EAA Chapter 732
Newsletter
From the President’s
Workbench – Doug Stone
Words are never adequate at
a time like this. We have been very
blessed to have experienced the thrill of watching Bobby Younkin and Jimmy
Franklin do magic things in an airplane that even to us who fly seem impossible. They died yesterday, doing what they most
loved. To their families, our thoughts
and our prayers. To Bobby and Jimmy a
simple “Thank You” for sharing your gifts with us.
Doug
Next
Meeting:
July 17 – 2pm – Review of Charles Caldwell’s Defiant
Project – Drake Field,
Chapter Calendar:
July
4 – 8am Breakfast Fly-in, Smith Field
(SLG),
July 4 – Noon until the
fireworks display, Ruth & Tom Wyatt’s 50th Anniversary Party,
July 9 – 8am – Breakfast
Fly-in,
July
9 – 9am – Young Eagles –
July
14 – 9am – Young Eagles – Aviation Boot Camp – Drake Field,
July
17 – 2pm – Review of Charles Caldwell’s Defiant Project – Drake Field,
July
25-31 EAA
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
June Chapter
Meeting Report – Bob Axsom:
The
meeting was held Barry West’s home in his garage which does double duty as
Barry’s aircraft assembly plant. It
produced Kitfox N880BW and is well along the way to producing the Turbo Pulsar
that was the main subject of the July Chapter Meeting.
At
2 pm President Doug Stone called the business meeting to order with
approximately thirty members present.
One
new member was introduced – Orville Hamby.
He served three tours of duty in
The
status of Doug Stone’s RV-10 was discussed.
The horizontal stabilizer has been installed on the aft fuselage per
plans even though the rest of the fuselage is still in transit from the
factory.
Jack
Macy reported that he and Wayne Larabee were awarded the Wright Brothers Master
Pilot award for 50 years of continuous flying activities with no accidents,
incidents or violations. There are
reported to be only two people in the state that have received this award –
Jack and Wayne - CONGRATULATIONS!
At
this point the meeting was turned over to Barry to discuss his Pulsar project.
Barry
had a slide show running on a computer on one workbench his light system
functioning on another workbench. Both
of these illustrated how technical problems have been dealt with while keeping
cost under control. During this part of
the meeting he removed the cowl revealing the engine and he discussed some of
the unusual challenges associated with building this Pulsar.
He
said that one of the difficult things he had to face up to was access both for
construction and flight. One innovative
solution was the addition of two fairly large access openings in the upper
fuselage skin between the firewall and the instrument panel. It was easy to see how much easier these
openings made it to work in this very tight area on the many complex systems
that are packed in there. This directly
effects the quality of work. It comes
from being able to see and handle things without stress. Perhaps you have to be a builder to fully
appreciate that.
The
other access problem had to do with getting in and out of the airplane. Low wing airplanes are harder to get into
than high wing airplanes. He did three
things to minimize he accessibility problem.
First he designed and installed a retractable step on each side of the
fuselage just aft of the wing. The
second thing he did was more personal – he changed his eating habits for life
and lost 25 pounds. 25 pounds is a large
percentage Barry’s bodyweight so this is a bigger deal than you might first
imagine. The third thing he did was
start a routine of daily exercise. I’ve
known Barry more than 20 years and in that time he has never looked
better. He is living proof that
homebuilt low wing airplanes can be good for your health.
After
the Pulsar was thoroughly reviewed the meeting adjourned to the back porch for
food and drink provided by Barry and Sherron.
Additional meeting photos can be found in the Chapter website gallery.
Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award – Wayne Larabee and Jack Macy
The
FAA has established this award to recognize those pilots with 50 or more years
of safe flight operations.
To be eligible for this award Larabee and Macy must have held a CAA/FAA pilot
certificate for 50 consecutive years or more, have received at least three
letters of recommendation from their peers, and have never had any FAA
action due to violation of the regulations and have a good safety record. The award so states " in appreciation
for your dedicated service, technical expertise, professionalism, and many
outstanding contributions that further
the cause of aviation safety." In addition to the certificates, lapel pins
commerating the awards were also presented.
A
real thoughtful touch by the FAA, were the presentation of Certificates of
Appreciation, along with pins, to Betty Larabee and Jeannine Macy, wives of the
honorees. The certificates read "For your support of aviation
throughout the years". These awards were presented by Jarrett
"Mac" McFarlin, Safety Program Manager.
In addition to the FAA awards, Jerry Chism, Deputy Director for the State Of
It was noted that Larabee and Macy are the first pilots to receive this honor
in the State of
the
By way of background, Wayne Larabee spent all of his professional life in
aviation. Under the watchfull eye of his grandfather, who was also
a stint in the U.S. Marine Corp. he continued his flight training and became a
certified pilot three years later in August of 1947. During his working years
over 29 years where he amassed over 23,000 flying hours, as
says,"if one FBO doesn't give you enough headaches, have two", which
he did when he took over the FBO at the
Larabee holds several FAA ratings including, Private, Commercial and is
Instrument qualified for both single and multi-engine aircraft. He is also
rated as an instructor in single and multi-engine aircraft as well as an
instrument flight instructor in these aircraft. In addition to these ratings he
is also a FAA licensed Aircraft and Powerplant Mechanic. Larabee has over
32,000 hours of flying experience and is still an active pilot, flying his
homebuilt experimental RV-6 aircraft, giving flying lessons and is involved
with the NW AR. Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) and the
Macy, who spent 35 years in the aviation and aeorspace industries, has always
been strictly a recreational pilot. After his discharge from the U.S. Air Force
he used his GI Bill to take flying lessons. His first solo was in
September of 1953, and was awarded his pilots license in August of 1954. Macy stated that "between Wayne and
myself we have a total of 113 years of flying and over 33,000 hours of flying
time". He goes on to say that "
has more taxi time than I have flying time". Macy also remains an active
pilot flying his homebuilt experimental Starduster Too, which is an open
cockpit biplane. He too is active in the
EAA Chapter 732, where he has the distinction of being the first pilot in that
organization to have flown 100 Young Eagles which is an EAA sponsored program
to take young people for their first airplane ride.
Airfest 2005 – Barry West My question is, how can a small population like Northwest
Arkansas afford an airshow like this? The answer is, they can’t. It was a money loser, big time. We probably won’t have anything like it
again. Nevertheless, it really was great. I had seen the Masters of Disasters before
and it has to be the best, and most dangerous, aviation show ever. Chapter 732 participated in its own small
way. We had three homebuilts
and 3 or 4 certified planes on
display. My Kitfox was there and Jack
Macy had the Starduster Too and Scott Musgrave had his Glasair. Jim Taylor brought his C180, Al and Brenda Smith were there with their
C150 and Jimmy Davis
brought his C140 but got there late
and had to park it at the terminal. Gary
Simmons had his Zodiac there and Joe Terminella his gyroplane but both left
because they would not have been able to after 1:00. Closing the runway from 1:00 until 5:00 was a
detriment to getting the Chapter airplanes to come. Most notable, we loaned the Arkansas Air
Museum
Flying
News:
Ruth Ann Wyatt–Thomas
Wyatt No flying is going on out of our hangar - you
might consider putting in a note re Ruth Ann - she is recovering nicely
considering three major surgeries in a years time - she has started light
exercises again and is looking forward to resuming her flying activities as
soon as the doctor releases her to resume normal activities (thursday 23rd
maybe) just in case the bonanza does not get sold as it is advertised in T-A-P
- 72 TW [Ed.- A card to Ruth would be
nice.] Ruth and Tom are celebrating
their 50th Anniversary on July 4th at the
Barry West –
NEOSHO, MO After deciding we could at least get to
Neosho for the Young Eagle rally before the weather moved in, Sherron and I
loaded in the Kitfox and flew there with a pretty good tail wind (about 20
miles per hour) in smooth air. It took a
while for the Young Eagle flying to get underway and, for whatever reason, I
was the last of about 10 airplanes to get out for the first flight. The plan was to depart runway 19 and fly west
about 5 miles, make a five mile pattern and land, all at 2500 feet. The sky was dark to the west but the flight
was initially smooth.
On the north bound leg I suddenly found myself at
3000 feet, in the clouds and going up. I
cut power, turned right and put the nose down but could not lose altitude. At one point, the airplane was nose down
about 45 degrees, airspeed going toward red line and in violent
turbulence. Somehow Christina and I
ended up VFR and in control and proceeded with all haste back to the airport. Landing was something less than good (it was
terrible) but when I parted the runway things really got bad. The wind had more control than I did and I’m not sure how I got it back into a tie down. Someone was standing there, presumably to
help me, and as I realized the tailwheel had gone full swivel I yelled at them
to grab the wing. It took a moment for
this to happen but the little airplane did not turn over and cartwheel down the
ramp. I cut the engine, stood on the
brakes and told Christina to get out of the airplane. Then I got out and helped tie it down.
I learned some things from this. First, don’t fly near thunderstorms. I learned this before but I guess I
forgot. Second, it is easier to fly the
airplane in turbulent wind than it is to taxi it. I already knew this too. And third, Christina is either a brave young
lady or she didn’t know what was going on.
It took me about 30 minutes to find her and give the certificate to
her. I thought she had left the airport.
It took about two hours for the storm to move
through but then it cleared and we had a very good Young Eagle Rally. Al and Brenda and the others did a great job
of organizing the operation and getting the kids out. When Sherron and I left about 110 kids had
registered and 90 something had been flown.
This was about 3:00 and the kids were still coming. Jack and I were the only ones from
The trip back had about the same wind as the one
going up so we lost about 20 miles per hour.
But it was smooth and uneventful. – Barry
Gaston’s Fly-in – Bob Axsom Chip Gibbons organized this fly-in in
conjunction with an AOPA on-line function he participates in. We had a good turnout from the Chapter in
spite of the poor visibility, high heat and humidity. The food was GREAT! and we got to hear the
awards presentation for the group.
Chapter participants seen were Chip Gibbons, Barry West, Diana Richards,
Jeanine and Bob Axsom. Photos are at the
Chapter website gallery.
AirVenture Cup and US Air Race Entries – Bob Axsom Entry accepted into AirVenture Cup Race –
will be racer #71 (entries are now closed).
Entry in process to US Air Race – will be racer #11 (Check http://www.us-airrace.org for information
and entry).
Building Notes:
Dave Powell, AG-14 – The plane has been in the
restoration process for four years and expects flight soon.
Bill Wolfe, Controlwing Flying Boat – Construction of his
second Controlwing Flying Boat is underway.
Bob Axsom, RV-6A – Completed installation
and test of the True Trak Pictorial Pilot and Altrak – GREAT!
Young Eagles:
Young Eagles
Report from Neosho , MO
In conjunction with the Annual Missouri Pilot
Convention held at
Aviation Boot Camp for Young Students on
July 11-14, 2005 – Dave Bowman
Let Your Dreams Take Flight.
Be a Part of an " Aviation Boot Camp" July 11-14, 2005. Is flying in your future? Come join the
instructors & staff of the Arkansas Air Museum, Arkansas Aviation
Technologies Center, and the Northwest Arkansas Community College (NWACC)
Aviation Department for a week of aviation discovery! Half-day (8 AM-Noon)
classes for students age 10-14, will be held at the
Young
Eagles Event Schedule – Barry West:
Drake Aviation at the
Drake
Field,
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.
A Deeper Look Into Two of Chapter 732s
AG-14, Dave Powell
We
all hope projects eventually come to an end but for me it at least is getting
closer! For many years I’ve been working on a restoration of a 1952 Anderson
Greenwood AG-14. Not many of you have ever seen one in person, they made 5,
they are certified and for quite a while there was one in the Oshkosh museum
(often in outside by bus pick-up).
During
Certification Tests
My dad retired from Anderson Greenwood so this
one has a little special meaning to me. Anderson Greenwood originally started
as a company when two friends quit Boeing to form their own engineering company
and make their own planes. The AG-14 was their 1st attempt and after
5 they realized they could not make a profit. They were to prove this again
when in the 70’s they tried again with a 5 place retractable called the Aires
T-250. During this attempt they even bought Balanca Corp and made 8-10 of
these. Then the profit issue surfaced again. They eventually made their success
in relief valves for the oil industry. As an aside, Mr. Anderson was from the
family that started MD Anderson hospital in
My
plane is the last produced, serial #5. When I purchased it the plane had been
sitting for 25 yrs and taken apart. Over the last 4 yrs it has traveled (by
trailer) to and from the
Spratt Controlwing and Flying Boat, Bill Wolfe
I knew the Controlwing designer, George G. Spratt, as a
personal friend for 29 years. He was a
visionary aeronautical engineer, inventor and a true gentleman. George was flying his 200 pound, Evinrude
powered roadable ultralight Controlwing in 1936. Though many people probably
think ultralights are a more modern aircraft type this almost seventy year old
example may be seen in operation in the EAA video ”Aeronautical Oddities”. The prototype Controlwing land plane is in
the Mid Atlantic Air Museum at
George Spratt often demonstrated his
prototype Controlwing flying boats while operating from his home-built, 55
foot, arc welded steel utility boat. He
would anchor it over a shallow sand bar in the middle of
After witnessing a flight demonstration and
flying a Spratt Controlwing flying boat prototype in 1969, I fell in love with
the concept and immediately decided this
was the only type of aircraft I would care to own. I have been a strong
advocate for these kinder, gentler and safer aircraft ever since.
In
flight, both hinged parasol wing panels collectively and aerodynamically
maintain a relatively constant angle of attack with a variable angle of
incidence with reference to the hull. The NACA 23112 reflex airfoil was
selected due to its favorable aerodynamic pitch response and small excursion of
the lift vector. The wing panels are moved differentially to provide a very
gentle bank and turn. The wide fixed vee shaped tail has no movable surfaces,
it just guides the aircraft like feathers on an arrow and provides tail lift at
high and cruise power settings.
Flight
controls consisted of a throttle, steering wheel and an auxiliary pitch stick.
Since the inherently stable Controlwing flying boat has no rudder, elevator or
ailerons; pilot control coordination is not required. Conventional aircraft
which can stall, spin and dive use those movable surfaces to direct the
aircraft in pitch, roll, yaw and maneuvers about the CG. The steering
wheel of the Controlwing only controls the differential angle between wing
panels to provide a gentle bank and turn and moves a small water rudder.
There
is no feedback or cross talk between pitch and roll inputs or outputs with
the simplistic Controlwing system. The auxiliary pitch stick is only used when
the pilot desires to shorten a takeoff, move above or below an existing stable
flight path or glide path, or to flare for a landing. Adding power just before
touchdown will also help flare for a smoother touchdown but hands-off,
power-off landings are acceptable.
The
throttle is the primary vertical flight control. It is conveniently attached to
the auxiliary pitch stick which is mounted low like a helicopter. Hands-off
takeoffs may be accomplished solely by increasing power.
With higher power settings the flying boat hull will assume a relatively
level attitude for takeoff and cruise flight. When power is lowered to idle, tail lift is
reduced and the hull will assume a slightly nose high attitude essential for a
safe water landing and the angle of incidence of the wing will automatically
adjusts downward to accommodate the stable glide path.
No
air rudder is required for the flying boat since the small angular difference
between the wing panels does not create adverse yaw. Fast, sharp turns can be
made on the water due to the low center of gravity, wide hull and the lack of
wing tip floats to trip over. The Controlwing flying boat banks sharply into
the turns like any motorboat and is very crosswind tolerant. An amphibian
version would probably require an air rudder.
With
a minimum of flight training, a novice could easily and safely fly a
Controlwing flying boat. Any pilot could receive adequate instructions by
telephone. No special seaplane rating is required for experimental
seaplanes. These kinder and gentler
aircraft have no inherent stall, spin or dive capability and if the auxiliary
pitch stick remains unrestrained during flight through turbulence, the
occupants will sense only about one quarter of the normal gust loads. The
Controlwing flying boat may be the safest, simplest, easiest to fly and most
comfortable aircraft ever developed! Fly
it yourself and you will believe it.
George Spratt often asked, “Did you ever see a fixed wing bird”? To
that, I add, “Did you ever see a bird with a rudder...or a low wing?”
The
name Spratt and the Controlwing are still not widely known in the aviation
field. The Spratt/Stout flying Automobile was shown in the June 1945 Popular
Mechanics and an article “The Brain Behind the Wrights” was published in the
January 1962 Climax Magazine. The
Controlwing flying boat was the cover article for the June 1962 Popular
Mechanics and April 1970 Science and Mechanics and was also in the September
1969 AOPA Pilot. EAA’s Sport Aviation
magazine had Controlwing articles in July 1972, December 1973, June and July
1974, May 1976, May 1980 and October 1998 and in the April 2000 Experimenter.
The Smithsonian December ‘94/ January ’95 Air and Space magazine had a
Controlwing related article.
Dr.
George A. Spratt, an 1885 medical school graduate, developed a serious heart
condition preventing him from practicing medicine. He entered the field of
aerodynamics and became a close friend of Octave Chanute. They both realized
liftoff was easily attained so they concentrated their development effort
and experiments in the very important and more demanding area of stability and
control. Spratt made extensive observations of the wings of birds, bees and
other insects to develop his very early understanding of nature’s subtle
solutions to the stability and control of flying creatures, now commonly known
to the general public due to high speed photography.
Wilbur
and Orville were more than willing to accept Spratt’s volunteer technical
assistance but were not willing to share their celebrity or potential financial
gains. They rarely acknowledged his important design changes which helped lead
them to their ultimate success, however they never hesitated to call upon him
as an expert witness for their many patent suites years later.
Dr.
Spratt and later with his son, the late George G. Spratt, built twenty
different experimental gliders, seaplanes and land planes, with each one
incorporating a Controlwing in some fashion. These include a successful flying
automobile developed in conjunction with Bill Stout. It took fourteen years for Dr. Spratt to
obtain his Controlwing related patents because patent officials could not
understand his concepts which were so different from existing aircraft. See www.georgespratt.org for more of the Wright/Spratt connection.
My
Controlwing flying boat was only the third one built from Spratt’s 1973 plans
and flown so far as I and the late George G. Spratt knew. All three were
constructed primarily of wood rather than the all composite construction of the
early 60 HP Mercury powered prototype,
N910Z. Two of these aircraft used VW
engines but I used a modified 85 HP Mercury outboard engine. My flying
boat is the only Spratt Controlwing aircraft in the current FAA registry.
More
than five years of labor and test time went into this project, my first attempt
at building an airplane. I was an aerospace design engineer for thirty six
years but that helped very little with this project requiring woodworking,
metalwork, fiberglass, fabric, machining, welding, engine and instrument
installation skills plus flight testing.
I
taxied my Controlwing flying boat a lot but flew it only on very brief test
hops as the FAA flight test plan got underway just as my medical expired.
Testing had dragged out a very long time as numerous bugs such as the engine
installation, carburetor selection, vee belt tensioner adjustment, exhaust
system, cooling system, control linkage revisions and wing panel balance
were (eventually) ironed out with little assistance. There were no definite
instructions in the Spratt plans regarding control rigging and wing panel
balance, this information was gained only from experience.
My
last brief test flight in October of 2000 is seen in a video showing the
takeoff at 50 mph to about 50 feet before outdistancing the chase boat. There
were not enough brief liftoffs to record any meaningful data during my thirteen
trips to
The
FAA Experimental Aircraft license is primarily for the builder’s education and
recreation. I got a lot of the
educational part but very little of the recreational part as my medical expired
just as flight testing started. No other experienced Controlwing pilot was
available to continue the flight test program so I sold the aircraft to a man
in
I
am currently building another Controlwing flying boat considered to be a kit
protype. I and many other knowledgeable
people believe that Controlwing flying boat or amphibian kits would be
especially attractive for new and student pilots, senior citizens and many
home-builders due to the lower cost, operational safety and comfort. The new
FAA Sport Pilot and Sport Aircraft regulations should enhance public interest
in flying and home-building.
The
original breakthroughs for such a safe aircraft were evident in the early 60’s
but apparently investors and other interested parties were afraid of liability
for something so different from existing aircraft designs or they may not have
fully understood the Spratt Controlwing concept. Some people still do not. I offer a Controlwing flying boat plans
package including 33 of Spratt’s drawings, 77 pages of construction, general
information and photos plus a 35 minute video showing the Controlwing
prototype flying boat operations, the prototype land plane operation and
much taxi testing plus the takeoff of my last short flight before my medical
expired. [Contact through “members Only” information at the Chapter website –
ED.] All of my Controlwing video and
photos were taken by volunteers. Unfortunately no professional photography was
done and no flight photos were taken.
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.
Annual dues are $15. Make 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 and 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. We depend on you to
maintain your information (photograph of yourself, projects, completions, other
aircraft, address, phone number, e-mail address, etc.). If you have problems call Barry West,
479-267-5545) he is a wizard.
Odds & Ends:
Deep Impact
Encounter with Comet Tempel 1 – Bob Axsom – If you log on to http://www.jpl.nasa.gov you will be able to
track the first mission to impact a comet for scientific study (all times are
CDT):
Pre-impact briefing:July 1, 12 noon; Pre-impact
update:July 3, 1 p.m.; NASA TV
coverage:July 3, 10:30 p.m.; Expected
time of impact:July 3, 00:52; Expected
time of impact:July 3, 00:52 a.m.; Post-impact
briefing:July 4, 3 a.m.; Post-impact
press conference:July 4, 1 p.m.
“Cinderella Man” –
the movie – Bob Axsom - I don’t recall any profanity or other objectionable
elements. It is a true story about the
man that was the Heavy Weight Champion of the World 70 years ago but the story
is really about character. Something you
might want an older Young Eagle to see; maybe even a middle aged eagle.