Flying Planes – Page 8
Posts about Flying Planes written by William Wynne
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New Pietenpol, Gary Boothe, Cool, Calif.

Note, if the photos are small, try hitting F5 at the top of your keyboard.

Builders;

Below are some photos and notes on Gary Boothe’s Pietenpol Aircamper. He has had the plane flying since September, and the flight testing went smoothly and all the time has long been flown off. The plane is fantastically beautiful, a real tribute to Gary’s craftsmanship. The wood details, the choice of colors and the traditional landing gear make an attractive period piece. The fact the plane flew off the phase one time with little effort and is reported to be a very efficient and sharp performer says that its mechanical side is every bit as good as the visuals. The letter from Gary included is very moving. Enjoy.-ww

Above, Gary’s Piet at its first public display. I have seen a lot of detailed photos of the plane, and the fine points are just as good as the big picture above.

Above, Gary stands with the plane in a rear quarter view. Below is a letter Gary sent out to friends when the plane was done. His letter contained a fuzzy photo of the first Pietenpol he had ever seen, 40 years earlier. His note starts with remembering that day when he was 19 years old……..

I was 19 years old…and hung-over for the first time (its own bittersweet story!). Bad as my headache was, I wasn’t in such poor shape that I couldn’t recognize the simple beauty of a Pietenpol, telling myself, “Someday…” For those who may not know, this airplane was designed by Bernard Pietenpol in 1927. It has always only existed as a set of plans, by which aviation experimenters have been building Pietenpols around the world for the past 80+ years.

Fast forward 40 years, after realizing the futility of staying in aviation and raising a family since 1985, my dream of building & flying that simple little airplane has been finally fulfilled! This airplane is a tribute to my father, a die-hard do-it-yourselfer. The FAA ‘N’ number, NX308MB, contains his initials, along with the month and year of his passing, which, not without coincidence, is the month and year that I began work on the Pietenpol. I miss you, Dad…

Moving words indeed. There are plenty of people in this world who don’t have the same ‘dream’ if they don’t get it in 40 minutes, far less 40 years. The golden rule of homebuilding: persistance Pays. If your reading this and have spent a few decades unable to shake the feeling that you need to build a plane, perhaps Gary’s example may be the best path to follow. everything he has said about the experience since the plane was completed says the dream was well worth the treasure and toil.

Over the years, I have spent a number of hours hanging out with Gary. Simply put, he is good company. He has an easy-going demeanor, and the things he says are well thought out and insightful. In a world where ever more people are personally distracted, a guy like Gary who is focused and alert enough in conversation to really stick out in a day of speaking with 200 people, is unique. Over the years I have shared a lot of different aviation stories, some mainstream that many people liked, some speaking of an experience or a subject that was well off the common path, such as working in the shop in the middle of the night and thinking about long dead friends. Subjects like that make most people uncomfortable, and the stories don’t often generate return mail. In years past Gary is one of the very few people to write in to say that he found the stories thought-provoking. Like most people, I didn’t take enough time when I was younger to really thank the people who taught me the things I know about planes. Gary is the opposite of this, he is really good about letting people know that their assistance was much appreciated. He is an all around class act.

On the subject of “why choose a Corvair?”, a few thoughts; Below is a photo of Gary’s first engine run at CC#18 in 2010. 95% of people getting into experimental aviation today don’t really care to know much about the engine that will power their plane, they will be perfectly happy to have some type of appliance with a “no user serviceable parts inside” sticker on it. This isn’t a very rewarding approach, but I can also make a good case that it isn’t a safe attitude either. In aviation, ignorance isn’t bliss, at least not in the long run. In 25 years in aviation I have seen a lot of things, but I have never seen a single person ever get hurt because the knew too much about the care and operation of their machine. Gary, and builders like him are the polar opposite of people who enter aviation with the misguided and naive belief that you can somehow spend your way to safety, like it was some product that you can purchase by the pound.

Lots of potential Pietenpol builders pick an A-65 Continental because they want a ‘reliable engine.’ The last time these engines were new was 65 years ago. Very few of the ones offered for sale are in airworthy condition, even if they are advertised as ‘reciently overhauled.’ Most of them are built back up out of people’s junk parts piles. It is very common to find Standard pistons in overbored cylinders, cranks turned .030 under, and wasted valve trains. Any person who thinks that a 65 Continental in the flymart is more reliable than a Corvair that is carefully built of new parts is delusional. Airworthyness isn’t in the old battered data plate, it is in the carefully assembled quality components.

The second factor on engine choice is support. A person picking the Continental may have some buddies,local ‘experts’ and on-line friends to advise him, but none of these people are in the profession of installing engines in experimental aircraft. Conversely, if a builder like Gary selects the Corvair as his power plant, we will directly support him. I offer every part to mount the engine on his plane, I know the W&B issues, and I make it my business to teach every detail of the Corvairs care and operation. Over time, I answered all of Gary’s questions, covered details on tuning his carb, and highly encouraged him to get a test pilot. Gary directly credited the success of his project to factors like these. And lets not forget the big one: They don’t have events called “Continental Colleges.” No one from TCM or any other engine supplier hold free Colleges where builders can build and run their engines under expert supervision.

I have done things like the Weight and Balance project that support all Piet builders, no mater what engine they have chosen. There are valid reasons why an individual might want an engine other than a Corvair for their Piet, that’s personal choice. However I do take a dim view of any suggestion that we don’t support builders, and a very dim view of the one or two ‘internet personalites’ who continuously criticise anything to do with Corvairs. In light of our service to Piet builders of all types and direct support of Corvair/Pietenpol builders, internet critics of all things Corvair reveal themselves to be vermin without anything to contribute but hollow criticism of others.

Above, the moment of truth: Gary’s Pietenpol engine firing up at Corvair College #18 in Livermore CA. He did an excellent job and it ran perfectly. If you would like to see a youtube video of the engine running, check out the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjrY-3JYjg0

Hats off to Gary Boothe, builder and flyer of an outstanding Corvair powered Pietenpol.-ww

New Pietenpol, EAA #1279, French Valley CA

Note: If the pictures are small, try hitting F5 at the top of your keyboard.

Builders;

Steve Williamson, Pres. of EAA chapter 1279 in French valley CA wrote to say that their multi-year Pietenpol project had flown. This is a very important milestone and an outstanding effort that his chapter can be very proud of. It is a little publicized statistic that less than 10% of Chapter projects are ever finished. The flight of this plane is a serious tribute to Steve and all of his chapter members. It is physical proof that they have outstanding spirit, skills and persistence. Hats off to the whole crew.

Below are some photos and a letter Steve sent, followed by some photos and notes from our flycorvair.com website, and some comments on the type of support that we offer our builders. Enjoy and learn, -ww

Above, the Piet out on the French valley ramp. 1279 wisely brought in a very experienced Piet pilot for the first flights. There is nothing unusual about the Piet, but I have a lot of respect for a person who chooses to put the most qualified pilot in the plane for the first flight, rather than the typical ‘I built it, I fly it’ mentality. The first flight went as planned, no surprises.

Above, the plane takes to the air. It has a 2700cc engine. It is built around a short fuselage and straight axle gear with spoked wheels. Below is Steve’s announcement letter:

Dear Members,

I am happy to report to all of you who have been following progress on the Pietenpol Air Camper project being built at the French Valley Airport by members of EAA Chapter 1279 that the airplane has made its maiden flight. On Saturday, January 5, 2013, long-time Pietenpol owner and pilot Scott Liefield made the trip from his home in Lancaster, California to the French Valley Airport near Temecula, California to do the honors (see photos below).

Construction on the airplane was completed in October. DAR John Shablow performed the final inspection on Saturday, October 29, 2012. As part of his inspection, John performed a formal weight and balance calculation before issuing the Certificate of Airworthiness. With all of the paperwork completed and the C of A in hand, the first flight was scheduled for Sunday, November 11. Unfortunately, an engine problem developed which delayed the first flight for a couple of months while we made the appropriate repairs.

By the first of the year everyone was satisfied that the airplane was ready to go. Scott and his father arrived early Saturday morning. We all did a thorough inspection of the airframe, making careful notes of anything that needed attention. With the engine cowling in place, we tied the tail down and started the engine. We warmed up the engine before running it up to full throttle for a full two minutes. It ran smoothly and all of the gauges were within normal operational limits. After a brief cockpit check, Scott climbed in, taxied the airplane onto the active runway, and took off. Staying within a mile or so of the field, Scott climbed to three thousand feet and checked the flying characteristics of the airplane. He later reported having to hold in some left rudder during the entire flight. This he thought could be eliminated by offsetting the leading edge of the vertical fin by a half inch. The airplane topped out at 88 miles per hour at full throttle in level flight with the engine turning 3,000 RPM. Scott said that stalls in the airplane were straight ahead with no tendency to fall off on a wing. It recovered normally with simple release of the back pressure.

After 30 minutes in the air, Scott returned and made, by his own account, one of his best landings in a long time. A perfect ending to a momentous event.

For those of us involved in the building process, it was a moment that brought smiles, hand shakes, and high fives all around. To those of you who have been following our progress through these regular updates or through our chapter website, we thank you for your interest and your encouragement.

Now we begin a new chapter in the history of Pietenpol Air Camper N1279Z. The airplane will continue to be based at French Valley and will forever be associated with EAA Chapter 1279. It is our hope that wherever we go with the airplane, it will provide inspiration to others pursuing their own dreams of building and flying their own airplane. Blue skies!

Steve Williamson, Pres. EAA Chapter 1279 French Valley, CA

What kind of support do we offer our builders? This question comes up from time to time when people on the internet who are not yet builders comment that I don’t return email questions in an hour, and they got our answering machine when they called. The 1279 Piet is a good illustration of the difference between companies that offer consumer mentality instant gratification of quick email, and ourselves who are focused on real builder support where it is effective, in-depth, and aimed at getting people safely flying. I personally find the later a more valid goal. If you are new to homebuilding, read these notes to understand what real support is.

Above is the 1279 Piet at Brodhead, the national Pietenpol gathering in 2010. Steve and his crew brought it all the way from CA to have it on static display in WI. That year it was displayed both at Brodhead and Oshkosh. While the plane was at Brodhead, I put it on electronic scales and did a full weight and balance on it to allow the 1279 guys to make adjustments to the plane before it was covered. While my work is alternative engines, I am all about getting people flying, and I have a very high degree of airframe expertise. The W&B was part of a large multi-year project I undertook to weigh 30 Pietenpols of all types and publish comprehensive data in the Brodhead Piet Association newsletter. Is there any one out there that thinks the ownership of Rotax is doing things like this for the good of homebuilders? Only an internet newbie to homebuilding would value an instant response to “E-mail sent from a Verizon Blackberry” over having an accurate weight and balance done on your actual aircraft, (at no charge to anyone.)

Steve was invited by the EAA to put on an indoor display on the project all week at Oshkosh 2010. His presentation was extremely well received. I stood in the back of the last one with the EAA’s Director of Homebuilding, Joe Norris. At the end of his presentation, I gave Steve a special present: the cast aluminum valve covers that flew on our own Pietenpol years ago. He was moved. While I had previously seen 50 chapter projects that were bound for oblivion, it was easy to see that Steve and his crew had what it took to finish and fly their plane.

Later in 2010, when I was in northern California for Corvair College #18, I made sure I reserved time to travel all the way to the southern end of the state, and I personally came out to inspect their project for a few hours, and meet with members of 1279 that I didn’t make it to Brodhead. Again, I think of this as effective support, not the appearance of it.

As Steve’s letter explains, they had an engine issue on ground testing. In all of our manuals, I specifically state that the plane is to be tied down and run at full power for 2 minutes without any type of compromise. When the 1279 guys did this, their engine lost power, and they were quick to investigate. They sent me photos which revealed that a poorly done spark plug helicoil was hanging in the combustion chamber and acting as a glow plug and tripping off detonation. With the assistance of West Coast 601/Corvair builder and pilot Ken Smith, the issue was quickly and inexpensively resolved. Steve later wrote me a letter thanking me for the flight ops manual that gave detail information on first flights and the two-minute test. He directly credited this information with preventing a disaster on the first flight. He said the plane ran well before the two-minute test, and without it, the first flight would have likely ended very poorly. Again, this is the kind of support we are focused on providing.

When the engine issue was being corrected by Ken, I took the time to track down the home phone number of Scott their test pilot. Although I had never met him, I had no hesitation to call him up at home. We had a very productive late night call that covered every detail that a guy who had never flown a Corvair powered plane might need to know. This was over an hour of time well spent. I was able to offer Scott insight not only on the Corvair, but on the specific plane he would be flying, having made the house call to see the plane in person. Combine this with knowing the builders and the guy working on the engine and having personally owned the same airframe/engine combination, and we were able to have a lot more useful combination than shallow non-truths like “it should fly like a Cub.”

Again, if there is any other alternative engine guy out there offering this kind of support, send me his name, I’d like to meet him. We would get along great. In reality, most companies don’t make house calls because there is nothing in it for them. They already have your money, they are moving on to the next sale. Most of them would be just fine if your plane was never finished or flown, their legal departments know that this is the best liability position for them. Think I’m kidding about this? Hang out very late at night at Oshkosh with me and I will take you to the bars where only the industry people go. Pull up a bar stool next to the polo shirt clad reps on their tenth beer and you can hear this type of commentary yourself. These people still rub elbows with me because I write entertaining stories like “Unicorns vs Ponies” and because they know I can write exposing things about our industry all day long and it isn’t going to change the fact that 95% of the people arriving in experimental aviation are pure consumer mentality, and have little or no interest in becoming an aviator, through the traditional Learn Build and Fly passage.

If your 2013 plan is to expand your personal capabilities in aviation, and be the master of new skills, and do this in the company of like-minded builders, then you are a 5 percenter, and you have come to the right place. I don’t have the capability or the intention of trying to change the minds of people who are only looking for a consumer experience. We are here to work with builders like Steve and the 1279 crew who are committed to really meeting the challenge of getting everything they can out of homebuilding, not just having another surface experience in a life of surface experiences. If the majority of our industry doesn’t care about traditional homebuilding, don’t let it bother you. I have always focused my work on traditional builders, and we will be here to offer them real support for the long run.-ww

Corvair College #24, reviewed in pictures, part three.

Friends,

Here is part three of the college coverage:

Above, Bill Princell’s (in gray shirt) Pietenpol engine on the stand at 2,500rpm for 15 seconds. I am verifying the full timing advance on the engine to be 30 degrees. This is done with a timing light, such as the one in my hand. For some reason, 10-15% of builders absolutely refuse to set their timing with a light, and fly the plane by only setting the timing statically. This is a sure-fire way to internally harm the engine from detonation. We have long published a very detailed 9 page instruction sheet on how to install a distributor and time it correctly, complete with pictures. It is on our main website, and we send the directions with every single distributor we sell. How can I tell in an instant that the person I am speaking with never read the instructions? We they ask me questions about what the idling timing setting is. Aviation comes with lots of instructions of all kinds. You will have more fun, spend less money and live a lot longer if you read them. (note that there is no baffle box on the engine. this is why I limited this particular un to 15 seconds. we had just removed the box after a long run to inspect the top of the engine.)

Above, photographic proof that Corvair College is a high pressure all business learning enviornment….Irv Russell and Bill Rotenberry get some serious study time in.

Above, Pietenpol guys Terry hand and Dave Aldrich speaking to each other. Dave is holding a 64 x 35 sensenich that we sold him for his Piet. Armchair experts will claim that “every light plane flies better on a 72″ prop.” That statement is the verbal ID card of a guy who understands nothing about aircraft propulsion and just parrots things he has heard. The prop in Dave’s hands is an outstanding performer on a Corvair powered plane in the Piet’s speed category. We flew it about 70 hours on the Wagabond. I would put it against any other wooden prop on a Corvair powered plane in this speed range. It will also make far more thrust than a 72″ wood prop on a 65-75-85 Continental, and would match the output of a very strong running C-90. You can look on our thrust and HP test reports and see that an O-200 tested right on a 150 isn’t a great thrust producer either. Many armchair experts often incorrectly claim the Cessna 150 has a 72″ prop, it doesn’t, it is 69″. If it would have climbed 100 fpm more with a 72″ prop Cessna would have put one on there. At its very core, homebuilding is about learning. Testing and data are the foundation of learning. parroting old wives tales never taught anyone anything.

Above, I speak with Piet builders and flyers Kevin Purtee and Shelley Tumino. Kevin wrote an in-depth article on his building and flying experience for us three weeks ago. A small facet of his experience is the accident he had this last summer. At the college he reassembled and test ran his 2,700cc Dan bearing engine that powered his plane for 340 hours. Before the college I inspected the engine carefully. Other than a broken ring gear and a bent starter from the accident, there as no damage. On general principle, I retired the crank and the cam from flying. The replacement crank was equipped with a gen 2 Dan bearing journal, but retained Kevin’s original Dan bearing housing. Dan inspected the housing before the college, and replaced the bearings. This was not required, but it was inexpensive. Here is a very convincing demonstration of the accuracy of Dan’s bearing parts: Original engine case and bearing housing, new crank and 2nd generation bearing journal: It went right back together and zeroed out exactly when the cover was bolted back on its original dowel pins. There is a common misconception that the bearing housing has to be ‘line-bored’ to be accurately affixed to the case, or that Dan’s arrangement isn’t able to be disassembled after installation. Kevin’s engine showed both of these assumptions to be wrong.

On Saturday night, we awarded the Cherry Grove Trophy to Kevin and Shelley. The trophy goes to the builders and flyers that have made a great contribution to Corvair powered flight. We have only 8 slots on the trophy, and their names are in the 5th location. In three more years we will retire the trophy and send it to The National air and space museum. Their names join Mark Langford, Dan Weseman Joe Horton and PF Beck, as outstanding members of our movement that went out of their way to make Corvair powered flight more accessible to builders that followed them. Their frequent appearances at airshows far from Texas, their constant promotion of ‘learn build and fly’ and the hosting of the highly successful Corvair college #22 made them the right people to be awarded the trophy in 2012.

Although Kevin’s day job is flying attack helicopters, he also immerses himself in experimental aviation. Every one who has met him understands him to be a very funny and friendly guy. Kevin is justifiably proud of his 31 years as a warrior, but in the setting of homebuilts, he likes to be thought of as another fellow builder. At the College he wore my sock monkey hat and Shelley had a shirt for him with the ‘hello kitty’ logo embroidered on it. Neither of these two touches worked to fully suppress Kevin’s tough guy nature, but the did very effective show that he has a good sense of humor. Man on the right is long time corvair movement builder Chris Pryce, who has just started flight training with the USAF.

Above, gratuitous Scoob E dog photo. Like many dogs, he gets nervous about being left behind when any type of packing is going on. The fact it took two days to load the trucks and trailers was almost too much for him. He was overjoyed when we finally let him sit in the vehicle several hours before we left. It was his 8th college.

Above, Local dogs Spike and Max were fascinated by all the action around the run stand.

Above, Vision builders Michelle Tomolo and Mike Schwab enjoy their smooth running 3,000 cc engine with Dan bearing. Theri Vision is about half done. It is a combination that many people are looking forward to seeing fly.

Above, packing works both coming and going, and Brian Law offered to comfort Scoob E while we packed up at the end of the day on Sunday.

Above, Grace took this very nice photo of P.F.’s Piet at sunset on Sunday.

Mike and Michelle stand by their 3,000 cc Corvair after it came off the run stand. The engine is equipped with all of our gold parts. Although headed for their Vision EX, this exact engine could power a Zenith, a Piet, a KR, or a number of homebuilts. On most installations, the only engine components that vary are the carb and the propeller. Other than these two items, virtually all parts of our standard configuration engine can be used on any Corvair powered airframe. -ww

Corvair College #24, reviewed in photos, part two.

Friends,

Tonight’s instalment of photos from college#24……

Above, I give a hands on demonstration of setting the valve adjustment on a corvair. I always prefer to do this with the pan off and the engine standing on its nose. We have a stand for this, but it could be done just as easily with a stand made from two 18″ squares of 3/4″ plywood. In this position the crank sits still and the engine rotates around it. This is how certified engines are assembled in repair stations.

Dan Heath’s KR-2 in overhead flight. It is white on top because composite planes need to stay cool in sunlight, but the bottom of the aircraft shows why he calls the plane “the Blackbird.”

Above, Dan gives a hands on demonstration of how his original 5th bearing design is field installed on an existing fully assembled engine as an upgrade. Several engines at the college featured Dan’s 2nd generation bearing which requires working with the crank out of the engine. He is still in full production on both designs because they serve different needs. Dan and I have sourced a different crank shop and nitriding facility here in Jacksonville to use in addition to our traditional work with Moldex in MI. Builders interested in having their crank done and using Dans bearing can streamline the process by having us take care of the crank and opting for a Gen 2 bearing. The crank comes back as a drop in piece and the majority of the alignment work of the bearing installation is done because the Gen 2 part on the crank is already installed and ground concentric with the crankshaft.

Above, Dan Heath, on the right, talks about his KR-2 with other builders. Many people commented that Dan’s engine installation displayed outstanding attention to detail.

Above, Irv Russell, left, gives a thumbs up after a demo flight in Phil Maxson’s 601. Irv is building a 650 but had never flown in either a 601 nor a 650. This was quickly taken care of at the college. Irv got a jump-start on building his own engine by picking up a closed case from us with a gen 2 Dan bearing already installed. We gave it to him at the discounted price because he used his core motors case and crank as a trade in.

Above, Zenith 750 builder Gaston Brawley finished and ran his 3,000 cc engine at the college. It features a Roy bearing and a lot of very nice detail work, including all of our gold parts, which match is paint job. His alternator bracket is in place, but we rarely run a charging system on a break in run.

Above, Corvair college #20 grad Jon Coxwell had the company of his son at #24, and the pleasure of finishing and running his Aircamper engine. Here both father and son give thumbs up.

Above, another photo of air inlet rings. This is Phil Maxson’s 601 cowl. It is one of our older one piece units. Phil’s plane was finished in our old Edgewater hangar in the spring of 2006. His cowl has been in the same configuration since then, and he has never had any type of heat issue. At the College he flew down with a 3,100cc engine built by Mike Robitie for mikes Cleanex project. Phil is good friends with Mike and opted to break the engine in on Phil’s 601. The history of this plane is a good example that we have long known how to install the Corvair on the Zenith airframe, our own 601 first flying almost 9 years ago. Builders of these airframes have a very proven path to follow.

Above, something of a coincidence: notice the names, Builders Michelle Tomalo and Shelly Tominio, sisters in Corvairhood, they even look a little bit alike.

Above, At the Friday night dinner, Local host P F Beck took the time to thank his outstanding crew. They did a great job and stayed late into the night and to the last builder was gone on Sunday. We wanted for nothing at the event, these guys set the standard for host performance.

Above, Dan stands beside is 3,000 cc Panther Prototype engine. It is the first engine running with his new, made in America, billet crankshaft. Note that it also has our jointly developed rear alternator arrangement. (a little more full output load testing takes place this week) At the College the engine Greg Crouchley built for his Waiex airframe also featured one of Dan’s billet cranks fitted with a gen 2 bearing. While they are not required, they are the last word in strength an a good value when measured against the extreme cost of buy-it-in-a-box imported engines.-ww

Corvair College #24, reviewed in photos, part one.

Friends,

Corvair College #24, the third one we held at Barnwell South Carolina, is now in the history books. After most colleges I sit down and write down a lot of thoughts and ideas that came with the college experience, mix them in with many photos and share them with builders. This review will be a little different, I’ll just let the photos tell the story with minimal captions.

We made it home only 18 hours ago. I slept less than 2 hours the night before leaving, and worked from 7:30 am until 1 am each day of the college. We didn’t leave Sunday until an hour after dark. Today we spent unpacking, as we came up in 3 trucks and 2 trailers. Pictures seem appropriate to cover the story now because my memories of the event are more of a montage of small moments rather than a story line with a central theme. In a week or two that will probably emerge out of the images, but for tonight, every picture will have to tell it’s own story.

Above, One of the first planes on hand, Jerry Baak’s 601XL with conventional gear. First time I had seen this plane in person. 2,700 cc with a Dan bearing, and all of our components.

Above, Pietenpols of Don Harper (near) and PF Beck (far). They are sister ships in almost every way, with two exceptions: Don’s is a long fuselage and it had a Ribblett airfoil instead of a traditional Pietenpol airfoil. Shortly, PF will be able to offer factual comparative data on the flight performance of each of the airfoils. On the internet, armchair aerodynamictists have pontificated about this from imaginary data for years. Thanks to PF and Don, we will have information worth reading.

Above, Jerry’s engine compartment. Magnificent workmanship. Our Heavy duty oil system fits exactly as intended with the Weseman baffling kit. Plane uses a MA3-spa carb.

Above, our standard 13″ spinner and 66″ warp drive prop combination. note air inlet rings. Jerry reports that the plane runs cool.

Above, Zenith 650 builder and CC#22 grad Larry Magruder works on his 2,700cc Dan bearing engine. It ran on the stand on the last day of the college.

Above, A look at Don’s engine compartment with swing out side panel. This plane uses a front starter and a basic 4 bearing set up.

Above, Pietenpol builder Terry Hand showed up with a very rare find. This is an original 1933 design steel tube fuselage for a Piet made to the flying and glider manual drawings. It was less than half the weight of a steel tube fuselage built to Grega plans. On the front we test fit the high thrust line Piet mount we made for Bob Dewinter’s Piet. We brought this fuselage back to our hangar to make Terry a custom mount and set of die spring landing gear legs. We will have more on this in the next two months.

Above, Corvair college #12 and #16 host Ed Fisher (left) speaks with Brother Roy. Ed has restarted the Sport Aviation Association, Paul Poberesney’s grass-roots aviation group. He has a membership of nearly 750 hard-core traditional homebuilders signed up for it. It is purely about home building, by homebuilders, for homebuilders.

Above, KR-2 pilot Dan Heath flew in for his second year in a row at Barnwell. The plane was looking sharp with a new paint job. The engine is a 2,700 cc Roy bearing engine that has many of our components including our KR/Corvair cowl. The prop is a 54 x 54 Sensenich, the Carb is an Ellison EFS-3A.

Below, father,son and grandson team of the Reddits working on their engine core, destined to be a 3,000 cc engine powering the family project, a Zenith 750.

Above, Phil Maxson of NJ with his Corvair powered 601 XL that has been flying since 2006.

Above, Brian Dempsy, long time EAA member, noted formula V air racer and former C1a world record speed holder works on his Corvair at the college. Brian’s best known aircraft is the racer “Miss Annapolis”.

Part two tomorrow…….

Pietenpol Products, Motor mounts, Gear and Instalation Components.

Friends,

Below is a series of photos explaining some of the parts we make for Corvair powered Pietenpols. The photos span more than 15 years. I am not a new arrival to the Pietenpol fan club. I can make a very good case that Bernard Pietenpol is the patron saint of homebuilding, the original man who championed the cause of affordable flying for the working class. I have done a lot of work with Pietenpols over the years from building and flying to the weight and balance project, to making several pilgrimages to Cherry Grove. If experimental aviation is supposed to develop your craftsmanship, practicality and self-reliance, following the life work of Bernard Pietenpol has to be the best compass course ever.

My work is Corvair powered Pietenpols has developed from first hand experience over a long time. There are many people who have flown or built a Piet or even two. They probably like the way theirs was set up, people tend to like the plane they know. Very few builders can say they made as many changes and comparatively tested them, had many different pilots fly the same aircraft and offer independent evaluations. Most people have seen photos of Bernard’s personal aircraft: I have performed weigh and balance work on them, my wife has flown the last original, and we later rebuilt the engine on it. I have gone on to make parts that have flown on dozens of Piets. I have even personally studied the results of Piet accidents to learn design detail information. My only allegiance was to what tested better. I am not suggesting that I am some kind of special expert here, I am just saying that I have invested a lot of time and work, it was a labor of love, and I am confident in the data presented. If builders can use the information, good. If it treads on anyone’s differing perspective, they are free to ignore it.

Above, our master welder and side kick Vern takes Bob “Earlybuilder” Dewinter’s motor mount out of our Piet Jig. Bob is picking this up at CC#24 after we have it powdercoated. This is what I call a high thrust line mount, as the thrust line is 3″ higher that a stock BHP mount. Later photos will show the difference on the plane. This mount has a overalll length from the firewall to the prop flange of 32″. This has plenty of room behind the engine, but most important, it is the beneficiary of all the weight and balance data we collected by measuring 30 different Piets on the same electronic scales. Piets have a chronic aft CG problem caused by heavier pilots, light engines and no planning. This mount is part of a very well-developed plan for Corvair Piet builders to follow.

Above is the same mount bolted on a Corvair with our standard intake an MA3 carb and a rear alternator. All of our components are integrated to work together on this.

The above photo shows how our Gold oil pan or our welded oil pan clear the diagonal brace at the front of the mount. Putting it in this position makes the mount very rigid, and gives plenty of room for an uncluttered carb and air filter. The mount is very well-built and 100% TIG welded out of US made 4130 tubing. Dan Weseman stopped by, checked it out in the jig and pronounced that he would fly a snap roll with it. The mount weighs slightly over 5 pounds. It could have been built to weigh 3.5 pounds, and been fine for the way most people fly, but in my judgement, this is the wrong place to look for a 26 ounce weight savings on a plane.

Above, My Pietenpol at the last hours of Sun n Fun 1996. From L to R, Gus Warren, Steve Upson and yours truly. The photo was taken by Mary Jones, the EAA’s editor. We are all smiles, but in reality we were nursing brutal hangovers from drinking “Muzzeloader” (moonshine) at the ultralight party the night before. Note the test cowl that functions like the air box on the test stand. At this point, the plane still had a stock thrust line and stock short landing gear legs. If you look at the cowl there is a 6″ wide filler stripe of aluminum in it. That is due to the motor mount being extended 6″ in one shot to test different CG locations. It flew much better with the CG forward. There are far too many Piets flying at the aft end of the CG range. It only feels acceptable to a pilot who has not flown one with the CG where Bernard intended it to be.

Above, Grace and I stand with my Pietenpol in 2000, the day before Corvair College#1. This is the same airframe after a large re-work in 1998-99. Get a good look at the height difference in this photo and the one before. This has two factors, first the thrust line is 3″ higher on a new mount and the landing gear is completely re-made from scratch and is 6″ taller. Note that it has die springs. Get a good look at the camber angle of the tires with the plane unloaded. This is by design, it gave the plane excellent ground handling. The plane had a large muffler under the belly.

Above, side view of the plane taken the same day at Spruce Creek Fly-in, our airport from 1991-2003. My Piet had a short fuselage. No one should build a short fuse plane today, there is no reason to, it is a complete myth that they have a better CG situation. Notice the new deck angle on the plane. With more angle of attack the plane could be three point landed at 10 mph slower. Look at the axle location of the gear in relation to the LE of the wing. This gear was set to be slightly ahead of the wing in level flight. The brakes on the plane were 6×6 Cleveland hydraulic drums off a Tripacer. This combination of slow landing speed, forward gear and good brakes meant that the plane could actually make landings in 200 feet. Maybe you don’t plan on flying like that, but every year at least one builder who blindly built his landing gear 7″ behind the LE in accordance with the 1933 plans, puts his aircraft on its back. Planes in ’33 didn’t have brakes and always landed at “Airfields” where you landed directly into the wind. Cross winds and brakes mean it is best to have the gear on your plane where BHP migrated his to in the 1960s, near the leading edge of the wing.

Above, BHP’s last original, Corvair powered of course. This plane has 800 hours on it today, it lives at Brodhead and belongs to our friend Bill Knight. We did the weight and Ballance on this plane two years ago and overhauled the engine last year. On the outside it looks just like BHP made it, but inside it has a nitrided crank, Arp bolts forged pistons and one of our Black prop hubs and hybrid studs. Look closely and understand that BHP kept the thrust line low because he had the stock automotive blower fan on the engine, which sticks up higher than our electric starter set up. Running no fan is what allows us to move the engine up. BHP’s Corvair Thrust line was very near the location of the Ford’s thrust line. It was a familiar location, but if you look at most classic planes, the thrust line is closer to the top longeron. In a parasol, there are aerodynamic reasons why it is better off higher on the fuselage. There are also practical reasons like having more room under the engine for the carb and airfiler, and not having these items too low and prone to damage in an accident. Note that the last original has the main axles far forward and it has die spring in a tube gear like we made the last week for Bob lester’s Piet.

Above, another look at the 2000 version of my Piet. Long gear leges and a high thrust line contribute to the plane having a ‘jaunty’ look. The empty weight of this plane was 734#. Not bad for a plane with electric start and brakes and a wet center section of 18 gallons. The rail under the tank is a fuel manifold moulded into the bottom of the center section that would drain all the fuel out of the wing at any angle of climb or decent. My mistake was plumbing it with hard lines instead of braided steel hoses. It could fly in CG with any pilot from 128 pounds to one that weighed 290. It logged about 350 hours in this configuration. Grace produced the cowl by using 2″ scotch brite pads on a radial arm drill press to ‘machine turn’ the cowl. The curve in the paint was traced from a garbage can lid. I dislike a hard paint line between the fuselage and the cowl, a simple curve does a lot to improve the look. Same idea has been on countless classic planes including the last original.

A look at the front end of the plane: The spinner is an 11″ aluminum. I had problems with it cracking and have never had an issue with a fiberglass one. The prop is a 66″ warp drive. Cowling was hinged on the bottom panel to open up in minutes for full inspection. Boxy eyebrow cooling ducts were interconnected in the back by a 3″ scat hose. They were intended to be a quick test made of scrap aluminum, but we had enough fun flying I never got around to changing them.

If you are a Pietenpol builder and you need a motor mount, spring gear, and intake or exhaust, just drop us a note, we will be glad to help.-ww

Corvair Powered Merlin Flying Over Newfoundland

Friends,

Below is a retrospective story of building and flying from Newfoundland’s Jeff Moores. He built and has flown a Merlin GT on Full Lotus floats for many years. A while back he opted to move to Corvair power and built up a very nice 2,700 cc Weseman bearing engine that features a lot of our catalog parts, including Gold Systems and a Universal #2 Exhaust.

By being very careful on airframe weight, Jeff states that the Corvair meets or exceeds his expectations. In a long conversation, Jeff explained to me that the “weight spiral,” where an overweight plane gets bigger on several fronts (big engine leads to more fuel in a heavier tank, etc.), actually hits seaplanes two-fold, because when they get heavy they have to switch up a float size to have the buoyancy, and in turn these floats are bigger, adding more drag and weight, which leads to being down on available power. It was a very interesting and practical lesson from a guy who has been flying on floats in a challenging enviroment for a long time. I suspect that until Claude Adams has his 750 flying in Alaska, Jeff will remain the world’s northern-most Corvair pilot. – ww

William asked me to write something about my interest in and my history of flying; something along the lines of Kevin Purtee’s article. For me it’s been a real trip down memory lane!

I grew up in the 1970s and ’80s in St. John’s, the capital city of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. My first fascination was with engines. My second was airplanes because they have engines! I was never interested in jets, moon landings, or supersonic flight. My favorite planes were, and still are, bush planes. I remember at a very young age hearing and seeing a de Havilland Beaver on skis in the distance on a cold winter’s day. The drone of that 450 hp P&W radial echoing in the distance … wow. If you have ever watched “Never Cry Wolf” and have listened to the Beaver takeoff after leaving Tyler on the snow-covered ice you know what I mean (crank up the sound and rattle the speakers). I love Cubs, Taylorcraft, Stinsons, Norseman, and most any low and slow tube and fabric aircraft, especially on floats. Oh yeah – I love Pietenpols as well!!

My father was a heavy equipment mechanic for the City-owned busses. He worked there for 42 years before retiring in 1992. He had many interests; anything mechanical, music, drawing, electronics, fishing, and hunting. He died last October at the age of 80 after a 3-year illness. When I was a kid, he had a subscription to Popular Science Magazine which always contained an ad for the Bensen Gyrocopter. He ordered the plans, which we both stared at and studied many times over the years, but he could not afford to buy any parts while supporting a family on a $50/week 1970s mechanic’s salary.

When I got my first job pumping gas at age 16, I saved some money and we went halves on a Gyro kit. By the time I was 18, we had also bought a 72hp Mac. engine. I traveled to the Bensen dealer in Manitoba and soloed their 2-place machine. I flew ours for a few years on wheels.

Our Bensen gyro in flight

Later we converted it to plans-built wood/fiberglass floats. On the fourth flight – the first day on floats – I misjudged the landing. The float tips dug in and it flipped over. I was under water and upside down in an instant. I remember thinking “I’m going to drown right here, right now”. Luckily I didn’t panic and managed to free myself from the machine and swim to the surface. The gyro was a mess. Dad said when the blades hit the water they stopped immediately. The mast had absorbed the energy and it snapped off behind my back. I emerged without a scratch.

Retrieving the gyro the day after the crash

That evening I called my buddy Ray Hawco to ask if he could take me flying in his Cessna 172 on floats as soon as possible. I knew if I didn’t “jump back on the horse” I would probably never fly again.

I spent a few years after this flying RC models, which was fun but not the same as flying for real. During this time, I had married and completed training as an automotive technician. I began flying training in a Merlin ultralight in 1994. The chap who owned the flying school let me maintain the aircraft in exchange for flying lessons and later for solo time. A few years later, I completed Aircraft Maintenance training in Gander, Newfoundland.

I couldn’t resist when an automotive instructor position was offered at the local community college. I have been there over 20 years now but I always find myself being tugged between the automotive and aviation trades. I prefer to work on airplanes!

Replacing pistons and cylinders on a C-172

I scratch built my Merlin with dad’s help between 1995 and ’96. Many of the tedious parts like brackets, ribs and tabs were fashioned by him.

Dad fitting the ribs to the wing spar

I cut and notched all of the tubes for the fuselage and tack welded them. The finish welding was done by the welding shop at the College by 4th year students. The welding shop also built a bending brake for me to bend the aluminum sheet for the wing D cells. We also scratch-built the aluminum wing spars. There were never any plans available for the Merlin. However, I had worked on several over the years and had taken many measurements. I couldn’t afford to buy a kit back then but it looked fairly straight-forward to build. I put all of my spare time into it, including my summer vacation, so it got finished in about 13 months.

The first flights of my Merlin took place in October 1996 with a Rotax 532 2-stroke. It flew just as well as other Merlins I had flown over the previous years.I later upgraded to a Rotax 618 which I put about 900 hours on.

Arriving at our family cottage

The two stroke Rotaxes have to be rebuilt at 350 hours, so I had rebuilt the 618 three times. Each rebuild, which includes a new crank, costs around $2000 for parts. They are rough running at the best of times especially below 3000 RPM. The steel frame fabric Merlin acts like a drum magnifying the noise and vibration. Cruising at 6000 RPM I was always anxiously waiting for the engine to explode.

I have always wanted a 4-stroke engine in my plane. When the 912 was introduced around ’98 and followed by the 912S most of the new Merlin kits that were being built here at the time had this engine installed. I had installed and maintained a number of these for owners and found them to be a great little engine with lots of torque. However they were and still are hugely overpriced and the price of parts is ridiculous. A new 912S was around $20,000 (more now). You could buy a good 0-320 for less. Even the few used ones I found were well overpriced.

I had been aware of the Corvair conversion for many years. However I had only seen it in magazines used in “fast” airplanes such as the KR. We actually had a new one at the College many years ago. It had been donated by the local GM dealer in the 60’s for training and was mounted on a stand. When I replaced the retiring instructor in ’89 I decided to get rid of the old stuff he had accumulated over 30 years. You are not going to believe this, but I threw the complete thing in the dumpster!! This was before I knew it could be used in an airplane.

While surfing YouTube about three years ago listening to various airplane engine startups, I stumbled on Gus’ Corvair 701; a slow draggy airplane somewhat like the Merlin. I literally said to my wife who was in the other room to come and listen to this!!! I announced “This will be the new engine for our Merlin.” She has always encouraged and supported me in my aviation interest.

Just after our flight in a Standard biplane at Rhinebeck Aerodrome

I found www.FlyCorvair.com and ordered the Conversion Manual. I quickly located a core engine locally and began the disassembly.

My core engine

Ordering parts and reassembly followed but got interrupted several times by work and dad’s illness. I had the heads and cylinders reconditioned locally by a long time friend/machinist. The crank went to Nitron. When the crank issues surfaced, I ordered a Weseman Bearing. I finally ran it on a test stand last summer and installed it in the plane over last winter.

Removing the 618

Merlin with Corvair installed

The do or die moment was in June this year. I had high speed taxied it back and forth the pond (lake) several times on the step. Except for a low ceiling and some drizzle which I had flown in many times before, the conditions were perfect – light wind, no boat or air traffic … there was no excuse. Full power, on the step and liftoff!! Positive climb rate, over the trees at the end of the pond – now I’m committed. Man this thing is smooth. Around the circuit several times, starting to drizzle more … don’t push it, Jeff. Come around over the highway … don’t forget the carb heat! Throttle back, little touch of power … perfect landing!!!! Taxi in to the shore with a huge grin. I love this engine.

My cowling was initially intended to be temporary. I built it quickly this spring utilizing a Dan Weseman nosebowl and baffle kit to allow test flying ASAP. This winter I plan to raise the top of the panel to match the top of a new cowling. I will also need to cut my windshield at the bottom to make it shorter. Once finished, it will be painted to match the fuselage.

Current cowling

Why do I enjoy flying so much? I guess I’m addicted. It is unlike any other activity. I continued to fly after a bad crash. Not a day goes by that I do not spend time thinking about it if I’m not able to fly. I would fly every day if we had better weather here. As I write this, the weather is forecast for at least four more days of RDF (rain, drizzle, and fog). It’s been like this for a week. Newfoundland is a large island stuck out in the cold North Atlantic Ocean. We are part of Canada politically but not geographically and our weather is very different from the mainland. We set records for fog, rain, snow, and wind. It is very windy here most of the time. When it is sunny, it is windy. When it is cloudy, it is windy. When it rains, the rain is horizontal. When it is foggy, it is not windy because that would blow the fog away!!

Gusty wind take-off at sunset

I follow the weather closely to get every bit of flying I possibly can. Even a 15 minute flight before dark after work provides me with a fix. I usually don’t go very far; but I don’t have to be in the middle of uninhabited wilderness. Low and slow over barrens, lakes, rocks, and trees. When the weather is good, it is beautiful here.

December 29, 2010 – we had snow just 2 weeks before this

Sunset flight over our family cottage

Last summer my wife and I bought land on Paddy’s Pond and built a hangar. For the past 15 years, my Merlin was out in the elements from April to November and in storage with other aircraft for the rest of the time.

Tied down in preparation for Hurricane Igor

Now it has a “home” to protect it, make it last longer and extend the flying season into the winter.

Hangar under construction

The beautiful smooth Corvair engine is a pure joy to fly. For me it just keeps getting better.

Patrick Hoyt, new Zenith 601XL, now flying, N-63PZ

Friends,

We heard last night that one of the best liked and most respected builders in the Corvair movement, Patrick Hoyt, changed his status from ‘builder’ to ‘builder & flyer’. Patrick has been hard at building for a number of years, but has always rounded out his aviation seasons by heading to events like Brodhead, Oshkosh and a College. His easy-going nature and travels made has made him one of the movements better known builders, and many people were glad to spread the news that Patrick had passed the milestone of his first flight.

Above is a picture of Patrick’s aircraft. It has a 650 canopy arrangement, but the airframe is a 601XLB. The photo is from an article written for the experimenter by Corvair/Wagabond builder John Schmidt. The whole article can be seen at this link: http://www.eaa.org/experimenter/articles/2012-05_learning.asp John and Patrick are good friends and the story is written with the benefit of this perspective. It also recognizes the positive support Patrick enjoys from his wife Mary. Patrick’s plane has a 2700cc Corvair with a Dan bearing and all of our Gold system parts and installation components.

We are now entering our 9th year of Corvair powered Zeniths. Patrick’s plane is the 61st 601/650 to fly on Corvair power. After our personal 601 was the first in may 2004, It took 3 more years to get another four of them flying. Builders have their own pace, commitments and priorities and to see a large positive impact, you have to be in this for the long run. Patrick’s plane follows Jim Ballew’s 601 by only 3 weeks. Lately we have had new Corvair powered Zeniths taking to the sky at 15-20 day intervals. I regard builders as friends, not just customers, and it is very rewarding to play a role in the achievement of an ever-increasing number of builders.

We received this note from Patrick last night:

“Hi William. I took N63PZ up for the first time today, shortly after sunrise. Other than being the experience of a lifetime, the actual flight was uneventful. Wonderful that we live in a country and in a time in history when this is even imaginable. To think that I built this airplane and the engine with my own two hands, along with the generosity and inspiration of so many others. Sure it took a few years, but I did it, and today I flew it. I really appreciate everything that you’ve shared over the years. I’ve learned a lot from you.

Thanks,Patrick Hoyt

N63PZ

601XL/Corvair”

Above, Gary Boothe on the left and Patrick Hoyt on the right point to their hometowns on a map at Brodhead in 2009. The golden rule of homebuilding is persistence pays. Both of these men just started flying their Corvair powered planes, Gary his Pietenpol and Patrick his Zenith. In the experimental aircraft industry as a whole, the completion rate is a pathetic 20%. Salesmen, promoters and many journalists try to bury this statistic, because they belive it is bad publicity. If pushed, the three groups above are very quick to lay the blame on builders themselves.

Our builders have a completion rate at least twice as high as the industry average. Why? because I know that the ‘blame the builder’ line is BS. The real reason why the rate is low is because our industry is focused on getting you to sign a check and buy something. That is their measure of success. Conversely, I am focused on getting people flying. These are two very different goals, and the first is never going to improve the completion rate, in fact it hurts it because neither a salesmen in search of a buyer of a journalist in search of an exciting story are likely to accurately describe the long term commitment that is the only path to success.

Both Gary and Patrick in the above photo spent many years building their planes. The strongest indictment of ‘blame the builder’ mentality is a simple one: The average life span on a new LLC formed in our industry, often positively reviewed in our press is 36-48 months to bankruptcy. If the average successful homebuilder takes longer than this to complete his plane, it is plain to see that the majority of our industry is focused on selling things, not supporting them. What builders are slow to learn is that these LLC’s are designed to have this short lifespan. They are not forced into it by troubled times. The goal of the people who started them was to get all the easy money of kit sales without ever having to follow through with far less profitable long-term support. the LLC format allows them to walk away without any financial responsiblity. Often they will be back with another LLC in a year or less, and journalists who are oblivious or playing along with the system don’t make the connections for new builders.

Being a successful builder like Patrick and Gary requires you to avoid the pitfalls of our industry. Deciding to only work with people who are committed to long-term success, support, and the goal of your aircraft flying. We have been working with Corvair flight engines since 1989. I have had the privilege of playing a supporting role in the successful completion and flight of several hundred homebuilts. If you have dreams and persistence, we will be glad to play a long-term supporting role in your personal aviation sucess story.-ww

New die spring landing gear on a Pietenpol, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Friends,

Last week I wrote a report of the weight & balance and performance of Bob Lester’s Pietenpol going from a 65 hp Lycoming to 100 Corvair ponies. Here are some photos of the conversion, and an important improvement Vern and I made in the plane at my hangar. Bob flew the plane over in the morning, we did the work, and he flew it home in the afternoon. In my book, this type of gear is an improvement over bungees. Bob had just replaced his bungees, but had a very hard time getting enough tension on them, so his plane sagged. Bungees have worked on a hundred thousand light aircraft, but here is a look at an alternative system that I have used for many years.

Above, Bob’s aircraft on the ramp in our front yard at 10 am. It is easy to see that the gear is splayed out terribly. The bottom of the fuselage at the front gear attach fitting was only 22″ off the ground. I was motivated to fix this for Bob first because it is dangerous due to poor handling and the potential for a prop strike. Bob isn’t a welder, and I didn’t want him to keep flying it until something happened, The plane did have safety cables under the bungees, but they turned out to be boat cable, something I wouldn’t trust. Beyond all this, aircraft that have the gear like this look as if they are massively overweight. I didn’t want anyone to come to the false conclusion that it was the additional weight of the electric start corvair that was doing this. The only light aircraft that has the gear like this is the ugly “Texas Taildragger” Cessna 150 STC’ed conversions. Besides, gross wheel camber like this reminds me of lowered Honda cars driven by teenagers with their underwear sticking out of their pants, booming rap songs and 4″ diameter mufflers with the exhaust tone of a flatulent elephant sitting in a mud puddle. If you compare this with the photos of the aircraft when it still had the Lycoming, keep in mind that Bob had tried to re-wrap the bungees in between the photos.

Above, on the welding bench in my hangar. The red part is the original bungee strut. Above it is the steel die spring and the tube that houses it. We cut the ends off the red part and grafted them on to the new tubes. The springs are available from A/C spruce for about $100. Their rating is 1200 pounds per inch. They are 1″ ID, 2″ OD, and 6″ long. the spring works in compression. The 2.25″ outer tube is fixed to landing gear frame at the top. The 1″ tube works as a plunger. It passes up the middle of the spring to a washer welded on it above the spring. When the plane lands, this strut elongates by compressing the spring. Many people have seen the reverse of this system with external springs with complex machines slots. I made that style for my Pietenpol in 1997. It required a mill and some precision work. After making it I got a chance to see an aircraft that Bernard Pietenpol himself had built. It used this external tube system. Brilliant, just as you would expect from the patron saint of homebuilding. The tube method has no milling, has no high shear points, is self aligning because the two ends are free to rotate., and had obviously worked for a few decades. But be forwarned, if you choose to put this on your plane, you will still have a handful of people tell you it will never work. (take their photo and name down, send it in and we will all make fun of them together.)

Above, I trim the ends of the main tube square in the lathe before welding. This makes it easy to get a great vee notch for penetration on the end caps. The 1″ bit is sticking into the tube to keep it from going into low earth orbit if it get lose in the chuck. We trim the tube to 6.25″ overall. This length has a great harmonic”ringing” sound if you get the tool shape just so, it gives the feeling of the fillings in your teeth falling out.

Above, a 2,25″ heavy-duty washer gets welded on each end of the main tube. The hole in the middle of it has to be drilled for a slip fit on the 1″ tube. The first weld is done without the spring or 1″ tube in place.

Above shows the 2″ washers welded onto the 1″ tube. The spring has to be inserted before assembly.

Above is a head on view of what Vern and I were working on curing. Bobs plane flies great, but letting this go would not show well and potentially end up putting the word “Corvair” in an accident report some where. I have devoted more than 20 years of my professional life to Corvair powered planes. I am in this for the long run, and letting something like this go, even if it never broke, projects a poor image of the Corvair movement. Besides I have been friends with Bob for 13 years, and I want him to have a sharp-looking, safe plane.

Above, the spring is inserted into the tube, the plunger goes through it, and the top cap gets welded on the spring gets a slight compression to prevent it from being noisy. In a ground loop, this system goes metal to metal in compression, just like a bungee system does. The part in the vice grips is the top cap, with the fitting taken from the red strut and blasted clean and pre welded on. If I was building from scratch, I would use a rod end or a fork. (off the topic, but Irwin made vice grips in the USA for decades. Today they are made in China. This disgusts me. CEO’s that make decisions like that should have their citizenship revoked and be sent to China themselves, but then we would have to send the new president of the EAA to Mao Se Tung land also. He was the CEO who sent the Cessna 162 to China. Google his name and the words “60 minutes, CEO, fraudulent engineering degree” for a nice look at his integrity.)http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=d75a19ed-4ce3-4ddf-abc4-7b2da56dc1db

Above, top cap being welded on. You could not gas weld this without hurting the spring inside, but it isn’t an issue for a tig welder.

Above, one side down, one to go. This is a significant drag reduction when you also consider the bungees bags. Heat and some oil are the enemies of the bungees. However, the steel spring would only consider getting baked and a fine mist of oil a form of love and care.

To save people who live for worry, speculation and internet drama the hassle of thinking up their own troubling questions, I provide them the questions pre-made:

Why does that long-haired, opinionated mechanic William Wynne think this system would even work? What makes him think springs are tough enough? Maybe they are no better than bungees. William’s thinking of selling kits to do this, so if he might make 25 cents, and doesn’t that mean we can’t trust him to give us an impartial review? Wouldn’t I be better off taking the advice of a guy on a Matronics list who has never flown nor built one of these? That guy wouldn’t ever write back with an unsubstantiated claim would he?

OK, look above. This is the underside of the hangar gang wagabond. I welded this gear up in 2004. It has flown many hours and landed at over 1600 pounds gross. It works well period. I am not a great pilot, but I was well schooled by two masters. The only time I have in my log book in any tricycle geared aircraft is a single 30 minute flight in a 1963 Cessna 150 in 1999. I went to the airport that day and my old school instructor said “There are some things you should do once in your life, but not speak of….Today you fly the Cessna one filthy.” It was hardly the trip to adult entertainment section of Bogota Colombia I first thought he was hinting at.

Seriously, I have flown a number of classic conventional geared aircraft to know what a well-engineered, well-behaved one feels like. A far better evaluation is that a number of super-skilled pilots flew both my Pietenpol and the Wagabond, and pronounced them to have excellent handling. How tough are the springs? The ones in the Wagabond gear are actually salvaged from my Pietenpol wreck in 2001. They worked for hundreds of hours in the Piet, got smashed into the ground at 15 or 20 G’s, were BBQ’ed by the plane burning to a cinder, laid in a rainy field for 6 months, and then I cleaned them off and saved them for the next project, which turned out to be the Wagabond in 2004. Until they invent the elastic asbestos bungee, you can’t claim a bungee is this tough. (actually someone will, but ignore them.) Bungees are date coded. and they are to be taken out of service every few years. It may creep you out, but steel springs will out live you.

Above, in the fitting process, we held the aircraft up with the hoist and telescoped the original tube bottom into the 1″ tube. We tacked it with a mig welder and rolled it back and forth to have it settle. We checked every thing with levels, and actually cut the tacks on the right side twice. On the third try the plane sat perfectly level. The struts turned out to not be the same exact length because the original builder in the 1970’s didn’t make everything symmetrical. It takes a small error here to make the plane have a wing tip an inch lower on one side. In other planes this could be completely avoided by having adjustable rod ends or forks on the ends. When perfect, we pulled them back out and TIG welded them on the bench with the proper rosette welds. Graces’s Taylorcraft and our 1-26 sit on the front lawn in the background.

Above, the finished product at 4pm. Ugly and dangerous duckling transformed in 6 hours, including a lunch siesta. The new ride height is 26.5 inches under the fuse at the front fitting. While it looks tall, scratch built gear on a piet can be much taller. Look at Photos of my blue Piet and you will see that the gear was 30″ under the fuselage. This extra angle of attack available in the three-point attitude allows the plane to land far slower, and stop shorter. It also looks a lot better. If anyone says “but you will not be able to see over the nose.” suggest that they go ask the guy they paid for a conventional gear check out for a refund. Ask an old school instructor if looking over the nose in the flare is a “technique,” and he will probably slug you like Buzz Aldrin decking a conspiracy nut job.( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRBesDx1WQc )

Very important to handling, when the plane is empty and at rest, the tops of the tires should be slightly further apart than the bottoms. Only when the plane is actually taxing at full gross weight should the tires come close to vertical. When the plane lands, the gear, if it is steel leaf, steel coil, bungee or Aluminum, has spring rate, but no damping itself. All the damping comes from the action of scrubbing the tires from the orignal camber, through vertical and then a little bit further. This is a very powerful damping force, especially on pavement. If the tires start out as vertical, the system forfeits much of the available damping, and starts heading back to the original incorrect camber. I know arcane details like this because I spent 5.5 years of my life at Embry Riddle. (If I had only known that I could one day be president of the EAA with a fake engineering diploma for credentials, imagine how much time and money I could have saved.)

Above, Bob with his re-done aircraft. This is a radically different aircraft than it was a few months ago. It when from barely having a positive rate of climb with two people on a hot day to being able to climb 800 feet per minute at the same load and conditions. It now has safe and smart-looking gear that works correctly. The plane is 25 mph faster now on the top end. For reference, Bob is 5’7″ or so.

Above Grace, Chris Welsh, Terry and Vern stand at the edge of our lawn and the runway. They are watching Bobs test taxi and flight on the new gear. The plane looked so much better than it had a few hours before, I was filled with a sense of pride in the skills, understanding, tools and capability I had painstakingly worked for over the last two and a half decades.

If you have never met me, but read this and think that I am charmed with myself, you got it all wrong. I know countless humans who are better people than I. They are kinder, smarter, and harder working. I can’t sing nor dance, I learn slowly, and I can’t stand to hear my recorded voice nor see my image on film. If I was once handsome, all trace of it is gone along with my uncorrected eyesight. I can be a conversational bore, and I deeply wish I had given my parents more moments to be proud of me. At 50 I look back on my life with a very critical eye and stand on the far side of a very wide gulf from the heroes of my youth. Even our dog, impeccably honest and loyal as canines are, Loves Grace and only tolerates me.

Honest evaluation leads to harsh thoughts like this. I spend a lot of time alone and have long bouts of insomnia, which can lead to thinking about things excessively. But the secret I would like to share with anyone who at times feels the same way, is that I have a sanctuary where I am insulated from much of my self-criticism, and a have a front, where at 50, I am much better on than I thought possible in my youth. When I am building things with my hands in my shop, I rarely feel poor. Although I now need glasses to do any close work, and my hands have lost a lot of dexterity, I am a far better craftsman than I ever was in my youth. I am not a great craftsman, but over a very long time I have worked to develop these elements in my life, and I compete with no one except who I was last year. While all else fades, these things flourish. It is a gift I am most thankful for.

I was aware of this in my youth, but it did not come into focus until 1999, the worst year of my life. (getting burned was 2001, but it was a picnic compared to ’99.) Feeling dangerously low, I sought the council of a guy I knew. He had come back from such a year. He is an artist, working as an incredibly detailed wood carver. He tells me to forget everyone and everything else, go back to your tools and work with your hands. Give up your apartment, but never your hangar. Explore all the things you can’t forget, have stolen, give away or loose. At the moment, I was having a hard time picturing another week, and I asked him how long it took him. The thought with great care a slowly said “two, no really three..” I was jolted and blurted out “Three months?” he looked me in the eye and said “No. Years. It’s probably your only way out.” It turned out to be a painfully accurate prediction.

In the years since I have read letters or posts from many people in a tough spot, who have sold their project or tools. I often think their ship is sinking and they have just traded their life jacket for five more minutes on the deck. I have also met a number of successful builders who have said that when everything else in there lives was broken, they had a place of refuge in work and creation. Of the thousands of people I have met in aviation, these people are truely brothers, for we share the same salvation.

For these reasons, I can honestly say that the only time I allow myself to feel anything most people would call pride, is when I exercise my skill knowledge to make something good. Much of the time, this is far better in the company of Grace or friends like Vern. It’s not real often that I indulge myself for an hour and give in to being pleased with something. Maybe two or three times a year. Watching Bob’s plane fly away with the gear fixed was one of these moments. There was stuff to do, but instead we sat around outside and enjoyed the evening. -ww.