Experimenter - EAA's Homebuilder's Newsletter, April 2009

WELCOME!

Homebuilding Headlines
Remember Ricky Nelson’s song “Travelin’ Man”? That’s me this month! I started out by visiting EAA chapters in the Las Vegas area and am now enjoying the sights and sounds of the Sun ’n Fun Fly-In at Lakeland, Florida. While I don’t typically plan to write about government issues, this is a challenging time. Read more

Paul's Pick
Let's Meet the Challenge

Maybe I am wrong, but let's try again. Aviation grade fuel is expensive in comparison to autofuel. Most autofuel contains ethanol, frequently a corn byproduct that is not compatible with aircraft powerplants, its systems, or parts of it. Your automobile and mine operate on this same fuel. The question is why can't the gasoline and 10 percent ethanol that operate the powerplant in our automobile do the same for the powerplant in our airplane? What needs to be changed? It's a simple question, but not easy to answer. It is well-known that the market for aviation fuel is very small and the cost to get it to the pumps drives the price per gallon up, thus making its future questionable. Read more

The PC-60 Military Surplus Engine in a Volksplane VP-2

A chance meeting with a friend of a friend in 1993 led Dirk Kretschman to a Continental PC-60 engine, the perfect powerplant, he was told, for the two-place Volksplane (VP-2) Dirk was building. Nine years and several generations of modifications later, Dirk's VP-2 flew in 2002 and he's enjoying Cub-like performance, with more than 300 hours flying hours logged. Read more

How To . . .
Anti-Collision Lights
Increasing safety
When flying his TEAM AirBike, Paul Fiebich likes to be seen as well as see other aircraft in flight. A pair of emergency beacon lights and a little ingenuity resulted in some low-cost wingtip strobes.
Read more

Exhausting Stuff

Richard Mole built his two-seat Jodel D18 in England 14 years ago and logged 1,000 hours on the airframe by his 10th year. The first engine, a Limbach 2000, cracked the case at 600 hours, so he installed a JPX 4TX 75/A engine JPX 4TX75/A producing about 85 hp. Here are his adventures in chasing EGT temperature variations, static rpm, and other exhausting issues with that engine. Read more

What Our Members are Building
Building a Personal Cruiser
Being a beta builder for a new aircraft design can be a tricky proposition, but Bruce Sturgill's experience thus far with the Personal Cruiser has been positive ... but he's still building. Read more

Meet EAA Staffer Dick Knapinski
Media and Public Relations Specialist
Dick is the guy who is often in the media's "firing line" when questions about aviation and homebuilt aircraft arise. He's been with the EAA staff since May 1992, handling media inquiries, member contacts, and the occasional misfit question that rolls into the office. Dick has a wide breadth of knowledge on EAA programs, history, and activities - or at least knows where to find it or who's responsible for it. Read more

Forum Review
Basic Aircraft Painting
Ron Alexander, in a Forum presentation made in 2008, explains the in's and outs of how to paint your aircraft. His presentation will help you understand the process and make an informed decision on whether or not to do it yourself. Ron recently authored the book "How To Paint Your Own Airplane" which is published by EAA (#21-07052 $19.95) and is available at our online store. Read more

From the Editor
Patrick Panzera, EAA 555743
ppanzera@eaa.org

It's Show Time!
By the time you read this, many of us at or en route to Sun 'n Fun. For many, it will be a week of leisure, excitement, and hopefully education; for others it will be a grueling week of exhibiting wares, hosting forums, searching out article ideas, and networking. For me personally, I find the latter to be as much fun as (if not more than) the former. Although I'll be manning the CONTACT! Magazine booth all week, as well as hosting the Alternative Engines forum (Tent #10) and scouting article ideas for Experimenter and for CONTACT!, I find it all very exhilarating! I just love being around airplanes and airplane people, especially experimental aircraft people!

So with that, I invite you to stop in at the CONTACT! Magazine booth in Hangar C, Space #63, right in the center of the center row. I'd certainly like to meet with you and hear what you think of this e-newsletter. More importantly, let me know what you've seen while at the show; be my eyes and ears while you are out and about and help me search out those obscure, intriguing ideas, products, and projects you'd like to read about in EAA magazines. If I'm out, my son, Antonio, will be there filling my shoes; this will be his second year of helping out dear ol' Dad.

I would also like to encourage you to take full advantage of the educational resources available at the show. The forums are top-notch, as are the hands-on workshops, and they are not too far from one another. And if you've never made it down to "Paradise City" where the ultralights, trikes (weight-shift control), and some light-sport aircraft pilots just have a ball all day long, and well into the evening, you don't know what you've been missing. It's just a tram ride away and well worth the trip.

See ya there!