Kent Ashton

Just got this reply from the Registry in OK City to my email question (not my formal request for records): I asked :Re: Reissuing old airworthiness certificate: Order 8130.2F Sec. 27(3) says that a lost A.C. can be reissued if the date of issue of the missing A.C. can be established but I have found that this date is missing from the records for a few aircraft that were flying and formerly had A.C.s. Take for example N67EZ, the current seller does not have the A.C. (it was held/destroyed by a previous owner). There is no A/W date in the database so the FSDO will not reissue the A.C. Can you shed any light on this? Thx" Registry replied: " Mr. Ashton, Any airworthiness inquiries must be directed to your local FSDO." But I know from experience what our local FSDO will say: "No A.C., no record of an A.C. in the online database, No-can-do"

To satisfy my own curiosity, I paid the $8.60 and ordered the records on this "Very EZ" from the registry. There are 49 people watching the Ebay ad. Heck I would buy it myself if I didn't have bikes, cars and airplanes to work on. What amazes me is that the seller is too feckless to document the airplane properly himself. News at 11.

Wait a minute Mike. What proof do you or the FAA have that your airplane ever flew; and I mean _proof_ and not just somebody telling you it flew. We have established that there is no A.C. in the FAA's records. That supports a conclusion that the airplane never flew. Who can prove otherwise?

Project today:

Yup but I wouldn't rely on a call to the FSDO or the Registry to confirm that. I think they just look at the same online database we all see. It might be worthwhile to pay the $10 (or whatever) and get a printed copy of the records. Anyway, it appears this one could be re-licensed without much trouble. For future reference, here is the Flightaware page. Might come in handy. That airplane went through a lot of hands!

http://www.cozygirrrl.com/aircraftparts.htm but they do not offer much for SQ2000s. You might call Jet Guys https://www.jetguys.co/ who do a lot of work on canards but it's not cost-effective to have things built. There is a builder that works on SQs but his reputation has been questioned. Search this site and you'll read about it. Unless you plan to build it yourself, buying whatever parts you can locate, you'd be a lot better off to sell your fuselage and look at a Rutan/Puffer canard which are well-supported, or a complete kit, like a Vans airplane. Trying to finish a complex orphan design is fraught with difficulty. With 1 post here, it sounds like you are new to building but I am pretty sure a lot of us here would tell you the same thing.

More on the Varieze above: It turns out that the N-Number is apparently N67EZ HazelRigg Very Ezy built by TJ HazelRigg and was a flier, last owned by Tony Warnock. It is in the Registry partially registered to the Seller https://registry.faa.gov/AircraftInquiry/Search/NNumberResult?nNumberTxt=67EZ The seller apparently has good title, so if the buyer can retrieve a copy of the old A.C. from the registry, it should be pretty straightforward to get this flying again (except a pile of work to do). The ad said "Sold" when I looked this morning but now it doesn't so I guess it's available. Edit: Well, I am confused. I see that a replacement A.C. can be issued with an "R" per the Order below but it must reflect the same data as the lost, mutilated or illegible old certificate. Per para 3 below the FAA can issue a replacement A.C. if the date of issuance of the old A.C. can be established. The FSDO wants to find the old A.C. information in the FAA's records to confirm the information but for N67EZ, but I do not see any A.C. date in the record and I've been told the FSDO consults the same database. It WAS a flyer so it HAD an A.C. in the past but the FAA purges it's records periodically. If the record has been purged, can it be retrieved? The National Archives says yes but I tried this for a friend and we never found anything. I would think a FSDO would not want to reissue an A.C. without any info from the old A.C. Also, I do not think the FAA wants to issue a brand new A.C. for an airplane that once had an A.C. Maybe this is why this airframe is not selling. Copied from FAA Order 8130.2F https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Order/8130.2F Chg 5.pdf

The Georgia Varieze above relisted at $3500. https://www.ebay.com/itm/334307182285? I had an interesting conversation with the sellers: They did not change the ad except the price. At some price, maybe it's worth buying "a bunch of headaches". If I wanted to buy this one, I'd apply to the FAA Registry for a copy of the old Airworthiness Certificate. If there is one, it can be reissued. Then I'd want to see the bills-of-sale from former registered owner Steichen and confirm a FSDO will accept them. Good luck, palies! 🙂

Yeah, I imagine you'd have a lighter airplane, but also a lighter wallet and a 5% chance of flying compared to a person that builds from plans. You propose to save time on filling and painting but the time expended in mold-making to get such parts is enormous. If money is no object, try Aerocanard https://aerocad.com/16-aerocanard-fg or just build a Velocity. Ronenberg's molded Berkut did not sell enough to stay in business. Here is another molded dream: "A-solution" https://www.canardzone.com/forums/topic/21972-sales-ive-seen/?do=findComment&comment=63573 Bob spent months--maybe years--making beautiful molds that never produced an airplane as far as I know. RevelAero, with their beautiful computer-cut, anodized and carbon fiber parts, looks very expensive to me, especially for a one-seater. They may sell a few but I doubt the market will support them.

This on Barnstormers today. No pics And two on Facebook today. You will have to hunt them up.

I have an electric pitch trim (a 3.7V screwdriver motor) operated through a PWM and a Carling toggle switch mounted just behind the throttles. Here is a cheaper idea which could work just as well using two Grayhill DPST pushbuttons ($4,00 each) and a $5.00 ebay PWM (pulse width modulator). The wiring would be simple. Yeah, I would like to have a two $200 hat switches on the stick like the big boys but as little as I use the trim, a couple of pushbuttons would suit me fine and be simpler than what I have now. The only downside I can see is that if you push both buttons at once, you would blow a fuse but make some little guards around them.

Here are a couple of videos on the statin scam: To me, very convincing https://youtu.be/BzTjPuikhQE https://youtu.be/eb5SmhY30kw Statins are a $14 Billion market. Follow the money

Interesting photo of a troublesome VDO oil pressure sender showing a wear spot where the wiper rides. (H/T Richard Connell at VAF). One commenter said VDO oil pressure senders generally fail high. I just experienced that with 750 hours on one of them and have a new one to install. Will cut the old one up when I get the new one in.

Intel on the Jacksonville $42K Long-ez above: N95CW Pilot was using it to build time. Just replaced two cylinders after low compression. Good-sized nick in the prop observed. Brake rotors warped. https://registry.faa.gov/AircraftInquiry/Search/NNumberResult?nNumberTxt=N95cw

Seen today. You will have to contact the seller via (yuck) FB.

This Varieze on Ebay in Sandersville, GA for $5000. Item # 334297873028 Good price but a search of the registry does not show a former Airworthiness Certificate (pic 3). I found a partial message dated 2/19/01 where the registered owner Steichen says he is selling it as parts. Current seller is the new owner, it appears. So there are two things to sort out: Can a buyer establish a chain of title from the registered owner (Steichen) and (2) Does the FAA have a record of the former A.C. which can be reissued It just goes to show the stupidity of selling an airplane as parts in order to avoid liability. This airplane will be flying again, probably, and can be traced back to the builder. So whatever liability he was afraid of, it's is still there. If you are new to EAB, there has never been a successful lawsuit against a builder for a defective EAB airplane, AFAIK. It's just too hard to prove negligence, the old builder has no insurance to collect on, and the puny award would not interest a lawyer to take the case

Couple ads today: This Long-ez looks pretty decent. It would a fun updating the panel or just fly it as is. More pics in the ad and these parts (no pics) BTW, I was just watching a new video by VansRV discussing shipping costs for their kits--costs are going through the roof but they have lots of orders. Find it on Youtube

Just reading this accident today: an apparent heart attack in flight. http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2022/01/medical-event-piper-pa-28-181-n75191.html Having had two of them (on the ground) I am more interested in preventing one of these in the air. I was never a big sugar user--always stuck to the diet colas and stevia in my cereal-- but 6-8 dates in my oatmeal was pretty normal and we liked our oatmeal cookies. Sweet tea was a regular. However, I have been educated on high fructose sugar. Americans used to eat 9 pounds of sugar a year. Now they eat 80-100 pounds (estimates vary). In the hospital the other day, the waiting room drink machines were filled with 20 oz full-sugar drinks. A 20 oz Pepsi has 9.2 HEAPING teaspoons of high fructose sugar (69g) (pic), a Mountain Dew 10.25. It's crazy when you look at the fat patients waddling in and yep, I am one. Maybe you never thought much about high fructose sugar but this doctor has some excellent videos on the problem. Here is one https://robertlustig.com/fructose2/ As I understand it, sugar doesn't block arteries but it leads to diabetes which damages the arteries and leads to coronary plaques. Check dates on the Glycemic Index. Yikes!

Saw this nice drawing (H/T to RV-guy Dan Horton) for a simple circuit to check the condition of a backup battery. I used something like this on my EZ and could periodically check the voltage in flight and before start. The "voltage monitor" on the left side is from ebay

Google screws up the search and gives UB1280 which is 8AH. I am using two _UB12080_ which are 18 AH each. If I was only using one battery, I might spring for a bigger battery or an Odyssey but they have worked for me. They have low discharge. I use one about three years and transfer it to a motorcycle. I would guess that if you don't fly IFR, are using mags, and one battery starts your airplane reliably, one of them would be OK. Here's one from Granger but they are usually about $40-45 elsewhere https://www.grainger.com/product/GRAINGER-APPROVED-Sealed-Lead-Acid-Battery-18-54XH40

I think most would agree that it’s best to be configured before the FAF. Gear down, fullest tank selected, minimums and missed approach reviewed. I wouldn’t use the landing brake until short final. Rarely use it anyway on a long runway

Just a thought: do you have an alternator modified for an external regulator? An internally regulated alternator might not work well with the LR-3

An alternator shop should be able to test your alternator pretty easily. Maybe an Autozone can too. I use two $40 UB12080 (12V 18Ah) batteries for a dual Lightspeed system. I start on both batteries but I have found one battery will start my O-360 8.5:1 compression engine if I forget to turn on the crossfeed. nothing against the Odyssey but these cheap batteries suit my 2-battery system. I suspect your alternator is your problem though

B & C's LR-3 voltage regulator is set for 14.4V. I think this is pretty typical. https://bandc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/LR3D-Technical-Manual_RevIR_5-13-20.pdf You might just have a bad diode in your alternator

Barnstormers: Rather pricey for the amount of work left to do but maybe with the Garmin and extra stuff. . .. More pics in the ad. Seller also listed an eracer project not long ago.