Jon Matcho

I am far from home on this one, as I haven't participated in the hot wire part yet, but from what I understand it is desirable to cut your cores a bit larger than what you need. The foam sands easily and can be brought into the proper shape if you start just a bit larger. Even if they appeared to mate perfectly, you still might want to cut the cores a touch larger so you can sand away the wire ridges AND keep the proper shape. cncdoc raises a good issue as well. My $0.02 -- perhaps with a penny.

Oh boy, this "discussion"... As far as I can tell, the book is still open on this subject and us common folk are just not "in the know" to really understand what the legal status is between Co-Z/ACS and AeroCad. It's interesting to me that AeroCad is open for business, and that means something, but what I don't exactly know. The news on the Cozy site says that there is a motion, and so far it is unopposed, but has not yet been finalized. Personally, I really wish I saw more of AeroCad. I like the idea of a 3rd party adding onto the Cozy plans.

Yeah, I'm not sure whether this is legal or not. Well, as it turns out, the Quickie was the first plane built by one of the administrators here (not me): http://www.cozybuilders.org/Q2.html I never had a desire to build one, as they are just a bit too odd for me, but to each their own. Perhaps they have some crazy flying characteristics that I'm not aware of. I'm also sure it would be a challenge getting by the "I'm not getting in that thing" statements. Here's the modern version: http://www.slipstream.bz/dragonfly.htm

Okay everyone, here's your chance to give feedback on the structure of the forum, particularly the home page. I took best guess at identifying the main categories, and now that they're here, is there anything that can be adjusted? Here are some of my own "thoughts" (complaints), but don't let these keep you from putting yours in: 1) The home page may be too tall 2) There might be too many sections -- can we group some of the 2nd level sections? Or no? 3) I'm not sure I like the 3rd level Cozy chapters showing up on the Home page -- is this a bit much? 4) I want to add a 'Progress Reports' section under the Building category for builders to publish their progress. 5) I want to rename the 'First Flights' section to 'Flight Reports' for flyers to post about any flight. Thoughts? Any and all feedback is appreciated.

Hey Paul, you can't be more than a few hours away from airborne by now. How's it going? Is KLS still in there with you? I wanted to check them out at SnF, but I think they were a no-show. You also might want to post a screen shot of your software. I'm sure many here would be interested.

You might have nailed it. There's a lot going on, but the upside is that there are relatively few materials you need to concern yourself with when building a plane like a Cozy. I picked through my chapter 4-7 materials today and couldn't help but noticing that all I really had was foam, fiberglass, and epoxy. The other side of me says, "how hard could it be?" And from another thread this week -- "remove peel ply before flying".

When registering with the Canard Zone you will have to provide a valid email address which will be used to verify your account (that you are a human) and for other communications relating to the forum. E-mail verification The registration process involves a step where the Canard Zone server sends you an e-mail to the address you entered when you registered. You need to open that mail and click through the activation link to complete the registration process (should be the second link in the email you receive). If you do not receive an email within a few minutes after registering, check your Junk Mail folder and mark 'The Canard Zone' (support@canardzone.com) as a safe/trusted sender. If you are having other problems registering, just send an e-mail to support@canardzone.com and we'll take care of it ASAP (usually well within a few hours, and not likely ever more than 1 day).

Justin, thanks. I wish I could be there. I posted the even in the calendar for June, check here.

Last night I dreamt that I had built my fuselage in a very short amount of time. I was amazed at how well and fast it came together. Everything looked fine, except... I'd forgotten to include the bulkheads. Anyone care to analyze that?

Does anyone know the status of AeroCad and whether they're still selling parts and service? Now that I am building, I was hoping to be able to consider some of their modifications for Cozy IV builders. I understand they had a "fuselage widening" plan adjustment. Any feedback would be appreciated.

John, I'm not familiar much with grass fields, but don't you expect some issues with debris flying up into the propelor from the wheels? You're not talking about dirt runways, right?

By posting here, the Canard Zone makes no copyright on a member's "literary work". However, it is important to understand that by default, each member has a copyright on the text of their own posts. This hasn't been much of an issue until recently with CAI-related events, but let me try to answer your questions. While I am not a lawyer, I have written 3 software books and am somewhat aware of the implications of referencing external works (read plagiarism ). Here's the FAQ from the US Copyright office. The Canard Zone is like a newspaper, essentially publishing articles on behalf of its members (authors). In order for one to properly reference material from another source (with the Canard Zone being a source), you must reference both the source AND author, clearly identifying how the reader is to find the original "literary work". This includes the publication name (Canard Zone), article name (thread name), page # (post #), and author name. Mike, if these questions specifically relate to copying posts from here over to the CAI forum, then you just need to get permission from the original authors (not the Canard Zone). There seems to have been a fear that everyone's posts would be deleted, but that's clearly not going to happen. I hope that helped.

Hello everyone, I want to share my thoughts with you for the future of the Canard Zone, but first want to take a moment to address the obvious tension between John and me, as well as with some other members. The tension has been evident since "Day 1", when I was promoted to Lead Administrator by Nick Ugolini, the original founder of this forum (BTW, I am glad Nick is still here as an administrator). John and several others were very much against anyone other than John to take control of the forum, and unfortunately I was never able to make these members happy. You can relive these awkward moments by reading the "Day 1" thread as well as the recent "Last straw" thread. I realized on "day 1" that my primary concern, as a member owning plans, was for this forum to exist independently of any corporate aviation entity. When John suggested he attach the forum to his business then, I reacted as a member, and offered my time and support so that the forum may move forward as an independent organization. This forum continues to operate today un-biased and free of any influence other than that from the membership and the 3 administrators. There's 3 sides to every story, and John has done an excellent job of convincing everyone that all this "just came up" this week. I have tried to handle the outbursts, some for the smallest of things, in the best manner I could. I can only imagine the riot that would have happened if I actually implemented the changes now available at the "new and improved" forum to the letter!? While I do not agree with the premise behind Canard Aviation, Inc. setting up another discussion forum for canard-types, anyone is free to do whatever they like. As a business owner, and a builder with intentions to become a rotary canard aviator, I can appreciate John's entrepreneurship and sincerely hope for CAI to "take off". At this point I hope we can all move on, without further posts that do nothing more than fan these flames of distraction. There are many sources of relevant information available, with the Canard Zone being just one of them. For all those that have sent in their words of support and appreciation -- thank you very much! You can be certain that the Canard Zone will continue with every intention of becoming the premier stomping ground for canard aviators. I look forward to "seeing" all of you here as well as meeting in person at an upcoming fly-in or project visit. This forum is yours to use how you like -- I do hope you enjoy it. Most sincerely, Jon

All posts made on this forum, unless otherwise indicated by the poster, are in the public domain. This does not mean that you can post copyrighted material without a reference. A general rule of thumb is that if you post content from somewhere else, you should give credit to the source. Neither do I. The only problem I had was John Slade asking me to perform a wholesale export of the Canard Zone Forums database for import into another forum database. I declined and felt it necessary to remove his administrative privileges, making him a regular member just like everyone else. That simply has not and will not happen here. From what I have been told, this "new and improved" forum has already deleted posts and entire threads. Administration was not my time-sink, it was politics. Nick Ugolini and Marc Zeitlin are co-administrators, able to step in if I accidentally epoxy myself to my garage wall. Part of my day job involves building "knowledge" communities (information centers) for corporations. I enjoy my work there, have enjoyed making improvements to this site, and have been discussing a number of ideas with Nick and Marc. I am really looking forward to getting back to the fun, and this equation is where I am at with this "project": software stuff + building my Cozy + the community at large = major fun hobby

Mike, John Slade essentially asked me if I or he could download the forum data so that dust "could put his posts on another forum or website". This raised my brows, especially coming from John. Only when I was forwarded a copy of the e-mail did I make the decision to momentarily ban their activities until I had a chance to begin this thread. Their privileges have been fully restored for days now (with the exception of John Slade as administrator), and the "ban" was less than 1 day. Anyone and everyone can post whatever they like now. I finally feel myself to be a member of this forum, and can look forward to posting without worry of angry rebuttal towards even the smallest things. Having just received material for chapters 4-7, I expect to have some of the greenest questions anyone has seen, as any member of this forum should have. Post away everyone! Give it a try, and see what happens.

That is rather impressive, but I wonder what can be supported in the oposite direction (downward force). The reason I ask is so that I just might have a place to sit when my plane is parked. I didn't see anyone sitting on their canard wings at SnF.

Dust asked me to allow him access to say "goodbye", and so I did the same for John Slade, LargePrime (Eric Ruttan), and dust (Mike Skorija). Part of me says this is a mistake, but if they want to be deviant enough, they can do anything they like -- I only have so much energy. Dave, you have taken sides plenty of times. Most everyone tends to get upset when a private message is made public. I am not a liar. Dust and I did exchange "words" privately, which I felt HE took the first turn for the worse. I never denied this exchange. If you like punishment, you can even read it in all its ugliness here. Since the "dust incident", I tend not to write many private messages here. Everything anyone writes remains on these forums (except for the one-word 'dustpicks' posts -- I did delete those). Sure, I regret the courses some threads have taken, and wish for some of that NOT to be recorded for posterity, but as you can see everything is still there. My position on keeping all posts might change within the next few hours, depending on what posts LP, dust, and JS will write (understanding that they told most EVERYONE they would no longer post here). A post I WILL remove will be one telling everyone to leave this forum. That simply does no good at all for the Cozy community at large. I do hope we can get back to enjoying each other's questions and successes, without the heckling. I just received materials for chapters 4-7 today! Please feel free to post anything you like.

Yesterday, John Slade launched a new business, Canard Aviation, Inc. to provide various aviation services. Unfortunately, John also decided to join with Eric Ruttan (LargePrime) and Mike Skorija (dust) in an effort to effectively turn this forum off. I began to wonder whether something was brewing last week, when John asked me to export all posts by dust. I had to decline, as this would have been a great deal of work for me, with no upside for the Forum Membership. These events were also close in time to a series of ill-willed posts directed towards the Canard Zone administrator (me). Sensing something, I reluctantly decided to disable John's administrator privilege. Seeing from the system logs that John hadn't administered anything on the CZF for over 3 months, I thought the only way John would notice would be if he would actually try to export dusts posts. If I was wrong, I could easily change back. Last night I was monitoring the server performance, and noticed quite a bit more e-mail activity than usual. Looking more closely, dust and LargePrime were sending hundreds of e-mails to individual members petitioning everyone to leave this forum. If anyone didn't get a copy of their message, send me an e-mail and I can forward to you. Not supporting this, and working alone, I felt the best decision available was to restrict access for the members of the coup to stop the mayhem. Rest assurred that their accounts have NOT been deleted, nor have any of their posts. Prior to now, no user has ever been kicked off of this forum, and never has any post greater than a single word in size ever been deleted. This forum is and has always been 100% open to discussion. However, this time was different, I did not agree with their intentions, and felt it best for the community at large to make a quick decision. I think it's fair to say that somewhere between calling me a jackass and making a guerilla attack on the forum membership is cause for some restrictions to be applied. I will soon restore full access to these three, but understand from their e-mail that they do not intend to post here anyway. So here we are, with yet another source of information out there. The question I ask is, "how much is too much, and is the community at large now better off?" That question has been asked by those on the Cozy Mail List of the CZF. Marc Zeitlin and I have had sincere discussions on this topic. My hope is that someday the technology will allow a unified membership, which I equally hope Marc will consider supporting. Marc and I will continue to freely discuss this topic, the present technical constraints, and what would have to happen to allow each membership to seemlessly exchange posts with one another. For me, this would be a great achievement. If you want to talk about a knowledgeable community, it is this one AND the members of the Cozy Mail List. I personally prefer the user interface of forum software over the e-mail list provided by Marc. With that said, I find it inconceivable that one would not also consult with the Cozy Mail List or the other robust information at www.cozybuilders.org. In spite of these recent distractions, I promise to continue running this forum running as best I can, and continuing its evolution as a community process -- not one that is tied to any single vendor or company. Brickhouse Software, Inc. and Jon Matcho are the "patron sponsors" of the Canard Zone. Brickhouse is a software company, and so neither it nor I have anything to gain here, we do not have a bias towards selling you anything or hoping you'll need services. My motivation has been honest and clear from the onset of my efforts -- I want for this forum to be useful during the course of my building period; for me and anyone else that happens to want to participate here. The Canard Zone will continue to be operated as a vendor-independent community for many years to come. When we act like one, we become one. I posted this here for open discussion, so please feel free to make any comments you like -- just don't call me a jackass. Respectfully yours, Jon Matcho Cozy IV Builder #1185 Canard Zone Administrator Community Proponent

A while ago Drew Chaplin (Dmchaplin here) offered a panoramic picture of a large number of Long EZs from a Rutan birthday party I believe. Being a Rutan/canard enthusiast, I gladly sent in my money. Today I received a tube containing a rolled up photograph about 3 feet wide! The quality is amazing and altogether beautiful work. My wife even remarked at how cool it was. My only complaint is that I didn't talk to Drew about a larger version. I just wanted to thank Drew for a great job and let everyone know what a good service he provides. If you talk to him nicely, he just might be able to get you a 3' canard/long EZ picture as well. You can find more information in this thread.

Raky, there are a silent number of us who feel this is far from crazy. You can expect a certain amount of "flak" from some once you are "found out", but the fact of the matter is that if you follow the plans, and learn the building skills (which flying does not teach you BTW), you can indeed build a perfectly capable aircraft without ever having been pilot in command. I know another builder who started building without a) having his "license", b) having ever flown in a Cozy, and c) having ever flown in a small aircraft! "So what!", I say. It's not all about flying -- half of it is about the build. I am setting out to build a Cozy IV without having my privot pilots certificate. My plan is to take lessons and be flying ~50 hours per year for the two consecutive years before my Cozy is ready to be airborne. So, "Welcome!", and feel free to join the discussion.

It sounds like you have plans from Uli Wolter, who took over the design of the Cosy Classic in Europe. Carl Denk built one of these and has a nice forward opening canopy. I saw a couple examples at Sun-n-Fun and they look quite good -- so good that I am seriously considering to include with my Cozy. I'll post some pictures next chance I get.

Just one week ago today I was reconciling myself with the bittersweet realization that this would be my final morning at Sun-n-Fun. It's time to pack and head back home. I was privileged with the opportunity to fly down with Marc Zeitlin (of www.cozybuilders.org), in his Cozy IV as his fledgling navigator. This is my side of Marc's story. Weather for Departure We were supposed to leave Wednesday morning, but early on in the week a storm system was running wild throughout most of the country. Checking the weather, I thought for sure we'd have to cancel, but after checking with Marc, I was reminded that you can fly under the clouds. Imagine that <g>. Marc also supplied me with some real aviation weather sites: http://adds.aviationweather.noaa.gov and http://aviationweather.gov I checked these on Monday and Tuesday, and found that at 2:00 on Wednesday the winds were perfect for a shot all the way to Virginia, where the weather was clearing. Not good enough it turned out. Again I was reminded, it's about the clouds. So now I am researching cloud ceilings in anticipation of the flight, and see that Thursday at 2:00pm things look good for Marc to get out of Massachusetts. On Thursday morning, however, Marc advised that he had sufficient ceiling and would be leaving shortly (~9:30). At this point I knew Marc's personal minimums were safe and conservative, but I didn't quite see how he'd be getting out at this time. As you can see from Marc's report, it was a bit hectic for him. Departure at 47N Amy, my wife, and my mother wanted to see me off and were at the field with me waiting for Marc's arrival at ~10:30. My mom must have thought I had a fair chance of NOT making it out of this alive, and insisted that I hold a 1940 silver quarter of hers (her birth year). I thought that was a bit odd, and made a comment about her being able to retrieve it from the wreckage. At 10:25 I began to comb the skies for Marc's "spaceship". I had a video camera with me to capture the moment. The last time I caught part of Marc's landing on my digital camera in movie mode, but blew it and stopped filming 0.5 seconds before his wheels hit the runway. I was determined to do justice to this landing by filming proper on my Hi8 camera. 10:30 came and went, and then 10:35. Finally, at 10:40, I see a canard high in the sky and the excitement begins to mount. Marc landed and pulled up to meet us. The picture is of Marc and Karen, my mother. Amy was visibly impressed with the design style of the plane, describing it as beautiful and elegant. A warm fuzzy ran through me with those words -- "I'll be all out authorized to build by the time I get back." My mother, on the other hand, said, "I was expecting... well, a door." Amy and I laughed at that, and I began to get my stuff. Up to this point I had realized I'd forgotten a number of small items, but now one significant item -- my sleeping bag. Luckily my mother had a blanket in her trunk. My mom didn't know what to do with herself when we were preparing to take off, so I made her pose for this picture. We loaded up, strapped in, and said our farewells. We blasted off towards Suffolk, Virginia to visit Wayne Hicks, who reluctantly had to decide not to fly down w/Marc this year. Flight to SFQ In the air I realized that this was my first small aircraft trip where the destination was not the same point as the departure point. I was just settling in to soak in the joy of the flight when Marc threw a coil-ringed binder of east coast charts in my lap and said, "Now tell me where we are?" I knew we were still in New Jersey, but not yet having my "license" or any real experience, I had to admit, "I really can't tell." With this began my navigation training, being patiently instructed by Marc on the details of reading charts and how to recognize landmarks on the ground. Rivers, airports, highways, and even racetracks. High above Delaware and Chesapeake Bay, wondering where to land in an emergency, the magnitude of flying from Hawaii to the mainland in a Cozy hit me. It also put Lindbergh's achievement into a much better perspective for me. Doing these things today, I feel it's fair to make an analogy to something like climbing Mt. Everest solo -- a feat I can hardly imagine. In flight there was a sudden KABRANG sound, which I felt come and go as a vibration through the plane. My heart must have skipped half a beat as I collected my thought. Marc pointed out that it was just a spring for the air brake, and that there's another attached, so no worries. I have to admit my immediate concern was nothing more than, "Dang, we're going to have to make repairs and this trip is going to be seriously derailed." Luckily, it was more or less a non-event and we cruised forward. With the wind at our back, we were realizing a 240mph ground speed. Landing in Suffolk was my third landing in a Cozy, and felt just a bit of anxiety. I think it was here where there were some heavy crosswinds, which Marc handled quite well. We taxied over to the parking area, put the nose down, and had lunch w/Wayne who was there to meet us. After lunch we went to Wayne's hangar to see Wayne's Cozy project. I had been impressed with Wayne's work on the Web, and so this was a special treat for me. Wayne does great work, keeps a clean shop, and I am sure will produce a beautiful aircraft. Also in the hangar was Steve Volovsek's LongEZ project nearly ready for paint. I'd never seen a LongEZ in any form, so this was another treat. Still, I gravitated to Wayne's Cozy, since that's what I will be soon building. Flight to CUB and then to Clearwater Airpark (CLW) We bid farewell to Wayne and headed out towards CUB, our next stop to say hello to another builder and a perennial pre-planning builder (who had Cozy plans for ~15 years -- and I thought my 9 months were long). They drooled over and pet Marc's plane a bit, with Marc offering up answers to all their questions. Soon after we headed out to Clearwater, where we'd be staying at my sister's place. I called my sister just before taking off, and let her know that I'd ring her once more when we were 30 minutes out. Along the way I continued to soak in Marc's instruction and knowledge, which I readily welcomed. Marc was in tune with the level of my knowledge, and so most of everything he had to offer was useful and appreciated. The most challenging aspect of this flight was to thread a needle through restricted military airspace and that for the Orlando airport. It couldn't have been wider than a mile or two, and on the map and GPS seemed to be the width of the wings. I wondered what would happen if we dragged a rudder through the military airspace... "Not much", I thought, but I didn't care to find out so I cross-checked our position as best I could. Within 30 minutes of ClearWater, I found out two things: 1) no cell phones in flight, and 2) there's no reception anyway. So when we arrived, my ignorance would have it that my sister was not there. On the final approach I did notice a canard that was tied down. It looked like a Velocity, it was as it turned out, but it didn't have an interior or an engine. My sister made it there just 10 minutes after our arrival, took us to her place, and treated us like royalty. It was good to see my favorite sister. Over to Sun-n-Fun We left for Sun-n-Fun Friday morning. I could tell from Marc's pre-flight briefing that this was going to be "action packed". At Lakeland there were two lakes where planes where holding at 1100ft (for small planes) and 2000ft (for twins and fast planes). The instructions were to go to lake #1 and listen for when lake #2 had emptied into the regular pattern at Lakeland. Planes were everywhere. In front, behind, up, down, to the left, right -- I thought I was nearly essential at this point, looking out the right side for unexpected traffic. You could feel the confusion "in the air", with some inbound pilots seemingly barreling in without having previously referenced the SnF procedures for landing. On final approach we were cut off by a v-tailed Beech, which made Marc go high so he could put on all the brakes he could find. Soon enough it was in front of us, and we actually landed first with the tower instructing it to touchdown further down the runway. For sure I thought we would have to do go around, but none of this seemed to faze the pilot in command. Fun at Sun-n-Fun With the exception of the early part of the week, and from Thursday forward, this year was hardly to be known as 'Rain-n-Pain'. The only pain I felt was the sunburn I got from Friday, which had me seeking shade the remainder of my stay. As I write this more than a week later, I am still molting. John DiStefano found us, and he was to be my backup ride if Marc was unable to make it down. John flies 737s for Continental and knows a thing or two about instruments and IFR flight. This was evident as I was visiting glass panel vendors with John, who was grilling the reps about the features and capabilities of their products. Blown away, and knowing my glass panel instruments (I hope and dream) will be markedly different (and I hope far less expensive) than those available today, I just went window browsing. Camping John hadn't made any sleeping arrangements, and so Marc and I offered him space in Marc's ginormous tent. John gladly accepted. When it came time to sleep, I asked Marc if we should zipper shut the screen windows. "No, best to let some air go through here." I thought, "Sure, who wants a tent filled with man breath anyway?" We all went to bed... but at some ungodly hour in the morning, the temp in Lakeland must have hit 50F degrees. Having forgotten my sleeping bag, and with only a blanket from my mom's trunk, I was FREEZING. I looked over at John, and he looked to be in the same shape, with a washcloth or something on his head (could have been Marc's underwear, but I was afraid to ask). I also had to go to the bathroom so bad, but dared not move for fear of freezing to death. John eventually gave up and announced that he was going to finish the night in his iron tent. In the morning I noticed the window vents were open... doh! Eating Marc doesn't eat. On Friday Marc promised Steve Brooks a checkout ride at a nearby airport. Not wanting to slow Marc down, and wanting to get more airtime, I followed Marc's lead by passing on breakfast in the morning. After the checkout ride w/Steve, at which I was able to experience back seat flying, we landed back at Lakeland after passing through the Lakes of Terror. Once landed, the Cozy fans immediately approach and it becomes hard to walk away from their enthusiasm and questions. As a result, lunch was cancelled as well. Thankfully, we were kicked out of the flight line for the afternoon airshow, and I was able to convince Marc to eat. Eating at Sun-n-Fun is just like any other carnival-like experience -- $10 fast food lunches, and people everywhere. In hindsight, I realized that you do not want to eat at "normal" times so to avoid the masses. I also realized that I better chew my food 237 times for maximum digestion and nutrition, as it was not longer clear as to when my next meal would be. All in all, the food at SnF is fine. Expensive, but it's right there, and cheaper than the hotel equivalent. Air Shows Air shows are every day around noon and 5:00pm. Noon has mainly aerobatic acts (see this post), and the evening show is highlighted by an F18 (or a similar F-type jet) tearing up the sky displaying serious force. This didn't compare to some of the pyrotechnic explosions that were being set off. I didn't see a single one, as I was either shopping the exhibits or in the Internet Cafe, but the shock waves ripped through a good 1/4 mile+ of air, earth, buildings, and vendor displays to pound you straight in the chest. I can only imagine what was going on out there. I did manage to catch Lon Arnold of www.longezairshows.com to witness him doing some very "inappropriate" things in his Long EZ -- things we are told the design can/should not do. It was good to see the canard design being put to the test, makes me feel safe, but I do not expect to emulate Lon's style of flying. Goodbye Sun-n-Fun The rest of my stay was just a big blur... there was the Cozy dinner on Friday night, which was well attended. There, we got a hands on presentation of someone's fuselage jigged up in the Composites Tent. This fellow was building his Cozy 15% bigger all around than the plans, with the only exception possibly being the canard itself, which he might just widen per advice from an aerodynamic engineer. At first I thought this fellow was crazy, but now I commend him -- 15% is EXACTLY what the Cozy needs, and if he can pull this off, I would only hope that he keeps and publishes plans. Just before leaving, I put in orders at Wicks and Aircraft Spruce (see post) with Jerry Schneider's help and advice (I'm convinced he has Fein stock). Jerry has been most helpful, and living just a few miles away from my sister, he's a guaranteed visit next time I'm down. Once again I had Marc to appreciate for allowing me to save some shipping on material that was available at the show. There was an accident of some sort Sunday morning, and upon coming home I found out 3 died in another incident before our arrival aviators were injured in 3 separate incidents -- nobody died (4/25/2004 edit). I think it's very important that your skills are polished and entirely current before attempting to go to such a huge fly-in. We stopped in to see Wayne again on the way home, where we bumped in to a LongEZ at his airport. I didn't recall seeing this one at the show, so I snapped a few more pictures. We were soon off and headed home. Home Three hours into the trip home I realized that it was soon to be over. I couldn't stop it... I'd have to get out and let this wonderful experience end. Marc and I talked about the Cozy and its design, where I fully regressed into that pre-planning mode where newbies like me desire to make improvements. I do think I have an idea or two that I may bring to fruition, but with the total understanding that they will be entirely safe. The one mod I KNOW I am going to do is to put carbon fiber over my instrument panel bulkhead. Why? "Because it will look cool", I told someone who asked. Being the one bulkhead that has so many holes cut into it, I also feel it's appropriate for that reason. In any event, minimally, I will just put the carbon on as the last layer, which doesn't change anything. I bought 2 yards of the stuff from Wicks. We arrived back at 47N and were welcomed by both my parents now who were clicking away with pictures. Amy was to be there with my two kids, but apparently had been lost for the past 30 minutes. She was really disappointed that she was unable to see me land. The temperature in New Jersey took a turn towards freezing, and must have caught everyone by surprise as Amy and my two girls were in shorts. They quickly grabbed my "sleeping blanket" and huddled under it. My mom, who hadn't met Marc before Thursday, ran up and gave him a hug with a tear in her eye. I then realized that she gave me that silver 1940 quarter, which I thought for sure I had spent. Luckily I had not, and returned it to her. Mom had a table of food, snacks, and drinks, including champagne. I thought the champagne must have come from her knowing about my uncle's balloon flying, where it's common to have champagne at the end. Marc had one more leg, and had to decline the champagne, and with darkness looming, had to decline my offer for dinner. Seeing that Marc is perpetually malnourished, my mom packed him a bag full of almonds and dried craisons (cranberry raisons). I thought, "Perfect for Marc, nuts and berries." Thank you! It was a joy to fly with Marc and to learn so much about flying and all things Cozy. Marc was a mother lode of expertise and information for me. I am very appreciative of this trip. It was one of those lifetime memories that will surely last until I am "done". Thank you again Marc, I learned most everything I know about flying from that trip.

Here are a couple low resolution video clips I took from my digital camera at Sun-n-Fun 2004. They're of Lon Arnold doing acrobatics in his Long Ez powered by ~110hp engine. http://www.canardzone.com/content/Lon Arnold 1.avi http://www.canardzone.com/content/Lon Arnold 2.avi http://www.canardzone.com/content/Lon Arnold 3.avi http://www.canardzone.com/content/Lon Arnold 4.avi Sorry for the poor quality and bad video, but I was caught by surprise by this (read "unprepared"). Finally, here are some shots of the plane (a Long-EZ): dashboard cheat sheet Lon's acrobatic EZ Enjoy

How's this?

I hope you got a picture of the UPS man! That seems to be a highly sought after picture. I have my wife ready at home, instructed to get a picture of the UPS guy when he shows up with my Box O Flox. I'm going to be starting out with a scale, just because I have no idea how everything will be working out. Once I get going, I might get the super duper mega-pump shown in the ACS catalog. What does that mean?! You're not allowed to build and NOT post! You have responsibilities now.