Rutan made it to his 100 km altitude, I have no doubt that he will be able to make the passenger flights. Of course, he will talk about all that at Oshkosh.

I went to Ohio the other week to my family reunion. Since it was only a few miles away I looked up Preferred Airparts. This is the company that the grandsons of Chris Stoltzfus of Coatesville Pa formed 20 years ago. Back in the 60's, Chris advertised W-670 and R-680 engines and parts for years in Trade-A-Plane. Of course, I didn't have any spare money so I didn't buy any. According to their web site, preferredairparts.com, he owned the B-17 in the 60's that became EAA's Aluminum Overcast. Anyway they claim to have tons of new and used parts for popular aircraft and have a nice 3400 ft paved runway in the heart of central Ohio Amish country. It just seems funny to see airplanes together with horses and buggies. Actually what seemed just as amusing occurred earlier approaching Morgantown Pa where I spotted an Amish girl in her long purple dress with white bonnet and apron trimming weeds along the road with a Weed Wacker.

Incidentally, gas is 5-10 cents a gallon cheaper in Pa than here and an additional 5-10 cents cheaper in Ohio. Also there was less traffic on Rt 80 than I have ever seen and the single lane construction sites caused no backups. Cars and trucks are driving slower; I think because of the high gas prices. Even here on Rt 78 in non rush hour I find that if I drive a needle width under 70, the people who do pass are only going 75-80 rather than the 80-90 that they used to. Anyway, I feel more relaxed. The other benefit of a few miles slower is gas mileage. I got 10 and 20% better mileage on my two gas stops than I normally would going to Sun-n-Fun.

The Academy of Model Aeronautics has a web site at masportaviation.com which has a no charge on- line magazine with articles on all aspects of modeling.

An update on our newest member’s project: It flew !

John Sheridan got his Ragwing Special licensed, and with a fresh airworthy certificate, with the help of his test pilot Jim, started to make a dent into the required 40 hours. The Kawasaki 440 sounded great, but was just not up to the task of getting the experimental weight plane to climb fast enough to call it safe. A new Rotax 503 should have been delivered by the time you read this. Since the gearbox extends the length of the engine, the w/b should work out with the same c-g even though another 10 lb will be hanging on the front.

The pilot reported that it is a two finger airplane that handled well. John plans to add a bungee suspension to the landing gear which is reported to be fragile. I wouldn’t doubt that hydraulic brakes will follow in short order.

Another work in progress is a quick build Rans S 12. Very nice work. Factory covered and painted, nice upholstery, Rotax 912s. Still plenty to do. Interesting detail, tailfeather hinge brackets are screwed onto tubing framework on top of fabric. I wonder if the fabric will compress and the brackets loosten. Time will tell.

Happy Flying