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BRAZOS AREA RECREATIONAL EAA Chapter 983 Newsletter Mailing Address: EAA Chapter 983, P.O. Box 903, Granbury, TX. 76049 |
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BRAZOS AREA RECREATIONAL EAA Chapter 983 Newsletter Mailing Address: EAA Chapter 983, P.O. Box 903, Granbury, TX. 76049 |
Chapter 983 meets on the second Saturday of each month at 10:00 AM. in Ken
houseman's hangar. N.E. corner of Pecan Plantation Airport
June program: Fly-Out to GAMI in Ada, OK. June 8th |
"Best Dang Fly-In in The World" Snoopy always starts out “It was a dark and stormy night...” and that’s how the Fall Fly-In began. The threat of rain and eventually the clouds disappeared but the 15-20 mph wind stayed with us. Turned out to be a blessing though because it kept things cool. On the negative side it also kept down the numbers of aircraft and visitors. A Young Eagles Event was scheduled in a couple of weeks so organized rides weren’t given and that resulted in a much less congested parking area and airspace.
There was however plenty of flying and individual rides and a number of formation
fly-by’s from the Thorp and RV guys supplied lots of noise. The winds also provided a
terrific excuse for those in the spot landing contest. It was won by Sid Tucker
in his Chipmunk (who then tried to sabotage the rest of the competition by sticking his
gear in the mud and closing the runway). Gary Green was close but just didn’t massage
the rules properly. Your Editor was second in his Thorp and we brought home two Great
photo display trophies provided by Brenda Chapman and Lisa Coltman. |
Rumor Central: I have it from an unreliable source that the beautiful, one-of-a-kind Boeing 307 that was at Osh Kosh last year and was ditched in Puget Sound this year, ran out of gas. Four senior, “experienced ?” Boeing project pilots were said to have been at the controls. Waiting to get cheaper gas elsewhere is rumored to have been a contributing factor.
GAMI INTINERARY - Chapter Fly-Out June 8TH
9:30- 10:30 _____________________Arrivals. Welcome by Tim Proehl,
President.
Groups of 10 ____________________Facility Tour and Test Cell Run.
12:30 -1:30 _____________________Lunch. ($6-$7 suggested gratuity)
1:30 -2:30 ______________________Seminar by Chief Engineer George Brayly on flying lean of
peak and description of their “Prism” and “Tornado Alley” systems.
3:00 ___________________________Departures
“E” Mail addresses are:
GAMI.com
TATURBO.com
engineteststand.com
ADA is 155 NM on the 013 degree heading from Pecan. ADH is the identifier for the field
and VOR. Telephone number for GAMI is 580 436-4833
If weather is below VFR mins we will postpone to the following week.(IFR arrivals in there
would be a hassle)
We will let you know Friday night, the 7th, of any postponement. See you there!
Programs for July, August and September are as
follows:
July 13: "Flying the SR-71 Blackbird" presented by Bill Orcutt,
USAF Ret. & Chapter 983 Member
August 10: "Interesting Aircraft Retrievals, Selecting a Used Engine
& Common Mistakes Found in Initial Certification Inspections of Amatuer Built
Aircraft" presented by Lucky Louque, Accident Investigator and DAR, Air Salvage of
Dallas
September 14: "Racing for Gold: 24-Days Around the World"
presented by Pat Keefer, President of U.S. Air Race
Chapter Advertisers
TEXSUN EXPRESS Lyndol and Beth Askew have been members and advertisers for years beginning with Bond Arms which is a firearms manufacturer they sold and now with Texsun Express. Lyndol has long been in the aircraft (and just about anything else) sales business and decided to make it full time a couple of years ago. Primarily he deals with high end single engine aircraft and mid-range twins and turbines. Fractional ownerships and professional pilot services are the most recent focus of his business and he spends a great deal of his time recently flying for one of his customers. As a Granbury Airport board member Lyndol is working to increase the runway length and the number of hangars. The biggest job he said is trying to get the City to appreciate the commercial value of their airport. If you’re in the market for an aircraft or someone to fly one give Lyndol a call.
Good Things and Waiting
After a number of years and endless harassment from their friends about the “phantom plane order” Bob and Marilyn Satterwhite brought home their Lancair Columbia. It’s a performer, cruising about 180 kts. at 8000 ft. behind a Continental IO-550.The best part is the fit and finish, Luxury car quality! The arrival was an exciting event as evidenced by the number of well wishers and droolers in this motley crowd. The “MS” at the end of the tail number also proves that Bob is not completely without good sense and has been to the School of Spousal Reciprocity and has a minor in Sofa Sleep Avoidance. |
On A Tech Counselor Visit With Kevin Ross
On Friday the 11th I had a most enjoyable evening doing a Technical
Counselor visit with chapter member and Glastar builder Lee Clements.
We spent a couple of hours discussing philosophies, systems, techniques and reviewing his
beautiful project.
Lee lives in southwest Ft. Worth and has been working on his Glastar project in his two
car garage for five years. I had seen the project a year ago at which time it was dry
rigged with the wings, tail and fuselage assembled but no firewall forward, no interior or
panel.
This visit found the project to be in a much advanced stage of completion. Lee's work is
all very neat and well thought out. Lee has the firewall forward completed to include the
engine, prop, fuel and oil plumbing and cowl. Also, the instrument panel is installed and
wired. The interior upholstery is mostly completed also. Most notable is the neatness of
Lee's electrical wiring. It is very hard to keep wiring neat as you continue to add
accessories and wire up gauges and senders etc. but the wire behind Lee's panel is
exceptionally neat. His firewall forward expresses the same attention to cleanliness and
attention to detail.
Lee is at that point that it is time to stop taking things apart and putting them back
together continuously and to start installing things permanently. It can be difficult for
a builder to make this transition.
I estimated and Lee agreed that the airplane should be ready to fly around early fall of
this year. Lee is doing a lot of finishing work and tying up of loose ends.
The Glastar itself is a very interesting airplane and a real study in design, and
materials in particular. The designer has taken 100 years of aircraft design and study and
put the best properties of particular materials together in different subassemblies on
this machine. For example the primary fuselage structure and load carrying members are
constructed of relatively heavy 4130 chromemoly steel. The steel forms a very robust and
crashworthy cage surrounding the cockpit and all the primary flight loads are transmitted
to this structure as well. The forward fuselage cage and the aft fuselage to include the
vertical stabilizer are given a very sexy, smooth form by a composite fiberglass shell.
The wings, empennage and control surfaces are all constructed of traditional aluminum
structure.
Lee has had to learn to work both composites and metal for this project. He has done all
his own work to include the fuel plumbing, electrical, instrument installations and
firewall forward. He has installed a factory new 160 hp Lycoming 0320 with a fixed pitch
metal Sensenich propeller. He is planning on doing his own painting with the use of the
chapters fresh air breathing system.
Lee is demonstrating what EAA is all about; education and recreation. He has undoubtedly
studied and learned a lot. He also knows about commitment in seeing a major project to
fruition.
Kevin
A Past Blast
I was reading an old newsletter by ex-editor Kevin Ross and he was working the crowd for new chapter officers. He described the newsletter editors job as “the highest paying of them all” “requires a suave and deboner kinda guy or gal” “worldly intellect” and “someone with charisma and patience”. Didn’t realize this job was so special. Must be why I was in all those “special ed” classes in school.
"Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.” -African Proverb
NOTAMS:
| 1. Bill Steppling has the fuselage covered on his Rans and is talking about paint already. Neighbors are reporting the sounds of Eslicks rotary in the evening air. Hope that flight is around the corner. |
| 2. D.R. Bales took me up in his and Kathleens Extra 200 the other day. I have never flown a nicer, more well balanced airplane. It was a pleasure watching him fly it so well. |
| 3. Kevin Ross gave me an article, Tech Topics from the Cessna Pilots Association about compression checks. How to do and how to interpret. The TCM procedure is different than what you’re used to and the interpretations are very interesting. Call me if you’d like to make a copy. |
| 4. Dave Moore and friends Toni Anderson, Bill Scanlon, Margaret Siedschlag, Jim Kuholtz and Marv Jensen gave a bunch of Young Eagle rides to the Granbury High Drill team. Mike Bridges’ daughter is on the team and he arranged the event. Thanks to Dave for a continuing great program. |
| 5. The Ross’ Pietenpol has been sold, so while we’ll miss Kevins afternoon flights, it still may be around occasionally. We’re anxiously awaiting their next addition. |
Here is the first of several articles about Don Saints Glasair racing program, forced landing and subsequent rebuilding effort.
There's about three modifications to the Glasair that are noteworthy.
Wing Tips
My Glasair originally flew with the extended wing tips. The extended wingtips add 2 feet
of wing on each side which is about 10 square feet of wing area and makes the aspect ratio
~7.7. The standard wing tip wing span is ~23 feet and about 85 square feet of wing area
(A/R = 6.2). When I became interested in the Sun'nFun 100 air race, Dave Boldenow
recommended that I experiment with the shorter wing tips to reduce the parasitic drag. I
found that, in still air, the increased true airspeed at the same density altitude and
power setting was around 2 knots; not much, but 2 knots is 2 knots. The significant
difference, however, was that the lateral stability was increased which reduced the
undesirable characteristic of the Glasair to oscillate about the "Z" axis. In
turbulent air, I could see airspeed reductions of 7 to 8 knots during these oscillations.
The lifting moment created by the extended wing tips is not harmoniously balanced with the
lateral control (rudder moment). On the other side of the coin, high altitude flying was
penalized by the reduction in climb rate. I also found that the difference between the
short wing tips and extended wing tips in smooth air was negligible at about 12,000 feet,
and guess that there is an advantage to the extended wing tips at 18,000 feet, but don't
have enough experience to say for sure. The roll rate is remarkably higher with the
shorter wing tips. I see approximately 120 deg/sec at 150 knots with the shorter wing tips
and 90 deg/sec with the extended wing tips. The short tips make it feel like an RV.
Wheel Pants
The Van's pressure recovery wheel pants are worth an honest 5 knots. I was so surprised
that I even re-installed the S-H wheel pants to verify the performance. For the same power
settings, density altitude and weight, the Stoddard-Hamilton wheel pants are 5 knots
slower at around 170 knots. I guess that even though the pants are larger, the symmetrical
shape presents a lower drag....it works.
Turbocharger
The turbocharger modification is extensive. There are many man-hours involved in the
design, fabrication and fitting of new components. It adds about 25 pounds to the airplane
empty weight and moves the CG about 1% MAC forward. The benefit, however, is in the climb
rate and high altitude performance. Even at low altitudes, boosted manifold pressures will
push the airspeed well beyond the normally-aspirated performance. Cylinder and oil
temperatures tend to run much higher with increased power settings (duh). What I really
enjoyed, was the 1000+ fpm climb rates with moderate power settings all the way to 18,000
feet. The true air speed improvement is approximately 2 knots per 1000 feet of altitude
for a constant power setting. At sea-level power, I was used to seeing around 190 KTAS at
max power settings. At 18000 feet, I'd expect to see an increase of ~36 knots (18*2=36).
Sure enough, I measured 225 KTAS at 18,000 with 30"MAP at 2700 RPM. At these
airspeeds, the propeller limited the airspeed at higher power settings due to the
high-pitch limit; I could see this due to engine RPM increases with boosted power
settings. A modification to the propeller high pitch stop should allow for higher
airspeeds at boosted power settings.
Certainly, the turbocharger modification increases the stresses on the engine, but I'm not
convinced that it can break a (serviceable) crankshaft. Quite a bit more TLC than planned
will have the Glasair up soon and the story continues.
More later.....Don
Schedule of Chapter 983 Events
