Builders, My favorite color combination for my own planes is Insignia blue fuselage and Nevada silver wings. Both my Pietenpol and Wagabond were finished like this. These are Stits colors in ‘Poly Tone’, which intentionally has a matte, not shiny finish. . While the Piet was at Oshkosh 2000, a guy who didn’t understand finishes …
Continue reading “Stories on Deck / Reading List – Rev. 1 / 10 / 17”
Builders, Today I went out and bought 3 new 5 gallon cans to store 100LL in. As most of you have noticed, in the last few years, we have all been subjected to “Safety” spouts and pouring devices on new gas cans. Speaking as someone who has spent a lot of days in the burn …
Builders, Below are links to a number of stories I have written on the topic of risk management. They contain the names and stories of men I knew, errors people made, and an indication of the costs. Note that this isn’t second hand tales, or mystery email names, There were real people I knew, and …
Builders, At the bottom of this story is a commentary I wrote on human factors several years ago. It was prompted by an internet discussion where several builders were proposing complex arrangements for engine controls and questioning the value of the Nason switch we recommend for engines with electric fuel pumps. The recommendations we make …
Builders: The “Two Minute Test” is a critical, required before test flight procedure. designed to insure your planes engine and systems will run at full power for two minutes at full static RPM and climb out angle. This simulates the time and power it will take your aircraft to reach pattern altitude. If it has an issue with …
Continue reading “Critical Understanding #6, The “Two Minute Test””
Builders: About 10 years ago, a builder completed a magnificent Zenith 601XL and readied it for it’s first flight. He chose a man who presented himself as an experienced pilot to do the first flight. Although every manual I have sold in the last 15 years contains the Carb Ice story below, the pilot didn’t believe …
Builders. I got a short note from a Pietenpol builder, saying he just got the FAA sign off, and will be taking his first flight after a few details are taken care of. It brings up a few things everyone should have in mind at that point. While a general review of this page is …
Builders; 170 years ago, half my DNA lived in Germany, the other half in Ireland. The first element of the Irish half came to America in the form of a 12 year old girl who walked 90 miles to a port, took 4th class steerage to Castle Garden immigration station, and began 8 years of work …
Builders: I am now about to demonstrate my commitment to the risk management of today’s homebuilders, by “Touching the Third Rail” of homebuilding, I am going to say something that strongly disagrees with a man who since his passing has been elevated to infallible sainthood in homebuilding, Tony Bingelis. This will certainly generate hate mail, …
Continue reading “Dated Sources of Information: Example – Fiberglass fuel tanks”
Builders: Six months ago I wrote this story: Comments on aircraft accidents, and I would hope that builders who missed it then will take 5 minutes to read it now. It includes important perspectives I would like builders to stop and really consider, like this: . “Even if a builder had a god’s eye view of …
Continue reading ““God has a sense of humor I am yet to understand””
