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EDITORIAL
The Loss of Some Great Friends
Whereas this editorial should be a report on electric flight as
promised last month, it is with a heavy heart that I instead dedicate
this issue of Experimenter to our good friends Bud Warren and
his daughter Phyllis Ridings who were killed doing what they loved,
flying an experimental aircraft powered by one of their Chevrolet V8
conversions. For those who may not know who these two incredible
individuals are, we offer the following series of articles previously
printed in CONTACT! Magazine from August 2007 through February 2010
and include some EAA articles published during that same time period.
In short, their products brought the promise of affordable
alternatives to expensive engines, and they did it without hype, while
keeping their word, and without deep-pocket backing. The experimental
aviation family needs more people like Bud and Phyllis; they leave a
void that will be difficult to fill.
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Phyllis Ridings and Bud
Warren of Geared Drives. They will be dearly missed. Photo by Rick
Lindstrom
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Experimenter Improves with
Your Help
The best stories come from you, and we implore you to share your
building experiences with your fellow readers. We need your help in
providing content for each issue of Experimenter. Please
consider submitting an article, especially the next time you feel
compelled to write a report to your e-mail group, type newsletter, or
EAA chapter newsletter. Help us build up a stockpile so we can do a
better job bringing you Experimenter each month. And please
remember to take our survey
when you are done with this issue of Experimenter.
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PAUL'S PICK
Members Are Best Source of Information
Whether it's the electronic or original paper version of Experimenter,
its editors have had to scrounge for material. Editor Pat Panzera has
often invited you the reader to submit articles and other material for
upcoming issues. EAA Founder Paul Poberezny has made similar pleas
during his turn as editor. In the September 1956 issue of the original Experimenter,
Paul asked for people to send copies of aircraft plans they might have
to enhance future publications and slowly build what is today a
formidable aircraft resource library. Read
Paul's Pick
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GUEST EDITORIAL
Homebuilt Aircraft Council
Editor's note: Since the first issue of Experimenter, this space
was reserved for Joe Norris who recently retired from his position at
EAA as the Homebuilders Community Manager. Through the evolution of this
newsletter, the column became less of an editorial piece and more of a
teaching aid, where Joe's years of experience as a DAR was graciously
passed along to our readers. While EAA searches for his replacement,
we'll fill this space with other homebuilding voices, starting with this
issue and message from Fred Keip, the newest member of the Homebuilt
Aircraft Council.
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I'd be willing to bet that many of you
folks haven't heard of the EAA Homebuilt Aircraft Council (HAC), and for
those of you who have, I'll bet most of you don't have a clue as to who
we are and what it is that we do. Well, let me attempt to tell you a
little about us and a little more about what we're trying to do. Read
more
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SPECIAL SECTION
A Tribute to Bud Warren and Phyllis Ridings
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EAA
Mourns the Loss of Bud Warren and Phyllis Ridings
Father and daughter alternative engine builders
On Saturday, May 7, Bud Warren and his daughter Phyllis Ridings, both of
Geared Drives, were killed as a result of an airplane crash after
departing their home airport, Lone Star Executive in Conroe Texas. They
were en route to the Central Texas Airshow in Temple when they noticed
smoke in the cockpit of the homebuilt Ravin 500 powered by a Geared
Drives firewall forward installation. After declaring an emergency, the
plane crashed and burst into flames in a wooded area just north of the
field.
Read
more
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No One Believed That We Walked Away
With the Bud Warren and his daughter Phyllis Ridings were lost in a
recent crash, we are reminded of the eerily similar accident that Bud
and Phyllis walked away from in October 2007. So we are
reprinting this CONTACT! Magazine article as part of our tribute
to Bud and Phyllis. Read
more
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Geared Drives Checks In - Firewall
Forward for the RV-10
Just over a year after the total loss of Geared Drives' Wheeler
Express, as described in the previous
article, father and daughter team Bud Warren and Phyllis Ridings
reported on their progress with creating a firewall-forward for the
popular four-place Van's RV-10. This article was printed in the November
2008 issue of CONTACT! Magazine and is reprinted here as part of our
tribute to Bud and Phyllis. Read
more
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Geared Drives New Subaru Redrive
In the previous
article in this tribute series, father and daughter team Bud Warren
and Phyllis Ridings gave brief mention of a new propeller speed
reduction unit Bud developed as a prototype. Since that article was
written, they were inundated with requests for orders and decided to
have the "box" digitally created and reproduced, which
includes this Subaru application featured in the February 2010 issue of
CONTACT! Magazine. Read
more
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HOW TO
Get
More Cooling Capacity From Your Radiator
Just about anywhere there is a spirited conversation between auto engine
enthusiasts, the topic will usually come around to water-cooled engines
and how to accomplish the most efficient cooling through the radiator.
In the June 2009 Experimenter, we see one of the tricks in Bud
Warren's tool kit (from his old racing days) that is highly appropriate
for use in aircraft. He modifies the radiator in a way that dramatically
increases its cooling capacity. Read
more
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CAFE
Symposium Celebrates 'Dawn of Electric Flight'
The CAFE Electric Aircraft Symposium, held at the end of April, was
packed with so many new airplanes and concepts that it was like seeing
30 college lectures in two days, as the information came fast and
furious. In the opening remarks, CAFE President Dr. Brien Seeley dubbed
the 2011 event "the dawn of electric flight," citing there has
been "exponential growth" since the first symposium in 2007. Experimenter
Editor Pat Panzera was there to see it all and filed a two-part report
that covers the cool new planes that are competing in the Green Flight
Challenge and EAA's Electric Flight Prize, as well as promising new
technologies which will reach far beyond aviation.
Read Part 1
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2
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WHAT
OUR MEMBERS ARE BUILDING
Don't
Build a Zenith STOL CH 701!
Whoa, I bet that title will get the attention of Sebastien and the boys
at Zenith Aircraft. There's a good reason for that statement, but it
should actually read, "Don't build a 701, unless you want to use it
for what it's capable of!" Read
more
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The Alternative Engine
Round-Up Finds a New Home
CONTACT! Magazine's 8th Annual Alternative Engine Round-Up, normally
held at the tiny airport in Jean, Nevada, has outgrown its home and is
moving to Marysville, California, to be held in conjunction with the
Golden West Regional Fly-In & Airshow, June 10 to 12, at the Yuba
County Airport (MYV). Although the Golden West Fly-In is slated for
three days, the Alternative Engine Round-Up will take place Saturday,
June 11, only. Read
more
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Canards West at
Columbia
The ultimate West Coast canard gathering is scheduled for the
weekend of May 27 to 29, 2011, at Columbia Airport (O22), Columbia,
California. This is the eighth annual Canards West fly-in at the small
mining town nestled in the foothills of the beautiful Sierra Nevada
mountains in Northern California. The very informal gathering of canard
aircraft of all pedigrees is the perfect mix of socialization and
education and should be of interest to all canard builders, flyers, and
wannabes. Read
more
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The 2008 Canards West event, formally known as Canards
de Mayo.
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Electric Sonex Will use new Motor for Electric Flight Prize
Sonex's Hornets' Nest R&D section is finalizing the control systems for a new electric motor it will be using on its proof-of-concept electric-powered Waiex aircraft. The new motor, which is still being assembled, is the fourth iteration of the design and will have about the same power output than the previous motor and system but will have much more sophisticated control systems, according to Sonex founder and project leader John Monnett. The electric-powered Waiex will be competing in EAA's $60,000 Electric Flight Prize during AirVenture and while it's not a key test, Monnett said it (the contest) will help them meet some more of their program
goals. Read
more
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Synergy Project
Revealed
Half futuristic sailplane, half fighter jet. Synergy and its
drag-reducing double-box tail burst onto the scene last month at CAFE
Foundation's Electric Aircraft Symposium 5. The five- to seven-place
aircraft could be a game changer, with higher speeds and greater fuel
efficiency per horsepower than any comparably spacious airplane. Read
more
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Pipistrel Taurus 4
Aims for GFC, Oshkosh Prizes
An eclectic electric, Pipistrel's new twin-fuselage Taurus 4 is built to
win the Green Flight Challenge in early July and EAA's Electric Flight
Prize at AirVenture Oshkosh. The design is reminiscent of the P-82 Twin
Mustang and WhiteKnightTwo with its two pods connected by a 16-foot wing
section. Read
more
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Taurus Electro G2
Pipistrel's Second Entry in EAA Electric Flight Prize Competition
One of the aircraft AirVenture 2011 attendees can witness in action
during EAA's $60,000 Electric Flight Prize competition is Pipistrel's
second entry - the Taurus Electro Generation 2 (G2), the first two-seat
aircraft powered by an electric engine to fly in the world. It joins the
company's four-place G4 in the competition, which is sponsored by Wicks
Aircraft Supply, Dynon Avionics, Aircraft Spruce & Specialty, and
AeroLEDs. Read
more
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Builders of Seraph
Seek Aviation Milestones
The Seraph, a Green Flight Challenge entrant, marries blended-wing and
lifting body aerodynamics and carbon-fiber construction for maximum
weight savings and efficiency. The single-place, twin-engine,
hybrid-powered aircraft uses biofuel-to-electric conversion. Read
more
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Human-Powered
Helicopter Flies
A team of graduate and undergrad students at the University of
Maryland's A. James Clark School of Engineering is claiming a world
record for the first human-powered helicopter flight by a woman,
occurring May 12, 2011 after several failed attempts on the same day
and the day before. The flight was only a few inches above the floor at
the school's Comcast Center in College Park, Maryland, but it was
clearly airborne as seen on a live webcast. Read
more
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Aero 2011: A Few
Planes You May Have Missed
Aero 2011 closed its four-day run on Saturday, April 16, with an
attendance of 33,400 visitors. A total of 630 exhibitors from 29
countries set an exhibition record. Business jets, propeller GA
aircraft, light aircraft and microlights, gliders, gyrocopters, and
helicopters filled the 11 exhibition halls for the 19th edition of the
Global Show for General Aviation. Read
more
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ElectraFlyer Could
Enter Three Planes in EAA Electric Flight Prize
Randall Fishman, who first demonstrated his ElectraFlyer C at
AirVenture 2008, has entered the aircraft in the EAA $60,000 Electric
Flight Prize to be held at AirVenture Oshkosh 2011. He also has two
other entries in development that may appear: the single-place
ElectraFlyer ULS, made of composite materials and featuring a new motor;
and a two-place ElectraFlyer X, designed as an LSA-eligible aircraft
with a 49-foot wingspan and a water-cooled 50-hp brushless electric
motor. Read
more
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Q&A
Got a
question? Send it to us at Experimenter@eaa.org.
Whether you're building, restoring, or just an
enthusiast, we want to know what has you
stumped.
Q. Is it
legal for a non-CFI to charge for giving a demo ride in an experimental
amateur-built? Even if the aircraft doesn't belong to him or the person
being charged?
A. It is not
legal to charge for the use of an experimental amateur-built aircraft
for any reason, regardless of ownership. The prohibition can be found in
the operating limitations document that is carried on board the aircraft
at all times.
Education and
recreation are the only purposes allowed for operation of the aircraft,
and it will state this in the first paragraph.
There is only one
exception - if the owner applies to the FAA and is granted a LODA
(Letter of Deviation Authority) which would allow transition training
only.
And although one might
be inclined to believe that expenses can be "shared" this is
not the case. Operating limitations usually prohibit
"compensation," which by strict definition "sharing
expenses" would compensate
the pilot.
Read more Q&As
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AVIATION GLOSSARY
Confused
by a strange aeronautical term? EAA's online
Aviation Glossary can help.
AUTO-ROTATION -
automatic rotation of rotary blades from a helicopter in an unpowered
glide or the forward movement of an autogyro.
More
glossary terms
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FROM THE ARCHIVES
Sport
Aviation, October 1968
The Chevy Bird
By Waldo D. Waterman
Concerned over the
hefty $2,000 price tag of a then new, WWII-era aircraft engine being too
expensive for the average EAA member (40,000 total, 25 percent of which
were noted to either be flying or building an experimental aircraft),
Waldo D. Waterman decided to do something about it and began testing the
then relatively new Corvair engine in his open-cockpit, high-wing pusher
"Chevy Bird." Read
the article
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Looking for more coverage of light-sport aircraft, trikes, and
ultralights? Check out the pages of EAA's Light
Plane World. The following articles are features found in the
recent April 2011 issue and are typical of what you can expect from every issue.
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Salute to Quicksilver
at AirVenture Oshkosh 2011
Attention Quicksilver owners. The EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2011 theme for
down on the Farm in the ultralight/light plane area will be "Salute
to the Quicksilver." If you own a Quicksilver and have considered
bringing it to AirVenture, this is the year to do it. Read
more
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ULPower Aero Engines
Appoints U.S. Distributor
ULPower Aero Engines of Belgium has announced the appointment of ULPower
North America LLC as its exclusive distributor for sales and service in
the United States and Canada. The company manufactures a line of
direct-drive, air-cooled, horizontally opposed, fuel-injected engines
ranging from 97 to 130 hp intended for use in light aircraft and
rotorcraft. Read
more
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The Ringtail
Ultralight
Lucky Stars III is Mark Stull's eighth original ultralight design, but
his first with a tractor engine. Fabricated almost entirely from 2024-T3
aluminum, it was completed and first flown in January of 2011. Borrowing
the efficient, high-aspect-ratio wings from his previous plane, he only
had to make a new fuselage and tail. Read
more
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HOMEBUILDER GALLERY OF
THE MONTH
RV-10 or Flying Lexus: A Mod
Masterpiece
Greg Hale had a simple vision: to make the interior of his next airplane
more like a Lexus. The full story of this automotive-inspired
transformation is in the June
issue of EAA Sport Aviation. Here’s a deeper look at some
of the more than 25 major modifications Greg made to his award-winning
RV-10 kit.
View
the gallery
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WEBINARS
Mike Busch Talks
Engine Problems During Monthly Webinar
Maintenance expert and EAA Sport Aviation columnist Mike Busch,
A&P/IA, offers tips and techniques for troubleshooting common engine
problems, including hard starting, poor mag checks, rough running or
missing, high CHT, high oil temperature, and poor performance.
All webinars begin at 7
p.m. CDT unless otherwise noted. To find out more about upcoming EAA Webinars
and to register, visit the webinars
page.
EAA gratefully
acknowledges the support of Aircraft
Spruce and Specialty Co. for their generous
sponsorship of our webinar programs.
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FROM
THE EAA HOMEBUILDING COMMUNITY
The
Homebuilders Corner message forum at Oshkosh365
is as active as ever. Have a look at the list
below and follow the links to read the actual
questions and discussion topics.
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the Discussions
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