EAA Chapter 1514 Newsletter

”To promote, encourage, and facilitate in a harmonious and inclusive manner all recreational aviation activities with an emphasis on
education, safety and fellowship”.
Remember, the one thing that makes this group remarkable is
the people; with that being said, you have some friends out
there with similar interests, and I bet that they, too, would like
to be a part of our great chapter. So don’t be shy, invite them
out and let’s get more of us like-minded folks involved in what
we do as a chapter. The more folks that we have, the more fun
it will be for all of us and just think, there may be a cool story
or presentation that they might be able to bring to the group.
Our meeting will be held on the 15th of April at Lovezzola’s Pizza
where dinner will start at 6:00 PM, with the presentation and
business meeting to follow at 6:30 PM.
Message from the President
By Keith Gay
It seems that, as of late, the days and months are just whizzing
by my head. That being said, we are just days away from the
coveted Sun-N-Fun 2014 event. Greetings, everyone! I hope
that this finds you planning your trip to sunny Florida for the
Sun-N-Fun festivities. I am working on my potential travel plans,
but with the new job I may have to live vicariously through you
good people until I get the vacation time to get down there and
partake in the Sun and the Fun. Which brings up a reminder; we
General Meeting Agenda
April 15, 2014
6:00 - 7:30 PM
Lovezzola’s Pizza, US 80, Pooler GA
Call to order - Keith Gay
Guest Introductions
are meeting on the 15th of April to account for those who may
be heading south and to give them an opportunity to bring back
some good old Sun-N-Fun stories.
Presentation: Bill Leftwich will recap his trip to South
Africa flying the Air Cam, speaking to an EAA chapter, and
more.
Bill Leftwich will also be returning from Africa and Sun-N-Fun,
and has graciously agreed to provide our presentation for this
month, and it is going to be incredible. He has been in Africa
since the beginning of March to complete inspections on a
friend’s Air Cam, and while there he has been touring the area
via Air
Cam and Land Rover in the wildlife preserve. Mr. Leftwich is
going to give us a recap of his trip to Africa, his visit to a local
EAA chapter, and may even have some stories from Sun-N-Fun.
I am sure that it will be an amazing presentation, and I can
hardly wait to see some of the amazing photography that I am
sure will be proudly displayed. Thank you, Bill for taking the
time on your return to share with us your journeys across the
pond!
Break
Reports:
● President – Keith Gay
● Vice President – Mark Wordell
● Treasurer – Jack Scott
● Secretary – Doug McKissack
● Membership - Kathy Roberts
● Design Group – Will White
● Program Coordinator - Gary Arms
Discussion/Socializing
2014 Officers:
President:
Keith Gay 912-657-2696 [email protected]
Vice President:
Mike Wordell 912-660-1832 [email protected]
Secretary:
Doug McKissack 912-965-4924 [email protected]
Upcoming Programs And Events
Gary Arms, Program Chairman
April 15 Program:
Bill Leftwich will recap his trip to South Africa flying the Air
Cam, speaking to an EAA chapter, and more.
Treasurer:
Jack Scott 912-441-6577 [email protected]
May 6 Program:
Chairmen of Standing Committees:
Tom Huff will discuss his trip to AirVenture 2013 - logistics
to/from and risk management. (Tom was unable to present
this at the February meeting due to sickness.)
Design Team Chairman:
Willard White 912-925-2478 [email protected]
Fly-In Chairman:
Swaid Rahn 912-655-0966 [email protected]
June 3 Program:
Speaker is TBD; will look for prospects at Sun 'n Fun.
Membership and Publicity Chairman:
Kathy Roberts 912-308-91664 [email protected]
June 17 Program:-
Program Chairman/Asst Newsletter Editor:
Gary Arms 912-665-1680 [email protected]
Joint social outing/cookout with the Savannah Aviation
Association at the Savannah Airport pavilion.
Web/Newsletter Chairman:
This will be in addition to our June 3rd meeting.
Advisors:
Flight Advisor:
Ed Wischmeyer 912=665-2969 [email protected]
Technical Advisor:
Bill Leftwich 912-401-8338 [email protected]
EAA Chapter 1514 meets the first Tuesday of every
month at 6:30 PM at Lovezzola's Pizza, (328 US
Highway 80, Pooler. 912-748-6414) or at an offsite location
as dictated by that month's program. Location of the
next meeting is given in this newsletter.
Dinner begins at 6 PM with the meeting following.
Our next meeting is on: April 15, 2014, at:
Lovezzola’s Pizza, US 80, Pooler, GA
Guests are always welcome.
The deadline for the May 06, 2014 newsletter is: Close
of Business, April 25, 2014.
This strange looking aircraft was spotted undergoing
refurbishment at Lowcountry Regional Airport in
Walterboro, SC. Know what it is?
The answer is on page 6.
Photo (and question) courtesy of Gary Arms.
Greater Savannah Chapter 1514 Newsletter
Volume 4, Issue 4
April 1, 2014
Page 2
Design Group Report
By Willard White
Meeting: February 25, 2014
Further research: Chris Heinz has load based rivet criteria in his
book.
In Attendance:
Joe Buttner
Esteban Villa
Doug McKissack
Willard White
Objectives:
Implementing dihedral of the wing
More fuselage details
Constructing a wing rib
I complained that having the dihedral implemented at BL 0 was
going to be complicated to build. We had all agreed on this,
months ago, but constructing such a design is difficult. We
discussed building the center seven foot section straight and
putting the dihedral in at BL +/- 42. This design is used on the
Teenie 2 and the Thorp T18. It is easier to build. However, it
would require a smaller flap span. We considered a slotted flap
which is another complexity by itself. The group finally came
around to the idea that the fuselage should have a straight “bridge”
and the wings would be attached at BL +/- 22 (the edge of the
fuselage). The advantage is that the flap span can be larger and
plain flaps can be used. The airplane is also more attractive, and
the ribs inside the fuselage (there are a lot of them) can all be
built on the same form blocks. It turns out that this is the way
thousands of Van's RVs are constructed, so it will probably work.
We looked at the landing gear again and considered attaching it
to the firewall. (Previously, it was attached to the front spar of
the wing at BL +/- 20.) After looking at several arrangements
available on the Internet and attempting to imagine constructing
fittings on the firewall for the lg, we circled back to where we
were at the beginning: A fabricated fitting on the forward spar
at about BL +/- 20 to which a 3M scotchply arm attaches, and
a fabricated fitting to align the axle. This is pretty much where
we started, but we're confident this is a good arrangement which
a homebuilder (who can TIG weld) could replicate in his shop.
Above: (L to R) Esteban Villa and Joe Buttner are
regulars at the Design Group meetings.
Achieved:
We began with more information about rivets:
Diameter D: Greater than 3 * T
ex.: 3 * (.020 + .020) =
.120 therefore 1/8” rivet required.
Grip Length: T + (1.5 * D)
ex.: (.020 + .020) + (1.5 *
.125) = .228
Edge Distance: 2D to 4D (2.5D is best)
Pitch: 3D to 12D
Esteban recommends limiting pitch to the
range 4D to 6D. If that's not good enough, go to the next larger
rivet size.
Gage: (distance between rows): Greater than 3D
Drill: 135 degree tip angle, #40 for 3/32”, and #30 for 1/8”
rivet. 100 holes per drill bit maximum.
Clecos: 3/32” clecos are silver.
1/8” clecos are gold colored.
Consensus was that we should build a token aileron to develop
our riveting skills. Basically, we have enough resources to build
a 30” section of an aileron or flap. The chord length of this aileron
will be about 10”; it will require a skin, a forward spar, and four
ribs. Our intention is to order some .020” 6061T6 and use it for
the spar, ribs, and skin. I have a 36” bending brake which can
be used to fold the skin. Our plan is for individuals to construct
components at home and bring them to the meeting where the
group will assemble them using 1/8” aluminum pull rivets. We
realize that this will be a challenge, but the only way we can fail
is if we don't learn anything. After this exercise, we should be
able to decide whether we want to go ahead and construct the
cockpit section of our fuselage.
Meeting: March 11, 2014
In Attendance:
Joe Buttner
Esteban Villa
Doug McKissack
Willard White
Design group continued on page 4
Greater Savannah Chapter 1514 Newsletter
Volume 4, Issue 4
April 1, 2014
Page 3
Design group continued from page 3
Objectives:
Refine aileron design
Set some rivets
would take an amateur homebuilder weeks, so we retreated to
the idea of a cantilevered and curved section of skin to fair the
control surface when it is deflected. This should be a fairly
straightforward process of rolling a curve onto the front 2" of the
skins before they are assembled.
Achieved:
We began with a discussion about aileron and flap hinge
design. Piano hinge was the first idea that came up. Then
we considered a design using extruded "T" shapes, which
could be purchased by the foot and would have sufficient
bearing area for our design. Even a slotted flap was briefly
discussed, but we felt the added flap performance wasn't
justified by the added building complexity. We even
considered Heinz' "no hinge" design for an aileron and
passed on it.
Eventually
t
h
e
discussion
ranged back
to the piano
hinge as the
lightest and
simplest to
implement.
The aileron
will have the
hinge inside
the top skin
flanges and
the flap will
have
the
piano hinge
inside
the
bottom skin
Above: Calculations and construction take place
flange.
at the Design Group meetings.
The consensus was that we need three inches between the aft
spar and the forward aileron/flap spar (instead of the present two
inches) to allow room for an aileron balance weight.
We
took
t u r n s
deburring
and pulling
rivets
on
some sheets
of practice
.020" 6061T6.
Guess what?
We had the
wrong rivets.
Silly me; I
applied set
rivet
size
standards to
pull
rivets.
The
result
was
that,
although our
rivets were tight, the body was too long and ugly. This
was a 17 dollar lesson well learned. We'll order the
correct grip length rivets and try again. Incidentally, one
other lesson we learned was not to ignore the shipping
costs. Our rivets cost $6 and the handling and shipping
was $10. Our sheet metal order experience was similar.
After adjusting the size of our aluminum sheets, they cost
$37 and shipping was $20.
Meeting: March 25, 2014
In Attendance:
Esteban Villa
The work-in-progress aileron/flap section was examined in detail. Doug McKissack
The section is 30" long, 9.9" (.25c) deep and 3" thick. I brought Willard White
the skin along, even though it hasn't been bent. It turns out that
my brake will only bend the trailing edge 90 degrees, and we Objectives:
need about 166 degrees of bend - and it would need more radius
than my brake can give it. We arrived at the idea of separating Refine aileron design
the top and bottom skins rather than making them one piece. Advance the design of the fuselage
We would have to rivet the trailing edge together, which is ok
except that pull rivets with the body of the rivet sticking out into Achieved:
the wind are aerodynamically and esthetically ugly. We concluded
that we'll have to use MS470 rivets for this application, which will We began with a discussion of the balance weight. We do want
necessitate another $100 or so investment in a rivet squeezer.
balanced ailerons, and we agreed on attaching the balance weight
on the outer end of the aileron, arranged so that it protrudes
Our aileron/flap design is not at all aerodynamic when it is from the bottom of the wing when the aileron moves upward.
activated. The cupped front of the aileron/flap will cause We would like to hide the weight inside the wing for all conditions,
considerable local turbulence and drag when it is out in the wind but Doug pointed out that would require the weight to be close
stream. This wouldn't affect cruise performance, but might be in and heavy, and complex to build. We calculated the weight
noticeable during maneuvering or flap activation. We looked at and moment of our four foot aileron and came up with 2.6 lbs.
building a set of curved leading edge ribs and covering the front and 10.5 in. lb. at the hinge, so our balance weight needs to be
of the control with a curved skin. Actually, constructing all this about 2.6 lb. at 4" ahead of the hinge line.
Design group continued on page 5
Greater Savannah Chapter 1514 Newsletter
Volume 4, Issue 4
April 1, 2014
Page 4
Design group continued from page 4
Aileron travel is tentatively 15 degrees plus or minus. I'll set this
into our X-plane model and we'll fly it at our next meeting. We
think X-plane can record flight control deflections and roll and
yaw rates, but we're not sure. At the very least, we can
determine roll rates and have a look at adverse yaw.
The long control push-rod from the cockpit to the aileron bell
crank was the next topic. We considered steel tubing vs. larger
diameter aluminum tubing and what the end fittings might look
like. We agreed that aluminum would be lighter and stiffer; we
have no particular size restraints since our fuel tanks are ahead
of the main spar.
The flap design is the same as the aileron design with minor
differences:
1. The flap hinge is on the bottom, (the aileron hinge
is on the top.)
2. The flap hinge is full length.
3. The flap control horn is on the inboard end.
The flap/aileron project is progressing. We managed to
assemble (with clecos) a 30 inch by 10 inch control. It's
interesting to see our learning curve progress in a predictable
manner. We had ordered the wrong rivets, our new rivets
were mis-shipped (for $11 shipping and handling charge) and
Doug immediately discovered that we hadn't ordered enough
rivets. Who knew a 30" section of flap would require more
than 100 rivets? We had earlier discovered that we couldn't
Above: (L to R) Joe Buttner and Doug McKissack.
Right: Esteban makes calculations on the
whiteboard..
The next subject was wing tip design. We considered and
eliminated a fiberglass wingtip just because of the effort
required to build composite wing tips. The Mooney, which has
admirable performance, has no wing tips at all; the wing just
ends with the last rib. Chris Heinz seems to have the best
alternative, his designs have an outer rib that is angled
outward at about 45 degrees, which is easy to build and can
be arranged to contain the balance weight during cruise flight.
We considered control horn arrangement and attachment and
concluded that we would attach the pushrod to the aileron by
using 1/4 inch by 2 inch aluminum angles, cut to fit inside the
aileron spar. These angles would be mirrored to support a
spherical joint through bolt on both sides. The aileron is four feet
long and has a five ribs equally spaced (four spaces); we decided
to locate the control horn on the second outboard rib (one fourth
of the way out the rib).
The piano type aileron hinges came up for discussion; how many
and where. Piano hinge can be purchased by the foot and can be
cut to the desired length. We wanted to arrange the hinges so
that the control horn area was supported by a hinge, but we didn't
want full length hinges. After some debate, we arrived at (three)
9 inch hinge segments with their inboard ends located at butt
line 77, 90, and 112. Doug insists that the hinge be attached to
the aileron with removable fasteners so that we won't spend hours
attempting to assemble the aileron to the wing by pushing the
wire through all those little holes.
Greater Savannah Chapter 1514 Newsletter
fold the wing skin 170 degrees and have just a one piece wing,
consequently, with the new design we realized we would need to
use set rivets to clamp the trailing edge together. That means
we'll need a rivet squeezer which will cost another $100. Long
story short, our flap project will take twice as long and cost more
than twice as much as we expected. We did pull one rivet, just
to see that we now had the correct rivets, and it worked fine.
Our next meeting will be April 22nd.
Objectives:
We'll deburr and assemble our flap/aileron section.
After this little exercise, we should be better able to decide
whether we want to take on a project which will require several
hundred hours and several hundred dollars.
All photos courtesy of Willard White.
Volume 4, Issue 4
April 1, 2014
Page 5
Civil War History Buffs
By Willard White
If the Chapter has any some Civil War history buffs, they might enjoy this 6,000-word
historical fiction (with a little romance thrown in) story.
It's free.
Access SMASHWORDS.COM and search for Willard White and it will come up. The
name is Coffee Bluff and it is free and available for download in all formats. It has
been available on the Internet only five days and has been downloaded nearly 200
times.
This monument to The Tuskegee Airmen is part of the
Walterboro Army Airfield Memorial Park historical site.
Photo courtesy of Gary Arms.
Answer to the plane identification question on page 2: Transavia PL-12 Airtruk from Australia
Greater Savannah Chapter 1514 Newsletter
Volume 4, Issue 4
April 1, 2014
Page 6
MARK THE DATE!!!
MidCoast Regional Airport
at Wright Army Airfield (LHW)
Come Join Us For Our Quarterly
FLY-IN
Saturday
April 12, 2014
Free Lunch Served from 11am to 1pm
Please RSVP at 912-877-4359
Greater Savannah Chapter 1514 Newsletter
Volume 4, Issue 4
April 1, 2014
Page 8
Greater Savannah Chapter 1514 Newsletter
Volume 4, Issue 4
April 1, 2014
Page 9
For Sale
L949 Piper PA-16 Clipper. 1320 total time airframe and
engine. Engine was inspected and repaired with all worn parts
replaced in 1993 during restoration and documented with form
8130-3 or equivalent. Engine work included magna-fluxing and
checking all steel parts and dimension check of all parts per
Lycoming specifications. Engine has Airwolf remote oilfilter STC.
Fuel system has been modified with 2ea.18 gallon wing fuel
tanks, header tank has been removed. Aircraft has 2 ARC-385
radios, a Terra mode C transponder and ARC audio panel,
Airframe was recovered in 1993 with Ceconite and finished with
Randolph buterate paint. Aircraft currently has Cleveland 6.00x6
wheels and brakes installed with wheel pants. Original Goodrich
wheels and brakes with new tires and tubes are included. Photo
album of the restoration is available for review. Annual
inspection is due in March, and will be current at time of sale.
Asking price is $30,000.
Legal Eagle XL ultralight serial number 25. Aircraft was built
in 2010 and currently has approximately 22 hours total time
engine and airframe. Power plant is the Valley Engineering "Big
Twin" which is a constant duty rated 40 H,P. Generac air cooled
V-Twin engine that turns a 66" Culver wooden prop through a
1.98 to l- reduction drive. Engine produces 250 Lbs. of thrust
and has a built in 20 amp alternator and electric starter. Aircraft
is equipped with an electrical system, a remote antenna and
stick mounted push to talk switch for hand held VHF. Fuel
system consists of a 5 gallon aluminum tank in the right wing,
an additional5 gallon tank can be retrofitted in the left wing.
Aircraft cruises at 60 MPH at half throttle and burns 5 quarts
per hour of Mogas. Flight characteristics are almost identical to
an Aeronca Champ, except for shorter take off and landing, and
higher climb rate. The XL model can easily accommodate
6,3"265Lb.pilot. Asking price is S10,000.
Planes are located at MidCoast Regional Airport.
Call: Scott Williamson 912-659-3064
Greater Savannah Chapter 1514 Newsletter
Volume 4, Issue 4
April 1, 2014
Page 10