Waiter

A 3 cylinder Lycoming, with 8 inches missing off a prop blade, will shake so bad, you'll wonder how it even stays on the airplane. Waiter

Lycoming running on 3 cylinders sure do shake, bad. Cruising along at 5500 ft, Pop, mild vibration, then BANG. Violent shaking, Pulled the power back to a very rough idle. Declared an emergency with Bay Approach (San Francisco), Advised them I had enough altitude to dead stick to Reid Hillview Airport (about 4 miles away). Turned the fuel valve OFF. High overhead approach for a high key entry, made it at about 2,500 ft. Entered low key right on the money at 1,000 ft, Continued the turn to base, check gear down, around to final. Using the speed brake for energy. Landed a little long. Had enough energy on the roll out to clear the runway. Stopped the plane, breathed again, Then I started shaking more violently then the plane. Training pays off POSTMORTEM - Big chunk missing out of the cylinder. Evidently when the valve broke, it rattled around inside the cylinder,for a couple milliseconds, punched a hole in the top of the cylinder, then went out through the exhaust pipe. The timing was absolutely perfect, as the prop blade and the valve collided. The valve won, taking off the outer 8 inches of the blade. Damn that was a good prop. Waiter

Take a look at my web site. The installation instructions are posted there. www.iflyez.com Waiter

Prince Prop did this a little. This was the best fixed pitch prop I had on my EZ, that is until an exhaust valve took off the outer 8 inches on one blade. Waiter

You've got to bleed from the bottom. I assume you did open the bleed valve 1 full turn or so. Look at my web site, theres a photo of the oil can that I use. I've never had a problem (Clevelands) www.iflyez.com Look under Brake Bleed Waiter

I used spacer washers to fillin the space. Waiter

VariViggan, maybe! Waiter

I would highly recommend that you do NOT make this decision now. If your going to build this project, it will be years before your at a point where you can no longer proceed until you have an engine in hand. One of the problems I had, I would purchase something for my plane, and two or three years later, the technology changed, or the price was reduced. Keep your eyes open, if a really good deal comes up, jump on it. Start building now, and as your building, keep your ears close to the ground for any and all information regarding engines. Only then can you make a valid assessment as to which engine candidate is right for you. Waiter

Good read, however there are some major discrepancies in the authors examples. I was very close to the investigation of this accident and was EAA's mouthpiece for the national news media following the accident. Please refer to the NTSB full narrative of the accident at http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief2.asp?ev_id=20001208X09045&ntsbno=LAX98FA008&akey=1 If you have problems with this link, the accident number is LAX98FA008 1) EDITED by Waiter, (my original statement was NOT correct, JD WAS NOT IN POSITION OF A MEDICAL, AS STATED BY THE AUTHOR.) 2) JD was very low time in type, but had recent time in numerious other types. He did receive some type training. I do agree with the general trend, a Pilot with 100 hours Time in Type, is less riskier than a pilot with 5 hours time in type. 3) I do agree with the author regarding Hold Harmless Agreements. HOWEVER, I'll bet, if you are the manufacture, and you have deep pockets, no amount of hold harmless agreement in the world will protect you from legal action. Waiter

Well, not exactly. If I were going to make a statement on this subject, and I have on many occasions, I would put it like this! Because of the design and nature of the aircraft, i.e. its higher speed takeoffs and landings, its not a good candidate for off field landings. In order to mitigate the risk of off field landings associated with engine failure, engine reliability is of the utmost importance. Practice emergency landings, and alter your flying activities to increase your landing zone options (i.e. fly higher). Do these things regardless of engine choice, but be aware, statistically, you'll use them more often with an uncertified engine. In other words, With the Corvair engine, plan on emergency landings. Look on E-Bay, I see O-235s on there all the time. Find a LongEZ owner who is upgrading from a O-235 to a O-320. Work out a deal. Waiter

AB or better yet, DAB (Drunk Airport Bum) Waiter

I don't remember giving you the name of my mechanic! Waiter

An alternative that I don't see mentioned to often; If the original builder has a Repairmans Certificate, The original builder can also do the periodic inspection on that particular airframe. Waiter

99.9 % of flight above 18,000 ft will require an IFR clearance. Depending on winds aloft and weather, I normally fly my eastbound legs at or above FL180. Generally, I can pick up a good tail wind, and on very rare occasions, actually get into the jet stream (once in the ten years I've been flying my EZ), if it drops down low enough. These are Long cross countries, i.e. San Jose to Toledo, NON STOP, 8 - 12 hours, 9 hours is usually the average. West bound trips will always be headwinds, so its counter-productive to go high. Obviously, you'll need supplemental O2. ALSO, I would highly recommend an Altitude Chamber Checkout. These are FREE. The only problem is, theres no latitude in the scheduling. You submit a request, and the FAA sends you back a date and location. (You can sometimes pick a location, but normally, not the date) Waiter

Good read. The first one is still ongoing, but looks like a typical continued vfr into ifr conditions. I didn't see any mention of local thunderstorms! I was involved in the investigation of an accident similiar to this. The aircraft encountered ice, and found itself on its back in a similiar deep stall mode. The aircraft came down in an inverted flat spin from approximately 18000 ft, and hit the water intact. The water impact destroyed the aircraft and killed the pilot. The second one is the infamous wing attach point corrosion. Some of the aluminum attach box on the VariEZ had corrosion problems. Waiter

Like Marc said, I don't know of any canard that came down due to structural failure. Thats in itself is a testament to the design. If I was going to do this again,, I'd also keep my eye open for a project that someone had started, but they ran out of steam. You can usually get these for the price of the parts. If the workmanship is up to standard, this is a good way to kick start a project. ALSO, Take a look at the AeroCanard plans. I have the Shareware version on my web site. www.iflyez.com These will give you a preview of what the to expect. Most of the canards will use vary similar techniques and procedures. If you decide on an AeroCanard, please visit their web site, and purchase the full set. The full set comes complete with full size templates, drawings, and builder support. Waiter

Drech, My LongEZ has a little over 2600 hours on it. A good portion of that is high altitude (FL180) and long distance (> 2000 miles). But I do have one story I'd like to share regarding the strength of this airplane. TESTIMONY TO COMPOSITE CONSTRUCTION In all my years of flying, and the many different types I've flown, I once had an encounter while in my LongEZ , that I know, if I had been in a Cherokee, or a Mooney, I wouldn't be writing this today. I departed San Jose's Reid Hillview airport and headed northwest along Mission Peak at about 2500 ft. The RHV ATIS that afternoon was reporting light to moderate turbulence. All the sudden, I remember feeling a very hard bang, like a car just ran into the side of my plane, I was thrown hard against the side of the plane. Have you ever seen those "Cop Chase" video's on TV when the bad guy runs a red light at 70 mph and slams into the side of an innocent car, Thats what this felt like. I wasn't spinning, but I could see and fell the plane rolling. I hit my head on the side of the canopy so hard, I kind of squinted my eyes closed as I knew the canopy was going to explode. I don't think I passed out, but I realized I was almost inverted and I could see a lot of sky. My brain was operating in the "slow motion mode". For a very brief second (probably only 1/10 of a second) I thought I had a mid air collision and the airframe was breaking up. Instinctively I moved the stick in the opposite direction of the roll and at the same time turned my head to look outside where I fully expecting to see debris, where the wings were supposed to be. I was actually surprised, and confused to see my wings and rudders. The roll stopped but with a very nose high attitude, I recovered gently to straight and level and found that I was almost at 4500 ft. It was obvious from my very brief visual inspection that it wasn't a mid air, all the pieces still seemed to be attached. I couuld move the stick and rudders, and everything seemed like it was working, so it probably wasn't a control failure. I called RHV, and declared an emergency. I told them I just had a severe upset and lose of control, I currently had control of the plane and I would be doing a slow southernly turn through San Francisco's air space, and vectoring myself for a straight in to RHVs runway 13. I squawked the 7700, and probably pissed off a couple 747s on final to SFO, but to bad. After days of thinking and talking to others, I came to the conclusion that what I encountered was most likely a horizontal rotary, coming off the WEST side of Mission peak. I think the plane may have rolled twice, The first roll was the bang and sideways motion I felt, and the second was the one I think I was seeing. I also gained about 1200 ft during this encounter. The big goose bump on my head was check out, and determined to be a minor concussion. I firmly believe, had this been a production aircraft, it would have snapped the wings off, the initial thrust was that violent. This unexpected encounter is a testament to the design and construction of this aircraft. Waiter

Nope, Its there, a small one just to the right of the big garage door. Sheet rock is like finishing a LongEZ, you squeegee the mud (filler) on, then sand it off. When everybody's satisfied that the pile of dust weights more than what you put on, then your ready for paint. Actually, this is a very good training exercise for finishing an EZ. (Sell that one to the Wife) I'm pretty good at this. and came up with the finish after two iterations, AND NO SANDING. The trick is to put the mud on smooth, no drastic bumps or ridges. The high seams generally block out to about 12 inches on each side of the seam, nice gentle transitions and cover. If this were a house and I was going to paint rather than texture, I would need to block sand the second coat, and would probably have to do minimal touch up with a third coat The guy that helped me spray the texture was impressed at the quality considering I did no sanding. There are some imperfections, but unless I point them out, you probably wouldn't find them. ALSO, the texture is nice, because it looks good, AND covers most of the imperfections in the finish. I rented the blower for $50/day, and the texture material costs about $10 / bag. I needed two bags for walls and ceiling. Waiter

I built this shop (pole barn) last winter (2003), specifically with this project in mind. Its a standard 24x32 pole barn, with 6 inch cement floor, 6 inches of insulation in the walls and ceiling, Sheetrock walls and ceiling, 30k BTU gas heater, Ethernet connectivity, Phone, Water, Electric, Cable TV. (I think I just figured out why my wife went along with this plan) I have about 10k in it, but I did all the work. I hired a couple guys to do the cement work. Also had a couple friends help when I put up the roof trusses. My brother came over and helped occasionally when I was skinning the outside walls. And a good friend helped shoot the inside with "knockdown" It took about 4 months, in the dead of winter to build. (DAMN COLD) But it was worth it. We had a couple weeks around Christmas when the OAT stayed at -10 to -15 deg F. I was doing a lot of layups at the time and I kept the temperature inside the barn at a nice comfortable 75. When I'm done with the plane, I'll Tear it down, NO NO, Just kidding. It makes a good shop and a definite selling point when I decide to get rid of the house. Waiter

Hey, who's that good lookin dud on the right?? Waiter

Hey, How come your WATCHING me do all the work?? Waiter

I think the LongEZ was set up for an O-235 (112hp), However, The engine of choice to date has been the O-320 (160hp) I believe if you kept it as light as possible, (700lbs) the O-235 would be acceptable. However, most of the LongEZ come in closer to 1000lbs. Waiter

Craig, First, Congratulations, Second, Get to work, you can read this while your working. I would find a local Kinkos, or a blue print shop, and get an accurate copy of the templates. You need to make sure the copies are accurate, then use the copies in your construction, not the originals I don't think Section II is a big deal. It really covered basic engine installation. baffling, that kind of stuff. Its a good idea to have a copy of section II, but defiantly NOT a show stopper. Contact me off line for more detail. Get my address from my web site. www.iflyez.com Waiter

Your right, no one would EVER question that. Waiter

And don't forget the "Watch Waiter Work" NetCam. This is a real inspiration, I have people call me and ask why I haven't been working. Kind of like all you people are the "Big Brother" to make sure I go out and work on my project every day. I'll have to figure out how to send a recording of me working, while I'm taking a nap in front of the computer. Waiter