65 2 97...Also, Wipair, the company that makes the world-famous Wipline floats, is going to put a

From the Flight Deck

We were very fortunate and blessed to have had astronaut Greg Harbaugh speak at our banquet at Sun n' Fun. Greg was just superb, and he's a Glasair III builder, too! He has been in space several times and was the astronaut who "walked in space" in February to repair the Hubble telescope. We were all a bit awestruck with his presentation. The universe is beyond compare—how vast and awesome it is. Many people commented that they really enjoyed his presentation, so he has graciously volunteered to speak again at our Oshkosh banquet. Don't miss it!

For those of you who will venture to the Northwest EAA Fly-In here in Arlington, you're also in for a treat. Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders (retired Air Force major general, Nixon's adviser on the space program, former U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands, you name it!) will be speaking at our Builders' Salmon Bake on Saturday, July 12th. Bill's talk will be followed by a rare performance by the Glasair Blues Band (alias Bob and Friends, look out!). There will be fun for all. Chip Beck will again be flying his spectacular Glasair III in the airshow, and for the first time, Bud Granley will fly Harry DeLong's GlaStar in the show on Saturday.

Wait a minute! The GlaStar in the airshow?! Yes! Last week, Bud (who also flies shows in his T-6 and his Yak) just happened to drop in and go flying with Harry in his GlaStar. When they returned, Harry had a grin from ear to ear! They did loops, rolls, hammerheads, cloverleafs, Cuban eights and even one-and-a-quarter-turn spins, all at well under 3 Gs. No problem. Again, what an airplane! Now, we don't recommend aerobatics in this aircraft, and it wasn't designed for aerobatics in the first place, but in the hands of a seasoned airshow expert, well. . . I am excited!

And yes, the plane has now been spun, and the recovery, 1 am told, is quite docile. But this, of course, in no way constitutes a full-blown spin-test program. More on this later.

We are in the process of converting Harry's GlaStar from a 150 h.p. taildragger to a 180 h.p. tricycle-gear airplane with a constant-speed prop. Wow! The aircraft will have the new engine but retain the taildragger gear for the Arlington show and then will immediately be converted to a tricycle-gear model for Oshkosh. We'll keep you posted on the performance numbers as they become available.

Also, Wipair, the company that makes the world-famous Wipline floats, is going to put a set of 2100 amphibious floats on N824G, our 160 h.p. GlaStar, for Oshkosh. This combination should prove to be very exciting. In total, we will have three different GlaStars at Oshkosh: a 160 h.p. amphibious float-equipped model, a 180 h.p. tricycle-gear model and a 160 h.p. taildragger model. Jerry Mercer may also have his turbine Glasair III at the show, and Chip Beck will be flying in the airshow at Oshkosh. Dace Kirk and crew will also be there supporting Chip as usual. It will be a whole lot of fun.

We recently received some interesting news from EAA. The first EAA Young Eagles GlaStar (N231 YE) is going to be used as a research aircraft. The EAA and FAA will use the GlaStar to conduct a joint research project to develop, test and demonstrate the feasibility of low-cost avionics platforms that provide communications, navigation, surveillance, satellite applications, human factors and safety technology for general-aviation aircraft. The goal is to develop technology that will enable GA aircraft to operate in so-called "free flight" within the National Airspace System. The second Young Eagles

Continued on Page 48 . . .

by Bob Gavinsky

President

First Rate

S-H News No. 63 (Fourth Quarter 1996) included a short announcement for a class on maintaining Lycoming engines (pronounced "Ly-come-ing" by those who live there) offered by the Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. I had just bolted the engine onto the firewall of my II-S FT when I saw the announcement. I didn't really know much about the engine, so I decided to investigate the class in February of this year and attended it during the week of March 24th. It was absolutely the right thing to do.

The class is taught at the Pennsylvania College of Technology facility located on the Williamsport airport. The facility is first rate in every respect. The airport is actually in Montoursville. You may remember it as the small town that lost so many high school students in the TWA Flight 800 crash.

I cannot say enough about the quality of the instruction, coverage of the material or the value of the real-life experience that was presented. The instructor, Jim Doebler, has been around engines for a long time. He has worked for Lycoming as a technical representative, and was instrumental in the development of the programs and the facilities at the school. There is a very close relationship between the school and Textron Lycoming. This class is the same course that is taught to all Lycoming employees, including those who assemble engines in the plant. Jim is a gentleman of the old school. Who else would stand in front of a room full of strangers and give them his home phone number with the offer to help with anything they might need, at any time of the day or night? And, does he know his engines!

The class was made up of two NTSB investigators, an instructor from a school in Florida, four A&Ps who are actively working in the field, and me. I was the only homebuilder. I think it is fair to say that everyone learned something that justified his being there.

If you would like to have the answers to any of the following questions, and a host of others, this class is the place to find them:

• Under what conditions must a Lycoming engine that seems to be perfectly healthy be rebuilt prior to TBO, or under what conditions can TBO be extended and by how much?

• What does it mean to keep your engine in tune, and do you really care? (Believe it, you care.)

• What is the proper engine speed for warm-up, and why?

• What is the real story on valve sticking in Lycoming engines, how do you recognize the condition, and what can be done about it?

• What are the proper leaning procedures, and which is your leanest cylinder? Are you sure?

• How does your fuel injection system work, what trouble signs should you be on the lookout for, and what can be done about them?

You might be surprised at some of the answers. I know I learned a great deal. The class focuses on Lycoming engines and the material is specific to them. Much of it relates to powerplants much larger than we, as homebuilders, are likely to use but most of it applies to us directly. If you really want to understand your engine and the systems that make it run, find a way to attend

this class. Just the documentation that Lycoming provides to each student as part of the class is worth the cost of tuition.

Bill Knox Carmichael, CA, Glasair II-S FT

Disappointed in Ted Setzer...

I know that isn't a theological journal, so I ' l l keep this short. But Ted Setzer opened the door in his "Blast from the Past" article in S-H News No. 63 (Fourth Quarter 1996).

I'd like to state for the record that a Christian is not supposed to lie—ever. For the Christian, the ends do not justify the means—ever.

I 'd also like to state that there are some of us who try very hard not to lie—ever. Yes, we sometimes do (it's called sin), but when we do, we are to confess to the person we lied to so as to right the wrong, and try harder with God's grace to not do it again.

... and in the State of Arizona (et al.)

They say there are two things in life you can't avoid: death and taxes. As a missionary, I'd argue about the former, but here are some thoughts on the latter.

Many builders have recently been hit by their states for a so-called "use tax." This happens when the state scours FAA records and finds your "N" number. They incorrectly conclude that you've just bought an aircraft and want to tax you as such.

If you're a Democrat or Communist (is there a difference?), congratulations.

Air Mail You got what you wanted. You're now "rich." (An airplane is a luxury, right?) You've always wanted to tax the rich, so now I expect you to gladly pay your "fair share."

For the rest of us who aren't rich, who saved over many years to build a Glasair, here are some thoughts on how to minimize your use tax. But first, a quick review.

The Constitution (remember that oF thing?) says that "no state shall tax interstate commerce." Back then, states often charged a tariff on goods as they passed over their borders. The Founding Fathers' intent was to stop this practice. Up until recently, states took the Constitution literally and did not tax interstate commerce.

But a few years ago, some states, ever coveting more of your money, came up with some fancy wording (as only the white man can do) to get around the Constitution. They decided to tax the "use" of everything you own but to exempt items on which a sales tax had been paid. Whether or not this is Constitutional (i.e., legal) has been hotly debated, most recently in the Supreme Court. For now, we're stuck with it.

Here in Arizona, the use tax seems very political. The stated purpose of the tax here is to even out the playing field for Arizona merchants. Say, for example, you have a choice of buying a $1,000 computer monitor from a local merchant (who collects a 7% sales tax) or through a mail order house (which collects none). Which would you choose? (I guess it never occurred to the Legislature that the other way to even the playing field would be to lower the sales tax.)

However, if you read the statute, as I did, you'll see that if you have a powerful enough lobby, you can be excused from the use tax. This is hardly equitable.

Well, legal or not, or fair or not, they say you're still liable. However, there's nothing wrong with trying to minimize your liability. I ' m not a lawyer

(thankfully), but here are some thoughts:

• Here in Arizona, there's a four-year statute of limitations. If it takes you a long time to build your airplane, and you wait on getting an "N" number—well, you can figure it out.

• The use tax does not apply to private- party purchases. So, if you bought your Glasair used, you're not liable. This is just asking for someone with more money than I have to set up an operation in the Caymans selling used Glasairs to us in the States (drop- shipped from the factory).

• Don't tell 'em more than you have to. Here in Arizona, they really don' know (yet) what you buy out of state. In our case, we got a letter asking us for all our records regarding the plane. Maybe you're the type who keeps every receipt, but there's no requirement that you do. It might be to your advantage not to. We were asked to fill out a form stating how much our aircraft cost. (See—they really don't know.) Be careful here; please don't hose it up for the rest of us by putting down what a used Glasair sells for. That would be taking your sweat equity into account. All they need to know is what you paid for your "aircraft" if you bought it from S-H. Whether the definition of "aircraft" includes paint, avionics, etc., is unclear.

• I prefer to handle everything in writing. I was quick to point out to the state that we did not buy an aircraft; we built one from parts. I'd advise not offering too much information and avoiding use of the word "kit."

• Even though Ted (in his "Blast from the Past" article in S-H News No. 63, Fourth Quarter 1996) said it was suspicious (unfortunately), there may be some advantage to buying your parts with cash or money orders.

Mike Palmer Phoenix, AZ, Glasair I/II FT

Ho Hum, Another World Record for "Little Transatlantic"

I wanted to correct a few misimpressions readers may have gathered from S-H News No. 64 (First Quarter 1997) and to write a few words about my latest flight.

First of all, in the last newsletter, I was listed as a member of the "One Thousand Hour Club." Although I am very proud to be there, I have to confess that I have only qualified for the "Five Hundred Hour Club." One thousand-plus hours is my next goal.

Second, I changed my mind about making another transatlantic flight this year on the prestigious Charles Lindbergh route. The main reason was that I promised Bill Signs not to interfere with his seventieth-anniversary commemorative flight. He asked me politely to do so, considering the flight to be his baby. On top of that, he called me "a pilot and a gentleman," so I have to keep my word. He said this during a Hawaiian party where he got slightly tipsy, and that might explain his kindness. Nevertheless, I consider his compliment the best I ever got, and I have to behave accordingly!

I still think and hope that an annual race will be organized over the Lindbergh route in the near future. I wish Bill success in getting the visibility he merits. That will leave me plenty of opportunities to demonstrate the superiority of my Glasair Super II FT, which I am so proud to have built and now fly with such great pleasure.

Next year, I plan to fly from Paris to New York to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Aeroclub de France. Few people know that this flight was attempted by Nungesser and Coli just one week before Lindbergh's successful eastbound crossing. They were spotted in Maine and then disappeared forever. Since their attempt, nobody has flown this route in a single. I am sure to be successful with a homebuilt.

Continued on Page 46 . . .

Prospective and current S-H customers have two new faces to get to know, as the sales and marketing team has recently undergone some strengthening.

First aboard was Ed Bleitz, who joined Roy Matson on the Option Sales desk in March. Ed brings over thirty years of s a l e s experience and an over-sized ration of enthusiasm to the job. In addition, he's a private pilot active in the Civil Air Patrol, and he's eagerly building time to meet the insurance requirements for flying the company aircraft.

Ed faces a daunting task in learning the arcane details of thousands of S-H parts and the even more arcane details of our antiquated computer system, but with Roy Matson across the room, Ed has the opportunity to study with The Master. He has already learned a tremendous amount in a very short time, and we're very glad to have him on board!

Our most recent addition is Dale Clarke, who took over from Ted Setzer as vice president of sales and marketing in May.

Ted had held the post on an interim basis during the search for a permanent marketing manager.

Dale brings a wealth of

b u s i n e s s a n d a v i a t i o n

b a c k -ground to the job of

s e l l i n g Glasair and

G l a S t a r k i t s . He has owned

a n d managed a number of businesses—most recently a custom racing boat shop in the Los Angeles area—and was on the verge of starting another one when he reconsidered. In Dale's own words, "after twenty-three years of reading resumes, I decided to try writing one." And we're very glad he did!

Among other things that caught S-H's eye on Dale's resume was his experience racing Sea Furies at Reno. Needless to say, he got checked out rather quickly in the company Glasairs and GlaStars, and some of you have already made his acquaintance on the airshow circuit. When you see Dale, ask him how fast his Yak-3 is, and then ask him if he'd rather take that airplane or the Glasair III on a long cross-country!

S-H Composite Shop Heads South

Fortunately, the headline is meant to be taken literally, not figuratively: after years of making almost all our own composite parts, S-H has entered into a sub-contract arrangement with a company in Yelm, Washington (near Olympia) to produce all Glasair and GlaStar fiberglass components for kits and options delivered from July of this year onward. The recent upsurge in production at Boeing, as well as the generally booming economy here in the northern Puget Sound area, had led to the unfortunate loss of some key production personnel and promised increasing costs in the future. The sub-contract will allow S-H to keep kit prices down.

This decision was not taken lightly, but ultimately, it was made with great confidence in the future quality and availability of parts because of the individuals behind the sub-contracting firm, Beck Techna, Inc. The company's principal is Glasair builder and longtime S-H friend and associate Dave Becktold. Dave has, in fact, already been making some parts for S-H for years.

Dave is joined in his new company by former S-H production manager Taylor Smith, who recently left the Arlington area for family reasons. With Dave's proven track record of providing parts of outstanding quality and Taylor's encyclopedic knowledge of our parts and fabrication techniques, we are confident

Two New Faces Join the Sales Team

that this change will be completely seamless and transparent to our customers.

S-H will maintain its own welding and metal fabrication shop under the direction of manager Steve Minor.

Watch Out McDonald's: S-H Boasts 2,000 Sold!

When Frank Wiley of Tucson, Arizona took delivery of his GlaStar kit in November of 1996, neither he nor we here at S-H appreciated the momentous nature of the occasion, but a subsequent review of the records indicates that Frank's GlaStar was the 2,000th S-H kit to be shipped. The current count stands at something over 2,100.

This total consists of roughly 800 Glasair Is, 500 IIs, 300 IIIs and 450 GlaStars. The flying fleet is estimated to top 900 aircraft worldwide.

S-H Says Goodbye to Some Old Friends

Veterans of previous visits to the S-H factory will be surprised—and we suspect unpleasantly so—on their next visit to notice that we have cut down almost all the beautiful old firs and cedars on the runway side of our main office and hangar building. These trees always lent their cool shade to Glasairs and their pilots during the Arlington Fly-In, and they gave a nice touch of class to our otherwise somewhat nondescript headquarters.

Unfortunately, in the eyes of the FAA, the trees also posed a safety threat, being too tall to be so close to the runway. From our point of view, the removal of the trees has done little but open up a direct crash path to our buildings, but you can't argue with the Feds any more

For kit sales: For option and parts sales: For technical support: For technical publications: For general e-mail:

than you can fight City Hall.

The up side is that we now have even more Glasair and GlaStar parking space, so with our old friends gone, we look forward to making many new ones!

180 H.P. GlaStar

Installation to Debut

at Oshkosh

It seems that most homebuilders never met a "pony" they didn't like, and since we at S-H are essentially just a bunch of homebuilders, it was inevitable that we would bow to the pressure to find out just how much more spectacularly the GlaStar might fly with 180 h.p. under the hood. Of course, several builders already have O-360s bolted up and may well be flying before the official S-H

installation is finalized, but those power-hungry builders who would rather not be pioneers forward of the firewall can anticipate an Oshkosh unveiling of the official 180 h.p. package.

Harry DeLong has graciously offered his new GlaStar, N918V, as the guinea pig, and Harry's current O-320 installation will probably be all over the hangar floor by the time you read this. Stay tuned for performance and price details.

Avionics Deal Struck with II Morrow

S-H will soon be offering discount pricing on the entire Apollo line of avionics made by II Morrow Inc., of

Continued on Page 49 . . .

E-Mail Addresses Change for the Last Time! (We Hope)

For what we sincerely hope will be the final time, S-H's electronic mail addresses have changed again. Aside from the inconvenience of having to enter new addresses into your computer address books, this change should actually improve the level of service we're able to offer electronically, since we have added several new addresses in order to route your messages more efficiently to the proper departments and individuals.

Effective immediately, the new addresses are as follows:

[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]@stoddard-hamilton.com [email protected]

Please use these addresses when communicating with S-H rather than any of the previously published addresses. Additionally, in order to help us process your messages most efficiently, please always give a message subject, and if appropriate, mark the message to the attention of a particular staff member.

In another electronic development, there are now contact forms available on our World Wide Web site for option sales, technical support and general inquiries. The option sales site will soon have encryption capability so we will be able to take credit card orders via the Web. Visit the site and give it a try. The URL is <http://www.stoddard-hamilton.com>.

Glasairs Take Four Awards at Sun n' Fun '971

Although the coveted 1997 Sun n' Fun Grand Champion Kit-Built award went to a very deserving little Kitfox, the winning Glasair tradition was upheld in fine style by no fewer than four outstanding aircraft and their builders.

Leading the pack was Barry Bieber of Hatfield, Pennsylvania, who debuted his gorgeous II-S RG and went home with the Best Low Wing award. Barry's Glasair is simply flawless, and we'll be very surprised if this doesn't mark the first of many appearances among the ranks of the award winners for N3202S. Congratulations on a stunning achievement, Barry!

Five aircraft earned Outstanding Workmanship awards at Sun n' Fun '97, and two were Glasairs—the II FT built by Bruce Williams of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the I RG built by Robert Driver of Monroe, Wisconsin. Congratulations to Bruce and Robert for their hard work on these beautiful airplanes!

Finally, Deborah Raymond of Roswell, Georgia, took the Best Workmanship award for her II-S FT. This well deserved award represents a triumph of perseverance and determination, as Chuck Raymond explains in his letter to the editor on Page 46 of this

newsletter. Suffice it here to say that Deborah and Chuck overcame some tremendous obstacles to get their Glasair to the Sun n' Fun flight line in such immaculate shape, and we heartily congratulate them both! ,

Arizona Glasair Fly-In a Success

The First Annual St. Valentine's Day-and-a-Half Glasair Fly-In, held February 15th in Scottsdale, Arizona, was not well attended in its first year, but it was and could continue to be a super event. Lynn Babcock put great effort into planning, food, drinks, etc., and welcomed fly-in attendees in his superb hangar facility.

If you builders/flyers from colder climes don't attend this one, you're missing a great opportunity to enjoy the Southwest at a time when the weather is fabulous! Temps this year were 80-85° with 75-mile visibility. Plan a long weekend to see the surrounding sights.

Let's all put this fly-in on the calendar when dates are announced next year and hope that with plenty of support, Lynn can continue this great annual event!

Editor's note: Thanks to Tom Hoffman, Glasair III builder from Cardiff by the Sea, California, for reporting on this event.

LOM-Powered

"SuperStar" Enters

Flight Testing

On April 21, 1997, an unusual GlaStar took to the air for the first time, and the folks at Propulsion Technologies, Inc. (PTI), of Stockton, California, hope that the aircraft's long, turbine-like cowling will prove to be the shape of things to come.

Powered by a 160 h.p., Czech-built Walter LOM M332 engine, the so-called "SuperStar" was built as a testbed for the complete GlaStar firewall-forward package PTI plans to market. At this writing, the aircraft was still flying off its FAA test period, and calibrated performance numbers are not yet available, but PTI personnel are very excited about the way the aircraft is flying behind the engine.

The LOM, which is a fully certificated aircraft engine, has been flown in Zlins and a variety of other European aircraft for decades. It is an air-cooled, inverted in-line four that features a mechanical supercharger and fuel injection. The engine burns 100LL and boasts a 2,000 hour TBO. Although the engine requires a significantly longer cowling than a comparably powerful Lycoming does, the LOM's aluminum castings keep the weight of the entire installation some 30-50 less than that of an O-320, and thus PTI reports no CG problems.

The engine swings a conventional hydraulic constant-speed propeller made by Avia/Hamilton-Standard. Like the engine, the prop is certificated, has a 2,000 hour TBO, and is made in the Czech Republic.

PTI estimates that a complete GlaStar firewall-forward package, including a brand-new engine and prop, engine mount, cowling, spinner, and all accessories will run around $23,000. Look for more information on this new dimension in GlaStar versatility in an upcoming issue of the S-H News.

1996 Builder Hint Awards Announced

Your votes are in, the ballots have been tabulated, and we have a winner—or two winners, actually!

The award for the best Glasair hint of 1996 goes to Fred Van Raden of Portland, Oregon, for his hint in S-H News No. 63 (Third Quarter 1996). Fred described (complete with illustrations and a full-sized template) how to install a pair of neoprene boots around the aileron push-pull tube, thus eliminating the infamous 'B' rib draft that Glasair pilots have suffered through for years. Like most good ideas, Fred's boots are simple, clean and easy to install.

A simple idea also caught the fancy of the GlaStar voters, who chose one of the hints submitted by Howard Stearns of Refuge Cove, British Columbia, in S-H News No. 61 (First Quarter 1996). Howard has been quite prolific in sharing ideas for GlaStar builders, but the winning hint was the one suggesting how builders working by themselves might position and drill the hat section stiffeners in the wing. Howard's straightforward solution has helped many single-handed GlaStar builders move ahead efficiently.

Both Fred and Howard will receive a plaque as a small token of appreciation and a $100 S-H credit. Congratulations to both of them, and thanks to all the builders who took the time to share their ideas with others in the Builder Hints forum!

Alexander to Offer GlaStar Workshop

Alexander SportAir Center of Griffin, Georgia, has announced a new two-day workshop on GlaStar construction techniques. The inaugural workshop will be held September 20-21, 1997, at Alexander's Atlanta-area facility. Cost

GlasNews

of the eighteen-hour course is $299.

Formerly known as Alexander Aeroplane, the company run by Ron Alexander has been conducting weekend aircraft construction workshops since 1993. The GlaStar workshop, however, will be the first to focus on a specific kit type, rather than on a single construction technique like welding or fabric covering.

"Our workshops have proven to offer the first-time kitplane builder a decided advantage in successfully completing a project," states Alexander. The GlaStar was selected as the subject of the first kit-specific workshop because of its popularity and the practicality of covering the major assembly skills required in a single weekend.

Specific topics to be covered in the workshop include riveting and other sheet-metal techniques, fiberglass laminating, control cable fabrication, corrosion control, surface finishing and painting, weight and balance, and preparation for final inspection and flight testing.

Depending on the popularity of the September workshop, Alexander hopes to offer the GlaStar workshop several times a year at various locations around the United States. For more information, write to Alexander SportAir, 219-A Barry Whatley Way, Griffin, GA 30224; phone (800) 967-5746; fax (770) 467-9413; Internet <http://www.sportair. com>.

Last Year's Times

Bettered at R.A.C.E. ' 97 Kick-Off Event

Nineteen aircraft showed up for the Rutan and Composite Enthusiasts (R.A.C.E.) closed-course air races at Kanab, Utah. The Kanab event kicked-off the 1997 racing season, which will feature five more events over the course of the year.

Continued on Page 51. . .

This quarter, Cliff Faber combs his "exhaustive" Hangar Notebook for tips, hints and observations on the care and feeding of-S-H stainless-steel exhaust systems. Glasair and GlaStar builders alike should find plenty of interest here.

The installation and inspection of your aircraft's exhaust system are fairly straightforward subjects, but we get enough queries from both Glasair and GlaStar builders to suggest that a few tips and pointers might be useful. Although the exhaust systems used on Glasairs and GlaStars with different engines have differences in shape and style, most aspects of their installation and inspection are identical.

The principle purpose of the exhaust system is to route combustion gasses exiting the engine cylinders clear of the aircraft. Along with the exhaust gases leaving the cylinders, a substantial amount of heat is being conducted away from the engine. S-H exhaust systems trap some of this heat in a special heat muff to provide cabin heat and, in the case of carbureted engines, carb heat. The downside of the heat is the effect it has within the engine compartment; this will be discussed later.

Installation Tips

The typical exhaust system installation will require the pipes themselves; an exhaust gasket to seal the joint between the exhaust system and the engine cylinder; and the nuts, washers and lock washers needed to secure the exhaust system to the threaded engine studs.

Always begin by carefully removing any surface corrosion from the aluminum seat around the cylinder exhaust port. For very light corrosion, use ScotchBrite and a metal cleaner like PrepSol. Do not use steel wool. Fine sandpaper can be used for heavier corrosion. Sand until a clean aluminum surface can be seen. Some small amount of pitting is allowable. However, serious corrosion or other major damage to the cylinder seat may require the use of a special exhaust seat grinding tool. Bad seats cause exhaust leaks, with the serious consequences discussed below, so if you're in doubt about the condition of any of the seats on your engine, have your local A&P mechanic take a look.

Just as the seats must be clean and flat, the mounting flange on each exhaust pipe must be clean and flat too. Before reinstalling an exhaust system that has been in service, check the surface of each mounting flange. Flanges that are corroded or not flat can be fixed by touching them to a belt or disk sander. Any low spots on the flange will clearly show as unmarked areas. Continue sanding until an even, flat, round area is available around the pipe on each flange. It is also a

good practice to use a hammer to tap the corners of each flange where the bolt holes are slightly downward. This way, as the nut holding the exhaust pipe to the cylinder stud is tightened, the sealing surface of the exhaust pipe flange contacts the exhaust gasket before the flange corners.

Several types of exhaust gaskets are available—two-piece copper gaskets, copper/asbestos gaskets and the so-called "Bio-Proof steel gasket. We have found the latter style best for our exhaust system installations. We have had good success with these gaskets, finding their thickness and rigidity to work well at sealing and preventing exhaust gas pressure from blowing out the sides of the gasket.

We have also found that coating both sides of the exhaust gasket with red, high-temperature silicone sealer (RTV) (available from your local auto parts store) great improves the sealing qualities of the installed gasket. This material will dry and harden in a relatively short time, so it should only be applied immediately before installation.

Regardless of the style used, keep in mind that exhaust gaskets are not designed to be reused.

The hardware used to secure the exhaust system must be capable of withstanding the high heat of the cylinder. We use standard, AN960-516 steel washers, and we recommend an AN935-516 split lock washer, although we have often used the more common AN936A516 internal-teeth lock washer. The exhaust system mounting studs on the engine are coarse threaded. Plain nuts are used to hold the exhaust system in place. Lycoming uses a steel nut for this application.

Due to heat in this area, the engine stud, washers and nut will all rapidly develop a coating of rust. This rust tends to lock the nut in its tightened position. When removing a nut that has been installed for some time, it may be helpful first to use a small wire brush to remove surface rust from the cylinder stud.

All S-H exhaust systems incorporate slip joints to allow for slight movement and to facilitate fit-up. The theory of the slip joint is that the inner tube of the joint will be hotter and expand more than the cooler, outer tube. This uneven expansion then creates a seal, preventing exhaust leaks. Slip joints will often use a securing method between the two tubes of the joint. Glasair exhaust system collectors have a spring holding the

10

collector to the engine pipes. The GlaStar systems have a two part clamp which extends over the joint and uses four bolts to hold the two clamp halves firmly together.

When a bolt and nut are used to secure the two halves of a slip joint, use steel, self-locking AN363-1032 nuts. These nuts and the bolts will also soon become rusted in color, and the nuts should not be reused once loosened.

For the easiest installation, don't tighten any of the exhaust securing nuts until all parts of the exhaust system have be slipped into place. On the Glasair, this means the exhaust collector should be slipped over the two tubes flowing into it. On the GlaStar, this means the collector should be slipped onto all four of the stub pipes exiting the cylinders. Once this has been accomplished all nuts should be properly torqued.

Precautions for Components Installed Near the Exhaust System

Heat radiating from the exhaust pipes can cause premature aging and hardening of rubber and plastic components exposed to this heat. Because of the confines of the engine compartment, the builder must deal with this reality and plan the location of the wire runs, wire-securing parts, hoses and so on to minimize the effects of the heat.

Numerous wires are routed below the cylinders. Some wires, such as magneto wires and the leads for the EOT and CHT probes are designed to be resistant to the heat of the exhaust system. However, they still should be secured as far away from the exhaust pipes as is practical. A convenient route for these wires is inboard along the engine intake tubes and then aft just above the split line between the engine case and the oil sump. On many engines, it's convenient to install one or two Adel clamps on the 1/4" sump studs to secure these wires.

Occasionally it will be necessary to run oil lines or fuel lines near the exhaust system. When very close to an exhaust pipe (within about an inch) the hose should be enclosed in fire-sleeve for insulating purposes. All other rubber hoses should be routed as far as possible from the exhaust system.

Engine shock bushings are also subject to heat decay. When subjected to high heat, they will become hardened and heat checked. Given the geometry of the systems, this is more likely to be a problem on Glasairs than GlaStars. Fortunately, the problem can easily be solved by installing simple aluminum heat shields around the lower shock bushings.

The components most commonly used to bundle wires and provide anti-chafe protection are tie-wraps and spiral wrap. These are usually made of Nylon and are very subject to heat deterioration—embrittlement in the case of tie-wraps and melting in the case of ordinary spiral wrap. Spiral wrap, of

course, comes in a high-temp variety, and this is all you should use in the engine compartment. It can be distinguished from ordinary spiral wrap by its pale blue tint. Tie Wraps are not available in a high-temperature variety, so care should be taken to use wider-than-usual wraps in the engine compartment and to inspect and replace them frequently.

In Glasair RG aircraft, the nose gear hydraulic actuator is located relatively close to the exhaust system. The nose gear cylinder is aluminum and will absorb and transfer heat to the hydraulic fluid in the cylinder. This heat causes the fluid to expand, increasing pressure in the system. The heat can also have a detrimental effect on the seals in the cylinder. For these reasons, an aluminum heat shield should be installed between the nose gear cylinder and the exhaust system. You should also inspect regularly for any evidence of hydraulic fluid leaking around the piston rod of the actuating cylinder. This could be an indicator of seal deterioration, and if severe enough, could suggest the need for a cylinder overhaul.

Inspecting the Exhaust System

One of the gases routed overboard by the exhaust system is carbon monoxide, and we all know how important it is to keep this out of the cabin. Some early warning signs of a possible exhaust leak are, of course, an exhaust smell in the cockpit, but also the presence of gray dust in the windshield defrost and cabin heat vents. Regardless of whether any of these signs is present, however, frequent inspection of the exhaust system (and in particular the cabin heat muff area) is very important.

An installed exhaust system should be inspected for four things: cracks in the exhaust system itself, leaks where the exhaust mounts to the cylinders, damage to or fatigue of the collector suspension system, and heat damage to surrounding fiberglass structures.

Cracking is most likely at pipe intersections and near weld joints. Cracking can also occur in slip joint areas (of exhaust systems using a slip joint at each cylinder) if the bolts holding the two halves are tightened unequally. Check for cracking by wiggling the pipes to detect any loose segments and also by looking for light gray exhaust residue on the pipes. If cracks are found, remove the affected pipes (or the whole system, as necessary) and take them to any competent welding shop. (Because of the welded nature of the exhaust system, there is likely to be some variation in the exact size and geometry of all exhaust system components. For this reason, it's impractical for S-H to maintain an inventory of exhaust system spare parts.)

The automotive industry has used exhaust pipe wrapping materials for quite some time in special applications. We have

Continued on next page , . .

11

As FAA and NTSB accident reports can take up to one year to be published, advance notices of accidents in this column do not contain all the facts and information necessary to draw definitive conclusions about the incidents reported. Rather, these accounts are intended to bring the circumstances surrounding the incidents to the attention of the reader in the sole interest of promoting safety. These reports are not intended to judge the ability or capacity of any person, living or dead, or of any aircraft or accessory. Stoddard-Hamilton appreciates the willingness of its customers to share the details of their experiences so that similar outcomes might be avoided by others.

With deep regret, we report that a Glasair III based in Phoenix, Arizona, was recently involved in a single-aircraft, double-fatality crash. The aircraft was observed to make several low-level maneuvers, terminating in a steep, near-vertical climb. The aircraft then appeared to roll inverted and enter an inverted spin. Low-level recovery was impossible. The aircraft owner and builder had recently moved to the area and was reportedly known for trying to impress his passengers with the speed and performance of his Glasair, often at a low altitude.

We have all heard this scenario before and, if honest with ourselves, most will admit to having done this type of thing ourselves on occasion. The Glasair is certainly an impressive and responsive airplane, and close proximity to the ground only enhances the feel of that performance.

The unfortunate end result of incidents such as this—besides the tragic loss of two good people—is the far-ranging damage this type of accident causes within the aviation industry. We at S-H are immediately touched because this was one of our aircraft, and an accident, no matter what the cause, reflects back on us. But of more concern to builders of Glasairs and all high-performance kitplanes, accidents like this end up in FAA and insurance company statistics. Insurance companies are statistically driven, and accidents such as this make all insurance coverage more costly or even unobtainable.

The preceding comments are not news to anyone, nor, most

assuredly, are they meant to be taken as personal criticism of the unfortunate pilot and passenger involved in this accident. The question is, what can we—as kit manufacturer, builders, owners and pilots—do to improve this situation.

S-H has been working closely to keep insurers informed about our aircraft. We make every effort to keep the cost of replacement parts down, as fleet repair costs also feed into the calculation of insurance premiums.

As fellow pilots, we have an obligation to each other to encourage the safe operation of our aircraft, if for no better reason than to protect our pocket books. We need to make sure we are completely trained in and comfortable in the aircraft we operate. Professional checkouts and recurrency training such as that offered in the past by companies such as Professional Instrument Courses have proven extremely effective in improving pilot competency and lowering accident rates. Swallow a bit of pride and pay the bucks it takes to learn to operate the machine of your dreams safely.

Safe and affordable flying involves all of us, working individually and collectively to police ourselves when we see improper, unsafe, or less-than-competent flying going on.

Our sincerest condolences go out to the families of those who lost their lives in the Phoenix accident.

. . . Continued from previous page

not had the opportunity to try these materials so we have little first-hand experience, but customer reports have detailed lower temperatures within the engine compartment. However, if you use exhaust pipe wraps, greater care must be taken to inspect adequately the now-hidden exhaust pipes for cracking.

Leaks around the cylinder seat and/or exhaust mounting flange are indicated by the presence of gray dust on surrounding spark plugs, cylinder cooling fins and intake tubes. An exhaust leak here is very serious, not only because of the

possible problem of CO entering the cabin, but also because the jet of leaking exhaust gas will very quickly erode the soft aluminum of the cylinder seat and surrounding cooling fins. If allowed to worsen undetected, this situation can eventually damage the cylinder beyond repair—not a pleasant thought.

Thus, any evidence of an exhaust leak at the cylinder must be dealt with immediately. This will involve removing the

Continued on Page 15. . .

12

With considerable regret, I must announce this as the last installment of Chris Klix's "Tech-Talk" column. As Chris explains in the paragraphs below, he has left Stoddard-Hamilton for a position with Washington State's "other airplane company." What Chris is too modest to mention is what a great loss his departure represents for the whole Stoddard-Hamilton family. His knowledge, dedication and hard work have played vital roles in the success of the company and its customers, and he has been a good friend to us all. Fortunately, only the knowledge, dedication and hard work are lost to Boeing! We wish Chris well in all his future endeavors.

—The Editor

As many of you already know, I am no longer working for Stoddard-Hamilton. While I was stopping by the other day, Craig O'Neill asked me if I would write an article for this newsletter recapping the time that I spent with the company. So here it goes.

Over the course of thirteen years with Stoddard-Hamilton, I have enjoyed the opportunity to build and develop the Glasair and, most recently, the GlaStar aircraft. I have enjoyed most of all the chance to fly the aircraft and to travel, meeting the wide variety of customers and business associates this industry has to offer. The experience I've acquired in engineering, customer service, accident investigation, research and development, and sales has been extremely valuable to me. I have learned many new skills and have grown in many ways.

Because growth should be an on-going process, I recently made the very difficult decision to end my employment at Stoddard-Hamilton and move on to another area of aviation, one which will challenge me to continue to learn and expand my knowledge base. I will miss being able to fly the company aircraft and to talk with the great people I have come to know, but I do not intend to become a total stranger. I hope one day to build and fly my own homebuilt aircraft, and I intend to keep in touch with what is happening in the experimental aircraft world as well as with the people associated with it.

I have seen Stoddard-Hamilton grow and become a leading kit manufacturer in the world. I joined the company in 1984, just after the initial development of the Glasair I RG and the move into the then-new facility at Arlington. At the time, Terry Hiatt was working for Stoddard-Hamilton as a technical writer and answering builder support calls. I knew him through the University of Washington Soaring Club (later to be renamed Evergreen Soaring) where I had been volunteering my time maintaining the gliders, as well as offering a glider towing service to the club with my 150 h.p. PA-12 towplane. It was Terry who recommended me for employment at S-H. Ted Setzer had just taken charge as president.

On my first project with the company, I helped build a 200 h.p. Glasair I RG that was on a tight schedule to be completed for a sponsored around-the-world flight. Unfortunately, not all the sponsors came through, and the world journey never took place, though the aircraft was completed on time.

Another project that had just gotten underway when I arrived was the construction of the 180 h.p. Glasair I RG aerobatic demonstrator, N84AG. I helped complete that airplane and was later checked out to fly it. This was a very memorable experience for me because it was my first time at the controls of a Glasair.

We had been working all day to get the smoke system installed and operational so that Bud Granley could debut the aircraft in the airshow at Oshkosh. This marathon session came at the end of many endless, seven-day weeks and several recent twenty-four-hour days of work without sleep to finish the airplane on time. It was July 27, 1984, just one day before we needed to leave for Oshkosh, and we had a new aircraft with just a couple hours on it and a need for pilots to help fly off the time before it could leave the designated flight test area.

Due to the time constraints and the lack of daylight to troubleshoot, fix and finish all the details, Bruce Hamilton checked me out in the aircraft at night with no landing light. I logged half an hour of touch-and-goes in pitch blackness, with only the runway lights to judge my height above the ground, when Bruce said, "that's good enough. You can take it solo first thing in the morning as soon as the sun comes up."

It really struck me how trusting these guys were with their new demonstrator. Here I was, no more than three months with the company and they were trusting me, still almost a stranger to them, with the future of the company in my hands. But to achieve the necessary sales to survive, the company needed to have that aircraft performing in the airshow at Oshkosh only days away.

Needless to say the next morning went without a hitch, and I

13

Tech-Talk

was able to log 2.6 hours of solo time in the aircraft while also testing out the newly installed smoke system, and 1 got paid for it. I was in heaven!

Eventually, I was put in charge of the R&D shop, and with the help of Louis Kits and Tim Straw, we removed the taildragger gear from the original Glasair production prototype, N89SH, and created the FT. Bob Gavinsky did the engineering and Dave Loomis the drafting. We needed more help so I contacted the Everett Community College aviation department and asked them for their top student. Frank Miller came to work for us and together, we developed the Glasair III to be followed by the Glasair II aircraft. I later sought out and managed to hire Cliff Faber, Cal Spangler, and eventually, Brian Costello, all of whom I had worked with in years past at Robertson Aircraft.

Bob eventually left the company to pursue other ventures, which left us without an engineer. We hired Bill Husa for a period to fill the gap. During that time, we developed the Glasair II-S and began development of the Glasair III turbocharger installation. However, we soon found it difficult to keep a full-time engineer on staff. My duties turned toward managing contract engineering to continue our development projects. During this period we developed the Glasair I I I turbocharger installation, continued design improvements to the Glasair II-S and III, and developed the Glasair Super II to correct the stability problems created when the Glasair II was stretched.

During this time, I became a member of the company board and participated in many more duties, including managing research and development, contract engineering, accident investigation, builder support, technical writing, tooling and aircraft maintenance, as well as helping out in sales and quality control. As with many of us in the company, I found myself at times spread too thin and not able to do the quality of work that I had hoped to do. I felt the company needed to stay in the forefront of new development and so, with Kelly Lee as the new president, we agreed to grab the opportunity to participate in the creation of the NASA Joint Sponsorship Research Program (JSRP). This resulted in several trips to Washington, D.C. and many hours of preparation.

These trips got me excited about how Stoddard-Hamilton could participate right alongside companies like Cessna and Beech and remain a leader in aviation development. I soon realized, however, that 1 was out of my league as far as the engineering expertise the company would require. To continue our NASA participation, I recommended to Kelly that we try to convince Bob to come back as an engineer. The timing worked out and Bob agreed.

Over the many colorful years at Stoddard-Hamilton, I have had the privilege of making several first flights, including that of the prototype Glasair I I I , and to oversee several exciting

R&D programs. I have been able to travel all over the United States, and even European and Australian vacations were partly combined business trips. In 1987, I visited the Porsche factory in Stuttgart, Germany, to consider the use of their new aircraft engine in the Glasair. I also traveled to Vienna, Austria, to tour the Hoffman Dimona factory and fly their new motor glider, as we were considering being a dealer for them.

Several years later I traveled on vacation to Australia and represented Stoddard-Hamilton at the Mangalore '94 Sport Aircraft Association of Australia national convention (the "Australian Oshkosh"). I can't say enough about the Australian's hospitality and love of life. 1 especially remember people like Jake and Barbara Jansen, who helped me through my fear of public speaking and spent an entire day with my family and me showing us the sights of Canberra, the capital city of Australia. And then there was Ralph and Helene Dand, who toured around the countryside near Sidney with us.

Back in the States, I had the privilege of making several trips in the Glasairs, some with my wife in the right seat. On these trips we got to experience the gracious hospitality of people like Larry Graves and Bill and Lorraine Baker in northern California. And then there were all those trips to Oshkosh when we would make our annual intrusion into Ted and Vicki Beck's home, where we were always treated to a huge steak dinner. Or the time when Gary Specketer put us up one late night on our way home. Also, getting to know people like Sherrod and Dolores Campbell and Robin Young, who shared their homes with us many years in a row at Sun n' Fun. I can't even begin to mention all the people who have shared their time and hospitality with myself or my family.

Oh yes, I can't forget the time I took the Glasair III to Atlanta for the National Business Aircraft Association convention and I was invited to fly stock-car legend Bill Elliott over to his private airstrip, where he gave me a tour of his race cars, trophies and car modification facilities.

I have especially enjoyed flying formation with Lance Turk and Jeff Wernli, with whom I have on several occasions joined up to practice just for the fun of it. I hope that one day we can do it again; maybe next time I ' l l be in my own airplane.

And then there is the sadness of losing people I had come to know. Like Vernon and Katherine Carter, who built and flew the first turbine-powered Glasair, and that little piece of heaven they farmed down in Arkansas, where I stayed several times on my way to and from Sun n' Fun. I remember the joy of flying formation with them on many occasions. Once, while flying the flyby circuit at Sun n' Fun alongside the turbine Glasair, a helicopter ascended right in front of us. It seemed like just a natural reaction: I went around one side and Vernon went around the other, just as though we had planned it that way. What great people they were!

14

Tech-Talk

Accident investigation can be a tough experience, especially when it is someone you have become friends with. When Art Bond and Bob Olszewski passed away in that very unfortunate, freak Glasair III accident in Alabama, I was just absolutely determined to find the cause to put my mind at ease. But the cause was not obvious, and we will never know for sure what actually happened.

Probably the greatest loss of all was when Bob Herendeen passed away in his Christen Eagle. Bob was very giving of his time to me, and he and Jacque had also opened their home in Ramona, California, to my family and me several times.

Whenever Bob would fly an airshow with both the Glasair III and his Pitts, I would usually be the one to deliver the Glasair and be his ground support during his performances. Once, after supporting him at an airshow in Dayton, Ohio, I had some time to relax prior to taking the airplane on to Oshkosh. I decided to go and visit Jerry Gruber's Glasair III project in Elkhart, Indiana, not far north of where Bob was headed to stay with his mother. I was to meet Jerry that evening and stay overnight with him. Because there was plenty of time, Bob offered to meet me at the same airport and give me some aerobatic instruction time in Jacque's Christen Eagle. I jumped at the chance and we did just that and more. In fact, not only did he teach me how to do vertical rolls, hammerheads and snap rolls, but he even showed me an inverted spin. That evening after dinner, Jerry Gruber showed me the sights along the river where his home is—by private boat of course.

The next day I flew down to meet Bob Herendeen again, this time at his old stomping grounds—a small airport tucked away in the heart of Indiana farming country. There, he was like a child again. With me, Jacque and a couple local people as his only audience, he took off in his Pitts and began to play. We got a full low-level airshow that included inverted passes just a few feet off the ground, passing between the hangars and the trees. Jacque said he grew up there, and whenever he came home he would just let go and play to his heart's content.

Later that day, he offered again to give me some dual aerobatic time, this time in the Glasair III. I will always cherish that time with him and the unselfish ways he would give of himself.

I have enjoyed the opportunities that Stoddard-Hamilton has given me and would not trade them for anything. I have also been inspired by the enthusiasm and fine workmanship of people like John Levy, Myron Jenkins, Mike Jones, Ken Johnson, Arnie Luters, Ron Hoelting, Bruce Chesnut, Kevin Warren, Jake Jansen, Chuck Hautamaki, Bill Taylor, Lance Turk, Jerry Linthicum, and so many more I can't even begin to mention them all. I have been privileged to witness so many fine examples of aircraft built from Stoddard-Hamilton kits.

My love for Stoddard-Hamilton's airplanes is very strong, and I will continue to follow their success closely. The potential opportunities for the company are great, and I wish its employees and customers only the best of success in the future.

For those who are curious about what I am doing now, I have taken a position on the Boeing flight line working on the 757s and new-generation 737s, performing systems functional tests, troubleshooting and incorporating design changes that were generated in the flight-test certification programs. This job also includes final preparations of the aircraft prior to their first flights and deliveries.

My years are going by fast, and my family needs are an ever-growing concern to me, so I made a very difficult decision to take the more conservative path, with the extra health-care and retirement benefits that Boeing has to offer. I hope it was the right one, and that I will still be able to pursue my general-aviation dreams.

I look forward to seeing every one of you again at a future fly-in or wherever our paths may cross.

sections of the exhaust system necessary to get to the leaking cylinder. Any cylinder which has had a detectable leak should be inspected for seat damage.

On GlaStars, the exhaust system is compact enough that the exhaust collector is simply cantilevered off the stub pipes. On Glasairs, however, the longer collector or collectors are suspended beneath the airframe by metal springs or brackets. Any failure of these suspension parts will almost certainly lead to cracking somewhere "upstream," so a thorough exhaust system inspection will include these parts.

Hangar Notebook . . . Continued from Page 12

Finally, check the cowling and other fiberglass parts close to the exhaust for any discoloration. Check the inside, unfinished surfaces, as paint will hide this sort of damage. Some light tan-to-brown discoloration is no cause for alarm, but any dark brown or charred areas indicate the need for remedial action.

First, repair any badly damaged areas with new laminations. Then install one or more heat shields to protect these areas in the future. A good method is to apply pieces of Interam 110 directly to the fiberglass. This material comes in 1/4" thick sheets and can be bonded to fiberglass using high-temp RTV.

15

"Special Package Deal! Friday night BBQ, Saturday night salmon bake, five-day fly-in pass and a Glasair or GlaStar T-shirt, all for only $46.50!

16

Accommodations

VFR Arrivals 1. All radio-equipped aircraft monitor ATIS on 134.55 10—15 miles from

airport. 2. Monitor tower on 127.5. Report entering pattern.on 45° entry with

ATIS. 3. Proceed inbound to airport via routes depicted on map in NOTAM. No

straight-ins, base leg or mid-field downwind entries permitted. Pattern altitude is 1,200' MSL for aircraft below 150 knots, 1,700' MSL for aircraft above 150 knots.

4. Watch for and sequence your aircraft with other observed traffic. Single file only; no side-by-side permitted.

5. After landing, exit the runway as quickly as possible. All foreign- registered aircraft taxi to Customs (see below).

6. No touch-and-goes or practice IFR approaches permitted July 10-14. All VFR arrival/departure patterns will be east of airport.

7. Runway 16-34 mid-field will be marked by orange cones on either side of runway. You may be instructed to land long and touch down at the mid-field intersection.

8. Fly-by participants must be briefed by EAA prior to entering fly-by pattern. When taxiing, advise tower that you have EAA briefing.

9. Expect arrival delays immediately following daily airshow.

IFR Arrivals Be prepared to discontinue approach and enter VFR pattern for landing sequence. When ceiling and visibility at Arlington are reported at or above 3,000' and 5 miles, expect vector for visual approach, then follow VFR arrival procedures outlined above. Be extremely alert for high volume of traffic with wide range of performance characteristics in vicinity of Arlington.

U.S. Customs 1. Customs will be available to clear foreign-registered aircraft every day

of Fly-In (July 10—14) from 0800-1500 local time. 2. Notification of Customs is waived for private/general aviation aircraft

inbound direct to Arlington from Canada during the operating hours stated above.

3. All arriving foreign-registered aircraft will be directed to Customs regardless of further intentions.

Arrival/Departure Procedures

VFR Departures 1. Before taxiing, monitor ATIS on 134.55. 2. Follow ATIS instructions and other traffic to advertised active runway. 3. Radio-equipped aircraft monitor ground control on 121.9 while

taxiing. Contact ground only if you need further information. 4. When instructed to taxi into position, use the left or right side of the

runway. 5. During heavy departure traffic, follow instructions of orange-vested

controllers positioned at departure end of runway. Aircraft using left side of runway will be given straight-out or left-turn departures only; aircraft using right side of runway will be given straight-out or right- turn departures only. Monitor tower on 127.5 for instructions.

6. Aircraft without radios follow same procedures outlined above. 7. Be very alert for numerous aircraft departing, for special flight activity

west of runway and for arriving traffic. 8. Depart the area via routes on map in NOTAM. 9. Expect departure delays immediately following daily airshow.

IFR Departures File your flight plan at least one hour prior to proposed departure time. Contact ground control on 121.9 for clearance. Do not taxi until you have received your en-route clearance. If you have not received initial departure instructions prior to reaching runway, attempt to taxi to a position so that VFR aircraft can pass for departure. In any case, do not accept instructions to position on the runway or to take off unless you have received departure release from ground control.

Further information on the Fly-In (including a map of Seattle Class B Mode C Veil exemption) will be published in the Special Air Traffic Management section of the Class II NOTAM publication available at your local FSS or AFSS. In you have any other questions, contact the air traffic manager at Snohomish County Airport/Paine Field ATCT, (206)353-0414.

17

18

he draft copy of the new Glasair video had finally come in from the production company, and a bunch of us were

watching it over lunch in the conference room one day last fall. We had all snickered and made smart remarks through Bob Gavinsky's comments, watched with amazement (even after all these years) the footage of Bob Herendeen making the Glasair III dance across the sky, and had listened proudly to a number of builder testimonials when suddenly, Hans Guttman appeared on the screen, talking with the interviewer about his solo around-the-world flight in his Glasair II-S RG.

His what?!? People around the room sat up and looked puzzled. Some of us had dealt with Hans while he was building his aircraft, but none of us had any idea he was planning a circumnavigation of the globe! In fact, at the time of the interview, he was already two-thirds of the way home.

As it turned out, the producer of the video, who was based in Hayward, California, had stumbled on Hans completely by chance at the Hayward airport as he passed through on his way back home to Austria. Hans agreed to be filmed, and his flattering comments about the Glasair appear in the final version of the video.

Needless to say, Hans completed his trip safely and on schedule. What follows is a chronology of the epic trip. All of us at Stoddard-Hamilton extend to Hans our warmest congratulations on his successful journey and our heartfelt gratitude for the kind words!

—The Editor

In the Beginning, the Dream ...

Since I was a child, I had the dream of building an airplane and flying it around

the world. Now, at the age of 49, I have fulfilled this dream, but there was much

to be done along the way . . .

1966 I learned to fly gliders.

1973 I got my private pilot's license.

1975 I received my glider instructor's rating.

1976 I began my current profession— teaching carpentry in a vocational school.

1979 I received my private pilot instructor's rating.

1982 I started work on a new home for my family and me (with a big garage for constructing my airplane)!

1983 I got a commercial license with an instrument rating.

1987 I made my first transatlantic

crossing, ferrying a Mooney 231 from the United States to Europe.

1989 I finished my house and began work on my Glasair II-S RG.

1994 1 flew in the World Precision Flying Championship and won first place in the spot landing competition.

1995 After approximately 5,000 working hours, I finished my Glasair and immediately began preparing for my world flight. I fabricated a big auxiliary fuel tank fitted to the co pilot's seat with a total capacity of 260 liters (42 gallons). Together with the normal tanks, this gave me the ability to fly approximately 16 hours at 60% power at an altitude of

10,000 feet with a TAS of 174 knots and a range of nearly 2,700 nautical miles. A second GPS completed the full IFR panel.

December 1995 I began my route planning, sending lots of faxes around the world. My first plan was to fly west, but after consulting a meteorologist, I changed to an eastward route. The route I chose would send me first to Australia, then via Indonesia to the Philippines and Hong Kong, then on to Japan, and from there via the Kurile Islands and Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia to Nome, Alaska. From Nome, the plan was to fly down the west coast of Canada to the Glasair factory, and then across the U.S., the Atlantic and back home. However, three weeks before takeoff I was informed by the Russian Ministry of Transportation that I would not be allowed to fly over Russian territory without a Russian navigator due to the need for Russian language. Therefore, I was forced to chart a new route straight

Johannes "Hans" Guttman

r

Dream flight

across the Pacific Ocean. Originally, I had hoped to avoid such a lot of water with only one engine!

Karachi's Revenge

August 15, 1996 My dream comes true as 1 start my 'round-the-world journey. Takeoff from Wels, Austria, was at 6:11, for my first leg via Hungary, Yugoslavia, Greece, Crete, and across the Mediterranean Sea to Luxor, Egypt. Ten hours, twenty minutes flying time. After takeoff, I was very surprised by the instability of my plane. It was the very first time I had flown with an overload of about 350 pounds and a CG aft of the normal limit. My S-Tec 65 autopilot was not able to fly the plane for the first four hours. After that time, the weight and balance became normal, and the autopilot system worked. After about one hour, I came out of the clouds over Lake Balaton in Hungary. From there to India I had very good weather.

During a one-day stopover, I went sightseeing to visit all the historic culture in Luxor. My plane was guarded on the airfield by a gun-toting soldier. The fee for that service was $15 per day.

August 17 The second leg: Luxor, Red Sea, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Persian Gulf, Qatar, Muscat, Oman. Flight time was nine hours and fifty minutes. When I took off from Luxor at 6:30, the temperature on the ground was already 26° C (84° F). Overloaded again, a hot step climb brought me to my cruising altitude of 10,000 feet.

1 made a one-day stop at Seeb/Muscat International Airport to check the airplane and change the oil. The temperature at sea level was 45° C (113° F) with very high humidity. Refueling, 1 paid $372 for fifty-seven gallons. For landing, parking and handling, I paid $310—this was the most expensive stop of my journey.

August 19 The third leg. I had planned to fly to Ahmedabad, India, but over the Pakistani coastline, I was told that my

permission to enter Indian airspace had been canceled. I requested to land at the Karachi, Pakistan, airport without permission. After landing, my first act was to pay $200 for "handling," but following this formality, there were no problems. I was invited to a lunch with the friendly people of the handling agency at their office. Unfortunately, this turned out not to have been a good idea, as I had diarrhea from that time until arriving in Australia.

August 20 Working with the handling agency, I re-received my permission to enter Indian airspace and land at Ahmedabad. I departed IFR and climbed out on top to FL95. On arrival, the bureaucratic ceremony was most impressive. I filed packages of paper to enter Indian territory.

August 21 Ahmedabad-Calcutta, a five-hour and ten-minute leg. The last hour of the flight I fought heavy monsoon thunderstorms. This was the first time I had seen lightning during the day in clouds with heavy rain and turbulence. But, I made a safe ILS approach at Calcutta, a town of approximately 12 million people. To leave the airport took four hours of bureaucratic paperwork with always

friendly guys.

August 22 Planned leg to Bangkok, Thailand. I was at the airfield at 6:30, but had to endure four hours of bureaucratic difficulties during checkout. At 10:30, I tried to arrange refueling, but this was not possible because of a broken fuel pump. Finally, the fueling got underway, but then I was delayed an additional one-and-a-half hours due to heavy rain. It was too late for takeoff on that day. Back to the airport hotel at 4:30 p.m.

August 23 At the airport at 5:30, at my Glasair at 9:00—bureaucracy again! Clearance received, I taxied out to the runway, but while taxiing, I noticed no battery load. Back to parking to check the alternator belt, which seemed OK.

The electrical connections all looked OK, too. It started to rain (at 38° C (100° F)), I had painful diarrhea, and I had no idea where I should begin my search for the electrical trouble.

I had installed the LR-2 linear voltage regulator. In the side of that regulator is a small plugged opening through which to adjust the voltage. As I removed the plug, water ran out. The very high

20

Dream flight

humidity had caused condensation inside the regulator. After removing it, drying it with my handkerchief and remounting it, it worked. This job was done during a heavy monsoon rain on the large apron of the Calcutta airport—me and my plane all alone. This was the low point of my 'round-the-world flight!

August 24 I arrived at the airport at 4:30 to be early enough for the next leg to Bangkok. The customs officers were sleeping in the departure hall. They had had a late dinner on the floor where they slept. Only a small lamp was on in the dark hall as I entered, and 1 saw some rats having a good meal of the remains of the late-night dinner between the sleeping people.

After I woke the officers up, I got a warm welcome; by now—the third time

I had negotiated the bureaucracy—all the officers knew me. At 8:00 I had finished all the paperwork for the flight to Bangkok. Takeoff was at 8:31, with thunderstorms forecast en route. Over Burmese territory 1 wanted to divert from the airway due to very large buildups, but at FL110,1 could make no contact with Rangoon. I requested help with a relay, and a Lauda Air jet helped me out. Rangoon cleared me to avoid

the biggest buildups. Four hours and fifty-two minutes after takeoff, I landed at Bangkok airport.

August 26 Bangkok to Singapore. IFR departure and climb, but a smooth flight on top until I was fifty miles from Seletar airport, when I encountered heavy thunderstorms again. To avoid them, I descended VFR to 500 feet AGL. Singapore Approach could not receive my transponder signal, and so I had to report my position every minute. Visibility during the last thirty miles of that flight was sometimes below one mile. I finally located the runway when I was on short final.

I stopped over two nights in Singapore, needing to do another inspection and oil change. One oil line was oily, so I changed the whole hose assembly. The

2" air intake tube also had a leak, so I changed it as well. Many thanks to Mr. Tham Wie Min from ST Aerospace Engineering, a helicopter assembly and maintenance company, where I did my maintenance. During that inspection, I also cleaned the fuel pump for the auxiliary tank. Because I was still ill (since Karachi 1 had only drunk water and eaten some salt), I forgot to tighten a fitting on the pump. The entire stay at

Singapore was rainy—monsoon time.

August 28 Another IFR departure, bound for Bali, Indonesia. After takeoff, as I entered the clouds, I switched on the aux fuel pump only to see fuel leaking out of the untightened fitting. Fortunately, I was able to grab the right wrench from the baggage compartment to tighten the fitting and get the leak stopped—all in the clouds without an autopilot. This part of the departure was not the best, I think! Above the Indonesian capital, Djakarta, I came out of the clouds into VMC and enjoyed beautiful weather all the way to Hawaii.

During a one-day stop on the island of Bali, I relaxed, enjoyed the very nice landscape and ate my first soup since Ahmedabad.

August 30 A six-hour-and-thirty-minute leg to Darwin, Australia. Beautiful weather. During my approach to Darwin, I was ordered to stay in the cockpit after arriving at my parking position. Because of the heat, I opened the canopy. Two guys approached my aircraft and told me to close it. They handed me a spray can and explained that I was to fumigate my cabin against insects. Reading the instructions on the back of the can, I learned that two of those cans were enough to fumigate a Boeing 747. Thank God they h?"ded me a can that was only half full! After that procedure, I was ready to enter Australian territory. I flew on to Tindal, one-hour's flight south from Darwin.

Because I was two days behind schedule, I decided not to fly my planned route through central Australia via Ayers Rock and Sydney to Brisbane, but rather to fly straight to MacCay and then on to Brisbane.

August 31 A smooth six-hour, thirty-six-minute flight across the Northern Territories to MacCay, landing shortly before sunset.

September 1 A clear, windy day. Three hours and thirty-one minutes to landing

21

Dream flight

at Archerfield, Brisbane, where the quartering winds were blowing 35^5 knots. I spent two days at Southern Skies Aviation (thank you, Steve Taddeucci, for your support) to perform a very careful inspection and oil change before flying over the Pacific Ocean.

Across the Blue Pacific

September 3 A ten-minute flight to Brisbane airport to clear customs and file a flight plan. Then a smooth, four-hour-and-twenty-two-minute flight to Tontouta, New Caledonia. During the approach I was asked what kind of airplane I was flying and if I was some kind of VIP. The officers all got a big surprise when they saw me and my small plane on the ground!

September 4 A rainy day. I wrote postcards and relaxed.

September 5 Four hours and forty minutes to Nausori, Fiji. A very enjoyable flight, but 1 was still two days behind schedule, so only an overnight stop.

September 6 Four hours and twenty minutes to Pago Pago, American Samoa. I saw very beautiful islands along my

route and enjoyed a very smooth flight.

September 7 To Cassidy International, Christmas Island. After departure I received instructions via a VHP frequency to squawk an HF frequency. I couldn't confirm that because I had no

HF. The controller advised me to return to Pago Pago, but I didn't understand that advice. As I arrived at Cassidy International, I had no contact with the "tower" and no contact with the Christmas NDB. I was proceeding with GPS navigation only. After landing at Cassidy, I found I was entirely alone. After forty-five minutes of waiting, a controller finally arrived at the airfield, saying he had received no flight plan.

Because of the non-existent infrastructure, I phoned a friend of mine in Austria to fax me weather information and make my flight plan for the next seven-hour leg. It was there I had the loneliest feeling of my life.

September 8 After refueling from a barrel, I took off for Hilo, Hawaii. The forecast I had gotten from Austria was good. Again, I had no contact with any station, not even on 121.5. One hundred fifty nautical miles from Hilo,

a big wall of thunderstorms appeared in front of me. I changed my altitude from 11,000 feet to 500 feet to reach the coastline, and then followed it inbound to Hilo. Sometimes, due to a very low ceiling and visibility below one mile, 1 flew below 100 feet AGL. I think this was the most difficult part of my trip.

I had planned on a relaxing four-day stay in Hawaii, but it rained all four days, so this stop was not restful.

September 13 I tried to file my flight plan over the phone, but as I was spelling the call sign, the officer ordered me to come to the office personally. After arriving, I received some information about American regulations. It was not possible to fly over open sea without an HF transmitter for making position reports, and I could count on big trouble if I violated this regulation.

1 contacted John Carlson, a professional ferry pilot with lots of experience at ferrying small airplanes, and he agreed to ferry my plane with his own HF radio. The cost was $2,000. After he installed his HF radio, takeoff for the longest leg of the trip was at sunrise on September 16. He flew the 2,025 nautical mile trip to Hayward, California, in thirteen hours, forty-two minutes. My luggage and I were flown by airline.

Homeward Bound

September 17 I met John at the Hayward airport. He told me the Glasair was running very well. I was very happy to get my plane back again. At Hayward, I got to know Glasair builder Earl Hiebler. Earl built his II FT with a 260 h.p. 6-cylinder engine instead of my 4-cylinder 180 h.p. engine. I was very impressed with the speed of his airplane; during a flight we took together, he dove in at Hayward for an overshoot and we reached 290 knots indicated! Since that flight, I've been very confident in the strength of my aircraft.

Earl provided me accommodations at his house for the next two days and helped

22

me make the 100-hour inspection. (Thank you very much to Jean Montgomery and Earl Hiebler for that warm welcome—I hope our arrangement for a meeting at my home in Austria comes true.)

September 20 Earl recommended I stop at Sedona, Arizona, on my flight to Texas. An unforgettably smooth flight in cloudless weather over Las Vegas and along the edge of the Grand Canyon brought me to Sedona. After landing, I couldn't believe my eyes—on the apron was parked Jiirg Sommerauer's Glasair. Jiirg's Glasair was the first I had ever seen when it was under construction in Zurich, before I had started working on my plane.

I was able to find Jiirg's phone number, and he came out to the airfield and invited me to his home. As we arrived there, we met Hans Schneider, another flying enthusiast who has flown his Cessna 150 all over Europe, Asia, Australia and America and has written a book entitled The Trip Is the Target. I read this book before my flight and was very glad to meet the author. As you can imagine, that evening was filled with lots of stories about our experiences. (Lots of thanks to you, Jiirg, and Hans for that wonderful evening—it felt like home.)

September 21 Under the escort of Hans Schneider's C-150, "Corbus," and Jiirg Sommerauer's Glasair I, "The Pink Baron," I took off bound for Meachum Field in Fort Worth, Texas, where I met up with other members of the Austrian National Precision Flying Team. I was there until October 6 for training and ultimately competing in the World Precision Flying Championship. I was able to get second place in precision landing with a hired Cessna 150.

October 6 Takeoff from Meachum Field to be back home as planned on Saturday, October 12. A short stop for lunch in Muncie, Indiana, and a final landing that night in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, the cradle of my engine.

October 7 Short legs via Bangor, Maine, to Halifax, Nova Scotia. And a very thorough met briefing for the next day's flight.

October 8 I had planned a leg to St. Johns, Newfoundland, but due to fog at St. Johns, landed at Gander, Newfoundland, instead. Another careful met briefing. A storm depression was moving quickly northeastward along the Newfoundland coast, and another low was laying over the North Atlantic, with a cold front across my planned route to the Azores.

October 9 After a restless night because of the weather, 1 decided in the morning to do the jump to the Azores. Nine hours and thirty-five minutes later,

I made a sunset landing at Ponta Delgada, Azores.

October 10 Five hours and twenty-two minutes to Lisbon, Portugal.

October 11 A short jump across the Pyrenees for landing at Le Puy, France for a safe last step back home according to schedule (to arrive in Wels at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday).

October 12 The final leg! Two hours

Dream flight

and fifty-three minutes flight time, landing at 3:11 back home in Wels, Austria. Big celebration with family, friends and music at the airfield.

The Next One

I'm very happy to have safely completed my dream flight—167 flying hours, thirty legs, fifty-nine days and a lot of experiences behind me. A good plane, a healthy engine and GPS navigation made it possible. I experienced only friendly people around the world.

Now that I'm back home, I think you can count on some more Glasair and GlaStar orders. I'm working now on a GlaStar with my friend Jens Tetauer, and after his airplane is completed, I'm planning

my next one—a Glasair III!

If any Glasair family member visits Europe—with o r wi thou t your plane—please give me a call to meet here in Austria. My phone/fax is 43-7416-52518.

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Two thousand two hundred fifty nautical miles.

That's the straight-line distance between Arlington, Washington, and Lakeland, Florida. Year after year, S-H flies the fast, exciting Glasairs and now the versatile GlaStar over this distance to Sun n' Fun, the first major airshow of the new year.

This year we wanted to show off two new GlaStar developments. Harry DeLong, former customer and now employee, desired to take his just-finished, instrument-qualified GlaStar taildragger, and we wanted to show off the prototype GlaStar on Aerocet 2200-pound displacement floats. Having flown the GlaStar as a trike and switched it back and forth between tricycle and taildragger gear, we looked forward to giving the GlaStar this "baptism" of water by a long, tough flight in various water and wind conditions.

Cross-country planning in a floatplane involves as much "water planning" as flight planning. Where are the legal, safe takeoff and landing locations? How do we fuel the airplane? With options really limited across the western United States, what if weather blocks our path or destination?

After discarding various routes for reasons of unsuitable water, legal hassles, no fuel, etc., a simple, best potential weather route emerged. I would fly to Sun n' Fun using only two stops! Since the GlaStar has a great engine that can fly long distances easily and reliably, we decided to add an extra fuel tank in place of the right seat. A simple electric pump would enable me to "boost" fuel up into the two main tanks, refilling them as necessary. For flight

planning, I used a 115 knot (131 m.p.h.) block speed.

The first leg would be the longest—917 nautical miles (about eight hours) straight south from Lake Goodwin near Arlington, direct across eastern Oregon and eastern Nevada, to the Colorado River at Parker, Arizona. Myron

Jenkins (who is becoming one of these amazing S-H Triple Crown builders, having built a Glasair I, an Oshkosh Grand Champion Glasair III, and now being well along on a GlaStar!) had invited me to tie up in his front yard, which happens to be on the banks of the swift-moving Colorado. Myron had also agreed to bring the required 100-octane fuel from a nearby distributor.

The second leg would be from the Colorado River straight across Arizona, New Mexico and West Texas to Lake Dallas, near Dallas, Texas. Bill Parker, manager of the Lakeview Airport,

graciously offered to truck fuel down to the beach for me. No overnight facilities were available at Lake Dallas, however, so after fueling, I would backtrack to Lake Granbury, south of Fort Worth, and tie up at a dock. This leg would be 865 miles, requiring an estimated seven-and-a-half flight hours.

The third leg would be from the Fort Worth area across the southeastern U.S., around the corner at the panhandle of Florida and south to Lake Parker in Lakeland. This would be the shortest leg of 850 miles and would take an estimated seven hours and twenty-four minutes of flight time.

After Sun n' Fun was over I really wanted to get up to the northern states on the return trip, but weather being so unpredictable and the forecast calling for such cold weather, I decided to wait and see how the return trip from Florida should go.

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Hoping to arrive early at Sun' N Fun, it was decided to be in Lakeland by the night of Monday, March 31st. So Saturday, March 29th became my departure day. We alerted various folk at our two planned stops and started watching the weather.

Meanwhile, the GlaStar, having been switched from floats back to tricycle gear for the month of March, was returned to floats the week before departure. Cal Spangler of the Technical Support Department did the work of returning the GlaStar to its water-loving float gear. It took Cal only two-and-a-half-hours to lift the GlaStar, remove the

trike gear, bring in the floats from the

lawn and install them! We have stated that the landing gear could be switched from taildragger to trike or back in three hours or so. Now we know that the landing gear can be switched to floats within the same time frame. What a pretty airplane!

Before leaving, we flew a few demonstration flights and let one very experienced float pilot wring out the airplane (pun intended). He wrote an article, which later appeared in the May 2nd issue of General Aviation News & Flyer. It's a great article, and we have a

few reprints available for builders who are interested in the GlaStar on floats.

Weather-wise, the week prior to departure saw almost the entire U.S. go VFR, with great weather everywhere. Since our two stops were already announced, we kept the longer route. Saturday morning, as soon as the fog burned off, I departed our "home lake" for California. Headwinds hit as I started climbing, and soon it became obvious that this was going to be a long day. Great clear weather but strong, steady headwinds. But frankly, with enough fuel and daylight, I'll take headwinds over low weather any day.

What's it like to fly nine-plus hours non-stop in the GlaStar? Sort of a fun/boring. The GPS allows you to stay within a quarter mile of your intended track. At 11,500 feet, I could see huge distances over the ground. "Hmm," I thought, "not much water to land on." Since I had been trained always to prepare for a power failure, it sort of became a "musical chair" game of mentally jumping from one water hole to another. Finally, in southeastern Oregon and eastern Nevada, I had to give up on water and simply enjoy the powerful, steady pull of the 160 h.p. Lycoming.

Paul Bunyan Steps

Thanks to the moving-map GPS, I skirted the restricted areas north of Las Vegas and started a descent right over Hoover Dam, which doesn't look that big from 11,500 feet. As night fell, Myron Jenkins guided me right to his house south of Lake Havasu Dam.

"We have our porch lights on," Myron said over the radio. Well, it seemed to me everyone had his or her porch lights on. "I see you. Come on downriver a bit more. Watch the power line," Myron coached, as I observed large cables snaking across the river beneath me. There he was, waving. A quick check for boat traffic and wires, a 180° turn ("patterns" for isolated water landings are non-existent) and swoosh, we touched down.

It was then that a typical problem emerged. I had the whole right seat blocked by a huge gas tank and guess which way I had to dock in that strong current! Welcome to the world of float flying! Myron and Don Blanc, another GlaStar builder from Lake Havasu City, assisted, and soon the GlaStar was tied spread-eagle between two docks to spend the night.

Total flight time turned out to be nine hours and fifteen minutes—some headwind. The big cabin is comfortable, but it's so nice to stretch your legs!

Early Easter morning saw the GlaStar lifting off the river for its second leg. Due east now, into the sun and across the dry, high country of Arizona and New Mexico we bounced. Gusty, choppy air made the flight uncomfortable, although the GlaStar holds direction in turbulence better than most aircraft. Once again, headwinds slowed my way. It's interesting to look at an estimated enroute time on the GPS of nine hours and two minutes. How much fuel do I have anyway?

Double-checking assured me I'd land with an hour's reserve, so I relaxed and settled in for a long, bumpy trip. Finally, over central Texas, lakes began to

25

Paul Bunyan Steps

appear, and the long dry spell was over. Making a common mistake among controllers, Dallas/Fort Worth Approach asked for clarification that "Glasair Two Four Golf is landing at Lake Dallas?!" A witty airline pilot jumped on frequency and said, "Glasairs only land on water once!" I assured all listening that this was the GlaStar on floats, and it could not only land on water but take off too!

While fueling, various builders and other interested folk climbed all over the splashy-looking GlaStar. What a fun airplane this is. With only minutes to spare before the sun went down, I leaped off the Lake, got a special clearance through the Bravo airspace and landed in Lake Granbury. The Brazos River, home to my parents eighty-five years earlier, gave me a very restful night.

Monday morning it was off on the final leg. The weather was great, and finally, by the Florida panhandle, the winds relented and even turned into tailwinds. With a ground speed of 160 knots, I finally felt like I was ge t t ing somewhere. This third leg took eight hours and ten minutes.

It seemed strange not to be calling Lakeland Tower for landing clearance. I felt like I was sneaking into town by not broadcasting my arrival like all the other Sun n' Fun arrivals. Lake Parker is huge, so I found a little bay in the southwest corner with a Holiday Inn. I tailed the GlaStar up on the grassy beach, tied it down and got permission to leave it overnight.

The trip down was over. We flew 2,612 miles in twenty-six hours and thirty-five minutes using two stops and three days. The average ground speed 98 knots (113 m.p.h.) with headwinds almost all the

way.

Wednesday, we borrowed a simple, flatbed trailer from the gracious Sun n' Fun maintenance folk, brought the airplane over to a public boat ramp, folded the wings, floated the plane onto the trailer, tied it down, drove across town to the airport display area and lifted the GlaStar onto the grass. Before long the GlaStar on floats with one of its wings folded became one of the major attractions of the whole airshow.

But as excited as people were simply to see the float-equipped GlaStar and its enjoyable design sitting at the booth, I knew the most exciting moment was yet to come. Thursday (eight days later),

we simply reversed the process of moving the aircraft and re-launched it at the boat ramp onto Lake Parker.

Friday is Sun n' Fun's "floatplane fly-in" day, and the weather were perfect for a working floatplane. A brisk wind brought a chop to the water and then whitecaps. Blowing onshore, this wind let us bring the fully loaded GlaStar off the water in a little more than ten seconds. Being "overfloated" allowed us to ride high in the water and operate safely when some of the other float and amphibious hull aircraft were taxiing around dangerously. With minimum

takeoff and landing runs, the tough composite floats didn't mind the brief shock loads of the waves. What an impressive display of smart design, excellent engineering and flexible versatility.

All day long the GlaStar used steep slips, cross-controlled turns and gentle, positive control to amaze the crowd. This, a dream fulfilled, was a promise kept by Tom Hamilton, head of the GlaStar design team. "Our desire is to build a great float plane, suitable for camping, fishing and other outdoor adventures," he had pledged.

The trip home was a longer repeat of the trip down. In one giant step, we jumped

from Lakeland to the Ozarks. From Missouri we hit great headwinds, so after a refueling stop (ten more gallons) in Kansas, we flew ten hours direct across the Rockies to a

h i g h - a l t i t u d e landing on the Snake River at Burley, Idaho. The final leg traced the route of the early wagon trains down the Snake River to the Oregon border, across the Blue Mountains into

southeastern Washington and on across the Cascades to our water home at Lake Goodwin.

What a confidence booster. What a flying/water machine. In huge but safe steps we crisscrossed the continental United States and proved the GlaStar was a floatplane to be reckoned with. The trip was an incredible display by a very capable airplane and float system.

Now, where are the amphibious floats, Tom?

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un n' Fun is something my husband Steve and I look forward to from November on, right through

the long Canadian winter, and this year (as always) it lived up to all the anticipation. Although I didn't keep a diary, and my brain was basically parked while on vacation, I've written up a few random notes that may be of interest to fellow GlaStarites (Editor's note: And possibly even Glasairiansl"). Please forgive all error and omissions.

After settling into the campground on Friday evening, we went directly to the S-H tent, and there was the beautiful (if rather splashily decorated) GlaStar on Aerocet floats! The first impression was that it looked magnificent—even better than it looks as a taildragger! It made a great centerpiece for the booth and drew all kinds of attention until it was taken away on a trailer to Lake Parker for floatplane day the following Friday.

As we wandered around the site, we also came across a nearly complete GlaStar taildragger with a 1-o-n-g modified cowling and some kind of European engine (sorry, but I ' m not too into engines . . . yet . . . so I don't recall the name). (Editor's note: See the short piece on the PTI "SuperStar" in the GlasNews section of this newsletter, Page 9.) The cowling kinda took away from the aircraft's good looks, in my view, but I guess this is what the "experimental" means in EAA.

The highlight of Saturday was, of course, the GlaStar BBQ at Sherrod Campbell's hangar. 1 believe 50-60 people showed up, and the food was great (chicken, ribs, etc.). Nice to eat

Kathy Sutton of Toronto, Canada, is the co-owner and -builder of GlaStar Kit #5285 with her husband. Steve.

dinner in a hangar with a gorgeous sunset just outside. Thanks again to everyone involved in organizing this event, especially Sherrod. Sid and Mari Lloyd, unable to be there, were certainly missed.

Everybody was eager to inspect Sherrod's work-in-progress before eating. He's completed the empennage and has one wing well underway. Said he plans to sell his beautiful Glasair once the 'Star is ready to go.

After dinner, S-H President Bob Gavinsky said some words about goings-on at S-H, including the floatplane development, and Tim Johnson described his three-day flight from Seattle. We heard that Harry DeLong and Ted Setzer (flying Harry's newly completed taildragger) were held up (along with lots of other Florida-bound planes) somewhere in the Midwest due to nasty weather. In fact, Bob got a call from Ted on his cell phone right in the middle of his speech. (Aren't modern communications wonderful?)

Sunday was official opening day. Lots of builders and other interested folks attended the Glasair/GlaStar forum given by Bob Gavinsky and Tom Setzer (and repeated on Tuesday). I don't recall much that was new—guess we're kept relatively up-to-date, with the newsgroup and the S-H newsletter.

Sunday evening was the S-H builders' banquet. We got a ride with three other people. To help us get there, we had a map (produced, I assume, by S-H). Four of the five of us in the car were pilots and could (presumably) read a map. The dinner was at a golf club in Lakeland, not too far away. All of us

had been in Lakeland many times. Now, you'd think that we'd have had no trouble finding it . . . right? Wrong!!! This was possibly the worst map ever made, and we had to stop twice for directions. But we eventually did get there, and Craig O'Neill, S-H's tech writer, denied that his department had any responsibility for the map. Good thing, Craig, otherwise, I 'd be wondering about whether Rev. C will be printed right-side-up or not!

Anyway, the happy hour was a good chance to meet other builders, and many conversations were in full swing by the time we sat down for the prime rib dinner, preceded by a rousing grace said by Tim Johnson. Harry and Ted showed up just in time for dinner, and entered the room to a round of applause.

The highlight of the evening was the speaker, Greg Harbaugh, an astronaut who is also building a Glasair III. What a terrific speaker—a real credit to NASA. Greg talked about his four shuttle flights, including the recent mission to repair the Hubbell space telescope. He showed some fantastic slides and fielded questions from the crowd. A very polished speaker but clearly with no ego problem. After his speech, he made a really nice presentation to Bob G., including a U.S. flag flown in space, several photos and a mission patch, all framed and ready to hang. Thanks, Bob, for organizing this. Sure will be hard to top!

Another highlight was the Splash-In at Lake Parker. Unfortunately, this was the only cool and cloudy day all week. Really windy too. Had to wear a jacket—hard to believe in Florida! The

Continued on Page 51. . .

27

S

Here's a sad story, but maybe it'll help you have a happy ending.

After finishing our Glasair, we waited a year-and-a-half while we shopped around for upholstery (good idea). We studied upholstery jobs at airshows (albeit not thoroughly enough, apparently). After a while, the same name kept coming up. In November, we stopped by on a cross-country flight to meet and, in spite of a few red flags, set aside all of March for the job. We saved up our money—lots of money (can you say "Hartzell?").

Finally it was time. Inge flew the plane, while I drove cross-country from almost the West Coast to almost the East Coast. For three weeks I took up short-term residence where our Glasair would be upholstered. And the end result of all this blood and sweat? Tears.

Well, to be fair, it wasn't all bad. Some of our upholstery turned out very well, but sadly, some other things did not. Refer to Photo 1. If it looks OK to you, skip this article and simply hire the cheapest upholsterer you can find in your town. You'll be more than happy with the job.

But if you see the problem in the photo, then you can empathize with me. I 'm disappointed because I 'd expected a more precise and a more professional job from this fellow—especially considering the premium price we paid. That was the

Mike Palmer of Phoenix, Arizona, is the co-owner and -builder with his partner Inge Ray of a "Glasair One-and-One-Half FT—that is, a hybrid of a Glasair I wing and a Glasair II fuselage.

sole reason we worked so hard at finding a special upholsterer and took all the time and trouble to travel cross-country to have the job done.

So, partially as a form of charity, and partially as a form of therapy, I thought I'd write a bit about our experience, telling you what to look for both in upholstery and in an upholsterer, so that maybe you can avoid the mistakes we made. This might save you money or get you a better upholstery, or both!

The Bottom Line

You've heard the adage before, "If you

want a job done right, do it yourself." Oshkosh Grand Champion Myron

Jenkins probably could've written this, as he's been through it already. He paid a professional to sew his seats, and he ended up re-doing them himself. We were concerned about the same happening to us, and tried to be extra careful in finding an upholsterer. We failed. It might be next to impossible to succeed. So my advice to you is: do it yourself!

You can do it too. After watching our plane done, I can report that upholstery

is not rocket science. Sure, there are a few tricks, and you'll have to come up the learning curve. You may end up doing some things a few times— but, hey, as a kitbuilder, that's not new. (At least you'll redo it. Our guy was loathe to redo anything.) A lot of upholstery, like the headliner, carpet, and glareshield cover is simple gluing in place. Think of it as working with expensive fiberglass. You've certainly got the hang of that by now!

OK, so maybe some stitches won't be fancy. The important thing though, is they'll be done the way you want. We did our own paint job, and while I'll be the first to admit it's not perfect (but

then, we're not professionals), it was done the way we wanted. We spent almost two weeks masking the stripes, and butting the paint. You know a professional shop isn't going to take the time to do that right, even if you're paying them by the hour.

Maybe it's because it's not their "baby," but it's hard to find someone who will take the same care to do the quality job you want. So do it yourself.

Buy some cheap material to play with at first. Yes, it'll take longer, you'll go through more material, but in the end, I'll bet the cost will be the same as having a pro do it. And you'll be a lot happier. Otherwise, you might end up with something like this.

What's Wrong with This Picture?

Refer back to Photo 1. The embroidered logo, mounted on the upper baggage bulkhead, is the centerpiece of our upholstery. Our upholsterer farmed the

28

embroidery out to a local third party, and she (to her credit) and I spent ten hours slaving over it to make it perfect. (You only get one chance when you stitch leather. The "Glasair" part was in her computer, but we had to play lots of games to make the "one-and-one-half' part.)

This was the first panel the upholsterer did. Our cloth has pin striping in it. Notice how the stitches wander? They start on two stripes, but wiggle a whole row over! (I took a pen and marked a pair, since the stitches are somewhat hard to see in the photo.) At this point, 1 should have either insisted he do the

Caveat Emptor

The Big Picture

All this may sound nit-picky to you. (And again, if it does, find the cheapest upholsterer you can. You'll be more than happy with the results.) But let's put things in perspective . . . why do we upholster airplanes in the first place?

I know of only two Glasairs that've been flying for some time now that don't have upholstery as such. They just have foam cushions. I guess it'd be more proper to say they have upholstery, it's just not very fancy. Fancy upholstery is mostly cushions with fancy covers. And a lot of you have opted to paint the interiors of your Glasairs instead of upholster. (In retrospect, that might've been a good idea. We lost an inch of interior space due to fancy upholstery.)

Photo 2

After all that work, our upholsterer stitched and mounted the logo crooked. It rises 1/4" from start to end. Sigh.

What to Look For

Well, if you're going to ignore my advice to do it yourself, then look for an upholsterer who cares enough to sew straight and who cares enough if something is crooked. I know that sounds obvious, like "Buy low, sell high." (But how many people do that?)

Notice I used the word "cares" instead of "can." I found out that sewing straight and mounting things straight is not so much a function of ability, but of attitude. For example, look at Photo 2.

You're sighting down from the rear of the canopy opening, along the co-pilot's fuselage sidewall in the baggage compartment. That's the rear baggage bulkhead to the left. (As an aside, if you mount the aircraft data plate in the upholstery, like ours is in the photo, relieve the foam backing from the upholstery where the plate will go. Otherwise, the plate will bulge in the middle, like ours does.)

job over or stopped the job. Unfortunately, I was representing my partner, who wanted the upholstery finished no matter how it came out.

You'd think that the pin stripes would help a person stitch straight. If they don't stitch straight, those stripes really make an error obvious. I asked our upholsterer about the stitching, and was told that "it was hard to stitch with all those stripes. I get dizzy looking at them."

I suggested that next time he use some tape or a chalk line (upholsterers are big on chalk). To be fair, he did do better next time, as you can see that the stitching on the rear baggage bulkhead is much better (though still not perfectly straight). He finally used a chalk line on the seats, which came out laser straight. So it can be done. But should I have been the one to tell a guy who's done many, many Glasairs and been in the business for ten-plus years how to stitch straight? That's why we came to him!

Upholstery doesn't make the plane go any faster—if anything, it slows you down—and it doesn't make the airplane any safer—if anything, it's a potential fire hazard. So why upholstery?

The whole purpose of upholstery, for us, was to make the airplane look really good on the inside, just as we spent all

those years trying to make the airplane

look as good as we could on the outside. You can argue upholstery makes the airplane quieter (it didn't seem to on our I/II), or warmer/cooler (fiberglass is a pretty good insulator anyway). But the

Caveat Emptor

bottom line is that it's for looks. Bearing this in mind, if you're going to pay a premium price, shouldn't you expect premium work?

Other Tidbits

So here are some other areas to check if you're looking for a premium upholstery job.

In Photo 3, notice the wandering seam (top arrow) and the raw leather edges on the seat back (bottom arrows).

Photo 4 shows a seat. We made our seats out of two separate pieces, a seat back and a seat bottom. The upholstery was designed with a flap, so that the cushions (Temperfoam) could be removed if need be. A good idea, but shouldn't the flap for the seat bottom be on the bottom of

the cushion, where it can't be seen? As it is now, you can see that the cloth insert stops short on the rear flap.

To get the leather to follow the contours of the windshield, our upholsterer cut a piece of aluminum which is supposed to

follow the lines of the windshield cutout and give shape to the leather. A good idea in theory, but as you can see in Photo 5, not too well executed in practice.

Miscellaneous Tips

If you have pockets made and you're in the United States, make sure they're at least 11" tall. This is because the U.S. revolves around 8- 1/2" X 11" sheets of paper, and you'll probably be stuffing same in the pockets. (Make 'em 11.4" if you live in Europe.) Ours just barely made it, and only by chance, not design.

Speaking of pockets, usually a flap is made to cover the pocket. And usually,

Velcro is sewn in to keep the flap closed. Three hints here: 1) Don't get crazy with the Velcro. I suppose it's easiest for the upholsterer to cut and sew a length of Velcro the entire width of your pouch. But you'll almost need a crowbar to get that flap open! I can only imagine that after enough of this, we'll someday inadvertently rip the flap off from wearing it out. 2) Design your flap so it's just the right size to both cover the pouch and fit inside the pouch. In flight, i t ' l l be more convenient to tuck the flap into the pouch so you can easily get to stuff in the pouch. Our flap is too big. 3) Put the fuzzy piece of Velcro on the

pouch, not the flap. It's a small thing, but your arm will continually brush up against the Velcro when the flap is tucked into the pouch, and if it's the loop piece, like ours is, it'll be a constant source of irritation.

Upholstery can shift your CG aft. This can be a real problem for early Glasair Is and Us. Try to find the lightest-weight material possible. Leather is nice, and is what we used, but in retrospect, our

upholsterer found a vinyl material that looks exactly like our leather and is a lot lighter, not to mention cheaper. It doesn't smell like leather, and I don't know how it wears compared to leather (although it's not going to get a real workout in most airplanes), but for the price and weight, it's worth it. We had to remove our lightweight starter and replace it with the old, heavy OEM starter just to get our CG back where it was before upholstery.

Finding "Da Man" Here are some things to consider if you look for an upholsterer to do your Glasair: Just because a guy has done lots of IIIs doesn't mean he's your man. There's both a physical aspect to this, and a psychological one. Physically, a III is not the same as a II or a I. I've already mentioned the CG shift problem that can affect early Glasairs but won't affect IIIs. The other problem we ran into was this: our guy has a clever way to mount the leather borders along the sidewalls of Glasairs, but I didn't know about it until the first day. It involves drilling\ (He pop rivets an aluminum strip into the sidewall.) Now, I don't know how you feel about this, but I don't want someone drilling holes in my airplane! Especially

30

someone who's never built an airplane before, who's not a mechanic, and who hasn't told me he's going to do that! Drilling holes is a structural mod.

One of the places he wanted to drill was along the front windshield bow (see Photo 5). You can do that on a III, because the III has a l/2"-thick windshield. You cannot do it on a II. The windshield isn't as thick, so there's no foam there to drill into. (Can you believe I had to argue with him about this?) So just because a guy has done a lot of IIIs doesn't mean he knows how to do your II.

Psychologically, the makeup of the Glasair III clientele can be quite different from Glasair II clientele. Some III owners (though certainly not all) are just that—"owners," not "builders." Many of these folk have the money to pay someone else to build their Glasair. To them, the Glasair is simply another toy/thing/airplane. They'd probably just as soon buy a production airplane if there were anything available with the performance of a III. They don't really care how it's made, they just want it done. They don't know how the airplane was put together, and furthermore, they don't care. They don't work on the plane, they pay someone to work on it.

The airplane is not "their baby."

They're the ones who bring an airplane in for paint and simply say, "Paint it," and I know for a fact that some brought their IIIs to our guy for upholstery and simply said, "Upholster it." (In fact, I think upholsterers prefer customers like this.)

With that mentality in mind, you can see that these people are going to be happy with almost any job that is of typical airplane quality. We, on the other hand, are exactly the opposite in every way. We don't have much money. The airplane is an expression of us. We put it together. We work on it. We knew what we wanted in paint and upholstery. The airplane is "our baby."

So just because an upholsterer has done a lot of IIIs, that's no indication that you'll be happy with his work.

If your upholsterer charges by the hour, insist on a daily time sheet. Is it only me, or does the "fixed" rate that welders, mechanics, and others charge really fluctuate with house payments? Sometimes I think these people charge by how long the job "seemed" to take.

Caveat Emptor

Unfortunately, I didn't ask for this. I'm kicking myself now, because I have a rough idea how much time our man spent with me at the hangar, and I have a rough idea when work was done at his shop, but I don't understand how the total got to be so large. Asking for a time sheet will provide accountability, and may also minimize being charged for "water-cooler" time (time spent talking with friends, talking on the phone, etc.)

No joke: find out if you're going to be charged extra because you helped. I helped with our upholstery, and things went pretty quickly, since I did some of the work.

Watch out for the "artiste." While there must be some artist in an upholsterer (he does need a good eye for color matching and creativity for design), you don't want the prima-donna type who insists he knows exactly what you want. (Always a giveaway.) If he's not asking you what you want, but telling you instead, run.

Finally, find someone who takes pride in his work, not in himself. There is a big difference.

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As the old saying goes, there are old pilots and there are bold pilots. . . and then there's Ted Setzer, who must surely have some feline ancestry, since he's on at least life number six or seven by now! Episode No. 6 focuses on the "blast" in "Blastfrom the Past. "

y dear wife Kari often tells friends that when we get to heaven

we will all recognize my guardian angel. It'll be the one all black and blue and bandaged with half its wing feathers missing from the strenuous, demanding, full-time job of protecting me. Angels wearing bandages is a debatable theological proposition, but this is for sure—my guardian angel was on duty the day I made my first solo flight in the original Glasair prototype, N88TH.

For those not aware of it, the first Glasair prototype wasn't put into production. The visibility over the nose was poor and the airplane was a little underpowered with the Lycoming O-235. After the plane debuted at Oshkosh in 1980, we immediately changed the fuselage tooling to give an additional 3" of canopy height and headroom. Using parts from these reworked molds, we built a production prototype and equipped it with a 160 h.p. O-320.

This second Glasair, N89SH, was subsequently converted to tricycle landing gear and is still owned by S-H and operated as an employee flying club airplane. It currently is undergoing a much-needed firewall-forward and cockpit refurbishment after seventeen years of operation and almost 1,800 hours of flight. The airframe, however, is as sound as ever, and offers continuing testimony to those who doubt the durability and longevity of composites.

But that's getting ahead of the story . . .

Takeoff

I learned to fly at the Pig Farm in a Cessna 120 I bought and refurbished. Between training flights, I helped Tom Hamilton create tooling and assemble the prototype Glasair taildragger. I greatly anticipated the performance expected from the Glasair as I droned around in the Cessna at 100 m.p.h.

Tom and our test pilot, Chuck Griffin, performed all the initial flight testing on the Glasair. After earning my pilot's certificate, I built time in the Cessna with one thought in mind—to gain enough experience to qualify for solo flight in the Glasair. With a little over eighty hours total time, I convinced Chuck to work with me toward soloing in the Glasair. Since Chuck had been my flight instructor in the Cessna, he was familiar with my skills.

Looking back, eighty hours doesn't seem like much time to tackle a high-performance plane, but it was all packed into a short time span, so I was proficient and eager to challenge myself. After about four hours of dual instruction in the Glasair, Chuck was ready solo me.

With the poor forward visibility of N88TH, the technique either was to 'S' turn while taxiing or to stick your face out into the prop wash with the gull wing canopy held open. Even trickier was maintaining the runway centerline by looking over the side of the cowling. But the Glasair wheel-landed nicely, and this became the desired method for most takeoffs and landings.

When Chuck gave me the green light to solo the Glasair, I was like a hunting dog on opening day waiting for the cage door to open. Since Chuck flew for Alaska Airlines, he had to go out on a trip, and I didn't want to wait for him to get back. So, Tom agreed to supervise my first flight the next day. I'll never forget Chuck's last minute coaching: "On landing, don't get low and slow because when you add power to compensate, the nose will be up, compounding the lack of forward visibility. Keep the approach high, slip at the last minute if you have to, but keep the nose down to maintain your visibility."

The next day was perfect for a solo flight, with good weather, light wind and everything fresh in my mind. I felt confident, but not overconfident. The Pig Farm runway was 1,800 feet in length, but it had a lousy, rock-infested surface. So, Tom elected to fly us both over to the Issaquah airfield, which was about the same length but was a manicured grass surface without obstacles at either end. The field was located just off Interstate 90 in the foothills of the Cascades about ten miles east of Seattle. The runway was directly perpendicular to the freeway. (Like the Pig Farm, Issaquah Gliderport is no more, paved over to become yet another business park. In those days, the field was used primarily by sailplanes, which benefited from updrafts from nearby Tiger and Cougar Mountains.)

After arrival at Issaquah, Tom gave me some last-minute instructions, reminders and mother-henning, and I was soon aloft.

32

M

Cruise

The Glasair's performance was naturally better when flown solo, and the takeoff was noticeably quicker and easier. 1 was ecstatic to say the least and spent twenty or thirty minutes turning, banking and experiencing double the performance and responsiveness of the Cessna. It was a great feeling to be doing it all on my own. I felt honored to be getting such a privilege, being a fairly low-time pilot.

Tom was waiting patiently on the ground, so I figured it was time to come in and shoot a landing or two. Handheld radios hadn't been invented yet, and I don't remember if we had no radio in N88TH at that time or if it just wasn't working. Anyway, I remember we had no means of communication.

Approach

The north landing pattern was a right

downwind across the freeway, base leg over the outskirts of Issaquah and final back over the freeway. The runway abutted the freeway, separated by a short, barbed-wire fence. On downwind, I got the plane slowed up and put some flaps on. Turning base, I struggled a little to get more flaps on. The prototype flap mechanism was a bit crude.

I need an excuse to explain why I did exactly what Chuck told me not to do (i.e., get low and slow), so I'll blame it on the flap mechanism. The full flap detent was hard to find. I added power and the nose came up to block my view, just as Chuck had warned it would. Not a problem, I thought, because I was used to the sight picture over the left side of the cowl. I fixed my gaze on the barbed-wire fence and thought, "Just keep the power in until I clear the fence and then ease it off."

Though I was making a very shallow approach, I wasn't too concerned with the lack of visibility, as 1 had practiced many full-stall landings.

Suddenly, my concentration was shattered with a loud bang like an explosion and what felt like a violent collision. I instinctively pushed in the throttle and established a positive climb angle. Actually, I couldn't believe I was still flying and dared not move the stick for a while for fear of finding I had lost some flight control. Finally, I eased the stick left and right to verify roll control and then fore and aft to verify pitch control. Everything seemed normal, but beads of instant sweat were rolling off my brow and behind my ears, tickling the sides of my neck. I held a death grip on the stick and then remembered I needed to take a breath.

"What in the world was that?!" I wondered.

33

I climbed to about 1,500 feet and began a shallow bank to circle back over the airfield. I was breathing normally again, but my hands were trembling a little. I glanced at the 'G' meter and couldn't believe my eyes: +5 and -3.5 Gs! Wiping wet palms on my jeans, I peered over the wing at the approach end of the runway to see what I had collided with.

Go-Around

I thought I'd see a bright green freeway sign on its side (CAUTION: LOW FLYING AIRCRAFT), but instead, there were only white fiberglass airplane parts scattered between the freeway and the runway. I assumed they might be the remnants of the wheel pants—not a necessity—but what about the wheels and/or landing gear?

"Oh, shoot," I thought, "now what do I do?"

As I continued to circle, I kept wondering what I could have collided with. Surely a freeway sign wouldn't have been positioned on the runway approach, I surmised. With no evidence of any road sign debris, my wandering eyes caught sight of a semi tractor-trailer rig pulled off the freeway about 300 yards west of the runway.

"No way," I immediately ruled it out.

To complete the process of elimination however, I eased over and circled the truck at 1,000 feet. The driver was out of the cab and walking around the truck scratching his head. As I circled and observed him closely inspecting the truck, I kept repeating to myself, "No way . . . no way . . . no way."

Then I spotted the smoking gun, as they say: two tell-tale streaks on the roof of the trailer about the same eight feet apart as my main landing gear. My thoughts shifted gears to, "Are you kidding me?! . . . How in the world ... ?"

The driver kept circling and examining his truck. The only part he couldn't

inspect was the roof. It was the last place he'd ever examine. Here I was circling quietly overhead with partial power, and he was too absorbed in trying to see what the bang had been all about to ever come close to the conclusion that he'd been touch-and-go'd by an airplane at 65 m.p.h.

Finally, he climbed back aboard and slowly merged into traffic. As he passed the exit to the airfield, I was convinced for good that he didn't have a clue what had hit him or he had hit.

To this very day, I believe this poor, innocent long-haul trucker sits in close-encounter meetings telling his story of how his truck was touched by a UFO. Can't you just picture him standing up and telling about the huge "whump" he felt with absolutely no evidence to be found?

Landing

After the truck left, I was again facing the questions what do I do now and how badly damaged is the plane? I eased the plane back over to the airfield and made a slow approach down the runway. Tom and a small crowd studied my underside as I passed by. Their faces showed concern, but not enough for me to tell anything. On my second pass I zeroed in on Tom Hamilton's face. He was signaling me to land, I guessed, as his gestures were communicating to bring it down. My spirits were temporarily buoyed, as I figured it meant my wheels and tires were still intact, in place and inflated.

I set up another approach really determined to keep it high this time and do it right. My uplifted spirits deflated soon enough, as I couldn't help but notice the Issaquah Fire Department with fire engines, aid car and full lights ablaze driving out to the edge of the runway at mid-field.

"Nuts," I thought. "This probably means I have landing gear sticking out with no wheels attached. When the gear

stubs catch the grass I'll be over on my back real quick."

I slouched down a little and tightened up the lap belt and shoulder harness. I hoped they would get to me fast. I didn't like the idea of landing without wheels.

I kept the approach high and even slipped a little just like Chuck had coached. Because I wanted to prolong the inevitable, I held it off until I had the stick practically bent in half backwards. The wheels touched in a perfectly soft landing and was I ever relieved to be actually rolling down the runway.

My life was spared by inches. Just a little lower on the approach and I would have been another accident statistic. I've often thought about the miraculous timing necessary for a 65 m.p.h. truck and a 65 m.p.h. airplane traveling at 90° angles to each other to collide into a perfectly timed touch-and-go that merely bounced the plane back into the air minus the wheel pants and a broken left landing gear mounting bracket.

Years later, I was seated at an airshow briefing next to veteran pilot Bud Granley. The airshow coordinator was reviewing the sequence of acts. When he got to the one in which the Super Cub lands on the pick-up truck, Bud piped up, "Hey, that's nothing compared to Ted's act. He can do a touch-and-go off the truck traveling perpendicular to it. Flying in the same direction is too easy!" Not many laughed. Bud's joke was too far-fetched to be even close to funny.

I should have saved the broken wheel pants. They had deep black scratches approximately 90° to the longitudinal axis. Maybe if I'd saved them more of you would believe my stories!

Anyway, for those of you who, like me, believe in guardian angels, think about this: The angel must have been flying under the Glasair, pushing up with all its might to keep me from smashing into the side of the semi. Well, if I skipped off unscathed with only inches to spare, what happened to my angel?

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Stoddard-Hamilton freely shares ideas submitted by builders. However, inclusion of an idea in this newsletter should not be construed as official endorsement or approval of the idea by Stoddard-Hamilton. Builders are strongly urged to exercise their own discretion and judgment when considering the implementation of a suggestion presented in this column.

Are SmartLevels Really Smart? by

Jeff Liot, GlaStar, Victoria, BC, Canada

Since I have been building my GlaStar, I have from time to time run into situations where I have needed to accurately measure a small angle (such as setting the horizontal stabilizer angle of incidence). I do not own a digital "SmartLevel," but I do have a number of quality, old-fashioned "bubble" levels.

Here is what I do. I consider the length of the level to be a radius. Doubling this length gives me the diameter of an

imaginary circle that, when multiplied by 3.14, gives me the circumference of the imaginary circle. Dividing this circumference by 360° tells me how much I must raise one end of my level in order to obtain a "tilt" of one degree.

From there, I can easily adjust my figures to obtain any small angle I wish to measure. In my example below, I wish to measure a 1.5° angle and have a 26" level. So, 26" X 2 = 52" (diameter) X 3.14 = 163.28" (circumference). Divided by 360°, this gives 0.4355" of arc for one degree of angle. Now, multiply 0.4355" X 1.5° (the angle I wish to obtain) and get 0.680". This is the thickness of the shim stack that I need at one end of my level in order to tilt it the correct amount so that the bubble reads "zero," when in fact, I have the working

35

Builder Hints

surface of my level offset by 1.5° degrees.

There we go—instant measurement of small angles.

Now, how accurate is all of this? Well, let's say we want one tenth of a degree accuracy. This translates to an error of 0.045" in my shim stack. No problem to achieve this, and I might point out that one tenth of a degree is the best accuracy that you will get with your average electronic level. Give me the old bubble level and a good pair of reading glasses any day!

Before all of you trigonometry types jump on me, let me say

that when we raise the end of the level, we are not actually measuring the arc, and therefore there is an inherent error. But for small angles—say five degrees and less—this error is truly negligible.

Now, here is the really bad news for all of you hardcore electronic level fans: when you set your wing dihedral with a "SmartLevel" that is accurate only to a tenth of a degree, you could be out by almost 3/8" at the wing tip and not even see the reading on the level change. What to do? Well, for my money I would rent a transit (or builders' level) and set my wings by measuring the difference in height between tip and root. S-H even gives you this measurement for the GlaStar!

Getting the Rollers All the Way Up All the Time

by Tom Hoffman, Glasair III,

Cardiff by the Sea, C A

It seems that anywhere there are discussions by Glasair III builders/flyers, there continues to be talk of incomplete main gear retraction. Sometimes this is a chronic problem, and sometimes it is sporadic, but it seems to be continuing in spite of many suggested fixes.

After four years of difficulty, this problem on N540DE has been permanently solved. I feel that what was done in this case should correct the problem in any III without going to extreme measures or unnecessary expense.

First, lets assume that all construction was done in accordance with the S-H construction manual and that all tolerances in the gear mechanism are correct, with the uplocks adjusted properly, etc. Be certain that all clearances are adequate at the wheel wells and that the gear doors are fit and adjusted. Gear doors can warp with time and excessive heat conditions and cause interference. An adjustment made on jacks in a cool hangar may change as the aircraft sits on a 90-100° ramp. Each airplane is different, but it may be necessary, for example, to have a slightly loose adjustment of the strut door on the jacks so that heat changes do not cause binding after takeoff in high-temperature conditions. Overall, however, this condition is probably not a significant contributor to the problem.

Second, be sure you have the latest S-H recommended hydraulic pump and an up-pressure limit switch that is working properly. The upgrade hydraulic pump (see Service Bulletin 128) is set so that the up-pressure may be as much as 200-300 p.s.i. greater than some of the pumps in early kits. The pressure in some of the early pumps was marginal enough that it did not even reach the level of the up-pressure cutoff

switch, which allowed the pump to continue operating with the gear in the up position but not forced into the uplocks. If you are still having a problem and haven't changed pumps, make the change. You won't be sorry!

The third and last item, and the one that may be the most important, is the proper adjustment of the main gear actuator rods. This is the one adjustment that I overlooked for so long that when corrected, resulted in final resolution of the problem. By lengthening the actuator rod from one quarter to one full turn at the rod end, you will see an immediate change in the force with which the trunnion seats in the uplock. This will be immediately noticeable with the aircraft on the jacks. Make only the smallest adjustment necessary for more positive seating in the uplock.

And don't panic! This adjustment is easy to do. Simply by loosening the jam nut at the rod end, the actuator rod itself can then be turned easily (with soft jawed pliers) with the gear in a mid-transit position so there is no load on the actuator. Be careful to grab the actuator rod as near to the rod end as possible to prevent scoring on the section that enters the cylinder. With proper use of padded-jaw pliers, this should not be a problem in any event. Mark the rod with a marking pen for reference prior to any adjustment. Only a very small adjustment should be necessary to achieve the desired result. This is important so that components are not under excessive load while the gear is in the uplock position. When satisfied, be sure to retighten the jam nuts. Once this adjustment is correct, it may be possible to readjust the strut doors for a tighter fit.

Many changes in flying technique during takeoff have been suggested to achieve full gear retraction. High deck angle, slower acceleration and lower power settings have been suggested. However, after performing all the above corrections and adjustments, gear retraction on N540DE is proper regardless of flying technique or power setting.

Attention to detail is the key here, as it is with all that we do on these fabulous aircraft.

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Builder Hints

400-Hour Scrapbook by

Mike Palmer, Glasair I/II FT, Phoenix, AZ

We've been flying almost two years now in our Glasair I I/II FT (it's part Glasair I and part Glasair II). With 400+ hours on the tach, we've had time to look back over our experiences since we've been flying, and re-evaluate some choices we made while building. There are still lots of things to learn, and I'm constantly amazed at the new ideas I've gotten from other Glasair owners. Truly, as I'd been told, "the project is never finished." Here are some hints I've jotted down while in the cockpit that have come from our and their experience.

From Glenn Lawler: shown in Photo 1 is a rubber-ish product that makes an excellent wing protector and wing walk mat. It has a loose "weave" and is very lightweight. It's really for router tables to keep your work from slipping, but it grabs well

enough on a freshly waxed wing to keep you from slipping! It's available in the tool department at Home Depot-type stores (or Lowe's, in the southeast).

We cut ours in two, and use one for each side of the fuselage. I've also found it makes an excellent tool mat for when I work on the plane. I told Inge that after we painted the plane, I'd never lay a tool on the fuselage, but that violates the homebuilder's rule that says, "a horizontal surface is soon piled up." The mat not only offers protection against scratches, but keeps things from rolling off the fuselage. When dirty, simply put it in the washing machine. As a bonus, ours came in a gray color that matches our interior!

This from Lynn Detlor, who also heard it from the. S-H factory: vinyl ester resin doesn't completely cure unless you heat it. And when you heat it to the final cure, it shrinks. You've probably noticed this effect. You sand your cowl

perfectly smooth, shoot a beautiful coat of paint over it, and then fly for a few hours. You come back and now notice the weave of the glass ever-so-slightly showing through. Obviously, not a safety issue, as we're all flying Glasairs that haven't been completely cured in a giant autoclave.

But one thing you might want to check after you've been flying for a year is the torque on the engine mount-to-fuselage bolts that pass through the firewall. I've been surprised to find how hot that firewall gets after a few hours. I should really test this with temp dots, but I think the firewall corners can reach the temperature of the oil (180°) after a four or five hour flight. This is the curing temperature for our resin, and at Lynn's suggestion, we checked the torque on our bolts after a year-and-a-half of flying. He warned us, but we were still surprised to find we could get almost a full turn on the bolts to bring them back up to torque.

Speaking of hot firewalls, our avionics fan is located a few inches away from the firewall on the firewall rib. I noticed one day after three hours of flying how warm my toes were getting (I fly in stocking feet). I felt the radios, and they were burning up. I put a temp probe on the output of the avionics fan and found I was pumping 120° air into the avionics! (OAT was about 90°.) In my case, I couldn't find a better location for the fan, so I ended up attaching some SCAT hose and piping air into the fan from further aft in the fuselage. That helped some, but in spite of what I wrote a few years ago, I also drilled a hole in the top of one of the side NACA ducts to pipe a little outside air into the SCAT. (The concern is moisture getting into the radios. But it's an uphill run on the elbow, so hopefully, it will act as a trap.) That doesn't pipe as much air as I thought it would, but this brought the output temp of the avionics fan closer to ambient.

Installing kick panels in your airplane only exacerbates this heat problem, so don't seal off the stack more than you have to. (You do have giant ventilation holes in the top of your glareshield, right?) I also just recently installed a fiberglass quilt-like insulating material on the firewall, which also helps a bit. Given the amount of room you Glasair Super II and III builders have up there, I'd suggest mounting the avionics fan on the fuselage sidewall where it will stay cooler.

Same comment if you mount your voltage regulator inside the airplane. These things fade with heat, and should be mounted on a metal plate attached to the side wall of the fuselage to keep them cool.

More on heat: we have a four-probe CHT/EGT system. Cylinder #2 has always been the hottest on climb, sometimes showing 450° when the others are at only 400°. Interestingly, #4 ran coolest on climb, and the spread seemed to increase with angle of climb. This got me thinking that maybe the air, being rotated by the prop, was flowing over #2 on climb-out and onto #4. (See Figure 1 and note we have ramped cowl

37

Builder Hints

inlets, an idea borrowed from John Levy.) So I bonded a simple deflector to the top cowl just behind #2. (It's just a 2" strip of fiberglass that I laid up on the upper cowl, using angle aluminum to glass against.) The deflector is angled 45° down toward the inter-cylinder baffle. It worked! Now the two cylinders run more evenly, and I just barely touch 425° on #2.

Figure 1

We thought we we're being clever, buying a combination heated pitot/static tube. (There's only one brand around, apparently used on Vikings.) I think someone else has mentioned this before, but don't use this style. Stick with the style sold in the S-H Options Catalog, which uses a separate, remote static port on the fuselage. The problem with the combo unit is that the static port isn't really seeing static air, being so close to the wing and all, and even with the little tricks we use (a tie wrap behind the static port holes to change the pressure), the device is airspeed and angle-of-attack sensitive. In our case, we're 100 feet low on the ILS at speed. Not good.Another builder fought a battle with a two- axis autopilot that used a solid state pressure sensor that wouldn't hold altitude. It'd oscillate 100 feet around the target altitude. The problem was finally solved by changing to the separate, fuselage-mounted static port.

doing!), you'll end up with bigger end gaps than are required. Because of the geometry of the hinges, the flaps and ailerons swing a "funny" arc. However, when we cut the flaps and ailerons, we ignore this fact and make the ends of each perpendicular to the bottom of the control surface. (See Figure 2.) But because of the way the ailerons swing, this is not ideal. If it's not too late, when you fit up the flaps and ailerons, watch how they move relative to each other, and angle the end caps as necessary to get the tightest fit possible—without interference, of course.

However, if it is too late, as it is with us, you might try this: I took the fuzzy side of some self-stick Velcro, cut it, and stuck it to each side of the aileron end caps. It's thick enough to fill the gap when the aileron is neutral and forgiving enough to crush when the clearances tighten (as when the flaps are down.) I only just flew it the other day—think I gained a few knots. Instead of Velcro, I suppose the more industrious of you could route a groove in your end caps and install some soft rubber material, making something like a windshield wiper to seal the gap. Wonder if there's anything to gain by sealing the gap between the elevator counterweight arm and horizontal stab?

By the way, you have taped your flap/aileron wing gap, right? The best tape I've found for this so far is a 3M brand plastic tape sold at Ace hardware stores. It comes in a variety of colors. I chose white, of course. It's a plastic-based tape, seems to hold up well, and the adhesive is forgiving.

One thing though. If you're going to seal your wing gap

(recommended), don't make the aileron/flap to wing gap too tight. The problem is that the tape has to bunch up a bit when

Figure 2 Ever trying to eke out a few more knots, I heard that the perpendicular jet of air that escapes between the aileron and flap gap can slow you down. Ideally, one would make this a tight gap, but if you mindlessly follow the directions in the Glasair manual (which is generally the best thing to do if you don't know what you're

the control surface moves full down. Our gap is so tight that the tape actually gets pinched and tears, and I have to replace the tape about every three months. Here, a slightly bigger gap is actually better.

Builder Hints

We have a firewall-mounted battery (a gel cell, for what it's worth). Heeding the advice of the Sky-Tech starter guy, I used #2 gauge wire to install the starter system, which implies that you have to use #2 gauge wire to ground the battery to the engine. (Weakest-link-in-the-chain thinking.) I found a deal at an airshow on some Navy surplus #2 gauge with swaged connectors and used that for both the positive and negative battery connections. This worked fine for a year, and then the battery quit.

The failure mode wasn't what you might think, gel cell and all. The failure mode was that the negative (ground) terminal had cracked inside the battery. (If you pushed down on the battery terminal, everything worked fine.) The reason? The #2 gauge wire from the battery to the engine case was only about 8" long. While somewhat flexible, the #2 gauge wire was still transmitting engine vibration to the battery, resulting in a fatigue crack at the terminal. (At least, that's my theory.) So, after buying a new battery, 1 removed the #2 gauge ground wire and made a new ground cable using three lengths of 60 amp braid in parallel. The braid is very flexible and doesn't transmit engine vibration to the battery.

Incidentally, we never had a problem with the gel cell (wheel chair battery), but from some temperature dots, I found that it would get quite hot (170°). (I suspect after engine shut down and subsequent heat soak.) I cut a tiny NACA scoop in the cowl near the battery and made an aluminum shroud to blow air on it. That helped temperatures a lot, although I do notice some oil film trailing out of the NACA after many flights, which indicated that, at least in cruise, this NACA is seeing less positive pressure than the inside of the cowl, and air is flowing out the NACA. Oh well, at least air is flowing and the battery is cooler.

This is going to sound obvious, but if you drag your brakes while taxiing an FT, you might blow a nylo-flow fitting or the 'O' ring in the caliper from heat. Carry a spare 3/16" ferrule (from the hardware store) and 'O' ring around with you. Their weight is negligible. (Some Long-EZ builders are cutting vent holes in the tops of their wheel fairings.)

Related to this: if you need to tow your airplane after blowing an 'O' ring, make sure that the person driving the truck drives very slowly! In our case, the fellow was in a bit of a rush, being the only one on the field. If your CO is somewhat aft, as ours is, and you're full of fuel, you can get some mightily interesting fishtailing oscillations, which can quickly diverge and drive the prop into the back of the truck. (Fortunately, it was a wood prop (very forgiving) and damage was minimal.) This, too, will sound obvious, but if someone offers to help but has other commitments, wait for a better time.

Rudder pedal locations: if we were going to do it again, we'd mount the entire rudder pedal assembly for the FT about one inch higher than the manual suggests. I helped someone build their Super II RG and saw that the factory has moved the pedals up, so this may not be an issue on new Glasairs. But if you're still building an older one, i t ' l l be a lot more comfortable with the pedals higher. Also, consider making some kind of heel rest down there. It really helps.

Control stick mounting mod: this is really nit picky, but instead of drilling the hole to capture the control stick as shown in the manual (see Figure 3), drill it 45° to the original direction. (Either that, or drill two holes 90° apart.) If you drill the hole as shown, there can be very slight fore-and-aft

slop in the stick. Considering that fore-and-aft pressure is the most frequent input you'll be using, you might like to get rid of the slop.

This has been said before, but if you plan to fly any IFR, bond your metal push/pull tubes to the engine ground. I wish I 'd done this during construction, when it would've been easier. We've flown through some pretty charged air and gotten good and shocked when one hand is on the stick and the other is on the throttle. Not only will bonding eliminate the sparks, it might help minimize P-static.

Jim Weir wrote an article years ago about reducing P-static on fiberglass aircraft. After bonding all the metal pieces, hang one strand of a #22 gauge wire out the tail of your plane. The strand should be connected to your airplane ground through a 470K ohm resistor. He says it worked on a Varieze. Haven't tried it yet. It's still on my "to do" list.

I 'd previously written about hanging a vertical card compass from Velcro in an attempt to isolate it from engine vibration. You can additionally add a bit of weight in the form of a lead "tape weight" (used to balance mag wheels on some cars) in

39

Builder Hints

the compass housing. The tape weight is thin enough to fit in the housing and can be bent to fit. The weight has the effect of lowering the resonant frequency of the compass assembly.

If you can, stack your avionics together, sit in the airplane and make sure none of the knobs blocks any of your radio displays. Unfortunately for us, we mounted our LORAN above the DME, and a LORAN knob sticks our far enough to block the upper segment of the distance readout on the DME. The result

Photo 2

is we have to scrunch to see whether we're 17 or 11 miles out. (Makes a difference on an ILS!) Similarly, we mounted our Stormscope low in the panel, and it's a little difficult to see the LCD screen in sunny conditions (which might prevail as you look into that wall of clouds 100 miles ahead.) Instead, we should've mounted our Stormscope up where the secondary NAV display is. (Might still be a little bit of an issue with the StrikeFinder, even though it uses a different display. The glare

in the Glasair, with all the open canopy glass, is very strong.)

Also, use shims to space your radios apart vertically while mounting during construction.

Maybe this is a function of CG and wingtips, but we really get some fishtailing in turbulence—so much so that the poor copilot/passenger, who can't hold on to the stick and throttle like the pilot, feels helpless as he or she gets thrown around the

cabin. We installed a "turbulence handle" (see Photo 2), which helps a lot. Don't know if it's psychological, or if it really works, but it's been a lot more comfortable in turbulence holding on to the handle. Passengers grab for it instinctively. We bought a cabinet handle from the local Home Depot, painted it, made some flanges, and mounted it when the upholstery was installed. (You could also mount it with screws through the fuselage, the way the wing brackets are attached.) If you use this hint, be sure to mount the handle on an angle that's comfortable for the human hand (i.e., don't mount it vertically). See the inset in lower left corner of Photo 2.

Shelf life of gyros: we've had to overhaul both gyros (and that HS1 ain't cheap!) already. Both failed at about 350 hours. They sat on the shelf for about five years while we were building. An early Glasair News recommended flipping these things upside down every

month, but you know how time flies and you forget to do that. I suggest putting your gyro purchase off as long as you can.

Did ya see my electronic hints article in the May 1997 issue of Kitplanes (Page 82)? They asked for more, so I plan to write about our push-button flap selector circuit, an inexpensive recognition light flasher and an inexpensive voice annunciator circuit in future issues.

Just a Couple Thoughts ... by

Ron Barrows, GlaStar, Elaine, MN

Just a couple thoughts I've been meaning to get on paper that I think would benefit other builders.

1. I have no experience using micro-balloons (Q-cell) for thickening the cage hardpoints, but I used flox, as suggested by someone, and it worked perfectly—didn't squash and easy to inject with a syringe. A ketchup squeezer would work too.

2. The nylon strap clamp that we were warned not to use to pull the skin around ribs on the horizontal works beautifully for pulling the fuselage halves together at the gear legs (which I had trouble with). Lace it through the openings in the fiberglass around the gear cut-outs.

40

*Dr. John Zasadny, Torrance, GA, Glasair III, N2JZ, 1,900+

William Curry, Hot Springs, AR, Glasair I TD, N622BC, 1,800+ Stoddard-Hamilton Aircraft, Glasair I FT, N89SH, 1,700+

Stoddard-Hamilton Aircraft, Glasair Super II RG, N902S, 1,500+ Dr. Kent Farney, Navato, CA, Glasair I TD, N82SS, 1,400+ Chuck Mason, Nokomis, FL, Glasair I TD, N28CM, 1,300+

Carmine Petracca, Lewiston, ID, Glasair I FT, N272CP, 1,200+ *Robin Young & Bill McKee, Lakeland, FL, Glasair I TD, N286YM, 1,200+

John Bourland, Dallas, TX, Glasair I RG, N529RS, 1,100+ Robin Rice, Nassau Bay, TX, Glasair I RG, N86JC, 1,100+ Tom Stanley, Hanford, CA, Glasair I RG, N309TS, 1,100+

Peter Vollheim, Nashua, NH, Glasair I TD, N348PV, 1,100+ Ed Covington, Old Church, VA, Glasair I RG, N3EC, 1,000+

Everett Davis & Paul Wallace, Jackson, CA, Glasair I RG, N14WD, 1,000+ William Hillman, Tucson, AZ, Glasair I RG, N84AG, 1,000+

Peter Burnham, Woodinville, WA, Glasair I RG, N88JL, 1,000+ Dr. Jerry Pekin, San Diego, CA, Glasair I TD, 1,000+

Tom Robertson, Phoenix, AZ, Glasair I FT, N325TR, 1,000+ Gene Spaulding, Dallas, TX, Glasair I FT, N18GS, 1,000+ Bob Luwig, Meridian, MS, Glasair I RG, N86BS, 1,000+

* denotes new member or change in hours

•Earl Kickley, Lampman, SK, Canada, Glasair I TD, July 27,1996 •Barry Bieber, Hatfield, PA, Glasair II-S RG, October 17,1996 •Ralph Crevoisier, San Antonio, TX, Glasair III, January 1997 •Brian Budd, Tweed Heads, N.S.W., Australia, Glasair Super II RG, March 1,1997 •Harry DeLong, Marysville, WA, GlaStar, March 29,1997 •Tripp Mellinger, Newhall, CA, Glasair III, April 11,1997 •Ron Burleigh, Sunset, LA, GlaStar, April 1997 •John Gaddis, Libertyville, IL, Glasair II FT, May 20,1997 •Propulsion Technologies, Inc., Stockton, CA, GlaStar, May 1997 •Charlie Carter, Sebring, FL, GlaStar, May 1997

You'll Get There! by

Earl Kickley, Glasair I TD, Lampman, SK, Canada

Glasair Kit #118 is a very early-model Glasair I. It was purchased from Stoddard-Hamilton by a Mr. Ray Stulting of Aurora, Colorado, in 1981. A short time after receiving the kit and uncrating it, Mr. Stulting was moved by the company he worked for to, I believe, California. He did not want to move the kit so he sold it to a Dr. James Berry in Denver.

Dr. Berry also had a Pitts that he was working on, so he put 118 into storage, and then he decided to sell it as he was busy putting new wings on his Pitts. I bought the kit from him and hauled it home to Canada. On the way, some kind-hearted individual stole a box containing all the windows out of the trailer we had the kit on. This was in March of 1983. Luckily, I had insured the kit and got new replacement windows.

Construction on 118 began immediately. The first inspection was done the summer of 1983, and Transport Canada gave the OK to go ahead. Work on 118 was very sporadic—what with being on local government, playing and coaching hockey, and being deeply involved in the community, the construction went in spurts. A complete record was kept of the progress by taking some 250 pictures of the plane over the years. Work would probably have gone faster had I not had an airplane to fly, but we own a 1960 M20A

woodwing Mooney, so this kept us in the air.

The original plan was to install a 160 h.p. Lycoming and a wooden prop. This was done, but just after I had everything bolted on and the cowling fitted, I found another woodwing Mooney with a bad wing and a 180 h.p. Lycoming with a McCauley constant-speed prop. Off came the 160 and on went the 180, requiring a different motor mount and a major modification to the nose cowl. This was quite a time-consuming job, but I feel it was worthwhile.

One Eighteen is built according to plans; there are no major modifications to the plane. The motor mount area in the fuselage is beefed up a bit, and we installed the rear navigation light on the bottom of the rudder, as can be seen in the photo.

1 have a couple of minor things to do to the plane, but nothing major.

The first flight was just like doing my first solo all over again. The airplane is fast and quick on the controls, but its characteristics as to stall, etc., are much like the Mooney, so there were no surprises there. The taildragger configuration is different than the Mooney, of course, but I have over 500 hours in taildraggers, so this helps. I am very pleased with its speed and am sure the future will bring many hours of fun flying. Now that the snow is gone, I can get back to flying off the twenty-five hour restriction. I 'm halfway there now.

Over the years of building I have been bugged by many friends about taking so long. Well, building this plane is a

First Flights

hobby, just like all my flying. I have many interests in life, but this is one of my favorites.

I would like to say that without the helping hand of my wife Eleanor, I would never have got done. She was always there, and, by the way, she did the upholstery for 118.

I also must mention the great helping hand that I always received from Stoddard-Hamilton when 1 phoned. Everyone was always courteous and helpful, and it was very much appreciated.

So if there is anyone out there who thinks he will never get done—keep at it, you will get there!

A Long-Time Dream by

Ralph Crevoisier, Glasair III, San Antonio, TX

My Glasair III project is now completed, as the accompanying photos shows. I received my kit, #3239, in October 1991. A long-time dream of operating a new, high-performance airplane is now a reality. My only regret is that I did not start sooner on this project.

Our Glasair first flew in January 1996. The initial engine installation was a used IO-540-K1A5 that was salvaged from a PA-32 unfortunate enough to be in a hangar blown down by a wind storm. I chose to use an old engine because of initial slow flight tests. Hindsight now suggests that this precaution was really not necessary. After flying off the test hours I pulled the engine and major overhauled it due to excessive oil blow-by.

The rather business-like instrument panel is my design, but installation was done by a professional shop here in San

Antonio. I really can't say enough about the competence of Pat Ahr and his staff. I have know Pat and Dorothy, who run a Mom and Pop operation, for some thirty years, and have found them to be consummate professionals.

Installation of the remote altitude and directional gyros was done in the space normally assigned to the aux. fuel tank. A shelf was built there that holds the gyros as well as the i n v e r t e r a n d digitizer. The battery was also l o c a t e d forward to counter the weight of components located aft of the hat-rack bulkhead. Items aft of the bulkhead include the S-Tec 60-2 autopilot servo and computers, Stormscope, King SG-465 symbol

___ generator, E.G.T., and of course antennas for the ADF and Stormscope. All nav information generated by VOR and GPS receivers is displayed on the EFIS. Stormscope information is also displayed on the EFIS. The system looks complicated, but in effect is basically very simple. I have not had the opportunity to shoot an approach to minimums as yet, but with this system aboard I'm looking forward to it.

Should any readers have questions about the installation, I 'l l be happy to give more details. Write to me at 8049 Midcrown #101, San Antonio, TX 78218.

I hope to be able to schedule the Arlington Fly-In so that everyone can look the plane over more closely.

First Flights

Should Have Installed a Parking Brake ...

by Barry Bieber, Glasair II-S RG,

Hatfield, PA

After 7,000-plus hours of building, the first flight of my Glasair II-S RG took place on October 17, 1996. The only problem was calming the shaking knees during run-up and waiting for traffic to clear the runway; I should have installed a parking brake. Everything settled down, including the knees, after ten feet of altitude.

Wow, it is at that point you realize that no unwanted inputs are needed to control the airplane and keep it on a level and straight climb. I guess all the hours you spend measuring and using the water level pay off. • ?

I climbed to 4,500 feet and did some slow flight with and without flaps. Then stalls with gear down plus 35° of flaps: buffet at 65 m.p.h., stall at 61 m.p.h. and nose drop with wings level. That makes for a happy builder, especially if you're one of the guys who already bonded the stall strips and painted the airplane! The flight lasted approximately one hour and then back to the airport, pattern done at 90-95 m.p.h., across the fence at 90 m.p.h., landing on the mains and able to keep the nose gear off comfortably until the speed decreased. Not sure why some guys are adding vortex generators.

At the time of this letter, I have 11.5 hours of time on the aircraft and all is going very well.

After every flight of approximately one hour for the first four, I did the recommended inspections of fuel filters, which requires removal of the cowling, interior, seat pan, etc. No appreciable amount of fiberglass debris was found on any of the inspections. During these inspections, I disassembled the aircraft further to inspect actually everything—flight controls, Heim joints, etc. The reason for this was I was looking for a noise. I will describe it as a buzz or metal-type vibrating noise. 1 had heard this noise about halfway through the first flight. After every hour of flight I did a total re-inspection of

everything.

I was convinced nothing was failing or going to fail. I was sure the noise was in the cabin area, but could not find anything wrong. Into the fourth hour of flight (and after three total condition inspections of the aircraft) cruising at 4,500 feet in the cold weather of the Northeast, I was getting cold, feeling around and under the instrument panel to feel for an air leak or the location of the draft. I was sure the eyeball vents were closed, but grabbed onto the left one to verify that it was closed. To my surprise, it was abuzz, vibrating violently! Could this be?? I cracked it open slightly, and it stopped vibrating. I reached over and cracked open the right-side vent, and the noise I had been chasing was gone! That makes for a happy flier! I flew that flight for two-plus hours with the vents open slightly. I was cold, but who cared at that point?

Back on the ground, after removal and inspection of the eyeball vents, I found that

the spring that holds the ball part of the vent into the socket can get compressed by the airflow until it cracks open to relieve the air pressure, then slams back closed. This happens so quickly it causes it to vibrate. Both balls now have a chafed groove where they were positioned during the first three hours of flight. I have placed a piece of dense foam just inside the eyeball vent, and the problem is cured.

The vents I have are S-H option vents. I have talked to only one other builder who is flying with these vents, and he has no similar problem with his. Possibly the prop combination I have creates this problem?

Sorry to go on about this, but I thought it might help someone else, and save them from an annual inspection every hour of flight.

The aircraft has an O-320-D1A with a Hartzell extended-hub constant-speed prop., I was affected by Service Bulletin 114, but decided not to change anything after preliminary empty C.G. calculations back in my garage when the aircraft was on the gear. As it turns out after paint, clear coat, sanding and buffing, the C.G. can be kept forward of the 28.5 inch limit with the baggage compartment placarded for 60 Ibs.

I cruise at altitude at 210-220 m.p.h. It sure is nice, although

44

it makes that twenty-five mile radius seem very small, and learning to control the airspeed on descents is also enjoyable for those of use who are used to flying airplanes that would only go into the yellow arc when going downhill.

I'd like to thank everyone at S-H for their help and builder support through the years and to thank Tim Johnson for his knowledge of the Glasair and his ability to teach it to me during my familiarization flight prior to my first flight. I

First Flights

would recommend this to every builder prior to his or her first flight. It gives you something to gauge your aircraft's handling and flight characteristics against. After all, I'm sure we'll all admit to getting pretty rusty in our flying skills after numerous years of building, sanding and smelling resin.

I'm looking forward to meeting other builders and S-H people at Sun n' Fun, Oshkosh and Arlington this year.

Without a Hitch by

Brian Budd, Glasair Super II RG, Tweed Heads, N.S.W., Australia

My Glasair Super II RG, VH-JBB, flew for the first time on March 1st, and I want to thank all at S-H for your support during the last three years.

The flight went off without a hitch, and only minor adjustments needed to be done afterwards. The benefits of the increased fuselage length and larger tailplane show through with high stability and controllability, and also in weight and balance. I have no loading system—no mat ter what the combination, I can never get outside the envelope.

I have dry tip extensions, a 180 h.p. CSU, and a B&C starter and alternator. The ADF aerial and ground plane are installed under a false floor in the baggage compartment. Empty weight is 610kg and max. AUW is 998kg. The header tank is per plans and holds 28 liters; total fuel capacity is 198 liters. The engine is a Lycoming IO-360-B1E, and it's still a little stiff after overhaul.

I have had one trip so far, and at economy-cruise power—22 inches and 2,350 r.p.m.—IAS at 8,500 feet is 145 knots. (QNH was 1016 and OAT was 10° C.) I was burning 32 liters per hour.

I have cut three slots in the lower engine cowling on each side, each about 5" X 1/2", and placed about 5" forward of the rear edge. I also have another three slots of similar dimensions further forward by about 12", but I feel the rear ones make the

most difference in engine cooling. CHT at cruise is 180° C.

A couple of minor negatives: I have good flow-through cabin ventilation after installing a couple of grilles on the hat shelf, but the "under panel" area remains very hot. I suspect hot air may be entering through the cabin heat valve sleeve. To be investigated.

Also, the well known fuel-venting problem when the tanks are full. On takeoff with full tanks, fuel vents out through the fuselage bottom, and fuel vapors get sucked back through the tail opening into the cabin. I put gap tape across the belly

panel join, and this improved it a bit. Because I have "dry" tips I was able to extend the vent lines out to the highest part of the tip, and this made a great improvement. Even so, on filling the tanks, it's hard to know just when you have "enough," and I often lose a liter or more. I'm aware of S-H's valve option, but I hear that they are very difficult to

retrofit. I am investigating other methods of venting.

I have to congratulate S-H on its design; the airplane is a pussycat with no vices and a large speed range with full control at all stages.

Editor's note: The photo Brian sent made it clear to all of us what a beautiful aircraft he had built, but in a vindication of our occasionally biased opinions, the judges awarded VH-JBB "First in Show" at Mangalore '97, the national convention of the Sport Aircraft Association of Australia. Congratulations, Brian!

45

Air Mail . . . Continued from Page 5

Consequently, I elected this year on my return to Europe to fly non-stop from New York to Cannes. The great circle distance was 3,419 nautical miles, as against 3,115 nautical miles on Lindbergh's route. The flight time was 21 hours, 33 minutes, and 6 seconds at an average speed of 158.654 knots. Of course, it was a world record.

In fact, due to U.S. Air Force maneuvers, 1 was re-routed from my original flight plan by close to 200 nautical miles. You must be prepared to reprogram your route at any time, even when everything seems to be OK with your flight plan. (No Notams were issued about the U.S. maneuvers.) Fortunately during this part of the flight, my brand new S-Tec 30 autopilot was working like a Swiss watch; it wasn't until later that it headed south!

Since I left with a minimum fuel quantity of 130 gallons (versus my 150-gallon capacity), I elected to fly at maximum endurance airspeeds—Charles Lindbergh's technique. That is to say I ran at 2,200 r.p.m. instead of the 2,400-2,550 I run when I 'm looking for maximum speed. At 2,200 r.p.m. at 15,000 feet, my fuel flow was 5.5 g.p.h.. With full fuel, I can expect an endurance of twenty-five-plus hours.

My own endurance was tested, too. When I reached the Spanish coast at Santiago (after 17 hours, 23 minutes over open sea), I felt such a terrible relief, 1 had to pour the rest of my drinking water on top of my head to stay awake.

To summarize my flight, once more, my big enemy was the weather. I had to cross two systems, and during a black night, the rough ride can keep a dead man awake. The controller on Santa Maria isle was offended because I reported at Flight Level 170 without his permission. On my previous report 1 was at Flight Level 160, compatible with the direction of flight. I simply invited him to read from his strip that Gander Oceanic allocated a block altitude from 13,000 to 17,000. When this incident occurred, I had as a witness a U.S. Air Force crew maneuvering in the area. By the way, they were very familiar with S-H, as they are based in upstate Washington. 1 tried to understand where, even by shouting the name of NAS Whidbey, but 1 guess they didn't like my question—probably the old Army-Navy antagonism. The Air Force crew knew that I was flying in a mess and that my ordeal would be over pretty quickly because they were weather-radar equipped.

Henri Chorosz Le Gaude, France, Glasair Super II FT

Phoenix Rising ...

On a hot, hazy Sunday morning, June 30, 1996, my wife Deborah decided that she would like to fly her Glasair II-S FT

to St. George Island off the Florida coast. She had heard that this barrier reef island had some of the best sea shells one could collect. As we flew over the airport, Deborah couldn't spot the wind sock. There were no aircraft on the island and no buildings near the runway. We elected to touch down on the hard soil and grassy threshold. At roughly 75 m.p.h. we touched down, and that was when all hell broke loose. The following events happened in seconds:

The whole nose gear assembly departed the aircraft. The nose slammed down, and dirt and grass plowed up over the windscreen. The pointed ends of the main wheel paints dug in, and the right main departed the plane and smashed up the right wing flap. This resulted in the right wing slamming into the ground and starting a half cartwheel and half wing over down the runway. The airplane continued to slide down the runway backwards on its spinner.

The plane continued to rotate over onto the left wing leading edge. The wind got under the tail, and the plane nearly flipped over. There were several bad jolts, and the cockpit had dislodged radios flying around. As tight as Deborah wears her seat belts, she was flung about, and her hand slammed into the windscreen. She was tossed out of her seat and thrown back onto the fire extinguisher, receiving minor injuries. My legs were thrown up into the bottom edge of the instrument panel, and I had two deep gashes in my shins.

The plane continued to slide backwards until coming to an abrupt stop and slamming down on the tail cone and rudder. We popped out and hobbled away. We thought the fuel was going to ignite. Deborah thought the plane was a total wreck and began to cry her eyes out. But I was surprised at what little damage was done to the structure as a whole and thought it could be fixed. Glasairs are built like tanks.

My legs were in pain and badly bleeding, so I suggested that Debbie go for help. I didn't want to leave her in suffocating 115 temperatures. I watched her disappear in the waving heat rising off the runway. Deborah walked into an empty shack and spotted a phone next to a number for security. Deborah dialed the number and the voice on the other side answered "Security." Deborah replied, "Hello, I just want to report that I crashed my plane on the end of your runway."

In what seemed only minutes this lonely airstrip was invaded by fire trucks, an ambulance, park ranger trucks and volunteers. Boats circled off the beach and a Civil Air Patrol plane overhead. Water was being sprayed everywhere, a stethoscope was on my chest and Gatorade was being poured into me. Deborah and 1 where in shock, and our only thought was how we were going to get home. But when the local hometown airport got the news, a rescue plane was launched.

After clearing the wreck off the runway, one of the CAP men,

46

Air Mail a St. George Island resident invited us over to his home to clean up, eat, spend the night, and wash up our fuel- and oil-soaked clothes. We couldn't thank him enough and apologized for all the trouble we caused. Well, it turned out that the Island is full of retired people and is full of multi-million dollar homes. They all volunteer their services, and we were the most entertaining and exciting thing to happen there in years. They poured gin and tonics in us till we were cross-eyed.

Our rescue plane arrived late so they put its crew up for the night also. The next morning Deborah flew back to Atlanta and the man who put us up worked the whole day with me in the boiling heat to help me disassemble our broken plane. I felt bad, but his reply was that he learned more about aircraft that one day than he knew in thirty-five years of aviation. Late that afternoon he assembled a group of volunteers to load up the plane into a rental truck.

The next morning I got into the truck and said, "How can I ever thank you enough?" His reply was, "We flyers are all part of a great brotherhood." I waved goodbye and started the nine hour drive back to north Atlanta. When I arrived at the home airport, Deborah and her Confederate Air Force friends where there. They unloaded the parts and placed them in their repair and paint hangar. I had use of their vast machine shop, and any hardware was free (compliments of Lockheed)!

It took me five months, working twelve hours days, to do all the repairs and ready the plane for painting. Damage included a ruined constant-speed prop, extensive engine damage, engine-mount wipe out, all landing gear and hardware ruined, both flaps, the cowling in pieces, the rudder smashed, two feet of the left wing leading edge missing, the belly panel badly dented, and the wing tank center section cracked. I had the assistance of many Lockheed engineers; one specialized in composite repair. They all marveled at the design and lay-up of Stoddard-Hamilton products.

When the plane was ready for the finish coat and all the parts were in white epoxy primer, Debbie's Confederate Air Force friends felt that the design was more a work of art and that the best way to show it off would be to do a super high-gloss "wet look" paint job using a new Diamond White Pearl Essence paint material. The man who suggested this said that the plane would have to be transported to his auto paint booth and that we would have to use a painter who had been trained to work with these new materials. I asked what the charge would be, and his reply was that they had just repainted a Lexus that had come to $3,000. I nearly fainted. He laughed and said that we would work out a deal. Well, he was right. The plane is a crowd stopper. People puzzle over the color and its jewel-like qualities.

I took advantage of the restoration to make every speed modification that has been suggested by Ken Johnson and

others. The engine has less than 20 hours on it, but the airplane appears to be 10-15 m.p.h. faster. We had GPS-measured ground speeds in the 205—215 m.p.h. range at only 55% power. At 70% power, we saw ground speeds in the 220s.

The final chapter of the story (so far) is that N16CD won the "Best Workmanship" award at Sun n' Fun '97. After Sun n' Fun, we flew back to the crash sight to stay in an oceanfront house rented for us by our local airport friends and to visit with the people who had tended to our medical and clean-up needs after the crash. We told many prospective buyers of S-H's exceptional help in getting parts and technical help out to us in getting this plane back into the air again. This is reassuring to those who plan to own S-H products for years to come.

... and Looking for Reasonably Priced Hull Insurance

A familiar phrase heard by many Glasair owners from their insurance companies is, "We are dropping coverage on all Glasairs." The other alternative may be a letter from your friendly agent arriving on the day your policy is up for renewal saying, "This is your new premium ($2,000-3,000); take it or leave it."

Using these figures and factoring in the time a Glasair owner may fly (maybe 40-60 hours per year), it may cost $50-70 per hour just for the insurance. In many cases this leaves the builder with only two choices—coverage or no coverage. At the present growth rate of premiums, can we expect $4,000-6,000 premiums per year in the near future or no insurance at all? Is insurance or the lack of it going to be the poison pill for the Glasair?

I feel now is the time for Glasair owners to take matters into their own hands. Glasair builders are aggressive, creative, "can do" people. My feeling is that now may be the time to form a "brotherhood" and to start a plan along the lines of the new health insurance savings pool idea. There are approximately 2,000 Glasairs and GlaStars out there. If, for example, $50 per builder were deposited into the pool, we would have $100,000; $125 per owner would create a $250,000 pool. With a little luck and proper management, a 15-20% growth rate might be there, and with second-year contributions, a healthy sum would evolve, and so on and so forth. I would hate to see Glasair owners in the same boat as warbird owners, where the vast majority fly with no hull coverage. I am hoping for input and hoping that a small committee of owners will be formed to save the manufacturing and building of this magnificent aircraft.

Chuck Raymond Roswell, GA, Glasair II-S FT

47

From the Flightdeck . . . Continued from Page 2

GlaStar (N232YE) will soon be operational for Young Eagles rides. S-H also continues to be involved in the NASA AGATE research program in materials research, and we are presently working on a Phase I research grant on crashworthy aircraft structure. We're not busy or anything!

For all you cyber-builders, our site on the World Wide Web is now functional, but we are not totally pleased with it. We are in the process of overhauling and updating it, and I think you'll like the results. We intend to put a lot more builder assistance information on it, and it will be better organized, along with improved graphics. We know that of the 500 or so GlaStar builders, roughly fifty percent are active Internet users. I am very interested in knowing how many Glasair builders use it, and in particular, how many will participate in Dave Cress' new Glasair Society Internet club. For those of you who are Internet savvy, I highly recommend participation in either Sid Lloyd's GlaStarNet newsgroup or Dave's group. Just do a Web search using the keyword "Glasair" or "GlaStar." You'll be surprised at how many references there are out there.

Glasairs, GlaStars, Glasairs, GlaStars!? I even get the names mixed up when I'm talking about them. This seems to be a very touchy subject with some of you lately. I hesitate even to discuss it, but here goes. We have created two very different aircraft lines with different flight missions. There continues to be discussion on the Internet and in general about how S-H is not supporting the Glasair line. I understand the feelings of frustration, especially when you can't get options that seemed to be much more available in the past. However, from our

vantage point, rumors that we're abandoning the Glasair and its builders are unfounded.

S-H is and will continue to be totally committed to the Glasair. We have just the same amount of builder support, advertising, purchasing and marketing support for each line. From my observations at airshows and after talking to many customers, I think that much of the frustration has arisen because Glasair builders can't seem to get parts or options as easily as they may have in the past. What these customers don't realize is that the GlaStar customers are in the same boat.

About a year ago, management made a decision not to ship any options unless they were complete (i.e., without back ordered parts). This decision was prompted by the frustration many builders felt at receiving an option kit with important parts missing. Unfortunately, this policy has caused shipment delays for both lines. Many of the options use parts common to both lines. The overall problem of parts availability has been largely due to an aging MRP system that we are in the process of updating. We have, however, made major strides in the procurement of parts and inventory control, and we are continuing to improve these areas.

The Glasair line is near and dear to my heart. So is the GlaStar. S-H sells GlaStars and Glasairs. For all of us, I am glad we have the GlaStar line, and I am glad it has been as successful as it is. It has enabled us to dream new dreams and look to the future. We are all one big family of aviation lovers. Let's have fun! It's summer again and the flying weather is great—for all kinds of airplanes! Fly safe!

Squawk: Dead bugs on windshield. Report: Live bugs on order.

Squawk: No. 3 engine missing. Report: No. 3 engine found on right wing after brief search.

Squawk: The autopilot doesn't. Report: It does now.

Squawk: Autopilot in altitude hold mode produces 200 f.p.m. descent.

Report: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

Squawk: DME volume unbelievably loud. Report: Volume set to more believable level.

Squawk: Friction locks cause throttles to stick. Report: That's what they're

there for.

Squawk: Evidence of hydraulic leak on right main landing gear.

Report: Evidence removed.

Squawk: Something loose in cockpit. Report: Something tightened in cockpit.

48

Squawk: Test flight OK, except autoland very rough. Report: This aircraft not

equipped with autoland.

Squawk: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement. Report: Almost

replaced left inside main tire.

Squawk: No. 1 propeller seeping fluid. Report: No. 1 propeller seepage normal. Squawk: Nos. 2, 3 & 4 propellers lack normal seepage.

Meanwhile, Back at the Plant . . . . . . Continued from Page 7

Salem, Oregon. II Morrow has granted S-H original equipment manufacturer status.

II Morrow's Apollo GPS systems have long been acclaimed, but the company is developing a complete line of state-of-the-art avionics to complement its GPSs. Unlike the products of most other major avionics manufacturers, II Morrow units can be sold directly to the homebuilder, with no requirement for professional installation.

Detailed information on price and availability of specific products will be forthcoming in this newsletter.

Nominations Being

Solicited for Annual

Award

As in years past, we are looking forward

to presenting the Bob Herendeen Memorial Award at the S-H Builders' Banquet, to be held Friday, August 1 st, at the EAA Convention in Oshkosh (see Page 18 for details). This will be the third annual presentation of the award, which honors the memory of the late Bob Herendeen.

The award winner will be selected from among nominations submitted by you, the builders. Nominees should exemplify the high standards of character, possess the heartfelt love aviation and provide the constant inspiration to others that Bob did throughout his life.

Past winners of the award include the inaugural recipient, Ken Johnson, of Erwinna, Pennsylvania, and last year's winner, Lyle Powell, of Walnut Creek, California.

Nominations should include a brief statement of the qualities of the

nominee that make him or her an appropriate candidate. Please mail, fax or e-mail nominations to S-H, attention Newsletter Editor, by no later than July 20th.

Deadline for Engine

Orders at 1997 Prices Approaches

As noted in the Glasair and GlaStar Options Catalogs, 1997 pricing on Lycoming and Continental engines applies only to engines delivered by December 31, 1997. Due to order lead times on the part of the engine manufacturers, we will be unable to guarantee 1997 pricing on engines ordered after August 15, 1997.

Please keep this deadline in mind when planning your engine order.

GlaStar Options! Available Now!

>CABIN AIR VENT INSTALLATION Part No.: 938-02000-01 Price: $157.50 Keep your cool under the most difficult circumstances! This installation uses a stylish NACA-style scoop on each side of the fuselage to provide separate, individually adjustable ventilation sources for the pilot and co-pilot. The complete kit includes two pre-molded air boxes with integral NACA scoops, two wide-mouthed "eyeball" ventilators, all installation hardware and detailed instructions.

> DOOR LOCK/IGNITION SWITCH INSTALLATION Part No.: 921-03000-01 Price: $145.00 Secure your investment with the new door lock/ignition switch option! So you'll never have to fumble for the right key (like we do on our prototype!), both cabin door locks, both baggage door locks and the ignition switch use a common key. In addition to the four locksets and a standard, five-position aircraft magneto switch, this kit includes two keys, all installation parts and hardware, and detailed instructions.

> FLUSH FUEL CAPS By popular demand! Replace the standard, so-called "John Deere" fuel caps (actually, that's one of the more polite names we've heard!) with sleek, precision-machined, flush-fitting caps. Locking and non-locking varieties are available. Both types feature one-piece, anodized aluminum bodies that screw directly into the filler openings of the GlaStar tanks. (They'll fit the forthcoming aux tanks, too!) The non-locking caps feature a high-impact plastic, lever-action cap, while the locking caps are of an all-metal design. Prices listed are for single caps—one required per tank There is a fairly lengthy lead time on these items from our vendor, so please call for availability.

Non-locking cap. ......................................................................... Part No.: 201-40003-01 Price: $ 59.95 Locking cap................................................................................. Part No.: 201-40004-01 Price: $120.00

49

New Advisory Publications

These lists cover all service bulletins and service letters issued since the publication of S-H News No. 62 (Third Quarter 1996), when we last published a list of recent advisory publications. Please check this list to see if you are missing any relevant publications. We will be happy to supply any such publications on request. Call, write or fax Technical Publications or e-mail <[email protected]>.

Glasair —Service Bulletins

Entries for mandatory service bulletins are boldfaced.

No. Subject 148 Mislabeled cobalt napthenate promoter and

DMA accelerator 149 Main landing gear trunnion tubes, possible

cracking

Applicability

CoNap and DMA shipped between 10/21/96 and 11/18/96

Glasair III main landing gear S/N 0—51

GlaStar - Service Bulletins

Entries for mandatory service bulletins are boldfaced. Assembly Manual and are thus obsolete.

No. Subject

Entries marked with an asterisk (*) have been incorporated into the

Applicability

17 Mislabeled cobalt napthenate promoter and DMA accelerator

18 6.00/8.00 X 6 brake mounting flange (P/N 401-01550-01) 19* Elevator

and trim tab hinge edge margin 20 Flap handle weldment (P/N 601-02010-01

(bare) or 601-0201OP01 (powder-coated)) 21 Lycoming cowling cooling inlets 22 AN470A3-4.5 soft rivets 23* Door latch modification

24 Engine mount spacers (P/N 552-01001 -01) 25 Variations in wing angle of incidence 26 Upper tailwheel spring (P/N 401-09001-11) 27 Tailwheel steering springs (P/N 091-01500

-11) 28 Lycoming 0-320 carburetor inlet gasket

29 AN509-1OR10 flush-head machine screws

Kits #5017, 5133, 5137, 5165, 6194, 5204 and 5323

6.00 X 6 and 8.00 X 6 taildragger kits shipped prior to 12/16/96

Tail kits shipped prior to 6/4/97 Fuselage kits shipped prior to 1/29/97

Cowlings shipped prior to 7/26/96 Tail kits shipped between 1/1/97 and 3/1/97 Fuselage kits shipped prior to 6/4/97 Engine mount installations shipped prior to 3/31/97 Fuselage cage assemblies S/N 001-303 Taildragger kits shipped prior to 5/1/97 Taildragger kits shipped prior to 5/1/97

Lycoming carbureted induction system kits (P/N 930-02320-01) shipped prior to 6/26/97 Fuselage

kits shipped prior to 3/28/97

GlaStar - Service Letter

No. Subject Applicability

3 Trim cable bracket angle (P/N 303-00020-01) and sheet (P/N 303-00021-01)

Tail kits shipped prior to 6/9/97

50

Calm winds and moderate temperatures favored the first race for the slower VariEze and Long-EZ classes. Not so fortunate were the Glasairs, RVs and modified EZs in the second race. Temperatures, winds and turbulence increased dramatically, diminishing the chance to increase speeds above last year's levels.

Nonetheless, Roger Heisdorffer of Taylor, Arizona, won the Glasair class in his IO-360-powered I RG at 254.64 m.p.h., one one-hundredth of a mile per hour faster than his time last year.

A new Plasma electronic ignition from Claus Savier's Lightspeed Engineering helped Mike Jones of Garden Grove, California, fly his III to a 272.04 m.p.h. first-place showing in the Super Glasair class. John Parker won last year's event at 271.18 m.p.h. to Mike's 268.63 m.p.h.

Events remaining on the 1997 R.A.C.E. schedule are:

Jackpot, Nevada Bonnieville, Utah Mesquite, Nevada

Jean, Nevada Buckeye, Arizona

Races and trials are open to all homebuilts, metal or composite. For additional information, contact Mike Jones at (714) 534-0322, or R.A.C.E. organizer Shirl Dickey at (602) 691-0515.

Editor's note: Thanks to Mike Jones for submitting this report.

Noble Glasair

Lauded in the

Cradle of

Democracy

Given their speed and range, Glasairs have naturally been all over the world, but in February the aircraft appeared for the first time in a place it had never been: in the august deliberations of the British House of Lords.

Hansard, the official record of parliamentary debates, notes that at

GlasNews . . . Continued from Page 9

7:37 p.m. on February 4, 1997, Lord Rotherwick began a discussion of British recreational aviation policy by stating, "My Lords, I initiate this debate today partly for personal reasons. I declare that I fly my own home-built Glasair II." Lord Rotherwick, who is Robin Cayzer when he's at home in Oxford, took delivery of his II-S RG kit in November of 1991 and first flew the plane in July of 1995.

Later in the debate, the Earl of Liverpool declared "great admiration for my noble friend Lord Rotherwick because his enthusiasm for flying has led him to devote countless hours of his time to building his own aircraft. He should be very proud of his achievements. I have seen his Glassair [sic] II, and a very fine example it is. He has offered me a flight in it but so far I have not found time to take to the skies with him. However, I hope that this will soon be rectified."

Hear hear, m'Lords! Jolly good show!

Editor's note: As Hansard is not among our subscriptions, we thank Grahame Gates of Vero Beach, Florida, for bringing this to our attention.

'Star was parked at the beach, front-and-center, and made many flights throughout the day, including one with someone from EAA. Perhaps we'll see another article in Sport Aviation!

We keenly watched the first takeoff. Timed it at 10-11 seconds. Now, that's with a strong wind, but the plane was full of fuel, and Tim's passenger was about 260 pounds. Not bad performance, eh? (That's a Canadian expression!) Tim showed just how maneuverable the 'Star is on floats, both in the air and on the water. Only bounced one landing (and on video review, it wasn't really a bounce—the bird just wanted to keep flying)! Tim demo'd the wing fold and didn't fall in the water while attempting to walk on it, 'cause he stayed on the flat

top of the Aerocet float and orchestrated the whole thing with a rope.

Other odds 'n ends: Cal Spangler (tech support) and Craig (tech writer) were on hand all week and fielded lots of questions. Bob's wife, Leslie Gavinsky, was also at the booth working hard all week. You don't get much of a rest when you're at booth at Sun n' Fun! Saw a lot of Ted Setzer there, too. The Glasair III flown in the airshow by Chip Beck looked fast and most impressive.

Lots and lots of GlaStar demo flights were given by the ever-present and enthusiastic Tim Johnson (whatta salesman—I bet a lot of builders bought their kit based on their intro flight with

Tim. We sure did!). GlaStar T-shirts (new design) and hats (including floatplane hats) were hot items at the S-H booth. Harry DeLong's plane looks great. Nice color scheme and beautiful gray leather interior. Instrument panel is beautiful too. Congratulations, Harry! The GlaStar that flew to Europe was also parked by the tent for a few days, and the Young Eagles GlaStar was also on site. We met a few of the newsgroup gang, and it was nice to connect a name with a face. Maybe next year we should arrange a time/place for people on the newsgroup to get together.

Well, that's about it. I know I've left lots of stuff out, so perhaps someone else can add more details. Meanwhile, we'd better get back to building!

51

JulyS September 20 October 18

November 8 November 29

Flymarket

Aeropride Technology Tom Taylor, Owner

3559 Santa Carlotta St. La Crescenta, CA 91214

(818)248-2499

Glasair Performance Enhancements

As used on Tom Taylor's 261 m.p.h. Oshkosh Grand Champion II-S RG and John Parker's record-setting 305 m.p.h. III.

• Aft wing fairings: One-piece and retrofittable. $389.95 per pair.

• Wing tips: One piece, straight trailing edge. $199.95 per pair.

Plane Luxury Aircraft Interiors Jim & Julie Londo, Owners (425)

338-7070 or (619) 394-4848 Karen Louise, Order Desk

P.O. Box 368 Mukilteo, WA 98275

(425) 745-6937

GlaStar Seat Packages • Choice of FAA-certified fabric, vinyl,

fabric/vinyl combo or fine European leather • Designed for comfort and made with airliner

quality and durability by the builder of Boeing 777 seats.

• Four layers of foam for height adjustment. • Seats arrive ready to Velcro in place—a five-

minute job. • Prices per pair:

Fabric, vinyl or combination $ 1,259 Fine European leather $ 1,689

FOR SALE: Glasair Super II horiz. stab, and elevators. Switching to GlaStar. Call Lyle Clarkson at (403) 529-2407 or e-mail <[email protected]>.

FOR SALE: S-H fuel vent float valve kit (P/N 332-0490-501). New. $400. Call Tom Hoffman at (760)943-1000.

FOR SALE: 160 h.p. GlaStar prop. Fixed-pitch Sensenich 74/62, 190 hours since new. All hardware, spinner and backplate included. $1,500. Call Jim Londo at (425) 338-7070.

FOR SALE: Installed Vision fuel system in my III and have the following unused parts for sale: Fuel gauge mntg. plate (P/N 332-0411-001), $21.50; fuel

gauge (P/N 332-0338-001), $19.50; fuel gauge gasket (P/N 332-0412-001), $1.20; fuel gauge housing assy. (P/N 333-0420-101), $38.25. Call Jim Stress at (847) 381-9395.

FOR SALE: Complete GlaStar firewall-forward installation. Lye. 0-320-E2A, 1,450 SMOH. New MA4-SOA carb, Slick mags, 60A alt., starter, ignition harness, Sensenich 74/60 prop w/ GlaStar spinner, baffling, stainless exhaust. All parts bought from S-H. All ADs complied with. Engine mount, shock bushings, oil cooler and cowling not included. You saw it flying at Sun n' Fun. Removing to test 180 h.p. installation. $14,000. Call Harry DeLong at (360) 435-8533.

FOR SALE: Completed Glasair I FT. 180 h.p. IO-360, C/S prop, KLX135A GPS/COM, KT76 xpndr, VM1000 engine-monitoring system, leather interior. As seen in S-H News No. 62 (Third Quarter 1996), p. 36. $70,000 U.S. Call Darcy Clements at (403) 431-2179.

FOR SALE: With heavy and broken heart, I offer my 95%-complete Glasair III for sale. FAA took medical. All glass work completed. A/C has all upgrade mods, ext. wet wingtips, H/D gear struts and redundant gear lower actuators. Newly overhauled 300 h.p. Lye., new Hartzell prop, full lightweight accessories. All moving airframe parts painted white. Electrical installation 1/3 complete. Most flight instruments included plus total engine-monitoring from Vision Microsystems; no radios, avionics, upholstery. Hangared throughout ten-year building period at Chino, CA. Pro builder estimates 400 hours to completion. Require type cert, with Paul Mounter and contract. Pilots w/ high-sink-rate hours most desirable candidates. Price as is—$120,000. Price will go up as I continue toward completion. Call Preston Welch at (562) 598-2884.

BUILDER ASSISTANCE: A&P GlaStar assemblers available to assist on your project at your location in S.E. USA or will fabricate your elevator, rudder, etc. Excellent workmanship guaranteed. Call Martin Johnson at (423) 542-9145, fax (423) 542-2691 or e-mail <[email protected]>.

FOR TRADE: Mooney M20E, 200 h.p., 3,800 TT, 40 SMOH, for GlaStar project. Call Richard Ilfeld at (813) 645-5043.

53

Section A: Engine Accessories

A1 Please call A16 1,320.00 A31 345.00 A46 360.00 A61 4.86A2 37,900.00 A17 1,320.00 A32 345.00 A47 Discontinued A62 6.49A3 28,130.00 A18 1,320.00 A33 274.00 A48 360.00 A63 7.50A4 25,225.00 A19 85.00 A34 Please call A49 360.00 A64 10.39A5 17,585.00 A20 1,575.00 A35 88.66 A50 125.00 A65 9.95A6 6,345.00 A21 1,575.00 A36 695.00 A51 220.00 A66 14.51 ,A7 6,445.00 A22 150.00 A37 695.00 A52 119.00 A67 43.99A8 4,810.00 A23 150.00 A38 695.00 A53 15.60 A68 64.87A9 7,497.00 A24 995.00 A39 715.00 A54 18.60 A69 75.65A10 7,497.00 A25 429.95 A40 695.00 ASS 16.20 A70 88.41A11 6,455.00 A26 52.03 A41 Discontinued A56 17.70 A71 120.12A12 5,900.00 A27 80.00 A42 299.00 A57 17.70 A72 138.60A13 150.00 A28 659.00 A43 250.00 ASS 14.25 A73 10.88A14 140.00 A29 860.00 A44 250.00 A59 20.70 A74 22.47A15 1,320.00 A30 279.00 A45 250.00 A60 5.06 A75 14.61

Section B: Instruments

B1 3,180.00 B6 9,360.00 B11 475.00 B16 1.28 B21 110.00

B2- 5,410.00 B7 Please call B12 SeeB11 B17 30.71 B22 31.71B3 1,940.00 B8 1,175.00 B13 SeeB11 B18 120.00 B23 53.81B4 1,436.00 B9 60.00 B14 31.85 B19 275.00 B24 53.81B5 5,475.00 B10 Discontinued B15 23.63 B20 275.00 B25 6.86

Section C: Airframe Accessories

C1 22.50 C34 250.00 C67 24.50 C100 .44 C133 87.50C2 149.00 CSS 70.88 C68 24.50 C101 2.01 C134 122.50C3 495.00 C36 620.00 C69 22.93 C102 .59 C135 385.00C4 239.25 C37 90.00 C70 24.50 C103 .21 C136 31.50C5 395.00 C38 90.00 C71 24.50 C104 26.73 C137 62.08C6 395.00 C39 90.00 C72 24.50 C105 26.73 C138 DiscontinuedC7 995.00 C40 49.00 C73 24.50 C106 .28 C139 DiscontinuedC8 Discontinued C41 49.00 C74 36.43 C107 .37 C140 DiscontinuedC9 65.00 C42 22.15 C75 38.85 C108 .51 C141 6.97C10 699.00 C43 22.15 C76 37.10 C109 1.28 C142 2.85C11 699.00 C44 22.15 C77 .18 C110 1.19 C143 2.96C12 226.10 C45 22.15 C78 .18 cm 2.45 C144 4.48C13 262.50 C46 75.00 C79 4.34 C112 4.55 C145 2.85C14 Seed 5 C47 75.00 C80 4.34 C113 Discontinued C146 2.85C15 435.00 C48 199.00 C81 .22 C114 49.00 C147 2.85C16 435.00 C49 199.00 C82 .12 C115 49.00 C148 1.33C17 459.95 C50 95.00 C83 .30 C116 49.00 C149 .88C18 465.00 C51 95.00 C84 .12 C117 49.00 C150 3.92C19 590.00 C52 75.00 CSS .16 C118 49.00 C151 21.67C20 495.00 053 75.00 C86 2.36 C119 385.00 C152 5.76C21 1,395.00 C54 95.00 C87 1.99 C120 385.00 C153 2.85C22 1,395.00 CSS 120.00 C88 .79 C121 395.00 C154 5.70C23 1,395.00 C56 14.47 C89 .33 C122 385.00 C155 87.15C24 545.00 C57 495.00 C90 .19 C123 385.00 C156 59.66C25 498.00 CSS 525.00 C91 .14 C124 395.00 C157 77.73C26 498.00 C59 15.03 C92 .11 C125 25.00 C158 5.69C27 126.12 C60 2.20 C93 .09 C126 33.87 C159 7.00C28 4.20 C61 22.50 C94 .70 C127 31.77 C160 10.00C29 385.00 C62 112.00 C95 .12 C128 60.96 C161 5.95C30 400.00 C63 23.71 C96 .62 C129 80.00 C162 3.66C31 145.00 C64 24.52 C97 .44 C130 80.00 C32 585.00 C65 48.39 C98 .79 C131 96.25 C33 575.00 C66 10.50 C99 .92 C132 87.50 6/30/97 54

Section D: Tools D1 Discontinued D2 6.02 D3 6.40 D4 6.40 D5 4.09 D6 4.09 D7 52.50 D8 12.48 D9 13.18 D10 13.18 D11 13.18

E1 2.33 E2 4.00 E3 9.45 E4 9.45 E5 5.00 E6 5.00 E7 3.36 E8 30.00 E9 32.00

F1 12.53 F2 6.35 F3 9.92 F4 975.00 F5 975.00 F6 975.00 F7 975.00 F8 995.00 F9 1,260.00

G1 25.00 G2 Discontinued G3 Discontinued G4 175.00

GI-1 870.00 GI-2 150.00 GI-3 150.00 GI-4 150.00 GI-5 150.00 GI-6 570.00 GI-7 Please call GI-8 315.00 GI-9 88.69

D12 23.33 D23 5.60 D34 19.00 D45 13.60D13 18.31 D24 5.60 D35 3.61 046 12.25D14 75.00 D25 4.55 D36 7.21 D47 21.72D15 34.58 D26 8.31 D37 2.10 D48 38.76D16 10.35 D27 3.83 D38 4.60 D49 48.54D17 10.35 D28 4.88 D39 3.82 D50 25.00D18 10.34 D29 21.88 D40 2.98 D51 5.72D19 10.35 D30 17.08 D41 3.63 D52 67.64D20 15.68 D31 18.72 D42 Discontinued D53 78.70D21 30.50 D32 2.27 D43 11.38 D54 DiscontinuedD22 5.60 D33 4.24 D44 22.73

Section E: Construction Materials

E10 10.00 E19 22.75 E28 10.64 E37 13.50E11 5.86 E20 22.75 E29 54.00 E38 2.50E12 Discontinued E21 1.50 E30 1.14 E39 20.34E13 Discontinued E22 8.38 E31 .94 E40 12.34E14 Discontinued E23 11.20 E32 7.78 E41 17.26E15 7.88 E24 .44 E33 33.65 E42 21.30E16 4.38 E25 .65 E34 16.83 E43 DiscontinuedE17 4.03 E26 13.86 E35 13.39 E44 4.13E18 18.41 E27 13.86 E36 2.12

Section F: Replacement Parts

F10 162.00 F19 34.13 F28 16.00 F37 30.13F11 67.00 F20 19.50 F29 16.00 F38 .45F12 10.25 F21 4.88 F30 17.40 F39 .51F13 11.25 F22 39.85 F31 15.43 F40 1.21F14 210.00 F23 122.14 F32 14.75 F41 .54F15 135.00 F24 29.00 F33 .79 F42 .92F16 42.29 F25 24.15 F34 13.39 F43 1.31F17 87.21 F26 16.00 F35 14.28 F18 132.52 F27 16.00 F36 16.66 Section G: Pilot Supplies

G5 Discontinued G9 4.38 G13 13.13 G6 15.00 G10 4.38 G14 2.98 G7 Discontinued G11 4.38 G15 3.50 G8 15.00 G12 4.38 G16 1.75

Glasair I Accessories

GI-10 34.44 GI-19 10.57 GI-28 75.00 GI-37 4.29GI-11 395.00 GI-20 10.57 GI-29 652.50 GI-38 65.00GI-12 175.00 GI-21 150.00 GI-30 175.00 GI-39 135.00GI-13 22.50 GI-22 52.00 GI-31 124.22 GI-40 1.40GI-14 22.50 GI-23 375.00 GI-32 75.50 GI-41 9.03GI-15 22.49 GI-24 395.00 GI-33 345.00 GI-42 37.50GI-16 345.00 GI-25 195.00 GI-34 325.00 GI-43 37.50GI-17 640.00 Gi-26 9.98 GI-35 199.00 GI-44 37.50GI-18 9.12 GI-27 39.00 GI-36 375.00

STODDARD-HAMIL TON AIRCRAFT, INCORPORATED

18701 58th Ave. N.E. Arlington, WA 98223

Phone: (360)435-8533 Fax: (360)435-9525 E-mail: <[email protected]>

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