March 2019 Volume 50 Issue 3 Page 1 Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 168 Dallas March 2019 There is only two B-29’s Flying in the world, “Doc” which is based in Kansas, and “FIFI” which is based here in the Metroplex. What a privilege it is to have nearby. This month at our Chapter meeting will feature Pilots Debbie Travis King, and Tom Travis, along with Flight Engineer Brad Pilgram. They will discuss the task of flying one of the largest and rarest warbirds. This will be a real entertaining slideshow presentation. Meeting information on page 3 FIFI Crew to Speak at March Meeting From Michael Stephan Article Index FIFI Crew Cover Presidents Message page 2 Monthly Schedule page3 Sky Beacon update page 4 Legend Cub Tour Page 4 Making Repairs Page 5 Wingtip Lighting Kit Page 8 Glastar’s New Home Page 9 Events/Tool List PG 10 For Sale PG 11 HANGAR ECHOES
Transcript
March 2019 Volume 50 Issue 3 Page �1
Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 168 Dallas
March 2019
There is only two B-29’s Flying in the world, “Doc” which is based in Kansas, and “FIFI” which is based here in the Metroplex. What a privilege it is to have nearby.
This month at our Chapter meeting will feature Pilots Debbie Travis King, and Tom Travis, along with Flight Engineer Brad Pilgram.
They will discuss the task of flying one of the largest and rarest warbirds. This will be a real entertaining slideshow presentation.
Meeting information on page 3
FIFI Crew to Speak at March Meeting From Michael Stephan
Article IndexFIFI Crew Cover
Presidents Message page 2Monthly Schedule page3
Sky Beacon update page 4
Legend Cub Tour Page 4
Making Repairs Page 5Wingtip Lighting Kit Page 8
Glastar’s New Home Page 9
Events/Tool List PG 10For Sale PG 11
HANGAR ECHOES
HANGAR ECHOES Presidents Message
March 2019 Volume 50 Issue 3 Page �2
Social media sites
www.facebook.com/eaa168
www.twitter.com/eaa168 (@eaa168)
Builder Web Sites Pete Miller’s RV-7 smilinpete.com/wp/ Jim Novak’s RV-8 www.mykitlog.com/izzybear Greg Schroeder’s Sportsman www.mykitlog.com/schroeder1
From the President/Editor By Michael Stephan
Plenty of things on my mind this month Most important is the upcoming Board of Directors elections to
take place at the March Meeting. We are fortunate to have most of the current directors returning for another year. The list that have confirmed are:
Norm Biron, Ann Asberry, Jim Caniff, Ben Wright, Bruce Fuller, and Brad Roberts
That would give us 11 BOD members and we have room for a couple more if you are interested. We meet and hour before the Chapter meeting at American Flyers. So if you are a regular attendee this is a simple addition to your schedule. If you wish to serve on the BOD, contact me before the March meeting or you can add your name to the slate of candidates at the meeting.
The McKinney Chapter has planned a fly out to visit the Legend Cub Factory inSulphur Springs. We haven’t been there in a while, so I am looking forward to traveling back out there to see some Legend Cubs. It is much closer than traveling to OSH to see them.
I also had another request for information on available hangar space. I am well versed on the situation at GPM, but not so much on other airports. I thought having a source for this information might be valuable for our members, so if you are hangered at a local airport and are familiar with Hangar availability there email me at [email protected] with the information. If you know the contact information for the person in charge of the hangar leasing, that would be helpful.
The chapter is also looking to purchase more tools to lend. If you have any ideas, send it to me or any Board Member.
I also talked with a member that has an engine for sale. It is off a project that was terminated. It is an O-320-E2D that has not flown for over 20 years. It was first run and removed from a Cessna 172. It has about 2009 hours in the logbook, which it has. If you are interested contact me and I will put you in touch with the seller.
We have a large group of builders in our Chapter and this could be a banner year for completions. The next plane finished will be Chris Smith, who is building an RV-9A. Since he has scheduled his Airworthiness Inspection with Mel he will likely lead the pack.
Brad Roberts is my next pick to finish. He is preparing to paint his Onex project and then take it to the airport for its inspection.
Pete Miller also has most of his RV-7 completed. He has recently move the project to the airport in Aerocountry. He’ll get
good help there. You can watch his progress on his build site: smilinpete.com/wp/
The next three I’m most familiar with are at GPM. Charlie is continuing to march froward on his RV-10 build. He is currently fitting the cowl and has the Prop and spinner attached. He has caught up to my progress on the RV-8 Fastback and now I am scrambling to try to keep up with him. I am working Firewall forward. Hoses, cables, exhaust, engine sensors are goin on before I fit the cowl then the baffles. As much as I think I am close, I have to admit that Charlie will finish before me. But a sleeper in the race at GPM is Chris Paris’ Murphy Moose. Out of the blue, Chris has progressed and I’m lookin at an airplane that doesn’t have much left to assemble. Chris is currently fitting the cowl and then will turn to the instrument panel install. He has all the control surfaces on and properly rigged. Not many problems left for Chris to solve. He might be first at GPM.
March 5th Chapter Meeting The MarchChapter meeting
will be on Tuesday March 5th at the American Flyers facility on Addison Airport at 4650 Airport Parkway, Addison, TX 75001. The meeting will be held in one of the training rooms and begin at 7 PM with socializing and coffee. The program will begin promptly at 7:30 p.m. and finish by 9:30 p.m.
This month our speaker will the flight crew from the B-29 “FIFI”. Pilots Debbie Travis King, Pilot Tom Travis (former Chapter Member) and Flight Engineer Brad Pilgram
Professional pilot Debbie Travis King is the first woman since 1943 rated to fly the Boeing B-29 Superfortress. When she is not working as a Falcon 900 instructor, she tours with the Commemorative Air Force's B-29 "FIFI" and B-24 "Diamond Lil."
Tom Travis spent 36 years with American Airlines. He has over 29,000 hours, 30 type ratings and flies the B29, B24, A26 and will be piloting the C47 That’s All Brother to Normandy for the anniversary this summer.
Brad Pilgrim was raised in Snyder, Texas and spent his childhood hanging out at the airport. He joined the Air Force in 1992 and was a Loadmaster on the C-130 Hercules and C-17 Globemaster III for most of his career, retiring in 2012. He has been interested in FIFI most of his life and has been involved with the airplane in one fashion or another for over 15 years. He started Flight Engineering in 2010. Brad is the maintenance coordinator for the Cavanaugh Flight Museum and lives in Euless with his wife Kristine.
This is one of those rare meetings that are very informative and well as entertaining. Tom Travis has been a member for many years and it will be good to visit with him again. If you remember he was in the right seat on the first flight of the C-47 “That’s all Brother”. He is also the father of Debbie Travis King, whom he taught to fly.
Should be fun. We hope to see you there.
March 5th Board Meeting The March BOD meeting will be on Tuesday March 5th at
6 pm. A summary of the minutes from the Feb BOD meeting recorded by Pete Miller are as follows:
Meeting called to order by Michael Stephan at 18:00. Minutes from the previous meeting approved. Officers/Directors in Attendance: Michael Stephan, Ann Asberry, Mel Asberry, Jim Canniff, Pete Miller, Sam Cooper, Norm Biron, and Jim Novak.
CHAPTER MEETINGS
March 5: Debbie Travis-King; FiFi pilot April 2: Formation Flyin May 7, Jun 4, Jul 9, Aug 6, Sep 3, Oct 1, Nov 5
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETINGS Mar 5, Apr 2, May 7, Jun 4, Jul 9, Aug 6, Sep 3, Oct 1, Nov 5
TREASURER REPORT Sam discussed the Treasurer’s Report for January. There were 11 membership renewals and 1 new member. We have 70 paid members. The IRS 990N was filed on Feb 4.
OLD BUSINESS
• The Board discussed the Ray Aviation Scholarship presented by EAA National. Norm has applied. Our application will be reviewed in mid-February. It was noted that AOPA has a similar scholarship.
• There is currently nothing new to discuss regarding the Rich Gardner Award.
NEW BUSINESS
• The election for Board members is to take place at the March meeting.
• Sam discussed complementary newsletters and who is to receive them. Also discussed ads for the newsletter.
• Ben Wright is willing to provide ground school classes.
Installa'onoftheuAvionixTailBeaconUpdateThe uAvionix TailBeacon is an inexpensive way to satisfy the FAA mandate of ADS-B
Out installation by January 1, 2020. Last month’s newsletter had a short note about the installation of the TailBeacon in my
plane. At the time, there was still an unresolved problem. With the help of uAvionix as well as Dick Ferguson and Jack Wybenga at Aero
Country Airport, that problem has now been resolved. By the way, uAvionix tells us that the same difficulty has surfaced five times so far.
The post about the TailBeacon installation has been amended to account for this difficulty. The expanded post is available at
https://pointsforpilots.blogspot.com/2018/12/uavionix-tailbeacon-installation-and.html This post proves once more that installation of new equipment in an airplane is never
simple. There are just too many things that can go wrong. And at least one of them will, according to Murphy’s Law.
American Legend is hosting a factory tour Saturday March 16th, 10am
Legend Aircraft Tour March 16th By Michael Stephan
Our Friends to the North have planned a tour of the Legend Cub Factory on Saturday March 16th, and we are tagging along. the tour starts at 10am, so you need to be on the ramp before then.
We toured the factory about ten years ago, it will be interesting to see what has changed.
I hope the weather is good enough for me to fly in.
In the course of any project or flying airplane there will come a time when repairs are needed. These skills are more difficult than regular building skills since you are dealing will an already assembled part. I recently made a decision to undertake a repair for a few reasons. The assembly was subject to a service bulletin and I need some practice and education at making repairs.
The repair was Vans Service Bulletin SB 14-02-05, which deals with cracking in the web on the front horizontal stabilizer spar. This SB affects all RV-3,4,6/6A, 7/7A, 8/8A aircraft. The service bulletin has two options: Repair with a kit supplied by Vans, or Inspect annually for cracks and log compliance in the Aircraft Logbook.
I am doing both. On my flying RV-8 I am inspecting every year, and so far I have had no cracks. For the RV-8 Fastback I am building, I am doing the repair since the horizontal in not on the airframe and not painted.
First thing is to consider if this repair is something you can do correctly. As physicians say, “Do no harm.” If you are not able to safely do the repair, hire someone else to do it, but be sure you know the type of work they do. Not all mechanics are good at repairs. When making the decision to fix my horizontal stabilizer, I was prepared to buy a new one and build it again if I wasn’t satisfied with my repair. That was my worst case scenario.
In deciding if the repair was something I could do, I read through the SB repair instructions several times and very carefully going through each step visualizing how I would do it. I decided I had the skills and the tools to accomplish the task correctly.
Here is a summary of the process to complete the RV Tail Service Bulletin SB 14-02-05.
First, remove the front and rear inner ribs on the Horizontal Stabilizer (HS). This gives you access to the rivets on the spar. To do this you will need to drill out many countersunk 3/32 rivets. They are more difficult than round head rivets, but with a little practice you can remove them without damaging the original hole. When drilling out any rivet, the goal is to drill in the center far enough to break off the head by bending it with a same-same-size punch then punching out the remaining rivet and
shop-head. Most builders have this skill since not all rivets are set correctly and need to be drilled out and replaced.
Next step is remove the round 1/8 rivets that hold the splice plate that connects the left and right portions of the spar. These round head rivets are easier to remove if you have the proper tool. I used a rivet removal tool that essentially is a countersink cage that has a die that fits the round head. The drill bit drills through center of the die and has a stop that allows me to accurately drill the center of the head and just enough to then break it off. The tool is about 6 inches long, so it is best when there is room to maneuver.
The next rivets to remove is the ones down the spar that are located under the skin. They go five positions down the spar outward. These are high risk. My rivet removal tool will not fit in there, nor will any regular drill. They have to be drilled with an angle drill. I have a pneumatic angle drill and with great care I was able to center drill
5431 Saturn Dr. LB 26 Dallas, Tx 75237
Inner Ribs Removed
Rivets Removed from Front of Spar
HANGAR ECHOES
March 2019 Volume 50 Issue 3 Page �6
the round head rivets and remove them without much harm to the spar. I the hole becomes oblong, it is ok to drill it larger and use the next larger size rivet. Be careful there is not much edge distance to work with here.
Once all the rivets are removed, the new parts can be riveted on. Since the added strengthening piece is predrilled in spots and is back-drilled to match the original holes, some time is needed to make sure you have the alignment correct. The instructions gives advice here on how to do this. Once aligned and drilled in place match drill all the holes in the new part and the in the original sparweb. This creates a bunch of holes. Once again the holes in the spar under the skins are the hardest and require the angle drill.
The next procedure is to rivet all the parts back together. In the open areas, the rivet squeezer made short work of the task. But once again, the rivets under the skin are quite difficult. I was forced to use my rivet gun to set these, and due to the close proximity of the rivets to the skin, I need a special set. I used a double offset set. This set has two bends in it to allow the gun to translate lower and still remain parallel with the rivet. I looks like a very flat “S”. It also took two people. One on the gun and one to buck. Charlie helped with this and we did and acceptable job. Still somewhat high risk in there.
The last step is to put the ribs back in. Not hard, except for the fact that the rear rib dimension is shorter due to the depth of the strengthening part that was added. You need to cut that front flange off and rivet on a new one that matches the new dimension. This skill most builders have. Took some time, but not hard.
After all of that, I primed the repair area to make it match its surroundings.
Attaching the Strengthening Part
All Rivets back in and the Assembly Primed
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March 2019 Volume 50 Issue 3 Page �7
SUPERIOR AIR PARTS ANNOUNCES IT IMPLEMENTING AN IMMEDIATE AND MANDATORY
BUY-BACK PROGRAM FOR ALL XP-382 AND XP-400 EXPERIMENTAL ENGINES
Coppell, TX (March 01, 2019) — Scott Hayes, VP, Sales and Marketing for Superior Air Parts, Inc., announced today that the company is implementing an immediate and mandatory buy-back of all the Superior Air Parts XP-382 and XP-400 series experimental aircraft engines in the field.
“We have already contacted a number of our owners and while it’s no surprise that they are not happy with the situation, they understand that we are doing this because it is the right thing to do,” he said. “In fact, the typical response has been them thanking us for keeping their safety as our top priority."
Bill Ross, A&P I/A and Superior Air Parts’ VP Product Support explained that the company’s decision to take all of the XP-382 and XP-400 engines out of the market comes after a lengthy evaluation and testing process.
“When we first learned of the breadth of the detonation problem, we contacted XP-400 engine owners and paid to have them ship their engines to our facility for evaluation,” Ross said. “We disassembled, inspected and tested the key components in each engine.”
“The good news was the majority of the engines were absolutely clean, with no signs of stress wear or damage,” he said. “The bad news is of the few we found with issues, neither our engineering team or our metallurgy specialists were able to define a consistent root cause of the issues.”
Ross added that even after the company took all the available steps to adjust the engine’s ignition timing to reduce internal stress, the results were still unsatisfactory. So to eliminate the possibility of any future occurrences, the company is grounding all XP-382 and XP-400 engines immediately.
While the detonation problems are currently confined to the XP-400 engines, Hayes said that because the XP-382 shares so many of the same internal components, that the decision was made to include that model in the program as well.
“I want to be 100-percent clear that the grounding and buy-back mandate does not include any XP-320 or XP-360 engines,” he said.
“Throughout Superior Air Parts’ 50-plus year history, we have stood behind the quality and safety of our products,” Hayes said.he safety of our customers and their passengers.”
For more information, please contact: Scott Hayes, VP Sales and Marketing: 972.215.6992 Bill Ross, VP Product Support: 214.395.9183
What are my thoughts after finishing this repair. I learned how to repair and practiced a needed skill. Would I
recommend this repair? Not unless necessary. If you have a finished RV and have no cracks in that area,, I would continue to inspect yearly. If you are building and have not put your HS skins on yet, putting on the SB repair is simple and should be added. Of course, if you have cracks the repair needs to be done. Then you have to decide if you can do it or get someone else who can.
Don’t forget, you can always practice on scrap pieces before attempting on an aircraft structure.
Inner Ribs Back In with the Shortened Middle Rib
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March 2019 Volume 50 Issue 3 Page �8
Kitbuilt Wingtip Lights By Michael Stephan
If you plan to fly at night, you will need to have wingtip lights. These include Nav lights, Position lights, Strobe lights and Landing and Taxi lights. Since I don’t fly at night, I contemplated not having any. But I may change my mind in the future, so I will install them. I want a system that can contain all those functions in the front of the wingtip and not have to have anything external or need a hole cut in the leading edge of the wing.
In the spirit of Leon Rausch, who not only scratch built a vari-eze but also built his COM radio from a Heath kit, I decided to build my wingtip lights from a kit. Flyleds (flyleds.com) is a company in Australia that does just that.
I bought “The Works” kit (of coarse) which includes all the functions when you include the tail light. The kit is complete with everything needed to do the job. You can purchase it pre-soldered, but what is the fun in that. I have soldered things before, so I was comfortable putting this kit together. I recommend having a good soldering iron. Mine is about $100, but it heats quickly, recovers quickly and is accurate in temperature. Worth the expense.
The kit consists of two circuit boards that mount to the two faces of the wingtip cut out. They stick inside the tips as well, so you will have to remove parts of the wingtip faces. Nav lights and strobes face outward. Position, landing and taxi lights face forward. The first step was to shape the boards to match you
wingtips. The are only slightly oversize, so this task goes pretty quick.
Next you solder all the components on the wing tip boards. LEDs on the front and power resistors on the back. This took me four hours one afternoon to do both sides. Fun to test them when you are done. Next is the Controller Board that mounts in the cabin area connects to the tips and does the controlling. That board is mostly small resistors and diodes and took about two hours to finish. Fun to test that one as well.
Bill Bracken’s Glastar has found a new home. Local pilot Steve Flemings purchased the plane and the floats that Bill had also built from a kit.
Since the airplane was past its last inspection, there was a condition inspection done before flight.
Norm Biron, our resident Glastar expert generously helped out in the new owners transition to the airplane.
A few weeks after flying the Glastar to its new home, Steve came back to trailer the floats.
A big thanks goes Norm Biron and Carl Walker for helping with the transfer of Bill’s Plane.
New owner Steve Flemings flew his Glastar to it's new home at Flying Oaks (2TE2) on Saturday.
Installed Wingtip Boards
The landing lights are also LED. There is no soldering on them; just assembly. You do have to rivet the nut plate hardware on, which is supplied in the kit. The forward facing board attaches with four nut plates to help with the weight of the landing lights, but for the outward facing board I used a high strength adhesive tape and bonded it to the wingtip.
The instructions are well written. Only a few pages long for each section. The circuit boards are well marked, explaining what every input pin connects to. The project is pretty simple. Took me 4 days from start to finish. The cost was around $700.
Although there is nothing sexy about wingtips, I like the way mine worked out. Can’t wait to put them on, wire them up and give them a test.
Glastar Gets a New Home. By Michael Stephan
HANGAR ECHOES
March 2019 Volume 50 Issue 3 Page �10
Upcoming Events By Michael Stephan
Since there is a lack of events for March here are some dates for this year to put on your calendar.
Chapter Tool List Our tool custodian is Brad Roberts. This list can also
be found on the Chapter’s website at eaa168.org
Aircraft Scales -3 digital scales - can not be checked out must be used by Tech Counselor who will come to your project. Contact Michael Stephan Borescope: USB with articulating camera. Use with Android tablet or laptop computer. Cable Cutter Camloc Installation Pliers Compression Tester - Piston compression tester with instructions Digital Level - 24" "SMART" level with digital readout and instructions Drill Guide for Tubing - Accu-Drill with instructions Edge Roller - Creates rolled edge on sheet metal Flaring Tool- 37 degree flaring tool -sizes 1/8", 5/16" -5/8" Fresh Air Respirator - HobbyAir Fresh Air Respirator with half-mask, 40' hose, belt, and painting hood. Please return cleaned and ready for use. User may purchase facemask or other accessories from www.axispro.com. Hole Cutter -Adjustable MALCO HC1 with instructions. Cuts holes in wood and sheet metal from 2" to 12" in diameter Hole Punches - Greenlee Punches, sizes 1 1/8", 1 3/8", 2", 2 1//2", 2 3/4", 3" Instrument Hole Template- Metal Template from Aircraft Spruce. Not to be used as a drill guide Instrument Panel Punches - 2 1/4" and 3 1/8" -Not for composite or fiberglass Kearney Swager - Hand - operated roll type swaging machine to swage MS -type terminals onto galvanized and stainless steel cables from 1/16" to 3/16" diameter. This swager belongs to Mel Asberry who has offered to let Chapter members use it at his workshop. Magneto Synchronizer - Eastern Electronics Model E-50 with instructions Nicopress Swager / Cable Cutter - Swages Nicopress sleeves onto control cables. Swages sleeve sizes 1/16, 3/32, 1/8, 5/32, 3/16, and 7/32. Includes a cutter for 7x7 and 7x19 cables up to 7/32 diameter. Nicopress Swaging Tool - Economy style, sizes 1/16", 3/32", 1/8" Pneumatic Nibbler - Air nibbler for sheet metal Rivet Cutter Sheet Metal Dimpler - 3/32" vise grip dimpler from Avery's Sheet Metal Nibbler - Hand type nibbler Tach Checker - Tach checker with instructions Tensiometer: For checking cable tensions. Tube Bender - Sizes 3/16" - 3/8" Tube Cutter - Tube Cutter 1" max OD
July 22-28
Saturday, March 2, 2019 First Saturday Coffee and Donuts McKinney National Airport (TKI)
Website:www.facebook.com/EAAChapter1246 Come join us for some fellowship and fun.
We're having Free coffee and donuts for everyone on the first Saturday of every month in the McKinney Hangars Association area. Let's gather at 9:00 am. You don't have to be a member to attend. See you there!
SUN 'n FUN Int'l Fly-In Expo - April 2 - 7, 2019
Saturday, March 16, 2019 Legend Cub Factory Tour Sulphur Springs (SLR)
Tour begins at 10am. In association with Chapter 1246.
To place an ad: Submit requests for aviation related For Sale or Want ads to [email protected]. Ads are free to Chapter 168 members. Ads from nonmembers will be run on a space available basis. Ads will be run at the newsletter Editors discretion.
We would like to make you aware that as always, in past, present, and future, any communications issued by Experimental Aircraft Association, Chapter 168, Inc., regardless of the form, format, and/or media used, which includes, but is not limited to, Hangar Echoes and audio/ video recordings is presented only in the light of a clearing house of ideas, opinions, and personal experience accounts. Anyone using ideas, opinions, information, etc. does so at their own discretion and risk. Therefore, no responsibility or liability is expressed, or implied, and you are without recourse to anyone. Any event announced and/or listed herein is done so as a matter of information only and does not constitute approval, sponsorship, involvement, control or direction of any event (this includes Oshkosh). Bottom line, we are responsible for nothing. Please read, listen, enjoy, and be careful out there.
Web site Address: www.eaa168.org Social media sites: www.facebook.com/eaa168 www.twitter.com/eaa168
Norm Biron Mel Asberry Bruce Fuller Ann Asberry
Jim Caniff Chris Smith Brad Roberts Ben Wright
For Sale: Varieze w/Cont O-200; 100 hours on overhaul. 1350 total time $14.5k. Leon Rausch 214-349-6024
For Sale: Midget Mustang Projects Larry Birdwell ( [email protected] )
For Sale: RV-10 Tail Kit and assorted sheet metal tools. Mike Strube: [email protected]
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