JLKnolla

Congratulations Waiter!!!! Now we await reports from the airport. Must say, Waiter's Long, along with Wayne Blackler's are probably two of the sexiest EZ's on the planet. Excited to hear how it goes re-assembling the upgrades into an actual airplane.

Many may already know about this but I use it to look ahead and try to plan my airshow attendance. http://www.aero-pix.com/schedule/schedule.htm#June Living in California can spoil a person, so many shows. Enjoy

Is there any hard data on whether or not using the low-vac technique produces truly lighter parts when combined with the moldless foam core process on the EZ family?

Curious if anyone in SoCal/NorCal is planning on flying to Arlington (http://www.nweaa.org/?menu=home) next month and has an open seat? Looking to fly up on 7/10 or 7/11 and I am willing to stay overnight for the weekend airshow, can camp or hotel and happy to split costs/navigation duties. I am in San Jose, nearest field is Reid-Hillview (KRHV), 650 nm to KAWO. John

Something based off of the top-hinged Cozy design in the photos Rick linked to seems pretty good actually, space allowing - operation would be similar to how I fly more conventional planes, biggest issue is being able to move my leg enough to get rudders and then brakes. When flying Piper Warriors I steered with my feet and used the parking brake handle to get stopped, but even in Bonanza's and Cessna's I was always able to move my leg enough to get good brake/rudder control. Might need to do some mock-up work - I also suspect that the leg cutout size will have a large impact. Thanks again! 'Gimp'

All great ideas, thanks all - I will keep this in my thoughts. I kind of like the thighmaster idea, or coming up with some kind of twist grip on the stick like flightsim joysticks maybe. Thanks again. 'Gimp'

I am not sure if there are any sites on 14DL Bob. I believe it may have won a Wright Award or similar, certainly should have if it was entered, even after 20 years it a beautiful machine. Beagle has a buyer for her apparently. As you may know, Beagle helps people find parts, plans, projects or planes for a very reasonable finders fee. 14DL has had some very nice photos taken over a desert background, it is light grey on top over white, with a dark blue stripe running under the strake and then over the cowl bumps on top, it is a truly beautiful plane. Lind sold it to Orr some time back, and Orr is soon to sell it and restore another plane. Following are some pix I have of 14DL.

I am a below knee amputee and wear an artificial leg with a fixed ankle, that is, I cannot articulate at the ankle to operate the standard brake/rudder pedal design on the Long-EZ. I recently had the chance to try on the beautiful N14DL and while basically a comfortable fit (I am 6'2", 170 lbs with long legs), the rudder pedal fit and operation was an issue for my artificial leg. Are there any builders/fliers out there who have modified the brake/rudder pedal assembly for a better fit or operation? Thanks in advance. John 'Gimp' Knolla

I had the joy of flying in to the Golden West fly-in and airshow yesterday with David 'Beagle' Orr in Dave Lind's stunning N14DL - what a treat. I work away from home (currently in San Jose CA but home is ABQ) and am thinking a Long might make a great commuter (I am typically 500-1000nm from home) but it has been about 20 years since my last flight in a Long-EZ (with Dave Haggard of Newton, KS in his then O-235 powered Long) so I asked Beagle if he knew of anyone going to Golden West, he said no but then later offered to come up himself. Beagle flew up from LA to San Jose Friday evening (in just under 2 hours at 12,500) and I had the opportunity to pick his brain on the results of his 3,000 hours of canard experience, to talk about 14DL (which is simply too nice for words), and then Saturday morning we blasted out of Reid-Hillview (KRHV) for the 107nm flight to Golden West (KMYV). We were faced with low clouds so we departed south, and after a little scud running found a nice opening and blasted up through the hole in the clouds (4,200 fpm initial rate of climb from level at 180 kt - yeehah!). We climbed up to 8,500, trimmed and leaned it out and had a ground speed of just over 180 kts, 14DL is a rocket ship. During the flight Beagle was kind enough to call out power setting, TAS and GPS groundspeed every now and then, during climb cruise and descent which really helped to put the tremendous performance of 14DL into perspective. On the way to KMYV I had some time to sample the excellent handling qualities of 14DL and must say I am impressed, the roll rate was way better than I recall from my flight 20 years ago (probably the effects of time and me being like 19 at the time), the pitch stability was impressive, and the speeds were simply awe inspiring. With the divert south to find a hole to punch through, a couple of mandatory strafing runs on targets of opportunity spotted along the way (Beagle was a FAC after all in a previous life), we made the trip in just over 40 minutes on about 6 gallons of 100LL – about 20 miles-per-gallon and about 100 smiles-per-gallon for the GIB. There were several other Long’s at Golden West, as well as a VariEze all the way from Denver and a fixed gear Velocity. I haven’t been to this show before but liked the small show atmosphere. Great collection of airplanes on from the last flying Taylor AeroCar, to the Epic LT kitplane, T-6’s and an SNJ, some great aerobatic routines, and a beautiful Yak-9U from Half Moon Bay, CA. The pilots of the show and aerobatic planes were very approachable, there were EAA forums and vendors galore, all in all, a great show that I will return to, hopefully in a plane of my own. As a shameless plug for Beagle, if you are interested in the EZ’s or Berkuts or Cozies I cannot say enough about David’s knowledgebase, not only of where the planes and projects are, but also about operations, safety, construction, inspection, modifications, etc. You owe it to yourself to visit with him if you are looking for a plane or project, and I would even suggest that folks who may be new to canards or who are just interested in adding to their skills, contact Beagle (canardfinder@att.net), you will not be sorry. And for Dave Lind – sir my hat is off to you for 14DL, what a tremendous plane. The attention to detail and craftsmanship evident in that ship is simply stupendous, you did a wonderful job. John ‘Gimp’ Knolla

Congratulations to Marc and the Scaled, Sierra Nevada and Virgin Galactic teams, major milestone, well done! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45kHjkkFrp0&feature=related

Edge, that is dead sexy, looks fantastic and hopefully you see similar results to Jack's previous excellent work.

Slight correction to my post above, the FW-190-D9 did use an annular radiator, but cooling was controlled by adjustable cowl mounted flaps around the periphery of the back end of the cowling, like a big radial. The crankshaft mounted shutter arrangement I was thinking of was seen on the air-cooled Vedeneyev M-14P radial.

Most WWII fighters that had liquid cooled engines (e.g., FW-190-D9, BF-109, Spitfire, Mustang) typically controlled airflow into/out of the radiator either at the inlet or the exhaust of the cooling system. The P-51 has a huge 'cowl flap' at the aft end of the radiator tunnel to 'throttle' airflow. The 2,200hp liquid cooled Jumo inverted V-12 in the long-nose 'Dora' Focke-Wulfs had a self regulating shutter arrangement at the front of the engine, kind of like the iris on a camera as I recall, that regulated airflow into the radiator (which sat behind the prop). A properly sized and operating thermostat will go a long way towards regulating engine operating temperature, but even the Titan T-51 Mustang has an operating cowl flap for the scale mounted radiator.

I am not a builder/owner but have thought about this some, so take the following with that understanding. I would suggest looking at the oil/air heat exchanger installs for nose heat on Lycosaurus installations in other EZ's for help in sizing inlet/exhaust and the core itself (I think Waiter has a good description, maybe John Slade or Cozy Girrrlz too). I would think that a blower would only be needed for ground ops, maybe use an adjustable NACA for fresh air source and have a firewall valve for temperature modulation or shutoff when you don't need heat, just like an older automotive installation. Key as always would be KISS.

Looking to see if there are any canard drivers planning to be at Golden West (June 12-14 at Yuba MYV)? I will be in the SJC area and would be willing to share in fueling and other costs if someone has an extra seat and is planning on going. Thanks John 505-270-4078

Hi all, I have taken a contract position in San Jose beginning after Memorial Day and am looking for any Long-EZ drivers in the area who might give a ride or two or maybe are looking for a partner to split expenses. Thanks John

Well it has been a while since I have been on - just checking in. How about a status report, is anyone actively building from the latest Open-EZ templates and TERF CD? Curious too to see about interest in precut bulkheads and skins - thinking it would be a great idea to mix the Eureka CNC cores with waterjet cut bulkheads and skins - thinking with desired changes like extra width, etc. If a sort of airframe kit could be cobbled together who would be interested?

Wayne, your airplane is simply a work of art and your workmanship is true craftsman level - good on ya mate!! Kinda wish I had a plane that needed those cowls. Are you planning to just sell the set you have or are you offering to 'produce' them for others? Thanks and Merry Christmas! John

About the name: OpenEZ is to Long-EZ as OpenOffice is to MS-Office - I wouldn't worry.

Very nice work Raiki - something like that should be the standard going forward, and your suggestion to avoid duplication of effort is also a great idea but that requires someone to 'herd the cats' so-to-speak, in other words, someone to take charge and provide some organization. And, since I criticized in public I will praise in public as well, Marc's last reply was excellent and would, I hope, be the tone we all aspire to.

My last words on this subject: IANAL Derivative Work Substanitally Different Transformativeness Allowable

This type of snide reply is exactly the issue I brought up. I did not say it was 'trivial', I said it would not take 'thousands of hours' which was your assertion Marc. The manual has not been rewritten because it did not need to be if you bought a licensed set of plans or were building your own 'Insert-name-here' two-seat canard aircraft from whatever source data. 30 years later, with countless CP changes, many builder-improvements, and umpteenth-generation copies of copies, it is no longer tenable or a reliable method for building a safe aircraft. What was suggested was to improve the process. As for the copyright, the material Aiman suggested creating, with NEW photos, NEW material/epoxy substitutions, the 'NEW' drawings, and the CP changes included, would clearly be a derivative work which is absolutely allowed under current copyright law - 'substantially different' is not defined except in caselaw. He could legally sell that material although that did not seem to be part of the original idea as I recall. And all of this would only possibly matter if Burt decided for some reason to take legal action, which would not seem to be likely OR make any sense. Either Burt wants to still make money from the EZ design or he does not - with a new copyright holder for the derivative work, the 'NEW' templates and the other materials resulting in an essentially 'new' design, there is no direct liability chain to Burt. If this issue exists for the written material it exists for the drawings, pure and simple - if it does not exist for the drawing, it does not exist for the written material if the same/similar process is undertaken. The only reason for him to get involved is for revenue from potential licensing issues - licensing which he has spent the last twenty years trying to avoid.

I have been a very long time lurker here and have to say that Marc's arrogant outburts are a significant reason I do not participate here on a regular basis - I try to avoid big-fish-small-pond syndrome sufferers, the scurge of web communities. All Marc needed to say was OCR copying of the original manual and replacing Long with Open was not a good idea, just 'rewrite them' - that is it, period. His last post is the only time he actually just said it. As has, IMO too often been the case, he felt the need to belittle someone, in this case, Aiman and to once again regale us with tales of his closeness to Burt and threaten turning us in. Being an ass is not the same as telling it straight - it is possible to be direct and respectful at the same time. Marc obviously has a good deal of experience to share but reading many threads on this forum leaves me questioning the overall value - how many folks have come and gone on to the other forums based on his condescending and unnecessarily abrasive tone? Marc's familiarity with the Cozy and his reputed and oft-mentioned closeness to Rutan are not a license to be an ass. To be clear, Rutan abandoned this market, he made a deliberate choice NOT to be further associated with the EZ designs, NOT to further support them directly or otherwise. He might be goaded into legal action but if someone else is taking responsibility for the information and it was, as Aiman originally suggested, updated with new photos, the new drawings, and inclusion of all the CP changes it would NOT be the copyrighted material anymore - it would be a substanital, and much needed improvement. That said, rewriting the material in the manual to make it clear, include the CP changes, etc., while obviating the copyright concern would not take 'thousands of hours', as an experienced engineer and technical writer in the aerospace field myself I say that with complete confidence. I have well under a thousand hours into my own two-seat canard design - and will only approach that figure by including preliminary design, X-plane sim work (current stage), CAD detail design, and a build manual and POH. Given the unfortunately frequent, petty and abrasive nature of the discussion here though why would anyone want to undertake such an update effort with the Grinch waiting in the wings? As for pissing Marc off, why should anyone worry about that, he obviously has no concern about that re: the rest of us mere mortals. I was originally very interested in the Open-EZ but after all the pissing battles have decided to build my own clean-sheet two-seat canard instead, in part to avoid having to wade through the needless braggadocio and would-be lawyer-speak to get to the occasional nugget of fresh tasty goodness.

I am taking a long term contract position at Dassault Falcon Jet in Little Rock in a couple weeks and am wondering if there are any flying or project Long's or Cozy's in the Little Rock area or nearby that might be willing to provide some show and tell and maybe a ride or two for gas money and the adult beverage of your choice. I may have some time while there to offer sanding\bonding help as well. Any info is appreciated - reply here or by PM. John

LongEZ-Dave and I have exchanged pleasantries by phone and I have received his file. I will go through it but at first blush it looks like a great starting point. My thoughts are as above to put together a basic AFM that individual builder\flyers can modify for their specific aircraft. In keeping with the Open-EZ concept, this will be an open-source manual, freely provided. Recommendations for specific procedures (emergency, abnormal or normal)not contained in the original POH are welcome, as are any other suggestions. Looking forward to this!! John