Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Chairboy on March 06, 2007, 01:23:27 PM
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I'm getting close to the next step in my march towards aviation induced poverty. We have the money now for the last restaurant we sold, and it's burning an airplane shaped hole in my pocket.
I've decided on the LongEZ fulfilling my immediate flying needs and have the funds to buy one, so the hunt is on. There's one based out of an airport a couple hours away from me that looks promising, I'll be checking it out this weekend. If it looks good and I decide I want it, I know an experienced and extremely picky canard mechanic who I'll pay to do a pre-buy inspection. I'm in the process of securing transition training for the type, and scheduling some spam can time to knock rust off the old flying muscles (how's that for a mixed metaphor?)
Basically, I'm going to do everything opposite of how I approached the last plane purchase, with one exception. I'll walk away if it's not the right one, like I did last time.
My profile plane is: O-320, currently being flown, time left on the motor, and a clean health check. Everything past that is gravy and I'll decide as I go.
Purchase in haste, repent in leisure.
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Money comes and goes, have fun while your alive
but
All in moderation
Those are just two of the phrases I live by...sometimes. Have fun with those planes:aok
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kewl
data, anecdotal evidence & pics when you get the chance, plz.
best of all would be to find a 60kt headwind in VMC & fly backwards
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Originally posted by Chairboy
I'm getting close to the next step in my march towards aviation induced poverty. We have the money now for the last restaurant we sold, and it's burning an airplane shaped hole in my pocket.
I've decided on the LongEZ fulfilling my immediate flying needs and have the funds to buy one, so the hunt is on. There's one based out of an airport a couple hours away from me that looks promising, I'll be checking it out this weekend. If it looks good and I decide I want it, I know an experienced and extremely picky canard mechanic who I'll pay to do a pre-buy inspection. I'm in the process of securing transition training for the type, and scheduling some spam can time to knock rust off the old flying muscles (how's that for a mixed metaphor?)
Basically, I'm going to do everything opposite of how I approached the last plane purchase, with one exception. I'll walk away if it's not the right one, like I did last time.
My profile plane is: O-320, currently being flown, time left on the motor, and a clean health check. Everything past that is gravy and I'll decide as I go.
Purchase in haste, repent in leisure.
Awsome and good luck with the search!
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Too bad the Berkut (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkut_aircraft) never panned out.
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I would choose a Vans RV8, but that is just me.
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Originally posted by VWE
Too bad the Berkut (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkut_aircraft) never panned out.
Well, I still have my Cozy IV project, but I'm gonna make it one of those "I'll finish it by the time I retire" things unless flying the canard jumpstarts me, dunno, we'll see.
By then, we'll all probably live in flying houses on Jupiter and commute to work in our space ships, so it might be moot...
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If you think a Vary Ezy's cool watch this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKNIHGppiqw
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He flys here in AH. Real nice guy.
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Good luck Chairboy, have fun!
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Man, that guy is really crammed into that tiny F4u! Did he know it was going to be so tiny when he built it?
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Originally posted by nirvana
Money comes and goes, have fun while your alive
but
All in moderation
Those are just two of the phrases I live by...sometimes. Have fun with those planes:aok
Moderation is for pansies.
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Originally posted by AquaShrimp
Man, that guy is really crammed into that tiny F4u! Did he know it was going to be so tiny when he built it?
Nope it came as an absolute surprise after construction. He had no clue how big the plane was until he put the last coat of paint on it......... :rolleyes:
:p
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To paraphrase the nautical saying, airplanes are just holes in the sky where you pour money. But money is only fun when it buys something you like. Go for it.
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Status update, I'm meeting with the mechanic at 8AM tomorrow morning in Portland, two hours north of here. We're meeting with the owner of the plane and hitting it with a wicked inspection.
I'll report back.
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Aaarrgh!
So, we meet at 8 and start working on the plane. We're putting together a small laundry list of issues/bargaining points/etc when we hit a deal breaker.
I slide into the cockpit, and it's super comfortable. It feels right, I'm loving the sight picture, but of course I had to thread my feet past the rudder pedals because the builder/current pilot is a bit shorter than I am. The maintenance hatch in the nose is open, and my mechanic guy is walks over to check out the rudder adjustment prospects.
Problem. My feet are up against the battery and brake cylinder, which is all the way forward in the nose. There's no room for rudder travel, even if we fiberglass new attachment points.
We play around with ideas for fitting, but there's no feasible place to move the battery, the brake cylinder, etc. We pull out all the seat cushions, and that gives us an inch or so, but nowhere near enough.
(smack forehead)
I always figured that if I ever had a problem fitting in a LongEZ, it would be because I was too fat, not because of my freakishly long legs. Short of cutting off the nose and extending it (there are lots of Longs w/ extended nose) I'm just outta luck with a plans built plane.
Back to the drawing board.
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Can you adjust the seat angle back to give your knees a "natural" bend? Or do your knees hit the instrument panel when your feet are on the pedals?
That's one of the nice things about the latest versions of the RV kits... Even though they're aluminum and you can't easily change the design to lengthen the cockpits, they're already sized for reasonably tall people. They're not as sexy looking or as efficient as the ez variants but the basic RV design is pretty mature.
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The seat is fixed, can't be adjusted, all adjustment comes with the pedals. It's at about a 40 degree angle, and soo comfortable.... but didn't help with this plane. Yeah, my knees would hit the panel if I pulled them back enough.
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Originally posted by Chairboy
The seat is fixed, can't be adjusted, all adjustment comes with the pedals. It's at about a 40 degree angle, and soo comfortable.... but didn't help with this plane. Yeah, my knees would hit the panel if I pulled them back enough.
Borrow HTs RV and see how you like it. I am sure he won't mind.:D
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Did you think of readjusting your legs?
Cut em off & get some shortened Douglas Bader models.
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Nice planes...I found some nice ones (http://www.barnstormers.com/Experimental,%20Long-EZ%20Classifieds.htm?PHPSESSID=10f9cfd7361072d8b8) on Barnstormers, mostly East Coast.
Guy locally had one, beautiful plane...he broke his nose gear a few times on taxi.
Id love one but I'd really have to know canards inside and out...and have one heck of a canard/A&P mechanic with me