Kent Ashton

Another good site to read every day is Kathryns Report. Saw this one this morning where a couple of very experienced flyers in a T-6 make a very tight turn at 200-300' AGL after takeoff, get the nose buried and died. That happens. Turning hard, looking out to the inside of the turn, fail to notice the fuselage angle is beginning to point down. http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2019/02/north-american-snj-5-at-6d-texan-n12377.html The most prominent example I can think of is the Fairchild AFB B-52 crew that got the nose buried in a sharp turn down low. You can see the spoilers come up as they try to roll out but it's too late. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HJ4z1jGEcA That accident is memorable for a lot of things. http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/Czar52Crash.htm

Yesterday's B-stormers. A very unappetizing ad, likely overpriced and with no pics. I don't know why I bother but . . . VARIEZE • $6,000 • CLEANING OUT THE BARN • Varieze project with 0200 older overhauled.75 percent done .pictures on request • Contact William R. Rhymer, Owner - located Joplin, MO USA • Telephone: 1 417 529 6086 • Posted February 9, 2019

It’s good to query “cozy” or “longez” or “long-ez” at the NTSB site and read accident reports https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/Index.aspx Many of these I’d forgotten but there are things I pay special attention to today because I read something in an accident report: things like inspecting the gascolator regularly for debris, leaning for takeoff at high density altitude takeoffs, being very careful when exploring the stall in a new airplane. Those things have trashed new airplanes and killed or nearly killed pilots. These days, lots of people are buying flying canard airplanes. Idealy there would be a course on lessons learned with them. There isn’t, so you have to teach yourself by reading the reports. Those are just the documented accidents, though. You will find a lot of less serious incidents in newsletters and mail lists. These are safe airplanes but they can still bite if you don’t know their history.

Those are two big schnitzels to swallow, Herr Fritz. I have built a Cozy IV and an EZ. It probably took me 4 years on each of them. Actually I built them over about 16 years but I had other projects in between but I'd count on about 4 years each doing something every day. I think it's better to build the Cozy first. I applied a lot of ideas later to the EZ.

I hope it works well for you but how did you get around the metal in the oil? Are you going to re-engine? The GU canard can be OK. Some of them are less affected by moisture than others, I hear. Post some pics. The original PDF ad has expired. --------- OT: I was look at all the clouds in the your pic. I bet every one of them was generated by an airplane contrail. Folks have said that after 9-11 when the airlines were grounded, the skies were unusually cloud-free.

There is still plenty of support for the Long-ez online. The biggest obstacle IMO is to keep the flow of parts coming so you don't spend days and weeks waiting for stuff. That's a real momentum-killer. You can build one in two years if you have the parts. If I were building another EZ, I would buy one of the projects. Also, there are some dirt-cheap Cozy projects out there where people are giving away $12,000 projects for peanuts. The EZ is fun but a Cozy has more utility and the Cozy plans are more current. See some of the projects for sale here https://www.canardzone.com/forums/topic/21972-sales-ive-seen/?page=13 And here is a bunch of canard-builder links: https://www.canardzone.com/forums/topic/32503-a-heapin-helpin-of-builder-links/?tab=comments#comment-61295

Sealing up the airplane: If you can keep drafts out of the airplane, sunlight will almost keep you warm enough. We use sweaters, a heat muff and sunlight. It is pretty comfy down to 0F. I am not in favor of oil heat simply because it adds weight, complexity, adds to the build time and is probably not necessary in a lil' 'ol homebuilt. Electric heaters use a lot of amps. Better to just seal up the airplane and wear a sweater. If I flew more in cold weather, I would add an inline fan with the heat muff. I am sorry I used a fuselage door with a Hartwell latch. It leaks so much air I wear a glove on my stick-hand in the winter. Below is door idea that can be sealed up rather well. Some folks have hidden latches that don't need a door. Pic 3 is a pic of my canard off the airplane, bottom side. The air-dam between the elevator and canard matches a similar air-dam on the fuselage so it's pretty tight. My airplane was pretty airtight until I added an electric nose gear mechanism. I will probably make a cover for the motor-head and NG30s one of these days. To make a canopy seal, I used balls of modeling clay, shut the canopy against them and measured how much they got squished to make a canopy seal with hardware-store seal built up as necessary with 3M double-stick mounting tape. That works pretty well.

Just talking to my friend who has a new-to-him airplane parked on the ramp at a local federally-assisted airport. He has asked repeatedly about the airport's waiting list for T-hangars: how long is the list, who's on it, how can he get on it, etc. The airport manager blows him off. Meanwhile, he observes that a politician from a nearby town recent moved into one of the precious T-hangars. Friends, airport waiting lists are like Chicago politics. I have fought this B.S. since 1996 until it gave me a heart attack and I had to chill out. Sometime you can get results by asserting your rights under state law ("Rightful, equal and uniform use of airport facilities") or under FAA Grant Assurances. It helps if pilots with expensive aircraft sitting out in the rain, hail, and dust will join together and demand transparent, equal treatment. It is also helpful to assert yourself via a lawyer. One lil' 'ol' homebuilder will not get much respect from corrupt officials but they will pay attention when they get a letter from a lawyer.

Here's something new to me: A way to stiffen air-cooled cylinders. http://www.skydynamics.com/products/engine/top-cylinder-girdle I wouldn't doubt that those cylinders vibrate, ring, or flex quite a lot. It seems like a good idea but is rather pricey. Besides, most engines just rust out before they wear out.

To be clear: N316NM. He has done a nice job of marketing it on in his blog, compared to the losers that make you beg for pics. I think the white interior is a mistake; in my experience, white will reflect into the canopy and it gets dirty but a $95K buyer can have his valet tidy it up. 🙂 I was very interested to see the downdraft cooling (pic 1,2) but the cowl opening could be reduced by half, I expect, and make it even faster. Compare to pic 3 ----------------------- I see that the ebay Cozy project posted recently is reduced to $6000, i.e., this one. https://www.canardzone.com/forums/topic/21972-sales-ive-seen/?do=findComment&comment=62905 Another Picasso-on-the-curb.

Today on Ebay: Wing cores in Canada. Item 132940500989. I see that Eureka says it is no longer stocking foam. It appears they may be getting out of the business; I would not surprised given the dismal level of building these days http://www.eurekacnc.com/Home.htm Anyway $3000 for cores does not sound that cheap to me and cutting cores is a fun exercise. I recently saw foam at a nearby insulation company (pics 2,3). This stuff, I think: http://www.qualityfoam.com/docs/trymer-2000-xp.pdf The gent said he would sell it for about $100 a bun vs. $218 at ACS. I love a gouge like that!

I met a guy who had a very nice RV-6. He said he went to Oshkosh, picked out the niceist RV and kept offering more money until the owner agreed to sell it. So all you need is the niceist Long-ez and a motivated buyer! 🙂

Today on B-stormers: N16AE, 1984 vintage. https://flightaware.com/resources/registration/N16AE Nice but $75K worth of nice? Seems pretty optimistic but there is one recently in this thread at $117K. I am saving the seat pics though. Nice work there and my seats need some rework. LONG EZ • $75,000 • AVAILABLE FOR SALE • 1984 long ez 1325.2 tt and 622 smoh on 0320 Lycoming 160hp. plane was just repainted and new interior with less than 20hrs and panel was done 2 years ago. flys great and super fast. 900lbs dry nice and lite dynon 100, ap74 autopilot, with garmin296.....also has fuel monitoring system. • Contact Al J. Judice, Owner - located Orange, TX USA • Telephone: 409-540-0935 • Posted February 1, 2019

Just received this email from Sun N Fun (pic) after complaining today about homebuilders being run off the flightline for the airshow. Last year, there were very few canards on the days I was there. Maybe this will draw more homebuilders. SnF has not yet updated their website map but here's the URL for the new plan https://1drv.ms/b/s!Aptoc20RXr0bhZNFOxAs4SBs-btqQA Watch for updates at Sun n Fun's map page: https://1drv.ms/b/s!Aptoc20RXr0bhZNFOxAs4SBs-btqQAhttps://www.flysnf.org/guest-services/maps/

The pitch trim in these airplanes has to pull the elevator down against air loads most of the time. Not to put you off but there are three canard forums and a cozybuilders group that have discussed pitch trim systems many times. Use the search function here and on those sites and you will learn a lot. Google and google images will also bring up discussions and pics. Here’s a thread from the cozybuilders group, for a start https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!msg/cozy_builders/pyh7c3zgRok/uWL_T23ZBgAJ

I reprint this from a post on the Cozybuilders list. Take it for what it's worth. This fellow finished his Cozy with a Subaru about the same time as I finished mine. He made a valiant effort to make the Suby engine work but personally, 8 dead-stick landings are about 7 more than I could stomach before rethinking the idea. He is looking for a Lycoming. I have put two Subaru engines in Vanagons. Great engines but I don't trust them in canard airplanes. He did a great job landing the airplane. I have landed at Fullerton and it made me pucker even with a good engine (pic). 3100' R/W! Yikes! At least the landing roll is shorter with a dead engine. Landing in a warehouse will also shorten it up a bit, too. 🙂

I see that Lonesome Pine allows maintenance in hangars if approved in writing. Point them to the FAA rule (above). If you don't get satisfaction, think about making an informal complaint to the FSDO. see http://lonesomepineairport.com/uploads/3/5/5/7/35570129/airport_rules_and_regulations-09222011.pdf Many of these public airports are operating under old FAA rules and guidance that limit self-maintenance.

Seen on a FB page: This ain't going to work, I'm afraid. A nice NACA duct that abruptly ends in two holes for "oil and ram air". It totally defeats the reason for the NACA duct and square-edge holes are aerodynamically smaller than they appear. Imagine all the turbulence in front of those holes, too. At least the Cozygirrls were pointing that out to him. Well, that's Facebook.

Today on ebay: Pretty good price at $7000. Listed as a Cozy III but it's actually a Mk -IV https://www.ebay.com/itm/COZY-III-Airplane/254091469553? Seller says" "10K to complete". That's pretty funny but if you got it for $7K, it would be a danged cheap Mk-IV. It all looks pretty good. I don't see any canopy or winglets stacked around but still . . .where were these deals when I wanted to build 😞

Just discussing the need to use the minimum amount of cooling air and get it into the engine compartment, through the fins, and out in the most efficient way. FYI here are pics of a Lancair cooling system by the late Paul Lipps (pics 1-4). A number of folks have used on-top plenums on their canards similar to pics 3 & 4. I used a similar plenum on my EZ project (pic 5) but notice that Lipps also wrapped the cylinders to get (I suppose) even airflow around the fins. That seems a more complicated than necessary; the top of my cylinders were left open, inside the plenum but if Lipps' idea works . . .. He has small intakes and a nice transition to the plenum. I am not sure they could be that small if they weren't on the front of the airplane and getting a prop blast. The most interesting thing to me are Lipps' cooling exit ducts coming off the bottom of cylinders. (pic 1) Couple of pics of my EZ intakes here for comparison. My EZ cooled well in cruise but got a little hotter on climbout. If I kept the speed around 120 KIAS, it was satisfactory. Here are some other plenum and intakes courtesy of Phil Camarda http://longezpilot.com/PG10 DD Inlet Scoops.htm

imagine what results would come with our little airplanes if high-strength aero analysis was applied to them. Look at the tiny aero changes on the Mercedes and Ferrari F-1 cars at 2+00 and 3+00 and later in the video. The front wing has 5 or more leaves and all sorts of vertical devices to affect the airflow. The video is rather long, listen at 1.5X speed. It makes me feel like a cave man trying to figure out airflow through the engine: "Igor think air go this way; make dam to go that way. Igor happy." https://youtu.be/2Gn7_s8s2sw

A funny, sad story: I had a friend nearby who finished a Long-ez. He had not flown for years and took perhaps 15-20 hours to pass his biennial with a CFI in a spam can. After that we flew in the Cozy for 4-5 hours. He was not very proficient. He had learned the old Cessna habit pattern: "pitch controls speed, power controls altitude". That works very well in a Cessna but less well in a canard. On base and final, power WILL control glidepath or altitude over the long run but a slick airplane like a canard will often just get fast if you don't make a pitch change with the power. We talked about how his Cessna habit was not helping. He needed to control base glidepath with the stick, ie., maintain a constant glidepath and use power to control speed. He understood it intellectually but couldn't apply it in the airplane. When he started flying his EZ, observers saw him landing like an X-15: screaming. He could barely get stopped. After a few flights some pine trees grabbed his airplane as he was rolling out final; he was lucky he didn't get killed. When asked what happened, he said "The airplane got low on base. I kept adding power but it would not regain the glidepath."

From the Cozybuilders list yesterday. A tub on the main gear

They don't get any cheaper than this. $12900 in materials, asking $1500 https://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/avo/d/marietta-cozy-mark-iv-fiberglass/6791532178.html (H/T Marc Z.) Also this one on B-stormers. New one? COZY 4 PROJECT. MANY EXTRAS • PROJECT FOR SALE • Cozy 4 complete thru chap 13. precut wing cores. Too many extras to list. Call for pics $6000 OBO • Contact Les D. Behrens, Owner - located Pflugerville, TX USA • Telephone: 512-294-8966 • Posted January 18, 2019

Canard interest is spread-out on the net like bird-watchers wandering in a huge forest. They want to get together and share their bird-finds but they can't find each other. A couple of them are together over here, a couple over there. It's pitiful. If they would coalesce in one place, they'd get more enjoyment out of [owning canard airplanes] and sharing their experiences. For example, there is this site, CanardAviators.com, EZ.org, CanardCommunity.com, Socal EZ Group Squadron III (Facebook), Rutan Longez and Varieze (Facebook), Cozy Aircraft-Canard Avaition [sic] (Facebook), Cozy MarkIV (Facebook), Cozy Mk IV Pilots and Builders (Facebook), the Cozybuilders google group, the Canard-aviators yahoo group, Terry Schubert's Central States Association. Recently there is David Orr's Squadron III newsletter and lonely personal blogs like Longez Neightfourdr (Facebook) and Varieze nfoursixez (Facebook). I also know of a couple dozen personal builder websites. Some are active, some are dead or nearly so. They do not share. Newbie's ask the same old questions and reinvent the wheel. Like some of you, I refuse to join Zuckerberg's corrupt organization Other sites and lists are interesting and serve a good purpose but the effect is to spread the community out thinly. We do not have a Rutan or Puffer sponsor we can coalesce around. Persons interested in canards have to find builders and flyers where they can. For that reason I choose only to post on this web-based site and urge you who may come across my thread to ditch your Facebook memberships and post here. Your pics and comments will not dribble down to the bottom of an ad-filled FB page and be lost in obscurity. With the "search" function, you can actually find information. Over 23,000 people have looked at this thread and over 47,000 have looked at my Sales I've Seen thread so there are folks out there who will read your posts if you make the effort, talk about your experiences, and post a few pics. Thanks to Jon for hosting this site.