akflyer

sounds like an idea that is really worth checking into! Will save me alot of time laying up a glass one!

I hear you! As a Quality Control Manager it is my job to be the bad guy.... I try to be nice about it and make sure all players know it is just a job and nothing personal. But if some idiot does want to make it personal, I have no problem stepping up to the plate and help him see the error of his ways

Dont knock it till ya fly it... I am guessing you did not read any of my posts. I can fly wagonmasters MK IV extended speed wing just as slow as my HH. If you dont think the flaps do much for you then you dont have them dropping all the way. They make a pretty damn big difference when used.

Unleash the Kracken The boy needs a priority realignment Russ.

Kinda proves the ole saying.. "careful of the toes you step on today cause they may be connected to the ass you have to kiss tomorrow"

The main bottle is for the oil injection, the second bottle (the tiny one) is for the rotary valve oil, it is just an oil bath. Make sure you check the level on the rotary valve bottle as this will tell you alot. If it starts leaking down, you have a seal leaking in the crank case. If it starts gaining fluid, you have a seal on the water pump shaft going out. If you run out of oil in the RV cavity, you have about 10-15 minutes before the gear that turns the water pump shaft and the RV plate shreds and you have a glider on your hands. It will be SUDDEN with no real warning if that brass gear shreds.

No harm in mixing the avgas for the small amount you will be using. Lots of people run straight 100LL without issue, some swear that you must run a lead scavenger but this is more myth than reality. I know my brother and others that have run just 100LL and have not seen any issues with lead plating on the bearings when we tore them down.

As far as changing plugs everyday... OVERKILL.. I fly over some pretty nasty terrain, and while I was real apprehensive like you are, and was doing the same with changing plugs about every 10 hrs I soon learned to relax and if your mixture is correct, you can go 50 or more hrs before you even need to think about changing plugs. Most of the time, you may start to detect a slight miss in the mid range, and that is a good tell tale that you need to check the plugs.

Do you have any prior experience flying behind a 2 stroke? There are things you MUST do differently than the lycomings or conts. that are in most certified planes. If you need a run down, I will list it so you dont burn the engine down the first flight (it can easily happen). That is why 2 strokes got a bad rap for airplanes is guys that dont know or understand them flying the way they always did and low and behold, melt down city. If you just obey a few simple rules, you should never have to be in fear of the thing just quitting. Properly adjusted and operated, the 2 strokes will give you signs they are getting tired long before they fail catastrophically.

got pics but they are at home. I thought I downloaded them to my laptop before I came to work and I was going to post them, but it seems the did not transfer.... Will get some posted up next week.

OK, so now I am the jealous one. I am stuck up here at work right now I get home Tuesday night, but will only be there for one week this time in. If I get a break, I will call you up and see if we can meet up someplace and go burn some sky!

Sure,

1) empty gas tanks
2) fill with moonshine
3) wait a couple days, if the tanks are empty and your plane smells like booze, you have the old tanks

Dont know of any way other than that to tell. I am not sure if Avid / Airdale has records of what tanks went out with what serial number plane

Good Luck Mr. Wish I was heading down that way but some of us have to try and keep the oil flowing

AS far as I know here in AK we are still not using substances meant for drinking in our gas. They have however, started using various crap to boost the octane rating, and even in a sealed container, if the gas is n=more than a week or two old, it is not up to the full octane rating. I normally just put in enough fuel for my flight and the 45 minute reserve, so each flight I put in fresh gas so I know I have good stuff in there.

I also have heard that the oil mix in the fuel helps to keep the tanks from getting eaten up. It is also possible that your being a MK IV probably has vinylester resin in the tanks and therefore should not be effected by the moonshine fuel.

Kitfox do have the engines mounted upright. Most seem to like it better. I know with the inverted engine sometimes the plugs will fill with oil if you let is set for too long. I think Dean was trying to make it easier to stuff under the cowling

Damn Doug, with guys like us around you dont need any enemies

Russ, he has 3 days to get on the ball or I will need you to PM that address

time to bump this one to the top.... you boys are slacking on either the building or the updating! Either way, you are in danger of having a large burly Italian sent to your door to give you an attitude adjustment and help motivate you

well it is not shiny and new, but will do the trick and is in my garage. Gonna be kinda a booger to get the gear box on, but doable. The crank is a larger taper so I will have to have the gear machined from a 31 to a 33mm taper but no big deal. For 120+ HP (easy to go 150) I can deal with the time it takes to adapt the gear box to it.

you have more restraint than I do.. I woulda had to take her out and open it up... you know its not good to just start an engine for a sec then shut it down. You must get it up to operating temp so it will cook the water out of it

In Wagonmasters Extended speed wing Mk IV dual, take off is at 45-50 and climb out at 60-65. Cruise is around 90 to 92. I fly approach at 50-55 with touch down around 42-45 full flaps. This is if I want to get it in short. It is nothing to fly approach at 70 then on short final pull flaps, chop the power and damn near instantly you are at 50-55 and coming back in with the power to get the sink rate you want.

You were not the only one that listened to the forecast and wimped out. There was AKFLYERBOB in his Kit Fox, my brother in his pacer, me in the Avid and two other guys from Anchorage flew in with a PA11 as well as a pretty good size party that rode snow machines in. Was a beautiful day flying up Saturday, but Sunday afternoon a pretty good snow squall hit. We just beat it out of there. As usual, we had a great time at the lodge, spent way too much time in the bar throwing darts and rolling dice. The cabins are real nice to stay in!

If you dont have a pronounced pitch down when you pull on the flaps, something is not right. You should have 15 degrees of flap when you pull them on. Set reflex to maybe -2 degrees. I know you can go as much as -6 but when you do the stick gets heavy in cruise and I just dont like the feel. -2 is about right (imagine that the designer actually knew what he was doing ).

Wagonmasters plane is the same as yours. 582, same approximate weight, same speed wing, same extension. The difference is I can fly his all day at 40-42. Stall power on with flaps comes real gentle at about 38-39 with no major wing drop. It is a real joy to fly and very sporty feeling.

I am leaning towards the forward CG and perhaps the flaps not dropping down far enough.

move your CG back... like to 15 or 16" by putting divers weights on the tail wheel. It will really make a difference in the slow speed flying. I can fly my buddies all day long at 42 MPH indicated and backed up by the GPS on various courses. Have you tried to disconnect the static port on the ASI to make sure it is not getting a bum static and showing speeds way off? my normal approach is to maintain speed with elevator and vary descent rate with power if I want to drag it in short. I have seen Mark get off the snow in under 150' and sometimes closer to 100'.


What is your stall speed power on and off. I cant fathom not noticing a huge difference with the flaperons, you should have a pronounced pitch down and need to really haul back on the stick to keep the nose up. On wagonmasters, it makes a real big differnece in trems of getting in and out to use the flaps!

wont be much of a learning curve! and you will wonder how you ever did it with the old brakes on it!

What is your empty weight? what is your CG? both these are the biggest things in performance. I can fly my buddies extended speed wing just as slow as my HH and get in and out just as short. Incaft I think I can get out in his quicker than I can on mine!

Planning on leaving here about 9:30 or 10 in the morning so I should be there around 11:30 or 12:00.

Nice to hear it works great! Brett sent me pics and I was going to order one but I am still on floats. I will get one ordered up for next year for certain. Are you going to make the flying this weekend?