Jim Sower

Like John S said, you might want to contact Paul Conner - sqpilot@earthlink.net who has an SQ2000 he is putting a Mazda in. Being that far along he could give you some very good info regarding builder support, number of kits in progress, kit and plans quality, etc. I first met Stan Montgomery maybe 10 or 12 years ago. He is a knowledgeable guy and works hard. Don't know how viable the company is. I like the airplane (particularly the retractable gear) but I don't like kits as much as plans built, and I couldn't comfortably fit into the SQ2000. Talk to Paul. He's the one with actual information. Best, Jim

I got re-registered no problem. This is a test message for John Slade.

Not sure about fences, but there was a considerable thread on the Velocity forum the past few weeks around Vortex Generators. They will work on just about any airplane, and they do some pretty dramatic things. I reduced my landing speed by about 10 kts and my takeoff speed by 5 when I installed them. There are about as many different layouts as there are application, and I did mine following the "gospel according to Jim Price". Price is IMO the undisputed champion since he has considerable aerodynamic credentials and holds the altitude record (his NA Long Ez got to over 35,000 ft). Another idea I haven't tried is a row of VGs a couple of inches ahead of the aileron hinge to improve low speed roll authority. The Velocity wallows like a pulp wood truck at low speeds - and that's on a GOOD day. Sealing the aileron hinge gaps is what gave me the roll authority I have at the lower approach speeds I achieved by installing VGs.

Actually, it seems like more and more of the EZ speed merchants are going with downdraft. It's not difficult to imagine that the cowl cheeks will be a high pressure area. It follows that ducting that into a cooling plenum will not only reduce parasite drag but enhance cooling (not to mention greatly simplifying baffling). If there were cowl cheeks on the bottom, they would be even higher pressure and that is one reason for armpit scoops. But it seems to me that downdrafting from the front of the cowl cheeks, even if it doesn't reduce profile drag, has to put a lot of that drag to work for you so you don't have to add to it with cooling drag elsewhere. I aim to do that on my EZ when I put it back together and will be downdrafting my Velocity (even though the inlet is on top of the turtleback in a low pressure area) just for the simplified baffling. An added advantage of downdrafting is that you don't have a red hot exhaust system pre heating your cooling air. IMO that's a big plus. Of course downdraft cooling from inlets anywhere above the wings lends itself nicely to better diffusers and plenums which produce better cooling and less cooling drag. Burt had this thing about updraft cooling that Ihave never understood - even on the front engine of the Defiant. I have had what I fancy to be more than my fair share of problems with updraft cooling and all the associated baffling and bullshit. I'll never updraft nothing, no more, never .... Jim S.

I had heard of that kind of cooling a number of years ago, but figured it was noisy so hell wouldn't have it. How do you quiet it down? Does it need an intercooler? Can you describe the cycle and components in more detail and a notion of component size and all? Inquiring minds need to know ... Jim S.

I heard the engine was full of metal. Seems he mismatched cylinder/rings and ate up a jug or set of rings. Got the right jug/rings but opted not to tear the engine down and clean it out (against lots of competent advice) and just changed the oil and went flying. All the metal he'd been making caught up to him. Fella' was talkin' like he knew ... Jim S.

I guessed that it might be wheel alignment too. How did you check your alignment? I did my EZ a long time ago so I don't recall particulars. On my Velocity, I popped a chalk line down under the center of the airplane out past the nose. Then I lashed a couple of laser levels to the outboard wheel rims (had to shim them out to clear the tires) and marked a 2x2 or 2x4 with the center and both laser marks right at the wheel. I then moved the 2x4 out forward 10', centered it and checked the laser spots against the points made at the wheel and shimmed to specs. I believe it was something like 4" toe in at 10' on each wheel but don't hold me to that. Hope this helps .... Jim S.

<... I am 6'0" 220lb... 36" waist and apx 42" chest ...> I'm 6'3", 250#, 38W, 44-46 chest, etc. I fly a Velocity and can't wait to get my Cozy built. If I can fit in Slade's standard cockpit (almost) I will fit in a slightly modified "Cozy Magnum" just fine. That's not a significant issue. I agree with John on the rest. I wouldn't take a 110kt spam can as a gift. Hell, I make 75 over the ground on 12 hr trips driving. I can give a Cherokee or C-172 a run for it's money anything under 600-800 mi. Go with the Cozy. Don't worry about engine options until the airframe is done. My .02 ... Jim S.

From a friend who built and flies a Defiant: There is a Yahoo Group for Defiants. You can post a request for plans there. At this point there are only copies available. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/defiantflyers/ Dust is right - they take a long LONG time to build. But then again, if you want a twin, it is the only game in town. If you were to get with RAC and see if they would be inclined to look up their list of sales of Defiant plans and compare it to a list of completed projects from the email list above, you might be able to find plans or an abandoned project. Or get on the list and see if anyone there knows of someone who quit building (or never started).

You've got access panels in the nose. Why not just velcro the ground plane to the inside of the panel (also have a coax quick disconnect). It would be a short antenna lead, wouldn't get in the way of much of anything, and you could change your mind if you wanted. Velcro'ed under the canard might be another place Just a reflexive brain fart ... Jim S. PS I was just reading somewhere (AeroElectrics?) about folks using an AOL CD they got in the mail as a ground plane. Makes sense to me ...

I have a good friend who is a defiant builder. I will ask him if they have a list or if he knows anyone or can suggest places to advertise. It IS BIG. He is a "cave diver" and chose it because it would hold all his SCUBA gear and he could sleep sprawled out in the plane. It's not fast (maybe 160-165 kts) but I believe it will cruise all day SE. Took Forest nearly 15 yrs to build. I'll tickle him on it .... Jim S.

I don't see how a kneeling Cozy/EZ vented at the aft inboard corner can piss on the tarmac unless the fuel has expanded to where every bit of air is forced out. Of course that can happen if you store the airplane "fully" fueled. Climbing out is another matter. If the vent(s) is/are flooded (and they inevitably will be if the tank is full), the amount of thermal expansion required to dump fuel is the volume of the vent line from tank to inlet. About a teaspoon. That's why I recommended cycling the fuel selector frequently until there is reason to believe the vents are no longer flooded. But it's not a big deal. The consequences of drawing from only one tank on climb is maybe a quart of fuel over the side. I could give no real assurance that you wouldn't lose most of that even if you cycled the selected tank every minute or two. Bottom line, given full tanks, I don't see how you can prevent flooded vents, and flooded vents WILL dump fuel. The good news is that the amount of fuel dumped should usually be neglegible. So put your vent where it will do the most good kneeling, don't park the airplane too full, and take your beating like a man. As best I can visualize it .... Jim S.

<… Do you always kneel your plane when filling …> Typically yes. So I can check the drains for water in the gas I just loaded. <… Do you never fill your plane AFTER a flight and then park it ... to prevent condensation …> Sometimes, sometimes not. I agree it's a good practice for the reasons stated. Mostly I fuel going out since I fill it about half with mogas that I brought to the hangar with me, and then go to the pump and top off. It's difficult to do that coming in. <… 5 or so gallons more per side than filling while kneeling …> That wasn't my experience with my EZ. I was assuming my EZ and your Cozy are very much alike in this regard. Starting to seem as if this may not be the case. In any event, my Cozy will have the fuel receptacles as far aft as is practical. <… _I_ have two vent lines per side, per Carl Denk's instructions …> I remember a couple of longish threads a year or two ago on the Cozy and the C-A lists. Lots of chatter back and forth. Ended, as I recall, with a good bit of support for forward and aft vents. I could not see it, then or now. What I did not see then (I may have missed it) was documented evidence that all this fuss and bother and back and forth was in response to an ACTUAL PROBLEM, or whether it was someone's speculative brain fart that took on a life of its own. Ever notice how from time to time someone on these lists will invent a problem and then come up with a wonderfully elegant solution that's just the thing to solve this imaginary problem …? I left those threads with the impression that they were one of those deals. Please correct me if there was a genuine documented problem involved (and if so, was it actually documented as solved). <… I NEVER vent fuel while parked …> Nor does anyone with a vent in the aft corner (as per plans). <… climbing at low speed (90 mph, or Vx), the deck angle is such that you'll have many gallons above the vent line …> Agreed. But under those circumstances several things happen: 1) the fuel level will be a few of inches above the aft vent inlet; 2) the aft vent will be flooded those few inches; 3) the "bubble" will be waaaay up forward at the leading edge; 4) if you are fully fueled, that bubble will be rather small. Under the stated conditions (typical departure) I am confident that unless your forward vent is also way up at the leading edge, it will also be flooded. I don't know your deck angle, or how close to totally full your tanks get, so I can't quantify precisely how big your bubble is, or exactly how far forward it is, but I am quite certain that in most Cozys (and EZs) it is far enough forward and small enough that any forward vent will be flooded and remain so until significant fuel is burned off. If you have a template or diagram of your strakes near the wing root, you can incline it to your deck angle, mark off where you think the bubble is and mark where you know your forward vent line terminates. I am estimating here, not having any templates or accurate notion of your deck angles or precise location of your forward vent outlet. This is the part where I asked for some help with the math. <… thermal heating can easily push a gallon or so overboard during the climbout …> Parked on the ground, over time, perhaps. On climbout, I don't think so. This is where I took issue before and asked for help with the math and physics. I figure you're burning about 10 gph on climb. That's about 1/3 of the fuel capacity of the selected tank per hour. I don't think thermal expansion is going to exceed 25% of volume per hour. Is there some huge factor am I missing? <.. why should I have to think about switching tanks every few minutes if an easy fix …> Fair question. Matter of fact, that is pretty much the whole issue. If your forward vent never floods/cannot flood, you win and I stand corrected (right here in front of God and everybody). Absent the compelling geometry you can provide, I believe that it does flood. If in fact it does, I submit that it serves no useful purpose (which has been my contention all along). Even if it does flood it would be dumb for anyone remove a forward vent. It is harmless. By the same token, why install something that serves no useful purpose? In the end analysis, this discussion has probably consumed more resources of time and effort than it deserves. Ever seen that happen on these lists J Just a theory … Jim S.

True enough. But check how many of the top ten posters on your list (you were one of the top 3 or 4 for years, as was John Slade) had not completed or flown. I think it is the nature of these lists that mostly those involved in building are motivated to monitor the list closely and participate. I think that's the way it should be. That said, Marc runs the best list in the canard community. NO CENSORSHIP is VERY important! One main complaint of mine about his list is the vulnerablility to virus' and other mischief. Last spring/summer I had several of HUNDRED virus' with return addresses of members of the Cozy list. If I had my druthers, I would like to see Marc's membership here (I am active on both lists). I do that too. This format makes it easier and arguably unnecessary (can't speak to Marc's archives - I haven't figured out how to access them simply and easily). Anyway, I would hate to lose either of the Cozy lists. I greatly value them both. I like the format of this list better, and would like to see them merge to this format.

OK girls, let's see here. Someone help me out with the math and physics for a minute. We fill up, kneeling, all of the 40F gas the tanks will hold and go flying. Climbing out, we're burning maybe 9 gph. Looks to me like we're going to open a 1.6 gal void in your tank in about 10 minutes. I'll need some help figuring out where (geographically) you might pump 30 gal of 40F fuel into a bright white insulated tank and have it heat up to 100F in less than 10 min. In less than a several hours for all that. Worried about the non-selected tank? Climb a couple of minutes on one tank, 15 minutes on the other and back to the first to continue your normal tank tramsfer schedule. As for vents, if you have *totally* independent vent plumbing for mid and aft vents, one will have an inch or two of fuel in the vent line under adverse (tank totally full) conditions. The forward vent will have about 2" flooded when kneeling, the aft vent will be flooded an inch when the plane is climbing. But only if the tank is full - which it isn't going to be (for more than a few minutes) if the airplane is flying - which is the object of the exercise. If all we have is an aft vent, as the tank empties during climb, the fuel system will very easily pull air through an inch of fuel to grow the bubble as fuel is consumed. Gravity feeding will not pull air through 7" or 8" of fuel (ask me how I know this), but it WILL pull it through 1" quite easily. And that's all you're asking of it. And you're not gravity feeding anyway - you're pulling (quite hard actually) with the fuel pump. Ladies, I fear that we are pole vaulting over rat turds again ... Jim S.

<... forward about 18 or so inches ... where the air buble would be in flight ...> So what if you ran the tube forward 18" - and then cut a notch in it at the aft inboard corner. That would make everyone happy, wouldn't it? How long has the vent halfway up the strake been the design? I'd always heard aft inboard corner - like where it is on my EZ. Was moving it forward a response to an actual documented problem, or just some guy with time on his hands chasing foul balls? Anyway, I can't think of a situation that a notched vent would not be able to handle. Or a vent that stops at the aft inboard corner for that matter. Could someone describe a situation where vent in aft inboard corner would cause a problem? I know that if your only vent is 18" forward and you're kneeling with full tanks you're going to piss all over the tarmac. I can't figure out any negatives with vent in the corner.

Jon has a dynamite platform. Nobody can touch his dedicated server and T1 line for all of the reasons stated. John owns the most appropriate domain name, etc. we could ask for. Nick and John have been running the forum quite nicely for quite some time. What's wrong with John's domain on Jon's server with all three of them sharing webmaster duties. I like the idea of links to vendors that are paid for. No banners or pop-ups, just links - perhaps as a category. Why not gratefully accept the best of what each of these kind gentlemen have offered.

I could live quite comfortably with John Matcho's or John Slade's hosting. I would also not be against a one-time-per-year posting asking for $5 or $10 donations from anyone who felt like it. John and John and Nick could handle it. Maybe anyone who flies could throw a "graduation party" and make a donation that reflected what he gained from the forum. I would prefer a stand alone site on a stand alone server like John M suggested, but a directory on John S's site would work perfectly well. Do we need another election? Or do the Johns and Nick need to just decide amoung themselves and get it all done?

<... the plane is parked on it's nose, the vent line is submerged in fuel ...> I thought the vent line terminated at the aft, upper, inboard corner of the tank. If you do that, it will always be in the air bubble when the plane is kneeling won't it?

<... why not put a "t" ...> Some folks seem to be doing this. Personally, I think it's an exercize in Guilding the Lilly or PVORT. If you're climbing, or cruising on a totally full tank (like you air refueled) the fuel will climb up the vent line a couple of inches, but drain right back the instant it can. I don't see why this should be an issue. To be honest, I don't see how it won't climb up the vent from the back of he tank (rear branch of "Y") even if the forward branch was open to the air cavity. After my usual careful analysis I have come to personally regard this mod as an exercize in MM

I voted (1), but have no idea who might want to bankroll it. I admire Dust's offer to tote the load himself, but doubt that will be necessary. I would not be surprised if ACS was willing to pick it up, but we would have to have a clear understanding that they don't mess with it at all (and if "we" thought they did, "we" would have the right to move it off their server - whoever "we" turns out to be). We might best insist that we administer it ourselves just to be safe. That's a lot of conditions to put on ACS or Wick's. My preference would obviously be "free" on someone's server. If that wasn't possible or didn't work JUST EXACTLY RIGHT, I would be willing to part with $5 or $10 a year to keep it in the family. At $20/mo, fifty $5 donors would keep it alive. How much would it actually cost, and how many donors do you believe would actually step up and contribute?

<<Rutan saved weight on the Voyager by not finishing/painting the bottom surfaces>> <So how did he ... protect the fiberglass from UV?> By not exposing his belly and lower wing surfaces to the sun ... not flying inverted ... amy more than absolutely necessary

Chris, A word of caution from a "non-builder owner". My airplanes did fly. They had problems, but the problems were mechanical and electrical, not structural. They varied from trivial to moderate. They drove me nuts, but I got them fixed. They took me a lot longer and were much more difficult for me to fix than would have been the case were I the builder. The key consideration is that I was qualified to address those types of problems going in. Then, I had a taxi accident that broke the canard mounting bulkhead (a major structural component). It would have taken the builder two or three weeks to replace that structural bulkhead and all of the fuselage forward of it. But I've had that busted airplane hanging over me for years. Reason is, I had neither the skills nor the confidence to do a major structural repair, and saw no viable way to acqire them. As I said, I do have skills in other important areas, but I can't do serious structural repairs yet. The solution suggested to me is that I build the fuselage of my Cozy. Just like any builder, each step I do, each chapter I complete, I acquire the skills to do the next chapter, etc. By the time I get my Cozy fuselage done, I'll have the skills to fix my EZ (with the very important side benefit of getting the Cozy well underway). It will be a significant but not major project by then, but certainly not the insurmountable obstacle it is now. Most important, going through that process is IMO, the only way I can assure myself that I do the job RIGHT. This is the type of thing you are getting into. I don't have any idea what skills you might already posess. I'm not recommending you quit or anything, just be aware that you're looking at a lot of stuff that a builder (any builder) is eminently capable of doing, but that will pose a MUCH greater challenge to you since you haven't done the preliminaries. You will have to consider very carefully where and how you are going to acquire the skills to PROPERLY do the repairs required (and, not incidentally, FIND and EVALUATE all of the discrepancies that need to be remediated). Both of my airplanes were flying. I ended up working long and hard straithtening out mechanical and electrical problems (which I am competent to do) and did OK until I ran up against a couple of structural problems which I was not qualified to work on. One, like I said, I will prepare for by doing the building process up to that point. The other, I got through with a lot of help from a friend. As a general rule, I would recommend great caution to anyone buying an airplane. As for a project, the typical project for sale has maybe five or six months work actually done, but by not having done it himself, the buyer is woefully unprepared to finish the job. More better he just bite the bullet and do the few months himself and buy himself a LOT more assurance of eventual success with the whole project. On the strength of what I've learned about my unpreparedness to do major work, I strongly recommend against jumping into an advanced stage of a project. At the very least, I would highly recommend you pay as much attention to your own shortcomings as those of the airplane. Learn as much as you can about what you're getting into, particularly regarding your own part in the process and how you are going to get up to speed. Only then can you make an informed decision. This probably sounds more intimidating and negative than it should, but you need to be very VERY careful. Of course, if you're getting this project for chump change, that's an important factor. My stuff cost me enough that I CAN'T afford to walk away if it turns out I bit off more than I can chew. An experienced builder could make a cottage industry of buying up projects cheap, finishing them off and selling the airplane. A beginner is probably much better off doing the whole project the "old fashioned way". Y'all be careful out there now ... Jim S.

Try Phillip Johnson at plmjohnson@sprint.ca I think he's in that neighborhood and is either flying or fixing to. Cozy RG with Subaru 6-cyl engine.

<... So how do you measure fuel flow when most of it is returned to the tank whence it came ...> Your scheme is one alternative (not an attractive one) and Tracy's fuel control is the other. He calculates fuel flow from injector pulse bandwidth and it seems pretty accurate.