Activity Stream

Activity Stream



  1. lv2plyguitar added a topic in Avid fox flyers pics and vids   

    Knik River Gravel Bar Landings
    Jeff and Randy enjoying an evening of gravel bar landings on the Knik River Alaska.  Sorry for the shaky recording.
     
    Enjoy.
     

    • 5 replies
    • 870 views


  2. akflyer added a post in a topic Gravelbar Fun   

    Jeff,
     
    I think you will find that our birds are ALOT dirtier than a cub or even a 180.  When playing follow the leader, I have gotten tossed around more flying behind a kitfox or an avid than I have any other plane.  I am not sure if it is the undercambered wing or what, but they do put off a pretty good wake.
     

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  3. lv2plyguitar added a post in a topic Gravelbar Fun   

    Dont know how anyone could go back to ATV's after flying an AVID.  One thing that did happen that I hope others can learn from is that I was pulling up after a take off and lost lift in one wing.  Airspeed was way above stall.  I then realized that Randy was close enough in front of me that I was getting wash off of his plane.   Moment of spookyness.
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  4. EDMO added a topic in Technical tasks   

    EASY WAY TO FIGURE ANGLES
    An old machinists' rule - yep, I are one - while not "puter perfect", it is good enough for most things:
    One Degree of angle is equal to .017 inch offset per inch of length.
    No matter what length of level you have to measure with, this rule will get a close measurement of degrees.
    24" x .017 = .408, or about 13/32 inch spacer
    30" x .017 = .510, or about 1/2 inch
    36" x .017 = .612, or about 5/8 inch
    48" x .017 = .816, or about 13/16 inch
    Or, you can divide your spacer by the length of the level, and divide that by .017 to get the degrees of angle / dihedral.
    Sorry, I cant help those using "sillymeters" - you have to calculate that.
    ED in MO
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  5. EDMO added a post in a topic NEED SOME TRIG HELP   

    This new computer age is a wonderful time-saver - and for some people, a time-waster too!
    I checked my design book, and it said something like, "too much dihedral can cause Dutch-rolling",
    and that's about all I found, except the max is probably around 3 degrees for high-wing planes.
    Low-wing planes need less, according to that engineer.
    The only manual I have found the dihedral in for Avid / Kitfox is my KF-1. I haven't checked the 4, and my 5 isn't complete.
    The Magnum doesn't give it, or at least I didn't find it there. But, there were some measurements for setting the spar attach fittings on the Magnum, and we could figure that one out with your CAD.
    Now I can have my lower fittings machined, and order some tubing for struts without getting them too short.
    Thanks again,
    ED in MO
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  6. akflyer added a post in a topic NEED SOME TRIG HELP   

    Ed,
    I could not tell you what the dihedral is on mine, I am on the slope right now.  Maybe one of the other guys can go set and angle finder on their wing and let us know what it is. 
     
    It is amazing what a good CAD guy can do in mere seconds compared to my old slide rule and pencil.. My newer laptop wont run the older cad edition I have, so I am going to have to revive an older machine at the house so I can be able to use CAD again at home.  It is a VERY useful tool for stuff like this.
     
    I had him give me the measurements for the new float rigging and it was a blur of fingers, then the N struts appeared on the screen shoing my mount locations and the lengths I needed to set the AOA and put the step where I wanted it.  Turned out it saved me alot of cutting from my original plan and my TLAR using a level and square to try and hillbilly engineer it.  I would have arrived at the same numers, give or take an inch, but I would have also bought new strut material and made all new struts versus only having to make a new front strut and shorten the center strut.
     

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  7. fokkerc1 added a post in a topic Bought an Avid Catalina kit.   

    My wife was given this  photo by her friend, who had gone along on the trip. The oversized sponsons as purchased are evident in this shot.  It sure doesn't look that way now.

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  8. Av8r3400 added a post in a topic Prop Problems   

    First, foremost above all: answer Leni's tach question.

    If you are running an analog, needle tach, assume it is not accurate. Get a tiny tach emediately for a cross check.
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  9. EDMO added a post in a topic NEED SOME TRIG HELP   

    That one degree is about what the manual says, I THINK? The L-19 had about 3 degrees, I think.I will check the books on that. Believe one of my manuals calls for a 3/4 or 13/16 spacer on a 4 foot level on front spar. You can check those figures and see what the angle is.
    I wonder if you can have too much / too little? Got to go read my design book again!
    Your CAD guy saved me a mountain of figures - Please thank him for me.
    What is your dihedral? I can always change mine before making struts, but would need new figures.
    Thanks a bunch,
    ED in MO
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  10. akflyer added a post in a topic Prop Problems   

    I am confused.. if its fuel delivery, then there would have been a significant drop in RPM... Did the RPM hold at 6500 yet you suddenly stopped climbing and lost forward speed even with it turning 6500 still?
     
    I had this issue once.. down drafts and micro bursts can be quite the bitch!  I took off from a 6000' long lake with my cousin in the plane, take off was normal, climb was around 500 FPM till I got over the far end of the lake.  We were at about 500' with the engine turning full RPM when we started dropping at 600 fpm hanging onto a 50-55 MPH airspeed.  I slipped it between the powerlines and the trees on about a 60 deg bank trying to get aligned with the highway.  within seconds we were over the highway at about 10' off the road looking at the headlights of a semi truck 300 yards off.  I got to the edge of the down draft / micro burst about 80 yards from the semi as smoke rolled off his tires, I climbed out and cleared the trailer by about 20'... It took us about 5 minutes before we even looked at eachother and started giggling like little school girls... you know, that nervous laughter when you know you were seconds from death but you cheated the grim reaper yet again...
     
    Since that day, if the wind is blowing straight down that lake, I will turn out well before I hit the end of the lake.
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  11. akflyer added a post in a topic NEED SOME TRIG HELP   

    Ed,
     
    Front strut is 7' 11 59/64" from bolt hole to bolt hole center.
    Rear strut is 8' 3 3/4"
    Angle from the fuse to the strut is 62 deg. 22' 18"... or roughly 62 3/8 degrees.   I would shoot for 62
     
    You only have 1 deg. of dihedral ??
     

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  12. birddog486 added a post in a topic Prop Problems   


     
    I saw you posted this earlier on the other forum, thats why I'd start with the fuel delivery.
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  13. akflyer added a post in a topic NEED SOME TRIG HELP   

    I deleted the other one for ya.  I dont think you can delete a topic.  You can delete a post that you have made, but not a topic.... One of the software quirks
     

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  14. akflyer added a post in a topic Prop Problems   

    1)  Did you loose RPM during the flight?
    2)  What Tach do you have?
    3)  If you were at 6500 static, then you would have or should have been over reving once you hit about 20-30 MPH.
    4)  That do the plugs look like?  with 170s I am going to bet they are nice and black.  170 is what I run when it is -30 outside.  I use 165 in the summer temps about 20 degrees at sea level.
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  15. EDMO added a post in a topic NEED SOME TRIG HELP   

    Thanks Leni,I accidently posted this twice - why cant I find the "delete" button on this new site?
    Oh Hell - now that I posted this, the danged delete button show up? ?
    Don't take much to confuse me!
    Ed
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  16. akflyer added a post in a topic NEED SOME TRIG HELP   

    Ed, Give me a few minutes and I will run over and have one of the CAD monkeys lay it out.  It will only take him a few minutes to give you the numbers.
     

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  17. EDMO added a topic in Technical tasks   

    NEED SOME TRIG HELP
    My trig tables are somewhere buried in my boxes in storage from my move from Alaska.
    I have to make new strut brackets and struts since I raised my wings about 6 inches.
    I am such a dummy that I don't have a clue as to how to do this with a computer.
    Will someone (engineering type, maybe) figure out for me, about what angle the struts will be at now, and approx. lengths?
    Any help would be appreciated.
    I will try to download a diagram.
    Thanks,
    Ed in MO
    • 7 replies
    • 1,417 views


  18. birddog486 added a post in a topic Prop Problems   

    Sounds to me If you had full power at takeoff 6500rpm give or take, and during the climb you stopped climbing, most likely you have a fuel delivery problem. It takes a couple minutes to suck down the header tank, thats why it doesnt happen until your a couple hundred feet off the ground.
     
    Pull the gas line off at the fuel pump and see how fast it will gravity feed. Then I'd be looking at all the filters and finger strainers first before messing with the carbs to much.
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  19. birddog486 added a topic in Avidfoxflyers General Hangar   

    Avid butt rib photo
    I'm trying to visualize how to run the gasline into the plane, either at the back of the butt rib or behind the tube at the front of the turtledeck. Anyone have a picture of this area?
     
    I've got a few photos of a kitfox but there not the same as the avid
    • 5 replies
    • 1,259 views


  20. Mendlerr added a topic in Avidfoxflyers General Hangar   

    Prop Problems
    I posted this on TeamKitfox but I wanted some opinions here also.  It's a bit of a read.
     
    I have a Rotax 582 with 3:1 Gearbox and a GSC 68" Tech III prop mounted on a Kitfox IV.
     
     
    Before the tires left the pavement we ran the engine close to 3 hours (probably longer over a few weeks) and did a thorough inspection of everything, we were within CG and Weight limits and the density alititude was only 2,000ft at 66 degrees farenheight. Alot of precaution was taken. So we are trying to figure out why things almost went horribly wrong.
     
    We lined up on runway 24 after warming the engine and performing a runup, we accelerated as normal and it felt like full power, we managed to climb at 50-55MPH from runway 24 at Johnson County Airport in Tennessee (elv. 2,240).  That worked well until about 200-300ft AGL.  The engine was at 6,500RPM's, EGT's were steady around 1,100 degrees and then, we stopped climbing, the rate of climb was around 50ft per minute.  Realizing this my instructor and I lowered the nose and attempted to accelerate, it would not.  The speed topped out at about 58mph.  As we turned crosswind we got a bit of a tailwind gust, 5-8kts at most and the aircraft began descending even at full power and holding 50mph indicated.  We immediately commenced a 180 degree turn into the wind and slowly climbed to 500ft AGL, we then did a 270 degree turn and landed midfield back on runway 24 with extreme haste.  We were both shaken up a bit at the total lack of climb power and ability to accelerate in very unforgiving terrain.
     
    The first inclination was that the carbs were jetted wrong.  I checked and we had 170 main jets and 55 idle jets, the needle jet was on its lowest (richest) setting.  I backed the needle jet back to setting 3 to lean it out a bit.  I have since ordered a 160 main jet and 45 idle jets to give a try but they will not be here until friday.
     
    The second inclination was to check prop pitch.  I checked it and it was at 18 degrees.  GSC recommends 14 degrees for my setup.  I just finished performing another static check and at full throttle the engine turns 6,425 RPM's which is a tad high according to GSC.  I reset the blade pitch to 19 degree's thinking it would reduce static RPM's to GSC's recommended 6,200 RPM, it did not, in fact we saw a small increase to around 6,500 RPM's static.  This is puzzling, so I called GSC and they told me to try 14 degrees.  It may be possible that we stalled the prop blades trying to turn them at such a high degree of pitch and trying to climb (although very unlikely).  Tomorrow I am going to reset the pitch angle to 14 degree's and see what happens but I feel our static RPM will want to overrev like crazy.
     
    The third possibility is that our tach reading is way off, I'm attempting to get my hands on a prop tach to double check our tach readings.  Hopefully I can do this tomorrow.
     
    I'm looking for suggestions, advice, experience or any helpful information regarding this issue.  The airplane runs awesome on the ground, makes power, enough so you can hold the aircraft level on the ramp at full power without much effort.  I just don't understand why it felt like we lost power on the takeoff with the RPM's around 6,500 and the EGT's normal.
    • 83 replies
    • 9,346 views


  21. akflyer added a post in a topic Gravelbar Fun   

    Very Cool!  Its great to see someone doing more than pavement pounding at this phase of the training.  Thats exactly how my training went.  Nice shot of Jeff flying off into the sunset
     

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

    Gravelbar Fun
    Jeff and I got out for a little gravelbar practice last night after we put new bungee's on his plane and he finished installing new gas caps on the outboard ends of his tanks, plus replacing all his lexan.  The new tank caps are really nice; a flush design.  Jeff is really learning how to fly his plane very quickly; good landings Jeff!
     
    Here are a couple pics.  Jeff should be posting some video soon.


    • 3 replies
    • 658 views


  23. EDMO added a post in a topic Tailwheel   

    Paul, I have the Grove gear for 1 thru 4, 1200 GW, with axels and 6" matco wheels and calipers, for sale.Just in case anyone wants a used set cheaper than new ones.
    ED in Mo
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  24. wypaul added a post in a topic Tailwheel   

    I still have them connected to the cross tube but now working on changing the pedals and building the brackets to place them on the floors.  The Grove sound like a good way to go.  thanks
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  25. wypaul added a post in a topic Tailwheel   

    Sounds good, I will be interested in hearing what you come up with.
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