Kitplanes November2015

Pole to Pole in a Lancair IV
KITPLANES NOVEMBER 2015 Lady Bug RV-8 Pole to Pole, Part 1 Spirit of St. Louis Replica Viperjet Electrical Systems Bearhawk Project Airplane Washing Carburetion Using O2
Lady Bug
Building a Winner
Spirit of St. Louis

Remaking History
Customer-Built Viperjet
First Of Its Kind
BELVOIR PUBLICATIONS
Engine Theory
Carbed Induction
Cleaning Your Plane
Doing It The Right Way
NOVEMBER 2015
In the Shop:
More Floobydust
Bore Gauging
Going Off-Plans
www.kitplanes.com
November 2015 | Volume 32, Number 11
Flying Lifestyle
6 Pole to Pole! Around the world over both poles (part 1).
By Bill Harrelson.
Builder Spotlight
14 Lady Bugs Story: Building a fastback RV-8 and winning
a Silver Lindy. By Paul Berg.
22 Viperjet: 380 knots the hard way. By Dave Prizio.

26 Building the Bearhawk LSA: Working on the wings.
By Ken Scott.
30 How to Use Your Oxygen System: Things to know

before you go. By Gary Jones.
34 Spirit of St. Louis: John Normans definitive reproduction is

virtually identical to the original. By David Gustafson.
44 ENGINE THEORY: Carburetion. Getting air and fuel into the

engine. By Tom Wilson.
66 Completions: Builders share their successes.

68 ask the DAR: Certified aircraft converted to Experimental,
ELSA vs. E/A-B, op lims for major changes. By Mel Asberry.
Shop Talk
48 Aircraft Wiring: Good things to know while building your
electrical system. By Marc Ausman.
54
The New Guy: Going off-plans. By David Boeshaar.
56
Maintenance Matters: A clean plane is a safer plane and
a source of pride. By Dave Prizio.
63
Home Shop Machinist: Bore gauging. By Bob Hadley.
78
Aero Lectrics: The last Floobydust. By Jim Weir.
Shop Tip
59
Eliminating Egg-Shaped Holes: By Larry Larson.
Designers Notebook
40
Stressing Structure: Bending. By David Paule.
75
Wind Tunnel: Stiffness. By Barnaby Wainfan.
14
Exploring
2 Editors Log: The envelope, please. By Paul Dye.
52 Checkpoints: Skills transference, part 1. By Vic Syracuse.
60 Down To Earth: Taking our instrument panel into the next
decade. By Amy Laboda.
Kit Bits
4 Letters
69 List of Advertisers
70
Builders Marketplace
80 Kit StufF: Drawing on experience. By cartoonist Robrucha.
34
For subscription information, contact KITPLANES
at 800/622-1065 or visit www.kitplanes.com/cs.
On the cover: Paul Bergs RV-8, Lady Bug, photographed at AirVenture 2014 by
Tyson V. Rininger. To see more of Tysons work, visit www.tvrphotography.com.

KITPLANES November 2015
Editors log
The envelope, please.
Seeing as how were all part of the
Experimental aviation business here,

lets talk a little about test flying, shall
we? Almost everyone who is building an
airplane secretly dreams of the day they
can swagger across the ramp in a leather
jacket, carrying a parachute and a pack
of Beemans, hop into their cockpit and
depart in a blast of wind to challenge the
demons of the blue while stretching the
ol envelope a bit. At least, most everyone
has that fantasyat least once. Then we
find that the reality of flight testing is just
a little different. In fact, at times it can
be downright boring.
Every aircraft with an Experimental airworthiness certificate has to go through
some sort of test period to determine its
flying characteristics, performance numbers, and yesthe edges of the envelope.
Pilots have been taking new airplanes
aloft since, well, the Wright brothers
but still the contents of a good test program are not always understood. Youd
think that, by now, thered be a book
that provides an Experimental airplane
builder with a step-by-step process for
testing their new airplane. But as youve
probably found out by now (if youve
looked), there isnt one that works in all
cases. And the reason is, its complicated.
No two airplane designs are alike
thats the first problem. What is important to test in a go-fast cross-country
machine may not even be relevant in
a tube-and-fabric local flyer. An airplane that started out as a sketch on
the builders breakfast napkin probably
Paul Dye
2
has a little more testing that needs to

be done than the 1500th RV-7 to take to
the skies. The test program you need to
fly is going to depend on a lot of things:
the maturity of the design, the uses to
which the airplane will be put, and how
well you followed the designers instructions on engines and weight.
Phase 1 is a test period required by the
FAAit might be 25 hours, it might be
40but the contents are pretty much
left up to the individual. AC 90-89 is a
good guideline for getting the airplane
safely through its first few flightsbut it
gets pretty vague after that. As a result,
many builders simply go boring holes
in the sky, flying off the hours by flying
the same test hour 40 times, until they
are released from their test box. And
to be honest, for some airplanes, not a
lot is required. But for many others, this

approach is sorely lacking.
The general progression of flight testing for a new aircraft is to first determine
that it is controllable and reasonably stable
within its normal operating regime, then
turn to performance testing to get some
basic numbers for stall, climb, glide and
cruise, and then to start expanding the
envelope in terms of stability and control
at different weight and balance conditions
and G-loadings. Systems testing (fuel, electrical, and avionics) is also important at this
stage to make sure that the engine and
essential equipment will keep operating
under varying conditions. If the airplane is
the first of its kind, most of this is unknown
until proven, and part of the envelope
expansion is also to determine the airframes ability to withstand design loads.
You dont have to be Chuck Yeager to test the average kit aircraft. Much of what
you need to learn at the edges of the envelope has already been determined by the
factoryassuming you stuck to the plans.
Paul Dye retired as a Lead Flight Director for NASAs Human Space Flight program, with 40 years
of aerospace experience on everything from Cubs to the space shuttle. An avid homebuilder,
he began flying and working on airplanes as a teen, and has experience with a wide range of
construction techniques and materials. He flies an RV-8 that he built in 2005, and an RV-3 that
he built with his pilot wife. Currently, they are building a Xenos motorglider. A commercially
licensed pilot, he has logged over 4800 hours in many different types of aircraft. He consults
and collaborates in aerospace operations and flight-testing projects across the country.
www.kitplanes.com & www.facebook.com/kitplanes
With the advent of popular kit aircraft

with thousands of examples flying, the
need to do structural envelope testing on
individual aircraft is much reducedso
long as the aircraft is built to match the
design and plans. If the builder has made
modifications to structure, changed the
weight limits, installed more (or less)
powerwell, then more testing is going
to be required, as they are once again
operating in unknown territory.
But if theyre flying that 1500th RV-7,
and it is built to plans, it is probably not
essential to go out and try to pull six Gs
to prove that the structure will take it. In
fact, it is highly unlikely that the average
homebuilder/pilot is going to be able to
load the airplane up anywhere near the
limit loads because they simply wont
have enough lift to do so without exceeding VNE first. That and the fact theyd probably need a G-suit to stay conscious.
A reasonable approach to Phase 1 testing, therefore, is to do that stability and
control worktest the handling and stability at both ends of the CG limit boxto
Photo: Courtesy of U.S. Air Force
make sure that you wont be surprised

the first time you load your cousin in the
back seat and take off for lunch. Next, do
enough performance testing to understand takeoff and landing distance, climb
rates and speeds, and cruise performance.
Without this information, you wont know
how fast and far you can go, or how best to
deal with high density altitude situations
or heavy weights. Finally, if you are flying an aerobatic machine, expanding the
envelope of G-loading and handling to a
reasonable level is important if you want
to develop confidence in the airplanes
ability to stay togetherand manageable. But bewarethis type of envelope
expansion requires that you be in good
physical shape to withstand the Gs, and
have good stick and rudder skills in case
the airplane does something unexpected.
Do we really need to fly to the edges
of that ol envelope? In most cases, probably not. But its important to test at least
beyond where you plan to go with passengers; you owe them that much. Knowing that you are operating within a box
that you have previously tested takes a

lot of the worry out of flying your Experimental aircraft.
You dont have to be Chuck Yeager to
adequately test the average kit aircraft of
today. Much of what you need to learn
at the edges of the envelope will already
be determined by the factory or other
buildersassuming, as we always say,
that you stuck to the plans. Adequately
performing all of the tests necessary to
build a good set of cruise tables will take
plenty of time just by itself; if you are diligent about it, you might even take more
than the required 25 or 40 hours. For
many pilots, the challenge of performing flight tests is just as educational and
recreational as the build, and they would
never think of short-changing the process. In fact, many look for more testing to
dojust to hone their skills. Flight testing
will build precision in your flying as well
as build confidence inand knowledge
aboutyour airplane.
You might even discover that you like
the taste of Beemans. J
EDITORIAL

Editor in Chief Paul Dye
editorial@kitplanes.com

Managing Editor Mark Schrimmer

Art Direction Dan Maher

Editorial Director Paul Bertorelli
Contributing Editors Larry Anglisano, Marc Ausman,
Roy Beisswenger, Chuck Berthe,
David Boeshaar, LeRoy Cook,
Robert Hadley, Dan Horton,
Louise Hose, Amy Laboda, Dave
Martin, Sid Mayeux, David Paule,
Dave Prizio, Dean Sigler, Dick
Starks, Eric Stewart, Vic Syracuse,
Barnaby Wainfan, Jim Weir,
Tom Wilson.

Web Editor Omar Filipovic

Cartoonist Robrucha
ADVERTISING
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chuck@kitplanes.com
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F-1 Registration
In Ten Years With a Time Machine

[September 2015], Dave Forster states that
he lives in Houston, Texas, yet his plane
appears to have Canadian registration.
How is this explained?
verify the designers claim that my allwood, two-place, low-wing LSA airplane
will withstand a 9 G load. If the pilot and
passenger are sitting on the spar, is that
part of the wing weight?
Chuck Cary
Elton Folkerts
Dave Forster Responds: Well spotted, and

good question! There is a little-known regulation that states I can have a U.S.-registered
house, a U.S.-registered car, and a U.S.-registered wife, but not a U.S.-registered airplane unless I possess either a Green Card
or American citizenshipI had neither at
the time I started the project.
Shortly before deciding to build the
Rocket, I was transferred to Houston by
my U.S. employer under a work visa. I was
keen to build and didnt want to wait until
the Green Card application was processed
before starting. Its a good thing I didnt
wait; building the airplane took about
31/2 years, but building the Green Card
took over twice as long!
Fortunately, American and Canadian
regulations for building an Experimental/
Amateur-Built aircraft are very similar,
and each country recognizes the others
airworthiness certificates. This made it
possible to build an aircraft in the U.S. on
Canadian paperwork, receive a Canadian
Special Certificate of Airworthiness, yet
have my inspections performed by a U.S.
Designated Airworthiness Representative
(DAR). As an added bonus, Canadian
registration allows for custom registration
markings not possible in the U.S.an F1
Rocket registered as C-FWON!
Load Distributions
Using information provided in Stressing Structure [August 2015], I want to
David Paule Responds: When calculating

loads on a spar, its important to consider
not only the air loads, but also the loads
due to the weights of things, the effective
location of these items on the spar, and how
and where the spar is supported. In my
examples, the support was on the left end
of the structure and the load started at the
right end of the structure. For a real structure, these might be anywhere.
The actual real distances are used to find
the shear and bending moments. So are the
real weights and air loads, wherever they
occur. Generally, the weight of items such as
people or fuel or equipment act opposite to
the air load. Remember that some weights
can vary or even go away. Examples are
fuel or passengers or heavy or light pilots.
Aerodynamic changes such as extending the flaps or deflecting the aileron also
change the applied load.
Every load case and every flight condition must be checked.
There are two aspects to spar strength.
The first is the loads on it. The other is the
actual strength of the spar. Both need to be
assessed over the entire length of the spar,
inch by inch. There might be related structure or attachments which will share the
load or affect the strength, and youll need
to include those effects too.
I strongly recommend using ANC-18,
Design of Wood Aircraft Structures,
for the analysis of any wood aircraft. Its
available here: www.westcoastpiet.com/
construction.htm. J
Web site Information:

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Kitplanes is a registered trademark of Aviation Publishing Group,LLC.
Pole
to
Pole!
Around the world over both poles (part 1).
By Bill Harrelson
The flashlight is on only for a few minutes to check and record the readings
from the sight gauges on the cockpit fuel
tanks. Now off, its darkreally dark.
The flight schedule had been planned
many months ago to put this, the North
Pole leg, at the full moon. Reality intervened to put me two weeks late, now at
the dark of the moon. I cup my gloved
hand to the Plexiglas to shield the light
from the instruments. Polaris really is
straight up.
Im staying pretty busy. Getting position reports off to Gander on the HF
takes a lot of time. In between reports
Im adjusting valves for the 10 fuel
tanks, trying to keep the center of gravity somewhat in balance. Every hour
I take 18 readings and transmit them
to the ground crew via satellite text:
fuel state, engine parameters, angle of
attack, heartbeat and blood oxygen,
cockpit temperature, and more. The
readings are fairly routine. Only one has
kept my attention for several hoursoil
sump temperature.
Ive crossed the North Pole and am
now heading south over Ellesmere Island
in far northern Canada. The OAT
should be warmingits not. At the Pole,
I record an OAT of -18.4 F (-28 C) at
FL 120. Im four hours south of the Pole
and the OAT is still falling, now reading -36.4 F (-38 C) with the oil sump
temperature at an uncomfortable 75.2 F
The author on the ramp at Punta Arenas, Chile. The South Pole is 2220 nautical miles
from Punta Arenas, about the same distance as New York to San Francisco.
(24 C). Im worried about the oil freezing in the oil cooler, even though Ive had
that airflow closed since just after takeoff
in Fairbanks 12 hours ago. A burst oil
cooler could ruin my evening.
There are occasionally a few unbusy
minutes during which I cant help but
reflect on this trip. The North Pole in
January in a little homemade singleengine airplanehow the heck did I
convince myself that this was a good
idea? What am I doing here? How did
this trip come about?
Planning
The planning for this series of flights

began over 10 years ago. My wife Sue
and I had enjoyed some long flights in
Non-stop, long-distance practice flight in 2013 from Guam to Jacksonville, Florida. Total
distance was 7,051 nautical miles. Time en route was 38 hours, 39 minutes.
Photos: Bill Harrelson and Big Stock
the Lancair 320 we had built. We flew

it from the U.S. to Kemble, England,
for the PFA (Popular Flying Association) rally in 2003, and from there, on to
Germany and Holland. That opened our
eyes to just what is possible in a little airplane. What about an around-the-world
flight? The more we looked at this possibility, the more we found that the 320
could carry adequate fuel or two people,
but not both at the same time. A fourplace airplane built specifically for long
distance would be a much better choice.
So, at Sun n Fun in 2004, we ordered a
Lancair IV kit.
The airplane was completed in 2012,
and after the normal testing, we
embarked upon a series of long-distance
tests. These tests culminated in an
attempt at the world record for distance
in our weight class. That flight was from
Guam to Jacksonville, Florida, a distance
of 7051 nautical miles (13,059 km) and
took 38 hours, 39 minutes, non-stop.
With six gallons left, I landed in Jacksonville and was able to claim the record.
Shortly after the distance record, we
(even though it is a single-place airplane
in this expedition mode, there is a team
of people working hard on this project,
hence the we) made our first attempt
at the world record for Speed Around
the World over both of the Earths poles.
That attempt was unsuccessful. We made
it to Punta Arenas, Chile, and waited
eight days for acceptable weather to cross
the Southern Ocean to Antarctica. It was
late March and too late in the season. A
long flight back to the U.S. ended that

first attempt.
An official World Record sanctioned
by the Fdration Aronautique Internationale, keeper of aviation records since
1905, requires following a strict set of
requirements. For this particular record,
these requirements include:
1. The aircraft must be officially weighed
at the maximum weight that it will be
flown at during the record attempt.
2. The flight must fly directly over both

the North and South Poles.
3. The northbound and southbound
equator crossings must be separated by
a minimum of 120 degrees longitude.
4. All declared points must be reached
in the order that they were declared.
Speed is computed by dividing the
total great circle distance between
declared points by the total time. Total
time is computed from the first takeoff
to the last landing back at the starting point. Flying other than directly
between declared points is allowed, but
is not counted in the total distance.
The Journey Begins
We chose Kinston, North Carolina,

KISO, as our start/end airport. Kinston
has a long 11,500-foot runway (needed at
our extreme weight), a tower (needed to
attest to takeoff and landing times), and
The route flown: 31,118 nautical miles,

24 days, 174.9 hourslots and lots of
ocean with some ice here and there.
Our friend and handler in Montevideo,

Gualdemar Gutierrez.
The long scat tubing is a heater hose. All instruments and avionics are on the left side of
the panel, and the right side is completely blank. This allows the space between the panel
and the firewall to be used for a 13-gallon header tank.
an excellent FBO (thanks, Kinston Jet

Center). Kinston is also geographically
situated such that we had a clear route
through the warning areas that exist all
along the U.S. East Coast.
Since we needed to fuel to maximum
for weighing at Kinston, we planned the
first leg to be our longest, east to cross the
equator at 44 degrees west longitude, and
then south across Brazil to Montevideo,

Uruguay, SUAA, a distance of 5286 nautical miles and planned for 28 hours. At
our max fuel weight, takeoffs are always
a challenge. Normal rotation speed for
this airplane would be around 65 knots.
At max weight rotation is 105 knots, and
the wheels leave the ground at 110115
knots. Once off the ground, climb rate is
100 fpm or less until an airspeed of 160

knots is reached. Then it can maintain
perhaps 400 fpm until 8000 feet or so,
when it will climb no further until fuel
weight is burned off. The aft CG makes
the airplane divergently unstable. The
Lancair IV, normally a pleasant-to-fly,
responsive aircraft, is an ugly, difficultto-fly, poorly performing pig at this
weight and CG. Use of the autopilot is

out of the question for the first five or six
hours. After this, the CG is such that,
in smooth air, the autopilot can be
engaged. This is always a major relief.
Now more attention can be devoted
to weather avoidance, navigation, fuel
management, communication with the
ground crew, and perhaps a moment or
two to eat, drink, exercise, and think.
Landing at the Angel S. Adami airport, SUAA, in Montevideo was a great
pleasure. Adami is a wonderful little
general aviation airport with quick and
easy customs, self-serve avgas, and best
of all, the friendly face of Gualdemar
Gutierrez. We had been communicating with Gualdemar for many months
prior to our arrival. He had arranged
everything: fuel, transportation to the
hotel, customs, etc. He had agreed to
accept a package that we had sent ahead
(clean underwear, PowerBars, oil, CamGuard, etc.). Since our next leg would
be a relatively short leg to Punta Arenas,
Chile, we could afford to carry some
supplies from there.
The weather the next morning was
acceptable and the short hop (1329 nautical miles, 7 hours) to Punta Arenas
went quite smoothly. Argentina ATC
was competent and friendly as we passed
this leg almost entirely over their country. Good weather prevailed for landing
in Punta Arenas, Chile.
Good News, Bad News
After clearing customs, the next stop

was the met office. I had found on my
previous flight to Punta Arenas that the
Departing South America. The tip of the continent is best described as cold, icy, and rocky.
meteorologists here were first class. They

had up-to-date equipment and were
extremely knowledgeable, especially
concerning Antarctic weather. They had
good and bad news for me. The flight
from Punta Arenas to the South Pole the
next day should be during a rare window
of excellent weather and only moderate
headwinds. There was, however, bad
weather over the Southern Ocean on the
way from Antarctica to New Zealand.
Since the weather from South America
to the Pole looked unusually good, the
decision was made to take advantage
of the good weather and depart for the
Pole the next day.
For years I had known that this leg
from South America across the South
Pole to New Zealand would be the
most critical and dangerous leg of the
entire project. The Southern Ocean
is infamous for extreme and rapidly
changing weather. Weather reporting

stations are few and possible landing
sites almost non-existent.
A maximum-weight takeoff with the
full 361-gallon fuel load and a very slow
climb over the Strait of Magellan toward
the mountains of southern Tierra del
Fuego started this leg. With excellent
visibility, the mountains and glaciers at
the southern tip of the continent were
soon visible. Monte Sarmiento at 7175
feet was the highest obstacle in my
way. I was able to hold 10,000 feet as I
passed just to the west of this spectacular mountain. In the words of Charles
Darwin, the most sublime spectacle in
Tierra del Fuego.
Once past Tierra del Fuego, its over
the Drake Passage toward Antarctica. Hours pass with the open ocean
mostly obscured by low clouds. Just a
few higher cumulus are visible on the
One of four glaciers at Monte Sarmiento,

at the southern tip of Tierra del Fuego.
10
Building a Long-Distance Cruiser

N6ZQ was constructed from the ground up to be an extreme-range
oceanic cruiser. It would be challenging, but certainly not impossible,
to convert an already built airplane. What kind of modifications are
necessary to produce a plane with these capabilities? The first and
most necessary mod is fuel.
There is plenty of room in most airplanes for lots of extra fuel. There
is, however, rarely plenty of extra CG envelope. In N6ZQ, as in most
planes, the need was to get as much fuel as far forward as possible.
The cornerstone of our fuel system is the header tank. We designed the
instrument panel to have all instruments and electronics on the left
side. The right side of the panel is completely blank. This allowed space
between the panel and the firewall for a 13-gallon header.
The engine runs only on header tank fuel. Fuel from all other tanks
gravity flows through on-off valves to a manifold at the system low
point in the cockpit. From there it is pumped into the header by any
one of three electric pumps. Each pump is powered by a different
electrical system. There are float switches mounted in the header that
operate an automatic pumping system to keep the header at a nearfull level at all times. In case I mismanage the valves or fail to have
at least one pump operational and no fuel is being pumped into the
header, there is a big red flashing light (http://pillarpointelectronics.
com/kits.html) that comes on at the 7-gallon level. That would give me
about 40 minutes to correct the situation. The header is equipped with
a carefully calibrated sight gauge that provides very accurate, nonelectrical dependent, header tank fuel quantity indications.
The right side rudder pedals are removable. That allows room
for the fuel tanks in what would normally be the copilot footwell to
extend from the wingspar to the firewall. We have a total of 58 gallons
of fuel in the fuselage forward of the mainspar. The copilot seat area,
the back seat, and back-seat footwell are all filled with carbon/fiberglass fuel tanks. All of the hard tanks are equipped with sight gauges.
In addition, two Turtle-Pac (http://www.turtlepac.com/) bladder tanks
are positioned on top of the rear-seat tank. The forward Turtle-Pac is
filled to capacity, 66 gallons, while the aft Turtle-Pac is restricted to 30
gallons. At max fuel, N6ZQ holds 361 gallons. A removable bulkhead
wall is immediately behind the aft Turtle-Pac to ensure that these
drum bladders cannot move or expand aft.
The next consideration for long range is electricity. Since this airplane
is so electrically dependent, we built three separate and independent
electrical systems, three alternators, and three batteries (www.bandc.biz).
An essential bus is powered through large Schottky diodes by all three
electrical systems. The avionics bus is likewise powered by systems #1
Forward fuel tank in the copilot seat area.
and #2. The primary GPS/COM, a Garmin 480, which is normally powered
from the avionics bus, can also be powered through a switch from system
#3. The three main power buses can be cross-connected in any combination. The engine can be started with one, two, or all three batteries.
Normal start is with batts #1 and #2. We felt that these multiple layers
of redundancy were warranted considering the airplanes mission.
Another piece of equipment that is necessary for oceanic flight is
an HF (High Frequency) radio. Our system consists of an Icom 706 Mk
II G ham radio modified to transmit on aviation HF frequencies. The
HF consists of four components. The control head is small, light, and is
attached to the copilot seat fuel tank with Velcro. The radio itself is
mounted in the maingear well, and the antenna tuner unit (Icom AH-4)
is mounted in the lower aft fuselage. The antenna consists of a fixed
40-foot length of bronze wire with a small weighted funnel attached to
the end as a drogue. The antenna trails behind the airplane and is not
retractable. Since the antenna drags on the ground during taxi, takeoff
and landing, it sees a bit of wear and needs to be replaced every 10-12
landings. It is easily (two minutes) removable when HF is not required.
N6ZQ is equipped with a satellite communication system. During
construction, a permanent Iridium satellite antenna was built into the
vertical stabilizer. An Iridium GO unit (www.iridium.com/iridiumgo.
aspx) allows text, voice, and limited email capability. Voice operates
via Bluetooth to the headphone (www.akg.com/pro/headphones/
akg-aviation). Texting, email, and voice are accomplished via a Wi-Fi link
between the Iridium GO, an iPhone, and iPad. We found that text was,
by far, the preferable means of communication with the ground crew.
Of course, none of this equipment is any good without a dependable, efficient engine. Ours is a Continental IO-550 that was overhauled
and modified by Barrett Precision Engines (www.bpaengines.com).
Barrett equipped the engine with 10:1 pistons for greater efficiency.
The engine now has over 800 hours, and weve never had to add a
quart of oil between oil changes. We have used CamGuard oil additive
(http://aslcamguard.com) since engine break-in. The engine has run
flawlessly since day one.
While the header tank and the three electrical systems are an
integral part of the airplane, the expedition configuration tanks and
equipment are removable. Its about two days work to convert this
airplane back to a four-place Lancair IV. The back-seat tank and backseat footwell tank can be left in to make an extended-range two-place
configuration. In the two-place configuration, Sue and I can make
short hops such as Europe or Hawaii.
B.H.
Neighbors helped close up the wings.

Five of the 10 total fuel tanks.

11
The spectacular mountains of Antarctica.
southeastern horizwait a minute

those arent clouds. Theyre the mountains of the Antarctic Peninsula! The
first view of this magic continent while
still 200 miles away is something that
Ill never forget. The view gets more
spectacular the closer I get. My route
takes me over Mount Stephenson on
Alexander Island. This is the fourth
highest peak in Antarctica and probably
the most visually impressive since it rises
directly from the sea in one unbroken
60-degree slope of rock to 9800 feet.
I continue following the 71-degree
west meridian toward the Pole. Passing
over the peninsula and then over the
western edge of the Ronne Ice Shelf, I
find myself in stratus clouds. The temperature is well below -4 F (-20 C)
and I encounter no ice. Once out of the
stratus, I can see the Sentinel Range
far to the west and Vinson Massif, the
Amundsen-Scott station looks like a junkyard at the South Pole.
highest point in Antarctica at 16,067

feet, impressive even from a distance.
Antarctica
The interior of the Antarctic continent

is surprisingly featureless. Hundreds of
miles pass and it looks as if Im flying
over a smooth cloud layer. Only occasional crevasses and rock outcroppings
show that its snow and ice. The GPS
units are now showing a maddeningly
decreasing groundspeed. The headwinds
are stronger than forecastconsiderably stronger. By the time I reach 85
degrees south latitude, Im 1 hour and
1 minute behind flight plan and worse,
below flight plan fuel. This leg is a
5383-nautical-mile flight into increasing headwinds, questionable weather, a
high probability of icing on the second
crossing of the Southern Ocean, and no
place to land, short of New Zealand.
Bad news from Tahiti: They rejected the authors flight plan. It seems they require 72 hours
to issue a landing permit.
12
Its decision time. The ground crew

and I reach the frustrating conclusion
that to continue past the Pole toward
New Zealand would put the flight into
a far too risky and uncertain situation.
We decide to continue to the Pole and
then return to Punta Arenas. Its 2220
nautical miles from Punta Arenas to the
Pole, the distance from New York to
San Franciscoand another 2220 miles
back, but still shorter than continuing
to New Zealand. I work out a flight plan
for the return and advise ATC on HF of
our decision.
Finally, over the nose, I see AmundsenScott Station, the U.S. research base at
the South Pole. It looks like a junkyard at
the end of the earth. A few circles around
the Pole, snap a few photos and Im on my
way north back to Punta Arenas.
Airframe Icing
Antarctica is known for rapidly changing weather. It did not disappoint. Even
over the same areas that I had flown
over just a few hours ago, I notice more
clouds. Over the continent Im not
worried about airframe icing since the
temperature is well below -4 F (-20
C). Over the Southern Ocean, however,
just 100 miles short of South America,
with warming temperature and increasing cloud cover, I encounter ice. Just a
little at first, but on the thin Lancair airfoils, its enough to appreciably degrade
performance. It soon becomes obvious
that I cannot remain in this situation
for long. Ive been descending to remain
below the clouds. Im at FL 140 now. I
check the OAT and calculate how low I
need to descend to find above-freezing

temperatures6000 feet should do
itbut it doesnt. At 5000 feet the ice
finally starts meltingslowly. But now,
Im getting close to Tierra del Fuego
and the mountains there. I need to get
back up to at least 10,000 to clear the
rocks. Luckily, as I continue north, the
temperature continues to increase and
Im able to climb back to a safe altitude
free of ice.
Back in Punta Arenas I now have
a new set of challenges to face. I need
to do the oil change that had been
planned for New Zealand. Julio Sopik,
my friend and handler in Chile, is able
to find a case of oil. We do an oil change
on the cold ramp in a 40-knot wind
which is pretty normal weather in this
part of the world.
I have made it to the Pole so as far as
the official record is concernedI do
not need to return there. Since Hamilton, New Zealand, has been declared,
I still have to get there somehow. The
most direct route will take me well back
into the Southern Ocean into 50- to
60-knot headwinds and, very likely,
icing. Although we keep looking at this
option, we explore what other possibilities are available.
Easter Island would be a great stop,
if only they had avgas. They dont. We
could arrive at Easter Island with some
tanks still full of avgas. Would car gas
be a possibility? We could take off and
climb on avgas and then at low power
cruise start burning the car gas. Consultations are made with engine experts
back in the States, and it is determined
that this would probably workprobablynot a comforting thought when flying thousands of miles over open ocean.
How about Raratonga? Pretty far, but
might be possible. Tahiti could work.
We search for avgas there and find none.
Then, Ewan Smith from Air Raratonga
contacts the team and finds three barrels of avgas in Tahiti. Super! We file
the flight plan for Tahiti. But just before
departure a message arrives that Tahiti
has refused our flight plan. Seems that
they require 72 hours to issue a landing
permitno exceptions.
To be continued J

13
Lady
Bugs
Story
14
Building a fastback RV-8 and winning a Silver Lindy.

By Paul Berg
My story begins over thirty years ago. It began after a flight

lesson when my instructor asked, Do you know Walter Gee?
Hes building a Long-EZ. You should check out his project.
As fate would have it, we were destined to meet. I remember the first time I met Walter, walking in his shop, seeing
a fuselage resting on sawhorses, the smell of epoxy, LongEZ drawings hanging on the shop wall, and pictures of the
dream he was building. For two years I watched epoxy and
cloth being transformed into his wonderful flying machine.
From my front row perch, I was inspired by Walters craftsmanship, dedication, and the way he handled the scratchyour-head moments when things werent going well. I dont
know when the seed was sown for me to follow Walters
dream, but from the moment I watched his beautiful LongEZ rotate on its maiden flight, I knew building an airplane
would be in my future.
I was born with the incurable disease called aviation; a disease most aviators can relate to. Sometimes we have to put
our dreams on the shelf for a season and this happened to
me. Our farming businesses and growing family didnt afford
Photos: John Fleck and Paul Berg
Air-to-air photo: Tyson V. Rininger
time or money for building a plane. Looking back, I realize

how valuable this period was to the success of my future project. My free time was spent researching kit options that would
meet the mission requirements important to me. The first
requirement was a plane capable of operating safely from our
grass strip, which narrowed my choices. In 1999 I was invited
to a fly-in surprise birthday party at a local airport. On the
ramp was the most beautiful yellow Harmon Rocket, and for
me, it was love at first sight. For the next five years, my plane
of choice was the Harmon Rocket.
Rocket or RV-8?
I started spending time researching Vans Total Performance Aircraft. I wanted a kit manufacturer with good
product support, standardized parts, and a history for longevity. The RV-4 was the only option for a two-place tandemseat and tilt canopy kit. Its a nice plane that would meet the
grass strip requirement, but far from the lines of the Rocket. I
need room for my 6-foot-1, 190-pound frame; the RV-4 cockpit would be tight for me. The RV-8, with its wider fuselage,
15
was my next option, but I just couldnt

get the picture of the yellow Harmon
Rocket out of my mind.
As I walked thru the lines of RVs at
AirVenture 2006, I mistook an RV-8
for a Harmon Rocket. The builder had
modified his RV-8 with Show Planes
fastback tilt canopy and engine cowl
conversions. Show Planes engine cowl
is longer than the stock RV-8, requiring
a two-inch prop extension when a fourcylinder engine is used. The spinner hub
diameter is 15 inches, and the length of
the spinner is 21 inches. The longer cowl,
in combination with the fastback, had
dramatically changed the RV-8 look!
This conversion affords unrestricted
pilot visibility, improves cockpit entry,
especially to the rear seat, seals better
than a sliding canopy, and affords full
access to the aft side of the panel with
a removable instrument cover. Weighing the advantages of building an RV-8
with Show Planes conversions and having Vans kit support made lots of sense,
and my final decision was made: I would
build an RV-8.
Following a Dream
The summer of 2008 was perfect for

growing grass in central Indiana. One
day, after mowing the runway for the
second time that week, I told my wife,
Something has to change! Im not
interested in maintaining the airstrip
any longer.
We had sold our Cessna 182 and a
beautiful J3 Cub, and the hanger was
being used for equipment storage. My
dream of building a plane seemed very
distant. I was running out of time, and I
wasnt interested in a fifteen-year building project. My decision to retire from
our business was made before attending AirVenture 2008. My sons would
assume my responsibilities in our nursery business, and I would devote full
time to building. Ill be honestI questioned the sanity of my decision on more
than one occasion. Today my finished
RV-8 represents the aviation journey of
my life with thousands of build hours
and decisions, good and bad, made along
the way. This was a full-commitment
decision, and it was time to get started.
I cant remember a time in my life

when I wasnt building or fabricating
something. Id been researching this
project for years, attending forums and
workshops, but still didnt feel prepared
for building a plane. One evening I was
searching for the nearest tech counselor
in our area when I discovered a builders
assistance course offered ten miles from
my home. I felt like Id struck gold. My
wife and I signed up for the weekend
course and learned the basic skills used
for building a plane. For a nominal fee,
to cover tools and shop overhead, I could
rent shop space for building my empennage, an offer I couldnt turn down. The
next three months were spent learning building techniques from an A&P
mechanic experienced in the construction of RV series aircraft. When my
empennage was finished, I felt prepared
to work on my own and moved the project to my shop at home.
At last my dream of building a plane
had become a reality. Id gained confidence building my empennage, but I still
felt like a mistake waiting to happen.
The cockpit side of the firewall has a ceramic blanket (left) that is covered in foil (Center). The engine side of the firewall is insulated with a
1/8-inch Fiberfrax blanket (right) that will withstand temperatures up to 2300 F. The blanket is covered with a stainless steel skin.
16
Its the little things builders do that create a common bond between man and machine. The author didnt like the way the flap actuator is
exposed in the back seat of an RV-8, so he added a cover. The cover was then upholstered to match the custom leather seats.
Oddly, this feeling would be my companion, with its watchful eye on everything
I did, constantly warning me to measure
again and check the drawings one more
time. Early in the project I implemented
a system for combating this fear. When
practical Id mock up what I was about
to do on the bench with scrap material
or fabricate a template to get it just right.
One of my most prized possessions is a
box containing the templates used to
build my plane.
A Contender?
I dont recall when I first thought I

might build a plane capable of competing for an Oshkosh Lindy, certainly
not at the outset of the project, but the
idea was in the back of my mind. When
I walked through the rows of kitbuilt
planes at AirVenture, Id look for ideas
and pay close attention to fiberglass fit,

finish, and metal work. I felt a Lancair
would be competitive. For an RV to
compete with the perfection, sportiness,
and factory in-house assistance Lancair
provides builders, there would be little
room for error.
I was enjoying the freedom granted
to builders who build Experimental aircraft. My standard kit from Vans was the
new one and perfect in every respect
so perfect I often thought I was cheating
when Id think what builders before me
endured building their planes. The Harmon Rocket was my model, and I was
free to make modifications to the kit
with no STCs, no field approvals, and
no red tape.
The major modification needed to
achieve this goal would be conversion
of the fuselage to a fastback, installation
of the tilt-over canopy and instrument

cover, and Show Planes engine cowl
conversion. I was making good progress
building the fuselage, following the stepby-step instructions. That all changed
when I started laying out my firewall, a
complete deviation from the layout suggested in the plans.
When I started building my fuselage,
a friend suggested I make templates
for the cockpit side of the firewall. It
will be easier to do on the bench than
when its assembled. Youre going to
need them when you soundproof the
firewall, he said.
I followed his advice, made the templates, and put them on the shelf. I
ordered the adhesive-backed soundproofing he recommended, but when
UPS delivered the box, I knew Id made
a mistake. On the Vans Air Force web
The roll bar is part of the Show Planes conversion. In addition to providing rollover protection, it makes cockpit entry easy, especially to
the rear seat. For easier maintenance, the removable instrument cover gives full access to the aft side of the panel.
17
site, I found information posted by

KITPLANES contributor Dan Horton. He was doing burn tests on different materials used on firewalls. I knew
the adhesive-backed soundproofing I
had was heavy. What I didnt know was
the adhesive glue would emit deadly gas
in a fire!
A firewall modification would require
additional time. It would be the most
important safety upgrade I would add
to my plane and the most challenging.
When the modification was finished,
the engine side of the firewall was insulated with a 1/8-inch Fiberfrax blanket that will withstand 2300 F and is
covered with a stainless steel skin. The
firewall pass-throughs with firesleeve,
dual heat valves, and fastening hardware
are also stainless steel. The cockpit side
of the firewall has a ceramic blanket covered in foil with 0.020-gauge aluminum
panels to protect the foil and improve
appearance. I used no adhesives. An
engine over-temp sensor mounted on
the firewall above the cold air ramp energizes a warning light on the instrument
panel if temperatures exceed 220 F. My
weight penalty is 8.9 pounds; the soundproofing material I was going to use
would have weighed the same, perhaps
more. Worst of all, it could have been a
lethal hazard in an engine fire.
The Joy of Building
Whats it like building a plane? For me

its like falling in love with a wonderful
The well-equipped panel includes a Garmin GNS 430 navigator, GDU 370 PFD, GDU 375
MFD, GTX 327 transponder, GMA audio panel, TruTrak GX autopilot, and Dynon D10A EFIS.
girl. It sounds strange, but I never grew

tired of building nor did I ever reach
the point of burnout. When I was
away from the project, I really wasnt;
if youre a builder you know the feeling.
My thoughts continually operated in
the background in search of ideas. As
my fuselage took form, it became more
than bulkheads, longerons, and skins
riveted togetherit became an extension of me.
Modifications personalized my plane
and were a joy to do. When Aerotronics, my avionics supplier said, Paul, we
need two more inches to get everything
on the panel, a panel modification was
done and a panel template fabricated
and sent to Aerotronics.
A friend, flying beside and below his
dads RV-8, noticed the bottom skin
oil-canning; upon inspection working rivets were found. With this information, I did a modification adding
stiffeners to the belly skin of the tail
section and added a doubler aft of the
gear legs. The tail stiffeners are riveted
to doublers attached at each bulkhead
and to the skin.
Ive never liked the way the flap
actuator is exposed in the back seat of
an RV-8, so mine received a cover. Its
the little things builders do that create a common bond between man and
machine, that make the result an extension of the builder.
Very early in the project I reserved
my N-number, N938W, a number with
meaning. I started building September
3, 2008. The international alphabet
code for W seemed a good way to figuratively re-christen my plane each time her
number is mentioned.
I also started working early, with
Scheme Designers, to develop a paint
scheme for my plane. When a scheme
was rendered, I hung it on my shop
wall. I was reminded, with each rendition, that my eldest sister was the
recipient of all the artsy genes in our
family. Unexpectedly, this phase led
to the most challenging, aggravating,
and in the end, rewarding event in
the project. Paint schemes arent high
on the list for earning points when an
aircraft is being judged; the majority
The Show Planes conversion includes a
tip-over canopy to replace the standard
RV-8 slider.
18
Painted Lady
Without a doubt painting the plane was the biggest challenge of the
project. The scheme has black checks faded into yellow. For this reason
professional paint shops were reluctant to price the job, so the decision was
made to do it ourselves. We bought a very used paint booth, reassembled it
in our farm shop, and started preparing the plane to receive its wardrobe.
First, the fuselage was prepped and primed gray, followed by a
white base coat, which must be used before painting yellow. Next, the
fuselage was sanded and masked for red, and then the faded checks
were sprayed.
We practiced painting the fade on numerous test panels. Nevertheless,
we failed on our first attempts to paint the wings and fuselage. Finally,
we cracked the code that had eluded us. Drop shadows and pinstripes were
added to the scheme for extra flair.
P.B.
Priming the fuselage.
Yellow is applied over a white base coat.
After masking, the fuselage is sprayed red.
The left wing painted yellow and red.
Masking the wing for the checks.
Blue tape marks indicate fade transitions.
Faded checks applied to the fuselage.
The left wing after spraying the checks.
Pinstripes are painted with a small brush.
19
are done in professional shops, and they

shouldnt count. What if we painted the
plane ourselves? Common sense told me
it had to count for something.
First Flight
The droning of an approaching engine

resonated through the morning air,
reaching a crescendo as it entered
the pattern to land on my grass strip.
Weather the morning of April 18,
2014, couldnt have been more suitable. Light and variable winds favoring our north-south grass strip are
rare in central Indiana. The sun glistened as Jon Hubbell taxied his RV-6
to the hanger. The early morning dew
reflected from his wheelpants as he
shut his engine down. Through the
open hangar door sat the steed Jon
would be piloting on its maiden flight,
the open canopy beckoning for someone to take me flying.
I had long abandoned the thought
of piloting the first flight. Six years
with over 7000 hours of building
time didnt allow for maintaining
Aero Sport Power IO-375 engine with Vetterman exhaust and Whirl Wind 200RV prop.
stick-and-rudder proficiency. Most

importantly, I was emotionally invested
in the plane. A pilot builder lacking proficiency and being emotionally involved
is a dangerous combination, a chance I
was not willing to take.
Jon is an accomplished builder, an
A&P mechanic, and pilot with firstflight experience. A more perfect marriage of man and machine wouldve
been impossible to find. I watched as
Jon climbed into the cockpit, secured
his harnesses, locked the canopy in

its taxi position, and started running
through the checklist.
Clear! Three blades and the engine
came to life. The sound of the Vetterman four-pipe exhaust system was
music to my ears! As Jon taxied to the
runway, I was overwhelmed by a nervous feeling; my friend was minutes
away from flying the plane Id built. I
watched the takeoff roll. It seemed to
be in slow motion. Her tail rose, the
Its Showtime!
Our AirVenture display took months to create. We filled four binders
with building logs and pictures, detailing every aspect of building the
plane. Another binder had the electrical wiring schematics professionally done by a friend, and the engine and airframe logs were also
available. To add some flair we wore shirts with the same paint scheme
as Lady Bug.
On the first day of the show a gentleman asked, Do you mind
if I take detailed pictures of your plane? I said, Not a problem. If
you need the canopy or anything else opened Ill be happy to do it.
He became a regular visitor. Toward the end of the show, I saw him
walking toward my plane. Approaching me he said, I cant leave

without thanking you for bringing your plane to Oshkosh. Lots of
similar stories could be told. The show of appreciation will always
be a highpoint of our Oshkosh experience. My first ride came when
we flew with EAA on a photo shoot. When we landed, arrangements
had been made for a quick picture with the Air Force Thunderbirds in
the background. I was honored when General Dan Cherry, a former
Thunderbird commander, posed for a picture. But the icing on the
cake was having Richard VanGrunsven visit our plane. J
P.B.
Four albums detailed every aspect of building the plane.
Richard VanGrunsven and Paul and Peggy Berg.
20
The authors first rideJon Hubbell front seat, Paul Berg rear.
mains rotated, then after briefly flying

in ground effect, Jon quickly climbed
to a safe altitude circling the runway.
The morning sun beamed off the wings
as they banked into the turns with the
blue sky silhouetted in the background.
I cant describe the feelings that overwhelmed me.
After thirty minutes of nervous bliss,
N938W lined up on final, completing
its first flight with a textbook threepoint landing. Jon taxied to the hanger,
shut down the engine, and opened the
canopy with a huge grin on his face.
Paul, does your plane have a name?
Planes need a name. As I was flying, I
looked out at the wing and a ladybug
was clinging to it; I think you should
name it Lady Bug.
Lady Bug with the Air Force Thunderbirds at AirVenture 2014.
Jon knows Lady Bug well, flying 12

hours in one day to finish the Phase
1 requirements, just days before leaving for Oshkosh. Without Jons help,
there wouldnt be an AirVenture
story to tell.
AirVenture
The most amazing week of our lives was

spent showing our plane at AirVenture
2014. Days started with a stop at Sacred
Hearts concession stand by the main
entrance for coffee and a sweet roll,
then wed walk to our plane tied down
north of the north taxiway. My wife
and I made a commitment to our plane,
judges, and attendees to stay with the
plane during the show. Porta Jon breaks
were the only exception.
Monday, July 28, 2014, was the first

day of judging. Lady Bug glistened in the
sun, secured with its tiedowns, decked in
show array. Months had been spent preparing for this day; Id documented the
journey with build logs and a series of four
albums telling Lady Bugs story. Displayed
between the gear legs was a banner with
Lady Bugs first flight captured on its center. By weeks end a brown grass trail circled Lady Bug. A dream conceived thirty
years earlier as I watched Walterss first
flight had come true for me, and it was
an incredible journey! The most awesome
gift I received from my Oshkosh experience was meeting and sharing my passion
for flight with fellow builders and those
catching the dream. N938W was the
AirVenture 2014 Silver Lindy recipient. J
Six years and over 7000 hours of building
time didnt allow the author to maintain
pilot proficiency, so Jon Hubbell made the
first flight from the authors grass strip.
21
AIR
P
N
TIO
NE EVALUA
LA
Viperjet
380 knots the hard way.
By Dave Prizio
Back in 1999, Rusty Skinner had the

itch to build an airplane. He was looking
for a high-performance craft with some
real speed. When he saw the prototype
of the Viperjet under construction by the
Hanchette brothers in Pascoe, Washington, he was sold. The prototype had not
yet flown, but Rusty knew that he had
found his next project. The Hanchettes
had begun work on a piston-powered
pusher but decided even before flying that
a pure jet was going to be the way to go.
They planned to replace the big Lycoming
with a Turbomeca Marbor II such as the
ones found in the French Fouga Magister.
This engine would have made the Viperjet reasonably affordable to build and fly.
Without so much as a flying prototype
to prove performance, Rusty put down
his money, which financed the first set
of proper molds for the new Viperjet.
The dream was to get a fast, economical
homebuilt jet that would be easy to fly
and reasonable to operate. There was more
work to be done and more slippage of the
dream than anyone expected, but today
Rusty is flying his very own Viperjet.
At the time this didnt seem like such
a wild thing to hope for. Jet fuel was selling for under $1.00 per gallon. The FAA
had yet to craft many rules relating to

amateur-built jets, mainly because there
werent any. The Turbomeca burned
something like 100 gallons per hour of
Jet-A, not exactly efficient but tolerable.
Unfortunately, by the time Rusty was
flying, everything had changed.
Jet-A is now over $4.00 per gallon,
and that is down from its peak. The Turbomeca engine didnt produce enough
thrust, so it got replaced with a powerful but thirsty General Electric CJ610
engine out of a Learjet 23. The FAA
now requires the equivalent of a type
rating to fly the Viperjet, and that must
Viperjet N999VJ is right at home

at Chino Airport in Southern
California, where L-39s and F-86s
are a common sight. Unfortunately they all share a common
trait of devouring huge amounts
of Jet-A on every flight.
22
be renewed yearly. The one-page maintenance program that the Hanchettes

managed to get approved when the first
prototype flew grew to 66 pages and had
to be created with no factory support.
And the once attainable service ceiling
of 45,000 feet has been trimmed down
to 28,000 feet by Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM) rules.
No Plans or Instructions
The biggest problem Rusty faced, again

and again, was that the Hanchette
brothers were just barely ahead of their
builders in figuring things out as they
went. There were no plans or instructions for the Viperjet. Trips to the factory to photograph and measure the
prototype took the place of the missing
plans. And when parts were not forthcoming, Rusty had to make his own.
The engine choice went through three
iterations before one stuck. A General
Electric T58 helicopter engine was tried
after the Turbomeca engine, but it too
was rejected because it was underpowered. With the CJ610 the plane now
performs like a real fighter, but runs out
of fuel before you can fly anywhere.
All of this could have discouraged
lesser men, but Rusty never gave up. He
loves the building process, and he loves
meeting a challenge, figuring things
out, and blazing a trail for others to follow. He had exactly the right temperament to take on this project. As a result
he has one of the few completed Viperjets in existence.

Rusty began his project with the interior and the instrument panel, since the
engine selection process was making it
difficult to do anything in that regard.
The kit came with an empty fuselage
when he started, so every interior item
had to be designed and molded out of
fiberglass from scratch. Later kits had
more of these parts prefabricated by the
factory, but one of the perils of going
first is not having things worked out
ahead of you.
Rusty wired the panel himself with
a little help from Western Avionics out
of Orange County (John Wayne) Airport. His panel is state of the art from
15 years ago. It still looks impressive,
but no one would build a panel like
The Viperjet lifts off for the first time with

Lt. Commander Bones Medore at the
controls. All systems functioned normally
and handling was docile by jet fighter
standards.
that today, and some of the items are

no longer even serviced by their manufacturer anymore. Extended build
times cause such problems as this for
many builders in this age of rapidly
evolving avionics.
As Rusty proceeded through the
build process toward completion, two
key people emerged to help smooth the
way. Cliff Tabor was a long-time jet
mechanic who had cut his teeth on the
old Learjets. He knew the CJ610 engine
inside and out. His assistance and tutelage made it possible for Rusty to get the
engine installed and running as well as it
Owner/builder Rusty Skinner is still smiling

even after 15 years of work on his Viperjet.
Luckily for him he loves to build.
Photos: Dave Prizio, Rusty Skinner
23
Viperjet
Specifications
Seating Capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 ft 6 in
Wingspan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 ft 10 in
Empty weight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3014 lb
Gross weight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5500 lb
Powerplant . . . . General Electric CJ610-6, 2850 lb thrust
Fuel Capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 gal
PERFORMANCE
Maximum speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380 kt

Cruise speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340 kt
Stall speed (clean) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 kt
Stall speed (landing configuration) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 kt
Service ceiling . . . . . 28,000 feet (Limited by RVSM rules)
Rate of climb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12,000 fpm
Fuel consumption (full power) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200+ gph
Fuel consumption (idle) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 gph
Specifications are manufacturers estimates and are based on the
configuration of the demonstrator aircraft.
does. This was a great benefit because jet

knowledge is hard to find in the Experimental/Amateur-Built world. Lots of
people know about Lycoming piston
engines, but hardly anyone has ever built
a homebuilt jet before.
The other great find was Lt. Commander Doug Bones Medore. He is
a real live Navy fighter pilot who had
finished out his service as a Top Gun
instructor. Who better than he to fly
the Viperjet and train Rusty to pilot
his own fighter jet? On May 30, 2013
Bones took off from Chino Airport to
become the pilot of the first customerbuilt Viperjet. He describes the plane
An extended building process and the rapid changes in avionics have left Rusty with a
beautiful, but now obsolete, panel. It is, however, very functional, so Rusty doesnt mind.
as easy to fly and very forgivingfor a

fighter jet, that is.
At this point Rusty is getting his
share of stick time in his new jet, but
the requirement of a type rating flown
to ATP standards and renewed every
year is daunting for a pilot with lots of
much less precise flying in his logbook.
For the time being Bones will be flying
with Rusty on their many short trips.
Their hope is to make a flight to Phoenix
sometime in the near future, but the fuel
situation makes that a real challenge.
What they need is another tank to get
access to another 100 gallons or so of
fuel. The Viperjet Mark II has this extra
fuel capacity, but Rusty is unsure of just
how to fit that much fuel in his plane.
Maybe he could fashion himself some

drop tanks.
Imperfect Pitch
One thing Rusty has noticed while

flying the Viperjet is the need for very
precise pitch control. At 300 knots
even the slightest pitch change can
cause a large change in altitude in a
big hurry. This is not news to people
who fly such planes, but for those of us
who spend our lives flying at half that
speed or less, it is a real eye-opener.
Fortunately the Viperjet has a fairly
reasonable stall speed of 77 knots in
the landing configuration, so coming
over the fence at 100 knots and touching down at 95 knots makes for landings that are similar to those of many
light twins.
Once the plane was flying, new problems emerged. A weld on the nosegear
strut failed on landing, damaging the
composite structure as the nose slid
down the runway with no wheel under
it. The repair wasnt too difficult, but it
did take the plane out of commission
for several weeks during the flight test
period. More recently the computer
that controls the flaps and landing
gear failed. Luckily there was no damage as a result, but Rusty had to replace
the computer with a system of more
A still rough-looking but steadily progressing BD-5J is coming together alongside
the now-complete Viperjet. It should be a
real crowd pleaser when it is finished.
24
Strakes add yaw stability and were part of the original design.
conventional relays that will hopefully

prove more reliable.
Two other things have made the
whole process more difficult. One,
Viperjet is no longer in business, and
two, since so many other builders hired
professional help, there has never been
an online builder forum such as we find
with other more popular kits. When
you are the first builder, there is no real
way to know how these things will turn
out; but for most builders, the lack of
support from other builders is in itself
a good reason to look elsewhere for

a project. It is hard to describe how
much help builders have received from
forums such as Vans Air Force, RANS
Clan, or GlaStarNet.
The Big Question
If you had this to do all over again,

knowing what you know now, would
you do it?
Rustys answer is probably not. He
loved the building, in spite of its many
challenges, but the end result is just not
what he was looking for when he started.
The engine problem caused two very
negative outcomes: fuel cost is too high,
running something like $800 per hour,
and the range is too limited. Lastly, the
need for a type rating, which was not the
case when he began, has made flying the
Viperjet solo much more difficult than
he ever imagined.
Rusty says, If you plan to take on

a project like this, you had better like
building. Fifteen years is a long time
to spend constructing and refining an
airplane project. This is only for people
who can work with minimal help and
who love the building process, which is
certainly not everyone.
So what are Rustys plans for the
future now that his personal fighter jet
is a reality? He is looking at installing
some spoilers to help manage steeper
descents. These are an option on the
Viperjet Mark II, so the engineering is
already done. The Mark II was developed while Rusty was building his plane
and includes such items as the spoilers,
cabin pressurization, added fuel, and
other refinements. None of these planes
is flying yet, so those refinements are
only potential benefitsif these planes
ever make it to completion. In the meantime Rusty is flying, albeit not exactly in
the manner he had hoped for.
Lest anyone think that Rustys appetite for jet-powered challenges has been
satisfied, a quick look through his hangar
reveals a BD-5J under construction with
that leftover T58 engine stuck behind what
will need to be a very brave pilot. None
other than Bones, Mr. Top Gun himself,
plans to pilot the BD-5J at airshows. The
900 pounds of thrust produced by the
T58 engine should make for some pretty
spectacular vertical penetration, but the
planes limited fuel capacity will keep the
show short. There is no promised completion date for the BD-5J, but there seems
little doubt that Rusty will finish it. He is
not one who ever gives up. J
...and leave your engine

monitoring to EIS.
Trusted with everything from 2-strokes
to turbines for over two decades.
FLY IT
like you stole it...

The weight and landing speed of the
Viperjet requires some serious brakes,
especially since it does not have any
thrust reversers.
www.grtavionics.com (616) 245-7700
Proud sponsor of Tiger Airshows and airplane thief extraordinaire, Hotwire Harry!
25
Building the
Bearhawk LSA
Working on the wings.
By Ken Scott
If your memory and subscription go

back a year or so, you might remember
the first episode of the Pudding River
Bearhawk saga. (Just to refresh your
memory, three Oregon neighbors, Phillip Groelz, Rion Bourgeois, and I, with
occasional help from Rions son Elliot,
combined our tools and energies to begin
building a Bearhawk LSA. Its a two-seat
tandem design by Bob Barrows. It uses
an all-metal strut-braced high wing and
a steel tube fuselage and tail.)
Once we finished making parts for the
wings and were ready to begin assembling
them, we needed a really large tableand
lo, the minute we needed it, neighbor
Mary said that we could have the one in
her hangar if wed take it apart and take it
away. Phillip and Rion disassembled the
26
table, and we hauled it down the strip to

Phillips hangar where the wing was to
be assembled. We immediately found
that the big crate containing our engine
was taking up all kinds of space where
the table needed to go.
We decided to move the engine,
still in its crate, three doors down the
strip to Rions place, known as the Taj
Mahangar. It would be easyPhillips
shop has an overhead hoist, so wed get
my truck and Rions trailer hooked up,
lift the engine, slide the trailer under it
and move it three doors down to Rions.
Id get home at 5:00 p.m., wed move the
engine and have plenty of evening left to
get some work done on the wing.
What followed would have made
Dick Starks proud
5:00 p.m.I get home, but find that

Rion has borrowed my little John Deere
lawn tractor and is trundling back and
forth, back and forth, across his backyard/taxiway/office lawn.
6:30 p.m.Rion finally finishes
mowing, and thats when I realize his
trailer is now full of the remains of a
deck his wife insisted he tear off the
back of their house last Saturday. Well,
we have to empty the trailer because my
truck has a canopy that wont let the
overhead hoist lower the engine into the
bed. So we hook up the trailer and head
off to the dump.
7:00 p.m.We unload 1050 pounds
of nail-studded rotten lumber from the
trailer, stick by stick. On the way home,
we realize that we dont have a good
way to get the engine off the trailer. For

that we need my engine hoist, which is
at Steves, up at the north end of the airstrip. Steve isnt home, but Phillip has a
key to his shop, so we pulled up at Phillips at 7:30.
Phillip finds the key, but theres only
room for two in the cab of my pickup,
so Phillip follows us down to Steves on
his bicycle. We maneuver the engine
hoist around Steves RV-3, past his RV-4,
out the door and manhandle it into the
trailer. The hoist, of course, has to be at
Rions before the engine arrives, so we
drive down there (Phillip pedaling along
behind), manhandle the hoist out of the
trailer, gently, to avoid scratching Rions
precious painted floor, drive back up to
Phillips (Phillip pedaling along behind),
hoist the engine, manhandle the trailer
underneath it, lower it, and manhandle
the trailer back to the truck.
8:45 p.m.Drive back down to
Rions (Phillip pedaling along behind),
manhandle the trailer back into the
hangar, hook the engine to the hoist,
raise it, screw special rubber non-marring, floor-protecting casters to the bottom of the engine crate, lower it onto
the floor, then manhandle the hoist
back into the trailer.
9:30 p.m.Drive back to Steves
(Phillip pedaling along behind), maneuver the hoist back past the RVs, close the
hangar, drive back to Phillips to drop off
the caster-attaching tools (Phillip pedaling along behind).
9:45 p.m.Rion walks home from
Phillips, so Phillip hops into the truck,
bringing with him three beers that have
somehow escaped previous notice, and
we drive down to Rions, detach the
trailer and park it.
10:00 p.m.Open beers, sit down
in Rions man-cave (attached to the Taj
Mahangar). Rion regales us with (completely fictional) tales of his recent feral
pig-hunting trip to Sawth Klina.
10:30 p.m.We declare airplane
building finished for the day and head
home. Not one single thing had gotten
done on the wing.
Finally, though, we had our workspacethe equivalent of a wide one-car
garage with a little extra room at the
Photos: Ken Scott
head of it. The worktable running down

one side was light and a bit flimsy, but it
did give us a full 16-foot work surface.
Spars and Ribs
Bearhawk mainspars are built from

7.25-inch wide channels of 0.032-inch
aluminum. These are reinforced by layers of 0.125-inch aluminum bars riveted
lengthwise along the top and bottom of
the web and vertical stiffeners of aluminum bar at many of the rib stations.
With both main and rear wing components fabricated, we primed them before
assembly using water-based primer from
Stewart Systems. This worked pretty
well. We washed all the parts in a light
solution of phosphoric acid and rinsed
them well in clean water. We dried
them in the sun (yes, sun in Oregon!),
blew them off with compressed air,
and sprayed them with Stewarts white
using a simple deVilbiss gun. There are
definitely differences in technique with
the water-based primerit is easy to get
it on too thick and make it run. Once
thats conquered, the product is a delight
to use. No toxic fumes, no clean air system for respiratory protection, and no
solvents necessary during cleanupjust
water. The result was a tough coating
that is hard to scratch and held up well
during assembly.
We assembled the primed spar components with 5/32-inch rivets, which we set
on a big squeezer that was built in 1942

and is still setting rivets in a local aircraft
manufacturers shop. They built tools
well in those daysits set over a million
rivets in its current employment and
probably millions more over its lifetime.
It didnt even blink at our project, and in
three or four hours, our spars were fully
assembled. Of course, not everybody has
access to a tool like thiswe know were
luckybut the rivets could easily be set
with a 4x rivet gun and a good bucking
bar. Rivets arent very smarttheyd
never know the difference.
With the spars assembled, we began
preparing the ribs. Youd think now
that the ribs were cut out, formed, and
the stiffener angles riveted on theyd
be done. Oh, nonot even close. First
all the sheared edges were deburred. A
Scotch-Brite wheel mounted on a bench
grinder did a good job on the flanges,
and a smaller version on a die grinder
took care of the lightening holes. This
operation spread a lot of silica and aluminum dust around, so we were sure to
wear good dust masks for the hours it
took to deburr the hundred or so ribs.
Formed ribs are never straight, so
they have to be adjusted by crimping the
flangesan operation known as fluting. A special set of pliers easily makes
the small indentationa flutein
the flange, and a series of these essentially shortens the free edge and pulls
We built a really flat, straight table to assemble the wing skeleton. It will also serve for
the steel tube fuselage.

27
the rib straight. However, you cant just

put flutes anywhere you like. Rivets
holding the skin to the ribs will be passing through these flanges as well, and
you want them to fall in the flat areas
between flutes. The plans give the minimum rivet spacing, but its the builders
job to come up with a pattern that will
meet the specs and end up evenly on the
spars attached to the end of the rib. Once
the rivet pattern is determined, the flutes
can be placed in between. (Be careful not
to put a rivet in line with a stiffenerit
makes it very difficult to get a bucking
bar on the rivet tail, so setting the three
or four rivets near the stiffeners can take
longer than the other 35 or so rivets on
the rest of the rib. Trust me.)
Wingskins
When it came to the skins, we made

our first departure from the plans. The
Bearhawk is designed to use 4-foot
wide skins that wrap from the mainspar
around the leading edge ribs all the way
back to the rear spar. These are lapped
from inboard to outboard to the tip rib.
Simple rectangular skins, all shearable
from 48-inch-wide aluminum sheets,
cover the bottom and trailing edge
of the wing. Given that the standard
stock available to most is 12x4 feet,
and the distance from the mainspar
Rion begins skinning
the wing.
The aileron bellcrank weldment is fabricated from 4130 tubing. We installed it while drilling
the wingskins, removed it to buck the skin rivets, then installed it again when the wing
was finished. The string gives us a way to pull the control cables through the wing.
to the trailing edge is more than 48

inches, running the skins fore-and-aft
makes perfect sense. However, we had
access to unusual material: 0.020- and
0.016-inch aluminum sheet 51 inches
widegiving us just enough width to
span between the mainspar and trailing
edge with one piece. We made the decision to go with an arrangement similar
to that used on the RV airplanesseparate pieces for the leading edge, ending
at the mainspar on both the top and
bottom of the wing, with big flat skins
for the rest of the wing.
We found reasons to question this
decision later on
While Rion trudged through the rib

tedium, Phillip and I lathed and filed
the steel tube components for the bellcrank supports and aileron hinge brackets. We were comfortable tacking these
together, but chickened out on the finish welding and got Sterling Langrell
a really good welderto do the finish
welding for us. Sterling knocked that
out perfectly in an hour or two, to a standard we couldnt hope to match.
So, after seven months of part-time
work, we finally had the basic components of a pair of wings: two mainspars,
two rear spars, 36 main ribs, two fulllength tip ribs, 40 leading edge ribs, 26
trailing edge ribs, welded steel components for the control system, sheared
and formed wingskins, and partially
completed fuel tanks (more about those
later). Wed also made all the parts for
and assembledthe skeletons of the
fabric-covered ailerons.
Now we had to build a structure
that would hold the wing skeleton in
the correct alignment while we drilled
about 3000 holes to attach the skins
a step that fixes forever the shape and
accuracy of the wing.
Oops!
Most untwisted metal wings are built

in vertical jigs, so a couple of plumb
bobs can establish the chord plane and
the wing can be reached from all sides.
To keep the wing from sagging, adjustable supports are inserted between the
floor and the rear spar and twiddled
28
We used PVC pipe to hold the floppy nose ribs firmly in place while we installed the
leading edge skins.
until the wing skeleton is square and

level. Here our decision to use wider
skins reaching all the way to the trailing edge came back to bite us
With the main skins in place, top and
bottom, they met at the trailing edge and
made it impossible to insert supports. If
wed followed the plans, we wouldnt
have had the problem. We decided to
assemble the wing on the table and get at
least the first set of skins drilled onto the
skeleton. That would make the wing stiff
enough that we could put it in a vertical
jig without supporting the rear spar in
more than one place.
Of course, the f loppy table wed
spent the evening moving was nowhere
near accurate enough for this job, so we
stopped working on airplane parts and
did what we should have done in the very
beginning. We built a very strong, very
flat, 16-foot-long worktable and carefully leveled in every way we could think
to do. This immediately started paying
dividends, giving us a level reference we
could trust. Later we can use it to build
the fuselage. We set up both main and
rear spars on it, blocking and clamping
them down in the correct orientation
and set about assembling the wing skeleton. There isnt much to this except a lot
of drilling and Clecoing.
The trouble came later when we were
actually riveting the ribs to the attach
angles on the mainspar. Every rib had
a couple of rivets that defied our ability to reach them. At one point we had
three experienced airplane builders, four
rivet squeezers of different sizes, five
squeezer yokes of different depths, two

rivet guns, four differently shaped rivet
sets, and half a dozen bucking bars, and
we still couldnt find a combination that
reached these rivets. After some hours,
we eventually devised and made tools
that would set them, but several of them
arent pretty. Were going to live with
it, because guess whatnot one of the
seven drills we own will reach them to
take them out!
Where Things Stand
Twenty months into the project, we

have one riveted wing and one almost
ready to finish. Weve made most of
the components for the shock struts on
the landing gear (required a lathe and

the guidance of a skilled machinist) and
Ive made all the steel ribs for the airfoilshaped horizontal and vertical stabilizers.
The steel tubing for the fuselage has also
been ordered.
What have these last 20 months taught
us? A scratch-built airplane is achievable,
if youre willing to do a lot of repetitious
work and climb a steep learning curve.
Achievablebut not necessarily desirable. Weve realized that, as a way to
acquire an airplane, scratch-building one
makes no sense whatsoever.
The thing that makes building airplanes at home practical is kits. Kit
manufacturers have all the advantages
of scale, have generally worked out the
rough corners that waste so much time,
and provide accurate parts. No kit for
the Bearhawk LSA existed when we
started this project, but they do now. Kit
components, including full quickbuild
kits, are available. If youre really interested in actually owning and flying one,
buy the kit, get er done, and go fly.
If your goals match ourslearn new
skills, enjoy working together, and avoid
televisionthen youll do fine. Just
understand what youre getting into.
Even with a total of six finished airplanes between us, we underestimated
the time involved. J
At last, the first wing is out of the jig. It looks

finished, but it isnttheres still control
cables, wingtips and fuel tanks to go.
29
How to Use Your
Oxygen System
Things to know before you go.
By Gary Jones
Finger pulse oximeters instantly

show your blood oxygen level and
pulse rate. Normal blood oxygen
level is between 95100%.
The kit aircraft industry has come a

long way since I first became involved in
the early 80s. Today there are a number
of high-performance kit aircraft that will
take you into the flight levels. A few are
pressurized, but most arent. No question
about it, being on top of nasty weather,
enjoying a smooth and ice-free ride, gives
one a warm and fuzzy feeling.
I have spent the bulk of my 23,000
hours in the flight levels in both pressurized and non-pressurized aircraft. In
my late teens, I took advantage of a Civil
Air Patrol program where one could go
30
through a pressure chamber. This experience left me with an acute respect for
having full knowledge of oxygen breathing equipment and noticing early signs
of hypoxia. Though I am comfortable
operating in this arena, one can be in big
trouble if you dont pay attention or play
by the rules.
Why Use Oxygen?
There are many reasons to use oxygen

besides flying over bad weather. For one,
using oxygen greatly reduces fatigue.
For years I would deliver airplanes all
over the U.S. and Canada. Eight-hour

fly days were not uncommon. By using
oxygen, even if I never got above 9,500
feet, I was alert at the end of the day,
not to mention my night vision was
excellent. Even if you have never been
a smoker, the results of using oxygen
are very noticeable. If you have a long
distance to cover, going higher reduces
fuel burn. On one flight I was delivering a plane back to the Cessna factory
in Independence, Kansas, from Salt
Lake City. At 15,500 feet I picked up
a 30-knot push, dropped the fuel burn
down by 3 gph, and was able to do the

flight non-stop. All in all, I saved time,
fuel, and was refreshed because I was
using oxygen.
When I left the airline cockpit, I
worked for a large Cessna affiliate.
When the single-engine, high-performance Cessna Corvalis (unpressurized)
came out, I was sent to Bend, Oregon,
for a three-day training course. Because
this airplane had a service ceiling of
25,000 feet, a good portion of the course
focused on the oxygen system. Based on
what I learned, and from my personal
experience, we are going to focus on
how to preflight your equipment, how
to use it properly, and will consider your
airplanes performance and the weather
conditions you might be facing.
Equipment
If youre using oxygen in an Experimental aircraft, you most likely have a

portable system. This will consist of an
oxygen bottle, regulator, and mask or
nasal cannula. Lets take a look at the
individual components.
Oxygen Bottles: The first thing
you need to know is the date of the last
hydrostatic test. This procedure checks
for leaks, structural flaws, durability, and
corrosion. Typically for a metal bottle, it
is done every five years. If you have a composite bottle manufactured before July 1,
2006 it is every three years. If manufactured after June 30, 2006 it is every five
Manifold to plug in nasal cannula or mask.
years. An oxygen bottle is usually heavy,

so make sure it is secured for flight. It is
best to start the flight with a full bottle.
Regulator: When you turn the bottle
on, does the regulator leak? Regulators
typically have two or four outlets where
you plug in your mask or cannula. With
the bottle turned on, I place a small
amount of saliva on my finger and place
it at each port to see if bubbles show
up. There should not be any oxygen
leaving the ports. In my case, where I
am only going to use one or two of the
outlets of my four-outlet regulator, each
is checked for leaks. More than a few
times I have discovered the small rubber
O-rings have dried out, causing a leak. I
have spares just for that reason.
Oxymizer nasal cannulas are comfortable and significantly extend the oxygen duration.
Photos: Gary Jones and Paul Dye
Mask or Cannula: If you are going to

be above 18,000 feet, the regulations say
you have to use a mask. It has been my
observation that all those who have aircraft that can easily go above 18,000 feet
choose to stay at 17,500 feet or lower so
they can use the less cumbersome nasal
cannula (myself included).
Here are some of the pros for using a
cannula: ATC can easily understand what
you are saying. Granted, some masks have
built in microphones, but you sound like
you are in a deep well when talking with
ATC. When using a cannula, it is easy to
carry on a normal conversation with your
passengers, eat a sandwich, or take a drink
of water, and your oxygen supply will be
much slower to deplete. This being said,
pack a mask should weather dictate you
have to be higher than 18,000 feet.
I am not going to advocate which way
to go, but I use the mustache style Oxymizer cannula with a flow meter. It is
easy on the wallet, significantly extends
oxygen duration, and is comfortable to
use. With my current oxygen bottle size,
when flying alone, I can go six hours.
Vaseline: Yes, you read it correctly.
It is not uncommon for me to be on
oxygen up to four hours at a time. As a
result, the nasal membranes in my nose
will dry out, causing some discomfort
and, in some cases, a bloody nose. This
may sound a bit nasty, but here is a trick
that works well. Before flying off into
the wild blue, use a cotton Q-tip and put
a very light coat of Vaseline inside your
31
The flowmeter ball is set to the altitude

you are flying at.
It is best to start with a full bottle and the indicator in the green area. As the bottle is
depleted, the pressure will drop. Increase the flow as the pressure drops.
nose passages. This will eliminate the

problem I just addressed.
Finger Pulse Oximeter: I strongly
suggest you use one for flight-level flying. Several different brands are available, but Ive had good results with the
Oxi-Plus Pro. At a cost of about $50,
you can instantly tell your blood oxygen
level and pulse rate. Normal blood oxygen level is between 95100%. Less than
90% is considered hypoxia and less than
80% is a compromise to your organs like
your heart and brain. Oximeters operate
on an AAA battery. Make sure the battery is fresh before you fly.
you and your passengers. At the same

time check the oxygen lines from the
tank to the flow meter and your mask
or cannula. You are verifying the lines
do not have kinks that might reduce
oxygen flow. Verify the oxygen pressure
in your tank. Make sure you are out of
the red arc on the gauge. This is also the
time you want everyone to check their
blood oxygen level. I have a Garmin
430 WAAS. In the 430 system I programmed a reminder so I dont miss the
all-important 15-minute oxygen check.
If you dont have that, I suggest a timer
of some sort that will alert you.
Flying High
Aircraft Performance and Weather
If you know you will be going high, have

the oxygen system ready to go. Put on
your cannula before taxi. If using a mask,
have it around your neck. Once you are
leaving 7500 feet, simply turn the oxygen on. If using a mask, lift it from your
neck and put it on. This will make for a
smooth, professional transition. Make
sure you avoid the distraction of finding
the equipment and taking off your headset to don either the cannula or mask.
You are now at your cruising altitude
of, say, 16,500 feet. Of course you are on
oxygen, so now what?
Every 15 minutes you should check
the oxygen flow at the flow meter. As the
oxygen is used up, the bottle pressure
will drop. As a result, the flow meter
will have to be adjusted so you have the
proper amount of oxygen coming to
32
Unless you have unlimited power, you

might not be able to go as high as you
need to top the weather. In my airplane
I have no problem going straight to
16,500 feet, but I certainly could not do
that with a full load of passengers, fuel,
and baggage. Give this serious thought

before going throttle up. In short, know
your airplanes capabilities.
Climb-Out: OK, youve checked
your oxygen system, and youve looked
over the performance charts showing
you can go to the altitude you need.
Now its time for the ascent. A serious
consideration is going to be the weather
and at what altitude you will be in the
freezing level. Typically, the best one
can hope for in ice protection in Experimental or certified aircraft is pitot heat.
If you have to penetrate clouds during
the climb-out, you will be icing up. You
dont want to go there! Here is a recent
scenario my wife and I encountered:
We were leaving North Las Vegas,
Nevada, for our home in southwestern
Washington state. Weather in particular
was going to be nasty in the Reno area.
No surprise; it was wintertime. Looking
at the immediate area, I was confident
Oxygen bottles are heavymake sure the bottle is securely fastened.
we could get out of Las Vegas before

hitting icing conditions. But would we
be able to stay in the clear to continue
up to 16,500 feet? That question was
answered by scrutinizing the weather
information. The question I could not
answer by doing this was: What were
the actual tops along the route and, in
particular, around the Reno area? For
this I called FSS, told them my situation
and asked them to contact ATC and
have ATC ask an airliner. Within a minute, the answer came back15,000 feet.
By following the procedures I previously mentioned in this article, the
flight was a pleasant one, with lots of
sunshine and a fuel burn of 7.3 gph. We
didnt make record speeds, but we were
safe and comfortable.
Descent: The same weather concerns
that exist for the climb also need to be
addressed in the descent. I was on a
non-stop flight in my Glasair from the
Denver area to my Washington home.
At 14,500 feet and above the icing conditions that lay below, the flight was
pleasant. As I monitored the weather, I
noticed that freezing temperatures went
down to the ground at my home airport.
I also had to descend through 8,000 feet
of clouds that were full of ice.
Prior to reaching the Cascade Mountains, there was a large VFR hole. I
circled to descend below the clouds. By
staying out of the clouds in below-freezing temperatures, my plane never picked
up ice. With a 3,000-foot ceiling, it was
a simple matter of flying home under
the clouds in VFR weather. When you
use common sense and properly use a
portable breathing system, flying high is
enjoyable and safe. J
GARY JONES
Gary Jones has built a Q2,

Q200, and Glasair Super
II-S FT. A retired airline
captain, he now works
as a stand-up comedian.
Gary performs at major
casinos and comedy clubs,
and has entertained our
military on a USO tour.
His web site is www.
garyjonescomedian.com.
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33
Original Spirit of St. Louis

at the Smithsonian Air
and Space Museum in
Washington, D.C.
(Photo: Mike Peel, CC BY-SA 4.0
www.mikepeel.net)
Spirit ofSt. Louis
John Normans definitive reproduction

of the Spirit of St. Louis in progress at
JNE Aircraft in Burlington, Washington.
(Photo: Kristopher L. Hull)
34
The JNE Spirit of St. Louis fuselage after its

return from the sandblaster. The author has
painted it and begun to install parts (seat, etc.).
John Normans definitive reproduction is virtually

identical to the original.
By David Gustafson
Most of us know that the distance

between an idea and the flightline can
be formidable. That said, it isnt too difficult to understand why it took over
three decades for John Norman of JNE
Aircraft in Burlington, Washington, to
start collecting parts and ordering materials to build an exact replica of the Spirit
of St. Louisin an age when many young
people have no idea what it was. The saga
of Johns dream has finally resulted in
an aircraft that should become airborne
in less than a year now. And the story of
how it all evolved is truly fascinating.
when the first Spirit was being built. It

turns out Eds memory had reshaped a
number of components on the original
aircraft. Some of his measurements
and shapes (like the rudder) were
pretty far out of line, and his fuselage
truss was reversed.
When John was experiencing the first
cravings for building his own replica, he
contacted the Smithsonian for plans.
They didnt have any. They did send him
some documents on the Spirit, but no
blueprints. John then turned to the San

Diego Aerospace Museum and learned
that they had copies of Ed Morrows
drawings, which many people assumed
were accurate, but they would not release
a copy of the plans without a check for
$1,000 and a signed legal document
from the builder that his replica would
never be flown. That was unacceptable.
Ed Morrow agreed with John on that.
Unfortunately, the Museums attitude
was intransigent.
Where are the Plans?
It was 35 years ago that John, an I.A.

and A&P, began thinking about his
replica project. Seemed like a nice idea
at the time. The original Spirit has been
part of the Smithsonians collection
since 1928, and there is no doubt in
anyones mind that aircraft will ever fly
again. There have been several attempts
to create a replica, or look-alike, but they
were not exact, having been based or
adopted from the reverse engineering
drawings that Ed Morrow drew up in
the mid-1950s for the movie, The Spirit
of St. Louis, starring Jimmy Stewart.
Ed had worked on the original back in
1927. He also helped build the copy that
was used in the film, but he started out
by modifying a Ryan Brougham, which
had been on the Ryan production line
Photos: John Norman
One of the pages of Ed Morrow drawings.

35
The JNE Spirit of St. Louis going together in 2015 with stringers, main fuel tank, motor
mount with motor mount fuel tank and oil tank installed.
When he approached the EAA about

the replica they had built, which had
a shorter wingspan, a smaller elevator, and a number of other concessions
in the interest of safety, remarkably,
John was told in no uncertain terms
that he shouldnt attempt to build and
fly a copy of the Spirit. EAA and the
San Diego Museum dampened Johns
mood, but didnt kill the dream. John
had a young family to support, so he

back-burnered the projectfor over 30
years. (Today, he does the preflight and
inspection on 787s before releasing the
aircraft to their owners.)
The Rib Jig
In 2011 John visited the San Diego

Aerospace Museum and learned that
they had a jig for making up ribs that
had been used for the movies replica.

The ribs were accurate. The Museum
was selling them to raise money for their
programs. John purchased one and was
so impressed with the quality and the
purpose that a year later, he contacted
them and ordered a complete set. They
agreed, but cautioned it could take up to
a year and a half to finish all 50 ribs. John
was in no rush and turned to research
on the Spirit. I bet I invested between
1,000 and 2,000 hours in research, he
said. Most of that time was spent in front
of a computer.
When John ordered his set of ribs, he
learned that the Museum, as the result
of an alleged lawsuit, had gone through a
change of heart with respect to Ed Morrows plans. They sent him a set on a CD
free of charge and had no restrictions
about flying a replica. It was a welcomed
example of legal enlightenment.
Funding the Project
John has restored a number of aircraft over the years. When he sold the
Hawker Hurricane project that filled
his shop in 2012, he used some of the
proceeds to purchase parts and materials needed to build the Spirit of St.
Louis. The ribs were ordered in January
2012 and came in batches of 8 until he
had a complete set. In April, 2012, he
sold a J-3 project to someone in China
Throttle and mixture control levers,

trimtab quadrant, stick, and wicker seat
installed in the JNE Spirit of St. Louis.
36
and used the funds from that to purchase tubing for the Spirit fuselage.
With that, he was committed, and all
of his spare time was logged in the shop
or pursuing information or materials
for his replica.
Like instruments.
John wanted exact copies of everything in the panel. The problem is, all
the original instruments from that era
are in the hands of collectors, and most
of them dont want to break up their collection. Between eBay and networking,
John and his wife Heather eventually
tracked down and acquired the basic
instruments. However, since most of
them had been sitting idle on various
shelves for over 80 years, they all needed
to be rebuilt. The total cost for the panel
is north of $8,000.
Once committed, John made good
progress. He tack-welded the fuselage
frame. He built up the I-beam spars
working with 36-foot pieces of Sitka
spruce and slid on the ribs. As a concession to safety, John reduced the number
of splices in the wing from 28 to 10. He
eventually was able to assemble all of the
major components, tail feathers, wings,
fuselage, instrument panel, and engine
mount, before he took it all apart and
sent out the steel parts for sandblasting.
When it returned, he painted the steel
truss himself.
Measuring the Original
In January of 2015, the Smithsonian

lowered the Spirit to the floor of the
National Air and Space Museum for the
third time since theyd taken possession
of it in 1928. John was granted a full day
to photograph and measure everything
he could reach on the Spirit. Mindful
that the Spirit is a national treasure, the
museum had several people on hand
to keep an eye on John and Heather,
and they worked through a typical day
in the museum, with crowds gathering around the aircraft and wondering
what was going on. RF Systems Lab of
Traverse City, Michigan, donated the
use of a VJ-Advance video borescope
camera for John to use with the Spirit
of St. Louis. When he was looking
under the main fuel tank, he suddenly
uttered something like holy crap!.
The museum executives were watching
the monitor as John focused on a pair of
pliers lying on fabric beneath the tank.
Given the dust on the tool, it had been
there for a very long time. The question
is: How long? The Smithsonian is still
looking for answers. The assumption is
that they have been there since at least
May of 1928.
What John got out of his day with
the Spirit was the realization that Ed
Morrows memory wasnt as exact as
Johns measurements. There were at
The instrument panel of the JNE Spirit of St. Louis in 2013 before being rebuilt.
The pliers found with RF Systems Labs VJAdvance video borescope camera were
lying on the fabric beneath the main fuel
tank in the original Spirit of St. Louis.
least nine components in Johns replica

that needed change. This included the
elevator, which was 2.5 inches shorter
between the leading and trailing edges
than the original. When John restructured his elevator, he added 190 square
inches to his tail. Its worth noting that
the dimensions John had originally
come up with were based on the tail
feathers for a Ryan M1 and M2, which
were the first two aircraft produced by
the Ryan factory. There undoubtedly
were a number of parts from the M1
and M2 that were picked off the shelf
and put into the Spirit. But as far as the
tail goes, the elevator and horizontal stabilizer probably came off a Brougham,
Ryans third aircraft, the prototype of
which was being built at the same time
as the Spirit. The rudder profile differs
considerably from Ed Morrows half
circle, which came from an M1, and no
The cockpit area after rebuilding the

instrument panel.
(Photo: Kristopher L. Hull)
37
JNE Spirit of St. Louis in 2013. Starboard motor mount cowling in place with Spirit of St.
Louis painted on the jeweled cowling. Templates of the engine cowling and the interior
baffle system of the main fuel tank can be seen on the floor in front of the airplane.
one is quite sure where the unique shape

of the Spirits rudder came from.
John also learned that his version of
the instrument panel was an inch too
tall and was mounted two inches higher
than it should have been. Fortunately,
John had not yet started covering the
airframe with his rare and authentic
Grade A cotton. When he mounts that
cotton, by the way, the seams will be
identical to those on the original, and
all of the patches that were applied after
souvenir-hunters cut pieces out of the
fabric in Paris will be reproduced in the
exact size and location.
The Greatest Challenge
When asked about the greatest challenge in building a replica of the Spirit
of St. Louis, John responded without
any hesitation: The engine. Lindbergh
flew with a Wright J5 engine. It was
considered the cutting edge in 1926.
Only 150 copies of the engine were
manufactured in 192627, and spare
parts were limited. Finding parts today
is just about impossible. John could not
locate a complete, assembled engine. The
best he could do was a basket case that
allegedly contained a complete set of
disassembled parts in need of overhaul
with a price tag of $35,000. Turned out,
it wasnt complete. Being an A&P, John
was capable of overhauling the engine
himself, but the absence of a number of
parts required that he develop some new
38
skills in developing replacements. The

list of new parts in Johns engine is fairly
extensive. So far, hes invested $15,000
on the overhaul process, to say nothing
of the hours hes put into it. There will
probably never be another Spirit replica
with a J5.
What was the second greatest challenge? Again, without hesitating, John
cracked a wry smile and said: The rest
of the airplane. After a bit of laughter,
Heather pointed out that the fuel tanks
had been quite an effort. The originals
were made out of terneplate (steel with a
lead/tin coating) thats no longer available,
so they had to use galvanized steel, which
John had never worked with before. He
learned that soldering galvanized steel
cannot be done with modern soldering equipment. The only way to get
the desired effect was to use heavy, old
copper soldering irons from the 1920s.
For some reason thats the only way the
desired effect can be achieved.
Today, a modern homebuilder can
buy a set of plans and a quickbuild kit
with all the required materials, most
of the holes pre-drilled and a lot of
the systems pre-fabricated. For John,
being focused on authenticity and precise accuracy, the challenge has been
researching virtually every component
in the aircraft. His trip to the Smithsonian was an invaluable experience that
gave him irrefutable information about
placement, size, lengths, shapes and the
way all the pieces went together. The
only concession John has made, in the
interest of safety, is to add a five-point
harness. Lindbergh probably never had
a seatbelt. Otherwise, Johns effort is
likely to be as close to a mirror image of
the original Spirit of St. Louis as anyone
could ever hope to achieve.
When Will it Fly?
The plan is to have the replica flying by

May of 2016. John and Heather hope
to take it on tour in July, visiting most
of the cities that Lindbergh stopped in
back in 1927, as part of the Guggenheim
Goodwill Tour, after he returned from
Paris. They are planning to use the tour
to raise funds for Veteran programs.
To be continued J
Heather and John Norman in front of Johns shop at JNE Aircraft in Burlington, WA.
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Stressing Structure
Bending
By David Paule
Most major structures on an aircraft

need to support some bending. In this
article, well look at how a beam resists
bending and how to find the bending
stress. There are a variety of convenient
tables in the Astronautics Structures
Manual (www.kitplanes.com/includes/
structure_stress.html) to help you actually
calculate the bending moment using the
loads that are applied to the beam. Look
in Section B4.1.1 in asm-B400.pdf.
Here, well discuss what to do with the
bending moment once you have it.
You can find the beam stress by using
this equation:

M*c

=
I
Where
is the bending stress in psi,
40
M is the bending moment, inch

pounds force,
c is the distance from the neutral

axis to the place where the stress
is, inches
The very pretty spars

for the authors RV-3B
are important enough
that Vans Aircraft sent
them pre-assembled.
is the area moment of inertia

about the neutral axis, inches4
This is the fundamental equation for

bending. The equation tells us a few
important things. If the bending
moment goes up, the stress does too,
proportionally. If the stress is too high,
you would increase the moment of inertia to make it go down. And the equation also tells us the stress is directly
proportional to the distance from the
neutral axis.
Figure 1 shows how the bending stress
distributes itself across a symmetric beam.
Figure 1: Bending stress distribution

across a beam.
The stress is zero at the neutral axis and

increases linearly as the distance from
it increases. This means that at the outermost edge of the beam, farthest from
the neutral axis, which we call the outer
fiber, the stress is at maximum. But
theres still stress between the top and
bottom outer fibers, and those places
need to be able to carry that stress.
If theres an axial force in the beam

as, for example, there will be inboard
of the struts for a strut-braced airplane,
then it needs to be included. In that
case, the stress is:

M*c

A
I
Where
P is the axial force, pounds,
A is the cross-sectional area,

square inches.
An axial stress can significantly change
the stresses in a beam.
Well need to find the margin of
safety at the tension outer fiber and the
compression outer fiber, for the highest
positive moment and the highest negative moment. When we do that, and
show that the margin is positive, weve
shown that the beam is at least safe in
bending, which is all were discussing in
this article. The beam might also have
shear and axial compression, both of
which affect stability, so then you need
to analyze the beam for those loads, too,
but thats beyond this article.
Where should we check the beam?
Anywhere the cross-section changes,
anywhere theres an abrupt change
of load, and anywhere the load is a
maximum. As an example, consider a
strut-braced wingspar. For a positive
flight condition, the maximum positive moment will be at the intersection
of the strut. Immediately outboard of
that point theres generally zero axial
force. The spar needs to be checked
there. Somewhere in between the strut
and the fuselage, the maximum negative moment might exist. It will have
axial force in addition to the bending,
and that adds to the load. If theres a

point load, from a control system or flap
mount or something, check it there too.
And wherever theres a fitting or a hole,
the spar will need to be checked. If the
spar changes cross section, well want to
assess those locations as well.
When youre figuring out the spar section to use for analysis, be sure to include
any holes that are nearby the section.
Holes count as gaps, with one exception: hole-filling fasteners like driven
rivets can be used if carrying compressionbut only compressionand even
then only the shank can be used, not a
countersunk head or a dimple. Dimples
and countersinks act like holes.
See Figure 2, which shows a crosssection of an aluminum extrusion. This
extrusion uses three of the fundamental shapes that are often used to assess
beams. The sidebar on section properties
shows how to calculate the properties of
the more common basic cross sectional
shapes. If you need a shape thats not in
the sidebar, you can look it up online.
Now well calculate the section properties of this beam. Well find the area,
the moment of inertia, and the location
of the neutral axis. We start with Table
1, which shows the salient facts of the
individual elements in the spar.
Using the information in Table 1 and
the sidebar on section properties, we
next calculate some data for the spar,
putting the section properties into a
table like Table 2. The columns include:
Item An identifier. I number

my elements.

The area of the cross-section,

inches squared. If its a hole,
its negative.
What is it?
Dimensions, inches
Top caprectangle
B = 1.00, H = .325, y = 2.8375
y = 3.00 - .325 / 2
Webrectangle
B = .120, H = 2.405,
y = 1.4725
H = 3.00 - .325 - .120 - .150

y = H / 2 + .120 + .150
Bottom flangerectangle
B = .82, H = .120, y = .060
y=H/2
Holerectangle
B = .120, H = .120, y = .060
y=H/2
Fillet
R = .150, y = 2.6415
y = 3.00 - .325 - .2234 R
R = .270, r = .150, y = .1327
Outer radius r = .150 + .120 thickness.

y = R - ybar equation for bend
Illustrations: David Paule
Tube
Area = (R2 r 2)
Inertia = (R4 r 4)
Triangle
1
Area = B H
2
H
ybar =
3
B H3
Inertia =
36
Rectangle
Area = B H
H
ybar =
2
B H3
Inertia =
12
Bend
(R2 r 2)
4
r2
ybar = .4244 R +
R+r
Inertia =
(R4 r 4)
16
Area =
Fillet
Area = .2146 R2
Inertia = .0075 R4
Item No.
Bend radius
Formulas for
Section Properties
ybar = .2234 R
Table 1: Geometry of the Example Beams Individual Elements
Figure 2: An example cross-section of an

extruded beam.
Notes
Rectangle with
Symmetric
Rectangular
Opening
Area = B H b h
H
ybar =
2
1
Inertia =
(B H3 b h3)
12
41
The distance from the

reference to the neutral axis
(the x-x axis) of this element.
Positive is upward from the
reference line and below it, y
is negative.
Table 2: ExampleA Cross Section of an Extruded Beam.

Item No.
Ay
A y2
Io
0.325
2.8375
0.9222
2.6167
0.0029
0.2886
1.4725
0.4250
0.6258
0.1391
0.0984
0.06
0.0059
0.0004
0.0001
A y Multiply the elements area

by its distance.
-0.0144
0.06
-0.0009
-0.0001
0.0048
2.6415
0.0127
0.0335
A y2 Multiply the A * y calculated

value by y again.
0.0396
0.1327
0.0053
0.0007
0.0009
Sum
0.7420
1.3702
3.2770
0.1430
Io
Calculate the elements own

moment of inertia, about its
own neutral axis.
Remember, if a negative number

multiplies a positive number, the result
is a negative number. If you multiply
two negative numbers together, the
result is positive.
The bottom row of the table gives us
the overall properties of the beam.

Sum the individual element

areas and put the total here.
Units are inches2.
A y Sum the individual element

area distance and put the
total here. Units are inches3.
A y2 Sum the individual element area

distance squared and put the

total here. Units are inches4.

Io
Sum the individual element

inertias and put the total here.
Units are inches4.
Then under the table, make these

calculations:

Sum A y
Ybar =

Sum A
Ybar, with units of inches, is the position of the neutral axis from the reference for your beam. Incidentally, in
this article, Im using y bar to indicate the
individual element property and without the subscript Ybar to indicate the
overall beams property.
We can find the spars moment of
inertia, using the values summed at the
bottom of the table:
I = Sum (A y2) + sum (Io) - sum
(Area) ybar2
42
I is the overall moment of inertia for the beam. Its more formally
called the area moment of inertia
to differentiate it from the mass
moment of inertia. However, usually
during stress analysis, we drop the
word area because the meaning is
clear from the context.
Once in a while, when considering
buckling situations, well also need to
find the radius of gyration, :

= [I / A]1/2
Or another way to describe it is:

2 = I / A
If you need it, use whichever form is

appropriate. Physically, its the radius
from an axis about which the area is
distributed, if it were all located in
a ring about the axis. That descriptions not useful and I much prefer
the equation.
For our example, to tie the data into
the previous figures and analysis.
Area = 0.7420 inch2
Ybar = 1.3702 / 0.7420 = 1.8466 inches
I = 3.2770 + .1430 - 0.7420 1.84662
= .8897 inch4
Now that weve done the hard work,
we can find out what the stresses are on
the beam. We need to know what the
bending moment is. For this example,
thats 17,900 inch-pounds force, and
thats the ultimate moment. These
moments are positive, and by definition
that means the compression stresses are
on the top. We also need c, the distance
from the neutral axis to the outer fiber.
ct = 3.00 - 1.8466 = 1.1534 inches to

the top surface.
cb = 1.8466 inches to the bottom
surface.
Finally, we can find the stress:
ft = 17,900 1.1534 / .8897 = -23,205
psi for the top surface. Its negative
because the top surface is in compression.
fb = 17,900 1.8466 / .8897 = 37,152
psi tension on the bottom surface.
For now, well have to use the ultimate
tensile stress and the yield compressive
stress as the allowable strengths, and
calculate the ultimate margins of safety.
This isnt a conservative calculation
though, because it didnt cover buckling. In another article well discuss
crippling, a type of buckling instability
that will reduce the strength of many
beams and other structures. Crippling
or other types of buckling are prevalent
all through aircraft construction and
are a major design issue.
FSu = 1.5

Ultimate factor
of safety.
Ftu = 63,000 psi

Ultimate tensile
strength of 2024-T3,
.063 thick (or
2024-T351 plate,
thick enough to be
made into a cap).
Fcy = 39,000 psi Yield compression

strength for these
materials.
The margins of safety are:
For the top, in compression (and worth
noting here that often in the margin of
safety equation, the minus signs are unnecessary; Ive included them for clarity):
MS =
-39,000 psi
1.5 (-23,205 psi)
1 = +0.120
For the bottom, in tension:

MS =
63,000 psi
1.5 (37,152 psi)
1 = +0.130
Its normal good practice to include

the + signs in the result to make certain that readers understand that your
margins of safety are positive. Wed also
note which load condition produces
these margins, important since another
load condition will give different margins of safety.
Another approach to finding the
strength of a metal beam is to use a
concept called plastic bending. In
some cases, plastic bending will provide
higher strength than using the ultimate tensile strength of the material.
The increase in strength is dependent
upon the shape and the material. You
can read more about it in ASM section
B4.5.0. If buckling is critical, though,
plastic bending might not help much.
The bending strengths of wood beams
include the shape characteristics, if you
follow ANC-18.
In some cases, the fatigue life of
a beam can be important and that
might also affect the allowable stress
on the beam, especially if there are
changes of contour or holes. These
things are beyond the scope of this
article as well. J
David Paule
David Paule retired after 30

years of structural analysis
and is now building an
RV-3B to keep from getting
bored. The structural
engineering included a mix
of aircraft and spacecraft. He
has been a private pilot since
age 18 and
currently
owns and
flies a
Cessna 180.
43
ENGINE THEORY
Intake Systems:
Carburetion
Getting air and fuel into the engine.
By Tom Wilson
Those not put to sleep by last months

overview of aircraft engine principles
will recall a piston engines working
medium is air. This month well examine how the engine breathes in its air
and adds fuel to the fire, a topic generally
referred to as intake or induction.
Because the topic is so large, were also
breaking induction into three major sections. This month well look at general
basics and how they apply to carbureted
engines. Well tackle fuel injection and
forced inductionturbos and suchin
separate articles.
44
Textbook Basics
Before getting into describing intake

hardware, a quick review of engine
breathing concepts and nomenclature
will assure were all on the same page.
Its useful to remember air enters the
engine thanks to the weight of the atmosphere above the engine pushing the air
down. In other words, as the engines
intake valve opens, its the weight of the
atmosphere that pushes air into the cylinder. This is called natural aspiration
and is the norm for most Experimental
aircraft engines. Obviously the air and
Air filter to intake port: The entire induction

system is out in the breeze on the Tymczyszyn familys 1931 Buhl LA-1 Bull Pup. The
compact A-65 Continental engine allows
equal-length intake runners (chromed)
from the centrally mounted carburetor.
Amazingly little has changed at the lowperformance end of aero engine induction
in the 56 years since this installation.
energy available for engine breathing

depends on density altitude, so a cold day
at sea level means the engine can aspirate
more air mass than during a hot day in
Denver or at 50,000 feet. And its the
mass of air, not the volume, that matters.
As airplane people, most of us are at

least conscious of aerodynamics, and its
good to remind ourselves the aerodynamic properties at work on the outside
of our airframes are also at work inside
the intake tract. Ideally the intake tract
will be carefully shaped to maintain
the optimal volumes, cross sectional
areas, and remain devoid of sharp edges,
pinched turns, and other aerodynamic
insults. All this matters in the intake
tract where tight packaging and lowenergy airflow (compared to exhaust)
magnify design imperfections. The less
your inlet resembles a Sousaphone or a
half-crushed shoebox the better.
The Air Path
In practice air begins its journey to the

combustion chamber at the air inlet,
which may or may not include an air
filter. Also, faster homebuilts benefit
from a ram air intake where a dedicated
scoop packs in slightly more air than the
engine can breathe for a minor supercharging effect. In that case the air filter
is typically bypassed once airborne to
maximize airflow.
Because engine load, and secondarily
rpm, is most easily controlled in gasoline engines by throttling the engines
air supply (turbines and diesels do this
by limiting the fuel supply), some sort
of throttle blade is typically the next
item in our air passage. The throttle is
contained either in a carburetor or fuel
injection systems throttle body. The latter is traditionally called the fuel servo in
aviation lingo because the industry standard Bendix system combines the throttle body and fuel metering functions in
a single unit, and the naming emphasis
was apparently on the fuel side of things.
The carburetor is a mechanical device
designed to mix the incoming air with
gasoline to produce a combustible mixture. Therefore, downstream of the carburetor, the inlet tract contains an air/
fuel mix. This is not the case with fuel
injection, as the fuel is added later, and so
the inlet tract is dryit flows only air.
From the throttle body the air or air/
fuel mixture is conveyed to a cylinder
via an intake runner. Most internal
combustion engines group the runners,
Photos: Tom Wilson
or at least some portion of the runners,

into a single casting or weldment called
an intake manifold.
When the runner reaches the cylinder
head, it mates with the intake port in the
head. The port terminates at the intake
valve seat, where, not surprisingly, the
intake valve sits when it is not open. On
the far side of the intake valve is the combustion chamber and a rather rude change
in temperature for our air molecules.
For historical context, and to illustrate there are actually many variations
to intake architecture, the big radials
and V-12s of yore typically used a pressure carburetor. Today we would call
this single-point mechanical fuel injection, but in the argot of the times, a
carburetor (wed call it a fuel servo
today) metered the airflow and resulting gasoline, plus provided the throttle.
But instead of admitting the fuel to the
airflow at the carburetor, the fuel was
sprayed into the inlet track well downstream by a single fuel injector. Typically this high-volume lawn sprinkler
was aimed at the superchargers inlet,
or, as in many radial engines, the fuel

was actually slung from passages in
the supercharger impeller. This helped
even fuel delivery considerably among
cylinders (which can be an issue in nonsupercharged, carbureted radials).
Before leaving our overview of the
intake system, we should touch on the
concept of intake tuning. Obviously
air does not flow as a steady stream
through the inlet tract in a running
engine. The rhythmic opening and
closing of the intake valve, plus the
variable energy (sometimes called the
signal) imparted to the intake air by the
downward moving piston, not to mention the mind-numbing complexities
of these inlet pulses communicating in
the intake manifolds common area
the plenumresults in a very dynamic,
pulsating environment.
In short, not only do the air molecules
travel in a series of rapidly accelerating and decelerating motions, but also
meaningful energy waves are generated.
It is far beyond the scope of this article
to describe this complex, arcane wave
Most Experimentals have a forward-facing

scoop dedicated to the engine air inlet,
if only to ensure a cool, uncontaminated
(no oil mist) air supply. Because airplanes
are one of few machines that move fast
and long enough to make ram air scoops
worth the bother, the go-fast crowd often
opts for a filterless ram-air scoop as modeled by this Harmon Rocket. Airspeed matters; gains of 1 inch of manifold pressure
are typical nearing 200 mph, faster Reno
racers can see a 3-inch rise.
Cold air is dense air and thus better for

engine breathing as well as oil cooling and other heat transfer tasks, so its
worth the effort to build dedicated inlets
whenever possible. Round motors do this
by snaking scoops from the cowling entry
to between engine cylinders and to the
engines accessory section.
45
action, but suffice to say the intake runner length (especially), cross section,
taper, total volume, and shape matter.
Optimizing these parameters is called
tuning by engine designers and pipe
organ manufacturers; it significantly
affects power and efficiency, and to the
first order depends on cylinder displacement, rpm, and valve timing. These wave
effects gain importance as an engines
specific output (power per displacement) increases. Its another reason why
big, slow-turning engines have predominated in aviationsuch engines typically require little intake tuning (simple,
easily packaged intakes do OK).
Now well examine carbureted and
fuel injected systems in greater detail.
Carburetion
Aircraft carburetor sophistication these

days ranges from a metered leak to a
well-engineered metered leak. This basic
carburetion helps affordability (if you
can call a $27,000 engine affordable),
and theres always fuel injection when
more efficiency is demanded.
Carburetors work on pressure differentials. Inside the carburetor a venturi constricts and then expands the
airflow, generating a low-pressure area
vented against higher ambient air pressure to push fuel from a small fuel reservoir called the float bowl. Minimal fuel
Aircraft engines may toil mainly in the

clean heavens, but they take off and
land in the grit, just like cars and tractors.
Furthermore, small vents and pressuresensing tubes in fuel servos sometimes
clog with insects, leading to major power
losses. Best then to run an air filter, even if
it only stops the boulders as this dirt-strip
biplanes filter attests.
Because they are eyewitnesses to the

laws of physics, carburetors can be
remarkably simple considering the
performance they produce. Unlike a
man-made computer that must be programmed for every foreseeable condition, even the simple Marvel Schebler
automatically responds directly to the
air pressure passing through it.
pressure is needed to keep the float bowl

at a steady level, and in high-wing aircraft
gravity flow will do the job, so a simple,
low-volume, low-pressure engine-driven
fuel pump is all thats needed.
Gravity is also used to keep the fuel
level constant in the float bowl, so turning
the airplane upside down for all but
positive-G maneuvers means fuel slosh

in the bowl will cause extra rich or lean
mixtures to the point the engine quits.
Several auxiliary circuits address the
complications brought on by idling,
maximum engine output, and transient
response (engine acceleration). The idle
circuit is a simple tiny passage better
scaled to providing the small amount of
fuel required when idling.
An accelerator pump is mechanically
joined to the throttle linkage. This is a
simple plunger to provide an extra squirt
of fuel when the throttle is opened rapidly. This is because lightweight air has
low inertia and responds near-instantly
to opening the throttle, while the
heavier fuel lags. Absent an accelerator
pump the resulting momentary lean air/
fuel mixture is sufficient to invoke passenger interrogations when the engine
momentarily quits every time the pilot
gooses the throttle for a go-around.
Because a relatively rich air/fuel
mixture is needed to produce maximum power, and extra fuel on top of
that is administered to cool the combustion event (suppress detonation), a
fuel enrichment circuit opens as Wide
One way of addressing poor mixture distribution from a single carburetor is multiple
carburetors. The familiar Rotax 912 fits a Bing carburetor to each side of its flat-4 to
shorten and simplify the intake manifolding. Cost, weight, and balancing the carburetor
tuning are downsides, but its still less expense and effort than electronic fuel injection.
46
Humble as it may be, the Bull Pups carburetor heat system clearly illustrates the concept.
The only part not visible is the control cable to the mechanisms air control flap inside the
inlet box. Because hot air is less dense than cold air, there is always a performance drop
when the carb heat is activatedbut nothing like an ice-blocked carburetor!
Open Throttle (WOT) is reached.

Inexplicably this was known as the
economizer circuit in a fit of marketing largesse during the 1950s and 60s.
Well, it was beneficial to the petroleum company economies, so its all
how you look at it.
Carburetions main advantages are
simplicity and low cost. The carburetor is the only closely machined part in
the system (and none too fancy at that),
and it can be a pretty simple device on
a moderate performance, steady-state
rpm engine such as we fly with. Also,
with a minimum of small passages, a
carburetor is more forgiving of small
junk in the fuel; it doesnt clog anywhere
near as quickly as fuel injection. Servicing and troubleshooting are simple,
intuitive tasks, too.
Because the float bowl provides a
ready supply of fuel at the engine, the
engine can be primed by stroking the
throttle, thus activating the accelerator
pump. There is no need for a backup
electric fuel pump for priming during
engine starts.
A double-edged sword with carburetion is the fuel is administered to the
engine at a single point well away from
the intake ports. On the plus side, this
gives the air and fuel more mixing
time. This action provides evaporative
cooling for a denser charge, and all told,

a sophisticated carbureted intake (not
quite what we normally have in GA)
can make excellent power at WOT, even
outperforming electronic fuel injection.
Yes, fuel distribution, lean-of-peak operation, fuel economy, plug fouling, and
reduced pilot workload can improve
with fuel injection, but not necessarily
peak power.
Experience shows carburetions peak
power advantage from a denser charge
is about 4%, and in highly developed
engines, swapping from carburetion to
fuel injection may show a peak power
loss; NASCAR racers recently went
though this when rules mandated a
switch to fuel injection. That said, general aviation engine intake manifolds
and carburetors are often basic enough
that switching to fuel injection gains so
much in better fuel distribution that
there is a net gain in peak power.
As we just uncovered, the big downside of carburetions single-point fuel
distribution is the resulting wet manifold cant help but deliver inconsistent
mixtures among the cylinders. Fuel,
with its greater inertia, can ram into
sharp turns in the runners, while air
easily whips around the corner. And
inside long intake runners, fuel can
condense from the mixture during cold

Minus the exhaust its easy to see how

this Lycoming 540s intake runners
sprout from the stock (hot) oil sump/
intake manifold casting, then run to the
cylinder heads. The cast portion of the
runners inside the oil pan are bathed in
185+ F oil, reducing intake icing when
carbureted. Of course, this Bendix fuel
injected examplenote the fuel servo
bolted to the bottom of the sump
doesnt need any anti-icing help.
operations. All this is inefficient and

eliminates the possibility of aggressive
lean-of-peak operation as some cylinders may be quite lean and others still
slightly rich of peak, right in the detonation window.
Carburetors are susceptible to icing
as well. The trouble lies at the carbs
venturi, where the combination of the
expanding air on the backside of the
venturi, along with the fuel evaporating into the air stream, results in
dramatic temperature reduction. As
we learned in ground school, this is
enough to cause the water in the air to
freeze in the carburetor even on a 70 F
day, choking off air supply and killing
engine power. Some sort of carburetor heat is therefore required. Finally,
because the float bowl relies on gravity carburetion has limits in aerobatic
applications, too.
All said, carburetion is the cheap, simple, reliable solution in general aviation
engines as we know them. Those qualities continue to make carbureted engines
logical choices in recreational aircraft. J
47
Aircraft Wiring
Good Things to Know While
Building Your Electrical System.
By Marc Ausman
This month Ive assembled various

items from the book that dont fit neatly
into a single topic, but together make up
a collection of useful information. Hopefully youll find this information helpful
while planning and building the electrical system for your Experimental aircraft.
Circuit Protection
All electrical circuits must have some

sort of circuit protection that protects
the wires in case of a short circuit.
Rather than having the wire catch on
fire or melt at an arbitrary location, the
circuit protection provides a mechanism
to limit the current and also control the
location of the failure point when there
is a short. A short circuit occurs when
the positive wire touches a ground wire
or grounded metal airframe.
All circuit protection works in a similar way. If the current is at or below the
rated value for the circuit protection
device, the circuit stays closed. If the
1000
Time In Seconds
100
Vertical Power
electronic circuit breaker.
current rises above the rated value, then

the circuit protection opens and stops
the current from flowing.
There is an inverse relationship between
the amount of overcurrent and the time
it takes to open the circuit. For example,
if 5.5 amps is flowing through a 5-amp
breaker, it will take a good amount of
time to open the circuit. If 25 amps is
flowing through the same circuit, it will
open almost instantaneously. This relationship can be seen in Figure 1.
Table 1 below shows the three main

types of circuit protection used on aircraft and the pros and cons of each.
Electronic Circuit Breakers
Electronic circuit breakers (ECB) are

solid-state devices that provide circuit
protection and on/off switching functions. ECB systems for Experimental
aircraft are bundled together into a
single enclosure that provides a power
distribution hub for all of the aircrafts
Table 1: Pros and Cons of Three Main Types of Circuit Protection

Type
Pros
Cons
Fuse
Inexpensive
Hard to see failure

Unreachable
Limited functionality
Circuit Breaker
Accessible
Limited functionality
Uses panel space
Heavy
Simplifies wiring
Reduces complexity
Advanced features
Remotely mounted
Reset via display
Slightly more costly
10
1.0
0.1
Electronic Circuit Breaker

0.01
10
100
Multiples of Ampere Rating
Figure 1: Time vs. overcurrent curve.
48
Mate-N-Lok: These are often used

for power wires. Be aware that these
connectors do not have any strain relief
accommodations. Be sure to use models
that have a positive lock feature.
Typical 15-pin D-sub connector. Note that numbering is reversed, but matches up once
the connectors are mated.
electrical needs. Using multiple microprocessors provides redundancy and also

allows the builder to install independent
backup circuits for emergency power, in
case the primary power fails.
Vertical Power is the leading provider
of ECB systems to the Experimental aircraft market. Their flagship product integrates with many popular EFIS displays,
enabling you to monitor and control your
entire electrical system on the EFIS.
A typical mechanical circuit breaker
has a mean time between failure (MTBF)
of about 17,000 hours. A single electronic
circuit breaker has an MTBF of about
1,000,000 hours. Further, a mechanical
switch is rated for about 30,000 on/off
cycles. ECBs are rated for about 2 billion
on/off cycles. As you can see, modern
solid-state components offer significantly
higher reliability than older components.
ECBs provide circuit protection like
old-fashioned thermal circuit breakers,
but ECBs do a lot more than just detect
circuit faults. ECBs are intelligent, configurable, and offer capabilities not otherwise available with old-style breakers.
For example, ECBs can detect a burnedout landing light or disable the starter
circuit while the engine is running.
ECBs greatly simplify wiring while at
the same time provide advanced electrical
system capabilities. Wiring is simplified
because you dont have to install circuit
breakers, bus bars, relays, trim and flap
modules, shunts, e-bus diodes, or other
complex wiring right on the back side
of the instrument panel. The advanced
electrical system capabilities include
solid-state power switching and circuit
protection, open circuit detection, automatic landing light wig-wag, pilot and
copilot trim control, runaway trim protection with backup trim controls on the
Illustrations: Marc Ausman
EFIS, flap control with intermediate flap

stops, starter disable when engine is running, flap overspeed alarms, trim and flap
position display, overvoltage protection,
alternator control, and more.
Connectors
D-Sub (Subminiature): By far the

most common connectors youll use
on homebuilt aircraft are D-sub connectors. These connectors come in a
variety of sizes and capacities. Most
avionics use standard size D-sub connectors that support 20-24 AWG wire
and come in 9-, 15-, 25-, 37-, and 50-pin
configurations. Also available but less
used are high-density D-sub connectors
(Garmin likes to use these). Unless you
see them next to each other, it is hard to
tell them apart. Be careful not to get the
standard and high-density parts mixed
upit can be easy to do.
I recommend Conec plastic back
shells with thumbscrews. They are high
quality, yet reasonably priced, with
an excellent strain relief mechanism
(strain relief mechanisms secure the
wire bundle so that no strain is put on
the terminals when the wire is tugged).
These are available from major electronic supply dealers like Digi-Key and
Mouser. Part numbers:
165X10139XE 9 positions
AMP Circular Plastic Connectors

(CPC): These are available in a wide
range of capacities and sizes, and include
a strain relief accessory. The AMP CPC
Series 2 uses standard D-sub pins (size
20) and is good for up to about 5 amps.
The CPC Series 1 uses size 16 contacts,
is good for up to 13 amps, and requires
a special crimp and removal tool. A
complete set of terminals, crimpers,
housings, and back shells is available at
Mouser and Digi-Key.
Female CPC with

back shell and wire.
The Series 1 connectors are good for

mating high-power wires, and Series 2
connectors are good for mating wires
for the instrument panel avionics. They
look similar, but use different terminals.
Mil-Spec Circular: Mil-spec connectors are mentioned simply to dissuade you from using them. They are
heavy and expensive, and require expensive tools. The benefit is just not there
for the homebuilder community.
Diode Isolated Power Inputs
Many modern avionics have diodeisolated power inputstypically a

primary and secondary power input.
The diode isolation ensures that each
power input is independent of the
other power input. Current coming
in from one bus cannot flow through
EFIS
From main
power buss
Primary power input
Back-up
Battery
System
Backup power input
From main
power buss
EFIS
Power input 1
Power input 2
= Diode. Think of it as a one-way check valve.
Difference between diode isolated power inputs and dual power pins.

49
the device and out the other pin to the

other bus. The diodes shown can be
thought of as check valves that ensure
current only goes inbut does not
come outthat particular power pin.
The device will automatically choose
between the inputs and select the one
with the highest voltage.
The EFIS on the right in the example
on page 49 does not have diode-isolated
power inputs. It simply is using two
power pins to distribute the current.
Each pin can carry about 5 amps, and if
the device draws 8 amps, the engineers
decided to spread the load between two
pins, so each carries 4 amps. Therefore,
both pins must be fed from the same
bus, and from the same circuit.
This can be easy to miss. Be sure to
read the manufacturers instructions
carefully to determine how the input
power is handled.
Recommendations On Using
14 or 28 Volts
Firewall Penetration
VOLTS
Primary power distribution cables,

engine monitor wires, and other wires
like the starter control and alternator field wire need to pass through the
firewall. The firewall penetration must
be secure so that hazardous gases do not
get through, and it provides a barrier in
case of an engine compartment fire.
Rather than run everything through
one large hole, consolidate wires by
function and run two or three smaller
holes. There are several ways to do this:
Drill a hole with a Unibit step drill
and install a snap bushing. Run
the wires, then fill in the hole with
high-temperature silicon. While
this does the job, it is not a very
secure penetration.
Install a stainless steel firewall passthrough as shown in the images
below. Youll want to install, at

minimum, one for the heavy-gauge
wires, and another for the engine
monitor and other smaller wires.
The firewall pass-through serves several purposes:
1. Reduces the chance of electrical
wires chafing on the sharp firewall,
which can lead to fires.
2. Reduces the chance of fire igniting
in a crash.
3. Slows the penetration of a fire in
the engine compartment.
4. Seals the firewall, reducing the
chances of carbon monoxide or
other gases entering the cabin. J
Read the Book
Hopefully this article helps you understand the electrical system in your
aircraft. It is an excerpt from my new
book entitled Aircraft Wiring Guide.
For more information, or to order a copy,
visit www.aircraftwiringguide.com.
Marc currently flies an RV-7
that he finished building in
2006. He was founder and
president of Vertical Power
and has served as an EAA
Director since 2011. He flew
with the U.S. Navy as a
Naval Flight Officer on
board the P3-C Orion.
He lives in
California
with his wife
and three
children.
Marc Ausman
Today, most Experimental aircraft use

a 14-volt electrical system, while most
certified aircraft use a 28-volt electrical
system. Components for 14-volt systems
are easy to find, and often kit manufacturers supply components that only
work at a specific voltage (flap motors,
for example). For the majority of Experimental aircraft, 14 volts is sufficient.
One reason to use 28 volts is to
reduce wire size. The same device
draws half as much current at 28 volts
than it does at 14 volts. Therefore, you
can size the wires smaller and save
some weight. In a hypothetical Experimental aircraft with 600 feet of power
and ground wire, if you use all 20
AWG wire instead of 18 AWG wire,

the weight savings amounts to 1.5 lbs.
Based on this analysis, weight alone
should not be a deciding factor.
Most Experimental aircraft are small
and have relatively short wire runs and
relatively low-current devices. In such
cases it makes sense to install a 14-volt
system. However, you should consider a
28-volt system if you have an air conditioning system, or retractable gear that
requires a hydraulic pump.
I also do not recommend installing
two different buses with two different
voltages. By the time you install the
voltage converters and sort through
the confusion of multiple voltages
across multiple buses, it is better to
stick with a common voltage for the
entire aircraft.
16.0 volts
(over-voltage)
Bus voltage should not exceed this level or

damage to electronics may occur.
14.2 volts
(alternator ON)
This is the normal operating voltage when the

alternator is turned on and engine is running.
13.0 volts
(low-voltage alarm)
12.4 volts
(battery only)
falls from 14.2 volts to around 12 volts, causing

the low-voltage alarm to sound.
Normal voltage for the battery while not being
charged.
Various firewall pass-through images showing installation. (Photos courtesy of SafeAir1)

50
CHECKPOINTS
Skills transference, part 1.
In most journeys there is usually a destination. For many pilots that destination
is the left seat at a major airline, a journey
that is probably not unlike Hercules trials
given all of the mergers, acquisitions, and
furloughs in the industry. Its interesting
to me that many airline pilots see general
aviation as a destination when retiring
from the airline, especially with all of the
exciting choices in sport planes now.
Having been primarily a general aviation pilot mainly focused on kitbuilt
airplanes, with a small stint in part 121
regional carrier flying, I have some
observations regarding the transference of skills from one type of flying to
another, as well as my own experiences
with regards to similarities and differences between the two. This will be a
multi-column saga, so hang on. Also, I
am not here to disparage anyone. We are
all brethren of the wings, so to say.
Between living in an aviation community and hanging out with a great group
of pilots called the Falcon RV squadron,
based at Falcon Field in Peachtree City,
Georgia, I get to regularly see many
aspects of the spectrum. Both groups
encompass a great cross-section of
pilots from all walks of aviationpure
general aviation, military, airline, and
corporateprobably not unlike many
flying clubs throughout the world.
Heres the biggest observation Ive
had: those who take the time to really
understand their aircraft systems are
the ones who usually do the right thing
when needed, especially in an emergency. And I have found that those who
Vic Syracuse
52
spend some time building their own

airplane really do begin to understand
systems from a whole new perspective.
First, to set the stage, lets start with
some basics that we all grew up on as
fledgling pilots: Aviate. Navigate. Communicate. How many times have we
heard that axiom? I also believe there
should be one other imperative added:
Think. Thats rightthink before acting.
Now, I am not advocating that one takes
a long time to decide on a course of
action; as we all know, there is no pause
button except when in the simulator. But
there are times when reacting to rotelearned skills will not provide a proper
outcome, and I intend to share a couple
of firsthand experiences that drove it
home to me.
I also believe that flying can be simplified even further into two categories:
decision-making (risk elimination) and
aerodynamics. See, if we make all of the
proper decisions, starting with trip planning, and then fly the airplane within its
designed envelope, the outcome should
be a very safe and enjoyable flight.
Decision-Making
Lets start with the differences in decision-making as related to initiating the
flight. In air carrier operations there are
multiple people who can make the go/
no-go decision, including the dispatcher,
the captain, maintenance, and even ATC.
And no amount of pressure from the
family in the back will begin to impact
the decision. The dispatcher has lots of
data to work with, including colleagues,
Vic and Carol Syracuse. Vic spent almost a

year flying a regional jet, which really gave
him some insight into the similarities and
differences between scheduled air carrier
ops and general aviation sport flying.
continuous weather updates, and realtime data from other pilots/flights along
the same route. As a GA pilot there are
certainly multiple sources of weather
data, which can be conflicting and confusing, and there arent always PIREPS
when we need them the most. Unlike
carriers who have multiple flights
going in and out of the destination, we
may be the only ones headed our way.
And speaking of PIREPS, how relevant
do you think a PIREP for moderate chop
below 10,000 feet posted by a 757 is to
a light, single-engine aircraft in IMC
and without an autopilot? I am pretty
sure it will feel a whole lot worse than
moderate and most certainly would
not be an enjoyable experience, passengers or no passengers.
From the outside, and especially
while waiting at the passenger terminal gate for a delayed flight, it may look
Vic is a Commercial Pilot and CFII with ASMEL/ASES ratings, an A&P, DAR, and EAA Technical
Advisor and Flight Counselor. Passionately involved in aviation for over 36 years, he has built
10 award-winning aircraft and has logged over 7800 hours in 69 different kinds of aircraft. Vic
had a career in technology as a senior-level executive and volunteers as a Young Eagle pilot and
Angel Flight pilot. He also has his own sport aviation business called Base Leg Aviation.
like the flight crew just shows up prior

to departure and takes off. The reality
is that there has been a whole cadre of
people and resources being applied to
that flights decision-making way ahead
of the crews arrival. As a GA pilot we can
somewhat stack the odds in our favor
the same way by beginning to watch
the weather some time ahead of our
planned departure. Maybe even a week
ahead during those times of the years
when hurricanes or fast-moving fronts
can wreak havoc.
Start by comparing the forecasts
vs. the actuals, and use tools such as
FlightAware to see the departures/arrivals from your destination airport. I usually store the AWOS telephone number
in my cell phone for my destination and
listen to it many times in the week prior
to departure. It gives me some inkling as
to prevailing winds and what runways
might be used.
Maintenance
Speaking of pre-flight planning, maintenance can play a big part with regards
to the outcome of the flight. Again, in air
carrier ops there are a whole lot more
resources being applied to the aircraft.
As a GA pilot, and especially a builder/
pilot, those requirements fall upon our
shoulders. For this reason, I am a firm
believer in a thorough post-flight as
well as a pre-flight. I like to make sure
that the aircraft is going to be ready
when I need it next, not discover its not
ready when we are planning to leave.
One increasingly overlooked area is that
of ensuring the databases for all of the
avionics are current and will remain that
way for the duration of the trip. This can
be really impactful when heading out
on a two-week trip that overlaps the
monthly data cycles.
Aircraft Capability
Having lived in a fly-in community for
over 17 years, I have also learned a big
axiom for travel: When I have to be
somewhere I take the airlines, and when
I can be somewhere I try to fly myself.
Why? Two reasons: It doesnt back me
into a corner that will lead to bad decision-making, and second, there clearly is
Photos: Vic Syracuse
Our Experimental aircraft capabilities rival the airlines, as evidenced by the authors RV-10
panel with all of the goodies.
a capabilities difference in both the aircraft and the crews. As for the aircraft, on
a typical 34 hour flight across the country, I may have to go through a frontal
system. Depending on the time of year,
that front might have thunderstorms,
icing, or really low ceilings. In my singleengine airplane with its crew of one,
and without deicing or auto-land capabilities, I am not going to have the same
enjoyable flight as my airline friends
will be having at 35,000 feet above the
weather. Oh yes, I am also constantly
chided by my airline neighbor friends of
how risky it is for me to be flying singleengine IMC and at night. Interestingly
enough, I have watched more than one
of them retire and they now fly single
engine IMC and at night! Go figure.
Avionics
One area of capabilities in which I think
Experimental aviation has the upper
hand is the avionics. Mainly because we
arent held to certification criteria, we are
allowed to keep up with all of the rapid
advances in this area. Just like PCs, airplanes that were built just a few years ago
can have instrument panels that appear
obsolete, even if they had state-of-theart at the time. However, this is an area
that we should all be cautious about, as
sometimes the new stuff doesnt always
play nice together, and failure modes
can be insidious and deadly. This is an

area where I think backup systems are

even more important than that second
engine, and I especially believe that the
backup system should be a different
vendor and have some form of electrical
backup capabilities. It helps to eliminate
simultaneous exposure to the same software or hardware bug.
Attitude
The last area I want to touch on this
month is attitude. No, not the attitude
of the aircraft, but the attitude of the
pilot. Did you ever notice that the pilots
with the right attitude seem to be having a lot more fun? Unless you are a test
pilot, or seeking to set records, theres
really not a whole lot more left to prove
in aviation. Its about having fun. You can
feel the positive vibes and fun factor on
a commercial flight when the pilot and
crew almost behave as if they were tour
guides, pointing out sights along the
way and other tidbits about the journey.
And you can see it in the GA terminals
by the demeanor of the passengers and
crew when disembarking.
Unfortunately, not all pilots make
use of the available resources, or exercise good decision-making. Sometimes
its due to attitude, and sometimes it is
due to unforeseen circumstances. Next
month I will touch on some of the examples I have seen in my aviation journey.
Until then, keep the fun factor going! J
53
Going
Off-Plans
By David Boeshaar
I consider my project to be more

owner assembled than Experimental.
I dont write plans, I follow them. But
is it OK for me to go off-plans? Can I
add modifications? The simple answer
is, yes. No matter what I call my project,
it is still Experimental, which gives me
some leeway in the way my final project
will look and feel. Even the new guy can
make modifications, but I never do that
by myself. Here are 10 tips about mods
and going off-plans:
1. Going off-plans adds significant time
to your project. Even small changes
will add to your build time. My avionics tray cost me three weeks, but I
love my avionics tray.
2. Does the modification affect safety
of flight? I never go off-plan on these
mods. My plane has magnetos and a
carburetor. Im really overly cautious
here. Keep safety issues at the top of
your list.
3. Some mods are wishful thinking.
More speed? Better economy? Lower
operating costs? These can cost time
and money and not give you the results
you expected. Do your research and
listen to advice from flying projects.
54
4. Remember, weight is the enemy of

flight. Consider the weight penalty of your mod. These build up
over time, so one modification
might not make a difference, but
many can.
5. Is saving money a good reason to
go off-plan? Think about the longterm impact of saving a few bucks.
Using cheap electrical connectors is
not a good idea. Using an automotive alternator? Thats OK with me.

Lots of flying planes do that, and
there are lots of examples where the
automotive industry has advanced
and the aeronautical world has not.
But never save money if it affects
safety of flight.
6. Is this a well-documented modification? Are there many examples of this
This rudder cable fairing should give me an extra five knots!

Easy entry and exit.
mod flying? This is not really going

off-plans, it is just a plans addendum.
7. Is the mod a kit I can buy that many
others have already done? My nav
lights fall into this category. LED
lights for wings and tail that many
others have used will be a great
update to my plane. It will save a few
bucks and a few pounds as well!
8. Be sure you understand the maintenance implications of an off-plans
modification. Does it need extra work
at condition inspection time? Does
this mod have a limited service life?
9. Is the modification legal? Just
because its an Experimental aircraft
doesnt mean you have carte blanche
Photos: David Boeshaar
David Boeshaar is a systems

analyst for corporate
Disney. A former mechanic,
teacher, and computer
help desk guru at a major
university, he is now building a Vans RV-9A for fun
with his brother-in-law. As
the new guy in aviation,
Dave has learned lots,
both good and expensive,
and hopes to pass along a
little help to the builders
coming up behind him.
David Boeshaar
The parking brake valve is pretty important to me, and Ill add it to the annual
condition inspection checklist.
freedom. Using bolts from the local

hardware store or building your own
transponder may not get you past
inspection. For some mods, getting
in touch with a DAR early may be a
good idea.
10. If going off-plan involves a new vendor, do your homework. Make sure
they are going to be around for support. If not, can you support this
mod yourself?
Building an Experimental aircraft
is possible even if you are not an aviation engineer. Thousands have done
it! Modifications are a natural part
of the process and even expected in
certain areas such as avionics. When
considering modifications, keep safety
as the top factor, then add cost, time
to build, performance, and cool-factor
after that. J
55
maintenance matters
A clean plane is a safer
plane and a source of pride.
Cleaning your plane seems like such
a simple thing, but that doesnt mean
there arent right and wrong ways to do it.
Major damage can result from improper
cleaning, so lets take a look at what
works and what doesnt when it comes to
keeping your plane looking good.
Cleaning Windows
and Windshields
The surfaces most often cleaned and
most vulnerable to damage are acrylic
windows and windshields. Just about
every time you fly, you will have occasion to clean the windshield. Improper
cleaning will reveal itself fairly quickly,
but some mistakes may take longer to
exact their toll. Window material may go
by names such as Lucite or Plexiglas. No
matter the name, almost all Experimental aircraft windows and windshields are
made of acrylic, so be sure to only use
cleaners and polishes approved for use
on acrylic, not glass window cleaners.
The best thing to remove dust and
loose material on a window is clean
water. A gentle spray will wash away
most dust and at least a few bugs. Even
better is a gentle application of soapy
water. Be sure to use gentle soap such as
dish soap made for hand washing dishes
(not dishwasher or most laundry soaps).
Popular products like Dove or Ajax liquid
dish soap work well, as does Woolite,
a gentle laundry soap favored by the
staff at our sister publication, Light Plane
Maintenance (LPM). All of these should
Dave Prizio
56
be well-diluted in clean water. Do not

use any ammonia-based window cleaners like Windex or household cleaners
like 409 or Simple Green. These contain
chemicals that can damage acrylic.
Stubborn spots on acrylic surfaces
need to be removed gently using your
bare hand or nothing harsher than a soft
cotton or microfiber cloth. In all cases it is
imperative to only use clean implements
to wash acrylic surfaces. The priority
here is to avoid scratches. Paper towels
should never be used on acrylic windows
or windshields.
It is best to remove watches and rings
before cleaning windows. Even belt
buckles or pants rivets can cause trouble
if you need to lean over the windshield
to clean the opposite side. If this sounds
extreme, remember how much work it
was to install the windshield the first
time. You dont really want to do that

again, do you?
If you encounter a really stubborn
spot that has you thinking about reaching for the big guns, in other words
strong solvents, take a breath first. The
stronger the solvent the more likely it is
to do permanent damage. Mineral spirits can be considered, but beyond that,
solvents such as acetone or methyl ethyl
ketone (MEK) are very likely to do more
harm than good. If it comes to that, it will
be better to leave a small spot that wont
yield to your efforts rather than create a
larger spot that will permanently mar a
window or windshield.
If you are somewhere where you do
not have access to soapy water, Ive had
good luck cleaning windshields with a
product called Plexus. It is specifically
designed for cleaning acrylic windows.
Clean your acrylic windows with a product specifically made for the purpose such as
Plexus. Use a clean cotton or microfiber cloth. An up-and-down motion is preferred over a
circular motion. Remove watches, rings and other things that might scratch your windows.
Dave Prizio is a Southern California native who has been plying the skies of the L.A. basin and
beyond since 1973. Born into a family of builders, it was only natural that he would make his
living as a contractor and spend his leisure time building airplanes. He has so far completed
threea GlaStar, a Glasair Sportsman, and a Texas Sport Cuband he is helping a friend
build a fourth, an RV-8. When he isnt building something, he likes to share his love of aviation
with others by flying Young Eagles or volunteering as an EAA Technical Counselor. He is also
a licensed A&P mechanic and a member of the EAA Homebuilt Aircraft Council.
Extreme Simple Green Aircraft & Precision

Cleaner applied full strength is effective
at removing bugs and other dirt from
leading edges of wings and struts. It is not
recommended for use on windshields or
other acrylic windows unless diluted. Do
not use regular household Simple Green.
Spray it on generously and then wipe

it off with a clean cotton or microfiber
towel. After using the towel once, do not
reuse it on a windshield until it has been
washed. Wipe with an up-and-down
motion, not a circular motion, for best
results. Cee Baileys Premium Windshield
Cleaner or Meguairs PLASTX also work
well. PLASTX is a cleaner and polish, so
it is very good on tiny scratches or surfaces dulled by prolonged exposure to
weather. Cee Baileys makes windshields
for many motorcycles and a number
of Experimental airplane kits including Glasair, Zenith and the RV-10. There
may be other cleaners that work just as
well, but you should always test any new
product before you use it on your plane.
If You Scratch It
Scratches can often be removed successfully if they arent too deep and
especially if they arent in a primary
vision area. Aircraft Spruce and other
aviation vendors sell kits that take you
through several steps of using finer and
finer abrasives before finally polishing
the scratched spot until it is clear. You
can duplicate the contents of the kit if
you have a number of wet and dry sandpaper grades from 400 to 2000 grit and
then use a polishing compound to finish. The kit is just more convenient for
most people. The important thing is to
remove the absolute minimum amount
of material. If your view is distorted by
the repair, you may have no choice but
Photos: Dave Prizio
57
to replace the damaged window. This

is one place where an ounce of scratch
prevention is worth a pound of scratch
removal cure, and then some.
If you do have Lexan (polycarbonate) windows, scratch removal is much
more difficult because Lexan is so soft.
A scratch-filling polish like Mequairs
PLASTX may help, but there are fewer
good options than there are for acrylics.
Before You Wash Your Plane

Be sure not to run afoul of any local airport regulations regarding where you
can wash your plane and what soaps
you may use. Your airport manager
should have this information readily
available and may have a designated
wash area that complies with environmental regulations.
It is a good idea to remove your watch,
rings, belt buckles, or anything else that
can scratch your plane before you wash
it. If possible point your plane into the
wind, chock the wheels, and install control locks. You dont want thinks banging around or rolling off while you are
trying to wash your plane. Protect static
ports and the pitot tube inlet from wash
water. Be sure to remove these covers
after you wash.
Washing Your Plane

The best approach to washing a plane
usually involves tackling tough spots
first, and then washing the whole plane
with soapy water, finishing with a rinse
of clear water. For tough spots Extreme
Simple Green Aircraft & Precision Cleaner
An automotive-type creeper and a full face shield work best for cleaning the belly of
your airplane.
seems to work the best. This should not

be confused with the more common
household version of Simple Green.
Regular Simple Green is corrosive when
used to clean aluminum. It can work into
the joints between aircraft skins and do
major damage over time. Do not use it
on your plane.
To clean areas such as leading edges
or aircraft bellies, spray on undiluted
Aircraft Simple Green, let it soak for a
minute or two, and then wipe it off. Most
insects, grease, and exhaust stains will
yield to this treatment after some wiping with a clean cloth. Repeat the process for really stubborn spots. It is best
to avoid strong solvents, but if you must
employ harsh means, be sure to test the
product in a place where possible damage will not be readily visible. Varsol (aliphatic naptha) will work well on really
stubborn grease and exhaust deposits
on the belly, but it should be used sparingly and washed off after use. Mineral
Use compressed air to blow wash water out of places where it

might collect or be trapped after washing. Trapped water can
contribute to corrosion.
58
spirits may also do the trick and should

not harm paint, but again, it will need to
be washed off after use because it leaves
a film. Avoid harsh solvents such as lacquer thinner, acetone, or MEK.
Use personal protective equipment,
especially when using undiluted cleaning chemicals. Nitrile or dishwashing
gloves are a good idea, as is eye protection. A clear full-face protector is a good
idea when cleaning the belly of the airplane where chemicals and grease can
easily drip into your eyes and face. An
automotive-type creeper is also nice
for rolling around under the wings and
belly of the plane. You can pick these
items up at Harbor Freight for very reasonable prices.
Once tough grime and bugs have been
removed, wash the entire plane with
soapy water, again using only mild soap as
previously mentioned, or you can use Aircraft Simple Green diluted 10:1 with water.
Undiluted Aircraft Simple Green should
Use a water-displacing lube to protect things like rod ends after

washing. WD-40 or Boeshield T-9 are good choices for this.
not be used on acrylic surfaces. Pressure

washing is not recommended, especially
high-pressure washers. They can drive
water and cleaning chemicals into seams
and joints in aircraft skins and penetrate
seals into bearings and actuators. Even a
garden hose with a spray nozzle should
not be directed straight at bearings, rod
ends, or hydraulic actuators. Avoid abrasive cleaners or strong alkali soaps.
After Washing
After your plane has been washed and
rinsed, dry it thoroughly with a chamois or old, clean, bath towels. Use compressed air to blow out any trapped
water, and be sure to remove any protection from the pitot tube and static ports.
A squirt of WD-40 or other water-displacing lube can help flush water from
exposed rod ends and hinges. Sump
your fuel tanks to be sure no wash water
got into the fuel system.
Be sure to note any corrosion, loose or
missing fasteners, peeling paint, or cracks
you may have seen when washing or
SHOP
TIPS
Quarter-inch pilot bits in hole saws
have a tendency to enlarge the pilot hole
as they cut. The result is an egg-shaped
hole because the pilot bit wanders. Fortunately, the solution is simple.
1. Cut a piece of 1/4-inch steel rod. Grind
or file a flat where the set screw will
land. The flat keeps the pilot from
rotating in the cutter.
2. Cut a piece of plywood or hardwood.
Drill a hole and enlarge it to 1/4 inch
with a reamer. The reamer leaves a
perfectly round hole to the correct
dimension. The wood block serves as
a sacrificial backing plate and guide.
3. Drill the guide hole in the part and
ream to 1/4-inch diameter.
drying the plane. This is the best time

to look for these things, since the plane
will be clean and your attention will be
focused on the entire exterior of the aircraft. Anything that needs immediate
attention should get it as soon as possible. If you really want to do some good
research on aircraft corrosion control, you
might want to take a look at FAA advisory
circular AC43-4A. It is numbingly long,
but at least it is free on the web, and it has
some good information in it.
Obviously this is the time to think
about waxing your plane if you have the
time. As an alternative, it is a good idea
to wax the leading edges of the wings,
struts, and tail surfaces to make insect
removal easier. This minimal application
of carnauba-type wax will not take too
much time and will make cleaning easier
next time. Waxes that contain silicone
should generally be avoided, especially
if you have a fabric covered airplane. The
silicone gets into the fabric and makes it
all but impossible to patch it later should
the need arise.
If you intend to wax your whole plane,

or if you have oxidized paint that needs
to be polished out, you will want to invest
in a power buffer/polisher. This is where I
get on the phone and call the local aircraft detailer, but you can do it yourself
if you have the time and energy. Just be
sure to get some knowledgeable help
the first time you do. This is especially
true for those of you with unpainted aluminum wings, which is really a subject
of its own. Polished aluminum can be a
beautiful thing, but there are definitely
easier and harder ways to do it. Actually,
there are just hard and harder ways to do
it if we are being perfectly honest. Talk to
someone with firsthand experience to
get some helpful hints.
Besides having a nice clean plane,
there is a real benefit to washing your
plane. It gives you the chance to spot corrosion and minor cracking that may have
escaped your notice on your typical preflight inspection. Be on the lookout for
these things as you give your prized bird
the once over. J
Eliminating
Egg-Shaped Holes
By Larry Larson
4. Secure the wood block to the drill press

with the hole-cutter guide pin perfectly aligned in the guide hole. If possible, clamp the part to the guide block.
5. Double-check that the holes are
aligned with the guide pin.
6. Lube the cutter and guide pin with a good
lube like beeswax or Boelube stick.
7. Set the drill press for a slow speed: 250
rpm is a good.
8. Proceed with low pressure and be
ready for the cutter to break through.
It can hang on the last bit, so back off
and take a look. Apply very little pressure as it breaks through, or pull the
part and cut the last bit by hand with a
Dremel and cutoff wheel. J

59
Taking our instrument

panel into the next decade.
Im not really sure when we finally
decided it was time to update our instrument panel. Im aware that there are a
few people out there shaking their heads
at the mere mention of a panel upgrade.
After all, the airplane received its airworthiness certificate in 2008. How out of
date could the panel be?
Well, since you askedWe began
construction on our Vans Aircraft RV-10
the winter of 2004 (serial number
250-something). Frankly, I should not
have even been thinking of an instrument panel at that point, but so much
of the reason we were building was centered around the fact that we wanted a
modern, sleek, well-instrumented, IFRcapable aircraft. What the instrument
First-generation GRT Horizon I EFIS units

were extremely capable.
Amy Laboda
60
panel could hold, relative to our budget,

was key to the whole project.
Turns out it was 2004 when GRT Avionics Greg Toman developed the Horizon I
EFIS for his RV-6A. It was one of the more
robust EFIS units on the market, and to
be honest, I spent a lot of time hanging
around the GRT booth at Sun n Fun and
AirVenture ogling at the box. It was in
our budget. We had experience with the
companys venerable EIS unit, which we
had put in our Kitfox IV in 2000, and we
liked the way Toman built his products.
Robust, hardened, and durablethose
are words you like to hear when you are
purchasing electronicsespecially avionics. Toman also offered his databases
for the Horizon I units for free. Anyone
paying for IFR Garmin GPS database
updates knows how much that is worth
over the lifetime of any instrument.
It was another two years before we
actually purchased any instrumentation
for our build, and if I had it to do again,
Id have delayed the purchase for even
another year, if I could get away with it.
As quickly as avionics are developing and
improving, the longer you wait to outfit
your instrument panel, the more likely
you are to find the coolest, most capable
devices to populate its real estate. As it
turned out, by the time we got our RV-10
flying, in mid-2008, the Horizon I EFIS
that was pretty much the neatest thing
Id seen in 2005 was already looking a
little dated. Toman brought out the EFIS
HX, with a faster processor, more connectivity, and larger, high-definition screens
right around that time. Argh!
New HX EFIS units are amazingly quick and

sharp compared to first-generation boxes.
I was found hanging around the GRT

booth once more, ogling this time at the
HX boxes. Swapping mine out was, well,
possible. But financially really not practical
at all. Toman was supporting the Horizon
I, and the boxes I had put in my airplane
were rock-solid performers. My extremely
practical builder/husband/mechanic
pointed out that you dont mess with
things that work. OK, he had a point.
Instead of upgrading the panel we
swapped XM weather for ADS-B, and
added redundancy with a TRW battery
backup. These upgrades made sense,
both financially and practically.
has taught students how to fly in California, Texas, New York, and Florida. Shes towed gliders, flown
ultralights, wrestled with aerobatics, and even dabbled in skydiving. She holds an Airline Transport
Pilot certificate, multi-engine and single-engine flight instructor ratings, as well as glider and rotorcraft (gyroplane) ratings. She also helped with the build of her Kitfox IV and RV-10.
Fast forward nearly 1000 flight hours

of uninterrupted, solid performance. One
day in early 2015, GRT Avionics offered
to buy back the Horizon I boxes if wed
upgrade to the companys modern HX or
HXr product line. The numbers werent
bad, either. Best of all, we could keep
the dual AHRS and magnetometers and
reuse them with the new EFIS. The HXr
box, with its remote-mounted radios and
10.4-inch screen made no sense for our
panel, but, after measuring, it appeared
that two 6.5-inch HX screens would fit,
snuggly, in the basic footprint of the old
Horizon I boxes. We blinked.
any scrap material, to keep it from contaminating the area behind the panel.
Wiring was carefully bundled and tucked
back and a plastic drop cloth sealed to
the backside of the panel.
He then chose his tools thoughtfully.
Ultimately he settled on a drill and saw
technique that, though slower, was less
likely to spray very fine metal dust into
the area behind the panel, the way a
rotary saw might have done. (That dust is
nearly impossible to completely remove,
and can cause random shorts in your avionics that will drive you insane as you try
to chase them down at a later date.)
Strategic Install
Not Exactly Plug-n-Play
A few weeks later a box arrived from GRT.

Why only one? It was prime flying season
in our neck of the woods, and we really
did not want to lose the use of the airplane for any significant length of time.
For that reason we opted to upgrade the
screens one at a time. It also gave us the
ability to fly with our well-known Horizon I right next to the new HX, so that we
could learn the new, all the while having
the security of the old right there, just in
case. (Turns out that manipulating the HX
is so much like the Horizon I that this was
really not a problem.)
So, what exactly did it take once the

panel was cut and the HX turned up on
our doorstep? Lessand morethan
we thought. GRT Avionics techs tell
their customers right up front that these
EFIS boxes are not really designed to be
plug-n-play. Rather, they are designed
to afford the user tremendous flexibility
and capability. The HX sports a powerful processor, plethora of connection
options, more software settings than I
think even the techie-ist of techies will
ever need (someone will refute that
statement, Im sure), and compatibility
with a wide range of avionics and accessories from different manufacturers.
There are serial, Ethernet, USB, ARINC
429 ports, and more on the HX. With
optional bluetooth connectivity, I can
even use my Android smartphone to
pre-plan flights and then upload them
to the HX once Im at the airplane. Want
to set the radios or change that plan in
flight? I can do that, too, with my smartphone. Not that I will (although the
idea that I can do it without reaching
Measure Twice, Cut Once

Perhaps the most daunting part of the
whole upgrade came at the very beginningfiguring out how to make the two
HX boxes fit into the panel. Metal had to
be removed. We did not want to pull the
whole panel out; that would have had
the airplane down for a considerable
time. So my builder devised a method
for removing the metal very carefully.
He created a metal catchment system for
GPS
4800 Baud Rate
Serial Port 3
Pitot/Static System
Display Unit
Magnetometer
AHRS
Serial Port 4
9600 Baud Rate
EIS
Modular components of the HX EFIS provide many paths to a redundant system. However,
its up to the panel designer to ensure the electrons flow properly for ideal functionality.
Photos: Amy Laboda
Measure twice, cut once. Special attention

was paid to capturing all the scrap metal.
over into the captains space is kinda

fun to contemplate). There are so many
choices for connecting and configuring the boxes (above what the Horizon
I offered) that it may very well have been
the most daunting part of the entire retrofit. Of course, to get that functionality
youve got to set up the boxes. Deciding
how to maximize the connectivity took
hours of planning, combined with several calls to GRT techs for advice.
If you are considering installing GRT
products in your panel, you need to be
the kind of builder who doesnt just read
the install/user manualsyou need to
digest them. The good news is that GRT
techs are knowledgeable, capable and,
the Holy Grail, available. Hallelujah.
Redundancy, Redundancy,
and now, Redundancy
Ours is a dual-screen setup, stacked, and
it was designed for redundancy. We were
nearly redundant with the Horizon I stack,
but the boxes lacked enough ports to
allow us complete redundancy. This was
not a problem with the HX EFIS. Displays
one and two are now directly linked via
Ethernet. They are also each connected
to both AHRS 1 and AHRS 2. That makes
them dual-connected to the pitot-static
system and magnetometers because
each AHRS is connected to its respective
magnetometer (see the diagram).
61
Our AHRS units are separate; a dualin-one-box system would defeat the
plan. We have a dedicated avionics bay
behind the baggage compartment in
our airplane where youll find the AHRS
mounted level with the lateral and longitudinal axes of the aircraft, their connectors facing aft, as per GRT specs.
Large wiring conduits run beneath the
floorboards and seats from the instrument panel aft. Our magnetometers
have their own shelf in the avionics bay,
safely set some two feet from anything
that could generate magnetism, including current carrying wiring. The entire
system is set up so that if a component
fails, we can pull it out, box it up, and
send it to GRT, and then keep on flying
if we need to. The repaired or replacement component can catch up with us
at the next destination.
Flying the Boxes

Was it Worth It?
Do you remember when you upgraded
from an Intel Pentium CPU to the Core
Duo or Quad-Core chip? Going from

2004 to 2014 technology in your avionics is a lot like that. The HX screens boot
quickly and their animations and motion
are smooth like butter. But even with all
that, GRT Avionics has wisely kept the
basic functionality of the soft buttons
and knobs intact. I was worried that Id
need to learn a whole new EFIS software,
but I did not.
There are, however, a few new tricks on
the HX. The addition of terrain that is more
map-like is welcome. I can even choose to
depict actual sectional or en-route charts
(for a database fee). Even geo-located
approach charting is available if I want it. I
dont, right now. I have all that on my iPad
for the moment. I also feel that weather
and traffic show up better on the default
terrain. It is a personal preference, and
yours may differ from mine. I do find the
HXs high-definition screens, which are
an inch or so larger than the Horizon I
screens, are easier on my eyes.
Functionality aside, I love the new
look of the panel. When we took to
Tools used for slow, methodical trimming.

Scrap metal was cleared as we went.
the air for the first time with the beast

in 2008, we were thrilled to be in our
hand-built, modern, general aviation
cruiser. Its satisfying to see it seven
years later, all decked out with truly
redundant high-definition EFIS units
and know that its still a modern GA
cruiser, and still all we ever wanted in a
cross-country airplane. J
Kitplanes subscriber alert!
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62
Home Shop Machinist

There are a number of techniques and
tools for measuring inside diameters (IDs).
The quickest and easiest is a caliper. While
great for instant read capability, calipers have a few inherent limitations: They
cant reach into a hole beyond the length
of their jaws, and the handle can get in
the way when trying to measure a bore
that is obstructed by its position (for more
about calipers, see Meet Mike and Cal,
Home Shop Machinist, September 2015).
Examples of projects that might require
bore gauging include: precision fitting a
bearing, making holes for a force-fit, and
sizing a bushing block for a control rod.
Engine inspection is another application
that requires accurate measuring. Bore
gauges are used to check bearing journals
and connecting rod ends to determine
in- or out-of-tolerance condition; and cylinders for wear, taper, and out-of-round.
Ive broken bore gauging into two
basic categories: small hole gauges (up
to inch) with spherical ends, and large
hole gauges (over inch) with telescoping ends.
Small Hole Gauging
Bore gauging.
This imported four-piece small-hole gauge

set (covering a range from 1/8 inch to inch)
costs about $35. You could spend $100 or
more for a premium brand like Brown &
Sharpe or Starrett, but the import set is
more than adequate for the home shop.
To gauge a small hole, adjust the thumbscrew on the handle until the sphere just
barely touches the inside diameter. Extract
and measure the sphere to determine the
hole size.
called transfer measuring or transfer

gauging because youre measuring the
gauge and not the hole.
expand, lock, extract, and measure. The

plungers are spring loaded, so all you
have to do is hold the gauge exactly perpendicular to the bore axis and tighten
the handle to lock it. Any slight deviation from exactly perpendicular will yield
an oversize reading. Its a good idea to
Large Hole Gauging

Telescoping bore gauges work on the
same principle as the small-hole gauges:
To measure small holesup to -inch

use a small-bore gauge. These typically come in sets with each unit being
adjustable to cover a particular range
in the set. A split sphere on the gauging end expands as you twist the
handle. You insert the gauge into the
hole and adjust the thumbscrew until
the sphere barely touches the ID. You
extract the gauge and measure it with
a micrometer. This type of gauging is
Bob Hadley
Photos and illustration: Bob Hadley
The telescoping bore gauge must be

square and perpendicular to the hole to
obtain an accurate measurement.
Bob Hadley is the R&D manager for a California-based consumer products company. He holds
a Sport Pilot certificate and a Light-Sport Repairman certificate with inspection authorization
for his Jabiru J250-SP.
63
Telescoping bore gauges come in a variety of sizes. The set on the

left covers a range from inch to 11/4 inches and costs $35. The set
above covers inch to 6 inches and costs $45.
gauge the same spot a few times until

you get a consistent result.
Telescoping gauges can be very
accurate, but it takes some practice to
get the feel for them. They can be a bit
tedious if you have to check or compare a lot of holes. Still, for the home
shop, they are a good option because
they are inexpensive.
Dial-Type Bore Gauge

A step up from the telescoping gauge is
the dial-type bore gauge. Like the smallbore and telescoping gauges, the dial
bore gauge is, despite the presence of an
indicator, a transfer gauge. The indicator
display (either a mechanical pointer or
digital readout) does not provide a direct
reading of the bore diameter. The purpose of the indicator is to make it easier
to dial-in zero when gauging a bore.
The device is basically a fancy telescoping gauge with the indicator showing the
plunger movement.
To use a dial bore gauge, you select

an extension probe that is within the
range of the hole to be measured. The
probe threads onto a plunger head that
articulates the dial indicator. Insert the
gauge into the hole and observe the
dial. As you (gently) rock or tilt the probe
off perpendicular, the indicator will
oscillate between some minimum and
maximum reading. The minimum reading is where the gauge is perpendicular
and correct for measuring a bore. At this
point you turn the dial bezel to line up
zero to the needle (or press zero if
using a digital gauge). It may take a few
tries to correctly zero the needle; get it
in the ballpark, re-gauge the bore and
reset the dial as needed until you get
zero every time.
To obtain the bore diameter, measure between the extension probe and
plunger with a micrometer. Carefully
adjust the mike until the indicator on
the bore gauge reads close to zero. The
A dial-type bore gauge. This set will gauge holes from 18mm to 33mm with the supplied
probes. Prices for a dial bore gauge set like this: between $70 and $200.
64
correct reading is obtained when, as you

rock the bore gauge between the mike
anvils, the needle zeros out, just like it
did in the bore. The reading on the mike
is the bore ID. It can be a bit awkward to
mike a bore gauge. Some people prefer
to clamp the micrometer in a stand.
For most work, a dial bore gauge is not
quicker nor more accurate than a telescoping gauge. Where a dial bore gauge
really shines is when checking or comparing a number of cylinders or checking
for taper. Once you set zero, you can use
the direct reading on the dial to compare
for over-size or under-size variances, or
check the taper of a cylinder.
Conclusion
Stepping up from a caliper to a set of
dedicated bore gauges is part of the
natural progression of the home shop
machinist. A basic set of small-bore
gauges and a range of telescoping
gauges will meet the needs of most
The business end of the dial bore gauge.
projects you might encounter. The average home machinist can, with practice,
achieve respectable precision.
The tools are relatively inexpensive,
the techniques relatively simple, and the
results are pretty accurate. All in all, ideal
for the home shop! J
Using the dial bore gauge.
65
Bob Cartwrights RV-7
RV-7 N646RC (builder # 71194) flew for the first time on the morning of
October 4, 2011 after eight years of construction with Jerry Ronk at the
controls. All went well except for a yaw trim issue.
The plane is equipped with a Mattituck/ECI TMX O-360, Whirl Wind
RV-200 prop, Dynon D-100/D120, iFly 720 GPS, Garmin SL-40 com,
Garmin GX-327 transponder, TruTrak DigiFlight IIVS autopilot. It flew
for 18 months to work out all issues prior to paint. The empty weight after
paint is 1073 pounds.
I would like to thank Jerry Ronk, Mike Howard, TW (Tom Wieduwilt), Ron Wood, Kevin Faris, Jerry Mason, Jim Gallamore,
and anyone else I forgot in EAA Chapter 80, and of course, my wife Carolyn (she actually bucked a few rivets before she decided
it was too hard), for support and advice for the last eight years.
Omaha, NEBRASKA
robertc@novia.net
Dale Williams Myunn Corvair-powered Sonex
Myunn (N319WF), a Corvair powered Sonex airframe, was purchased

from a previous owner who had begun the fuselage and intended to use
an AeroVee VW conversion engine. The kit came with factory-assembled
wingspars. Following the purchase in January, 2010, my building mentor,
Dick Fisher, and I began the reconstruction process after much disassembly because of changes we wanted to make and poor workmanship that
was found. We installed the 3.0 120-hp Corvair conversion that was built
for us by Dan Weseman of SPA (http://flywithspa.com) using his custom
motor mount and nose bowl for the cowling assembly. The engine is built to William Wynn specifications (http://flycorvair.net)
and utilizes his gold oil filter system and prop hub. It is equipped with an oil-fed BTA 5th bearing for prop loads and a
Sensenich 54x58 propeller.
The interior is from the factory, and the instruments are MGL. We included an LRI (lift reserve indicator), along with a
Flightline FL-760 radio and iFly 720 GPS.
First flight was in August 2012. Flight characteristics were excellent, and the Corvair power was smooth and abundant.
Signature Finish (www.signaturefinish.com) paint was applied using Tom Fabulas roll-on method, which added 20 pounds.
daleandee@yahoo.com
http://websites.expercraft.com/daleandee
Herbert Telges Vans RV-12
After almost a year of work, we completed our Vans RV-12 kit in January
2014. This was a team effort (dad and son project) done in Lima, Peru. Our
plane is flying very well with approximately 25 hours in April 2014.
In the picture you can see our RV-12 and Herbert senior and Herbert junior
at our local ultralight club located 40 miles south of Lima (San Bartolo).
Lima, Peru
htelge@infonegocio.net.pe
Dick Harrimans Waiex
My Waiex was started on October 1, 2012 and completed 10 months later

with 1350 man-hours of work. My building and flying partner, Mike Tabler,
and I are both retired pilots of the 55th wing, 343 squadron, and the aircraft
is painted in the colors of the 343rd, 55th Fighter Group of WW-II (P-51).
The aircraft flies great and is powered by the AeroVee engine. Sonex has been
great in working out any hiccups we have had along the way.
Papillon, Nebraska
planenut8@gmail.com
66
Ray Sievers Vans Aircraft RV-9
After nine years and 3500+ hours of effort, S/N 91219 took its first flight
on November 27, 2013. What a wonderful kit and outstanding factory support from those people in Aurora, Oregon.It flew wonderfully on the first
flight, in trim, andit really climbs. This is a slow-build standardkit, and I
rebuilt theO-320-E2A out of a Cherokeemyself after attending the disassembly/assembly classat Lycoming (thank you, Jim Doebler). It swings a
Catto 70-inch diameter x 68-inch pitch propeller.
Myeternal gratitude for all the wonderful instructors at the many builders classes that I attended, and my EAA tech counselor Bill Tromblay. Thanks also to local avionics guru, Bernard Thalman, and
finally, to my tireless helpers, David Harrison and Carlos Rivera.
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Sieversg3@aol.com
Norton and Booher Twin Zeniths
N750MN took to the sky on September 10, 2013 for

her maiden voyage. N750HB followed on September 11, 2013. Mike Norton and Dick Booher, friends
for 40 years, decided to build a pair of identical airplanes. We spent just over 14 months building the
two planes.
Both are powered by the ULPower 350iS 130-hp
fuel-injected FADEC engine. Engine monitoring and flight instruments are provided by the Dynon FlightDEK-D180.
Other equipment includes a BendixKing GPS, Icom A210 com and Garmin GTX 327 transponder. We also mounted an
ADS-B receiver in the glove box for weather and traffic being sent via Bluetooth to the RAM-mounted iPad on the panel.
The props are a new design, a composite three-blade by Craig Catto, along with a spun aluminum spinner made by Allan
Cummins in Australia.
We built the planes at home and transported them to the airport for final reassembly. This was the first build for each of us, and
we frequently assisted each other during various stages. I could not have completed my plane without Dicks assistance, and I am
confident he feels I helped him occasionally.
We both have to thank our loving wives for their support and understanding during construction. Kudos goes to Zenith Aircraft for creating the simple kit, as well as the endless factory support provided by Sebastien Heintz, Caleb Gebhardt, Roger Dubbert, Shirley Swearingen, Joyce Fort, and Linda Wolf.
Vine Grove, Kentucky
Yellowrv6@gmail.com
Thomas VanderHeydens RV-7
After contemplating building an airplane for 20 years, I began my RV-7

project in June 2009, and the first flight was in October 2012, after a total
build time of about 2,500 hours. The engine and prop are the standard
Vans combination of the IO-360-M1B and Hartzell propeller. The panel
was by Aerotronics, with a Dynon SkyView and a Garmin 530W.
tvheyden@gmail.com
Submissions to Completions should include a description (250 words maximum) of the project and the finished aircraft. Also include a digital image of the aircraft. Minimum digital
image size is 1500 pixels wide x 900 pixels high (5 x 3 print size at 300 dpi). Please include a daytime phone number where we can contact you if necessary. Also indicate whether we
may publish your address in case other builders would like to contact you. Email text and photos to editorial@kitplanes.com with a subject line of Completions. You may also submit
electronically at www.kitplanes.com, just click on Completions: Add Yours in the upper right corner of the home page.
67
Certified aircraft converted to Experimental,

ELSA vs. E/A-B, op lims for major changes.
By Mel Asberry
Question: I see all sorts of former

certified aircraft flying as Experimentals, yet people keep telling me
it cant be done. Whats the official
FAA policy?
Answer: There are several Experimental categories. You dont specify which
one you are looking at going into.
There are a few instances where a
certified aircraft may go into an Experimental category. Experimental exhibition is probably the most common. This
would be for demonstrations, air racing,
making movies, etc. Testing for a proposed STC would be another.
One important thing to consider
is that once an aircraft is converted to
Experimental status, its almost impossible to return it to standard category.
If you are talking about going into
Experimental/Amateur-Built, that cannot be done. To be eligible for AmateurBuilt status, you have to prove that more
than 50% of the aircraft was built by
amateurs for the purpose of education
and recreation. And that just doesnt
apply to certified aircraft.
Some people try to say that they
rebuilt the aircraft. Unfortunately
rebuilding is considered a repair and is
not building.
68
Question: What are the pros

and cons of an ELSA versus an
E/A-B built to LSA-compliant
standards? My only caveat is they
both have to support flight under
Sport Pilot privileges.
Answer: Each category has its
advantages, so it depends on what is
most important to you. Here are the
basic differences:
ELSA has a five-hour minimum
Phase I. E/A-B has a 40-hour minimum.
ELSA must be built exactly per plans.
E/A-B not.
ELSA requires a 16-hour class for
the repairman certificate. E/A-B only
requires that you file an application.
ELSA subsequent owners are eligible
for the repairman certificate. E/A-B subsequent owners are not.
ELSA may be modified after initial certification, but not outside LSA
parameters. E/A-B may be modified
outside of LSA parameters (but the aircraft will no longer qualify as an LSA).
Be aware that most homebuilt aircraft
that meet LSA requirements can only
be built E/A-B. In order to qualify as an
ELSA, the aircraft must be built from
a certificated ELSA kit. Most kits have
not received this certification.
I own an Experimental/AmateurBuilt airplane that has an 80-hp

Rotax 912 UL. The plane was built
in 2000, and I bought it from the
builder in 2009. If I replace the
engine with a 100-hp Rotax 912
ULS, does the plane have to be
inspected again by the FAA?
As always, a set of operating limitations are issued to Amateur-Built aircraft.
This document controls pretty much
everything you can do to that aircraft.
Somewhere around 1999 to 2000,
the basic language of operating limitations was changed. There should be a
paragraph in your op lims that starts
with After incorporating a major
change as described in part 21.93...
The continuation of this paragraph
should tell you the exact procedure that
you are to follow.
Earlier versions require you to get a
new airworthiness inspection. Later versions allow the aircraft owner to make
the changes and place the aircraft back
into Phase I and test for a minimum of
five hours. J
Please send your questions for DAR
Asberry to editorial@kitplanes.com with
Ask the DAR in the subject line.
Photo: Mel Asberry
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Last month, we took a look at some

of the problems that can arise when a
builder modifies the structure of an airplane in an attempt to make it stronger.
We now continue on the same theme
with another subject that can have large
structural effectsstiffness.
In addition to the strength of a structure,
which is its ability to carry load without
failing, we must also be conscious of the
stiffness of the structure. Its a common
error to confuse stiffness and strength.
Strength determines how much load the
element can carry before it fails. Stiffness
determines how much a structural element will deflect under a given load.
Its easy to think of a very stiff item as
very strong. If you pick something up and
apply load to it, and it does not bend or
twist very much, it seems strong. Unfortunately, the small deflection under the
loads you can exert tells you nothing of
the amount of load that will cause the
structure to fail.
Modifications that change the stiffness of a structure change the way the
loads are distributed into the elements
that make up the structure.
Stiffness.
the member, the more load it takes to
deflect it a given amount. For an airplane
structure, our primary concern is its
behavior in this linear range. If the stress
exceeds the maximum stress for this linear behavior, the structure will yield and
take on a permanent bend if it is made
of ductile material like metal, or fail if it is
made of more brittle materials like wood
or composites.
Load Sharing
Stiff parts of a structure tend to carry
most of the load because the less-stiff
portions of the structure must deflect

much farther before they begin to
carry a significant load. An extreme
example of this might be the skin on a
fabric-covered airplane. When the wing
bends, the fabric, which is relatively
elastic, will stretch, and carry very little
of the bending loads. The spars, which
are much stiffer than the fabric, absorb
the entire load.
When two structural members are
attached together, the deflection of the
two members at the point of attachment must always be equal or the two
Load and Deflection

All structural elements act like springs;
they deflect when loaded. The higher
the load on the structure, the greater
the deflection.
When the stress in the material is
below the critical yield stress, the member behaves approximately linearly. The
deflection is proportional to the load,
and the load absorbed by the member is
proportional to its deflection. The stiffer
Barnaby Wainfan
Photo: James Emery
German bureaucrats decided the rear spar of the Fokker D-VIII looked flimsy and ordered
it strengthened. This made the rear spar too stiff in relation to the front spar, causing it
to fail in pullouts from high-speed dives. After reverting to Fokkers original design, no
further failures occurred.
is a principal aerodynamics engineer for Northrop Grummans Advanced Design organization.

A private pilot with single engine and glider ratings, Barnaby has been involved in the design of
unconventional airplanes including canards, joined wings, flying wings, and some too strange
to fall into any known category.
75
members will move apart. In such a

situation, since the two structural elements are constrained to have the same
deflection, the load in each member
will be determined by its stiffness, and
the stiffer member will end up carrying
more load.
The following simple example illustrates the effect this can have on the
overall strength of a structure:
Suppose we have a weight suspended
by a pair of parallel ropes of equal diameter, stiffness, and ultimate strength.
Because the two ropes have the same
stiffness and are deflected (stretched)
the same distance, each rope carries half
the load.
If we now replace one of the ropes
with a wire, which is the same length as
the rope in the unloaded condition and
has the same ultimate tensile strength,
but ten times the stiffness as the rope,
the picture changes. When the load is
applied, the wire, because of its greater
stiffness, will absorb most of the load
without elongating enough to allow
the rope to stretch enough to take up
its share of the load. In this example,
since the wire has ten times the stiffness of the rope, and the deflections of
the rope and wire are equal, the wire
will end up bearing ten times as much
load as the rope. The greater stiffness
of the wire creates a situation where
the wire is carrying 91% of the load, and
the rope is only carrying 9%. The wire is
being forced to work much harder than
the rope because of the greater stiffness of the wire.
How does this affect the overall
strength of the system? The two-rope
system will fail both ropes simultaneously,
at a total load equal to twice the ultimate
tensile strength of a single rope. Because
the two ropes have the same stiffness, as
well as the same strength, the load will be
shared equally between them.
As we have seen, when the rope-pluswire system is loaded, the wire will be
forced to take ten times the load that the
rope will take. When the wire reaches its
tensile limit and fails, the rope will be carrying a load equal to 1/10 of its ultimate
load. The wire will break, and the system
will have its first failure at a load just 10%
76
higher the tensile strength of one of the

ropes of the original two-rope system.
Once the wire has failed, the load will
transfer to the rope, which will also fail
because the load on the system is above
the tensile strength of the single rope.
Thus, because of the mismatch in stiffness between the rope and the wire, the
rope-wire combination is dramatically
weaker than the two-rope system, even
though the sum of the tensile strengths
of the rope and the wire is the same as
that of the original pair of ropes. The difference in stiffness between the rope
and wire causes the loads applied to the
system to act primarily on the wire, and
not be shared between the two loadbearing elements.
While this is an extreme example,
situations like this can arise if a builder
changes the materials mix in a structure
or adds elements intended to reinforce the structure. One such possibility occurs if the builder chooses to mix
high-stiffness carbon fiber with less-stiff
glass fiber in a spar.
If the original spar has glass spar
caps, adding carbon fiber plies to
reinforce the spar is much like adding
the wire in our example above. The
carbon plies are much stiffer than the
glass plies and will tend to carry most
of the load. They may well fail at a load
less than the original maximum load
capacity of the wing. If the original
glass is still in place, the spar may carry
its original deigned load, but will not
be stronger than before the carbon
was added.
On the opposite case, adding glass
layers to a carbon structure does not
stiffen it significantly or strengthen it
significantly because the carbon is so
much stiffer than the glass that the glass
will carry very little load. I encountered
such a situation during my career when
a fabricator arbitrarily added several
glass plies to a carbon-fiber wingskin
for a prototype UAV because he did
not think the as-designed wingskins
felt strong enough. By the time this
was discovered, it was too late to make
replacement parts and still meet our
schedule, so the vehicle ended up overweight without any benefit whatsoever
to its strength from the extraneous

glass plies.
Load Transfer
It is important to understand that a
structural modification that increases
the stiffness of part of a structure may
dramatically increase the loads carried
by that part and the structure to which
it is attached. For example, if one wire of
a pair of bracing wires is made thicker,
both the wire and the fittings it is
attached to will be subjected to higher
loads because of the increased stiffness
of the heavier wire relative to the other
wire in the pair. The thicker wire may be
able to carry the higher load, but the fittings, if they are not modified as well,
may not.
The same effect will occur if one spar
of a multi-spar wing is stiffened.
An illustrative horror story comes from
the history of rigid airships. The British
R-38 airship suffered some minor inflight buckling of girders in its mid section during early flight tests. It landed
safely, and repairs were made. During
the repairs, it was decided to reinforce
the bay that had the problems and
make it extra-strong. Unfortunately, the
increased stiffness of the modified bay
greatly increased the loads where that
bay joined the next. Shortly after the
strengthening was completed, the R-38
broke up catastrophically in flight, right
at the point where the stiffened structure
met the un-stiffened structure of the rest
of the ship.
Modifying part of a structure with
the intent of strengthening it may accidentally force the modified part to carry
higher loads, and these higher loads will
not only affect the modified part itself,
but the parts it is attached to. If all of the
links in the chain cannot withstand the
increased loads caused by the stiffness
increase, the structure may be weakened overall, rather than strengthened.
Deflection and Distortion

Changing the stiffness of portions of a
structure can also change the way the
structure deflects when loaded. This can
be particularly problematic with wing
structures where it is important not only
to control bending, but the way the wing

twists under load.
If, for example, we were to greatly
stiffen the rear spar of a two-spar
wing, we would find that the front spar
would bend more than the rear spar
under load. This differential bending
causes the wing to twist. If the rear spar
is stiffer in relation to the load it must
carry than the front spar, then the wing
will twist leading-edge-up toward the
tip as it bends. This will increase lift at
the tips, shifting the center of load on
the wing outboard, and increasing the
bending moment on the wing. This
process is divergent, and in extreme
cases can lead to wing failure. It will
certainly decrease the lift the wing can
carry safely.
Stiffening a rear spar is another example of how a modification intended
to increase the strength of a wing can
actually weaken it. Late in WW-I Fokker introduced the D-VIII (Yes D-8 not
D-7) monoplane fighter. The D-VIII had
a series of wing failures caused by this
phenomenon. Cantilever wings were
a new concept, and the importance of
twisting during bending was not well
understood at the time. The rear spar of
the D-VIII wing was too stiff in relation
to the front spar, causing the wing to
wash in and fail in pullouts from highspeed dives. Fokker claimed that this
was because bureaucrats from the German government had decided the rear
spar looked flimsy and ordered him to
strengthen it. Fokker complied, and
the wings failed in flight. The twisting
effect of the reinforcement was eventually discovered by a series of careful
static load tests on the wing. Production D-VIIIs reverted to Fokkers original wing design and no further failures
occurred. The D-VIII entered service
late in the war, and although only a few
saw combat service, it is believed that a
Fokker D-VIII scored the final aerial kill
of the war. J
Fokker D-VIII photo by James Emery

from Douglasville, United States (Fokker D-8_3975) [CC BY 2.0 (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)],
via Wikimedia Commons.
Give Us Your
Best Shot!
Enter the KITPLANES Best Of
contest for a chance to win a
$25 gift card from Aircraft Spruce.
There is nothing like a little contest

to help folks share more and better
ideas about Experimental aviation.
Each month, were asking for pictures
on a specific topic like:
Best example of aircraft wiring
Best VFR panel
Best tool storage idea
Best homebuilt on a beach
Best small workshop
Best workshop extraction (getting
an airplane out of a basement or loft)
Theres a new topic every month,
so enter the contest often.
You Be The Judge

Each month, our editors will pick
three finalists from all photos
submitted. Then its your turn
to vote for the best of the best.
The winner will receive a $25 gift
card from Aircraft Spruce, and the
winning photo will appear on the
KITPLANES web site.
We All Win
Only one Aircraft Spruce gift card will
be awarded each month. But when
we share ideas, everybody comes out
ahead by learning how to do a better
job of constructing, maintaining,
and flying homebuilt aircraft.
Visit www.kitplanes.com for more information.

By entering the contest, you grant KITPLANES magazine the right to use your image in print,
online, and for promotional purposes.
77
The last Floobydust.
This is the last Floobydust column

Im going to write. Floobydust was a term
used by one of my mentors in the electronics writing businessfeller by the
name of Bob Pease, a beyond brilliant
electronics engineer. Bob wrote for several technical journals inget this now
plain English that most of us could understand, and hed use Floobydust for a
column that had several smaller points
in it. Hed use a shucks or darn every
now and again just as a matter of normal
conversation. He will be sorely missed
by all of us who knew him (http://tinyurl.
com/o6camnw). Ironically, Bob died when
his VW Bug hit a tree coming home from
a memorial service for Jim Williams,
another prolific plain language author
and giant in the electronics design profession who I came to know and respect.
So, dear reader, you get to choose
what this series of hints and kinks is
going to be called in Kitplanes. My
editor has suggested two choices, and I
leave it to you to vote as to what to call it.
He suggests:
1. Smoke and Mirrors
2. Floor Sweepings
To vote for Smoke and Mirrors, send
an email to editorial@kitplanes.com with
Smoke and Mirrors as the subject line.
To vote for Floor Sweepings, send an
email to editorial@kitplanes.com with
Floor Sweepings as the subject line. It
doesnt get much easier than that!
I can live with either name. Smoke
reminds me that every now and again,
when we make a real blunder in the
design, we let the holy smoke out of the
Jim Weir
78
most expensive component, and Mirrors reminds me that every op-amp that
was ever made uses a current mirror on
the inside as a vital component of the IC.
On the other hand, Floor reminds
me that everything I write is meant to use
Rat Shack parts (called Floor Sweepings by the industry for the quality of
their parts) that you can get from the Rat
Shack store on a Sunday afternoon in
East Undershirt, Ohio.
So, here we go with Smoke and Mirrors or Floor Sweepings for this month.
Deli Boxes for Parts

A recent article in Kitplanes suggests
that we use empty baby food jars for
keeping small components in our workshops. I have a better idea. I dont know
how many of you have had the pleasure
of picking glass slivers out of the parts
and out of the crevices in the shop when
a glass jar is dropped from oily fingers.
But picking oily sharp glass shards off the
floor, out of the corners, and separating

good parts from tiny glass specks that
imbed themselves in your hands, your
gloves, and your work clothes is not my
idea of a good time.
Much better is to use stuff that doesnt
breakespecially cheap stuff that doesnt
break. Stuff that somebody uses by the
millions that we can buy by the dozens.
Likeplastic boxes that you take your deli
sandwich home in. Theyre airtight, hermetically sealed, and unbreakable.
But where does the corner deli get
those boxes? From the wholesale deli
supply store, of course. As the wholesale name implies, be prepared to buy
these boxes by the hundred or by the
case. And, as with everything else, the
more you buy, the less they cost. Moreover, the wholesaler isnt in the business
of holding your hand while you ask them
a bazillion questions about the product.
So, my choice of online deli-box wholesaler is www.webstaurantstore.com. Heres
Deli takeout boxes are an economical way to store small parts. In quantities of 200, the
48-ounce box (left) costs 27 cents, and the 16-ounce box is 11 cents.
is the chief avioniker at RST Engineering. He answers avionics questions in the Internet newsgroup www.pilotsofamerica.comMaintenance. His technical advisor, Cyndi Weir, got her
Masters degree in English and Journalism and keeps Jim on the straight and narrow. Check
out their web site at www.rst-engr.com/kitplanes for previous articles and supplements.
about it. You wanted a pair anyway, so a

break is no big deal. And you can always
re-chuck it and twist it some more.
Crimping Small Wires

in a Terminal
After two wires are twisted by a drill, but before either end is set loose, the wires should be
jerked a few times. This will prevent them from untwisting over time.
a direct link to square and rectangular deli

containers: http://tinyurl.com/njwgh4z.
Now the search for just the right size
begins. Think about how you are going
to handle several hundred containers of
small parts. AN-4 bolts in one, Rivnuts in
another, and so on. Here at RST Engineering, we use several sizes, but the most
common are the 16-ounce AD16S and
the 48-ounce AD48. The former are 11
cents each in a case of 200 and the latter
are 27 cents in the same quantity.
Why did we choose these two sizes?
For small parts (rivets, small screws, etc.)
the 16-ounce size was the smallest I could
find in this height, and the 48-ounce box
just looked right. Both are exactly the
same height, so they occupy the same
vertical height on the parts shelf. You
want another size or height? Use the filter routine on the web page to pick.
Do the Twist
Lets do a couple of wire tips and well
call it a month.
There are lots of places in the airplane
that we need to run a pair of wires
positive and negative power, high and
low temperature, isolated sensor, and a
lot more. But running two wires is pretty
sloppy unless we are willing to use tie
wraps every few inches. Not only that,
but parallel wire runs like this are susceptible to stray pickup from other electrical
sources in the aircraft. That is why the
phone company (all the way from A. G.

Bell to the present day) have used twisted
wires. It seems that the twisting picks up
noise in one phase on one wire and the
opposite phase on the other, which neatly
cancels out noise. Not only that, but the
twisting keeps other wires from getting
tangled in the middle of our wire pair.
The time-honored way of twisting
wire is to chuck up both wires into a drill
of some sort and twist it. The problem
is that over time, the wire will slowly
untwist itself and you are back to where
you started. There needs to be a way to
set the wire so that it stays twisted.
And there is. After the wire is twisted
by the drill and before either end is set
loose, the wire needs to be jerked a
few times. That is, release the tension on
the wire very slowly and then jerk it taut.
The first couple of jerks should be relatively easy and then get progressively
more aggressive. The last jerk (probably
around the 5th jerk or so) ought to be
enough to either break the wire at the
held end or jerk the wire out of the drill
chuck at the other end. This wire is now
set and will not untwist over time.
How can you get in trouble with this?
First of all, dont relieve enough of the
tension before the jerk for the wire to
twist up into circles by itself. Second,
dont be gentle with that last jerk. You
might break the wire at the end or jerk
the end out of the drill chuck. Dont worry
It seems that nobody thinks we are going

to use anything smaller than AWG 22 in
the airplane. And yet for a lot of the wiring that handles less than half an amp,
we can use smaller wire#24 to #28
and save a lot of space and weight. Yet
the smallest crimp terminal is sized for a
minimum of #22. Anything smaller just
falls out of the crimp.
So, how do we reliably crimp smaller
wires into the smallest terminal we can
buy? Simple. Make the small wire larger.
Easier said than done? Nope. Strip the
end of the wire the normal length to
crimp and then twist it back across the
insulation of the wire. Now put the wire
and insulation into the crimp area and
perform a normal crimp.
I can hear it now: Thats not going to
create a reliable crimp.
Thats not FAA approved.
NASA would never allow it.
Horsefeathers. As to reliable, if the
breaking strength of #24 wire wasnt somewhere around five pounds, Id do chin-ups
with a wire crimped this way. Also, there
are four Cessna aircraft flying around right
now with hundreds of crimped terminals
like this and not a failure in 40 years. You
are rightNASA wouldnt allow it, but neither you nor I are building spacecraft.
You may have noticed a couple of
things in the images in this column. It
looks like Im using plain old PVC covered
wire for my aircraft and Im using a crimp
tool youve never seen.
Answers to these last two things
will appear in a future
Floobydust
Smoke/Sweepings column. Until then,
stay tuned. J
When working with wire smaller than #22, strip the end of the wire the normal length to crimp and then twist it back across the insulation
of the wire. Now put the wire and insulation into the crimp area and perform a normal crimp.
Photos: Jim Weir
79
By Robrucha
80

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Pole to Pole in a Lancair IV

Spirit of St. Louis

Cleaning Your Plane

Doing It The Right Way

November 2015 | Volume 32, Number 11

22 Viperjet: 380 knots the hard way. By Dave Prizio.

30 How to Use Your Oxygen System: Things to know

34 Spirit of St. Louis: John Normans definitive reproduction is

44 ENGINE THEORY: Carburetion. Getting air and fuel into the

66 Completions: Builders share their successes.

KITPLANES November 2015

The envelope, please.

Seeing as how were all part of the

Experimental aviation business here,

KITPLANES November 2015

has a little more testing that needs to

lot is required. But for many others, this

With the advent of popular kit aircraft

Photo: Courtesy of U.S. Air Force

make sure that you wont be surprised

that you have previously tested takes a

KITPLANES November 2015

In Ten Years With a Time Machine

Dave Forster Responds: Well spotted, and

Using information provided in Stressing Structure [August 2015], I want to

David Paule Responds: When calculating

Web site Information:

KITPLANES November 2015

www.kitplanes.com & www.facebook.com/kitplanes

KITPLANES November 2015

www.kitplanes.com & www.facebook.com/kitplanes

The planning for this series of flights

the Lancair 320 we had built. We flew

long flight back to the U.S. ended that

2. The flight must fly directly over both

The Journey Begins

We chose Kinston, North Carolina,

The route flown: 31,118 nautical miles,

KITPLANES November 2015

www.kitplanes.com & www.facebook.com/kitplanes

Our friend and handler in Montevideo,

an excellent FBO (thanks, Kinston Jet

then south across Brazil to Montevideo,

100 fpm or less until an airspeed of 160

KITPLANES November 2015

weight and CG. Use of the autopilot is

Good News, Bad News

After clearing customs, the next stop

meteorologists here were first class. They

changing weather. Weather reporting

One of four glaciers at Monte Sarmiento,

KITPLANES November 2015

www.kitplanes.com & www.facebook.com/kitplanes

Building a Long-Distance Cruiser

Forward fuel tank in the copilot seat area.

Neighbors helped close up the wings.

Five of the 10 total fuel tanks.

The spectacular mountains of Antarctica.

southeastern horizwait a minute

Amundsen-Scott station looks like a junkyard at the South Pole.

highest point in Antarctica at 16,067

The interior of the Antarctic continent

KITPLANES November 2015

Its decision time. The ground crew

22 Viperjet: 380 knots the hard way. By Dave Prizio.

30 How to Use Your Oxygen System: Things to know

34 Spirit of St. Louis: John Normans definitive reproduction is

44 ENGINE THEORY: Carburetion. Getting air and fuel into the

66 Completions: Builders share their successes.