Pietenpol-List: To Fly, is to Live

[matronics]

Original Posted By: John Myers
Subject: Pietenpol-List: To Fly, is to LiveI flew my plane this evening (Tuesday), for the second time !! YEEE HAAWW!! What a rushhh !! I logged over an hour flight time this beautiful evening. After my first flight, I felt like there was something going on in that ol' Model A engine, so I changed the mag. The past couple of weeks, I redesigned the mag mounting bracket, and had to redesign the mag coupling, too. I also changed the impeller in the water pump, to get a little more circulation. I also adjusted the leading edge of the horizontal stabilizer down a little, to help reduce the aft stick pressure, but it will have to be adjusted some more, because I still have too much aft stick force, to maintain level flight. In level flight, the elevators (some call them 'flippers') are down about 3, and when I pull enough to make them parallel with the horizontal stab, it pitches the nose up way too much. I'm thinking about adding a spring to the elevator bell crank (I think Mike Cuy, and maybe some others did this) to reduce my aft stick pressure, but I would rather reduce this aft stick force aerodynamically. Adjusting the L.E. of the stab down helps, but it isn't enough. I also drilled out the pitot static tube, from #50 hole to #40 hole, to get the airspeed indicator, and altimeter to react more quickly...it worked. I finally got the engine running yesterday. The winds were calm today, so I called in work, and took a vacation day this evening. Well worth it !! Benton Airpark was reletively quiet all day, but this evening...everybody decided to fly !! There was 3 Piper Cubs, the Stearman, an RV6, and a couple of C-150's in using the airport this evening. BUSY PLACE...no radio...eyes peeled. Three times I was in the pattern to land, but there was a plane on the grass strip, and I had to go around. I'm gonna try to get out there in the morning, to practice my landings...I need lots of practice !! The engine still wants to quit running, on short final, when I pull power to idle, so I have to keep goosing the power, to keep the engine running, and then I'm too hot on short final, so I had to do a wheels landing, and stab the stick forward after the mains touched, which keeps the wing at a low angle of attack to keep the plane on the ground, and then I could keep the engine running. It idles fine with tail low attitude, on the ground. I've still got some carburetor gremlins. I think maybe the fuel level in the bowl is too high, and in level flight attitude at idle, it is too rich. I think I'll do a static run, with the tail up in level flight attitude, and see what happens. Should have done that long ago. It burns WAY too much fuel...5 g.p.h. Oh, did I tell ya I took from pictures while I flew this evening? As soon as I get them developed, I'll scan 'em in, and send ya some shots of the Kansas countryside !!Chuck GantzerWichita KSNX770CG ________________________________________________________________________________Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 13:53:22 -0500

[matronics]

Original Posted By: "Owen Davies"
Sometimes it's good to be Chuck...Greg ________________________________________________________________________________

[matronics]

Original Posted By: "Gene Rambo"
Steve Eldredge wrote:> Its silly to think that the Ultra-Piet (single place ultralight) and> Bernie's Pietenpol Air Camper (2 place exp airplane) are in conflict, in> my opinion.Actually, the person who may have the greatest cause for hard feelingsagainst Roger Mann is Wayne Ison, who believes--accurately, in theopinion of a friend who has studied both sets of plans--that the Ultra-Piet,aside from cosmetics, was a straight knock-off of the HiMax. This wasconfirmed, as an aside to a comment about the resemblance between theLegal Eagle and the Airbike, by Ison himself at Sun 'n Fun this year.Owen Davies________________________________________________________________________________

[matronics]

Original Posted By:
Do you have any provision for carb heat??Cy Galley, TC - Chair, Emergency Aircraft Repair, OshkoshEditor, EAA Safety Programscgalley(at)qcbc.org or experimenter(at)eaa.orgAlways looking for articles for the Experimenter----- Original Message -----