Builders,

Here is a look at a simple, but important part of the Corvair installations which require electric fuel pumps. Please note: While this part looks identical to the switch we used from 2003-2005, it has a critically different pressure rating, and no Corvair powered plane with electric fuel pumps should be flying with the earlier number. Nason’s part number for the correct unit is SM-2C-5F. I mention this because just this year I found an aircraft in the Corvair fleet still flying the wrong part number.

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The purpose of the switch is simple: If the plane has an accident, and the engine stops but the primary fuel pump is left on, The switch will detect the oil pressure dropping, and automatically cut the primary electric fuel pump off, without the pilot having to act. Note that the system is not used on the back up electric fuel pump, for reasons of having the simplest back up possible.  Our 601XL, N-1777W, may not have been the first experimental aircraft to use such a system, but we were the first people to widely popularize the need for it in all planes with primary electric pumps. It was nominated for an EAA award for safety design of the year, but nothing came of this and the idea was not published beyond our personal efforts.

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There are alternatives to this derived from a Bosch system extracted from German cars which cut off the pump if it detects the coil is no longer firing, but no one should ever connect any device to the Corvairs’s ignition system that it does not need. Here is an example of that mistake: MGL vs Corvair ignition issue. No one should connect a tach, sensor or any other device to the ignition system, it is a failure point. I have been writing that for 20 years, but people still do it, and it has caused issues, but thankfully no one has been seriously hurt…yet. Don’t be the first.

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Above is a 2008 picture from our website, with 13 Nason switches, part No. SM-2C-5F. We were reminding builders then to switch to use. This switch automatically cuts off the fuel pump when the oil pressure drops below 5 psi. The original switch was the same function, but the switched closed at 20 psi.

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We started with the 20 psi switch because we originally used the Corvair’s mechanical fuel pump (We stopped this in 2004 when we conclusively demonstrated that all modern replacement Corvair mechanical pumps were prone to leaking), as the primary. The electric back up fuel pump was automatically activated when the mechanical dropped below 4 psi fuel pressure, and was automatically stopped when the oil pressure was below 20 psi. This prototype mechanical/electric system was replaced by modern system we have today in the summer of 2004. We originaly kept the 20 psi switch.

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However, with many builders retrofitting 5th bearings, some engines would have a hot idling oil pressure below 20 psi, and this could potentially lead to a builder gliding in on final with a hot engine and the low oil pressure cutting off the primary fuel pump. Switching to a 5 psi Nason prevents this from potentially happening, We have promoted this almost 9 years, but some builders with 5th bearings missed this important change.

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We now have a large number of  SM-2C-5F’s in stock and will be glad to supply them at $43 including S&H in the U.S. It is part number #3410 at this link: http://www.flycorvair.com/products.html

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Above is the ignition wiring diagram for a a Corvair system. The Nason switch is on the upper left. Note that it is only wired into the primary fuel pump, not the back up .-ww.

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Builders,

In the last few weeks we have sent out a great number of 2014 manuals to builders who chose to upgrade their information, which I highly suggest. Grace and I were working from a list of builders that sent in a email request.

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However, I suspect that we have missed about 6-10 builders who sent in a request, but we didn’t send a manual to. If these were placed through our regular order system, we have excellent automated records, but most of the requests for an upgrade were simply sent as a request, not into the normal system. Making the tracking more complicated is the fact that Grace and I have not been in the location for almost a month. Right after CC#30 I headed to NJ to care for my parents, and just before I got back Grace left on a long scheduled trip with her family to Europe.

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Grace will be back shortly, and we will get things into high gear for the prep leading to CC#31. But, I am headed to the Post office at 11:00 am Saturday 10/18, and I will be glad to send a new 2014 manual to any builder we missed. If you put in a request or an order, and it has not made it to your door yet, please send me a direct email to:

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WilliamTCA@aol.com

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And please include your full USPS shipping address. and any notes on your order, and I will get it out in the morning. If you miss the chance, send the note anyway, I will get it out Monday.

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Please note that we are asking. Owners of older manuals who original purchased them from us to send in $50 to cover the printing and shipping costs on the new manual. If you would like a manual upgrade, just send me the shipping info and your old manual number. I will gladly send the manual right out, builders can send the payment when the manual gets there. -ww.

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Blast from the past, 2006:

Above is a photo of Grace Ellen, high in the Andes at Macchu Picchu. Her T-shirt is from Corvair College #4. Once a year, Grace takes time to spend it with her parents abroad. 1,600 years ago St Augustine pointed out that the world was like a book, and people who do not travel consent to read only one page.

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Builders:

I received an email an hour ago from “our man on the West Coast” Woody Harris, stating that he is leaving Vacaville in Northern CA at first light and flying his 601XL the 750 miles to the Copper State fly-in in AZ.

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Woody has a limited number of our new 2014 manuals, a number of Dvds, a great 400+ hour plane to study, and of course a wealth of knowledge on building, flying and good decision making. If you are in the area, take the time to head out and meet him.

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 Woody flying over Grand Teton.

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Woody and Doug Dougger over South Dakota.

 Woody needs little excuse to fly places; Above he is speaking with Sebastien Heintz, president of Zenith Aircraft, at a West Coast Zenith fly in at Quality Sport Planes in Santa Rosa. This facility was the site of Corvair College #11.

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From Steve Smiths Website: “Left to right: Woody’s  Zodiac XL, Doug Dugger’s 750, Steve Smith’s Zodiac XL. The Chicken Strip is a dirt/gravel landing strip in the Saline Valley of Death Valley National Park. Lat/long is 36.807,-117.782. This was one of the stops on our trip home from the 2013 Copperstate flyin in Casa Grande AZ.”

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For more reading on Woody’s adventures, check out these links:

Woody’s 2,850cc Corvair/601XL hits 400 hours.

Zenith 601XL-2,850cc, Woody Harris

16 Flying Corvair powered Zenith 601/ 650s

Zenith 601/650 – Corvair reference page November 2013

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In our booth at Oshkosh 2011, I stand with three pilots who flew in their Corvair powered Zeniths. From left to right, Shane McDaniels who flew in a 2,700cc 650 from Missouri, Woody Harris in a 2,850cc  601-XLB from California, and Andy Elliott in a 3,000cc 601-XLB from Arizona. If you would like to be in a future version of this photo, you must willfully decide to advance your dreams.

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Above, the 601XL of Woody Harris. It has flown all over the country on a 2,850. Note that Woody is from northern California and the photo above is at Kitty Hawk NC. -ww.

Builders,

Vern and I were welding in the shop last night until 1AM. In a few minutes, I will be back out there and working all day. Vern and I are working on a very large batch of motor mounts slated to go into power coating on Wednesday. We have less than two weeks to CC#31, and we are in the phase of back to back 14 hour days. It is productive, and many parts are headed, to builders this week, not just to people headed to the College.

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I have laid off writing in recent weeks as we move closer to the College and the end of the year. Some people miss that I do most of the writing when I am on the road, and don’t have access to the shop. I also go through phases where I am convinced that few people read the stuff in detail. The counter on this site is nearing 700,000 page reads in 33 months, but at a recent college I asked 40 builders if they had seen the detailed story Balancer Installation.  Exactly zero out of forty had read it. Not very encouraging.

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If you would like to review your own reading list, click on this link to 200 of the 589 stories on this site, they are listed in groups. 200 Stories of aircraft building. In the last 5 years, I have seen less than 5 hours worth of television total, but I have read more than 200 books. Everyone can spend their time how they like, but I get a lot more out of reading than entertainment. If you want to have a Corvair powered plane that serves you, that you really know, reading will be the best path to get there.

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Behind the scenes we have had some real advancements in parts and shop ability.  We have had a long wait for intakes because the friend of mine who owns the robotic tubing bending company that made them for us for 10 years has become astronomically wealthy by switching from producing parts for the aircraft industry to the medical industry. O2 concentrators are much better revenue that fuel injection lines. By appealing to our 25 year friendship I have gotten him to agree to make 3 years worth of intake pipes in a single run, and we should have these just after CC#31, and will shortly be sending them out as the flanges and brackets for them are already made.

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This fall I have invested countless hours in getting our Jacksonville cylinder head source perfected. While Mark at Falcon still makes fine heads, his back order list is at least 6 months, and in many cases it has been well over a year. For builders moving faster, we have our new source here. We have had several rounds of test and production heads and we are close to having heads on the shelf to exchange. Right now I have 36 pairs that I own personally lined up to be processed. More news shortly.

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Even shop capability like our cleaning and blasting cabinets are being upgraded here to shorten the time on items like 2000HV oil cases. I bought a compressor so powerful that it can relentlessly  hold 175 psi against an open 3/16″ blast gun nozzle. Yesterday the electrician was in the hangar installing a dedicated 100 amp line to run the unit.  You can never have tools too big or industrial.

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If you have an important question, please send it to my personal email directly, with a number and time I can return the call. It will likely be too loud in the shop today to hear the phone, but I will be glad to get back to you. -ww.

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From our website in 2011: “For the greater part of his years on earth, Vern has been a welder. In the world of experimental aircraft, when a company wants to  sound impressive, they always tout that their welders have “Built race cars.” I welded the frames of lots of NHRA legal dragsters before I was 21, and this experience taught me nothing about aerospace welding. Vern has welded countless race cars together, but that  has nothing to do with why we utilize his skills making Corvair parts. What counts is the little piece of paper on the orange board.”

“If you look closely, it shows that Vern has every aerospace material welding rating in every thickness recognized by his employer, the United States Naval Aviation Depot. In this facility inside NAS Jacksonville, Vern has welded every kind of material that goes into modern combat aircraft. This includes titanium, Hastelloy X and magnesium. While some people can weld this when it is new in a purged box, Vern can weld things like the inside of a jet’s burner can while looking through one bleed hole and feeding the rod through another.”

Builders,

On Saturday night, I wrote that Vern and I worked until 1am before quitting for the night. Sunday I was up from 7am until midnight, and Vern was here from 10am-6pm. Today we worked from 8am until about 10pm. The work isn’t frantic, it is just one long steady flow. We have worked together for a number of years, and there is little conversation during the day. We start every day with Vern’s favorite tune, The Brian Setzer orchestra version of the Hawaii 5-0 theme song. Much of the day was spent listening to old Stones albums like Exile on Main street, a chunk of the day was spent on the BBC sessions of Led Zeppelin, and we spent the evening listening to a loop of Floyd’s Dark side of the Moon and Animals, the last song before I turned off the lights was “Any Colour you like.”

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I drank too much coffee and it is now 2am and I can’t sleep; these random thoughts keep crossing my mind:

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I spent a lot of the day thinking about my personal “Triple Crown” of home building. This revolves around building an airframe, the engine, and knowing how to fly it with a high degree of dexterity. I had touched on this in the story: Thought for the Day: Mastery or?

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I would much rather have built a simple plane and to purchase a complex one; I want to be the master of it’s power plant, not merely it’s owner or attendant; I don’t want to me a mediocre instrument or multi pilot, I just was to be a good day-vfr stick and rudder pilot. The world’s best guide for the last leg of the triangle is the book Stick and Rudder, read about why it is important here: Greatest Book on Flying Ever Written, (Is your life worth $16?)

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I don’t really know how common these goals are in homebuilding. There is plenty of evidence that people feel differently. At our last EAA meeting a man brought pictures of his newly completed RV-7, complete with a $40,000 panel.  One problem: word is that he can’t fly it because he is unwilling to devote the time to really learning how to land conventional geared planes.  It didn’t occur to him that a $20,000 panel and a few months of regular instruction from a skilled CFI might have been a better option. Most people were wowed by the electronics and paint.  It made me think about this story: Risk Management, Judgement Error, money in the wrong place.

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Another member flew up in the plane he has owned for 6 months.. Most people didn’t know what it was, but I pointed out it was a Luscombe 8E. Getting out the owner corrected me and gave a long diatribe about how the plane was an 8A, complete with a comment that I was too young to know classics like his. When he was done, I walked him over and showed him the data plate in the door jam, identifying the plane as an 8E. He is the owner, his name is on the paperwork, but he doesn’t even know what it is.  It was another day like this one: A visit to the insane asylum.

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You can’t really claim to be the master of a machine if you don’t know what it is. Being able to page through a ‘menu’ on a glass cockpit to display electronic circuit breakers, but not understanding why having two E-mags is a questionable idea isn’t mastery either. All too frequently in our consumer society, people no longer even understand that their is a difference between legal ownership and technical mastery. The ultimate indictment of the consumer mentality was actually written the same year I was born, 1962. The quote is imbedded in this story: Sterling Hayden – Philosophy

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If merely owning things made people happy for any significant length of time, than Americans would be the happiest people the world has ever known. Driving around, I don’t think we are in any danger of suddenly becoming a nation of whole, self-actualized humans. 16 months ago I covered the perspective in this tale: Turtles and Cell Phones, 6/24/13.

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“If the goal of the captain was to preserve the ship, he would never leave port. Most people never do. The goal of the captain is to seek adventure, to meet all the challenges and still achieve the goals, to be In The Arena, not rusting at the pier in the safe harbor. Make your choice. If it sounds scary, it’s because consumer society has had decades to teach you to doubt yourself, your potential, your dreams and abilities. People who think for and have learned to trust themselves make poor compulsive consumers. Building a plane and learning to master its maintenance and flight is the rejection of these messages, and the replacement of them with the knowledge that you are the master of your own adventure. This is what building and flying is all about.” -ww.

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I was looking on the web for a good picture to illustrate how different Luscombe 8A’s are from 8E’s. I cam across this EAA page with a great picture of an 8F…….which of course was identified as an 8A.

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Builders:

About 6 months ago, a builder finished a Corvair powered 601XL and got ready to take it on it’s first flight. It should have been a low stress event, because we have almost 100 Corvair powered Zeniths that have flown, and we have proved time and time again that if you build the installation exactly how we suggest, the laws of reality insure that the plane has to work with the exact same reliability that numerous well known 601/Corvair pilots like Woody Harris, Phil Maxson and Ken Pavlou have had in their planes. No one need be a pioneer nor a test pilot, they only need to make sure the plane is in the proven configuration, and then get a test program just like the one outlined in our Flight Ops Manual.

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Ah that little phrase “exactly how we suggest”.  Four words, 18 letters. Can’t really make that much difference can it? The builder in question had taken about 10 years to finish the plane.  He was well aware of how we install a Corvair in the 601 airframe. He was a member of the Corvaircraft on line discussion group for years. Before I was banned for life from it, I spent a lot of time there writing stories trying to explain details of what we had learned by meticulous testing and evaluation.

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For the most part, my contribution to the discussion was not well received. I was often criticized as a damper on ‘creativity.’ In this setting, armchair experts, most of whom had never seen a Corvair fly, far less built one, applauded any effort that was not ‘conformist’ to my suggestions. I made countless posts against people who offered recommendations based on zero personal experience.  It mostly fell on deaf ears.

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The 601 builder in question put many ‘non-conformist’ ideas into his plane. The primary one that sticks out is the selection of carb: he chose to use one of the two carbs off a 60hp 1958 British MGA.  While this strikes me as a legitimate suicide attempt, his selection essentially met with cheers and applause because it went against my suggestion of using an aircraft carb.

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I honestly think that in a normal setting, where experience and facts are valued, the builder would not have followed through with the carb. But on Corvaircraft, there were many, many vocal supporters of crazy ideas. Their advocacy put them in no danger, they were safely at home behind a keyboard, using ‘screen names’ and making recommendations to people they would never meet. All this lead to the 601 builders arriving at two conclusions: his ideas were well thought out, and second, that guy William Wynne was probably some kind of authoritarian dim wit.

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As the builder began his take off roll and all seemed to be going well, my status in his mind must have sunk to a new low…every one of my warnings not to do things now seemed like the babbling of a foolish control freak. He must have thought “I mean, really, what kind of an ego does that guy have to call himself the authority? things are going great!….”

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Once he past 400 feet the engine went into heavy detonation, and by 240 seconds into the flight it was largely destroyed. The last two minutes were limping back to the runway. Ten years of work for 360 seconds in the air. I contacted him after the event, and we had a pretty civil exchange of thoughts.  Although he didn’t say it directly, the general conversation indicated that he was amazed at how I had gone from being an authoritative dim wit to being a mechanical-philosophical genius in 6 minutes. -ww.

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Above, The five Corvair powered Zeniths that flew into Corvair College #30, all parked for a photo in front of the Mexico terminal. These builders decided that the surest path to their own personal goals in building and flying was to utilize the information we provide.  Although I get along with all of them, their choice to use the information was based on it’s credible and proven value, not our personalities.

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There are also plenty of other people who, for a myriad of reasons, chose not to use the information. The great majority of those planes were never finished, and a number of the ones completed were destroyed in “accidents” .  I put quote marks on that word because it may have seemed like an accident to bystanders, but I make the case that if the known expert on an installation publicly says it will not work, and the builder chooses to try it anyway, it is a misnomer to call that event an accident, as it is better described as an “inevitable.” -ww.

Builders,

Here is a slightly different series, with the goal of giving builders a foundation of facts, which are the basis of all the information I provide.  We present a lot of details, and a fair amount of ‘big picture’ stuff, and philosophy, but I have noticed in conversation with builders at airshows and colleges, they are often missing many fundamental ‘truths’ that my testing has long conclusively proven.

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Here I present a series of perhaps 20 short pieces, Each providing a block for a solid foundation of understanding.  The things I say here are not up for debate. If anyone reading these says “I don’t think so’, they  will do well to consider that no one has been doing this longer, tested more ideas, and seen more Corvair powered planes, and studied the results, both good and bad than I have.

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If someone is betting that I am wrong, understand that their wager is pretty steep: They are betting years of their time, cubic yards of money, their life, and that of their passenger. Plenty of people have been convinced I don’t know what I am speaking of, and lost this bet. In most cases they lost lots of building time, and a fair amount of capital. It often was the undoing of their building momentum and the end of their project, and an exit to homebuilding. In a handful of cases, it cost a lot more. I sincerely suggest evaluating the need, at times emotional, to believe I am wrong on this topic, and then placing one’s  bet accordingly.

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Some people who thought I was wrong:

“If only someone had told him……”

Risk Management, Judgement Error, money in the wrong place.

Cloudn’t have happened to a nicer guy……

How I became a genius in 6 minutes

“Local Expert” convinces builder to use cast pistons

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I have plenty of these stories. A number of them involve the aircraft being destroyed on the first flight.  Dragonfly, Quickie, Zenith, KR you name it, I have a story of a guy who was going to show me how wrong I was, and ended up with a broken plane in a field. Lots of them are just about people spending 8 or 10 years of their life in the shop, much of it building an engine installation I know will not work well.

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I had a guy call me yesterday and tell me he is going to design a gear box for the Corvair, put it on a turbo engine with 140HP heads, set it up for 200HP, and put it on a Zenith 701. He was serious.  Funny, we had a guy come to Corvair College #18 with basically the same engine (not running) to make the point that I wasn’t “the only guy who knew Corvairs”  He envisioned a business building these. A few months ago it was on barnstormers, never flown, asking $7,500, worth perhaps scrap metal value.

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Read the stories, follow the logic, adopt it into your perspective and understanding, plan your progress accordingly. The other option is to stick with an understanding based on an incorrect assumption long ago adopted, even if no evidence supports it. Take your pick, have it any way you like. -ww.

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“If a man, holding a belief which he was taught in childhood or persuaded of afterwards, keeps down and pushes away any doubts which arise about it in his mind, purposely avoids the reading of books and the company of men that call into question or discuss it, and regards as impious those questions which cannot easily be asked without disturbing it–the life of that man is one long sin against mankind.”

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William Clifford, The Ethics of Belief – 1877.

Builders,

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If you have not seen the Intro to this series, you can read it here: Understanding Flying Corvairs Pt. #1, Intro., It will explain the goals of the articles. Please take a moment to read it, including the comments section.

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What is the hardest working flying Corvair engine?

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Without question, The 3,000 cc Corvair in Dan Weseman’s Panther is worked harder than any other flight engine.  Engine loads are determined by the RPM, power output, the G-forces applied, the weight of the prop, the density of the air, and how long these loads are sustained. Cooling is affected to a great extent by sustained climb speeds; the lower the speed the plane can climb at, the better the cooling needs to be.

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Seen as a composite of all of these factors, no other Corvair comes close; The flight rpm is well over 3,000, It is a high compression 120hp engine, the plane is regularly flown to it’s full 6.6 G rating pulling thousands of aerobatic maneuvers in it’s first 100 hours. It has a medium weight prop and is mostly flown in dense sea level air which increases the output. I have personally seen Dan take off for a flight and lock the throttle wide open for 28 minutes. The engine is never babied, and almost all of its tight maneuvering against other aircraft are done at full power and low airspeeds  to take advantage of the plane’s aspect ratio which reduces induced drag in high G turns. If you have not seen Dan fly the plane in person, it is very hard to visualize how extreme his use of the engine is. The video links below give some idea, but to really understand, you have to see it in person.

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The Panther’s engine has a Weseman billet crank in it, but I will also point out that Dan also built and flew ‘The Wicked Cleanex’ several hundred hours on a 3,100 cc Corvair with GM 8409 crank. He flew that plane nearly as hard as the Panther. It’s engine had an additional 100cc, turned more rpm, and flew many of the same maneuvers, also at slower climb speeds. Between the Panther and the Cleanex, Dan has flown about 500 hours, but he has also flown 9 other Corvair powered planes for comparison.

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Why this matters:

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Builders have a perception of what the engine can and can’t do, and how they will configure it partially based on what they believe the engine is proven to do. An extreme example of this is a local guy who has seen one Corvair in a 1970’s Pietenpol assuming that is all that the engine can do. But even in the information age, most builders can not correctly identify Dan’s Panther engine as the hardest working engine.

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Builders look at other installations and make decisions based on the perception that those engines are working very hard. This has two pitfalls: If the engine they assume it working hard really isn’t they falsely conclude they can copy those systems and components into their plane. It also works the other way, and they can falsely conclude that a Corvair will not work in an application because the engine they are looking at has problems. Most often the issues are not generated because the ultimate potential of the Corvair has been met, the issues are caused by choices the builder made. In many case the Panther engine could be transferred to the application in question, and it would work flawlessly. Correctly identifying the Panther’s engine as the hardest working engine allows builders to make better, more informed choices.

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Many builders think that Mark Langford’s 3,100cc Corvair that was in his KR-2s must have been the hardest driven engine.  I know both planes and pilots well, and I want builders to understand that Mark’s goal was mostly efficiency. He did impressive things like getting 150mph at 3 gallons per hour. But that is done at altitude, and it isn’t a very heavy load. A KR can not sustain the G loads that a Panther of Cleanex can, and Mark is not the aggressive aerobatic pilot that Dan is. The KR climbs at a much higher airspeed and requires less power to fly at any airspeed over 120mph. In short, It’s engine is not working nearly as hard.

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Here are two examples why this matters: Frequently builders say to me “I want to use fiberglass plenum cooling on my plane because it worked on Mark’s plane, and it was the most powerful Corvair”. This is a false conclusion. If you put Mark’s cooling ducts on the Panther and flew it the way Dan does, it would overheat. The ducts work on a KR because of it’s higher airspeeds and the fact the plane can not be flown as aggressively or under high loads. A KR builder could use ducts, but we also make a standard Cowl and JSWeseman.com has a baffle kit for it. It is the same type of cooling as the Panther and the Cleanex have.

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The second false perception is when a guy wants to build a 120hp Corvair, but concludes that it can not be done, because Mark had issues, and the builder perceives that these were caused by the engine reaching it’s output limit. Because I know the Panther engine is actually driven harder, that it’s engine, complete with front starter and cooling could be installed in a KR and it would work without issue. I know this because it has been done already by well know KR builders like Steve Makish and Dan Heath.

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The systems we sell and promote work, and they have proven to do so in the most demanding applications. This is easier to see if one understand what the most demanding application actually is. Neither the Panther nor the Cleanex have had significant issues. The engines work and run, period, they both run cool, and neither one has had a single inflight issue. -ww.

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Notes:

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Panther Flight Videos:

http://flywithspa.com/videogallery/panther-compilation1181040787/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX_HN–ZQVI and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzZl4gU_6o8 )

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Links to Panther and Cleanex notes:

The Panther’s engine, worlds strongest Corvair flight engine.

Why Not the Panther engine?

http://flywithspa.com/panther.html

Corvair power for Panther and Sonex reference page

3,000 vs 3,100 cc Corvair engines.

Panther Engine propeller test

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Above, the engine is a 3,000 cc engine with a Weseman bearing, Falcon heads and all of our Gold System Parts.

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In the foreground above is Dan Weseman’s Wicked Cleanex. Off his wing, Chris Smith flies the Son Of Cleanex. The photo was taken over a bend in the St. Johns River in North Florida. Today the wicked cleanex is owned and flown by Chuck Gauthier on the west coast. The plane has about 450 hours on it, without issue.

Builders:

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If you have not seen the Intro to this series, you can read it here: Understanding Flying Corvairs Pt. #1, Intro., It will explain the goals of the articles. Please take a moment to read it, including the comments section.

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I am not suggesting that our way is the only way to build and fly Corvair engines. My position is that our way is proven, and for that reason I advocate it, and can do so in good conscience. In 25 years I have seen many examples of builders who were absolutely sure that their way would work as well or better, who ended up with a broken engine or plane. This reality is not rationally debatable. Of course there is a third position, an innovative idea that works, but stop and think, every guy with a broken plane was sure he was in this group just before he took off, and the great majority of them were wrong.

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In 2004 or Zenith 601XL was one of a kind, the first Corvair powered one to fly. On that day it was unique. After it was successfully flown and demonstrated, only then was there a demand for installation parts to Clone it. In the ten years since our Zenith installation has evolved in details, but essentially remains the same. It works, not circumstantially, but for a wide variety of builders in a wide variety of conditions. It is copied because it works, proven over a decade. It there were vastly better ways of doing it, they would have emerged, been proven, and in turn be cloned themselves.  This has not happened.

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I do not have a lock on innovation, a patent on success nor even a 3 digit IQ. All I have are a first class education, 25 years of working with this engine in planes, and the experience to stare at parts for a long time in the hanger and figure out how they will fail long before the plane is taken to the runway or even started.

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Many people can visualize how something might work. It is my ability to visualize how it might break that took much longer to develop, and has served more homebuilders. Speaking out about these things has often lead to be being misunderstood  as anti-innovation.

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In 1996 I wrote the words: “It isn’t the probably of being right that counts, it is the cost of being wrong that must be considered.” I wrote it because even then I knew that most builders looking at ‘innovation’  considered that backwards. 18 years later, this has not changed.

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Some people read the story below and conclude I consider myself “my brothers keeper.’ I do not, I just consider him my neighbor, and if I see him about to light his house on fire, I am inclined to lean over the fence and suggest he reconsider stripping the paint with a flamethrower.-ww.

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Further reading:

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Effective Risk Management – 2,903 words “This was the first time I can clearly say I understood the cost of keeping your mouth shut. This was the first step to me becoming the kind of “Bastard” who publicly points out people doing dangerous things.”

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“If only someone had told him……” “The incident didn’t change my feelings about either guy, but I did come away from it having to admit that I have a very limited ability to communicate with people who are of other mindsets. I sought a mixture of solace and understanding by drinking a few beers and re-reading, Speaking of Courage, a chapter in Tim O’Brien’s book The Things They Carried.  Norman, the central character in the chapter is destroyed by his inability to find anyone to listen to a bitter truth he knows.”

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Builders:

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If you have not seen the Intro to this series, you can read it here: Understanding Flying Corvairs Pt. #1, Intro., It will explain the goals of the articles. Please take a moment to read it, including the comments section.

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“If you build a clone of a successful installation, and operate it the same way, the laws of the universe will make sure you get the same results”

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The Big Myth:

There is a myth in homebuilding that says you have to build something unique and different to be a real homebuilder. This myth is a lie; In reality, all you need to do is finish and fly a homebuilt airplane to be real homebuilder. Even if your plane is a clone of one that has be cloned 100 times, finishing and flying it makes you a real homebuilder. Conversely the most unique and original project that is never finished isn’t actually a plane at all, because planes by definition fly, and therefore, only things that have flown are eligible to be called real homebuilts.

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Why building a clone of a successful plane is good:

Besides the fact the plane will work just like the successful one, here is the underlying reason: If you are building planes for the right reasons, the plane isn’t the project at all. You as an individual is the actual project. The change in your skills, the expansion of your mind, the increase in your faith in yourself and your self reliance are the actual product you are working on. You can achieve all of these things building a clone of a successful plane. People who think of the plane as the product are operating at a very base level that is not self rewarding.  Possession of the plane without the change in self that comes with building and successfully flying it, is empty by comparison.

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Ask yourself this: Three guys are ‘homebuilders’ First guy has the coolest . most unique project ever with lots of clever innovations on his builders site, he has been working on it 12 years, and it will probably never fly.

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Second guy finishes a more common airframe but has a something ‘innovative or unique about it, like a British car carburetor or a home brewed EFI set up. It harms the motor, and even though it goes around the pattern, the guy knows never to trust it because the world looks very different from 500′ with a sputtering engine than it does looking at a cool project on a computer screen.

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The third guy builds an absolute clone of a successful aircraft. It works just like the original. He flies the 40 hours off without issue. He gradually builds his skills and over time travels the country. Every bit of mastering the operation of the plane was guided by the experience of other builders who had previously built a clone of the same plane.

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Ask yourself, out of these three examples, which guy actually experienced the transformative power of homebuilding in his life? Every time I bring this up to a guy who wants to build something totally unique, they always counter with “but my ideas will really work.” I point out that I have known hundreds of people in 25 years who had a unique project that was never finished, and several dozen that flew a unique plane that crashed on the first flight, wasted the engine, or scared the crap out of the builder enough that he never flew the 40 hours off……and every single one of these people said to me “but my ideas will really work.” They believed this because 95% had never built a successful plane before. They didn’t know what one looked like.

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In the foreground above is Dan Weseman’s Wicked Cleanex. Off his wing, Chris Smith flies the Son Of Cleanex.  When Chris announced his intention of building a Clone of Dan’s plane, a number of people on the Corvaircraft list gave him crap about this, claiming it wasn’t “Real homebuilding.” Chris finished the plane in 2 years, flew it for hundreds of hours, went on to flying an RV-4 that he took on trips through back country strips in Idaho and Montana, and today flies his RV-6 around the south east with his girlfriend, while he awaits the two seat Panther.

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He learned formation flying and aerobatics in his homebuilts, and counts dozens of successful homebuilders as friends. Building a clone as evidently the entry point to the transformative experience of homebuilding. And the critics who gave him crap? They did nothing, and 10 years later you can still find the exact same people on the Corvaircraft list telling a new group of people what ‘real homebuilding’ is, and applauding any proposed ‘innovation.’

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Above, The five Corvair powered Zeniths that flew into Corvair College #30, all parked for a photo in front of the Mexico terminal. The engine installation on these planes are clones of the one we developed in our own 601XL more than 10 years ago. Since then, we wrote the installation manual for it, produced hundreds of installation parts like mounts, intakes and exhausts, and have taught 800 people at colleges how to clone our engines. The five planes above are a sample of the success of cloning a proven engine set up.

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In the story: How I became a genius in 6 minutes I share how a builder working on a unique Corvair/601 combination with an MGA carb burned up his engine on the first take off.  Forget about the armchair internet experts who cheered him on, and focus on this: Is your goal to be that guy with a broken engine on flight one or flying far away to places like Mexico MO and having your plane as the #6 ship in the photo? It is a fee world, take your pick.  Choose wisely, some outcomes do not allow a second chance.

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Above, a candid photo of a moment on the ramp; l-r Bob Styer, Lynn Dingfelder, and Pat Hoyt.  Lynn and Pat utilized information we provide to build Corvairs that work, and they are out enjoying them. Bob is working on his own ‘clone’ of our design. I took the photo, it was a great moment in the sun, a spot every homebuilder deserves to have in his life.

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There is a path to get to this point, and there is also another fork in the road.  Every rational person understands that choosing the other fork does not have the same track record of success. I am strongly against internet armchair experts egging on builders they will never meet to produce things with very little chance of success, but a great deal of risk. -ww.

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Builders,

Corvair College #32 is set for San Marcos Texas. 27 Feb – 1 Mar, The local hosts are Shelley Tumino and Kevin Purtee. The people who brought you CC#22 and CC#28 . This College is at the same location as CC #28. Sign up is now active. This email below came from Shelley today:

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“Hi there, I wanted to let you know that CC32 registration is open and ready for you to shout it from the roof tops!!  Please let your followers know, and as soon as you put it out I’ll post it on the MATRONICS and Facebook. Here is the link:

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https://cc32.wufoo.com/forms/cc32-registration/

Builders:

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If you have not seen the Intro to this series, you can read it here: Understanding Flying Corvairs Pt. #1, Intro., It will explain the goals of the articles. Please take a moment to read it, including the comments section.

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“It is said that Humans and Chimpanzees have 98% of their DNA in common. That 2% wrote all the great works of literature, made all the great works of art, made every tool, created writing, went to the Moon, discovered DNA, is capable of incredible acts of kindness and also started all the wars mankind has ever fought. It is the important 1/50 of the total.

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Two nearly identical planes can have a two percent difference, one will be a reliable servant under all conditions, and the one that is lesser, by a small, but critical fraction, will not survive it’s first flight.

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When looking at a planes airworthiness, do not focus on the percentage of elements that are correct, solely examine the elements which are not. Accidents do not happen because a plane was 100% junk, they happen because 2% of it was not set correctly or up to the task. If this tiny part had been corrected, the laws of the universe would insure that the accident would not happen and the plane in question would offer service identical to the most reliable example. -ww.”

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Earlier this year, Zenith 601XL builder Ken Pavlou took his 2700cc Dan bearing equipped Corvair to his airport in Connecticut. His first flight can be described as ‘uneventful’ You can see it filmed in it’s entirety at this link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK01KhG2CkE&feature=youtu.be. Since that flight, Ken had an uneventful 40 hour test period, and an uneventful round trip to Oshkosh 2014. It now has 145 hours on it, he trusts it enough to fly it at night, (Zenith 601XL flying at night, cockpit video.) and he is planning an Uneventful round trip this coming week to Corvair College #31 in Barnwell South Carolina.

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Last week, we had a builder with a plane that was roughly 98% identical to Ken’s destroy his aircraft on the first flight. That person ran his plane up and down the runway many times in something referred as a ‘Crow Hop.’  (Our flight Operations manual specifically states to never do this, as it leads into getting the plane in a position where it is too high to land on the remaining runway, forcing the pilot to make an unplanned flight. See note below.) The pilot did just this, got to tree top altitude and had a sudden loss of power, most likely from very high CHTs leading to detonation. He clipped a tree trying to fly a low pattern and destroyed the plane in the crash. Years of building for 120 seconds of flight.

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I exchanged a lot of email with the pilot. He bought the engine second hand, He was reluctant to buy a timing light and did a lot of ground runs without setting it, claiming that he didn’t need to because the original owner said it was once set by me in 2008. When he did check it, it was found to have a several hundred rpm split between A&B. (This is likely caused by someone re-gaping the points to .019″ something the instructions say not to do.) He ‘corrected’ this by resetting the E-side. He also had carb adjustment issues.

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He did this over a period of several weeks. He sent me a CHT graph print out of making 7 ‘crow hops’ down the runway with the throttle open for only 30-60 second intervals, which showed escalating CHT’s to 500F. I sent him a short Email including the comment “if I am reading your graph correctly, you have a cylinder running near 500F? that is far too high.” 48 hours later his plane was destroyed. For reasons he has not explained, he had a passenger in the plane on the first flight, something the FAA regards not just as poor judgment, but illegal. I asked him if he had done a two minute ground run test, but he did not respond. (see Understanding Flying Corvairs Pt. #5, Two Minute Test )

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By trying to go around, he was essentially running his first two minute test in the air, rather than on the ground. The mechanical things that made this plane different than Ken Pavlou’s are slight adjustments, something less than 2%. The man didn’t need to build a whole new engine, he just needed to slow down and correct some very small things, stuff that probably could have been done in one weekend. Had the pilot just stopped, and spent the time to correct these, the laws that govern the universe would have his airplane run exactly as Ken Pavlou’s does. Instead it is destroyed, and two people were hurt. This accident bears a striking similarity to this one, caused by the builder incorrectly reassembling his carb and then trying a ‘crow hop': Risk Management, Judgement Error, money in the wrong place.

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The concept of correcting the 2% of things that are different from the recognized norm does not just apply to Corvair powered planes, or just to Experimentals.  When a mechanic does an annual on a certified plane, what he is essentially doing is looking for anything on the plane that deviates from the published limits for being in 100% compliance with the Type Certificate Data Sheet for that plane. When he corrects these “Discrepancies”, the plane is judged to be airworthy because the laws of the universe will make it behave just like any other correctly running example, because it has to, it is a machine, and it has no personality, and it has no option but to work.

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My experience on these events is that the only thing most aviators at his airport took away from seeing the results was that car engines are bad, and have no place in aircraft. I have been in this business 25 years. I have never come up with a way to salvage the reputation of our work in these instances. -ww

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Absolute rule of flight testing #5, from the Corvair Flight Ops manual by ww, 2009,  Section 8, PG 70:

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5) Making successive runs back and forth down the runway is a signal that the pilot doesn’t trust the plane. This often leads the pilot into “being forced to go around.” Anytime you read this type of a report, know that the real translation is “I didn’t have a plan, so I just ran up and down the runway until I got my courage up and brain suppressed, and I cast my fate to the wind.”

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Above, Ken with his plane on the flight line at Oshkosh.  All week, it was parked with Lynn Dingfelder’s 2700cc 601XL and Pat and Mary Hoyts 2700cc 601XL right behind our tent. The planes are clearly the work of individuals, but the engine installations have the essential common elements that make them Clones of what we have proven to work.

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I share this information through these resources:

Flycorvair.com (about 2,000 pages if printed – Free)

Flycorvair.net (589 stories of building, about 500,000 words – Free)

Our Conversion manual (Updated to 250 pages / 104,000 words -$69)

Our Zenith installation manual (About 125 pages -$39)

Our flight operations manual (86 pages, 1/2 on flight testing- $29)

Our peer to peer private information board for Zenith builders and pilots. ‘Zenvair’ Information board formed. ( Free)

Four Corvair Colleges per year.  ( Free)

I answer 4000-5000 Emails and phone calls on technical subjects every year. ( Free)

Appearances at numerous airshows to give technical forums and inspect any builders parts, even if I have to walk all the way to the parking lot after hours to do so. – (Free)

I have made more than 400 house calls (No one was ever charged)

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It is hard to suggest that I have not put a good effort to support builders who choose to work with the Corvair, yet many people who saw or heard about the most recent accident will conclude that the builder should have chosen a certified engine, somehow imagining that Continental, a company now owned by the Chinese government, somehow provides better direct service to homebuilders. I have had little success explaining to average EAA people that protection does not come from a little data plate, it comes from exercising good judgment and using available data from qualified sources. -ww.

Builders:

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If you have not seen the Intro to this series, you can read it here: Understanding Flying Corvairs Pt. #1, Intro., It will explain the goals of the articles. Please take a moment to read it, including the comments section.

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Absolute rule of flight testing #4, from the Corvair Flight Ops manual by ww, 2009,  Section 8, PG 70:

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“4) The plane must run perfectly at wide open throttle for at least two minutes at the climb out angle of attack with all of the flight systems, like the cowl, in place. There is no reason not to do this. If anyone objects, tell them to go away. If they are from the airport and they object, switch airports.”

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In the flight ops manual, I use the testing and first flight of Zenith N601LV as the case in point for the discussion of the two minute test. The aircraft was finished in our hangar that spring by Louis Kantor. Below is an excerpt from the manual:

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“We took the plane out and blocked it up at the climb out angle, and ran it for two solid minutes. We had already done the fuel flow tests for the FAA, but this was a running test. During the test, Louis tried in every way to get the engine to stumble by switching all four tanks and both ignitions and pumps. It did not let out even the slightest blip, and the temps were well within range despite no forward airspeed and an OAT of 95F.”

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Below are a series of photos from our main website. They trace the long flights and adventures Louis had in his 601XL in the summer and fall of 2009. All of this was done with zero maintenance issues, just oil changes. It all stems from conducting the two minute test by the side of the runway in front of our house. This is the reward for building an engine that 100% utilized the information we provide on Corvairs.

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Above is a photo of Vince Olson and Louis Kantor’s 601 XL N601LV sitting in our front yard just before its maiden flight from our airport, June of 2009. In the center is Grace’s Taylorcraft. On the right is Dan Weseman’s Wicked Cleanex, which functioned as the chase plane. There were no issues in the flight test period. The full 40 hours were flown off in 11 days.

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Vince, above left, and Louis, far right, just after the first flight. They had purchased their Zenith kit slightly less than five years before. Busy schedules and several moves around the country greatly extended the project calendar-timewise. In the end, the Golden Rule that Persistence Pays was the final factor. Working with myself, Dan Weseman and Grace, both above in blue shirts, and Chris Welsh, they planned and executed a flawless first flight. Dan and Grace flew the Cleanex as the chase plane. The information on how we conduct flights is detailed in the 2009 Flight Ops Manual, including a section written by Louis. Both Vince and Louis are airline pilots. Today hey have almost 30,000 hours between them, back then only 20,000 or so.

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A thorough post flight inspection revealed absolutely zero adjustments to be made. Their first flight is on You tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSadGnsvmFc. Their engine, above, is a 2,700cc Corvair that utilizes all of our Gold system components and a Group 3000 Weseman fifth bearing. The engine was finished at CC#10 at our old hangar in Edgewater FL.

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In our Booth at Oshkosh 2009, Zenith newsletter editor Jon Croke shoots a video interview with Vince center, and Louis, left, co-builders of N601LV, displayed in front of our booth all week at AirVenture. This was about 45 days after the first flight. It had about 60 hours on it. Louis flew it up from Florida. His first leg was non-stop from North Florida to Pittsburgh, Penn. This 5 hour and 58 minute non-stop flight burned 38 gallons of fuel. The engine required zero maintenance beyond oil changes.

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That October, Louis’s 601XL was the centerpiece of the Zenith Open House in Mexico MO. He was visiting friends near the Open House, but after the event, he left Mexico, Mo., and flew non-stop all the way back to Pittsburgh. His plane has the four-tank, 48-gallon system. Confident in the plane, he took off after the event at Zenith  at 5pm and flew into the night on his way home.

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In November 2009 Louis flew the plane down to Corvair College #16 in White Plains SC. Above, Louis arrives after a 4.5 hour direct flight from Pittsburgh. Notice how his custom “luggage” matches the paint job on his aircraft. This is the kind of touch that marks the professionalism of an airline pilot.

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This photo shows Louis a minute before his return flight to Pittsburgh. As a professional pilot, a real CFI, and holder of an ATP rating with 12,000 hours logged, Louis is a good source of technical information on the human aspects of flying. Although he put the 601XL up for sale last year, we are still friends, He and his Father Phil flew into out airport yesterday in Louis’s RV-7A, down to tour Florida. Phil owns a Corvair powered Sonex he bases in Pittsburgh. -ww.

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Builders,

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Last year we worked with Bob Barrows, designer of the Bearhawk series of aircraft to make a Corvair Engine mount for his LSA model. In our Catalog, this is part #4201-E. The story of making the mount can be found at this link: Corvair Motor Mount for Bearhawk LSA

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We built mount #1 on a factory welded fuselage. I knew that it would be a while before the first one sold, and it did this week, more than a year after we built it. Vern and I took the time to make a very heavy duty fixture off the mount before we sent it out. In the picture below, the mount is powder coated Haze Gray and the fixture is painted DD Alpine Green.

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I did a rough mental calculation and figured out between the 2 day trip to GA with the truck and trailer to make the first mount, the materials in it, and the shop time making the fixture, I have about $2,500 in mount #1 and the tooling. We have set the price on these mounts at $549.

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This is a good indication why most companies in experimental aviation fail: because the ownership are salesmen who can not physically make nor develop the products they wish to sell, thus they have to hire out every task, and they are often unable to tell if they were done correctly. Additionally they are often fixated on revenue, so they could never develop anything and wait a year to sell the first one. If you ever see a guy in a polo shirt at Oshkosh selling planes using financial buzz phrases like “return on investment” I will bet you 100 dollars to a doughnut his operation tanks in 36 months.

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In our case I am a home builder, a craftsman and an instructor at heart. Yes I sell things, but they are things that we developed and made ourselves. I can afford to work on R&D projects that will yield interesting, but not lucrative results; I can invest hundreds of yearly hours in free teaching; I can deficit spend on projects for months, or even years without having to answer to any investor. When an opportunity to work with a top notch designer like Bob Barrows comes up, my only thought is about what I can learn from the man, not how much money can be made.

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We are here for the long haul. The Bearhawk LSA is a great plane, and over time I hope a big number of them are Corvair powered. When these builders need mounts, we have the tooling and will gladly produce them. But for today, I am very happy to have #1 head out the door, and to have had a great opportunity to work side by side with Bob.

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As I handed over the mount at the post office counter I gave it one last look and wondered how many months it would be until I saw it again, at a College or Oshkosh, bolted on the front of the builders plane. -ww.

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For further reading:

Bob Barrows to Fly LSA Bearhawk to CC #27, Barnwell, S.C., Nov. 2013

and

Bearhawk LSA, Corvair motor mount in development

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Above, Bob Grace and myself in our tent at Oshkosh 2013. Bob holds the distinction of having flown to every single Oshkosh, all 45 of them. All of his designs have been Continental or Lycoming powered. Opening the option for Corvair power to his LSA builders is a milestone in the Corvair movement.

Builders,

Charlie Becker, The EAA’s Director of Communities & Homebuilt Community Manager sent us a note, that the EAA has released a 7 minute film on you tube, a condensed version of the full length shoot they made about Corvair College #27 at Barnwell SC in 2013. This is timely, because we are leaving for Corvair College #31 at Barnwell in another 16 hours.

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The video was developed specifically to send out to all local EAA chapters, to provide subject and content for meetings. Below is the short note from Charlie and the link to the video:

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“Below is a link to the video Brady made for the Chapter Video magazine.  (Actually, it is a somewhat shortened version). It will be sent out to the entire membership in E-hotline on Thursday afternoon. Hope you have a successful weekend at Barnwell.  I wish I could be there.  Might be fun to play it for the group this year; especially for those that were there last year.  Give my best to PF Beck. -Charlie.”

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The link:

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http://youtu.be/wvXAX0C2q5c

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From Oshkosh 2013:

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Above, four old friends, people who have done great work in supporting homebuilders. From the left, journalist Cory Emberson, Kitplanes senior writer and 601/Corvair builder Rick Lindstrom, Grace and the EAA’s hardest working man, Charlie Becker. I took this photo as we were packing up.

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Notes from the 2014 Zenith Open House, where Charlie was the featured speaker:

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“The dinner this year gave me a change to say a few words about our friend, Charlie Becker, who is a director at the EAA, a man who played leading roles in both the EAA’s STOL 750 build and the One Week Wonder 750 Cruiser project. Grace and  I have known Charlie for more than decade, and I will assure anyone that a finer, more capable, more trustworthy man can not be found in experimental aviation. Charlie was personal friends with the EAA’s founder Paul Poberezney, Charlie understands Pauls’ vision and methods, and a strongly feel that tied with Charlie’s, building, flying and organizational skills, he is one of the most effective advocates and protectors of Homebuilding. Even if you have not met him, I will assure any EAA member that this man has worked tirelessly on causes that you care about strongly. For more thoughts on this get a look at: Speaking of Paul Poberezny -ww.”

Builders,

We have returned from CC#31 in Barnwell, our 5th event with local hosts P.F. Beck and his outstanding team of volunteers. It was a great event, with many planes flown in, many engine built and run, much learned and many friendships, both new and old, strengthened.

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At dinner on Saturday night the head count was 107 people, the largest number of builders in several years. There were a number of builders and pilots like Mark Langford, Joe Horton and Dale Williams who were on hand Friday and Saturday, but flew out before the dinner. All totaled we had about 115 individuals at the College.

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Over the next several days Grace and I are unpacking and getting parts in the mail to builders. Our main CNC machine shop finished a large batch of Gold Prop hubs and Gold oil systems at 5 pm Thursday, a week later than scheduled. We departed later that night without a chance to mail them. Today they are going out by USPS priority mail.

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Once we get these things covered, I will write up several photo essays from the college over the next week. For now, a single photo to start with, and a reminder that the sign up for College #32, just 108 days away, is already open: Corvair College #32, Texas Feb, 2015, Sign up open

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Above, Bob Lester’s Corvair powered Pietenpol sits on the ramp at Barnwell at sunset on Saturday night. Bob had flown it up from Florida that morning. It is the second college the plane has been to, Bob also flew into CC#25 in Leesburg. Bob has been flying for 30 years or so, and has owned certified aircraft from a Taylorcraft to a Stinson 108 and experimentals from KRs to his Pietenpol.

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The son of a WWII combat pilot and a native of South Florida, today Bob lives in North Central Florida at a quiet rural airport. His batchlor’s paradise is a large hangar housing his apartment, his tools, motorcycle, the Stinson and the Pietenpol. Read more at these links: Pietenpol Power: 100 hp Corvair vs 65 hp Lycoming and New die spring landing gear on a Pietenpol, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

“Let me teach you something about some of the people who choose car engines: Some of them have two Achilles heels. they are cheap and they don’t like following the guidance of experienced people. It doesn’t matter what type of power plant a builder chooses if he has those two issues in his personality. Understand that car engines can attract people with that mindset, and it is the mind set, not the engine itself that causes the problem. I openly discourage people with those perspectives from working with the Corvair, and truthfully I am ok if they quit aviation all together. Cheap and unwilling to learn are not qualities of successful aviators.” -ww, 2014

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I wrote the comment above to a discussion list in response to a man who stated than none of his friends “had much luck” with auto engines in planes. I do not believe that luck exists, thus I think efforts based on it will be as fruitless as unicorn ranching. Conversely, I have always seen thought, consideration, learning, craftsmanship and prep work pay off. These things have nothing to do with luck, and are not the stomping grounds of people with two Achilles heels.

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For more food for thought get a look at: Unicorns vs Ponies.

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Above, typical pony. White one is deciding to kick or bite photographer; probable answer: Both. You do not need a scratch and sniff application to understand that this animal does not smell like roses.

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Builders:

A Corvair pilot sent me a link to this story. It is about marking the 10th anniversary (11/12/04) of Major Tammy Duckworth’s helicopter being hit in Iraq. Although she is a serving member of Congress today, Grace and I have known her a long time, and have a special family connection to her, noted below. This is a story of a veteran that transcends any political perspective.

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Tammy Duckworth is an American aviator of the first order. Note that she is planning on naming her daughter ‘Piper.’ In the story below is tells of her getting out of Walter Reed on a four day pass to go to Oshkosh. We had our 601XL in the Zenith booth that year and Tammy spent a few hours there. To their great credit, the Zenith crew treated her with deep respect and affection. She wanted to see if she would be able to get into a low wing plane unassisted. Although she had thousands of hours in helicopters, she confessed to having never been PIC in a fixed wing plane, and honestly asked if it was difficult; Roger Dubert  assured her that she would be fine as long as she didn’t try to hover. It was just as Tammy wanted, being joked with like any other aviator.

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My brother in law Col. John Nerges told me that in 30 years of nursing including heading the nursing intensive care unit of Walter Reed 2003-2005, he never saw a human fight to live with greater will than Major Duckworth.

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http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20141111/news/141119848/

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From our website in 2009:

Tammy Duckworth, above center, and her husband Bryan Bowlsbey, left,  at our booth at AirVenture 2009. From the right, Mark Petniunas , Dan Weseman  my wife Grace Ellen, myself, and Roy Szarafinski  Tammy and Bryan are old friends. Tammy had recently accepted a post as Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C.

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From our website in 2005:

“From The first stop on the trip was Washington, D.C. The officer in the center of the photo above is my brother-in-law John Nerges. He is head of the nurses in the intensive care ward at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. On this day, Feb. 11, John was being promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. Although he is Airborne and Air Assault qualified, and has been deployed with both the 82nd and 101st Divisions, the focal point of John’s career is the care for severely wounded soldiers. The above photo was taken in the Eisenhower Suite at Walter Reed, where the ceremony was held. My sister Alison, herself a critical care nurse, left, and my father, a career naval officer, right, pinned on John’s insignia. It was a very moving ceremony where John’s promotion was read by a recovering, severely wounded Army helicopter pilot. The pilot’s mother was on hand to thank John and his staff personally for saving her daughter’s life. With characteristic humility, John said the credit was entirely for his staff. It was a most memorable day in my family’s history in many years. John had said that his only regret was that his own father, a veteran of World War II fighting in Burma, did not live to share the day with him. Our entire family is very proud of John.”

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From our Website in 2008:

“My 20 years of working with Corvairs have brought us many rewards. The most valuable of these is certainly the people we’ve met along the way. I can think of no other career which would have allowed us to cross paths with so many unique people we respect. At the very top of this pinnacle is Major Tammy Duckworth and her husband Bryan Bowlsbey. For a bit of background, read this link to our stop at Walter Reed Hospital in 2005. The helicopter pilot I was writing about was Major Duckworth. We did not use her name at the time because she was not publicly known and was still serving in the Army. We had actually met her and Brian briefly at Oshkosh several years before. Our brother-in-law John rarely speaks of his work, and never mentions any soldier’s name, thus seeing Tammy and Brian at the ceremony was unexpected. Through all of the unspeakable acts of human courage and endurance John has certainly seen, the survival of Major Duckworth in spite of her horrific wounds and 13 months at Walter Reed still astounds him.

Yet, she has done much beyond survival: She was subsequently appointed as the Director of Veterans Affairs for the State of Illinois. She has returned to flying in a Piper, and has plans to build a homebuilt. She is a relentlessly positive person. Her husband Bryan, an Army officer himself, who has just returned from another tour in Iraq, has been the kind of support we all vow to be on our wedding day, but few are called to live up to. Major Duckworth’s father was a Korean War veteran. He passed away while she was at Walter Reed. He was buried a few miles away at Arlington National Cemetery. It is my understanding that they are the only Father-Daughter Purple Heart combination in U.S. history.”

Builders,

Below is a story with great photos written by Ken Pavlou, of flying a Corvair/601XL from Connecticut to Barnwell SC and back last week. For people who question the capability of light sport qualified home built aircraft, especially ones with converted auto engines, it will be an eye opener. Get a good look at the photos Ken took while directly overflying JFK airport at 5,500′ at night, it is a nice view of lower Manhattan:

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https://kenpavlou.wordpress.com/2014/11/12/corvair-college-31-barnwell-sc/.

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In recent weeks, I have written here about several Corvair powered Zeniths that were needlessly damaged or destroyed on their first flight in the stories: Understanding Flying Corvairs Pt. #6, 98% DNA not enough. and How I became a genius in 6 minutes. Reading Ken’s story above, I want everyone to understand what a Corvair powered Zenith is really capable of, and that the people who damaged or destroyed their planes were not victims of ‘bad luck’ nor their selection of engine to work with. They were victims of two things that are 100% avoidable, even to brand new pilots: The willful decision not to follow what has been demonstrated to work and the failure to exercise good judgment and operate the plane by proven methods.

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Ken Pavlou has no special advantage over the people who made decisions that lead to their failures. He is critical care nurse, not a mechanic, and he does not come from a flying family. In a story that should stir the heart of any American, Ken’s family emigrated from Greece when he was 8 in 1975. They didn’t speak the language and were arriving as a modern form of indentured workers. The fact that the same shy child is today a husband, father, outstanding healthcare professional, a tireless contributor to all he is a part of, and now flying the plane and engine he built, speaks volumes about the opportunity for real effort and hard work to be rewarded in this country.

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Flying over New York City at night is not part of my personal goals in Corvair Powered aviation, but I want everyone to know that the machinery as we teach people to build and use it, is capable, and there is no reason to build nor operate it to a lower standard, even if you choose to operate in far less demanding settings. If you are new to home building and flying, know this: who you follow and spend time with matters. In my work and at the Colleges I highlight the work, perspective and success of builders like Ken rather than the fringe element toiling on ideas with little chance of working. Take your pick, follow either path, but know in advance that they do not lead to the same destination.

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“Mechanical instruments are Bad-Ass. On my workshop shelf I have a manifold pressure gauge that reads to seventy five inches of manifold pressure. (22 pounds of boost) It is from a Lockheed P2V-7 Neptune which had 3,700 hp turbo compound radials. It glows in the dark because the numbers are painted on with radioactive paint. There is a pretty good chance that this gauge flew in the cuban missile crisis or attacked the Ho Chi Minh trail. If it could talk, it would tell you that the cold war wasn’t always cold, and it would remind you to think about the people who fought it, but it can’t say anything. It just sits out there, night after night, its faint green glow quietly remembering thousands of hours aloft, in the company of men, men now mostly gone…. In another 15 years, many  of the glass cockpits of today, almost all the MGL stuff from South Africa, all the I-Pads built by virtual slave labor in China, all the garbage like Blue Mountain and Archangel will all be lining the bottoms of landfills accompanying used diapers and copies of People magazine featuring the Kardashians. 15 years from today, my MAP gauge will still be quietly glowing, trying to remind people that there was a time when being an aviator was about skill, reliability under pressure and courage.”-ww-2012

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Stories like the previous one of Ken Pavlou’s flight to CC#31 highlight the capability of really well thought out glass cockpits in planes, matched with advanced pilot training and skills. His flight would have been much a more difficult pilot workload with traditional instrumentation.

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Instrumentation is a personal choice and is situational. I wrote the stories: Inexpensive Panel……..part one. and Inexpensive panel…….part two. because I am partial to very simple instrumentation. I like to fly away from congested areas, not towards them. We live in a rural setting that requires no instrumentation to arrive nor depart from. Other people with the same plane may have different plans and needs. They should be carefully evaluated. Give some thought to my comments here: Thought for the Day: Obsession with electronics when coming to your own conclusion.

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I have seen two KR2′s set up with 50-60 pound panels for hard IFR by pilots who have never even flown in IMC  in a light plane and have no idea of how demanding a skill set is required to do this safely, nor any understanding of what makes an airframe a good instrument platform. I have also seen many planes with very complex panels, who’s builders lacked the kind of basic flying skills described in the  Greatest Book on Flying Ever Written, (Is your life worth $16?) Many people are good at buying things but poor at learning new skills. In aviation this has proven the undoing of many flyers who mistook having the instrumentation for having an instrument rating. This is not just confined to experimentals, Bonanza’s, Malibu’s and Mooney’s have all had plenty of fatal accidents caused by VFR pilots with the hubris to think an auto pilot was just as good as an instrument rating.

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If  a builder wants a glass panel, then I highly suggest building a clone of an existing trouble free panel. This means Dynon or Grand Rapids. Dynon’s have been behind Corvairs since Dr Ray flew one in his 601XL eight years ago, and many pilots have used them all the way through Ken Pavlou.  Today Grand Rapids newest panels are also popular because  Dan Weseman has one in the Panther, and he is a dealer for them and can advise Corvair builders how to set them up down to the last sending unit.  Read more about them at this link: https://flywithspa.com/product-category/accessories/avionics/. You can also buy very compact panel mount flight line radios directly from them. I just bought one from them for our Wagabond. I am a hardliner about simplicity, but not a zealot.

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While there are a number of Corvair powered planes flying with MGL avionics or I-pads, I would like to strongly discourage anyone one new from considering this. Please read: MGL vs Corvair ignition issue. Also note than we have had a person crash a plane because his I-pad misread his fuel sending units and he ran out of gas. There have been more than a dozen sending unit failures on Corvairs where the builders were fed false information. Note that Dan Weseman started out with a MGL panel in the Panther, but removed it after having issues with it. It should go without saying that instrumentation from start ups and things from defunct outfits like Blue Mountain should not even be considered, even if they were free.

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Above, a 1963 photo of three famous maritime patrol planes. A P2V-7 with two 3,700 HP radials and two J-34 turbojets is in the foreground. Behind it is a Martin Marlin and in the back is a Short Sunderland. They are flying over Corregidor Island at the mouth of Manila bay in the Philippines. This was the location of the last stand of US forces in the western Pacific in 1942. Spend a few minutes reading about it at this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corregidor_Island