Len Evansic

I can't speak for Greg, but he has indicated to me that the CozyJet is a bit of an R&D mule. He's still tinkering with it, and still expanding the envelope. The CozyJet is itself not an end, but a beginning of his next project where he wants to tackle the Vne issues with stiffer wing structure and some other changes. As much as he is experimenting with the design, he is trying to do so in a cautious manner. -- Len

Not much. CS is probably a tougher program, and many airlines are cutting back on their "Aviation Operations". You will make next to nothing. Seriously, I've had two CFI's go almost bankrupt trying to survive to pay off their loans, while building hours as CFI's. The payback for those programs is to get an airline pilot job flying really big jets. You can't do that out the door, it's a long and costly road. The best you can hope for is to get hired as a biz jet pilot for a company that coddles their pilots. Those are few and far inbetween these days. It sounds to me like you are burned out on your current job, with your current employer. I may be completely wrong on this, but I think you need to take a step back and try to objectively and rationally evaluate your roads forward. If it doesn't make financial sense, don't make a leap of faith. There is a lot of risk involved. I myself am contemplating a fork in my career. I have a tremendous opportunity right now to move to the west coast and start a job that has all indications of being awesome and what I would love to do. The tradeoff for me right now is that I am very close to finishing a Masters degree that I've been working on for some time, and I'll have to move about 2,700 miles away. The job can't wait for me to finish. Will I go? Well, it depends on if I can support my family with this new job. I would move in a heartbeat if I didn't have to worry about paying the bills. I should add that if you are going to change paths in a manner that requires another degree, you should note that job markets are not constant. What is hot today may be dead tomorrow. You've seen this with IT jobs in the last decade. My wife started her MBA at a top-ten business school when there was a lot of demand for MBAs'. September 11 and the finale of the dot bomb happened in her first year. The hit to the economy killed the market for MBA's. It was a tremendous risk that we took, that ended up not panning out for her or the majority of her classmates. Just remember that the grass may not be greener when you reach the other side. -- Len

Today, we are proud to announce that we now carry a full line of Noral flight bags and headset bags. As with everything else on our site, we will embroider a plane and other personalization on these bags. The entire selection can be found on our Flight Bags page. We've added the Avid Flyer to the site, and I'll hopefully have a few more RV's and a V-tail Bonanza by this weekend. I know, not canards, but some of us have friends with less refined taste, and we don't want to leave them out. -- Len

About ten years ago, I had to use a Smart Level for my job, and it was great. I kept telling myself that whenever I'd eventually need a level like this for my hobbies, I'd buy one. The problem at the time was that they were pretty expensive at Lowes or Home Depot, and for the home repairs and such that I was doing, I didn't need that much accuracy. Fast forward ten years. Now I'm building a Cozy and finally "need" a Smart Level. Now, I can't find them at Lowes, Home Depot, or any other hardware store as they have been displaced by a myriad of laser levels. Many of these laser levels are less accurate than most good carpenter bubble levels, but they extend that brilliant line and make it easy to align long items or distant items on walls. I guess these hardware stores realized that most projects don't need accuracy, just more reach than traditional levels. The price hasn't dropped on the Smart Level in that time, and now I can't get it locally anymore. At least Wicks still carries them. -- Len

On the webcast idea, it would be impossible to webcast from Oshkosh live, but very easy to serve the video after the fact. Apple has made it's Quicktime Streaming Server available on several platforms, for free, and the bandwidth requirements aren't that severe, as adding new viewers just adds an IP address to the multicast pool. As long as the video has been sufficiently compressed so that it doesn't completely saturate the outgoing network connection of the server, the internet takes care of getting the packets where they are going. Video-on-demand type of webcasts require a lot more hardware and a lot more bandwidth. -- Len

We've been quiet lately, because we've been pretty busy. Tonight (this morning), we rolled out a lot of new stuff on the web site. As a teaser, we've added Greg Richter's CozyJet, with his new paint job no less. Beyond that, there is a new kid's section with smaller chairs and other items, and some nice microfiber towels for canopy cleaning without scratches. Also some impressionistic renderings for those who prefer to fill in with their imagination. This week, we submitted our first advertisement to Kitplanes (should be in the July issue). We're really close to being able to accept credit cards, and when that happens, we'll most likely stop using PayPal for payments. For the near future, customer demand is pulling us temporarily away from canard designs, but when that demand is met, you can expect the Defiant and Quickie to join the design library. -- Len

Apparently MGS 285 slow hardener has been reclassified, as far as it's DOT shipping hazards status. It is no longer classified as a Class 8 (corrosive), package class III (ORM-D possible) material. Now it is a Class 6 (poison), package class I (very dangerous - expensive to ship) material. What changed? I'm not sure, but this is something that should be considered. As far as I know, the fast 285 hardener is still a Class 8, package III material, but this might change. -- Len

I'll take from these replies that my fears about vacuum bagging foam are unwarranted. Trying to rationalize postings like Jon's, noting dry layups after even lo-vac are what brought me to my conclusion. I'm still going to hold off on doing anything vacuum bagged until I have more confidence. Speaking of which, I may be able to do my practice work this weekend, as it's supposed to almost hit 60° on Sunday (my garage is still under-heated, and I'm not allowed to do it in the house). -- Len

I've been contemplating vacuum bagging, but the more I read, the more I hesitate. It's not the investment, but the fact that we use foam for our reinforcements. Think about it, the foam is a ready supply of air to bleed into the layup. It might be closed cell, but I'm sure even a slight vacuum could coax quite a few bubbles out of the foam to make layups too dry. Thinking back to the Cozy Girrrls demo at Oshkosh, the NACA scoop that they used was a solid, non-reinforced layup. Basically, an open mold. This is what vacuum bagging is traditionally used for. Also, vacuum bagging is used to squeeze pre-preg onto core material like Nomex honeycomb in autoclaves. As mentioned, our core material will crush at those vacuum levels, and also they won't withstand the heat. If I were to build a mold for my fuselage, wings, or strakes, then yes, I would definitely use vacuum bagging on a large scale. Right now, I'm even afraid to use lo-vac for all but the simplest parts. -- Len

It's been a while since we've updated the site, so today we finally did. We've finally added Shirl Dickey's ERacer to the site, and updated our Custom Paint Jobs page to show the latest addition to the gallery, Jack Morrison's awesome ERacer. Jack's plane has quite an intricate paint job, and it also has a custom cowling with side cooling scoops. In the behind the scenes department, we've been working on the assumption that we have a space in the Fly Market, and as such, just acquired a vehicle to tow Danielle's trailer out to Oshkosh. We were relying on borrowing my father's truck (and kidnapping him for a week), but his health (and trying to tow with his truck) persuaded us to go another way. With our transportation problem solved, we can get back to producing more designs. Next on the slate are the Aeronca Champ and more RV's. We're still looking for good flying pictures of Defiants and Quickies or Dragonflies. -- Len

My misunderstanding, I thought they were wider. I only have one work table so far, a beautiful butcher-block one that I picked up at an auction (hoping to get a pair). It's only 2-1/2' x 6', and it will be covered with an appropriate protective top to enlarge it's size to 42" x 6'. I was only planning on having two of these, and building on that. Then again, I'm just starting and don't know what I don't know. -- Len

Looks pretty good, and sturdy. Are you planning on building two planes, or just doing both wings at the same time? -- Len

Wow. This came out in 1987?!? It has elements I associate with just about every other EZ derivative I can think of. Center stick like Velocity, front hinged canopy like the Cosy Classic (similar in shape, too). Berkut-ish retract gear, but a very Italian looking cowling. -- Len

I'm curious about the shipping, because the place I'm looking to buy from won't ship this material, and requires you to pick it up at their facility. I don't want to drive to Indiana, so I'm trying to determine what amount they can legally ship to me. I found another vendor in Connecticut, but again, I don't want to drive there either. -- Len

I did more research, and found that all epoxy curing agents fall under a DOT Class 8 (corrosives), and the only difference I found (ignoring chemical composition) is that some fall in packaging group II, while others fall into group III. One web site said that this deals with the size of internal packaging with III allowing larger bottles than II, but this was also dependent on what the class and specific material is. This brings me back to having no clue about what all of this means... -- Len

I'm looking at the MSDS for the epoxy hardener that I now plan on using and it says: I don't see ORM-D or anything similar. Could this be shipped ORM-D? The rest of the MSDS appears relatively benign compared to say the MSDS for Aeropoxy's or MGS's hardeners. -- Len

Carlos, Do you know what other systems or components fall under ORM-D? I've seen the designation on boxes before, but have to admit ignorance on the subject. I'm curious as to what it takes to get fall under this classification for shipping. I had an e-mail conversation with Gary Hunter about various epoxy systems, and the one that he uses has much higher specs than Aeropoxy or MGS. I found a few vendors that sell the resin from his system with no special requirements, but they'll refuse to ship the hardener, and require you to pick it up at their door. For general info, he uses EPON 862 resin with EpiCure 3234 hardener, generically known as TETA (can't remember the chemical name right now). This system has low viscosity, but a relatively short pot life (~25 minutes) -- Len

We've added a few more planes to the site tonight. Finally, I have a Berkut design, and the RV-7, RV-7A, and Lancair Legacy RG are added, too. I should have some good E-Racer pictures early this week, so I can finally get that up. http://flightlinechairs.com/planeindex.html I'm trying to find some good flying pictures of Defiants and Quickies, but Most of what I've found is close-up ground pictures, which tend to distort proportions. I'd appreciate if anyone reading this could point me to a good source. -- Len

The blue almost matches my Mac's gel widgets, except square shaped, and slightly darker. Seems more Microsoftish with the inconsistent reflection directions and hue of the blues in the buttons and heading bars, but cooler than it looked before. -- Len

Looks spiffy! -- Len

We've put some more things to the site tonight. A zip-up fleece was added to the shirts page, and a new jackets page with four different styles were added. As always, if you don't find your plane on our site yet, just contact us and we'll accommodate you as best we can. We do not charge for new designs. -- Len

We've added the RV-4 and the Lancair ES today, bringing the total of standard designs up to sixteen. The Berkut and more RV's are in progress. A quick reminder, prices are going to change tomorrow, but there will be a new page with oopses that we are selling for cheap. Mostly these are thread color issues where something just doesn't look right to us, but at the right price, may look great to you. http://flightlinechairs.com/whatsnew.html -- Len

Shim the tables, not the work. You may forget to shim your work at the end of a long day when you want to do just one more thing. If you shim the table, you won't forget, because you won't need to shim the work. -- Len

We're starting to hit our stride with the ramp-up of FlightlineChairs.com, so I felt it necessary to start this new thread. First, I should take this opportunity to thank all of our current customers for believing in us enough to give us some business, as we wouldn't be pushing forward without your support. We've had many helpful suggestions, and are working behind the scenes to provide more products and more designs. Today, we're transitioning to a new layout for plane designs, and showing our newest designs, the Lancair PropJet and IV/IV-P. With the new layout, we'll be able to better organize the planes by designer or kit-maker. The site design transition will be throughout the day, but the new designs are online now. Today, we've sent in our registration and check to Airventure 2006. Right now, we have no idea where our booth will be, but the helpful registration folks seem to think we will definitely have a spot, somewhere. Our planned spot will feature a large tent, which will be perfect for informal gatherings. We'll have plenty of seating available. Depending on the location, we will probably not be allowed to have cookouts until after 6:00 p.m., but we plan on having at least one during the week. This brings me to the last portion of this update. Being new in business, we are now dealing with new-business issues. Unfortunately the cost of doing business has gone up for us, and as such, we will have to raise the prices on many of our products. We will keep our current prices constant until February 1, where there will be an increase on most prices. With the price changes, the Forum Discount will now have some new rules. As before, the discount will only apply to the Flying Ace chair, and will remain at $15 off of the listed price. Think of this as free shipping, but only for this chair, and only with bag customization. We have started to advertise, so now I cannot assume that customers are coming from this forum or the Canard Community (canardaviationforum.dmt.net), which also gets the discount. From today on, you need to mention the name of the forum in your order e-mail to get the discount. http://flightlinechairs.com -- Len

This morning, we added the Velocity XL FG model, and while we were at it, replaced the XL RG design. I wasn't completely satisfied with the original RG design, and was able to add more details and give it a better presentation. The next few additions will be more conventional planes. On deck are the Lancair PropJet, IV, and Legacy, as well as the RV-3 and RV-4. Of course, the E-Racer is coming as soon as we can finish the design, and any requests for designs that we don't currently have, will take precedence. http://flightlinechairs.com -- Len