Hangar Flying

12,500 to 15,500 with oxy.

Beagle

Denhard commented to me: Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate for the entire weekend, in fact it was a" perfect storm" it started raining Friday morning and continued right through to Sunday evening. Of course today is sunny and bright. I didn't cancel the event because there were people driving in from long distances and I could not contact them because they were already on their way. As it happens the event was not a total wash out We held 2 seminars on the Saturday afternoon. Larry Lombard gave a very good talk on his days at RAF and how he turned a hobby into a business. Jim Price gave a very informative talk on the development of his Long EZ leading up to his successful attempt at the world Altitude record for single engine aircraft at 35,100 ft .Jim also explained how VG's(Vortex Generators) were fitted to his Long EZ canard and wings .Jim also used twin electronic ignitions. I will try to get copies of both presentations and post them on the Haltonbrat web site. We had 13 for dinner at a local Restaurant on Friday and 24 for dinner Saturday. I am glad I didn't cancel the event because we had some people who drove a long way.
John Smith flew to Oakland from Ogden UT by commercial and then drove to Columbia with his young daughter .Beagle gave them both rides in his aircraft under the 2,000 cloud base with rain showers, quite impressive. I won't do the list of long distance attendees but here's a synopsis, 3 from Washington State, 1 from Arkansas, 2 from San Diego, 1 from Boise ID. 3 from Reno/Carson City. Char Spencer and Gary drove from Lone Pine CA. and did a great job with registration. There were 3 Long EZ on the ramp. Dave Vilgierchio from Davis CA. David Orr with Cherie from LA and Ben Harvey from Mohave. There was also a Cessna from Long Beach with Yoshikane and a companion.

One weather year in five isn't bad - and I had little trouble either way - from the south, Beagle

I would like photos too - for my buyers, if these guys don't buy it from you.

Beagle, aka David Orr
www.canardfinder.com

I've polled a lot of people on this over the 20 years I've been finding planes.

With the Long EZ O-320 I like to see 3000' paved at sea level for newbies, minimum, 100 landings later, 2500' paved.  With heavier planes like Cozy IV, 3500' paved at sea level for newbies, 3000' paved when experienced.  The key on landings is to be ready to go around if you float too far - don't make every final a landing.

Altitude is an odd thing - Seems to be that from 3000' up you need to have 1000' of runway for every 1000' of elevation.  I found on a cold day in Colorado I thought an 8000' runway was great - and I was off before 4500' and glad when the longest roll in the world ended.  We go into Big Bear at 6200 or so - and it seems fine, I'm guessing 6000' long. (Ah, Airport guide says: 5850') 

We've had only a few people take off from a short field and hit something at the far end.  A Defiant on an 1800' grass strip recently, for example.  Years ago a guy on a very wet runway getting bogged down.  I nearly died with a flat encountered after brake release that I thought was a dragging brake.

The bigger problem with Canards seems to be people trying to hit the threshold on new runways and getting into a down draft and hitting short - hitting short has killed a number of friends and wiped a lot of gear where there is a smooth threshold area - part of this basic runway length is to let you ease yourself back toward the threshold in normal weather - for gusty winds, turbulence and altitude you must add final airspeed and be ready to go around.   It is not the climb but the getting to 80 mph and then having a failure that sets the length.  And if you find yourself "not stopping" go around, and if you can't remember that, pull up the nose gear and come to a much quicker stop.

The Whiteman builders, particularly Dr. Bob there, says that much of the shimmy in wheels and nose wheel is due to lack of balance in the wheel - a little balancer is available at Go Kart shops and the lead weights are easy to apply in the rim.  I'd never heard much of this - but he says smooth rollouts are the very quick and obvious results.  As for the main gear, he balances those wheels too, but he also uses the center point of the axle to add weight to the nose of the wheel pant and balances that too - so that it is not tail heavy and driving motion on the gear.

We had a guy with such shimmy that he was shearing the bolt that held the outside of the wheel pant on, on every landing.

Well, have you made San Diego more active in terms of club meetings and the like since your November inquiry?

Beagle

I think Terry Schubert has a set - but I keep the templates and the instructions for $10, $5 goes to Ronneberg.

Beagle, aka David Orr

I try to maintain a library of the videotapes.

One of my buddies has copied the Flying is Varieze, Go Along EZ and Defiant promo on one CD - or I have it in VHS for loan if you pay the postage.

If you don't return it to the library you would be liable to a lost copy fee of $5.

Beagle