Vol 26 No. 4
April 2003
Getting Started
Matt Thompson
Our flying freedom really is something special. I especially appreciated it this past week. When I heard about the cancellation of the TFR restrictions, I took my wife and son on a Hudson River tour. I think it_s incredible experience being get cleared through the New York Class B, right over Newark Airport at 1500 feet, to tour the city at 900 feet. It_s still an impressive sight, although we miss the towers on lower Manhattan. There was plenty of traffic up and down the river, even on a late morning, midweek flight _ sight seeing helicopters and a few fixed wing tourists like myself. The week before that, I found out that the TFR inflicted on the New York Class B airspace really was mostly an inconvenience. One just needed to follow the procedures and you could still fly. Pattern work out of MMU was easy (there was a fixed code for pattern work _ no flight plan required) and getting a flight plan to go in or out of the airspace was fairly straightforward. Unless one were flying something like my NORDO Luscombe (or Alvin_s Cygnet), which would have been effectively grounded for the duration. It_s unclear how this made a difference in safety/security. Especially when one realizes that the radar typically has a hard time picking up mode C targets when they_re below 1500_. Imagine how hard it is to pick up primary returns!
Over the course of this past month, there_s been a lot happening that may impact our future flying freedom. We_ve seen the destruction of Meigs Field in Chicago. I_m glad that EAA and AOPA are fighting this. Otherwise, we could see more airports closed by fiat, as Mayor Daly has done in Chicago. Given the value of land in New Jersey, that precedent would not bode well for some of the remaining fields here. We_ve seen a New Jersey Representative, Steve Rothman, push for permanent TFR-type restrictions similar to those in the DC area. He claims that he was really trying to prevent commercial air carrier service taking root in Teterboro. Wish he was more direct about what he_s trying to do. There_s a proposal out by the FAA to expand the Philadelphia Class B airspace. A first glance at the proposed outline suggests that it will be even harder to make one_s way from North Jersey to the South. Then there was the editorial in the Boston Globe, suggesting that light aircraft should be banned from the skies above Boston. The trend is not a healthy one. I feel sad to think that perhaps one day in the future light aircraft, piloted by the average private pilot, will no longer be take in the wonder of the Hudson River tour. This is the time to be involved with both EAA and AOPA _ the time to be heard _ it_s not a time to stand on the sideline. So, write those letters and get involved!
On a happier note, a number of our members made it to Sun _n Fun. Hopefully we_ll have some photos to support some hangar flying Monday night. I was there with my six-year old for the weekend. It seemed to me that the attendance was lower that what I remembered from my last visit. Some suggested that the weekend weather convinced lot_s of folks to get out of Dodger early. Other_s felt that the admission fee - $30 a head ($25 for EAA) may have put a damper on it. One nice consequence was that it was easy to speak to the various vendors. The Wright Flyer replica is indeed an impressive sight. I can confirm that the Flyer simulator is light but controllable on pitch, but definitely a handful on bank. I made it past the various first flight markers on my tries, but once it was time to maneuver around the trees and buildings (the simulator has you flying in current reality Kitty Hawk) _ well, at that point , it was over pretty quick _ once you start to bank, if you_re not aggressive with the wing warping, the Flyer will fall off quickly _ but, if you_re too aggressive, then the low wing will stall and pay off quickly! Amazing that the Wrights did it all and didn_t kill themselves in the process. My son got a real kick out of the pedal planes in the Wright Experience. Plenty of video footage for posterity (and to share with Mom). There were lot_s of RVs of the Van_s variety and even more RVs of the travel-down-the-highway variety. Many thanks to Barry Palmer who let us nap in his Saturday afternoon. As a result of having been there, my six-year old has been asking to work on the airplane _ he wants to fly ours to Sun _n Fun! As he_s just getting strong enough to work the clecos and hold a bucking bar, the day that I have a helper may not be too far off.
On programs, first, another round of thanks to John Loofbourrow for his presentation on the Defiant last month. Next, thanks to Tom Watkinson for graciously volunteering to do a program this month. Tom is a long time member of our chapter. He_s the Borough Engineer for Millburn. He_s also one of the partners in the Super Cruiser that I fly _ so he_s a tail-wheel guy! Tom_s been flying as both a banner tow pilot and a glider two pilot for the last three seasons. He will be our featured speaker sharing his experience about what it is to tow things aloft and some of his interesting thing_s that have happened while he_s been doing this.
That_s all for now _ see you Monday night at the Madison Public Library.
Off & Closed? Brakes & Contact!
REFLECTIONS Ed
Chenevey
We had a good time at Sun-n-Fun, rain coming and going but no rain while we were
there. I found slush on my windshield the first morning but it warmed up every
day so that by the end we could sleep on top of the sleeping bags. Of course,
you guys had snow. Traffic on Rt 95 was lighter than I have ever seen, we zipped
around Washington at 65 without ever stopping. Whether everyone was watching the
war on TV or not I don't know. We got all that we wanted from the local paper
and Fox news at 10 along with the weather.
Attendance was way down, both people and aircraft. This year they started mid
week like Oshkosh. By Friday we saw people leaving. Normally, when people leave
early their space is rapidly taken up by others; not this year. Every vendor
that we asked agreed that attendance was way down. Most vendors were there, the
four display buildings were full and were agmented by half of the old Fly-Market
building which was called Exhibit Building E. The vendors there were very
lonely. The rest of building E is where they are restoring their Convair "Pogo".
This mean't that the Fly-Market was relocated to a tent in the ultralight area
which caused a lot of grumbling. A tram did operate there, the tent was somewhat
larger than the old building, and the open walls made it cooler. My extravagance
was a Merlin mag which made a good paperweight for the table and of course could
be used on a 1,2,3,4,6,or 12 cylinder engine.
The lack of people was shown by the fact that lunch lines were short. The $1.25
potato salad was still available and the $1 refill drink cups were back after
some smart person bought some blue stickers to cover the Coke logos. Besides the
economy, these are allowed on the flight line.
I ran into Tim Perkins at one of the engine Forums as per usual. Nick Folger was
hawking corn from the back of a pickup in the campground while Barry Palmer
passed us coming and going to the showers numerous times. Matt was going to join
him to watch the airshow. We were about 50 yds further back which gives us a
better perspective although the front row is nice for watching departing
aircraft. Anyhow, for my money, the nicest aerobatics were done by the white
Waco Classic; smooth, quiet, effortless.
The Count Down to Kitty Hawk exhibit was in a large white air conditioned tent
and was impressive. The Wright Flyer simulators were well used with most people
crashing in under 10 seconds. Of course, so did the Wrights, which is why they
liked the sand dunes. Although the brochure said the the simulator would have
the dunes of Kitty Hawk, in fact I believe it showed the parade ground of Ft
Myer which had trees and buildings. I believe that the key to a successful
flight was to climb high enough to clear the obstructions and then try to figure
out where you were going. If you were really flying you would know all of this
before the flight. Control response was sluggish, after all it is a large
airplane, and it was barely above stall speed. One thing that these cheap
simulators do (in deference to the airline simulators), is demonstrate how
difficult it is to fly with limited visibility and external feedback. It allows
me to appreciate our military experts who fly RPV's on long missions. It's one
thing to steer a bomb from a video camera where you can only make minor
corrections but quite another to take off, fly to a target, manuever, return,
and land. Another simulator with a J-3 was easier, particularly if you flew from
a position behind and off to the side of the aircraft. This demonstrates how
much we depend on peripheral vision and a quick fractional second glance
sideways all instantly processed by our brain to provide an "awareness" of our
surroundings. Ford also had the Filiver there along with historical information
on Ford's aviation involvement and the upcoming rerunning of the Ford
Reliability Tour.
I delayed taking the flight line tour until Sunday morning thinking that most of
the airplanes would still be there. Boy was I wrong! I should have done it
Friday. By Tuesday, 3/4 of the campground was empty and while I did see someone
doing aerobatics, I think the rest were cancelled since there was no one around
to watch.
There were some interesting airplanes though. Kermit Weeks brought over his
Morane parasol with 260 hp Salmson engine (like the one at Rheinbeck) and
displayed a Grumman F3F, the first that I have ever seen. Next year I must spend
a day at Kermit's place. Anyhow the Grumman was displayed center stage next to
the B-25 all week while the Morane was only there for a day or so across from
the Vintage building. The Waco exhibit next to the EAA gift shop featured the
recently restored Waco SRE that the Daily News flew before WWII. An absolutely
beautiful cabin biplane. After I returned I was reading a 1991 Antique Aircraft
Assoc magazine which I had bought for the history of General A/C corp and found
a story about "Duke" Krantz who started out with the Gates Flying Circus (see
pictures at the Teterboro museum) after which he became the first pilot for the
News in 1932. There was a picture of him next to the SRE. I got more than I
bargained for.
Two rotary engined aircraft were there brought over from Sweden by Mikael
Carlson who looks like the late Cole Palen. His Bleriot XI was made in 1918, is
powered by a 50 hp Gnome rotary, and was flown over the English Channel in 1999
to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the original. This is the first aircraft
with wing warping that I have ever seen fly, much less turn. Yes, I know that
there is one at Rheinbeck but they only hop it back and forth and with their
hostile terrain, I don't balme them. Mikael made many passes up and down the
runway. His second aircraft was a reproduction which he built of a 20's Swedish
trainer which can best be described as a Nieuport II fuselage with Nieuport 28
wings powered with a Tulin built LeRhone. He flew this but I didn't see it.
Hopefully he will be at Oshkosh.
On the homebuilt side the Titan T51 is a remarkably nice looking airplane,
everything just looks right. Again it was at Sun-n-Fun and Oshkosh last year but
sometimes it takes a while to sink in. The incomplete example allowed the
details of construction to be examined. For instance, the fuselage is actually
made of 1/2 in square steel tubing; the aluminum panels are then hung over the
tubing and riveted to aluminum hat sections which are formed around the tubes.
With a pilot relief tube and a drop tank, Alvin would be able to fly nonstop to
Colorado. Of course, Steve would be out of school by the time that it was built.
The turboprop RV-4 has only been flown about 70 hours so far but they displayed
their engine on a Daytona Cub on floats. Continental is doing nothing with their
diesel waiting for government money but are putting their own money into
developing FADEC systems for their own and Lycoming engines. The Theilert 125
diesel is now called the Centurion 1.7, is JAR approved with FAA approval
expected. They project a price of $19500. The first 100 engines will stay in
Europ for maintenance and control reasons. They are also working on a 300 hp
V-8.
I saw a new belt drive conversion of the 3.5 l Honda V-6 engine which was well
executed with a projected price of $13900. He told me that he purchased the
engine from an Accura dealer for $7500. He plans to make firewall forward
installations only. This is a natural for your RV-6,7,8,or 9. I found some
Nikasil cylinders for VW 's which would save about 4 lb per crlinder but at a
high cost. Still these were beautiful and he had custom forged pistons to match.
HCI didn't have a booth this year or even attend their Forum but they did bring
their 7 cylinder radial which now has open overhead rockers. They ran it in the
engine run-up area. More controllable pitch propeller are appearing; I saw one
from New Zealand and another from France.
At the Taylorcraft Forum we met the new owner of Taylorcraft which has been
moved to Texas. He claims that he will make parts as well as airplanes. What
everyone needs are struts. Personally I think that it is time to certify a new
strut, either from the available 6061 extrusions, a riveted aluminum formed
sheet like the Luscomb, or a comparable one of steel with a welded seam.
I saw a Bendix -9 mag with a retard breaker but didn't buy it because it wasn't
4 cylinder. But they did make them. Unique items which were too rich for my
blood included a 1908 book on aerodynamics and a Norden bombsight, the first
that I have ever seen for sale.
On the way home we stopped at the 8th AF Museum at Savannah. Well worth it. The
displays cover various aspects of the war, show where each unit was stationed,
equipment, etc. On display are a ME 109 and a ME 163. The B-47 sits outside
along Rt 95 beside their memorial garden which has many plaques honoring various
aircrews. We didn't have time to look at more than a few. While looking at the
B-47, I found that the guy next to me had been a Navigator/Bombadier on one from
1954-58 and hadn't seen one since. We talked; now I realize that I should have
asked many more questions. Ah, hindsight.
All in all, a nice trip.
