cweiss

Well... if anyone wishes to provide me a copy of the TERF CD, I promise to use it to contribute to the rewriting the plans for the purposes of this project.

I will maintain your anonymity if desired.

Is it time for Aiman to make the plans available again?

If this project can produce plans that do not infringe the Long-EZ copyright then the project has no need for TERF.

An errata sheet by chapter is a great idea. That sounds like a great starting point.

If this is an open project and TERF wants to include the project's work then what do we care aside from kudos for getting a wider distribution?

In my opinion, the goal of the project should be to produce a complete and consistent set of plans for building an Open-EZ, not a Long-EZ (that's what TERF sells).

Not exactly...

 

http://www.dscinet.com/eZ80/OpenEZ/

 

Thats more what I am concerned about. Been around since 2002, last update copyright 2002-2005.

You can't copyright a word. You could use it as a trademark but the eZ80 OpenEZ project doesn't seem to have a trademark. Anyway... No one would confuse a software project with an aircraft. I don't think there is any problem.

Raiki, I think your work is beautiful and of high quality. I appreciate it.

I think the point of starting with OCRs of the original plans to ensure that all necessary detail is preserved. It would be a starting point for the CP updates. Then that set of updated plans would be the starting point for the rewrite. The rewrite would then be the Open-EZ 1.0.

This process has the advantage of transparency but is not without legal difficulty as it would require distributing the copyrighted plans to those working on the project without permission. Perhaps it's not tenable in this forum.

Regardless of how the complete set of plans gets redeveloped, I would like to see end notes for each chapter that detail updates to the plans, if any, and their source. I don't think that the updates necessarily need to come from CP if there are generally recognized best practices that are not in the original plans and not in CP. The Open-EZ plans 1.0 need to be developed in the most transparent way possible. I believe that the more transparency there is in the process, the more confidence in the finished product there will be.

My understanding is that he has a bulk deal from TERF and is simply reselling them (not copying, etc.).

Uh ...... here in the US, the currency is dollars ........ not pounds.

Two of the biggest expenses will be the powerplant and the avionics.

The Open=EZ (Long-EZ) is EZ-r to build and I would estimate the cost would be somewhere around 70-75% of a Cozy (all things being the same.)

If you want to research this further, go to www.WicksAircraft.com and compare the kit prices for each. The chapters also feature a breakdown of parts as well.

I'm eagerly awaiting the Open-EZ Rev. 6.

take a look at the "COZY MKIV - Soup to Nuts" presentations at:

 

http://www.cozybuilders.org/Oshkosh_Presentations/

 

might help.

Thanks! Very informative. By how much would you expect the construction of the OEZ airframe is less than the Cozy MK IV? It struck me that the empty weight of the Cozy, according to Nat's 2005 aerodynamics presentation (1050 lbs. - optimistic?), is very near the empty weight of the Long-EZ (which I recall reading in these forums falls somewhere around 900 - 1000 lbs). That suggests to me that the airframe cost is about the same.

cweiss:

 

You want to build an airplane but you don't have any money??? How are you going to fly it when you are done? I doubt if anyone builds any cheaper than I do. I chase firewood all over the country to heat my shop, ebay is my main part supplier and I make all my own metal parts. My Longeze cost about $20,000 dollars to build back in the 80's when most of the materials were half what they are now. I have over $17,000 in my Cozy IV and it is not even finished with the structure still have to build the wings and the strakes and I dont even have any thing to put in the panel. Some guys build a lot of there plane in there kitchens and living rooms so You could start tomorrow unless you are homeless and if that is a issue I dont think you are ready for plane ownership. I am not trying to discourage just let you know the reality of this hobby it takes lots of green dollars to build and own an airplane. Cost of ownership runs about $70.00 and hour. So if you can afford it jump in if you cant think about a cheaper hobby. Maybe sailing small boats thats what I did when I was broke. STeve build on

If I were a sailor I would sail. I'm a pilot so I fly (maybe I'm a pilot because I must fly). I'm under no illusions that this is not an inexpensive hobby. Nevertheless, one should have reasonable expectations. One should be able to make a reasonable budget. There is no reason it can't be affordable. $70 an hour is about half the price I pay for the Arrow I rent. $70 an hour would be a steal for an airplane that I have access to whenever I want and that flies much faster (and looks cooler).

Using epoxies in the house doesn't seem safe to me (especially with a toddler around) but maybe I'm wrong. Advice on this would be appreciated. I wish I had a garage but I don't. How much more would your Cozy cost if you had to rent shop space? Maybe it wouldn't be feasible. With your own shop, if you run out of money for a while you can put the project on hold until you have more to continue. If you rent a shop, you would need to pay rent if you have money to build or not. For it to be feasible for me the shop needs to be very inexpensive. Maybe I would need to share space. Maybe I should build a shed. I have no idea at this point. That's why I put the question out. Maybe someone on this forum has some experience with this. I can't know unless I ask.

Maybe the Cozy IV would cost only slightly more than an Open-EZ but with the added utility maybe it would be worth the extra cost. I have no idea because I don't know how much it will cost to build.

I'm sure that there are people that don't need to take costs into account. I'm not one of them and I would guess that most builders aren't either.

You cannot do a cost-benefit analysis unless you know the costs and the benefits.

What do Diamond, Cirrus, and Columbia/Cessna do about this? I understand that the DA20 cannot be certified for IFR because it has no lightning protection.

Since today is the 7-month anniversary of the Open-EZ, what better time than now to ask a few questions:

 

a) Anyone building an Open-EZ?

b) Anyone planning/intending to?

c) Do you think we should continue?

d) Any ideas for what to add?

 

The biggest request is for full-sized drawings. After that, the suggestion box is open and waiting for your feedback.

 

Go ahead... a penny for your thoughts.

b) I very much want to, yes.

c) Yes, please continue!

d) At minimum it would be nice if the project included all of the information to build a clone of the Long-Ez which incorporates all of the updates from CP directly in the plans and drawings/templates. I would like to see some introductory materials to learn and practice the construction techniques. I would like to see guidelines for setting up a shop.

I'd like to see some reasonable cost breakdowns for completing the airframe.

I think it would be interesting if this project also provided a way to make a complete and consistent set of plans and drawings which incorporate common (and uncommon) mods. But this should be a lower priority than a single complete set.

I'm very interested in building an Open-EZ. I currently have no space to build (I have no garage and my utility room is cramped) and would appreciate any suggestions for finding an inexpensive shop to build in (very inexpensive).

I don't intend to deviate from the plans.

Can anyone give a rough idea of the completion cost with basic VFR instruments and an O-235? I've thought about building a Cozy MK IV and I wonder what the cost difference would be.