40 minute read
automobile conversions available from the US market
Jeron Smith of Raven Rotorcraft and Redrives Inc. is in his 12th year of selling engine products for aircraft needing between 58 to 115+ horsepower in a lightweight, reliable, fuel efficient package. Designing around the readily available 1.0 liter and 1.3 liter Geo® Metro/Suzuki® automobile engines, his goal from the beginning has been to provide a costeffective line of aircraft engines that are an alternative to the Rotax® 503, 582, 912, 912S and even 914 powerplants. Jeron offers several versions of reduction drives that have been designed from the ground up for reliability as well as adaptability to a broad range of aircraft kits.
In addition to all this, Jeron has been a friend of CONTACT! Magazine longer than I’ve been editor. We can always count on him to deliver excellent forums for us at COPPERSTATE and Sun ‘n Fun, but for the life of me I can’t get him to slow down long enough to write an article. The following are two emails I received from Jeron in September, 2007. ~Pat
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September 11, 2007
Just a quick note to keep you guys posted on the Direct Drive Geo engine development. We ran it yesterday on the test stand, without prop, just to get things dialed in. We will be running it and thrust-testing with the 1/2 VW Tennessee Propeller later this week. It’s being run with the stock fuel injection first as we do not want any variables in our testing due to carburetor jetting. We are testing at our facility with a field elevation of 7,200 feet, well over 10,000 foot density altitude on a typical 90° autumn afternoon in our area.
Dry weight: 95.5 pounds. Hand propped, carbureted, with radiator. This includes the weight of mount brackets and 4 Barry mounts (vibration isolators) with hardware, and either a small 5 amp alternator built into the water pump pulley (to be developed if the engine tests out) or a small two pound battery to run it for now. Prop with bolts and spinner adds 4 pounds, so even with a prop and spinner we are just under 100 pounds dry weight. It has required every trick in the book learned in our 12 years of working with this engine to make it this light. This version is being tested upright as we want to have accurate data on power output before we invest any more in the inverted engine development. The inverted version is actually a couple of pounds lighter as well.
The engine is absolutely bullet-proof and we have thousands and thousands of flight hours on it worldwide in the PSRU version running continuously at the 4,400 to 4,800 RPM cruise range with a fuel burn of 2 gph. 3,300 to 3,500 RPM is loafing this engine. Its rods, crank and counterweights are so overbuilt for that loading, we could see an additional five pound weight reduction if they were resized to match direct drive power output. We also expect a fuel burn of less than 1 gph at this RPM.
We should have some real-world answers soon. We ended up working on the direct drive Geo (for an FAR Part 103 legal Ultralight) after looking seriously at a lot of other options. We still have a Briggs V-twin in pieces after disassembly to see what the internal build-up strength margins were.
September 13, 2007
Just finished running the Direct Drive Geo 3-cylinder 993cc engine on the test stand last night. We are more than pleased with the results! Easily pulled the 54" by 24” pitch Tennessee propeller to 3,400 RPM static with an old used Geo engine. We still have to dial in the ignition timing and see what exhaust flow will work to optimize the engine power at this lower RPM. From what I can gather from website searches we are pulling much better than the stock 1/2 VW. Thrust testing will happen next week but we really need to get the test engine to sea level for some real world comparisons. The Chilton Manual specifications for the stock Geo of 58 ft/lbs. @ 3,300 RPM seem to be right on the money.
The engine runs smooth from 1,000 RPM on up and starts with hand propping fairly easily. We were told earlier by someone who had tried this that it could be hand propped easily with two fingers—we would say it more realistically takes three fingers on the prop blade and a quick flick to fire it off when warm. Still experimenting with best prop positioning on the hub to bring the hand propping arc into alignment with the three-cylinder firing pulses when starting. May require a shot of starting fluid to fire it off easily when cold—we shall see.
With these test results we are now moving the “Direct Drive Geo” project to the front burner and would definitely want to plan on running this little guy for folks at COPPERSTATE the end of next month. We are very interested in supporting the FAR Part 103 legal Ultralight market with a reliable, smooth, easy-to-build four-stroke engine alternative.
That’s all for now. Will keep you updated. info@raven_rotor.com (303) 440-6234
To watch a video of this engine running, visit our website at www.ContactMagazine.com
By Nicholas M. Wood EAA# 831459 nick@ContactMagazine.com
It’s not normal for us to print “human interest” stories within the pages of CONTACT! Magazine but this time I hope you’ll appreciate what Nick has written and forgive me for crossing the line with your magazine. Some of you may already know that Nick is my assistant as well as being a long-time family friend. For those of you who may have read my article on how I came to be a Corvair engine lover (issue #75), Nick was the young man (high school kid) I mentioned who resurrected his uncle’s old `65 Turbo Corsa and was doing burn-outs in front of my house while I was fretting over which engine I was going to use to replace the VW I was then-currently installing in my Dragonfly. Nick had one heck of a first year with CONTACT! Magazine and he wanted to share his experiences, so I’m letting him. But don’t feel robbed—I’ve expanded the page-count to exceed the normal 24 pages to more than cover the space used for Nick’s epic tale. Either way, I think you’ll enjoy reading his article as his freshness may reminisce some of you back to your first experiences with experimental aviation and attending fly-ins. ~Pat
My inauguration and subsequent immersion into experimental aviation began by way of a seemingly innocent invitation to volunteer at the CONTACT! Magazine alternative engine forums tent at COPPERSTATE 2006. But that’s not the whole story.
My enduring passion for experimental aviation actually began several years earlier, when I was a teenager. I would frequently stop in and visit with a friend whose father was building a Dragonfly and would occasionally rig it in his driveway. The only thing I can recall thinking the first time I laid eyes on it is, Wow! What a great example of experimental aircraft. It wouldn't be long before I found myself taking my first ride in a Cessna 152, making multiple passes over my hometown. Enter the editor of the Dragonfly newsletter, and future editor/publisher of CONTACT! Magazine, Patrick Panzera. Patrick was the one with the Dragonfly and both his son Antonio and his daughter Angela were close friends of mine from grade school and well on into adult life; this gave me an excellent opportunity to poke around in Patrick’s garage and learn. Patrick is a natural mentor, listening to those who have done things before him and passing on his experiences with others in the same way, which is exactly what any eager student (like me) needs. I had a strong desire to not only fly, but to learn as much as I could about all aspects of aircraft and flying. Most of all, here was someone who had the ability and desire to teach and had access to aircraft like the Beech T-34 Mentor (that we terrorized the river bed with) and the Tomahawk we trained in.
But stick-time would take a back seat to ground school even though I was on a fast-track in the beginning. I accrued enough proficiency to solo, and would have soloed if my hours had been with a certified instructor and not merely learning to fly with Patrick who, unfortunately, is not a CFI—yet. But I also didn't have a third-class medical certificate, which would soon become nearly impossible to get anyway. While learning to fly with Patrick I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease, making the possibility of a pilot’s medical certificate only a dream, while nearly taking my life in the process. At best, if I was to beat the cancer and live through the chemo, it would probably be at least four or five years of clean health before I could even consider applying for a medical—but it’s getting close to that now, being four years in remission.
Pat’s Dragonfly, circa 1996. At the pinnacle of Nick’s year-long journey through all things experimental.
Pat and Nick doing a little unofficial flight-training.
Long before Nick became an official part of the CONTACT! Magazine crew, Pat (right) and John Moyle (center) would invite him along on flights, especially when ballast was needed. On this particular trip to the Zenith open house in Cloverdale, CA, the guys stopped off at Columbia, CA, for the 2nd Annual Cinco de Mayo Canard Fly-In. Nick earned the nickname, “meat ballast” as they needed someone in the back seat of the Skylane. FAST FORWARD TO THE PRESENT
Bringing things back to the now, it was the “new” Sport Pilot/LSA rules that rekindled the desire to become a pilot (after about a four-year hiatus) and changed flight from a possibility to a reality. By this time Patrick was well into his third year producing CONTACT! Magazine and I had since become great friends with the magazine’s associate editor, John Moyle. I was invited with more frequency to have lunch or go on trips with Patrick and John, listening to aviation jargon and barely keeping up with all the technical abbreviations for this-and-that. As I listened I was also hoping that someday I would be better versed and capable of holding such conversations with others like Patrick and John, so I submersed myself in learning all I could. I began reading with an insatiable appetite—I would devour two or three aviation magazines a day from Patrick and John’s unending library. Books, videos and magazines on everything from ultralights and war birds, to general aviation aircraft and experimental were at my disposal and were consumed. But it was the experimental branch of aviation which captivated my mind and heart. I wanted to be just like my mentors and those heroes in the pages of Experimenter, To Fly and vintage issues of Sport Aviation magazine who would build their flying machines in their garages or basements with their own hands and then take to the sky. Designs so unique even the most experienced general aviation pilots would turn their heads and dream of building and flying something unique.
I started out at CONTACT! Magazine as the only member of the three-man crew to take home a small paycheck each week, working part-time filling orders and maintaining the subscriber database. Even though I would read through huge stacks of other magazines, the content I found in the pages of CONTACT! still felt too technical for me to grasp since much of it went beyond my fledgling ability to understand and digest. However, through all this reading I was being introduced to the names and faces behind some of aviation’s greatest designers and builders, the true “doers” in their field. Along the way I was discovering more and more names in our subscriber database, recognizing that they were the ones I was reading all about.
NOW BACK TO THE ORIGINAL STORY
I was invited to tag along with Patrick to attend the 2006 COPPERSTATE Regional EAA Fly-in. CONTACT! Magazine has hosted forums dedicated to alternative engines for aircraft for many years and I knew this would be an excellent way for me to become more deeply involved with CONTACT! and experimental aviation. I still was listening to Patrick and John talk about so many different types of aircraft and I still did not completely understand the small but important details. I couldn't wait for my chance to be part of the action.
We pulled into the airport in Casa Grande, Arizona, a little after sunset the evening before the first day of the
Photo: Pat Sladey
Truth be told, the fire was lit under Nick when he and Pat were at the COPPERSTATE `06 awards dinner where he found out about the “youngest pilot” award.
Pat giving a very informal Corvair forum.
The proverbial “carrot at the end of a stick”, the stunning Rans S-10 Sakota.
show. Towed behind us (from our office in central California) was a small trailer loaded with tables, boxes of magazines, display materials, and of course several engines for display, including Patrick’s beautifully crafted Corvair-based aero engine. We dropped off the trailer for unloading the next morning and proceeded to drive around in the dark to check out all the early arrivals parked along the ramp. The experience both excited and inspired me but still didn’t prepare me for the next few days’ events, as I found myself jumping around from forum to forum and hovering over dozens of various homebuilt airplanes. Talk about stirring up a strong desire to fly! I was soon to come to a turning point.
With the new Sport Pilot/LSA rule making it easier for me to take to the sky and with this overwhelming desire to get back in the air, I had to take a seat and ponder how I could make this happen. Two things tend to usually put learning to fly just out of reach, money probably being the bigger of the two. Flying can be prohibitively expensive for many young people my age, but not in all cases. Some sacrifices can be made to accommodate the need to fly or the desire to learn, its just that priorities have to be made when budgeting for goals. The second problem, more so for the LSA class than general aviation, is the availability of appropriate aircraft and instructors. There are exactly zero LSA qualified aircraft available from the dozen or so FBO’s within a hundred mile radius of my home, and I would assume an equal number of CFIs interested in training sport pilots.
While sitting on the back of the small trailer behind the magazine’s forum tent, looking out across the field of airplanes and away from the rush of people, I had my epiphany; my very close friend John Moyle has a beautiful Rans S-10 Sakota he purchased not long ago and this aircraft was just waiting for some attentiveness to be shown to it. At this same time, John was starting up a small business serving hot dogs and pop outside the local Home Depot store. Maybe he would consider hiring me to help at the hot dog stand in exchange for a partial shared ownership of the Sakota? The Sakota is well within the guidelines of LSA and John already mentioned that he was considering placing this plane into fractional ownership, with a buy-in price that was somewhat obtainable for me. I thought it through and presented my idea to Patrick. It looked like it was something that could be done. Patrick has just about everything ready to become a Sport Pilot-CFI except a plane in which to build the minimum LSA specific hours and also take his checkride. So with the Sakota being available, I might have found both a plane and an instructor. My very first fly-in had pushed me over the edge. I just had to fly one way or another. I set my goals and was bent on returning to COPPERSTATE the next year as an owner and a pilot.
GET IT TO WORK
This was much easier said than done. I am young, I have no credit to speak of and I still live and work paycheck to paycheck, but my determination is strong. I also have the advantage of having two top-notch enthusiasts and mentors as friends. They would be more than capable of guiding me through my efforts and, even better, they both want to see me succeed.
Upon returning home from COPPERSTATE I immediately set to working for both Patrick and John in their respective small businesses. I was doing data entry for CONTACT! Magazine, building construction with Patrick at his day-job and slinging hot dogs and pop for John on
the weekends, and to top off my already busy schedule, I started playing bass with a newly formed blues band, performing late-night gigs for up to four hours a night weekly. And in our “spare” time, Patrick and I would work on the Sakota to make it airworthy again while making small changes for instruction purposes like adding a second set of toe brakes, ELT, and a Nav/Com radio with an intercom, just to name a few. But there would be more to come. With all my new enthusiasm I was still digesting five or six magazine back issues per week.
In January 2007, Patrick decided that it was necessary for me to work the then-upcoming Sun ‘n Fun show in Lakeland, FL, in place of John who was recuperating from bypass surgery. I was incredibly excited; I couldn't wait for the new challenges I would be faced with once there. I am a natural pitchman and enjoy selling, which is exactly what I would need to do while at Sun ‘n Fun.
SUN ‘n FUN
The point of having a booth at Sun ‘n Fun each year is to introduce CONTACT! to more people and encourage them to become subscribers. By this time I was well versed with the contents of the back issues of CONTACT! and was retaining a lot of information. Presenting the magazine was going to be easy since I knew other prospective readers would share my enthusiasm. Also, by the time the show came around I would be close to my half-way point in earning my share of the Sakota. Unfortunately, life sometimes finds ways to step in and plans can change in an instant.
While Patrick and I were all set to leave for Florida tragedy struck our close family ties, as Patrick’s daughter Angela (my long time personal friend) lost her life in an auto accident and her 7-year-old son, Alex, was badly injured. Patrick wasn’t going to be able to accompany me to Florida so John stepped up and insisted that he take Patrick’s place. Prior to the accident, Patrick and I were all set to go; the magazine relies on new subscribers gained each year at the shows so cancelling was not an option. Patrick needed to be with his family and just wasn’t in any shape to attend. While I was extremely excited at the opportunity to represent CONTACT! at Sun ‘n Fun, I was going through my own sense of loss, and I knew it was going to be tough without Patrick there to show me how he normally represents CONTACT! Magazine. We didn’t have a booth at COPPERSTATE so this would be my first time working any show other than managing a forum tent. To me, this was big.
So off to Lakeland John and I went. It was excellent having John around Sun ‘n Fun, although I did have my worries about him. He was still recovering from his surgery only three months earlier and I wanted to make sure that he had a good time while still taking it easy. But of course that always seems to be the case when aviation enthusiasts like us find ourselves in the middle of such events and this is where the true spirit of CONTACT! Magazine and experimental aviation collide in the most awesome way. CONTACT! readers are well aware that we strive to bring the newest technologies and breakthroughs to their mailboxes six times a year and the stage was set to deliver the proverbial goods to the folks attending Sun ‘n Fun 2007. Honestly, I wasn't completely clued in as to just what we were going to be doing outside of manning our booth. Saying that everything that occurred after arriving was completely off my cuff, is the best description I can give about how things played out.
A NEW DESIGN
We brought along to Florida our most recent issue (#88) featuring Scott VanderVeen (of Pro Composites) and Morgan Hunter's brand new Personal Cruiser, a single seat, low-wing composite aircraft powered by one of William Wynne’s Corvair conversion engines. This was a completely new aircraft designed by Steve Rahm of Daytona Beach, FL. We featured another of Steve’s planes, the Vision, way back in issue #39. Unlike the Vision, the Personal Cruiser was designed around Steve’s unique “FoldaPlane” technology that was debuted in the December 2002 edition of EAA’s Experimenter magazine.
This show was to be the official unveiling of the Personal Cruiser and its introduction to the market in kit form. We set up our booth and played host to Scott and Morgan. We all worked together taking turns presenting the magazine to new readers and introducing Scott and Morgan’s new kit aircraft gracing our current magazine cover. Although it hadn't been planned, one of the most exciting things (for me) to take place was my involvement in the aircraft showcase. Each day around noon various aircraft would be demonstrated over the field with each one getting about seven minutes to fly passes overhead while being accompanied by promotional announcement broadcast over the airport PA system and radio station; the Personal Cruiser was no exception. Scott mentioned that he needed an announcer and John quickly responded that I had been an on-air personality at a small rural radio station back home. Scott decided that was qualification enough to offer me the opportunity to become the official "voice of the Personal Cruiser." I was thrilled to introduce this exciting new product to the audience as Morgan flew multiple passes overhead. Over the course of three days I was invited back up to the announcer’s tower and allowed to speak to the crowd about all of the Personal Cruiser’s awesome features.
The Personal Cruiser was featured in traditional detail in CONTACT! Magazine’s issue #88.
Nick and John Moyle manning the booth at SnF.
Nick got a little stick time in an LSA with Herb Tipton from M-Squared. Nick was honored to have Herb make the first entry in his log book. While at Jean, Nick managed to score a ride with AirVenture Lindy Award winner, Jim Patillo in his masterfully crafted Q-200.
But that’s not all that happened while attending the show. Besides working the booth I also took time to tour the grounds, see the hundreds of different aircraft, and found out first hand just how big the experimental aviation community really is. COPPERSTATE had surprised and inspired me, but this show left me in awe. While at the show I also learned a lot about the EAA and the role it plays in the aviation community. It was exactly what I wanted to be a part of, and I had to sign up. That wasn’t all— during one of my breaks from the booth I signed up for and received my student pilot certificate at no cost, getting me one step closer to becoming a licensed pilot. Back at the booth, I was grinning from ear to ear, showing off my certificate to John and the rest of the gang.
One of the biggest things I gained while attending this show, besides an increased spirit for experimental aviation, was the number of meaningful friendships I was making. Countless names filled my address book when I departed for home, all of whom I knew I would see again soon. One such meaningful friendship I came home with was with Pat’s old boss from the mid 70’s, Herb Tipton. Herb was one of three owner/operators of the El Mirage Soaring Center when a 14 year-old Pat was a mere lineboy working for Herb. From behind the scenes and all the way across the country, Pat made the introduction and arrangements for this exceptional gift of flight I received from Herb. I never thought that this is how it could be. I knew that John and Patrick had many friends throughout aviation—however they have been doing this much longer than I have. I just never thought that I would have left Sun ‘n Fun such a wealthy man.
FLY-IN AT JEAN
The next event would be much smaller than the previous fly-ins, but would throw me more into the realm of hosting an event. Each April, CONTACT! hosts its own fly-in featuring experimental aircraft that use “alternative” engines. In the past, the Alternative Engines Round Up was gathered at Laughlin, NV, but the facilities in Jean, NV, have now become our home for this event, even though our offices are located in central California. Patrick and I were able to put together quite a gathering, hosting several well-attended forums featuring many of the names synonymous with the world of experimental aviation including Jess Meyers of Belted Air Power and propeller guru and pioneer Paul Lipps.
All told, we probably had close to 30 or so airplanes fly in, some of which came from as far away as Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. The weather was perfect for flying and each evening after the day’s events, several
pilots would hop into their creations and fly passes through the desert valley where the airport is nestled. There is even a soaring school across the runway where some of the guys attending the event managed to trade stick time with the glider pilots. Once the sun had set each night we would all eat dinner together at one of the many casino buffets, concluding with a great barbeque at the airfield's Sport Aviation Center on Sunday.
Even though this fly-in was much more scaled down from the previous two I had attended to date, it became clear just how much effort goes into planning and setting up events like these. From Jean I left with even more appreciation for all those who volunteer to help make these incredible fly-ins possible. I look forward to our 2008 event, which I hope will be an even bigger success. Keep an eye on the CONTACT! Magazine web site for more information and a schedule for the next Alternative Engines Roundup this coming April.
OFF TO OSHKOSH AND AirVenture ‘07
One of my earliest memories involving aircraft is watching the coverage of the Oshkosh air show while sprawled out in front of my parents’ TV. I didn’t know what it was called, but I sat on the floor with my eyes glued to the TV for two hours as the hosts toured the grounds and followed acrobatic aces through the blue skies over Wisconsin. (This is also my earliest recollection of a place called Wisconsin.) So when I was again invited to volunteer for this event, I felt like I was the luckiest guy in the room. But I don’t think I was actually invited—Patrick just kept saying, “Wait till you get to Oshkosh” when ever I’d tell him how awesome Sun ‘n Fun was. I don’t know if it was just by my enthusiasm for experimental aviation or if somehow he knew that this would be a dream come true for me, but without CONTACT! Magazine I don’t know how else I would have ever had such an opportunity to not just visit OSH but to be a participant.
This trip was just Patrick and me, but we shared our booth with Larry Morgan of Vari-Prop, also featured in CONTACT! (issue 89). Sometime back, Patrick and John had introduced Paul Lipps to Larry, setting forth the opportunity to mate Paul’s incredible Ellipse propeller blade design to Larry’s variable-pitch prop hub. This is another great example of what CONTACT! does. Not only are we featuring articles about today’s "garage technology," as I like to put it, but through this we are able to share knowledge and make introductions that benefit everyone.
AirVenture ’07 was an opportunity for us to showcase another great product, this time brought to market by Bud Warren, whose Wheeler Express was the cover story for our then-current issue. I met Bud, his daughter Phyllis and her husband Glen earlier that year at Sun ‘n Fun. They are some of the great friends I made earlier that year in Florida. Things picked up right where they had left off as if only days, not months, had passed. Also in attendance were my good friends from Pro Composites with the Personal Cruiser, this time making quite an impression on the folks at EAA. Rumor has it Paul Poberezny saw Morgan Hunter’s prototype on its arrival and while being staged in a row with other auto powered aircraft, had them diverted to the prestigious archway display area adjacent to the ramp. It truly was a thrill for me to witness their success with this new design and it was great meeting up with Scott and Morgan again. I can’t begin to tell you how much fun we all had during our week together in Oshkosh, and how much I am looking forward to the next season.
There is one more item I would like to mention regarding my visit to Oshkosh and that is another important group of people I met while there. Just being at AirVenture was inspiring to me, but it was again the people who really bring it around full circle. I had the great fortune to find myself in attendance at the Sonex factory open house. That evening it seemed as if Patrick went out of his way
Nick (right) helping Morgan Hunter (left) and Scott VanderVeen (center) park the Personal Cruiser in the show’s highest place of honor.
Both being fans of the Sadler Vampire, Pat and Nick were in awe when Bill Sadler showed up at the CONTACT! Magazine booth at AirVenture 2007
to introduce Morgan and me to his friends from EAA headquarters. The list goes on and on as to the “Who’s who” we all met, but I think I can speak for both Morgan and myself when I say it meant a lot to us to shake hands with all those who had inspired us. For me it was all the folks from EAA’s publishing department whose editorials, articles, and efforts had guided me through the world of aviation and had shared their stories and lessons with me each time I devoured yet another magazine. For Morgan, I think it was meeting more people who share his passion for designing and building flying machines. Needless to say, I left Wisconsin in total wonderment and am still trying to process it all.
OUR S-10 SAKOTA
By the time we got back from AirVenture, COPPERSTATE ‘07 was just around the corner. Since my return from Florida, Pat and I had spent countless hours bringing the Sakota back into flying condition. We were making a lot of changes in regard to radios, instruments and interior ergonomics to accommodate our desire to fly greater distances safely. When we started, the plane had been equipped modestly even by day VFR standards, and in order to reach anything on the panel the pilot would need to undo his shoulder harness. We both wanted to transform the little acrobatic mid-wing ship into a cross country flyer we could ferry to shows. Most of all, we both wanted to see it flown to Arizona, to the place where my year-long journey began. Unfortunately, I quickly began to realize that even if the Sakota was ready, neither Patrick nor I would be. We both have busy schedules and the Sakota was concealing bigger headaches than either of us could foresee. The fuel tanks were close to sixteen years old, and had been manufactured at a time when ethanol-laced fuel was not a concern. The resins used in the fiberglass tanks proved to suffer from long-term exposure to mo-gas containing alcohol (or other California fuel additives) and needed to be replaced or rebuilt. Our available time to accomplish this task had run out.
A TRIUMPHANT RETURN
Finally it was time to return to Arizona and my experience was just about to come full circle. A lot happened over the previous twelve months, leaving my head spinning with memories of my great adventures. I arrived at the COPPERSTATE Fly-in only a year before with nothing more than the thought of helping out where I could but my preceding journey led me through a world I had only read about. My trip to Sun ‘n Fun with John, cohosting the fly-in at Jean, a road-trip to Idaho and back with Patrick to bring back a donated Cozy MKIII and then AirVenture ‘07 with Patrick all still seems surreal. I was now going to return to where it had all began for me. This time I not only had Patrick and John together with me, but I also had a much better idea of what we were all there to do.
I had become the person I wanted to be; I no longer only listened to the conversations, I was able to participate alongside my new friends and other enthusiasts. I found so much in common with my peers and best of all, for the first time I felt experienced and confident. I had set a goal and even though I hadn’t returned to the fly-in as PIC of my own experimental airplane, I still returned as an aviator, if not on paper, at least in spirit. Along with my friends at CONTACT! I owned a share of what I consider to be a really fantastic and beautiful airplane, plus, over the course of my yearlong adventure, I met numerous people who shared my passion and enthusiasm for experimental aviation.
COPPERSTATE 2007 saw the triumphant return of our fully recuperated John Moyle, as well as our new friend Phyllis Ridings-Murawski, who overcame her own difficulties to get to this event. See page 8 of this issue for more details on that.
Call it volunteering or just plain abuse, Pat took Nick on a road-trip from central California to Idaho and back to pick up a Cozy MKIII.
Just before COPPERSTATE, Nick got some stick time in a V-8 powered Glasair that will be on the cover of an upcoming issue of CONTACT! Magazine.
While in attendance at the 2007 COPPERSTATE Fly-in I again served as a volunteer for CONTACT! Magazine, working beside my friends and even presenting a couple of forums in the Alternative Engines tent. I reconnected with the gang from Geared Drives who, like us, had had their share of ups and downs over the course of the season and made even more cherished friendships.
With so much still ahead of me it is easier to plan my life. I used to wander aimlessly looking for my niche, never finding what I was looking for and not really fitting in anywhere. But I’ve found it now— I know that wherever life takes me I will carry along my passion for aviation and I know that I have an extended family of equally passionate members, most of whom I realize I’ve yet to meet. I want to keep it close to me and I look forward to someday passing it along, just as it was (and still is being) passed to me. I have set new goals and I am feverishly working to achieve them. I hope to earn my Sport Pilot license soon and begin flying the Sakota. I’m also looking forward to someday becoming a Sport Pilot flight instructor (hopefully sooner than later). And while it isn’t necessarily a goal, I would like to fly the Sakota to the next fly-in at Jean. Watching those guys bomb around the evening sky over the desert sure looked like a lot of fun. Maybe that will be me next time.
I believe 2008 will be the year I get my feet off the ground. And maybe, just maybe, next year I can sit down at COPPERSTATE, in the shade of the wing of the Sakota I piloted, and ponder even loftier goals. Maybe someday I can be a mentor too. ~Nick
SWITCH ON! Continued from page 2
flap of the cover-wrap for details. Alternative Engines Volume 2 is officially out of print but hopefully we’ll be able to reprint it as soon as the dust settles from printing and delivering Volume 3. Alternative Engines Volume 1 is still available. For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, Volumes 1-3 are compilation books containing 300+ pages of our past engine-only or engine -related articles. In essence, Volume 1 contains the first five years worth of engine articles, Volume 2 would be the following five years worth, and Volume 3 would be about three to four years worth, but still has the same page-count as the previous books. My guess is that in about a year or so, we’ll have enough information compiled to make Alternative Engines Volume 4. More information, as well as a full list of the contents in each volume, is available online at: www.ContactMagazine.com/Altengines.html
PRESS RELEASE
On page 32 you’ll find what appears to be a traditional press release, typical of those that fill several of the first few pages of your traditional aviation magazine. So why are we publishing something as seemingly run-of-themill as this press release? Because the product has its roots deeply entrenched in experimental aviation. It’s difficult enough to get a good experimental aviation product to market in a profitable manner, so when one of “our own” makes it to what seems to be the “big league”, I feel it’s worth celebrating. So with that, I’d like to offer a sincere congratulations to Klaus Savier and the gang at Light Speed Engineering.
A NEW MEMBER OF THE TEAM
We are thrilled to announce the addition of Nichole Scott to the staff of CONTACT! Magazine. On a strictly volunteer basis, she has taken on the chore of proofreading our work as part of her educational portfolio. We, of course, have others who have been diligently plugging away at this chore for several years, but the more eyes on the text, the cleaner the work comes out. So in addition to thanking Nichole, I’d like to thank everyone else who helps me cross “t’s” and dot the “i’s”.
LETTERS Dear Pat,
In issue #43 and #52, I chronicled the development and installation of a GM 4.3L V-6 in Ken Miller’s RV-6A. It is in its ninth year of fun flying, with well over 600 trouble free hours on its clock. This winter we plan to pull the motor apart to see how it’s holding up. I’ll send you an update article with pictures.
Keep up the good work, Stan Pitts
Pat and gang,
Development continues on the Personal Cruiser. With winter upon us, the priority is a more robust carb heat system and a new cabin heat source. Newly designed
SWITCH ON! Continued from previous page
exhaust headers contained within the cowling allows for the incorporation of these items as well as a muffler, so we’ll probably pick up a few knots from eliminating the existing short exhaust stacks.
Fuel economy has continued to improve; in testing it has been a joy to top off the fuel tanks. The average fuelburn is between $10 and $15 per hour. We installed the new Sensenich 64x52 wood prop in September. With this prop, top speed is 151 mph, (down from 156 mph with the Sterba 52x56) and our best economy is at 116 mph and 46.4 MPG. So why the change? Climb is better by 200 fpm and efficiency is improved at a lower speed.
We’re reviewing our induction system for improvement and looking at various wheel pant designs. There are plenty of areas left for drag reduction and other improvements which could easily improve top speed another 1218 mph and economy well past 50 mpg.
Recent flight-testing has revealed a slight downward pitch while slipping to a landing. It feels very intuitive, a surprising benefit of the V-tail configuration and could help to prevent an inadvertent stall.
We’re always looking to leverage recent inexpensive and proven technology for homebuilding. In development is an electric pitch-trim system which uses an actuator with an integrated microcontroller. A benefit of the design is that the trim potentiometer position will correspond exactly with the trim tab position. The system also provides for a simple LED indicator and integration of an inexpensive piezo-type gyro, currently used in hi-end radio-controlled model aircraft and UAV’s. The stability of the Personal Cruiser is very good in all axes so the addition of gyros are to add a simple means of altitude hold and possible wing leveling. The biggest benefit is the simplicity of installation and it’s near feather weight, not to mention price.
Scott VanderVeen
Pro-Composites, Inc www.pro-composites.com
AWARDS
In an effort to promote the accomplishments of our readers as well as other experimenters flying with auto conversions, this year we decided to do what we could to commemorate the achievements of those who flew their aircraft to a few of the fly-ins we’ve attended. Beginning with EAA’s AirVenture 2007, we brought along with us commemorative hats which read “I Flew My EXPERIMENTAL Aircraft to AirVenture 07”, and featured the words “Auto Power”. These hats were given away free to those who flew their experimental auto powered aircraft, and were considered a hot item among those in attendance. We continued this new tradition at our annual visit to COPPERSTATE. Again, the hats were well received and appreciated by those who flew in with auto power. If you flew in to either of these venues and didn’t get your hat, please let us know and we’ll send you one.
With the response we received from displaying the hats, we’ve decided to remove the “I flew my…” from the log and create hats that we can offer to the general public. We’ll have them available at all the shows we attend, as well as on our website, once we have them in stock.
RAFFLE
Another successful promotion we started in 2007 was to hold a raffle for a lifetime subscription to Contact! Magazine. The raffle was held at our booth during our attendance at COPPERSTATE. We had a lot of newcomers as well as current and previous subscribers purchasing $1 raffle tickets throughout the weekend. And with that, a big Congratulations goes out to our raffle winner Mr. Will Horn of Prescott, Arizona. The proceeds from the raffle will more than cover our costs unless Mr. Horn lives beyond 125 years old.
BULLETIN BOARD
While manning the CONTACT! booths we’ve found many of you bringing photos of your projects to share and discuss with us. Aside from posting these stories and photos on the website, we think another good idea would be to put up a bulletin board at each show we attend. On this bulletin board you could write a brief letter or story about your project and post it up to share with others during the show. Our next scheduled event is Sun ‘n Fun. Please consider bringing photos of your project which we may share by posting in our engine forum tent.
If you have any ideas on how we could improve our website or if your group is planning an event during our visit to shows and you would like to get the gang at CONTACT! Magazine involved, please email me with your ideas and suggestions. Lets work together to create another successful year.
CLASSIFIED ADS
You may have noticed that our classified section is looking a bit bleak this issue. The classifieds are available for free to current subscribers. It’s limited to noncommercial ads only and must include a price. Other than that, anything (aviation in nature) goes. Ads will be run for three consecutive issues before being deleted, unless the seller renews. If you have a current ad or are planning to place an ad, be sure to notify me if you sold your item(s) or your ad needs to be changed.
~Pat
By John Steere
JSteere@harmanbecker.com
John Steere’s beautiful BD-4 appeared on the cover of Issue #82 but was actually debuted in Issue #66 several years earlier. John has enjoyed hundreds of hours flying his supercharged Ford (T-Bird) V-6 powered experimental aircraft, including multiple trips to OSH. As an avid reader of CONTACT! Magazine he used an article we published and took it to the next level and is sharing that info with us. ~Pat
I read with considerable interest the article in issue #84, “Static Prop Balancer,” by Paul Lipps. Balance has not been a concern with my three-blade Warp Drive prop because it runs very smoothly, but I had a significant outof-balance condition on both of the main gear wheels on my BD-4. It looked like fabricating a wheel balance rig would be my next project, but after reading the article it became evident that the prop balancer could be used for both prop and wheel balancing with a simple adaptation.
Like most true “experimenters,” I didn’t follow the plans exactly. The differences are of little consequence and simply suit my preference and available materials. The tube is one-inch aluminum from the ACE Hardware aviation department. The ferrule was changed from aluminum to plastic and the diameter in the center was reduced by 1/16”. This creates space to wrap a piece of low-density foam tape around the center of the ferrule.
The foam tape provides enough friction against the inside of the tube to insure the ferrule will not move unless deliberately repositioned. The aluminum cap was eliminated by turning the indicator disc O.D. to match the tube O.D. While on the lathe, a wire retainer disc was turned with a counter-bore large enough to accept a knot tied in the end of a piece of 0.032” stainless safety wire.
To adapt the balancer for my wheels, simple plastic adapter rings are positioned on the tube O.D. in positions that line up with the inside of the wheel bearings. The I.D. of these adapter rings provides a snug fit to the tube, so they will stay in place while sliding the assembly through the wheel bearings. Rather than taking the time to make that nice looking steel stand shown in the article, aircraft hardware bits from my spare parts bin were attached to the opposite end of the safety wire. This allows the balancer to be suspended in space by clamping the nut in the end of my drill press chuck. The spindle return spring on the drill press is sufficient to hold the wheel in space without clamping the drill press’ spindle.
It works great! Thanks to Paul Lipps and the gang at CONTACT! Magazine for the excellent article.
