Strider

So it seems like such a good suggestion, the photo is uploaded at AvWeb now and is "in the running" for this week. Here is the larger and higher quality version actually submitted ("Warbirds Overhead with natural lens effects."): http://www.vigilanceaero.com/Warbirds_Overhead.jpg Thanks for the suggestion, Jon.

How would I do that? I searched the AirNav site, but didn't see how or where to submit a photo. The version of the Warbird photo that I have uploaded has been stepped on. The original looks even better. Thanks!

Yup, a great and comprehensive trip report. Sure was nice meeting and talking with you at Oshkosh, Jon. Sorry I keep getting your name wrong at every chance. Those are some unique photos you posted, I hope everyone had as great a time there as we did. We had a good flight home, no problems, used our new O2 system at 12,500 for more than an hour. We stopped for fuel in Mankato, MN and in Ainsworth, NE. Left KOSH at about 8:30 AM WI time, and arrived back home at Longmont 2V2 north of Boulder at about 4:45 PM mtn time. Here are a few photos: http://www.vigilanceaero.com/1JK_Oshkosh2005.jpg http://www.vigilanceaero.com/Warbird_Overflight.jpg http://www.vigilanceaero.com/Polishing_a_Mustang.jpg http://www.vigilanceaero.com/WhiteKnight_SS1.jpg http://www.vigilanceaero.com/Mankato_MN.jpg http://www.vigilanceaero.com/Ainsworth_NE.jpg curt

I really enjoyed meeting, talking at length, and drinking with Ray Parker at Oshkosh. For those who haven't met Ray, he is the one in the photo who is top-center and (most appropriately) raising his glass. Ray is a retired Air Force Viet Nam Veteran, Desert Storm Veteran, B-52 Bomb Loader, KC-135 Boom Operator, and AC-130 Weapons Specialist. He has also built and flown a Rutan Quickie, has built and taxiied his VariEze, he's a very accomplished engine mechanic, and as mentioned he's an EAA Tech Counselor. I assume, Brett, that you are describing Ray as the famous, yourself as the nearly famous, but who is this girl you are referring to as the miscellaneous other? I'll get the private email sent off right away. Thanks.

Oh, a couple other things I forgot in that first post. We really enjoyed spending time with Curt Smith, Mark Zeitlin, John Matcho, Larry Schuler, Lee Devlin, Bill & Marilyn Siebold, Kevin Funk, Frank Pullano, Ray Parker, Don Herzstein, and Harry Parsons. We also saw and talked with Burrall & Joyce Sanders, George Steele, Nat & Shirley Puffer, Austin Meyer (X-Plane), Len Levansic, Mark Beduhn, Bill Kastenholtz, Tony Rothwell, and Bob Forsternet and many others. Here is a neat slideshow produced by an X-Plane flight sim user. We had X-Planers going around searching for us at Oshkosh (wierd), because of my design work of all Rutan types for the program. http://www.flickr.com/photos/24472797@N00/sets/680665/show/ Finally- I am trying to get back in touch with Mr. Ray Parker of Cincinnati, OH. He has completed his VariEze but hasn't flown it yet. I benefitted greatly from using my VariEze in X-Plane to start flying the real thing (yes, I benefitted ... I'm still alive and the plane is undamaged.) I want to get the flight model of my VariEze updated to v8 to Ray ASAP. Anybody know how to reach Ray Parker ?!?!?

We're back home from flying our VariEze to Oshkosh and back. We had a great week there, and the airplane performed flawlessly, as usual. Thank you Joe Kendrick and Bob Barton. We had ground speeds of typically 215 mph heading East on our way there, and about 185 mph on the way back (against the normal headwinds). I received some very good advice regarding hot starts after quick fuel stops, and in Mankato, MN and Ainsworth, NE the engine started on the very first pull-through after less than an hour on the ground. Wow. We met and talked with some very special people in the canard airplane community. Here is a photo of our campsite in Homebuilt Camping (the all-color-coordinated plane/tent on the right): http://www.vigilanceaero.com/1JK_Oshkosh2005.jpg http://www.vigilanceaero.com/Warbird_Overflight.jpg http://www.vigilanceaero.com/Polishing_a_Mustang.jpg http://www.vigilanceaero.com/WhiteKnight_SS1.jpg On our way back home: http://www.vigilanceaero.com/Mankato_MN.jpg http://www.vigilanceaero.com/OverSiouxFalls.jpg http://www.vigilanceaero.com/Ainsworth_NE.jpg We stopped in New Ulm, MN on our way there to see a friend I have only known via the Internet and the X-Plane simulator. We had never met face to face before. The weather was bad over KOSH then (SAT eve.) and getting worse, so Jim and Gina Kallinen put us up for the night in a guest room of the complex they manage. Jim has uploaded the story, the photos, and some videos. Here are a couple of videos. Such great people involved in all aspects of flying. http://www.xplanefreeware.net/~jim/7-24-05/VariEze/100_2023.MOV http://www.xplanefreeware.net/~jim/7-24-05/VariEze/Curt.mov Curt and Gail

I hope to update all of my canard types for X-Plane soon, now that the holidays are past. Steve, I could simply add retracts with the Infinity geometry and the slight changes in weights to the Cozy, and upload it. Unfortunately, it isn't quite as simple as that for these initial canard design uploads. X-Plane is at present in the process of gaining detailed cockpit and interior object capabilities. The planes that I have released to date suffer from an incomplete method of adding cockpit details. The current results are drag figures for different aspects of the planes that are incorrect (to put it politely) because the pilot figure screws up drag calculations. I will need to complete the designs with proper 3D cockpit objects, readjust the Cd's of the fuselage and wings, test and calibrate, and upload these improved versions before any kind of accurate drag/speed comparisons could be provided using X-Plane. Calibration means the Cd's for fuselage and wings are increased back to reasonable magnitudes and then adjusted slightly until the type in question demonstrates an average of the documented speeds of several examples of the real aircraft. Engine power, RPM, and propeller specifics do not change. I have been learning the methods for installing drag-less objects for the last few weeks. Many of the designs that I have done previously will also be improved and updated. Finally, in the interest of compatibility with somewhat older/slower computers (like mine), I will probably also offer 2 versions of every aircraft type. This would include a version with transparent glass and cockpit objects, and a version with opaque glass and no cockpit objects. There may be a significant difference in simulation update rate between the two. Announcements concerning these issues will appear in this space.

We are back from a 1,300 nm holiday trip in VariEze 111JK (the real aircraft that the XP version was modeled from.) It's actually been a few days that we've returned, Denver to Phoenix and back. The aircraft ran and flew flawlessly. South thru NM and then West, we stopped for fuel in Santa Fe, NM. Freezing cold and windy, but clear all the way. We overtook Santa in broad daylight, and he sent us this photo: http://www.vigilanceaero.com/VEZoverCO.jpg Tuesday morning (28th) we flew out of Phoenix between dramatic cloud layers at 8 AM, maintained VFR and there were lots of holes below. Plenty of Light to Moderate Turbulence in NM and CO that afternoon- Oh Boy, My favorite (NOT). I practiced this flight 8 or 10 times in X-Plane; the whole flight- Longmont 2V2, Colo to Phx-DVT and back- in X-Plane flying my VariEze. I used real weather downloaded in flight. I became familiar with the terrain and the orientations of airports all along the way. I practiced randomly-timed engine failures, landed on roads, and the X-Plane model demonstrates the same Glide Ratio as the real plane, which is less than it's supposed to be by design. With sufficiently accurate fuel flow, capacity, weight, and cruise speeds in the X-Plane model, I accurately predicted how far the real plane would get between fuel stops, including the probable impact of weather. I firmly believe that X-Plane has shown what my plane can and cannot do in emergencies. I don't want to stop the prop on my plane in a practice session, because it does not have a starter. That would be a practice exercise a little too real for me. And I was able to safely start flying the plane in the first place because I flew it in X-Plane. If you fly a real airplane, X-Plane is the best value BAR NONE in aviation. Most of the gadgets sold to aviators are unbelieveably expensive and still of dubious value. The price of flying emergencies and familiarization flights in X-Plane is absolutely negligible when compared to it's value. X-PLANE ROCKS !!!

( ... it's not enough that the dog talks ..?) Oh, sorry nothing. Regarding the rudders and the airfoils, I sure am glad folks are flying and enjoying the airplanes for X-Plane that I have posted. But yes indeed, there are limitations to what the computer software can do, no matter how many years one has spent bending and breaking its rules to get a design to handle and perform closer to reality. X-Plane is a virtual wind tunnel, not a look-up-table re-creation-by-rote of an airplane's behaviour. As such, it is doing a whole bunch of calculations that some experts still insist cannot be done in real-time on affordable computer equipment. This enforces certain limitations. The distinctive one-way rudders of Rutan designs, the upward motion of SpaceShipOne's Tailbooms, and more accurate adherence to definitive data describing airfoils will one day be added to X-Plane. The developer (a single individual) works VERY hard at advancing the program on a daily basis. Currently, even if the program was extremely accurate in the application of airfoil polars, these are not available for the Roncz airfoils, much less the MODIFIED Eppler airfoil. Even if I had the money, the data simply is not available at any price. The airfoils in my designs are carefully designed and modified to support accurate aircraft handling and performance. The numbers accompanying the airfoils, for example Eppler 804, are an indication that I established this version in August, 2004. I do not have and never will have the correct Eppler or Roncz data. These cannot be derived from the airfoil shape- it must be the actual airfoil performance data from wind tunnel testing (polars of Cl, Cd, and Cm). Airfoils available for X-Plane and purported to be the correct Eppler and Roncz for Rutan simply are not. Thank you very much for your interest, and I hope the X-Plane designs benefit you as much as they have me, ultimately making me safer and more competent in my real-life Rutan homebuilt. Greater accuracy is always my focus in more than 8 years designing in X-Plane, and these most recent examples (VariEze, LongEZ, Cozy, Defiant, Proteus, Symmetry, White Knight, and SpaceShipOne) for X-Plane will be updated as often as possible. Post here if you have not found D/L links for free X-Plane designs of all of the airplanes in the list above.

And here is the Cozy Mk IV for X-Plane v7.62: http://www.vigilanceaero.com/Cozyposter.jpg http://www.vigilanceaero.com/CozyMkIV.zip This one carries the tail number that we have reserved for the Cozy that we are building, N272CZ. Still trying different ideas for the panel and the paint, just like many at our stage of building. And it is the sweetest-flying one of the whole bunch. That figures- the Cozy is the most-well-developed one in reality, too. (The trim color is Copper, not orange ... seems appropriate.) Oh, also- here's a Defiant with O-360's: http://www.vigilanceaero.com/Defiantposter.jpg http://www.vigilanceaero.com/Defiant.zip A Freebie ... oh wait, they're all freebies ... P.S.- if you downloaded the LongEZ, here is an improved version (engine gauges): http://www.vigilanceaero.com/LongEZ.zip

Here is a LongEZ for X-Plane version 7.62. http://www.vigilanceaero.com/LEZ.jpg http://www.vigilanceaero.com/LongEZ.zip This has an unfinished instrument panel, but flies well and very much like a LongEZ that I have flown.

Flew my VariEze up to Sidney, Nebraska today from Longmont, Colorado alongside a friend in his LongEZ. Just gorgeous day, departed at about noon local with 60 - 65 F temperatures all day. With my climb prop behind an O-235 L2C, I can top out at 160 MPH indicated, 175 MPH ground speed at 6,500-7,500 MSL. As you can see here, I don't have wheel pants on the plane yet (84KB JPEG): http://www.vigilanceaero.com/CurtnVEZ1jk.jpg My spinner does not fit the climb prop, either. Perfectly smooth air,though- no traffic, and our planes ran and flew flawlessly. Well, except for that *^% GPS I'm using- wouldn't let me enter KSNY, messed around with it so much I lost sight of my LongEZ friend. We spent 30 minutes trying to join up again. Man, these planes are just invisible sometimes ... Cabelas in Sidney is always a treat. First time visit for my friend. And your first time at Cabelas Outfitters is almost like your first time at Disneyland. Especially if you hunt, fish, or shoot for recreation. They have a regular shuttle to/from the airport to Cabelas. But the coolest thing is the crowd that gathered at the airport when we rolled up and shut down. There is an extension of the local community college at KSNY, for AandP students. Must have been 20 or so. It was like they'd all never seen a Rutan homebuilt. I sure am glad my wife and I did all of the work on our airplane that we did, inside and out. It's nice enough to be proud of when you're forced to show it off ... Anyone else flying in nice weather today?

If I recall correctly, I got that 52 kt number from a LongEZ driver, and that is also a number from my VariEze. Thanks for the correction. My tech advisor is amazed at how slow my VariEze can be going and still get the nose up or hold it up. When I land, I can keep the nose up down to about 40 mph, if I have the nerve. But this is in an O-235-powered VariEze- lots of weight back there that wasn't intended by the designer. I've added 45 lbs of ballast in the nose- 25 around the battery and another 20 under my seat. This gets me to the rear of the first-flight restricted CG box, not quite to the middle of the CG range. And the plane still handles like it's slightly tail-heavy. It's correct, recently weighed on platform scales. But once that O-235 starts moving up or down, it wants to keep moving. I'll correct the speeds for the Cozy, do some more tweaking and testing of the rotation speed and pitch-buck behavior, and try to get the updated design uploaded some time this weekend.

Regarding a Cozy with more horsepower, Karoliina, one way to do that and not have too much weight aft is to consider the Rolls-Royce/Allison 250 turboshaft engine. This is what the fellow from Venezuela is considering for the Defiant he wants to build. The Allison 250-B17F weighs about the same as the Lycoming O-320, but it produces 420 HP. The only problem would be severely limited range due to fuel capacity and the 250's thirst. I'm not surprised that you were unable to get the Cozy for X-Plane to deep stall. If you are modifying the CG location simply in the flight simulator (not with PlaneMaker) then you cannot move it beyond the design limit. And because it was carefully designed both in real-life (by Nat Puffer) and in X-Plane by me, it will not deep stall because a deep stall is undesireable (to say it politely).

Yup, my wife and I are building Cozy Mk IV plans # 872. We started in 1999, and have had to take 2 different year-long breaks from it. The new heated facility that I have built in our hangar will help us get back to building. Flying the VariEze (N111JK) is very useful regarding the Cozy. We are much more knowlegeable about what we will want in the new plane. We will have hundreds if not thousands of hours in the VEZ before we test fly the Cozy. And the VEZ is so severely limited in useful load, flying in it together REALLY makes us want to finish the Cozy (or to buy another VEZ !). Again, thanks for the feedback on the new Cozy model for X-Plane. I'm also working on a Defiant for a fellow in Venezuela. The best real-life example that I have ever seen is currently in a hangar not far from my own here on Vance Brand airport. Not sure if Defiant for X-Plane will be offered for free download. But the LongEZ and Cozy should be done soon. Curt Boyll - flying VariEze N111JK and building Cozy Mk IV #872 (N272CZ res.) Boulder/Longmont 2V2 Colorado

Thanks for feedback comments on the prototype Cozy for X-Plane. It is not finished yet, not by a long shot, but it is better than any other Cozy for X-Plane that I have tried. I have the benefit of flying an actual VariEze, which is similar to a Cozy. But I have not flown an actual Cozy yet. One aspect of these planes is that they are quite sensitive. Pilot induced oscillations and overcontrolling are common problems for transitioning pilots and novices. One recommendation in the real airplane is to use just your fingertips -not your whole hand- on the control stick. A corollary recommendation for flying the simulator version is to arrange an armrest for your stick arm. The real plane has armrests, your arm is well supported in the real airplane, and when I started using a chair with armrests, my flying in the sim became more realistic compared with the real airplane. And as to whether the aircraft are easy to fly or not, as I said I fly a VariEze- the most difficult example among VariEze/LongEZ/Cozy aircraft. I believe my Cozy for X-Plane is easier to fly than my VariEze for X-Plane, and this apparently matches reality. I was advised that I would probably need to do 2 or 3 aborted approaches in my real-life VariEze before I could actually make my first landing in it. This was not so- I landed the real airplane just fine on my first attempt. (maybe 100 landings in the sim had something to do with this ... ? ) Concerning rotation speed on takeoff, the adjustments for refining this in X-Plane are related to the refinement of pitch buck (stall) behavior. These are still being developed for this Cozy prototype. The speed at which you can lift the nosewheel/canard is somewhat influenced by your runway elevation and the ambient temperature (but not as much as actually lifting the mains off the runway). But check your ambient temp and airport elevation. X-Plane is rather accurate in modifying performance due to high Density Altitude. Otherwise, the behavior I'm trying to get is the standard "VariEze speeds are about 10 higher than LongEZ/Cozy speeds" dogma. Therefore based on published specs for the Cozy, and on how my VariEze flies, we should ultimately see the following for the Cozy Mk IV (but not yet in the current example): Vr to lift the nosewheel/canard: 52 KIAS Liftoff speed clear of the runway: 75 KIAS Pitch buck stall in level flight: 62 KIAS Downwind Pattern speed: 90 KIAS Base Leg Pattern speed: 80 KIAS Final Approach speed: 70 KIAS It's great to see Mark Z. posting here, and hopefully any critique of these speeds for the Cozy will be provided shortly.

For those interested in other aircraft designs for X-Plane, or if you clicked on my company link provided by Jon and saw only some stuff about a helicopter FTD, you can find several other X-Plane designs from this page also at my site: http://www.vigilanceaero.com/airplanes.html The free download pages have not been updated recently, but here is a list of images of most of the projects I've done since 1999: http://www.vigilanceaero.com/survey.html Some of these are not linked, and some designs available are not shown (like the latest SpaceShipOne and White Knight). Post here or send me a message if there is interest in one which is not downloadable from that list of images. I'm known as the guy who does Burt Rutan/Scaled Composites designs for X-Plane.

This is an interim Cozy Mk IV for X-Plane version 7.61. It has only a standard X-Plane instrument panel, not a custom photo-panel, but it is equipped for IFR. The focus of this model is primarily accuracy in handling and performance, as opposed to being completely seamless eye-candy. I am still working on this one and the LongEZ; the pitch-buck is not exactly correct for the Cozy right now, for example. I intend to get photos of actual aircraft in order to produce the eventual panels for these. This Cozy flight model for X-Plane is a stable, smooth-flying airplane which requires very little trim. Includes a visible belly-board speedbrake, and transparent canopy. http://www.vigilanceaero.com/CozyMk4_761.zip Sorry about the delay in producing my new LongEZ and Cozy for X-Plane. I have been working in my hangar a lot, setting up a heated work area so that I can get back to work on my real Cozy Mk IV, N272CZ (reserved). Curt Boyll Longmont 2V2 Colorado VariEze N111JK and building Cozy Mk IV N272CZ (res.)