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  1. gtae07

    Perfect Rivets

    We built Dad's RV-6 with only a 3x (and a 4x or 5x for the spars). A couple of dings in places but 2200 hours later it's still in the air (and getting a new engine next year). I mostly used a 3x on my airplane but got a 2x for the wife to use. I wound up using it a fair bit towards the end but...
  2. gtae07

    Perfect Rivets

    Van's rivet spray...
  3. gtae07

    Companies that offer homebuilt liability/not flying, no authorized pilots insurance?

    I have a "builder's risk" policy through Gallagher: http://www.ajg.com/lightaircraft
  4. gtae07

    What did you do on your airplane project today?

    Permanently installed the baffles. Started wiring in the crank and injector wires, fitting baffle seals in place, and plan to add sealant on the baffles when I have a day with more contiguous working time. Getting mighty sick of p-clamps. I wish the self-locking Umpco ones were more easily...
  5. gtae07

    What did you do on your airplane project today?

    Finished, tested, and installed yhe ground power control and fired up the avionics for the first time in a while. They still work! Also formed (in place) some baffle seals for areas I just couldn't get the baffles to fit the cylinders quite right. We'll see how that turns out. If good, the...
  6. gtae07

    What did you do on your airplane project today?

    Well, civil Part 25 aerospace, but yeah, too long😂 and probably about 20-25 more years to go 🙁 No more deviations or Good Idea Fairy visits now though. I need to grind through and get this thing done. Dad flew down to visit and see my hangar on Wednesday (I'd have gone up for some pattern...
  7. gtae07

    What did you do on your airplane project today?

    Got my ground power control panel (two mini switches driving two relays, and two LED indicators) painted and ready for installation. I decided the couple hours to fab it up and $10 in parts was worth it as insurance, so nobody accidentally connects a DC power supply backwards and fries my...
  8. gtae07

    Controller makes Incompetent pilot LAND for being hazardous!

    Someone who's overwhelmed, in a mental lockup/paralysis, or maybe a experiencing a medical issue, may not have the clarity of mind to handle anything but "direct orders" from someone who at least appears to have Authority. By the book? Maybe not, but maybe it's what was needed to get through to...
  9. gtae07

    What did you do on your airplane project today?

    Finishing the baffles (I keep getting ready to put them on for good and then thinking of "wait, I need to do this first!" things) and wiring in engine sensors right now. Also, since I had to pull the panel out to do some of that engine wiring, and since I busted my bandsaw blade and the danged...
  10. gtae07

    FAA Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin, TCW Technologies backup battery

    Some info over on VAF as well: https://vansairforce.net/threads/saib-2024-01-thermal-runaway-tcw-backup-battery.224497/
  11. gtae07

    Change.org: Urge the FAA to Address the Deficit of Ultralight Aircraft Instructors

    Unfortunately, this. The FAA doesn't want you flying ultralights; they don't want people without licenses and government testing flying things that don't at least get some kind of minimal cursory look-over by someone with a government-issued piece of paper (and the more look-over and more...
  12. gtae07

    Well that was interesting (EVTOL sighting in the wild...)

    Was picking my son up from school yesterday and saw something flying around (not unusual around here) but something looked funny about it. It was low on the horizon, all white, and I heard no noise coming from there, so my brain thought it looked almost like two airliners in formation. Pulled...
  13. gtae07

    Why is GA continuing its demise?

    Yeah for that kind of money, I’d have to be using it to make money. Or at the very least, haul me and all my friends (and our gear) off somewhere for an epic guys’ weekend in the mountains or something.
  14. gtae07

    How to build a team?

    That would require two things… First, the university (or more accurately the aero department) in question would have to support students doing hands-on real-world work. My alma mater has next to no interest in such things beyond perhaps R/C aircraft. Our aero program was heavily...
  15. gtae07

    How to build a team?

    The couple of times I had work parties (basically, mounting/dismounting the wings, and that didn’t take long) I had a couple guys over from work and we sat down for some beers afterwards. Half the fun was seeing their eyes bug out over all the 3/32 rivets—they’re all structures guys and only...
  16. gtae07

    What did you do on your airplane project today?

    Continued running plug wires and figuring out where the Hall sensor and injector wiring will go through the aft baffle. Lots of “need a bracket here”, pull the baffle, add a bracket, reinstall, “ok need the next bracket here…” But, I have only one plug wire left to run. Hopefully I have...
  17. gtae07

    How to build a team?

    Have a teenager who's really in to it and can stay on task. That's how Dad did it anyway... In all seriousness I've found much of the work is of the "how am I gonna do this?" and trying different stuff variety. The parts where having a second or third pair of hands would make a big difference...
  18. gtae07

    MOSAIC Rule Change

    Light Sport was supposed to be “let’s certify the two-seat ultralights to some standard”, and straight from the horse’s a…. er, mouth, the FAA intended and expected that most LSAs to be open-frame tube-and-rag “fat ultralights” with no electrical system, being used primarily to train people for...
  19. gtae07

    Thinking about developing a new engine for GA, but looking for a bit of feedback before starting.

    Bu But it can still handle the altitudes many homebuilts fly at just fine, especially with some attention paid to fuel system design. A low wing airplane with fuel being sucked "uphill" by a mechanical pump mounted on the hot engine is not an ideal fuel system. That is also no reason not to...
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