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ISSUE 8 AUGUST 2011 |
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Sparks
Fly at AirVenture
By
Dan Grunloh, Editor, Light
Plane World |
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An
historic event took place at Wittman
Airport when, for the first time
ever, two electric ultralights
pushed up to the runway and went
flying down on the Farm at EAA
AirVenture Oshkosh 2011. Someday
they will have their own row for
parking (likely with charging
outlets), and vendors will display
their wares for electric fliers in
our commercial exhibit area. Some of
the sparks I witnessed flying around
this year were of a different
nature.
Read
more
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Oshkosh
- Be a Part of the Excitement!
By
Dale Kramer, EAA 145132 |
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Thirty-two
years ago when I designed the Lazair
ultralight, there was a buzz in the
air, both at Sun 'n Fun in Lakeland,
Florida, and at EAA Oshkosh. It was
a time when people came and openly
shared their ideas in hopes of
achieving the ultimate flying
machine in this new area of very
light powered flight. This year when
I came back with my electric Lazair,
I found a lot of buzz from people
interested in the type of practical
electric flight that I demonstrated.
Read
more
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The
Wandering Wench Arrives at
AirVenture |
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Arty
Trost, aka The Wandering Wench,
arrived Monday, July 25, in the
ultralight area at EAA AirVenture
Oshkosh 2011 after a 2,000-mile
flight from Oregon in an open
cockpit. Her
aircraft was a Talon Typhoon, a
design that is a descendent of the
Drifter she flew from Oregon to
Lakeland, Florida, in 2008.
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Arty is
a motivational speaker who uses her
flying experiences to help people in
all walks of life to have "The
Courage to Soar," which is her
theme.
Read
more
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AirVenture
2011 Ultralight and LSA Awards
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Head
ultralight/light plane judge Steve
Buss and his fellow judges selected
a Just Aircraft Highlander by Carl
Bauknecht of New Richmond, Ohio, as
the Grand Champion Light-Sport
Aircraft and recipient of the Gold
Lindy award. EAA awards highlight
the accomplishments of EAA members,
and the selection process follows
official EAA judging
guidelines.
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Six
awards including two Lindys were
earned by aircraft in the ultralight
area. The Lindy trophy features a
statue of Charles Lindbergh and is
the most prestigious aircraft award
in sport aviation.
Read
more
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ASC
Files Complaint Against the FAA With
U.S. Department of Justice
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Jim
Stephenson, CEO of Aero Sports
Connection Inc. (ASC), a national
organization supporting ultralight
and light-sport aviation, announced
he has filed charges against the FAA
with the U.S. Department of Justice.
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The complaint states the FAA has
unilaterally attempted to changed
the definition of powered
paragliders and hang gliders in
violation of its own standard
practices when it issued a letter on
December 13, 2010, prohibiting the
use of wheels or landing gear on
two-place powered paragliders
operating under the ultralight
training exemption.
Read
more
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| Lazair
Achieves Electric-Powered Flight |
| Electric
flight was a longtime dream for
Dale Kramer, designer of the
Lazair ultralight. Now his dream
has come true. His current
amphibious configuration found the
flying success that evaded him in
three previous electrification
attempts. Kramer remembers few
details of the first attempt, but
the second sought to draw from
electric flying model
technology. |
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| "They
were just coming out with the
high-voltage controllers for model
airplane engines, and they just
weren't ready," Kramer said.
"After I blew a couple I
decided they weren't reliable
enough." Read
more |
| Hummel
UltraCruiser Serial No. 1 Flown to
AirVenture From New York |
| The
original prototype all-metal
UltraCruiser ultralight designed,
built, and flown by Morry Hummel
was flown to AirVenture from
central New York state by its new
owner, Kirk Mills. It was his
first long cross-country flight.
The engine is a two-cylinder 1/2
Volkswagen that gives the FAR
103-legal ultralight a range of
nearly 150 miles. |
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| He
planned to have some flying
companions but ended up going
solo. Read
more |
| Kolb
Firestar Side-by-Side Tricycle
Conversion |
| AirVenture
attendees visiting the Ultralight
area may have walked right past a
new design thinking it is just
another Kolb Mark 3. Some do not
even notice the nose wheel at
first. It is actually the new
Firestar 2 SS. Bryan Melborn from
Kolb said the side-by-side
configuration and tricycle gear
were the most requested features,
so they put them both on this new
design. |
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| Existing
Firestar owners will be able to
purchase a fuselage kit to convert
their Kolb to the new
configuration. Read
more |
| Salute
to Quicksilver |
| Mike
Ostrander passed a significant
milestone at EAA AirVenture 2011:
his 1,000th landing in his 1984
Quicksilver MX Sprint ultralight.
A longtime EAA AirVenture attendee
(this was his 40th convention) and
past president of Ultralight
Chapter 30 in Rantoul, Illinois,
Ostrander is but one of the owners
and pilots flying the 15,000
examples of Quicksilver aircraft
built since conception of the
original design. |
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| Recognized
as the most popular ultralight
aircraft ever, Quicksilvers of all
shapes, sizes, and colors were at
EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2011 as
part of a special salute. Read
more |
| Radio
Host Receives Bax Seat Trophy |
| Roy
Beisswenger is lucky. When he
can't be flying, he gets to talk
or write about flying. As host of
the Powered Sport Flying Radio
Show and editor of its monthly
magazine, Beisswenger received the
Bax Seat Trophy during AirVenture
2011. Established by Flying
Magazine, the award is given
annually to a journalist who
communicates the excitement and
romance of grassroots aviation.
Beisswenger's weekly two-hour
radio show features interviews
with representatives from the
spectrum of powered sport
aviation. Read
more |
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| Sharon
Wescott Never Met a Stranger |
| On
Friday, July 29, 2011, friends of
Sharon Wescott gathered at EAA
AirVenture Oshkosh in front of the
Ultralight Barn for a memorial to
honor the pilot, flight
instructor, and friend who
succumbed to cancer in April of
2010. |
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| Paul
Mather, president of M-Squared
Inc. and who organized the
memorial, provided a laser-cut
stainless-steel plaque that was
fastened to a bench in the rest
area in front of the barn. He and
the others in attendance are only
a few of the many people that knew
her as the ultimate volunteer.
Read
more |
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Just
Fly - AirVenture 2011 Experience
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As
it turned out, this year was one
of our most enjoyable times at EAA
AirVenture Oshkosh and also one of
the worst. In case you haven't
heard the news, I'll save you the
suspense and spoil the ending. My
airplane was damaged in a freak,
unexpected microburst that struck
Wittman Airport Saturday
afternoon, July 30. At the end of
it all, honestly, I'm not sure how
to feel.
Read
more
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Light
Plane and Ultralight Antenna Guide
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Many
pilots on the light side of aviation
may start out with a setup as simple
as this typical trike pilot’s
kneeboard. The radio, GPS, and
intercom can be easily moved from
one plane to the next, and it works
well enough in the traffic pattern
and near the airport. The desire to
improve the reception may lead the
pilot to attempt a variety of
antenna solutions, some better than
others. This guide is a layman’s
survey of some of those options.
Read
more
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Revo
Trike Trip to AirVenture 2011
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We had
a fun trip flying from Florida
to Oshkosh with lots of unique
experiences. The extreme heat
made for too much sweating on the
ground and longer takeoffs. We
made a lot of hops at 6,500 MSL and
even 8,500 MSL to get over clouds
and into calm colder air. The RV
trailer broke down near Zephyrhills
in Florida, so cameras, computers,
and lots of other gear had to be
left behind.
Read
more
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From
the EAA Forums
Here are the latest
discussions from the EAA Forums:
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Engines
Q. Why is it
necessary to de-carbon my
two-cycle engine?
A. Two-cycle
engines are lubricated by oil that
is mixed with the fuel-air
mixture. During the combustion
process, deposits referred to as
carbon can form as the result of
unburned oil or undesirable
elements of the fuel-oil
mix.
Read
more
Powered
Parachute
Q. How is level flight
maintained in a turn?
A.
To maintain altitude during a
turn, you must directly coordinate
the amount of steering input with
the amount of throttle increase
because of the loss in vertical
lift. To make a shallow turn, only
a modest amount of steering
control input and throttle
increase is required. Read
more
Weight
Shift Trikes
Q. What effect does the
carriage have in pitch stability?
A. The
wing design is the main
contributing factor for pitch
stability and moments, but the
carriage design can also influence
the pitching moment of the WSC
aircraft. Read
more
Fixed-Wing
Airplane
Q. What is the crab method
for control on a crosswind
approach to landing?
A. The
crab method is executed by
establishing a heading (crab)
toward the wind with the wings
level so the airplane's ground
track remains aligned with the
centerline of the runway. This
crab angle is maintained until
just prior to touchdown, when the
longitudinal axis of the airplane
must be aligned with the runway to
avoid sideward contact of the
wheels with the runway. Read
more
Rotorcraft
Q. What is a hovering turn? A. A
hovering turn is a maneuver
performed at hovering altitude in
which the nose of the helicopter
is rotated either left or right
while maintaining position over a
reference point on the surface. Read
more |
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Ultralights
on the Water Experimenter,
January 1996
 Norm
Petersen wrote this definitive
history of the Vette Seaplane Base
which has been a part of the EAA
experience for over 30 years. He
focused on light plane and
ultralight activity at the annual
"Splash-In," featuring
the story of Laverne Dence who
flew his 1984 Maxair Drifter on
floats to Oshkosh from New York in
1995. (Laverne still flies a
Drifter on floats today.)
Read
the article
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Curious About EAA's
New Chapter Websites? Watch This Webinar!
The new EAA chapter websites have
been created. Okay, now what? How
do you begin taking your chapter's
website to the next level? Join
EAA's Hal Bryan as he takes you
through a tour of the websites and
explains some of the quick steps
you can take to customize your
chapter's site.
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
its generous sponsorship of the
webinar programs.
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| Q. What's
your favorite aircraft from EAA
AirVenture Oshkosh 2011?
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