lr27
Well-Known Member
This was not a huge event, but I think it was worth attending. The weather was about as good as you could ask for in August. Sunny, and not hot enough to notice much, though I admit I felt a bit wilted by the time I got home.
The aircraft included 4 or so LongEZ's and Marc Zeitlin's Cozy. I think all of them were relatively old. Maybe 40 years for some, and Marc's plane, which is in its 20's. I noticed that some of the LongEZs used Marc's Belleville washer system for the prop. (Propeller Bolt Belleville Washer Retention System) As I recall, everything else was kit built, although I guess it's possible to build some RV's and a CH 701 (or 750?) from plans. In addition to numerous RV's, which I admit I didn't look at terribly carefully, there was also a CH650, a Glassair in the middle of some repairs, and a very slick kit built autogyro. I think it was a Cavalon. Generally, all the airplanes looked very slick, some a bit more than others. The CH 650 had little vortex generators and a Corvair conversion spinning a left-handed prop.
There was an Extra there as well, and what I think was an Su-26. That one has a compressed air starting system, which apparently puts the air in the cylinders themselves. It made pathetic noises and would not start. I think the pilot had to leave the plane there and get a ride home, though that was only a short distance away near Nashua.
At slightly inflated prices, there were burgers and, I guess, hot dogs. (They were a little spicy, which was great.)
Guys from the Civil AIr Patrol were helping out with directing us where to park, and with other things. I liked them, though I think the camouflage uniforms were faintly ridiculous. Are they really going to be running around in the woods with rifles?
I attended Marc's talk about canard aerodynamics, which got more and more interesting as we got past the basics and into issues I knew less about. He described some mods to winglets that he didn't particularly approve of, because he thought they made the plane more vulnerable to deep stalls. (stock LongEZ's don't do this if CG limits are observed). Wider fuselages or longer noses apparently can cause problems too, unless adjusted for. One of the wider fuselage offshoots had to have its canard shortened by 6 inches to make up for it. He described a couple of test flights he'd made helping people figure out their less than standard LongEZ's, including one which had a significantly extended nose and wasn't particularly stable in yaw. Another anecdote was about the start of some sort of efficiency event in, I think, 2003. Everyone ended up flying through a very thick cloud of bugs, enough that it hard to see when deposited on the front of the canopy. Some of the guys with the original GU25-5(11)8 on their LongEZ canards had trouble with trim and even with instability. A couple of guys who'd been in the event were present and recounted their experiences. One said he had to maintain 120 knots to keep control, and landed at that speed! Another only had to add, I think, 10 or 15 knots. But don't quote me. That airfoil apparently caused problems in the rain, too, though one guy said his LongEZ didn't have that problem. Marc said it was probably because his canard wasn't built as accurately as some of the others! Later LongEZs used a Roncz foil on the canard and don't have the problem. Marc says there are fixes for the original airfoil, so it isn't actually necessary to build a new one. As I recall, small vortex generators are supposed to help, and I think a trip at the right place is supposed to help.
I got to watch the autogyro take off, though at a distance. I don't think I've seen one fly before. It climbed out at a fairly shallow angle, after a fair distance on the runway, but the pilot told me she could put it down in a very short distance. So I guess that makes it a LTOFSL, as opposed to an STOL.
I have to admit that, to me, almost all of these planes seemed complex and expensive, and fast. I guess the simple, slow planes were mostly over at the Crow Island event, not so far away. There WAS one Challenger (I think) parked there, but the pilot was not present.
Today, at the Crow Island event, I was told that the Crow Island club had been invited to show up in Lawrence with ultralights, but then someone insisted on knowing the N-numbers.
The aircraft included 4 or so LongEZ's and Marc Zeitlin's Cozy. I think all of them were relatively old. Maybe 40 years for some, and Marc's plane, which is in its 20's. I noticed that some of the LongEZs used Marc's Belleville washer system for the prop. (Propeller Bolt Belleville Washer Retention System) As I recall, everything else was kit built, although I guess it's possible to build some RV's and a CH 701 (or 750?) from plans. In addition to numerous RV's, which I admit I didn't look at terribly carefully, there was also a CH650, a Glassair in the middle of some repairs, and a very slick kit built autogyro. I think it was a Cavalon. Generally, all the airplanes looked very slick, some a bit more than others. The CH 650 had little vortex generators and a Corvair conversion spinning a left-handed prop.
There was an Extra there as well, and what I think was an Su-26. That one has a compressed air starting system, which apparently puts the air in the cylinders themselves. It made pathetic noises and would not start. I think the pilot had to leave the plane there and get a ride home, though that was only a short distance away near Nashua.
At slightly inflated prices, there were burgers and, I guess, hot dogs. (They were a little spicy, which was great.)
Guys from the Civil AIr Patrol were helping out with directing us where to park, and with other things. I liked them, though I think the camouflage uniforms were faintly ridiculous. Are they really going to be running around in the woods with rifles?
I attended Marc's talk about canard aerodynamics, which got more and more interesting as we got past the basics and into issues I knew less about. He described some mods to winglets that he didn't particularly approve of, because he thought they made the plane more vulnerable to deep stalls. (stock LongEZ's don't do this if CG limits are observed). Wider fuselages or longer noses apparently can cause problems too, unless adjusted for. One of the wider fuselage offshoots had to have its canard shortened by 6 inches to make up for it. He described a couple of test flights he'd made helping people figure out their less than standard LongEZ's, including one which had a significantly extended nose and wasn't particularly stable in yaw. Another anecdote was about the start of some sort of efficiency event in, I think, 2003. Everyone ended up flying through a very thick cloud of bugs, enough that it hard to see when deposited on the front of the canopy. Some of the guys with the original GU25-5(11)8 on their LongEZ canards had trouble with trim and even with instability. A couple of guys who'd been in the event were present and recounted their experiences. One said he had to maintain 120 knots to keep control, and landed at that speed! Another only had to add, I think, 10 or 15 knots. But don't quote me. That airfoil apparently caused problems in the rain, too, though one guy said his LongEZ didn't have that problem. Marc said it was probably because his canard wasn't built as accurately as some of the others! Later LongEZs used a Roncz foil on the canard and don't have the problem. Marc says there are fixes for the original airfoil, so it isn't actually necessary to build a new one. As I recall, small vortex generators are supposed to help, and I think a trip at the right place is supposed to help.
I got to watch the autogyro take off, though at a distance. I don't think I've seen one fly before. It climbed out at a fairly shallow angle, after a fair distance on the runway, but the pilot told me she could put it down in a very short distance. So I guess that makes it a LTOFSL, as opposed to an STOL.
I have to admit that, to me, almost all of these planes seemed complex and expensive, and fast. I guess the simple, slow planes were mostly over at the Crow Island event, not so far away. There WAS one Challenger (I think) parked there, but the pilot was not present.
Today, at the Crow Island event, I was told that the Crow Island club had been invited to show up in Lawrence with ultralights, but then someone insisted on knowing the N-numbers.
