Hangar Flying

   Bruce Sinclair, a Rough River veteran, sends this pic of Geoff in Perth, Australia. He hopes to have this VariEze airborne next year-  
Bill James

I think you hav to be logged in to see the image. Does it need to be resized?

So - I move that we elect a director, or czar, i.e. a person in charge of finding new nothings to post weakly.
All in favor of VonJet say Aye!  
You do have a good point Von, but despite your astute friend, don't you think there is more to it? I do, thus my modification of your Subject Line. The canard run has evolved in a unique way, different, but not without interesting courses. I partcularly enjoy knowing folks that would never have been who and how and what they are now if they had not grabbed for the fiberglass ring. (Sorry   .
Thanks for giving us a pot to help you stir. While there is an ongoing round of arm wrestling for the flying canard examples out there, i get occasional comments and updates from more than half a dozen newish VariEze builders, many coming into the game later than they wanted, as i did, and are quite enthusiatiac like you Stan. This ageless design still grabs particular people by the solar plexus and yes the dream does live on. For me, the design was spectacular, but i was more interested and have benefited more from what it does than what it looks like or its structure.
And, after 35 years of this I am still learning that many folks emulate Burt’s practice of not saying much until the deed is done. Like they say, it’s the quiet ones you gotta watch out for…
Hope your eze journey is going well-
Bill  

Great fun. Lead on.
At most airports, wouldn't it would be fascinating to see all the doors open and what treasures lay hidden inside? All at once?

...And so it would likely be if we all laid out our "bouncing ideas"    

Of course, isn't that what we do at Oshkosh and RR and so on? Maybe not enough time there to get them all talked out.

Thanks for doing a little of that here!
Bill

- and in the ez I don't remember many times closing my eyes and wishing i was in something else   

OK Arnold-
i have been patiently waiting, unable to sleep since your challenge. so...
>>Trivia question:  How is torque transmitted from the crankshaft to the engine case?
Thanks
Bill James    

Having your cake and eating it too    
Tuesday morning broke in Fort Worth with multiple frontal systems sweeping swiftly across Texas. I needed to be 300 miles south that afternoon for a family business meeting. These fast moving weather systems often pass through and then regenerate and come again. This system did that a couple of times. With the bad Wx it looked like instead of flying the VariEze for an enjoyable hour and a half, I’d be driving for six hectic hours on I-35 with 200,000 of my closest friends.
     Getting ready to start the drive, the system moved east and the skies cleared and glowed a beautiful welcoming blue. Ha.  
     I got to spend several enjoyable hours around the house, including getting a couple of extra little things done on the plane. Not as exciting as jousting on I-35, thank goodness.
     Two hours before my meeting I saddled up and lifted off. My usual headwind was in attendance, but I exhilarated anyway in the crazy freedom of, well, having my cake and eating it too.
     I have always figured I had driven the trip “home” a few dozen times. But if I have averaged five trips a year, that is now over 150 trips, on the low end. Although I have made the flight down there and back dozens of times, flying always makes it a special time. In the 1980s the trip was made in a Cessna-120. And now the Eze!
     Did I mention the 30 Kt headwind? Both ways. And that the Cessna-120 used about 6 gph doing 90 mph indicated, which today would have been 50 mph ground speed? While I averaged 5 gph at three times the speed for the trip in the Eze?
     Heading across Texas is always better by airplane. Leaning into a nostalgic mood, I wouldn’t mind having Glen Campbell and some mild AM radio static playing in the background, as when I drove this desolate span to summer work as a teenager. But now my favorite music is a la Lycoming.
     Several times I have tried to imagine how the trip will be different with an autopilot, but realize that now I can still go long enough without working the sidestick to refold maps every few minutes    - and handle the cockpit chores fine without the added complexity of the autopilot.
     I know!   - I’ll rationalize with the “safety” excuse.  
     Today on the return trip, I’m sitting up there in my front row seat, skimming just above the turbulence, occasionally circling over the hills and lakes and magnificent homes out in the middle of nowhere, nice long unmarked runways nestled in along ridgelines or in the nook of a river, amazed at God's handiwork; thinking that this is the perfect way to spend a Tuesday and Wednesday. Gotta figure out how to do that all the time…
     The landing at home was sporty. A low-speed high-pass provided an idea what the runway turbulence environment was like, and the approach was made with “anticipation.”  All good.  Great fun.
     I often hear remarks about how some person probably spent more time building than they will ever spend flying in the plane. I can honestly say that the first flight alone in my plane totally satisfied the equation for me. Paid. Done. The succeeding fifteen years are all gravy. Or icing!  
          I guess the phrase “You can’t have your cake and eat it too” emphasizes that you can either have the visual enjoyment of the cake - or the pleasure and enjoyment (and nutrition?) that the cake would provide if eaten, once; but you can have both.
     Thank goodness the airplane gives you both.  
     And without the company of 200,000 of your closest friends  

     Bill

Could I have done everything I have done over the years with the VariEze… without an alternator?
     You can’t help but appreciate the talent, effort and accomplishments of those with the show quality complex planes, but I am not talking about that. I’m just looking at what I could have done to the VariEze versus what I have done.
     I’ve been flying the VariEze for about 15 years and a thousand hours and landings. Currently there is more than the normal amount of simple satisfaction (and often relief) flying an operationally simple airplane.
     It used to be even simpler than it is now. It flew four years without an alternator, just the two mags and a handheld radio and GPS, and a small battery for priming. During that simple era I went to the RACEs, flew non-stop 1400 miles to Reno, visited family in several states, essentially going everywhere I wanted to go.  Every time I pulled the plane out of the hangar it started and we went flying.
     My first RACE was Kanab, where I came in third… in a class of three. When I crossed the finish line the first and second place pilots - Klaus and Hertzler, had landed and were already sitting in lawn chairs drinking a soda.  If i had just had that alternator!!!     Not many people know this but one year I won my heat at Wendover, flying a perfect course and using perfect technique. Of course I was the only one running the course at Wendover that Friday, on my way to race at Jackpot the next day    
     All with no electrical system.
     For a decade now the VariEze has had a small B&C alternator and panel mounted com and transponder. I added the alternator primarily for the extra pizzazz of electronic ignition, especially that ten percent increase in range. The transponder is a very practical addition, enabling cruise above 10K. There is a turn and bank indicator. Other than the alternator, most of the gizmo additions are excellent treasures from friends that decided to clear off their parts bench.
     Now I am looking at some simple autopilot capability. They say the alternator won’t even notice it    Funny, while I am thrilled at the prospect of having some help with heading and maybe even the altitude at some point, most of the comments from friends and tech reps have to do with how much I am losing if I don’t add this or that other “little” gizmo. It’s great fun and I love the learning curve, and have even succumbed to the extravagance of a factory made bracket or two.  
    
     Back to the point, the plane flew great with no electrical. Looking back over the fifteen years, objectively, I think I could have probably done everything I have done with just the two mags  

This story may have been in the CSA newsletter. The way I remember it, a builder had just sawed the fuel cap holes in the top strake surface and was getting ready to vacuum out the debris that had fallen into the tank. However, when he turned on the vacuum and stuck it in the hole, he did not hear the expected rattle of debris being sucked into the hose. He looked into the tank and it was clean.
He was suspicious and went the extra Sherlock Holmes mile. To his surprise he discovered the debris had spread out around the corners of the tank. Again, the way I remember it, after experimenting a few times, he demonstrated that the problem was created by turning the vacuum on before it is inserted into the tank. As the hose is inserted into the hole and air is beginning to be sucked out, air must also be sucked in. The air being sucked in, in accordance with Murphy’s Law, will enter and flow so as to blow the pile of debris to the far corners of the interior perimeter.
I believe that the cure was to insert the hose and position it just over the pile of debris before turning on the vacuum. There may be other preventative processes. Thanks to the person that brought this up.

When I read or heard this story I remembered having heard several builders over the years say that they had been extremely meticulous when building but still ended up finding a slug of fiberglass particles in the carb filter screen. I believe some of these folks said they had found the debris in the carb filter during taxi tests when the engine was wasn’t running right.  I guess we can be meticulous about the way we are meticulous.
My son just told me that they do a happy halloween with their kids, rather than the scary stuff.  I do too. All it takes is looking at a couple of sites that say that chocolate is good for you  
Safe flying-