Jason Heath

Yankee, I don't think things got to far from your questions considering your desire for a Berkut style canopy was based on jumpin out, I'd help if I could but mine opens sideways:) Out of curiousity, have her read Marc's prop loss story and put herself in his wife's seat but replace "we're going to land" with "we're going to bail out" and that was with a flying airplane, not one that you would jump from. Throw in a fire or some missing flying surfaces and see if her perception of safety equipment still holds.

Well thats a load of ......, When does the motivation" kick in, your climbing out and your canard decides to climb alittle faster and without you, whats your first instinct? Fly the plane? maybe, maybe not. Did you actually plan for that, is it part of your normal scan, how long does it take for you to realize you lost all control and its time to get out? can you even think when faced with that realization, adrenaline can be as paralyzing as it can be energizing. If you had time for resignation, you might have had time to get out safely, so a parachute does have its benefits but probably not for the accidents that your speaking of. I'm no expert on parachutes, but the Paracushion site says 2-3 seconds (depending on speed) and a drop of 150-300 feet. so you've just eaten up most of your alltitude and time, not very reasuring for low level needs. with regards to Satch's comment, I've only flown 40-50 hours as a passenger in various GA planes and I've never been sent to drop school or had to wear a parachute, in fact if my pilot friends were to tell me I had to do one or the other, I might have to re-think flying with them or in their plane. My questions to all this, why are you building an airplane? Do you plan to take your friends, wife and children places? if so, what happens to your children when daddy decides to bail out? Waiter was the first person to even mention someone else in the plane, even though I'm pretty sure he knows that he's not going to climb in the backseat and throw them out of the plane at any altitude. I'm not against parachutes, it just doesnt sound like the big picture is very clear.

You mean like your last post? Edge just MIGHT be a righteous dude but I'll leave the defensive measures to him

If I had to guess, I'd say that the s-glass used is a continuous strand (end to end) and removing to much from the bulges (severing the strands) would decrease the capacity of the gear leg so needing to remove more than 1/8" would possibly require exchanging the gear leg for another. Or, theres enough over engineering in the strut to not worry about it (I've read before that even Nat said it was OK to trim a little more if needed) but I'm no engineer and like you said, yours is fine so it doesn't matter. anyone correct me if I'm to far from the facts.

Since you prompted me to read through all this again, I found this: See: http://www.fibreglast.com/contentpages-Moldless%20Composite%20Construction-303.html or your plans education chapter for the definition of moldless construction.

I would have to agree with Steve & Edge, the 36 grit will work fine, yes you'll damage the fibers some and is to be expected. If you use what Rich is talking about, it will still damge the fiber but with less elbow grease. Either way you'll be fine. Don't expect sandblasting to create a stronger bond for additional layups, the finish you create with blasting MAY be equivelant to a much higher grit paper than needed, it will make it dull and thats better than shiny, but Waynes use was for finishing and theres nothing trying to pull the paint off the skin.

your tellin' me...see below That was your quote brutha', not mine Really! Probably to everyones standards, unless Gumby's building one of these. I believe this is the attitude Marc was refering to. Stuck in chapter 10, no time to build right now Sorry for jackin your thread Andrew

I've gone through more than 15 tons of various blasting media this year that we use for different stages of our manufacturing process, all of which I have to qualify for the specific task (as well as the safe handling, storage and disposal of each) so I have a vague clue as to its many uses, so the answer would be, Yes. Which was the only reason for my original post, which has brought out more information from others as well as you. I agree, if done properly with the right equipments and experience. I have and wouldn't have any problems with or doing what Wayne has done, on the same areas that he has done. Blasting flox joints that I didnt clean up before they dried isn't one of them. Not that it didn't work for you, but that's an awfully messy way to deal with them, Experience in laying glass and prepping such areas would serve a greater purpose. You might! <sigh> Has my communication technic resembled that of your poor role model or should I hit him up for some pointers? maybe theres an outline I could follow. <sigh>

<sigh> what's with all the <sigh>ing anyways? With all due respect for Wayne and I would personaly trust his opinion/research more than others (no offense anybody) "SANDBLASTING" is a far to generic term for what he has done and he makes reference to the media he used and what to watch for, but to tell Andrew to go out and buy the cheap Campbell Hausfeld suction gun and stick it in a bucket o' sand and blast away could create a very bad day for him. Oh I forgot to add, In my opinion.

Rick, it lasts all the way to the safe landing of your first flight, then your no longer a noob, until then we're all just building big model airplanes. You then move horizontally to the noob 102 test phase which may end in giving a ride to your first passenger, possibly a life changing event for both of you! Then you get to stand back, shrug your shoulder and thumb your nose to all below you. If you never get to that point, possibly from changing things that don't need, shouldn't have been or someone hasnt a clue on how to.. then you remain a noob forever.

They are very significant, The thickness or "weight" is based on the size or "strength" of the individual threads. By your example, the thicker material costs more because there is more material and it has a higher strength compared to each other. If you look at http://www.cstsales.com/carbon_fabric.html and read through the details, you'll see the differences. hope that helps here's another short explanation http://composite.about.com/library/weekly/aa042897.htm ps, its not remotely possible that they are the same fabrics!

Actually its is 72 degrees all day and no lower than 68 at night, that's my little corner of our fiberglass shop at work fairly convenient if I dont say so myself

Thanks Jon, Here is a couple shots of my set up

Phil, I to ordered the counterbore tools in May and just received them today, dont worry, you'll need them soon Jason Heath

Hello, One year ago today while visiting Washington DC to check out Space Ship One display, I made the trip to the Udzar-Hazy Air and Space Museum and I came across a funny looking airplane parked on its nose (Burts N4EZ). After reading the storyboard at the display about homebuilt airplanes I felt this sudden pain in my rear end, turns out it was me kicking myself. I had always wanted to own an airplane but could never remember where I left my bag of cash to buy one so it has always been out of reach. When I got home that night from the museum I went straight to the confuser and started looking for canard aircraft and quickly found the "Unofficial Cozy........." what in the world is a "Cozy" I thought. Well, to keep a short story short, I am currently working on chapter 7-8-9 of my own Cozy (#1418) and just wanted to say thank you to everyone here and all the other forums, boards and lists for all the information made available and to publicly thank Marc Z. for giving me my first ride and letting me take control of his plane at Oshkosh this year. Passing a C172 at 170mph makes me feel better about not being able to buy a production plane . If I only knew 10 years ago what I know now........well, you know the rest of the story. Thank you again folks Regards, Jason T Heath