Vol 25 No. 2
February 2002
REFLECTIONS Ed Chenevey
This month we plan to have
Tom Watkinson's father tell us about his WWII experiences flying night fighter
Hellcats off the Yorktown. According to my books, they made 205 F6F-3N's and
1434 F6F-5N's both with APS-6 radar mounted under the right wing. In addition,
he also has flown the Corsair, so I expect some comparison between them.
Of our four first line fighters at the end of the war, three were powered by the
R2800 engine. When I tabulated book data I found them remarkable similar, both
in dimensions and weight. I had always been impressed by how large the
Thunderbolt appears when you stand in front of it, yet the data show the Corsiar
to be over a foot taller while the Hellcat is only a few inches less. I
perceived the Hellcat as being smaller than the others but it has the largest
wingspan and area. All the specs except for speed are equivalent to those of the
Corsair. Draw your own conclusions from the Table.
F6F-5 F4U-1A P47D
span 42' 10" 41' 40' 10"
area (sq ft) 334 314 300
length 33' 10" 33' 4" 36' 2"
height 14' 5" 16' 1" 14' 7"
weight (lb) empty 9060 8962 10000
speed 380 at 23400 417 at 19900 428 at 30000
landing speed 88 87 100
initial climb 2980 3120 2800
engine R2800-10W 2800-8W R2800-63
The sport pilot proposal is out and available on the EAA.org web site with a
link to the FAA or to sportpilot.org. It was published of Feb 6th so comments
are due by May 6. It is long and will take a lot of reading to understand. They
are actually specifying pilot, flight instructor, and repairman/mechanic, along
with two airworthyness categories, one for manufacturers called a special light
sport aircraft and one under the experimental category called experimental light
sport aircraft.
I'm disappointed because I had thought that it would let me fly the T'cft if my
medical had expired but it won't, because you can't certify the airplane in the
light sport category. Specifically they exclude standard or primary category
aircraft from elgibility. It will legalize fat ultralights but you must apply
for an experimental light sport certificate within two years and the FAA has
another year to issue it after a conditional inspection. After that 2 year
period, I don't know how you can handle building or assembling the same
aircraft. They expect that this provision will "grandfather " the 2 place
ultralight trainers now operating under exemptions and that manufacturers will
then produce new aircraft or certify their old designs with a statement of
compliance to obtain special light sport aircraft certificates.
With a kit, the kit manufacturer will certify that the kit meets certain
standards so that after a completion inspection to assure compliance, the
builder can get an experimental light sport aircraft certificate. I don't see
how you "customize" your aircraft, although they do make provisions to change
from special to experimental to make modifications. The special light aircraft
designation is for manufactures to design and manufacture aircraft to a standard
which is not defined but which they hope will come from the industry.
OK, so I can't recertify the T'cft, some things that I do want to know are (1)
could Alvin recertify his Cygnet in this category so that he doesn't need a
medical, and (2) if I build a Cuby, Wagabond or other light weight
aircraft, could I certify it
in this category for the same reasons. I'm sure that we will be reading a lot
over the next few months.
This weekend is the WRAM radio control
modelers show in
White Plains Feb 22, 23, and 24. They have a full page ad on page 127 of the Feb
issue of Radio Control Modeler. Since they give monetary awards, there will be
some "world" class models on display, along with all sorts of vendors.
In the same magazine
on page 69 is an ad for a Co-pilot flight stabilization system which will
recover your model in less than one second. It
weighs one ounce, controls
roll and pitch, and uses infrared technology to sense the difference between
the ground and the
sky achieving 2 degree accuracy to the horizon.
Their web site,
fmadirect.com gave me a price of $119, well
worth it if it saves
your model.
ROCKET-POWERED LONG
EZ AIMS FOR EDGE OF SPACE
The Xcor Aerospace
Company blasted a highly modified Long EZ
aircraft, along with test pilot Dick Rutan, to 8,500 feet
earlier this month from Mojave, California, using two 400-
pound-thrust rockets. Another demonstration flight is planned
for January 22 at Mojave. The rockets weigh only 18 pounds each.
The aircraft took off and landed conventionally but stayed below
its VNE of 190 knots. Rockets burned for 2 minutes and 22
seconds. What does Rutan get out of it? More records to add to
his famous nonstop flight around the world with Jeanna Yeager.
Rutan expects to achieve time-to-climb and distance records in
one flight. Xcor President Jeff Greason, who developed the rockets
himself, said he hopes to attract $8 million in investments to
continue development of a larger manned vehicle that could boost
a 600-pound payload to suborbital altitudes. There, a satellite
could be dropped off that uses its own attached rocket to achieve
orbit. Or scientific payload could gather data. Another option is
to carry a passenger or an onboard scientific experiment. Such
experiments are now carried by small unmanned
rockets.
Recently, I
got this question from a Long-EZ builder
Subject: brake bleeding
I want to ask if you have a technique on how to fill the brake lines and
cylinders. I know you start from the calipers and 'pump' the fluid, but
I want to know what tool to use, and what procedures.
Matt Lockwood
I responded with this:
The single biggest reason for the "Bottom Up" fill procedure is to
protect the master cylinder seals from debris destruction.
Once upon a time the most commonly used method for bleeding the brakes
was to pump up pressure using the master cylinder, then open a bleed
screw while holding pressure on the pedal. The master cylinder would
sink to the bottom of it's travel, the bleed screw closed and the
procedure repeated until there was no longer air in the lines and/or the
fluid had been replaced. On systems that have never been used, this
method still works reasonably well. On older systems, however, it often
leads to total failure of the master cylinder. This is bad enough under
any circumstances but can be absolutely disastrous on a machine whose
directional stability is dependent on balanced differential braking.
For example: The right caliper on my Decathlon failed, while my partner
was making a too fast, overlong touchdown. The sudden loss of braking on
the right side threw the plane 90 degrees to the left where the gear dug
