John Slade

Voice annunciation isnt AI, Jim. You just connect the existing micro switches to a $160 box instead of the light / horn.

Rui, My plane is getting air conditioning. The total extra weight is 33lbs. With some difficulty I've managed to find homes for all the parts without giving up any passenger space. As for the weight - I figure I've got 50 -60 lb head start on a lot of builders. Pressurization is a huge step beyond AC. Sealing all the holes would be a tough job, and controls would be life critical. Pressure isnt something you want to have let go at altitude (remember that Lear). Down here in South Florida there's a fairly busy portable OX business. I figure I'll pick up a used system from one of the locals.

Well yes, Jim, the Cozy IV plan does call for the "something's wrong" alarm and I'm sure it works well. I'd rather have specific warning which tells me about offending condition. Anyway, this is the experimental catagory. I'm experimenting.

OK, its holiday time...I'll bite. Let's see.... Are they named after a type of tree? Do they have the same initials as my brother? Do they have their own special page in my web site?

>To be fair I will be XX'ing out the name of the company Why is that "fair", Joe? If a company screws up, I think their name should be published. It helps warn others, and it gives them incentive to try harder.

>Just how fast are you planning on going?? With two of those things you could probably top 300kts. Of course, balance and flutter would be a big issue at those speeds but it would be "interesting". Actually I was thinking more about redundacy than increased speed. >That's as wild as the guy with the 13B and ducted fan Perry Mick's experiment is more about the ducted fan than it is about speed. I dont think he's got over 160kts yet. Unfortunately increased speed is what he needs to make the fan effective. >Just out of curiosity, where would you fit two? That's easy. In pods mounted on each end of the spar, just inboard of the aileron. One builder already built the structure for this - I think it was Charlie Airesman.

This looks a lot like the turbine I saw on Wayne Lanza'a booth at Sun & Fun last year, and the year before. I hope they come through with a reasonably priced product, and a two for the price of one intro deal. One of these on each wing of a Cozy would be interesting.

Chief isnt that new, Joe. They've been around at least the three or four years I've been building. I used them once with no problems and good service. There's also another relatively new (at least to me) company http://www.recreationalmobility.com They're small, and cater mostly to the ultralight world, but they carry some reasonably priced instruments. The owner (Jim Ratte) is concerned and responsive. I've had pretty good experience there.

Dale, >I have some reservation about fuel filters after the pumps. I'm told that for high pressure fuel injection systems using fine filters, its better to have the pump pushing the fuel through the filter rather than sucking through it. I'm keeping an eye on the filters and will monitor fuel pressure. >Would have also like to have seen a gascolator at the lowest point. I agonized over this one. I would have needed one on each side and there was no easy way I could see to put them ahead of the pumps without moving the pumps to a less ideal position. I was persuaded by the argument that there's so little fuel in the system that I'll be burning new fuel from the tank well before take-off. Secondly, I'm told that because of the glass tanks, EZ's rarely see water, even at the front fuel strainer and lastly - I have a backup system - the chance of water in both at the same time is slim. I'll also keep a close eye on this issue. Thanks for the input. John

I bought a Vans three lever quadrant and built a center console around it for my Cozy IV. It looked good and worked smoothly, but I just hit a problem and had to scrap the whole idea - the problem is passenger hip width. A close friend, who will be travelling with me regularly, is fairly "wide". With the center console in place his hips simply won't fit. The maximum available width with the console in place and no modification to the arm rests is about 17.5 inches. He be uncomfortable and, if he forced himself into the gap, circulation would be cut off by the pressure. With the center console out he'll fit quite nicely. Because of this I'll be using a vernier throttle on the panel. Anyone want to buy an Van's quadrant?

If the designer of the type can do it, so can we builders Jack Wilhelmson's retract unit has an "auto" option that puts the gear down below a certain speed, and raises it above a certain speed. I considered getting this, but then decided that it would teach me to forget about the gear and would be just fine... till it failed. Over on the aeroelectric list we've been discussing cheap ($14) switches for vacuum failure and detecting airspeed that can be plumbed right into the vacuum or pitot system. See http://info.digikey.com/T023/V5/0988.pdf Quoting Bob Nuckolls: >PSI * 27.68 = in-H20 >Using the forumla P (inches of water) = V (Kts) squared/1467 for >40kts & 70kts, P would be 1.09. & 3.34 inches of water. The nearest >to that would be: PSF102 384-1017-ND with a H2O range of 2 to 17 Hook one of these babies up to a flashing LED ($2) and you have a pretty reliable warning device. Add a voice annunciator ($160) and you can have you're favorite "Bitchin Betty" remind you about gear up and gear down among other things. I'm planning on all the above, even for my retract nosegear. The recording will by my wife saying "John! Gear!" then shouting "GEAR... JOHN GEAR!"

>because I don't know how NOT to put it down... Reminds me of RAF jet training. There were lots of times I SAID "finals, three greens", THEN looked to see the gear was up. Often you'd hear these words followed by "Oh Sh...." as the transmit button was held in a second too long. Once I was holding for take-off while a solo student completed his approach. I heard the three greens call, but couldnt see the wheels. As he got closer I saw that the wheels were definately up and yelled "Wheels, Wheels". He powered up, but continued to decend as the engine wound up. His transponder antenna contacted the runway, but then he was able to climb away to fly another day. I wonder if he counts himself as one of the "have" or one of the "will". Personally, I want a voice annunciator shouting at me. Seems like pretty good insurance for $160 and a few wires. John Slade

Ken, You may be thinking of Aerocanard, which uses an oil cooler up front. The Cozy IV plans use an exhaust muff for heating. You'd have to talk to a Cozy driver to find out how effective it is. I'll be using water cooled rotary engine in my Cozy, so an automotive heater core will work well for me. Regards, John Slade http://kgarden.com/cozy

Jim, The forum allows users to send a private message, either to you're email address, or to your mail box in the forum. This is done via the members option or by clicking on the user name in message list. Each time you visit the forum glance at the very bottom of the opening page. You'll see an entry for "private messages" listing how many you have. If it doesnt say zero, click on "private messages" to view you're forum mailbox. Hey! You figured out how to land a jet on a carrier deck at night....you can do this.

Whenever you look at the list of threads in a sub forum you'll see a line at the bottom which says something like: "Showing threads 1 to 9 of 9, sorted by number of replies in ascending order, from last day" Change the setting "last day" to "the beginning" to see older threads on this visit. If you want to change the default go to "control Panel" select "edit options" and scroll down to "default thread view". Select "beginning" and click "submit modifications".

I had similar feelings to you guys. Retracts looks cool, feel "right" and go a little faster. Then, on the other hand they cost a lot more, add complexity put some extra weight in the wrong place. I guess, for me, the balance was tipped by costs, added build time and the lack of flying retract examples. Infinity's (JD Newman) arguments make sense. If you havent had a phone conversation with JD, call him and be prepared for an experience. He's a very interesting guy with a lot to say, and a deep understanding of the canard design and it's history. Whether you go with retracts or not, its worth hearing both sides of the story. My 2c.

An update for anyone following the saga of my fuel system. Everything is now installed. Pictures and installation details can be seen at http://kgarden.com/cozy/chap21b.htm The solenoid valve draws about 2 amps when energized. It works as advertised so far. Currently the pumps and solenoid each have they're own switch, so I'm able to flip the fuel back and forth from one tank to the other. Jim - you'll be pleased to note that with the wiring this way I can get at every last drop of fuel in the plane. Unless anyone has any comments on the installation, the next update on this should be after I fly with it. Thanks to all for the interest shown and helpful input. John Slade

My recommendation would be MGS 335. Nat Puffer told me he'd use this if he were to build another plane, so I used it throughout my project. It wets up very well, has variable cure time depending on how much of each hardener you use, has no odor, seems to be low on the scale of alergenics and has excellent cure properties. See the introduction on my website ( http://kgarden.com/cozy/intro.htm ) for a discussion on epoxy types. Regards, John Slade

I'll second everything Paul says. Think of it as a PHd in composite airplane building. Chapter 3 is kindergarden. You're first flight is graduation. I knew nothing about composites when I started this three years ago. John Slade http://kgarden.com/cozy

An update for those who are interested. I fixed the hole, refilled the tank and found another leak right by the drain valve. I fixed this and all is now well. The affected foam dried out fairly quickly. The total time on repairs was about 4 hours. About 10% of the time I spent looking for leaks during original construction.

For you're entertainment today I'd like input on how to get gasoline out of foam..... Here's the situation. After trying a freon sniffer, soap bubbles and just about every other method ever heard of, I gave up trying to find a VERY small air leak in one strake during building. The strakes are now in final paint, polished with the trim work all done. Before installing the upholstery I put 10 gallons of fuel in the tank, and this morning I found my leak with no problem. The leak is in the very front, lower corner of the tank where it meets the baggage area. I now have a brown fuel stain beginning there, covering half of the baggage area floor, and extending into the seatback about 2 inches. Hicks. You're enjoying this, arn't you! OK, If we can all ignore the noise from Hick's corner of the room.... I'd like some input on the best way to fix all this. Obviously, I've drained the tank. Will the fuel dry out with time (how long?), or do I have to remove ALL the affected foam. Comments, thoughts & suggestion please. John Slade Cozy IV (non-smoking)

Jim, here's a "serious" reply to your comments... 10. Saves having to keep you're feet on the brakes during runup ... Where else would I want them? 9. Makes you feel less rushed during pre takeoff checks ... I doubt it. If I feel rushed, I might tend to skip takeoff checks. If I feel rushed, why would I want to take EXTRA time to set and release a parking brake? Maybe it's just me, but I like to "park" the plane at the runup area, relax and think things through. Not just the pre-takeoff checks and run-up, but also the weather, the planned departure, my personal condition etc. etc. This may only take a minute or less, but its the time for the final go/nogo decision. If I have to keep my feet on the pedals, holding the airplane against the engine, then for some reason I'm tempted to move through these thought processes more quickly. Like I said. maybe it's just me. >Another place to check for leaks ... That would be my most compelling reason NOT to ... These few connections wont be a problem. Pipes never leak where you can see them.

>plane building is not that dificult, it just takes a little bit of time. True enough. Its just that if you're earning capacity is $100/hr, and you just want to own a Cozy, buying a well made set of wings, winglets and spar for $5k or so probably makes sense. If you're going to go that route, you might as well go to someone who's done it multiple times and learned a few things along the way. >trailing edge wing root layup is a bear. >Layup patch with at least 1" overlap, u bee done. Until you come to fit the aileron linkage. I guarentee that you'll be "adjusting" that layup at least one more time.

Lighten up, Mike. Its true that most, if not all wings / spars built by us beginners fly just fine. However, if I were paying good money to shave a few weeks off the build time I'd rather get products from someone who has proved his/her skills by building multiple sets. People like Dennis Oelman and Jeff Russell can build wings in their sleep. Its not unreasonable to give them preference when shopping for parts. My 2c. John Slade PS - Jeff Russell (Aerocad.com) is another person to contact about prebuilt wings.

>Where the hell were you three years ago when I NEEDED that idea ... Three years ago? hmmm. October '99. I think that was about the time I was installing my parking brake.