Author: William Wynne

I have been continuously building, testing and flying Corvair engines since 1989. Information, parts and components that we developed and tested are now flying on several hundred Corvair powered aircraft. I earned a Bachelor of Science in Professional Aeronautics and an A&P license from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and have a proven 30 year track record of effectively teaching homebuilders how to create and fly their own Corvair powered planes. Much of this is chronicled at www.FlyCorvair.com and in more than 50 magazine articles.
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Spark Plug Installation

Friends,

Here are a few quick notes on spark plugs. Print this off and keep it in your maintenance notes. I have a 3 ring binder that I keep in the top of my engine building tool box. In it I keep any data that I am not going to memorize. In my case, this is part numbers for things that we repeatedly order by phone, CC vs. compression ratio data, and research notes and test data.  Lots of stuff, like this plug data, I obviously have memorized, but the point is that well organized builders have notebooks and reference data, and it is a good habit to develop, especially if your workshop and home are not at the same place.

What plugs should I use? A common question. At our place, I often use Autolite 275s just to run engines on the ground. People have flown them, but the primary use I put them to is break in runs. They are in stock at most chain auto parts stores, and are often on sale for less than $1.50 each. I still like AC R44Fs for everyday flying. People have flown a giant variety of plugs, and the engine is not that sensitive to them with one exception: Do Not Fly an engine that will use 100LL fuel on platinum plugs. Other than this, make sure the plug you are looking at is the correct application. For many years the Bosch catalog listed for the Corvair a plug that was 3/16″ too long, and actually hit the piston head. If you are thinking of trying a different plug, go with one that people have already flown in a Corvair like yours, with the same carb and the same kind of fuel. For example, Woody Harris has a lot of flight time in his 2,700cc and later 2,850cc engines using Denso iridium plugs, part number IWF16-5359. His plane has an MA3-SPA carb and flies on 100LL. If you want to eliminate variables, use R44Fs, as they have proven to work well on the broadest variety of engine configurations.

How much torque do I put the plugs down to? This is a very important question. People used to cars with iron heads always overtorque Corvair plugs. The Corvair Shop Manual says you can use 20 pounds, and I have had new builders ask if 25 or 30 was ok, as they didn’t want them to “get loose.” If you routinely torque them that much on installation, they will get loose, because they are going to strip out of the heads. A much better number to work with is 7 to 10 pounds. I use 7 pounds more often than 10. After an initial ground run, I will recheck the torque.  The Corvair’s plugs seal by a gasket, and it takes almost no pressure on this to get it to seal. Don’t overdo it; it isn’t a lug nut on a diesel truck.

Above, final prep work on Lary Hatfield’s 3,000cc engine destined for service in his Zenith 750. I built the engine for him in our shop this week. It has all our Gold Systems and one of the Weseman’s Billet 5th bearings. After careful set up, the engine fired up after 3 seconds of cranking and laid down a flawless and smooth 1 hour break in run. Notice how short my personal plug wrench is. It is a 13/16″ plug socket with a hex top. I apply the torque with a cut down 12 point offset wrench that is only 4″ long. This arrangement fits in a small storage space. Because the wrench fits on up or down, it is very easy to use in confined spaces like the front two plugs without the Nosebowl removed. The bottle on the head is Champion plug lube.

What should I use for anti-seize?  There is only one substance you should ever put on any plug in an aircraft: Champion 2612. This is the only stuff that aircraft mechanics use. It is black graphite liquid with a tiny brush. It does a neat, controlled job. Over the years, I have seen a great number of planes of all types with plugs coated in silver anti-seize.  I have seen people apply it in the thickness one might better use to put peanut butter on a sandwich. Its brush is sized to apply it to diesel truck lug nuts, and the stuff is messy, and conductive. I have seen builders get enough on their fingers and on the ceramic part of the plug to cause a short, and make the plug boot slip off the plug. Stay away from it, get the real stuff. Aircraft Spruce sells small bottles that go so far that I am only on my second bottle in two decades of being an A&P. They cost less than $10.

What gap should I use? The ignition systems that I build are not too picky about it, but start with .035″. Measure it with a wire, and use an actual electrode tool to open the gap if required. Resist the temptation to pry the gap open with a screwdriver or a feeler gauge. As always, if you have any questions, give a call or write in.

Thank you,

William

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Corvair Powered Davis DA-2, w/EFI

Friends,

I asked Rex Johnston to send us some more info on his Davis with electronic fuel injection. He mailed back the following letter of technical notes and the photos. As you may be able to tell from the spelling in my previous post, my editor in chief, Grace, is out of town for a few days. This is my first try at posting pictures from files on the Web, we will see how it goes. Worst case, Grace will be back in a few days. 

Again, hats off to Rex, as I am pretty sure he is the first guy ever to fly an EFI Corvair engine. A lot of people think about doing stuff like this, but a very special group of builders meet the challenges of doing something very different, and see the project all the way through flying. This is not for everyone, but the beauty of the Corvair is that you have the choice to build it the way that meets your personal needs. The Buy-it-in-a-box alternative engines only come one way, the configuration that makes the manufacturer the most money. With your Corvair, you are the manufacturer, and you can make the engine in the best configuration for your plane and personal flight goals.

Every Corvair builder, even the ones using simple carbs, can read this post and understand that Rex is to be congratulated not just for the EFI, but for finishing an outstanding aircraft, a plane he dreamed of, and then persistently worked on until it became a reality. You don’t need to ask if he felt like a king the day it flew. I am sure he will vividly remember the day for the rest of his life. Every Corvair builder reading this deserves to have his own personal version of that day. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t or that it will not be worth the effort.  Reject these negative messages and go to work for yourself. Be persistent so that I can post pictures of your completed aircraft and you can enjoy the praise of fellow builders who truly understand your achievement.

William,

Here are the pictures you asked for. Highly modified Davis DA-2A with RV-4 spar, Riblett airfoil, left side door, rounded fuselage and wing mounted fuel tanks.

3100 Corvair, machine work done by Ray Sedman. Standard VW cylinder and piston 3,100 conversion. 100LL only due to compression ratio. Roller rockers due to an off center valve guide on number 5 which caused the stock rocker arm to not stay centered on the valve. At least that’s what I think was causing it. Conversion parts are all yours from a few years ago. No 5th bearing but nitrided crank. May install a fifth bearing at some point but this is a 120 mph point a to point b aircraft and I’m not particularly worried about the crank.

Holley projection system modified for use in an aircraft. Manual mixture adjustment set by a wide band fuel air ratio meter. The system only picks up rpm and throttle position. Dual fuel pumps with a manual bypass valve to a nozzle in the intake to be used if the injection system fails. The engine runs surprisingly well at 2,500 rpm with just this nozzle. I run dual batteries in the aircraft with a generator failure warning system. I also have a knock sensor installed that is connected to a warning light. Neat system but I have no way to calibrate it so don’t know how useful it is. So far it hasn’t gone off but I haven’t done anything to the engine that I think would cause it to detonate.

Have about eleven hours on it now. Starts and runs very well. Hard to keep the mixture set during warm up in very cold weather but otherwise the mixture is very stable. I can take it anywhere from 11 to 1 to over 14 to 1. Engine runs smoothest in flight in the 14 to 1 range. I use 12 to 1 during high power settings.

 

Rex Johnston

N92BY

Top view of the 3,100cc engine. It has a Front Starter and a rear alternator.

Above, a rear quarter look at the back of the engine. Note the cover that keeps the alternator belt from attacking the ignition wires if the belt is thrown. This is a crucial safety device.

Above, a bottom view of the engine. Note that it still has carb heat. Fuel pumps are on the firewall on the right in the photo.

Above, the modified airframe. A Davis is a classic design from the 1960s. Rex’s has extensive modifications.

Above, a view from the bottom of the left side of the engine. Large black strut is the nose gear.

Above, the same view from the other side.

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Sterling Hayden – Philosophy

Friends,

The subject of today’s post is a man best known for his work as a Hollywood actor. His autobiography, The Wanderer, is a an excellent reminder that the public persona of celebrities, good or bad, probably bears little resemblance to who these people really are. In the book, a very complex man is revealed: He captained an America’s Cup yacht to victory before he was 25; sailed to Tahiti and became engaged to a princess; in WWII he was an OSS agent fighting with the Partisans in Yugoslavia; he is in films like Dr. Strangelove and The Godfather, but detests acting and Hollywood; he is a harsh critic of himself and others, yet has great respect for the common man; above all else, Hayden is an adventurer who rejects everything that consumer society tells him he must do.

Hayden’s commentary on the last subject is well worth considering in great detail. His lifelong love was sailing, not flying, but his words ring true for any airplane builder. Hayden made and spent several fortunes, but never found himself short of great friends. They were all attracted to his personal code of living life as an adventure, on his own terms.

Above, Sterling Hayden in his Arena, circa 1950.

“To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea … ‘cruising’ it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about. ‘I’ve always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can’t afford it.’ What these men can’t afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of ‘security.’ And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine – and before we know it our lives are gone.What does a man need – really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in – and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That’s all – in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade.The years thunder by, the dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?”

The walls inside our home are lined with bookshelves. They contain many volumes that I found personally moving. But the very first time I read Hayden’s quote above, it hit me like a lightning bolt, directly reaching my strongest, but unspoken, dreams and fears. There are things I feel I must do in life, planes I wish to build and places to fly them to. Hayden plainly states that dreams and adventure are the core of a life worth leading, and he identifies consumer society as the mortal enemy of any man’s dreams of adventure. The fact that the man wrote “But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade” in 1962 gives you a good idea of how far ahead of the power curve he was. It also makes you realize that if he was alive today he would have an aneurism thinking about how little people heeded his warning, and how little most people are willing to get out of life.

Read the words about cruising vs. voyaging: We have all seen some super wealthy guy dump a ton of money into a plane, and fly the plane to Oshkosh in search of recognition in the form of a trophy. This is the predictable cruise that Hayden speaks of. An expenditure without passion and a predictable result without meaning. Now picture a guy who feels like he must build a plane, but doesn’t know if he can find the money to complete it, yet he starts anyway because he is unwilling to abandon his dreams. The budget forces him to learn and to be resourceful. He must make things with his hands. He may not know how to fly when he starts building, but he is committed to the belief that he will meet this challenge. This is the voyage that Hayden is speaking of. Replace the word Seaman with Aviator, and it fits right into place.

By choosing to build your own plane, accepting and managing the risk, you are making a giant course correction from a life consigned to “the cancerous discipline of security.”  The next time you tell someone that you are building your own aircraft, and the first thing out of their mouth is something about how they would never build one nor fly with you, just think of Hayden writing: “In the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine – and before we know it our lives are gone.” That is what is going to happen to all the people with a long personal list of things they would never do. If you are persistent in pursuit of your dreams, your place isn’t going to be among those who expended their lives relentlessly looking for security. If the goal of the captain was to preserve the ship, he would never leave port. Most people never do. The goal of the captain is to seek adventure, to meet all the challenges and still achieve the goals, to be In The Arena, not rusting at the pier in the safe harbor. Make your choice. If it sounds scary, it’s because consumer society has had decades to teach you to doubt yourself,  your potential,  your dreams and abilities. Building a plane and learning to master it is the rejection of these messages, and the replacement of them with the knowledge that you are the master of your own adventure.

Thank you.

William

Above Sterling Hayden plays “General Jack Ripper,” the mad SAC wing commander in 1964’s  Dr. Strangelove, Kubrick’s black comedy about nuclear war. The character was patterned after General Curtis LeMay. Beside him is Peter Sellers playing Group Captain Mandrake.  Sellers also played president Merkin and Dr. Strangelove.  The film is a masterpiece; I have seen it about 20 times.

If you wish to see Hayden in an interview, look at this YouTube selection:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_1vQLUGxXE

In it, Hayden is being interviewed in NYC in 1980. He has just returned from attending Marshal Joseph Tito’s funeral in Yugoslavia. He is 64 years old in the interview, yet he is full of life. Johnny Depp said that he made up the whole pirate Jack Sparrow character based on watching films of Keith Richards. Looking at the interview, it is easy to imagine Richards styling his personal image after Sterling Hayden. You don’t have to develop the look of a pirate to emulate their quest for adventure.

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Fuel Injected Corvairs

Note to readers coming from the Cub Crafters site: This information is not directly applicable to Lycomings. The 6% power increase came from a major change in the intake configuration, not from the EFI. Look at 360 Lycomings; Yes most of the ones with a carb are 180HP and most of the injection are 200HP, a 10% gain, but this is ignoring the fact that the 200HP models (the -As and -Cs) have a very different angle valve head and a tuned induction system. Note that the 360s that just change from a carb to injection, (the -B series) remain at 180hp. There is no magic power in FI.  Also note that all Corvairs in the last decade all have electronic ignition. If a Lycoming has a perfect set of mags and they are replaced with electronic ignition, there is no reason to expect a measurable peak power increase.  The far easier way to get a small power increasein almost any motor without adding any complexity is to turn it slightly faster. -ww.

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Friends,

Here are some notes and photos of five fuel injection systems for the Corvair. The first three are electronic systems, the latter two are mechanical injection. Fuel injection is a topic that many builders ask about.  I think a lot of the interest is generated by the awareness that high performance certified aircraft have mechanical fuel injection. A number of builders have learned that these systems are comparatively immune to carb ice. Beyond this, very few people have a good concept of the pros and cons of these systems vs. carbs. Even guys who know a fair amount about engines often miss important realities about the applications of these systems. This post gives a general overview, and covers details that are rarely discussed when builders bring up the topic of injection.

Electronic injection is the type of system that modern cars use. There have been a number of auto engine conversions that came from cars that had EFI that have gone on to fly in planes, and some suppliers to certified engines are just starting to look at EFIs fitted to Lycomings. What gives modern cars good mileage, long plug life, low emissions, etc.,  is the ability of the EFI system to operate in closed loop mode. It does this almost all the time the car is cruising down the road. When it is not doing  this, it is operating in “open loop mode” and falling back on the computer’s pre-programmed data that says ‘at 3150 rpm and 26.5″ MAP squirt in so much  fuel.’ In open loop, much of the advantage of EFI disappears. Up to here,  what I have typed falls into the category of  “Lots of people know this.”  Here is  the corollary only a few people understand.

In aircraft applications, the EFI systems almost never operate in closed loop. If you are going to cruise your aircraft at 75% power, it will spend its whole time in open loop. This is true with liquid cooled engines, but  really true with air cooled ones. Very few engines run with air fuel ratios of  14.7 to 1 at high power settings. They mostly run 12 to 1, or richer, and  O2 sensors have a hard time getting the loop to close at rich ratios. Sure,  there are exceptions to this, like wide band sensors, but you really cannot  compare a made at home system to a 2007 Corvette with perfectly tuned knock  sensors, 1 million lines of code in memory, and the ability to look at  individual cylinder exhaust pulses as they pass the O2 sensor. Even still,  GM knew that 75% sustained power in the Vette would be about 155mph, and the car  would spend .002 percent of its life there, so it’s OK if it is in open loop at that point.

After CC #9, I got Mark from Falcon to walk over to Jann Eggenfelner’s hangar. Jann is the king of Subarus, and like it or not, most people concede that he has flown more different types of EFI than anyone else. I know him  fairly well, and he is very smart, and unbelievably tenacious. With Mark’s OEM background and Jann’s flight experience, they had a very detailed high speed  data exchange. The recurring point that Jann kept coming back to is that no system, including the Subaru OEM stuff, will reliably operate in closed loop at aircraft power settings. In open loop, EFI begins to look like a very complex, high pressure, electrically dependent carburetor.

Above, the EFI 2,700cc Corvair built by Mark at FalconMachine.net in 2007, at power on my dyno. The urethane wheel directly reads foot pounds of torque off the digital scale. Note that this engine is using headers with collectors. We also tested it with cast iron manifolds and mufflers. It has distributorless ignition. Six LS1 coils are mounted on the sides of the black airbox. After a lot of careful calibration runs, this engine achieved a 6 percent power increase over a carbureted Corvair. Merely saying this will certainly activate the keyboards of armchair EFI experts, but it’s simple measured facts. Before questioning the test methodology or results, consider that Mark has earned his living with these systems for the past 20 years and the instrumentation included such niceties as a $500 laboratory grade digital oxygen sensor. Anyone who says that adding EFI to an engine like a Corvair will add 30% more power is just making their information up. The system above was tested a number of hours but was not flown. The controller on this was a Tracy Crook unit. This engine was equipped with equal length intake runners. It was laid out to fit in a 601/650 cowl.

 This is a redundant ignition, electronically fuel injected, fifth bearing, 2,700cc test engine built by Roy at RoysGarage.com in 2007.  It features coil on plug technology and throttle body injectors along with a rear mounted 40A alternator. It is mounted on Roy’s 701. It was run and tested, but not flown. Roy also has extensive experience with digital EFI systems. This provided good data, but in the end, Roy thought about the complexity he was applying to a very simple aircraft and chose to finish the aircraft with a simple gravity feed carb instead.

My thesis on EFI in 5 simple points:
1) Any system that uses lower pressure fuel is less likely to leak. Gravity is better than 5 psi, and 5 psi is better than 40. EFI runs at high pressure.

2) Any system that uses no electricity is better than one that uses  a little, and one that uses a little is better than one that uses a  lot, especially if the one that uses a lot needs it to be a  certain voltage, like digital EFI.

3) Any system that has less parts and connections is less likely to  fail. Digital electronic connections, working at low voltages, are very sensitive  to corrosion, temperature and vibration, things planes produce more than newer cars.

4) Almost all the things that EFI advocates hope for, HP increase, smoothness, fuel efficiency, and reliability, will prove elusive or minimal.  Before debating this, seek out a single flying system that will go into a closed loop in cruise flight. Realize that monitoring voltage and fuel pressure is not a work load reduction from using carb heat.

5) The only good reason to work on an EFI Corvair is because you want  a challenge, and this is more important than finishing your plane soon. This is  a valid position, and I support anyone who knowingly makes it.

Let me introduce a man who personifies point number 5, Rex Johnston. As far as I know, Rex is the first guy to ever fly an EFI system on a Corvair powered aircraft. This makes him someone special, because there were a lot of hurdles to jump over. His Corvair powered plane is a Davis DA-2, a sporty little two-seat sheet metal aircraft. Rex’s work is an outstanding example of building to meet a challenge that you personally feel. He was not after some illusive performance goal, he was just looking to challenge himself and learn a lot. Hats off to Rex.

Above, the underside of Rex’s plane. His system is a Holley Projection throttle body unit, that Holley originally sold for 258cid Jeeps. Rex’s  engine is a 3,100cc Corvair. Notice that it still has carb heat. A project like this isn’t for everyone. It takes significant experience building to be able to develop and flight test a complex set of systems like this.

The standard for aircraft injection are mechanical systems. These use no computers, they work entirely on a balance of pressures and flows. They meter fuel very accurately, and offer instant throttle response. They typically operate at 25 psi, somewhat lower than EFI. Unlike EFI, they are not sensitive to fuel pressure changes, and they do not need an external pressure regulator. By design, they are always operating in open loop mode. Because these systems have been used on aircraft for half of the history of powered flight, they are fully understood and developed.

The above photo shows an Airflow Performance mechanical fuel injector specifically calibrated for the Corvair. For size reference, a core Stromberg carb is at top left in the photo. Below it is the gold flow divider. One of the installation advantages of mechanical injection is the extremely small calibrated nozzles. Packaging six electronic injectors that will fit in a tight cowl is challenging. Mechanical injectors have an 1/8″ pipe thread on the bottom and are roughly 1/4 the size of electronic injectors. Airflow performance is owned by Don Rivera, a very smart guy who has owned and driven land-based Corvairs. This system is made in the U.S. The parts for this system cost over $3000.  Corvair builder Sarah Ashmore is putting one of these on her Personal Cruiser airframe. Her heads were modified for the injectors by Mark at Falcon. She works in the aerospace industry and made the choice to equip her aircraft with a system that met her specific goals.

Above is a photo of a Precision mechanical fuel injector.  The pictured unit is a port injector, but they also make a very compact unit that has the same quality, but has just one injector built into the body of the unit. The system does not require any modifications to the Corvair’s heads or intake, as the unit bolts onto the same flange as an aircraft carb. Peter Nielson of precisionairmotive.com is our engineering rep who has supplied us with a test unit, which we are now testing on a 3,000cc Corvair. This system is about $2,500. Precision knows quality, as they produce parts for and service certified fuel systems. We will release more data as we move through the tests. We are planning on flight testing this on Woody Harris’ 601, and Dan Weseman is planning on using the aerobatic capability of the system on the prototype of his new Corvair powered design, the Panther.

Today, 99.75% of Corvair powered planes use carbs. However, I think the Corvair is a good platform for fuel injection, and there are a small number of airframe applications that could really benefit from a fuel injection system. While there has always been a lot of talk about EFI, only a rare few clever and persistent builders like Rex Johnston will see the project through. I personally feel that the mechanical systems offer the best reliability and most proven track record, having flown in many demanding settings on other engines. As always, the proof and the progress is in the hands of the builders, the people In The Arena.

Thank you,

William

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Stromberg Carbs

Friends,

The subject here is the most popular light aircraft carb of all time,the Stromberg NAS-3 and 3A. These were fitted to roughly 70,000 aircraft over a production run that lasted several decades. It looks like a very simple carb, and in some ways it is. But in reality, it is a highly engineered design that was produced by the world’s leading manufacturer of aircraft fuel systems.  At the time of production, this was Stromberg’s most basic product. They also made ultra sophisticated pressure carbs that were on the most powerful multi-row radials. This carb comes with an experience pedigree that no experimental carb can come close to matching.

Above, a Stromberg NAS-3 mounted on Dave the Bear’s Wagabond. We finished this aircraft in our Edgewater hangar in 2004, when Dave worked as part of  “The Hangar Gang.”  We used this combination with a 2,700cc Corvair and a Sensenich 64×35 prop to conduct a lot of jetting tests. We were not new to the Stromberg, as our Pietenpol, and our second test mule, Gary’s Skycoupe, both used the same carb. Besides these Corvair powered planes, the carb was also on several certified planes we had at the same time like Grace’s Taylorcraft and Gus’ 120.

When it comes to gravity feed carbs, I like Strombergs  because they have literally millions of hours feeding air and fuel into flight engines. I know them and trust them, and if I had any little issue with it, I’d have a mountain of expertise to draw on, not just other people flying one, but professionals with decades of documentation. I don’t have to think about it, it isn’t a variable. The one limitation on the carb is that it is not suited to use on a plane that requires a fuel pump. Thus, it isn’t good for a 601XL or a 650, but it is a good match for any high wing plane or one with a header tank. (The sole exception to this is the 750 because the factory now recommends that builders use a back-up fuel pump because of the plane’s high angle of attack capability.) I consider the Stromberg a much better carb for the Corvair than any of the other gravity feed carbs like a Monett Aerocarb, Posa, etc. The typical price for an old but functioning NAS-3 is $250. If you shop around, you can find them for half of this.

Above, an overhaulled NAS-3 that went on the Pietenpol of Dave Minsink.

The carb comes in two venturi sizes, but they are interchangeable, so if you have a core from a 65hp with a small 1.25″ venturi, you can replace the venturi with a larger 1.375″ one that came on the 85 and 90hp carbs, and you can rejet the carb to the bigger model. If you wish to have your core rebuilt, the best place we know of is D&G Fuel Systems in Niles, Mich. It is owned by a good guy named Russ Romey. I have worked with Russ over many years, and dozens of Corvair powered planes are flying with carbs that he rebuilt. If you don’t have a core, you can buy a Stromberg outright from Russ.

When Dave the Bear’s Wagabond was finished,  Gus did the original test flights. One of  the things we carefully worked out was the jetting. Here is something not to try at home: We did successive tests to slightly pull the mixture on full power climbouts, looking for a slight increase in rpm, which would indicate the carb running slightly rich to protect the engine from detonation. This was done carefully, and still Gus aborted a take off after reaching 150′ because the engine was hinting at detonation at the combination of timing and mixture  we were trying. Dave kept rejetting the carb until we got what we needed.  From the EGT reading, I think  that the correct A/F ratio at this setting was about 11:1.  

We spoke with Russ from D&G during this testing  and when we were done, he  began to jet the Strombergs he sells for Corvairs this same way. This is what we came to call a “Super Stromberg” to differentiate it from others jetted differently. The Corvair will run with one taken directly off a 65 or 85 Continental, but if you run it hard to get the engine’s full potential, it will be too lean. If you’re close to flying, and you know that you’re eventually going to have the carb redone internally, let me encourage you to do it before you start flying. Dave’s plane ran a whole lot better when we had it finished, and today people can just get their Stromberg to run this way right off the bat. The jetting works on any Corvair from 2,700-3,000cc.

Some models of the carb have a mixture control, others do not. The ones we used in our Pietenpol and the Skycoupe had no mixture. If I were planning on flying over 10,000′, I would have one, otherwise I would use either model.  Most of the light planes that originally came with NAS-3s only had a mixture control as an option, not standard equipment. Although this may sound a little crude for an aircraft carb, the mixture control isn’t a requirement for flying. People logged a lot of happy hours flying J-3 Cubs without a mixture control. 

One of the most common questions asked about Strombergs is their susceptibility to carb ice.  Although it is technically more prone to carb ice, I treat every carb as if it were prone to carb ice and I use carb heat on every plane and utilize it habitually any time the power is reduced below cruise setting. I consider the ice issue a small point compared to the other issues experienced by unregulated flat slide carbs. Sticking slides on planes that are on short final is far more of a risk . The Stromberg’s butterfly throttle plate always opens smoothly, and the carb is well known for holding an adjustment throughout a very wide range of temperatures and conditions. I have flown the NAS-3A on Grace’s Taylorcraft in temperatures ranging from 15F to 105F, and it does this without adjustment. Other than having the filter screen cleaned, the logs show that the carb on her plane has not been worked on since 1974. This is reliability.

Another point to consider is that the carb is very tolerant in changes to fuel density. A great number of certified planes that use these carbs have auto fuel STCs. This change is just a paperwork change that goes with the plane; there is no adjustment to the carb to start running auto fuel. Likewise, the jetting will not change when you alternate between auto fuel and 100LL in an experimental aircraft fed by a Stromberg.  This is not so with some experimental aircraft carbs. These two fuels have different densities, and some carb designs really need to be rejetted when changing back and forth between fuels. As much as I like working on planes, this is a lot of extra work compared to having a carb like a Stromberg.

The Marvel MA3-SPA is the only carb commonly used on a Corvair that has an accelerator pump. All the others, including the Stromberg, need a primer for starting. When the Stromberg has one, it will start in almost any weather you would choose to fly in. Grace’s Taylorcraft  engine is a C-85, but it is equipped with the exact same Stromberg carb we are speaking about. With no preheat, and the engine cold soaked at 20F, I can give it 3 shots with the manual primer (same type as in the Aircraft Spruce catalog #05-19920) , open the throttle slightly and crank the starter for no more than 2 seconds. The engine will light right off and run at a  high idle. ( I let it warm up for 5 minutes with the carb heat on. Not  only does this vaporize gas better, it does also slightly enrichen the  mixture by lowering the density of the air entering the carb.)  It was not  required to work the primer once the engine started, I just leave it locked. I  turn the carb heat off for a few seconds every minute to evaluate how well it  was working. Within one minute, turning it off gives a 75 rpm rise, indicating it is flowing hot air.  Even though they are different engines, this data should give people thinking of using the Stromberg a good indication that they will start easily when cold. On an actual Corvair, the higher compression and the stronger spark would make the engine light off even faster.

The Stromberg is an affordable, proven carb for gravity feed Corvair powered planes. I consider it an excellent carb for a Pietenpol, Kitfox, Highlander, Wagabond, and many other airframes. If you have a question about a specific airframe, drop me a note, I will be glad to share what I have learned.

Thank you.

William

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Engine Displacements

From Jerry Tolman:

This blog is a great start to 2012. Thanks. I have a suggestion for a discussion…post a brief summary of the differences in displacement choices for those of us still early in the engine build or still deciding?
And a question…planning a West Coast Corvair College this year?

Jerry,

Good to hear from you. First, we are thinking of holding an event in California this year. We are looking at May 5th weekend in Chino at Steve Glover’s hangar where he runs NVaero. Steve is having a KR gathering there and an open house at his shop that weekend.  I have known Steve for many years, and his two commercial hangars at Chino are well equipped to have a very productive College.  Steve and I think that having the two events on the same weekend would be a good exchange of people and ideas. The Corvair is a very popular engine choice in the KR, and Steve wanted all Corvair builders to understand that they are more than welcome at his place. (Besides owning a series of KRs, Steve also has a Long EZ and a TriPacer; he is an all around aviation guy.) The only thing that has kept me from putting it on the schedule is a 50/50 chance that the weekend will conflict with my brother-in-law’s retirement from 30 years in the Army. In our family, such an event is “AHOD” (all hands on deck). We will know more in two weeks, and post the information here, under the “Events” heading.

On the subject of engine displacements: Today I encourage people to build one of three engine displacements that makes sense to them. Here is a breakdown:

 

2,700cc, 100hp, based on stock Corvair cylinders which are rebored from .020″ to .060″. Requires no machining to case or heads.  Uses either Sealed Power or Clark’s Forged pistons. This is the engine that 85% of builders are working on. More than enough power for a Pietenpol or a KR, a good choice for a 601 or 650. There are many flying examples of each of these airframes with this engine displacement that have individually logged hundreds of hours each.

2,850cc, 110hp, based on Clark’s heavy duty brand new full fin cylinders bored .105″. Requires no machining to the case or heads, it is a straight bolt-together engine. This engine uses U.S. made forged pistons that are available through us. We sell a Piston/Ring/Cylinder/Rod Kit for $1,750. The pistons have a 7.7cc dish in the head to lower the static compression while maintaining a very tight quench area, giving the combination of good combustion and outstanding detonation resistance, even on unleaded fuel. The engine is also the best choice for later turbo-charging. The displacement is a good choice for any Corvair powered airframe. Photos of CC #19 show Jeff Cochran’s running 2,850 built for his 750, and you can look at CC #21’s coverage for pictures of Clarence Dunkerley’s running 2,850 that he built for his Cleanex. Our Web site coverage of Oshkosh 2011 has a lot of photos of Woody Harris’ 601 that he flew on a circumnavigation of the U.S. Woody’s plane is powered by a 2,850.

3,000cc (3 liter) engine, 120hp. This is based on custom machined cylinder castings that are related to VW castings. The bore size is 92mm, but we use the HD casting that is the same as a 94mm VW cylinder. The piston in this engine is the big brother of the 2,850. It is forged in the same U.S. factory, and features a 10cc dish. This provides the same combustion characteristics in a slightly larger displacement.  This engine does require having the cases bored slightly for the larger cylinder spigots and having the head gasket area opened up slightly. This job must be done accurately, and the price is included in the Piston/Ring/Cylinder/Rod Kit. This displacement is a good choice for any Corvair powered aircraft. It has flown on both the 601 and 750.

Given these three engines, we no longer steer builders toward previous engines like the 3,100.  There is nothing wrong with 3,100s, but they did prove difficult to build for many people without a lot of previous experience. The internal dimensions were a compromise because the 3,100 used a modified VW piston with a different compression height, requiring the engine to be built with custom length pushrods, etc. The 3,000cc engine was our clean sheet of paper, based on what we knew after 10 years of building 3,100s. A 3,000cc engine is a better engine from a number of angles, and is a better engine choice for builders considering using unleaded fuel in the future. 

Thank You

William

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Engine Cooling Factory Sheet Metal

Friends,

Every flying Corvair needs four pieces of cooling sheet metal that came from the factory. These pieces are the two under-cylinder baffles, and the two end plates on the firewall end of the engine that go between cylinder #1 and the distributor  and on the other side between cylinder #2 and the oil cooler. These four pieces of sheet metal are just as vital to the engine’s cooling as a radiator hose is to a liquid cooled engine.

Because a lot of engines have very filthy or rusty metal, we have decided to make sets available to builders. They are very time consuming to clean, even if you have a blasting cabinet. I took a large collection of these pieces to our powder coating guy, and let him professionally blast them, and then powder coat them matte black.

They are not required to be powdercoated on your flight engine, but getting a set from us does save some time, and they look very nice, a good compliment to a sharp looking engine. We are selling these sets for $99 plus your old parts by check or money order payable to William Wynne, 5000-18 US HWY 17 #247, Orange Park, FL 32003. If your core came without, please send us $120.

Please email us at WilliamTCA@aol.com to let us know they’re on the way. We’ll reserve a set for you.

As an introductory offer, we are going to cover the shipping of our parts to anywhere in the U.S. We will do this through the first 10 sets in the shop.

Above, the two end baffles in the bag, the two under-cylinder baffles are below them. All of the parts are powdercoated matte black.

Above, 14 sets of under-cylinder baffles ready to be sent as part of the four piece cooling sheet metal sets. In the background, freshly done powdercoated Valve Cover Sets.

Valve Cover Sets are available for shipping in the U.S. for $159 by sending a check payable to William Wynne with your old valve covers to 5000-18 US HWY 17 #247, Orange Park, FL 32003. Please email WilliamTCA@aol.com with your choice of Red, Blue or Black as well as your horsepower or FlyCorvair.com designation.

Thank you.

William

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Vern’s Aero-Cars

Friends,

Our friend and welder, Vern Stevenson, has had a lifelong love affair with all things mechanical. He has built a number of different aircraft, mostly light single-seaters. His hangar is just down the way from ours, and a tour of it is an education of how much a man with imagination, skill and some material can do. In addition to his aircraft, the hangar houses a motor home made from a former Greyhound bus, a 1968 Shelby GT-500, Various Big Block trucks, a 300 HP Corvair sand rail, a Porsche 914 powered by a 327 Chevy, and many others, all handmade by Vern.

Vern’s current passion is aerodynamic cars. Growing up in humble circumstances, Vern fully espouses the pure hot rodding of the 1950s, an era that placed creativity and mechanical ingenuity above all else. I have been to rat rod car shows with him, and he points out that his friends have always been doing it “old school.” None of them are interested in a car or a plane that is just another purchased product. It has to be handmade to have any interest to them. Although they could buy any car part they like, or most finished cars, they don’t. To Vern and his friends, one of the rewards is demonstrating incredible skill at bargain hunting, horse trading and bartering.  Among his friends, Vern is the unrivaled champion of these talents, and the two projects have a parts total price that reflect this.

Above is Vern’s “Streamliner.” It was inspired by Craig Breedlove’s land speed record attempt car, “The Spirit of America.”  Vern’s car is aimed at looking the part, but taking a shot at 70 MPG. The car has 3 wheels, and is considered a motorcycle in Florida. The aluminum bodywork is all salvage material. It hides a mild steel frame that looks like an aircraft fuselage. The canopy came from the Sun ‘n Fun flymart for $30. The engine is derived from a very early Dodge Omni, and I think it is a VW based design, something like a Rabbit engine. Vern has handmade a very tall set of rear wheels to cut the rpm at speed. The weight is around 900 pounds. The car is a two-seater. Vern keeps good track of his spending as a matter of pride. He has several hundred hours of work in the car, but he has less than $500 in total materials.

Above is Vern’s yet unnamed project. He has been messing with it part time for the past two months or so. It is also a three-wheeler, and makes the grade in Florida as a motorcycle. (Car insurance is not cheap in this state, and motorcycles are exempt from the requirement.) If you look closely, you can see that the back half of this creature is a two-seat Lancair fuselage. The front is a Geo Metro front end. As crazy as it sounds, Vern has artistically blended the two. It isn’t going to win the New York Auto Show, but every motorhead that has seen it has been captivated. The design was driven by the fact that Vern’s girlfriend didn’t like the tandem seating of the Streamliner. The digital camo paint job is an experiment in how you break up the shape differences of the front and back halves.The rear end is out of a Suzuki motorcycle. There is a steel tube subframe that joins the A-pillars of the Geo to the longerons and the spar carry through of the Lancair.

Above, a look inside the new project. It retains most of the dash and the pedals of the Geo. The steering column has been moved over about 3 inches. The wheel has a race car style quick removal to making getting in easier. The hinge mechanism for the canopy is the rear gate hinge from a minivan. The seats are 914 leftovers. Vern is hoping for a comfortable cruise and 60 mpg. By trading some time and parts, Vern has kept the budget ultra low. He is just now getting to $150 of cash laid out. He claims that he is willing to “go all the way” (Spend $500) to see the project through being roadworthy. If either of these vehicles have special driving requirements, it isn’t an issue, Vern has a 40 year history of driving anything with an engine from Stock Cars to excavators. He is a gifted motorcyclist, and he is sensitive enough to machinery that he taught himself to fly ultralights without ever taking a single lesson. In the 1980s ultralights were powered by a number of two strokes not noted for reliability. In his first 500 hours he had 18 engine outs but never got more than a scratch.

Neither of these two are directly related to flying Corvairs, but I stuck them in here to point something out. While Vern is speaking of, or working on these vehicles, he is among the happiest people in the World. The simple joy of creating something with your hands using tools is a real joy in life. If you are at home and it has been a while since you have had that kind of rewarding feeling, make a plan to get back to it. Many people get into homebuilt aircraft because they falsely believe it to be an inexpensive way to having a completed aircraft.  Building to these people is a necesscary evil. These people actually have a very poor record of completing planes because they derive very little joy from the process. If you have any doubt that a great number of people in homebuilding are driven by just wanting the plane and have no desire to learn or build their craftsmanship, look at how much advertising space is devoted to dubious claims of 300 hour build times and questionable stories about how few skills it takes to build some designs.

Although knowing what you’re up against timewise is a valid question, and you should know if a design requires you to be a machinist, specifically trying not to enjoy the building process nor learn anything has sold a lot of kits, but it hasn’t finished many of them. The build it yourself nature of the Corvair, and the fact that learning here is a goal, not an evil, makes the Corvair movement different. We are glad to assist anyone who is entering The Arena to Learn, Build, and Fly in the company of other friends who feel the same way.

Thank you.

William

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Testing Head Studs

Friends,

When we assemble an engine, one of the steps that I take is to test the head studs before we put the case together.  It is a quality control step, and if one of the studs is slightly weak, I want to know it before assembly because it is a lot easier to fix before you build the engine. The procedure is fairly simple, and the tooling isn’t very elaborate. I bring my set to Colleges and show builders there the process in person. Here, in a few paragraphs and pictures, you can get a good overview.

Based on building several hundred engines in the past 20 or so years, the chances of getting a weak stud are low. About every  10th engine will have one. These studs were overstressed on disassembly or were overdone on a previous build. They look good on the outside, but the stud has been taken past its yield point.

Above, the test set up.The test is made easier with a high quality torque wrench, but it will work just the same with a beam type wrench. The small spacer on the arm allows the same tool to measure the longer top studs. The little tube is just a collar for the spacer, not required. The ends of the tubes need to be fairly true to the tube, the best method is turning them in a lathe, but careful work on a belt sander will do the same task.

Backing up a moment, I am going to assume that you have pulled and replaced all the studs that had hard tool marks from previous owners’ vice grips, and also pulled all the studs that have harsh rust pits. Mild surface corrosion is not an issue, and a missing thread at the top of the stud on the fine thread end isn’t a reason for rejection either.

Many years ago, I taught engineering labs at Embry Riddle in the Materials Department. People who have been through these classes know what a Tinius Olsen pull test machine is. For the rest of the gang, it is an immensely strong set of jaws pulled apart by a very powerful hydraulic system. Many of these systems can pull 50 thousand pounds without bogging down. A test sample of material is put between the jaws and very slowly pulled apart, while computers measure the length and power of the pull.  This all happens at a very slow rate, pulling 1/2″ can be slowed down to take several minutes.

Instead of demonstrating the machine on expensive test samples, I brought in bundles of Corvair head studs. We pulled them apart in every class. It gave both myself and the students a much better understanding of the effects of corrosion and mechanical damage like tool marks. A used Corvair stud in fair condition may not look that strong, but it takes over 10,000 pounds of pull to get one to neck down and break. Because of this testing I have a pretty good idea of what is too much damage on the outside of a stud. But the testing in these photos tells the condition of the stud on the inside of it.

The test tube is a piece of .188″ wall 4130 tube, 3/4″ in diameter. I welded a washer on the bottom it give it a bigger footprint. I polished the bottom of this so that it doesn’t leave any marks where the base gasket goes. On the top of the tube there is a very high quality hardened washer and an ARP 3/8-24 nut. (This can be done with lesser hardware, but remember, the goal is to test the stud, to the strength of the test hardware.)

Above, the washer and nut are in my hand, the tube is viewed end on showing the wall thickness. The tube has a little stand welded on it from a 2004 test series where we measured how much the studs stretched when they are torqued. At full torque, the studs are almost .035″ longer. This is an outstanding design feature. The engine is “spring loaded,” and the studs maintain their clamping force through a very wide range of engine temperatures, and expansion and contraction cycles. Engines like the Jabaru have very short bolts that hold the heads on. Bolts like that typically need continuous checking, because even a slight amount of material compression under the head of the bolt will result in a loss of torque on a short fastener. Conversely, a long stud is comparatively immune to this. Certified aircraft engines have the heads permanently screwed to their cylinders for a number of other design reasons, but engines like the Corvair, VW and Porsche all use the long studs. These are part of a well calibrated system, and are the primary reason why you should not use an aluminum cylinder on a Corvair. Porsche 911s eventually had aluminum cylinders, but they also had uber expensive “Delavar” studs, with an expansion and contraction rate that was compatible with their alloy cylinders. Companies that have offered aluminum cylinders for Corvairs have not taken expansion into consideration. Making the studs thicker or stronger actually only exacerbates the issue. Corvairs are designed for steel or iron cylinders, and they have an outstanding record of reliability with them.

Coat the threads on the stud and the washer with ARP Ulta torque lubricant. Drop the tube over the stud, run the washer down and then the nut. Carefully torque the nut to 15 foot pounds. Noting the clock position of the wrench handle when you start, raise the torque to 20 pounds. Typically this will require turning the wrench about 45 degrees on the short studs, about 55 degrees on the long ones. Next, raise the torque to 25 pounds slowly. Now, the critical observation: It should take the same 45 or 55 degrees of rotation on the nut to get the new torque increment. There is an acceptable range, and you shouldn’t be too concerned about a variation of 15 degrees or so. But, if you have a stud that requires 100 degrees of rotation to go from 20 to 25 pounds when all of the others took only 45 degrees, you have found a weak stud, and it needs to be replaced.

Above, the tool on a lower stud, giving a better view of the auxiliary arm on the tube from a previous test. The arm plays no role in this stud check up. Note the plywood under the case.  Don’t let the mating surfaces sit on a steel table, concrete or any other rough or hard surface.

A weak stud undetected is not going to lead to an engine failure. Typically, when a builder has a bad stud, he is torquing up his heads and notices that one stud turns way too far. This is the point where it would have been better to test before assembly. But even if it goes undetected at this point, the typical stud will not break, it just will not be clamping as tight as the others holding down the cylinder. In time this can lead to a blown head gasket.

Above, the task in action. The torque wrench is a $300 Snap On item, pricey, but an outstanding piece of quality. Ours is called Excalibur. If you ever meet an A&P mechanic and he has a pair of sunglasses or shoes that cost more than his torque wrench,  be guarded about taking his advice. Paul Gauguin’s paintbox was more valuable than anything else he owned. The brush doesn’t make the artist, and the tool doesn’t make the mechanic, but it is a measure of whether a man considers his work a craft or just a job. 

A Corvair is a very tough engine, and I have seen several of them fly a long way on a blown head gasket. The engine makes power on the cylinder even if the gasket is blown because at RPM the compression doesn’t have time to bleed through a tiny gap. A blown head gasket on a liquid cooled engine is a different story because it can mean a loss of coolant either out of the engine, into the crankcase, or into the combustion chamber. Liquid cooling is better in theory, but air cooling is better in practice. (A liquid cooled engine is less likely to ever blow a gasket, but if the discussion is about aircraft, you are mostly concerned about how the powerplant behaves after the event, not just the likelihood of the event.) In Corvairs, I have seen about 10 engines with blown head gaskets in the past 15 years. Almost all of these were caused by the timing not being set with a light at the static rpm. Only one or two were caused by a weak stud. Both of these causes are easy to avoid. Testing your studs before assembly avoids a small chance of a hassle on final assembly.

On final assembly, be alert for studs that take a lot more rotation to reach the rated torque value. When studs are torqued with ARP ultra-torque, we have done very careful tests to prove that you are getting the same clamping value at 26 foot pounds as a builder with light oil is getting if he torques the stud to 35 pounds. Use ARP, and stop when you get to 25-26 pounds. If you go all the way to 35 you are exerting a lot more force than required, and will actually be doing damage. Remember, you got into experimental aviation for the learning and adventure.  Take pride that successful Corvair engine builders know a lot more about how engines are really built than any other group in experimental aviation.

Thank you.

William

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Three Aviation Stories

 

Friends,

Submitted for your approval, three stories I wrote in 2009, 2010, and 2011. For me, the human element of aviation has always been the focal point of my lasting love for it. I love the machinery, the creativity and the history, but the story of the individual, the person, is what intrigues me.

The stories here cover experiences of  Astronauts, an Airline captain, and a Navy attack pilot. As a humble general aviation pilot, I will never fly into space, sit in the left seat of an airliner, nor fly in combat. Yet I hold that anyone who has built a single part, soloed a plane of any kind, or has spent years with the inner feeling that they were born to be part of the human panorama of aviation, can relate to the stories below.

The stories are not pleasant. An average day in the life of a professional aviator is one of reliable performance of duty. It is only under extreme circumstances that the nature of their character is revealed. I am a small part of one subset of aviation, and I will not face these same challenges, yet every experimental aircraft builder understands that he had to move beyond the fears that keep the rest of society sentenced to a mundane life, every soloed pilot understands the measure of courage required to go alone, and every pilot who takes a person aloft understands the responsiblity of the words “Pilot in Command.”

The 20th Century saw the discovery of both the North and South Poles, the Conquest of Everest, and the Development of Aviation from the Wright brothers through landing on the moon. These are fascinating stories of human courage and endurance.  I have spent countless nights reading this history. Yet, the only one of these experiences that I can know some small part of is the story of flight.  Every human challenge that was worth the title of adventure involved actual risk. We endow the title “hero” on the aviators at the pinnacle of our calling. But unlike the general public, we have some understanding of who our heroes are, and the costs they were willing to bear.

 

Why Bother? (2011)

 

I stood in my front yard two days ago to watch the last Launch of the Space Shuttle. It was very moving to think about the 30 years of the program, years that have spanned my adult life. “Land of the free and home of the brave” are the end of our National Anthem, but who personifies this? For my choice, I think of Astronauts. I have friends who work in the space program, and they all acknowledge that despite the risks, there is no shortage of very qualified people to go.  I can remember the exact spot where I was in Florida the day The Challenger was lost. I have been to their monument on the hillside above the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.  Before their flight, they were briefed that their odds of perishing were between 1/300 and 1/20. They went anyway, not because they were gamblers, but because they know that some things were worth doing even if they brought a very high risk of death. From the Challenger monument, it is a short walk to JFK’s grave. In 1962 he answered the question of “Why bother?” on the subject of Space flight: 

“But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.”

When JFK said these words, he only had about 400 days left to live. Almost all of the people reading this have far more time left here. Question is, what will you do with it? Will you succumb to a “Why Bother?” mentality that seeks out false paths because they appear to require less learning and thinking? If the goal of a seafaring captain was to preserve the ship, he would never leave port. If someone’s goal is to save money and learn as little as possible, I humbly suggest that experimental aviation will prove to be a very frustrating and potentially very dangerous path. If “Why Bother” is such a person’s personal credo, they are never going to get any of the rewards while simultaneously taking astounding unnecessary risks. “Why bother” is much better matched to watching TV than building and flying planes.

I am 48 now, and I am past the halfway point. The exact length of the trip and the destination are unknown, but the road of memories behind get inexorably longer. Is it time to slow down, and ask “Why Bother?” Of course not. Anyone reading this has been lucky enough to be born one of the .1% of the people on this planet who has any hope of building something with their own hands and flying it, a dream so bold that it was beyond the reach of any person who every lived on this planet a mere 110 years ago. I am smarter than I was last year; I have learned more, I have honed my skills in the workshop and in the air. Aviation offers a near limitless arena in which to expand your life, to willfully choose the difficult and rewarding over the easy and complacent. This increase of capability and control that is the reward for honest striving and effort is the only substitute I have found for the nostalgia for a fading youth. I will never run a 5:30 mile again, never do 50 consecutive chin ups again, nor a number of other physical milestones from age 24. But I am a much better craftsman, pilot and person than I was then. Experimental aviation is the setting where I will find out how much I can study, understand and master in my life, not how little. For anyone else who feels the same way, I look forward to reading anything you have to say, seeing anything you have built, and being there when you arrive in your plane to a welcome of people who understand what is worth aggressively pursuing in life. 

 

Speaking of Courage* (January 2010)

I just finished reading Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger’s book,  “Highest Duty.” Most of what I read are biographies, and it is rare that I find  one from an aviator that isn’t worth reading. Sully’s seemed particularly good.  He tells his story back to being an airport kid in Texas flying a Champ. Many  polished biographies elevate the subject above reality. Reading this book I felt  that it did a good job of shedding some light on the life of an aviator who is  likely far more than the pages convey.

If you were in the USAF or work in the airline industry, he emerges as a  strong advocate of these callings. Sully does a first class job of  explaining the mindset and challenges of the professionals who inhabit  these parts of aviation. His sudden popularity says something about America, and  he touches on this in the book. He has a Facebook site with 675,000 friends. A  few weeks back I read in the New York Times that his book has been a modest success, selling 92,000 copies. The difference in the numbers tells me that people out there are looking for a hero, but they care far less to know how their heroes think or what forces shaped their lives.

Sully has a simple message inside his tale: Training pays off, even if it isn’t tested, living your life prepared is its own reward. Today, many people  want to know the tricks and inside tips on any subject they encounter. They want  the Cliff’s Notes on life instead of actually living. Sully, who recounts a  lifetime perfecting his craft, offers a strong indictment of such a  mentality.

He is quite clear that the terms ‘hero” or “miracle” do not apply to  himself or to flight 1549. He explains why he feels that the successful outcome  was the result of training, team work, judgment and a few factors going their  way. He clearly states that he did not expect to die. However, Sully  does believe in both heroes and miracles, and part of the book explains  this by contrasting his situation with that of Captain Al Haynes and United  Flight 232.

Above, Al Haynes

We forget a lot quickly these days. America has long forgotten  the name and the flight number, but most people in aviation remember the Sioux  City accident of 1989. It happened my first year at Embry-Riddle. The crash was  examined in great detail. At the University, we had a good idea of how low the  odds of survival were, and most people felt the term miracle could very well  apply. The crew of UA-232 fought to find any way to regain control of the  DC-10. Haynes and crew had little reason to believe they would live. Through  astounding skill, composure and leadership, Haynes made the best landing  possible. 185 people lived. Many did not.

Captain Haynes came to speak at Embry-Riddle not long after the accident.  His face still had the scars of the crash. He had been hailed in the media, but  I felt being at Riddle had to be different. Here, we had students  who had some real understanding of what he had pulled off.  In “Fate is The Hunter,” Ernest Gann’s preface states that airline  flying is a kind of a war story, where “the designated adversary always  remains inhuman, frequently marches in mystery, and rarely takes  prisoners.”  I went to see him up  close, to look at a Captain who had just returned from battle.

I stood five feet away and watched Captain Haynes as he spoke  to people. He was kind and direct, but somewhat detached, with a look as if his  real thoughts were far away. I was young and impressionable, and clearly before  me was a real hero. He had salvaged a victory for a certain disaster. To my  eyes, he was now among the pantheon of aviation’s eternal stars. Perhaps the distant look in his eyes was appropriate for a man who was proven in  a field where all prepare for their battle, but very few are tested.

Fourteen years later, Captain Haynes is the guest speaker at the evening  program at the Theater In The Woods at Oshkosh. Here, at the center of the world  of flight, his star has never been diminished. The outside world has forgotten  and moved on, but here, inside, the faithful fill every seat. It has been a  full day of exciting things, but the people are now settling down as they take  their seats. They will soon listen to a serious subject from a man  known for a heroic deed. The last time I saw him I was part of a very  young group, just at the start of our time in aviation. I looked around and saw  where my classmates would be in another 20 years. The people around me had  most of their flying logged away. Their gray hair and modest dress told  outsiders nothing of the adventures these people had seen. They had led the  strenuous life of challenge, and known its rewards…and perhaps its costs also.  I looked around and guessed that many of them had lost a close friend to an accident.  As soon as I formed that thought, I realized to 14 years later, I too,  was in this last group.

The presentation was a technical one. Captain Haynes had made it his duty  to frequently speak on behalf of preparation, teamwork, training, and when your  test comes, not losing yourself or giving in to fear. He had spent the previous years communicating this, never accepting a fee or any kind of reward.  They played the ATC tapes and slowly brought us to the moment of the crash.  The audience was moved. Many people near me sat quietly wiping away tears in the  dark. Perhaps they were thinking of friends, now long gone, wishing their  friends had been luckier and had a man like Al Haynes for an instructor, a  mentor or a co-pilot.

At the end of the presentation, a man, looking like he could have come from any EAA chapter in America, stood up. He struggled to gather himself and start a  sentence. After a moment, in a choked voice, he got out “I just want to  say I think you’re a hero.” A round of applause broke out, but it was  quickly put  down with a wave of Captain Haynes’ hand. He addressed the man directly. In an  even voice with very little emotion, he said “I am not a hero. 112 people on my  flight died. Please sit down.”

After the lights come up and the people drift away, I sat with Grace. It  was very hard for her. I have little memory of the Burn ICU, but Grace had sat  there all day, every day, for weeks. The cost was not abstract to her. Of all  the people in the theater, she knew what the last moments of many of the 112 had  looked like. After some time, we got up to walk out to the parking lot. As we  went past the back of the theater, Captain Haynes was standing there with a few  of the people from the stage crew. Grace went over to personally thank him for the  evening. I stood about five feet away.

The 14 years had not been kind to Al Haynes. Both his son and wife had  died. His daughter was terribly ill. I could not hear what he was saying softly  to Grace, but he had the same look as he did in 1989. He was there, but  detached. His story reminded me of a Greek Tragedy, no matter how  noble his actions, fate struck people in his care.

A different man might have  written it all off. Given up, and assigned the events to bad luck, a curse or  even a vengeful God. I don’t think it is too much to say that Al Haynes would  have none of these outs. He is a man, Naval Aviator and Airline Captain. He has  a lifetime of being in command, evaluating the circumstance, minimizing the  risk, and taking responsibility for the outcome. Such a man couldn’t easily  shrug off or rationalize away the loss. Right or wrong, he is the kind of man  who would only see it as his personal responsibility, and this is the  reason I will always be able to say  Al Haynes is my hero.

*Speaking of Courage is the title of a chapter in Tim O’Brien’s 1990  novel  “The Things  They Carried.” The writing is an unflinching look at sorrow, love and  personal responsibility in the wake of tragedy. It is a profoundly moving work  of philosophy for people who do not trust easy answers to hard  questions.

 

Friday Night, November 20, 2009

 

Just as I am getting used to Daylight Savings stealing an hour of the  evening, the days are getting noticeably shorter here. During the week, our  clock revolves around 4 p.m. This is last call to drive the ten miles into town to  the Post Office with the days mailings. In the summer there are hours after this  to eat dinner, mess around in the shop, and casually pre-flight the Taylorcraft  before going aloft for the last hour of light. But now the casual hours are  gone. I drove back to the airport with an eye on the low angle of the sun, maybe  only 50 minutes until it sank.

I pushed the plane out to the edge of the runway. I stood there for a  minute, not a single person was in sight. Just the sound of a circular saw from  somewhere up on the North end of the field. The visibility was poor, there would  be little to see, but I had been out the past 6 days in a row and today would  make a week. Kind of a pointless exercise, going up for 20 minutes to round out  a week, frivolous really.  These are the things you think of on the ground,  by the time I am running through the mag check the pros and cons of going  aloft are forgotten. I orbit the airport in big slow circles at 70  mph, engine at 1700 rpm, just licking over. It all looks gray and  colorless. Was it noticeably greener a week ago or is it just the  haze setting the mood? 

When I touch down, the landing gives me the  same feeling as finishing a chapter in a captivating book: Looking up  from the last page with the powerful feeling that you have just been  somewhere else. Taxing up to the house and shutting off the engine I  have the same sensation.

Three or four minutes later, our EAA chapter president returns from being away all afternoon. A 180 mph pass at 10 feet  signals the arrival of his RV-7. As he flies the landing pattern, I walk  the 400 feet up to his hangar. We arrive at the same time. He has an unexpected  passenger, Dave, our airpark president. Dave has his own RV-4, and I have never  seen him as a passenger in any plane. In his youth he flew an A-4 from the  USS Forestal into the most fiercely defended airspace on the planet. The black and  white photos of him in his hangar are of a much younger man in a flightsuit  with a helmet under his arm. He has the same grin today, but you get the  impression that big chunk of Dave’s youth, and a good number of his friends, only  exist in his memory after 1967. Either way, he looks really out of place in the  right seat, or in any side by side aircraft for that matter.

The moment fits the gray haze: Pat and Dave have just returned after  delivering the RV-9 of a fellow EAA member.  This man has also taken up  residence in Dave’s memory. He was killed this summer, along with another friend,  in an unexplained Glasair crash. One moment they were flying a low pass over our  airport, a little dog leg to say hello on their way home. The next day  Pat found the wreckage in the woods a few miles away. They delivered  the RV-9 to the man’s widow, who was very thankful. The plane was just  finished, and it is magnificent. She is keeping it in storage until next Oshkosh.  The man was an EAA member for 30 years, known in some circles. She would like it  judged posthumously. She had said some moving things to Pat and Dave, but at the  moment we were standing out on their ramp with the sun fading, neither of them  felt up to relating her exact words.

Dave started a sentence twice, but after  a pause he didn’t finish.  Pat spoke about a guy he knew in flight school,  lived 3 doors down, a Marine. Pat heard about his crash on the news, and walked  out his front door in disbelief. Seeing the black cars gathered down the block  took away the doubt and hope at the same time.

An engine starts at the far south end of the runway. It is Dan Weseman and  the Cleanex. After a minute of run up, he roars past us, 50 feet at midfield.  Dave looks at Pat and says “Let’s get him.” The RV-7 turned around and back on  the grass in seconds. Dave pushes out his RV-4. Their take off alerts the  airport, and several people drift out of their hangars to sit on the grass and  watch.

 If flying at most airports is an elegant ballet, flying at our airport is  Mixed Martial Arts. The furball is formed, broken and formed again over our  heads at 1500′. Between the sounds of wide open engines, the radio  chatter barks out from the base station in Alan’s hangar. In minutes they  are joined by Bob in an RV-4 from the North end, and then another  RV-7. In the sky they turn impossibly tight. You can’t always make out who is on  top, or even who is who, until a glint of the sunset differentiates a painted  wing from a polished one. It is hard to believe that the same airport was dead  silent 20 minutes ago.

One by one, they drop out and land. Pat is first, and has most of a beer  finished as Dave rolls up. Bob is the last to break off, leaving it where it  started, with Dan alone in the sky doing a few last slow rolls. The mood is transformed. It was 10 minutes of really being alive. Dan landed, rolled  out in front of us, turned a smooth 180 and taxied back towards his hangar, his  home, his family. He was close enough for us to see his expression, but he didn’t look  over. In the air, he had been far closer to the other pilots. The light is gone  now, and the day is over.

A few more words, and the hangar doors are shut, and people drift away.  Walking back to my place, I pause in the dark to watch Dave walk out to his  pickup. He had been the one to say “Let’s get him.”  This had been Dave’s  doing, perhaps his ritual. A little farewell to a man whose memory had just been  carefully and lovingly wrapped up for safe keeping. It was now stored beside the  others. A resident, final age 58, joining a group of younger men, some  of whom arrived 42 years ago. Although I’m sure he cherishes them all,  he probably doesn’t visit with them often. Dave is too full of life for much of  that. Besides, one day he will have all the time in the world to spend with  them.

William  Wynne, 2009