Message from the President

”To promote, encourage, and facilitate in a harmonious and inclusive manner all recreational aviation activities with an emphasis on
education, safety and fellowship”.
Photo courtesy of Steve Berg.
Message from the President
By Bob MacDonald
My first visit to Sun-n-Fun reminded me very forcefully that
while it's about the planes, it's even more about the people.
I arrived after the airshow, too late to pick up my camping
gear that I had UPS'd. The volunteer who had guided me to
parking, Dan Bowman, immediately offered a sleeping bag
and tent space with his group. They (about 8 members of the
homebuilt parking volunteer crew) insisted that I join them in
Photos from
Sun’n’Fun:
Clockwise from
top left:
TJ100 engine;
RV-1 cockpit;
B-29 .
Left: Dick
VanGrunsven in
the cockpit of a
MacDonald S-20 at
Sun’n’Fun.
their trip into town for barbeque and it was a great way to end
a long day. One of the volunteers was Cliff Atkins, a former
Effingham County resident who some of you will remember.
Another was Jerry Fischer, an RV-7 owner from the Atlanta
area, a most congenial person. They continued to look after
me, allowing me to watch the Thursday airshow "inside the
fence" at their registration HQ building, and welcoming me at
their after-dark gatherings in the campground. So I am able
to report that while S-n-F attendance may have fallen off a bit
due to economic conditions and the lingering effects of last
year's tornado, the volunteer staff is going strong and is as
dedicated as ever.
The RV-1 meeting at Sheltair was a huge success by any
standard. James Clark gave a lively and witty presentation,
the video clip narrated by Dick VanGrunsven was fascinating,
and the members clearly appreciated the chance to go out into
the hangar for an up-close look at the "One".
Above: President Bob MacDonald greets RV-1
pilot James Clark upon plane's arrival at
Savannah 4-1-12.
The Chapter can be proud of its participation in this really
ambitious endeavor - to fly the plane from Texas to Oshkosh
over a 4 month period. Because of your generous donations,
we were able to cover all Savannah expenses - fuel, six days
of hangar rent, and James' hotel accommodation - with maybe
a little left over to forward to the tour treasury. The meeting
is fully documented in Secretary Keith Gay's minutes which
are published elsewhere in this newsletter.
See you all on May 1 at Lovezzola's!
Photos courtesy of Bob MacDonald.
Officers:
Jet Design Group
President:
Bob MacDonald 912 433 2999 [email protected]
Vice President:
Swaid Rahn 912-655-0966 [email protected]
Secretary:
Keith Gay 912 657-2696 [email protected]
By Willard White
04-10-2012
Attendees:
·
Doug McKissack
·
Willard White
Chairmen of Standing Committees:
·
Ed Wischmeyer
Membership and Publicity, (Acting Chairman):
Swaid Rahn 912-655-0966 [email protected]
·
Bob MacDonald
·
Swaid Rahn
Treasurer:
Jack Scott 912-441-6577 [email protected]
Program Chairman:
Design Team Chairman:
Willard White 912-925-2478 [email protected]
Web/Newsletter Chairman:
Avril Roy-Smith 818-926-9468 [email protected]
Objectives:
·
Working nose landing gear model. Full scale!
·
We'll discuss wing and fuselage layout drawings
(sketches perhaps). I'll bring some, and Raj will
bring some so we should have some things to resolve.
·
Smythe Sidewinder case study. Let's review the
Sidewinder design and safety record and reconsider
our choice of tail layout.
·
"Thank You" plaque for Sheltair.
Advisors:
Flight Advisor:
Ed Wischmeyer 912 665-2969 [email protected]
Technical Advisor:
Bill Leftwich 912 401-8338 [email protected]
Accomplished:
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: May 01, 2012, at Lovezolla’s
Pizza. There is no program scheduled for this meeting.
Guests are always welcome.
The deadline for the June 05, 2012 newsletter is:
Close of business, May 25, 2012.
We began with a discussion of a popular home built airplane
from 30 years ago. This particular home built had an
unfortunate history of stall/spin accidents. We identified the
10% wingtip airfoil and the smallish and very slanted tail as
potential troublemakers. Then we set about rethinking our own
tail plan, it's a work in progress. The (JET Fuselage-11) was
immediately obsolete, see JET Fuselage 12 and 13 for
alternatives we'll consider at our next meeting on 4-24.
We spent some time looking at and modifying airfoils on an
internet program called JAVAFOIL. Thanks Vin, and thanks,
Swaid for forwarding a list of free (cheap) aeronautical
programs. JAVAFOIL has some limitations but it's by far the
best airfoil program we've seen. First one has to Google
ATMOSPHERIC PROPERTIES CALCULATOR, go there and
determine Reynolds Number (RN) and Dynamic Pressure (Q).
We have concluded that the AS5045 is a very good choice for
our application, however, who could result trying to improve
it?
We had a philosophical discussion about whether we should
continue working with this engine, and whether we will be able
Greater Savannah Chapter 1514 Newsletter
Volume 2, Issue 5
May 01, 2012
Page 2
to design a practical two-place airplane, given the limitations
of the engine. Using 234 lbs installed thrust, we predicted a
sea-level take-off distance (to unstick) of 1,100 feet on a
standard day. This isn't terrible performance for a jet. Our jet
simply isn't practical on a sod runway or a short runway, it's
a limitation we can live with. We still believe we can hit all the
specifications we set out two years ago.
At Sun N Fun, we visited a vendor called Panther Sport Aircraft.
These folks are just 140 miles south of us in Green Cove
Springs, FL, they offer a single place airplane slightly smaller
than ours (650 lbs empty, 1020 lbs. MGW). The significant
thing about their airplane is the construction method. They
chose a steel tube frame cockpit, very similar to our design –
and they claim the construct weighs only 31 pounds! It's a
fairly wide cockpit for a single-place, but narrower by perhaps
10 inches than ours. It appears that their cockpit could use
more/better triangulation, but I'm encouraged. Initially we
used 75 pounds for our 40.5” wide cockpit structure. Visit
flywithSPA.com for more pictures and information.
Doug brought a working model of the cockpit controls. Dual
side-sticks and manual flap handle. It will be a busy cockpit
since it is small and there is a manual landing gear handle in
there also. Naturally, a full scale cockpit model came up for
discussion, and whether it should be built in steel tubing,
wooden dowels, or composites. We'll talk about it some more.
A related subject is our frustration over not having a good CAD
draftsman. It comes up at every meeting, so let me throw out
this possibility. We had a very young man (17 years) create
our 3d model in the Real World Design Competition. He works
in Autocad 3D, so I doubt we could exchange files with him
over the net. Also, I don't think he has ever ridden on an
airplane or even seen one up close, so there will likely be some
requirement to educate him. It occurred to me at 3AM that we
might offer him $50 for 5 hours work and see what happens.
He would probably be thrilled to have a project. On the other
hand, he may have to use Woodville-Thompkins' computer
and not be able to profit by it. I'll explore this with his teacher.
After 45 years or so, I have finally figured out how to make
money in aviation! I collected $40 for dinners last night and
only spent $17.20 on sandwich materials and drinks – a profit
of $22.80! Actually, there's enough money now for dinner at
the next meeting so we won't have to charge admission at the
door. There's even some money for a nice frame for our “Thank
You” certificate for Sheltair. Thanks, guys.
·
Accomplished:
We collected another $20 for dinner, making total income so
far $60. We've spent a total of $32.75 on food and $9.50 on
the frame for our plaque, so we're good for the next meeting.
I'll do the shopping and bring food and drink.
We all signed the “Thanks, SHELTAIR” plaque and put it in the
frame. I will try to arrange for Bob and myself to meet with
Gary Gutkowski and present at 1630 on Tuesday.
Swaid will research the Beringer 11:00 x 4 x 5” wheel, tire and
brake system for the main wheels. We are particularly
interested in the width with caliper dimension which seems to
be missing from their catalog. Beringer also has a 4” nose
wheel which is light and elegant.
We had an abbreviated discussion about considering reducing
the size of the wing (again) and incorporating wing tip fuel
tanks to remove fuel from beneath the cockpit. I'll do some
research and present a proposal.
Search for FlywithSPA.com to see pictures of the Panther sport
aircraft fuselage frame which is similar to our design. Their
cockpit weighs 31 pounds.
We reviewed our weight and balance document with the
intention of making it more accurate. We think our current
document is pretty optimistic (BEW: 413#) and wanted to
“improve” it. We made the following changes:
·
·
Seat cushions at 4 pounds for two seats is optimistic.
Research at “Hi-Tech Foams” shows aviation grade
(fire resistant) foams weighing 3.5# per cubic foot.
So our two seats (four 16” x 18” panels) with 3” of
cushion would weigh about seven pounds.
·
Wing weight at 1.6 pounds per sq. foot. Pro-seal
weighs eight to 12 pounds per gallon, we think we
might need a quart (three pounds) of the stuff in our
(wet) wing. Wing weight is now 100 pounds, a nice
round number.
·
Tail boom: Area formula: A=1.5708Ds (D=large
diameter, s = length)
·
Horiz. Stab size: 14.1 sq. ft., weight: 21.15 pounds
(statistical)
Attendees:
Doug McKissack
·
Willard White
·
Ed Wischmeyer
·
Bob MacDonald
·
Swaid Rahn
Greater Savannah Chapter 1514 Newsletter
There are 1049 inches of tubing in an early cockpit
sketch. If we use 1/2” .035 tubing, (1.45#/100 in.)
the fuselage frame tubing will weight approximately
15.25 lbs.. This is three pounds lighter than the same
structure with 7/16” .049 tubing.
Batteries used for ballast: W&B shows 30 lbs.
Batteries at FS33 for ballast purposes. Consider using
5.9# Lithium battery and sweeping the wing a few
more degrees to alleviate the need for ballast in the
nose.
·
04-24-2012
·
Tom Keith
Volume 2, Issue 5
May 01, 2012
Page 3
·
Vertical tail size: 8.1 sq. ft., weight: 12.15 pounds
(statistical)
·
Landing gear weight will be reviewed (may be
Beringer).
·
Cowling weight will be changed from 4# to 5#.
Chapter 1514 Member Wins at
Sun’n’Fun
Objectives for the next meeting:
·
Continue to refine the design for the tail boom and
get a tighter weight estimate for it.
·
Consider changing the wing sweep in order to take
advantage of an available 15# lighter battery.
·
Consider Beringer wheels and brakes (may save some
weight).
I'll be out of town Tuesday the 8th.
Tuesday 15 May. See you then.
Gary Arms was the King Schools Sun 'n Fun Giveaway
winner. He won an iPad 3, Dual Bluetooth GPS Receiver,
and a 1-yr. Hilton Software WingX subscription.
The iPad and GPS receiver have already arrived. Hilton
has to be called to activate the WingX subscription.
Next meeting will be
Fly-Ins 2012
By Nigel Aylmer
Well I managed to make Sun & Fun on the Saturday. Spent most of the time looking around the trade stands with a little
time left over in the LSA area and the Amphibians taking pictures as I get to see these the least. Also last month saw me
helping out at the Metter Fly-In. It was good to see Bob , Bill and Chris with his Gyroplane. I believe the turn out was as good
as last year, with a good variety of types present. Then the following Saturday I managed to ride down to Baxley for their
Fly-In with Bobby Smith in his Piper Sport,really fun. This month I hope to make Waycross as Ive never landed there. Good
Flying
Fly - In's for May
April 28
Pancake Breakfast 07.00-11.00
April 29
South Carolina B.C 08.00- ?
Broxton Bridge SC
(I believe this is one way in and out ,on grass.)
SC55
May 6
Monthly Chapter Meet 12.30-14.00
Saint Simons.GA
KSSI
May 19
Waycross Food & Fun 11.00-15.00
Waycross GA
KAYS
May 19
Hodges Air Park Breakfast 08.00- ?
Savannah GA
GA39
Advertisements
Thomaston GA
KOPN
For Rent:
Hanger for rent at Swaid’s Field - $250.00 per month. Contact Swaid
Rahn at 912-655-0966 or email [email protected]
Greater Savannah Chapter 1514 Newsletter
Volume 2, Issue 5
May 01, 2012
Page 4
Greater Savannah Chapter 1514, EAA Inc. Meeting Minutes
Location: Lovezzola’s Pizza
April 03, 2012
Call to Order / Introduction of Guests
1.
The meeting was called to order at approximately 6:30 PM by Chapter President Bob MacDonald with an introduction and welcome of the guests in attendance.
a.
Guests in attendance:
James Clark – tonight’s speaker
Raj Narisetti
Sean Duggan
Bill Edwards – friend of Steve Berg
Tom Swearengen and Judy Carly
James Collier
Willie Wright
Larry Ruf - who arrived too late to be introduced.
b.
Members in attendance:
Bill Hobson
Allen Jackson
Paul Rothweiler
Mike Crowle
Doug McKissack
Gary Arms
Will White
Sharon Nielsen
Gerry and Jane Zimmerman
Frank McGee
Steve Burg
Ed Wischmeyer
Tom Keith
c.
Officers in attendance:
Bob MacDonald – President
Swaid Rahn – Vice President
Jack Scott - Treasurer
Keith Gay - Secretary
Program – Friends of the RV-1 Project:
This month’s presentation was a once in a lifetime experience for those of us with any interest in the experimental aviation
industry and the beginnings of the Van’s RV aircraft. It was Chapter 1514’s southern hospitality and the tenacious spirit of our
President, Bob MacDonald, which put our Chapter and city on the route for the RV-1’s tour. Those of us lucky enough to attend
this momentous presentation are grateful to the RV-1 team for adding us to the long list of stops and to our Chapter officers
and members who helped to play an integral part in this opportunity to see history in the making.
President MacDonald introduced the speaker, and one of the many RV-1 Project Pilots, James Clark at approximately 6:40pm
with an impressive and extensive background leading up to Mr. Clark’s involvement with the RV-1 Project. Mr. Clark is a
Greater Savannah Chapter 1514 Newsletter
Volume 2, Issue 5
May 01, 2012
Page 5
graduate of MIT’s Electrical Engineering and Computer Science program as well as
MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Mr. Clark has been a vital part of many well
known companies during his career including MIT, Exxon, AT&T, and NCR. However, ten years ago he decided to pursue other dreams and retired from the
corporate world, allowing him to further his flight certificates and ratings, serve as
the president of EAA Chapter 242, and become a member in the esteemed
aerobatic group “Team RV”, ultimately paving the way to be invited to participate
in the restoration and touring flight of the RV-1 Project.
Mr. Clark began his presentation with a history of the most popular kit built aircraft
in the country, the Van’s Aircraft “RV” line of aircraft. The RV’s popularity is
highlighted by the estimated 10 to 15 thousand kits under construction, the fact James Clark with RV-1 in the
that the majority of the “homebuilt” aircraft at the annual Airventure event in Sheltair hangar.
Oshkosh are various models of the RV line up, and prior to the re-entry of Cessna
into the single engine piston market, there were more RV new aircraft registrations
than all other single engine piston aircraft registrations. This popularity is in part due to the “Total Performance” mentality
of the founder/designer, Mr. Richard VanGrunsven known as “Van”, who, when considering aircraft design, decided to
incorporate such features as performance, aerobatic capabilities, STOL, and cross country travel. Mr. Clark explained that Van
was ultimately pulled into success by friends and colleagues who would continually request a new function or design change
to accommodate a broader spectrum of pilots and their needs in an aircraft. The RV-1, which is a Stits Playboy that was highly
modified by Van in an attempt to meet his needs for the “Total Performance” concept he desired at the time, was ultimately
the catalyst that launched the success of the Van’s Aircraft today and the sale of that aircraft provided the needed capital to
invest in his first marketable design called the RV-3.
Left: Tom Swearengen, owner of
TS Flightlines - one of the vendors
on the RV-1 restoration, poses with
the aircraft.
Right: James Clark briefing EAA
Chapter 1514 members on the
history of RV-1.
The Van’s Aircraft RV line of aircraft encompasses a wide variety of styles and designs as listed below (for an in-depth
description of each model and design please visit www.vansaircraft.com):
RV-2: A design with a wood airframe that was ultimately abandoned
RV-3: Sporty aerobatic single seat tail dragger (274 Completed Kits)
RV-4: From the RV-3 design with the addition of a second seat in a tandem configuration (1345 Kits
Completed)
RV-5: A high wing design that was abandoned
RV-6: A design that was the result of a request to seat the passenger in a side by side configuration (2464
Kits Completed)
RV-7: This design is the result of new tooling and better systems that allowed these kits to replace the RV-6.
RV-8: Is back to a tandem seating configuration and a larger fuselage to accommodate larger pilots and still
provide the performance and aerobatics. (1107 Kits Completed)
RV-9: Was designed to meet the needs of pilots looking for more relaxed flying so it is a side by side seating
configuration and non-aerobatic. (728 Kits Completed)
RV-10: This design enters into the four place seating configuration similar to production aircraft with speed
and comfort in mind. (389 Kits Complete)
RV-11: Is a bit of a pet project for Van that is fashioned after a motor-glider concept
RV-12: This is Van’s entry into the Light Sport market and is designed to meet the ELSA FAA standards.
(154 Kits Completed)
Greater Savannah Chapter 1514 Newsletter
Volume 2, Issue 5
May 01, 2012
Page 6
The presentation was then turned to a narrated video by Van himself giving us a brief history of how he came about his Stits
Playboy and the modifications that were made to accommodate his need for this aircraft to perform as he desired. He
purchased the aircraft after he was stationed in Michigan with the Air Force and by necessity of the environment began to
modify the Playboy beginning with a canopy to accommodate flight in the colder weather. He later upgraded the engine to a
125hp Lycoming and made modifications to the tail section to account for the additional horsepower, new aluminum wing
design that eliminated the struts and incorporated flaps for the short field environment of his home field. These modifications
shaved approximately 80 lbs. of weight from the Playboy aircraft getting him that much closer to the performance that he
desired. He put the better part of 250 hours on the aircraft flying to various air shows, fly-ins, and participating in multiple
fly-bys during these shows in an attempt to gain attention to his modifications and sell the plans for the “Stits Playboy wing
modifications”. However, he was disappointed in the response selling only a handful of plans resulting in the sale of the aircraft
to fund what would ultimately be a business that would put kit planes on the world map of aviation.
Mr. Clark explained that the RV-1 was found by Paul Dye, a technical advisor, who was on scene to provide assistance on a
different aircraft at which point he was directed to an aircraft that would be of interest. This aircraft turned out to be the
original RV-1, in a different corner of the hangar. It took a year of negotiations with the most current, now previous, owners
to convince them to sell the airplane in the interest of preserving history and displaying the aircraft for all to enjoy. Thus,
“Friends of the RV-1” was created as a non-profit corporation to facilitate the purchase, restoration, and tour from its
restoration site in Texas to an “unveiling” at Sun and Fun (in Lakeland, FL), to multiple sites on the east coast, Canada and
across America, to its ultimate resting place in Oshkosh after its final stop with the man that started it all…it is suspected that
the aircraft will receive the royal treatment from the folks at Van’s.
Left: James Clark fielded questions
about the RV-1 from Chapter 1514
members in the Sheltair hangar.
Right: Following the RV-1
presentation, James Clark (L) was
presented a hat and thanked by
Bob MacDonald, Chapter 1514
president.
Our speaker and presentation moved to the SheltAir Aviation hangar where amongst a variety of modern airplanes sat a piece
of history in gleaming yellow on white and shining like a new penny. Mr. Clark gave us a personal tour of the various aspects
of the aircraft from the modifications that were discussed earlier to showing us some of the nuances to flying the bird from
place to place. After entertaining a few questions from the Chapter members and guests the presentation was concluded
around 8:45pm with a heartfelt thank you, a new EAA hat presented to Mr. Clark by our President, and round of applause. A
big thank you also goes out to the folks at SheltAir for their generosity of space, time, and southern hospitality
Due to the length of the evening program:
The meeting was adjourned around 9:00pm without a business meeting due to the presentation running long and the majority
of the Chapter members and officers departing directly after the aircraft viewing. Thanks to those that stayed to help clean
up the facilities and assist Mr. Clark in packing up.
Respectfully submitted by Keith M. Gay, Chapter Secretary
Photos courtesy of Gary Arms
The May meeting will be an extended business meeting. There is no program planned.
Greater Savannah Chapter 1514 Newsletter
Volume 2, Issue 5
May 01, 2012
Page 7