Builders, Would you rather be friends with a turtle or win an academy award? Simple question, and understand it or not, homebuilders will make this decision in 2017. . 2017 will be my 28th year of working with Corvair engines. Over this length of time, it has always been my approach to share “Old and …
Continue reading “Would you rather be friends with a turtle or win an academy award?”
Builders: Below is a flying story I wrote a long time ago. It has no technical information. If your time is valuable, don’t read it, I will not be able to refund your 15 minutes. It is a “fictional” companion piece to The Hypocrisy of Homebuilders. I have the quotes on the word fictional, because only the settings …
Builders, Last year, I had a pilot/owner of a Pietenpol powered by a Continental A-65 engine make the comment to me that he would not fly a Corvair because “It didn’t have true dual ignition” and that he selected a Continental because he had to “Have a really reliable engine”. At a very surface hangar …
Continue reading “Myths about dual ignition and reliability”
“Mechanical instruments are Bad-Ass. On my workshop shelf I have a manifold pressure gauge that reads to seventy five inches of manifold pressure. (22 pounds of boost) It is from a Lockheed P2V-7 Neptune which had 3,700 hp turbo compound radials. It glows in the dark because the numbers are painted on with radioactive paint. There is a pretty …
Continue reading “Thought For The Day: Mechanical Instruments”
Builders: ————————————– . If you have not seen the Intro to this series, you can read it here: Understanding Flying Corvairs Pt. #1, Intro., It will explain the goals of the articles. Please take a moment to read it, including the comments section. . —————————————- . Absolute rule of flight testing #4, from the Corvair Flight …
Continue reading “Understanding Flying Corvairs Pt. #5, Two Minute Test”
” If you work outside of aviation, let me teach you something: Many mechanics can fly a plane; Many pilots can change plugs or tires; Many ATC guys can navigate; Many dispatchers can forecast weather; Many linemen can start and taxi a turbo prop; Many glider pilots can hand prop a plane, and so on. …
Continue reading “Thought for the Day: Obsession with electronics”
Builders: When we were at Oshkosh this year, a man walked into the booth on a slow afternoon. After 20 years of doing presentations at airshows, I can say that it is very hard to predict who the serious builders are when they walk in for a look, but I can always tell in 10 …
Continue reading ““Local Expert” convinces builder to use cast pistons”
” The most simple flying Plane, even if it is not aesthetically pure, or record light, provides more satisfaction than any masterpiece that is over budget and years behind schedule, sitting in a garage, that will fly “someday.” We flew the Skycoupe and its funky looking trailer tires to many airshows. In the second incarnation we …
Continue reading “Thought for the day: Being simple and done.”
Builders: Below are 200 stories on aircraft building that I wrote in the last 2.5 years. This is just the top 40% most popular ones from our blog. They are loosely grouped, but you can scan through the titles, and you can read the full story by clicking on any colored title. There are some …
Builders It has been 18 days since we returned from Brodhead/Oshkosh/visiting family, and it is 18 days until we leave for Corvair College #26. I have laid off writing in the last few weeks to get a number of things done like returning calls, prepping for CC#26 and getting ordered parts out. Over the next 18 days I …
Continue reading “Back from the road, notes on Communications”
