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Activity Stream



  1. lostman added a post in a topic FWD LH wing spar/fuselage attach holes   

    I really like the idea of the insert for the spar. I noticed the other day when I had to partially fold the wings back that the right wing forward spar had an oversized hole in the top of it. Basically it's like there were two holes drilled next to each other. I presume to correct almost the same issue you have. I was wondering what, if anything was needed to fix it. The wing fits tight and doesn't move in any direction but I still don't like having an area that may have increased stress on it due to not capturing the pin correctly.
     
    It seems to me that the tab with a drop in bushing would solve the problem nicely in both of our cases, plus as a bonus would keep the aluminum from ever being able to wallow out. Thanks for the great idea High Country!
     
    Just curious thought about riveting it in. Is there anything about not putting in rivets on top or bottom of the spar for strength issues? I know I don't want any holes in it but I'm wondering about strength with rivets?
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  2. High Country added a post in a topic Model A cable brake rudder pedals   

    the firewall is flat against the top two motor mounts going down the the next four mounts from there about the bottom of that tube going from left to right it bends forward aprox 5" then back again sloping back into the foot wells. if you make it stick out in front of the current tabs 1-3" it will give you a nice place later to mount the lower end of the master cylinders to. If you have a pull starter you will also have to cut a hold in the center and make a box for it.
     
    -Robert-

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  3. akflyer added a post in a topic joke thread   

    Life just gets better as you get older, doesn't it?

    I was in a Starbucks Coffee recently, when my stomach started rumbling and I realized that I desperately needed to fart.

    The place was packed but the music was really loud, so to get relief and reduce embarrassment, I timed my farts to the beat of the music.

    After a couple of songs I started to feel much better.

    I finished my coffee and noticed that everyone was staring at me.

    I suddenly remembered that I was listening to my IPod with earphones.

    This is what happens when old people start using technology.
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  4. saskavid added a post in a topic VG's on underside of HH wing   

    Randy:
    Always been meaning to try this but haven't done it to date.My thinking was to put them on the underside of the wing right at a hoiziontal tangent on the pipe/spar and only on the outside half of the wing from the lift strut attachment to the tip;the area most effected by the 2in. wing washout.It would be interesting to tuft the underside of the wing at mid point to see how much separation you are getting in cruise out at the last half of the wing now with the vg's installed. 
      Mike
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  5. akflyer added a post in a topic The 180.. saving a ramp mummy   

    This is about to start coming together.  All the engine parts are back and waiting to be put back into a nice neat package that should keep the pilot cool fan turning for many years to come.  The cooling fan is also in paint now and ready for us to come pick it up in the next few days.  The elevator and stabilizer are getting rebuilt by a cool old feller in Homer that has been doing this stuff for something like forever!  He has been part of war bird rebuilds, a B24 salvage project up here and is used by all the flight services in homer to fix their little screw ups.  It was cool walking into his shop and looking at the collection of old sheet metal tools he has from the beginning of time.  He has a cool 42 Ford military jeep he restored with his grandson a few years ago as well as a few other oldies he has restored...
     
     
     
     
    While walking around his shop I noticed a nice new set of wing tips just like mine (except the ones he has are not shattered).  After a bit of going back and forth and talking about his other projects he told me for 100 bucks I could take them... SCORE! 
     
    So now the head scratching starts.. the original plan was to fly the crap out of the plane this summer then give her a face lift next winter, but now its going to have new tail feathers and control surfaces and the rest of the plane will look ratty... is it better to just strip it down now and go for a full repaint, or just do the new parts now and stick to the full face lift next winter   I am leaning towards at least shooting the top of the wings and  getting them smoothed out as the old moss and crap that was on there etched the paint pretty good and it is anything but smooth up there. 
     
    Next question that some of you here can help me with.  I have painted lots of fabric, steel and fiberglass but never any aluminum.  Whats your favorite product to use?  how do you prep the aluminum and what paint is good, but not STUPID expensive?  In the end, I want a nice clean plane, but I am not going for an oshkosh award winner.  This plane is a 4x4 of the skys and will be used for hunting and fishing and beating around the bush like it was meant to be used not a pampered hangar queen.  I am ready to jump in and tackle the job, I would just like to learn from others mistakes before I try to make them all on my own
     















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  6. akflyer added a post in a topic Avid Engine Mounts   

    I am planning on making my own version of the dyna smooth mount when I get to that point of the 800 conversion.  I have a spare stock "C" mount in the shop.  if your interested in a trade let me know.
     

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  7. akflyer added a post in a topic FWD LH wing spar/fuselage attach holes   

    Great Idea!  At one time, green sky adventures made a reinforcing "ring"  it was a machined steel bushing that was used in place of the two riveted "tangs".  just a thin pipe that slid inside the spar to add that reinforcement all the way around the tube.  This was done to fix sloppy bolt holes, or for the guys that went to heavier engines and wanted to sweep the wings forward.  If you have a lathe or a machine shop close by, it wouldn't take much to turn down some pipe to slip inside the spar so you could line the holes up perfectly.  At that point the holes in the spar for the pins become a mute point and you could over size them so the pin would drop in, yet be held in the correct position with the "liner"
     

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  8. akflyer added a post in a topic Denali Flight   

    I hope the snow holds for a couple more weeks and we can hook up when I get back home.  Sorry I missed you this hitch, but my play time ended up being my first week home and the slave driver worked me like a dog the second week home.  It was an AWESOME 2 weeks of the best weather I can remember for a full hitch at home.  Every day was severe clear and the days I was working my eyes would turn to the sky every time I walked outside.  40s during the day and in the low teens at night.
     
    Great pictures (as usual) and a great flight report.
     

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  9. Luked added a post in a topic Denali Flight   

    Thanks for the write up Randy. I love seeing and hearing what it's like flying up there. Hope I can see it myself some time.
     
    Luke D.
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  10. High Country added a post in a topic FWD LH wing spar/fuselage attach holes   

    just to give a different option you could make as small bushing weld it to the steel reinforcement plates, enlarge the hole in the aluminum preferably with a file keeping it a nice tight fit for the bushing to go through and put it all back together. I hope this made since??? please see attached crappy picture for reference

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  11. EDMO added a post in a topic VG's on underside of HH wing   

    Randy,
           I guess with the IFA, you didn't chart differences in rpms and airspeeds - just tweaked pitch?
    But, by fuel burns, it sounds like you probably gained some AS at same rpm?
    EDMo
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  12. Returntoservice added a post in a topic Denali Flight   

    Un fricken real Randy, absolutely amazing! That would be so cool. Better luck next time with the coyote.

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  13. Returntoservice added a post in a topic FWD LH wing spar/fuselage attach holes   

    Excellent idea, I like the jig part. I see you have gussets on the bottom, I may do that for piece of mind. Thanks!
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  14. SuberAvid added a post in a topic FWD LH wing spar/fuselage attach holes   

    I bent mine, heated with a torch to cherry red then bent with a 1.5" by 4' pipe with a tee handle on one end and a slot cut in the other to fit over the pin tube.  Just do a little at a time and check in between.  I build a checking jig first out of square tube with bolts welded to it that fit the wing holes.  Get long enough bolts, drp them into the wing pin holes and space them above the wing until the heads touch the square tube, then weld the heads.  Then you can use the jig to check your bending and tube alignment instead of the wing itself.


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  15. SuberAvid added a topic in Avidfoxflyers General Hangar   

    VG's on underside of HH wing
    My flight to Denali last weekend was the first since I put the VG's on the underside of my wings.  I had previously installed them on the underside of the tips at about mid chord and found no noticeable change.  I then installed them along the underside of the wing leading spar right about at the point where the ribs contact the spar.  You can see them in the attached picture.  I flew 4.4 hours that day and this is what I could observe:
     
    There seemed to be a little lessening of the roll stability.  It wasn't huge or spooky and I am not sure if it was just the wind conditions but some times it would oscillate with a slight dutch roll at a slowly alternating rate.  I could easily counter it with aeleron input but it happened a few times during the flight.  I did tight turns up to about 60 degree banks and it handled fine, smooth in and out of the turns with no tendency to overbank.
     
    They seem to make the wing a little more efficient.  I was able to cruise at 90 mph using between 3.9 to 4.1 gph and 95 mph using 4.2 to 4.4 gph.  I was using around 4.2 to 4.4 gph at 90 mph and 4.6 to 4.8 at around 95 gph before.  Takeoff and landing speeds and handling seem to be unaffected.
     
    If anyone else has tried them on the underside (or top side if you have not chimmed in before) please post your observations.

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  16. SuberAvid added a topic in Avid fox flyers pics and vids   

    Denali Flight
    I can't believe the amount of perfect flying days we have been having in the past better than a week!  I filled the tanks, threw the AR and coyote call in the plane along with my pack and other gear and headed out on Sat. to see what I could find.  First had to stop by the lodge and wish Julie a Happy Birthday, then headed up the Yehntna River to the glacier.  The skies were sever clear and the winds were light so I kept going several miles up the glacier.  The sights up there are really breathtaking; glacier potholes and lakes, vertical rock, huge rivers of ice, and with Denali and Foraker just dominant.  That dusky haze of those 20K mountains even on a clear day is almost eerie.
     
    The real bummer is that when I got several miles up the Yehntna Glacier my camera battery decided to die.  Oh man, so many cool views and no camera.... It left me just shaking my head and apologizing out load.  So unfortunalely these pics end up in the Yehntna Glacier.  I then climbed up to about 6500' and slipped through a notch between two vertical towers of rock and over to the Kahiltna Glacier.  The Kahiltna Gl. is about 2 or 3 times larger; a huge valley of flowing ice.  It makes you feel pretty small up there.  Another strange sensation is when you are right up next to those vertical spires and cliffs, if gives you more of a sense that you could fall, like standing on the edge of a cliff.  Really strange that I don't get that at all just being in the airplane over regular terrain or at higher altitudes.
     
    I flew down the Kahiltna Glacier and found a small overgrown strip below the glacier that might be useable in the summer.  Will have to get back there and check that out.  Then landed on the river about a mile below the glacier and did some coyote calling.  I need to get a better external speaker because my call was just not working well at high volume.  The the sun was intense and the snow was solid (could have landed on wheels).  I never saw or heard another soul, it was a blast.  Unfortunately I never saw a coyote either.  About 7:00 I packed it up and took off to start heading home; about a mile away I'm flying along this lake and here is a coyote trotting down lake.  Well I can't let that go so I flew to the end of the lake and quitely winged it around and set it down, pulled the AR out and sure enough, the coyote was about 1000 yds out there just sitting in the middle of the lake watching me.  So I did my dutiful 100 yd walk hoping the dog would continue to sit ther while I worked my way along the shoreline up the lake towards him.  He wasn't going for it so when he turned and started walking I thought I would give him a try at least.  I needed my range finder but doubt it would have changed the outcome.  Still was fun chasing him down the lake with a clip of ammo.
     
    Awesome flight home skimming the swamps and popping up over the trees.  I definately need to do that one again with a fully charged camera.















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  17. lostman added a post in a topic Mounting flapperon counterweights   

    I don't remember exactly but it seems to me that a 1/8" stainless steel rivet will hold 225 pounds or so without yielding, seems like a couple of them would hold on a pound or two of lead for years without issues. Just my thoughts on it. 
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  18. EDMO added a post in a topic Mounting flapperon counterweights   

    I haven't heard of any Kitfox weights coming loose - Also, have not seen any Service Letters, except one telling you to "put them on".
    EDMo
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  19. C5Engineer added a post in a topic Avid Engine Mounts   

    Snaps asked me to post this pic for him.

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  20. akflyer added a post in a topic Mounting flapperon counterweights   

    My plane was wrecked twice before I got it... The weights are still on and tight. I have never heard of one coming off yet.


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  21. mtgsxr added a post in a topic Fatal Avid Crash   

    wow.. sad.  I was looking to buy that plane last October.  He beat me to it.
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  22. Jon added a topic in Avid Flyer General Hangar   

    Mounting flapperon counterweights
    Me again:
     
    The directions are to use SS blind rivets to mount the weights to the flapperon hinge tube and alum. rivets on the trailing edge.   Have you found that the SS rivets do the job?  I would think a good jolt could pull them off.  Has any one drilled through the hinge tube and bolted them on?
     
    Thanks
     
    Jon
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  23. akflyer added a post in a topic First time in actual IMC today   

    First time I went 0-0 was on a flight back from Port Alsworth in a 152.  Was flying along fat dumb and happy about 3 miles into a mountain pass at 500' AGL.  visibility was unlimited.  In less than 1 minute I was in the soup so bad I couldn't see the cowling.  I firewalled it and zoomed in on my track on the GPS and started climbing while staying within 50' of my track coming in through the pass praying I wouldn't find one of the rock walls that were on either side of me.  I broke out on top at 14,500.. the next day my know it all ~100 hr pilots stupid ass signed up for the IRF rating.  I was 5 or 6 flights away from taking the check ride when I moved to Hawaii and when I got back home 2 yrs later the flight school had closed up.  One of these days I will get back to it.
     
    I found myself flying hard IFR in the Avid once... worst hour of my life.  I made it through and broke out about 2 miles from the lodge, but my buddy that was flying his Avid (and is a 20,000 hr AK bush pilot commercial guy) found a hole over the river and stayed the night at a lodge about 30 miles away.... I am pretty sure he made the better choice that day.
     
    They say the big man looks out for the young and the helpless.. I think he sometimes looks out for the idiots too (its the only reason I can think of that I am still here today)
     

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  24. EDMO added a post in a topic First Post   

    Right - I believe it says, "Owner made, or cause to be made" - so you could contract with your local machine shop if need be.
    Lots cheaper than the TSO and Original parts sometimes - and, if they are no longer available, this keeps you flying.
    EDMO
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  25. EDMO added a post in a topic FWD LH wing spar/fuselage attach holes   

    Your idea of rewelding might work best - use mild steel vertical tube and ream after welding - don't quench. 
    OR, measure - put a torch on it - bend it - measure - don't quench.  Get it close as possible - use round file on wing spar to finish fit if need be - fore and aft not that critical - need tight fit right / left - this way could change wing angle, but maybe not enough to matter.
    EDMO
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