Author: William Wynne

Builders:

Zenith 601XL/Corvair builder and flyer Phil Maxson was here at my place in Florida earlier in the week. In addition to catching up, we shot the Oil change video, and took a few quiet moments to catch this interview style video in my back yard.  Part of the reason the topics came up was Chris Welsh, my roommate from Embry-Riddle was present, and the three of us had spent the previous evening kicked back and covering some of the same terrain.

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The Video is a lot broader in scope than the subject of Corvairs. If you have someone in your life who is yet to understand what you are pursuing in your workshop, perhaps a link to this video will shed some light to your mindset.

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https://youtu.be/DmTuBQpjl34

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Above, the link to the 25 minute interview. If you have never met me in person, here is a view of what a morning in my backyard actually looks like, perhaps very different than you might guess from just following my writings. We cover a number of topics, including the original of modern Corvair building, my evolution to the mindset of a homebuilder, and the values of mastery vs ownership.  Its not quick, if you are pinched for time, save it for a time where you can watch it sitting down with a coffee or a beer.

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If this kind of discussion is not to your tempo or temperament, just pass it. It doesn’t have any technical info in it, just ideas and thoughts.  Phil and I are prone to considering things as if we are H.L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan out on a road trip to ‘take the national temperature’. 

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wewjr

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Builders,

Today I received a number of questions asking for a bit of clarification on last nights Pietenpol story. In that story I tried to explain some of the planes issues.

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 If you are real new to aviation, a ‘Parasol’ is an airplane configured to look like a biplane without lower wings.  Just after WWI, this was the configuration of choice for front line combat fighters. It persisted into the 1920s, and they were the bridge between biplanes and cabin monoplanes. The most famous one today is the 90 year old Pietenpol Aircamper, but over the years, there have been a number of classic homebuilts with this configuration, and some factory built beauties like the Fairchild 22.

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In the interest of sharing some info which all Piet builders should understand, , I made a quick video using a ugly balsa representation of a parasol. The esthetics shouldn’t deter anyone from understanding the concepts.

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https://youtu.be/85mnnWOjFKI

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Note, I was tired when I shot this, I did it in one take, and without any kind of a script. I just had a phone call where I was explaining the difference between compression and column bending to a builder who was asking about jury struts. Twice in the video I mistakenly say column bending instead of compressive load. Just ignore it, thanks.

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If you have any comments or questions on the video, please share them here. If you have not yet, please subscribe to the Youtube channel. Having 1,000 subscribers will allow us to put links to stories directly in the video comments.

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WEWjr.

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Builders:

Our next video is up, here is a direct link, please use the comments section here to share thoughts and ask questions.

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ttps://youtu.be/Op3SNmeFTz4

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Above the link, the image above is Phil Maxson pouring the oil in his plane here in Florida yesterday. It is a great feeling in life to have friends like Ken and Phil, and to do projects like these videos with them. Over three decades of working with Corvairs, I have had a lot of fun moments with good friends, some here, some now gone, but this stuff we have done this spring is a match for any of the previous good days.

 

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We are more than half way to the 1,000 subscriber goal. Please take a moment when on youtube to join my channel. You will be informed of every new video when it is up.

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Thank you, wewjr.

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Builders,

I was forwarded the image of the modified Pietenpol pictured below.  It is Corvair powered, and I have been told it was signed off by the FAA, but I don’t have a record of working with him.

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UPDATE: The builder of the plane has sent a request saying that he wanted the image removed from this story and from our FB ‘Corvair College’ page. He prefers to not discuss his plane in public. I offered to help, meant it. I’m leaving the rest here because first time builders need to understand having a 100 people tell you on FB your plane looks nice isn’t an endorsement of the details.  

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Above is the Plane in Question. I do not consider it airworthy, even though the FAA signed it off.  The first thing Piet builders will spot it the tiny weak diagonal cabanes, as I discuss here: Pietenpol Fuel lines and Cabanes and here: Fuel lines and Cabanes, part 2. But that isn’t the main point, it is the Vee shaped lift struts on a parasol with near vertical cabanes and a center section. It is not structurally sound.

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In 1989, a guy in my EAA chapter, #288, named Bob Spenk, built a steel tube Grega with a nearly identical lift strut arrangement. To my then-uneducated eye, it looked fine. The Embry-Riddle department chair of engineering was also a #288 member, and he sat down and explained that the new strut arrangement had almost no ability  to resist the wing rotating in relation to the fuselage, and any differential load, such as deflected ailerons, would impart this.  He explained that in a cabin airplane with the same lift struts, the upper longerons contacting the rear spar and the diagonals in the fuselage resist the twisting, and he showed us that one of the largest tubes in a J-3 fuselage does this.  He went on to show that a heath model V parasol has no center section, but it still requires diagonal brace wires from the rear spar lift strut attachment to the motor mount.  He pointed out that a it was superseded by the Heath N, and follow on airplanes like the Baby Ace, with parallel lift struts are required to have the diagonal brace wires between the lift struts, even though they have no center section.  Aircraft structures is a very complicated business, and it doesn’t care if all the local hangar fliers say “I will be alright” and it doesn’t care if all the people on the internet say “Its just a low and slow plane’.  neither of those statements will make the plane right. it doesn’t work that way.

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“Hey, William Wynne, you are a jerk, mind your own business, the guy is probably very nice and you are only pissing on his parade. He probably isn’t even a customer of yours. This is why many people think you are an ass.”

 …….In 2016, a lawsuit for $350,000 was tried against me. It came from a person who had a Corvair in their plane, but never bought a single thing from me. If you thought that couldn’t be done, I understand, I didn’t previously believe it was possible either, but yes, it can get to federal court.

  ……..If you work in aviation, or even spend time here, you will have to decide at what level you are Your brothers keeper?  I have long ago decided that I’m fine with many people thinking I’m a jerk for pointing out something like the plane above, but I am unwilling to go to bed at night and try to sleep with a pillow made of justifications and rationalizations.

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If you want to read the story of the exact day I learned this, 25 years ago, look here: Effective Risk Management – 2,903 words

“This was the first time I can clearly say I understood the cost of keeping your mouth shut. This was the first step to me becoming the kind of “Bastard” who publicly points out people doing dangerous things.”

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wewjr.

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Builders:

Here is a video in oil pressure regulators. This is a sub component of HV-2000 Rear Oil Cases

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cd_jwZRz3A&t=7s

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If you would like to read a lighthearted story about oil cases, check this out: Jack-o-lantern parts cleaner for HV-2000 rear cases., it contains the quote:

“For all of you childhood pyromaniacs and unrepentant troglodytes trapped in repressive gated communities, those in apartments with pleasant neighbors and  builders exiled to places with property owners associations run by yuppies, gaze upon the Jack-o-lantern cleaner and imagine horrifying all of those that would repress your most fundamental pyro-mechanical instincts.  It isn’t just a cleaning tool. When surrounded by fun people drinking beer it is a down right declaration of motorhead independence and freedom.”

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If you like the video material, please remember to subscribe.

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wewjr.

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Builders,

Here is todays video, a look at the oil cooler bypass in your Corvair motor.

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https://youtu.be/mTNYzs4WBv8

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A Thought:  You can decide how effective the combination of both video, and my previously written information is by reading this story as a natural companion piece to the video above:Thoughts on cold weather operation, minimum oil temps, etc.

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For a link to a lot of stories on understanding your oil system, check this out: Notes on Group 2800 Heavy Duty Gold Oil Systems.

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Looking for subscriber 500; I just checked a minute ago, and we have 499 subscribers to the YouTube channel. You could be 500.

(Edit: Paul Normandin, thanks you are #500)

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When we get to 1,000, which I would really like to do before Oshkosh, Links to stories like the ones above can be placed directly in the descriptions of the videos on Youtube. This will make studying and understanding the material easier, as it will all be linked together in one spot. Thank you for assisting on this.

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wewjr

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Builders,

Here is a link to a new video on HV-2000 oil pump housings. It was just filmed  yesterday by the ‘World’s worst Buddhist’ * and edited by Kamal Mustafa this morning.

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We are about 1/2 way to the goal of 1,000 subscribers. If you have not yet, please do, it will allow us to have active hyperlinks right on the videos to previously written stories, giving both a quick look and later close study, originating from one location.

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https://youtu.be/pbGcM0TqDEE

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Thanks for watching. If you have any questions or ideas, put them in the comments section here. We keep the comments on Youtube turned off because with the level of moronic comments from the general population I would have to be on some really serious blood pressure stuff.

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wewjr.

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* About 15 years ago I wanted to get out of attending a long religious ceremony my mother in law insisted I cheerfully go to. That morning I announced that I had converted to Buddhism, and it was disrespectful to expect me to attend. Later that same day, I lost my temper over something, and Grace shot back “You are the Worlds worst Buddhist”.

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Builders:

Several hundred people from our area put on nice clothes yesterday morning, and drove over to Russell road. We were there to try to say goodbye to Bob Woolley.  I say try, because he was so full of life, it seems completely impossible he is gone.

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He was killed in a midair collision 14 days ago. None of the circumstances matter, it was just two very good friends, supremely skilled aviators, out having fun, in a matched set of RV-4s. They were the two most respected men at our airpark, both Vietnam combat aviators, and we came damn close to losing them both.

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Do you think of yourself as emotionally tough? Do you have a personal picture of how an aviator comports himself? Try this: Dave, the other pilot, got out of the hospital in a wheelchair so that he could have his son push him to the table bearing Bobs flag, where he carefully spoke to everyone present about what an outstanding human being Bob had been. You could spend a lifetime in aviation, and never see 10 minutes like that, and quite frankly, I hope you never have to.

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If you are from far away, but Bob’s name sounds familiar, here is the connection; Bob was Panther customer builder #1, He was the first person Dan let fly the prototype, he did the first flights in many of them, and he did the test flying In Paul Salters, 3.0L Panther. Several years ago, Rachel Weseman shared this short biography of Bob on the Panther website: https://flywithspa.com/meet-panther-beta-builder-robert-bob-woolley/.  Read it carefully, the thoughts Rachel shares tell a story of just how attached to Bob Rachel and Dan have always been.

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Above, Bob Woolley and one of the many Glasairs he built.

https://flywithspa.com/videogallery/panther-sport-flight-review-by-bob-woolley/

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When people get killed, there is always an emotional expression from people they were special to. It is hard to explain this with sensitivity, so maybe I just say it; Bob really was a titanic character, he was a really special human being to a huge number of very diverse people.  At his service I began to see the magnitude of his life, by watching five neighbors standing in a row, people who don’t have much in common, all stunned because they each just realized they lost the best friend they likely will ever have.

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Bobs hangar is about 1,500′ from mine. Most people at our airport work elsewhere, but Bob and I worked solo in our hangars. Sounds like fun, and it is when times are good. But in a bad year, it can be savagely lonely. 2017 was a lot like that. I’d get on my dirt bike and ride up to Bob’s. Its hard to express how thankful I was on some bad days find him working out in the hangar. We rarely needed to talk about much. Bob had passed through his own tough spots in life, and many times it was enough to have him as living proof that you can choose to live beyond what threatens to consume you.

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The last two weeks have been really busy, and not much of this sunk in until yesterday. All the immediately required tasks stopped at sundown tonight, and I found myself alone in the house, with a light steady rain falling outside. I thought about calling some friends, but didn’t. I sat down with a beer and thought about Bob. I’d like to share something really moving that could capture a glimpse of his spirit, but half a dozen beers later, everything that comes to me is diminished by putting it in words. Last month, cancer got my mentor in flying, Chuck Nelson. It was hard, but it came with some warning, Bob is a very different story. I’ve lost a number of really close friends in accidents over the years, but this loss has some really sharp teeth I have not felt in a decade.

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When you lose some people, you wonder if you will ever meet anyone like them again.  There is none of this with Bob. I’m 56, and I won’t live long enough to meet anyone like him again.  That may come across as somber, but it’s realistic.  I’m going to get one last beer and sit on the front porch and stare into the dark, even though I understand there will be no answers.  Before anyone writes to say ‘I’m sorry for your loss’, let me just say in advance, if you didn’t have a chance to know Bob, I’m the one who is sorry for your loss.

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Builders,

We have a new youtube video up, it is Earl Brown leading a tour of his Pietenpol project.

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https://youtu.be/nhRV7qBdfL4

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Please remember to subscribe to the youtube channel while you are there.

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Thanks,

William.

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Builders,

As we get closer to Oshkosh, we stock up for the orders that come the month before. Kitty Politi and I made a run down to Volusia County to pick up CNC machined parts today.

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I have operated out of North Florida for nearly 15 years, but got started 30 years ago in the Daytona Beach area 100 miles south. I still use many of the same parts suppliers as I did decades ago, particularly the CNC aerospace shop which has made my prop hubs since the mid 1990s. It is located on the New Smyrna Beach airport.  There is a measure of your stability in this kind of long term buisness relationships. It also tells you our stuff isn’t from China, it is made here, the core of this story: Why “Made in America” matters to me..

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Across the ramp from our machine shop is the American Aero hangar. Kitty and I stopped in for a look. Get a close look, That is a P-38 and a P-51B in the hangar amongst the other warbirds. The Allison engines on these planes were 100% designed and built by General Motors, just like your Corvair. In the 1940s, GM even owned the majority of North American Aviation.

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Thirty years ago,  I hung around the same hangar when it was owned by a very Illustrious character named Harry Doan. It was filled with a wild collection of warbirds, including several AD-1’s and a F-9F.  He owned a number of bars in Daytona, notably “Dirty Harry’s”.  If you like Cold War history, try this: “Doan Helicopter Inc,”  owned N4410F, the C-123K provider shot down while suppling the Contras in 1986, starting the Iran Contra Affair. Doan was killed in a Skyraider mishap at the Tico warbird show 25 years ago, but I can still remember what it was like to be an Embry-Riddle student and visit this same hangar as if it was last month.

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At Oshkosh, there will be plenty of people wandering among displays trying to decide on what to buy. Many of them will buy an imported engine from a short lived company or an airframe of dubious origin without ever googling the name to see what they are getting into. The Corvair engine in your workshop, and your efforts to be its creator and master are just the opposite of this. It is an American made product, which will serve your personal goals and allow you to have your place in the long arc of American aviation. When you look back 30 years, you will have a solid undeniable achievement. For reasons I’m yet to understand, others will settle for much, much  less.

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WEWjr.

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