Drew Swenson

I think you are still missing the point in terms of build time. The work actually goes pretty fast when you actually follow the plans. No real thinking to do---other than studying the plans to understand what they are saying---you just check the items off as you go. When I changed my Longez from updraft to downdraft cooling, mounted the master cylinders up front, hung a bigger motor on, etc----now I was deviating from the plans. Sometimes seemingly trivial items would occupy untold amounts of time. I remember for example that the larger engine required a push pull throttle cable. I had to research what kind of throttle cable I needed, how to modify my brock throttle quadrant for push pull, what kind of connectors actually need to go on the throttle cable (there are quite a few), how to attach it to an assymbly that hooks to the carb (modified a Vans carb/cable mount), and how and where to penetrate the firewall. Even penetrating the firewall turned out to be a big deal. I originally fed the cable where I wanted it to go but found that the bends the cable was trying to do made the cable too stiff to operate. After trial and error---and making swiss cheese of the firewall, I figured out another approach. Take a short piece of throttle cable, hook it to the carb and the Vans "retainer" and see where the cable wants to go thru the firewall. Once I learned that lesson, things went great. But there was an incredible amount of time spent on the computer researching, digging through CPs, and time spent underneath my aircraft staring at it. Following the plans----ALL of that headscratching vaporizes. If you want to build fast---follow the plans---or follow someone elses well documented changes. In terms of people with the really long build times----I once mentioned to a longez builder that there was another guy on the field who had been building his Longez for 20 years. He looked at me, smiled, and said, "No he hasn't---sounds like he has been doing a lot of things other than building his longez for 20 years." One last item on aircraft finish. Some people spend a long time trying to get the finish correct and smooth. Sanding with the long boards will make it go fast and look good. I think Wayne has some stuff on his site that talks about finishing a canard. There are some EZs out there that look to have been hand sanded (no long boards) and look real rough.

Make your brother buy it for your birthday if he is so concerned.

This longez has (had) a BRS in it. You can see it right above the center section spar. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NOAA-Long-EZ.jpg

I will do that---was in your neck of the woods several weeks ago for the airshow.

Sort of looking for something else---kind of like a cheap FMS. I currently run 2 GPSs---Bluemountain lite (which you only plug in one waypoint at a time---I just plug in the destination)----and a Lowrance 500 handheld. When you get rerouted----you may get the following: Dixie V1 ORF. I would love to be able to plug that into a PDA with the correct output being: DIXIE CYN LEEAH ATR SBY JAMIE CCV ORF. So how do I do this now. The first thing I do is to just follow the Bluemountain---it has the victor route layed out---but you can't really see that far ahead. I would rather lay out the route in my handheld---which means that I need to pay a lot of attention to unfolding a chart---and hoping that the route did not spill over to the backside or onto another chart (both has happened to me. Then you need to write down all the points and then input them into the handheld. Ideally (without adding an FMS to the cockpit), I'd like to have a small PDA program that just spits out this data. Of course there is NO WAY that Lowrance or any other handhelp maker is going to let you just input DIXIE V1 ORF----since that would be a major help to aviation (snide comment). I have been searching around on the internet---have not come up with anything----at least not free or cheap. I was hoping to at least find a database or spreadsheet of all the victor routes with the associated waypoints---could not find that either.

Anyone know of some good (and possibly free) PDA type software where you can input a route with the output being the full route. You know---like when you get totally rerouted---fly xyz V12 abc----and of course there are 20 points inbetween. Looking for an easy way to input the new points into the GPS without doing a major search on the paper chart.

Old posts above. But after reading Waiter's posts on chopping off pieces of his cowl...is it the length of the extension or the distance from cowl to prop?

oops---sorry---my comments for the dynafocal mount

I took my mount to Dave Ronneburg. He welded on another support tube to each of the upper 2 biscuits. That---and replacing the upper two extrusions is all I did mounting-wise.

I would say that it would be next to impossible for me to change the tire without splitting the rim. Don't know what the big deal is----it is only 3 bolts.

Don't know what to make of this---but here is what the search says---if you believe it. Deregistered Aircraft 1 of 1 Aircraft Description Serial Number 0001 Type Registration Individual Manufacturer Name RUTAN BURT L Certificate Issue Date 08/30/1979 Model LONG EZ Mode S Code 52533444 Year Manufacturer None Cancel Date 12/20/1997 Reason for Cancellation Destroyed Exported To

Whatever you do---make sure you leave some room for the gear to flex---or you will locally crinkle the fuselage.

If I were here one day longer, I'd probably scoot up there. Appreciate the invite.

Unfortunately, there are many people who want to play "engineer" who don't have the skill sets. Anybody can follow the plans and build an airplane. Just because it says "experimental" does not mean you can design from scratch if you don't know what you are doing---and end the end cost us all in terms of more expensive insurance. Most people recognize Valerie H for who she is----but some of the new people would not recognize her post name nor her first name. Unfortunately, she does not post her full name and credentials----don't know why---she is a powerhouse in ez aviation. So don't know why she would take offense when she has not really made it known who she is (even though the comment was not even aimed at her).

Taking the Cozy to the Chicago area this weekend---parking in Griffith, In.

Not to beat anything to death----but 230 lbs is like 40ish gallons of fuel. My Longeze performed like 2 completely different machines solo with 10 gallons of fuel versus solo with 50 gallons of fuel. Lightweight was like a nimble fighter. Heavy weight was like a truck. You should be FAST---but not so nimble----which fits your mission statement.

Other than the things you have already listed----if relatively long paved runways don't bother you, then you are a good candidate for canard building/ownership.

Waiter....I was nearly 100% that you pulled those weights back out....just making sure there was not a simple error you may have overlooked. Pretty sure that you use a spreadsheet for wt and bal. Double check that you did not erase or miscalc something by mistake. This is probably not it either. One of my troubleshooting motos is to always check the easy things first----which I also know you live by too. But sometimes when you get too close to the problem, you forget the easy stuff. The extra weights you mention won't put you over the top. Do you have a lot of nose ballast that you can remove with a longer nose? Are both batts up front? Is the weight of the main gear taking up all that extra weight?

Waiter....Did you forget to subtract out the ballast that you used to weigh down the nose while on the scales? You aren't carrying 2 full size batteries are you?

A canopy cover that covers all the way to the nose will keep all the water out of the nose. My bolt hole covers and wing/strake gaps are sealed with silicone---no water intrusion there.

Need to get the baseplate right up against the inside glass next to the fuel. If you have foam inbetween, just cut out the outer layer of glass, dig out the foam, then flox the baseplate against the inner glass. The sight gauge floxes on top of the base plate, and you glass around the edges.

You need more than the plans---you need the CPs. Terf has all the CPs---I think you can get them online too.

That is a good reason to OH---and I should have said CHT sensors on all of the cylinders---not just one cylinder.

You don't neccessarily need to OH the engine due to a cracked cylinder---you could just replace the cylinder. For me, the big consideration would be how bad are the cam lobes. If the lobes are pitted or shot, you will need to crack the case open to replace----and then you might as well OH. The other consideration is if you have a lot of time on the engine----or it was sitting around for a long time. Back to the cracked cylinder---why did it crack? Was it getting too hot? I will bet that you don't have CHTs on on cylinders. If not, CHTs all around is pretty cheap insurance. If temps are hot or uneven, there is plenty written about how to get them under control.

If you are asking about pitch trim issues---I think they are talked about all over this site. However if not... With a fast longez in clear air and pitch trim full forward, my longez would take full aft trim to stay level when entering a cloud. It is a little disconcerting to throw the pitch trim around that much especially when in and out of the clouds under IFR conditions. And the full aft trim is not giving you a lot of room for climbing. For me, the VGs completely solved the problem---no pitch trim changes. If you don't fly in the rain or fly IMC, you don't really need the VGs. The bad thing with VGs, is that it now takes you a lot longer to clean your canard.