publication agreement number 40050880 January - February 2016 Recreational Aircraft Association Canada www.raa.ca The Voice of Canadian Amateur Aircraft Builders $6.95 From The features President’s Desk Frugal Man's Panel Saving money with consumer electronics / By Dan Oldridge ....................................................................4 Gary Wolf RAA 7379 Implementing a Basic Panel Graham Luckhurst customizes a Sonex panel ..........................................................................................9 RAA MAIL PROBLEMS committed, and no longer are there Tim’s article is printed in this issue. Composites Made Easy with Pre-Preg If you sent in a membership renewal some carrying the chapter and others Saving time and mess / by J-F Alexandre ..............................................................................................14 in December or January and received tagging on. Thank you Skip and ROTAX 915 IS it back marked MOVED-UNKNOWN, Collingwood members for this. Rotax has been teasing the market with Wisdom From The Future this was the work of one poorly trained promises of a turbo engine based on Barry Meek ...........................................................................................................................................16 postal employee at the sorting sta- FRED GROOTARZ RECURRENCY the 1350 cc normally aspirated 100 hp tion that handles the RAA’s incoming SEMINARS 912 S. The current 914 engine is based Midland Chapter's Zenith 601 Project mail. He took it upon himself to return RAA Toronto chapter president on the smaller 1200cc 80 hp normally Ian Reed updates on a chapter built project ..........................................................................................19 some hundred pieces of RAA’s incom- Fred Grootarz has for several years aspirated engine that started it all. The ing mail. The station manager was been providing recurrent training to aftermarket has lately been pump- Gyroplanes 101 apologetic and corrected the fellow RAA chapters in Southern Ontario. ing up the larger versions and eating Gary Wolf discusses an alternative to conventional aircraft ...................................................................22 but the damage was done. At our own This year he has presented to RAA Rotax’s lunch, so it is no wonder they expense we sent out another round of Flamboro and KW, Copa 28 and the are taking this step. The new engine renewal notices and many then resent CHAA Tillsonburg, and will shortly will of course incorporate the latest their cheques but for some it was too travel to Copa 26 in Kitchener. This is IS upgrades, but unfortunately Rotax much and we lost them as members. grass roots aviation at its finest, shar- is not promising the engine before For the record, the address must not ing safety information and providing the second half of 2017. The industry, columns say Box 22, just “22”. And it is helpful volunteer service to fellow aviators. especially the gyroplane industry, has From the President's Desk / Gary Wolf .......................................................................................................2 to include “RR2”. The new address is [email protected] been waiting for this higher hp engine When You Need It Most: My Ameri-King ELT story / Tim Vader .................................................................28 on the renewal form and in this issue. so that they can produce three and Home-made Metal Bending Brake / Clarence Martens ............................................................................31 RAA MEMBER OUTS AMERI KING four seat aircraft. COLLINGWOOD CHAPTER RAA member Tim Vader has had dis- Cleco Cleanup / Dan Oldridge ..................................................................................................................34 Collingwood RAA Chapter President appointments with the function of the ARTICLES Classified ................................................................................................................................................38 Skip Reeves sent a note to say that his Ameri King 406 and frustrations in In the last issue I asked for members Across Canada: Chapters in Action ..........................................................................................................40 group has decided that all in his chap- dealing with the company. Recently to send in articles, even in point form. ter must be National RAA members. he forwarded an FAA document that The request continues – without your Many years ago the KW RAA passed has ordered Ameri King to cease and input we cannot produce a magazine. the same motion and it has worked desist selling and repairing a long list The experience of our members is our very well for them. The advantage of their products. The FAA document greatest asset and we should share is that all in the chapter are equally is on the www.raa.ca website and with the rest of the club. The Recreational Aircraft Emails can be sent to President Gary to the aerospace sciences. The intention Association Canada Wolf at: [email protected] and of the magazine is to promote educa- George Gregory at gregdesign@telus. tion and safety through its members to 22-4881 Fountain St. North net. the general public. Opinions expressed Breslau RR2 Ontario N0B 1M0 The Recreational Flyer is published bi- in articles and letters do not necessarily Telephone: 519-648-3030 monthly by the Recreational Aircraft reflect those of the Recreational Aircraft Member's Toll Free line: Association Publishing Company, Association Canada. Accuracy of the 1-800-387-1028 Waterloo Airport, Breslau, ON N0B material presented is solely the respon- 1M0. The Recreational Flyer is devoted sibility of the author or contributor. George Gregory An Ercoupe at the Vancouver Chapter's Fly-in, July 2015. On the cover: Neil Laubach flying a Magni M 16 powered by a Rotax 912S. Eric Dumigan Photo. I had been watching the develop- (https://www.appareo.com/aviation/ads-b/ ments in the iPad applications on the stratus/), which was designed to give market, including popular programs Foreflight a whole range of new capa- like Foreflight and wondered if there bilities. was a simple solution to my needs. Third, Foreflight was now offer- Frugal Man's Savage had recently released the Bush ing the Canadian VFR and IFR data i-Cub, which used an iPad as a central and maps as a separate subscription, display with a couple of steam gauges meaning that in theory, I could dis- Saving Money on either side. It seemed like an inter- pense with all of the charts, CFS, and esting, if still early, development that other miscellaneous documents that on VFR Panels needed further consideration. always seem to expire far too quickly. By Dan Oldridge Around the same time, a number The subscription meant that all of the Panel of mainstream avionics companies data, maps, charts and supplemen- were developing packages that tary information could be updated as allowed the pilot to use an iPad as an often as I liked, as long as I had access adjunct to their main systems. later to the internet through a Wi-Fi con- WHEN I started BUIlDING my Highlander developments such as the MGl i-box nection. a few years ago, the Canadian dollar was flying allowed the use of any Wi-Fi capable Fourth, the iPad 2 was now on high and outfitting my plane with a nice dedi- device including two iPads and sale as the new i-pad Air was being cated EFIS was part of the game plan. Fast for- negated the need for their own i-EFIS released. I opted for the 3G models ward a few years and the dollar plunged to 75 if the owner decided not to install because they also offered an internal cents US. one. GPS capability that serves as a back- Not only has the devaluation of the Cana- Although the original plan was up when the Stratus is not connected via Wi-Fi. dian dollar negatively affected the cost of the Top, Dan taped some inkjet printed mockups to decide the to have the i-EFIS, two iPads seemed I had always liked the look of a few components I needed to finish the plane, it placement of the iPads. Above, the Savage Bush "i-Cub" sports a like a possibility. Four interest- glass panel, but a number of friends significantly impacted the cost of installing the single tablet that displays scads of information along with some ing developments set my plan in questioned the lack of traditional i-EFIS that I originally planned on installing. regular-army steam gauges on either side. A nice, clean panel. motion. A basic MGl four cylinder i-EFIS package had First, I was able to install multi- steam gauges. Although I understand gone from just under $6000 to over $8000 for the function primary instruments for the logic of being able to glance at a same package in just a year. Whether permanent flight and engine parameters. The gauge to determine airspeed, altitude or temporary, I needed to find a solution that MGl Avionics Flight-2 http://www. and ensure other important param- would get me flying. mglavionics.com/FlIGHT2.pdf. eters are ‘in the green’, once you First let me state that my flight requirements contains all the basics plus a few become familiar with the layout of the are very basic. I fly VFR only and although nice features only digital gauges can digital gauge and your brain adjusts I have a night rating, I hadn’t used it since I provide, especially in the small space to the ranges you expect the numbers obtained it several years ago. I considered a of a single 3 1/8” gauge. Addition- to be in, it’s almost as quick. basic six pack of instruments and a few engine ally, the E-1 engine monitor http:// Again, it’s important to note that gauges, but also liked the idea of having multi- www.mglavionics.com/E1.pdf is I have a ‘low and slow’ aircraft that use displays to simplify the panel. I know that also a good multi-function gauge that tops out at just over 100 mph. If I had many pilots still prefer the steam gauges where allows the user to configure the read- an RV or any other 200 mph plane, I a simple scan can reveal a gauge no longer in the out for the particular type of probes might have considered analogue for green, but most of the modern electronic gauges and engine parameters that he/she at least the ASI and AlT gauges.