longez360

Agree 100% with Lynn.

I have met all transpnder test requirements (FAA and CASA) with the ADVANCED AIRCRAFT ELECTRONICS HIGH GAIN ANTENNA SYSTEMS P/N L2 mounted inside the strake without a groundplane. I would venture to say you could place this small antenna elsewhere in a Berkut where you do not have carbon shielding the antenna (e.g. base of winglet).

The smokey is the Australian designed KTI Mini-Sat-G 406 PLB (with GPS). It has a 10 year battery life and warranty. The cert to COSPAS-SARSAT approval process has been ongoing for some time - now slipped to Aug 2009. $649AUD.

EMAIL: ringdove21@aol.com WEB: dickrutan.com/ NAME: Dick Rutan CITY: Mojave STATE: Ca COUNTRY: USA BUILDER: yes STARTED: 1980 MODEL: Long EZ REG: N169SH FLYING: yes ENGINE: Lycoming IO-360 F1A6 HP: 180 PROP: Bruce Tift MODS: Long Range Tanks FIRSTFLT: 1980 HOURS: 4000 HOURSDATE: Nov 2K It has also been listed as an O-360A1D. Best talk to Dick direct if you want confirmation. Like Lynn, I'm not aware of a Lyc 360 that cannot be used in a pusher application. I am biased, but the O-360 is the right engine for the Long EZ. I wouldn't change for quids.

Any good deals out there on 406MHz locator beacons?

Bruce & I reckon sand the front half flat on a table (with sandpaper) then put them together with some nice stright lines. All will be well! Give either of a call anytime.

Oh, that's a savier airfoiled canard! :-)

Absolutely superb, Bruce. Your efforts are most appreciated! I'm so thrilled to be a part of the book alongside many of my mates and their beautiful aeroplanes. You've triggered off some very fond memories of flying my aeroplane in beautiful USA. Such a terrific bunch of people are involved in this scene! THANKS.

I hear N14DL (builder Dave Lind) is for sale, and another, N977JT (builder Terry Lamp). Both are exceptional aeroplanes. You won't get better than 14DL - I have seen it personally. I hear Terry's aeroplane is right there too.

It's great to see the Experimental category being explored so well. Perry is one of those guys that walks the walk. I watched Perry fly his ducted fan version when I lived in Seattle during a small canard group fly-in in 2002. That set-up was certainly not successful - EXTREMELY loud and reasonably slow for the fuel burn. I work with Ron Ligeti (anyone recall his father Charles' Ligeti Stratos) - it used a reasonably successful ducted fan on the first prototype. With the duct gone, early performance was 172 mph TAS at 8.8gph which seems inefficient for an equivalent power Long EZ? Then the addition of some better wheelpants. What performance is he getting now?

If the tub is 500 hrs of a 2800 manhour project, something isn't adding up. . . My total build time topped 9000 hours, but is full of modifications stem to stern so is not representative of a plans built aeroplane. I took a look at my log, the per-plans tub however was 152 manhours.. I recall talking to a noted defiant builder and suggesting the structure might be like building 2 Long EZ's. He disagreed and said you only have to wet out a little more area in a similar layup schedule. It all translates to time on a job for which you must continue with these aircraft anyway. When you skin a fuselage, you skin a fuselage... varie-eze or defiant. No stopping. If it takes a month to build the bulkhead chapter, I guess 6-8 months for a tub would be conservative. Bulkheads, I completed in a weekend.

Have seen pictures on airliners.net of this amazing New Zealand based aircraft. Are there any successful long term rotary installations in EZ types?

A tub might only save you 4-6 weeks of work. That 4-6 is within the tolerance of building duration for one of these aircraft. If the workmanship isn't desirable, don't waste your time IMHO. If you want a nice project, http://longezforsale.com/ looks to be a beauty.

I have a couple up as well on youtube taken from the backseat by LEZ RG builder Bruce Sinclair:

Agreed. You have to knife trim and wind up sanding it back a little anyway. It's easy to cut with a knife.

This step picture brings back fond memories of Joe LaCour's old Long EZ, N97EZ I saw at Oshkosh 1989. My favourite Long EZ of all time. Joe had a step at the base of the front seat. It was simply hooked up to the canopy brace via a light 1/16" cable and pulley. It was spring loaded. Automatic with canopy opening. PErsonally I don't think these aircraft require a step after steve wright and jack wilhelmson's work. Cheers Wayne

I agree with Bruce 100% about the MGLs. I have a Dynon EFIS D-10A, and would not swap it for anything on the market, except a Dynon D180. I have a good friend who is just completing his fastback RV-8 who bought the Dynon D-180 after lots of contemplation, and is absoltuely thrilled he made the decision. I have a lot of time for this person as a fellow Boeing engineer, and former air force pilot. If I were doing my panel again, I'd have a Dynon D-180, dynon 2 axis autopilot with alt hold, a Garmin 696 and likely garmin comm and xpdr.. I wouldn't carry a backup altimeter for VFR, or an ASI. I really get a giggle out of the www.vansairforce.com panel 'competition'... A VFR aeroplane with a GRT Horizon HX... Must be wrongway corrigans aeroplane. ;-)) Get what you need gang, and enjoy looking outside the cockpit, it's WAY more fun than looking at a panel IMO.

What Jack said.

Google Savier Airfoil and you get: http://pagesperso-orange.fr/scherrer/matthieu/aero/papers/Savier_Canard.pdf Note the drag reduction. and in a wind tunnel...

I completely concur. I recommend AeroSportPower and Progressive Air work without reservation. They don't get better than Bart (and Sue) in terms of product knowledge or for customer service. I've met them twice. Chris, he's the man to ask.

Dean, what environmental conditions will the aircraft be subject to operationally and when not in use?

PPG Deltron 2000, DBC Basecoat, color OEM LY7W Mfg: VAG/Volkswagon, LVI, DBC 37637H, SILBERSEE Looks great, but was Seattle weather color... I dissapear against cloud... Not good. It's bad enough against a blue sky, here ;-) I'm pleased I have a good strobe system. My aircraft now has patches of grey primer on it for all the mods I've done since. Next is the canard and both winglets. Soon, I'll be painting again. Silver metallic is not recommended for developmental aircraft. :-) As such, on reflection I'd paint it white, or yellow. A fella down here had the idea to paint his LEZ white, with different color squares painted here and there. When you make a mod, paint another square... :-) Not a bad idea.

Martin, thanks for the kind words. When you say "entire upper section" are you also referring to the cowling as well? WB: I didn't, no, because I made my own upper cowl to suit airframe and engine (undecided at that time) afterwards.. However if you are using somebody else's cowls I would certainly do it if I could. It would mean hanging an engine and prop extension and raising the aft canopy to get a smoot line all the way to your spinner. At first it sounds like extra work, but I'm happy with the results. I understand that I missed your Long at last years Arlington fly-in by a few hours. Are you planning to return? I plan to arrive more prepared with extra batteries and memory for my camera and expect to gather as many notes from builders as I can. WB: I left Seattle back in 2005 and am now back in Australia. Unfortunately, I only ever made Arlington in 04. I'm a little tired of airshows, but Arlington would have me there every year if I was still living stateside. Great fly-in with great people.

mfryer, Building the entire upper section of your aircraft concurrently works well. If you can afford to buy your canopy bubble, and do this, I absolutely recommend it. I also built my canopy frame, instrument panel cover area, canard cover and nose using styrofoam. I hotwired what I could; nose bottom, nose to canopy top, and nose sides. I also hotwired the canopy foam although not as accurately as the nose. I then sanded the entire area to templates. Worked great. It was one of the great joys of the project, becasue it gave my aircraft it's individual character. Pre-downdraft pics of my aircraft best representing nose attached.

If you're using an electric nose gear retract (Wilhelmson, Wright etc) moving the battery in front of NG31 is not necessary for a Lyc 320, or a 360. I believe a long nose looks better however. You will see many long nose contours that are not natural, and consequently they look like they have been dented when viewed either shaded or in the sun. Few show continuous lines from the firewall. They need to be created using some 'rules of thumb' or mathematcially. Geometrically speaking; 1. The nose needs to start with the NG30 lower shape. The curve gets tighter in radius as WL increases with decreasing FS. If that curve is continued naturally, that allows the aircraft to sit on it's nose and keeps the pitot out of the dirt. 2. The sides curve with decreasing FS at the same rate as the fuselage sides were pulled in from front seat to F22. The extension of those side lines will eventually intersect line 1 above. The curves in my case matched the AN5312 pitot closure angle. 3. With a round pitot, the nose changes from the F22 location (essentially rectangular) to a circle. The nose should never have a circle along it's length until you hit the pitot. 4. The top nose lines start with the canopy rails. REcommend: Core your canopy thru canard cover thru pitot in one hit, glass them in one hit. knife trim out the canard and canopy (I had already completed the layups on the canard fairing faces for & aft, so I simply knife trimmed it out). 5. The Fuselage bottom to side radii, decreases in radius to the pitot. Assume linear reduction. Any change to that will make your nose look dented. If I were doing it again I'd still create equations for those curves mathematically (coz I enjoy math), but I would create a more rounded nose tip.