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Messages - Bill James

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76
Hangar Flying / Re: Builder Fails to Make Rough River Again
« on: October 06, 2011, 07:13:07 PM »
Bill James here, again reporting for an eze builder friend (He is still insistent on remaining  anonymous, concerned that onlookers and the media would slow down his preparations for the event next year).
He too is celebrating his 25th RR Anniversary, but for attempting to be ready for the trip but not making it.
The persistent builder did in fact succeed in launching for RR this year, completing the list mentioned in the previous note. Unfortunately he misjudged the winds on his approach to RR on Friday and ended up on an oil platform off New Orleans.  
Hearing about the aerial demo at RR he insists that his approach and arrival on the platform would have won more points.
He is now fitting surplus escape rafts from the offshore rig for a water takeoff and return to his home base, ready to begin preparations for RR 26!
His parting comment, “Always the bridesmaid, never the groom.”
  
  --A picture of his plane is attached on the above note. Click to enlarge. You must be logged in to see it--

Reporting, Bill James


77
Hangar Flying / Re: Rough River canard fly-in
« on: October 05, 2011, 07:53:03 PM »
The Twenty-Fifth Anniversary
Sixty two airplanes I think they said.
The Canard driver’s best flyin destination, I think they say.
Dave and Betsy Russell and the others out did themselves again.  Great folks, great planes, great weather, and some great stories.  Stories in the night chill under the trees and stars that you decide not to miss, and just sit and hug yourself rather than run back to your room to get your jacket. Well, maybe a quick dash.

A little fun coming home.
The GPS was showing around 215 mph much of the way. Passing Texarkana I called the tower for a Parrot check. The controller came back with “We have you fifteen miles northwest, westbound, squawking one-two-zero-zero, at eight thousand four hundred feet, doing one thousand one hundred ninety five miles an hour. “
I started to key the radio and hesitated, feeling like everyone within earshot wanted to say something. But we were all temporarily speechless, especially the controller…
After a moment I replied “That’s not bad on six gallons an hour.”
He replied “That would be… one hundred ninety five miles an hour.” You could hear his buddies heckling him in the background.
I said “Aw Heck.”

      I will be requesting a copy of that tape :)

78
Hangar Flying / Re: Bill and his fins
« on: September 02, 2011, 10:20:35 AM »
>>Bruce said, "Would using the gull wing style like Jack Morrison did on his first E-Racer help in drag reduction on the Vari's?"
The general comments I overhear indicate that the wing/winglet intersection is more of an issue when the thickest part of both cords are aligned, or close to aligned.
The undesirable effect is that after the air passes over the highest point of the adjacent cords, there is a negative slope in that inside corner on both winglet and wing surfaces, resulting in separation, that dratted drag, and worst of all… those horrid curly oil flows for everyone to see  :)
Evidently the closer the max cord heights are, the worse it is.
The VariEze winglet is installed pretty far aft on the wingtip, so the max winglet cord thickness is near the trailing edge of the wing, and the airflow can kinda alternate past them. I believe that the E-Racer intersection design has both max thicknesses very closely aligned, and that the LongEZ and Cozy are in between. One would expect that the E-Racer type attachment could benefit from the blended winglet intersection the most, the VariEze the least. {there was a very interesting glitch here for a while, much better than i usually come up with. Sorry if you missed it  :) }
I think we are witnessing a learning curve  :) on the wing/winglet intersection. At some point a significant shape or element will begin to appear at fly-ins. Or not. Would love to hear more-learned opinions...
I have had dramatic success in vanquishing curly oil flows in a particular area.  
…Only to have one of the gurus’ at the next fly-in (still ten feet from the airplane) point to a newly contaminated location around the corner where the air molecules have craftily repositioned and recruited. How could I have not seen that?

      :) Bruce, that’s what I hear.

I am often reminded of the VariEze at the early-90s KC-GIG with raw foam lower winglets and a weathered raw patch on the nose, and a 2000 hour patch on the headrest  :)

79
Hangar Flying / Re: Bill and his fins
« on: August 21, 2011, 03:02:38 PM »
Dave, your LongEZ winglets were generating quite a bit of discussion at Oshkosh, all I heard was good of course, wondering how much of what was going on with the flat bottoms of the rudders was positive and how much of the airflow if any was negative.  It would be interesting to be able to see the air actually moving around there, and somehow measure the benefits. Who is going to come up with a way for us to do that in a garage?  :)
The key phrase on all this seems to be "attached airflow."

80
Hangar Flying / Re: Bill and his fins
« on: August 20, 2011, 05:06:29 PM »
Don-
On the lower winglets, I believe Klaus feels that they add stability at the slower speeds. We were talking VariEzes, not LongEZs. I asked him how big to make them for my VariEze and he said about the size of his, which are relatively small. I don’t know of anyone else that has worked on this area on the VariEze and I appreciate Klaus’s experience. From what I have heard and understand, the lower winglets make sense on both planes, reducing the flow of the higher pressure air under the wing around up over the wingtip to the lower pressure on top. But the upper winglet already there doing some of that. I guess more is better. Plenty to ponder  :)
On the LongEZ lower winglets, I did hear a comment by Burt on the ramp at his birthday. We were standing by a LongEZ and someone asked him what he thought about not installing the lower winglet. This one had lower winglets.
My interpretation here!!  -
It seemed to me like it was the first time Burt had thought about not installing the lower winglet. I guess he was thinking about other things a lot  :)     He looked at the winglet for a moment and ran his fingers over outside joint between the winglets (where there are several overlapping plys) and then the inside corner of the lower winglet, and said something like, “Well, I guess you could live without the structural strength of the lower winglet,” and he looked up and down the winglet several times.
I was surprised that he was thinking and answering related to structural strength of the attachment rather than the aerodynamics. First time i had heard someone do that. By the way he gently pushed inward on the upper winglet, I definitely got the impression that both the upper and lower winglet were intended to contribute to the upper winglet not failing inward, a new thought for me. In the moment, I could see how the lower winglet did in fact add significant strength of the upper winglet. While i mention nothing useful here, the response from The Designer changed how I think about how well I understand structural things  :)  
Then Burt said something about Nat Puffer doing some tests that seem to show they are a benefit. Then he said something about plenty of people flying LongEZs without lower winglets. So as to aerodynamic enlightenment, no cigar, but a cautious step back for me.  
Sounds like you approach your landings with appropriate attention. Pun intended. Great fun, huh. Good luck.
We each start out our Eze journeys with such grand advantage. Then we frown at not being privileged at every turn. Shame on us  :)

81
Hangar Flying / Re: Bill and his fins
« on: August 20, 2011, 01:21:35 PM »
Wayne,
In the same vein as your impression, I do feel that the TE fences are an overall advantage, helping the wing to physically work better at higher AOAs. I appreciate your thoughts and experience. It will be interesting to see what adding the lower winglets does.

We do have to laugh about the performance claims on these planes. But.
Two weekend observations come to mind:
Arnold, your mentioned averaging about 165 mph, probably representative of many ezes at altitude and at peak or lean of peak. It got my attention at airport breakfast conversations this weekend listening to pilots of other types mention how many fuel stops they had to make on their way home from Osh, and their speeds.  Made me feel pretty …blessed?
And on the way home from that breakfast, sailing around the south side of Dallas/Fort Worth, hearing Spinks Tower call me out as traffic for a Cessna inbound on the ILS, crossing his path at his one o’clock. The Cessna said something like, “I’ve got him in sight, he’s a fast mover, no problem.” No bragging here. It just is what it is.  
At cruise I often breathe a sigh of perturbation because the ASI says 165 instead of 250. It helps to figure the TAS  :)  It would also probably be leveling to make the same flight in my previous Cessna-120  :)
If you’re building, like they say, hang in there, do something every day  :)

So to my original thought. On landing, I got to work on the landing sequence again. It’s kinda like back when studying leaning, initially being told to just pull the mixture back until it starts to run rough and richen it a little. Then to be thorough, I gathered and read a two-foot stack of material on leaning. After digesting the documented data, now I just pull the mixture back until it starts to run rough. Same with the landings, a lot of preparation and then a simple result.
In several conversations over last winter I had mentioned how much I enjoyed the easier landings in the cool temps and dense air, and how that with the coming of summer temps I would have to re-learn how to land in the hot dissipated air. In fact, saddling up for a hot day flight, there are several hot weather “there I was” stories, along with my own experiences, that rise up to remind me to take heed. In particular, I am cautious of and work to avoid low-speed high-bank angles. However, even with record breaking temps here, for some reason this year the landings have been OK.
Maybe it is productive to again work through the intricacies of how the plane lands, to separate the event into several layers... Maybe like reviewing the fuel system operation.   I guess maybe all that falls into the “Being ahead of the airplane” category.



82
Hangar Flying / Re: Bill and his fins
« on: August 18, 2011, 08:34:24 PM »
Wayne-
At Oshkosh this year Klaus told me in no uncertain terms to do the lower winglets, similar to his. He feels it is a safety item. For years I have had the carved foam shapes sitting on the shelf … you know how that is   :)
I do benefit from the TE Fences, regularly flying approaches ten mph slower, and I believe a similar takeoff benefit. Per your experience with both, starting with the fences already, I may not benefit as much from the lower winglets. We’ll see.

An interesting note, to me anyway, is that with the TE Fences, while the plane is comfortable at ten mph slower approach speed, the nose is actually higher. I watched this with a string attitude indicator on the side windows, without and with the TE Fences. So for my part, the TE fences allow higher attitude on approach, and more comfortable.
A side note, immediately after doing the final paint on the plane I flew it once without the six vortelons just to see what the difference was. Never again.

They told me that after years of flying with white primer,  going to the new slick paint might have been a slight factor in changing the VariEze’s slow speed characteristics. Unrelated, some said that the plane was faster in the primer and would probably lose some speed with final paint. I think that was during the golf ball dimple craze. Ha. Don’t they know that every mod is worth 2 Kts? Anyway, love those vortelons.

So like you, am always in the hunt for lower touchdown speeds. Moving through similar cycles as you describe, I have designed three flap systems, fun but not worth the effort.
One of them is pretty enticing. However, the flap mod would probably ground the plane for a long time, with unknown potential. Looking at it from my perspective, maybe understanding things a little more, the goal moved from slower landing speed, to a lower touchdown nose attitude. I think, but wonder, if the TE Fences would be even better at a slightly lower nose attitude. So much more in the noggin but I will go easy on you and take a break here.

And anyway, in the meantime, adequate landing roll improvement has been made by just getting better at some of that pilot stuff like being set up right for the approach early. Specifically – it helps now to use a little nudge of power just before touchdown to slow the rate of descent. Logic keeps hollering at me that adding power has to increase my touchdown speed, but the experts say that power = altitude and pitch = speed. And that has been my experience. Doing this, with the goal of not raising the nose, the approach speed is slowed. 
And - when you land and get to the hangar and the brakes are normal, why mess with success?
Time for some ginger snaps-


83
Hangar Flying / Re: Bill and his fins
« on: August 18, 2011, 10:52:03 AM »
     3 kts?
     I'll take it!  :)

84
Hangar Flying / Re: Bill and his fins
« on: August 16, 2011, 08:24:22 PM »
Just to be specific, Gary Hertzler mentioned that Sam James now also had his smallest size wheel pant mold, so i am guessing that Sam has at least three sizes of Hertzler-designed EZ heritage pants. Wonder when the next craze in wheel pant design will appear.

85
Hangar Flying / Re: Bill and his fins
« on: August 16, 2011, 08:21:11 PM »
What i really want to see sometime is how my plane does next to a stock LongEZ at minimum speed. I think that's part of the reasoning behind the LongEZ, to fix the slow flight and landing characteristics of the VariEze.
At 4500 feet altitude or so, calm day, cool  :) , both planes already checked out for safe, good slow flight characteristics, and just see how a VariEze with vortelons and TE fins compares at minimum speed to a Stock LongEZ at minimum speed. Not maneuvering, just slow flight.
Not that it matters, i think we are all pretty happy with our birds, but i wonder if and how much the VariEze improvements over the years have helped it compared to the first flights. Surely lots of you already know how this stacks up.
Just one of those things it would be fun to do.

86
Hangar Flying / Re: Bill and his fins
« on: August 16, 2011, 08:07:42 PM »
A friend is always after me to know how fast the plane really is. I answer with the latest "on paper" speed. Funny, he is always 30 kts faster than me -  on paper  :)

87
Hangar Flying / Re: Bill and his fins
« on: August 14, 2011, 11:27:20 AM »
I'll look Arnold.
The MLG trailing fins were worth about 8 mph over having nothing but the tires. They were't worth the harassment from the fast guys. I put on a regular set of wheelpants that were worth about 12 mph. Now i have Hertzler's small wheelpants that show about 15 mph benefit. Sam James has those molds now.
The nice thing about the trailing pants was that you could stand on the tire.
While using his small wheelpants, I think I use slightly larger tires than Hertzler right now. His and Klaus's are the ones to look at.

I once heard of someone putting plastic broom thistle-like filler in the space between the wheelpant  hole and tire. Whew. Wonder what percentage of a mph that helped.
I still have a few things like that on the list but am glad that i got the simple basic plane in the air 15 years ago. Lots of good flying, earlier. There is plenty of time for those extra things on cold or rainy days once the plane is flying. I started fabricating the trailing pants during the 40 hour restricted period. Like most everyone, i expected to fly that off in 4 days. But on some days, after an hour of flying i was ready to RTB and work on some of the 3rd List things. And maybe catch a sunset run later.

88
Hangar Flying / Re: Oshkosh 2011, Fuel Samples
« on: August 10, 2011, 12:09:46 PM »
Super-EZE
How does my fuel system work?
Thoughts on this fuel sample mainly had to do with becoming more familiar with how my plane’s fuel system works, and that a periodic review can be beneficial. It sounds like the systems in our planes are pretty good at reminding us to pay attention. As with all things, the difference is how much fudge room we have.

As to periodically reviewing a system, during a wonderful morning full of airplane people at Oshkosh, I had an interesting moment at the plane. I was describing the details of the plane with a particularly adept new friend. Well into the chase, he pointed at a control rod on the right console and asked what it was. The usual rapid fire answer did not materialize. I initially saw an image of the exit vent under the aft arm rest console that is opened and closed by a similar rod. But that one is on the other side. I frowned at the rod for a moment and couldn’t immediately “see” what it was connected to back under the right arm rest or hell hole; and then easily said “I don’t remember…but I’ll think of it in a minute,”  and continued answering his previous question.

A moment later we were kneeling back under the engine and I saw the 2” heater tube sticking out of the firewall, built in while constructing the plane, but never used, or thought of, for fifteen years. “That’s it,” I pointed and said to him, “the heater control valve. That’s what that rod does.” And again I “saw” the internal control rod actuating the heater valve. Whew. Less than a minute to remember. Not that bad. But in an emergency, a similar delay could be… more eventful.

Its possible that the more subtle details of a system can kinda disappear if we dont focus on them periodically. Since being prodded awake here I have physically traced the elements of the fuel system and each detail is now readily "viewable" mentally at a moments notice. For awhile.

I think a good review of the fuel system starts with a detailed perusal of the plans,  and a good investigation of the whats and whys of the system. For example, exactly what do the fuel sumps on the LongEZ do. -What if the LongEZ that you bought doesn’t have them? -What is the backup? What do the plans and CPs say about the design, and what does the system do during start versus cruise.  What kind of pilot stuff we are supposed to do while descending for a prolonged time? Each of these situations is definitely a factor and we should know exactly what is happening.  

My VariEze has no header tank. Instead there is a five gallon sump tank below the passenger thigh support. There are a couple of things I could have done last week to make the water less of an issue. Whatever, we should each be able to “see” the details of our plane's fuel system, and other systems, exercising diligence in operating our airplanes.   …Do some of that pilot stuff   :)

89
Hangar Flying / Oshkosh 2011, Fuel Samples
« on: August 05, 2011, 02:30:45 PM »
Subject: Fuel samples
Everyone knows what it looks like when they get a little water in the fuel, right? Nothing to it. For almost 15 years there has never been a significant amount of water in a fuel sample from my plane. Lots of folks say the same thing about their Ezes and often attribute the clean fuel samples to less or no fuel condensation in our fiberglass fuel tanks. Whatever. Lulled by routine and complacency, this year at Oshkosh I was treated to the refresher course in indications and paying attention to the fuel sample. This beneficial event will be a front-burner awareness for some time.

Bottom line, during the week water got in the fuel system during several periods of significant rain. While I have never had this happen before, others have.
Next bottom line, the fuel system design and airplane functioned well. It started normally. When I raised the nose and climbed in it died. A good thing. Very good.

A description of the fuel system on my plane includes the statement that one must be extremely careful if even thinking of messing with a fuel system design, and that the rear seat sump tank in mine is the best safety item on the plane. No change here. I simply should have been more suspicious because of the rain, and paid more attention during preflight. As with the many valuable truths in life and Sunday school classes and sermons I have experienced, I am not pointing at anyone but myself.

I feel like you guys that get a little water during preflight all the time are probably better off. Once I paid adequate attention, I ended up draining several ounces of water from the plane’s low point. Filling and emptying several beakers of water from the drain valve was good practice in determining when you are actually getting just fuel. You hear that in an emergency all pilots spend the three second delay saying this can’t be happening to me. That thought can also be a strong factor when squinting at and smelling the fuel sample. In a standard training environment, like the flight instructor demonstrating it to the student during a training flight, the color and line between the water and fuel is unmistakable.

We have all seen the various techniques and cups.  Almost any day you can observe a pilot preflighting and running a little fuel on the ground and analyzing it by looking at the pool for several seconds and then nodding. I suppose the desired condition here is a pool of fuel with a little glob of water in it. (Sorry, I am not judging here or dealing with proper handling of the fuel sample afterward, but rather just the pilot preflight stuff  :)  )

The take-away? Just for fun – do some practice fuel samples. Play with your fuel tester device, whatever it is. But besides using your normal method, get another pilot to play Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader for you with a few set-up test samples, for example including pure fuel in one and another sample with water with a little fuel stirred in immediately before he hands it to you to analyze it. A surprise ounce of Jet-A in a sample cup would be instructive.
Is your current technique the best for your plane?  

To Terry Schubert-  Sorry you happened to walk by at the wrong time. Thank you for your help in pumping the water out of the carb. I say, at least we got to spend some quality time together  :)
You asked what I would be doing to remedy or prevent this again. First, as you mentioned, I believe the fuel caps are where the water entered. So they will get some attention. Second, I have and will pay more attention during prefight.
All in all, another great trip, still trying to catch up with you guys  :)


90
Hangar Flying / Re: Oshkosh trip
« on: August 02, 2011, 09:17:46 PM »
Arnold
Congrats on the successful trip!

A couple of our Oshkosh glimpses -
At one point several movers and shakers in the high-performance personal aircraft movement happened to stop by the plane at the same time. Listening to their exotic ramblings through the latest composite and performance advances left me adrift, cavitated in their wake turbulence. They seemed to effortlessly understand what the other was talking about.  
One of the pilots stayed around and waited until there was a lull in the traffic around the plane, and then asked several systems questions with in-depth follow-up questions. After a few rounds I asked him what these Eze mods and philosophies had to do with his high-performance, high dollar world. He said he had just acquired a LongEZ, and continued the questions. I asked what he was going to do with it, thinking he might be doing something exotic with it. He looked at me quizzically and said “I’m going to fly it. It will be my ride. These Ezes are the best personal planes going.”

Another moment involved meeting up with a friend from Marine OCS. While we hadn’t seen each other in decades, we are still brethren and easily immediately took up where we left off back then. We agreed that our primary bond was cemented in that we actually enjoyed the forced marches and runs in full gear, and enjoyed the many weekend trips we made into DC from Quantico Virginia. He is extremely quiet. As we drifted through the years catching up on where the other had been during this era or that, at one point I asked him where he had been stationed during the Iran Hostage Desert 1 event, where a helo and cargo plane crashed together in a sand storm. He said “I was a co-pilot.”  I asked “OK, where?”
He said, “I was there, a pilot in the helo beside the one that crashed.” Then he quietly talked through the experience.  There were several boisterous, arrogant know-it-alls in our group. But as he quietly talked, no one else said a word.

On Thursday we were riding the tram to the Homebuilder’s Dinner in pouring rain, completely drenched. One friend cracked up the whole tram when he hollered through the downpour, “Bill, we’ve been through a lot together…and most of it’s your fault!”

My favorite part of Oshkosh is getting to observe how some of you think, and learn a little of the struggle that some of you guys have gone through to get there. The plane is usually not the most interesting part of the story.

Arnold thanks for the ride along with you here...

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