Waiter

HEY, ME TOO! This is why I practice and review my procedures, so after I say "AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH @#$%" I start implimenting my plan, instead of trying to figure out what to do. In all probability, your most likely correct. HOWEVER, there are plenty of scenerios that are perfectly survivable and would allow the use of a parachute. For example, I've seen video of a Mid air collision between an RV and an EZ. The EZ lost its canard and subsiquently nosed over and went straight down, very stable all the way to ground impact. If the Pilot had survived the initial impact, had sufficient altitude, and was consious, he could easily have bailed out. ALSO, I've investigated several EZ crashes, one of which was determined that the aircraft was in an inverted flat spin (inverted deep stall) from approximately 17,000 ft. This pilot was in all probability consious all the way down. If he had a parachute, perhaps he may have used it. It all comes down to risk assesment and available options. If I find myself participating in activities that are higher than normal risks, I make an attempt to present myself with more options. I wear a parachute anytime I participate in the following activities; First Flight (actually first two or three hours), Flutter testing, Air Combat Manauvering (ACM), and Formation. This would depend on the severity of the fire and the altitude. Severity would be a highly judgmental thing, i.e. Can I get this thing safely on the ground (May also read ANY ground) before the fire starts doing controllability damage. ( It doesn't take a lot of heat to structurally damage the shear web, i.e. broken exhaust pipe that just happens to be blowing exhaust gasses toward the center spar section, you do have heat shields over the centerspar, Don't You?) I can easily envision being 2 thousand feet over the airport with a fire so severe that I make the decision to hit the silk instead of attempt to land. ( Even as low as 2k ft, the ground is still 1 1/2 to 2 minutes away via controlled aircraft) I think most of us think along these lines. Thats all the more reason to pay a hired gun to do a first flight. As I've said before. I'll do what I can to save your plane, but when the time comes, I'm leaving. My butt is worth more than my customers plane. It took the USAF years to get that thought pattern engrained into pilots; "Don't loose your life trying to save the plane" If you're considering performing your own first flight, please sit down with an EAA Flight Advisor and review your qualifications and procedures. Even if you use a hired gun, I would still do the Flight Advisor thing, for both you AND the hired gun. If a hired gun doesn't want to participate in this program, find another hired gun. Waiter

Sounds like you nailed it. Waiter

The chain serves two purposes. 1) It helps me move the CG forward to the "First Flight" box. 2) In the event I need to bail out, the Chain may clean off some of that meat grinder sitting at the tail. Waiter

Check Featherlite. Thats where I got mine (about 15 years ago) Waiter

Hitting the Silk; Your a long way from that point, but its always a good idea to prepare early. I always wear a parachute for the first couple hours of phase one, and especially during the "flutter" testing portions. My thoughts are, During the first couple hours, the flights are conducted directly over the airport. The need for a parachute would be limited to either a catastrophic airframe failure, OR, a severe in flight fire that is consuming the aircraft and the chance of a controlled landing are remote. Regardless, You must think these emergencies through ahead of time and make many of the decisions before you even start the engine. Airplanes are expendable, I'm not. This is one of the arguments for hiring a paid gun to do your first flight, there is no emotional attachment to the plane, and I'll jump out of it in a heartbeat rather than risk my life to save your plane, (well, to a degree) The airframe failure associated with "flutter" testing are almost totally an uncontollable aircraft with possible inflight breakup. You just plan the best you can and play it by ear. As fir First Flight, I usually require some ballast, so I carry a 20 ft log chain in my lap (bunji cord to the seat belt.) My theory is, If I'm able to do a controlled egress, Heres my checklist: 1) Point the plane at an uninhabited area. 2) Pull the throttle and mixture to idle cutoff. 3) Turn the Fuel Selector to OFF. When the airplane is slowed down below 75 kts (time /altitude permitting) then; 4) Open the canopy. 5) Throw the chain out. 6) loosten my belt and harness and attempt to get my feet up and into a squatting position. 7) When ready to jump, release the harness/belt and jump up as hard as I can, or push out over the left strake. I practice this routine while on the ground before engine start. If the plane is uncontrollable or breaking up, I attempt to get as far down the checklist as I can, but all bets are off. Its a crap shoot and you just take what you can. PARACHUTES Check with your local EAA Chapter. Many chapters own a parachute. They usually require that you sign a liability waiver and that you must have the chute repacked before your intended use. E-Bay, Don't buy any chute unless it has a fresh repack, AND/OR, a condition that the chute must be acceptable and repacked by a person or shop that you designate. If the chute cannot be repacked then it will be returned to the sellor and they will refund your money. Expect to pay 400-600 for a chute!!! and about $75 - $100 for a repack. Good Luck Waiter

Wooden dowels are used in numerious places to hold pies together during hot wire. The dowels then act as guide pins when the foam pieces are ultimately bonded together (using micro). The bonding "glue" used to bond foam cores together in a LongEZ is a medium thickness slurry made up of glass balloons and epoxy. Waiter

Bill O. (duck) has an O-320 VariEZ Waiter

Kind of related to airplanes :-) Setting computer time: You can set your computer clock by using Waiters Flight Data Recorder. OR I wrote a program that automatically syncs my aircraft computers internal clock with a GPS clock. I just leave the program running and there is a cheep GPS receiver connected all the time. I uploaded this program to my web site; www.iflyez.com Scroll down to DOWNLOADS and click on GPS_Time Waiter

Nope!, Standard ole 87 octane. My O-320 has 8.5 pistons in it. If you are using a higher octane, make sure the fuel isn't using Alcohol for the octane booster. Waiter

This discussion makes the rounds about every six months. I'd recommend doing a "Search" on Autofuel". With 100LL approaching $5 per Gallon, I can save $1.50 to $2.00 per gallon by using AutoFuel. That equats to about $20 per hour. I've burned Autofuel in all my aircraft, The only thing I've noticed is, I can now fly about 1/3 more often that I could if I was burning 100LL. My LongEZ has over 2600 hours on it, most of these hours were with Auto fuel. Generally, if your running compression ratio of 9:1 or less, you shouldn't have any problems. Waiter

I performed some preliminary color temperature testing on my LongEZ. Look at: http://www.iflyez.com/LongEZ_Retrofit_JUN_07.shtml Scroll down to the 9 June entry. Waiter

In the United States, The FAA (DAR) doesn't want to see the plane until it is completed and ready to fly. Other countries (Canada) may require progress inspections, i.e. pre-close - The wing spar caps and shear web are inspected before the skin is applied. Check with your version of the FAA if you don't live in the US. With that said - A good relationship with your local EAA chapter will get you free access to a Technical Counselor that can inspect your work as you progress. Although this isn't "required" by our FAA, it does carry weight with them AND the Insurance Industry. When it comes time for your first flight, The EAA also provides a free service "Flight Advisor" program. Your Local EAA Chapter may also have access to scales, you'll need these to perform your weight and balance. If you join your local EAA Chapter, you'll find that its a two way street, Not only will you be learning, but you will also be teaching. Waiter

You may have seen it already, but for those that haven't: I write an article on how I did my electric roll trim that uses a small MAC servo. I've been using it over 10 years and 2600 hours, works great. This same system would easily work on the VariEZ as well as a LongEZ The article is posted on my web site. Scroll down to CONSTRUCTION (left side) and click on "ROLL TRIM". www.iflyez.com Waiter

If it outputs a serial data stream it should be adaptable! Waiter

Recorder written in VB6. Waiter

Version 3.3.7 is loaded with new features. All screens have been resized to a standard 640x480 format. These will fit nicely on most small 7 inch dsiplays. Added variable screen refresh update rates for the EFIS data and Instrument screens. This vastly improves performance for slower CPU computers. Rather than update the screens real time (65 times a second) you can select update times. The Default values of 250 ms (4 times a second) for the EFIS data screen, and 70ms (16 times a second) for the EFIS Aviation Instrument Screen. I recommend leaving them at this speed, even if your machine will run with faster speed. EFIS, EMS and GPS Aircraft Instrument screens updated. I added Gmeter, Vert Speed, and AOA to the EFIS Instrument Screen. Capture and save raw Serial Data on EFIS, EMS and GPS serial ports. The captured files are dated and time stamped. Older files are automatically deleted when a user set cache size is reached. Enable this feature and just forget about it. If something happens during your flight, download the files and read them with this program on another computer. NOTE- Serial Capture is a seperate function from the original "Record" mode. The original "Record" mode is still intact. "Record" gets all the data from the EFIS, EMS and a GPS and makes a data entry at variable speeds, The recording can be perfomed at real time (65 times a second) or slowed down to as sow as once every 30 seconds. The recorded data is in a tab delimited format that has been the corrected for the UNITS that is selected. i.e. Knots and Feet instead of Meters per second and meters. Playback (and convert) captured serial data. Playback one frame at a time or any frame rate up to near real time speed. The playback dat appears on the data screen AND the Flight Instrument Screen. Can also convert captured file to a Tab Delimited text file. Added MODE C transponder code generation. The Mode C altitude encoded data is generated from the Dynon EFIS altitude. Corrections can be made to the altitude data at 2500 ft intervals.(I need to work on the interface device - the box that goes between the computer and the transponder) I updated the manual and included a Table of Contents www.iflyez.com Waiter

One very important item missing from the list: Would the sellor be willing to do the purchase through an Escrow Agent. Personally, I will not buy any aircraft without the protection of an Escrow Agent. Check out AOPA web site for details and costs. Waiter

In my first version of the oil Cabin Heater (cooler) in the nose, I used a standard Aircraft oil cooler and standard Aeroquip 401-8 hose, about 25 ft total. http://www.iflyez.com/oil_heat.shtml Althoughthe addition of any components into a system increases the risk of a failure. I'd submit that the industry wide failure rate of these two components is so low as to be neglagable. In my new version, I installed a "T" at the engine side odf the firewall. On The oil run fromn the firewall to the Cabin heater is now done in aluminum tube. AI would venture a guess that properly flared tubing has a much lower failure rate than the 401-8 hose. http://www.iflyez.com/LongEZ_Retrofit_MAR_08.shtml Waiter

It takes about ten minutes to install/remove them. I've done acrobatics with them installed, but only if they are empty. With my new paint scheem (F-16 Camo), I'm going to paint them to look like bombs. Waiter

I see about a 5kt loose with the pods. Waiter

Should work; Keep in mind the following: Your Cowling will not be standard, you will need to make your own. If you widen the longerons at the firewall, you engine mount will not be standard, you'll need to make your own. watch the positioning of the mount tabs when you make the canard, and drill F22. Waiter

I used the "SEARCH" feature that is part of this forum and found the following subject (plus many more): Follow this thread http://www.canardzone.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2761&highlight=turf The amount of drag introduced would most likely negate the advantage of a streamlined Cozy. Waiter

Side note: I used to fly in and out of Narita once a week. Very exciting during huricane season. The original Narita plans called for a crosswind runway, but the local environmentalist (Angry farmers with pitch forks) prevailed, and it was never built. Waiter

Send me everthing you have on the Rock Mt and I'll see what I can do. I looked at their web site and it looked possible, but I need to know exactly what the data looks like coming out of their unit. If you can capture a minute or so of data, send that to me also. Waiter

I just placed the latest version on my web site. This version is still BETA, but is very close. If you find any problems, please post here or send me an e-mail. The new version adds four screens; 1) EFIS (Dynon) 2) EMS (Both Dynon and Grand Rapids) 3) GPS These screens can be used real time if the recorder computer is connected to the Dynon, GPS or Grand rapids. The screens are fixed at 640x480. I did this to instll a remote screen in the back seat of my LongEZ and display the Dynon data on that screen. They also display the flight data when used in the Playback mode of captured serial data. www.iflyez.com/EFISRecorder.shtml Waiter