From the Prez:

New Member Welcome: Kent and Louise Linsenmann of Idaho Falls. Busy building a really nice RV-7A in their hangar at the Idaho Falls airport. Plans include some state-of the-art instrumentation and avionics so keep an eye on this one which is well along.

Congratulations:

To Gary (sky king) Shipley and his Piper Apache. They made it through a comprehensive oral exam and flight test on a hot day in Boise and now have a Commercial, Multi Engine, Instruments rating. Sounded like plenty of the proverbial blood & sweat went into getting the Apache airworthy and the multi engine examination, but without the tears. Read Gary’s saga which started with “Radio Rodeo” in last months newsletter.

Congratulations:

To Larry & Neva Boam for 50 years of marriage.

I talked to both Neva and Larry hoping to relate their marriage success to Larry being out in the hangar/garage building airplanes for many years . Larry and Neva were at the U of Idaho. Larry was in ROTC which resulted in a commission and subsequent flight training and becoming a USAF pilot in 1955. Then flying B-25's and T-29's and teaching Army pilots to fly the L-19. Making a living curtailed flying for many years until he produced his RANS S-7.

So you see, I was unsuccessful in trying to establish a correlation between marriage longevity and many hours/years of airplane homebuilding. Figured it was worth a try guys.

Thanks to Dale Cresap for preparing the minutes of the last meeting since Harold Turvey was out of town.

Hal

RADIO RODEO #2

By Gary Shipley

In the first installment of Radio Rodeo I discussed the acquisition of certain components of N64M’s radio installation. It was an exercise in frustration at best. If we all had deep pockets these problems would not haunt us and all. “I hate to tell ya kid, but it ain’t like that.”

The focus of this installment is more associated with the technical side of radio work. Many builders in our chapter have done excellent work in the arena of avionics and I tip my hat the those folks. The primary challenge for me was to get this technical marvel to work on the bench and then install everything and have it work as advertised.

My first big surprise was the shielded Teflon wire. Most of the new installations that I know of in certified aircraft require wire meeting certain mil-spec standards. The current wire is M27500-20TG1T1 and is a shielded Teflon coated wire available from Edmo and other aircraft suppliers. About the time I flipped out my pocket knife to strip back the insulation the old fashioned way was the time I discovered : “Son, that ain’t agonna work” I suppose there are alternatives to the Snap On stripper I purchased, but my ebay connection checked it out and for about $150.00 anyone can get a set. STICKER SHOCK! Any one who needs a set can borrow mine any time. I used a small propane soldering tool for most of the required soldering. John Bakken, my mentor, loaned his special crimpers (Molex) for the pins in the King and Narco equipment. Without special tools this type of project is best left to the experts. I should have left it to the experts, but I have a character flaw associated with stubbornness and such.

The most important thing is attention to detail. My final installed was stalled by the translation of “14" to “41". The dang thing just would not work until those pins were switched. Installing the Molex pins is easy, but removing them can be a challenge. The folks @ Western Aircraft’s Avionics shop recommended making the removal tool from an old hack saw blade. I have done so to some satisfaction and believe other could do so as well.

In closing, I would like to thank Austin for his good work with the Newsletter and for letting people like me share some adventures with the membership. Radios are the bane of all pilots. They are broken, or are going to break, or do not work as well as we would like, or they are about to fail. Perhaps I am exaggerating, but quality work by the installer can help keep pilot ahead of the radio rodeo we all encounter.

Thanks, Gary in PIH

Pulsar Fly-in 2003

By Austin Moses

Last week was the annual Pulsar Builder/Owner Fly-in at Lawrence, Kansas and since I haven’t been, I decided to go this year. It was also a chance to check the Pulsar out in a long cross-country.

Thursday morning dawned beautiful in Eastern Idaho but not so for the mid-west so I delayed taking off until 9:00 a.m. to let the thunderstorms over Kansas move off to the east a little. I quickly climbed to 11,500’ to make it over the Wyoming range west of Afton, WY and found myself sandwiched between two cloud layers. I took a chance that I could get down through before the Wind Rivers and stayed high to give myself some comfort over the mountains near Afton. Sure enough, just before Big Piney a nice little hole opened up and I was able to speed down through it with gps ground speed showing nearly 190 mph. Tail winds favored me the entire trip and it was not unusual to see 175 mph instead of my normal cruise of 145-150.

Even with tailwinds, Wyoming and Nebraska are wide states. My tailbone and a few other parts were smarting by the time I reached my fuel stop at Sidney, NE and I was happy to spend a half hour on the ground after the 3 hour fifteen minute flight. I was off again at 12:45 mdt and hadn’t traveled far east when I started to see the system that had caused me to delay my start. Ceilings started to push me groundward and before I was in the middle of Nebraska, I was down to 900’ agl with scattered showers. In the Midwest it isn’t mountains you worry about when flying low but high radio/television antennae. They just seem to pop out of nowhere spanning from ground to cloud layer.

I passed from Nebraska to Kansas, taking note of the numerous small airstrips along the way in case I had to turn back and sure enough, just as I was crossing the Big Blue River, ceilings dropped to the ground and I was forced back to the Washington County, Kansas airport (K38). It sure looked small and short but I set it down ok and found out on later takeoff that at 1200’ msl my 80 hp really has nearly 80 hp! I think I was flying in 300’! I had become used to needing 1200’ at Blackfoot’s elevation.

After an hour’s wait and a call to weather briefing, I was in the air again and swinging north to skirt around those lowest ceilings for the last 100 miles into Lawrence. The last few minutes were in a hard rain but the vor/gps didn’t fail me and Lawrence appeared right where it should have been. I landed and was greeted by about 20 people ready to pull my plane out of the rain. We had parts of a large hangar reserved and seven little Pulsars were nested in among a couple corporate jets. After getting acquainted with folks and wiping the plane down, we left for the motel and conference rooms where we had supper and socialized for a bit

Meetings on Friday started early and were all in the conference rooms as the weather had not improved. Of the 22 expected planes, I was the last to arrive before the weather deteriorated to IFR. In fact, it stayed so bad that only one other plane was able to fly in by the weekend, which dampened everyone’s spirits substantially. This also meant no flying to compare engine/propeller combinations, which everyone was looking forward to.

Nevertheless, the meetings were informative and interesting, with the highlight coming from Eric Tucker, the representative for Kodiak Research, LTD, which is the North American distributor for Rotax engines. I learned a new respect for Rotax and gained insight into the future offerings just announced. After talking to others in the group and listening to Eric, I would challenge anyone who says Rotax engines aren’t true aircraft engines. The four-strokes are proving themselves world-wide as dependable performers.

Saturday brought more rainy weather and the cancellation of the performance testing and sharing rides. It was so aggravating because the storm was a 100 mile wide band from Texas to the Great Lakes. If we had been 30 miles west we could have flown to our hearts content. As it was I decided to leave after lunch on Saturday, missing the closing banquet, and had 30 miles of rain before breaking out to clear skies. All the tail winds I had enjoyed on the trip out were now reversed and the 6.9 hour flight turned into 7.9 hours on the way back. Because I left in mid afternoon, by the time I arrived over Cheyenne it was nearly dark and the trip across Wyoming was a bit on the spooky side. All dark with towns in the far distance, for some time there was almost no horizon or outline of mountains. For 2.5 hours of darkness it was nearly 12,500’ in order to be clear of the mountains. I was happy to see the distant lights of eastern Idaho as I cleared the last tall range near Afton.

What an exhilarating trip! To leave Idaho mid-morning and be in eastern Kansas by mid-afternoon with one fuel stop, burning 3.8 gallons per hour in a comfortable little plane. I finished listening to Harry Potter on my Walkman, plugged into the intercom system as I traveled and thoroughly enjoyed the passing countryside as Harry battled death-eaters and Lord Valdemort in the final scenes. I learned a new respect for Pulsar Airplanes and Rotax engines. I appreciated the GPS system when flying over the mid-west with hardly any landmarks. Most of all, I enjoyed the freedom of flight and this beautiful country in which we live.

Austin

Minutes of August 16, 2003 Meeting

EAA potluck at Rainbow Ranch. Bob Hoff has built a new addition to his hangar. Painting the hangar floor required moving some planes out temporarily. Currently there are only 2 taggerwing Beechcraft, a yellow Piper cub, and a Cessna 120. All taildraggers, of course. More about the planes later.

Mark Edwards, Russell Anderson, and Steve Hildrith fly in.

The potluck is a real feast, with a barbecue and a great assortment of side dishes. Jane Hoff supplies fresh garden vegetables. Three batches of ice
cream are being made: peach, pineapple, and raspberry.

Dave Wilkins is here by my invitation, and would have flown his Commanche in if he had known how good the strip was.

There is a lot of hangar flying during lunch, and “Spud”, a Jack Russell terrier, performs tricks for treats.

Larry Boam and Joel Milloway drive to Rigby to come back with their Rans airplanes.

I get approval to sit in the Staggerwing. There isn’t much room in the cockpit for a plane this size.

The Rans jockeys arrive, and we are treated to a demonstration of short landings and takeoffs. They come in and land in about 200 feet. The stiff
wind helps. Takeoff is about the same Joel comes in really steep in a hard slip and has to add power on short final to avoid getting potatoes in the gear. One takeoff involves raising the tail before a short roll and a steep climb. I examine the planes later and am not surprised to find that one has a
fighter pilot stick handle, complete with a gun trigger. No wonder they fly like that. Errol should be here. He would be if he did not have a
schedule conflict.

Then Bob Hoff gives a tour of his new building. There is a new shop, with a Stearman in progress. A new garage holds vintage Harleys, an old Lincoln, and early Mustangs (the Ford variety, not the North American type).

The Cessna 120 is an 85 hp 1946 model, bought new for $2650. It has fabric wings and no flaps, and is still airworthy.

The Staggerwings are functional antiques, true classics. The setback of the top wing gives the pilot better visibility, and the lower wing being
forward gives better placement for the landing gear, and since the lower wing is set to stall first, the plane has some canard characteristics.
Still it is a handful to takeoff and land. Bob tells us of flutter problems, and the addition of stiffeners and lead balance weights. The
1939 model burns 50 gph at takeoff and 25 at cruise, but the 173 gallon tanks give it long legs.

A good time was had by all.

Dale Cresap

Chapter # 407 www.eaa407.org

South East Idaho

Hal Johansen, President 522-7297 haledie@ida.net