Ken Pavlou 601XL / 3.3 Corvair; Then there was two…

Builders,

At 6pm yesterday we stood in my front yard and listened for a smooth sound from the north; You could hear him before we saw Ken. A low pass and a trip around the pattern, and he was shortly in my front yard. Two fuel stops earlier he left the middle of Connecticut, his Zenith now brought him to north Florida in 7.25 hours aloft.

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Above, my front yard with two Zenith 601XLs, Phil Maxson’s and Ken Pavlou’s.  Combined they have more than 1,000 hours of Corvair powered flight. Phil’s represents a simple solid plane with a very good billet cranked 3.0L Corvair, Ken’s is a high end bird with a Billet cranked 3.3L engine and all the whistles and bells.  I serve both ends of the building spectrum.

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Seriously, if you want to read a really entertaining profile get a look at this: Ken “Adonis” Pavlou advises aviators: “Life is short, Live Large”. It will restore your faith that experimental aviation has some real characters.

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Above, a mischievous band of pranksters: Earl Brown, Phil Maxson, Ken Pavlou, Ron the drummer, and your humble narrator.

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Few visits are complete without a trip to my back yard range. Phil was joking “Maxon Airlines” doesn’t mind if you have firearms in your carry on baggage. Ken Pointed out that “Pavlou Airlines” allows weapons and smoking on his flight.  We were teasing Phil because he had the most expensive 1911 I’ve held in a while, but he pointed out that if you build your own aircraft engine, you can use the savings for some really nice “hardware”.

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Ken is a very illustrious character who has been a fixture in Corvairs and a good friend for more than a decade.  Just one of the really good humans I found in my 30 years in experimental aviation.

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