flattie45

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About flattie45

  • Rank
    Advanced Member
  • Birthday 11/27/1978

Profile Information

  • Gender Male
  • Location Soldotna, AK

flattie45's Activity

  1. flattie45 added a topic in For Sale and wanted, you got it, I want it   

    Avid A model parts and pieces
    I have some parts and pieces that I need to get rid of. I don't think that I'll ever be able to work on this project, so now it's time to go.
    -A model project, S/N 55. I bought it as a wreck, although some rebuild work had been done. I'm tempted to cut up the fuselage and toss it, but if someone was skilled and had time, it would be a place to start.
    -Rotax 532, with motor mount. This engine was never on this aircraft, I came across it when I was actively gathering parts. This particular airplane had the 430cc Cayuna in it, which is probably why it was wrecked (just guessing).
    -Unused cowling in crate. It's in mostly good condition, it might have a bit of crate rash on the bottom. Unpainted.
    -Wings need work. All of the trailing edge ribs are removed, as are the drag tubes. Probably rebuildable. The struts look okay.
    -Lots of various parts and pieces. I have two tow bars, one is foldable. A nice looking firewall. 
    -Building manual, logbooks and airworthiness certificate. The log book states that Dean Wilson performed the first flight.
     
    I had this in my brothers connex, and that has gone away. I moved everything into a storage unit, and I would like to get it gone. I am on  the Kenai peninsula. I'll post some pictures and a more detailed list of items once I go through it a little more. I don't really have any prices in mind. If there is something that you want, let me know.
     
     
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  2. flattie45 added a post in a topic Full Lotus Float Air Bladders   

    Late to the party, but that's not unusual.
     
     
    . . . anyway, you could try diypackraft.com for the TPU fabric. He is in Canada, but I believe that he sells the fabric that he uses for his rafts. It sounds like you found what you need.
    Good luck with your project.
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  3. flattie45 added a post in a topic Avid Wing technical data   

    Nothing new to add, I just put the details in a table format. Hopefully there are no typos!

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  4. flattie45 added a post in a topic Where did you fly today?   


     
    On the 2nd I finally had the floats back on, and so on the 3rd I was up in the Kenai mountains.
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  5. flattie45 added a post in a topic VW Radial? This is one ambitious cuss!   

    There was one called the HCI radial, looked pretty cool. The guys that put it together had several options available; you could buy plans, parts that needed final machining or full on kits ready to assemble. Not sure if they are still around, but it looked like a cool project.
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  6. flattie45 added a post in a topic Funny Pics   

  7. flattie45 added a topic in Avid fox flyers pics and vids   

    Hard Hunted
    I have a magazine article on the Avid Flyer from years ago, and the author talks about doing some flying for a low budget action movie titled "Hard Hunted". Well, the film is on youtube, but dubbed into another language. Something tells me that the plot will still be pretty easy to follow. 
     
    I haven't watched the whole thing, I just scrolled through on the preview looking for an Avid. It makes an appearance at the 48:13 mark, and again at the 1:02:50 mark. It may be in there elsewhere, but those are the two scenes that I saw.
     
    Without further ado: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr0DBxPfCLM
     
    -Nate
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  8. flattie45 added a post in a topic Avid--VW combo.   

     It's aged since I looked at it! It was probably 1999 or 2000 when I talked with the builder. It's probably just coincidental, but the cowling reminds me of the nose from an Avid Amphibian that has been modified. This plane probably was built before Amphibians.
     
     Then there's that shortwing in the background; looks like it hasn't flown in awhile either. Or maybe he just parks in the weeds because it's cheaper 
     
    -Nate
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  9. flattie45 added a post in a topic Avid--VW combo.   

    There is an early Flyer (A or B model, I think) at the Big Lake airport that has a VW powerplant. Years ago I had talked with the owner. If I remember correctly he was claiming somewhere around 100 HP, and on the heavy side for the airframe. I don't know if it is in flying condition any more.
     
     What was really interesting was the leading edge of the wings; they had an extension that came forward and down from the stock leading edge. There was no slot like on a slat. Odd looking, and I can't know what exactly it did. A friend had seen it fly on floats and was impressed.
     
    -Nate
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  10. flattie45 added a post in a topic Finally a video   

    Nice video. Funny thing with videos, even HD, is how much is not captured. Must be a perspective thing, or just the reality of trying to fit real life onto a digital file. I have taken some cockpit video with a GoPro2 in the Sedan. I've used hard slips quite a bit on landings (no flaps on the Sedan), and it just does not come across on the video. Yeah, you can tell that the nose is not lined up with the path of flight, but it's very minor and nothing like what it felt like. Same with a bounce while landing on floats, it just didn't come through. Which is fine with me 
     
    Nice video though, C5. Looks like a nice area to fly.
     
    -Nate
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  11. flattie45 added a post in a topic BCP   

     
    I saw that   . The original poster was asking a valid question. Your post had some good numbers but I think most people passed it by to talk about how much they spent on their plane. Before too long they'll be trying to see who's d**k is bigger.
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  12. flattie45 added a post in a topic Sling Seat -- reconditioning   

     Years ago I got a VHS from John Knapp showing alot of details of his Flyer. One was a modification to the seats. He took out the sling and fabricated something kind of like a bucket seat. It was just some sheet aluminum cut to shape and bent to fit, one for the pilot and one for the passenger. A small bend at the front would hang from the truss, then it angled down towards the bottom of the fuselage, then bent up towards the upper attach point, where the sling would usually attach. It looked like it would hang a little lower than the sling, so the effective headroom was greater. Some cushions would just lay on top of the aluminum sheet, and a small pocket was attached to the back of it for storage of small items. Some guards were installed over the control linkages to keep them from being sat upon.
     
     I'm sure John would be able to provide some more details. I still have the VHS, I should probably get it converted to a digital format as there was alot of good information on there.
     
    -Nate
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  13. flattie45 added a post in a topic BCP   

    My father was with me when I bought a Cessna 140 as my first plane. The seller had bought a PA-18 so the little Cessna had to go. During the purchase we were chit-chatting when the seller mentions this, and the response from my father was, "Eh, they're a little over-rated. Shoulda spent your money on something else". The seller was a little taken aback. I don't think that he had ever heard someone say something bad about a cub before. And my father was not really knocking the cub on it's abilities, just the price that people pay for them.
     
    I guess that if you can afford something like a carbon cub, knock yourself out. It would be interesting to see how much money the factory makes from selling a new plane; probably not as much as one would think. 
     
    There's a carbon cub parked at the gravel strip at Merrill Field. Nice looking plane, but that's alot of money to leave sitting outside. A person could probably buy a mid-level cub and the hangar to put it in, for less than a new carbon cub.
     
    Don't get me wrong, I'd love to fly something like a carbon cub. But for some reason I think that Avids, Kitfoxes, Zeniths, etc are a little more interesting.
     
    -Nate
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  14. flattie45 added a post in a topic Cheap Pacers   

    I made my last flight on floats right before I came back to work. I should be getting swapped over to wheels sometime this next week. When I return home I'll be going out of town for most of my time off, so I don't have any real time at home until early November. Hopefully by then the lakes will be solid without a lot of snow. I'd like to make it out on wheels at least once this fall. I think solid ice is a little ways out yet, I should think you'd make it out on floats just fine. Where do you keep your plane while it's on floats?
     
    Speaking of Pacers, I was a little surprised by the number of them on floats. There are a handful of them at Lake Hood, and I've seen some video of a couple in Fairbanks. A neighbor at the cabin had a Tri on floats, and I had watched him a few making multiple runs up and down the lake trying to get off. He moved into a 180 HP Cessna 170.
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  15. flattie45 added a post in a topic Cheap Pacers   

    I like the Piper Pacer. My father had 150 HP PA-20/22 for a number of years, and it was the first plane that I spent any real time at the controls. It could pack a pretty decent load and fly considerably faster than my Sedan. If I didn't end up with a Sedan, a nice Pacer would certainly be on the short list.
     
    Seaplanes North has one for sale. $35k, 180 HP and 58 gallons of fuel. I know that's a bit more than $20K+ that Joey was talking about, but that plane would be hard to beat. I took a look at it about a week ago and it seemed to be in decent shape. I wasn't looking to buy, just looking to look.
     
    Over at the short wing pipers forum is a thread about how the selling price for short wings is quite low at this point in time. Which is awesome if a person is in the market. I'm still not convinced that anything is cheap in aviation, even Pacers. I think I'd use the term inexpensive.
     

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