Hangar Flying

I am looking for a pre buy inspection for a veriez in Morgantown West Virginia. The owner has sent me some pictures. Attached are a few of the wing hardware.

Are you familiar with the Varieze (sp) wing attach fitting corrosion issue? And the fact that the wing attach fittings are uninspectable without disassembly? And the RAF imposed "G" limitation on Variezes?

I am a new pilot and am open to any advice.

My advice to you, as someone who inspects 30 - 40 canard aircraft/year, is to look for a different airplane (not a Varieze) as an introductory ownership aircraft. I'd look for a Long-EZ, if you believe that a two seat tandem canard airplane fulfills your mission (and you should realize that you can not legally take instruction for any rating in a VE or LE unless they're one of the very few that have been outfitted with full dual controls) or a COZY, if you're going to want side-by-side seating and/or instruction capability (and way more baggage space).

VE's are great planes, when they're in perfect condition, lightweight, and are KNOWN to have no corrosion. Almost none fit all three criteria.

Now, all that said, I'm on the east coast for a few more weeks and will be heading west sometime around 8/26 or so - I might be able to arrange a stop for a day in WV. If you're still interested, see the link to Burnside Aerospace in my signature below for information on Pre-Buy/Condition Inspections and get back to me directly via email.

First, let me suggest that you post safety related questions of this (or any other) related nature on a forum that has more members, viewers and activity - you'll get far more response and from far more people.

Despite the aircraft having done three test pilot flights, I have to prove the safety aspects of the installation and the effects on 'stalling' speed - it nods at 50 kts.

At what CG does the nose bob at 50 KT (I assume KIAS - you don't state whether KIAS, KTAS or Kt GS). At what Gross Weight does it bob at 50 Kts (I'll assume IAS for expediency)? Have you tested the stall speeds at forward most CG (97") all the way back to aftmost CG (103"), and with weights from minimum achievable up to your proposed 1600 lb. MGW? At all intermediate combinations as well? And accelerated stalls, from 0 to 60 degrees of bank? Once you've done all that, you'll actually know the characteristics of your plane - until then, you don't.

I found that Micro Aerodynamics declare, and issue a placard, of airworthiness provided no more than 5 VGs are missing.

At least in the USA, there is no such thing as "airworthiness" for experimental aircraft - only type certificated aircraft can be "airworthy". Don't know if it's the same in the UK. In any case, Micro Aerodynamics can have no knowledge of and can make no categorical statements regarding the safety of a plans built, one off experimental amateur built aircraft - them saying "up to five missing VG's" is a good start at understanding the possibilities for your plane, but not particularly meaningful.

I can supply photos of the installation but am short of a suitable/professional diagram of placement and chord etc detail that would satisfy the scrutineers  Can anyone point me in the right direction?

So here:

http://cozybuilders.org/cad_files/

down near the bottom under "Miscellaneous" are some PDF's of VG size and placement used for COZY MKIV's. The Long-EZ would be essentially identical, measuring from the strake/wing intersection for the wing placement and from the fuselage side for the canard placement.

But whatever documents you provide, only a full test program and results presentation will show that the plane is, in fact, safe within the approved operating envelope under all circumstances.

If anyone is interested in purchasing a VERY nice Long-EZ, you can review the advertisement on Barnstormers at:

http://www.barnstormers.com/classified_1245863_Pristine+Long-EZ.html

and can review many more pics and all documentation at:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/h7fg703zffs2qlv/AAB4IQ3-XvKvPRiDzSZekvDOa?dl=0

Please contact me directly (off list) with any questions.

I just purchased a Long EZ and moved it to the Nashville area.  I would really like a once over by someone who knows what they are looking at.  I flew it from CA and everything went great.  I'm looking at changing the prop and getting new seats.  N141

I performed a pre-buy examination on that aircraft a few months ago for (obviously) another prospective buyer who didn't purchase the plane. Get in touch via email and we can discuss.

I'm looking at an O-235 Long-Ez for possible purchase - inspecting it in the next couple of weeks.

Just out of curiosity, which one?

... is the instrument panel an integral component of the structure, and/or can I build a new one to replace the older one.

While the IP is structural, many folks have cut it out and replaced it with an aluminum panel. If done correctly (and there have been numerous discussions on the canard-aviators and COZY mailing lists for how to do this), it will be as strong and stiff as the original integral IP.

I would also highly recommend a pre-buy examination from a qualified examiner - I've seen too many 2nd - 3rd owners get bitten because they didn't know what they were looking at or how to evaluate a canard composite aircraft properly. Especially if they're buying the plane from a non-builder, who also doesn't know exactly what they're looking at.

I've performed about 30 pre-buy exams and 30 or so Condition Inspections on canard aircraft in the past 3.5 years, so I have a bit of experience in this area.

Now I want to teach my son to fly, I cannot legally do this in an experimental...

Sure you can - many folks train in EAB aircraft. Just not in a Varieze, because it's not full dual controls. But if it was, you could certainly train in it legally.

A LongEZ seems to go for 30-50k or so.

Some less, some more. Depends on the panel, the engine, and the state of the plane. Some older O-235's are in the low 20's. Only show planes go for 50K at this point - the prices have come down over the past few years.

... why did you decide to go LEZ instead of something more conventional?

For all the reasons you list. EAB's allow you to work on them yourself. I have a COZY MKIV because it holds more people and things but still handles like a LE, and is extremely economical.

Also, this might be a non issue for builders, but what do most of ya'll do for inspections/annuals? I imagine there aren't too many outfits that know the LEZ that intimately, outside of Freeflight Composites.

Ummm, FFC is hardly the only place to have CI's done - I did about 15 last year, and over 30 in the past 3. There are a few other folks that do them as well, although not in the northeast.

In Canada, the owner of an EAB aircraft is allowed to do the CI equivalent. Unless the owner is especially knowledgeable about the plane, that isn't necessarily a good idea, but it is legal. Legal and safe aren't always the same thing.

Are there any "pain in the ass" bits of the plane that come to mind?

Sure - every last damn LE is different from every other last damn LE. No two are equivalent, so you have to learn YOUR plane inside out. Most builders did not think of maintenance or modification or upgrades when building, so I find that when I work on someone's plane, things take 5X as long as they should because I have to wrestle with everything.