs? by Dan Johnson. Kit Bits 4 LETTERS 34 LIST OF ADVERTISERS 64 CALENDAR 69 BUILDERS’ MARKETPLACE 75 THE CLASSIFIED BUILDER 80 KIT STUFF 73 Drawing on experience; by cartoonist Robrucha. KITPLANES JULY 2004 1 Around the Patch BY BRIAN E. CLARK Light-sport aircraft? Not quite yet. f you’ve been following the devel- that the rule will ever pass! We certainly on the pending regulation. opments in the pending Sport- expect that it will, but I wouldn’t be The bottom line? LSA is not here I Planes™/light-sport aircraft (LSA) shocked out of my mind if the news came yet. Don’t pin all your hopes on a rule proposal, you probably know by now down that the rule had been abandoned. that doesn’t yet exist. The 20 years this that the FAA retracted the rule from Second, we don’t know when it will magazine has been around have seen an the Office of Management and Budget pass, assuming that it does. Currently, innumerable list of innovative, excit- (OMB) in the last week of March. As the the rumor mill has it that a final rule ing, custom-built aircraft take to the 90-day deadline approached for the could be issued by summer 2004, but skies. You don’t have to wait for a new OMB to approve the rule, questions who’s to say if that will really happen? rule to make one of those aircraft yours. surfaced regarding the FAA’s cost-bene- Third, implementation of the rule is Now get to work on building that fit analysis. Rather than risk an out- going to be a bear, and its ramifications Grand Champion. right rejection, the FAA pulled the rule are too numerous to count. KITPLANES® to address the specific concerns. Magazine, EAA, AOPA and other industry In my opinion, there are two ways groups have already begun preparing for Speaking of we can look at this. As an optimist, I’d the new rule, and they’re all likely to do Grand Champions... like to think that the OMB’s questions an admirable job of assisting pilots with “Engine Beat” editor John Larsen will quickly be answered, and the rule the transition. But it won’t be seamless. recently got the chance to visit with will get back on track for an imminent Finally—there’s no reason to wait. Brian Raeder, builder of the cover-pic- final approval. But the pessimist in me We’ve got two great types of aircraft— tured Sky Raider. Larsen’s article on makes me want to throw my hands in ultralight and amateur-built Experimen- Raeder’s airplane helps illustrate the the air, exhale and shout “Again!” tal—that are not going to change an time and effort required to build an The initial notice of proposed ounce. The list of available 51%-legal air- award-winning aircraft. rulemaking (NPRM) was unveiled in craft kits grows everyday. If you build Now we know that most home- January 2002—more than two years one that meets the approximate specifi- builders don’t build airplanes solely to ago. Initial speculation was that the cations of light-sport aircraft, then you win awards—instead, it’s the quality of rule would be announced at Oshkosh may be able to fly it under LSA regula- aircraft that matters more. After all, an 2003, but the FAA was just getting its tions anyway. award doesn’t take up too much space final rule to the Department of Trans- And what about ultralights? You above your fireplace; an airplane, on portation (DOT), the first of the two don’t need any license to fly an ultra- the other hand, requires time, money organizations to review the proposal, at light, nor is a medical certificate required. and space just to maintain, even once that point. Next, we thought we’d see a I can think of plenty of ultralights that I’d it’s been built. You’ve got to really want rule by spring 2004. The March delay be happy to find parked in my hangar. to build that thing to be successful. knocked that out of the picture. I don’t intend for this column to be But we thought that some Are these delays unreasonable? a knock on the light-sport category. It thoughts from a Grand Champion Probably not. I understand full well could mean all the things that we hope it builder might help some of you who that no governing agency wants to rush does—more people in aviation, easier are shooting for the stars. into a proposal like this one without the requirements for licensing and new air- In some cases, it’s not the skill proper amount of preparation and con- craft available. If all those things prove level that makes the difference, but the sideration for the consequences that true, I’ll be the first one to take advantage time devoted. Raeder put 2600 hours could arise. The point I’d really like to of some of the benefits the rule produces. into his aircraft. You want to follow in illustrate is—Stop Waiting! Why? But I’ve tried to temper my enthusiasm his footsteps? Check Larsen’s article for First of all, there’s no guarantee and maintain a realistic, objective outlook some advice. 2 KITPLANES JULY 2004 WWW.KITPLANES.COM Letters The Case of the Missing Captions I really like your magazine and look forward to reading it every month. I always flip to the cartoons first—Robrucha always makes me laugh. July 2004 Volume 21, Number 7 Could you please tell me what the captions would have been on pages 66- 77? They didn’t print in my magazine. EDITORIAL Leo W. Moritz Editor Brian E. Clark [email protected] Actually, the captions for those cartoons didn’t print in any magazines. We man- Managing Editor Regina P. Ciardiello aged to crop them off when scanning Robrucha’s original cartoons. We realized our mis- Contributing Editors Ken Armstrong, Dave Higdon, take quickly. Shortly after publication of the May issue, we received a number of e-mails Dan Johnson, Gary R. Jones, Geoffrey P. Jones, John M. Larsen, Howard Levy, Dick Starks, Barnaby Wainfan, and phone calls similar to yours. Jim Weir, Ed Wischmeyer Apologies to our readers and to Robrucha himself, who was quite surprised. We Senior Art Director J. Anthony LaGrasta didn’t mean to cause an uproar, but we’re certainly glad to see that everyone noticed! Cartoonist Robrucha Here are the missing captions: ADVERTISING Page 66: “Smatter? Never seen a rotary engine before?” Publisher/Ad Director Cindy Pedersen [email protected] Page 75: “Do the words ‘stupid’ or ‘idiotic’ resonate with your current get-up?” Senior Advertising Manager Chuck Preston Page 76: “It’s just the trend. Almost everything in aviation is gradually going digital!” [email protected] Page 77: “Wow! I didn’t even know there was an Aerocomp 300!” —Ed. BUSINESS OFFICE 531 Encinitas Blvd., Suite 105, Encinitas, CA 92024 Main Number: 760/436-4747, fax 760/436-4644 Engine Monitoring Omission? Editorial: 973/227-7660, fax 973/227-7630 Just finished reading the April issue and especially enjoyed the article on PRODUCTION engine monitors. However, I was disappointed that the article did not include Production Manager Marsha Blessing the Stratomaster line of instruments. The Ultra series from Stratomaster appears 717/433-7985; e-mail [email protected] to be a very capable monitoring product tailored for use in Experimental aircraft CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING and for a tremendous value, especially relative to its competitors.
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