RV Builder's Hotline - June 3, 2006

Flight testing your homebuilt
For many of us, the day when we've run out of rivets, airplane parts, and places to drill into our thumbs, is the day it's time to get the RV in the air. But it's more than just firing up and going. It requires a methodical and executed flight test regimen.

Fortunately, as with all things RV, others have gone before, and they've left a trail of helpful advice, all easily obtained online. Most roads lead to an EAA article, originally published in 1997 called "Flight Test Like a Pro," (membership required). Writer Ben Owen strongly recommends you pick up a copy of the FAA's Amateur-Built Aircraft Test Flying Handbook from the FAA (pdf).

You've completed the plane, the paperwork, chosen your test pilot, and read the circular, but what about RVs? What specifically should you be doing? Enter Michael Stewart, an RV-8 builder and developer of one of the more impressive RV construction sites o the Web. He has provided an incredibly extensive series of flight test cards (pdf) for his RV-8; 69 pages of flight-data testing procedures that's he made available on his Web site.

In the 21 Years of RVator (which is a higher number now, I believe), only 3 pages are dedicated to flight testing. There are, of course, more in the Van's manual. But the bible of flight testing resources has, for some time, been Kevin Horton's RV-8 project Web site, where he has several pages of in-depth preparation and execution of a flight test program. He also has an extensive collection of links, although several are broken (I think there was a server switch somewhere along the line).

And please remember this (courtesy of a Falco newsletter): flight testing is a dangerous activity. "On a first flight, you have to assume that the worst will happen. The airplane will be badly out of rig, the cockpit will fill with smoke from an electrical fire and the engine will quit. You need a pilot at the controls who can calmly put the airplane back on the runway. In short, you need the best pilot you can get your hands on, and if that pilot isn't you, then you are letting your ego and emotion do your thinking, not your brain," it said.
Related links:
Flight testing homebuilt aircraft (Amazon)
EAA Chapter 403 April newsletter: Proficiency and currency.
Thread: First flight runway length (VAF)
Simple Digital Systems' EM-4: Flight testing

Randolph makes emergency landing
Bill Randolph, 77, left the Watsonville Municipal Airport for a leisurely flight that ended with a 75-yard skid down a field about 5 miles from the Salinas Municipal Airport. Randolph was unhurt, but the RV-8 airplane he built from a kit for his globe-circling adventure — the plane he called "my buddy" — suffered what may be serious damage.(Santa Cruz Sentinel)
From the archive: EAA 119 chronicle of Randolph's around-the-world-flight

Van asks: "Why?"
One of these days, one of the forums at Oshkosh is going to be "Van vs. the people living on the edge." You just know there's an honest-to-goodness rant on what some people are doing to his RVs. In the latest RVator, we got pretty close to hearing it. Specifically, gross weight over Van's recommendations. In alluding to homebuilding being a "maturing industry." He said "some of the builder alterations' (mentioned earlier in the article) seem to contradict my maturity model. To us at Van's, particularly the engineers, this is so illogical and potentially dangerous that we are hereby soliciting answers to find out WHY? Off the record and anonymous. Please, we'd really like to know your reasoning for penciling in higher gross weights.
1. You feel that the airframe has sufficient structural and aerodynamic margins to permit this liberty?
2. You feel that your superior piloting skills will overcome the lowered safety margins caused by the higher gross weight?
3. You like to 'live on the wild side?'
4. You just simply are in a better position to set limits than Van's engineers?
5. Other?
Answers may be e-mailed to engineering@vansaircraft.com.

Curiously, up to now, there hasn't been a single word of chatter on any of the forums or bulletin boards about this article.

Tribute to Ron Russell
From Trish Russell via the SoCal RV List: "EAA posted a nice tribute to my brother, Ron. You will notice the SoCal group is represented by Lucky Laird's beautiful RV-6. Thank you again for all your thoughts and prayers! We attended Mark's mother's funeral today. Maybe now we can get back to a less dramatic life. I am continuing to work with the NTSB and the insurance company with the hopes that we figure out the mystery as to why the engine stopped. They are coordinating a Lycoming and an ignition expert's inspection of the plane. The engine was a Superior make engine designed like a Lycoming.

Palmetto RV fly-in
The Vans Air Force Palmetto (SC) wing has grown by leaps and bounds lately. It seems every one is building a RV. It must have something to do with it being such a great airplane, although I am not bias at all. Three years ago we decided to have a little laid back fly in. It was to "pay back" our RV friends for hosting RV fly-ins that entertain us on the weekends.
It was a success with many RVs flying in. I think we had 30 airplanes fly in. (Patty Hamilton in EAA 242 May newsletter)

Basic magneto theory
The magneto is basically a small AC generator constructed so that the voltage wave produced reaches a peak at a certain rotation position. When coupled to an engine crankshaft, this feature can be used to fire a spark plug. By adding a breaker to it set to open just after the peak voltage makes for a very rapid decay of the voltage, which causes a very high voltage spark coil or auto transformer to be generated. (EAA 62 June newsletter)

Talking intercoms
Mark Scheuer was returning to his roots. The Tennessee residents (now) had just dropped his family off at the airport in Minneapolis for a return flight, and drove to Lake Elmo Airport (21D) last Sunday to show me his company's -- PS Engineering Incorporated -- latest product: the PMA8000B. Mark was a resident of nearby Oakdale for many years, flew out of 21D, and started his company with a fellow Hewlett Packard electrical engineer in 1985.

It was too gusty for any flying outside, so the local FBO had sent its staff home and closed up shop, but left the door open. So we made ourselves at home and explored some of the products features and how it might be of interest to the RV community. The company's lower-end audio panel -- the PMA 4000 -- has found its way into many experimentals. It's a 4-place intercom that can be configured for PTT with four unswitched inputs. It's suited for a panel that's tight on space because of its 1.70" x 2.435" x 6.50" size. I found it online for anywhere between $750 and $895.

But it was the PMA 8000-SR (it has a Sirius receiver) that Mark wanted to show off. It's pricey -- about $2,600 for the SR, $1,700 for the 8000B without the Sirius receiver -- with Mark stressing its ability to plug and play in a swap out with the chief competition -- Garmin's GMA 340. A jack provides a way to connect a cell phone or IPod, and digital recording so a pilot can replay the last recorded message (handy, for those clearances.). Six "smart function" keys allow multiple configuration of the panel to determine what the pilot, crew, and passengers hear. For more, download the pilot's guide (pdf). Worth checking out at OSH.

All of this got us talking on the Yahoogroups RV Builder's List (formerly 7A group) about features people want in an audio panel. Bret Smith of Georgia had a proposal. "If you have their ear, propose the Jim Younkin Model," he said. "Create an intercom for the Experimental market. The intercom does not need a TSO for IFR certification. Make it according to the specs I already mentioned but include stereo inputs for the external (NOT integrated) XM/Sirius as well as DVD and IPOD, i.e. COM 1/COM 2
NAV 1/NAV 2 Marker Beacon (4-5) Aux Inputs (Sat Radio, IPOD, Cell Phone, CD/DVD Player, EIS annunciator, A/P annunciator, etc.) (3-4) stereo inputs, stereo output. Keep the price point BELOW $1200! This would be the ideal intercom for 98% of all experimental aircraft flying today. Don't make us settle for the line of intercoms offered/designed for the certificated crowd."

What's your plane's intercom/audio solution, and how do you like it? Join the discussion on the list and add your thoughts.
Related Links:
What's new in avionics 2005 (pdf)
Thread: Intercoms (RV Builders Group on Yahoo)
Archive thread: intercoms - April 2005 (VAF)

The paperwork question
When RV builders start their project, invariably the questions comes up: "how much do I need to document?" This was a lot easier question when the Internet wasn't stuffed full of RV construction Web sites, more detailed and documented than even the instructions that Van's supplies. Their existence suggests that maybe you should do the same thing. this is the "records" version of the "I just gotta have that Chelton."

Rob Riggens ExperCraft is one site that makes detailed logs easier. In a discussion on the RV Builder's Forum on Yahoo, others proclaimed the tried and tree Excel spreadsheet. Or just a loose-ring notebook with pictures. Personally, I'm a fan of Kitlog Pro, which makes assembling documentation on your own computer, and keeping track of costs and maintenance pretty easy at a low price. But, of course, my goal in keeping the log, is the same one as snapping a picture at my son's graduation this week.

What's the FAA -- or DAR -- require? Here's what they say: (1) To meet the intent of § 21.191(g) and to be eligible for an experimental airworthiness
certificate, satisfactory evidence must be presented to show that the aircraft was not built from completely prefabricated parts or kits. However, the applicant cannot be expected to have personally fabricated every part that makes up the aircraft any more than this can be expected of a commercial aircraft manufacturer. Items such as engines and engine accessories, propellers, rotor blades, rotor hubs, tires, wheel and brake assemblies, instruments, and standard aircraft hardware such as pulleys, bell cranks, rod ends, bearings, bolts, rivets, etc., may be procured on the open market."

Clear as mud? That's your cue. If you're not sure what the inspector will ultimately require, pick up the phone and call the local FSDO, or talk directly to your DAR. This is a point on which you should agree early in the process, not a reason for battle when all you want to do is fly.

Cockpit tour
Doug Weiler of Hudson, Wisc., (featured last week in the Hotline), provides several photographs of his throttle quadrant installation in his RV-4. Doug is a 757 captain for Northwest Airlines, though I think he likes RVs better. (See slides on Flickr)

Canopy frame with Delrin guides

Well I had some unfinished business with the canopy bubble. Since it is somewhat easy to twist upon opening and closing, I made a couple of blocks out of my favorite material to do the job. "Delrin" When the Canopy opens and closes this is the area. (jeffsrv-7a.com)

Local battery grounding

Not sure when (the updates aren't dated and I don't get to check as often as I would like), but Bob Nuckolls at AeroElectric Connection has updated his Web site to add a "shop note" on battery grounding. (More)
Related thread:
Grounding (Matronics AeroElectric forum)

I'd read portions of your newsletter before but didn't know it was you...ya
know, looking for specific information on some widget or procedure. It's
excellent. Thanks for putting it out there!

The part you mentioned that I took on the road (that was before 9/11...now you can barely get your ink pen through security), one time it was the elevator trim tab. I think of that every time I preflight it. Funny the things you remember.

I was enjoying reading through your note and then came upon the Meniere's Disease mention. Yikes! One of life's cruel blows. I'm sorry to hear it. But, ya know, I'd do exactly the same thing you're doing: I'd keep building. Make that rocking chair wait.......don't go to it willingly. I'm proud of your attitude!

You asked of my pilot training reunion at OSH: it was special and fun. Once we got over the fact that none of us looked twenty years old anymore, the stories and the spirit started right where we left them forty years ago. I think I've mentioned the reunion in some columns but the July '04 issue of Sport Aviation is the closest I came to actually writing about it per se. We're going to do it again this year and it seems a couple more guys show up each time as they know we say bad things about them until they appear.

Thank you for the invite. I've made a calendar note re: the RV Builder's Family Reunion at OSH. It sounds like a good gathering of good people. I'll do my best to let you know in a timely manner....I've just started doing my flight planning and such.

Thanks for your support of my son. As you know, support is vital to those kids and they dang sure don't get it in the newspapers. The good news is, given the long delay in the magazine publishing process, he's home now. Big sigh of relief. His heart, however, is still with the guys who remain
there. Mine, too.

Back to the flying: yeah, that 'first flight' was something special! Exciting and rewarding all at the same time. I wrote about it but, publishing delay again, it won't be out until the August issue.