bhassel

A statement on the Blue Mountain website: "by greg Well, it's been fun. We developed a whole new class of machine, started an industry, dominated it, and are now leaving it. BMA will be ceasing production and spinning down. The best way to contact us is via email: support@bluemountainavionics.com. Please don't call, since the office is not staffed on a scheduled basis. We'll still be around to service, support and assist as time permits, homebuilders helping other homebuilders, but BMA is essentially closed. This website is paid up and will be around for a few years at least, and there is some hope (and a fond desire) that we may return to full production when the economy recovers. Database updates are still be available on this site, and service, maintenance and repairs are still available for all BMA products. We are actively seeking someone to buy the code and continue development. If your interested, please email. "

Would love to see a picture! bob

FYI - There was a series of articles that John Roncz did in Sport Aviation that included Excel formula's (as well as Lotus 1-2-3 - blast from the past). Besides being an interesting read, it might give you something to bounce against. As an EAA member you can search/read/download pdf articles from any issue ever published. It's a recent upgrade but wow have I found some interesting stuff! Bob

thanks for the pics - now I have to wipe the drool off of my monitor...

Any web sites or info on 14DL?

True number seats can play into figuring it out, but then again... The Cozy has a ton of room for packing stuff along with you. The Long is limited in where and how much stuff you can carry especially if you have a passenger. There are ways around it with draggage pods, etc. I've been tossing up a similar thing as of late. We'd like to travel with golf clubs - hard to do in a Long). Side by side seating is a plus for us since my wife would love to learn to fly and is not really a back seat type of person. The Long will probably fly faster on teh same horsepower - as a matter of fact the Longs will probably fly faster on less horsepower (Long O320 vs Cozy O360). Though Chris started something with his super cruising Cozy540 and even the Cozy Girrrls are making the 540 engine mounts. Either way you can't make a bad decision. Heck I've even heard rumors of some folks having one of each... One is sort of like a Porsche 911 and the other Porsche Cayenne. Not a bad choice. Bob

That's what I get for thinking about it too long... Bob

As always I'd think the deciding factor would be dollars.

I'm drooling! One of these daze I'll have to get down and check it out! Bob

Thanks Kraig! I hope you're still carrying around that sandpaper! Bob

Does anyone have a copy of the Featherlite Price list they could post? Thanks, Bob

You might try to find someone with a Cozy or even a Velocity instead. You won't be able to land from the back seat very easily in a Long...

Just curious - where is this at? I noticed that the Terf site has not posted any additional info proving they have a legitimate right to sell the plans. Thanks, Bob

For those building a Long/OpenEZ how wide are you going? Thanks, Bob

I too am an IT professional. Composites are easy to work with even if you've never done something like that before. I'd probably jump on it if I could...however, remember the old adage 90% done and 90% to go. There is plenty of support on this group and other canard organizations CSA, http://forum.canardaviation.com/ and others. Good for it! Bob

WOW! Did I say WOW? REally nice! Bob

You should also look to joining the CSA - which is a large canard organization. You can get more info at http://www.ez.org. If you really want to see the canard world check out the Rough River Flyin at Rough River State Parkl in Ky (I have yet to make that one). Bob

Stop it - your killing me!

Too much work for too little talent (mine). I think I'd settle for Eurka foam!

hmmm...a CNC'd larger (than EZ), rounded, Berkut like fuse out of foam, standard fuse layups...thow in bulkeads & longerons...hmmmmmm....

It;s not that you can't do a conditional - it's that you can't sign it off without having the repairman's certificate. You can do it as long as you get an A&P to sign off. You can do your own maintenance, etc. However considering the original post, if you build it then you can get the repairman's certificate. There is no need for an A&P. You might use one if you want but you do not need to. It's you, all you! Bob

I have that canard video and love it! Thanks for the great dreams! Bob

It’s been years since I’ve flown. The Cozy is my second aircraft that I’ve started building. The first was an RV9. I’ve never had an opportunity to fly in any homebuilt aircraft let alone one I was attempting to build. When I flew it was mostly in a Cessna. Out here in New Mexico in a spam can it was always a leisurely flight with as much vertical movement as there was horizontal. Other than contacting various FSS’s over the years talking with ‘officials’ on the other side of my radio was always done with trepidation, fear and a little awe. One day about a month ago the president of my local EAA chapter, chapter 179, sent out a message that our local center (ABQ Center) was starting back up a program called Operation Rain Check. It was a chance to tour the local center operations. I immediately signed Jan, my in-laws and myself up for the first Saturday that was open. The agenda was: Presentation on ABQ Center operations Tour of the Center Visit with the weather unit Presentation from the Traffic Management Unit Opportunity to sit with a Controller and observe operations Presentation from the local ABQ FSS Q&A Our tour was the second conducted since 9/11. We drove down from Santa Fe in gray skies and windy weather. Checking in at the guard shack I found I couldn’t take my camera inside (darn!) and we turned over our picture id’s in trade for a badge that would allow us access. Jan and her mom had their purses scanned while we chatted with the two folks who were going to lead the tour (Lisa and ‘Frenchy’). Frenchy was an RV6 award builder and pilot and Lisa was also a pilot. Each had a lot of experience, ratings and loved general aviation. The other members of the touring group included a fun and large spectrum of folks (13 in all). Tow others were from Santa Fe, she was a 182 owner and CFI while the other person had three aircraft including a Yak and was besides ferrying aircraft was also an airshow boss. One of the guys in the group turned out to be a retired Air Force member who was actually a drill sergeant in the same squadron I was a drill sergeant in (spaced out a few years) at Lackland AFB in San Antonio. There was a beginning student pilot and his instructor (CFI) from Socorro. She loved flying and he was slowing his student work down while building his RV8 (what’s with all these RV’s anyway?). Eventually we had all collected at the guard shack and it was time to get started. We ended up in a class room. There were 3 or 4 operations center staff there (pilots all) that lead us through the Saturday morning fun. We had an overview of operations at the center, tips and tricks for the pilots (the easiest way to get what you want when you need it), and tons of other interesting stuff. One thing was a look at the evolution of equipment at the ABQ center. I think it was in about 3 or 4 stages since its start in the 40’s. That’s 3 or 4 equipment updates in that time frame. The latest update was just two weeks before our tour! One picture showed a wall about 12 foot long of radio (tube type – ask your grandfather what that is) equipment – just for one frequency. Today they handled over 70. Of course there was the old IBM XX90 computers that stayed in service well past the time they should have been in a museum. Those had a single green screen monitor. Right up to today’s really nice touch screen equipment (some of which would have went great on my computer system). After a short break it was time to go down to the operations center! We split into smaller groups and each went to a different area of operations in the big room. Our group started off in weather. The meteorologist was fun to listen too and his own forecast for the local area proved accurate.- which is more than I can say for the news channels. He had an impressive array of weather screens surrounding him and gave us a nice overview of what the general weather patterns were like and why over our area. After we were pulled from the weather section we headed to traffic management which is where we found out about the impact of the weather system over PHX. PHX was slammed in by weather and had ceilings at 2600 ft. PHX is limited in flight ops by the way the runways are constructed. They are too close together to allow simultaneous landings on the parallel runways so they must be staggered. With the weather that was in the area, there was a ground hold for 45 minutes on the aircraft at the field. Ground hold meant no one was taking off. Air ops for landings had been cut from a max of 60 per hour to about 40. Watching air operations at a national level on the screens was really fascinating. Since PHX was backing up all of the inbound flights to PHX had to be backed up so they went into an ‘18 mile and trail’ procedure. This meant that all approaching aircraft now had 18 miles between them as there paths stretched out across the US. Some were slowed and some were turned off heading for awhile and then back on heading until the separation of 18 miles was reached. It was really a thrill to watch this coordination both within the center and with the other centers surrounding. Every two hours (since 9/11) there is a national call between the centers, military etc to discuss what’s happening. Weather in one place may back up the entire system or they may need to reroute traffic nationally. It’s not just a matter of re-routing the traffic but it might also meant that now one center or another may have increased work load to handle from the diverging traffic flow so they’ll call in extra troops to handle it. Finally we were asked what type of air operations we wanted to watch at the console. I picked low altitude northern sector for ABQ. That included Santa Fe! The traffic into Santa Fe was light but it was fun to watch the coordination and the data blocks on the screens telling the controllers type of aircraft, altitude, etc. The hand off was good and for the first time I realized when an aircraft was handed off a lot of times that meant the guy two consoles over was taking them! After setting in Flight Ops we headed back up to the class room and had a briefing by one of our local FSS guy’s. He was great to listen too and explained the changes that had already happened back east and coming to our area soon. Our FSS was going to be one of the few reaming open after the consolidation. He gave us a list of phone numbers for the new system that you can dial anywhere in the US for services. I’ll post them at the end for those that may not have them yet. All too soon the fun ended and it was time for a late lunch at Chili’s. Since I haven’t flown in years and haven’t even been able to sling epoxy in months this was a real refresher and motivator. Maybe I should rethink a flying VariEze… Bob Cozy MK IV Yeah only Chapter 4 http://www.cozyworld.net National Phone Numbers for the FSS system: Weather Briefing Services: 1-800-WX-BRIEF (1-800-992-7433) Receive Clearances: 1-888-766-6267 Telephone Info Services (TIBS) 1-877-4-TIBBS-WX (1-877-4874-2799) FFS web based including Flight Plans: http://www.afss.com

yeah, I ordered that picture. I still need to get it mounted and hung in the garage... Bob

I seen mention of converting a VariEZe to a Long. Is this for real? It would seem to require a new wing, Spar and canard - or is it easier than that? What are some real gross weights that are flying? Is this a 2 person ship? Thanks, Bob