03/07/2013

Running Zenith 750, Coenraad Van Der Merwe, CA

Builders:

Below is a picture of the latest running corvair, mounted on the front of A Zenith 750 built in the bay area of northern CA by Coenraad Van Der Merwe. The engine is a 2700 cc Gen #1 Dan bearing power plant with all of our Gold system parts and all of our Zenith installation components.

Above, Coenraad at the controls. In spite of a busy personal schedule, he has made great progress building his engine and airframe. Although they are not on in the picture, the wings have been completed. For the first start, Coenraad called in our West Coast man Woody Harris, who flew his own Corvair powered Zenith 601XL to supervise. It all worked out great, Woody said he had done a very good job on the airframe and engine. I am looking forward to seeing this aircraft on the flight line by the end of this season. Hats Off to Coenraad, the newest Corvair builder to reach the running engine milestone.-ww

Floats on Snow, Corvair powered Merlin

Builders:

Jeff Moores, of Newfoundland Canada, who flies his Corvair powered Merlin on full lotus floats sent us a few more pictures of his bird in action. Not only does it fly well off water, Full Lotus floats also work well on snow. Jeff pre-heats the engine before starting, but the Corvair has no issue working in bitter cold. Jeff keeps the aircraft in a small hangar that is on the edge of a lake. Once frozen, the hangar is now on a very long runway. The photos came with the short note below.

“Hi William. Some pics from flying today. The engine is performing flawlessly. -Jeff”

Outside the hangar. The aircraft has a 2700 cc /Dan bearing engine that Jeff built. It uses our standard nose bowl and stainless U-2 exhaust. The prop is a Warp Drive. The floats are made of inflated cells, the design is very versatile for this reason.

Airborne on a very clear day. Jeff Moores, northern most Corvair pilot in the world.-ww