Lynn Erickson

I hope you can make it work. this has been tried so many times you can't count them. not to burst your bubble but it does not work. it all looks good until you try to put people in the cockpit and behind the canopy. the size differences don't work scaled down unless you scale done the people too. you will be sitting under a canopy that you can't see out of. and a nose that is too small to sit in. but it is fun to think about. when you fly in one you realize that it is about as small as this design could be built and fit un-scaled down people.

A guy with his talent does not yank an engine because it maybe causing a radio problem. that is to easy to fix. you yank a radio or an engine because you can no longer trust that it will keep working. you then install a radio or an engine that you can trust.

They are not hard to do but there are a lot of model specific things that hard are to know about unless you work on them all the time. the overhaul book is very vague on these things. the cost of the overhaul is mostly the parts and parts prep work. most will not have the tools for this work , such as cylinder boring, magnaflux, cam grinding. on most of the larger engines the valve clearance is adjusted by installing the proper length push rod, and you won't know what size you need until the cylinders are installed and checked with and old push rod. the must replace parts are a large part of the expense. the labor for the assemble is really the cheapest part. most shops are only charging between $ 3000 to $4000 for the labor to assemble the engine and even if you get your own A&P to assist you he will get at least $2500. unless you have help from someone with a lot of aircraft engine experience I would say this is not the place to save money. If this part of the project does not work quite as well as planed, well ....

there is a whole list of pinouts for many avionics at the aeroelectrichttp://www.aeroelectric.com/Installation_Data/ http://www.aeroelectric.com/Installation_Data/KMA20.pdf

The RS is the older system and has the return. The RSA is the improved model and does not need a return

the plans call for 3/8" 3003-0 aluminum versatube for all fuel lines. forward of the firewall. the same can be used aft of the firewall but stainless steel is a better choice. any hoses used should be aircraft type rated for fuel with a fire sleeve. the best choice is the teflon with stainless steel braid like aeroquip 666 it lasts a life time and is the lightest and smallest OD for a given size. they are not cheap but it is only gasoline and your butt both in the same aeroplane

Aircraft spruce has them. don't know how cheap you want? theyare all of $ 18.00 each and $ 7.00 for the tube. oh don't the cozy IV guys wish they could run these? http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/lgpages/lambtires_tubes.php

thats like the worst place to have the fuel cap. the vari ezs have a cap for the aux tank in that location and it is a pain to use. standing in the back seat to fill the tank, sucks. and on the berkut you would have to reach around the canopy or over the cowling and that would be very difficult. over the cowling is next to impossible if parked nose down. the turtleback can't be reached without standing or climbing on something.

I believe tony is building the stock berkut gear which is a carbon gear leg with aluminum pieces bonded on each end. one for gear pivot and retract linkage attachment and one on the other for axle attachment. same type construction as the long eze nose gear.

I know two ezes that are on aluminum and the gear legs were build by grove. they seem to work just fine. Grove can make them custom to fit any aircraft. if i was to do it over I would go aluminum for sure.

in flight the deck angle measured at the longeron is some what dependent on speed. it is really a non issue as it does not change enough that unless you are thinking about it you don't notice it. don't think conventional airplane here the ezes are not even close to the those angles. as for rotation speed it is not dependent on deck angle of the fuselage. while rolling on the ground it is dependent on the angle of attack of the wing relative to the level ground which is dependent on the gear leg lengths. increasing the angle of attack of the wing on the ground helps takeoff distance very little. if increased to much it just causes more drag and and has the reverse effect. a much bigger factor in take off distance is acceleration, getting to rotation speed. the biggest factor I have noticed is weight.

Bill Allen rebuilt a long eze that had been flying for over 20 years and removed the O-200 for the wilksch engine and has done a great job and it is a big step forward for the engine. check out his web site.http://www.longezediesel.com/

it may seem like an extra piece of foam now. but by the time you are done you will have found something to make out of it. almost every one buys more foam then is supplied for some mod that you have not even dreamed up yet

Wilksch must be ahead of the others.Bill Allen, made first flight in his Wilksch powered long eze on saturday.

Thats what my wings are made of. the smaller cell foam is what most of the long ezes are made of. the larger cell foam was not used until the 90's. I like the smaller cell stuff better, it sands smoother and takes less micro to fill the cells.

Com antennas need to be vertical at least one of the dipole elements. nav antennas should be horizontal. the best place for the Com is in the winglet. I have install them finished Long eze's on the back side of the winglet between the rudder and winglet and drill a hole from there to the wing wire conduit for the wire. the best is to use 1/2" wide copper foil tape. 14 gauge solid copper house wire also works very well.

I know there was a couple of long eze's that had one installed. several years ago saw one at an airshow. there was someone with an ad and artical in sport aviation a while back. It was a very expensive unit. what are you going to use it for, most of the flying eze's have had the guns removed

The easiest thing to do is to take out some of the bottom of seat and move the lower part of the seat back to a more up right position. the angle on the seat in that plane is to layed back and it makes it hard to hold your head up without using the headrest. this will give you more leg room and head clearance all in one step this is a simple mod and can be done in a day. the standard width is 42.5 at shoulders 1" wider the a Cozy

there is no such thing as a homebuilt as far as the FAA is concerned. it would be an experimental aircraft and the restrictions would be the same as most unless the FAA gave it more restrictions, which it would state in the airworthiness certificate. all aircraft are build in a factory by the manufacturer. when you build an experimental you are the manufacturer.

By the time you are done building ( O, I forgot you are never done building an experimental ) you will have enough extra hardware to build two more airplanes but it won't fit on anything you are building.

If you would like I can send you an copy of the original. for educational purposes that is. just ran some copies for someone and have extra sets.

If I was to put matco on a long I would use the double caliper model they seem to have the least problems but Grove is the hand down winner. seen several sets go on longs and never a problem, they just work

I have flown and worked on all the types and I would go Grove. they are now the hands down winner. the clevelands are a bit small. the three puck matcos are a pain to work on and have to flexable a caliper and have had lock up problems. they look good out of the box but they need several mods to work good. the flex in the caliper does not let the pads release completely and the have to much drag. several of the wheels have been machined poorly and are not concentric with the brake disc and don't stop smoothly. some wheels need to have the disc bosses trued up. matcos are by far the hardest to mount a tire and tube on without pinching the tube and they are the hardest to remove a tire. they are the worst if you get a flat, they require too many tools. the rubber seals look good but they still leak and throw grease all over the wheels and wings. when using matcos make sure you tighten the bearings the way they say to. there needs to be some preload on the bearings or the inner race will spin and wear out the axle.

That is the way it is done if you have the type with a programable readout. there are simple types the are not scaleable. on the vision micro system you scale to every 2 gallons.

I was coming over the hill from northern Cal. heading south into chino at 11500 ft. told approach I would be starting a desent into chino. With a tail wind of about 40 kts I was seeing 275 mph on the gps. and then I heard " citation 123Z hold your heading and altitude your are being overtaken by an experimental" and then " Experimental 999LE you may start your desent the citation is no longer a factor".