April 13, 1999

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
By Chapter President Burrall L. Sanders

Unavailable at press time.

EDITORIAL COMMENT
by Jean Jenkins, Newsletter Editor

Another month has slipped away and it is once more time for me to try to regale you with my choice of the many interesting articles, pictures and other items that have been given to me or I stumbled across. This month I have way more than I can possible put in the newsletter again so will put them in my stash of good things for future issues.

Here is an email Darrold Gray sent me that should give all of you quite a chuckle.

From: DDGRAY@aol.com
jeanjenkins1@juno.com
Date: Fri, 9 Apr 1999 14:32:37 EDT
Subject: skys
Flying
Seeing Eye Dog (true story)

I was flying from San Francisco to Los Angeles. By the time we took off, there had been a 45-minute delay and everybody on board was ticked.

Unexpectedly, we stopped in Sacramento on the way. The flight attendant explained that there would be another 45-minute delay, and if we wanted to get off the aircraft, we would reboard in 30 minutes.

Everybody got off the plane except one gentleman who was blind. I noticed him as I walked by and could tell he had flown before because his Seeing Eye dog lay quietly underneath the seats in front of him throughout the entire flight.

I could also tell he had flown this very flight before because the pilot approached him and, calling him by name, said, "Keith, we're in Sacramento for almost an hour. Would you like to get off and stretch your legs?" Keith

replied, "No thanks, but maybe my dog would like to stretch his legs."

Picture this ... all the people in the gate area came to a completely quiet standstill when they looked up and saw the pilot walk off the plane with the Seeing Eye dog! The pilot was even wearing sunglasses. People scattered. They not only tried to change planes, they also were trying to change airlines!

With that I think it is time for me to end my monthly comments. Hope to see all of you at the meeting.

Jean Jenkins

Golden Eagles Aviation, Buena Vista
Calendar of Events

23^rd – 25^th Collegiate Peaks Marathom/50 Mile Run
30^th – May 2^nd 1^st Annual Flying Fly-Fisherman Fly-In
26 ^th – 28 ^th "Jet-Setter" Ski Weekend

14 ^th – 16 ^th Bike Fest
21 ^th – 23^rd Skylane Weekend/Competition
28 ^th – 31^st Memorial Day Military Fly-In / Open House

11 ^th – 13 ^th CCRA Taildragger Stampede & Competition
18^th – 20^th Rocky Mountain Radio Control Rendezvous
25^th – 27^th 9^th Annual Great Western Shootout

Bits of Wisdom Thanks to Bob Hall

If you’re ever faced with a forced landing at night, turn on the landing lights to see the landing area. If you don’t like what you see, turn ‘em back off.

A check ride ought to be like a skirt, short enough to be interesting but still long enough to cover everything.

Speed is life, altitude is life insurance.

No one has ever collided with the sky.

Always remember you fly an airplane with your head, not your hands.

Never let an airplane take you somewhere your brain didn’t get to five minutes earlier.

The most effective and economical anti-collision device ever invented is already installed on 9% of all aircraft. Ut us . . . the landing light. The use of landing lights in low altitude and congested traffic environments increases your visibility factor by ten or more, day or night. (Reprinted from April 1992 Issue of EAA Chapter #1 Newsletter).

Another month has slipped away and it is time for me to put together the feature articles for the April Newsletter. This month I have two excellent articles to share with you. First is the Featured Builder, Bill VonDane and his progress on his Sonex, then an article by Evan McCombs our Tech Counselor on the evolvement of the modern Aircraft Engine.

I thought I would feature a new project this month and Bill VonDane has recently shared with us that he had started a Sonex. So, I asked Bill if I could feature his project this month and he provided me with the following article and pictures.

I started looking for an airplane to build back in 1994 when I got my private pilot ticket.  And when I married in 1996, my wife Debi was sucked into the seemingly never-ending search for an airplane that we could realistically build with what little disposable income we had, that I could safely fly, and Debi to learn to fly in once we were done building.

After 2 years of reading every Kit Plane magazine we could get our hands on, and browsing ever Internet site we could find, we had decided on building a Zenith STOL CH701. It seemed to have everything we wanted; all metal construction, simple pop-rivet assembly, tricycle landing gear, good slow speed handling characteristics, and could be built from plans.  We had the liability release signed, and the order form filled out when we saw the Sonex on Sport Aviation TV on Speedvision.  It was love at first sight!  So we started doing some research on the Sonex.

The Sonex is a basic all metal two place monoplane designed by John Monnett (of Sonerai fame) and Pete Buck (X lead engineer at the Lockheed Martin Skunkworks).  The first in fact, to be built entirely using 6061-T6 aluminum.   No building jigs are required, just a 4' x 12' work table, two sawhorses, and metal aircraft building tools.  The entire structure, except for the main spar, is pop-riveted using Cherry SS type rivets.  The Sonex plans include drawings for conventional gear and tri-gear versions, and both utilize Titanium rods for the landing gear.  There are two prototypes flying now using a 2200cc, 80hp Jabiru in the tri-gear, and a 3300cc 120hp Jabiru in the tail dragger.  We plan to use a VW 2180, 80hp conversion in the tri-gear configuration.  We should be flying for around $12,000 in this configuration.

The Sonex is a plans built airplane, but the factory offers several "kits" to help the builder along.  They offer a pre-formed aluminum kit for builders that do not have access to a 6' bending brake, a rivet kit, welded components kit, cowling, canopy, wheel pants, 16 gal fuel tank, and the Titanium gear legs.  The unique design spar caps must be purchased from the Factory as well.  Also included in the price of the plans is a 2 day workshop on the "ins and outs" of building the Sonex at their factory in Oshkosh taught my John Monnett.  A video version will also be available to those who cannot make to to a workshop.

We ordered our plans, serial number 90, on December 30, 1998. Since then we have completed our work table, and have most of the tools bought.  I bought a CNC formed set of form blocks from the factory to shape the wing ribs and fuselage formers, and made another set to cut out my wing ribs, and will use a router with a straight cut bit to cut out all the ribs.  I have not purchased any aluminum as of yet, but we are in no hurry.  You can visit our web site at: http://members.tripod.com/vondane to follow the progress of our Sonex.  Here are a few pictures.

My Worktable

Plans

My First Rib

First Rib

March 26, 1999 - 80HP Sonex tri-gear flight figures
Flight figures given with full load of fuel (72 lbs), one pilot and one passenger (335 lbs.) with 2200 Jabiru:

These flight figures reflect a loss of 5-7 mph loss in cruise speed from Sonex Standard Gear.
Sonex Standard Gear Recommended for rough fields, although tri-gear suspension is sufficient for grass strips

by Evan McCombs, Chapter Tech Counselor

Back in the late 1920's aircraft engine installation was extremely complicated with radiators, oil tanks, oil scavenger pumps, water pumps and all the hoses that could leak or burst. Some of the racers of the 20's and 30's used copper tubing in layers on the surface of the fuselage or wings in place of radiators. All of this complication made for unreliable and often dangerous mechanical nightmares.

When the Taylor Cub and the Aeronca "T" series of airplanes were in the design stages, the designers begged the engine companies to come up with a simple and lightweight engine to install in their new light planes. This brought about the Continental A-40. This new little engine bolted to a welded engine mount and was completely self contained. It was equipped with one magneto with only one wire, a simple carburetor which needed only a throttle hooked up and a carburetor heater to preclude carburetor icing because the carburetor was on the bottom of the engine - no natural engine heat - however if the carburetor leaked this lessened the chance of fire. If you look in the type certificate data sheets today you will find that all of the pre WWII 2 seat light planes - Cub, Taylorcraft, Aeronca and many others had this engine or its replacement, the Continental A-50 as an optional engine. During this same time frame Lycoming and Franklin engines developed small self contained, 50 through 80 horsepower engines.

By 1940 Continental had the A-65, A-75, A-80, and the A-100. The A-100 is a 6 cylinder 100 horsepower engine. (Tens of thousands of would be bomber and fighter pilots learned to fly behind the little Continental, Lycoming, and the Franklins). And thousands of Army observation Cubs, Aeroncas and Taylorcrafts; flew in all theaters of WWII with these engines. My Dad, Bruce McCombs L-2M Taylorcraft is equipped with a Continental 0-170 engine of 75 horsepower. This is authentic just as they were in 1943.

From these little self contained 4 cylinder horizontally opposed engines came the 4 cylinder up to 200 horsepower, 6 cylinder up to 350 horsepower and the Lycoming IO-720 8 cylinder 400 horsepower engines.

At times I hear people worry about the life expectancy of the modem aircraft engine. Back in February of 1998 I changed out a Lycoming IO-360 200 horsepower engine that had 2950 hours since major overhaul. If the average cruise speed of this airplane and engine was 150 mph, this airplane flew 442,500 miles. That is 17.77 times around the earth - this engine was returned to Lycoming as a core. I believe that this engine is flying again in another airplane today.

All of this history proves that even today a simple self contained and easy to maintain aircraft engine can be found for (nearly) all homebuilt designs. Remember the KISS principle, keep it simple sweetheart.

March 16, 1999

Chuck Grow, Chapter Secretary

The meeting opened with the introduction of guests:

Roger Milhish has an old Mooney and is looking for a P38 project.

Ryan Lefingwell is working on a Humming Bird project.

Scott Gem is starting a Thorp project.

Don Tulfer is looking for an all metal 2 seater to practice on before tackling a Seawind project.

Jim Curtis built a tube and rag Colb and is looking to put some time on it.

$2,197.75 in the Treasury.

Donations are needed for Jack and Wayne's memorial. Along those lines the Glider Club donated $75.00.

If you have not paid your 1999 chapter membership this is your last Newsletter.

None

Loyd Remus is the new Young Eagles Coordinator.

There will be a gathering of Eagles in Gardner Kansas on June 18, 19, and 20th. This should be a good time with replica war birds flying and on display. See Dick Rowley for details.

General Pat Holloran gave a fascinating description of the U2 and SR71 aircraft from the viewpoint of someone who was involved from the inception of both aircraft through their operational use.

The U2 was built in the 50's to provide information on the missile development of the USSR. The aircraft was built initially for the CIA. Twenty-five pilots left the Air force and went to work for the CIA. These twenty-five pilots did all of the overflights of Russia. In May 1960 Gary Powers was shot down while overflying Russia. That ended the overflights.

The mission changed to training Taiwan pilots after that. This task was shared jointly by the CIA pilots and the Air Force pilots.

Since survivability rested on flying high the subsonic U2 was limited. As height is increased the stall airspeed and the speed of sound converge. Therefore the only way to achieve more height is to fly supersonic.

Supersonic flight was archived with Kelly's SR71 which can go Mach3 at 95,000 feet. There were 15 of these built. They were smaller than the YF12A and carried less fuel. The YF12A came next and was initially going to be an interceptor. This mission was abandoned when it became obvious that it would be too hard to keep the aircraft on alert. So the aircraft's mission became reconnaissance. In this role the Air Force ordered thirty-two. Two for trainers and the rest for operational reconnaissance.

Skin temperature was a major problem. The windscreen reached temperatures of 400 degrees and the jet intakes reached 800 degrees. In order to operate at these temperatures the aircraft and engines made extensive use of Titanium. In the case of the airframe it was 95% Titanium.

Fuel consumption was another problem. The YF12A could carry 12,000 gallons of fuel (50,000 pounds). The problem was that it burned 7,000 gallons per hour (29,000 pounds). That works out to an hour and a half flying with a little left for the wife and kids. That doesn't sound like much but it is still enough to lake off from California and refuel in Florida.

With only an hour and a half range refueling was critical. In order to match up with the refueling tanker at 30,000 feet the YF12A had to leave 95,000 feet at precisely the right time. An error of 3 seconds could mean a distance error of fifty miles.

The air inlet was the most complicated part of the aircraft. The air had to enter the first stage of compression at subsonic speeds. In order to do this the first shock wave had to terminate inside of the air inlet. The subsequent shocks occurred down the walls of the inlet and terminated in subsonic speed at the turbine inlet. The excess air was bypassed and passed directly into the after burners. This air bypass accounted for 70% of the aircraft's thrust.

An 'Unstart' condition was when the shock got outside of the engine intake. The resulting drag and turbulence would make you think the aircraft was coming apart. Later improvements all but eliminated this problem.

The maximum speed of the plane was Mach 3.2. This was due to the engine temperature limits. This speed set the maximum ceiling at about 95,000 to 100,000 feet. At this height and speed the equivalent airspeed was 310 knots.

The aircraft actually performed better at the faster speeds. At Mach 2.4 down to the speed of sound the drag was prohibitive.

The sonic boom was not too bad except in the climb corridors. This was because at the height the aircraft flew the sonic boom had a chance to disappear.

The flight suit ($128,000 a piece) was the same as that worn by the GEMINE astronauts. In the case of a bailout the suit and the chair combination would keep the pilot alive until a preselected altitude at which time the pilot would be separated from the seat and a second parachute would be deployed for the remainder of the flight to the ground.

The aircraft was never shot down. Over Vietnam the SAM's could not catch the SR71.

The Navigation system had an automatic Celestial Navigation system that updated the Inertial Nav. This made the navigation very accurate.

As you would expect the craft was flown through the autopilot. But the pilot had to constantly provide input to the autopilot to keep the aircraft at the correct altitude. At the end of a five or six hour mission the pilots were whipped.

The fuel was used to keep the skin of the aircraft cool. So the fuel got hot. Because of this the fuel had to be very stable. The only way to get it to burn was to set it off with 'TEB'. TEB is a very unstable compound that explodes in the atmosphere. This was injected into the burner can along with the regular fuel to ignite the fuel.

The cameras and all other equipment were carried in the sides where the fuel was also stored.

The aircraft weighed 30,000 pounds empty and 80,000 pounds fueled.

An argument for continued use of the SR71 for recon is that satellites can be predicted. So if you want to hide something all you have to do is put it away while the satellite is overhead. In addition moving a satellite to another orbit requires the use of fuel that is in a finite supply on a satellite.

General Holloran has recently been flying a Comet replica around the country. This plane is fine except for landing. The visibility is nonexistent on approach. But if you need to get to a wider runway at least you can get there at 200 mph.

All of you know who made the first Airplane flights, but do you know how long the first two flights were? The Wright Brothers first two flights were 12 seconds and 59 seconds.

On December 17, 1903. Orville was the first to fly, his total flight time was 12 Seconds when Wilbur gave it a try and he managed to stay airborne for 59 Seconds!