EAA Chapter 732
Newsletter June 2005
From
the President’s Workbench – Doug Stone
All
of us who love to fly suffered a very large setback last month. Two people, one a pilot, the other a student,
flying in a small Cessna, made headlines by venturing into the worst kind of
restricted airspace. The long list of
mistakes they made will be mulled over by the media for some time to come, but
suffice it to say the pilot-in-command will have a tough time ever getting his
license back from the Feds.
Our
responsibilities as pilots have change since 9/11. No longer is it OK to know about where
we are in critical airspace, or to cruise along not talking or listening to
anyone. Gone are the days of not
checking with Flight Service on where the current TFRs might be. We now live in a time where precision in
situational awareness can be a matter of your life and death.
The
two men flying by
There
is a lesson here for all of us. A large
part of our pre-flight preparation has to be now directed to being aware of,
and staying away from, restricted and prohibited airspace. The President moves around a lot, and he
carries a TFR with him wherever he goes.
Bust into it and you really are risking your and your passenger’s
lives. Fly over a nuclear power plant,
or a racetrack or a stadium full of people at a low altitude and you could have
the same outcome. The freedom we have to
go where and when we want to has always carried with it the responsibility to
follow the rules. The rules on being
aware of exactly where we are have tightened up. We need to make sure that our equipment, our
techniques, and our attitudes are up to the task.
Fly
safe,
Doug
Next
Meeting
June 12, 2-00 pm-Meeting/Review of Barry West's
Pulsar Project at Barry’s home. –
Chapter
Calendar:
June
12 - 2pm - Review of Barry West’s Pulsar Project –
July
9 – 9am – Young Eagles –
July
17 – 2pm – Review of Charles Caldwell’s Defiant Project – Drake Field,
August
6 – 9am – Young Eagles –
August
21 – 4pm – Harris Watermellon Extravaganza – Floyd &
September
18 – 2pm – Review Rex Stewart’s GlaStar Project – Location TBA
October
16 – 2pm – Wedington Woods Fly-in – Wedington Woods Airpark (67AR)
November
20 – 2pm – Review Doug Stone’s RV-10 Project – Location TBA
AIRFEST 2005 – Barry West
June
18 and 19 we will again be having a really good air show at Drake Field in
On
top of that, Bobby will be flying three different airplanes (not at the same
time.) He will do acts in Sampson, the
twin Beechcraft and the Lear Jet.
We
are welcome to fly in and can tie down in front of the maintenance hanger and
have our airplanes available for show.
The maintenance hanger is the most northern hanger on the west side of
the runway. Park your airplanes near the
grass facing the runway. However, the
airport will be closed from 1:00 to 5:00 so no one will be able to land or take
off during the show.
May Chapter
Meeting Report – Bob Axsom
We had another good turnout of more than 40 members
and 11 airplanes for this Annual picnic/meeting. Three of the airplanes were homebuilt, an
RV-6A, an RV-9A and a Kitfox. The
certified airplanes were a Cherokee, a Musketeer, a Grumman, a Cessna 182, a
Cessna 140, a Cessna 150, a Cessna 180 (?), and a “V” tailed Bonanza. A fine picnic dinner was enjoyed by all in
Charles Coger’s Hangar at the
President Doug Stone opened the meeting by informing
those present of the illnesses in the Larabee and Wyatt families.
Barry West announced that the next meeting will be
at his house and the program will focus on his Turbo Pulsar.
Dave Bowman announced that the next Young Eagles
event will be held at
Bob Axsom described the need to get broad builder
coverage in the newsletter. Volunteer
submittal of information was requested for building and flying activities
completed since the last newsletter for reporting in the newsletter, as it is
each month. This is important to show
the vitality of the chapter in these areas and it serves to inspire fellow
members. It was announced that a special
effort to contact members individually for information is currently planned for
the July newsletter. During the later
individual contact, completion and operational experience will also be
collected for reporting in the July newsletter.
Bob Axsom reported on the completion of the
Steve Chambers reported on his recent engine failure
in his RV-6. The engine is an O-360-A1A
with very few hours. The failure was
reported to be due to deficient wrist pin caps that are part of an untraceable
lot. According to Steve, the condition
is covered by a Lycoming Information Bulletin.
It says the condition can be detected by checking the oil every 25 hours
for aluminum.
The corrective action was not specifically reported
in the meeting. All Lycoming Engines
using the piston pin caps that are used in the O-360 are subject to this
problem.
Tom Wyatt informed all those assembled that this
very day was his birthday. It was then
announced that this wasn’t just any birthday celebration – it was number 70.
Tom and Ruth Wyatt’s daughter Brenda announced that
there will be a 50th Wedding Anniversary party at their hangar in the afternoon
of the July 4, 2005. Everyone is welcome
and they are asked to fly in if practical.
If you stay into the evening, there will be a 4th of July fireworks
display near the airport.
Jack Macy announced the results of the Nominating
Committee’s work to identify suitable Officers and Board of Director members
for the coming year. The elected
officials will not take over for six more months but the Chapter election
procedures call for the election to take place now. Other nominations were sought from those
present but there were none. All officers
and board members identified by the Nominating Committee were elected. The
following were elected Sunday to take office in Jan. 2006:
Pres.- Doug Stone; Vice Pres.
- Scott Musgrave*; Sect.- Dave Hill; Treas/Website - Chip Gibbons*;
Board Of Directors: Steve Chambers; Jim Davis*; Bob Kellett*; Tom
Kendall*; Wayne Larabee;
Jack Macy; Charley Scott;
Barry West; *New Officers for 2006
Doug Stone described what would be expected of the
Officers and Board Members in the year ahead and brought the business meeting
to a close. Photographs of the
meeting (including airplanes) can seen at the Chapter website (http://www.eaa732.org) in the Photo Gallery.
Flying
News:
Lester
and Mickey Ward - CH-701 FIRST FLIGHT May
14, 2005
The
Ward brothers reported that a factory representative came to the airport at
Bob
Axsom, Chip Gibbons, Al and Brenda Smith – Rebels Bluff Fly-in
On
May 7, 2005, Bob Axsom flew his RV-6A, Chip flew a Citabria and Al and Brenda
(who are building an RV-6) drove into this fly-in organized by Les Featherston for RVs and Rockets. It was at a VERY nice private grass strip
west of
Dianna
& Tom Richards – Training in
In
April I flew my Citabria to
Tom and I flew sixty Young Eagles in May. Another pilot helped one day
and took fifteen youngsters. These flights rewarded the kids for completing the
Mark Twain reading program (20 books). Since we started doing these incentive
flights (nearly 8 years now), the number of kids reading this series of books
has increased dramatically, actually six-fold. The kids were all
wonderful and I don’t know who had more fun, them or us. They all wrote
thank-you notes. Reading their very positive comments and degree of
appreciation only reinforces my desire to continue sharing my love of flight
with young people.
First
flight of a Customer Built RV-10 (the 4-place plane from Van’s) – Al Smith
URL: http://www.vansairforce.com/video/RV10_JohnNyes.wmv
AirVenture
Cup Entry – Bob Axsom
Finally
received the required Certificate of Insurance and mailed the complete entry
package to EAA Race Headquarters a couple of weeks before the deadline. Entries had to be postmarked no later than
May 31, 2005. The race is from
Building Notes:
Bob Harlan, HX1 - Well, it IS epoxy weather now and I am modifying my
engine shell around the muffler to allow more cooling. Will be lining the
inside of the left cowling shell with a heat barrier when I get the shell
re-shaped. I will send some photos in a week or two. I've got to
get this finished so I can crank up my engine. The cowling has to be
complete so the radiator will cool properly - and so the muffler heat won't
make the fiberglass sag. Bob Harlan
Charley Scott, Glasair
1 FT and EXPRESS - After 5 years in the
building process I first flew my Glasair I FT Memorial Day of 1990.
N189CW now has over 1000 hours total time on the airframe. I usually do
most of my up dating at annual inspection time in the winter. This year I
up dated my autopilot with a TruTrak Flight Systems Pictorial Pilot
autopilot. The Pictorial Pilot replaces a Digitrak a/p and my old turn
coordinator. I also changed the transponder antenna, blade type,
located behind the metal interference of exhaust, nose gear, engine and
related metal parts. I installed a post style antenna in the left wing
tip, getting it as far from the metal parts that were interfering with the
signal as I could. Preliminary flights have been good. Other up grades over the past 15 years have
been; adding extended wing tips, changing the Loran for a Apollo
360 GPS receiver, updating the #1 com to a Mark 12 D+ and installing a
better com antenna for the #2 com. Replacing the Century IIB A/P with a
digital A/P from TruTrak coupling it to the GPS receiver. The next year I installed one of TruTrak's
altitude hold servos. I have been very pleased with all the TruTrak
digital equipment and the company service.
Another
change to my Glasair was a Skytec starter which helped the hot start problem
that comes with an injected Lycoming engine.
And
now by popular request from my wife for more room I am building a four
place EXPRESS. I started
the EXPRESS project in 1998 and after several stops and restarts I am back to
working again. I have the horizontal at home in my garage. It is
about ready to close but I will build and install the elevator before closing
the stabilizer. If you are familiar with the progression of design
changes to the EXPRESS I have the larger horizontal stabilizer which mounts in
the customary low position on the fuselage. This makes for a very stable
airplane. The fuselage is in my hanger at VBT. I have an original
Wheeler EXPRESS lower fuselage and an AURIGA upper. The AURIGA upper is
taller and has two doors which the first Wheeler units did not have. Most
of the parts are fabricated and installed in the lower fuselage and the upper
has been fitted and bonded to the lower. The next step will be to install
the horizontal stabilizer and rudder. When I get to that point
we can have a meeting at my hanger at Bentonville Louise Thaden
Field. Any one is welcome to stop by for
a look just call me to be sure I am in town. 479-936-1612. Keep the dirty side down, Charley Scott
Bob
Axsom, RV-6A – Installing TruTrak Pictoial Pilot and Altrak. Airplane featured in the June 2005 issue of
Sport Aviation.
Young Eagles
Young
Eagles May 21 Program at Drake Field – Barry West
Saturday,
May 21 we flew 44 youngsters in perfect weather and all systems working
well. The new procedure worked well with
only one computer and required fewer ground support people. More improvements are being worked on to make
things smoother.
Dave,
Bob and I want to thank Brenda Smith, Don Kimbrough and Paul Cortlett for all
their help and we all want to thank Carl Brooks and Jay Fox in the tower. Of course, I have always thought we have the
best tower personnel in the world. Also
thanks to James Nicholson and Lance Laubach of the FBO. Thanks to Drake Field for use of their fine
facility. The 11 pilots already got
their thanks from the kids. They are:
Jack Macy ; John Kinsey; Jim Taylor; Warren Taylor; Scott Musgrave;
Charley Scott; Barry West; Vaughn DeCoster; Phyllis McDaniel; Bob Axsom; and Al
Smith.
Be
ready for Young Eagles, July 9th at Drake Aviation,
YoungEagles Flight, June 9 –
Barry West: [SHORT
NOTICE – CALL BARRY 479-267-5545]
Chapter 732 is invited to fly the kids from the
Young
Eagles Event Schedule – Barry West/Alan Smith:
1)
Shayne
and Phyllis McDaniel pilotphyl@olemac.net - (417) 223-4549 [or]
Alan and Brenda Smith – alsmith@olemac.net (417)
845-3260
2)
3)
Volunteer pilots and ground personnel are needed for
every Chapter 732 Young Eagles event and should report to the airports for duty
at an early start time. Contact Dave
Bowman at 479-582-0485 or Barry West at 479-267-5545 for more precise details.
Jim
Younkin, Chuck Bilbe, TRUTRAK ADI & Mullicoupe in Sportsman Pilot – Bob
Axsom
Over
2/3rds of page 28 in the Spring 2005 Sportsman Pilot is devoted to Jim Younkin,
Chuck Bilbe, TRUTRAK ADI & Mullicoupe and the role played by Tru Trak in
making the Global Flyer round the world flight possible. Good and well deserved coverage. Sportsman Pilot is written, edited, published
by Jack Cox and Co-edited by Golda Cox – the best in the business. It is available from Sportsman Pilot,
Special
RV Construction Fixtures Available – Al Smith
I have a wooden RV 6 Fuselage jig, castered wooden Wing
Cradle and a metal fuselage rotating stand available for building
construction. The Cradle and jig can be
used on other aircraft. I can send pics if
needed. 417 845 3260
AL
Smith
"Blooming"
deserts and surfing waves in "not so sunny"
My wife and I recently made a trip out to
For those who haven't been to
We made a visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium to see the "killer"
great white shark that has everyone horrified. I found the shark to be much
overrated. The giant tuna, however, had
me mesmerized. These things have to be the highest example of streamlined
perfection I have ever seen. I would be willing to bet you a beer that careful
measurements would find the average fineness ratio of a tuna to be the ideal
3.33 length/diameter that we have "discovered" to be perfect. They
are lighting fast. They have a row of triangular fins along the top and bottom
of the back of the tail which look to be VG's. These VG's create a vortex over
the tail fin as it is deflected sideways, thereby increasing the effectiveness
of the tail stroke. They also have retractable fins that create maneuvering
loads but retract to minimize drag while cruising. Truly amazing creatures.
The extra money for the convertible was a total waste as the weather was
atrocious the whole time we were there. Cold, rainy, and miserable. We drove
down the coast road from
My attempted visit to Mojave and Scaled Composites was also thwarted by the
appearance of Sir Richard on his giant red steed the Virgin Atlantic 747. Who would have thought that Mr. Money bags is
more important that some aviation nut/yokel from
Feeling dejected and disgusted at the lack of flying weather, and my lack of
importance in the face of mega wealth, I resigned myself to driving out to
see the desert "bloom". The locals were all a thither about the
wonderful "blooming" desert. Apparently the same record weather that
was spoiling my flying was creating this record breaking fecundity. Well for
this Southern boy this was a rather unremarkable event. I guess if you live
there and all you see is brown desiccated plants, cacti, and scorpions this
"blooming" is a major deal. This consists of some green grass, small
yellow flowers, and a smattering of lupine. Any poorly managed pasture in
So we drove out to see the fabled desert bloom at Red Rock Canyon SP. and
(oops!) I took a detour-errr wrong turn-past Edwards. Traveling east on 58
along the north end of Edwards I was rewarded with the sight of an F18 flying
chase on the F22. Fumbling madly for the camera I managed to snap a couple of
quick frames which later turned out to be two grainy specks against a blue sky.
BLUE SKY! The SUN! all those mountain ranges finally managed to squeeze all the
juice out of the air! On to red rock canyon state park via
In
Moments later I found myself standing on the ramp wearing the most ridiculous
flying garb I have ever seen. Being that I was just 5 minutes ago going hiking
in Red Rock Canyon SP, I was wearing my hiking boots, jeans, a polar fleece and
a wind breaker. The instructor took one look at me, shook her head, and went
rummaging through a pile of moth eaten starvation army camping clothes.
Mumbling something incoherant about changes of plans and such, I watched this
activity in horror. From this pile of clothing that would insult a homeless
person, she produced a quilted button down shirt with a hole in it, a mad
bomber trapper hat (yes the one with the ear flaps), a set of pinkish-purple
mittens with removable ends, and worst of all, a set of what appeared to be
Jane Fonda warm up leggings. So there I was on the ramp looking like some sort
of unholy, aviation, Larry, Daryl and Daryl, Pippy-long-stocking, mongrel,
threatening my wife with fates worse than death if she took a picture. The only
thing that would cause a grown man to endure such emasculation was the fact
that the wild hair guy had said something about getting to 25K and some other
guy got to 30K the other day, and the instructor was rummaging for the oxygen
bottle and canulas. There was also the gorgeous ASK 21 on the ramp,and the
lennies I could see beginning to form over the mountains to our west. Keep in
mind that all of the gliding I have done has been in coastal
The tow up behind the old dilapidated 182 was challenging but not my worst
performance. A sail plane tow is like formation flying at the end of a rope, it
can be interesting at times. We were rewarded with solid CACHUNK, deceleration,
the rushing wind and fading drone of the 182 when we released at 6K. The lift
was broken that day due to a frontal passage and the instructor kept
apologizing. I said hey, you learn more on a bad day than a good day, and I got
to try thermaling in the broken lift. The air flowing over a mountain range
forms a hydraulic jump. Picture a stream of water flowing in a sink. It flows
out in a laminar sheet and then "jumps" up where it becomes
turbulent. The air flowing over a mountain range does the same thing. It is
forced up and over the mountains. Then it crashes down on the leeward side like
a water fall, slows, becomes turbulent, and forms a jump. The laminar layers above flow over this jump
and form waves. The waves flow out across the basin decreasing in amplitude
downstream. Under each wave is rotor cloud. The goal is to get into the
turbulent jump and use it to climb into the laminar wave layers above. Once
there it is like riding an elevator up as high as 40K feet! The catch is just
on the other side of the turbulent "jump" is the laminar water fall
crashing down like a ton of bricks. If you get in the downdraft you point the
nose down and go like heck for the rising air. On the other side of the jump is
a rotor cloud. Avoiding this is prudent as well. Since the weather had just
changed and a strong wave had not had a chance to get established, we had to
circle in the smaller currents of rising air. We were never able to break
through into the laminar layer of lift, but two hours later at 11K feet I was
glad to have my strange attire. The cold was ever present and my bladder
dictated an end to the quest for laminar lift nirvana. We flew home with enough
spare altitude to take a tour over the town. I was instructed to make my
approach at 67 kts! to allow for gusts and ensure positive control. A far cry
from a 50 mph
screamer in a 2-33.
Two pics. One is looking ESE towards
Still grinning from ear to ear,
Monty
New
Compass Rose at Drake Field in
It was reported in the May 10, 2005 Northwest Arkansas
Times with a large aerial photograph taken by Chapter Member Bill Smith. Kris Irvin, Janice Serfass, Neldal Donahue,
Debra Dubois and Camilia Smith of the 99s are reported to be the ladies that
actually painted it. It looks good, and
well positioned to allow its use without obstructing access to the runway. I recently flew to
Sealing the RV-6A sliding Canopy – Bob Axsom
In the plans, my 1996 vintage design from Van's calls for a
fuselage overlaping tab at the rear of the canopy skirt covering the gap
between the end of the roller track and the aft upper skin similar to the
design you have for the full length of the skirt. The obvious paint scraping
potential convinced me there has to be a better way. I cut the side skirt
bottom parallel with the canopy deck for the full length in the closed
position. Now if you rivet 3/4" angle to the top of the longeron from the
end of the roller track to the inside of the upper aft fuselage skin at the
rear of the canopy deck you produce an overlaping interface without the hanging
closure tab. The rear canopy lock pins drop down behind the angle with no
interference whatsoever. I installed support straps of aluminum vertically form
the inside of the canopy frame (pop rivets here) to the side skirts (solid
rivets here) similar to the welded tabs that George Orndorf shows in his video.
Now what if there were two consistently parallel surfaces that remain perfectly
aligned over the full range of the closure motion. OK there aren't any but half
is there and you can make the other. To do this you make a precise pattern out
of file folders using the method where you 1) mark off the sill outboard of the
roller track in 1/4" increments, 2) use a square to measure the distance
from the maximum extension of the roller track extrusion radius to the edge of
the fuselage and record the measurements in a table, 3) repeat these steps for
both sides to assure precision in making parts that will be slightly different
for left and right sides of the canopy, 4) make up patterns for both sides, 5)
trace the patterns on 3/16" aluminum bar stock with a small pattern
overhang that will provide the precise gap between the edge of these
"canopy skirt ribs" and the roller track extrusions, 6) drill rivet
holes through the 3/16" wide ribs with the spacing you feel is necessary,
7) measure the height of the maximum horizontal extension of the extrusion
radus, 8) mark the skirt at this height and clamp the rib to the skirt in line
with the mark, 9) use the holes in the rib as a drill guide for drilling the
skirt and clecoe the rib and skirt together as each hole is drilled to assure
perfect alignment and matching hole patterns, 10) remove the rib and
countersink the holes on both sides of the rib and dimple the skirt, 11) rivet
the ribs and skirts together with a squeezer in such a way that the
manufactured flat head is on the outer surface of the skirt and the shop head
is also formed as a flush head on the inboard surface of the rib, 12) go back
and use the file folder patterns to layout sealing surfaces on sheet rubber
setting the pattern back from the rubber edge enough to produce a rubber part
the will extend the exact amount you want it extend past the edge of the rib
for contact with the parallel surface of the roller guide extrusion, 13) glue
the rubber to the underside flat surface of the rib with 3M Weatherstrip
Adhesive. As the canopy is closed the rubber seal will ride down on the under
side of the maximum extension of the extrusion radius compensating for any reasonable
over extension or irregularity in the rubber and provide an effective seal. The
skirt will not flex or be drawn out in flight.
That takes care of how I handled the side skirt sealing back to the end of the
roller guide which is the only tricky part. Aft of there the taper is always in
the right direction so I just coated the added angles with wax (I believe) to
prevent sticking, applied silicon to the inside of the skirt in this area and
closed the canopy. I used the soft white "P" strip from Aircraft
Spruce at the interface between the windshield flange and the roll bar to seal
the front of tha canopy when closed and the same material on the inside of the
rear skirt set back from the edge enough so it doesn't show to seal the rear. I
made a small balsawood plug (Tracy Saylor idea) covered with a layer of
fiberglass for strength and some "P" strip for a seal of the rear
skirt track hole. It gets pushed back by the rear plastic canopy guide when the
canopy is opened and it gets pulled forward into the closed position with a
piece of nylon lacing tape (available from Aircraft Spruce for tying wire
bundles the old fashion way) tied to the mounting bolt for the plastic guide. I
have a little over 100 hours flight time on the plane so far a the canopy seal
is perfect with no draggy overhangs outside the fuselage design mold line.
New
Membership – If you are reading this newsletter and you are not a member but would
like to be, please apply through the website http://www.eaa732.org
or contact Richard Rost at the address listed below.
Dues - If you are already a
member and haven’t paid your annual $15 dues – it is time to take care of that
responsibility. In April everyone who
had not paid their dues were to be removed from the active member list. You make the checks payable to “EAA Chapter
732” and give the check to the Treasurer Richard Rost at the next Chapter
Meeting or mail them to:
Richard Rost
Chapter
Website Data Maintenance - Our website Http://www.eaa732.org is definitely
one of the key features of our Chapter and can be a powerful tool for
communicating with the membership and the public. However, a lot of the
information there is out of date or incomplete. We depend on you, the
members to complete and update their own information including adding
photographs of themselves. Please do this. There are instructions
on the web site for doing this but if you have problems call me and I will try
to help you. Barry West, 479-267-5545).