Kent Ashton

Do the halves fit together? What does the other half look like? It's an interesting idea but I'd think you'd still need screws to hold them together. I don't think Master Rutan ever spoke on the subject of wheel pant mate-up or at least, his disciples never put down his words. 🙂

Yes but start a new thread. 🙂 Just reading this Mooney accident--engine failure in flight http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2020/06/loss-of-engine-power-total-mooney-m20k.html The Continental engine was overhauled at 2185 hrs, 255 hours later it went south. What is interesting is that the overhauler used silk thread where silk thread is not called for (red area in pic 1). The report says remnants of the thread can be seen around the bolt hole (pic 2). The silk thread did not allow the through-bolts to be torqued properly. In a related problem, I know that Lycoming overhaulers that used RTV where the cylinders mount on the case can cause the cylinder bolt torque to relax and then a cylinder gets loose (or comes off!). Be careful. ------------------------- Then there is this one--a Cirrus--where the pilot appears to have used fuel pump high boost for takeoff--a no no with that engine. It caused the engine to quit, he pulled the parachute below 200' and died. Pictures show the airplane in the middle of big clear field. http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2020/06/loss-of-engine-power-total-cirrus-sr22t.html A while back I did a "return-to-the-field" exercise in the Cozy. It's a little uncomfortable to chop power at low altitude but it was very instructive as to what options I might have for an engine failure on takeoff leg. Below 400', dicey. At 500' agl pretty doable. I am not suggesting this Cirrus fellow should have tried to return to the field. It appears a controlled landing in the field would have let him live. We have to read these accidents and play them over in our minds--reinforce them with some flying practice so when the time ever comes, we can say "I have been here before and ____ is my best option."

There is a very small market for the canards, getting smaller from lower pilot numbers, a troubled economy, and the expense of flying. If you wanted to do it for yourself, for fun, that's one thing but I wouldn't expect to find a lot of people seriously interested in buying kits. Search for "A-Solution" in my "Sales I've seen" thread. Tons of work came to nothing (so far). After all, the airplane IS pretty simple to build from plans. Berkut, a full kit, was not a very successful business. Aerocad is still around but does not do much. I see lots of Velocity kits being sold as projects. Revelaero (recent canard-like kits) seems inactive. Yeah, Vans does great but that's Vans. Generally, millimeter precision is not required. The only asymmetry I noticed building the EZ was in mounting the rudders [crooked] which was my fault and I discussed in this thread. There is a better way to align them than in the plans, IMO. In fact, I think I had one wing a couple inches longer than the other but it didn't make any difference.

Hmm, except for instrument panel overlays, I suggest CNC is a waste of time, however CNC wing cores by Eureka were worth the price but I think Eureka no long sells them. I can trace out a bulkhead and have it glassed on one side in an afternoon. And + or - 1/8" inch is as accurate as you need to be for things like bulkheads and fuselage sides. Burt made it simple to build so CNC is just interposing unnecessary operations. Nevertheless, it's the journey so if it makes you happy, fine. 🙂

I suppose filling and sanding it the longest task--or at least, it seems that way. The airplanes can be built pretty quickly if you work on something every day and stay ahead on the parts flow. I usually say four years is quite doable but a couple of enthusiastic guys can build one in two years. If you end up waiting for parts, it saps your enthusiasm. I found most every chapter is fun and it is rewarding seeing the structure come together.

I suggest you download the manual and other plans from this site http://www.aryjglantz.com/p/documents.html?m=0 You never know when and internet site is going to disappear. I have an original copy of the build manual if you want that, complete but no license agreement page, with Open-ez templates. $250 PM me if interested.

the plans are copyrighted but Burt has told people he doesn't care, just don't call it a Long-ez because he doesn't want the liability. All the EZ-related newsletters and additional plans are online. The FAA does not care--never has. That's where it stands.

A series on making wheel pant mold. H/T Les Laidlaw It appears he used an already-made wheel pants to make a two part mold. The usual sequence to make the mold--if you have the plug or shape--is to slather the plug with mold release and gel coat. Then lay up chopped fiberglass mat using fast-setting vinyl ester resin. Add reinforcements (pic 3) to support and stiffen the mold for later use. Pull the new molds off the plug and use mold release again before laying in the final glass. I like how he used bumps of something (JB Weld Putty?) to match-up the two halves although I am not sure why that is necessary. Usually one would lay up the final item separately in the two halves, then join them with tapes when they are out of the mold.

Thinking about starting a thread called "The Best of Facebook" or "Kent's Facebook archive". I see a lot of good stuff on FB. I've said many times that FB is terrible for builders. Good ideas and pics on FB sink into the Marianas Trench never to be seen again. Also, if any of these gents ever closes his FB account, his posts disappear. However, it'd be a lot of copying and pasting to do that and I am not sure I'm up for it. For the time being I will put some here. Here is nice work on a fuel valve install. H/T Alex Liedl

A while back I posted a drawing and pic of an annular slot antenna for ADSB UAT 978MHz. https://www.canardzone.com/forums/topic/18661-kents-long-ez-project/?do=findComment&comment=65684 H/T to Del Schier and Nick Ugolini for the drawings which apparently came from an French chap. I thought I would post the original drawing with slightly smaller dimensions for Transponder antennas replying on 1090 MHz. Del noted that the larger ADSB size is "still a very good 50 ohm match at 1050" so perhaps two sizes are unnecessary but I have some extra brass and I think I will make the smaller size and test them in an upcoming transponder check.

I started with this drawing (pic 2) I found somewhere. It was helpful but the problem is that the position of the nose gear pivot is set for a standard short-nose EZ which as you can see in pic 2 is somewhat higher than needed for a long nose. I did not change the pivot location and adjusted the lower profile to fit. It looked pretty good when finished.

Just reading about this turbo Lance that lost an engine at 15000 feet, then had a fire, then crashed. http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2020/06/piper-pa-32rt-300t-turbo-lance-ii.html I have heard of other tractor airplanes with an engine fire crashing before they could get down and land. I suppose we have an advantage over tractor airplanes in that a fire is in the aft end of the airplane and behind the fuel tanks but a big disadvantage is that we are so slick, it is very hard to get down quickly from 15,000'. Also there might be a problem even recognizing that you have a fire in the aft end. Even if you shut the fuel off, there could still be oil to burn and it'd be hard, I think, to determine if the fire burned itself out. I do not see any fast way to get down. Best to look your engine over carefully every chance you get. [In the old days, pilots used to talk about spinning down through an overcast. With only needle, ball, and airspeed, it was a stable way to descent without getting into a screaming dive but of course the overcast must be high enough to recover from the spin. That doesn't help us much.]

A chap asked me: I had previously built a Cozy IV. When I built the EZ, I used the Cozy method of hardpoints in the firewall and multiple UNI strips and BID inside and outside to reinforce the mount area. I also used the Cozy method for mounting the main gear between bulkheads. This was a new-build and it is probably not practical to do that on an already-constructed airplane. Also, it is really not necessary--just a fun thing to try. From what I read, the only real problem with the original EZ mounts is that the angles weren't sized for heavier engines. People who have used 1/4" aluminum angle, or two 1/8" angles back-to-back or steel angles don't seem to have problems. I believe two 1/4" bolts through each mount point is adequate. I do not recall bolts shearing or the 4130 engine mount tubes tearing out where they are bolted. The problem seemed to be cracks developing in the angles. I would say to add a few more layers on the inside where the angles are bolted through the longerons, use stouter angles and you will be OK However, here are some pics of my EZ engine mounts under construction. It is similar to the Cozy but I for some of the BID layers, I used one or two less layers than in the Cozy plans. It was done mostly by eye and reference to the Cozy plans. I have a drawing reverse-engineering the changes but it's on another computer.

Your bumper-work looks great. The problem with airplane design is that beautiful shapes must be drawn hand-in-hand with engineering data so I am interested in your calculations. 🙂 That's particularly important in a canard design. I am not an engineer but I know that from from reading flight and accident reports. For example Puffer found in the Cozy IV that a little too much canard area could drive the aircraft into wing-stall. Perhaps your small canard will not develop enough lift at slower speeds to support the nose, or stall out at higher AOA before it can utilize the maximum lift of the wing. You only know that by making preliminary calculations of centers-of-lift of the canard and wing and position of the center-of-gravity. To do that, you have to know the position of the engine, the crewmembers, the fuel, and make a wag at the weight of the structure. Canard airplanes sit high off the ground so the airplane can rotate and land without hitting the prop. The wheels have to be mounted at a station which will give the canard the leverage to lift the nose to rotate but if the wheels are too far forward, the ground handling will be tippy or the prop will hit the runway. When we fly a Cozy solo, we have to add lead ballast to the nose to keep the CG in a good position (to keep the stall behavior acceptable). Swept wings look cool but they are not necessary in subsonic airplanes. Rutan only swept the EZ wings so he could mount rudders at the ends for stability and directional control. There is just a lot to figure out. I am not trying to be a debbie-downer, just bringing up things you may not have thought much about. Justin has a simpler job by sticking pretty close to the original design where Rutan worked out those problems. Speaking of which: Just saw this discussion of canard stall on HBA https://www.homebuiltairplanes.com/forums/threads/canard-deep-stalling.33761/

Nice but swoopy designs are hard to build. Plugs, then molds, then structures—lots of work. There is already something similar by Revelation Aerospace And it does not seem like they are doing much. https://bobklynstra.wixsite.com/website IMO, Your design is only practical as a model aircraft or a kit and the kit airplane market is very small. It’s not a waste of time because you are developing an ability to design and draw things. Make a flying model and see how it goes. Good luck

This guy https://www.facebook.com/tony.warnock.7? had a project for sale with retract "plugs" he called them. Pics posted June 5 here https://www.facebook.com/groups/25741482604/ Might be something you can use.

Long (11 pages) discussion of the Surefly in the VansAirForce site http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=169923

Just reading about Lycoming's Electronic Ignition. For now, it is fixed timing but promises variable timing for experimentals in the future https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/lycoming-introduces-electronic-ignition/ Appears to be a rebadged Surefly EIS (pic 2) https://www.surefly.aero/ About $1400 for the Surefly. I doubt the Lycoming version will be any cheaper. The Surefly site seems to say the variable timing version is available. Competitive with Lightspeed's Plasma III (dual system with mini-sensor, $3015) Probably an easier install than Lightspeed but the Plasma has a timing readout and adjustment capability. There is quite a selection of EIs these days.

No idea why they are longer but it will make no difference except make the airplane heavier. 🙂

For Sale: Set of used Long-EZ plans, Section 1 (pic). Missing license page. Several pages are loose in the binding but otherwise complete. Includes A1-14 drawings reprinted to size from Open-EZ drawings Rev. 5 and a thumbdrive with PDF files of Roncz canard build instructions and templates, high performance rudder plans, landing break plans, Pilot Operating Handbook, a zip-file of the A1-14 templates and Ary Glantz' Bill of Materials list. Yeah, you can download all that stuff and schelp it to the FEDEX store but here it is, mostly printed. The Section II plans (engine) are not included. $250 and I will pay the shipping. PM me if interested.

WOT = wide open throttle Fuel consumption is about .29 liter per horsepower per hour Or 46 Lph, 12+ gallons per hour see fuel consumption Here https://ulpower.com/en/engines/ul390/ul390is#4-fuel

Interesting but he oil flow only shows the surface air flow. No experience with baggage pods but I would think the pods should be mounted in line with freestream flow, i.e., parallel to the aircraft centerline. Freestream might be affected by the body of the aircraft but that far displaced from the fuselage, I wouldn't think it'd be much.

If you use the search function above, you will get more info than a couple of replies will give you. Search " Varieze Rotax " at the top of the page. When the results come back select "Varieze AND Rotax" at the top of the search results which will find both terms. There are a number of threads on this topic. Also try a Google Verbatim search for Varieze and Rotax. That will also bring up various discussions on other sites https://www.google.com/webhp?tbs=li:1

There was a discussion not long ago here and it sounded like a PIA to fix. https://groups.google.com/forum/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer#!searchin/cozy_builders/infinity|sort:date/cozy_builders/Nhv-zVchpD4/kO40H86qAAAJ I had heard JD was sick and commented that he might be out of business but he replied a bit bruskly that he had not. So who knows?

Chaps, I am taking a break from updating this thread. You are welcome to post any sales you see. I tried to identify the N-number of any aircraft I saw and post a link to the FAA registry. It's been fun but as I sit here this morning reading the news and watching the country come apart, it has rather drained my enthusiasm.