|
|
EDITORIAL
CAFE Time!
The upcoming CAFE Green Flight Challenge
I'm in Santa Rosa, California, to witness and report on the weeklong
CAFE Green Flight Challenge, conducted at the CAFE Foundation Flight
Test Center at Charles M. Schulz - Sonoma County Airport, beginning on
September 25, 2011. The awards ceremony and exposition of the
competing aircraft will be held at the conclusion, October 3, at NASA
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California. For those who aren't
familiar with this competition, several teams will compete for a total
of $1.65 million in prize money, using electric, biofueled, and
hybrid-powered aircraft. For details on the event schedule, competing
aircraft, and a summary of the rules, read
more. |
|
|
PAUL'S PICK
90 Septembers for Paul Poberezny
This month Paul Poberezny celebrated his 90th
birthday and one event that
is often co-occurring with his birthday is the National Championship
Air Races in Reno, Nevada, with which Paul has a long history,
including many years as chief judge. While the organizers of Reno and
government agencies continue to investigate the recent tragedy, we
look back at a Sport Aviation article Paul wrote in 1989 about the
pre-race gear-up woes of the record-setting homebuilt Tsunami.
Read
Paul's Pick
|
|
|
CHAD JENSEN
Meet your new homebuilders community manager
Who am I, and why was I asked to write for Experimenter? Fairly
simple, I'm Chad Jensen, EAA 755575, and I am your new homebuilders
community manager for EAA. The opportunity to work and serve at EAA
has been something I've been seeking and looking forward to for a long
time. I am a homebuilder, taking nearly 2,000 hours over an exact
five-year period to complete a Van's RV-7. The commitment and
dedication needed to see an amateur-built airplane from plans, pieces,
and parts to flight status is nothing short of a monumental task, yet
those of us who have the passion to create a flying machine tackle it
with enthusiasm backed by support from our EAA member friends and
local chapters. Read
more
|
|
|
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.
|
|
|
|
A
Tool for Understanding Power, Drag, and Prop Design
New perspectives, techniques, and a working model
In the August 2009 issue of Experimenter, Howard Handelman shared
with us his insight on perspectives and techniques for determining power
and drag as associated with your homebuilt aircraft. Howard also
provided a working model in an Excel spreadsheet to help. This time
Howard is back with work that helps to simplify the process and now
brings the propeller into the mix. Read more |
 |
|
WHAT
OUR MEMBERS ARE BUILDING
New Life for the BD-5 Fuselage
In the October 2009 issue of Experimenter, Mike Lecka's
Harley-Davidson-powered project was featured. Since then, Mike has
become the caretaker of a very special set of molds used for creating a
composite fuselage for the BD-5, and has gone into production, but not
only for experimental aircraft. It seems that while certainly available
for homebuilt aircraft, there is a market for the BD-5 fuselage that
goes beyond experimental aviation-and certainly beyond just the BD-5. Read more |
 |
|
HOW
TO
Improved Aluminum Knife Plans
When set with the task of cutting sheet aluminum without the use of
a shear, the options become rather limited. Some crafty homebuilders
have discovered that the Olfa P-800 heavy-duty plastic laminate
(Formica) cutter does a nice job of also cutting aluminum. The term
"cutter" is perhaps a bit misleading, as it "cuts"
in a manner similar to a glass cutter, in that it merely scores a line
in the material that when bent, the material will break along the line.
This article tells how one builder built his own heavy-duty version of
this knife, but using a carbide blade which is nearly indestructible. Read more |
 |
|
|
|
NTSB Has Recorded
Data of Reno Crash
Air race tragedy kills EAA Director Jimmy Leeward and 10 others
The NTSB has released its preliminary
report on the accident involving a modified P-51 flown by EAA
Director Jimmy Leeward that crashed at the Reno Air Races last week.
Earlier it announced that it had recovered electronic memory data
cards that may have been on board the aircraft and those cards may
contain important information on the attitude, airspeed, and other
performance measurements recorded just before the airplane impacted a
spectator seating area near the main grandstand. Read
more
|
|
|
Blois 2011
French ultralight fly-in celebrates 31 years
Thirty-one years ago the first Blois fly-in took place in
central France. Since then a lot has happened on the AÉRODROME Blois
- LE BREUIL - Vendôme (LFOQ), approximately 100 miles south of Paris.
Blois is considered one of the biggest and most important ultralight
fly-ins in Europe, and for 30 years was called the Salon de Blois,
now named Festival International de L'aviation Ultra Légère.
According to all, the quality of visitors at this fly-in and trade
show was much better than in the past. And we saw numerous national
and, surprisingly, several world premieres. Read
more
|
|
|
Eye of the Experimenter
25th Goodguys West Coast Nationals
This past weekend, EAA's Experimenter e-newsletter editor
Pat Panzera was on assignment at the 10th annual Tandem-Wing Fly-In in
Livermore, California, and got a little sidetracked with the 25th
Goodguys West Coast Nationals (car show) in neighboring Pleasanton,
California. Although he was planning to attend the car show in order to
see the scale model aircraft engines on display, he found a little
something else aviation-related that knocked his socks off. Read
more
|
|
|
Chinese Farmer Builds 'Flying Saucer'
Shu Mansheng, a 46-year-old Chinese farmer, is bound and determined to
fly. The aspiring aviator has reportedly designed and built a total of
eight aircraft - none of them successful. But he keeps trying. His
latest effort is a saucer-shaped aircraft that sort of
"elevated" last month, as shown by this
video posted to a Chinese website. The homebuilder Mansheng came up
with the contraption at his home in Dashu village in central China's
Hubei province. Read
more
|
|
|
First
Manned Electric-Powered Helicopter Flight Achieved
Electrical and aerospace engineer Pascal Chretien has done what the
entire Sikorsky corporation is still trying to accomplish: the first
untethered electric-powered manned helicopter flight. Last month
Chretien hovered his coaxial design helicopter 1 meter above the ground
for more than two minutes. Approached by the French automotive research
company Solution F to build the helicopter, in 12 months Chretein
designed, built, and flew the aircraft, which is powered by lithium
batteries and brushless DC motors. Read
more
|
 |
|
Cliff
Robertson's Death Saddens EAA Family
Cliff Robertson, the Academy Award-winning actor whose aviation
passion helped lead the development and launch of EAA's Young Eagles
program, died this month, just one day after his 88th birthday.
Robertson (EAA 18529), who began flying at age 14 and had been an EAA
member since 1964, helped launch the EAA Young Eagles program when he
became the program's first chairman in 1992. He and then-EAA President
Tom Poberezny flew the first Young Eagles at the EAA Fly-In Convention
at Oshkosh that year. Read
more
|
 |
|
|
|
|
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. I'm
almost finished building my airplane, and I don't know how to fill out
the FAA paperwork. Where do I start, and where can I get the forms?
Please help!
A. I'm so glad
you asked! EAA has produced the Amateur-Built Certification Kit which
contains all of the required FAA forms for registering and certificating
your experimental amateur-built aircraft.
The most important
part of the kit is the Step-by-Step Certification Guide booklet
developed by EAA that will guide you through the registration and
certification process using a checklist format. It also includes
examples of how to fill out each piece of paperwork and tips on what to
do (and what not to do) as well.
In addition to the
forms and booklet, you will also receive a properly sized decal of the
word EXPERIMENTAL to place on your aircraft, a fireproof data plate that
you can engrave and install, and a sheet of pressure-sensitive labels
and placards for your panel.
The EAA Amateur-Built
Certification Kit is available from our EAA
online store by calling toll free 800-843-3612.
Read more Q&As
|
|
AVIATION GLOSSARY
Confused
by a strange aeronautical term? EAA's online
Aviation Glossary can help.
MONOCOQUE - Type
of fuselage design with little or no internal bracing other than
bulkheads, where the outer skin bears the main stresses; usually round
or oval in cross section. Additional classifications are (1)
semimonocoque, where the skin is reinforced by LONGERONS or bulkheads,
but with no diagonal web members, and (2) reinforced shell, in which the
skin is supported by a complete framework or structural members. French:
monocoque, single shell.
More
glossary terms
|
|
FROM THE ARCHIVES
The Reno Air Races, also known as the National Championship Air Races,
began in 1964 and soon became a key event to demonstrate precision
flying and cutting-edge technology, most of it coming from the
grassroots of experimental aviation. While many wonder if last week’s
tragedy will end the event, we look back in the pages of Sport
Aviation for our report on the first Reno Air Races. Read
the article
|
|
|
Canard
Gathering at Rough River State Park, Falls of Rough, Kentucky
The 25th annual Central States Canard Fly-In (2I3)
will be hosted at Rough River, September 30 to October 2, 2011. For more
information, visit the website.
To read about last year's event, as published in the October 2010 issue
of Experimenter, click
here.
|
|
COPPERSTATE
Fly-In
Since the first event in 1973, the COPPERSTATE Fly-In has been
bringing together aviation enthusiasts in the southwest United States.
Although it's moved around a bit, since 2005 the fly-in has made its
home at the Casa
Grande Municipal Airport (KCGZ)
in Casa Grande, Arizona. For more information, visit the
website. To read about last year's event, as published in the
November 2010 issue of Experimenter, click
here.
|
|
FuelVenture
200/400 Prepares for Fourth Annual Competition
Entries are now being sought for the fourth annual FuelVenture
200/400, billed as "a competition for the most fuel efficient
aircraft on the planet" and occurring October 21 to 22, during the
COPPERSTATE Fly-In at Casa Grande Municipal Airport, Arizona. The
event's moniker reveals an expansion to the competition this year: A
200-mile, lower-speed course is being added for aircraft flying 60 to
119 mph. The 400-mile course continues for planes flying in excess of
120 mph. Read
more
|
 |
|
We
Go Heavy on the How-To's with Books and DVDs for Homebuilders
September is Homebuilders Month. And to celebrate, we're bringing
you a great collection of books, DVDs, kits, and lots of other must-have
merchandise that's specially selected for the hardworking homebuilder.
Through September 30, select items are up to 20 percent off. When you
shop at EAA's Online Store, you support EAA programs that help grow
participation in aviation. Order
online or by calling us toll-free at 800-564-6322.
|
 |
|
EAA
Radio: The Bugatti Project
EAA AirVenture Museum is the permanent home of the Bugatti Model
100P racer, a plane designed in the 1930s to demonstrate Ettore
Bugatti's automobile racing engines. But it never flew. Scotty Wilson
plans to change all that and maybe fly it by the end of this year.
Wilson and build partner Ladislas de Monge, whose granduncle assisted
Bugatti with the original aircraft, spoke about the project on EAA
Radio Live during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2011. Listen
to Part 1 | Listen
to Part 2
|
 |
|
|
HOMEBUILDER GALLERY OF
THE MONTH
Building a Pair of Thatcher CX-4's
This month's lead story is about a pair of Thatcher CX-4's built by
brothers Will and Phil Leonard. We featured quite a few photos in the
article but there are plenty more photos of their build process. The
extra photos along with those in the story are part of our monthly
homebuilder's gallery. View
the gallery
|
 |
|
WEBINARS
All About Cylinders
Maintenance expert and EAA Sport Aviation columnist Mike
Busch, A&P/IA, presents an informational webinar about cylinders -
construction, failure modes (head cracks and separations, exhaust valve
failure, barrel wear), maintenance-induced failures, factors affecting
longevity, repair, replacement, top overhauls, and more.
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.
|
|
|
From the Experimenter
Online Community
The following discussions can be found in the NEW! EAA Forums:
|
 |
|
Can
you help?
Join
the discussion!
|
|
|
SURVEY
Please
review and rate
this issue of Experimenter and its articles.
|
The
members of EAA invite YOU to become part of the
EAA community.
Join :: Renew
:: Gift
Member
Benefits :: About
EAA |
|
|
Contact!
Magazine
|
|
|
