Original Posted By: "Douwe Blumberg"
Hey jeff,I'm 5"9' and pretty "standard" (1930's American standard) build.I actually did drop the seat down a bit by making an oval cutout and forminga shallow fiberglass "bowl" to glue into it. Can't see it with the cushionson, but probably drops me down two inches and doesn't interfere with thecontrols.Douwe________________________________________________________________________________
Pietenpol-List: seat height
Pietenpol-List: Re: aluminum cabanes
Original Posted By: "aerocarjake"
Had a great "Piet-venture" this weekend!!Some friends invited me down to "Thunder over Louisville", one of thelargest fireworks displays in the country, preceded by a day full of airshow acts.I'm about an hour north and the weather looked nice so I invited a friend tofly RE-PIET down with me. Jim Kinsella got permission for me to fly intothe strip where he keeps his beautiful Pietenpol. So we took off early,buzzed my friends barn to let 'em know we had arrived and headed to theairstrip where Jim (and his 1943 Indian motorcycle) and Jeff Faith werethere to welcome us. The strip was trickier than I had remembered. 1700',sloping, power lines on one end and trees on the other and the old quandary;"do I land into the wind, over the wires downhill?? Or use the betterapproach over the trees uphill but with a bit of a tailwind??". Add onemaxed out Pietenpol and a not super-high time pilot and you get the picture.Third time's a charm and I got her down pretty well much to my relief. Ihad never met Jeff before and it was great to see Jim again. Jim built hisPiet in the nineties and flew it to Brodhead a few times. It's a very pure,Continental powered lightweight plane. We all know Jeff's beautiful Fordpowered plane which he built in some record number of months. Sounds likehe has the kinks worked out of the engine and will start flying now that theweather is turning. We're all hoping to arrange some flying together. TiedRE-PIET down in the lee of the hangar and spent the day by the riverwatching the Blue Angels, the F22 Raptor, and a dozen other acts until themost impressive fireworks show I have ever seen. Winds were predicted toREALLY pickup at my home (asphalt) field as the day went on so we lifted offat 7:30. I was nervous about clearing the trees with my big load and thedownhill slope seemed to mess with my angle of attack and delay rotation,BUT I cleared them okay (just okay) and we headed east with a howlingtailwind. Averaged 54kts groundspeed on the way down, averaged 109 on theway back. Landed fine and headed off to church!!It was really fun to see the guys, stretch RE-PIET's horizon a bit and pushmy experience level as well. Douwe________________________________________________________________________________Subject: Pietenpol-List: Re: aluminum cabanes
Had a great "Piet-venture" this weekend!!Some friends invited me down to "Thunder over Louisville", one of thelargest fireworks displays in the country, preceded by a day full of airshow acts.I'm about an hour north and the weather looked nice so I invited a friend tofly RE-PIET down with me. Jim Kinsella got permission for me to fly intothe strip where he keeps his beautiful Pietenpol. So we took off early,buzzed my friends barn to let 'em know we had arrived and headed to theairstrip where Jim (and his 1943 Indian motorcycle) and Jeff Faith werethere to welcome us. The strip was trickier than I had remembered. 1700',sloping, power lines on one end and trees on the other and the old quandary;"do I land into the wind, over the wires downhill?? Or use the betterapproach over the trees uphill but with a bit of a tailwind??". Add onemaxed out Pietenpol and a not super-high time pilot and you get the picture.Third time's a charm and I got her down pretty well much to my relief. Ihad never met Jeff before and it was great to see Jim again. Jim built hisPiet in the nineties and flew it to Brodhead a few times. It's a very pure,Continental powered lightweight plane. We all know Jeff's beautiful Fordpowered plane which he built in some record number of months. Sounds likehe has the kinks worked out of the engine and will start flying now that theweather is turning. We're all hoping to arrange some flying together. TiedRE-PIET down in the lee of the hangar and spent the day by the riverwatching the Blue Angels, the F22 Raptor, and a dozen other acts until themost impressive fireworks show I have ever seen. Winds were predicted toREALLY pickup at my home (asphalt) field as the day went on so we lifted offat 7:30. I was nervous about clearing the trees with my big load and thedownhill slope seemed to mess with my angle of attack and delay rotation,BUT I cleared them okay (just okay) and we headed east with a howlingtailwind. Averaged 54kts groundspeed on the way down, averaged 109 on theway back. Landed fine and headed off to church!!It was really fun to see the guys, stretch RE-PIET's horizon a bit and pushmy experience level as well. Douwe________________________________________________________________________________Subject: Pietenpol-List: Re: aluminum cabanes