marksires

"Mark, you sound like you know a little bit about computers, you want another job    "

I work on the all day long - that is why NO, I don't want another job!!! I get enough of this    all day long!  I play with airplanes, woodworking, metalworking, ANYTHING but computers after the work day is done!

Mark

go fly it off the snow, if there is packed snow or ice on the runway you wont even notice if the gear is out of alignment

 

  A lot of the guys don't seem to mind the narrow gear.  I run big tires so I hated it.  The wide gear makes it a piece of cake on the ground.

 

No doubt I wouldn't notice the alignment, since every time there is snow or ice around here it comes with 20-30mph winds.  I've joked I really don't need an engine for this plane in the spring here, just a rope to tie it to the flagpole......

Mark

Mark,

     Maybe someone can get it and post it for you on Files and Forms?

EdMO

I just tried and it wont open for me either!

Yea, I looked at the downloaded pdf file, and somewhere in the various moves of the forum, they were transferred between systems with FTP using Text mode instead of Binary mode, so the end of line characters go messed up.

Some characters that looked like end of line but weren't got wacked too, so reversing that process doesn't solve the problem.  I'll try to salvage them in my spare time, but if someone has useable copies it will be a lot faster to repost them.

Mark

Note - this is not a criticism of the forum in any way shape or form!  Just a statement of what is wrong.   Nobody appreciates more than I do the amount of effort and sacrifice that goes with maintaing/hosting a forum like this!

I always fly Southwest when I travel for business.  They have several variations to this brief, and they are all funny.  Gets most of the passengers to pay attention after the first zinger registers too.

Mark

Glad you both are ok.  Everything else is secondary!

Mark

Thanks for the tip on the manuals. Unfortunately, they won't open after I download them.  Adobe complains the document root is missing or invalid.  Sigh, it has been that kind of day.

Mark

Since I'd like to make a nose gear for mine (and also new main gear, since they are different for a nose gear configuration), depending on where you are at I'd be happy to help get the measurements and maybe make some drawings.

I'm in central illinois, but travel for business a lot, so wherever you are may work at some point.

Mark

No wide gear - standard out of the kit gear on this one.   I plan to check the wheel alignment if it ever warms up around here.  We got an inch of snow yesterday, which may not be  much for you Alaska folks, but it is too late for that stuff in the middle of Illinois!

Mark

It's a 1989 kit, mostly a Model C.  The original builders were in their 70's when they started it, and finished it in 1991.  They had always wanted to build a plane, and decided they had better get it done!.  It was generally well built.  They ground looped it at some point, and rebuilt the tail with the round style tail that I think started with the MkIV.  They didn't install any elevator trim, however.  It has 582, original gray head.  It only has about 100 hours total - I did get it overhauled when I bought it 5 years ago since it had been sitting in that hangar for over 10 years.  Runs great.  I installed a com radio and transponder after I bought it.

One of the builders names was Charles Lindbergh, so guess who's name went first as the manufacturer on the web site?

Runs great, flys pretty good, the few times I've been up with an instructor.  It is very much a handful on asphalt landing, so I've not yet had the courage to take it up myself.  I also have a Cherokee 235, so I get to fly even though I'm chicken.

I also rebuilt the brake pedals to have the Matco recommended 2.5 to 1 geometry, installed a master switch, and various other minor updates and fixes.

The fabric is going to get redone this summer.  I'll install some sort of elevator trim while I'm doing that.  If I can find the parts, I'll convert it to trigear, to make it more manageable on the asphalt runways I have available.  The fabric has 24 years of hangar rash, repairs to various penetrations, etc, and is getting a little stretchy.  I haven't decided on a new paint job yet, but just replicating this current one the best plan I have so far.

I might want to talk to you about those floats Jim.  I really would like to find some amphib floats - that would solve my float itch and the nosegear itch at the same time, but the cost is pretty high for those.

Empty weight on the data plate is 450, and they upped the gross to 1050 - they were both big guys, I don't know how they both got into the cockpit to be honest.  I'm an FAA standard passenger, and the instructor I fly with is about the same, so with the two of us and full fuel/oil it is about 900-950 lbs, and it takes off like a scalded cat.  The first take off was quite a surprise.  I was used to 'traditional' Pipers, Cessna's, etc.  Push the power in, check the gauges, then sit back and wait for speed to get high enough to take off.  In this one, it was push the power in, FLY THE DARN PLANE!

Mark

Please save if possible, document if not. I'd be interested in the trigear parts also. Would like to convert my taildragger to trigear. I dont have a grass runway and the taildragger is a real handful.

BTW - that is the hangar in California I picked it up from.  My hangar isn't neat and pristine, but it isn't full of garbage (although I wish I'd snagged that set of floats on the back wall).

Mark

I plan to be there all week, but those plans always seem to get modified, so I hate to commit to anything that would leave the group in a bind.  If I'm there, I'll be in my camper also, and will be happy to help out anyway I can.

Mark

Sorry to hear that.  I figured something was up when I couldn't connect earlier.  I suspect the world will survive without one day of our posts, but it will be tough! )

Mark

No reason to have signs where you are Ed, most of the drivers couldn't read them, and the ones that could would just use them for target practice!  But that pretty much describes where I am too ...  Wait, we have the school for the visually impaired here, maybe all those hole are an attempt to put braille on the signs!

Mark

I have ForeFlight and Garmin Pilot. Used to ForeFlight was much better, now they are pretty much equal. I don't have any experience with WingX, but I wouldn't be happy without one of them anymore.

Mark

I don't remember the first time I went into actual IMC, I don't recall being overly bothered by it.  I do vividly remember my first real IMC approach - popped out on final at about 600 feet on approach to Orlando Executive.  My first thought was 'hot dang, there's the runway right where it is supposed to be'  followed immediately by 'wow, I don't remember those buildings being so close there on the left!'.  There were where they were supposed to be, but they looked a lot closer at that moment!

It's the best rating you'll ever get.  Seaplane rating is the most fun though!

Mark

I heard that one before, but slightly different.  In that version the man really wanted to go, but his wife was adamant that fifty bucks was fifty bucks.......

Oops, sorry, you were looking for financing, not insurance.  My mistake!

Mark

I looked up mine.  The builders registered it as model 'AVID FLYER STOL', and serial number of '1', not the kit serial number.   One of the builders of mine was Charles Lindberg ).  So guess who's name was listed first..  He liked to say, 'yes I am that Charles Lindberg, but no, I didn't fly solo across the Atlantic'.

I carry full insurance on it, and was a relatively low time (250 hours), 0 tailwheel time pilot when I bought it.  I didn't have any real trouble, the insurance company just put a clause that I had to log 10 hours with a qualified instructor before I was covered for solo flight.  Try the EAA (Falcon), that's where I get my insurance.

Mark

Meah, won't be a problem.  Other than the girl on the bull machine, I can go over to the Wal Mart to see/hear the rest.

Mark

Man I hate shoveling heavy heart attack snow.

Mark

Ha, if a 10 year old had been running them they'd have probably work great! 

Mark

No vehicles inside the airshow grounds, but in the Campgrounds pretty much everything is ok - bikes, motorcycles, golf carts, ATV's.  Anything with a motor the driver has to have a valid drivers license to use.  If you are flying in and camping with the plane, I don't think you can use a bike in that area.  Which is sensible, I wouldn't really want a bunch of other folks riding around my plane.  

The shuttle buses are pretty good, as long as a rainstorm doesn't pop up (and it always does), then the waits are long.

Mark

I'd call back and ask for someone higher up.  On another google group (Cozy Builders) I'm on, Jim Irwin (or someone claiming to be Jim Irwin) has stepped in and taken care of things like this.  He recognizes the have had customer service problems in the past, and some are still ongoing, but seems to be trying to get it corrected.  If it isn't him, it must be a designated person, because the member complaining always indicates the problem got fixed.

Mark