Kitplanes articles from April 2000

Kitplanes archives from April 2000

LETTERS.
April 1, 2000... Check out those used turbines carefully. I enjoyed reading about the turbine-powered Comp Air 7 and 8 [in the February issue]. I need to comment that a commercial operator removes a turbine engine due to loss of power, but an engine could...

A Flight in Time.
April 1, 2000... The author flies a Nieuport 17 replica WW-I fighter built from Walt Redfern plans. "Be careful. Early airplanes do not handle at all like modern ones," warned my friend James Gilbert when I told him I was to fly a replica 1917 fighter....

Attack of the Killer Marvins.
April 1, 2000... Three Midwest airshows give the Kansas City Dawn Patrol an eagle's share of airborne adventure. Rain flooded the windscreen of my Nieuport 11, and the wind made huge mesmerizing swirls in the large field below. Gusts swept across...

Meet the Sky Raiders.
April 1, 2000... Builders find a lot to like about this Flying K design. It's not at all surprising that Kenny Schrader's Sky Raider has certain similarities to both Avid Aircraft's and SkyStar Aircraft's designs. Schrader worked for both companies in...

More on trim drag: minimizing it.
April 1, 2000... When the tail of an airplane lifts up or down to trim the airplane, it also generates drag. Last month, we discussed the aerodynamic phenomena that contribute to this trim drag. We now turn our attention to how to minimize it. C.G....

Going Full Circle.
April 1, 2000... Ron Feast's design challenges conventional aesthetics. While munching away on a geometrically square multilayered lasagna of his own creation, Ron Feast explains to me that his training is in fine art, painting and drawing, which he, as a...

THE ENGINE BEAT.
April 1, 2000... Here's our annual engine directory. Which came first, the chicken or the egg--the airframe or the engine? With those age-old questions posed, we welcome you to the fifth annual engine/PSRU directory. One significant change has been made...

Build this $10 transmitter checker.
April 1, 2000... To paraphrase Richard Bach, sometimes my ideas come from the old-geezer fairy. This particular idea had its genesis in the 1950s design of the venerable Narco Superhomer, an aircraft transceiver with nine vacuum tubes that kept the cockpit...

Builders share their successes.
April 1, 2000... Jay Pratt's RV-8 This is my new RV-8, N82RV. It took 1480 hours and 23 months of part-time work. This is my third RV. I really like the building process. This one was built to sell, and it has already gone to a new home. It flew great...

Employees purchase SkyStar Aircraft.
April 1, 2000... An employee group has purchased SkyStar Aircraft Corp., longtime producer of the popular Kitfox line of tube-and-fabric kit aircraft. Phil Reed, owner of the company says that he will transfer SkyStar to a group headed by current SkyStar...

Lookout Mountain Flight Park sits atop the gaggle.
April 1, 2000... No one questions it anymore. Lookout Mountain Flight Park--known as LMFP--is the country's most active hang glider school and hang glider enterprise. A million-dollar-a-year business that defies the notion that you can't make money in...

KITPLANE'S NEW PRODUCTS.
April 1, 2000... Rotax 912 Exhaust System Leading Edge Air Foils announces the addition of the Heggemann exhaust system to its line of products. Extensive testing of this exhaust system along with the original system was performed by Heggemann GmbH....

Finishing Fiberglass.
April 1, 2000... This is No. 19 in our Glasair building series We often hear the term finishing when talking with airplane builders, but what does it mean? Specifically, finishing work entails the preparatory work required to get the airplane ready for...