343 NEW KITS FOR SALE! BUY USED BUT BE SMART Is your next plane one of them? Lycoming O-320 & O-360 Gotchas 2006 Kit Buyer’s Guide All Your Questions Answered! HOW FAST ? HOW BIG ? HOW MANY FLYING ? HOW MUCH ? DECEMBER 2005 P&W Turbine Engine & www.kitplanes.com $4.99 CANADA $5.99 Amphib Floats! XCOM’s 760 Radio: The T-Moose Makes a Big Splash Tiny Platform, The Excalibur II Huge Feature List Is It Up to the Challenger? Engineered to exceed expectations. Engineered for you. Introducing the AuRACLE TM by Xerion Avionix. The new AuRACLE TM advanced engine management system integrates critical functionality with affordability. The Xerion AuRACLE TM incorporates a brilliant 5.0” Active Matrix LCD display, using the latest in surface treatment 188 InHg AuRACLE HP 22.3 fi lms, to bring you the brightest and easiest to read engine 66 2350 RPM monitor on the market. The AuRACLE’sTM revolutionary %HP 13.4 Gal/Hr display presents the MAP, RPM, and FF data in a layout 1503 °F 65.2 1900 -93 °F LOP 500 OP - PSI similar to cockpit controls. The graphic design, which displays 180 OT - °F the critical information at all times, quickens your scan and TM TM 385 4.7 reduces your workload. The AuRACLE SmartLean Vac - InHg system guides you through the leaning process ROP or LOP 46.3 Gal +4.0 TM Fuel Rem Amps by sensing your actions. Once leaned, the AuRACLE 3:26 26.6 provides you with a continuous status of the Leanest/Richest Time Rem 800 123456 200 Volts TIT EGT CHT TM 1:15 1476 °F 1410 °F 368 °F 30 46 cylinder. If connected to your GPS, the AuRACLE is a Fuel Res INST ENG ANA FUEL MAINT Carb - °F OAT - °F fully functional fuel computer. The fuel load entry is simplifi ed with an intuitive menu-guided process. Aviate. Navigate. Xerion Communicate. Choose the Xerion AuRACLETM to manage RPM Oil P Amps Vac your engine. 1410 188 22.3 InHg 1410 188 InHg 188 22.3 InHg HP EGT °F HP 22.3 EGT °F HP RPM RPM 2350 RPM 66 2350 368 66 2350 368 66 Standard Functions: CHT °F %HP 13.4 Gal/Hr CHT °F 1234 56 %HP 13.4 Gal/Hr 1234 56 %HP 13.4 Gal/Hr 80 65.2 1503 °F 65.2 OP - PSI 1900 150 OP - PSI * Four or Six Cylinder EGT/CHT -93 °F LOP 500 180 180 Initial Fuel Load = 72 Gal OT - °F OT - °F TIT Oil T * MAP, RPM, FF, TIT 4.7 385 4.7 1476 °F 180 °F 0 Time to Dest = 2 Hr 11 Min Vac - InHg Vac - InHg * Fuel Status Calculations Gal Gal Gal 46.3 +4.0 46.3 0 +4.0 46.3 +4.0 Fuel Rem Amps Fuel Rem Amps Fuel Rem Amps Fuel At Dest = 16.8 Gal Fuel Rem 53.7 26.6 3:26 26.6 * %HP, OAT, Voltage and Current 3:26 26.6 3:26 800 -150 Time Rem Vac Oil P Volts Time Rem Gal Volts Time Rem 123456 200 Volts TIT EGT CHT 1:15 4.7 InHg 65.2 PSI 30 46 1:15 30 46 1:15 1476 °F 1410 °F 368 °F 30 46 Fuel Res INST ENG ANA FUEL MAINT Carb - °F OAT - °F Fuel Res INST ENG ANA FUEL MAINT Carb - °F OAT - °F Fuel Res INST ENG ANA FUEL MAINT Carb - °F OAT - °F * 500 Hrs of Stored Data (1 Sample / 2 Sec) Engine Instrument Fuel Status Normalized EA * Download Data to USB Drive (included) Optional Function Package: * Oil Temperature, Oil Pressure Projected experimental ship date October 2005. * Vacuum * Engine Instrument Display Dimensions: Overall 6.25” W X 4.50” H X 3.00” D STC certifi cations (primary instrument replacement) Cutout 5.75” W X 4.00” H shipments beginning 1st Quarter 2006. TM Personal edition included with every unit. Xerion av i on i x Xerion Avionix, LLC. Canandaigua Airport (D38), 2450 Brickyard Rd. Canandaigua, NY 14424 Copyright 2005, Xerion Avionix LLC. All Rights Reserved (585) 394-1060 www.xerionavionix.com Contents DECEMBER 2005 VOLUME 22, NUMBER 12 On the cover: This month’s compilation of homebuilt images features air-to-air photographs by Howard Levy and Dave Higdon. Annual Directory, Part 1 83 AERO ’LECTRICS A new kid on the block—XCOM’s 760 transceiver; 29 2006 KIT AIRCRAFT DIRECTORY by Jim Weir. We list 343 fi xed-wing aircraft built from kits and give special designation to Light-Sport legal designs; Designer’s Notebook compiled by Julia Downie. 89 WIND TUNNEL 77 AIRCRAFT COMPANY CROSS REFERENCE Are you twisted? Maybe you aren’t but your wings You can fi nd the company if you know the name probably are; by Barnaby Wainfan. of the aircraft design. Exploring Flight Reports 2 AROUND THE PATCH 7 SWORD FLIGHT Getting it right: Ideal fl ying qualities are hard to The Excalibur II may be descended from the Quad develop, easy to misplace; by Marc Cook. City Challenger, but it’s become its own deal; 4 WHAT’S NEW by Dave Higdon. Zenith debuts quickbuild kits for Zodiac XL, CH 801; edited by Brian E. Clark. 25 READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS 2006 Builder Spotlight The polls have closed, and the results are in! 16 BUILD YOUR SKILLS: METAL, PART 5 Compiled by Julia Downie. When is a dimple not a dimple? When it’s a counter- 92 LIGHT STUFF sink. Dig in to fi nd out more; by Dan Checkoway. Smartly styled and Part 103 legal, the Prowler makes 23 MEET THE T-MOOSE fun fl ying for experienced trike pilots; by Dan Johnson. Adding a fi ne whine to Murphy’s outsized amphibian; by Ed Wischmeyer. Kit Bits 95 COMPLETIONS 3 LETTERS Builders share their successes with our readers. 64 LIST OF ADVERTISERS Shop Talk 82 SPECIAL SPORTPLANES ADVERTISING SECTION 86 BUILDERS’ MARKETPLACE 79 ENGINE BEAT How to buy a used Lycoming O-320/360; by Tim Kern. 98 THE CLASSIFIED BUILDER 104 KIT STUFF Drawing on experience; by cartoonist Robrucha. 23 92 95 KITPLANES December 2005 1 Around the Patch BY MARC COOK Getting it right: Ideal fl ying qualities are hard to develop, easy to misplace. don’t know about the rest of you—though, frankly, I have my suspicions—but I With this in mind, as you’re working have no patience for poor-handling airplanes. Hmmm, let me back up. Maybe not on your airplane, think twice before I none at all, but very little, unless the airplane does something else pretty extraordi- making any modifi cation to the con- nary, like make low Earth orbit or carry the famous Cello Posse—a group of four excep- trol system, even something very small. tional college-age cellists of my acquaintance—and their entourage in one fl ight. Think Let’s say, for example, that the aileron about it: If we wanted to fl y crummy-handling airplanes, we could buy any number of bellcrank under the seat seems too them right off the lot. We wouldn’t bother building them. long—wouldn’t it be easier to assem- Good handling is, I confess, a subjective matter—at least to some degree. I think ble if it were just a half-inch shorter? we can all agree that our airplanes need to have reasonably docile stall character- Please, resist the temptation to shorten istics—and I don’t necessarily mean like a Piper Warrior, which really doesn’t have it. You have no idea of the knock-on much of a stall—and predictable behavior. But assuming the airplane doesn’t have effects of such a change until you be- any truly bad habits, the remainder of the handling impressions often come down gin fl ying. (Or, if you really insist and to preferences. Do you like the controls light? Can you easily manage the airplane absolutely know what you’re doing, if the entire control-stick movement describes a box the size of an Andes mint? make such a change only if it’s revers- (Flat, not edgewise; though I’ve fl own a couple airplanes with just that kind of ible.) Aircraft dynamics are, by now, roll/pitch mismatch.) Do you have the upper body strength to wrestle something extremely well understood, but that like a Cessna 210 into the fl are at its forward c.g.? doesn’t make them any less fussy. Don’t How any airplane comes by its fl ying qualities is through a marriage of design undo the hard work of your kit’s manu- (intentional) and execution. In matters of design, we’re at the mercy of the team facturer with control-system mods. You (or individual) that developed our kits or plans in the fi rst place. Some kit manufac- may end up with an airplane that’s turers get it right—I’d have to say that the Van’s designs achieve universally good different from the factory’s efforts but handling qualities—because they spend hours and hours test fl ying the prototypes not necessarily better. and tweaking until it’s just right. This effort requires knowledge of the design, an understanding of the mission, patience and practice. Your Thoughts On LSA? This month we have an interesting example of good intentions gone awry in the We’ve reported extensively on Light- Excalibur II. (See Dave Higdon’s fl ight review on Page 7.) Based on the Quad City Sport Aircraft over the last few months, Challenger, the Excalibur received a host of seemingly simple changes—among and we’re watching closely as new them, an extended cockpit and repositioned prop arc by use of a different engine/ designs arrive, many of which carry- gearbox combination.