Vintage Airplane - Apr 2006
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PR I L
ANE
VOL
34 , No.4
2006
CONTENTS
1
Straight and Level
by Geoff Rob ison
2 VAA
News
S
Aeromail
6 Aging Aircraft
Finding new ways to
keep them airworthy
by H.G. Frautschy &
Earl Lawrence
8 One Little Indian.
The Gol
den
Eag le Chief
by Gilles Auliard
18 Swing
in
Swift Gear
The n uances of jacking swinging and inspecting Swift gear
by Sparky Barnes Sargent
2S
Restoration C
orn
er
by George York
3
Pass It To
Bu
ck
Drilling Deeper
by
Buck Hilbert
32
The Vi
nt
age In str
ucto
rCRM Part II
by Doug Stewart
3 4
Book and Movie Reviews
by H.G. Frautschy
STAFF
EAA Publisher Tom
Poberezny
EAA Editor·in·Chief Scott
Spangler
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GEOFF
ROBISON
PRESIDENT, VINTAGE AIRC RAFT ASSOC IATIO N
Here I go again. It's
time
for an
other column, and again I am think
ing I have little to offer in the ways of
wisdom to our valued membership.
Somehow, someone always gives me
an idea to get me going, and before I
know it I have to edit for brevity.
It
has finally happened here
in
the
great cold and snowy Midwest. Spring
has finally poked its nose at us on a
couple of occasions. One sure sign of
spring for me is spring training for
the
B-
I7's
annual tour
of these United
States. As I am writing this month's
column, I
am
actually
en
route to
Oshkosh
for
this event.
It
was person
ally a grand moment for me to hear
that EAA's beloved luminum ver-
cast had finally returned to
the
skies
on
March ? Bear with me here,
and
always remember, a large portion
of
their stock machines fit into our age
category, including
the
mighty Boe
ing bomber I speak so reverently
of.
I
can clearly recall
the
day, now nearly
10 years ago, when I was in Oshkosh
for
a board meeting and I was asked if
I would like to take a hop on the B-17
for a systems check. I must admit that
VAA s
initiatives
FAA
was
still allowing people to fly the
left seat of
the
big bird with an appro
priate amount of dollars exchanging
hands, so when the B-1? tour visited
close to home, I parted company with
those bucks
and took another
ride
that included about 10 minutes
or
so
of "stick time./I
At
the
risk of making
this
sound any
more like a warbirds
commercial, you should consider tak
ing this ride someday when we are in
your neighborhood. I have had a won
derful experience each year spending
about four or five weeks
on
the
tour.
The smiles and looks
of
awe
of
the
participants always tells
the
story
of
their abundant gratitude of
having
had the unique opportunity
of
tak
ing a ride in such a historically signifi
cant artifact of World War I
I If
I have
sparked your interest, check out EAA's
B-1? website:
www b17 org
To
date,
the
responses
we
have gar
nered from
the
various vintage own
ers, restoration folks, and type clubs
in regard
to
the proposed aging air
craft initiatives developed by the EAA
and the Vintage Aircraft Association
have proven to be positive. This ini
initiative, as we all know how impor
tant it
is that
we see rules developed
that everyone can live within.
By the time you read this column
I
am
reasonably certain we will have
a clearer idea as to what
the
FAA's ini
tia l response may be to
the
proposed
modifications
to
the
FARs
that
hope
fully will prove to be positive in im
pacting this
important
issue at hand .
Again, please be sure to communicate
your ideas or concerns to
us
so we will
have the best chance possible
of
im
pacting this issue.
It's that
time of
year again
when
we encourage everyone to give con
sideration to supporting
the
Vintage
Aircraft Association's Friends
of
the
Red Barn. Last year's
program
was
by all
means
a grand success. Your
support was by all measures simply
amazing as well as impressive. I am
pleased to share with you
the
fact that
last year's
support
was sufficient
to
fund the construction of a brand-new
building to house
the
kitchen for our
Tall Pines Cafe. Construction will be
gin this month with our own Vintage
volunteer group being assisted by the
http:///reader/full/www.b17.orghttp:///reader/full/www.b17.org
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It's
only
a few
short
months
away
from the
annual convention
for EAA/
VAA
members,
and
plenty of
planning
and
work is already underway.
Here are just a few
of
the items that
will be featured
on the
EAA grounds:
Kids
Plan Trip to
Oshkosh
in
Aeronca
They
Restored
George
Coon
and
Katelie
Cobain work
on new ribs during early days of the
Wa
th n
Foundation Aeronca Project.
Over
the
past
five years,
about
20
Young Eagles at Flabob Airport
in
South
ern California have helped restore a worn
and weathered Aeronca Super Chief.
Their goal: to bring it to EAA AirVenture
someday. This summer,
that
wish could
become reality,
as the
group prepares
the
aircraft for its first flight on May
1
The
Thomas Wathen Foundation,
headquartered
at
Flabob, purchased
the
airplane in 2000 after its owner's death.
Organizers
then
found space
on the
air
port where
the
kids could make
the
old
bird airworthy again.
The
kids
could earn
flying lessons
for
helping with the project-five
free
hours after the
first SO
hours of work
on
the
plane
and an
additional
hour
for
each
additional
five hours. The experi
ence allowed
many
of
them
to solo,
and
some even earned a private ticket while
working
on the
Aeronca.
If
the
Aeronca makes it
to
EAA
Air
Venture Oshkosh 2006, at least two of
the kids involved in the
restoration
will make
the
journey
to Oshkosh with
the
airplane, taking turns flying along
the way.
EAA AirVenture Welcomes
American
Barnstormers
Tour
The
American
Barnstormers Tour
will showcase
the
dazzling aircraft
and
the dashing men
and
women repre
senting liThe
Golden
Age of Aviation
at
EAA
AirVenture,
where
the tour
will
conclude
its
nine-city schedule. The
group plans
to display
as many as 20
meticulously restored aircraft from
the
1920s, '30s
and
'40s in EAA
AirVen
ture's Vintage Aircraft area. They'll also
EAA
Fights Ethanol Legislation
in Washington Idaho
If
you
use
an EAA auto
fuel STC
in
your airplane, even if you don't live in
either of
these
states,
you should pay
attention to
this story. Since fuel prices
have
risen so
dramatically
in the past
couple of years,
proponents
of domesti
cally produced
ethanol
have been push
ing legislation for the incorporation
of
ethanol
in
all gasoline
intended
for
consumpt
i
on
in
motor
vehicles.
Just as i t did successfully in Mon
tana
last year, EAA is working to modify
pending state legislation in Washing
ton
and
Idaho that would require etha
nol to
be
added to
all
gasoline
sold
in
those
states.
We're asking
our
members in these
states
to
contact their elected
repre
sentatives and urge them to not just
sweep a large number of
their
constit
uents-avia tors-under
the
rug
with
this legislation,
said
EAA
Vice Presi
dent
of Industry
and
Regulatory f-
fairs Earl Lawrence.
Washington's
pending legislation
would reqUire all gasoline sold
to
con
sumers
for
use
in motor vehicles to
contain ethanol
by December
1
2008,
with
no
exceptions.
Many
aircraft can
not currently operate safely
with
fuel
blended with
alcohol. WaShington reg
istrations show more
than
600 airplanes
that have FAA-approved
auto
fuel sup
plemental type
certificates (STC), plus
numerous
ultra l
ight
vehicles
and
ama
teur-built aircraft that operate with en
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available for aviation, vintage cars, and
recreational vehicles at
every
gas sta
tion
in
the state.
IYED
2006:
Make
Plans
to
Participate
The world's
most
successful youth
aviation program
holds
its biggest day
of the year
on
June 10, and you can
take part . On International Young Ea-
gles Day,
thousands
of EAA volunteers
in the air and on the ground bring the
thrill
and excitement of
flight
to thou
sands of kids aged 8-17.
EAA
Chapter
leaders, make sure you
let
EAA s Young Eagles headquarters
know about your flight rally plans,
and
then,
after it's over,
drop
an e-mail
to
youngeagles@eaa org to let them know
how it went.
Cessna
172
Is Golden
at
E
AirVenture
ee Joe Nelsen
s1956
Cessna
172, the
irst
one off the line, at EAA AirVenture
this year.
EAA
AirVenture 2006 will salute
the
50th
anniversary
of one of the
general
aviation fleet's mainstays, the Cessna
172 Skyhawk. About 42,500 have been
built
since its
introduction
in
1956,
making
the
172
the
most plentiful gen
eral aviation aircraft in history.
Museum Events
A sure sign of spring
is the annual opening
of
EAA
Pioneer Airport, tak
ing place this year the
weekend of April 29-30.
Reserve a flight in EAA s
1929 Ford Tri-Motor or other vintage aircraft. Kids aged 8-17 can make
their
EAA
Young Eagles flight and join the long list of Pioneer s Young Eagles . (More than 1 200
Young Eagles flew at Pioneer Airport last year alone.)
The
airport will
be
operational every weekend until mid-October,
and
daily from
Memo-
rial Day through Labor Day Visit www.pioneerairport.orgfor more information.
Nelsen of Gunter, Texas, who owns design engineer;
the
first Cessna 172 built.
EAA
is also • An evening event at the EAA AirVen
working with
Cessna
Aircraft, the ture Museum.
Cessna Pilots Association, and
other
Look for final details of the various
Cessna owner
and
pilot groups to rec- 172 celebrations as they are confirmed
ognize
the
aircraft
and their
owners at
www airventure
org.
during the
event.
Other
Cessna
172 activities
during
Coupes and
Cubs
Fly
-
In
EAA
AirVenture include: On May 13-14, EAA
holds
the an
• Cessna 172s arriving
and
parking to
nual
'Coupes
and Cubs Fly-In
at
Pio
gether in EAA
AirVenture's
"North
neer Airport.
Join
the Wisconsin wings
40" aircraft camping area; of
the
Ercoupe Owners and Piper
• A display
of
notable Cessna 172s
on
Cub clubs, along with
the
National
AeroSheli Square,
including the
first
Aeronca Association
for
two days of
and most recent models; classic low-and-slow aircraft flight.
• A schedule of forums on the Cess na 172;
Those flying in need to register; con
• A special
exhibit of the artwork of
tact
Syd
Cohen
via e-mail
at sydlois@
Richard Van Eyck, Cessna's consult ing
charter. net or call 715-842-7814.
nteresting Websites
Log
on
to www LiveATC net
and
you can stream live audio feeds from air
traffic control facilities all over
the
United States
and
Canada, as well as many
international feeds. It's fascinating listening if you enjoy the action from the
tower, center,
or even
UNICOM. The
audio
will open in your favorite audio
player program, such as Apple Computer's iTunes or Microsoft's Windows Me-
dia Player.
mailto:[email protected]://www.pioneerairport.orgfor/http:///reader/full/www.airventure.orghttp:///reader/full/www.airventure.orghttp:///reader/full/www.airventure.orghttp:///reader/full/www.LiveATC.netmailto:[email protected]://www.pioneerairport.orgfor/http:///reader/full/www.airventure.orghttp:///reader/full/www.LiveATC.net
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Friends
of the
Red
Barn Campaign
Many
services are provided to vintage aircraft en-
thusiasts
at
EAA
AirVenture Oshkosh. From
parking
airplanes
to
feeding people at
the
Tall Pines Cafe
and
Red
Barn, more
than
400 volunteers do it all. Some
may ask, If volunteers are providing the services,
where is
the
expense?
Glad you asked. The scooters for the flightline crew
need repair and batteries, and
the
Red Barn needs
paint, new
windowsills, updated wiring,
and other
sundry
repairs, plus we love to care for
our
volunteers
with special recognition caps and a pizza party. The
list really
could
go
on and on, but no matter how
many
expenses we can
point
out,
the
need
remains
constant. The Friends of the Red Barn fund he lps pay
for
the VAA
expenses at
EAA
AirVenture,
and
is a cru
cial
part
of the Vintage Aircraft Association budget.
Please help the VAA and
our
400-plus dedicated
volunteers make
this
an
unforgettable experience for
our many
EAA AirVenture guests. We've made it even
more fun
to
give this year, with
more
giving levels
to
fit
each person's budget,
and more interesting
activi
ties for donors
to
be a part of.
Your
contribution now
really does make a differ
ence. There are six levels
of
gifts
and
gift recognition.
Thank
you for whatever you can do.
Here are some of
the
many activities
the
Friends of
the
Red Barn fund underwrites:
• Red Barn
nformation
Desk Supplies
• Participa
nt
Plaques a
nd
Supplies
• Toni's Red Carpet Express Repairs and Radios
• Caps
for VAA Volunteers
• Pizza Party for VAA V
olunt
eers
• Flightline Parking Sco
oter
s
and
Supplies
• Breakfast for Past Grand Champions
• Volunteer Booth Administrative Supplies
• Membership Booth Administrative Supplies
• Signs
Throughout
the V
intag
e Area
e Red Barn
and
Other Buildings' Maintenance
e And More
Thank·You Items
by Level
Name Listed:
Vintage, Web
&
Sign at
Red Barn
Donor
Appreciation
Certificate
Access to
Volunteer
Center
Special
FORB
Badge
Two Passes
to
VAA
Volunteer
Party
Special
FORB
Cap
Breakfast
at Tall Pines
Cafe
Tri-Motor
Ride
Certificate
Two Tickets
to VAA
Picnic
Close Auto
Parking
Diamond, $1,000
X
X
X X X
X
2 People/Full
Wk
2 Tickets
X
Full Week
Platinum,
$750 X X
X X X X
2
People
/
Full Wk
2 Tickets
X
2 Days
Gold,
$500
X X
X
X X
X
1
Person
/ Full Wk
1 Ticket
Silver, $250 X X
X X X X
Bronze
100 X X
X X
Loyal Supporter,
$99
& Under
X
X
~
VAA Friends of the Red Barn
Name
EAA #
VAA
# _
Address__________________________________________________________________________________ _
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. tfa I e next morn
hOl
Jes
of reac JOg orlandlo by
nlll.sfted
oif the runway at
I Iightp anes
ing some SO-p uS the la
nd
of the sun.
Chattanooga headed for in
Va
ldosta, Georgia. Land
All
went we
ll
untIl reach the cold fro nt was now
ing at Valdosta, we
e a r n ~ d
II
of
north
Florida, with ce
li
a warm front that covere a00 feet with driZZle and fog
. g from zero to 2 '
ings varym t until the next day.
and no improvemen
I'
ll
answer
the other
ques
tion
in
January 2006-the
wallow
at
the
end of Nick
Rezich's last article. I t
seems
to
be
a Hisso-Swallow, c/n
1-R, [10283].
The
registra
tion comes from
the
photo
d h· ' h
an some searc
mg
m t
registr tions
of
Aerofiles
com to complete the
par
tially blanked-out 8,
and
the
c/n from
Aerofiles,
too-per
haps indicating some modifica
tions by
Big
Nick himself? The
aileron interconnect is
a
strut
here rather than the wire on
the
hotos in
Juptner
s
Vol.
1
(ATC
SO)
for the Hisso-powered
allow and
other Swallows.
~ ; ; . ; ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ s o the
headres t seems
to
" o . ~ " ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' '
_ : : : : £ : r : : : : S · ; : : : ~ : : . : ~ -
~ : : : ' ; I 1 : : ' : ~ ~ ~ : ? : : . ~ : : i ' : ' $
l ~ I ' > ? S
~
~ ~
JI
I
continu e
farther
back toward
th
e tail. I have re
ally
enjoyed your
reprinting
of
Big
Nick's articles; I learned
a
great
deal from them, espe
cially
about
the Howard
Air
craft days. Wonderful material.
Best regards,
Jack Erickson
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... -
-+
G IN
\
I
•
, j
,
2 i 0
I
- \
,
.-{-=t
,
.
.
j
Like·
their
owners,
aItl.d
pilots,
A A
',
fI
general a\iatiqp aircraft today are
getting older,
and by
2020 the av
erage single-engine airplane will be
SO years old. With age come new
ailments,
the result
of
wear, care,
and necessary repairs. Pilots have it
better than
airplanes because
they
can
take
immediate advantage
of
the
latest tests, drugs, and replace
ment parts. Production airplanes,
on the other
hand, by regulation
must be maintained to their orig
inal
condition,
using
the
parts
and processes in place at
their
birth-even
i f
that
was a
half
century ago.
What makes maintaining an air
plane s health or res toring it) even
more challenging is acquiring the
necessary data-the engineering
drawings and specifications, main
tenance
procedures,
and
related
information-from the
manufac
turer, or
the
person or
company
that now owns the airplane s type
certificate. Over
the
past decade
the
critical need for this data has
grown, and it has been the subject
•
I
not have new parts
made
because
current
government
regulation S .
e-
quire them
to
be derived from the
aircraft s
original
TC data or hire
an engineer to re-create
the
data .
If
a
third
-party part,
FAA
approved
by a parts manufacturing authority
and supplementa
l
type
certificate,
does
not exist-the
airplane
owner
is stuck on
the
ground.
THE
SOLUTION
IS SIMPLE :
IF YOU CANNOT
ACQUIRE THE
INFORMATION NEEDED
TO MEET THE CURRENT
REQUIREMENTS FOR
MAINTAINING, REPAIRING,
AND RESTORING AGING
AIRCRAFT CHANGE
bution to
_safety lHd ~ n u e d air:
o r t h i n s s
is small compared to the
resources I}eeded_to qchieve them.
To earn a
type
certificate, man
ufacturers had to give the govern
ment much
of
the
data we
now
need. In the past
EAA and the FAA
have
attempted
collectively to cre
ate
an
avenue by
which the
agency
can release it. But recently DOT at
torneys have made it clear that
the
FAA
cannot
release
the
data,
which is intellectual property,
without
the
permission of
the
TC s
owner. They even
hold
to
that
rule even
if
the
TC
owner
cannot be tracked down, or if it
can be proven that
the company
has no
corporate
heirs
. Even if
the lawyers approved, there are
questions
about how much
data
actually resides in the
govern
ment s
archives.
Especially for
the
aircraft
born
during
avia
tion s golden age, it may not ex
ist in
any
form,
and
if it did the
data would only benefit
a small
number
of aircraft.
EAA
will
continue
to
investi
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to meet
the
current requirements
for maintaining, repairing, and re
storing aging aircraft-change
the
requirements. The issue at
hand
is
simple: How do we make it possible
for an aircraft owner
and
his certifi
cated mechanic to safely
maintain
a vintage airplane,
which
includes
the
use of new technology for im
proved
safety, without current
roadblocks
that
now hinder
the
im
provement
and
continuing
airwor
thiness of vintage aircraft?
There are a
number
of ways to do
this
,
and the
first priority of
each
of
them is the same: safety. After
studying
the
pros
and
cons of each,
EAA derived an
option:
allow the
use of accepted data, without
the
requirement
that
it
be
accompa
nied by type-approved data .
Accepted
data represents the
body of
all aviation
knowledge.
It's
the
pool from
which
the type
approved
was
created. Today's
engineers are just as capable of cre
ating
a wing spar for an airplane
built in
the
1950s as
the
engineers
were in
that
era, maybe even more
so
because today's professiona
ls
are
working
with
greater knowl
edge
and
newer resources
and
ma
terials. And
any
A P
worth
his
or
her certificate knows how to
use
the
pragmatic form, fit, and func
tion tests
to
replace cable-actuated
expanding shoe
brakes with
new
hydraulic disks .
Implementing such
a
solution
creates
another
issue because using
modern parts
not
approved for
the
owner
makes
this
decision,
which
stays
with
the
airplane
no matter
who owns
it, there would
be
no
turning
back.
No
matter how
big
or how
small,
how
simple or
how
complex, the airplane can never
again be used
to
carry
persons
or
property for hire. Ever.
I f
an
owner
dec ides
to opt
out and maintain
his or
her
vin
tage
airplane
under the
proposed
solution, an
A P
must
maintain
and inspect the airplane in accor
dance with
Part 43 of the Federal
Aviation Regulations.
EAA
proposed this
solution
to th
e FAA
at their winter
recre
ational aviation summit in
Osh
kosh
this
past January, where
it
was received with words of en
couragement
and a request to con
tinue to
refine
the
proposal.
What
the
final solut ion will look
like depends
on many
variables, so
lutions
to
minute
details of such a
plan.
One
of them will be keeping
track of
and
identifying vintage air
craft that have traded commercial
operation for
the
new maintenance
opportunities (and an easy solution
would be to give
the
airplanes new
Vintage
category airworthiness
certificate).
Regardless
the
issues, however,
EAA will continue to work with the
FAA
to find solutions
that
will keep
vintage airplanes affordably airwor
thy-and flying safely.
approved.
-Would be a one-way recertification.
CABIH H £ A T E ~ / / '
L A H K E T ~
-Aircraft would still be maintained per Part 43.
-Documentation
of
all repairs
and/or
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with
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weight.
-
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Current Editor s Note: This issue o
Vintage Airplane
contains the first in
a
series
o nine articles pertaining to
the restoration o antique and classic
airplanes. They were originally written
in
the mid-1980s by directors
o
the
then-named Antique/Classic Division
o
EAA, but they
are
still relevant
for
today's vintage aircraft enthusiasts.
The late George York, a longtime
vol-
unteer jud
ge
and chairman o classic
aircraft
judgin
g
for
many
years,
wrote
our first article. Our members have
years
o
experience and a tremendous
amount o talent; however, it's likely
eve ryone will learn something new
from each article. Please let us hear
from you; write
to
H.G. Frautschy, Edi-
tor, Vintage Airplane,
P.O.
Box 3086,
Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086,
or
e-mail
Original Editor'S Note (abridged):
The officers and directors of the
n-
tique/Classic Division have accepted
the responsibility for many
of
the arti
cles, but contributions will be provided
by
others as well.
The
subject matter
will range from selecting a project to
test flying the finished product.
s
the series progresses, if read
ers wish
to
share their ideas, tech
niques, etc., they are encouraged to
do so. Just because a subject has
been presented
doesn t
mean
the
BY
GEORGE YORK
E
11310,
Ale 1085
ircraft Se
ec
t on
After
a
potential restorer/re
builder
has determined
that he
or
she is going to
do
an airplane, the
most important consideration
is
the
blessing of
the
family or
at
least
its tolerance of the situation.
The
next
most important item
will be
the
selection of
the aircraft
make
and model.
There
are
many, many consid
erations, nearly
as many as there
are prospective rebuilders. Do
you
want an
aircraft for utility
one that
you
will use for
transportation,
or
do you already
own
such an aircraft
and want
to restore an
antique
that
you will consider a showpiece?
There are two classes of restorable
aircraft-one
is
the
classic
(post
World War II), which
is
a service
able airplane
that
can
be used as a
modern
means of
transportation
and
still
attend
fly-ins
and
compete
in show competitions. A few an
tiques also
meet
this qualification,
but
most of
the
antiques were built
up
to
the end of 1945 prewar and
wartime) and are
more show than
transportation aircraft.
There are, of course,
exceptions
to every rule. In
the
antique cate
gory are such aircraft
as the
wartime
Stinsons, Fairchild 24s, Staggerwing
Beeches,
Howard
DGAs,
and the
choose. Nostalgia, for
the
first-time
restorer/rebuilder, can playa
big
part
in that
first selection.
Often
times individuals
want
the airplane
they
soloed
or pOSSibly
had a first
ride in. In
some
cases,
they
figure
they can
buy a rebuildable airplane
of the kind
they ve
always
wanted
or couldn t afford. Thus, by doing
their
own
work,
the
lower purchase
price will afford
the opportunity to
meet this lifetime longing.
One selection for restorers/re
builders
is
further controlled
by
what is
available
and how
much
money can be afforded initially.
You
have
to
consider not
only the
initial cost,
but
also if
the
available
airplane
is
fairly well complete and,
if
not,
whether the
parts are avail
able. One
has to take
a
good look
in
the
mirror
and
evaluate
his
or
her
ability,
talent, previous
resto
ration
experience, the difficulty of
the
project decided
upon,
and,
of
course,
the
nagging
question-will
this satisfy
the
family?
All
of this
is
further complicated
by
where you are
going to do
this
project.
Is
the
airplane too
big for
that one-, two-, or three-car garage?
Do you have
the weather
environ
ment that will allow you
to
work
in
that big building
behind
the house
if
there is such
a
structure)
,
or is
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ing,
riveting, and working with
metal, or if yours
is
a background
of tube and cloth. Do you have suf
ficient
equipment,
or
do
you have
to buy equipment (tools)? What
friends can be of assistance, even
if
only
to offer a slap on the back
when
you find the going is a little
tougher than anticipated?
Further
to
all of the above, do
you
have
the blessing of
your
lo
cal
airframe and powerplant me
chanic (A P)?
Hopefully
, he also
has an
inspection autho
rization.
I f
you re going
the antique route, does he
lean
toward
cloth-covered
machines? If he is going
to
assist
you in
working with
your airplane, this
is
an
important consideration,
particularly if
you re
going
to get into one of the
more
complicated airplanes.
In
the selection of
the
aircraft, hopefully
you
have
considered
the area
where
you are
l iving
My
reason
for
rebuilding
lla
Y \V, Lt.
C O ~ P ~ T .
and will be
building, as this particular plane was be
thought should be
given
cause
I learned to fly and
to climatic
conditions
for soloed one
in
the
WWII
doping
and
painting.
Civilian Pilot Training Pro
Money was mentioned gram for naval VS avia
above. This is always
an
tion cadets in
the
spring of
important consideration; 1943. Am I
ever glad
that
however,
the writer
looks
upon the restoration of aircraft as
a hobby. For me, it
is not
meant
as
a livelihood, and as
most
restorers
know
(o
ther
than the professional
rebuilders who very well know
cloth
onto the airplane faster than
one
knot
every three minutes. This
computes out to be 20 rib stitches
per hour,
and
figuring labor
at
$20
per hour
(1986
dollarsf-HGF),
i t
does
not
take a
mathematical
ge
nius
to figure out
that each rib
stitch is costing $1. This means
that just sewing
the
cloth to the air
frame costs $6,OOO
Hence, it
is
my
suggestion that first-time restorers
choose a
much
simpler aircraft for
their first project.
In selecting a first-time proj
ect, it
is
recommended (not just a
thought)
that you start
with
some
thing like an Aeronca, Piper Cub,
Taylorcraft, Porterfield, Luscombe,
i1y
support,
available monies, and
financial
condition,
to say noth
ing
of your
ability to handle (fly)
the
aircraft once you have finished
your showpiece.
I f you are not honest, then you
are
in
a position
where you
prob
ably will never get the project
done.
Then
you
should be willing
to
humble yourself
or
find some
kind of
alibi
as
to
why the
proj
ect
isn t
finished
and
then
sell it.
There are many people out
there
who
have
bitten off
more
than
they
can
chew,
and
their projects lie dormant,
rusting
or rotting
away be
cause
they are
too proud
to admit the truth.
The restoring of an
air
craft is a self-rewarding ac
complishment
and
can
become
as
complex and
as
complicated as
the
aircraft
you select
to
rebuild.
The first aircraft I rebuilt
was a 1941 Aeronca Chief.
my
nostalgia
didn t
de
mand a Howard DGA or Stagger
wing Beech.
After years of working on vintage
airplanes as a hobby, I have gradu
ated
and
soon will be finishing a
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weight
variety
that
literally
have
been brought back from basket case
starter kits to become grand cham
pions at Oshkosh.
If
memory serves
me correctly, two Aeronca Champs,
a
Cessna
140, and a
Piper
Vaga
bond
have received this
top
award,
so it's
not
necessary
that
you have
the biggest, most complex airplane
with which to compete.
Good luck on your selection.
Locating Restorable
Rebuildable Airplane
Once
a
person
has selected
the
make
and model
for a project,
he
or she can begin
the
search. Locat
ing a rebuildable airplane often de
pends
on your
selection and your
flexibility as to
what
you are willing
to
accept for a project. Unless you
have positively
,
absolutely
deter
mined
that
you have to have a par
ticular make and model (oftentimes
impossible
to locate), your selec
tion will vary according to
the
loca
tion
of
the
airplane.
An example would be
the
selec
tion of a rare version of an Aeronca
Chief and
the
only aircraft
you
could find of
this particular
make
and
model is located in
a
remote
section
of Alaska.
On the
other
hand, only 50 miles from you
is
an
equivalent
airplane, another side
by-side
aircraft-a
Taylorcraft. The
cost and problems of securing one
over
the
other
can be sufficient rea
son to change
your
selection. That
is
why a certain amount of flexibil
ity
is
desirable
in
selecting a proj
I would like to
describe
a few
methods I have used
in
locating air
craft from 1959 through the pres
ent. No
one
particular
method
will
apply to everyone,
but
certain vari
ations may be
the
answer.
In 1959 I decided I wanted a 1940
Aeronca Chief. First I told
my
bud
dies. In
those
days
there
were sev
eral Chiefs around. However, I also
contacted
the
AOPA
and
talked to a
cooperative gentleman by
the name
of
Col. Little. Little
advised that
the AOPA had
a service whereby
it could provide a computer
print
out of
all
aircraft registered
with
the FAA
of
a
particular make
and
model. The
AOPA computer print
out
contained an aircraft I later
found
to
be listed
in the
FAA
Civil
Aircraft Register book. The aircraft
was identified by
the
code
number
0190902. This was the
FAA s num
ber for
an
Aeronca Chief.
(Nowadays
you can obtain that
information
using
a personal com
puter
and access to the Internet.
You can search
the
FAA
database
within the
FAA s own
website,
or
use the
database
search engine
available at
www.landings.com .
Scroll to
the
bottom
of that site s
home page,
and
click on Databases.
There you ll find a variety of ways
you can search the aircraft
and
air
men
records.-HGF)
At
that time, there were 1,030 of
those units registered .
On
receipt of
this information, I enthusiastically
started checking each
one
of
them.
Each aircraft listing
included
serial
in
a
particular town
county or
area.
By checking
with
the
police
or sheriff's department or the city
hall, I usually
found
a
person who
was cooperative. In some cases I
checked with
the
local Chamber
of Commerce.
In
any event
I
can honestly
say
that barring a
death
with no sur
vivors, I usually ended up locating
the
person I was looking
for.
Often
times
the
airplanes were stored,
and
I
obtained
some
ridiculous prices,
as in
1959 and 1960
there
was not
the
demand for old planes
there
presently
is.
I f a
person is trying
to
locate
a
rare airplane,
more
effort must be
expended. I always purchased a
copy of
the
FAA s
U.S.
Civil Aircraft
Register. I
obtained
copies consec
utively from 1959 until the FAA
quit
making
them
available.
The
volumes came out twice a year
and
were
about
3 inches thick. The in
formation
is
no longer available
in
book form,
but
it is obtainable. See
our note above regarding searching the
database.-HGF)
The listings
are
available by N
number
make and
model, or owner's name.
Another
searching technique
is
going to the FAA headquarters
in Oklahoma
City
and
personally
searching
through
the records. An
alternative
is
hiring one
of
the
in
dependent title searching businesses
in Oklahoma
City.
Many inactive
airplanes are
no
longer
in the
active
files in
Oklahoma
City, but the in
formation
is
stored in other sections
http:///reader/full/www.landings.comhttp:///reader/full/www.landings.com
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traces back
to the
city
to try to
lo
cate the individual
or
family. It's
almost
like
looking
for a lost per
son in some cases.
Here's
another method
I used for
years
when
I learned of a plane I'd
like to have: I
would
trace
it
down
through
the FAA,
AOPA, and the
U.S.
Civil Air-
craft Register
book.
When
I found it had
been
out
of
service for a while
but
was
last
located in
Pin
Hook
,
USA,
I would use my am
ateur
radio
operator
facili
ties. With call letters
K8MFZ
I would get
on
the radio and
talk to my friends. I would
work with
those who
were
in or around Pin Hook,
USA,
and would bring up the sub
ject
of old
airplanes
and
people who were interested
in
them. Then
I would ask
if
anyone
knew a Joe Do
akes
who
had died 10 years
ago or knew of his family.
Ninety-five
percent of the
time I would get an answer,
and many
times I would be
given a phone patch to some
relation or heir. It wasn't unusual to
hear, My gosh, cousin Charlie's got
Uncle Eddie's airplane in his barn.
It
's
not
always that simple, but
at
times the radio did help.
I'm only sorry
that
I
do
not
have
my amateur
radio working today.
I have since devoted
more time
to
other
things
and
allowed
my li
cense to
lapse,
but
this
did work
very helpful. Besides,
they
will en
joy talking
with
you, and you will
feel better for having visited them,
especially
if
you do
not
go
there
with
the 100
percent ulterior
mo
tive of finding
an
airplane.
F I ~ ,VAY
OF L O C A ~ ( f
1lI M,-n.lOD OF
ut>IN t
12.AD --A-PLAN,
onJ -R.
PU&UCATlOM6. 1.6 TO
A fine way of locating airplanes,
other than the easy method of us
ing Trade-A-Plane
and
watching for
ads
in other
publications, is
to
be
come
involved
in aviation
in your
area. Join
the
local aviation group,
then give
of
your time and be
of
assistance
to
other
people.
Some
day someone will come
to
you
and
say, I
know of
an
old airplane,
and
ways to locate people on the Net, in-
cluding using Netscape s White ages
at
http:
w
p.netscape.com/netcenter/
whitepages.html.
HG
As a working member of the Stag
gerwing
Club,
people contact
me
wanting
to know
the pres
ent
location of the same air
plane they once owned. The
more you become involved,
the
more people
will con-
tact you . I have noticed
that
those who have
are those
who have been
willing to
help. Communication
is
of
ten the secret to success.
A sure way
to have
peo
ple t ighten up
and
not
be helpful
is
to be
more
knowledgeable
than
they
are
in
discussions. Take ad
vantage of being a good lis
tener. And never violate the
unwritten
rule of
not
buy
ing a plane
out
from under
neath
a confidante. Believe
me, you will no longer have
help
from
this
person or
any of his or her friends on
future projects. Many peo
ple will sacrifice to help a
friend locate an airplane.
I f I know of an aircraft
that
I
feel I
cannot afford
nor
see my
way clear
to
purchase
in the near
future, I will pass
the information
on to
a person
who
is qualified
to
restore
i t and who wants
that
particular model. Resurrecting old
airplanes is a
necessary
function
of keeping this hobby of ours
go
http://wp.netscape.com/netcenterhttp://wp.netscape.com/netcenterhttp://wp.netscape.com/netcenterhttp://wp.netscape.com/netcenterhttp://wp.netscape.com/netcenter
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Bill
Rasmussen
poses in front
of the
nearly
completed
Golden
Eag1e
fuselage.
In
the
back
stands
Mike Vaughan s
Howard.
the Chief
was used
to
run
liquor and Chinese
Below: The attractive, authentic paint
scheme was
applied
by
Mike
Vaughan.
Left: Here s
the
Ken-Royce seven-cylin
der engine
of the
Chief. Noteworthy
is
the
absence
of
an engine
cowling.
Mr. R.O. Bone, who was build
ing
t he first
Go
lden Eagle, came
over
to
Burdett's Fuller Airport
and
offered
me
a job
demonstrating
his
new plane. t
had
been designed by
Mark Campbell
and
did get
me my
first
two
world endurance records.
The plane was
an
experimental job,
so, Mr. Bone had
designers
come
from Douglas
to
redesign
the
plane
so
that
it would get licensed. Among
the
designers was
d
Heinemann
the great designer for Douglas dur
ing WW-II.
d
was about 20 years
old at
the time
when I
dropped in
the factory one night
to
see
what
was going on . Of course,
we
wanted
to be able to sell a lot of those cute,
wonderful planes.
Only of footnote
in
aviation his
tory, the Gol
den
Eagle Chief was a
parasol-type
open -
cockpit
mono
plan e that sea t
ed
two in tandem
and was powered by a seven-cylin
der LeBlond 7-D radial engi
ne
of 90
hp. This well-rou
nded machine had
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The Chief
was awarded
the
Grand Champion
trophy and People's Choice award at the 2004 AAA Fly-In.
It can
be seen
here
in the natural element of the grass field of Antique Airfield, Blakesburg,
Iowa.
Above: The very
fancy data plate reads: Golden
Eagle Monoplane
N68N, Ser. 803,
Date:
1929,
T.C.2-102,
Make: Golden
Eagle,
Model: Chief, Engine:
Ken-Royce
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plenty of performance, and most of
its flight characteristics were
quite
normal, except for a bad
spinning
habit
that
was later overcome by
a redesign of
the
tail surfaces. Ed
die Martin, a veteran airmail pilot
who performed many of
the
early
test flights in the Chief, had
to
bail
out
once
and take to his chute, be
cause he
ended
up
in
a
tight spot
and
could
not recover to normal
flight attitude.
Mark
M.
Campbell,
a
talented
man who had been, at some point of
his life, a wing-walker, parachutist,
airplane mechanic, pilot,
and
plane
designer, conceived the Golden Ea-
gle
Chief
in its original form.
The
first three Golden Eagles were sin
gle-seat sport monoplanes powered,
respectively, by a three-cylinder An
zani engine, a six-cylinder Anzani,
and a LeBlond 60. A two-seater de
Bill
Rasmussen
is
seen
here pushing the Chief out of his Coles County Memorial
Airport hangar
The
airport
serves
the Mattoon
Illinois
area
to
the
flying public. Shortly after
approval was issued
on
August 12,
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created his famous Linco Flying moly steel tubing at stress
points.
of later examples, with very little
change
to
the cabane structure.
The split-axle
landing gear was
built of
chrome-moly
steel tubing
and used rubber bungee cords
to
ab
sorb
the
bumps
with
24-by-6 wheels
with an
optional
brake system. The
90-hp
LeBlond engine was identical
to
the
5-D of 65 hp, except for the
addition of two cylinders
and
a dif
ferent crankcase.
Ninety percent
of
the
parts were interchangeable.
There are two known survivors
of the
type:
one
in flying
condition
(NC68N,
ln
803), owned
by
Bill
Rasmussen of Mattoon, Illinois; and
one in the process of
being
restored
(NC10057, ln 810, last Chief built
in 1931) by Larry Case
of
Green
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Gardner salvaged
the
Chief in 1954, as he recounts
in the September 1967 issue of
Sport Aviation
The Eagle was sort of notorious during the early
'30s
in
the Puget
Sound
country.
It
was brought
to
Spokane from Seattle by Francis
M.
Short,
who
had
owned it from 1934
to
1947; then it
changed
hands
quite rapidly until I became
owner
in 1954. I acqUired
the Golden Eagle from
Rex
Yates, who never flew
the
bird and owned it only a short time.
I first saw
the
plane
in the summer of 1940 in
a
hangar
at Felts Field,
in
Spokane,
Washington
.
The
owner
very
seldom
flew it. About a year later, he of
fered
it
for sale for $750. Well, that was about $725
more
than
I
had
at
the
time.
Over the years the plane
condition
worsened,
until
Ed McCoy,
with the
help of
the
locally famous collec
tor Skeeter Carlson, got the little machine back in
the
air. Warren describes
the machine
from
the time
he acquired it:
The wings were in the worst of shape, so I began
rebuilding
them.
I replaced
the
wood
on the
fuselage
next
and
re-covered the ship. The LeBlond
engine
was
in fair shape
and
did not
require much
work. In the
last
months
of 1955, she was successfully test flown. I
flew it
with the
LeBlond for
about
five years
and had
very little trouble.
I had been aware of a Ken-Royce
engine
for sale
in New
York and
decided
to
try
it.
The
Ken-Royce is
an
updated
version
of
the
LeBlond,
with
pressure lu
brication
to
the rocker boxes and
better
main bear
ings. Once the CAA had given its approval, I began the
installation of the
Ken-Royce.
Although the engines
weigh the same
and
fit
the
same
mount, the
original
cowl would not fit. Instead I used a Cessna Airmas
ter
cowl. After flying
with this engine
for a
year or
so, I learned
of
a completely factory-overhauled Ken
Royce
7G,
120-hp
plant
with
chrome
cylinders
and the
works. I t was the same engine as I was running, but
it was
better than new
. I paid
the
late
Red
Pigman
of
American Flyers all the money I had at
the
time,
and
all the
money
I was going
to
earn for a long
time to
come, for
that
engine.
T
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8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Apr 2006
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Earl Adkisson and I negotiated a
price from Victor Gendron,
and
Earl
went out with
his trailer
to
retrieve
it
the
next spring, says Rasm us
sen.
When
he got it
home
he went
on working on the engine, but was
sidelined by health problems. By
1999,
the engine
was almost fin
ished. In November, we hauled the
project from Atwood to
Mattoon
and brought
it to
my garage.
We
removed all
the
fabric
and
disas
sembled the ship. The fuselage was
sandblasted,
and Earl
inspected
it
and
repaired
the
cracked welds.
Next, I
sprayed
it with epoxy
primer and urethane paint, reglued
all
the wood
formers
and
stringers
and reinstalled them. ll the throt
tle
and
aileron controls are rods,
and
we
carefully removed
them,
wire-wheel cleaned them, painted
and reinstalled them. Then we re
covered the
fuselage.
t
was
then
original and rare combination clus
ter was restored
and
certified.
Most of the
fuselage
work
was
finished by the fall of 2000, and in
the
winter, we covered
the control
surfaces. In
the
spring we started
on
the wings, replacing all
the
hard
ware,
and
rep rimed
and
revarnished
all the wing components. Cover
ing and finishing of the wings was
accomplished
in late fall 2001. In
2002, we
tackled the ailerons and
worked on making new metal fair
ings.
s
2003
came,
Earl brought
in the engine down
and
we started
installing
it, and
put everything
together. The
plane was ready for
static
display at
the
50th anniver
sary of Mattoon's airport, in July.
We hoped to have
the
plane flying
for
the
2003 Fly-In,
but
did
not quite make it. Earl signed the
Chief off late 2003.
The first
postrestoration
flight
port for
half
an
hour.
During
that
time a few
planes joined
up. I
did
a few
turns,
slow
flight, and
even
tried a stall. In
the end we made
a
nice landing
on
the grass and
came to a stop. None of the bad
things I
envisioned
happened. I
wish Bobbi Trout
would have been
able
to see
that. She had passed
away on January 24, 2003.
The
Chief was presented for
the
first time at the 2004 edition of the
S Fly-In in Champaign, Illinois,
before making it to the Fly-In,
where it won Grand Champion
and
People's Choice awards.
The plane
flies
much
like my
Cub,
except
that it is two times
heavier, Rasmussen says. Com
pared to the Cub, it likes a little ex
tra speed on
final,
giving
a
rather
steep descent
and
good visibility
above
the
nose.
The airplane
likes
to lift
off at
60
mph, climb at
75,
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The nuances o jacking swinging
and inspecting Swift gear
RTICLE ND PHOTOS BY SP RKY B RNES S RG ENT
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t
Q/nroAf
Ihlltg to
tJtJHf
and ly 011
;
hplfJlfe
tJh11t
tlttJt nrucIr
ltiiolty to
t
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.f,perifirolly ;.wift
f
you re an owner/caretaker of
one
of these stream
lined
flying
machines and need to check
its gear re
traction
system, no doubt
you'll
want to locate and
consult
the
appropriate
and
available resources
to
help
you accomplish these procedures
without
inflicting in
jury
upon
your airplane (or yourself). These resources
include
any
relevant manufacturer s literature, infor
mal (and invaluable) tips
and
suggestions from
your
aircraft
type club
(whether
it
be
individuals, docu
ments, or websites),
and
the FAA s Advisory Circular
(AC) 43.13-1B. (Change One
is the
current version.)
While
there
is a considerable
amount
of
informa
tion available about maintaining Swift gear,
the
opera
tor s
handbook
doesn t provide
thorough
information
about
jacking the airplane or swinging the gear.
The
Operator s andbook and Maintenance Manual for the
Swift 125 Airplane briefly mentions the jacking
pro
cedure
on page 28 under
the
ground handling sec
tion:
Jacking-The
airplane
may
be jacked by placing
jacks under the tie
down
fittings
which
also serve as
jack points. Chocks or other
precautionary
measures
should
be
taken to insure
that
the airplane
is
secure
while jacking. Always secure
the
tail
when
raising
the
airplane at jack pOints .
I
That
sounds easy enough, until you begin to
think
about
it. For example,
what
type of jacks
do
you use
for
the
low-wing Swift,
and
just
how
should
the
tail be
secured? And
then, when you've
succeeded
in
safely
jacking
the
gear off
the
ground,
how do
you properly
inspect
the
electrically driven, hydraulically operated
gear retraction system? The
handbook
just doesn t ad
dress
any
of this in detail,
and
your local mechanic or
repair
station may
not
have
the
answers, either,
un
less it
is
intimately familiar with
the
Swift airplane. For
example, some folks
may
not
know
that the Swift
can
have either of two
brands
of
main landing
gear-Adel
which
have subtle differences.
Tying
the
Swift
s light
tail securely
to a ground anchor is
an
important
part of preparing this
nose heavy
airplane
to
be
raised
on ts jack
points.
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You
might
find it helpful
to consult AC
43.13-1B,
which does provide some generic information in
Chapter
9, Section 1,
Inspection
and Maintenance
of Landing Gear,
including retraction
tests.
While
informative, it doesn't provide model-specific details,
and
the
Swift, like
other
airplane types, has its
own
nuances and intricacies that need to be considered.
This
is
the perfect
opportunity
to take advantage of
the
wealth of knowledge available
through the
Inter
national Swift Association,
and
according
to
member
Ken
Coughlin, They'll be happy to talk with you
and
try to help you find somebody
who
is
maintenance
savvy about
this particular
airplane, and
would
be
willing to assist you.
Since it's best to have two qualified people on
hand
for
the
tasks,
Les
Sargent, a Swift
owner and an
air
frame
and
powerplant mechanic with an inspec
tion authorization
(A P-IA), recently requested Ken
Coughlin, a fellow
A P-IA
and longtime Swift owner,
to assist him with
the
delicate jacking and gear swing
ing procedures for Sargent's 1946 Globe Swift, which
is
equipped
with
the more common
Adel landing
gear. Both
men
agreed to share the highlights of
the
procedures they used,
along
with a few suggestions
and tips from their own experiences.
ar/ti 9
1
and T e r h n i q J J e ~
A set of short, low-wing jacks and a length of rope
are
the
basic tools required for jacking the Swift. In
this case,
Coughlin
used his own homemade jacks,
since typicallow-wing-style jacks are too tall to fit be
low
the
Swift's wing. Sargent used
the
rope to tie
the
tail securely to a
ground anchor
in
the hangar
floor,
thus
preventing
the nose-heavy Swift from tipping
over during
the
jacking process.
Working
together
on a level surface inside a closed
hangar,
where
wind gusts wouldn't pose a
hazard,
they
manually raised each wing just enough to po
sition
the jacks below the jack pOints. According
to
Coughlin, Jack
points are
behind
the
Swift
gear
and close to the center
of gravity
(CG), and
when
you
raise
the
gear off the ground, the balance of the
Both main landing gear are fully
extended
now and above
the floor
.
Close-up
view
of the
emergency landing
gear
pull-down
sys
tem,
which
is
located
between the pilot and
passenger
seats.
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Note the ample clearance between the
wing jacks and main landing gear as they
swing upward.
lose up view of the jack point resting on
the wing jacks as the main landing gear
are retracting.
Both
of these Swift owners
prefer jacking
the airplane
just
high enough for the
tires
to
clear
the ground.
Sargent elab
orates, I like
to have the
tires
about
an
inch
off
the
floor,
and I
make sure that
the strut
is
fully
extended
and
not hung
up
.
Sometimes that means
thumping
the
tire
a little bit,
since the weight
is
off
of
it,
just
to
make
sure the
strut is
fu lly extended
against its
in
terna
l stops.
1winging nd In.dpel ting
s
soon
as the
Swift was safely
perched
on its jacks, Sargent
carefully entered the
cockpit
and
turned the master
switch
on,
pushed
the gear safety
but
ton, and turned the handle to
the
up
position,
thereby ener
gizing
the
electrically
driven,
hydraulically
operated
main
gear, while
Coughlin remained
on
the
floor
and
watched
the
Swift
begin to
pick up its feet.
After one complete cycle of the
retraction/extension system
to
check for normal operation, an
other
cycle was started.
While the gear was still in its
partial
up-travel
position, Sar
gent turned the circuit breaker
off to stop its motion, providing
Coughlin the
opportunity
to try
to gently shake and
twist the gear,
thereby
checking the fore and
aft play of the gear
trunnion
and
struts.
gear will wear.
Satisfied
the
gear legs were in
good
operating condition,
Sar
gent re-energized the system
and allowed the gear
to cycle
all
the
way
up
before
turning
the
circuit breaker
off
again.
With
the system
deactivated,
he placed
the
gear
handle
in
the
down position, listening
care
fully to
what happened
next.
According
to
Coughlin,
Many times you will be able to
hear the
system relax. You
can
hear the fluid
begin
to
move,
but
the
gear will stay up.
Then
you can grab
the
tire
to see
if
you can pull it
out
of
the
wheel
well.
f the hydraulic
system is
still doing its job,
and the
bush
ings are not t worn,
the
gear
will stay up because
the
retract
arms are designed
to
go slightly
over center.
f you can
pull the
gear
down or out of
the
well,
then
you know you've got a
problem
. Due
to
bushing slop,
the
gear
may
not be traveling all
the way up
and
locking into its
over-center position.
While the gear remained in
the well, Coughlin also checked
to
see if all of the bushings
and
linkages were still
sufficiently
tight
enough to hold the gear
against the micro-switch to pre
vent the motor
from energiz
ing. I detected some looseness
in my SWift's Adel gear several
years ago,
he
recalls
. Even
though the gear stayed in the
well, it
would
move about 1/4
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clearances
and
security
of
the
gear
inside the
wheel well
Below: Coughlin keeps
watchful eye on
the
gear
leg
to
come
on,
indicating that
both
gear were down and locked. t this
point,
Coughlin
visually confirmed
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on the main
actuator assem
bly; 51-11-04 describes
how to
check for wear
on the trunnion
bushings, just before
the
wheel
enters the wheel
well on
the
upside
and
just before it locks
down
on
the
downside; and
the
third one, 58-10-03, says
to
check for failure of
the
internal
Adel
strut extension stop
ring
at every 100
hours
of opera
tion
by checking for clearance
at the external stop
mounted
on
the torque
knee.
Coughlin
says
he
checks
this clearance
by slipping
a piece
of
paper
between
the
torque
knee
stop
and
the
landing gear
strut.
f
the
internal
stop rings
have
failed,
then there's nothing
to hold the
gear in the
strut
except
the torque
knee stop,
and
it's
not
designed to be
that
strong
.
(Coughlin
also
notes
here
that
the LI
gear uses
no
internal
stop, and
the torque
knee stops
are
meant to
con
tact
the
gear struts.)
ntehgenry
GeOh
xt
en dion
You never know
just
when
you may need to rely upon
your
emergency gear exten
sion system,
so
it must
also
be
inspected.
To
accomplish
this, Sargent re-energized
the
sys
tem
and
raised
the
gear all
the
way
back up.
Then
he
turned the
cir
cuit breaker off
and
placed
the
gear
handle
in the down
position. Next
he removed
the
safety
pin
from
the
emergency pull-down crank, raised
Close-up
view the torque
knee
joint
and external
st
r
ut extension stop
which must
be checked
for proper
clearance as part of a recurring air-
worthiness directive.
gency pull-down cable can become
so
taut that
it can actually pull
the
cable pulley bracket off
the
spar web,
and the
only way to
fix
that
is
to
re-
move
the
wing
and the
fuel
tank-a
costly and preventable repair.
While Sargent
continued
crank
ing,
Coughlin observed
the
first
gear
leg
begin to
fall
out of the
wheel
well.
t dropped
freely
un
til it was 3/4 of
the
way down,
and
then
continued to the down
lock
position
via
the manual crank
ing. Sargent says, You'll feel extra
pressure
against that crank when
it gets ready
to
lock down, because
the locking mechanism
has
to
go
over center for each gear,
one
after
the
other.
Then,
if
the
emergency
system has worked properly, you'll
have a green gear-
down
indication
on the
panel after you
turn the
cir
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Rankin Whittington
noir
NC
_ 1972
SA 300
Starduster
Too
_ 1973 kyhawk
My partner, im George, and I like AUA for the
insurance on our 1972 SA-300 Starduster Too because
they understand our style
of
aviation and they give
us
quick, economical service.
Rankin
Whittington
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We're still on drilling, this
time
because I
had
questions on
how to
handle
windows
and
windshields.
Modern
acrylics are a
wonder.
Modern plastics
are a
great
im
provement over
the
acetate ma
terial
used
back
in
the
days
of
yore.
They
are not as
susceptible
to
crazing
,
the embrittlement of
the plastic as it's subjected
to
sun
light
and as
it ages. The new Plexi
glas is
not immune to
i t i t
just
seems
to
last longer
than
the older
stuff. There's even a MIL-Spec for
the
newer
I
craze-resistant" acrylic
plastic: MIL-P-8184. Acrylic plas
tic
has been
with us since WWIC
and
there's been lots of progress
on
plastics since
then.
These new
polycarbonates are
great,
but one word of warning:
They are very susceptible
to
petro
leum
erosion.
Whatever you
do,
don't
wipe
them
down
with
gaso
line.
You'd be
very
disappointed
in
the
results
To
begin, there are
a
whole
E.E. BUCK HIL ERT
Drilling
Deeper
to
protect the
plastic gets really
hard
to
remove
if
it's
been
ex
posed
to sunlight
for
even
a
little
while, and/or
long-term
storage in
an
area
that's warmer
than
room
temperat
u
re (for
instance,
the
shelf of
your
steel T-hangar) for
an
I'd suggest
taking a surplus
piece
of
material,
or preferably
an old window,
and practice
working on
the plastic.
preferably an old window, and
practice
working on the
plastic.
t
will
be
brittle
and
will
teach han
dling
care as
you
practice cutting
and drilling and learn by doing.
Forget the scroll
or
reciprocat
ing
handheld
saws. The work will
jump up and down, and it's im
possible
to do
a
decent
job
with
out cracking and chipping
. For
proper
cutting, the saw blade
should travel
in
one direction,
with
light
but
steady pressure
and
no forcing.
Once the final
sizing has
been
accomplished,
chamfer
or
bevel
all the sharp edges.
The best
way
to
do
this
is
to
use a fine-grit (150
grit
or
so)
sanding
block or sander,
and make
sure
you
get
all those
sharp edges, nicks, and sharp
places nice and
smooth. In
that
step,
you're doing your
best to be
sure the
edge
of the material has
no
small stress risers,
which could
precipitate a crack long after the
plastic has
been
installed.
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8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Apr 2006
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one side and then
flip
the
glass
over and
come
through from the
other
side. I have used a rotary file
or
burr with
good results. The
burr
is
also
great
for taking
the
sharp
edges off the drilled
hole, an
im
portant step in crack
prevention.
AC43-13B, Chapter 3,
shows
the
use
of the
Unibit drill
to poke
holes in plastic. If
that
works for
you, and
you
can keep the edges
clean
with
no chips, use it.
Consider here the expansion
and contraction of the acrylic
or
plastic. Plastics are
subject
to
ex
panding and contracting with
temperature changes,
and the
big
ger the piece, the more so.
How
much?
I
don t
know;
read the
documentation sent
along
by
your plastic supplier.
Give
your
self
some
room. The Aircraft
Spruce
catalog mentions
giving
1/16
inch
per foot of material for
expansion space. Don t
jam the
piece into the
frame.
Better
yet,
plan
on some
cushioning
material
between
the glass
and the
frame.
Again, the
cushioning
material
has
to
allow for
the
expansion.
When planning the mounting
holes
around
the perimeter
, also
figure expansion. Drill the holes
so you have slack, yet are able
to
accommodate those
number 6 8
or
10 screws. A bigger
diameter,
about
1/3 larger
than the
screw,
is
best in
this
case. Use a
rotary
file
or
burr
to
chamfer the
holes,
and
use a soft material
to cushion
the
frame forces against
the
glass.
Stop the
earch
Search for vint ge sheet metal parts
no
more. Check out
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WH LS
Craftsmen know.
13958 Roberto
Rd,
Bloomington, l 61704
phone: 1-800-828
-
2043
or
1-309
-
827-6878
email: [email protected]
www.engllshwheels.net
at
annual
inspection
time;
you d
be surprised
how
many times I've
found one missing
or
very
loose,
even
when a self-locking
nut
was
used on
the
backside.
In the v nt
there
isn t a frame
and
it's necessary
to
use screws
and
washers, a
countersunk
washer
is
preferable
to
a flat.
Just
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12
ISSUES
OF VINTAGE AIRCRAFT
-
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BY DOUG STEWART
CRM
Part
II
Last month I was talking about CRM. For
those
of I know that all
of
us who are
involved
with the
you with an affliction similar to mine, CRM stands for Vintage Airplane Association have a love affair
with
cockpit resource management ,
not
can't remember an earlier time in aviation, when things were so much
much." In the airlines it stands for crew resource
man
simpler
in
so many
respects.
However, we are also
agement. In
any
case it means using all the ava ilab le aware of the many incredible and rapid advances be
resources to aid
in
the
safe
and
efficient flight
of
the ing made
in
technology.
The
plethora
of
handheld
airplane. electronic
equipment
now avail
The other day, I heard a great able is mind-boggling. Virtually
ll
the
weather
example of this at work in the
all
of them
are great tools in
our
airlines as I was
flying in the
CRM bag; however, we
do
have
soup. The pilot of a 737 checked
information that
to be aware of their shortcom
in with the
fina l-approach
co