My Cozy Mark IV Canard Airplane Building Log

Hello, my name is Matt Stecher, and I live on the West side of Houston, TX the suburb of Katy.  I am building a canard airplane from plans.  My only goal with regards to getting her done is to be flying before my son finishes high school in the summer of 2014.  I am making consistant progress again and this does not seem like a pipe dream anymore.

Well I finally finished up my private ticket, so at least I know that I am building something that I might actually get to fly some day. The checkride turned out to be a non-event and I learned alot from the examiner. It did not feel like an exam, but more an exchange of info. Now I just need to decide when I want to begin my instrument training.

I highly recommend joining an EAA chapter near you and its even better if you can find one where a couple of canards are being built.  I am lucky to have Chapter 12, on the South side of Houston, out of Ellington where at least 2 are being built (or rebuilt).  The first is a Velocity and the second is a Veri EZ that is being rebuilt.  Gary Hunter is also not too far from me in Eagle Lake and has a wealth of experience with regards to composites.

The Cozy Mark IV, which was designed by Nat Puffer (as an update to the Cozy 3), is a step child of the Long EZ and has Burt Rutans seal of approval.  Its a homebuilt 4 place airplane that is licensed in the experimental catagory.  It was designed for the 180hp Lycoming 0-360, but it has been approved for the 0-320 as well. I am not sure what engine I am going to install. The Subaru and Mazda rotary both have potential and have been successfull (though more work is required with accessories), and a diesel would be nice (but really unproven in the Cozy 4). I may just go with a mid time 0-360 (or 0-320). When its time for rebuild, I will try to have a plan in place for repowering.

And if you have found this web site you are probably in desperate need of information and unfortunately in the wrong place to find it.  I say this only because I am not an expert and only copying  those that have gone before.  As a Naval Architect I am qualified to make design changes if this thing was a ship that floated on the water.  As it is I will stick with the proven concept and only make the minor changes that every homebuilder can't help; like Cozy Girl strakes, electric trim, electric landing brake and well you get the idea.

This site is being maintained for two reasons.  The first is to meet the FAA's requirements to prove that I did the work and document this journey.  The second is to share my trials and tribulations with fellow builders so that they may profit from my efforts (mistakes).

You can click the links at left to get around this web site.  I am not a webmaster and if you find an error please let me know and I will fix it (if I can) and find help if I can't.