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There
is a good possibility that Wayne Blacklers aircraft is one of the
nicest Long-EZ's on the planet earth. There may be no better aircraft
to be ez.org's inaugural featured aircraft and also the EZ of the
month. The excerpts for this article were provided by Wayne and
you will be able to read more about this very special Long-EZ in
an upcoming Central States newsletter.
The
aircraft is painted in 2004 Audi Silver Metallic, using PPG Deltron
base and clear and it is spectacular.
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Click on any
image to view full size
Wayne
got the EZ fever many years ago in Melbourne, Australia at
age 13. He had two goals at age 13, Number one: build a LongEZ and
goal number two: work for Burt Rutan. By 1988 just before turning
16, with his parents help, Wayne had acquired a set of Long-EZ plans.
Wayne's progress from 1988 till sixteen years later and the first
flight was in Wayne's terms discontinuous construction.
Most of us have been there. Some may be able to relate to Wayne's
list of distractions that include a garage fire that claimed his fathers
Mercedes roadster, high school, rebellious twenties, rebuilding a
Tiger Moth biplane, girlfriends, a university degree or two, a few
more girlfriends, and working all over the world for aerospace companies.
Wayne's Long EZ traveled half way round the world on a ship, he
never did get the job with Burt and sadly his father never had the
chance to see it fly. Wayne flew the first flight of N360WZ himself,
on June 9th 2004.
Wayne set out to build the fastest Long EZ he could, rolling in
a blend of all of the well tested speed/efficiency modifications
developed for EZ's over the years, as well as a few of his own.
He spent hours streamlining, making things flush, and copying people
like Gary Hertzler
The only areas he deviated in the efficiency
department were with the addition of an O-360 and the empty weight.
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The
pitot is a nose mounted, straight, heated AN5312 unit, converted
to 12V from 24V. It was installed because as a kid, I thought a
heated pitot was a requirement for IFR flight. It is insulated from
the composite structure within machined Teflon. Its removable
for replacement if it gets damaged. It is heavy, and if I were building
again, Id explore the idea of using aluminum tube sized for
cabin air, with an internal pitot line - This simple, light installation
minimizes susceptibility to icing and ground damage, and decreases
FO ingestion when parked nose down. My electric nose gear and favorable
CG allow me to park with the nose off the ground if required.
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The
nose is 11" longer than per plans, not including the heated
pitot. It was build concurrently with the canopy, and the canard
cover from Styrofoam. The NG31 length/width ratio was kept per plans
but increased in size so the nose lofts enclosed a worse-case-scenario
sized 12V battery. I believe the profile is very similar to Mike
Melvills Long EZ. The NG30 (nose bottom) line was extended
out to match a continuously decreasing radius curve. The top and
sides were match as best as possible. The canard is a modified R1145MS,
with extended Brock Mfg built Cozy hinge offsets (P/N MKNC-12A).
The offsets were made longer to allow for a set of elevator root
fairings. I also added my own design sheared tips, rather than use
the curved up variety. I just wanted to be different. The mass balance
weights will get ice fairings this winter, and some seals for the
offsets and canard cover will also be addressed. The canard was
the highest quality part I made on the aircraft. The main gear has
a Wortmann symmetrical aerofoil around it made from Styrofoam and
BID. Each leg has 2.5 degrees of twist to allow for alignment at
cruise AOA. The top section is 17.5% thick, the bottom is 15.3%
thick. Oil flow tests showed attached flow from leading edge to
trailing edge down the leg, and happily at each of the intersections.
Im very happy with this modification. Brakes are Matco 51LTs
and I have 8 ply 400x5 Lamb/Chen Shins. A set of Lightspeed
Engineering wheelpants are installed. I wrapped the gear legs with
"Heat Sheet" and added lockwire wraps for additional security.
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The nose door is much larger than per plans and is hinged Berkut
style. The door is locked using a internal locking system. Its
closed from the outside and opened/locked from inside the cockpit
using a cable from Spruce. The nose houses a small/light Odyssey
PC680 12V battery (680 cold cranking amps!), Main contactor, Main
battery bus, a Wilhelmson Noselift with a custom Rick Girard manual
backup crank using three MS20271 U-joints, a modified set of Berkut
rudder pedals and Matco brake master cylinders aligned with the
nose sides, a set of light carbon Nose Gear doors actuated by spring
and retained by the spring and piano wire, and an ELT. The Wilhelmson
gear allows the aircraft to be placed in a nose high attitude, decreasing
takeoff roll significantly. Two static vents, machined to take 1/8"
NPT fittings are installed from the inside flush with the outside
skin, each side. The nose bumper is aerofoil shaped and is soon
to be minimsed in size as it affects the air introduced into the
centerline ram air inlet for the fuel injection system.
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The
instrument panel is 0.080" 2024T3 aluminium, modular, and tilted
8 degrees above the knees and ¼" marine plywood/glass sandwich
below. The instrument panel has three individual modular sections.
The outer sections are mounted with MK1000 nutplates on a glass lip.
The center section is raised 2 ¾" to clear the original electric
nose gear and to set out the main flight displays. It also made the
manual backup crank installable with clearance. A Dynon EFIS with
backup air data from a Rocky Mountain Encoder. Engine monitoring is
via an AV-10 unit, with voice annunciation. |
The control
system is modified slightly. I have added bearings throughout the
roll control system, and in the pitch system at the stick locations.
In short, I have bearings in every axis. The roll bearings are Steve
Wolpins design and made by Rick Girard, and the pitch are BCA4W10s
mounted on custom machined stick mounts. I have a real F-16 Control
Stick in the front pit, and an Infinity Warbird Stick
Grip in the back seat. Both have the standard military screw in thread.
Rick Girard machined me a couple of stick mounts per my drawings.
They are superb. Thanks Rick. Both sticks are therefore removable.
The
speed brake is a strengthened unit, electrically actuated by a Warner
Electrak 1. I have deployed the unit fully and accelerated to a
maximum level flight speed of around 140KIAS. I have a blade DPDT
switch, momentary down, center off, mounted ahead of the throttle
quadrant for automated engagement on go-around.
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The
front seat thigh support is lowered 1", hinged, and retained
by two camlocks. It covers the plans cavity. Mounted below are two
B&C regulators and a main and essential twenty fuse block buses.
The fuselage bottom is scalloped per plans, so any water should flow
underneath the electrics. The wiring is easily accessible and there
are a number of open fuse slots to ease future system installations/changes.
The cavity also has a 48 pin ground bus, mounted on the panel. All
the wiring runs in one bundle from the panel, down the left hand side
of the fuselage and into the thigh support area. The only electrical
bundles are on the left side forward of the panel itself. All other
wiring runs inside viton covered shilded conduit down the right hand
side of the aircraft. The fuel is all in the back seat area, but actuation
has been made just as ergonomic as per plans. |
The
engine is a modified Lycoming O-360 A2A. The engine was built up by
Bart LaLonde at Aerosport Power in Kamloops, Canada. Its a balanced,
9.2:1 compression ratio engine putting out approximately 190hp. Accessories
include Airflow Performance Injection, B&C 60A main and a Vac
pump pad SD-20 20A alternator. The ignition is handled by a magneto
and one internally ruggedized LSE Plasma III box. The Prop is sensational.
Its a Lightspeed 68" x 92". It turns 1950 RPM static
and 2950 RPM top end. A Saber 8"x7" prop extension with
7" crush plate currently installed. |
Lower cowl
is 100% standard 360 Berkut. Top cowl was made by Wayne using Berkut blisters.
The Induction
system is similar to Glen Waters Berkut.
The
canopy was built in place with the nose and canard cover as previously
mentioned. The hinged canopy section extends back to the firewall
like Joe LaCours Long EZ - The plan was to cover the cowl
attachment fasteners with the canopy trailing edge. The front edge
was shortened per Iwatates recommendations to alleviate lifting
as temperature decreases and the canopy contracts. The lock is a
modified Lee Carlstrom unit Rick Girard made. An Aircraft Spruce
supplied gas strut mounts to a roll-over designed by a New Zealander
buddy of mine, Rob Grigson. Its 4130N steel, RV shaped and is a
tremendous unit. |
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Roll
bar is made from 4130 and it's construction is described in a Central
States article. |
The
aircraft weighed 1124lbs empty before some major weight reduction.
Calculations have it at 1085 pounds now. Tested Gross Weight is 1875lbs,
limited to 2.5g. |
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The aircraft
performs really well, and I think there is much room for improvement.
Solo, with 15gals on board I can get off the ground really fast, climb
2200ft/min at 95KIAS solo, climb to 8000ft and do 206KTAS
Ive
had it doing 197KIAS at 3000 ft, flat out just a few days back, which
is about right. On return from Havre Montana I crossed the Washington
Cascades and started a Vne power on, 1000fpm decent. At 7000ft I was indicating
215 knots. Thats 242KTAS. Performance is greatly affected by weight,
however. Climb drops 500 ft/min or more, and top end and cruise is 10
knots slower with a backseater and some more 100LL. I believe there is
a relatively easy 5 knots to be gained in cruise, perhaps 10 if I go searching...
Future plans
include: New induction system, drooped ailerons, spinner flowguide, cowl/prop
fences for prop inflow, airframe seals, gear door seals, winglet tip fairings,
hingeline seals, smaller armpit inlets, and more
42 all told, all
to increase performance, and none which will ground the aircraft for more
than a day.
Read more
about this very special Long-EZ in an upcoming Central States Newsletter.
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