Death of the Canard Builders??

[vonjet]

Im not sure if its just this forum or every Canard forum but since I have been following in the past  15 years or so the Canard presence online has all but dissapeared. 
I can go for a weeks and find nothing new on this forum.  Has the reign of the Canard era given way to the Vans RV?? Or Has composite building as a whole given way to the Vans RV??
A friend of mine said the Canard community is dying with the people of its time because no new builders are coming into it. It seems that way which is sad to see..

[Bruce Hughes]

Hi Whoever you are

Canard-aviators@yahoogroups.com is pretty active and very helpful for those of us (ME) that need
help.  It is true that a lot of Longezes are now flown by owners who are not builders.  We do have
some new builders, mainly of Cozies. 

Bruce Hughes   

[flyingwaldo]

Von,
There are a few very experienced folk that loosely monitor this and provide expert advice or suggestions.  Most the other forums tend to be chat rooms for a few personalities that dominate and 'fill' a lot of bandwidth. There is an occaisional pearl of wisdom if you care to wade through the rest of it.
With RV's being essentially half completed when the kit is delivered and being completed at over 1 a day it's no wonder they dominate the airwaves.  But it's still fun to go to small fly-ins and watch everyone come over to look at the "interesting airplane" while the RV guys chat among themselves......

[Stanford Zinger]

Hi All

I bought a Long EZ about 6 months ago from an estate. It was sitting in a hanger for 5 years
The airplane has about 200 hours since SMOH and just wanted to tell everyone that I have never had so much fun in my life.
I put the electric nose lift and have replaced all the instruments with a glass panel.
I plan my maiden voyage in May of 2012.

I CANT WAIT

Composites are alive and well

I have been flying conventional aircraft for 25 years

Regards
Stan

[Bill James]

While trying to install a LightYear autopilot servo I have been having some unexpected feedback and excessive chatter. Do any of you loose, experienced monitors have any words of wisdom here? Please see technical details in the attached image, you have to log in and click on the image to see it-
Thanks ever so much for your help-
Bill James

[Bill James]

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  

[Hmanvel]

Bill - If you wrap the top portion with duct tape it should eliminate the chatter..

[Bill James]

Ha! Duct tape to the rescue.  A simple and elegant solution. I should have thought of that.
Thanks Harry!
Bill

[Bill James]

   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?

[easyrider]

Seeing Bill James' picture of the Aussie Vari Jet reminded me of a Varriviggen I saw in a Hangar at Hollister in 2009.
Does anyone know what became of the project?
I have a set of pictures I can send offline if anyone is interested
Easyrider

[Bruce Hughes]

Bill, the picture of Geoff and project is about twice as large as it should be for my
computer to handle it easily.  Takes a lot of fiddling around to see it.

Thanks

Bruce Hughes   

[Bill James]

VariEze Jet resized, better now i think-
Thanks Bruce,
Bill

[DWilliford]

There may be something to a decline in builders of canard aircraft.  The same could be true of GA pilots.  With the rise of fuel costs, instruction, flying and other expenses, like hanger rent and insurance, it's no wonder there are less new pilots and as a result, canard builders.
Since I bought The Stagger EZ in May of 2011, I've had some awesome experienses flying and maintaining my EZ.  I knew going in, that I did not want to spend five or six years building, So I chose to buy one already built.  If I were 20 years younger, I might consider building.  Would I have saved a lot of money building, likely not.  I know I did save 6,500 hours building a canard. 

David 

[ekusafetyman]

Would I have saved a lot of money building, likely not.  I know I did save 6,500 hours building a canard. 

David 

and you are flying and flying a beautiful one of a kind aircraft!

[dorr]

I actually track Long EZ plans and all the RAF stuff for new builders - and a few contact me every year - looking for plans (last week a trio in China looking for plans - not electronic plans).   The electronic plans people seem more comfortable with CAD and the like - but we don't seem to have any way to track them so we can offer them help.  The material costs have gone up so we can usually also find started projects - and I have new builders doing that from time to time.   I see the Spruce Ads for Cozy aircraft and again, nobody is tracking them to see how many are actually starting alone - thank goodness for Zeitlin and the Cozy builders group - if they are smart enough to sign up.

We found it took an average of 4 years and 2500 hours to build a Long EZ (based on 100 builders, about 70 of whom completed it), not 7500 hrs - the Stagger-EZ might have taken that long - even as Steve's second plane.  I'd think a Cozy IV might take a year more than a Long EZ.  In addition to the economy, I think the internet and even things like Netflix might actually cut substantially into building time.

We also found that when the builder was done and flying, he didn't have the energy to sand or help with layups or attend meetings much any more - kind of like the butterfly emerging!

But the numbers are down.  Just as they are at exclusive Canard flyins - except Columbia and Rough River.

Beagle (Canardfinder at att dot net)