Builders:
Corvair College #35 at Barnwell SC in November is now full. The sign up has been closed. For people who missed this, a friendly reminder that This is the 6th consecutive College we have had on the same weekend at the same location. I published the dates 10 months ago, and the sign up went active before Oshkosh. I have reminded readers about the sign up in many stories that appeared here. We do our best to let everyone know in advance.
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If you are signed up, you will begin receiving emails about the college shortly. If you are new to colleges, please read them carefully, they have a lot of detailed information.
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Above, a picture from Corvair College #31 at Barnwell last year. Tim Hansen sent in this photo he entitled “Chuck Callahan is a Good Sport about helping with my engine until 2:30 a.m.” Yes, builders do work every late at Colleges, particularly Barnwell events. No one is required to work until the middle of the night, but many people do, and there is also the crowd that gets to see each other only once or twice a year that stays up late socializing. The events are productive and fun.
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-ww.
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Oshkosh:
In the next 12 hours, Grace, the dog and myself will be getting on the road for Oshkosh. We will be out of the shop for 14 days. It is about 1,300 miles from our grass strip, this is my 22nd year of going to Airventure. It has changed a lot over the years, but to me this remains constant: I always like going to see friends, both old and new. That single factor more than makes up for all the annoyances, including always getting stuck in Atlanta road construction traffic, even if it is 3am.
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Above, myself, Grace and the legendary Chris Heintz, at Oshkosh 2014. One of the best things about Airventure is being able to speak in person with many of the most creative people in homebuilding, it is a great learning opportunity. While it has formal moments like the dinners, during the day it is casual.
( Note to the guy who told me I should “Make your wife dress conservatively,” Oshkosh is America, not Saudi Arabia, and my marriage vows were about supporting my wife, not “Making” her do things. )
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Some common Questions:
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Our booth is the same one every year, #616 in the north aircraft display area, across from Zenith aircraft.
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We have over 5,000 pounds of stuff packed in the truck and trailer; Yes, we have manuals and parts for sale
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I am giving several forums, you can check the EAA program for dates and times, or stop by the booth for info.
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I will always make time to inspect core engines and parts. Bring them, photos and questions, we are going to Oshkosh to share what we know, Helping builders is our #1 priority at the event, I am there to teach builder not entertain spectators.
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Colleges:
We have given 33 free colleges in the last 15 years, and builders have built hundreds of engines at them. This is the most unique aspect of Corvairs. There are plenty of engine options for people who don’t want to learn anything nor get their hands dirty. If you are in aviation to find out home much you can learn and build, not how little, you may be a Corvair builder Learn more about colleges here:
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Sign up for College #34 At the Zenith factory in September has been open for almost 90 days: It is 80% full, and will undoubtedly fill by the first 2 or 3 days of Oshkosh. If you were planning on going, sign up here:
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Corvair College #35 will be at Barnwell South Carolina for the 6th time in November. The sign up is now open, Here is the link:
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Please note that we do not work on unicorns at corvair colleges. I am an aircraft mechanic, not a magician, I can not turn a unicorn into a hard working pony in one weekend. If you want to build an engine, start with good information and a plan. I do not offer help to people who really wanted a unicorn.
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Unicorns for sale:
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To learn what a ‘Unicorn’ is read this story: Unicorns vs Ponies.
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To understand how potential builders waste their days looking for a unicorn, read this:
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There will be a number of Unicorn salesmen at Oshkosh this year, and some of them will be offering great tales of imaginary creatures you can buy. Unfortunately, some of these salesmen will be trying to work with potential Corvair builders. I would like to think that I have taught Corvair builders better, but experience has shown that a percentage of builders will always listen to a line of BS, just because they want it to be true. In years past, this bothered me, but today I am a much happier person because I accept that there are stupid people in the world, and I can’t change that fact, and these people will believe what the want regardless of what facts and tests you show them.
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Common Characteristics of Unicorn Salesmen:
They have a ‘New’ LLC: If a guy is there with a new LLC from the same town he was in with his last 2 LLC’s that went bankrupt, chances are, his new unicorn sales operation is going to fail also. Yet people will write them checks for unicorns without even Googling their name to learn anything about them. People who assume that just because a company has a booth at Oshkosh they are good people are fools. Jim Beede took 3,000 EAAers money in the 1970s, yet he almost always has a booth at Oshkosh. 80% of the companies displaying at Oshkosh 2005 are now bankrupt, and I am going to guess that 90% of the new LLCs debuting at Oshkosh 2015 will be bankrupt in 36 months.
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If a guy tells you that he has discovered a magic 25% HP gain with a special secret modification, He is a unicorn salesman. If the same guy tells you the engine has a torque peak at 2500rpm, he is a unicorn salesman. If he tells you he can make a 2700cc engine make the same power as a 3000 or 3300, he is a unicorn salesman. If he claims to build the best Corvairs is spite of having no A&P license, no pilots license and having never owned a Corvair powered plane, or any plane for that matter, he is a unicorn salesman. You can not advance your progress in aviation by listening to unicorn salesmen, but many people try every year. Don’t be one of them.
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Builders,
July 4th 2004, found Grace and I living in a tiny cottage directly adjacent to the New Smyrna Beach FL airport. On that day I walked outside with her and asked her to marry me. I chose this day because I hold it sacred.
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Many people are conflicted over their identity or ideals; I am not. My great grandparents, decided they were not Irish nor German, they, and all of us that would come from them, would now be Americans. I have friends from many other lands and cultures, and I respectfully appreciate them, but I personally feel no identity other than being an American.
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After Grace said yes, we had a small cookout that brought in a few neighbors. Our next door neighbor was a 90 year old man named Albie. He was difficult to understand because he had a very strong German accent combined with the effects of a stroke that stole the much of his fluid speech. In the middle of the gathering he made it clear that he wanted to share something very important.
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With great difficulty, he explained growing up in Berlin, and having cousins in Chicago he visited as a child; he wanted to be a chef, but was conscripted. On December 7th 1941, he asked to be sent to the Eastern Front, as he could never imagine fighting against the land where his cousins lived. In 1958, he came to America, and his ship entered New York harbor, passing the Statue of Liberty. It was the 4th of July.
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In our small cottage, in front of his neighbors, Albie raised a beer as a toast, and declared that this was one of the best days of his life, for living to 90 meant he had now been an American longer than he had ever been anything else, and it was his wish that all his neighbors understand his great pride in this, and that he chose to be an American, because of what our country meant in the world. Albile passed from this Earth the following year, but his slurred and struggled words remain a very eloquent tribute to the America which lives in my heart.
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Above, Grace and myself, the year we were married.
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A year later, on July 4th 2005, Grace and I were married on the beach, a few miles from Albie’s house. I had many thoughts that day, but with them was my great fortune of being born here, and the awareness that many immigrants, My great grandparents and Albie among them, have had a far stronger appreciation for this nation than others who simply found themselves born here. On this day, our 10th anniversary, The date draws my thankfulness for having Grace, my parents, and being an American.
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Several years ago, I was present when a man was being publicly ridiculed for stating that “America should close its shores and allow no immigration of any kind.” I came to his ‘defense’ by pointing out that in 1491, most ‘Americans’ were indifferent about immigrants, but in a few short decades the same Americans were largely unanimous in being against any further immigrants, based on issues with the new arrivals stealing things and lacking any kind of respect for long established social and religious customs and commonly spoken languages.
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Put aside any thoughts you may have on the late Mario Cuomo, and take one minute of your day on this July 4th to watch 60 seconds of his comments on the dreams of his mother, an immigrant from Italy:
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Happy 4th of July, -ww.
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Builders,
As of 3:50 am today, we have an active shop phone and email service again. I just finished setting up the new phone and machine after repair crews worked on the lines all day.
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While we were in New Jersey, the power pole at the end of our driveway took a lightning strike, which didn’t hurt the house nor hangar, nor get anything related to AC power, but it did burn out everything related to the phone and internet service here. It took ATT several days to get all of it corrected, as it burned the box on the pole, the down lines, the connection at the house, the modem, the internal lines, 3 phones and the answering machine, which died with all the messages it took while we were away.
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We do all our internet work over the same lines, so it was not practical to get this message out in the last 48 hours, nor to cover much email. If you left us a phone message in the last 14 days, please take a moment to call back or send us the message by email. Given a few days to catch up, I will be glad to answer all of them.
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When sending an email, please remember to include your phone number, and the latest hour it is OK to call you back. Many emails are better answered by phone calls, and I can answer in depth and at length in the evening when things slow down.
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Thanks, William
Builders,
Last week, Grace and I drove from Florida to New Jersey, joining 60 other members of our family to celebrate my parents 65th wedding anniversary. It was a family reunion that extended over several days. On the 20th, we had a formal party at Mayfair Farms, in the exact location of the original reception in 1950.
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Above, my Parents are seated before their four children and our spouses. It is a complement to my parents that many people who encounter the family often cannot tell who was born into the family and who married into it, as my parents treat us all with the same kindness, respect and love.
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Above, 4th and 5th from the left, My Father and Mother. The fireplace on the left in the photo is the same one we are standing in front of in the top photo.
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My Parents met by chance at the Jersey shore the summer after WWII ended. They waited until my fathers graduation form the Naval Academy in 1949 to be married in the spring of 1950. Seventy years after they met, they remain the joy of each others lives.
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My parents wanted everyone on hand to understand how blessed they felt to have each other for all of these years. My mother and father both came from homes of great love, but their own parents only had 34 and 37 years respectively before their marriages ended when their spouse passed. My parents wanted to say that their years together were a gift, not earned, just bestowed by fate, and they accepted this with great humility in the presence of others not so fortunate.
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Sunday night, with most of the family and friends on their way home, found my parents home suddenly quiet. While all of the afternoon’s conversations had been on family and good memories, my father, now almost 90 and somewhat frail, took the last hour of the evening to meet an obligation he finds very important; I sit beside him and listen while he looks back through the decades to remember and speak the names and the stories of good men, who’s devotion to their Shipmates, the Navy and our Country cost them everything, including a chance to grow old with the families they loved. This spoken remembrance is central to my father’s gratitude for the great fortune of being married for 65 years.
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-ww.
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Any qualities of character I may have are directly attributable to my parents. When I encounter anyone my age in a terrible position in life, my first thought has always been, and will always remain “Without the fortune of being born to my parents, that could be me.”
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Builders:
Here is a short series that gives a sharp look ahead, allowing our builders to plan their own path to achieving their goals in building and flying this year.
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Above, The builders who flew their Corvair powered planes to CC##30/The Zenith open House at Mexico MO; Shane and Phylis McDaniels (2,700/650B, MO), Lynn Dingfelder, (2,700/601XLB, PA), Dave Gardea (2,700/650B, IN) Ron Lendon (2,850 /601XLB, MI) and Pat and Mary Hoyt (2,700/601XLB with 650 canopy, MN). The picture above captures all 5 aircraft on the ramp in front of the Zenith Factory at The Mexico MO airport. The builders are standing between myself on one end and Sebastien Heintz, president of Zenith Aircraft on the other. In the Corvair movement, we have many good times ahead, just like this. Corvairs are not for everyone, but if our strengths serve your goals, follow this story and make a plan to advance your goals in the company of fellow traditional Homebuilders. For those willing to get their hands dirty while they learn to master their own power plant, your place in the Arena is ready.
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Here is a four part series that will cover everything going on in the Corvair Movement in the next six months. The segments are in these groups:
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Events: Oshkosh, Colleges #34 and #35, and possible New England and California tours.
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Communications: The ZenVair and Pietvair discussion groups, better Email and Phone contacts
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Production and sources: New parts coming, best sources for parts, lead times on items, etc
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Overview of operations: A refined approach to serving builders, what we will be doing in 2016, How this can serve your long term goals.
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I am going to cover these topics over the next few days. Some of it , such as the College #34 sign up are already on this site, but I am going to gather it here, all in one place to allow better planning and make sure no builder misses what is on the horizon. Stay tuned.
-ww.
Builders,
Below is a good photo of Terry Hand’s Pietenpol engine. It is a 2700 cc Corvair with all of our gold systems, a Weseman 5th bearing, and our new 2400-L ultra light weight starter. ( 2400-L Starter ) Terry took the photo on our front lawn right after a test run on our stand. He came down a few days after Christmas and assembled the engine under my supervision. It ran perfectly. Like many of our builders, Terry has put in a significant effort to put back into the Corvair Movement. He Is the moderator on our new Pietenpol Corvair builder group, ( Piet / Vair internet builders group, started 4/24/15 ) and he has done a lot of behind the scenes work on important projects like arranging support for Spencer Rice, our youngest Corvair builder. ( Spencer Rice’s ‘new’ engine and CC scolarship account ) Opening our shop to him for a few days at the end of the year was a mall gesture of thanks for his work.
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Above, Terry’s engine. Can you guess from the Color choice that Terry flew in the Marines? You can click on the photo to see a larger version.
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The interesting thing about Terry’s engine is its history: It flew about 100 hours with its original owner. A nice guy, but a poor match for Corvairs (or many other engines) because he didn’t want to do things like set the timing on the engine or follow much of my guidance or read things I wrote. The engine never quit on the guy but he did blow a head gasket, overheat it, and he ran it out of oil, twice,( on the same trip.) Unhappy with the engine he complained about it, ( and only later realized this undermined his ability to sell it.) I offered to assist him to correct the damage, but he declined, thinking that the problem was with the engine, not the operation. A few months later he sold the engine to Terry for a fraction of what he had in it, a fair value for an unloved engine, not running with a blown head gasket. A few days of work, about $1,600 in repair parts and upgrades, and Terry now has the engine that will power his Pietenpol for years of reliable service. The difference? Terry understands that the issue was all in the mindset of the builder, and had nothing to do with the engine.
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Here is a link to a one minute video of the engine running on the test stand:
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-ww.
Builders,
While he was enjoying Corvair College #33, Pietenpol builder Terry Hand, took a moment to interview several of the builders on hand for the college. It is an interesting cross section of builders using the Corvair in their homebuilt. Here is a link:
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What kind of builders select a Corvair? The obvious answer that comes through is all different kinds, but if you listen to them, a common thread emerges of people who have considered the question carefully and made a plan of action. While we have many people who are very new to homebuilding and have never built any kind of engine before, we also have a number of aviators who have a lifetime of experience in flying, men who understand the qualities of a simple, reliable engine. Case in point, Builder Don Murphy, who is in the middle of the video. He is in his early 80s, finishing a Zenith, but he has a long personal history in aviation, dating back to flying Medivac Helicopters in both Korea and Vietnam. -ww.
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Builders:
Every college has a number of people who do great work to make it happen. I try to make sure we thank people for this, even if they are the kind of person who likes to give back quietly. Shelley Tumino, the Co-host of CC #32, took care of the online sign up for #33, and supplied all the builder info in very useful spread sheets. This was the running start at a great event. The week before CC #33 saw a great deal of physical work for the event, and here is a glance at some of it.
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Above, Grace in our ‘Green office’, calling in catering for the event as if she was a FAC. She said “Nothing but the best sustenance for our builders” when ordering vats of BBQ. ScoobE is trying to dig a protest hole, as he normally is allowed run of our place without a harness nor leash. But he was not allowed to before the college because the right combination of temperature and rainfall brought out the spring festival of water moccasins. I spent half a box of 20 gauge shells on them in five days. during the rest of the summer we will only see about one a week or so, unless we have a flood like this: Let It Not Rain
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Above, Corvair/601XL pilot, and Corvair/Panther builder Lynn Dingfelder came down from Corry PA to spend the week before the college assisting. Without hurting anyone’s feelings, I am going to flat out say that Lynn is the most mechanically inclined and productive human I have ever met. He is very good company, but he really knows his way around tools and processes, and can think on his feet. If world war three was ever fought, I am pretty sure that Lynn could have re-stared civilization and gotten it back to the industrial revolution in 36 months. Sounds like a fun exaggeration, but if you know him, you know I am not kidding.
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Above is a photo of Cliff Rose from CC #19 with his engine. He was also on hand as part of the prep crew for #33. He is a Cleanex/Corvair builder from our area, known my the nickname “Death Row” because he actually worked on Florida’s death row for many years, giving basic health care to inmates there. You don’t meet people who have worked with 200 murderers very often. This is funny because Cliff is the most easygoing, relaxed non confrontational guy I know.
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When everyone is in the hangar, that is the only place ScoobE wants to be. He will not sit in the house alone quietly, but once in the middle with everyone, he will fall asleep. He is happy to sit in the dog bed for hours. That is his paw on the edge of the bed.
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Above, Terry Hand and Bob Lester at the college in front of Terry’s project Pietenpol. Terry came down a day early to help out with the prep work. The timing was good, he was fresh when we were in the home stretch. The in person visit gave us a chance to cover the last detail of setting up the Piet Vair discussion group: Piet / Vair internet builders group, started 4/24/15
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Above, Bob Lester stands in front of his Pietenpol, with Pietenpol builder Chuck Callahan on the right. Every college has a returning builder that really makes it work, and at #33, it was Bob’s chance to shine. He has had this Corvair Running since CC#17, but as far back as 2001, Bob had a Corvair in his KR-2. At College #33, he gave a great number of rides and treated everyone to some fun late night stories. He camped out at the college, for the fun of it, but he was also fine tuning his packing and equipment list, as he is planning on flying his Pietenpol to Brodhead WI for the annual gathering this July. -ww.
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Builders,
Here is a look at Terry Hand’s Steel tube Piet project. The fuselage is an original short length, taken directly from the plans in the Flying and Glider manual. We added several tubes to the right side to allow for a front door on that side.
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The gear is significantly lengthened from the plans, allowing the top longerons to sit at 12 degrees in the three point position. This is patterned after the gear we built for my Pietenpol in 1999, Which our demo pilot Gus Warren confirmed to allow the plane to be three pointed about 8 mph slower. This significantly shortens both the take off and the landing roll. The axle location is set for 1.5″ behind the leading edge, a location optimized for planes with brakes, suggested by Bernard Pietenpols work and writings in the 1960s. I have written extensively on our testing of Pietenpol CG’s, which covers the thinking behind this work: Pietenpol Weight and Balance project. You can get copies of the reports here:Pietenpol Weight and Balance article source
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The die spring gear is the same style we have put on a number of planes. You can read more here: New die spring landing gear on a Pietenpol, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. The gear, axles, and the die spring struts weighed 27 pounds for the pair. Because the gear is longer (which produces higher loads in the tubing), and we were planning on very robust construction, I opted to use the same size tubing as a late model Super Cub, and one size thicker wall. This is the same as my plane in 1999. I studied the charts on column bending limits in the back of Bruhn’s Analysis of Flight Vehicle Structures for a long time to make these choices. It is a minor weight penalty, for the gain in strength. Most Piet gear doesn’t have good enough welding on the end fittings, they are the week point, even on the standard gear. If you look at the ends we made in my shop, you will understand why I know we will get full strength potential of the increased strength tubing.
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The tires are 12 x 4.80″ trailer wheels. This is a project I have had in the back of my head for a long time. 13 years ago we had a Stits SA-7D Skycoupe as a test mule. It very successfully used 8 x 4.80″ tires. Look at these photos: 2,700cc-Skycoupe-2002 Photos. The 12″ wheels and tires are no where near as heavy as people suspect; the pair is 29.5 pounds. There is no question they are strong enough; the pair cost about $110; they have the same frontal area as a 6×6, but far less rolling resistance on rough ground. They will likely never wear out, but if they did, any town in America would have the replacement. Would you like to tow the plane home from the airport? There is no question on if the tires and wheel bearings are up for it. We are working on a lighter hub that incorporates a mechanical drum brake. Terry found a company that sells full moon hubcaps specifically for the 12″ trailer wheel. On the inside a 12″ pizza pan from the dollar store fit perfectly, and weighed only a few ounces. The concept is to offer an alternative to traditional spoked wheels, at a tiny fraction of the cost, with a very small weight penalty.
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Above, Terry hand stands with his fuselage at Corvair College #33. You can clearly see the pizza pan on the far wheel. We are sizing the drum brakes to fit entirely inside the pan. For height comparisons, Terry is about 6’2″. He is the moderator of our new Piet / Vair internet builders group, started 4/24/15. The motor mount is one of the ‘high thrust line’ mounts we make for Pietenpols. Read more here:Pietenpol Motor Mounts, P/N 4201(C)
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Above, the fuselage on the ramp in front of our hangar the day before. The added side tubes for the door are painted white. To see more about the structure, you can study the shadow on the concrete.
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Above, another angle, showing the die spring installation. It has spherical rod ends that thread in and out for perfect camber adjustments.
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Above, we added a pad for a modern 1.25″ tail wheel spring and modern tailwheel. I found them in the sun n fun flymart for $100. This will have far greater control than older designs, and it is full swiveling. This style installation gets the tailwheel horn in a position to be connected to the rudder horn, eliminating things like spliced cables. This also has a longer wheelbase. Note the little brace tubes to pick up the loads the front of the spring would otherwise introduce into the lower longerons.
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Above, the die spring cans. The oldest aircraft I have seen this layout on is a Plane built by Bernard Pietenpol in the 1960s. It is vastly better than any arrangement with the springs on the outside and slots milled into the tubes. Bungee cords hate heat and oil, and are subjected to this all the time in the traditional location. conversely dies springs are impervious to heat and actually like oil.
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Above, get a look at how the ends of the tubing have reinforcements and sockets made for them. I carefully made these on our milling machine, and then we TiG welded them on very carefully. I am 52, and have been welding continuously since I was 17; Vern is 62 and has been welding for a living since he was16. Between us, we have welded parts that have flown on several hundred planes from ultralights to F-14s. I take every opportunity I can to share what we know about welding with those who want to learn. The same week we made this gear, a person on the matronics Pietenpol internet list, with a mystery email name and no cited experience claimed that because it was Tig welded (like 99% of all aerospace structures today) it was absolutely “going to crack.” If you are a new builder, learn this: That kind of person is the enemy of your success in building and flying, and that is why we have both the Zenvair and Pietvair private groups which are free of that kind of person. 26 years in experimental aviation has taught me that I can’t win arguing with people like that, and the solution is to have colleges and groups that are free of them, just made of people who want to understand, build and fly.
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Above, the 1 and 1/16″ axle. I bored it out on the lathe to lighten it. Axle cost: $10.50. The front plate is 1/8″ 4130. The long bolt is where the mounting/ pivot bolt for the spring strut goes. If there is anyone who thinks that this weld isn’t strong, or is somehow ‘brittle’, or could have been done to a higher quality with a gas welder, they are a victim of poor information. If they convince you of this, you are allowing them to sabotage your dreams. Take your pick.
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Above, Terry’s project at Corvair College #33, with Bob Lester’s Pietenpol in the background.
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-ww.
