EAA TULSA CHAPTER 10

MARCH 2001

Blips from the VP
This Month's Program
Introduction to Tech Counselor Roger White
Eye Surgery
Airplane Accident
Early Aviation
Dues Date
Who Brings Snacks?
Calendar
For Sale

EAA AIR ACADEMY

Did you know that EAA Chapter 10 sponsors a young person at an EAA Air Academy Camp during the summer? These camps, held in Oshkosh, Wisconsin give youth aged 12-18 information from the field of aviation through hands-on workshops, classrooms and outdoor experiences. The Air Academy camps are staffed by EAA volunteers from across the country and from a variety of aviation fields.

It is time to choose the recipient of this year's scholarship! This youth will be chosen from applicants by a committee of chapter members. Here is your opportunity to play a part in this exciting adventure! We need three members of the chapter to serve on this committee. Please contact me or any board member to volunteer as soon as possible! Thank you for your participation.

I can hardly believe that it is time for another meeting. I really am enjoying this warm weather that we are having. Before you know it fly-ins and
fly-outs will be here.

I had my FAA Inspector give me my second observation this past week and that makes me good till next year. Please pass along the info about all the certification process that is on our web site. Mark has done a wonderful job in making all this info available. I will send a link to this to Van's site and maybe you all can do the same to some other popular sites.

John Nys has flown his Turbo RV-8A. He has had a few very minor items arise but has just about gotten them ironed out. I had the opportunity to take it around the patch the other evening. With 15 degrees of flaps on takeoff I was airborne in no time. I don't know how the climb really is because I had to keep it on the deck for John a photo opt. I do know that by the end of the runway it will hit 150. Once I climbed out I checked the roll rate and pitch control. The roll rate is the same or more than the standard wing RV-8. I did make a high speed pass at 210 before I came around to land and it was rock solid. John has a really wonderful flying machine. I would highly recommend the wing clip for ultimate performance.

I don't know if you all have heard but because of the taxiway construction in BVO the Biplane and Tulsa Fly-in will take place in the fall as a combined Fly-in. As this event gets closer more info will be forth coming.

THIS MONTH'S PROGRAM

Our program this month is one you will want to tell everyone about. We are really privileged to be able to have Jim Younkin to present our program. The program will be about autopilots. Jim was the head designer for Century years ago and now has developed a fully digital autopilot for the home-built aircraft. This autopilot has been chosen by Lancair as the one recommended by the factory. John Nys has installed one in his RV-8A and will be testing it shortly. Again make sure that you spread the word and let's have a big crowd. See you at the March meeting this Monday.

INTRODUCTION TO
TECHNICAL COUNSELOR
ROGER G. WHITE

I'm one of Chapter 10's Technical counselors. I've volunteered to counsel EAA members interested in building an aircraft or, are in the process of building.

I volunteered because I can remember when I built my first airplane there was little information available to the amateur builder on the subject and questions that arose, which now seem so simple, were really worrisome.

I have built five airplanes in thirty-five years, three are still flying. In the process I have gained a lot of experience that I am willing to share. Most of my experience has been with 'Tube and Rag' planes. I did finish a Glasair Kit, with some help. If you need counseling about a metal airplane project,
Bart Dalton is your advisor. Don Pearsall is very experienced with composite, and is a technical advisor.

Engine installations can seem to be half of the building process. Any one of us can probably help with those problems.

Kit airplanes have vastly simplified the building process. Early scratch builders spent more that half their time shopping (scrounging) for parts, material and information. Today's kits are a marvel to me. Besides having all of the parts and material, on hand, the instructions are presented in such a way that the builder will begin with the more simple tasks and build skill and confidence for the more demanding tasks to be encountered later.

If you are just in the thinking stage, deciding if, or which airplane to build, I may be of some help in your decision.

What the potential builder needs to consider:
(1) Is the aircraft one that he (she) will be happy with when (and if) it is completed?
(2) Does he have the place to build?
(3) The financial commitment?
(4) The dedication? most projects run seven years or so.
(5) If a family person, do they have the family's support?

If you have thought about these things and would like to talk about it, give one of your Technical Counselors a call. We would like to get together and talk about it with you. Our service is more valuable that it's cost, hopefully. There is no charge.

EYE SURGERY

To EAA Chapter 10: You may find this interesting.
I have not been able to attend the EAA meetings as of late due to multiple reasons. Hopefully I will be able to attend again soon. I had surgery in Dec for sleep apnea. Of course that was following my aircraft accident on Dec 16th. I am going to have surgery on my eyes on the 28th of this month. I do plan on joining and attending regularly and if I can attend this month I will bring you my dues.

The surgical procedure I will be undergoing is a tried and true method of surgery, however, it does have a twist. It is basically cataract surgery, although I don't have cataracts. The difference is the replacement lens they will be implanting. It will give me 20/20 vision or better and it has a built in bifocal. This will preclude me ever having to have cataract surgery and with the built in bifocal I will never need reading glasses. I understand pilots love it as a bifocal surrounds the lens in the center. This means that a pilot can see out the window, or above (and see the overhead panel), or below (and see the instruments).

AIRPLANE ACCIDENT

As to my accident on Dec 16th, you will find it on the NTSB web site for the Piper-28-140 at Jones Riverside Airport. I was in the process of getting checked out in a Piper Cherokee 180. We took off on runway 31. It was cold, clear and gusty. ATIS reported the wind was 9kts gusting to 22kts at 310º with 10 miles of visibility however, it was really coming a little more out of the North. The airplane was climbing out at a hefty 700 to 1000 fpm (even though we were only getting 2150 RPM out of the engine). At 400` AGL we turned crosswind and shortly thereafter turned downwind. My instructor was not impressed with the engine performance and radioed the tower that we would be returning for a full stop landing (we were going to do touch and goes). I pulled power abeam the numbers and started our descent. At about ¼ to ½ mile I turned to base and then to final. Runway 31 is only half as wide as runways 1 & 19. This threw off my site picture a little bit and as a result I was not quite into a full flare when we made contact with the runway. It was not a hard impact but, because it was relatively flat we porpoised back into the air. A gust of wind blew us left of the runway centerline. I started to initiate a go around and was stopped by my instructor (who still wanted to make a full stop landing). He pulled the throttle back to idle and I surrendered the control of the airplane to him. When we made contact with the runway the second time (again not a hard impact) I heard a terrible noise. Looking out the left window I saw the left wing make contact with a snow bank. This caused us to yaw to the left and we crossed the taxiway/runway intersection on the North side of the runway with the right wing up in the air and the left wing down on the ground. The left main gear had collapsed. The wing was really beat up and the prop had made contact with the ground.

The FAA investigator's preliminary investigation found that there was a hairline crack in the scissors on the left main gear and that a bolt holding the gear had sheared. The investigator suspects that the gear had come loose after our initial contact with the runway and was dangling by the hydraulic brake line when we made contact the second time. Without the support of the left main gear the wing settled onto the snow bank and the rest , as they say, was history. The Cherokee 180 is a low wing aircraft, which made it impossible to see the gear had let go from inside the cockpit.

Please be careful with the aircraft you rent. You are putting your life in the hands of their maintenance crew. I have had two complete engine failures (both swallowed a valve in flight) and now this, and I only have 260 hours. I don't want to impugn all FBO's but, I am now a firm believer in inspecting the maintenance logs of whatever FBO I intend to rent from. These events are not fun even if you survive them and the NTSB paperwork you have to fill out is not to be believed. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the accident. Hopefully, you will find this story educational and will prevent anyone in the chapter from becoming a statistic. I hope to see you at the next meeting.

(editor's note: Mark is a new member to our chapter and he has purchased a partially completed Varieze. I certainly appreciate his sharing of this information and accident with us.

On a more humorous note: Mark attended our last pancake breakfast and he asked me what was the normal contribution for the pancakes and I replied, as I often do, "oh - normally folks give $20 or $30 dollars". After we had cleaned up the hangar, Craig was counting the money and noticed a check from mark for $20 - so we owe Mark some free pancakes)

EARLY AVIATION

Almost before we know it, 2003 will be upon us, along with much hoopla about the one-hundredth anniversary of the historic flight experiments carried out by the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Now seems like a good time to look at some of the experimentation that was undertaken prior to the successes achieved by the Wrights.
The beginning of heavier-than-air flight is credited to an English Baronet, Sir George Cayley. In 1804 he created what is thought to be the first successful model glider. His model consisted of little more than a broom handle, to which a kite shaped monoplane wing was attached, and at the aft end, vertical and horizontal tail surfaces. With this device he was able to confirm that the principles of heavier-than-air flight were entirely feasible. Cayley continued his experiments, and in 1849 built a glider having three wings mounted above a small canoe like frame in which he actually flew a small boy. The aircraft has since been referred to as the "boy lifter". In 1853, he installed his very reluctant servant, a coachman, in the same flying machine. Both "flyers" were merely passengers, having no means of control; their persons being merely a part of the experiments.
Cayley had suggested the use of an internal combustion engine to power aircraft, but none existed that were suitable for such use. He died in 1857, the same year that the first powered model flew. It was created by Felix DeTemple, a French naval officer, and used a clock mechanism for power. Seventeen years later, DeTemple flew a full sized, man-carrying airplane that used either a "hot air" or steam engine. The incomplete state of records from the time do not permit a more definite statement about the power source. This aircraft was the first to achieve powered flight for a short distance, following launch from a downward inclined ramp. The flight took place at Brest, France and an unknown French sailor was at the controls.
The first working layout of a suitable power plant was demonstrated in 1876 by a German engineer, named Nicholas Otto. The "Otto cycle" engine is more familiar to us today as the "four stroke cycle engine". Another German, Otto Lilienthal (1848-1896) would make many thousands of successful flights in beautifully constructed gliders, as would an English plane builder/flyer named Percy Pilcher (1866-1899). Both men would die piloting their own creations.
A third important pioneer, a builder, not a flyer, was Octave Chanute, who meticulously collected information from every possible source, publishing this jumbled information in his book: Progress in Flying Machines. Chanute, (1839-1910) the compiler of this book was to develop the Lilienthal type aircraft into a classic glider. His book, friendship and advice were to inspire the brothers Wright, Orville and Wilbur in their successful work.
One other name must be mentioned in this prologue to the first successful heavier-than-air powered flight of man-carrying aircraft; that of the German Gottlieb Daimler, who in 1885 invented the world's first single cylinder internal combustion engine utilizing the "Otto" cycle, and petrol as its fuel. Patterned after this and similar engines, the Wright brothers would later manufacture their own, four cylinder, twelve horsepower engine for use in the "Flyer".
It takes nothing away from the inspired successes of the Wright brothers, to ponder these intellectual foundations for their work. Foundations provided by men who, like the Wrights, devoted their energies, and frequently paid with their lives to develop the information that makes powered flight so familiar to us today.

DUES DATE

Our erudite and zealous treasurer, Craig Loomiller, has reminded me that it is time to pay your dues for 2001. The dues will be $20 again this year.

I will include a membership application in this newsletter. Fill it out and mail it to our treasurer, Craig Loomiller. The address will be at the bottom of the application. Note: This year we will be asking for your email address also. It turns out that email is a great way to communicate with a group of people. We also prefer that as many people as possible go to the web page to read our monthly newsletter. More on that later.

NOTE: This will be the last issue of the newsletter we will send you if you don't get your dues in before the April issue comes out. You will be dropped from our membership roll.

WH0 BRINGS SNACKS????

Below is a list of who brings snacks for each meeting. The pressure is really on the G-H's for March because the A-C's brought really good stuff for the February meeting.

January A-C
February D-F
March G-H
APRIL I-L
June M
July N-P
September Q-S
October T-V
November W

CALENDAR

March 17 12th ANNUAL MARY KELLY WILD ONION & EGG FLY-IN
TENKILLER AIRPARK 8:00am - 12noon

FOR SALE

1984 Pientenpol (GN1) Aircamper,
A-65 Continental TT 760 SMOH 100
100 TT Airframe, Metal Prop
$7900
David Cash 274-9909 or
Phil Hart 272-1064

RV6 Empennage
Completed by A&P. Will sell for a fair price
Lost medical. Hank Antosh 918 587-1465

Contents of the EAA Chapter 10 newsletter and these web pages are the viewpoints of the authors. No claim is made and no liability is assumed, expressed or implied as to the technical accuracy or safety of the material presented. The viewpoints expressed are not necessarily those of Chapter 10 or the Experimental Aircraft Association.