®

www.kitplanes.com $4.99 CANADA $5.99

In-Cockpit $4.99US $5.99CAN Satellite 01 Radio:

Do It Yourself 0 09281 03883 2

JANUARY 2005 VOLUME 22, NUMBER 1 ADVERTISER INFORMATION ONLINE AT WWW.KITPLANES.COM/FREEINFO.ASP

® On the cover: Howard Levy photographed Cory Bird piloting Annual Directory, Part 2 his Symmetry—this year’s recipient of the Grand Champion 25 CONSIDER A PLANSBUILT PROJECT award for best plansbuilt aircraft at Oshkosh. Read Ed John M. Larsen compares building a plans Wischmeyer’s article beginning on Page 6. project to assembling a kit. 31 2005 PLANS AIRCRAFT DIRECTORY We list aircraft that can be built from plans; compiled by Julia Downie. 53 PLANS COMPANY CROSS-REFERENCE You can find the company if you know the name of the design. Builder Spotlight 6 PERFECT SYMMETRY Fourteen years in the making, this unique gem was worth the wait; by Ed Wischmeyer. 65 COMPLETIONS Builders share their successes with our readers. Shop Talk 57 GAS WELDING FOR THE NON-WELDER, PART II In the conclusion of this series, Scott Laughlin advises on achieving a solid weld. 67 AERO ’LECTRICS Install a Roadie satellite radio in your homebuilt; by Jim Weir. 72 ENGINE BEAT The second generation of rotary engines is introduced to the homebuilt market; by Ed Wischmeyer. Designer’s Notebook 61 WIND TUNNEL Flying on the dark side of the curve; by Barnaby Wainfan. Exploring 2 AROUND THE PATCH Adding a little personality; by Brian E. Clark. 4 WHAT’S NEW 6 The Sportsman 2+2 adds Montana Amphibs; edited by Brian E. Clark. 10 MAKING THE SPORT-PILOT DECISION To fly in the new down-scale mode: That is the question; by Dave Martin. 12 DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT Zenair’s Chris Heintz has the innovation and forthrightness to achieve success; by Tim Kern. 20 ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT Autopilots can lend a hand when the going gets tough; by Dave Higdon. 25 54 LIGHT STUFF This pioneer in the ultralight industry is still 10 going strong; by Dan Johnson. Kit Bits 3 LETTERS 64 LIST OF ADVERTISERS 69 BUILDERS’ MARKETPLACE 75 THE CLASSIFIED BUILDER 80 KIT STUFF Drawing on experience; by cartoonist Robrucha. 12

KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 1 Around the Patch BY BRIAN E. CLARK

Adding a little company that would aid builders in get- ting insurance for Lancair IV-Ps. Builders have traditionally had difficulty getting personality. hull insurance for the IV-P, due to its per- formance numbers (330 mph at 24,000 feet) and high wing loading. After the sidebar’s publication, Lan- cair contacted us and requested that we hroughout the last year, we’ve We’d like to take on a wide range expand upon a statement made in the continually pressed you for feed- of designers—in addition to the names description of the company’s High Per- T back on the magazine—thoughts, we all know so well, our goal is to feature formance Aircraft Training (HPAT), an suggestions and comments on current some lesser known personalities as well. essential part in the plan for builders to editorial and topics you’d like to see in the If you have suggestions on aircraft obtain full insurance coverage. The com- future. One of the common themes that designers with interesting stories, please pany asked that we make it more clear we’ve noticed in many e-mails we’ve e-mail us ([email protected]) that not everyone will pass the training. received is the desire for more and tell us why their story would Pilots taking the course must meet a stan- personality-based content on make a good subject. dard—they will not be issued a certifi- the pages of KITPLANES®. And keep those com- cate until they meet that standard. The magazine does a great ments coming. We’ll do our And that certificate is mandatory to qual- job of featuring aircraft and best to oblige and provide ify for the insurance program; simply products, you’ve told us, the content you’re most completing the 10 hours of training but more about the looking for. won’t satisfy the requirement. builders, designers and indus- Some participants will need to get try personalities would be ideal. Some Corrections training from an instructor before they’re To that end, we introduce this In the September issue’s “Bring capable of passing the course, and others month a new series of articles. Titled on the Tools!” article, we made two may never be able to pass the course, “Designer Spotlight,” each edition will errors that need to be corrected. First, we regardless of training. feature a different aircraft designer from provided incorrect contact information “A student can complete the ini- the homebuilt industry. KITPLANES® for Metalcraft Tools, manufacturer of tial training and it be determined that contributor Tim Kern will be putting the English Wheels that author Ed Wis- additional training is required,” said Lan- the series together by sitting down with chmeyer wrote about. The company can cair’s Kimbra Guillot-Ong. “This would be each designer, getting a good sense for be contacted at 904/259-4427 or determined by the instructor at the end the history involved and turning it into www.metalcrafttools.com. of the initial training period. A certifi- a great piece for the magazine. The series Second, we misidentified the cate of completion would not be issued won’t appear on a monthly basis, but source of the primer pistol tool shown until the student had completed this our goal is to publish between four and on Page 51. The author discovered the additional training and was checked out six per year. tool through Synergy Air, a group of by an official High Performance Aircraft The first edition of “Designer Spot- RV builders in Eugene, Oregon, that Training instructor.” light” features Chris Heintz, patriarch offers classes and builder assistance for According to Guillot-Ong, about 12 of the Zenair/Zenith line of aircraft. RV builders. The tool is not available pilots of the approximately 100 partici- Heintz has been active on the U.S. home- from Wicks Aircraft as we said in the pants in the HPAT training program have built scene since the mid 70s, and his article, but through Aircraft Spruce, not completed the course of their first designs are some of the most recogniza- Avery Tools, Cleaveland Aircraft Tools try. Nine of those 12 have been asked to ble among the aircraft in our niche. and Van’s Aircraft. complete additional training before Heintz promotes easy-to-build aircraft returning to the HPAT program for anoth- that are designed for the everyday pilot. A Clarification er try. The other three likely won’t pass, He shared lots of details about his 30 In the October 2004 issue, we ran even with additional training. years in the business, and Tim’s report is a sidebar titled “The Lancair IV-P: An The bottom line? Lancair wants to fascinating. The photos alone are incred- Insurance Solution” on Page 44 in the make sure that only truly qualified pilots ible—I hope that the designers we inter- main text of “Insuring a Kit Aircraft Pro- pass the course and are able to take view in subsequent editions are as gen- ject” by Cory Emberson. The sidebar advantage of the insurance program. If erous in combing through old photos detailed a proposed plan in the works you plan to try, you’ll have to prove your albums as Heintz was. between Lancair and a major insurance skills in the cockpit.

2 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM Letters Some Perspectives On Our Homebuilt Safety Issue January 2005 Volume 22, Number 1 Experimental aircraft are exempt from the performance and safety standards applicable to certified aircraft. Therefore, they should have a higher accident rate. If they had the same safety record as the certified birds, we would have to question EDITORIAL the validity of the entire block of FAA regulations related to design criteria, certi- Editor Brian E. Clark fication testing and maintenance by licensed mechanics. [email protected] While some regulations are counter-productive, there is no reason to doubt Managing Editor Regina P. Ciardiello Technical Editor Ed Wischmeyer that, taken as a whole, the certification and maintenance regulations do increase Contributing Editors Ken Armstrong, safety. The critical question is: do these regulations increase safety enough to off- Dave Higdon, Dan Johnson, Gary R. Jones, set their costs? At the jet end of the performance spectrum the answer is almost cer- Geoffrey P. Jones, John M. Larsen, Howard Levy, tainly yes, but that the low and slow level, the answer is not so clear. Perhaps you Rick Lindstrom, Dick Starks, Barnaby Wainfan, Jim Weir can persuade some manufacturers to release enough data on their certification costs Senior Art Director J. Anthony LaGrasta Cartoonist Robrucha to allow a meaningful comparison. Jim Chaput ADVERTISING Dahlonega, Georgia Publisher/Ad Director Cindy Pedersen [email protected] ® Senior Advertising Manager Chuck Preston I have read and reread the three articles in KITPLANES on the accident sta- [email protected] tistics for amateur-built aircraft. While I find the information a bit uncomfortable, mostly because I suspect it is accurate, I welcome the constructive approach BUSINESS OFFICE taken with this topic. I don’t like the contents of the message, but it is a story that 531 Encinitas Blvd., Suite 105, Encinitas, CA 92024 has to be told. Main Number: 760/436-4747, fax 760/436-4644 Editorial: 973/227-7660, fax 973/227-7630 The first step in solving a problem is admitting that it exists in some form. I welcome follow-on articles your creative minds can produce to help us all PRODUCTION & CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING deal with the situation in a constructive way that will reduce the accident num- Production Manager Marsha Blessing bers without fanning the flames of panic in the industry. 717/433-7985 e-mail [email protected] Joe Gauthier SUBSCRIPTION DEPARTMENT EAA Homebuilt Aircraft Council 800/622-1065; 386/447-6318 [email protected] I read your most recent issue on kit airplane accidents and enjoyed it great- Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235 For Canada: Box 7820 STN Main, London, ON N5Y5W1 ly. I work for the Flight Standards District Office in Oakland, California. I work with several homebuilders and have certificated more than I can count. I write BACK ISSUES a monthly newsletter concerning aviation maintenance and have written sev- P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235 800/622-1065 eral articles on Experimentals. www.kitplanes.com I read your articles about Experimental accident rates—yes, they are very high in the first 40 hours. I have taught accident classes about this and how to prevent QUALITY REPRINTS AVAILABLE Minimum Order: 500 them. I must say your articles hit the nail on the head. I have written a flight test Contact Mona Kornfeld, 203/857-3143 plan to assist owners, and it follows the AC very closely. I give it to builders I cer- tify to aid them in preventing accidents and testing their aircraft correctly. So far using the flight test plan we have had no accidents (knock on wood). I would be willing to share it as it is a Word document for any interested readers. CHANGE OF ADDRESS? Denny Pollard MISSING ISSUE? [email protected] SUBSCRIPTION QUESTION? BACK ISSUES: Call 800/622-1065 Visit www.kitplanes.com/magazine. 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. Or call 800/622-1065 Unsolicited manuscripts are welcome on an exclusive basis, but none can be acknowledged or returned unless from the U.S. and Canada. accompanied 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, Foreign, call 386/447-6318 or 800 Connecticut Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06854-1631, Robert Englander, Chairman and CEO, Timothy H. Cole, Exec. Vice Pres./Editorial Director, Philip L. Penny, COO, Greg King, Senior Vice Pres, Circulation, Marvin J. Cweibel, Senior Vice Pres., Marketing Operations, fax 386/447-2321. Michael Pollett, Vice President, Corporate Counsel. Periodicals postage paid at Norwalk, CT, and at additional mailing offices. Copyright© 2004 Aviation Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is stricly prohibited. Printed in USA. Revenue Canada GST Account #128044658. Canada Publishing Agreement #40016479. 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: KITPLANES®,P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235 or call 800/622-1065. KITPLANES® and SportPlanes™ are registered trademarks of Aviation Publishing Group, LLC.

KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 3 What’s New

pounds. Sea level water takeoffs at gross weight break the surface in 15 seconds or 1300 feet. Splashdowns occur at approximately 40 knots. Range with full fuel is 600 miles with a cruise speed of 110 knots. “What our test pilots found remarkable is the ease of handling in the air, on the water and on runways,” said Glasair President Mikael Via. “As an amphibian it is every bit as easy to con- trol in takeoff or landing as in trike or taildrag- ger configuration. And the beauty of it is in the fact that you can convert the aircraft to all three modes of landing in one day, with plenty of time for flying in between.” The Sportsman 2+2 was designed to be used as a family aircraft with seating for two adults in the front and two kids in the back. In about 1 minute, the rear seats can be removed, con- verting the aircraft to a spacious bushplane that can accommodate enough camping gear The Sportsman 2+2 to head off into the wilderness for a month. It can also accommodate a couple large sets of Adds Montana golf clubs, skis, fishing or hunting equipment. The Sportsman is being sold in standard and Amphibs quickbuild kits. Both feature pre-drilled, matched-hole parts. A factory program to It started out as a taildragger, was converted to a trike and now the Sportsman 2+2 has been assist builders desiring fast track construction adapted to amphibious floats. Glasair Aviation (formerly New Glasair), which manufactures is now booking two and three week assembly Sportsman kits, plans to add lakes and rivers to the resume, making it an aircraft that is truly packages. For information on the aircraft, con- adaptable to all seasons. tact Glasair Aviation at 360/435-8533 (ext. 232) The amphibious Montana Floats increase the gross weight of the aircraft from 2350 to 2500 or visit www.glasair aviation.com.

Introducing XM WX Satellite Weather™ for ALL Anywhere Map platforms: Pocket PC, RAVEN, Anywhere XP® (MS Windows® XP laptops and tablet PCs).

Anywhere Map continues to Presenting Anywhere RAVEN®,

set the pace for avionics value: a full-color 61/2 inch diagonal High-res terrain • Obstacle screen micro-tablet for Anywhere warnings • Airspace updates 4X Map applications. Shown with daily • Terrain warnings • Cones Pocket Plates® entire U.S. library of Safety® • Virtual ILS/LOC • of current approach procedures. Airport information • Upgrade See your real-time GPS position as to Weather, Pocket Plates • Add you fly the approach! Street Mapping

Here’s the MIO 168, a budget Pocket PC with built-in street mapping for all of North America. The MIO is a sleek little powerhouse

with a built-in GPS. Take it from the plane to the car in your shirt pocket for less than half the cost of a Garmin '296! EDITED BY BRIAN E. CLARK

New Powerplant ECI Offers Replacement Cylinders Inspection Video from ® for Continental 520 Engines KITPLANES Bookstore Engine Components, Inc (ECI) recently introduced the first FAA-PMA KITPLANES® Bookstore announced the availability of a new video titled “The Annual Inspection— replacement cylinder for Continental GTSIO-520 geared engines. The cross- Powerplant.” Follow A&P instructors Tim Guerrera flow heads are also eligible for installation on many -550 series engines, and Vaughn Dowell through a step-by-step demon- adding to ECI’s line of TITAN aircraft cylinder assemblies. stration of a 100-hour inspection of the powerplant According to ECI, cross-flow heads have gained popularity in recent section of a Lycoming O-360-powered Piper Arrow. years due to the installation of the 550 series engines in high-performance The video explains every segment of the inspection single-engine aircraft. In response to market demand, ECI designed and certi- process, detailing each procedure along with the fied a new cylinder assembly that incorporates the company’s 60 years of techniques, tools and materials used with plenty of cylinder manufacturing and repair experience. professional hints along the way. There are several unique features added to the TITAN Cross-Flow Although written for the A&P classroom, the film is Cylinder for GTSIO-520 and -550 series engines. To assist the engine overhaul equally applicable for the Experimental aircraft owner who needs to perform annual condition mechanic and improve safety, ECI marks the engine model type in the anti- inspections. A final 5-minute sequence covers safe- scuff coating of the piston skirt. Also, the spark plug boss was structurally ty wiring techniques with demonstrations of various enhanced to combat the chronic cracking problems in these high horsepow- related applications including propeller bolts, the er applications, increasing safety and reducing costly down time. alternator tension bolt and the oil filter. For information, contact ECI to request a free brochure titled TITAN The video is available from KITPLANES® Bookstore FAA-PMA Replacement Cylinders for Continental 470/520/550 Direct Drive and in both DVD and VHS format. Cost for either is Geared Engines. The phone number is 800/324-2359, and the web site is $34.95. For information or to order, call 800/780- www.eci2fly.com. 4115 or visit www.kitplanes books.com.

To submit a press release on a homebuilt-related product, e-mail a “What’s New” items and advertised products. Select the issue in which detailed description and high-resolution photograph to editorial@kit- the item appeared, and then select the categories of information or planes.com. Mailing address is KITPLANES® Magazine, New Products, individual advertisers you’re interested in. You’ll receive an e-mail 239 New Road, Suite B-201, Parsippany, NJ 07054. response from the companies selected and have the option to receive Visit www.kitplanes.com/freeinfo.asp for instant information on printed catalogs or brochures if they’re available.

TMX is a full line of experimental engines for your homebuilt aircraft. Every TMX engine combines the highest quality, 100% new components with the attention to detail and personal customer service that has made Mattituck the first name in aviation piston engines for nearly 60 years. Don’t accept less for your homebuilt.

Popular Models: • TMX O-360 Fixed Pitch $17,990 • TMX O-360 Constant Speed $18,490 • TMX IO-360 Fixed Pitch $19,590 • TMX IO-360 Constant Speed $20,190 • TMX IOF-360 Fixed Pitch $24,390 • TMX IOF-360 Constant Speed $24,990 • TMX O-200 $15,275 • TMX IO-240B $17,620 • TMX IOF-240 $24,990

Custom configurations for all engine models available. TMX O-320 and TMX IO-320 versions also available. All engines are fully tested and shipped completely assembled with a comprehensive warranty, Operator’s Manual and log book.

Prices effective 7/1/04. Prices subject to change without notice. FAIRHOPE, AL MATTITUCK, NY

KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 5 Perfect Symmetry Fourteen years in the making, this unique gem was worth the wait.

BY ED WISCHMEYER

ow, sleek and sassy yellow, Cory to the best crafted airplane ever, Sym- going to go into the family RV busi- Bird’s Symmetry had not been metry will be on most people’s list, along ness (the earthbound variety of RVs, L parked at AirVenture long before with other planes for the ages such as that is). With that lifestyle seeming somebody suggested that it should be Jim Wright’s Hughes H-1 Racer repli- less than completely attractive, Bird roped off for its own protection. That ca. As the story goes, one AirVenture wound up in Mojave, California, at suggestion quickly proved correct, as judge thought he saw a discrepancy of Burt Rutan’s Scaled Composites. Hired Symmetry became the talk of the show ten-thousandths of an inch on the ele- as a fabricator to do tooling work, Bird and went on to garner the Grand Cham- vator. His total deductions were—you soon advanced to shop lead on different pion award for best plansbuilt aircraft guessed it—ten-thousandths of a point. manufacturing processes and tooling and the Stan Dzik Memorial Award. The story begins in Portland, Ore- methods, eventually becoming the Indeed, when conversations turn gon, where a much younger Bird was company’s manufacturing engineer.

6 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM However, real advancement in that meritocracy would be enhanced by a masterpiece, a term that originally meant a work performed at the conclusion of an apprenticeship to show mastery of the craft. Part of this masterpiece would illustrate full command not just of man- ufacturing, but also of design, aerody- namics, structures, flight test and every- thing else that goes into airplane development. However, it was also important to Bird that he understand all of the steps to a perfect finish, and that he have a project that would give him reason to invent all of the stages for a composite manufacturing process. He With 200-hp under the cowl and a fixed-pitch prop, Symmetry builder Cory Bird achieves 2800 rpm also wanted a plane that would take him at full throttle for a speed of 241 knots. Imagine what the addition of a constant-speed prop will do. to visit his daughters, who were both in grade school in Portland, Oregon. volume low pressure (HVLP) rig that was fitted to the master templates, using 1 1 Bird didn’t like until he learned how to ⁄4x ⁄4-inch pultrusions, and the gaps were The Manufacturing use it. Then the clear coat was sanded filled with expanded polystyrene foam Process with 1500 grit with duct tape under the (ice chest foam). This generated a one- What is the manufacturing process sandpaper to soften the pressure. Final- piece male plug over which layers of employed on Symmetry’s wing? Bird start- ly, it was buffed out. Most amazingly, fiberglass and PVC core were laid to ed with a block of foam and hot-wired Bird says that this seemingly tedious, create structural sandwich panels. out the wing shape. He temporarily perfectionist approach takes no longer The male plug had several advan- bonded a piece of masonite to the trailing than working faster, making mistakes tages. First, it was easy to scribe the edge to keep it straight and then lami- and fixing them. canopy lines and part breaks. It was nated the skins and cured them under a also faster and cheaper, and required vacuum bag. Lots of micro (microbal- The Fuselage less storage space than making female 1 loons and epoxy) was added, more than The fuselage started out as a ⁄10- molds. Lastly, it was easy to make bulk- he ever thought he would need so he scale plug, carved by hand. Bird whittled heads; a splash mold was made around would only have to do it once. Peel ply it for two months, and then had one the plug, and the bulkhead was then fit was placed on top so the air could be side that he liked better than the other. into the splash mold. Both the splash beaten out of the micro by hand. That fuselage plug was sliced on a radi- mold and the fuselage came off of the The wing was then sanded down al arm saw, and the contours were scaled same plug, so the bulkhead had to fit. using the proper sanding blocks and up to make master templates. A spline The engine plenum was similarly guide coat until the structure showed, ingenious in its construction. Bird’s hopefully after all the guide coat was engine originally had four dead cylin- gone. A thin film of resin was squeegeed ders, so he used the old cylinders to over everything, and this was repeated build molds and then made parts of four more times. Then it was smoothed high-temperature carbon prepreg mate- with 150 grit and hit with epoxy primer. rial that was autoclaved. The exhaust is Next came 180 or 220 grit wet sanding, a four-pipe system with the pipes again using the proper sanding blocks approximately equal, and the ram air and guide coat. When all of the guide induction is filtered. coat had been sanded off prior to run- Why a T-tail? Bird likes the looks. ning out of primer, the surface was in The configuration keeps the stabilizer perfect contour (as long as there was no and elevators out of the weeds, and the cheating, and small sanding blocks were airplane wasn’t enough of a challenge used along the way). Long sanding already. He wanted to learn how to do a blocks were used to sand spanwise, and T-tail structurally. 1 3 a piece of ⁄8-inch Plexiglas was used The canopy is ⁄16-inch thick, and to sand chordwise for the wing. The the fuselage is a quarter-inch thick. A primer was ready for paint after final When not working on Symmetry, Bird carbon-fiber frame around the canopy blocking with 350 grit. spends his time as manufacturing engineer helps minimize gap changes with ther- The paint was applied with a high at Scaled Composites. mal stress from temperature change.

PHOTOS: HOWARD LEVY KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 7 Symmetry straight to a museum,” he said. CONTINUED A museum display would require a little history, and some may wonder where the name of the plane came from. Bird was driving home from Reno The Reveal with Patti, who later became his wife, Fourteen years after it began, the and he knew that he wanted a name plane was completed and a rollout party that started with “s.” Protected from was scheduled. Symmetry lurked under a carsickness with Dramamine, Patti read silk-like cloth, with balloons in key all of the “s” words from the dictionary spots to hide the shape. Finally, a select until finally coming to symmetry, well Bird’s choice of a T-tail came with both group of beautiful women pulled back towards the end of that section. Recall aesthetic and practical benefits—he likes the way it looks (most important), and it helps keep the stabilizer and elevators out of the weeds.

Tiger kind of guy,” he needed some more experience under his belt. That experience came from getting a tail- wheel endorsement in an Extra 300, which Scaled Composites Design Engi- neer Chuck Coleman uses for unusual attitude training and as a chase plane for the space program. With Scaled Composites test pilot Mike Melville standing by in a Beech Duchess, Bird tried a couple of tail-up taxi runs. As power was reduced and the tail came down, Symmetry became squirrelly. Bird thought that The plenum Bird created for Symmetry was built with the help of four dead cylinders from his origi- this high-speed taxi stuff seemed dan- nal engine. The incredible finish continues under the cowling with a firewall so polished you could gerous, so on the next attempt he use it as a mirror. decided to take off and get a feel for the airplane. The landing attempt after an hour-long first flight was bounced, the cloth and revealed Bird’s creation. that at the time, Rutan was developing so Bird went around. The second land- The boss, Burt Rutan, looked at the several asymmetrical airplanes such as ing was a squeaker. plane for quite a while. Then he stood the Boomerang and the Ares. On later flights, Bird explored somewhere else and looked at it some You know the rest of the story. flight with a more aft c.g. and found more. Then again. Half an hour later, he that full flaps reduced directional sta- opined that the airplane had absolute- First Flight bility. He added a ventral fin, which ly no drag. A little while later, Rutan Symmetry was built to fly, and Bird solved the problem. told Bird that he should not fly the wanted to do the first flight himself. plane—ever. Why? “It should go However, as a “Cessna 150/Grumman Specifications Symmetry was originally conceived as a single-seat airplane with the wheels retracting into the space behind the pilot’s seat. Patti, who also works at Scaled Composites, impressed him so much and had worked so hard on the construction that he decided to marry her and convert Symmetry to a no-bag- gage two-place aircraft. Solo, the c.g.

Upon the unveiling of the aircraft, Burt Rutan, Bird’s boss at Scaled Composites, came to the conclusion that Symmetry has absolutely no drag.

8 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM is at the forward limit, and dual, the c.g. loading at maximum gross weight is daughters has been amended. He does is at the aft limit. Although Symmetry 23 pounds per square foot. The airfoil make the trip from Mojave to Sacra- has been flown throughout its c.g. is a NACA 64-212, with 2° of dihedral mento (260 n.m.) in 1 hour and 12 range, it has not yet carried a passenger. and 1.5° of twist. minutes, but now he visits both his The propeller was originally a daughters and his 1-year-old grandson. wood unit from an RV-6, and Bird made The Story Continues With only 28.5 gallons of gas to a spinner to match it. Symmetry’s 200-hp Bird’s dream of flying to visit his feed a 200-hp engine, Symmetry’s endurance at normal cruise is not impressive. If he had the opportunity to do anything over again, Bird might add more fuel capacity. His solution is to throttle back to 7 gph and be satisfied with a cruise speed of 210 knots. As of AirVenture, Symmetry had 43 hours total time, and Bird had 375. (The airplane is too fast to be good for building hours.) Did Symmetry help Bird’s career? It surely didn’t hurt. He is currently the project engineer on the White Knight launch aircraft for SpaceShipOne, Scaled Composites’ contender in the X Prize competition.

One of many innovative touches, a carbon-fiber frame around the canopy helps minimize gap changes with thermal stress from temperature changes. engine turned that propeller at 2800 rpm at half throttle and would do “only” 180 knots. The solution was to re-carve the propeller with 13 inches more pitch and increase the diameter 6 inches; now that 2800 rpm occurs at full throttle and 241 knots. There is more speed to be had with better pro- Another work of art, the tailwheel retract peller airfoils, and certainly with a pro- mechanism, with some pieces chrome plated, allows the wheel to retract forward in flight. peller that is not constrained by using the RV-6 as a starting point. A constant- speed propeller is really called for, Bird says, because the plane has too little Homeward Bound drag and is hard to slow down for land- As we were taxiing for takeoff in ing—even with full flaps and slipping. our Cessna, returning home from The wing on Symmetry has a span Oshkosh, we saw Symmetry warming of 25 feet, slightly more than an RV-4, up at the end of the runway. We took and an area of 64.5 square feet, much off, then heard Bird cleared for takeoff less than an RV-3’s 90 square feet. Stall behind us. A minute later, we saw the speed is a high 70 knots, but lowering sleek yellow airplane slide past, then the stall speed with a bigger wing playfully bank 50° to turn on course. Symmetry was originally conceived as a sin- would make the ride in turbulence bad gle-place aircraft, but Bird converted to a no- After just a very short time, Symmetry at higher airspeeds. The airplane’s baggage two-place after marrying his wife, was alone in its own sky, having left empty weight is 975 pounds, and wing Patti, who also works for Scaled Composites. everything else behind.

KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 9 Making the Sport Pilot Decision To fly (or not to fly) in the new down-scale mode: That is the question.

BY DAVE MARTIN

n September 1, 2004, the new we will cover shortly.) What this means FAAs Sport Pilot/Light-Sport is that a qualified pilot (Private, Com- Definitions O Aircraft (LSA) program became mercial or Air Transport license) can Qualified pilot means one who has effective. The first effect is that thou- downgrade and fly a qualifying aircraft a rating for the category and class of air- sands of pilots have the option— solo or with one passenger within the craft and has passed a biennial flight whether they know it or not—of letting Sport Pilot privileges: day, VFR only review within the last two years. their FAA medical certificates lapse and and not for hire or compensation. Qualifying aircraft is more cumber- continuing to fly legally. Last summer I bought a Space- some to describe, but it includes many That’s because any state driver’s walker II homebuilt, which—it turns types of homebuilts and quite a few cer- license can substitute for the FAA med- out—qualifies as a Light-Sport aircraft. tified, factory-built aircraft, including ical, providing the pilot flies a qualify- Renewal of my Class II medical was some Pipers (J-3 Cub and others), Cessna ing aircraft as a Sport Pilot. (There’s a due in September, the month the rule C-3 and others, some Ercoupes, Lus- significant exception to this option that became effective. combes, Aeroncas (7AC and others) and Should I let the medical lapse and some Taylorcraft models. fly as a Sport Pilot? That was the ques- LSA covers a wide range of air- Author Dave Martin flies a Spacewalker II, a tion…one that will be faced by craft: single-engine airplanes, gliders, homebuilt that qualifies under the LSA defini- tion. Martin became one of the first in the U.S. other pilots and especially by home- gyroplanes, lighter than air, weight- to fly under Sport Pilot privileges when he let builders, many of whom already own shift (powered hang gliders) and pow- his second class medical lapse last September. LSA-qualified aircraft. ered parachutes. In addition to the

10 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM antiques and classics that qualify as LSAs, up to the task. tion from doing that, and he said that thousands of existing homebuilts meet such a procedure could be arranged the definitions. Pros and Cons with him. Soon there will be new aircraft that What do we gain by downsizing to Other AMEs may not accommo- qualify under LSA. They will be market- Sport Pilot? date this technique. It requires advance ed as ready-to-fly (LSA Special) and as •Avoiding the time and cost of get- coordination with and extra work for nearly completed kits (LSA Experimen- ting an FAA medical…plus the possibili- the AME because it’s a two-step process tal). There is also a procedure for licens- ty of avoiding a future medical certifi- beginning with the screening physical, ing overweight (illegal) single-seat ultra- cate problem I’ll cover in a while. which cannot be done on FAA paper- lights and two-seat ultralight trainers What do we lose? work. (Once the actual FAA medical within LSA. •The privilege of flying at night or form is filled out, it must be processed For all types of LSAs, here are some in instrument conditions. regardless of the result of the exam.) of the significant limitations: •Carrying more than one passenger. We didn’t discuss the extra fee for •Maximum gross weight not more •Flying aircraft whose performance the screening step, but it is likely to be than 1320 pounds for powered aircraft or systems are outside LSA definitions a large percentage (maybe 100%) of the (except 1430 pounds for floatplanes). (constant-speed props, for example). FAA exam fee. You might have to pay •Maximum of two seats. The need for speed will keep many cur- twice to do this. •Maximum full-power level speed rently licensed pilots from downgrading It’s important to detect medical of 120 knots. to Sport Pilot. problems early and not ignore them. If •Maximum flaps-up, power-off stall the screening exam finds something speed of 45 knots. The Gotcha Factor unexpected, the pilot and AME should •Fixed gear (except repositionable Pilots of a certain age (including discuss whether the pilot can continue in amphibians). mine) may become concerned about to fly safely, regardless of the ability to •Fixed or ground-adjustable passing the next FAA medical. For some pass the FAA physical. propeller. of them, the option to let the medical lapse and fly as a Sport Pilot may be Other Considerations The Medical Caveat attractive. Like me, many of these older I checked with my insurance The Sport Pilot/LSA proposal was pilots feel they are in excellent health company about flying as a Sport Pilot. published for public comment in 2002, and should have no trouble passing an “Go for it,” said my contact at Falcon and the final rule—announced on July FAA physical. Insurance Agency (Kerrville, Texas; 20, 2004—slightly liberalized some parts Yet there can be increasing concern 866/647-4322). “There are no exclu- of the LSA definition. But some people that the AME will find something during sions,” he said. “We’re all aboard for were chagrined to find a limitation to dri- the exam that will be disqualifying. Sport Pilot.” ver’s license medical: The final rule says We should note that medical stan- I also checked with an operations that a pilot whose last attempt to get an dards are spelled out in FAR Part 67. They inspector at my local FAA FSDO. He FAA medical was denied can’t simply include what you would expect for flying concurred that there is no reason not to ignore it and start using the driver’s an aircraft: adequate eyesight, hearing, downgrade to flying as a Sport Pilot license as a substitute. mental health, equilibrium, and no his- within the new regs. He referred me to As explained by the FAA at tory of epilepsy, serious heart problems, organization web sites for all the details Oshkosh AirVenture ’04, up to 80% of alcohol or other drug abuse, diabetes defining Sport Pilot license privileges medical denials are related to paperwork, mellitus that requires insulin, or any con- and LSA definitions. not actual medical problems. These dition that requires medication that may denials, the FAA says, can be “cleared” affect a person’s ability to fly safely. The Decision Time easily. And many of the medical prob- list is rather short but contains a catch-all My current flying is performed in lems can be resolved through waivers or that includes any other condition that the LSA-qualified Spacewalker II, and I periodic retesting such as stress tests for the AME or the FAA’s federal air surgeon don’t foresee the need to fly larger or presumably corrected heart conditions. finds to be disqualifying—even if there is faster airplanes any time soon. If I do, Once the denial of the last exam is no direct evidence that the problem I’ll plan far enough ahead to get an lifted, the FAA medical is issued, and makes flying unsafe. FAA medical again. thereafter, the pilot could let it lapse The decision: Let my Class II FAA and switch to the driver’s license A Solution? medical certificate lapse and become medical requirement and use Sport Pilot I checked with an active AME about one of the country’s first Sport Pilots. privileges. this idea: Would any directive from the As long as I’m in good health, the None of this is to imply that a per- FAA preclude AMEs from screening a pilot decision is reversible. It’s nice to son with a serious medical problem may before actual application for the medical have options. fly safely or legally; both driving and certificate? This AME is an active pilot flying, we have a moral and legal obli- who flies a homebuilt. FOR MORE INFORMATION, visit gation to ground ourselves if we’re not No, he said. There is no prohibi- www.kitplanes.com/sportplanes/.

PHOTOS: DAVE MARTIN KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 11 Chris Heintz Zenith designer Chris Heintz has combined innovation and forthrightness to achieve success.

BY TIM KERN

hris Heintz, work maybe 2, 3 patriarch of hours a day. I don’t C the work like that.” Zenair/Zenith line of After a short kit aircraft, came to stint in the Army, the business of monitoring radar, designing airplanes Heintz looked for a indirectly. Early on, “real” job in aviation his ambition tended and got one with the toward a life of wan- Jodel design, moving derlust. “I like to on to Avions Robin. travel, and I wanted He was ready to get his to be a professional hands on a larger part cook so I could work of the design respon- at one place two sibilities. “Because you years, move on, and are a young engineer, be somewhere else.” you think you know That wasn’t destined everything. The older to happen, though. fellows in the compa- “My father was ny know better. I a physicist,” Heintz quickly learned that in said, “and he sent order to get any ideas me to the university built, I had to con- [the ETH Institute in vince them that my Switzerland]. There, idea was their idea.” the first two years While at Robin, are general courses, Thirty years after he arrived in North America, Chris Heintz still attends Oshkosh each year. Heintz designed two- and the last two are and four-seat metal specialized. The light airplanes. “Then Mr. aircraft specialty offered a ride in an After graduating from engineer- Robin said, ‘I want this, this way, and airplane; I rode in a J-3 Cub. It was fan- ing school, Heintz got a job on the Con- that, that way.’ I wanted my own air- tastic. That first time up in the air, at age corde, doing flutter analysis. “With a plane to be as simple as possible.” Dur- 19, that flight was decisive.” big airplane, though, you only get to ing his nine years at Robin, Heintz Heintz wanted to go straight into do a little part of it,” he said. The work designed two airplanes—the HR100 and business after school, for two good rea- tradition at the big company didn’t suit the HR200 (H for Heintz and R for sons: he loved airplanes, and he didn’t Heintz. “You come in at 8 and get coffee, Robin). (The Lycoming O-235-powered want to go abroad to battle Algerians, talk about sports, what was on television HR200 has recently gone back into pro- who were fighting for independence last night. Then by about 10, you start to duction as the Robin 200.) He also made from France (Heintz is French). “I made work. You work for about an hour, then many improvements to the Jodel friends in school, and some were Alge- you get ready for the apéritif and then designs. When he quit the company, rians. I didn’t want to finish school, lunch. You get a good lunch, so that he signed a non-compete agreement and then go and shoot those guys, so I takes about 2 hours to do it right. After that prevented him from designing air- signed up on the Concorde project” lunch, you’re tired, so you put your planes in Europe for two years, so (then known as the French Supersonic head down on your desk for maybe an he had to change continents. “First, I Transport (SST) project and the hour before you do another hour’s work. emigrated to Brazil,” he said. “But it British SST project). Then you get ready to go home. You was too hot.”

12 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM I got quite a lot of coverage,” he said. tion again.’ They didn’t ask.” The Origins of Zenair There was a little problem with Now would come Heintz’s oppor- the trip, though. “The Canadian offi- tunity to build an airplane the way he cials read magazines, too,” Heintz said, The Medium wanted to, but it was an arduous “and when they came out, I got a is the Message process. “I designed it and built it in phone call asking, ‘How did you get Heintz has designed one cloth-cov- seven months. That was too fast, and I this foreign-built homebuilt to ered aircraft, his ultralight Zipper (in sin- got sick. I wore out. During the time I Oshkosh?’ I said, ‘I got it here to Cana- gle-/twin-engine, single-/two-seat ver- was recovering, I looked for a name for da in a crate. I could have brought it to sions), but by far his most-favored the airplane. A friend suggested Zenith. Oshkosh the same way. Now, if you medium is metal. That’s partly because Not only does it mean the ‘top point, really want me to lie, ask me the ques- he and a friend first tried to build a wood the highest,’ it is also an anagram of my name. So the first airplane was the Zenith CH 200—200 because it was a two-place airplane.” The CH 200 was a hit, and soon Heintz had friends asking for plans, but he didn’t have any. “I just drew it on the sheet metal, and I cut it out, so there weren’t any drawings.” Making the drawings took nearly as long as designing and building the airplane. During this time, Heintz decided to move to Toronto, and he got a job there in two days. He and his wife, Annemarie, and their five kids were off to Canada. Heintz’s airplane, however, was in France along with the family’s belongings. “I found out I could bring my airplane to Canada duty-free,” he said, “so it went into a container with Airplanes have always been a the boys’ bicycles.” family affair for the Heintzes. The The EAA had a sort of “exchange top two photos show Heintz and his five sons shortly after their 1973 bed and breakfast” program in those arrival in Canada. Below, Heintz (far days, and in France Heintz had been left) poses at Zenith Aircraft’s host to an EAA member from Wiscon- Oshkosh booth with sons Mathieu, sin—a fellow named Steve Wittman. Nicholas, Michael and Sebastien. Yes, that Steve Wittman. After Heintz landed the job in Toronto, he flew to Wisconsin and spent a week with the great man, who told him, “Come back after Christmas, and bring your air- plane.” Heintz did return and set up shop to produce the Zenith design under the name Zenair, Ltd. [See “The Name Game” sidebar for an explana- tion of Zenith vs. Zenair. —Ed.] Heintz understands diplomacy, and he used it to his advantage when trying to showcase his airplane. “In Canada, they had a rule at the time that you couldn’t legally fly a homebuilt in Canada that you didn’t build in Canada. I wanted to go to Oshkosh in 1973, and I got [U.S.] FAA clearance to fly my Zenith there. It was the first French- built homebuilt there, and there were few all-metal homebuilts of any kind, so

PHOTOS: TIM KERN AND COURTESY CHRIS HEINTZ KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 13 The Zenith CH 200 was the first of the designs Heintz produced on his own. He built the prototype in 1970 in France, and he’s shown here flying it in North America in 1973 (still with French registration). Original power was via Rolls Royce. The airplane is now in the Toronto Air Museum.

Chris Heintz son for using sheet metal: convenience tain consistency about them, and that’s CONTINUED and more flying time. “At the airport part of the plan. “They’re consistent where I was 40 years ago,” Heintz said, because I know what works...all I have airplane, a Jodel. “For about two years, “there were a lot of fabric airplanes, to do is make it a little wider, or a little we built pieces,” he said. “All we had to but they were always in a hangar. Every taller, and adjust the wing and airfoil to show our friends was a pile of pieces. time I wanted to fly, the airplane was in the speed range.” That philosophy has When I decided to build another one the back, so I had to move three or taken Heintz through singles and twins, (and this time, to finish it), I wanted it to four airplanes. I wanted an airplane one-place, two-, three- and four-place look like a part of an airplane pretty that could stay outside.” designs, all the way from the CH 50 to quick.” Variations in humidity also make the CH 640, to the certified CH 2000. it difficult to count on size, tolerance, A Simple Plan Consistent design was the key, and stable dimensionality when working Sheet metal construction can be except for the Zipper and the CH 701 with wood, he said. simple, and Heintz wanted to build a and 801 STOL machines. “The STOL is Heintz had another practical rea- simple airplane. His designs have a cer- a completely different story,” he said.

Heintz designed the Mini Zenith CH 50 for his son Michael as a 12th The first “8-day wonder,” a CH 200, was built at Sun ’n Fun in 1978. Heintz grade school project. Michael built it in six months. flew the plane with son Nicholas following the show.

14 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM mechanic discipline, even on a delib- erately simple design, soon became apparent. “Jay replaced the propeller, The Name Game and he didn’t get it inspected. He lost the propeller in flight, and part of it Zenith or Zenair? If you’ve been around the homebuilt industry, you’ve damaged the wing. He made a forced undoubtedly heard both names and probably use them interchangeably. There is a landing and destroyed the airplane.” distinction, however. Hopefully, we can eliminate some of the confusion. When Chris Heintz first designed aircraft in his native France, he operated The Brotherhood under the name Zenith Aircraft, an anagram of his last name. When he moved to Heintz spent two decades becom- Canada, he hoped to continue the company under the same name, but he met resist- ing an overnight success. “It took 20 ance from the agency that governed Canadian registered trademarks. The name years to build a valuable company,” Zenith was already in use, so Heintz was forced to come up with a new name. Zenair, Heintz said, “one where I made as a combination of Zenith and Aircraft, was the result. much money as my employees.” The But the Chris Heintz legacy has spawned so many designs that two additional philosophy behind his success contin- companies were established over the years to aid in the production and distribution ues through his sons. “It’s really nice of Heintz’s aircraft. Here’s a breakdown of what each company is called, what it sells that three sons have the same philoso- and when it started. phy: help the customer until he is Zenair, Ltd. Heintz still operates the original company (formed in 1974) from happy flying the airplane he built.” Midland, Ontario. Zenair currently sells one airplane—a kit for the CH 640, which How does that philosophy differ is based on the factory-built Alarus (see below). from other manufacturers? Heintz is Zenith Aircraft Company. Two of Heintz’s sons—Sebastien and Nicholas— not after the kind of relationship where have operated this Mexico, Missouri, company since its 1992 formation. Zenith cur- a customer simply gives him a check rently offers kits for three designs—the Zodiac CH 601, the STOL CH 701 and the and he gives the customer the kit. STOL CH 801. The company avoided the trademark problems that Heintz originally “When I started 30 years ago, a lot of ran into because it’s operated in the U.S., not Canada. people were selling so-called kits. Now, Aircraft Manufacturing & Development Company (AMD). This com- of that original group, it’s just us and pany is operated in Eastman, Georgia, by Mathieu Heintz, another of Chris’s sons, Van’s, and Van has much the same phi- and manufactures and sells the factory-built Alarus (originally called the CH 2000). losophy,” he said. “We never push Heintz received FAA type certification for the aircraft in 1994, and it has been sold sales.” Heintz paused, looked down, in ready-to-fly format since. The CH 640 kit from Zenair is based on the Alarus. and admitted, “Two or three times I —Brian E. Clark have done it because I needed the money. It didn’t work. That’s bad cus- tomer relations, and we never do it The Zipper was slow and fun and easy Akro was for a friend, a very good com- anymore.” Things work out anyway, to fly, but Heintz didn’t like eating so petition pilot [Jay Hunt] who wasn’t a without the push. “You won’t get rich, many bugs. “I wanted to fly slow, but in very good builder,” Heintz said. What but you will make a lot of people a real airplane,” he said. “I had moved was required was high performance happy,” Heintz said. “This is the to a farm, and I had only a 200-foot with limited mechanical involvement. real brotherhood.” strip at the time.” That was the CH 150. “We sold about Heintz’s basic design also lent 100 kits,” Heintz said. “Then I built the Just Build It! itself to an aerobatic airplane. “The CH 180 [180 hp].” The need for good Heintz wanted his designs to take

Three of Heintz’s early designs—the CH 300, CH 200 and CH 150—form The STOL CH 701, pictured here, and CH 801 resulted when Heintz moved up for the camera. to this farm and needed to take off from a 200-foot grass strip. The two designs are still offered as kits today.

KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 15 Chris Heintz Heintz said. Zenair claimed a build time CONTINUED of 400 hours back then, and hardly any- one believed it. Heintz decided to show shape fast so that builders would have everybody how quickly a good-flying something substantial, early on, to show airplane could be built. “We built the their friends. He emphasized to plans first ‘8-day Wonder’ in 1978 at buyers and kit buyers alike how quick- Oshkosh,” he said, “and we have made ly a Zenith, Zodiac or STOL could be 13 more since then.” That first attempt built in an era when 2000 to 4000 hours went well. “Our only problem was a lit- of work lay ahead for typical builders. tle mis-wiring, so we hand-propped it,” “We had the first complete kit on he said. “That was it, and I could take off the market, including firewall-forward,” just before the airshow.”

Seven Questions At what point in your life did you know you’d make a career in aviation? QToward the end of my second year at the university, I got a ride in a J-3 Cub.

Which of your designs are you most proud of? All of them—they’re all good airplanes.

What homebuilt aircraft designer do you most respect? Jean Delemontez and Dick VanGrunsven.

Other than the aircraft you’ve designed, which currently available homebuilt would you most like to own? I really wouldn’t want any other.

What’s the most significant change you’ve seen in the homebuilt industry since you first began designing aircraft? People no longer like to build from scratch—they like a complete, foolproof kit.

What question do you hear most often from customers building your aircraft? “How do I fix this mistake?” Sometimes you can fix it easily, sometimes you need new parts.

What’s the key for a company to stick around in the homebuilt industry? To be of service to the customer. It’s about getting the customer the airplane he wants and needs. If it’s not my airplane, it doesn’t matter. If he wants to go 200 mph, he can get an RV. If I sell him a STOL, he’ll never be happy.

16 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM The CH 2000 Alarus is FAA type certified and produced by AMD in Georgia. The CH 640, based on the design and certification of the CH 2000, is offered in kit form by Zenair.

That first time, Heintz learned something. “We invited people to help, and they kept asking questions such as The aerobatic Akro (designated as the CH 150 or CH 180, depending on horsepower) was originally ‘Why do you do it like this?’ and so on. designed for a friend who was an aerobatic pilot; Zenair ended up selling about 100 kits. I had to say, ‘Just build it, so I can fly it the last day of the show!’” Build and fly it they did. Crowds at Sun ’n Fun, for many years, and even at the World Exposition in Vancouver in 1996, saw the creation of a complete flying airplane in a week. “Sun ‘n Fun that year was the end,” Heintz said. FAA officials nearly paper-worked the effort to death. Though Heintz did fly on the last day of the show, the bureaucratic delays nearly kept the plane on the ground. Heintz is still grateful, though, for the many volunteers, including many veteran Zenair builders, who helped build these planes over the years. Design Features Heintz doesn’t have any regrets about the machines he’s designed, but he admits he would have done one Two of Heintz’s projects are visible in this Oshkosh 1994 photo—the CH 601, in the foreground, and major thing differently if he had it to do the Concorde, taking off in the background. over again. “I would never have done hingeless ailerons if I had known the questions it would bring,” he said. “I saw it on a glider...it was good, but for 10 years it brought questions. I also did an all-moving rudder, in spite of lots of articles against it.” He continues to challenge con- ventional wisdom. At a talk at AirVen- ture 2004, Heintz drew a picture of a runway and indicated a 40-knot cross- wind. “I didn’t want to fight that cross- wind,” he said, moving his hand down the runway. “If I had to, I wanted to land like this” Heintz said, sweeping his

KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 17 Chris Heintz Elegant …… Affordable CONTINUED hand across the runway. “I wanted an all-flying tail, so I could take off in a crosswind. People still say all-flying tails are no good. They just do not know how to design one correctly.” Heintz was an innovator on other fronts as well. “We used 6061-T6 alu- minum instead of 2024-T3 in many applications,” Heintz said. Zenair was also the first to use Avex rivets (not Esqual VM-1 pop rivets), and the company uses the A New Concept in Sport Aviation Y stick, which is lighter and easier to Cruise 165 mph - Land at 40mph manufacture. On the 600, the canopy hinges both ways, to allow both the Light Sport model available pilot and the passenger easy egress. Builds in two weeks at our Builder Seminar Heintz is an advocate of a sim- Call or email for details and free info CD ple, easy-to-build design, yet he remains a big supporter of scratch-building. “We sell scratch-building plans, too,” he www.esqualna.com said, “but [building an airplane from [email protected] plans] takes three times as long, and 920-836-2096 that’s not counting ‘scratching your 3270 Breezewood Ln head’ time.” Either way, “The builder is Neenah WI 54956 righteously proud of his airplane,” Heintz said. What about the CH 620, the Gemini twin? “I built it because I liked flying to the Caribbean—but not with a single-engine airplane over shark-infest- ed seas! I still have the prototype, but it has only a 2000-foot ceiling on one engine. That’s not enough to sell this design to somebody else,” he said. The problem with the airplane is one of drag and low power. Though the airframe is clean, a non-feathering prop is a real drag-producer. “Finding a feathering prop for the four-cylinder Jabiru engine is a real problem,” Heintz said. “With one, though, we’d have a 5000- to 6000-foot ceiling on one

The CH 620, or Gemini Twin, is a recent Heintz project. Heintz still owns this prototype, but he hasn’t attempted to sell kits due to difficulty finding an ideal propeller for the aircraft as well as a low useful load.

18 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM The Zipper, Heintz’s only fabric-covered design, was produced in single- and twin-engine form in one- and two-place configuration. Floats were an option, as was an Ag Zipper for crop spraying.

The Zodiac CH 601, flown by Heintz in 1993, is one of the kits currently offered by Zenith Aircraft. engine; it would be a real cross-country school students. Heintz intends to airplane.” Still, would-be builders pass along some of his secrets of com- shouldn’t hold their breath. “My wife bining light weight, strength, low cost, got used to flying with just a tooth- and easy buildability. When it is fin- brush,” Heintz said, noting the tradeoff ished, it is bound to be good. between range and useful load in a Heintz’s designs are flying twin. “So we really need a three-seat around the world. He estimated that Gemini to fly as a two-seater.” Don’t there are close to 2500 aircraft flying look for this design anytime soon. in 51 countries, tangible proof that his ideas work. The Future There’s some good news, FOR MORE INFORMATION on the CH though, for those who are astute 640, contact Zenair, Ltd. at 705/526- enough to want to learn from an 2871 or visit www.zenair.com. For accomplished designer: Heintz is writ- information on the Zodiac CH 601, STOL ing a book. “There hasn’t been a book CH 701 or STOL CH 801, contact Zenith on light aircraft design since the Aircraft at 573/581-9000 or visit 1940s,” Heintz said at AirVenture www.zenithair.com. For information on 2004. The book will be a comprehen- the certified Alarus, contact AMD sive discussion on light aircraft design at 478/374-2SKY or visit www.new that will be understandable by high plane.com. Attitude Adjustment Autopilots can lend a hand when the going gets tough.

BY DAVE HIGDON

ardly a cross-country veteran more capability. Under the majority of erally ties directly into the roll-control lacks a tale in which an assistant flight conditions, these mechanical mar- hardware—the aileron cables or H would have been welcome to vels make corrections so subtle that pas- pushrods—and manipulates the aileron. pitch in for the frazzled pilot, if only sengers hardly notice. The obvious ben- The most basic are small servos control- for the freedom to release the controls efit of an autopilot is hands-free flying ling small roll trimtabs attached to the without jeopardizing the continued sta- en route. The strongest arguments, how- trailing edge of an aileron. The better of bility of the flight. It’s work even a ever, involve the autopilot’s utility under these basic systems can also be wired to novice can handle—when someone more challenging conditions. track a directional gyro (DG) heading bug actually occupies the second seat. For Poor visibility, terminal arrival or fly off of a VOR or LOC signal or even the solo sojourner, however, the pilot-in- challenges, ATC commands: a capable follow steering inputs from a GPS, open- command label says it all. Let’s face it: autopilot makes such conditions easier ing up the ability to steer the airplane Every airplane harbors an attitude prob- and safer to manage. Flying toward an along a GPS flight plan—heading changes lem at some time under some condi- instrument approach while copying an and all. No vertical function, though. tions. The further you fly, the more like- updated clearance, looking up waypoints Axis Two: Better Basics. Altitude hold ly you are to encounter those and briefing for an arrival aren’t fun comes in two flavors: an air-pressure- challenging moments, and that’s when without an autopilot’s help. Those tasks sensing system that controls pitch trim an autopilot can be a friend indeed. are difficult to accomplish, and main- to hold altitude and pitch-only systems taining altitude, attitude and heading that essentially hold a nose attitude (and A Little Help? also become tougher. Throw in light to hence, airspeed), leaving altitude main- During a casual sight-seeing flight, moderate turbulence, and you have an tenance to the pilot. a simple autopilot allows the pilot the experience to remember. Add-on hardware for either of the luxury of interacting in a more relaxed Century or S-Tec models (mentioned fashion with the passengers on board. later) converts both into two-axis sys- On lengthy flights, a hedge against tur- The Basics: An tems that use pressure transducers to bulence and fatigue can be of enormous Autopilot Primer sense altitude excursions and drive the help. Think about it: In 1927, Charles The whole idea of an autopilot is elevator mechanism to hold a pro- Lindbergh hand-controlled the Spirit of St. to serve as a second-in-command—to grammed altitude. Louis for more than 33 hours between an extent. Some systems do nothing Axis Three: Not What You Think. New York and Paris. That was one tired more than simply hold the wings level; Despite how it sounds, three-axis sys- pilot who touched down at Le Bourget others autopilots can execute practical- tems typically don’t control rudder trim, Field—a pilot who thankfully survived ly every aspect of a planned flight save but they do control the rudder for some- dozing off and taking a turn for the worse. for manipulating power, flaps and gear. thing called yaw damping. Yaw damping Six years later, the dashing Wiley We’ll first examine functions, and then does exactly what it says: it acts to can- Post flew the Lockheed Vega Winnie Mae look at how they do it. cel the yaw-induced sway some designs on his second around-the-world flight, Axis One: The Basic Otto. Wing lev- exhibit in even the lightest bumps. this time with a new-fangled Sperry elers, the most basic of flight-control autopilot. Post had to navigate between systems, essentially sense roll and count- Rate-Based, Attitude- 11 stops along a 13,000-mile route, and er it with either a servo on the ailerons his autopilot arguably aided the cir- or an independent trimtab mounted on Based, GPS-Based cumnavigation. Dubbed “Mechanical one aileron. This is all many VFR pilots Systems Mike,” Post’s system weighed the bet- need for their longer trips. As with so many things in life, it’s ter part of 100 pounds. Its abilities were Such roll-axis, or single-axis autopi- what’s inside that counts. For Homo limited and its handling a little crude, lots, typically use a roll sensor (some a sapiens, it’s our inner ear that tells us but even so it proved its worth. variation on a turn coordinator gyro) to which way is up. From inside, any flight- Today’s autopilots weigh a fraction sense change and direct the servo’s move- control system must sense a straight- of that Sperry system, may cost as little ments. The servo, an electric motor that and-level reference, plus a way to com- as a high-end handheld GPS and offer far moves only as far as commanded, gen- mand a servo response to reverse

20 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM deviations from the reference—along In pitch hold, the attitude-based Installing Your Own with knowing when to stop. For years, system manipulates the trimtab to sus- Before we start the product review, autopilots largely functioned off of one tain a set pitch angle—useful for hold- a caution: Unless you’re an electronics of two basic sensing methods: rate-based ing long climbs and descents managed technician or mechanic with a lot of and attitude-based. with power changes. In altitude hold, autopilot experience, seriously consider The rate-based systems respond to both attitude-based and rate-based sys- obtaining professional help installing movement around a canted gyroscope tems use some sort of pressure sensor to flight-control gear. The particulars of similar to those in turn coordinators. In establish and monitor the reference alti- wiring, mounting servos, connecting fact, some of the systems reviewed here tude. S-Tec’s System 30 ALT uses both a them to the flight-control system, and are packaged as a turn coordinator with micro-sensitive pressure sensor and an calibrating and fine-tuning an autopilot control inputs and annunciators. These accelerometer to control altitude hold. are not simple matters even for experi- gyros feel movement in both roll and As aircraft panels move toward enced installers. Newer systems, partic- yaw axes and provide a rate-of-change solid-state technology to sense air and ularly stand-alone or those with only a signal to the roll servo—a small but pow- attitude, the capabilities of autopilots are GPS input, may require less technical erful proportional motor tied to the expanding. Today’s autopilot systems expertise given the limited components aileron control with either a bridle cable forgo mechanical gyros and instead use and factory wiring harnesses on so many or a pushrod link. The servo moves the arrays of digital sensors, transducers or Experimental designs, but for any system control linkage in proportion to the sig- accelerometers to provide the reference that connects elsewhere in the air- nal command until the airplane returns for the autopilot’s “brain.” plane—avionics, instrument gyros and to roll-level flight. Tomorrow, autopilots may be able pitot-static systems—consult an expert. As the autopilot turn coordinator to sense stability and change with aug- Now, the rundown. senses changes in roll and yaw, small mented GPS signals. Already there are brushes inside move, changing the elec- flight-control systems for drones that trical signal to the servo, which the servo calculate everything from position and Century Flight Systems translates into motion; the autopilot’s speed differentials sensed at multiple Arguably one of the best autopilot “brain” tracks the servo’s response and GPS antennas mounted on the aircraft. systems on the market, the Century proportionally reduces input to it. This Such systems are within the realm of 2000 offers pilots a building-block sys- feedback loop is needed to eliminate the possibility for piloted aircraft. tem that includes expansion capabili- hunting that would occur if the servo ties built into the basic single-axis sys- worked solely off of the sensors, allowing tem. Even the basic system offers plenty the plane to roll back through the of functionality for the $7000+ price. desired heading before reversing bank. This complete roll-axis autopilot fea- It’s not uncommon for today’s Contact Information tures continuous roll/nav/voltage mon- autopilots to hunt a little, but if they’re BRITTAIN INDUSTRIES itors, heading hold, heading select, NAV well designed and properly calibrated, 918/836-7701 (VOR/RNAV)/LOC/BC anticipative inter- this should be minimal. The biggest www.brittainautopilots.com cept and track, automatic soft track, drawback to the typical turn-coordina- CENTURY FLIGHT SYSTEMS auto 45° intercept and all angle intercept tor-driven autopilot can surface when 800/433-5630 with horizontal situation indicator (HSI). the pilot most needs its help: in turbu- www.centuryflight.com The main brain installs in a standard 1 1 lence. If the airplane starts yawing inde- 6 ⁄4x2 4⁄ -inch avionics slot, and the system CHELTON AVIATION pendently of any roll, the autopilot can weighs just less than 6 pounds. The 940/320-3330 initiate a series of corrections that exac- www.cheltonaviation.com same components work in either 14- or erbate a tendency to over control the 28-volt aircraft. airplane. Hence, most makers of such NAVAID DEVICES The second-axis expansion module 423/267-3311 systems recommend disengaging them www.navaid-devices.com requires no more panel space (the cir- in rougher air. cuitry and connectors are already in the The other dominant form of PORCINE ASSOCIATES main box) but does add another 9.3 autopilot is the attitude-based type, 650/326-2669 pounds for the servo and its hardware. www.porcine.com which depends on the attitude indicator That added servo brings altitude hold, for reference. Instead of relying on rate of S-TEC attitude command, electronic altitude motion, this system depends on the atti- 800/872-7832 hold, glideslope (GS) capture and track, www.s-tec.com tude indicator’s response to deviations proportional pitch trim, control wheel from level in pitch and roll. The degree TRIO AVIONICS steering, continuous pitch/GS monitors, of deviation controls the servo input for 619/448-4619 and automatic pitch synchronization both roll and pitch control, which gives www.trioavionics.com to the existing roll section. As a two- such systems a pitch-hold function that axis package, the 2000 is $12,000. With TRUTRAK FLIGHT SYSTEMS differs from the altitude hold available 479/751-0250 autotrim or a flight director, count on on many systems. www.trutrakflightsystems.com spending $13,750-$14,250. A package

KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 21 Autopilots Custom instrument CONTINUED that combines the two-axis 2000 pack- panels that you install age with an HSI is $16,300. LANCAIR, RV, GLASTAR, VELOCITY, SEAWIND, More basic models from Century and many more. ask about all electric include the Century I, a single-axis sys- panels and pre-wired avionics. tem with VOR tracking built into a turn- and-bank instrument, which is about Plug it in and fly! $6700 and comes in 14 or 28 volts. Up the scale is the Triden series, which uses surface-mount electronics and new processing power to encom- pass the entire control module in a stan- dard instrument cut-out. GPS tracking is built in, and automatic glideslope cap- ture, altitude hold and vertical-speed select are standard for less than the RV-8 $23,000 price of the basic Century 41 package. Final price will depend on exact hardware needs and options. Chelton Aviation Lancair IVP Chelton’s AP-3C is another state- • Custom-designed and precisely crafted to of-the-art flight-control system that your specific needs houses everything but the servos in one compact avionics-stack-size case. No • Pre-wired, tested, clearly labeled for fast, external adapters or sensors are needed, easy installation and the AP-3C employs only two servos, one for roll and a pitch-trim servo, •Delivered fully assembled, ready to mount through which the system delivers its • The craftsmanship you’d strive for if you standard electric pitch-trim function. had the time and tools to do it yourself! The AP-3C delivers an impressive list of standard features: roll, pitch and Go here now for heading stabilization referenced off of more information: either an attitude gyro or a solid-state Leesburg Executive AHRS (Attitude and Heading Reference On the web: www.avionikits.com Airport System); independent lateral and verti- Toll-free: (888)833-KITS 1005 Sycolin Rd. Local Virginia: (703) 669-2669 Leesburg, VA cal control channels; lateral heading Email: [email protected] 20175 control off VOR, LOC and GPS, with intercept, tracking and manual-roll angle, vertical control and altitude hold, glideslope intercept and track, plus man- ual pitch angle tracking and GPS steer- ing. The all-metal servos use magnetic clutches that should require no main- tenance once set. The AP-3C handles both 12- and 14-volt electrical systems. Cost of the AP-3C is $12,995. S-Tec A long-time favorite of pilots with constrained panels, the single-axis Sys- tem 20 and dual-axis System 30 are actu- ally the same unit, but the System 30 sports the optional System 30 ALT alti- tude-hold hardware in the same box. The space-saving aspect of both versions

22 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM derives from the packaging of the control (MEMs) to serve the roll-yaw gyro func- architecture into the turn coordinator tion of its EZ Pilot flight control-sys- from which the roll-input comes. tems, but the company is also working The roll-only system in the 20 and on an upgrade that allows input from a 30 delivers considerable functionality second gyro to improve response and including basic wing-leveling and turn- fine control. command control. The 20/30 lateral Trio’s line includes two basic mod- functions also include VOR/LOC/GPS els, each with two display choices: the tracking and a heading-track mode avail- original VFD light-emitting display and able if the airplane has a DG with a liquid-crystal gray-scale display. The EZ autopilot pick-offs and a heading-select Pilot II, like the original EZ Pilot, uses bug. The altitude-hold function of the internal sensors and an external GPS System 30 and System 30 ALT gives the input navigating a flight plan or course. pilot an out-of-trim indication to prompt Unlike the original EZ Pilot, the II uses a a new trim setting and relieve the load skid ball to augment the electronic turn- from the pitch-trim servo. rate indicator in the digital display. Both The System 20 is less than $5100 are single-axis, turn-coordinator types (installed) at many shops. As a stand- with no spinning gyros. Both deliver alone purchase, the altitude-hold-only three useful control modes: System 30 ALT is $3995, about $1100 Track navigates the track proscribed more than it costs when delivered as by a flight plan operating in the GPS. part of a System 30 package, which is Course navigates on a selected vec- $7845. Options include a control-wheel tor until commanded to do otherwise. engage/disengage for the altitude-hold Intercept flies a standard 25° angle- computer, manual-electric trim, a DG of-interception toward the centerline of or HSI, and GPS—the latter a $1295 a flight-plan leg and switches automat- option that bypasses the CDI and direct- ically to track mode at a half-mile out, ly responds to the GPS course signal. decreasing the intercept angle until it is Both the 40 and 60-1 are single- centered on the panel-mounted GPS. axis autopilots that come in a two-piece The manufacturer recommends only package: a turn coordinator and a con- panel-mounted GPS for use with either trol or programmer module. Each offers model, unless your handheld GPS a different level of features, with the 60- updates at least once a second. 1 enjoying added value for its $5400 Packages weigh about 2 pounds, price—about $400 more than the 40. and the entire EZ Pilot II system costs The System 50 is essentially the 40 with $1770 ($1670 for the EZ Pilot) with its own internal altitude-hold hardware servo, control head, the interface to use and sells for $7400. GPS data in the standard NMEA 0183 Altitude control with added depth format and a remote engage switch to can be added to the 60-1, or any roll- mount on a yoke or stick. only autopilot in the 60 PSS (pitch sta- For aircraft that already have a bilization system). Beyond altitude hold, supported Navaid servo, an EZ Pilot II this $6200 package delivers GS coupling, control head can be added for $1095 vertical speed control, the option of alti- ($995 for the EZ Pilot). tude pre-select and alerting, and auto- matic pitch-trim control. Coupled TruTrak Flight Systems together, the 60-1 and 60 PSS deliver as Like Trio, TruTrak is among the much depth as you’ll find for a package newer players in the field and embraces priced below $12,000. considerable new technology. This com- S-Tec and its parent, Meggitt, also pany offers a vast line of products, start- support a homebuilt program through ing with the $1595 DigiTrak and the its dealers and several kit-aircraft man- $1995 Pictorial Pilot, a digital system ufacturers that offers help in the instal- that combines a pictorial turn coordi- lation and a buy-as-you-need-it option. nator and a digital DG in the same unit. The TruTrak autopilot can be Trio Avionics defined as an orthogonal rate system. Trio Avionics employs an array of This means that gyroscopic rate sensors Micro-Electronic Mechanical devices are installed to sense motion about each Autopilots Brittain Industries and delivered in the U.S. or Canada, CONTINUED In the autopilot business since costs $1300. The Navaid provides a 1958, Brittain started as a company pushrod with the crank arm servo or of the major axes (roll, yaw and pitch). created to develop an autopilot that a bridle cable with the capstan servo. These sensors generate the fast signal used the “canted” gyro that typifies A small amount of additional hard- responses necessary to create an autopi- the turn coordinator and most single- ware is provided for some of the more lot with the best possible dynamic per- axis autopilots of the past five decades. popular aircraft. formance. When the autopilot is Brittain’s autopilots were common The Navaid servo actuator is fast engaged, the DG display becomes a OEM installations in two generations enough to operate in turbulence heading selector; when off, the display of factory-built aircraft. and help smooth out the ride. This is functions as a heading readout. These Today, the company continues made possible by the use of position are slick, compact, lightweight systems to service its pneumatic and electric feedback (in addition to the rate feed- that function well beyond the level seen autopilots while offering a line that back used in most autopilots) in the in many mechanical-gyro systems. You ranges from simple wing-levelers to servo amplifier. Position feedback also can pair a DigiTrak head with a Navaid systems that track navigation signals, makes it easier to adjust the servo servo for $845. DGs and GPS systems, with altitude response to the aircraft. Basic directional control is pro- hold as an option. In addition to generating the vided by digital selection of the GPS Among Brittain’s current prod- servo control signal, the panel mount- track to be flown. This replaces heading ucts are the Levelmatic, or the BSS ed AP-1 gyro-controller has a light- selection on the DG, eliminates drift Basic Stability System, a single-axis bar graph and a lighted inclinometer and supports GPS steering. TruTrak also system referenced by a turn-coordi- that provide the same information offers the stand-alone altitude-control nator gyro; and the Accutrak II, which obtained from a conventional turn system, Altrak, at $1695, and the Altrak tracks off of one of two navigation coordinator. This part of the system TS (with auto trim) at $1945. Both of displays and automatically corrects operates all the time, regardless of these systems require only instrument- for crosswinds by steering off the nee- whether the autopilot is engaged. The panel space for the engage/disengage dle deflection of the selected CDI. standard Navaid autopilot is equipped button; the control module with its The Accuflite can track a DG bug to work with a panel-mounted GPS stand-alone internal sensors mounts setting, while the Nav-Flite IV auto- without modification, but builders remotely. Either of these altitude-control matically corrects for crosswinds in may prefer to use a handheld GPS that systems can be installed with a roll-axis track, localizer and DG capture modes, provides more features for less money autopilot or in an aircraft with no other as well as offering heading pre-select by adding the Smart Coupler II to con- flight-control system. and lock through DG or HSI and man- vert the digital signal from the hand- For any set of features all TruTrak ually commanded turn control. held GPS to the analog error signal computers are identical. Servos likewise The B5C offers all of the Nav- used by the Navaid autopilot. The are identical in velocity response, but dif- Flite’s functions plus altitude hold. All Smart Coupler II, developed by Porcine fer according to required torque. By pro- systems are modular, allowing pro- Associates, is available as an external viding setup functions in the program- gressive upgrades from simpler sys- add-on or is built into the autopilot. mer for system activity and torque, one tems. There is an experimental TruTrak programmer/servo combination builder’s discount. For pricing, con- An Autopilot For You? can fly any aircraft. tact the company in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Contrary to what you might In addition to these three basic sin- think, autopilots are not the exclusive gle-axis systems, TruTrak offers a vast line Navaid Devices territory of fast-glass airplanes like of two- and three-axis autopilots with Navaid is a long-time supplier Lancairs, Glasairs and Velocities. The functions that include altitude hold, of an add-on, stand-alone wing-lev- range in price and capability has made autotrim, GPS roll steering, climb, descent eler system, but its AP-1 gyro con- them a viable option for other aircraft and altitude capture, and even yaw troller serves as a true autopilot including the Van’s RV series, GlaS- damping. The prices range from $3850 designed specifically for homebuilders tars, Murphy Aircraft, Aerocomps and for the two-axis DigiFlight II to nearly and aircraft licensed in the Experi- even Kitfoxes. $12,000 for the DFC-300, with most of mental category. The next time you reach the end the bells and whistles found on certified The Navaid autopilot is a single- of a long solo cross-country in your systems costing twice as much. axis, electrically powered system homebuilt, consider whether it may Builders can purchase servos, requiring no signal inputs from exter- be worth the investment for your mounting brackets and linkages for the nal sources other than steering infor- peace of mind. desired system during aircraft construc- mation from a GPS, loran or VOR. tion without cost penalty on the total Modern components and materials FOR MORE INFORMATION, contact system price. The two-year warranty are used to make a simple, lightweight the manufacturers (see Contact Informa- starts once the builder receives an air- automatic flight control system. tion box) or a dealer for the product you’re worthiness certificate. The autopilot, assembled, tested interested in.

24 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM Consider a Plansbuilt Project Plans may be the most economical way to get a plane built and flying.

BY JOHN M. LARSEN

very human endeavor has its original test flights and then sell it and How to Decide avant-garde. With mountain build another project. But probably the on a Project E climbers it is those who have biggest motivator is the personal satis- scaled the heights and braved the winds faction of knowing you did the whole To decide which plane you would and snow of Mt. Everest and K2. With thing yourself. I have known various like to see grow into life on your work- aircraft builders it is the brave souls plansbuilt plane crafters who could pur- bench, use the Plans Aircraft Directory in who go the plansbuilt route. Imagine chase any plane they desire, but rather this issue to peruse pictures and specifi- sitting at your workbench looking at a choose to “roll their own.” Most are cations of the planes you like. To find out pile of lumber or a roll of composite model-airplane builders who dreamed what the plane is constructed from, see and saying to yourself, “I’m going to of flying their small replicas. They built the building materials description; the make this into an airplane and fly it!” the models because they wanted to fly, choices include metal, wood, composite, This thought is intimidating for most of and perhaps the scale just kept getting tube and fabric. Consider which medium us, so we might wonder why anyone larger. When I worked for one of the kit suits you best. This will be the major would want to take on the challenge. companies, I sold a kit to a model material that the fuselage and main com- But consider that this is exactly what builder who was into quarter-scale by ponent parts are constructed from and/or the Wright Brothers did, only they start- pointing out that his kit aircraft was covered with, but remember that most 7 planes are composed of a combination of ed with no workable plans. only moving up to ⁄8 scale. One consideration for potential The whole issue with building materials. In the following sections, plans plans builders is economy: it is one of from plans is that you have to make builders who have worked with these the least expensive ways to get into the your own kit assemblies before you can materials share their wisdom. air. Some go this route because there is build your plane. We will look at how no other feasible way to get their own you might build from plans and offer Metal airplane. Others just love to build and some ideas that illustrate how All-metal homebuilts are enjoying enjoy the idea of making every part of you can get a great flying plane when strong popularity right now. It follows the plane from scratch. There are a few you start with nothing but sheets logically that although there are excep- who never fly the plane more than the of paper. tions, modern airliners and military air-

Here, the Hummelbird’s fuselage is mated to the wing center section. Garner hand-crafted the wingribs over a wooden form—most kits come with pre-formed ribs.

Hummelbird builder Jack Garner chose to plansbuild this aircraft because it would be inexpensive and a good challenge. Prior to this project, he’d restored a Taylorcraft and built an Ison MiniMax.

PHOTOS: JOHN M. LARSEN AND COURTESY THE BUILDERS KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 25 Building from Plans center frame from 4x4 lumber; this acts as and drive rivets, this will be your way to CONTINUED your basic fuselage tooling. All the bulk- go. The biggest job is driving the rivets, as craft are constructed mostly of aluminum heads are cut out by the builder and are some designs may call for more than because it is a proven material. Of course, located referencing this framework. Some 10,000 of them to assemble the plane. no plane is all metal or all wood, as plans builders use an aluminum I-beam rather Hummel also offers the plane in kit form, will call for the use of acrylic for windows than the wood, but the results are the which would speed construction. or fiberglass for fairings or wingtips. same. A materials and parts list comes One popular plansbuilt plane that is with the plans. The materials, along with Wood almost all aluminum is the Hummelbird. bits and pieces, are available from com- I spotted a sleek and modern look- This small plane uses handcrafted fairings panies like Aircraft Spruce & Specialty ing plane at the Arlington Airshow that for wing fillets and tips. Jack Garner, who (www.aircraft-spruce.com). The aluminum claimed a cruise speed of more than 200 resides at Sunrise Skypark in Givens may also be obtained from Airparts Inc. mph. Propelled by a Lycoming O-540, it

Springs, Idaho, has been crafting his (www.airpartsinc.com). has an arbitrary 250 mph VNE, but it was Hummelbird for the past several years. He Garner has found bargains at sal- accidentally flown to 300 mph by a shared his experiences so that would-be vage companies such as Yard Store builder and it stayed together. This sort of builders might get a feel for what it is (www.yardstore.com). However, he found performance is not surprising considering like to start with a pile of papers and end that salvage material needs to be scruti- the 260-hp engine and retractable gear. up with a plane that can fly 100 mph— nized, as there is a reason it is being sold The shock was that the plane is made powered by half of a VW engine. for salvage. Most of the material has only almost entirely of wood. Garner worked on aircraft in the blemishes or scratches that do not affect Named the Barracuda, the plane is military and then ran his own business the material’s structural integrity. the creation of Geoff Siers, and the evo- before retiring. He has done a total restora- The leading edge metal is shaped lution has come full circle, as the son of tion of his 1946 Taylorcraft, and he built using a length of 2x4 covered with carpet. the creator, Richard Siers, has reacquired a MiniMax before taking on the Hum- The ribs are constructed by making a the manufacturing rights for the plane melbird project. Garner chose the Hum- wood sandwich form in the desired rib and is now offering plans, parts and cus- melbird because it was inexpensive and a shape. You place your metal in the sand- tomer support for builders. good challenge. He received his plans and wich and then hammer it into shape and Richard Siers helped with the con- a little material from another builder who bend it over. When it is worked down, cut struction of the original prototype air- had started the fuselage, and he reports your holes and flange them (you make plane, which his father designed in the late that the plans were very complete. They your own tool for flanging). The rib mate- 1960s. Siers Sr. had worked for English are available from Hummel Aviation for rial is 0.020 inch thick, so it works down Electric in the United Kingdom and helped about $375, and prospective builders can easily. The ribs are available ready made, develop the TSR-2, the Lightning and the go to the Hummel web site for technical but Garner chose to make his own. The Canberra. He later moved to Boeing in assistance and updates or corrections. most difficult task, he says, was bending the United States, working on advanced Building with Metal: The pri- the metal into compound curves for fillets configurations and developing a slotted mary tools needed for an all aluminum and fairings. He had to make two or three flap airfoil for which he owns the patent. plane are a drill and a rivet gun, Garner before he got it right. He also confessed to He wanted a design that would offer says, and the type depends on which having made two left wings, so one had performance similar to the Vampire and style of rivets you are using. Driven riv- to be done over. Meteor fighters he had flown in the Royal ets are lighter, stronger and less money, Garner has invested more than Air Force, so he shopped around for such but pop-style rivets are quicker. Bucking 3000 hours to get the plane into flying a plane. The original specifications were bars are needed to seat driven rivets and condition. Doing it all himself, he esti- fast, aerobatic, cross-country and easy to to shape the metal. A sheet-metal break mates his cost with engine at about build. He spent two years in research and and shear are also handy, for without $4200. The VW engine is inexpensive, basic supply, but when he could not find them you will have to pay for the work with most of the cost in machine work to what he wanted he designed the Bar- at a sheet-metal shop. To make the fair- cut the cases in half and cut the crank. racuda, which first flew in 1975. ings a hammer, bucking bar and shot Even so, he has a flying plane for about Building with Wood: The build- bags are required to stretch the metal $5000. Garner is satisfied with his Hum- ing of the full-size plane is much like into the desired shape. Hummel has a melbird and averages 100 mph with the building a model. The sides of the fuselage video called It’s Easier than You Think that 38 hp of his half-VW, burning only 2.5 are laid out on a table, and a left and explains how to work metal. The com- gph. Imagine all that for less than the right side are assembled. The two side pany also has a video on construction of cost of a Rotax 582 engine! frames are set up on sawhorses and bent the entire plane. Considerations: If you can cut around on X frames to make the main You begin the plane by making a and bend metal and like to drill holes fuselage and attach it to the firewall. Then

26 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM The outer wing panels are entirely self- jigging, and the ribs are glued onto the spars. Then the spars for the leading and trailing edges are attached, and the entire wing is covered with thin plywood. The result is a stiff structure. From this photo, you probably wouldn’t suspect that the Barracuda is an all-wood airplane. formers are added for the curved sur- on the original.) The inside of the plane built in a two-car garage. The wings were faces, and the entire fuselage is skinned needs to be coated to prevent damage built first and hung on the wall, leaving 1 with ⁄16-inch plywood. from moisture. room for fuselage construction. The com- The wingspars are simple box beams The prototype plane that I saw at pleted plane was assembled at the airport. built on a flat surface. The wing is con- Arlington is covered with Dacron using The plane can be assembled with stant chord, meaning that all of the ribs the Stits Poly-Fiber system. Some builders the woodworking tools found in the aver- are the same size. It is self-jigging, with the use a very fine weave fiberglass applied age workshop. A table saw, a band saw ribs attaching to the spars. The whole with West Systems epoxy. This is and a router will get you on your way. wing is covered with thin plywood, and smoothed with micro balloons and filler Construction time is 1800 hours with the result is a stiff structure. where necessary and gives a nice finish. bolt-on landing gear. To speed assembly, The plane uses various thicknesses When painted with urethane, it looks Siers sells a special spinner and landing of plywood for skinning. A thickness of like a composite plane. gear and is developing more assemblies to 1 ⁄32 inch is used on the empennage, while Siers recommends that the builder speed construction. The plans sell for 3 ⁄32 inch is used on the wing outer panels. buy the wood from Aircraft Spruce, as $300, and the cost of construction with- Two main glues are used in construc- they select for aircraft grade. The cor- out engine, propeller or instruments is tion: FPL 16 and Aerolite. West Systems rect wood is a very strong material. In about $20,000. With engine and pro- epoxy is also popular with a lot of fact, it has the same strength-to-weight peller the total cost is $45,000. builders, who use it to coat the inside of ratio as aluminum, but it’s much stiffer Considerations: One of the the plane as well. (Siers used spar varnish and never fatigues. This plane can be biggest advantages of working with wood

KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 27 Authorized Kodiak Service Center For:

Building from Plans Tube and Fabric CONTINUED The Wright Brothers’ maiden flight was made on wings of cotton in a fabric- AIRCRAFT ENGINES is that it is user-friendly and a compar- atively fast medium to build with. covered airplane. The fighter aircraft and Engines, Parts, Although wood is actually a composite bombers of WW-I were also of fabric & Related Accessories. material formed naturally by resin and construction with the material stretched Serving the industry cellulose fibers, it is rare for builders to over wood or tubing frames. WW-II saw quite a number of warbirds that used for over 10 years develop an allergic reaction, as they partial fabric covering such as the 250+ page catalog might with raw composites. As far as strength goes, the WW-II British wingskins of the Chance-Vought F4 Cor- 1-800-LA-ROTAX Wellington bomber was constructed sair and the control surfaces of the B-17 (1-800-527-6829) Orders mostly of wood. Even planes that will as well as other military aircraft. To this Phone: (863)655-5100 handle the G loading of aerobatic day, for speeds of 150 mph or slower, Fax: (863)655-6225 maneuvers can be built by using the tube and fabric gives the most for the e-mail: [email protected] correct woods and glues. (Aircraft Spruce money, and you cannot beat the www.lockwood-aviation.com started its business by supplying the strength-to-weight ratio of a plane made Lockwood Aviation Supply, Inc. correct woods and materials for of chrome-molybdenum tubing and Master Service Center 1998/99 builders.) Of all the optional materials, Dacron fabric. Check the Plans Aircraft Directory, and you will find that the Lockwood Aviation Repair, Inc. wood is the easiest to work with, and it majority of the plans listed call for fabric Specializing in the repair is safe to say that if you can build a and overhaul of cabinet or a chair, you can build your as one of the components. Most of the ROTAX Aircraft Engines own wood airplane. planes that are offered for sale as Sport FAA Repair Station #L2DR339H Planes/Light-Sport Aircraft-qualified will (863)655-6229 be tube-and-fabric construction. One tube-and-fabric plane that has Homebuilder Doug Norman opted to build a maintained a good following over the plansbuilt tube-and-fabric aircraft (a years is the Christavia. As the name sug- Christavia) rather than a kit for two reasons— to save money and to savor the process of gests, this plane was designed to support building from scratch. missionary work, and its focus is on KITS!by WAG-AERO short takeoff and landing (STOL) and a INTRODUCING OUR NEW QUICK good ability to carry cargo. Ron Mason, BUILD SPORT TRAINER KITS. of Elmwood Aviation in Canada, sup- HAVE YOUR NOSTALGIC plies the plans for the Christavia. He J-3 REPLICA IN NO TIME! designed the aircraft to fly people and NEW! NEW! supplies into remote regions in Africa and other areas, and he has a design that is strong and reliable. Doug Norman, who also resides When building a rag-and-tube airplane, one of at Sunrise Skypark, now flies a Cessna the major differences between a plans project 172 and has built two ultralights in addi- and kit project is welding. Most welding is tion to working on his Christavia proj- READY FOR SPORT PILOT done already in a kit version; building from PROPOSED REGULATIONS! ect. Norman began building the Chris- plans, you get to weld yourself. NEW! NEW! tavia Mk IV when he owned and operated a garage and parts house. SPORT TRAINER W/PRESSURE COWL When he retired, he turned up his pro- FOR LYCOMING ENGINE gram of completing the plane. When Cat. No. Q-030-100 ...... $29,917.25 SPORT TRAINER W/J-3 STYLE COWL asked why he chose to go with a plans- FOR CONTINENTAL ENGINE built project, Norman explained that it $ Cat. No. Q-030-200 ...... 27,962.00 was pretty much a matter of the cost INCLUDES FREE SET OF compared to purchasing a kit. He also SPORT TRAINER DRAWINGS! enjoys building things. Norman started this tube-and-fabric plane in 1991 and 1-800-558-6868 has been working on it since. KIT64 store.wagaero.com • www.wagaero.com Building with Tube and

28 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM Contact Information HUMMEL AVIATION 419/636-6700 www.flyhummel.com/ SIERS FLIGHT SYSTEMS 425/478-3655 www.siersflight.com ELMWOOD AVIATION 27 Dench Lane RR-3 Frankford, ON KOK 2CO 613/398-3216

Fabric: The plane’s fuselage construc- tion begins by welding two side frames and then joining them together with tubing cross members. The tubing for the empennage is bent into the desired shape and is then welded to the ribs or stringers to finish the framing. If the builder is not confident about his welding ability, he can do what many do—tack the assemblies together and then bring in a certified welder to finish the job. The wings are wood structures with metal leading edges. All of the ribs are the same and can be made on one simple jig. This is the way the wings of most fabric-cov- ered airplanes were made until quite recently. The change to metal spars is largely due to scarcity of proper wood spar material. Norman reports that Aircraft Spruce has all the necessary materials for this plane, broken down into materials pack- ages for each major assembly for about $7000. You’ll want to be sure they have the correct spars before you order. The package for the fuselage or the wings can be ordered as independent kits or all at once. Norman estimates he will have nearly 3000 hours of build time when FOUR STROKE POWER! THE 700E - 60 H.P. he’s finished. To keep the expenses down, Norman scoured the used aircraft parts • LIGHTPLANES • 122 LBS. COMPLETE houses and found many low-cost parts • UL TRAINERS • LOW FUEL CONSUMPTION such as his Cessna rudder pedals. The • GYROS • SUPER QUIET MUFFLERS plans cost $200, and Norman expects to • TRIKES • 2 REDUCTION RATIOS be in the air with his O-435-powered • REPLICAS • PUSHER OR TRACTOR Christavia for about $26,000. • PPC’s • WARRANTY Considerations: This type of con- HPower - LTD. struction will give you the best per- P. O. Box 690 formance for the dollar and is likely to be Ellington, CT 06029 used for most LSA planes on the market 860-875-8185 • Fax 860-870-5499 • HUNDREDS FLYING today. In a way, these projects are the most challenging, as you need to know www.HKS700E.com - SPECS • 3 VIEWS • INSTALLATIONS

KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 29 Plan to take on a composite aircraft by building from Building from Plans plans? Before you start, CONTINUED make sure you’re not alergic to the epoxies or other how to weld metal, shape wood, handle chemicals used in the composites and install fabric. Most building process. Kits often builders circulate in the airplane world eliminate much of the dirty and find helpers at an airport or EAA work, but the builder does it all when building from plans. chapter who are glad to show them how to master the different disciplines of building. Overall, Christavia pilots are David Jones built his Long very satisfied with their planes. EZ from plans because it was the only option—no Composites kit is available. It took The name composite aircraft has him 3000 hours over four become almost synonymous with the and a half years. name Burt Rutan, so it is only natural that the first homebuilt composite air- plane you may run across will be a design Jones were the landing-gear structure usually in pre-impregnated material. from this aeronautical genius. The best and the canopy. He also bought an The parts are laid up in female molds known of these planes are the Vari-EZ engine mount rather than making one and are cooked at several hundred and Long EZ, which were first available as and later added an electric mechanism to degrees; therefore, the high heat from plansbuilt projects in the 1970s. Rutan retract the nosegear. Jones was employed sunlight will not affect them. However, does not sell plans for these planes today, by the U.S. Forest Service at the time this technology is generally out of reach but there are two worthy descendants and built the plane in his spare time. for the plans builder. available: the Cozy Mark IV and the Dart He logged about 3000 hours of build A caution: You may be allergic to by Sunshine Aero. There are also several time over four and a half years. epoxy or other chemicals used in the later generation planes of this design Jones is completely satisfied with building process. This is something to available as kits. his 118-hp Long EZ and is happy with check on first if you do not know, as Another resident of Sunrise Sky- the 150-mph cruise at 5.5 gph. He has there are some people who cannot toler- park, David (Davy) Jones, flies a owned several certified aircraft and finds ate the side effects of these chemicals. Lycoming O-235-powered Long EZ, the Long EZ the best handling and most Jones found that by using products like which he built with the help of his wife, economical plane of them all. He spent Invisible Gloves or Series 8 hand protec- Elizabeth. Jones became excited about $29,000 for his plane with engine, but tion, he had no problems with the resins. the Long EZ when Dick Rutan (Burt’s cautions that prices have increased since brother) flew one at a nearby airfield. he finished his project. If you have the The Last Word Jones was amazed at the way the plane urge to build a plane like this, check the The biggest difference between kit could handle two people and plenty of Plansbuilt Directory for details, or look and plansbuilt procedures is that the baggage. There were several other builders for Long EZ builders on the Internet at kit has most major assemblies preman- interested in the plane, so Jones made the www.canard.com/csa/. They can tell you ufactured, so the builder needs only to decision to build one. where to locate hard-to-find plans or parts. put the pieces together. In the case of Building with Composites: Considerations: Your choice of most composite aircraft, the kit has parts Jones found that the basic airframe and plansbuilt composite planes is limited, as that a builder could not make on his wings are made from foam that is similar these will be the designs that use ambient own. Also, all of the little pieces should to Styrofoam. The curved parts, like the curing temperature. As a general rule, be in the kit so that the builder can save wings, are made by making templates to the more heat used to cure a composite, the time it takes to round them up. fit each end of the part and then using a the more heat it can tolerate in use. You All in all, in some ways we have heated wire to cut the foam in the shape might have noticed that composite compared grapes to grapefruit here, as of the templates. The foam is compatible designs such as the Long EZ are always the all-metal Hummelbird is a single with epoxy resin, and it is coated with painted white or pastel blue or yellow. If place, whereas the tube-and-fabric epoxy and then covered with fiberglass. they were a dark color, the summer sun Christavia is a four-place. But the fact The fuselage for this composite might “cook” the wings to the point remains that it is possible to get the plane is like many plansbuilt projects in that the fiberglass might separate from more sophisticated of these planes fin- that the basic structure is made by laying the foam and delamination would result. ished and flying for under $50,000, out the two sides on a flat surface. The Composite kit aircraft such as the Lancair which shows that the plansbuilt route only non-builder-made parts used by or Glasair use different resins and fibers, can lead to real savings.

30 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM Directory While weallknowthatbuildingakit inbuildingtheiraircraft.necessary pieceofwork completing nearlyevery many builderstakeprideinpersonally build fromplans?Two reasons.First, Aircraft Directory. mind, wepresentour21stannualPlans building fromplans.With thatin homebuilding groupisstilldevotedto time thaneverbefore,aportionofthe build aircraft thatcanbebuiltinless Aircraft W But why to centeraroundeasy-to- seems homebuilt industry hile thelatestnewsin would anyonewantto Plans ag,nm 300 53 123 n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Acro-Sport II INC. ACRO SPORT, adn itne t 800 1200 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, ag,nm 350 800 50 3500 130 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Acro-Sport I INC. ACRO SPORT, ag,nm 250 450 44 500 110 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T P INC. ACRO SPORT, 250 450 40 500 85 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T P INC. ACRO SPORT, pSed p 152 mph op Speed, kofDsac,f.350 ft. akeoff Distance, kofDsac,f.350 ft. akeoff Distance, 152 mph op Speed, kofDsac,f.350 ft. akeoff Distance, 160 mph op Speed, 350 ft. akeoff Distance, 130 mph op Speed, ober SuperAce ober JuniorAce corralled fourhomebuilders—onewho article onbuildingfromplans.Larsen back afewpagestoreadJohnLarsen’s actual dollarsspent,itcan’t bebeat. time totheproject,butintermsof get intotheair. You’ll devotemore plans isstillalessexpensivewayto sible tobeat. scratch. Forsome,thatfeelingisimpos- which youput feeling oflookingatanaircraft for amount ofsatisfaction,imaginethe aircraft entitlesabuildertogreat If youhaven’t readitalready, skip Second, budget.Buildingfrom everything o fSas2 18.9 21.7 152 ofSeats No. 1520 ft. sq. Wing Area, 875 ft. Wingspan, 180/115-180 O-360 26 ft. Lyc. Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range Engine Used o fSas1 18.5 27.3 118 ofSeats No. 1030 ft. sq. Wing Area, 685 ft. Wingspan, 85/85-150 85 12 ft. Cont. Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 2 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 20 34 Engine Used 168 ofSeats No. 1313 ft. sq. Wing Area, 750 ft. Wingspan, 85/85-125 12 ft. Continental Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range Engine Used 1 17.5 19.6 116 ofSeats No. 1350 ft. sq. Wing Area, 926 ft. Wingspan, 180/85-200 IO-360 20 ft. Lyc. Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range Engine Used together from 2005 KITPLANES right design. for you,moveontoselectingthe like thisroutemaybepractical like tobuildfromplans.Ifitsounds some perspectivesonwhatit’s major constructionmethod—for built anairplanebasedoneach COMPILED BYJULIADOWNIE ea M C rule issuedbytheFAA. the finalLight-SportAircraft R Meets theparametersof n.a. F T W Metal Composite n.p. Retractable gear Information wasnotprovided Not applicable 414/529-2609 WI53130 Hales Corners, P. F W, T, M, $135 tailwheel 110 Cost Completed&Flown No. 2000 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. Landing Gear ot$135 414/529-2609 WI53130 Hales Corners, P. F W, T, tailwheel 5 Cost Completed&Flown No. 1500 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. Landing Gear 414/529-2609 WI53130 Hales Corners, P. F W, T, $135 tailwheel 6 Cost Completed&Flown No. 1500 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. Landing Gear 414/529-2609 WI53130 Hales Corners, P. F W, T, M, $135 tailwheel 75 Cost Completed&Flown No. 2000 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. Landing Gear bn T ubing bi F abric o W ood O. O. O. O. e oteDrcoyCodes Key totheDirectory Box 462 Box 462 Box 462 Box 462 JANUARY 2005 31 Plans Aircraft Directory Box 462 Box 462 O. O. WWW.KITPLANES.COM 225 Airport Circle Corona, 92880 CA 877/4-SPRUCE Landing GearBldg. Materials Build Time,Beginner’s hrs. 2000 No. Completed & FlownCost 700 tailwheel W, T, F 225 Airport Circle Corona, 92880 CA 877/4-SPRUCE $175 Landing GearBldg. Materials Build Time,Beginner’s hrs. 1000 No. Completed & FlownCost 50 tailwheel M, W, T, F 225 Airport Circle Corona, 92880 CA 877/4-SPRUCE Landing Gear $175 Bldg. Materials Build Time,Beginner’s hrs. 2500 No. Completed & FlownCost 350+ trigear/R C 225 Airport Circle Corona, 92880 CA 877/4-SPRUCE Landing Gear $500 Bldg. Materials Build Time,Beginner’s hrs. 2000 No. Completed & FlownCost 2 tailwheel M, C, T, F 225 Airport Circle Corona, 92880 CA 877/4-SPRUCE Landing Gear $175 Bldg. Materials Build Time,Beginner’s hrs. 2000 No. Completed & FlownCost 150 tailwheel W, T, F $175 Landing GearLanding Bldg. Materials Time, Build Beginner’s hrs. 1200 No. Completed & Flown Cost 55 tailwheel $135 M, T, W, F P. Hales Corners, WI 53130 414/529-2609 Landing GearBldg. Materials Build Time,Beginner’s hrs. 1500 No. & Flown Completed Cost 75 tailwheel $135 M, T, C, F P. Hales Corners, WI 53130 414/529-2609 Landing GearBldg. Materials Build Time,Beginner’s hrs. 2500 No. & Flown Completed Cost 1 tailwheel/R W, T, F 5353 Aztec Dr., #13 La Mesa, 91942 CA 619/460-2494 $330 Length, ft.Wingspan, ft.Wing Area, sq. ft.No. of Seats 130 Engine Used 21.4 18.5 HP/HP RangeFuel Capacity, gal. 2 Empty Weight, lb.Gross Weight, lb.Length, Lycoming ft. 44 180/159-300 Wingspan, ft. 1000 Wing Area, sq. ft. 1985 No. of Seats n.p. 24 n.p. 2 Engine UsedHP/HP RangeFuel Capacity, gal.Empty Weight, lb.Gross Weight, lb.Length, Lyc. ft. 12 O-235 108/108-125 Wingspan, ft. 500 Wing Area, sq. ft. 850 No. of Seats 88 Engine Used 16.7 13.8 HP/HP RangeFuel Capacity, gal. 1 Empty Weight, lb.Gross Weight, lb.Length, Lyc. ft. 52 O-360 180/160-200 Wingspan, ft. 1050 Wing Area, sq. ft. 2050 No. of Seats 88.3 Engine Used 28.1 16.9 HP/HP RangeFuel Capacity, gal. 4 Empty Weight, lb.Gross Weight, lb.Length, Lyc. ft. 20 O-360 200 Wingspan, ft. 840 Wing Area, sq. ft. 1300 No. of Seats 105 Engine Used 19.5 16 HP/HP RangeFuel Capacity, gal. 1 Empty Weight, lb.Gross Weight, lb. n.p. 35 200/180-300 1050 1950 Engine UsedEngine HP/HP RangeFuel Capacity, gal.Empty Weight, lb.Gross Weight, lb.Length, Cont. ft. 25 85 65-125 Wingspan, ft. 624 Wing Area, sq. ft. 1250 No. of Seats 82.5 Engine Used 20.6 18.9 HP/HP RangeFuel Capacity, gal. 2 Empty Weight, lb.Gross Weight, lb.Length, Cont. ft. 12.3 A-65 55/50-75 Wingspan, ft. 543 Wing Area, sq. ft. 900 No. of Seats 134.3 Engine Used 29.8 17.3 HP/HP RangeFuel Capacity, gal. 1 Empty Weight, lb.Gross Weight, lb.Length, Continental ft. 25 75/85-100 Wingspan, ft. 750 Wing Area, sq. ft. 1350 No. of Seats 120 27 18.5 2 2005 ober Pixie akeoff Distance, ft. 700 akeoff Distance, ft. 200 op Speed, mph 185 akeoff Distance, ft. n.p. op Speed, mph 148 op Speed, mph 220 akeoff Distance, ft. 1500 op Speed, mph 200 op Speed, mph 175 akeoff Distance, ft. 800 op Speed, mph 155 akeoff Distance, ft. 250 akeoff Distance, ft. 800 op Speed, mph 130 akeoff Distance, ft. 300 op Speed, mph 195 Stall, mphRange, n.m.Rate of Climb, fpmT Landing Distance, ft. 1800 56 1000 600 Rate of Climb, fpmT Landing Distance, ft. 3000 1000 AIRCRAFT SPRUCE & SPECIALTY SA-750 Acroduster Too T Cruise, mphStall, mphRange, n.m.Rate of Climb, fpmT Landing Distance, ft. 155 2300 55 1200 n.p. AIRCRAFT SPRUCE & SPECIALTY SA-300 Starduster Too T Cruise, mph 130 AIRCRAFT SPRUCE & SPECIALTY Cozy/Cozy Mark IV T Cruise, mphStall, mphRange, n.m.Rate of Climb, fpmT Landing Distance, ft. 190 2000 59 1500 1000 AIRCRAFT SPRUCE & SPECIALTY Super Starduster SA-101 T Cruise, mphStall, mphRange, n.m. 170 55 300 AERO-SYSTEMS Cadet Model STF T Cruise, mphStall, mphRange, n.m.Rate of Climb, fpmT Landing Distance, ft. 125 850 50 875 500 AIRCRAFT SPRUCE & SPECIALTY Super Baby Lakes T Cruise, mphStall, mphRange, n.m.Rate of Climb, fpmT Landing Distance, ft. 135 3000 55 400 250 Cruise, mphStall, mphRange, n.m.Rate of Climb, fpmT Landing Distance, ft. 135 1000 53 700 600 ACRO SPORT, INC. P T Cruise, mphStall, mphRange, n.m.Rate of Climb, fpmT Landing Distance, ft. 83 500 30 300 290 ACRO SPORT, INC. Cougar I Nesmith T JANUARY KITPLANES 32 Plans Aircraft Directory ag,nm 600 45 105 n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Starlet SA-500 &SPECIALTYAIRCRAFT SPRUCE 600 650 45 1200 180 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Wittman W10Tailwind &SPECIALTYAIRCRAFT SPRUCE 250 400 55 2000 118 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Baby GreatLakes &SPECIALTYAIRCRAFT SPRUCE 250 400 55 1600 135 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Buddy BabyLakes &SPECIALTYAIRCRAFT SPRUCE 250 500 n.p. n.p. 110 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Acrolite &SPECIALTYAIRCRAFT SPRUCE 350 n.p. 50 2000 132 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Starduster OneSA-100 &SPECIALTYAIRCRAFT SPRUCE ag,nm 370 n.p. 63 2000 160 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T One DesignDR107 &SPECIALTYAIRCRAFT SPRUCE 275 600 40 600 75 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T V &SPECIALTYAIRCRAFT SPRUCE n.p. n.p. ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, pSed p 130 mph op Speed, 750 ft. akeoff Distance, 200 mph op Speed, 300 ft. akeoff Distance, 135 mph op Speed, 400 ft. akeoff Distance, 135 mph op Speed, 500 ft. akeoff Distance, 130 mph op Speed, 200 ft. akeoff Distance, 147 mph op Speed, kofDsac,f.600 ft. akeoff Distance, 184 mph op Speed, 400 ft. akeoff Distance, 100 mph op Speed, n.p. ft. akeoff Distance, -Star SA-900 o fSas2 14.7 18 98 ofSeats No. 1000 ft. sq. Wing Area, 550 ft. Wingspan, 108/85-125 O-235 14 ft. Lyc. Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 17 20 Engine Used 133 ofSeats No. 750 ft. sq. Wing Area, 495 ft. Wingspan, 80/55-112 8 ft. Rotax912 Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range n.p. 19 Engine Used 110 ofSeats No. 1080 ft. sq. Wing Area, 700 ft. Wingspan, 125/85-180 24 ft. Lycoming Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range Engine Used o fSas1 17 19.3 75.5 ofSeats No. 1140 ft. sq. Wing Area, 740 ft. Wingspan, 160/150-200 20 ft. AEIO-320 Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 17.1 23 Engine Used 141 ofSeats No. 1000 ft. sq. Wing Area, 600 ft. Wingspan, 65/65-150 22 ft. 65 Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 17 25 Engine Used 83 ofSeats No. 1000 ft. sq. Wing Area, 500 ft. Wingspan, 65-125 22 ft. VW1500-cc Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 2 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 19.6 24 Engine Used 92 ofSeats No. 1425 ft. sq. Wing Area, 876 ft. Wingspan, 145 O-300 35 ft. Cont. Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 13.8 16.7 Engine Used 88 ofSeats No. 850 ft. sq. Wing Area, 480 ft. Wingspan, 85/65-100 12 ft. Continental Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range Engine Used KITPLANES ot$200 877/4-SPRUCE CA 92880 Corona, 225 AirportCircle F T, W, tailwheel 4 Cost Completed&Flown No. 1400 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $300 Landing Gear 877/4-SPRUCE CA 92880 Corona, 225 AirportCircle T W, M, tailwheel 2 Cost Completed&Flown No. 2000 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $150 Landing Gear 877/4-SPRUCE CA 92880 Corona, 225 AirportCircle F T, W, M, tailwheel 101 Cost Completed&Flown No. 3500 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. Landing Gear ot$330 877/4-SPRUCE CA 92880 Corona, F 225 AirportCircle T, W, C, M, tailwheel 60 Cost Completed&Flown No. 3000 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $150 Landing Gear 877/4-SPRUCE CA 92880 Corona, 225 AirportCircle F T, W, tailwheel 70 Cost Completed&Flown No. 1800 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $150 Landing Gear 877/4-SPRUCE CA 92880 Corona, 225 AirportCircle F T, W, tailwheel 40 Cost Completed&Flown No. 1400 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $180 Landing Gear 877/4-SPRUCE CA 92880 Corona, 225 AirportCircle F T, W, tailwheel 375 Cost Completed&Flown No. 2500 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $165 Landing Gear 877/4-SPRUCE CA 92880 Corona, 225 AirportCircle F T, W, M, tailwheel 250 Cost Completed&Flown No. 1000 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. Landing Gear JANUARY 2005 33 Plans Aircraft Directory AIRCRAFT SPRUCE & SPECIALTY Engine Used VW 1600-cc Landing Gear tailwheel V-Witt HP/HP Range n.p. Bldg. Materials W, T, F Top Speed, mph 180 Fuel Capacity, gal. 10 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. n.p. Cruise, mph 150 Empty Weight, lb. 430 No. Completed & Flown 25 Stall, mph 48 Gross Weight, lb. 700 Cost $95 Range, n.m. 400 Length, ft. 18.1 Rate of Climb, fpm 1000 Wingspan, ft. 17.5 225 Airport Circle Takeoff Distance, ft. 800 Wing Area, sq. ft. 77 Corona, CA 92880 Landing Distance, ft. n.p. No. of Seats 1 877/4-SPRUCE

AMERICAN AFFORDABLE AIRCRAFT Engine Used Stratus Subaru Landing Gear tri or tail Vision HP/HP Range 100/100-160 Bldg. Materials C Top Speed, mph 170 Fuel Capacity, gal. 22 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 3000

Plans Aircraft Directory Plans Aircraft Cruise, mph 155 Empty Weight, lb. 850 No. Completed & Flown 3 Stall, mph 51 Gross Weight, lb. 1350 Cost $427 Range, n.m. n.p. Length, ft. 17 Rate of Climb, fpm 1400 Wingspan, ft. 21.5 Takeoff Distance, ft. 600 Wing Area, sq. ft. 85 www.visionaircraft.com Landing Distance, ft. 800 No. of Seats 2 386/451-8036

AMERICAN HATZ ASSOCIATION Engine Used Lyc. O-235 Landing Gear tailwheel Kelly-D HP/HP Range 115/100-125 Bldg. Materials W, T, F Top Speed, mph 105 Fuel Capacity, gal. 24 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 3500 Cruise, mph 90 Empty Weight, lb. 950 No. Completed & Flown 25 Stall, mph 40 Gross Weight, lb. 1500 Cost $150 Range, n.m. 270 Length, ft. 19.2 Rate of Climb, fpm 800 Wingspan, ft. 26.3 P. O. Box 5102 Takeoff Distance, ft. 400 Wing Area, sq. ft. 230 Vernon Hills, IL 60061-5102 Landing Distance, ft. 600 No. of Seats 2 847/816-1482

AMERICAN HATZ ASSOCIATION Engine Used Cont. O-200 Landing Gear tailwheel Hatz CB-1 HP/HP Range 100/85-150 Bldg. Materials W, T Top Speed, mph 105 Fuel Capacity, gal. 21 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 3000 Cruise, mph 85 Empty Weight, lb. 850 No. Completed & Flown 150 Stall, mph 38 Gross Weight, lb. 1400 Cost $150 Range, n.m. 250 Length, ft. 19 Rate of Climb, fpm 700 Wingspan, ft. 25.3 P. O. Box 5102 Takeoff Distance, ft. 400 Wing Area, sq. ft. 178 Vernon Hills, IL 60061-5102 Landing Distance, ft. 600 No. of Seats 2 847/816-1482

AVIAT AIRCRAFT, INC. Engine Used Lyc. O-320/360 Landing Gear tailwheel Pitts S-1S HP/HP Range 180/160-180 Bldg. Materials W, T, F Top Speed, mph 176 Fuel Capacity, gal. 20 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 3000 Cruise, mph 155 Empty Weight, lb. 800 No. Completed & Flown 270 Stall, mph 62 Gross Weight, lb. 1150 Cost $250 Range, n.m. 337 Length, ft. 15.4 Rate of Climb, fpm 2600 Wingspan, ft. 17.3 Takeoff Distance, ft. 600 Wing Area, sq. ft. 98.5 www.aviataircraft.com Landing Distance, ft. 1200 No. of Seats 1 307/885-3151

AVIAT AIRCRAFT, INC. Engine Used Lyc. IO-540 Landing Gear tailwheel Pitts S-1-11B HP/HP Range 300 Bldg. Materials M, W, T, F Top Speed, mph 229 Fuel Capacity, gal. 35 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 3000 Cruise, mph 180 Empty Weight, lb. 1090 No. Completed & Flown 2 Stall, mph 64 Gross Weight, lb. 1500 Cost $300 Range, n.m. 350 Length, ft. 18.1 Rate of Climb, fpm 4000 Wingspan, ft. 18 Takeoff Distance, ft. 1000 Wing Area, sq. ft. 110.3 www.aviataircraft.com Landing Distance, ft. 1400 No. of Seats 1 307/885-3151

BX-AVIATION Engine Used Cont. A-65 Landing Gear trigear/R Cherry BX-2 HP/HP Range 65/65-90 Bldg. Materials C Top Speed, mph 162 Fuel Capacity, gal. 23 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 4000 Cruise, mph 125 Empty Weight, lb. 700 No. Completed & Flown 70 Stall, mph 52 Gross Weight, lb. 1222 Cost $650 Range, n.m. 600 Length, ft. 17.5 Rate of Climb, fpm 680 Wingspan, ft. 23 Hoeheweg 1 Takeoff Distance, ft. 1000 Wing Area, sq. ft. 90 CH-2553 Safnern, Switzerland Landing Distance, ft. 500 No. of Seats 2 011 +41 32 355 1823

CARL H. UNGER Engine Used Continental Landing Gear trigear Breezy R.L.U.-1 HP/HP Range 90/90-150 Bldg. Materials T Top Speed, mph 105 Fuel Capacity, gal. 18 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1500 Cruise, mph 75 Empty Weight, lb. 698 No. Completed & Flown 350+ Stall, mph 30 Gross Weight, lb. 1200 Cost $95 Range, n.m. 200 Length, ft. 22.5 Rate of Climb, fpm 600 Wingspan, ft. 33 8751 S. Kilbourn Takeoff Distance, ft. 450 Wing Area, sq. ft. 165 Oak Lawn, IL 60456-1021 Landing Distance, ft. 300 No. of Seats 3 708/636-5774

34 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM ag,nm 110 175 35 700 65 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T H-2 Honey-Bee CLASSIC AEROENTERPRISES n.p. 300 33 450 75 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Nieuport 12EXP(87%) CIRCA REPRODUCTIONS 220 250 30 600 75 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T 7/8 Nieuport11/17 CIRCA REPRODUCTIONS 200 250 32 850 70 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Nieuport 11EXP(87%) CIRCA REPRODUCTIONS kofDsac,f.150 ft. akeoff Distance, 80 mph op Speed, 350 ft. akeoff Distance, 94 mph op Speed, 250 ft. akeoff Distance, 85 mph op Speed, 125 ft. akeoff Distance, 80 mph op Speed, o fSas2 21.5 26.5 189 ofSeats No. 1070 ft. sq. Wing Area, 575 ft. Wingspan, 65/65-90 12 ft. Rotax582 Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 16.5 21.5 Engine Used 114 ofSeats No. 550 ft. sq. Wing Area, 266 ft. Wingspan, 35/35-50 12 ft. Rotax503 Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 16.5 21.5 Engine Used 114 ofSeats No. 675 ft. sq. Wing Area, 350 ft. Wingspan, 46/22-50 12 ft. Rotax503 Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range Engine Used o fSas1 15.8 19 140 ofSeats No. 750 ft. sq. Wing Area, 496 ft. Wingspan, 85/40-100 12 ft. HirthF-30 Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range Engine Used KITPLANES ot$200 780/895-2975 T0B2R0Canada AB, Lamont, Box 889 F T, tailwheel 7 Cost Completed&Flown No. 1500 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $139 Landing Gear 780/895-2975 T0B2R0Canada AB, Lamont, Box 889 F T, tailwheel 200+ Cost Completed&Flown No. 700 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $139 Landing Gear 780/895-2975 T0B2R0Canada AB, Lamont, Box 889 F T, M, tailwheel 200+ Cost Completed&Flown No. 700 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. Landing Gear ot$250 757/851-2856 http://members.cox.net/classic-aero F T, tailwheel 10+ Cost Completed&Flown No. 1000 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. Landing Gear JANUARY 2005 35 Plans Aircraft Directory CLASSIC AERO ENTERPRISES Engine Used Hirth 2704 Landing Gear tailwheel H-3 Pegasus HP/HP Range 40/28-55 Bldg. Materials T, F Top Speed, mph 85 Fuel Capacity, gal. 7.5 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 900 Cruise, mph 70 Empty Weight, lb. 305 No. Completed & Flown 20 Stall, mph 30 Gross Weight, lb. 575 Cost $250 Range, n.m. 125 Length, ft. 15 Rate of Climb, fpm 600 Wingspan, ft. 25 Takeoff Distance, ft. 200 Wing Area, sq. ft. 110 http://members.cox.net/classic-aero Landing Distance, ft. 250 No. of Seats 1 757/851-2856

C-N-C AVIATION Engine Used Rotax 503 Landing Gear tailwheel Supercat HP/HP Range 46/28-50 Bldg. Materials W Top Speed, mph 90 Fuel Capacity, gal. 11 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 550

Plans Aircraft Directory Plans Aircraft Cruise, mph 80 Empty Weight, lb. 325 No. Completed & Flown 250+ Stall, mph 32 Gross Weight, lb. 650 Cost $125 Range, n.m. 225 Length, ft. 15.25 Rate of Climb, fpm 1000 Wingspan, ft. 27.6 P. O. Box 662 Takeoff Distance, ft. 300 Wing Area, sq. ft. 110 Charlotte Hall, MD 20622 Landing Distance, ft. 450 No. of Seats 1 301/472-4898

CSN Engine Used VW Landing Gear tailwheel Corby Starlet CJ-1 HP/HP Range 60/45-80 Bldg. Materials W Top Speed, mph 160 Fuel Capacity, gal. 11 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1400 Cruise, mph 130 Empty Weight, lb. 465 No. Completed & Flown 128 Stall, mph 35 Gross Weight, lb. 750 Cost $195 Range, n.m. 296 Length, ft. 14.9 Rate of Climb, fpm 1200 Wingspan, ft. 18.6 1335 Robinhood Lane South Takeoff Distance, ft. 450 Wing Area, sq. ft. 68.5 Lakeland, FL 33813-2341 Landing Distance, ft. 750 No. of Seats 1 863/646-9446

D. L. BLANTON Engine Used Ford 3.8L V-6 Landing Gear tailwheel V6 STOL HP/HP Range 230/230-300 Bldg. Materials M, T, F Top Speed, mph 135 Fuel Capacity, gal. 36 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 650 Cruise, mph 120 Empty Weight, lb. 1250 No. Completed & Flown 100+ Stall, mph 48 Gross Weight, lb. 2200 Cost $100 Range, n.m. 600 Length, ft. 22.3 Rate of Climb, fpm 1700 Wingspan, ft. 32 14 Hawthorne Rd. Takeoff Distance, ft. 500 Wing Area, sq. ft. 168 Valley Center, KS 67147 Landing Distance, ft. 500 No. of Seats 4 316/755-0659

D. L. BLANTON Engine Used Javelin Ford Landing Gear tailwheel Sport Racer HP/HP Range 150-260 Bldg. Materials M, C, W, T Top Speed, mph 200 Fuel Capacity, gal. 30 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1500 Cruise, mph 175 Empty Weight, lb. 1175 No. Completed & Flown 1 Stall, mph 62 Gross Weight, lb. 1825 Cost $300 Range, n.m. 525 Length, ft. 21 Rate of Climb, fpm 900 Wingspan, ft. 22 14 Hawthorne Rd. Takeoff Distance, ft. 1600 Wing Area, sq. ft. 81 Valley Center, KS 67147 Landing Distance, ft. 1800 No. of Seats 2 316/755-0659

D. L. BLANTON Engine Used Lyc. O-360 Landing Gear tailwheel Wichawk HP/HP Range 180/160-300 Bldg. Materials M, T, C, W, F Top Speed, mph 140 Fuel Capacity, gal. 40 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 2000 Cruise, mph 127 Empty Weight, lb. 1280 No. Completed & Flown 100+ Stall, mph 56 Gross Weight, lb. 2000 Cost $375 Range, n.m. 500 Length, ft. 19 Rate of Climb, fpm 1700 Wingspan, ft. 24 14 Hawthorne Rd. Takeoff Distance, ft. 600 Wing Area, sq. ft. 185 Valley Center, KS 67147 Landing Distance, ft. 400 No. of Seats 2-3 316/755-0659

DCS, INC. Engine Used VW 1600-cc Landing Gear trigear Mini Coupe HP/HP Range 65/53-100 Bldg. Materials M Top Speed, mph 145 Fuel Capacity, gal. 15 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1000 Cruise, mph 100 Empty Weight, lb. 497 No. Completed & Flown 60+ Stall, mph 48 Gross Weight, lb. 850 Cost $65 Range, n.m. 350 Length, ft. 17 Rate of Climb, fpm 750 Wingspan, ft. 75 Takeoff Distance, ft. 400 Wing Area, sq. ft. 22 www.theminicoupe.com Landing Distance, ft. 500 No. of Seats 1 301/262-0446

DCS, INC. Engine Used VW 1600-cc Landing Gear trigear Teenie Two HP/HP Range 65/53-65 Bldg. Materials M Top Speed, mph 140 Fuel Capacity, gal. 9 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1000 Cruise, mph 110 Empty Weight, lb. 310 No. Completed & Flown 300+ Stall, mph 48 Gross Weight, lb. 590 Cost $99 Range, n.m. 350 Length, ft. 13 Rate of Climb, fpm 750 Wingspan, ft. 18 Takeoff Distance, ft. 500 Wing Area, sq. ft. 60 www.teenietwo.com Landing Distance, ft. 450 No. of Seats 1 301/262-0446

36 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM DON PIETENPOL Engine Used Corvair Landing Gear tailwheel Pietenpol HP/HP Range 60/40-100 Bldg. Materials W, F Top Speed, mph 85 Fuel Capacity, gal. 18 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1000 Cruise, mph 80 Empty Weight, lb. 520 No. Completed & Flown 600 Stall, mph 40 Gross Weight, lb. 1040 Cost $75 Range, n.m. 360 Length, ft. 17.8 Rate of Climb, fpm 500 Wingspan, ft. 29 1604 Meadow Circle S.E. Takeoff Distance, ft. 400 Wing Area, sq. ft. 145 Rochester, MN 55904-5251 Landing Distance, ft. 400 No. of Seats 2 507/289-2436

DON PIETENPOL Engine Used Ford Model T Landing Gear tailwheel Sky Scout HP/HP Range 20/20-40 Bldg. Materials W, F Top Speed, mph 62 Fuel Capacity, gal. 6 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1000 Cruise, mph 55 Empty Weight, lb. 520 No. Completed & Flown 25 Stall, mph 35 Gross Weight, lb. 1020 Cost $75 Range, n.m. n.p. Length, ft. 16.2 Rate of Climb, fpm 200 Wingspan, ft. 27.3 1604 Meadow Circle S.E. Takeoff Distance, ft. 150 Wing Area, sq. ft. 135 Rochester, MN 55904-5251 Landing Distance, ft. 250 No. of Seats 1 507/289-2436

DYKE AIRCRAFT Engine Used Lyc. O-360 Landing Gear trigear/R Dyke Delta JD II HP/HP Range 180/160-200 Bldg. Materials T, C, F Top Speed, mph 210 Fuel Capacity, gal. 47 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 2500 Cruise, mph 180 Empty Weight, lb. 1080 No. Completed & Flown 58 Stall, mph n.p. Gross Weight, lb. 1950 Cost $200

Range, n.m. 750 Length, ft. 19 Plans Aircraft Directory Rate of Climb, fpm 1700 Wingspan, ft. 22.2 2840 Old Yellow Springs Rd. Takeoff Distance, ft. 700 Wing Area, sq. ft. 178 Fairborn, OH 45324 Landing Distance, ft. 1000 No. of Seats 4 937/878-9832

EARLY BIRD AIRCRAFT CO. Engine Used Rotax 503 SC Landing Gear tailwheel Jenny (67%) HP/HP Range 46/46-65 Bldg. Materials T, F Top Speed, mph 70 Fuel Capacity, gal. 10 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 600 Cruise, mph 60 Empty Weight, lb. 450 No. Completed & Flown 54 Stall, mph 35 Gross Weight, lb. 800 Cost $125 Range, n.m. 180 Length, ft. 18.3 Rate of Climb, fpm 800 Wingspan, ft. 27.5 650 Cripple Creek Dr. Takeoff Distance, ft. 100 Wing Area, sq. ft. 175 Fruita, CO 81521 Landing Distance, ft. 250 No. of Seats 2 970/858-3568

EKLUND ENGINEERING, INC. Engine Used Lycoming O-360 Landing Gear tailwheel Thorp T-18 HP/HP Range 180/125-180 Bldg. Materials M Top Speed, mph 205 Fuel Capacity, gal. 29 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 2000 Cruise, mph 200 Empty Weight, lb. 940 No. Completed & Flown 400+ Stall, mph 58 Gross Weight, lb. 1600 Cost $300 Range, n.m. 500 Length, ft. 18.8 Rate of Climb, fpm 1540 Wingspan, ft. 20.8 Takeoff Distance, ft. 1000 Wing Area, sq. ft. 86 www.thorpt18.com Landing Distance, ft. 1800 No. of Seats 2 209/727-0318

ELMWOOD AVIATION Engine Used Continental Landing Gear tailwheel Christavia MK 1 HP/HP Range 65/65-100 Bldg. Materials W, T, F Top Speed, mph 118 Fuel Capacity, gal. 19 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 2000 Cruise, mph 105 Empty Weight, lb. 800 No. Completed & Flown 360 Stall, mph 40 Gross Weight, lb. 1500 Cost $200 Range, n.m. 315 Length, ft. 21 Rate of Climb, fpm 900 Wingspan, ft. 32.5 27 Dench Lane, RR 3 Takeoff Distance, ft. 300 Wing Area, sq. ft. 146.2 Frankford, ON, K0K 2C0 Canada Landing Distance, ft. 600 No. of Seats 2 613/398-3216

EMILE LUCAS Engine Used Jabiru Landing Gear trigear L 11 HP/HP Range 80/80-150 Bldg. Materials M Top Speed, mph 130 Fuel Capacity, gal. 20 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 2300 Cruise, mph 400 Empty Weight, lb. 618 No. Completed & Flown 3 Stall, mph 45 Gross Weight, lb. 990 Cost $300 Range, n.m. 560 Length, ft. 18.3 Rate of Climb, fpm 1200 Wingspan, ft. 26 7 Allee des Acacias Takeoff Distance, ft. 600 Wing Area, sq. ft. 80 60330 Lagny le Sec, France Landing Distance, ft. 500 No. of Seats 2 0140204042

EMILE LUCAS Engine Used Lyc.O-320 Landing Gear trigear L 8 HP/HP Range 150/150-180 Bldg. Materials M Top Speed, mph 192 Fuel Capacity, gal. 50 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 4000 Cruise, mph 165 Empty Weight, lb. 1000 No. Completed & Flown 1 Stall, mph 60 Gross Weight, lb. 1600 Cost $400 Range, n.m. 600 Length, ft. 18 Rate of Climb, fpm 1000 Wingspan, ft. 26 7 Allee des Acacias Takeoff Distance, ft. 1300 Wing Area, sq. ft. 90 60330 Lagny le Sec, France Landing Distance, ft. 500 No. of Seats 2 0140204042

KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 37 EMILE LUCAS Engine Used Lyc. O-235 Landing Gear tailwheel/R L 7 HP/HP Range 160/108-160 Bldg. Materials M Top Speed, mph 142 Fuel Capacity, gal. 30 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 3800 Cruise, mph 110 Empty Weight, lb. 1150 No. Completed & Flown 2 Stall, mph 80 Gross Weight, lb. 1750 Cost $400 Range, n.m. 560 Length, ft. 21 Rate of Climb, fpm 500 Wingspan, ft. 34 7 Allee des Acacias Takeoff Distance, ft. 1540 Wing Area, sq. ft. 133 60330 Lagny le Sec, France Landing Distance, ft. 1700 No. of Seats 2 0140204042

EMILE LUCAS Engine Used Limbach Landing Gear tri or tail L 6 HP/HP Range 80 Bldg. Materials M Top Speed, mph 110 Fuel Capacity, gal. 40 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 3800

Plans Aircraft Directory Plans Aircraft Cruise, mph 98 Empty Weight, lb. 1134 No. Completed & Flown 2 Stall, mph n.p. Gross Weight, lb. 1713 Cost $400 Range, n.m. 621 Length, ft. 22 Rate of Climb, fpm 450 Wingspan, ft. 29 7 Allee des Acacias Takeoff Distance, ft. 1480 Wing Area, sq. ft. n.p. 60330 Lagny le Sec, France Landing Distance, ft. 1600 No. of Seats 2 0140204042

EMILE LUCAS Engine Used Lyc. O-320 Landing Gear trigear L 5 HP/HP Range 150/108-180 Bldg. Materials M Top Speed, mph 165 Fuel Capacity, gal. 50 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 3500 Cruise, mph 118 Empty Weight, lb. 1150 No. Completed & Flown 12 Stall, mph 54 Gross Weight, lb. 1900 Cost $400 Range, n.m. 620 Length, ft. 20 Rate of Climb, fpm 520 Wingspan, ft. 31 7 Allee des Acacias Takeoff Distance, ft. 1450 Wing Area, sq. ft. 133 60330 Lagny le Sec, France Landing Distance, ft. 1600 No. of Seats 2-4 0140204042

ERIC CLUTTON Engine Used n.p. Landing Gear tailwheel Fred HP/HP Range 65/50-80 Bldg. Materials W Top Speed, mph 85 Fuel Capacity, gal. 10 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. n.p. Cruise, mph 75 Empty Weight, lb. 550 No. Completed & Flown 25+ Stall, mph 29 Gross Weight, lb. 820 Cost $50 Range, n.m. n.p. Length, ft. 16 Rate of Climb, fpm 500 Wingspan, ft. 22.6 913 Cedar Lane Takeoff Distance, ft. 900 Wing Area, sq. ft. 110 Tullahoma, TN 37388 Landing Distance, ft. 450 No. of Seats 1 931/455-2256

EV CASSAGNERES Engine Used LOM Landing Gear tailwheel Ryan ST-R (replica) HP/HP Range 140/125-150 Bldg. Materials M, T, F Top Speed, mph 140 Fuel Capacity, gal. 24 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. n.p. Cruise, mph 120 Empty Weight, lb. 1023 No. Completed & Flown 1 Stall, mph 42 Gross Weight, lb. 1575 Cost $700 Range, n.m. 350 Length, ft. 21.5 Rate of Climb, fpm 850 Wingspan, ft. 30 430 Budding Ridge Takeoff Distance, ft. 525 Wing Area, sq. ft. 124 Cheshire, CT 06410 Landing Distance, ft. 1000 No. of Seats 2 203/272-2127

EVANS AIRCRAFT Engine Used VW Landing Gear tailwheel Volksplane 1 (VP-1) HP/HP Range 50 Bldg. Materials W, F Top Speed, mph 95 Fuel Capacity, gal. 8 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 700 Cruise, mph 75 Empty Weight, lb. 475 No. Completed & Flown 500+ Stall, mph 45 Gross Weight, lb. 685 Cost $60 Range, n.m. 200 Length, ft. 18 Rate of Climb, fpm 600 Wingspan, ft. 24 Takeoff Distance, ft. 500 Wing Area, sq. ft. 100 Landing Distance, ft. 400 No. of Seats 1 www.evansair.com

FALCONAR AVIA, INC. Engine Used Cont. C-85 Landing Gear tailwheel Cubmajor HP/HP Range 85/80-125 Bldg. Materials W, F Top Speed, mph 110 Fuel Capacity, gal. 12.3 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1400 Cruise, mph 100 Empty Weight, lb. 800 No. Completed & Flown 7 Stall, mph 40 Gross Weight, lb. 1300 Cost $150 Range, n.m. 250 Length, ft. 23.8 Rate of Climb, fpm 800 Wingspan, ft. 35 Takeoff Distance, ft. 400 Wing Area, sq. ft. 163 www.falconaravia.com Landing Distance, ft. 250 No. of Seats 2 780/465-2024

FALCONAR AVIA, INC. Engine Used Continental Landing Gear tri or tail HM 290/293 HP/HP Range 65/65-100 Bldg. Materials W, F Top Speed, mph 124 Fuel Capacity, gal. 14 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 750 Cruise, mph 95 Empty Weight, lb. 390 No. Completed & Flown 20+ Stall, mph 28 Gross Weight, lb. 700 Cost $65 Range, n.m. 330 Length, ft. 13 Rate of Climb, fpm 1000 Wingspan, ft. 21 Takeoff Distance, ft. 130 Wing Area, sq. ft. 138 www.falconaravia.com Landing Distance, ft. 130 No. of Seats 1-2 780/465-2024

38 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM ag,nm n.p. 150 25 500 55 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Flying FleaHM-14 FLYING FLEAARCHIVEUSA 220 400 42 750 93 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Flitzer Z-21 FLITZER-AERO n.a. 100 30 n.a. n.p. ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T F F 290 250 35 1200 120 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Fa F kofDsac,f.150 ft. akeoff Distance, 70 mph op Speed, 400 ft. akeoff Distance, 105 mph op Speed, n.a. ft. akeoff Distance, 137 mph op Speed, 200 ft. akeoff Distance, 125 mph op Speed, LOA VA INC. ALCONAR AVIA, INC. ALCONAR AVIA, auvel AV361/361 lconar F10A o fSas1 14.8 18 97 ofSeats No. 750 ft. sq. Wing Area, 480 ft. Wingspan, 60/50-100 10.3 ft. 1835-ccVW Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 10 42 Engine Used 157 ofSeats No. 570 ft. sq. Wing Area, 260 ft. Wingspan, n.a. n.a. ft. n.a. Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 19 23 Engine Used 100 ofSeats No. 875 ft. sq. Wing Area, 550 ft. Wingspan, 65/40-100 12 ft. ContinentalA-65 Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range Engine Used o fSas1 13.5 18 100 ofSeats No. 500 ft. sq. Wing Area, 250 ft. Wingspan, 25/25-45 6.2 ft. Rotax447 Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range Engine Used KITPLANES ot$250 780/417-2008 www.filitzer-aero.com W tailwheel 5 Cost Completed&Flown No. 800 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $300 Landing Gear 780/465-2024 www.falconaravia.com F W, monowheel 30 Cost Completed&Flown No. 1200 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $195 Landing Gear 780/465-2024 www.falconaravia.com F W, tailwheel 10 Cost Completed&Flown No. 800 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. Landing Gear ot$65 330/377-5013 www.valkyrie.net/~flyingflea/ F W, tailwheel 100+ Cost Completed&Flown No. 500 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. Landing Gear JANUARY 2005 39 Plans Aircraft Directory FLYING FLEA ARCHIVE USA Engine Used 25cv Dagne Landing Gear tri or tail Flying Flea HM-160/1/2 HP/HP Range 20-35 Bldg. Materials W, F Top Speed, mph 80 Fuel Capacity, gal. 6.2 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 600 Cruise, mph 65 Empty Weight, lb. 242 No. Completed & Flown 2 Stall, mph 20 Gross Weight, lb. 472 Cost $125 Range, n.m. n.p. Length, ft. 10.5 Rate of Climb, fpm 500 Wingspan, ft. 15 Takeoff Distance, ft. 100 Wing Area, sq. ft. 77 www.valkyrie.net/~flyingflea/ Landing Distance, ft. 150 No. of Seats 1 330/377-5013

FLYING FLEA ARCHIVE USA Engine Used Rotax 503 Landing Gear trigear Flying Flea HM-290/1FB HP/HP Range 52/30-70 Bldg. Materials W, F Top Speed, mph 85 Fuel Capacity, gal. 10 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 600

Plans Aircraft Directory Plans Aircraft Cruise, mph 75 Empty Weight, lb. 360 No. Completed & Flown 1 Stall, mph 26 Gross Weight, lb. 580 Cost $85 Range, n.m. 180 Length, ft. 11.5 Rate of Climb, fpm 1000 Wingspan, ft. 20 Takeoff Distance, ft. 150 Wing Area, sq. ft. 120 www.valkyrie.net/~flyingflea/ Landing Distance, ft. 120 No. of Seats 1 330/377-5013

GREAT PLAINS AIRCRAFT SUPPLY CO., INC. Engine Used VW 1700-2180 cc Landing Gear tailwheel Sonerai I HP/HP Range 50-76 Bldg. Materials T, F Top Speed, mph 200 Fuel Capacity, gal. 11 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1000 Cruise, mph 159 Empty Weight, lb. 440 No. Completed & Flown n.p. Stall, mph 45 Gross Weight, lb. 700 Cost $124.95 Range, n.m. 399 Length, ft. 16.8 Rate of Climb, fpm 1000 Wingspan, ft. 16.8 P. O. Box 545 Takeoff Distance, ft. 600 Wing Area, sq. ft. 75 Boys Town, NE 68010 Landing Distance, ft. 900 No. of Seats 1 402/493-6507

GREAT PLAINS AIRCRAFT SUPPLY CO., INC. Engine Used VW 1700-2180 cc Landing Gear tri or tail Sonerai II Original, LT, L HP/HP Range 60-70 Bldg. Materials T, F Top Speed, mph 200 Fuel Capacity, gal. 10 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1000 Cruise, mph 140 Empty Weight, lb. 520 No. Completed & Flown n.p. Stall, mph 45 Gross Weight, lb. 950 Cost $124.95 Range, n.m. 245 Length, ft. 18.1 Rate of Climb, fpm 500 Wingspan, ft. 18.8 P. O. Box 545 Takeoff Distance, ft. 900 Wing Area, sq. ft. 84 Boys Town, NE 68010 Landing Distance, ft. 900 No. of Seats 2 402/493-6507

GREAT PLAINS AIRCRAFT SUPPLY CO., INC. Engine Used VW 2180-cc Landing Gear tri or tail Sonerai II Stretch HP/HP Range 70 Bldg. Materials T, F Top Speed, mph 200 Fuel Capacity, gal. 10 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1000 Cruise, mph 140 Empty Weight, lb. 540 No. Completed & Flown n.p. Stall, mph 50 Gross Weight, lb. 1150 Cost $124.95 Range, n.m. 245 Length, ft. 20.4 Rate of Climb, fpm 700 Wingspan, ft. 18.8 P. O. Box 545 Takeoff Distance, ft. 900 Wing Area, sq. ft. 84 Boys Town, NE 68010 Landing Distance, ft. 900 No. of Seats 2 402/493-6507

GREAT PLAINS AIRCRAFT SUPPLY CO., INC. Engine Used VW 1915-cc Landing Gear tailwheel Easy Eagle I Bi-Plane HP/HP Range 52/52-80 Bldg. Materials W, F, T Top Speed, mph 110 Fuel Capacity, gal. 12 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 400 Cruise, mph 100 Empty Weight, lb. 450 No. Completed & Flown 3 Stall, mph 45 Gross Weight, lb. 725 Cost $65 Range, n.m. 300 Length, ft. 14.4 Rate of Climb, fpm 900 Wingspan, ft. 18.4 P. O. Box 545 Takeoff Distance, ft. 400 Wing Area, sq. ft. 105 Boys Town, NE 68010 Landing Distance, ft. 400 No. of Seats 1 402/493-6507

GREEN SKY ADVENTURES, INC. Engine Used Rotax 503 Landing Gear tailwheel Zippy Sport HP/HP Range 40/40-65 Bldg. Materials M, W, T, F Top Speed, mph 120 Fuel Capacity, gal. 11 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 650 Cruise, mph 100 Empty Weight, lb. 421 No. Completed & Flown 7 Stall, mph 40 Gross Weight, lb. 680 Cost $135 Range, n.m. 250 Length, ft. 17.1 Rate of Climb, fpm 1000 Wingspan, ft. 26.4 Takeoff Distance, ft. 350 Wing Area, sq. ft. 100 greenskyadventures.com Landing Distance, ft. 550 No. of Seats 1 352/318-5625

HUMMEL AVIATION Engine Used 1835-cc VW Landing Gear tri or tail UltraCruiser Plus HP/HP Range 60/50-80 Bldg. Materials M Top Speed, mph 120 Fuel Capacity, gal. 8 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1200 Cruise, mph 100 Empty Weight, lb. 420 No. Completed & Flown 4 Stall, mph 36 Gross Weight, lb. 750 Cost $350 Range, n.m. 300 Length, ft. 17 Rate of Climb, fpm 900 Wingspan, ft. 25 Takeoff Distance, ft. 250 Wing Area, sq. ft. 112 www.flyhummel.com Landing Distance, ft. 500 No. of Seats 1 419/636-6700

40 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM ag,nm 500 n.p. 200 n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T MJ-8 FW-190 (75%) C/OKENHEIT JURCA PLANS, 500 1500 65 1500 230 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T MJ-77 Mustang(75%) C/OKENHEIT JURCA PLANS, 500 1050 59 700 126 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Ibis RJ.03 JUNQUA-DIFFUSION INTERNATIONALE 250 800 38 1000 115 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Hummel Bird HUMMEL AVIATION 250 250 28 1000 60 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Ultracruiser HUMMEL AVIATION 125 250 26 600 50 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T C HUMMEL AVIATION ag,nm 500 2000 65 2000 225 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T MJ-12 P-40(75%) C/O KENHEIT JURCA PLANS, n.p. 1500 65 1650 180 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T MJ-10 Spitfire(75%) C/OKENHEIT JURCA PLANS, 2000 2000 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, pSed p 240 mph op Speed, 2500 ft. akeoff Distance, 330 mph op Speed, 1000 ft. akeoff Distance, 160 mph op Speed, 700 ft. akeoff Distance, 135 mph op Speed, 125 ft. akeoff Distance, 85 mph op Speed, 150 ft. akeoff Distance, 63 mph op Speed, kofDsac,f.1500 ft. akeoff Distance, 275 mph op Speed, 750 ft. akeoff Distance, 230 mph op Speed, 1500 ft. akeoff Distance, A-2 o fSas1 13.3 18 57.2 ofSeats No. 550 ft. sq. Wing Area, 270 ft. Wingspan, 37/30-40 7 ft. 1/2VW Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 16 25 Engine Used 112 ofSeats No. 500 ft. sq. Wing Area, 250 ft. Wingspan, 37/28-37 5 ft. 1/2VW Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 16.5 26 Engine Used 117 ofSeats No. 520 ft. sq. Wing Area, 250 ft. Wingspan, 32/30-40 5 ft. 1/2VW Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range Engine Used o fSas1 25 28 140 ofSeats No. 2860 ft. sq. Wing Area, 2200 ft. Wingspan, 200/200-400 45 ft. Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 23.4 27.7 Engine Used 135 ofSeats No. 2860 ft. sq. Wing Area, 1450 ft. Wingspan, 200-450 40 ft. Geschwender Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 21.8 24 Engine Used 109.8 ofSeats No. 3000 ft. sq. Wing Area, 2000 ft. Wingspan, 290/250-400 IO-540 50 ft. Lyc. Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 2 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 21.5 27.8 Engine Used 145 ofSeats No. 2860 ft. sq. Wing Area, 2200 ft. Wingspan, 200-600 50 ft. Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 2 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 16.1 20.5 Engine Used 52 ofSeats No. 1034 ft. sq. Wing Area, 572 ft. Wingspan, 60/60-80 15.8 ft. VW Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range Engine Used Geschwender 351 Geschwender 351 KITPLANES ot$250 419/636-6700 www.flyhummel.com M triortail 120 Cost Completed&Flown No. 1200 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $250 Landing Gear 419/636-6700 www.flyhummel.com M tailwheel 14 Cost Completed&Flown No. 1200 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $125 Landing Gear 419/636-6700 www.flyhummel.com M tailwheel 45 Cost Completed&Flown No. 600 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. Landing Gear ot$650 810/232-5395 MI48506 Flint, 1733 KansasAvenue F W, tailwheel 1 Cost Completed&Flown No. 5000 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $650 Landing Gear 810/232-5395 MI48506 Flint, 1733 KansasAvenue F W, tailwheel/R 3 Cost Completed&Flown No. 5000 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $650 Landing Gear 810/232-5395 MI48506 Flint, 1733 KansasAvenue M F, W, tailwheel 3 Cost Completed&Flown No. 5000 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $650 Landing Gear 810/232-5395 MI48506 Flint, 1733 KansasAvenue F W, tailwheel/R 10 Cost Completed&Flown No. 5000 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $500 Landing Gear (33)1.4283 4579 www.junque-aircraft.com F W, trigear 5 Cost Completed&Flown No. 2000 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. Landing Gear JANUARY 2005 41 Plans Aircraft Directory JURCA PLANS, C/O KEN HEIT Engine Used V-12 Allison Landing Gear tailwheel/R MJ-100 Spitfire (100%) HP/HP Range 1100/400-1325 Bldg. Materials W, C, T, F Top Speed, mph 355 Fuel Capacity, gal. 150 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 10000 Cruise, mph 300 Empty Weight, lb. 2743 No. Completed & Flown 2 Stall, mph 62 Gross Weight, lb. 6035 Cost $1500 Range, n.m. 500 Length, ft. 29.9 Rate of Climb, fpm 3500 Wingspan, ft. 36 1733 Kansas Avenue Takeoff Distance, ft. 1000 Wing Area, sq. ft. 242 Flint, MI 48506 Landing Distance, ft. 2000 No. of Seats 1 810/232-5395

JURCA PLANS, C/O KEN HEIT Engine Used Lycoming Landing Gear tri or tail MJ-5 Sirocco HP/HP Range 160/125-200 Bldg. Materials W, F Top Speed, mph 225 Fuel Capacity, gal. 35 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 2000

Plans Aircraft Directory Plans Aircraft Cruise, mph 200 Empty Weight, lb. 1260 No. Completed & Flown 50+ Stall, mph 64 Gross Weight, lb. 1860 Cost $650 Range, n.m. n.p. Length, ft. 21 Rate of Climb, fpm 1850 Wingspan, ft. 21.5 1733 Kansas Avenue Takeoff Distance, ft. 500 Wing Area, sq. ft. 107.6 Flint, MI 48506 Landing Distance, ft. 1800 No. of Seats 2 810/232-5395

JURCA PLANS, C/O KEN HEIT Engine Used Lycoming Landing Gear tailwheel/R MJ-2 Tempete HP/HP Range 110/65-180 Bldg. Materials W, F Top Speed, mph 120 Fuel Capacity, gal. 16 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1200 Cruise, mph 102 Empty Weight, lb. 639 No. Completed & Flown 50+ Stall, mph 62 Gross Weight, lb. 950 Cost $650 Range, n.m. 375 Length, ft. 18.5 Rate of Climb, fpm 555 Wingspan, ft. 19.5 1733 Kansas Avenue Takeoff Distance, ft. 820 Wing Area, sq. ft. 85.9 Flint, MI 48506 Landing Distance, ft. 800 No. of Seats 1 810/232-5395

JUSTIN DRAKE Engine Used VW 1835 Landing Gear tailwheel M-19 HP/HP Range 40/40-75 Bldg. Materials C Top Speed, mph 80 Fuel Capacity, gal. 8 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 500 Cruise, mph 70 Empty Weight, lb. 494 No. Completed & Flown 1 Stall, mph 38 Gross Weight, lb. 750 Cost $104 Range, n.m. 200 Length, ft. 16 Rate of Climb, fpm 550 Wingspan, ft. 24 Takeoff Distance, ft. 400 Wing Area, sq. ft. 104 www.flysquirrel.net Landing Distance, ft. 500 No. of Seats 1 812/995-8058

LIGHT MINIATURE AIRCRAFT Engine Used Rotax 503 Landing Gear tailwheel LM-1A-W (85% J-3) HP/HP Range 55/55-65 Bldg. Materials W, F Top Speed, mph 85 Fuel Capacity, gal. 5 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1800 Cruise, mph 75 Empty Weight, lb. 410 No. Completed & Flown 15 Stall, mph 32 Gross Weight, lb. 675 Cost $195 Range, n.m. n.p. Length, ft. 19.3 Rate of Climb, fpm 600 Wingspan, ft. 30 Takeoff Distance, ft. 200 Wing Area, sq. ft. 130 www.lightminiatureaircraft.com Landing Distance, ft. 350 No. of Seats 1 803/894-7256

LIGHT MINIATURE AIRCRAFT Engine Used Rotax 582 Landing Gear tailwheel LM-2X-2P-W (75% Taylorcraft) HP/HP Range 65/65-75 Bldg. Materials W, F Top Speed, mph 85 Fuel Capacity, gal. 10 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1800 Cruise, mph 75 Empty Weight, lb. 485 No. Completed & Flown 6 Stall, mph 38 Gross Weight, lb. 875 Cost $195 Range, n.m. n.p. Length, ft. 18 Rate of Climb, fpm 650 Wingspan, ft. 32 Takeoff Distance, ft. 200 Wing Area, sq. ft. 137 www.lightminiatureaircraft.com Landing Distance, ft. 350 No. of Seats 2 803/894-7256

LIGHT MINIATURE AIRCRAFT Engine Used Rotax 503 Landing Gear tailwheel LM-3X-W Aeronca Champ Replica HP/HP Range 55/55-65 Bldg. Materials W, F Top Speed, mph 75 Fuel Capacity, gal. 5 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1800 Cruise, mph 65 Empty Weight, lb. 325 No. Completed & Flown 6 Stall, mph 26 Gross Weight, lb. 575 Cost $195 Range, n.m. n.p. Length, ft. 18.6 Rate of Climb, fpm 600 Wingspan, ft. 31 Takeoff Distance, ft. 200 Wing Area, sq. ft. 133 www.lightminiatureaircraft.com Landing Distance, ft. 300 No. of Seats 1 803/894-7256

MAIN PLANES Engine Used Rotax 377 Landing Gear tailwheel Beach Boy ST-II HP/HP Range 35/35-65 Bldg. Materials F, T Top Speed, mph 85 Fuel Capacity, gal. 10 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 400 Cruise, mph 75 Empty Weight, lb. 410 No. Completed & Flown 5 Stall, mph 22 Gross Weight, lb. 650 Cost $250 Range, n.m. 300 Length, ft. 17 Rate of Climb, fpm 500 Wingspan, ft. 27 P. O. Box 582 Takeoff Distance, ft. 300 Wing Area, sq. ft. 189 College Place, WA 99324 Landing Distance, ft. 300 No. of Seats 2 509/529-9256

42 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM MEYER AIRCRAFT Engine Used Lyc. O-320 Landing Gear tailwheel Meyer’s Little Toot HP/HP Range 125/125-300 Bldg. Materials M, W, T, F Top Speed, mph 180 Fuel Capacity, gal. 19 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 3000 Cruise, mph 125 Empty Weight, lb. 925 No. Completed & Flown 38 Stall, mph 55 Gross Weight, lb. 1325 Cost $305 Range, n.m. 225 Length, ft. 16 Rate of Climb, fpm 1500 Wingspan, ft. 19 Takeoff Distance, ft. 700 Wing Area, sq. ft. 2160 www.littletootbiplane.com Landing Distance, ft. 1500 No. of Seats 1 972/406-3637

MIRAGE AIRCRAFT, INC. Engine Used Lyc. O-320 Landing Gear tailwheel Marathon HP/HP Range 150/150-180 Bldg. Materials C, W Top Speed, mph 205 Fuel Capacity, gal. 40 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 2250 Cruise, mph 185 Empty Weight, lb. 1119 No. Completed & Flown 1 Stall, mph 60 Gross Weight, lb. 1825 Cost $250 Range, n.m. 765 Length, ft. 21.5 Rate of Climb, fpm 1500 Wingspan, ft. 25 1625 W. Avenida de Las Americas Takeoff Distance, ft. 800 Wing Area, sq. ft. 100 Tucson, AZ 85704-2016 Landing Distance, ft. 600 No. of Seats 2 520/240-0041

MIRAGE AIRCRAFT, INC. Engine Used Lyc. O-320 Landing Gear tailwheel Celerity HP/HP Range 160/150-180 Bldg. Materials C, W Top Speed, mph 226 Fuel Capacity, gal. 40 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 2500 Cruise, mph 205 Empty Weight, lb. 1169 No. Completed & Flown 2 Stall, mph 60 Gross Weight, lb. 1825 Cost $250 Range, n.m. 875 Length, ft. 21.5 Rate of Climb, fpm 1800 Wingspan, ft. 25 1625 W. Avenida de Las Americas Takeoff Distance, ft. 800 Wing Area, sq. ft. 100 Tucson, AZ 85704-2016 Plans Aircraft Directory Landing Distance, ft. 600 No. of Seats 2 520/240-0041

NANCY PERIS Engine Used Kawasaki 440 Landing Gear tailwheel JN-1 HP/HP Range 38 Bldg. Materials C, W, T Top Speed, mph 65 Fuel Capacity, gal. 5 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 800 Cruise, mph 60 Empty Weight, lb. 320 No. Completed & Flown 35 Stall, mph 28 Gross Weight, lb. 600 Cost $70 Range, n.m. 60 Length, ft. 17.3 Rate of Climb, fpm n.p. Wingspan, ft. 30 149 S. Eastland Dr. Takeoff Distance, ft. 250 Wing Area, sq. ft. 140 Lancaster, PA 17602 Landing Distance, ft. 250 No. of Seats 1 717/393-5928

KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 43 OSPREY AIRCRAFT Engine Used Lyc. O-320 Landing Gear trigear/R Osprey 2 HP/HP Range 150/150-160 Bldg. Materials C, W Top Speed, mph 140 Fuel Capacity, gal. 38 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 2500 Cruise, mph 130 Empty Weight, lb. 960 No. Completed & Flown 600 Stall, mph 58 Gross Weight, lb. 1570 Cost $250 Range, n.m. 550 Length, ft. 21 Rate of Climb, fpm 1300 Wingspan, ft. 26 Takeoff Distance, ft. 400 Wing Area, sq. ft. 130 www.ospreyaircraft.com Landing Distance, ft. 600 No. of Seats 2 916/483-3004

OSPREY AIRCRAFT Engine Used Lyc. IO-360 Landing Gear trigear/R GP-4 HP/HP Range 200 Bldg. Materials W Top Speed, mph 250 Fuel Capacity, gal. 54 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 3000

Plans Aircraft Directory Plans Aircraft Cruise, mph 240 Empty Weight, lb. 1240 No. Completed & Flown 5 Stall, mph 65 Gross Weight, lb. 2000 Cost $385 Range, n.m. 1400 Length, ft. 21 Rate of Climb, fpm 2500 Wingspan, ft. 24.6 Takeoff Distance, ft. 300 Wing Area, sq. ft. 104 www.ospreyaircraft.com Landing Distance, ft. 1200 No. of Seats 2 916/483-3004

PAZMANY AIRCRAFT CORP. Engine Used Lyc. O-320 Landing Gear tailwheel Pazmany PL-9 Stork HP/HP Range 150/150-160 Bldg. Materials M, T, F Top Speed, mph 116 Fuel Capacity, gal. 30 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 4000 Cruise, mph 104 Empty Weight, lb. 1132 No. Completed & Flown 1 Stall, mph 33 Gross Weight, lb. 1673 Cost $550 Range, n.m. 332 Length, ft. 24.3 Rate of Climb, fpm 1400 Wingspan, ft. 36 Takeoff Distance, ft. 250 Wing Area, sq. ft. 166 www.pazmany.com Landing Distance, ft. 90 No. of Seats 2 619/224-7330

PAZMANY AIRCRAFT CORP. Engine Used VW 1600-cc Landing Gear tailwheel Pazmany PL-4A HP/HP Range 50-90 Bldg. Materials M Top Speed, mph 120 Fuel Capacity, gal. 12 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 2000 Cruise, mph 97 Empty Weight, lb. 578 No. Completed & Flown $395 Stall, mph 39 Gross Weight, lb. 850 Cost $375 Range, n.m. 280 Length, ft. 16.5 Rate of Climb, fpm 650 Wingspan, ft. 26.7 Takeoff Distance, ft. 560 Wing Area, sq. ft. 89 www.pazmany.com Landing Distance, ft. 440 No. of Seats 1 619/224-7330

PAZMANY AIRCRAFT CORP. Engine Used Lyc. O-235-C1B Landing Gear trigear Pazmany PL-2 HP/HP Range 108/100-150 Bldg. Materials M Top Speed, mph 138 Fuel Capacity, gal. 25 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 4000 Cruise, mph 119 Empty Weight, lb. 875 No. Completed & Flown 300 Stall, mph 41 Gross Weight, lb. 1416 Cost $425 Range, n.m. 492 Length, ft. 19.3 Rate of Climb, fpm 1200 Wingspan, ft. 27.8 Takeoff Distance, ft. 700 Wing Area, sq. ft. 116 www.pazmany.com Landing Distance, ft. 600 No. of Seats 2 619/224-7330

R & B AIRCRAFT Engine Used Lyc. O-360 Landing Gear tailwheel Bearhawk HP/HP Range 180/150-260 Bldg. Materials M, T, F Top Speed, mph 175 Fuel Capacity, gal. 55 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 2000 Cruise, mph 130 Empty Weight, lb. 1200 No. Completed & Flown 16 Stall, mph 42 Gross Weight, lb. 2500 Cost $275 Range, n.m. 800 Length, ft. 23.5 Rate of Climb, fpm 1200 Wingspan, ft. 33 2079 Breckinridge Mill Road Takeoff Distance, ft. 300 Wing Area, sq. ft. 180 Fincastle, VA 24090 Landing Distance, ft. 300 No. of Seats 4 540/473-3661

R & B AIRCRAFT Engine Used Lyc. O-360 Landing Gear tailwheel Bearhawk Patrol HP/HP Range 180/100-200 Bldg. Materials M, F, T Top Speed, mph 175 Fuel Capacity, gal. 55 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 2000 Cruise, mph 140 Empty Weight, lb. 950 No. Completed & Flown 1 Stall, mph 35 Gross Weight, lb. 2000 Cost $250 Range, n.m. 900 Length, ft. 22.67 Rate of Climb, fpm 2000 Wingspan, ft. 33 2079 Breckinridge Mill Road Takeoff Distance, ft. 200 Wing Area, sq. ft. 180 Fincastle, VA 24090 Landing Distance, ft. 300 No. of Seats 2 540/473-3661

R&D AIRCRAFT Engine Used Cont. CA85-12 Landing Gear tailwheel Keleher JK-1 Lark HP/HP Range 85/75-200 Bldg. Materials M, W, F, T Top Speed, mph 145 Fuel Capacity, gal. 14 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 2500 Cruise, mph 135 Empty Weight, lb. 661 No. Completed & Flown 18 Stall, mph 57 Gross Weight, lb. 856 Cost $250 Range, n.m. 275 Length, ft. 17 Rate of Climb, fpm 1100 Wingspan, ft. 23 P. O. Box 2523 Takeoff Distance, ft. 600 Wing Area, sq. ft. 81 Castro Valley, CA 94546 Landing Distance, ft. 700 No. of Seats 1 510/581-8728

44 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM ag,nm 300 40 100 n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Redfern FokkerDR1 REDFERN PLANS 275 300 45 700 75 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Redfern DH-2 REDFERN PLANS 1400 900 52 1200 180 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T KR-1 INC. RAND-ROBINSON ENGINEERING, 160 1000 58 800 105 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Mong Sport RACEAIR DESIGNS 80 600 27 400 47 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Skylite RACEAIR DESIGNS 400 300 25 500 87 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T GN-1 Aircamper GREGAENTERPRISES LLC J. R. ag,nm 250 550 40 900 85 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T SE5A Replica REPLICA PLANS 250 300 45 1500 100 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Redfern Nieuport17or24 REDFERN PLANS 250 2000 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, pSed p 120 mph op Speed, 75 ft. akeoff Distance, 93 mph op Speed, 350 ft. akeoff Distance, 200 mph op Speed, 600 ft. akeoff Distance, 125 mph op Speed, 300 ft. akeoff Distance, 60 mph op Speed, 300 ft. akeoff Distance, 115 mph op Speed, kofDsac,f.400 ft. akeoff Distance, 110 mph op Speed, 100 ft. akeoff Distance, 120 mph op Speed, 100 ft. akeoff Distance, o fSas1 14.1 16.8 80 ofSeats No. 960 ft. sq. Wing Area, 550 ft. Wingspan, 65/65-150 A-65 14 ft. Cont. Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 17.5 29.2 Engine Used 117 ofSeats No. 520 ft. sq. Wing Area, 245 ft. Wingspan, 28/28-50 5 ft. Rotax277 Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 2 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 18.1 29 Engine Used 145 ofSeats No. 1100 ft. sq. Wing Area, 650 ft. Wingspan, 65/65-80 12 ft. Continental Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range Engine Used o fSas1 18.2 23.3 146 ofSeats No. 1150 ft. sq. Wing Area, 750 ft. Wingspan, 100/85-125 O-200 18 ft. Cont. Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 18.8 26.9 Engine Used 161.4 ofSeats No. 1279 ft. sq. Wing Area, 1004 ft. Wingspan, 145/145-180 25 ft. Warner Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 19 23.7 Engine Used 202 ofSeats No. 1455 ft. sq. Wing Area, 1112 ft. Wingspan, 145/145-220 30 ft. Warner Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 25.2 28.3 Engine Used 266 ofSeats No. 1441 ft. sq. Wing Area, 1081 ft. Wingspan, 125/125-150 30 ft. Kinner Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 12.9 17 Engine Used 62 ofSeats No. 750 ft. sq. Wing Area, 375 ft. Wingspan, 80/60-80 8 ft. VW1834-cc Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range Engine Used KITPLANES ot$100 330/856-7520 W Dr.4387 Sunnybrook F T, tailwheel 75 Cost Completed&Flown No. 2000 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $110 Landing Gear 330/856-7520 W Dr.4387 Sunnybrook F T, tailwheel 83 Cost Completed&Flown No. 1200 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $75 Landing Gear www.gregagn-1.com F T, W, tailwheel 500 Cost Completed&Flown No. 3000 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. Landing Gear ot$120 604/823-6428 V2R 5J5Canada BC, Chilliwack, 4366 EckertSt. F W, tailwheel 200 Cost Completed&Flown No. 2500 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $150 Landing Gear 719/634-6505 www.redfernplans.com F T, W, tailwheel n.p. Cost Completed&Flown No. 2500 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $100 Landing Gear 719/634-6505 www.redfernplans.com F T, W, tailwheel n.p. Cost Completed&Flown No. 2500 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $160 Landing Gear 719/634-6505 www.redfernplans.com F T, W, tailwheel n.p. Cost Completed&Flown No. 3000 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $60 Landing Gear 714/898-3811 CA 92647 Huntington Beach, 7071 Warner Ave #F(PMB724) W C, tailwheel/R 750 Cost Completed&Flown No. 1000 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. Landing Gear re,OH44484 arren, OH44484 arren, JANUARY 2005 45 Plans Aircraft Directory RICHARD STEEVES Engine Used Franklin Landing Gear trigear/R Coot Amphibian HP/HP Range 180/180-220 Bldg. Materials C, M, W, F Top Speed, mph 120 Fuel Capacity, gal. 40 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 3000 Cruise, mph 100 Empty Weight, lb. 1450 No. Completed & Flown 65 Stall, mph 50 Gross Weight, lb. 1950 Cost $250 Range, n.m. 400 Length, ft. 22 Rate of Climb, fpm 800 Wingspan, ft. 36 Takeoff Distance, ft. 1200 Wing Area, sq. ft. 180 www.coot-builders.com Landing Distance, ft. 1000 No. of Seats 2 608/833-5586

RON SANDS INC. Engine Used n.a. Landing Gear fuselage skid Primary Glider, 1929 HP/HP Range n.a. Bldg. Materials W, T, F Top Speed, mph 45 Fuel Capacity, gal. n.a. Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 275

Plans Aircraft Directory Plans Aircraft Cruise, mph 38 Empty Weight, lb. 175 No. Completed & Flown 125 Stall, mph 30 Gross Weight, lb. 375 Cost $40 Range, n.m. n.a. Length, ft. 17.7 Rate of Climb, fpm n.a. Wingspan, ft. 32 Takeoff Distance, ft. n.p. Wing Area, sq. ft. 160 http://home.talon.net/~bigpine Landing Distance, ft. n.p. No. of Seats 1 610/682-6788

RON SANDS INC. Engine Used Warner Landing Gear tail or skid Fokker DR-1 Triplane HP/HP Range 165/110-200 Bldg. Materials M, W, T, F Top Speed, mph 120 Fuel Capacity, gal. 22.5 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 2500 Cruise, mph 110 Empty Weight, lb. 1150 No. Completed & Flown 35 Stall, mph 42 Gross Weight, lb. 1600 Cost $475 Range, n.m. 250 Length, ft. 19 Rate of Climb, fpm 1800 Wingspan, ft. 23.6 Takeoff Distance, ft. 275 Wing Area, sq. ft. 201.8 http://home.talon.net/~bigpine Landing Distance, ft. 250 No. of Seats 1 610/682-6788

S. LITTNER Engine Used Limbach VW Landing Gear tailwheel/R Whiskey IV HP/HP Range 80/75-100 Bldg. Materials W, F Top Speed, mph 175 Fuel Capacity, gal. 13 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1500 Cruise, mph 130 Empty Weight, lb. 622 No. Completed & Flown 22 Stall, mph 37 Gross Weight, lb. 1060 Cost $400 Range, n.m. 535 Length, ft. 21 Rate of Climb, fpm 785 Wingspan, ft. 26.3 432 Hamel Takeoff Distance, ft. 330 Wing Area, sq. ft. 120.5 Saint-Eustache, QC, J7P 4M3 Canada Landing Distance, ft. 490 No. of Seats 2 450/974-7001

S. LITTNER Engine Used Limbach VW Landing Gear trigear Junior VI HP/HP Range 62/50-65 Bldg. Materials W, F Top Speed, mph 125 Fuel Capacity, gal. 15 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1200 Cruise, mph 100 Empty Weight, lb. 530 No. Completed & Flown 16 Stall, mph 38 Gross Weight, lb. 950 Cost $350 Range, n.m. 375 Length, ft. 20 Rate of Climb, fpm 600 Wingspan, ft. 28.6 432 Hamel Takeoff Distance, ft. 350 Wing Area, sq. ft. 123.7 Saint-Eustache, QC, J7P 4M3 Canada Landing Distance, ft. 400 No. of Seats 2 450/974-7001

S. LITTNER Engine Used Cont. O-200 Landing Gear tailwheel C.P. 80 Zephyr HP/HP Range 100/60-100 Bldg. Materials W, F Top Speed, mph 200 Fuel Capacity, gal. 10 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1500 Cruise, mph 175 Empty Weight, lb. 573 No. Completed & Flown 27 Stall, mph 50 Gross Weight, lb. 840 Cost $225 Range, n.m. 280 Length, ft. 17.3 Rate of Climb, fpm 2350 Wingspan, ft. 19.7 432 Hamel Takeoff Distance, ft. 650 Wing Area, sq. ft. 66.7 Saint-Eustache, QC, J7P 4M3 Canada Landing Distance, ft. 650 No. of Seats 1 450/974-7001

S. LITTNER Engine Used Solo Landing Gear trigear CP 150 Onyx HP/HP Range 15/15-20 Bldg. Materials W, F Top Speed, mph 62 Fuel Capacity, gal. 5 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 500 Cruise, mph 50 Empty Weight, lb. 265 No. Completed & Flown 38 Stall, mph 22 Gross Weight, lb. 595 Cost $90 Range, n.m. 200 Length, ft. 11.6 Rate of Climb, fpm 300 Wingspan, ft. 24 432 Hamel Takeoff Distance, ft. 200 Wing Area, sq. ft. 137.7 Saint-Eustache, QC, J7P 4M3 Canada Landing Distance, ft. 100 No. of Seats 1 450/974-7001

S. LITTNER Engine Used Limbach-Sauer VW Landing Gear trigear/R Champion V HP/HP Range 75/75-100 Bldg. Materials W, F Top Speed, mph 140 Fuel Capacity, gal. 13 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1500 Cruise, mph 110 Empty Weight, lb. 617 No. Completed & Flown 65 Stall, mph 35 Gross Weight, lb. 1058 Cost $400 Range, n.m. 500 Length, ft. 20 Rate of Climb, fpm 940 Wingspan, ft. 27.3 432 Hamel Takeoff Distance, ft. 425 Wing Area, sq. ft. 120 Saint-Eustache, QC, J7P 4M3 Canada Landing Distance, ft. 330 No. of Seats 2 450/974-7001

46 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM ag,nm 680 900 56 1200 160 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T 750Beryl C.P. LITTNER S. 1750 800 55 1000 155 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T 60SuperDiamant C.P. LITTNER S. 680 980 53 1900 167 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T 1320-Saphire C.P. LITTNER S. 350 525 45 1140 140 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T 90Pinocchio C.P. LITTNER S. kofDsac,f.620 ft. akeoff Distance, 185 mph op Speed, 600 ft. akeoff Distance, 160 mph op Speed, 650 ft. akeoff Distance, 200 mph op Speed, 580 ft. akeoff Distance, 150 mph op Speed, o fSas2+2 21.8 30.5 143.1 ofSeats No. 1875 ft. sq. Wing Area, 1120 ft. Wingspan, 150/100-180 42 ft. Lycoming Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 2+2 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 22 26 Engine Used 119 ofSeats No. 2075 ft. sq. Wing Area, 1190 ft. Wingspan, 150/100-160 42 ft. Lycoming Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 19.7 23.6 Engine Used 104 ofSeats No. 1015 ft. sq. Wing Area, 695 ft. Wingspan, 65/65-115 15 ft. Continental Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range Engine Used o fSas2 22.7 26.5 117 ofSeats No. 1850 ft. sq. Wing Area, 1060 ft. Wingspan, 150/115-160 36 ft. Lycoming Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range Engine Used KITPLANES ot$350 450/974-7001 J7P 4M3 Canada QC, Saint-Eustache, 432 Hamel F W, tri/Rortail 46 Cost Completed&Flown No. 3500 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $275 Landing Gear 450/974-7001 J7P4M3Canada QC, Saint-Eustache, 432 Hamel F W, tailwheel/R 27 Cost Completed&Flown No. 3000 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $225 Landing Gear 450/974-7001 J7P4M3Canada QC, Saint-Eustache, 432 Hamel F W, tailwheel 17 Cost Completed&Flown No. 2000 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. Landing Gear ot$275 450/974-7001 J7P 4M3 Canada QC, Saint-Eustache, 432 Hamel F T, W, tailwheel 27 Cost Completed&Flown No. 2500 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. Landing Gear JANUARY 2005 47 Plans Aircraft Directory S. LITTNER Engine Used Lyc. O-200 Landing Gear tailwheel C.P. 328 Super Emeraude HP/HP Range 100/100-160 Bldg. Materials W, F Top Speed, mph 150 Fuel Capacity, gal. 32 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 2500 Cruise, mph 142 Empty Weight, lb. 850 No. Completed & Flown 225 Stall, mph 56 Gross Weight, lb. 1545 Cost $325 Range, n.m. 600 Length, ft. 21 Rate of Climb, fpm 900 Wingspan, ft. 26.5 432 Hamel Takeoff Distance, ft. 450 Wing Area, sq. ft. 117 Saint-Eustache, QC, J7P 4M3 Canada Landing Distance, ft. 750 No. of Seats 2 450/974-7001

SIERS FLIGHT SYSTEMS, INC Engine Used Lyc. O-540-E4B5 Landing Gear trigear/R Barracuda HP/HP Range 180/180-300 Bldg. Materials W Top Speed, mph 220 Fuel Capacity, gal. 44 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1500

Plans Aircraft Directory Plans Aircraft Cruise, mph 200 Empty Weight, lb. 1500 No. Completed & Flown 40 Stall, mph 65 Gross Weight, lb. 2300 Cost $300 Range, n.m. 800 Length, ft. 21.5 Rate of Climb, fpm 2100 Wingspan, ft. 24.5 Takeoff Distance, ft. 800 Wing Area, sq. ft. 120 www.siersflight.com Landing Distance, ft. 1000 No. of Seats 2 425/478-3655

SKY CLASSIC AIRCRAFT Engine Used Lyc. O-235 Landing Gear tailwheel Smith Miniplane 2000 HP/HP Range 100/90-120 Bldg. Materials T, W, F Top Speed, mph 135 Fuel Capacity, gal. 15 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 2000 Cruise, mph 125 Empty Weight, lb. 650 No. Completed & Flown 1 Stall, mph n.p. Gross Weight, lb. 1000 Cost $140 Range, n.m. n.p. Length, ft. 15.5 Rate of Climb, fpm n.p. Wingspan, ft. 17 Takeoff Distance, ft. 400 Wing Area, sq. ft. 100 www.skyclassic.net Landing Distance, ft. 400 No. of Seats 1 515/243-0094

SPENCER AIRCAR Engine Used Cont. IO-520 Landing Gear trigear/R Spencer Air Car HP/HP Range 330 Bldg. Materials C, W, T, F Top Speed, mph 155 Fuel Capacity, gal. 94 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 2000 Cruise, mph 140 Empty Weight, lb. 2000 No. Completed & Flown 45 Stall, mph 53 Gross Weight, lb. 3250 Cost $300 Range, n.m. 700 Length, ft. 26.5 Rate of Climb, fpm 860 Wingspan, ft. 37.4 Takeoff Distance, ft. 700 Wing Area, sq. ft. 184 www.geocities.com/Paris/Concorde/7563 Landing Distance, ft. 500 No. of Seats 4 847/882-5678

ST. CROIX AIRCRAFT Engine Used Cont. C-14 Landing Gear tailwheel Pietenpol Aerial HP/HP Range 125/85-150 Bldg. Materials W, T, F Top Speed, mph 110 Fuel Capacity, gal. 25 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1200 Cruise, mph 85 Empty Weight, lb. 800 No. Completed & Flown n.p. Stall, mph 40 Gross Weight, lb. n.p. Cost $125 Range, n.m. n.p. Length, ft. 19.5 Rate of Climb, fpm 1000 Wingspan, ft. 29.5 Takeoff Distance, ft. 250 Wing Area, sq. ft. 240 http://members.LL.net/stcroix Landing Distance, ft. 450 No. of Seats 2 641/322-4041

ST. CROIX AIRCRAFT Engine Used Lyc. O-435 Landing Gear tailwheel/skid Sopwith Triplane (1916) HP/HP Range 190/150-235 Bldg. Materials W, T, F Top Speed, mph 120 Fuel Capacity, gal. 35 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 3500 Cruise, mph 100 Empty Weight, lb. 1500 No. Completed & Flown n.p. Stall, mph 40 Gross Weight, lb. n.p. Cost $95 Range, n.m. n.p. Length, ft. 19.5 Rate of Climb, fpm 1000 Wingspan, ft. 26.5 Takeoff Distance, ft. 200 Wing Area, sq. ft. 250 http://members.LL.net/stcroix Landing Distance, ft. 600 No. of Seats 1 641/322-4041

STEEN AERO LAB, INC. Engine Used Lyc. IO-540 Landing Gear tailwheel Firebolt HP/HP Range 180-340 Bldg. Materials W, T, F Top Speed, mph 214 Fuel Capacity, gal. 39 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 3000 Cruise, mph 170 Empty Weight, lb. 1354 No. Completed & Flown 9 Stall, mph 61 Gross Weight, lb. 2000 Cost $275 Range, n.m. 550 Length, ft. 21 Rate of Climb, fpm 3500 Wingspan, ft. 24 Takeoff Distance, ft. 400 Wing Area, sq. ft. 150 www.steenareo.com Landing Distance, ft. 850 No. of Seats 2 321/725-4160

STEEN AERO LAB, INC. Engine Used Lyc. O-360 Landing Gear tailwheel Great Lakes Sport Trainer HP/HP Range 180/125-200 Bldg. Materials W, T Top Speed, mph 138 Fuel Capacity, gal. 26 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1600 Cruise, mph 125 Empty Weight, lb. 1025 No. Completed & Flown 250+ Stall, mph 40 Gross Weight, lb. 1618 Cost $350 Range, n.m. 340 Length, ft. 20.3 Rate of Climb, fpm 1200 Wingspan, ft. 26.7 Takeoff Distance, ft. 300 Wing Area, sq. ft. 187.5 www.steenareo.com Landing Distance, ft. 400 No. of Seats 2 321/725-4160

48 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM ag,nm 1000 65 160 n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Dart SUNSHINE AEROCOMPOSITES 360 450 48 1200 115 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T FooFighter STEWART AIRCRAFTCO. 170 400 40 650 85 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Headwind B STEWART AIRCRAFTCO. 250 600 64 800 154 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Pitts S1-C INC. STEEN AEROLAB, 610 800 56 1500 165 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Knight Twister INC. STEEN AEROLAB, 450 800 68 3500 170 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Skybolt INC. STEEN AEROLAB, ag,nm 380 900 52 1600 160 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T T T. 290 750 40 950 100 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T T T. n.p. 1200 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, pSed p 200 mph op Speed, 450 ft. akeoff Distance, 122 mph op Speed, 300 ft. akeoff Distance, 90 mph op Speed, 300 ft. akeoff Distance, 200 mph op Speed, 400 ft. akeoff Distance, 180 mph op Speed, 300 ft. akeoff Distance, 210 mph op Speed, kofDsac,f.350 ft. akeoff Distance, 200 mph op Speed, 350 ft. akeoff Distance, 115 mph op Speed, n.p. ft. akeoff Distance, aylor Titch aylor Monoplane TA TA YLOR YLOR o fSas1 15.5 17.3 98 ofSeats No. 1150 ft. sq. Wing Area, 720 ft. Wingspan, 180/125-200 IO-360-B4A 20 ft. Lyc. Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1-2 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 13.5 18.5 Engine Used 55 ofSeats No. 865 ft. sq. Wing Area, 517 ft. Wingspan, 108/85-180 20 ft. Lycoming Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 2 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 21 24 Engine Used 152.7 ofSeats No. 1970 ft. sq. Wing Area, 1250 ft. Wingspan, 280/160-360 35 ft. Lyc. Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range Engine Used o fSas1 16.7 18.9 68 ofSeats No. 760 ft. sq. Wing Area, 505 ft. Wingspan, 85/60-100 10 ft. Continental Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 15 21 Engine Used 76 ofSeats No. 700 ft. sq. Wing Area, 450 ft. Wingspan, 40-60 7.5 ft. VW1500-cc Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 2 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 15.3 23 Engine Used 75 ofSeats No. 1350 ft. sq. Wing Area, 625 ft. Wingspan, 80/80-150 40 ft. VW2100-cc Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 18.9 20.8 Engine Used 129 ofSeats No. 1100 ft. sq. Wing Area, 720 ft. Wingspan, 135/135 19 ft. FranklinSportF Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 17 28.3 Engine Used 110 ofSeats No. 750 ft. sq. Wing Area, 435 ft. Wingspan, 53/53 7 ft. VW Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range Engine Used KITPLANES IO-540-D4A5 ot$250 321/725-4160 www.steenareo.com T F, W, M, tailwheel 500 Cost Completed&Flown No. n.p. hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $200 Landing Gear 321/725-4160 www.steenareo.com T F, W, M, tailwheel 100 Cost Completed&Flown No. n.p. hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $165 Landing Gear 321/725-4160 www.steenareo.com F T, W, tailwheel 500 Cost Completed&Flown No. 3000 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. Landing Gear ot£95 0702 521484 www.taylortitch.co.uk F W, tailwheel 46 Cost Completed&Flown No. 2000 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. £85 Landing Gear 0702 521484 www.taylortitch.co.uk F W, tailwheel 145 Cost Completed&Flown No. 2200 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $450 Landing Gear 954/581-4477 www.saci.us C trigear 1 Cost Completed&Flown No. 1500 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $75 Landing Gear 906/438-2277 www.stewartaircraft.com T F, W, tailwheel 3 Cost Completed&Flown No. n.p. hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $50 Landing Gear 906/438-2277 www.stewartaircraft.com T F, W, tailwheel 100+ Cost Completed&Flown No. 1200 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. Landing Gear JANUARY 2005 49 Plans Aircraft Directory TIZIANO DANIELI Engine Used Rotax 447 Landing Gear trigear Tourer Piuma HP/HP Range 40/30-40 Bldg. Materials W, F Top Speed, mph 100 Fuel Capacity, gal. 5 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1000 Cruise, mph 84 Empty Weight, lb. 350 No. Completed & Flown 1 Stall, mph 39 Gross Weight, lb. 550 Cost $360 Range, n.m. 300 Length, ft. 19.7 Rate of Climb, fpm 800 Wingspan, ft. 34.1 Takeoff Distance, ft. 400 Wing Area, sq. ft. 99 www.schio.it/piuma Landing Distance, ft. 400 No. of Seats 1 39-445-527929

TIZIANO DANIELI Engine Used KFM 107ER Landing Gear trigear Piuma Evolution HP/HP Range 25/25-30 Bldg. Materials W, F Top Speed, mph 84 Fuel Capacity, gal. 5 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1000

Plans Aircraft Directory Plans Aircraft Cruise, mph 62 Empty Weight, lb. 330 No. Completed & Flown 4 Stall, mph 35 Gross Weight, lb. 530 Cost $340 Range, n.m. 300 Length, ft. 19.7 Rate of Climb, fpm 600 Wingspan, ft. 39 Takeoff Distance, ft. 300 Wing Area, sq. ft. 114 www.schio.it/piuma Landing Distance, ft. 300 No. of Seats 1 39-445-527929

TIZIANO DANIELI Engine Used KFM 107ER Landing Gear trigear Piuma Motorglider HP/HP Range 25/25-30 Bldg. Materials W, F Top Speed, mph 75 Fuel Capacity, gal. 4.5 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1000 Cruise, mph 50 Empty Weight, lb. 320 No. Completed & Flown 8 Stall, mph 30 Gross Weight, lb. 530 Cost $240 Range, n.m. 250 Length, ft. 19.4 Rate of Climb, fpm 500 Wingspan, ft. 38.1 Takeoff Distance, ft. 300 Wing Area, sq. ft. 125 www.schio.it/piuma Landing Distance, ft. 300 No. of Seats 1 39-445-527929

TURNER AIRCRAFT, INC. Engine Used Lycoming Landing Gear tri or tail T-40A HP/HP Range 125/100-125 Bldg. Materials W Top Speed, mph 160 Fuel Capacity, gal. 22 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 2000 Cruise, mph 147 Empty Weight, lb. 1050 No. Completed & Flown n.p. Stall, mph 56 Gross Weight, lb. 1600 Cost $200 Range, n.m. 475 Length, ft. 20 Rate of Climb, fpm 850 Wingspan, ft. 25.4 Takeoff Distance, ft. 1250 Wing Area, sq. ft. 96 www.turnert40airplanes.com Landing Distance, ft. 1200 No. of Seats 2 760/373-8628

TURNER AIRCRAFT, INC. Engine Used Lycoming Landing Gear tri or tail Super T-40A HP/HP Range 150/100-150 Bldg. Materials W Top Speed, mph 175 Fuel Capacity, gal. 30 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 2000 Cruise, mph 155 Empty Weight, lb. 1050 No. Completed & Flown n.p. Stall, mph 62 Gross Weight, lb. 1640 Cost $200 Range, n.m. 525 Length, ft. 20.8 Rate of Climb, fpm 1200 Wingspan, ft. 26.6 Takeoff Distance, ft. 1100 Wing Area, sq. ft. 106 www.turnert40airplanes.com Landing Distance, ft. 900 No. of Seats 2 760/373-8628

TURNER AIRCRAFT, INC. Engine Used Continental Landing Gear tri or tail T-40 HP/HP Range 85/65-125 Bldg. Materials W Top Speed, mph 170 Fuel Capacity, gal. 19 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 2000 Cruise, mph 145 Empty Weight, lb. 750 No. Completed & Flown n.p. Stall, mph 55 Gross Weight, lb. 1060 Cost $150 Range, n.m. 525 Length, ft. 19.8 Rate of Climb, fpm 1100 Wingspan, ft. 22.2 Takeoff Distance, ft. 600 Wing Area, sq. ft. 78 www.turnert40airplanes.com Landing Distance, ft. 400 No. of Seats 1 760/373-8628

ULTIMATE BIPLANE CORP. Engine Used Lycoming 540 Landing Gear tailwheel 10-300 HP/HP Range 300/300-380 Bldg. Materials M, W, T, F Top Speed, mph 250 Fuel Capacity, gal. 22 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 600 Cruise, mph 190 Empty Weight, lb. 1150 No. Completed & Flown 1 Stall, mph 60 Gross Weight, lb. 2000 Cost $300 Range, n.m. 500 Length, ft. n.p. Rate of Climb, fpm 3000 Wingspan, ft. 19.5 Takeoff Distance, ft. 450 Wing Area, sq. ft. 120 www.ultimatebiplane.com Landing Distance, ft. 500 No. of Seats 1 519/749-0668

VIKING AIRCRAFT Engine Used VW 1835-cc Landing Gear tailwheel Cygnet HP/HP Range 60-82 Bldg. Materials M, W, F Top Speed, mph 108 Fuel Capacity, gal. 15 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1700 Cruise, mph 100 Empty Weight, lb. 585 No. Completed & Flown 100 Stall, mph 48 Gross Weight, lb. 1100 Cost $150 Range, n.m. 390 Length, ft. 19 Rate of Climb, fpm 580 Wingspan, ft. 30 P. O. Box 646 Takeoff Distance, ft. 700 Wing Area, sq. ft. 125 Elkhorn, WI 53121 Landing Distance, ft. 700 No. of Seats 2 262/723-1048

50 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM ag,nm n.p. 18 30 n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T W VINTAGE ULTRA ANDLIGHTPLANEASSOC. n.p. 75 22 450 45 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Gypsy VINTAGE ULTRA ANDLIGHTPLANEASSOC. n.p. 100 24 200 35 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Whing Ding VINTAGE ULTRA ANDLIGHTPLANEASSOC. n.p. 100 26 800 50 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Skypup VINTAGE ULTRA ANDLIGHTPLANEASSOC. n.p. 75 25 650 45 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T J3-Jr VINTAGE ULTRA ANDLIGHTPLANEASSOC. n.p. 125 35 900 55 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T MW-7 VINTAGE ULTRA ANDLIGHTPLANEASSOC. ag,nm n.p. n.p. 65 n.p. 200 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Snoshoo SR-1 VSR n.p. 150 45 750 80 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, n.m. Range, mph Stall, mph Cruise, T Betabird VINTAGE ULTRA ANDLIGHTPLANEASSOC. 50 250 ft. Landing Distance, T fpm Rate ofClimb, pSed p 40 mph op Speed, 150 ft. akeoff Distance, 55 mph op Speed, 250 ft. akeoff Distance, 45 mph op Speed, 200 ft. akeoff Distance, 69 mph op Speed, 150 ft. akeoff Distance, 55 mph op Speed, 150 ft. akeoff Distance, 85 mph op Speed, kofDsac,f.n.p. ft. akeoff Distance, 260 mph op Speed, 250 ft. akeoff Distance, 80 mph op Speed, 75 ft. akeoff Distance, oodhopper o fSas1 16 31 130 ofSeats No. 400 ft. sq. Wing Area, 210 ft. Wingspan, 18/15-25 3 ft. JPX Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 16.5 32 Engine Used 120 ofSeats No. 550 ft. sq. Wing Area, 254 ft. Wingspan, 30/30-55 5 ft. 2si Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 15 22 Engine Used 88 ofSeats No. 600 ft. sq. Wing Area, 320 ft. Wingspan, 52/52-65 5 ft. Rotax503 Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range Engine Used o fSas1 18.33 20 66 ofSeats No. 760 ft. sq. Wing Area, 530 ft. Wingspan, 100/85-130 O-200 6 ft. Cont. Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 16.5 26 Engine Used 110 ofSeats No. 650 ft. sq. Wing Area, 405 ft. Wingspan, 50/50-85 7.5 ft. VW1800-cc Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 17.5 32 Engine Used 157 ofSeats No. 345 ft. sq. Wing Area, 145 ft. Wingspan, 22/12-22 3 ft. Zenoah Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 16 32 Engine Used 144 ofSeats No. 475 ft. sq. Wing Area, 225 ft. Wingspan, 22/15-32 5 ft. Zenoah Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, 1 gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range 13 17 Engine Used 98 ofSeats No. 310 ft. sq. Wing Area, 123 ft. Wingspan, 12/12-22 3 ft. Mculloh Length, lb. Gross Weight, lb. Empty Weight, gal. Fuel Capacity, HP/HP Range Engine Used KITPLANES ot$75 678/290-0507 GA30064 Marietta, 74 BrookwoodDr. F W, tailwheel 200 Cost Completed&Flown No. 400 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $25 Landing Gear 678/290-0507 GA30064 Marietta, 74 BrookwoodDr. T F, tailwheel 25 Cost Completed&Flown No. 500 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $75 Landing Gear 678/290-0507 GA30064 Marietta, 74 BrookwoodDr. T F, tailwheel 20 Cost Completed&Flown No. 600 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. Landing Gear ot$150 316/684-2032 KS67207 Wichita, T 1834 WhiteOakCircle F, W, M, C, tailwheel 1 Cost Completed&Flown No. 2000 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $65 Landing Gear 678/290-0507 GA30064 Marietta, 74 BrookwoodDr. T F, W, tailwheel 25 Cost Completed&Flown No. 500 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $40 Landing Gear 678/290-0507 GA30064 Marietta, 74 BrookwoodDr. F W, tailwheel 35 Cost Completed&Flown No. 200 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $40 Landing Gear 678/290-0507 GA30064 Marietta, 74 BrookwoodDr. F T, tailwheel 50 Cost Completed&Flown No. 300 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. $40 Landing Gear 678/290-0507 GA30064 Marietta, 74 BrookwoodDr. T F, W, tailwheel 100 Cost Completed&Flown No. 400 hrs. Beginner’s BuildTime, Materials Bldg. Landing Gear JANUARY 2005 51 Plans Aircraft Directory WAR AIRCRAFT REPLICAS INT’L, INC. Engine Used Cont. O-200 Landing Gear tailwheel/R P-47 Thunderbolt HP/HP Range 100/90-125 Bldg. Materials C, W, M Top Speed, mph 210 Fuel Capacity, gal. 14 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1500 Cruise, mph 135 Empty Weight, lb. 600 No. Completed & Flown 100 Stall, mph 55 Gross Weight, lb. 900 Cost $245 Range, n.m. 400 Length, ft. 14 Rate of Climb, fpm 700 Wingspan, ft. 20 P. O. Box 79007 Takeoff Distance, ft. 900 Wing Area, sq. ft. 121 Tampa, FL 33619 Landing Distance, ft. 1500 No. of Seats 1 813/620-0631

WAR AIRCRAFT REPLICAS INT’L, INC. Engine Used Cont. O-200 Landing Gear tailwheel/R F-4U Corsair HP/HP Range 100/90-125 Bldg. Materials C, W, M Top Speed, mph 210 Fuel Capacity, gal. 14 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1500

Plans Aircraft Directory Plans Aircraft Cruise, mph 135 Empty Weight, lb. 600 No. Completed & Flown 100 Stall, mph 55 Gross Weight, lb. 900 Cost $275 Range, n.m. 400 Length, ft. 14 Rate of Climb, fpm 700 Wingspan, ft. 20 P. O. Box 79007 Takeoff Distance, ft. 900 Wing Area, sq. ft. 121 Tampa, FL 33619 Landing Distance, ft. 1500 No. of Seats 1 813/620-0631

WAR AIRCRAFT REPLICAS INT’L, INC. Engine Used Cont. O-200 Landing Gear tailwheel/R Focke Wolf 190 HP/HP Range 100/90-125 Bldg. Materials C, W, M Top Speed, mph 210 Fuel Capacity, gal. 14 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1500 Cruise, mph 135 Empty Weight, lb. 600 No. Completed & Flown 100 Stall, mph 55 Gross Weight, lb. 900 Cost $245 Range, n.m. 400 Length, ft. 14 Rate of Climb, fpm 700 Wingspan, ft. 20 P. O. Box 79007 Takeoff Distance, ft. 900 Wing Area, sq. ft. 121 Tampa, FL 33619 Landing Distance, ft. 1500 No. of Seats 1 813/620-0631

WARNER AEROCRAFT, INC. Engine Used Continental Landing Gear tailwheel Revolution I/Spacewalker I HP/HP Range 65 Bldg. Materials W, T, F Top Speed, mph 140 Fuel Capacity, gal. 10 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1400 Cruise, mph 120 Empty Weight, lb. 540 No. Completed & Flown 9 Stall, mph 38 Gross Weight, lb. 850 Cost $295 Range, n.m. 300 Length, ft. 18 Rate of Climb, fpm 750 Wingspan, ft. 26 Takeoff Distance, ft. 300 Wing Area, sq. ft. 117 www.warnerair.com Landing Distance, ft. 600 No. of Seats 1 727/595-2382

WARNER AEROCRAFT, INC. Engine Used Lyc. O-290 Landing Gear tailwheel Revolution II/Spacewalker II HP/HP Range 65/65-135 Bldg. Materials T, F Top Speed, mph 125 Fuel Capacity, gal. 15 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1400 Cruise, mph 120 Empty Weight, lb. 800 No. Completed & Flown 130 Stall, mph 42 Gross Weight, lb. 1400 Cost $295 Range, n.m. 300 Length, ft. 19.9 Rate of Climb, fpm 1200 Wingspan, ft. 28 Takeoff Distance, ft. 400 Wing Area, sq. ft. 126 www.warnerair.com Landing Distance, ft. 400 No. of Seats 2 727/595-2382

WORLD WAR I AEROPLANES Engine Used Mercedes Landing Gear tailwheel/skid Fokker D.VII HP/HP Range 160/160-200 Bldg. Materials C, M, W Top Speed, mph 117 Fuel Capacity, gal. n.p. Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. n.p. Cruise, mph n.p. Empty Weight, lb. 1540 No. Completed & Flown 2+ Stall, mph n.p. Gross Weight, lb. 1870 Cost $125 Range, n.m. 150 Length, ft. 22.11 Rate of Climb, fpm 900 Wingspan, ft. 29.35 15 Crescent Rd. Takeoff Distance, ft. n.p. Wing Area, sq. ft. 221.4 Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 Landing Distance, ft. n.p. No. of Seats 1 845/473-3679

YORK ENTERPRISES Engine Used Lyc. AEIO-360 Landing Gear tailwheel Ultimate Series HP/HP Range 200/100-200 Bldg. Materials M, W, T, F Top Speed, mph 220 Fuel Capacity, gal. 22 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 1800 Cruise, mph 170 Empty Weight, lb. 970 No. Completed & Flown 20 Stall, mph 60 Gross Weight, lb. 1380 Cost $300 Range, n.m. 500 Length, ft. 17.3 Rate of Climb, fpm 2000 Wingspan, ft. 16 Box 732 Takeoff Distance, ft. 450 Wing Area, sq. ft. 96 Southampton, ON, N0H 2L0 Canada Landing Distance, ft. 500 No. of Seats 1 519/797-2930

YORK ENTERPRISES Engine Used Lycoming Landing Gear tailwheel Laser Z-200 HP/HP Range 180/150-200 Bldg. Materials M, W, T, F Top Speed, mph 180 Fuel Capacity, gal. 20 Beginner’s Build Time, hrs. 3500 Cruise, mph 165 Empty Weight, lb. 950 No. Completed & Flown 20 Stall, mph 64 Gross Weight, lb. 1400 Cost $275 Range, n.m. 355 Length, ft. 19.2 Rate of Climb, fpm 2500 Wingspan, ft. 24.4 Box 732 Takeoff Distance, ft. 1000 Wing Area, sq. ft. 98 Southampton, ON, N0H 2L0 Canada Landing Distance, ft. 1500 No. of Seats 1 519/797-2930

52 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM Aircraft2005 Company Cross Reference

10-300 Ultimate Biplane Corp. Meyer's Little Toot Meyer Aircraft 7/8 Nieuport 11/17 Circa Reproductions Inc. Mini Coupe DCS, Inc. Acroduster Too SA-750 Aircraft Spruce & Specialty MJ-10 Spitfire (75%) Jurca Plans, c/o Ken Heit Acrolite Aircraft Spruce & Specialty MJ-100 Spitfire (100%) Jurca Plans, c/o Ken Heit Acro-Sport I, II Acro Sport, Inc. MJ-12 P-40 (75%) Jurca Plans, c/o Ken Heit Baby Great Lakes Aircraft Spruce & Specialty MJ-2 Tempete Jurca Plans, c/o Ken Heit Barracuda Siers Flight Systems, Inc MJ-5 Sirocco Jurca Plans, c/o Ken Heit Beach Boy ST-II Main Planes MJ-77 Mustang (75%) Jurca Plans, c/o Ken Heit Bearhawk, Bearhawk Patrol R & B Aircraft MJ-8 FW-190 (75%) Jurca Plans, c/o Ken Heit Betabird Vintage Ultra and Lightplane Assn. Mong Sport Raceair Designs Breezy R.L.U.-1 Carl H. Unger MW-7 Vintage Ultra and Lightplane Assn. Buddy Baby Lakes Aircraft Spruce & Specialty Nesmith Cougar I Acro Sport, Inc. C.P. 1320-Saphire S. Littner Nieuport 12 EXP (87%) Circa Reproductions Inc. C.P. 328 Super Emeraude S. Littner One Design DR 107 Aircraft Spruce & Specialty C.P. 60 Super Diamant S. Littner Osprey 2 Osprey Aircraft C.P. 750 Beryl S. Littner P-47 Thunderbolt WAR Aircraft Replicas Int'l Inc. C.P. 80 Zephyr S. Littner Pazmany PL-2, PL-4A, PL-9 Stork Pazmany Aircraft Corp. C.P. 90 Pinocchio S. Littner Pietenpol Don Pietenpol CA-2 Hummel Aviation Pietenpol Aerial St. Croix Aircraft Cadet Model STF Aero-Systems Pitts S-1-11B Aviat Aircraft, Inc. Celerity Mirage Aircraft, Inc. Pitts S1-C Steen Aero Lab, Inc. Champion V S. Littner Pitts S-1S Aviat Aircraft, Inc. Cherry BX-2 BX-Aviation Piuma Evolution Tiziano Danieli

Christavia MK 1 Elmwood Aviation Piuma Motorglider Tiziano Danieli Aircraft Company Cross Reference Coot Amphibian Richard Steeves Pober Pixie Acro Sport, Inc. Corby Starlet CJ-1 CSN Pober Junior Ace, Super Ace Acro Sport, Inc. Cozy/Cozy Mark IV Aircraft Spruce & Specialty Primary Glider, 1929 Ron Sands Inc. C.P. 150 Onyx S. Littner Redfern DH-2 Redfern Plans Cubmajor Falconar Avia, Inc. Redfern Fokker DR1 Redfern Plans Cygnet Viking Aircraft Redfern Nieuport 17 or 24 Redfern Plans Dart Sunshine Aero Composites Revolution I/Spacewalker I Warner Aerocraft, Inc. Dyke Delta JD II Dyke Aircraft Revolution II/Spacewalker II Warner Aerocraft, Inc. Easy Eagle I Bi-Plane Great Plains Aircraft Supply Co., Inc. Ryan ST-R (replica) Ev Cassagneres F11E Falconar Avia, Inc. SE5A Replica Replica Plans F-4U Corsair WAR Aircraft Replicas Int'l Inc. SESA World War I Aeroplanes Falconar F10A Falconar Avia, Inc. Sky Scout Don Pietenpol Fauvel AV361/361 Falconar Avia, Inc. Skybolt Steen Aero Lab, Inc. Firebolt Steen Aero Lab, Inc. Skylite Raceair Designs Flitzer Z-21 Flitzer-Aero Skypup Vintage Ultra and Lightplane Assn. Flying Flea HM-14 Flying Flea Archive USA Smith Miniplane 2000 Sky Classic Aircraft Flying Flea HM-160/1/2 Flying Flea Archive USA Snoshoo SR-1 VSR Flying Flea HM-290/1FB Flying Flea Archive USA Sonerai I Great Plains Aircraft Supply Co., Inc. Focke Wolf 190 WAR Aircraft Replicas Int'l Inc. Sonerai II Original, LT, L Great Plains Aircraft Supply Co., Inc. Fokker D.VII World War I Aeroplanes Sonerai II Stretch Great Plains Aircraft Supply Co., Inc. Fokker DR-1 Triplane Ron Sands Inc. Sopwith Triplane (1916) St. Croix Aircraft FooFighter Stewart Aircraft Co. Spencer Air Car Spencer Aircar Fred Eric Clutton Sport Racer D. L. Blanton GN-1 Aircamper R. J. Grega Enterprises LLC Starduster One SA-100 Aircraft Spruce & Specialty GP-4 Osprey Aircraft Starduster Too SA-300 Aircraft Spruce & Specialty Great Lakes Sport Trainer Steen Aero Lab, Inc. Starlet SA-500 Aircraft Spruce & Specialty Gypsy Vintage Ultra and Lightplane Assn. Super Baby Lakes Aircraft Spruce & Specialty H-2 Honey-Bee Classic Aero Enterprises Super Starduster SA-101 Aircraft Spruce & Specialty H-3 Pegasus Classic Aero Enterprises Super T-40A Turner Aircraft, Inc. Hatz CB-1 American Hatz Supercat C-N-C Aviation Headwind B Stewart Aircraft Co. T-40, T-40A Turner Aircraft, Inc. HM 290/293 Falconar Avia, Inc. Taylor Monoplane T. Taylor Hummel Bird Hummel Aviation Taylor Titch T. Taylor Ibis RJ.03 Junqua-Diffusion Internationale Teenie Two DCS, Inc. J3-Jr Vintage Ultra and Lightplane Assn. Thorp T-18 Eklund Engineering, Inc. Jenny (67%) Early Bird Aircraft Co. Tourer Piuma Tiziano Danieli JN-1 Nancy Peris Ultimate Series York Enterprises Junior VI S. Littner Ultracruiser, Ultracruiser Plus Hummel Aviation Keleher JK-1 Lark R&D Aircraft V6 STOL D. L. Blanton Kelly-D American Hatz Vision American Affordable Aircraft Knight Twister Steen Aero Lab, Inc. Volksplane 1 (VP-1) Evans Aircraft KR-1 Rand-Robinson Engineering, Inc. V-Star SA-900 Aircraft Spruce & Specialty L 5, L 6, L7, L 8, L 11 Emile Lucas V-Witt Aircraft Spruce & Specialty Laser Z-200 York Enterprises Whing Ding Vintage Ultra and Lightplane Assn. LM-1A-W (85% J-3) Light Miniature Aircraft Whiskey IV S. Littner LM-2X-2P-W (75% Taylorcraft) Light Miniature Aircraft Wichawk D. L. Blanton LM-3X-W Aeronca Champ Replica Light Miniature Aircraft Wittman W10 Tailwind Aircraft Spruce & Specialty M-19 Justin Drake Woodhopper Vintage Ultra and Lightplane Assn. Marathon Mirage Aircraft, Inc. Zippy Sport Green Sky Adventures, Inc.

KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 53 Light Stuff

This pioneer in the ultralight industry is still going strong.

esche, Stick and Rudder, Moody taught himself to fly. In the early 1970s that was common, although today—in the shadow of the Sport Pilot/Light-Sport Aircraft rule—it seems foolhardy. Clearly, Moody’s early investigations were pioneering. He was one of the first to enter the ultralight business (CGS Aviation founder Chuck Slusarczyk was also involved early on). But Moody was so early in the game that no one even called it the “ultra- light industry.” His Ultralight Flying Machines of Wisconsin developed power components and other gear to make the Icarus II or Easy Riser tailless biwing into a powered hang glider. Near the beginning of ultralight aviation, Moody sold the Stewart Maxi- John K. Moody, a.k.a. the “Father of mizer reduction drive, an elevator system Ultralights,” directs a Discovery Channel While this Part 103 legal ultralight’s cockpit mounted on a tail assembly (for those crew as they attach small cameras to the may appear spartan, it in fact bristles with the who were unsure of a powered tailless air- Easy Riser’s leading edge. controls and levers Moody uses while flying. craft), specially developed crosswind landing gear that allowed all three wheels ohn K. Moody is widely of a day of hang-gliding competition, to swivel, permitting the two-control acclaimed as the “Father of Ultra- Moody ran his heart out and coaxed his aircraft to operate in moderate cross- Jlights,” and he makes effective Icarus II biwing hang glider off the wind conditions. use of that unique title to publicize his beach with a 10-hp West Bend engine After Moody helped jump-start the new millennium act featuring his last giving him some push. After gaining a ultralight industry, it began to develop millennium ultralight. couple hundred feet he flew up and rapidly. He eventually left the business, Is Moody really the father of ultra- down the beach until he exhausted his but his contributions have not been for- lights or the first to fly one? Several fuel, and the engine suddenly quieted. gotten. In fact, his name is inscribed in other enthusiasts were experimenting I recall everyone was astonished— history through an award issued in his with power units for various kinds of though the high and mighty of hang name: The John Moody Award—the U.S. hang gliders in the mid-1970s when gliding acted nonchalant when he came Ultralight Association’s highest honor. Moody started. His distinction was that around and landed lightly on his feet. Moody himself was the initial he was the first person to foot-launch In that single flight, Moody flew 10 recipient, in 1991, of this award, which and climb from flat terrain without ben- times as long as I did in the entire week- recognizes outstanding contributions to efit of wind or a slope. long contest. (Of course, our hang glid- ultralight aviation. Thirteen industry I saw Moody fly in the summer er flights in those days were measured leaders have been honored with the of 1975 when he performed before in minutes, and there were not very Moody, all of whom (including this about 250 hang glider pilots in a contest many of them at that.) author) owe a debt of gratitude for on the sand dunes near Frankfort, Moody’s experiments with powered hang perched on the eastern shore of Lake gliders. He was also a Southeast Wiscon- Michigan. He began this risky behavior Pioneering Ultralight sin Aviation Hall of Fame inductee in on March 15, 1975, above a frozen lake Businessman 1998 and in 1999, and he was the first southwest of Milwaukee, at age 32. With the help of the famous inductee to EAA’s Ultralight Hall of Fame. Into almost still winds at the end instructional book by Wolfgang Langewi- Over the years, Moody has been

54 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM BY DAN JOHNSON

featured in numerous periodicals. His story has appeared in Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian and National Geographic as well as in a vari- ety of aviation trade magazines.

Colorful Airshow Performer Shortly after he began flying the Icarus II under power, Moody took his unusual flying machine to EAA’s After losing his nosewheel to the “repo man,” off come Easy Riser’s maingear. Oshkosh event. One of his flights turned out to be a highly memorable event, producing a fascinating scene caught on videotape. People who witnessed it still talk about the unbelievable sight and Moody’s miraculous recovery. During a routine where he per- formed steep wingovers to show the aircraft’s maneuverability, Moody got a bit overzealous and found himself hanging upside down. Following a short inverted phase, his powered, tail- less Easy Riser entered a stunning series of four head-over-heels tumbles. Far too close to earth—a mere 50 feet off the deck—his Easy Riser flew out of the tumbles, and Moody was able to land Moody’s plane appears to be in big trouble. All three of its landing gear have been shot off, and now without incident or injury. a third shot takes off the horizontal tail shown fluttering away! Moody remains active in the Part 103 segment of ultralight aviation, and Somehow, Moody maintains con- mouth control he developed, and the since 2002, he has also been pursuing trol with the aircraft flying erratically smoke is pure airshow technique. the airshow circuit. He performs a one- and brings it in neatly to a two-point Besides his work as a flying per- of-a-kind comedy routine in his Hirth- landing on his legs. The crowd usually former, Moody is a speaker for adult powered, specially configured, vintage loves it even though they know they’ve groups and schools, delivering a speech 1977 Easy Riser. been fooled. The Easy Riser needs no called Beginning of Ultralights. When The announcer, sounding as if he tail, and Moody has many times landed Moody speaks to such groups, he can has been caught off guard, reports that on his feet. The engine sputtering is a explain the details of flight to young- the pilot of the ultralight that just took off is apparently late on his aircraft Easy Riser Specifications payments. Suddenly a crazed repo man TYPE TAILLESS BIWING runs out on the field with a shotgun, YEAR MANUFACTURED 1977 seemingly bent on shooting Moody EMPTY WEIGHT 140 POUNDS and his biwing aircraft out of the sky. GROSS WEIGHT 340 POUNDS His first shot misses Moody but takes PRESENT ENGINE 15-HP HIRTH F-36 ORIGINAL ENGINE 10-HP WEST BEND 820 off the nosewheel. Uh, oh! Another CRUISE SPEED 20-50 MPH shot, and off come the maingear. Yipes, STALL SPEED 18 MPH no gear at all! A third shot takes off FUEL A FEW CUPS the Easy Riser’s horizontal tail, which LANDING GEAR DETACHABLE flutters away. Finally, before airshow MUFFLER PRACTICALLY NONE officials can subdue the wild gunman, OPERATION REALLY LOUD! a fourth shot hits the engine, which TAKEOFF ROLL 15 STEPS, DEPENDING ON WIND begins sputtering and smoking. LANDING ROLL 5-10 STEPS, DEPENDING ON WIND

PHOTOS: DAN JOHNSON KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 55 Light Stuff CONTINUED

As the act comes to a close, Moody lands neatly on his feet sans wheel landing gear or horizontal tail, unbeknowst to spectators that the plane needs neither part to function.

Moody shows off the Easy Riser’s day-glow orange wheels, which are painted this color so his crew can easily find them after they’ve been “blown off.” Kitplanes.com/directory sters, but he also entertains all ages with interesting, often hilarious, and riveting video footage of his early flying Award-winning Superflite System VI exploits—including the Oshkosh inci- Fabric Covering & Paint dent. A man of strong faith, Moody also conducts religious services for per- formers and vendors at airshows, which are commonly held on Sunday when he would normally be at church. For further information on when you might see Moody perform his enter- taining act, visit his website or note list- ings provided by the International Council of Airshows.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, contact John K. Moody at 813/685-2718 or visit www.pioneerflyer.com. TO REVIEW ALL “Light Stuff” (800) 323-0611 columns that have appeared in KIT- email: [email protected] PLANES®, visit www.ByDanJohnson.com, www.superflite.com which links to the KITPLANES® website with articles of interest.

56 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM n Part 1 of this series, we assem- when the flame is out of neutral, then •Open both torch valves two or bled all of the equipment neces- bring it back to neutral. I often take three full turns. I sary to gas-weld 4130N steel tubing, the flame slightly out of neutral by cre- •Open the oxygen bottle several set up a safe workspace and secured ating a feather, and then bring it back turns until fully open. the oxygen/acetylene bottles to a dolly into neutral to make sure I have the •Open the acetylene bottle a quar- to prevent them from launching in the right mix. The small Meco Midget torch ter-turn. You want to be able to close it event of a mishap. Now it’s time to get makes this a fairly easy, one-handed quickly in an emergency, so do not down to business and melt some metal. task. Eight steps will help to achieve a open it all the way. Leave the wrench Gas Welding for the Non-Welder, Part 2 A Zenith 601 builder and beginner welder is ready to melt some metal.

BY SCOTT LAUGHLIN

Lighting the Torch neutral flame. This process may seem attached. Lighting the torch is a multi-step complicated, but it all happens quickly •Slowly turn the acetylene regu- process, which is not what I expected. after you have practiced. Following the lator screw clockwise until you feel On the MIG welder, you just plug it setup diagram in Photo 1 makes the resistance, and continue until the gauge in, point and shoot. With the torch, steps easier to follow. reads 8-10 psig with gas flowing out of you have two sets of valves, two regu- •With both regulators connected the torch. lators with screw-in adjusters and six to both of the bottles, back out the reg- •Light the torch with your hand- adjustments in all. To top it all off, if ulator adjustment screws on each bottle held sparker. Upon ignition, you should the flame is not right you will produce until you feel no resistance. This com- have a nice, orange flame with no sooty a bad weld. I read a lot about the dif- pletely closes off the regulators. trail. If you see soot drifting skyward at ferent types of flames and discovered that for welding 4130N, a neutral flame past about 15 psig and never allow a is recommended. A neutral flame is Welding Safety Tips It pays to be prepared for accidents large amount of acetylene to flow achieved when equal amounts of oxy- when working with fire. When welding at from the bottle. A high flow may draw gen and acetylene are burning to pro- home in the garage, there is a constant the acetone out and make the acety- duce the flame. A carbonizing or carbur- requirement to keep the work area free lene unstable. izing flame occurs when there is too of solvents, gasoline, paper or anything •Never store or use the acetylene bot- much acetylene in the mix. An oxidiz- else that will burn. I installed a fire extin- tle on its side. Acetone from the bottle guisher on my bottle dolly before lighting can damage regulators. ing flame happens when there is too the torch for the first time. There are •Keep a few fire extinguishers handy much oxygen. Both of these condi- other safety recommendations. when welding. tions are undesirable when welding •Thin, soft, pliable leather gloves help •Flashback arrestors should be 4130N, so the goal is to achieve a neu- protect the hands and allow manipu- installed on both gas lines. tral flame. After a little practice, it’s not lation of the torch and filler rod. •Before lighting the torch, check the that difficult. •Clear safety glasses should be kept area for paper, gasoline containers, handy and should be used for grind- solvent, shop towels, wood or any- A Neutral Flame ing, sanding and using the wire wheel thing else that could burn. Move these when preparing metal for welding. In order to achieve a neutral items far away from the welding area. •Make sure the bottles are secured flame, I learned how to recognize the •Always wear welding goggles with a chain or a strap. feather, which is a light-green or blue- (Number 4 or darker) when welding. •Pressure up the system and close the In addition to protecting your eyes green flame between the inner blue tip torch valves. Then leak test all of the from harmful rays, they guard against and the outer trailing flame; it is easy to fittings with soapy water to ensure occasional popping that can send manipulate with the torch valves. The there are no leaks. molten metal flying toward your face. trick is to use the feather to determine •Never adjust the acetylene regulator —Scott Laughlin

PHOTOS: SCOTT LAUGHLIN KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 57 Gas Welding ing to add filler material CONTINUED to the equation, I heated some metal to see what would happen. I found the end of your flame, that my new torch crank down on the regu- will melt thin-wall tubing lator a little. If this does- in short order. This is a n’t work, you may need big thrill the first time to open the acetylene you do it. valve on the torch a little How do you know more. Make sure the when you need more or flame does not jump less heat? Determining this away from the torch tip. is not difficult, but you If it does, reduce the must recognize a few tell- acetylene flow slightly tale signs. Heat control is with the regulator or important with any type torch valve. At this point, of welding, and with gas I don’t touch the acety- welding there is more than lene regulator again until one way to accomplish it. it’s time to turn every- You can reduce the gas thing off. flow, move the torch away •While pointing from the subject, aim the the torch in a safe direc- torch differently or change tion, slowly turn the oxy- the tip size. With a large gen regulator clockwise tip and a high heat set- until the color starts to ting, thin metal will turn change to a blue flame. bright red immediately •This is where you and start to disintegrate. meet the feather for the Ideally, the blue flame tip first time. As you slowly should be close to the add oxygen, a concise, metal without touching it, Photo 1. blue tip that burns near but by backing it away your torch tip will start from the metal, you can to form. As you add oxy- reduce the heat directed gen, you will start to see usually reduce the oxygen first, then at the subject. However, this makes it the feather just ahead of this blue tip. the acetylene to achieve a neutral flame more difficult to weld, so you want to The feather will disappear when the that is not hissing. (Some experimen- adjust the flame or tip size so you can right amount of oxygen is added. tation is needed, so expect a period of hold it close to the subject. A little Make sure that you have 8-10 psig on trial and error. After you get used to practice and research will help you get the oxygen gauge. As the feather dis- welding a particular thickness of metal, a jump-start on using the right tip the appears, you have achieved a neutral you will use the same torch tip and first time you weld. flame, but add too much oxygen, and setting each time.) Watch the feather How do you know if the flame is you will move toward an oxidizing until it just disappears into the blue too hot? The ideal test is to slowly flame. The way to avoid this (it’s hard tip. Remember, this is done with the move the torch in a small, nickel-size to see) is to check that the feather re- torch valves; the regulator adjustments circle just off the metal. If the metal appears when you reduce a little oxy- remain in place. With the torch valves turns a glowing red in 5-10 seconds, gen or add a little acetylene; then on top of the Meco Midget, this is easy the tip size is about right. If it takes adjust the feather into the tip and and fast. more than 10 seconds, you need more hold it there. Photo 2 shows the initial If you are unable to weld with heat. You can add more oxygen and acetylene-only flame, Photo 3 depicts even the highest setting, or if the low- acetylene and readjust to a neutral the blue flame with oxygen intro- est setting is too hot, a different size flame, but if this doesn’t work, a larger duced and Photo 4 shows the neutral torch tip may be needed. I had to prac- tip is required. flame with equal amounts of oxygen tice with a few different sizes before I If you have too much heat, the and acetylene. found the tip I like to use. subject will immediately start to glow At this point, I reduce the heat. red and possibly start to melt. Reduce This flame will be the hottest flame Heat Control the oxygen/acetylene to achieve a neu- we can expect from the installed tip, With a good torch and a neutral tral flame that is not as hot. A smaller tip and it may be hotter than needed. I flame, metal will melt. Before attempt- may be required if reducing the gas flow

58 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM does not work. This sounds like a lot of I use a 1⁄16-inch diameter, mild steel work, but once I found the proper tip, I rod for filler material. I dab the rod Practice, was able to quickly set up and weld. into the molten puddle with a light Practice, Practice Controlling heat with torch-han- touch. Melting the rod with the torch The only thing left to do is collect dling techniques is also important. This is a no-no, so I briefly touch the pud- some scrap tubing and start practicing. issue arises when you attempt to weld a dle with the rod and then remove it. I spend as much time preparing and small, thin part to a thicker or larger I develop a rhythm of dabbing, then fitting test pieces as I do practicing my part. The larger or thicker part will heat moving to the left, then dabbing welding technique. Remember, with all up more slowly, so it is important to again. This takes practice. On my first welding, cleanliness is absolutely nec- concentrate the heat of the flame attempt, I started off fine, then acci- essary if you expect to end up with a toward the larger or thicker part to avoid dentally dabbed the rod a little outside good, strong weld. Sandpaper works to melting the thinner or smaller part first. of the puddle. This was bad because get a surface down to bare metal, but an the rod stuck hard and fast to the tub- oily surface may need to be wiped with Melting Metal ing. Pointing the flame at the stuck lacquer thinner. Once you have the right size tip rod will release it, but this mucks up There are ways to cut, sand, file for your subject and a neutral flame, the flow, and you have to reheat the and miter tubing to achieve a good fit. it’s time to try to make a nice puddle. If puddle area to get things going again. I have made branch welds, butt-welds, you have ever stick-welded, MIG-weld- The first lesson in adding filler miters and also mixed in a little flat ed or TIG-welded, you know what a material is to concentrate on where plate to make some gussets. With these puddle is. If not, it is a good time to find you dab. The process involves a quick types of connections, first achieve a out. After achieving the glowing, red dab into the molten puddle, and good fit, and then clean the metal with area, point the torch to a single spot then out, while pushing the puddle a wire brush and even lacquer thinner if and watch the magic happen. The first to the left with the torch, then dab it is dirty. An oily surface is difficult to time I did this I forgot to keep the torch again, push again, and so on. It’s not weld and will produce a poor weld. tip moving and burned a hole in the quite as difficult as rubbing a circle When joining two pieces of metal, try 1 tubing. I learned to hold the torch in on your belly with one hand and to have a 16⁄ -inch gap between the pieces my right hand at an angle pointing left patting your head with the other, before making the first tack. (a little more than 45°). The puddle but it takes practice. It’s important to note that a weld happens rather quickly, and there’s no missing it—you will see melted metal right before your eyes (well protected behind goggles). What you are looking Photo 2. for is a tranquil pool of molten metal. It may have some impurities floating on top, and this is fine. You don’t want to see a boiling puddle or sparks flying out of it. Reduce the heat if this hap- pens, and check for a neutral flame. Slowly move the torch toward the left (assuming you are right-handed), Photo 3. and the puddle will move to the left. Of course, the metal you just abandoned to the right will quickly solidify, leaving a shallow impression. At this point, your individual technique will take over. This is hard to explain, but I slowly move the torch in a half-circle while moving the torch from right to left. Some people like to move in a complete circle, and Photo 4. others like to just push it along in a straight line with no circular move- ment. The appearance of the weld will be affected by each of these techniques, but it should be just as strong. Dab and Dip After learning to make a nice pud- dle, the next step is to add filler material.

KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 59 Gas Welding CONTINUED

will “pull” the metal in one direction, so if you have a large or long piece to Painless • Safer • Quieter weld, make small tack welds on either side of the item before finish-welding. Painless, Safer Seat Cushions If you simply start welding on one side, the whole assembly will be pulled to for Any RV or Other one side. By alternating from one side Homebuilt Aircraft to the other, you will keep everything square on the finished product. After a little practice I was able • Aircraft Interior Upgrades to produce a nice-looking bead, but I RV-8 • Painless, Quieter Headset Upgrades wasn’t sure it was strong, so I destroyed • Shock-Absorbing Insole Inserts several of my first pieces to test their strength. It’s important to achieve good Free 800-888-6910 • www.OregonAero.com penetration, and you can see this while Catalog welding if you learn what to look for. Money back guarantee. Visa, MasterCard and US Government IMPAC cards accepted. It’s a good idea to purposely burn some holes in the metal, then fill them with filler material as a repair and keep going. This also forces you to practice torch handling to control the heat. If you burn a hole and don’t control your heat, the hole will only get larger. If you learn to dance the flame in the right areas, you can quickly fill the hole and keep moving. In most cases, this will not adversely affect the strength of the joint. Another good idea is to purposely make some bad welds to see what they look like and how they break. I once melted some filler material before form- ing a good puddle and was able to make a nice bead, but the parts easily broke apart. You might even want to try weld- ing with an out-of-neutral flame to see how easy it is to break a brittle weld. $3ODFH&URVV&RXQWU\*\URSODQH 7D[GHGXFWLEOH &URSGXVWLQJ Keep practicing, and you will 3UHGDWRUFRQWURO gain the confidence to build those :LQGPLOOLQVSHFWLRQ parts you would otherwise farm out. 6WRFNFRXQW LQVSHFWLRQ $ULDOSKRWRJUDSK\ PDSSLQJ I bet you will enjoy this as much as I 3RZHUSLSH IHQFHLQVSHFWLRQ do and find yourself looking for other %URFKXUH‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡)UHH things to weld so you can perfect ,QIRSDFN‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡86' your technique. So light up, find that ,QIRSDFN YLGHR176& Y ‡‡‡86' neutral flame, put on your goggles ,QIRSDFN YLGHR3$/ Y ‡‡‡‡86' and gloves, and you’ll be cookin’ with gas in no time.

Scott Laughlin lives in Omaha, Nebraska, and is building a Zenith 601XL from plans. )O\LQWKH 527$5<$,5)25&(0$5.(7,1*,1& 7(/ 5$) A chronicle of his progress is found at %R[WK6WUHHW:HVW )$; 7 www.cooknwithgas.com. For more infor- RGD\ .LQGHUVOH\6.&DQDGD6/6 (PDLOLQIR#UDIFRP mation on the Zenith 601XL, visit )RUPRUHGHWDLOVYLVLWZZZUDIFRP www.zenithair.com.

60 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM Wind Tunnel BY BARNABY WAINFAN

the pilot must push the nose down. To Flying on the move the touchdown point closer, the pilot must raise the nose. This flight dark side of the curve. condition feels backwards and is some- times called the region of reversed con- trol. This is somewhat of a misnomer because the controls still work in the here is an old pilot homily that proper sense. Pulling still raises the nose goes like this—Simple operat- L/D and Power and pushing still lowers the nose, but the T ing instructions for airplane: Required to Fly airplane’s response to the change in To go up, pull back on stick. To go To understand what this flight angle of attack is different than expected down, pull back some more. This little regime is really all about, we first turn bit of humor is intended to apply to our attention to the situation in which Power and Climb stalls and spins. It also applies to a the airplane is gliding with power off. The other name used for this flight somewhat mysterious area where air- Every airframe has an airspeed at condition is backside flight, or sometimes, planes don’t seem to fly right: the back- which it achieves its best L/D ratio. For the backside of the power curve. In reality, side of the power curve. most airplanes this best L/D speed is sig- the power curve looks a little different The backside is the low-speed por- nificantly above stall speed. For example, than the L/D curve. What we really have tion of the flight envelope that extends for the Cessna 150, best L/D occurs about been considering up to now is the back- from the stall speed to the airspeed for 15 knots above the clean stall speed. side of the thrust required, or drag curve. best lift-to-drag ratio (L/D). When the Accordingly, we can divide the airspeed For airplanes with piston engines, airplane is flying this slowly, it does range into two regions. airspeed at which the power required to not behave the way we normally would Frontside: In the first, or frontside fly at a minimum is somewhat slower expect. Things happen backwards. Rais- region, the airplane is flying faster than than the airspeed for best L/D—the ing the nose makes the airplane sink best L/D. In this speed range, raising the power required to fly is the product of faster (or climb less), and dropping the nose will decrease airspeed, decrease drag the drag multiplied by the airspeed. The nose flattens the glide or increases rate and increase L/D. Thus, if the airplane is airplane is on the backside of the power of climb. on approach with the engine throttled curve when the airspeed is below that for If the pilot does not understand back, raising the nose will make the glide minimum power. this, it can become dangerous. Flying shallower and move the touchdown When the airplane is flown under this slowly usually happens near the point farther down the runway. Drop- power on the front side of the power ground, in a situation where the air- ping the nose will steepen the glide and curve at an airspeed faster than that for plane is either trying to climb or is move the touchdown point closer. The minimum power required, things behave gliding in for landing. airspeed will also increase. in a normal and intuitive way. If the air- The pilot will naturally try to This is a very natural-feeling set of plane is flying level at a constant throt- aim the airplane with the stick. During characteristics. To the first order, the tle setting, raising the nose decreases air- climb, particularly if there are obsta- pilot can use the stick to aim the nose at speed and causes the airplane to start cles ahead, it is natural to pull the where he or she wants the airplane to go, climbing. Dropping the nose will cause nose up to try to make the airplane and it will tend to go there. the airplane to descend and the airspeed climb more steeply. On approach, if Backside: The second, or backside to increase. the glide path is coming up short of airspeed region, is the speed range where Flying on the backside of the power the desired aim point, the pilot will the airplane is flying above stall speed, curve, things are different. Once again likewise tend to pull back on the stick. but slower than the speed for best L/D. we consider the effects of angle-of-attack If the airplane is flying faster than the In this range, the characteristics of the changes on an airplane that starts out in speed for best L/D, then this aft stick airplane change considerably. Raising level flight at constant throttle. This time, motion will have the desired effect. If the nose still reduces airspeed but it also however, the initial airspeed is below the the airplane is flying slower than best increases drag, and decreases L/D. Thus, if airspeed for minimum power required. L/D, pulling the nose up will increase the pilot raises the nose, the drag increas- In this speed range, raising the drag, and the effect on the flight es and the glide steepens. Lowering the nose increases the power required to path will be the opposite of what the nose decreases drag and makes the glide fly. The airplane will respond to an pilot intended. If the pilot does not shallower. increased angle of attack by slowing realize this, he or she may respond This is a counterintuitive situation down and beginning to descend. Low- with even more back pressure and get for the pilot. In order to move the touch- ering the nose will initially cause the into serious trouble. down point further down the runway, airplane to sink, until the airspeed has

KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 61 Wind Tunnel CONTINUED

increased enough for the airplane to into what is going on aerodynamical- (the downwash angle). Increasing any maintain 1 G flight at the lower lift ly, we must look at how the two com- one of these parameters increases lift, coefficient. Once the airspeed has sta- ponents of the drag of the airplane and decreasing any one of them bilized at the new, higher value, the change with airspeed. It is important to decreases lift. airplane will begin to climb. understand that the following discus- At a constant altitude, the den- The pilot of an airplane in this sit- sion will consider an airplane in 1 G, sity is constant, so we must turn our uation is faced with a dilemma. If he level flight, with the lift equal to the attention to airspeed and downwash does not increase power when he weight of the airplane. angle. As airspeed decreases, the wing changes angle of attack, the airplane The total drag behaves as we must deflect the air more to keep lift will start sinking in response to any have already discussed. Above a cer- equal to the weight of the airplane. angle of attack change. Raising the tain airspeed, the total drag increases This increases the downwash angle. nose makes the airplane descend, and with increasing airspeed. Below that The relationship is not linear. At lower while lowering the nose will eventual- speed, decreasing airspeed increases airspeeds, a small decrease in airspeed ly make the airplane climb, it must total drag. requires a large increase in downwash first descend and trade altitude for air- The first indication of why this angle in order to maintain the lift. speed to accelerate to a speed at which happens can be found by looking at The slower we fly, the more we must it can climb. the way parasite drag and induced drag turn the oncoming air to generate If the engine is already at full change with airspeed. Parasite drag enough lift to remain airborne. This is power, the pilot of an airplane in this behaves in what would seem to be a important because turning the air not situation has a serious problem. There logical way. As the airspeed increases, only produces lift—it also produces is no way to make the airplane accel- so does the parasite drag. In fact, the induced drag. erate or climb without first descend- parasite drag of an airplane is propor- ing. To get an airplane in such a con- tional to the airspeed squared. Newton in Motion dition at low altitude can have severe The variation of induced drag Newton’s Third Law of Motion consequences. First of all, the pilot with airspeed is dramatically different. states: “For every action there is an must recognize that the airplane is on Induced drag is inversely proportional equal and opposite reaction.” the backside of the power curve, and to airspeed squared. As airspeed increas- When the wing turns the airflow, know that in order to climb he must es, induced drag decreases. Because it is it is deflecting air down. The reaction to first lower the nose and gain airspeed. a squared relationship, the increase of this is a force acting upon the wing This is counterintuitive, and the prob- induced drag with decreasing airspeed which we call lift. When the wing turns lem is compounded by the need to is small at high airspeed and large at the air something else happens. Not trade off altitude for airspeed. If the low airspeed. It is this inverse-squared only is the air deflected down, it is also airplane is low enough, the pilot may variation of induced drag with airspeed deflected forward slightly. This sounds not be able to keep it from striking the which causes the total drag of an air- strange, but if the airstream, which was ground. Getting caught on the backside plane to increase as the airspeed is flowing aft, is turned down, its velocity of the power curve at low altitude is a reduced below a certain value (the now has a downward component. significant risk during short-field take- speed for best L/D). Because the speed of the air does not offs or takeoffs at high gross weight or The fact that induced drag change, some of the rearward compo- density altitude. In these situations, increases as airspeed decreases is coun- nent of its velocity is lost. The change in the airplane is working hard to achieve terintuitive, but true. It arises from the the fore-and-aft velocity caused by the a safe rate of climb under the best cir- way the wing interacts with the air to turning of the air by the wing is the cumstances, and the temptation to try make lift. source of induced drag. Because the air- to make it climb faster than it can by A wing produces lift by deflecting plane deflects the air forward, the air pulling the nose up is large. As in many the path of a mass of moving air. A produces an aft-acting reaction force other types of flying, the key to a safe monoplane wing affects a stream tube on the airplane. flight is good airspeed control by a of air with a diameter roughly equal to By way of example, consider the pilot who knows the airplane well. the wingspan. To produce a force limiting case where the wing turns the upward (lift), the wing turns the airstream 90°. (This does not actually Why Does It Do That? oncoming flow downward, producing happen because the wing will stall, The backside of the power curve a downwash. The lift produced is a but it serves to illustrate the phenom- phenomenon is perplexing. It seems function of three variables: the air den- enon.) If the air is turned 90°, all of its wrong that flying slower should sity, the airspeed and the angle through rearward velocity has been changed increase drag. To gain some insight which the air is turned by the wing to downward velocity. Thus, the air

62 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM has been deflected forward by a veloc- ity increment equal to its original velocity. On real airplanes, the down- Actual Size 6"W x 2.75"H x 2.5"D wash angle is lower. All this finally brings us to the reason induced drag increases as air- speed decreases. As the angle the air is deflected by the wing (the downwash angle) gets larger, the forward deflection Prices include probes. of the air gets larger in relation to the downward deflection. In our 90° turn example above, the lift (downward deflection) and the induced drag are equal. The slower the airplane flies, the larger the downwash angle, and the larger the induced drag in proportion to the lift. Because the lift is constant, the induced drag is increased as air- speed decreases. Flying Backside When the airplane is on the back- side of the power curve, changing the pitch attitude has an effect opposite to what one would expect. This makes it difficult to use the stick to control the glideslope on approach, or to control rate of climb with power on. The response of the airplane to thrust changes or power changes remains normal, and this is the key to controlling an airplane in the backside flight condition. The pilot can use the throttle to control the flight path. The real danger in a backside approach is that attempting to stretch the glide by raising the nose will result in a higher sink rate—and lower air- speed. If the pilot does not recognize this and pulls some more because the approach is still falling short, he is set- TRACK IN-FLIGHT IFR ting himself up for a stall/spin acci- dent. On a missed approach, the pilot AIRCRAFT IN REAL-TIME! must let the airplane accelerate to a Subscribe to the AVweb Edition of reasonable climb airspeed before raising the nose to climb to avoid getting FLIGHT EXPLORER for just $9.95 a month! caught backside in a nose-high, high- drag condition at low altitude. Right now you can add AVweb Edition of Flight Explorer to you ground support team for just pennies a day. Aerodynamic questions of a general nature should be sent to [email protected]. Go to: www.avweb.com/fe today! Use “Wind Tunnel” as the subject line.

KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 63 List of Advertisers By Dave Martin Back Issues Available—Order NOW ❏ December 2004 Velocity Dash 5, 2005 KIT directory, www.kitplanes.com/freeinfo.asp Readers’ Choice Awards, Riveting Basics ❏ November 2004 RANS Fly-Off, Light-Sport Aircraft KITPLANES interactive makes it quick and easy for you to receive additional Rule Arrives, Oshkosh 2004, SparrowHawk and RAF 2000 information from our advertisers. ❏ October 2004 Quad City Challenger, Homebuilt Safety ■ Special, Financing and Insurance, Go to www.kitplanes.com/freeinfo.asp to request e-mail information from Aerobatics for Experimentals ❏ September 2004 Kit Helicopter Special, Top 20 Most most of our advertisers or to take a virtual shopping tour via links to their web sites. Influential Homebuilders, Unique ■ Tools, Chelton EFIS Phone the numbers listed below and tell them you saw their ad in ❏ August 2004 Homebuilt vs. Certified, Tandem Fly Baby, KITPLANES 39 Inspection Tips, VFR to Oshkosh magazine. ❏ July 2004 Sky Raeder, Retractable RVs, Oregon Aero, Reader Exteriors/Interiors ❏ June 2004 Pitts Model 12, Reader Instrument Panels, Moving Maps, Bush Caddy ADVERTISER ISSUE PAGE TELEPHONE ADVERTISER ISSUE PAGE TELEPHONE ❏ May 2004 Aerocat; Float Flying, Group Building , Try A Trike, Mosquito Helicopter, Build A SeaRey A.E.R.O. Inc. 56 800-323-0611 Teledyne Mattituck 5 800-624-6680 ❏ April 2004 Sportsman 2+2 , Engine Monitoring , Electronic Ignition Update,WT-9 Dynamic, Advance Pilot Seminars AeroCraft Parts & Supply 35 866-659-AERO Van’s Aircraft 43 503-678-6545 ❏ March 2004 Dream Tundra, First-Time Builders, Picking a Prop, Reno Races, Composite AeroFlash Signal 66 800-322-2052 Wingtips Wag Aero Inc. 28 800-558-6868 ❏ February 2004 Mustang II, Buyer's Guide Part 3, Homebuilt Flight Training, Airdrome Aerotronics Inc. 27 406-259-5006 Aeroplanes, DeltaHawk Zenith Aircraft Co. CV2 573-581-9000 ❏ January 2004 Zenith vs. Zenith, Plansbuilt Buyer’s Guide, Cross-Country Kits, 20 Years Aircraft Spruce & Specialty CV4 877-4-SPRUCE of Highlights, Auto Engine Cooling ❏ December 2003 2004 Kit Directory, Chris Wills’ GlaStar, Europa Motorglider Aircraft Tool Supply Co. 29 800-248-0638 BUILDERS’ MARKETPLACE Jabiru-Powered Kitfox, Bombardier V-6’s ❏ November 2003 Van’s RV-10, AirVenture 2003, Thorp Avionics Systems Inc. 22 703-669-2669 Aerox Aviation Oxygen Systems 69 800-237-6902 T-211, Award-Winning GP-4, Aero- batic Long-EZ, Kit Creation, Part 2 Canadian Home Rotors 56 807-222-2474 ❏ October 2003 Lancair Sentry, Producing a Kit, Dawn Airflow Performance 70 864-576-4512 Patrol Meets Taube, Quiet Cockpit, Four Winds, Stupid Builder Tricks Control Vision 4 800-292-1160 ❏ September 2003 Harmon Rocket, Qualifying for LSA, AV Flash 70 See Advertisement Remembering Peter Bowers, Rotax Pushbutton Start, Free Folding Bike, Dynon Avionics 39 425-402-0433 Your Plane on the Web Aviation Consumer 71 See Advertisement ❏ August 2003 Jawbreaker Glasair, Test-Flight Foulups, Caution: LAS Ahead, KR-360, Alternative Esqual North America 18 920-836-2096 Engines, Electronic Ignition Custom Aircraft Parts 69 800-561-1901 ❏ July 2003 Jabiru J400, Try-Before-Buy Workshops, Atlantic Crossing, Fly Baby-to-Warplane Factory Five Racing, Inc. 47 508-291-3443 Morph, Sun ‘n Fun ‘03, Tube-and- Fabric Flight Grip 71 800-204-7625 Workshop Setup ❏ June 2003 Mifyter, Airpark Living, Oxygen Systems, Flight Explorer 63 See Advertisement Ballistic ‘Chutes, Dual-Ignition Corvair Free Bird Innovations 71 800-850-3708 ❏ May 2003 Acro-Sport II, Artic Diary, SRV-8 Builder Survey, Touring Aircraft Spruce Grand Rapids Technology 63 616-583-8000 ❏ April 2003 Titan’s T-51 Mustang, Toward the Electric Great Plains A/C Supply Co. 70 402-493-6507 Airplane, SparrowHawk Sailplane, Turbo Tom HangerB17.com/SoftSolutions 23 310-938-8966 ❏ March 2003 Partenair Mystere, Beginner’s Guide to Grove Aircraft 71 888-GEARLEG Homebuilding, Golden Oldies, Hughes H-1 Replica Hpower Ltd. 29 860-875-8185 ❏ February 2003 Turbine Legend, 2003 Trikes, Chutes, Microair Avionics Pty Ltd 70 800-235-3300 Rotorcraft Directory, Lancair IV Ivo Prop 63 800-FOR PROP Turboprop, Turbine Helicycle ❏ January 2003 Murphy JDM-8, 2003 Plans Directory, Mountain High Equipment 71 800-468-8185 Arlington 2002, Reno Air Races. Jabiru Pacific 63 See Advertisement ❏ December 2002 Buyers Guide, Part 1, Lil’ Breezy, New Formula GT Mustang Aeronautics 70 248-649-6818 ❏ November 2002 Head to Head: RV-9 & RV-9A, JP Instruments 19 800-345-4574 Oshkosh, EAA’s 50th Fly-in, Ultralight Adventures in Africa, National Aircraft Finance Co 71 800-999-3712 USAF Test, Pilot’s Personal Rocket Kitplanes Bookstore 16 800-780-4115 No other issues available. PC Avionics 69 530-626-9722 Kitplanes.com/directory 56 kitplanes.com/directory www.kitplanes.com Popular Rotorcraft Assoc. 71 574-353-7227 800-622-1065 Leading Edge Airfoils 66 800-LEAF-INC Name ______Recreational Power Engineering 70 800-583-3306 Lockwood Aviation 28 800-LA-ROTAX Address ______City______Murphy Aircraft 29 604-792-5855 Rollison Airplane Co. Inc. 70 812-384-4972 State______Zip______Rollison Airplane Co. Inc. 69 812-384-4972 Total Enclosed ______Oregon Aero, Inc. 60 800-888-6910 VISA/MC #______Rotary Air Force 60 306-463-6030 Schweiss Distributing Inc. 70 507-426-8273 Exp. Date______Signature______Rotec Radial Engines 60 See Advertisement Skyshop 71 772-223-8915 Phone # ______Rotorway International 18 480-961-1001 SportsFlyingShop 69 1-877-8FLYING Send To: Back Issues P.O. Box 420235 Sky Gear, Inc. 22 800-343-5775 Trio Avionics 70 619-448-4619 Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235 $9.50 per issue. Includes shipping and handling. SkyRanger 17 304-754-6010 Vortech (Vistas) 69 410-663-8022 Or fax to: 203-461-4802

64 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM Aero ‘Lectrics BY JIM WEIR

or the true techies out there, Roadie is not a mystery. Roadie F is a way of life, a stereo on steroids. Roadie is the trade name for a particularly popular satellite radio that allows you to pick up the XM broad- casts for music, sports and all the rest of that good commercial-free stuff. Roadies (and their competitive counterparts from Sirius, the other major satellite radio service) give several hundred channels of music, news, sports, comedy…if you can’t find any- thing you like on a Roadie, you just aren’t trying hard enough. The Roadie’s antenna is shown here on the instrument panel glareshield.

Roadie, Roadie, in the sky… gives me music while I fly.

Let’s take one thing at a time. The Fortunately, the folks who designed How it Works whole process starts with a decision this antenna had their thinking caps on Roadies work much like a GPS…a about where to mount the Roadie. In quite squarely. They made the mounting small microwave (2.3 GHz) antenna the 182, I had a little “tail” of aluminum bracket on the antenna steel, and the delivers an extremely low-level signal to below the GPS installation on the copi- magnets simply sit in small pockets on the receiver. The receiver uses some lot’s control wheel shaft that turned this bracket, covered over with a thin advanced digital processing techniques out to be almost ideal. The little plastic sheet of adhesive plastic to protect the to extract extremely high-quality audio clamp that comes with the Roadie bolts automobile’s finish. Removing the mag- from this downloaded satellite signal onto that tail with two machine screws nets is no more complex than peeling and outputs this high-quality audio and is very sturdy—it survived a forced the plastic skin off and fishing the mag- into standard line-level signals. landing on an abandoned Wyoming nets out with an icepick or tiny screw- Putting a Roadie into an airplane dragstrip with nary a whimper. driver. You may or may not replace the is just a little more difficult than putting plastic—it’s your choice. it into an automobile. If you do it right, The Antenna The antenna connector on the you can use the same connector panel The next most difficult thing to Roadie is a fairly common SMB-type con- that you used to install your GPS power decide on is the antenna installation, so nector—a miniaturized and push-on vari- and antenna connectors. There is more let’s give this part of the process some ation of the more standard SMA con- than enough room to put the two thought. The antenna that comes with nector. The antenna comes with a antenna connectors plus the two power the Roadie is meant for automotive use, 20-foot cable attached, which makes connectors plus more than enough which generally means a magnetic installation relatively inexpensive. My room left over to mount the voltage mount antenna. This little rascal is installation placed the antenna on the regulator that the Roadie needs to run about 2 inches square and a quarter- glare shield, covered with the glare shield from the aircraft’s power. inch thick. carpet. I defy anybody to look at this

ILLUSTRATIONS: JIM WEIR KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 67 Aero ‘Lectrics CONTINUED

be necessary, without the hassle of dozen, and the venerable 7805 regulator pulling the antenna cable completely can be had from hundreds of sources, out of the airplane. including The Shack. However, 5 volts isn’t going to give us enough juice to The Power Supply Having solved the antenna prob- lem, we can now turn our attention to the power supply problem. The Roadie was designed (for whatever obscure reason) to run on a 6-volt sup- ply. In the automobile, this is no prob- The author installed his Roadie on the copilot’s control wheel shaft bracket just lem because there is a built-in regulator below the GPS. in the cigarette lighter cable supplied with the radio. However, because most of us have removed the aircraft ciga- rette lighter for practical and ethical reasons, we need to convert the 12- volt aircraft supply to 6 volts. A meas- urement showed this 6-volt source needed to supply about 350 mA; a brief calculation shows that the device that The antenna/power patch panel is in the is going to regulate the voltage is going center (the green light) just above the to dissipate over 2 watts. This is more transponder. The plane’s GPS connections (BNC antenna and a 2.1-mm power than enough to require some sort of connector) are shown on the left, while The FM radio is the bottom radio in the stack. heat sink on the device. the Roadie connections (the SMA antenna Note the cassette tape recorder connector to Five-volt regulators are a dime a and 1.7-mm power connector) are pictured the Roadie is installed into the radio. on the right. installation and see the tiny little bulge that the antenna causes. I don’t like buying things I don’t have to. In this case, I had a perfectly good SMB connector that came with the antenna and way more cable than I needed to go from antenna to radio—almost 15 feet more cable, to tell the truth. I cut off the SMB con- nector end just long enough to reach the antenna/power patch panel (remember to leave enough slack to let the control wheel extend all the way to elevator-up). Then I bought two inexpensive RG-174 SMA male cable connectors and a fairly cheap SMA female bulk- head connector. One of the SMA males is installed onto the antenna end of the cut cable, the other SMA male is installed onto the SMB connector to the radio, and the SMA female bolts into a hole on the patch panel. The whole thing is nothing more than an inexpensive way to detach the anten- na cable from both ends should repairs The schematic.

68 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM Builders’ Marketplace run the Roadie, so we will have to trick the 7805 into putting out 6 volts instead of 5 volts. This is fairly easy to do by the placement of two plain old silicon diodes in the common (ground) leg of the regulator. This in turn will require us to insulate the regulator from chassis ground. Again, the stan- dard mica insulator, shoulder washer and other hardware are available from hundreds of sources. The 1.7x4-mm power connector on the Roadie is kind of an oddball, yet not so much of an oddball that our normal sources for special parts (Mouser, Digikey) have them on the shelf. So long as you are wiring the Roadie with 1.7-mm connectors, use them on the power panel also so that you can’t accidentally plug the Roadie into the 2.1-mm, 12-volt GPS power or vice versa. Making the Connection Now that we’ve got antenna and power, all we need is to connect the Roadie into the aircraft audio system. There are four ways of doing this, and I can’t really tell you that one way is bet- ter than another. I can tell you which one I prefer (for ease of installation) but there are so many variables to an aircraft audio system that for me to go into all the possible permutations just isn’t possible. The four ways are: directly into the aircraft audio panel, into the “enter- tainment radio” external CD jack, into the entertainment radio cassette tape or AVIATION OXYGEN SYSTEMS the Roadie’s internal FM modulator. 1st With High Duration Me? I prefer the FM modulator as it Oxygen Systems! eliminates one of the wires, but there 1st With OxySaver Cannulas! are those who say the audio quality isn’t quite as good as hardwired. I can’t *********** *********** tell the difference. FastBuild “Built In” Kits for Custom Installations. Jim Weir is the chief avioniker at Easy and Fast Installation! RST Engineering. He answers avionics Please Contact Us For Free Brochure questions in the Internet newsgroup rec.avi Tel 800-237-6902 (EXT. 57) 207-637-2331 ation.homebuilt. Fax 207-637-2329 Check out his web site at www.rst- e-mail [email protected] Or Visit Our Web Site engr.com/kitplanes for previous articles WORLD www.aerox.com LEADER and supplements.

KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 69 Engine Beat

The second generation of rotary engines is introduced to the homebuilt market.

bility for even greater durability. The gearbox is a planetary gear- box, designed specifically for this appli- cation. In fact, the gearbox is sized for the later three-rotor engine, so it should have plenty of heft for the less powerful two-rotor engine. Unlike some Experi- mental aircraft gearboxes, this one has a pad for a prop governor and will hap- pily run a constant-speed prop, as demonstrated on the Arrow. If you want to buy just the gearbox, you can buy it alone for $6995, as two customers have done already. With oil currently hovering over $40 per barrel and some economists telling us to get used to it, fuel cost is a consideration. Badoux says that the At Oshkosh, Mistral displayed the components of a Wankel engine. Note the peripheral port in the trochoidal housing—the Mistral uses side ports. technology is there to let the engine run on diesel fuel or Jet A and that an engine conversion will pay for itself in he Wankel rotary engine is camshafts and intake and exhaust valves Europe in only 700 flight hours, or back, with Mistral Engines of makes the engine run smoothly, of 1500 hours in the U.S. In fact, a slight- T Switzerland pursuing a well course, but there’s more to a high TBO ly modified two-rotor engine has run thought-out implementation plan. A than that. Areas that required special on jet fuel, developing about 100 horse- family of four engines is planned, with attention were the seals and of course power. New injection and ignition sys- both two- and three-rotor engines, both the gearbox. tems are planned for running on jet turbocharged and normally aspirated. fuel with full power output. Better yet, Mistral is interested in get- In the meantime, the engine runs ting its engines into the homebuilt Durability and on 100LL or 87 octane (U.S.) mogas. market promptly, before waiting for Economy (90 octane European gas is about the certification. On some of the early Wankel same as 85 octane U.S. mogas.) The Mistral CEO François Badoux engines, both intake and exhaust ports Digital Engine Management (DEM) sys- introduced us to the engine at Oshkosh were located on the rotor housing, mean- tem takes care of the injection and igni- AirVenture, where the two-rotor, tur- ing that the ports were swept by the tips tion systems, and, on the turbocharged bocharged engine arrived in the nose of of the rotors. This configuration induced engines, the wastegate. a Piper Arrow. Although based on the high mechanical and thermal stresses The engine is rated at 230-hp ubiquitous Mazda 13B rotary engine, on the tip (or apex) seals, resulting in takeoff power, with 210 hp being the the engine has numerous new features. early wear and loss of compression. On maximum continuous power. The 230- A goal of the Mistral engine, from the Mistral engine (as on Mazda’s), the hp takeoff power is like a Cessna 182’s both an engineering and marketing intake ports are located on the side hous- and a smidge less than in the Cherokee standpoint, is a high 3000-hour TBO. ings, greatly reducing these stresses on 235, but it’s interesting to consider what The absence of reciprocating pistons, the tip seals. Ceramic seals are a possi- 210-hp continuous power means in

72 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM BY ED WISCHMEYER

this turbocharged engine. If you had an to repair a detonation event was only the gearbox and accessories are sized airplane with 280 hp, normally aspi- $600 for new seals and 10 hours labor for the three-rotor engine. Mistral rated, and flew that airplane at 7500 to put them in. wants to replace Mazda’s heavy cast feet, the most power you could get out Concerned about reliability? Each iron side-housings with aluminum of it would be 75%, which is 210 hp. In rotor has two injectors, and the engine ones. Should this development be suc- other words, the Mistral engine gives as can develop full power with only one cessful, it will save 40-45 pounds. much or more cruise power than a injector. Lost all your oil or all your normally aspirated 280-hp engine coolant? The engine will continue to Future Plans above 7500 feet. The Mistral engine run, at reduced power, to get you to The prototype engine installation also gives you 230 hp on takeoff, all the the nearest airport. in the Arrow is well along, but, like all way up to 12,000 feet, useful for those The Mistral engine will come with new engine installations, there are high density altitude takeoffs. a warranty, of course, but with a new details to be cleaned up. The current Specific fuel consumption (SFC) twist: The warranty will be dependent installation has excess oil and water for the Mistral at cruise, with the upon your sending the factory, every 50 cooling capacities, and those will be engine leaned by the digital engine hours, a download from the DEM con- resized. The turbocharger will be controller, is 0.47 pounds of fuel per troller of how the engine has been oper- changed for better altitude capability horsepower-hour at 60-65% power. At ating. That download will be to your and the injectors’ location modified. a cruise climb setting of 190-210 hp, laptop, using the RS232 protocol now The ignition system will also be revised. SFC is 0.56. The Mistral’s cruise SFC is but likely to be upgraded to a USB key. Mistral development work is about 10% more than that of a The upside for the customer is that the being done in Daytona Beach, Florida, Lycoming IO-540, but for a homebuilt, factory will perform trend analysis on at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Uni- this fuel burn makes little difference in the engine performance numbers and versity, under the direction of Profes- the overall cost of ownership. Also, let you know whether the trend analysis sor Peter Pierpont. That work includes when the engine is able to run Jet A, is normal or not. the cowling, cooling systems, instru- there may even be cost savings relative The weight of the normally aspi- mentation for in-flight data acquisi- to the Lycoming, depending upon the rated model is comparable to that of a tion and flight test. relative prices of Jet A and 100LL. Lycoming IO-360, while the tur- Certification is anticipated in late At 210-hp maximum continuous bocharged model is about 20 pounds 2006, but Mistral wants to deliver to the power, though, the digital engine con- lighter than the TIO-360. Even with homebuilt market in April 2005. Mistral troller will command an SFC of 0.56, the magnesium gearbox casing, that has a priority list of 20 factory built 30% higher than the Lycoming when weight is a bit high, mostly because aircraft for which it wants to develop leaned out. However, the Mistral SFC is comparable to aircraft engines at full rich mixture. The two-rotor turbocharged model can and has been pushed to 300 hp, instead of its rated 230 hp, but will not make the 3000-hour TBO at this power output.

Longevity through Monitoring Concerned about possible deto- nation? The DEM system monitors combustion and will keep you safely away from it. Most interesting, though, is that when detonation occurred while exploring the engine’s envelope on the test bench, it consistently occurred on one rotor only. The other rotor con- tinued to develop power, giving a limp- The first Mistral engine is installed in a Piper Arrow for flight testing at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical home capability. Better yet, the cost University in Daytona Beach, Florida. Numerous details will be changed, based on flight test results.

PHOTOS: ED WISCHMEYER KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 73 Engine Beat CONTINUED

STCs, either alone or with partners. two fuel pumps and the DEM system know everything happening in the The company has established an (FADEC) is $31,500, with the turbo rotary engine world, from Atkins ordering system with escrow accounts coming in at $35,900. They’re taking changing to the Powersport gearbox and progressive payments that seems reservations for the engine now, but to the recent adventures of Tom Parkes, very well thought out. The most inter- here’s the kicker—fly your Mistral four hangars down from me in Ari- esting detail, however, is that customers engine-equipped aircraft to AirVen- zona, who had a gearbox failure in his have 10 business days after delivery to ture Oshkosh in 2005, and they’ll give own rotary engine conversion. ensure the engine is what they want. you $5000 back. Don’t like it? Ship it back. If you get the feeling that Badoux Bombadier vs. Mistral The price of the normally aspi- has thought of just about everything, I The other new engine at rated engine with alternator, starter, think you’re right. He also seemed to Oshkosh was, of course, the Bom- bardier V-6, which will produce 220 hp normally aspirated or 300 hp with a turbo. How do they compare? Both are liquid-cooled, so shock cooling is not an issue. Both have digital engine controllers, or FADECs, if you will. Badoux says that his engine will be smoother and less expensive to over- haul with fewer moving parts, will have a higher TBO, and the Mistral has the potential advantage of run- ning on Jet A. More important for the homebuilder, Mistral is interested in the homebuilt market at the start of its program, whereas Bombardier’s priorities are new aircraft, then con- versions, and homebuilts sometime later, perhaps. Bombardier’s engines will have four alternators (two for internal engine use, two for external), an air conditioning compressor pad and will only come as a firewall-forward pack- age. The Bombardier product line also seems better financed at this point. To keep the comparison from getting too easy, though, the Mistral engine can be equipped with single or dual alternators, and it has three addi- tional accessory drive pads which can be used for a prop governor, vacuum pump, hydraulic pump or an air-con- ditioning compressor. The Mistral engine sounds like a real comer. My own RV-10 is not near- ly far enough along to go for the $5000 bonus for flying a Mistral engine to Oshkosh in 2005, but if it were…

FOR MORE INFORMATION, contact Right and left views of the Mistral display engine from Oshkosh. Note the propeller governor on the Mistral Engines at 386/405-6200 or visit gearbox and a spare pad on the other side. www.mistral-engines.com.

74 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM Kit Stuff BY ROBRUCHA

80 KITPLANES JANUARY 2005 WWW.KITPLANES.COM THETHE RIGHTRIGHT STUFFSTUFF ★ ★ ★ THETHE RIGHTRIGHT PRICEPRICE ★ ★ ★ Everything you need to build and fly your homebuilt aircraft.

DESIGN YOUR DREAM MACHINE ADD THE ULTIMATE IN

PERFORMANCEPERFORMANCE REVIEWSREVIEWS AVIONICS AND ENGINES BUILDER'SBUILDER'S TIPSTIPS SHOWSSHOWS && RACESRACES

ForFor fasterfaster serviceservice andand thethe lowestlowest subscriptionsubscription raterate www.kitplanes.comwww.kitplanes.com oror callcall 800-622-1065800-622-1065 AIRCRAFTAIRCRAFT SPRUCESPRUCE && SPECIALTYSPECIALTY CO.CO. THE SOURCE FOR HOMEBUILDING SUPPLIES! At Aircraft Spruce, our goal is to provide you with aircraft building materials of the highest quality, at the lowest possible prices, and deliver your orders to you with the friendly, efficient, dependable service on which we have built our reputation since 1965. We stock the epoxies, foams, fiberglass, spruce, plywood, steel and aluminum tubing and sheet, hardware, covering supplies, and the full line of parts and accessories you’ll need to build your aircraft. You can order the materials as full kits or individual pieces as you go...it’s your choice. Either way, you’ll save time and money with Aircraft Spruce. Give us a call or contact us on- line. We look forward to being your parts supplier as you take your aircraft from plans to the flightline. CALL US FOR PLANS & KITS FOR THESE AIRCRAFT

Starduster Too Cozy Mark IV Wittman Buttercup

Wittman Tailwind Sonex Acro Sport

One Design Baby Great Lakes Acrolite

✦ Best Selection ✦ Lowest Prices ✦ Fastest Service www.aircraftspruce.com [email protected] Aircraft Spruce West 225 Airport Circle, Corona, CA 92880 Ph: (951) 372-9555 • Fax: (951) 372-0555 Aircraft Spruce East Order a FREE copy of our 452 Dividend Dr. Peachtree City, GA 30223 650-page Parts Catalog! Ph: (770) 487-2310 • Fax: (770) 487-2308 1-877-4-SPRUCE1-877-4-SPRUCE