I don't get to break the surely bonds by myself but I can handle the stick in many airplanes in which my son and friends allow me to accompany them. The touch is still there and the joy remains.
Indeed I am for I have things that no one can take from me. And these are things that some others are creating for themselves as we speak, the joy of flight. My wife catches me at times when I'm silent or " out there" as she says. I am "out there" turning the pages of my mental book some times and the memories of flying must grasp me in a firm grip...rightly so because I had some wonderful times. Nothing spectacular or great, just wheeling around in a Stearman and doing things. I can still feel the air and the sounds of putting the nose down to get the wires singing and then pull back into a loop, at the bottom pull the nose up and roll over inverted , push forward a bit until it stalls with the wires moaning and then feel the air rush down into the cockpit. Let the airplane do whatever it thinks it has to do to right itself. It does. Usually with the nose pointed down. And then we level things and pull up into some more boring straight and level flight for a while. Then do some hard 720's left and right and yank the nose up and kick it into a spin. What a great airplane!
Bob- You are lucky. I have never gotten to do many of the things you have done and loved, and likely never will. Unless, of course, Fred Murrin does build his Halberstadt Cl.IV, in which case I can fill in those gaps. The closest so far has been a J-3 Cub, and that was 43 years ago. Taz Terry Phillips
Yep, I'm lucky to have been working at an airport where I had access to anything that I wanted to fly and I got checked out in a lot of stuff. I was single and living at home so I had few responsibilities and my money went out the tail pipes of a bunch of airplanes. Self indulgent,selfish, and unproductive. I was up there while my friends were diligently working at building a bank account and a future. Several are now millionaires and I did nothing with my flying but thrash around and bore holes in the air. But that is who I am and I did find a niche at the Boeing Company when I grew up. Funny thing, though, when I was 40 and single again I was part of an airshow clown act and flying again... but for fun. When I think about those who were WSO's, Flight Surgeons, Pilots, and Flight Engineers...all professionals and GREAT contributors I realize that I have not done anything very useful with the stick and rudder. The J-3 Cub is and always be a fine airplane that will forever teach all the hotshots how to fly no matter how many hours they have in the logbook. My son has over 8000 hours in a variety of some very big or old stuff and he flies a Cub almost every day. His buddies are the same. One has a Luscombe that he flies when he isn't in an F-15 or a DC-10, another has a Cub and is building a Pietenpol when he isn't flying a jet. I get to fly all of them from the right seat or rear seat. My favorite is the Husky owned by an A320 pilot. Switches
W&B This doesn't really add anything to this conversation, but it popped up in the Piet list and I thought it worth passing along Image Unavailable, Please Login
I seem to have pre-loaded the beer... Tillman, if you are hanging out with the Pietenpol gang, you cotinue to show very good taste and decision making. I love the Piets - if only they were not so narrow...
Ask Tillman what he was doing on the 4th, 5th, and 6th, and see if you think shows good taste and decision making.
Yesterday: measuring and templating the turtledeck and cockpit surround panels to cut the wood panels. In somewhat of a individually required compromise, the turtle deck has been made absurdly strong to easily hold a older cripple big pilot sitting on it and clambering about like a lame arthritic mountain goat on ingress/egress. So this part will be wood veneered over an especially stout metal structure. In an event so very reminiscent of my Ferrari ownership, my ignition crapped out. Turns out I did not get a special warning and re-wire notice. Received a good 'how-to' package from Rotec and Robert quickly determined that our modules were ok but rather the Hall senors had pooped out. The parts are made in Wyoming, so will order in the morning. Of course, the engine has to come off... In theory the fault was a voltage spike at start, and should not happen in flight. All advice on Hall sensors welcome. The neccesary re-wires per the directive were done: now we have one toggle switch breaker, one starter button, a generator light and 5 push/pull breakers entirely comprising the electrical system. There is also a power outlet for handheld avionics or cigar lighter. I tried to make the electrical subpanel as simple and out of the way as possible on a bulkhead subpanel. It turned out taking more room than I wished, but for ease of use and future diy maintenence this is how it worked out - shown in photo. Not very Camelesque I'm afraid, but at least it is simple. The extra gauge below the electrical panel is the oil temp connected to the oil tank. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
That sure looks good, Russ. Very neat and tidy like an airplane should be but after looking at that upper wing I think that I would add some more span and area to it. Seems just a tad short. Switches
The engine came off exposing back to get at the pooped out Hall sensors on the distributors. They tested poopy so getting to the distributors took about 2 hours to do. One can see the mounting bases for the distributors and the mounting plate for the Hall sensors. Some replacement sensors ($1.50 each) arrived and go tomorrow. Hopefully the little F.1 replica will go vroom and all will be well in Camel Land. The veneering of the struts and turtle came out pretty well. We will be doing the interplane struts tomorrow. For me, the leather cockpit coaming was not as easy as expected - difficult actually. This is the kind of stuff that always catches me off guard. Although the big goal is to get the motor running, we will try and hang the wings this week while I am here. As always, thanks to Robert, Jim and the growing list of great folks helping me with the little kite. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Okay, I'm showing my iggerunce or missing some of the details of of the engine. What are the Hall sensors and what do they sense? Anyway, I'm anxious to see the project with the wings on.
A Hall effect sensor varies its output in response to a change in magnetic field. They are primarily used for proximity sensing and position/rotation sensing. By placing a hall effect sensor near a magnet attached to your device (Distributor) that moves in some way, you can get a voltage proportional to the distance/orientation of the magnet. One commonly used configuration is placing the sensor directly above a dipole magnet attached to a rotating joint or shaft. The sensor (with some circuitry) will return an analog voltage proportional to the angle of the joint or shaft. Basically it takes the place of your typical set of points. The magnetic pulse generated by the rotating distributor shaft triggers the the coil to produce high voltage to the sparkplugs
Another option is to go with the infrared trigger in place of the Hall sensors or points. I have the infrared on my truck, self contained in a Mallory distributor and my 308 had two in one of it's distributors.
Engine go vroom vroom this am with new Hall sensors. Yea. Engine off in two hours, one hour to replace sensors, back on in two hours. Marked redlines and labeled circuit breakers (FAA required). Many many inspection details to attend!!! Veneered interplane struts. Need to work on my technique a bit more. I do well for a total klutz however. Thank goodness for sandpaper and minwax. Placed three of four wings during big storm. Should finish the last wing tomorrow and rig flying wires. Not one to usually notice these things, but as the wings came on the plane began taking on a strong presence - a presence like it was from another time. I have never really gotten that feeling from most replicas (especially smaller scales, but I do like them). The rather large 1:1 Sopwith biplane replica sitting high on those narrow wheels and original instrumentation data plate marked as a specific plane seems to be taking on a strong individual persona of something from another era. I'm probably just tired, but it is just so cool. Image Unavailable, Please Login
You are sensing the same thing that I did when we were sifting through the remains of the old airplane that we had found for 600 bucks and saw the data plate from WW2. Stamped on it was Aeronca L-3B Year built 1942. A data plate or a recreation carries an aura of times past and one would have to be made of an earthen clod if he didn't feel some sense of the history . It is amazing how some machinery can stir something inside us. Locomotives, ships, airplanes, and cars can cast a spell that is truly unbreakable.
I know what you mean. Somehow, a smaller replica comes off (in my mind) as maybe a reworked cub or something. It's just not right, it doesn't have the presence of the real thing. When you get a big prop and have the prop hub over the top of your head, it towers over the sub scale aircraft and just has a felling all it's own. While there are probably reasons for doing it, it seems to me that it's about the same amount of work to build full scale as is is to build at 7/8's or 3/4, and the result is so much different. I'm sure you are glad at this point that you did it right.
The Sopwith F.1 Camel Replica of Ruston Proctor Aircraft D1845, Airplane 'C', 208 Sqn, 1918 Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
