EAA July Newsletter

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

“It aint just Lycomings either!”

June 15 th was a big day at the Pecan Patch where a crowd watched Bill and Linda Eslicks 10 year, Mazda powered, RV6 take flight. Like all the RV first flights the airplane flew just like it’s supposed to and there were only a few trim adjustments needing to be made. As of this writing Bill has gotten it up to 180 mph. Externally there doesn’t appear to be much cosmetic difference caused by the Mazda installation. There are heat exchangers in the cowling intakes where you normally see cylinder fins and carburetors but not much else is different.
Jerry Althouse has been the Tech Advisor and Don Saint, Flight Advisor on the project and since Bill’s had a lot of small airplane flying since his days in an Air Force F-4, Dave Moore and Martin Sutter gave him some dual in their RV’s and his flight resulted in a “non-event“ event. It’s a treat hearing that engine run. Sounds like a very “manly” Rotax. Very quiet as well.

Bill and Linda Eslick

Bill expects 150HP from the rotary but isn’t getting that yet because a different prop is required. To achieve that HP he needs the engine to run at about 6000 rpm but he’s only getting about 4200 right now resulting in 145 mph in straight and level flight. The instrument panel has a couple of items on it unique to the Mazda installation. An engine control panel which electronically controls either automatic or manual operation of ignition and mixture is the most obvious. There are also lights and switching associated with the fuel system operation. This fuel system has a high volume of fuel returned to the tank so fuel goes to the engine from the right tank only and what’s in the left tank must be transferred to the right for use This requires unique plumbing and Bill has incorporated warning systems to keep important things like valve positions and levels from being forgotten. One of the neatest things on his panel is his GPS set-up. It’s a COMPAC pocket computer running Windows with a GPS program. It has all the regular GPS functions we’re used to on a large, clear screen. In the near future it will also be able to provide him with METARS and almost real time radar images on the screen. All in all Bill and Linda have built a wonderful airplane and I’m looking forward to seeing and hearing it around.

The day did not start too favorably weatherwise, but picked up during the day. There were 30 from our chapter and 16 from 168 & 34; some 25 aircraft. We have not had a fly-out away from “Home Base” of Pecan in some time and it went quite well.
The folks at GAMI (General Aviation Modifications Inc., Pres. Tim Roehl and George Braley) put on a nice show for us. Most everyone knows that GAMI makes “tuned” nozzles for Continentals to allow for uniform fuel distribution and to fly lean-of-peak without misfire. The Keyts have them in the Bonanza and can now cruise 200 mph on 12 Gal./hr. I know that doesn’t sound too impressive to you RV drivers, but it is 4 Gal./hr less than what it used to be. GAMI has tuned injectors for Lycoming as well.

   GAMI gave us a tour of their place with the engine test cell the most interesting. They have it heavily instrumented and can read all the vital signs. They have the ability to change fuel at will and run the test engine on 100Octane, 91 Octane and plain old auto gas. The test engine for our visit was the Lycoming turbo charged 350 HP NA Vato Navajo engine. GAMI describes this engine as the most detonation critical engine in the GA fleet. They are able to make this engine behave, and even use auto gas. They have the “Prism” system installed of course, and told us that when they have the system “on”, single ignition does not give a drop, the system automatically compensates.
   They are able to directly read out the pressure in the cylinder using a novel detector under the spark plug. They have found that the best engine operation is when peak cylinder pressure occurs 16 degrees after TDC. The heart of their “Prism” system (still under development) is an electronic spark system. Spark advance is controlled by the cylinder pressure sensor, to cause cylinder peak pressure to be at 16 degrees all the time. (This is a big advantage over FAEDEC, which attempts to do the same thing “open loop”). They plan to market “Prism” to the experimental market first.
   GAMI is building an alternator they call a Supplemator to give them the redundancy they need for electronic spark control. They now own the “Tornado Alley” operation and are turbo modifying 3 Bonanzas a month. GAMI is also doing the analysis and redesign of the T-34 wing, which has a distressing tendancy to depart the fuselage under extreme maneuvers.
If you want to call GAMI for more info: 580 436-4833, or “e” mail: Gami.com, TATURBO.com or engineteststand.com.

(It bears mentioning that Gene was the driving force behind this chapter fly-out and his ability to keep up the interest resulted in a good showing of chapter folks making the trip and seeing a unique presentation - ed.)

On Saturday, July 6, EAA 983 will have a Young Eagles Rally at the Pecan
Airpark. This is being done in conjunction with the Pecan Plantation Youth
Association summer program. We are currently expecting about 50 kids.
This is a great opportunity for us to make friends with our neighbors that
so far have tolerated our noise and flying activities. Time is 10:00 AM,
at Planeview Park.

I need pilots and ground crew! Can you help? Please let me know by
calling Dave Moore at 254-897-5398 (work), 817-573-4642 (home), or email at
dmoore@hcnews.com

I’ve known Chapter members Eddie and Jerri Meier since the early seventies when I met them through my Dad at the Reno Air Races. Eddie raced a Cassutt called “Miss Jerri” and they were the nicest and most welcoming people I’d ever met. It was good fortune that brought us together again at Pecan almost thirty years later.
His flying career began out of an old WWI training field in Waco, Tx., a 400 acre square piece of dirt and grass that was the norm before people decided that airplanes needed runways. After that it was station agent for Braniff, flight instructor in PT-19’s for the Army and then the airlines. Eddie got involved with experimental aircraft early on. His first homebuilt was a Goodyear racer #51 the “Johnson Special” that he bought when he was a young co-pilot for Braniff in ‘49. Apparently Luther Johnson didn’t like it very much and put it up for sale. Eddie bought it, re-skinned the wings, took 4” of length out of the fuselage and flew it. ONCE. He and Tom Cassutt decided it was too much work to fix and it never flew again. Jerri called it a “nasty little snake” and wouldn’t let it out of the house to a new owner so it became a playground for their three young sons who took it apart to see what was inside. The boys all went on to aviation careers themselves. Eddie bought the Cassutt which became “Miss Jerri” in 1969 but had actually seen it at the Rockford Gathering years before. In 1970 Eddie took Jerri and “Miss Jerri” on the road in the Formula 1 racing circuit averaging about three races a year including Reno. He stayed with racing for several years until other interests took him away. During those years he designed and partially built a new design racer which still resides in his hangar waiting for time and interest to catch up and finish it. Eddie still has “Miss Jerri” and is building a new tapered wing to go on the original fuselage. His design and modification skills were learned by watching, asking questions and copying other designers and aircraft. The TLAR (That Looks About Right ) school of engineering may not be as consistent as we are used to today but it sure provided a lot of interesting and successful aircraft down thru the years. At the next chapter meeting you attend look for Eddie. He’ll be the most vibrant 85 year old guy in a red jumpsuit there.

Rick Chapman and I were headed to Sun'nFun on Saturday. WX from Pecan was 4800 overcast then clearing over Louisiana. Rather than going IFR, I decided to fly 3500' until clear and then crank up the turbo to FL175. Should have seen about 240 Knots. Life is good!
But...

About 75 miles southeast of Dallas, the engine sounded cranky and began running rough. I reduced the power to avoid severe vibrations and found the nearest airport using the GPS. Athens was still 15 miles away and altitude was too low to make a glide to the airport. There were a couple of fields below and nothing ahead but trees and forest.

Emergency training kicked in and I decided to land in a big open field rather than a road. A short base and final put me a little high over the field, but I committed to the landing. I should have slipped it after crossing the trees and pulled mixture lean, because I was floating along valuable pasture. The touchdown was rough, but we were rolling. Several cows watched us pass by and I was concentrating on the large
opening between the trees and was late on slamming brakes. Almost stopped, but hit a barbed-wire fence and crossed into the next field which was deeply plowed. The nose gear was caught in the dirt and collapsed. When the nose hit the dirt, the deceleration was enough to activate the ELT and the (previously snugged) shoulder belts kept us in the cockpit. Fuel was leaking from the left leading edge after the tank was ruptured going through the fence. About 2 milliseconds later, I called "get out of
the airplane" and we were standing outside looking at the damage.

The good news was that Rick and I had no injuries. I used the GPS map to find the lat/long and the local town. We walked to town since no one seemed to know we had landed. The chief of police just happened to be getting gas at the Citgo when I was asking the locals for information. He was extremely helpful and contacted the State Troopers to handle the investigation. Ultimately the FAA and NTSB decided (over the phone) that it was an incident and I was authorized to remove the airplane. Their criteria was that there were no injuries nor structural damage.

Wreckers did not want to have anything to do with helping with the recovery. It was raining on and off all day and the plowed field was turning into mud. The landowner finally decided that we should remove the airplane before his bull got interested in an expensive airplane.

This is the part where friends come in. Brenda, Austin and Haley (The rest of the Chapmans)started the drive to pick us up. Lisa Coltman was the communication center and contacted many people that she knew for arrangements in the area. Somehow Jeff Powell, Tom and Charlie Powell were on their way with a flatbed trailer. Peter Coltman drove all the way from home to help. We were able to lift the airplane onto the trailer and then dissemble the wing from the fuselage for transport. After we were cutting wires, cable, lines and tubing, I got to a point where I felt we were just loading a pile of parts and it may never fly again. Imagine scattered showers all day with thunderstorms building in a plowed field and we were running out of daylight. The local DQ served a humble dinner for friends and something in the future will certainly supplement that. We backed the trailer in the hangar after midnight that evening in heavy rainstorms.

In retrospect, things could have been a lot worse. We could have been fatally injured or still in ER. The decision to pick a large field rather than continue to the airport may have saved us from injury and/or complete destruction of the airplane. After sleeping on it, it'll probably fly again.

Count your blessings and count on your friends. One day they may need to count on you.

Stress Expert Dr. Emmit Miller M.D. says “Screaming or crying can provide a release for the emotions generating the stress you’re feeling”. So from now on don’t worry about those terrible cries you hear coming from my hangar. It’s just me working with fiberglass again.

The June 19 th intrusion into the prohibited area around the White House and a couple of other violations of TFR’s are causing the Security boys to look harder at GA as a threat risk again.

Life is a great big canvas and you should throw all the paint on it you can. -Danny Kaye