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03/10/2010 When you're young folks will tell you that if you build the better mousetrap, people will beat a path to your door. What they fail to mention is that building that better mousetrap will take 20 times longer (at least) than just buying the standard model, and you'll find 8 of the 10 ways that mousetraps cannot possibly work. Such is life, and I've relived this valuable lesson this week on my new engine plenum. Turns out, the factory way is the best way. Oh, and I decided that my factory windshield uphostery covers didn't fit well enough and decided to make custom fitted ones. I hated doing it, but it was one of those things that could be quicker completed than the angst of thinking about it.
03/07/2010 This weekend we're finishing up the last of the details before we start our condition inspection and new instrument panel tuning and setup. Since we've installed a new GRT Horizon HX to replace our BMA, we'll need to completely configuration, and our transponder/pitot-static needs to be recertified. As a happy stroke of luck, it seems we're getting an instrument shop at our airport. Of course once we're flying I plan to head north and give Carlos a ride and let him pimp out my panel. But all of that counts as "return to flight" activity, and it's none to soon. So here's our cockpit beauty covers, updated heating system, and the new engine plenum updates.
02/28/2010 So where did my winter go? We're about to start March, and I fully expected that we'd have the plane back together by now, if not already asked Dave to come up from big D to fly her. We're making nice steady progress, and I'm really happy about how things are coming out, it's just much slower than I had hoped. We're certainly not going to make Sun-n-Fun, which is a bummer. But, count your blessings, right? I'm still loving the new hangar, and the baggege tie-downs are all installed. Meanwhile, Bob is finishing the heating system , and the new airbox and engine plenum are coming along nicely. A couple of more weeks and we should turn the corner to start doing the annual and putting it back together.
02/21/2010 We're working a bunch interior details this weekend, including door pin covers, window upholstery covers, and baggege tie-downs. Also, Jerry and Bob worked on the heating system, covering up the nose NACA scoop and finalizing the heater blower installation. Now we just need to fix up the selector and connect to the overboard/to-cabin duct. As lame as it is, I didn't work on the plane at all during the week because of my day job. But, on the up side, we're getting a fair amount done this weekend.
02/13/2010 This week was brutal at the office, so no plane stuff really got done. We did get to the hangar today, though, and finished up (I think) the hangar improvements. We ran 2 additional electrical circuits through the hangar so we don't pop breakers as often, and when we do we can reset them instead of go looking for a lineman, and installed a couple of 30' retractable extension cord reels. I think these things are the bomb. We have them in our shops, but at the hangar we've always had to deal with cords on the floor all of the time, getting dirty and causing things not to want to roll. With these we can get the power where we need to, and then quickly put it away too. Also, I installed the hardpoints (with helicoils, Andy) for my window upholstery covers. Finally, note that I've added an icon to the sidebar of the website. It's the unofficial "Velocity Midwest" banner. We get a lot of guff for having too many Velocitys, or simply canards, in Cincinnati, so I thought I'd show off a little. The blue airplane icons are flying Velocitys, the push-pins are other canards, and the balloons are Velocitys in construction. Note that there are six flying Velocitys in what I would consider the "Cincinnati" area!
02/07/2010 Long week this week. The day job was really kicking my butt this week, and we got a pretty good snow storm, had a chapter meeting, and of course the Super Bowl. Needless to say, we didn't get as much done on the plane as I would've liked. We did get the last of our parts bins hung up, and I go the window covers done. We also had Bill Stockman stop by the new diggs for a visit, which was cool. He's got the Thunderbird SE pictured under our "Other Velocitys" section of the picture gallery. We also had a potential Velocity builder (Reiff Lorenz) stop by our EAA meeting on Sunday. Not a bad week, all and all, but it's killing me to get the plane back together.
01/31/2010 It's been nearly two full weeks now that we've been working on hangar improvements and not the airplane. I'm getting ansy to get back to the plane, not because the improvements are not a good idea, they'll all pay back big dividends, but I really wanted to get the plane back together in January. Clearly that didn't happen. So, I need to step it up a bit, and get things back on track. We should finalize the air compressor's electric tonight, and there are a couple of odds-n-ends that maybe I can get the guys to help with while I start getting back to plane tasks. But, check out the new hangar page for updates on the improvements we've done thus far (some sweet decorations, more electric, etc.).
01/24/2010 What a weekend. The weather was miserably rainy and cool, but we got all of the Fox into the new hangar, and got 10 light fixtures in both hangars over the weekend. We also got a new compressor delivered, a nice high-flow Kobalt unit, and some shelving. We also got the heater mounted in the office/shop, and I spent a ton of time trying to bring order to the chaos. Just moving would be bad enough, but my hangar was not well organized before, so I'm sorting everything and trying to put them into logical groupings. We've got at least a few more days of getting the shop in order before we'll really return to building in a serious way. It's slow but satisfying work.
01/21/2010 So, we've been really busy this week, but not building. We're fully in 'move to the new hangars' mode, and man do we have a bunch of stuff in that hangar. Bob and Jerry are going to use the hangar next to our new one, and will start finishing and painting his wings in the near future. Meanwhile, we're installing a ton of lights before moving the big heavy objects down, and will be ordering brushes for the doors, installing heat in the office, wiring up some switches, and lots of other homey touches over the next week or so. It'll set back my schedule a bit, but it's a great move for us over all. Not only will we be able to set up a full shop in the climate-controlled office where we don't have to worry about paint and epoxy getting too cold, but a small "pilot's lounge" with computer for AWOS information, etc. We'll also be able to keep the paint booth up for Bob while also being able to start getting our plane back together. This particular hangar/office has 240V service in it for the compressor, as well as about 6 separate 110V circuits in the office for power tools, hot box, mini fridge, whatever your heart desires. We'll put down a nice epoxy floor in the late spring when it warms up some.
01/18/2010 We did get the door receiver covers potted in today, but the custom window beauty covers weren't cured enough to pull out. However, we did put the landing light lens back on, and finalized the engine preheater installion to the oil sump. On another note, we will be moving the Fox to a new home, with an attached pilot's lounge, storeroom, and workshop! We're still working on getting the second hangar for Bob and Jerry, hopefully that'll work out too, but we'll be starting the move shortly.
01/17/2010 We're almost ready to pot the reciever covers in, and we should be able to pull the custom window beauty covers tomorrow. We also started working on beauty covers for the footwells, installing the Reiff engine preheat system, and we may be getting a new hangar!.
01/16/2010 We brought the fuselage back today and started working on installing the door reciever covers. Also, we started working on the window beauty covers so we'll be able to install our interior.
01/15/2010 We got the elevators and ailerons clear coated tonight. We'll cook them dry in the mornning and then bring the fuselage back to the hangar and start getting it ready for reassembly.
01/09/2010 It's still really cold, but we did spray clear on the wings today. One big step forward was the new heater from Home Depot which, instead of my old heater which can do only 40k Btu, can do 70-130k Btu. We'll try to get another couple of coats tomorrow, and then get them really warm to cure the clear out.
01/08/2010 So, it's been really cold and snowy here this week (and pretty much everywhere), and so progress has been pretty slow. We did spray the winglets with blue, though, so check that out. I hope to get clear on the wings this weekend, which should let us finish with paint next week. Then we can bring the fuselage back and start working towards flyable.
01/01/2010 Happy New Year everybody! The break has been pretty productive, though we haven't gotten quite as much painting done as I'd hoped (Jerry and Bob have been traveling over the holiday so managing the wings solo was tough). I hope to get the blue on the winglets tomorrow and then clear the whole wings on Sunday. In the meantime I did get the door covers fitted and installed, and made metal covers for the door pin recievers. I also cover a sheet of 3/8" divincyl for my "Savier" sized trailing edge fences and glass both my air cleaner box and a 5 1/4" to 3" transition plenum to connect it with. I'll be connecting my new side-divert runner to the air cleaner box, then on to one of Jim Ward's alternate-air intakes. If the air cleaner become clogged, wet, or frozen over the door on Jim's intake will open an by-pass the cleaner with Cowling air.
12/22/2009 I painted the main wings yesterday so they're all white, and I just heated them enough today to get them to cure out (and did some Christmas shopping). I'll probably get a little more work in tomorrow, and then be out for the holiday. We're now looking at maybe getting our interior and a check-up at the factory just before Sun-n-Fun in April, and then spending some time at the fly-in before bringing her home. That'd give us a bit more time to make sure everything is in order before making the flight down, and be a nice bene to get to do our first SNF with the airplane.
12/20/2009 Long day today. We got the canard moved to the big hangar and got started on the main wings. First we got them into the booth, and then sanded off the overspray and polish compound from buffing them preivously. Then we got the swoosh taped off, as well as the blue line on the inside of the winglet. Next we covered everything but the strake end so we could prime where we made the wings match the strakes. Finally we did prime this end, and I'll try to get the white on there tomorrow. Jerry's been doing most of the spraying, but he's traveling for the holiday, so I'm on my own for a few. Check out the pictures.
12/19/2009 We got the canard and the inside of the doors (beams) clear coated today. We'll move it to the big hangar tomorrow and get started on the main wings. Check out the pictures.
12/16/2009 The small bits got clear coated yesterday, as well as the pants (check out the pictures.). Today we pulled the canard into the booth and primed a couple of bad spots (we had a bit of oil under the doghouse that kept a spot from bonding, one "moving" nick, and the pilot-side elevator close-out didn't get painted well). We also put another coat of primer on the interior door beams. We'll try to get both of those sanded out tomorrow, and hit the canard spots with white and clear coat it and the doors on Saturday.
12/13/2009 We're working on the small bits, finishing the pants and wing bits (vortilons, bolt covers, elevator ice covers, and the cowl covers). We're also getting the insides of the doors ready. We put the hardware back in, and we're getting ready to spray primer on the door beams. We may cover them in leather later, depending on how we can work that around the seal, but right now we'll make it primer gray to match the interior and cover it in clear coat. We're also talking to Velocity about flying the plane down there in the spring to get an interior installed, so keep an eye out for that! Things are really starting to come together. We should finish up the small bits this week, and then I'm off for two weeks and hope to get the wings done during the holdiays so we can put it back together and do a condition inspection early in January. I'd love to get Dave back to do the "second" first flight and get Beth back up to speed, do our 5 hour of "major modification" testing, and get to Kalamazoo to see Andy and beg Carlos to check out our new GRT (and give everybody rides!). Then we could fly it to Florida for the interior (in February?). Also, I picked up an alternate air box for the engine, and will be installing a K&N air filter as well. Oh, and we're finishing the door covers, in preparation for the interior (and I need to get the window covers soon, too). Check out the pictures.
12/06/2009 Another major milestone, we've moved the fuselage out of the hangar. We will probably buff it some more and wax and polish her in the spring, but she looks really nice. Getting paint to look "perfect" is really hard, but getting it to look good just takes time really. I have to thank Jerry and Bob for putting up with the enormous hours of sanding, too, it makes all the difference. Next we'll finish the small bits, pants and vortilons, etc. and then on to finish the wings. Check out the pictures.
12/03/2009 So, I've decided that we're done spraying paint on the fuselage. So, unless we screw something up I plan to move the fuselage into storage space in the corporate hangar this weekend. Next stop is to paint the small odds-n-ends and interior door beams. It turns out that all most nobody covers those with upholstery, so I want to be ready just in case, especially since we're now talking about getting the interior done soon.
11/28/2009 We sanded and sprayed more clear today, and she is really looking nice. We may be ready to move the fuselage out of the hangar later this week so we can get to work on the finishing up the wings. I'm hoping to have the paint done by Christmas, then we can install the engine preheater, door seals, calibrate the new GRT instrument panel, and do our condition inspection in preparation for rebirth. Check out the pictures.
11/27/2009 Happy Thanksgiving everybody. We had everything ready to spray today, and we shot blue early and ran the heater for all it was worth. A little over 2 hours later we were ready to unmask and spray the clear. Check out the pictures.
11/25/2009 The touch-ups on the metallic didn't come out to our satisfaction, so we're going to repsray that tomorrow. We sanded the irregularities out of the white today and scuffed the blue, and retaped everything so we can spray blue. We'll spray the blue and let it get firm, then spray clear tomorrow. Check out the pictures.
11/24/2009 I was off today, and so I spent it cleaning up some runs and other minor blemishes that we had. Then we sprayed some touch-ups of both white and blue. We're hoping to to spray clear tomorrow. Check out the pictures.
11/23/2009 This, as my buddy Andy would say, is "one of those days". The kind of day where you just need to step back and drink it all in. One of those days that you can legitimately say that you're Living the Dream. We unmasked this evening, and my baby is a stunner! I loved her in her dirty, nasty 50-flight-hour-stained primer, but you'd have to be dead not to think she's a knock-out now. Sure, not everybody will love the design, but it's pretty well done for folk's that have never held a paint gun before. Much better than we had any right to expect. There'll be more work to be done tomorrow, but today I'm just a proud pappa. Check out the pictures.
11/22/2009 Sprayed white today. We started to unmask, but it was too wet, so we'll do it tomorrow. Check out the pictures.
11/21/2009 We masked the blue off on Thursday and today we sanded the overspray off and scuffed up the blue where we're going back with white. We should be ready to spray the white tomorrow. Also, we scuffed half of the lower cowling blue coat and sprayed clear coat over it to see if it would buff up properly. The metallic is kind of a pain, so we really working to keep it looking sharp when we're all done. Check out the pictures.
11/18/2009 Wow, is it a pain in the butt trying to get the copilot masking to be the same as the pilot side with these complex shapes. Hear me now, none of you had better ever say they don't look the same. We spent all last evening just getting from the nose to the door right. Maybe we'll get to the cowling line tonight? The copilot windows shouldn't be that bad. Check out the pictures.
11/17/2009 Some more pictures of the blue coat are posted. We started taping off of the first coat of white, even though we have a little bit of blue touch-up to do. Also, we'll probably go ahead and spray clear coat when we're done so we can buff it all out (apparently that's not a good idea on the metallic base). Check out the pictures.
11/12/2009 More first blue coat today. We hope to sand all of the blue on Saturday and repaint everything on Sunday. Check out the pictures.
11/11/2009 Happy Vetrans Day. By popular deman, more pictures of the blue paint have been added, as well as a YouTube video. Check out the pictures and video or the higher quality video here.
11/10/2009 We finally sprayed blue tonight, and she looks awesome. You should really check it out. Check out the pictures.
11/01/2009 Another minimally-productive weekend, with Halloween obligations and an EAA chapter meeting. We did prime some of the fuselage "bits", but that's about it. Check out the pictures.
10/26/2009 Well, I was hoping we could announce some color coating over the weekend, but we didn't get to it. We did finish sanding out the windows, crackle-coated the strake pockets, and chromed the landing light recess. Check out the pictures.
10/22/2009 Sweet work coming out of Air Graphics as we finalize our paint scheme with them. Here's our latest side view, which I think is pretty close to finally. Pretty sweet, eh?
10/21/2009 Wow, it's been too long since an update. Things are moving forward, but I've been really busy and just haven't been doing it. So we've sanded out the first coat of primer, and sprayed the second coat, and are sanding it now. Also of note, we've added some additional lighting to the paint booth as we're getting really close to spraying the color coats. Beth is working with Air Graphics, but hopefully we'll get the design buttoned down this week so it doesn't hold us up. Check out the pictures.
10/10/2009 We're finally slinging paint again. We finished up with the NACA runners to the point that we can paint, so we finshed up masking her off and sprayed primer today. With the torpedo gas heater we're able to hold the temperature in the booth in the high seventies pretty easily. Check out the pictures.
10/03/2009 So, I'm back, and we're finalizing the plenum runner mods so we can paint. We've moved both the engine air intake and the rear oil cooler intakes from the bottom to the sides, and have made slanted pick-ups that should improve the airflow. In other news, we did make it to Rough River this year, and renew many great friendships. The only Velocity making it in this year was Larry Parham, from Oklahoma, but his is very nice, so that's OK. However, I really want to see more of "us" get to RR every year, so let's make it happen fellas. Also, that's not totally true, Bill Mulrooney did make it in very late Saturday evening, but he ended up having to land at Elizabethtown and didn't bring the plane over to 2I3 until most everybody had already headed home. We were also bummed that the Millins weren't able to make it down, but we've made reservations for the next few years, so we'll make it happen. See everybody next year.
09/23/2009 Just had my big 40th birthday smash yesterday, and we're confirmed in a cabin for the Rough River Canard Flyin this weekend with some of our Velocity friends... Life is good! Rough River
09/18/2009 Man, where does the time go? A week of vacation, a company trip to Kings Island tomorrow, an EAA Meeting, Rough River in a couple of weeks, and a trip to Utah. We're not going to get much done this month, that much is clear. However, I'm hopeful that we will get the fuselage primed and sanded. More interesting will be how we get the wings, pants, cowling, and other odds and ends done, there's not a bunch of extra room, so the fuselage will have to go somewhere else for a bit. All of this has to be done before the cold weather starts to set in in earnst, so we really have to get after it. So, in the last couple of weeks all we've really gotten done is to erect the paintbooth and widen it. At the house it was 20'x10', and that worked out great for the space and the wing sizes, and was super easy to get bits at the Depot. The strakes are pretty wide, though, so we widened the booth to 14' so the walls don't touch. defogger
09/01/2009 We've managed to mount the defogger in the nose, but haven't wired it yet. We also refilled the brake lines (after pulling a vacuum on it for a few days to degas the fluid). Also removed the old wheel, moved the tube and tire, shortened the wheel spacers (thanks Jerry) and reinstalled it with the new Nylon nut (thanks Andy). And we spent several days trying to clean the belly up, as it was oil covered (and continued to weep oil for some time). We tried a bunch of different solvents (like AM900 from R M) that worked pretty well, and sucked on the weeping pinholes with a shop vac, lather, rinse, repeat. Finally we epoxied over the bottom, and the scrached that coat and iced it. We think it's all good. Oh, and we put the paint booth up, so we'll start painting when I get back from Labor Day vacation in Jersey. We probably won't do much more this week.
08/23/2009 We had a cool weekend here in Cincinnati for a change. We got the wings back off and installed brushes on the hangar door to keep the junk, snow and rain water, and birds out. The hangar is starting to be pretty liveable, I still want to add some of those snap-together flooring squares and some more light, but it's getting there. We would've put up the paint booth, but I'm still fighting a little bit of an oily nose, so we're cleaning it and slapping some icing over it. Once the icing sticks reliably, I'll be confident that we're ready to paint it. Finally, I got my Carling Contura II switches in, and figured out how to wire them up to get the lights and functions the way I want. Basically I've got the new electric heater (2) and defogger that need to have 2 position switches (off-fan-heat for the defogger, and off-low-high for the heaters). My buddy Andy is using these switches, but I mainly got them because they were the first on-off-off switches that digikey had that were rated for 20 amps.
08/20/2009 Hey guys, a little change of pace today. I've been following Erik Beck for awhile now (he does Indy Mogul, and has given me lots of great video tips), and he's trying to make his first feature film. It's going to be a documentary about he and his dad riding cross-country on motorcycles (Harleys). Do me a favor and consider donating a few bucks to the cause. Those of us in the homebuilding community know what it's like to have a passion for something that not everybody can relate to, right? Eriks a good guy, and I wish I'd done something really epic like this with my dad before he passed. So, if you've got a $20 (or more) that you can do without this week/month, help make a difference, and get to watch a quality documentary for your trouble . You'll feel good about it all week.
08/19/2009 I spent all night last night getting the defogger transition piece formed out of foam, but I also posted the picture of the nose wheel pant thimbles.
08/18/2009 Autopilot is installed (just the head unit). Also, the nose gear pant is coming along nicely, we've started the cold air sealing process, and more cowling fit-and-finish work.
08/16/2009 No new pictures today, we had our EAA Chapter Picnic today. I did want to mention that I got a good flight in Chuck Less' beautiful fixed gear SE, N709WT. It is amazingly inspiring to get back to work when you get to go for a rde like Chuck was kind enough to offer. I flew from the right seat for about 40 minutes, and it was just awesome. Now to get us back in the air!
08/14/2009 It's Christmas in August! Yes, our Oshkosh purchases began arriving en masse today. As we're working on nearly as many Velocitys as the factory, Ken has taken to sending our shipments to "Velocity North". Thanks for the shout-out, Ken. I ordered a new (full) set of wing bolts, though there's nearly no chance they needed to be changed, it clears the mind wonderfully. Also, we got the cast AL toe pedals and the "new" XL nose wheel. The new wheel looks faster, but I mainly bought it because it's supposed to be easier to balance. The Reiff engine preheat system also arrived this week, which will be nice as fall sets in. The new pedals are installed, as are the SS flex lines to the brakes to replace the nylaflow, and the brake fluid resevoir has been moved to just below the nose cover for easy access. And Jerry machined us some new, ultra swank main gear pant standoffs. Way overkill here, but they fit very nicely, are shiny with no rough edges, and have multiple cotter pin holes for easy insertion. Nice.
08/12/2009 No new pictures today, but I did get the new sump fuel level (optical) sensor installed. I also changed out all of the lines that connect to my sump for hoses to facilitate getting it in and out easier. I also finished sanding back the paint on the wings, and made the first gross pass of adding filler to match them to the strakes. I hope to have the wings and strakes matched up by the end of the weekend.
08/11/2009 We're sanding the wings. Yes, I buckled, and we'll sand back a few inches so we can make the wing-to-strake junctions look nice. It'll look a lot better, but it will cost us some more time. At least the main gear pants are nearly done, what a chore. Check it out.
08/08/2009 Well, we put the wings back on today! Yes, the (main) wheel pants are nearly done, so we need to finalize the wing-to-fuselage fit for final paint. This is complicated by the fact that the wings already have paint on them. Clearly this is not the way to do this work, but it's what we have. The final fit is going to be a compromise from a variety of angles, unfortunately, but I knew that going in. This coat was meant to be just a protective one, and I need to remind myself of that from time to time. Anyway, check it out.
08/06/2009 We're fully back in building mode, though not skating at full strength. The 'doghouse' is now fit and finished with the canard. I've also installed an avionics fan to cool my Light Speed ignitions, and sent one back to Klaus to get a cooling port added, amongst other upgrades. I'm also about 90% convinced to ditch my nose-mounted oil coolers. After talking with folks like Klaus and Chris Essylstyn at Oshkosh, and reviewing the original N97XL (Bubba) notes, I'm convinced that I can heat my airplane if I seal it well, and get a lighter, less draggy airplane in the process, and lower the probability of oil pump failure down the road and still cool the engine. To that end, I've picked up an electric heater and neoprene. There are also a couple of changes I want to make to my brake system. First, I'm going to make the line from my gear leg to my brakes stainless steel braid, then I'm going to have my toe brakes come togehter in a tee and a bulkhead fitting, and 1 simple line through the canard bulkhead. That will simplify my plumbing and reduce chances of air bubbles, and then we'll mount the brake resevoir under the nose hatch so it's easy to fill.
08/05/2009 Pogo my Drobo! It doesn't have anything *specifically* to do with airplanes, but n44vf.com has moved into the new century with a couple of pieces of tech gear. First, I've had a series of external hard drives (Maxtor One Touch, Seagate FreeAgent, and Western Digial My Books) for storing and backing up my websites, and they have all had their share of issues. My new Drobo (Data Robot) can handle up to 4 sata drives (all scavenged from these various units) and will automatically create a fully redundant RAID array. Should any drive fail, it will automatically reallocate the data so it is once again fully redundant (and change the failed drive's light from green to red). I'm officially out of the backup business! Now, add to that my PogoPlug, which plugs my Drobo's USB into my network, and my Drobo drive is available anywhere I have an internet connection! I can use a web interface, or with a small software download, it appears like a locally-connected drive. How cool is that? No longer will I have website files on my work laptop, home laptop, and office desktop computers! Highly recommended.
08/01/2009 Oshkosh 2009 is now over for us, and the inevitable sadness of leaving is all that remains. But we had an awesome time, and quite possibly the best Oshkosh ever. The weather was gorgeous with high seventies most of the week, and crisp sleeping temperatures in the upper 50's and lower sixties. Between the weather and the new Kohler air-conditioned toilets, I didn't use a single 90 degree steaming port-a-potty! We hosted the Cozy Girrrls "Canard san gria and pasta dinner", and helped Andy and Theresa Millin with the Velocity BBQ. We spent quality time with our best Velocity buddies (the Millins, the Brainards, Brooke Wolf and his son Noah, the Spanos, Dave Nelson, Dave Bertram, Bob Buls and family, the Kulfalks, John Tvedte, Mark Riley, etc.) and with most of the big names in the Canard world (Klaus Savier, Terry Schubert, Gary Hertzler, Mark Beduhn, Marc Zeitlin, Carlos Fernandez, and the Cozy Girrrls). We bought hardware (Trio Pro autopilot, Reiff engine preheater system, aircraft door seals) and shared our story. We became almost famous when the HamTestOnline guys asked us to share our off-field landing story (and APRS and getting my HAM license through them) in their booth. And we enjoyed late nights of hangar flying by the fire pit with our EAA Chapter 974. We planned for a Velocity mass-arrival at CSA Rough River Fly-in in September. In short, a great time was had by all. See you all next year! Pictures of Velocity BBQ and planes.
07/22/2009 Last update before Oshkosh (we're heading out Friday evening for early Saturday setup)! We're looking forward to catching up with all of our EAA friends, and especially the canardians. I hope that everyone can make the Velocity BBQ on Wednesday and our Early Bird pasta feast on Tuesday!
So, we've made a lot of progress on the pants, and I think the doors strakes and windows are basically ready for paint. The underside needs a bit of attention, and I need to do a little bit more oil mitigation on the interior and finalize installing the new sump level (optical) switch. I'm really ready to start paining this bad boy and getting on with life. We'll have some EFIS setup and testing to do before she can fly after that, as well as a fresh annual and test flight by Dave. We're still very much hoping to fly into Rough River (again) this year.
07/15/2009 You'll probably be seeing more posts here in the next week as we frantically try to finish work items before Oshkosh. Last night I finished installing the OAT probe for the GRT EIS, so the only work left there is to connect the "pull-up" resistors, program the screens and the EIS, and mount and provision the weather unit. OAT Probe. Additionally, Bob is still fiddling with my new, larger oil door in the cowling and Jerry finished the copilot pant NACA. Tonight we'll try to get the doors cut into the wheelpants for checking and adding tire pressure, and maybe even mount the hinges and latches (they're due in today). I also got the old fuel level switch out of the sump tank, but somehow the new optical one is not the same size, so I need to find an adapter. That float was nothing but trouble, at high angle of attack and high power it would flicker, which gave me the creeps, and when Beth was doing her 14,000'+ alititude test it just came on solidly and spooked her. Instruments are not useful if they're not reliable. I've also been looking back a bit at how far we've come since July of 2001.
07/13/2009 So, Blue Mountain is officially out of business. I hate to see them go, but the writing was on the wall. But, I'm firmly on the GRT path. This weekend we had a EAA meeting, so that sort of boogered up working on the plane, but we did get a a fair amount done. Bob has the new, larger oil door on the cowling almost done, the pilot wheel pant is almost ready to go, and I finished wiring up the GRT and powered it for the first time. All that's left is the OAT probe, and to start doing the configuration. Panel. Also, Elizabeth went up and got a BFR yesterday, and even though she's not flown much since our incident, her flying was still within IFR standards. Also, Beth used my aircraft-headset-to-3 1/8" mic plug for the first time to record this flight, which worked oK until the engine started, then went to crap. I hope that is just the electric system on the Warrior, hopefully ours will sound better.
07/09/2009 We now own the domain "44victorfox.com" as well as 44vf.com and velocityxl.com! Try It!.
07/06/2009 Today we sanded the filler from the long weekend and began a series of layups on the wheelpants. First up was the 3 BID 1"x1" pads where the axle bolt comes through. Then we cut a vent above the brake caliper, as well as the cooling inlet NACA (inside, ahead of the brake), then 2 (extra fine) BID the sides of it. Next we'll afix the leg cuff to the pant with a vertical split line just like the pant halves. This differs from the factory instructions, but I've always thought it must be awkward to mount the pants under the cuffs, and they always seem to rub the paint off of the pants. I plan to wrap my gearleg with rubber so it doesn't get scratched, and let the cuff mount with the pant. Wheel Pants.
07/05/2009 Long weekend over, and a good deal of work completed. So, what did we get done? Well, the fit and finish on the doors is 98% done, as well as the strakes, and they're looking pretty sweet if I do say my self! I've removed the speed brake and started filling the weave on the underside of the fuselage and the top of the brake for paint, the nose oil cooler discharge that I removed early on is being rebuilt (apparently that's important for proper flow...), and the wheel pants are being finalized. Still some cowling work to be done, and we're about 1/2 through the new EFIS installation. My old electrical plan had the back-up flight system on a separate (non-switched) breaker, and that doesn't really make sense with the new arrangement (since it's a dual AHRS, 3-screen GRT system). Firstly, they all want to be switched, and secondly it doesn't make a lot of sense to only power 1 AHRS and screen from the "backup" breaker, and if you did, which screen to power? Also, the GRT has diode-isolated support for multiple incoming power feeds. Look for a new "backup-EFIS" switch on the panel above the ELT switch to power the entire EFIS suite (and my RAIM GPS shipped today!). Panel and filler.
06/30/2009 I'll be picking up our color paint today. It's Nason Metallic Blue. Check out the scheme, etc. here.
06/28/2009 Work continues in earnst, even in the heat. This weekend was a scorcher, but we got the new AHRS and hub mounted, and got a lot of the fit and finish work around the doors finished, and started finish work on the strakes.
06/22/2009 Lots of work over the hot first weekend of summer. Happy father's day to the poppas out there. We finished sanding the bulk of the fuselage, doors, and cowlings (just odds and ends like the pockets inside the doors left). We rinsed the fuselage nose and conduits with alcohol to continue removing residual oil. We also installed some bird-deterring spikes in the hangar, as we continue to have issues with nesting above the door. I ordered from Nixalite, and we'll see how it does. We also bonded the aluminum backer onto the panel and prepped the openings Panel and some odds and ends like bonding down the rudder conduit. I'd bonded it down in a few places with fine BID, but that proved to be insufficient.
06/13/2009 Well we're happily sanding away, and have everything from the strake tops up stripped. Tomorrow we'll lean her back and start stripping the bottom of the fuselage. We also patched the delaminations next to the copilot door today, a pretty minor repair, but something that needed to be done. Man, there's a lot of area to get sanded, and some of it (the insides of the small nose NACA ducts) is really unpleasant. But, hopefully we'll get to fill scratches and pinholes this week, and maybe fix up the door and nose cover fit. We'll eventually want to mount the wings to get the fit to them better as well, but I prefer not to think about that right now. Oh, and my spruce gauges finally showed up, and my new Fast Stack hub is in transit! Fuselage.
06/07/2009 The boys (Jerry Brainard and Bob Buls) wet sanded and buffed the pilot wing while I was out of state, and we moved it to the airport this weekend. Since we've got Bob's wings in my hangar as well, it's a bit of a tight squeeze, but we found room for everything. Thanks to Carlos, my GRT Horizon system arrived on Friday as well, so we spent some timing getting it all fitted up in the AL backer plate, and are ready to mount the backer as soon as the ASI and altimeter arrive from Spruce. We also broke the paint booth down and moved it to the hangar, though we won't set it up until we have the fuseage ready to paint. It will take us a few more days to get the compressor and everything else moved from the house out to the hangar. Also, since it's really not related, I've moved the painting pictures to a separate, non-incident-based page. Panel .
06/01/2009 I'm getting ready for a trip to Utah on business, but I wanted to get these pictures up of the stripped doors. I'll probably wait to paint these and the doghouse until we strip the fuselage, because they need a bit of work to really match properly. Doors.
05/31/2009 May's gone, and so is wing painting. I'm going out of town this week on business (first trip to Utah), but the boys promise to sand the pilot side wing in my absense. That's the sign of a real friend, there, folks. This weekend we reprimed, sanded, and painted the pilot side wing. We also patched the panel opening where the Blue Mountain lived, making way for the new goodies. Up next, install the GRT Horizon HX (shipping this week!) and preparing the fuselage for paint. Pilot and Panel
05/25/2009 Memorial Day weekend. Three day weekends are awesome ways to get caught up on airplane work. We hit the pilot wing with primer, then I started taping off and sanding doors (getting the pilot side door ready to go) and the dog house and prop spinner. While I was at the hangar taking the prop off (to get the spinner), I finished up removing the old BMA EFIS/One (Gen 3) wiring, and running the new wire for the GRT engine monitor. Now I just need my buddy Carlos to ship me my new Horizon HX dual AHRS dual screen EFIS (are you listening, Thunder Chicken)? After curing, we started wet sanding the pilot wing, and it's going to need a bit more icing and sanding, and repriming sadly. But, good progress has been made. Pilot
05/17/2009 Well, we've wet sanded and buffed both the copilot wing and canard, and they look sharp. They are way better than I thought we could do on our own, even though there are still some blemishes here and there, I'm quite pleased. Copilot So today I borrowed my mother-in-law's car (with trailer hitch-thanks!) and we took them back to the airport, and brought the pilot wing home to start it. I've also got the doors and doghouse home to work on them, and I sent our buddy Carlos at Grand Rapids a fat check to hook us up with a dual AHRS dual screen HX system to replace our Blue Mountain. Big week eh? Our BMA Generation 3 EFIS/One never quite lived up to expectations (weather, etc.), and now they're unrepairable relics. In fact, our Velocity buddy Bill has a BMA unit down, and was interested in ours, so we worked a deal. Looks for new panel pictures soon.
05/06/2009 So, we sanded, filled, and re-primed the canard. That took a couple of days, but tonight we sprayed color finally. We'll see when it cures out, but it seems we're starting to get the hang of this. We hit it with a light tack coat, and then 1 full color coat, 1 final heavy coat, and then a light coating with double reducer to flow it out and shine it up. It looks good, really good in fact, with the exception of 1 run. Look for post-cure pictures. Canard
04/26/2009 We finally primed the canard today. I was really hoping to get out to the hangar and finish up the EIS wiring since it was sooo gorgeous out today, but we ended up doing some fill-and-sand work with the "Icing" body filler, and just ran out of time. It looks pretty good to me. We're going to sand this coat out, fill some pinholes with more Icing, and reprime it. We also need to spray the elevators this week, so hopefully we're ready for color coats next weekend. Then we'll deicde if we're reworking the topcoat on the copilot wing or not. I'm leaning towards not, but if the canard is a stunner, then maybe. Either way, I'm hoping by next week we're working on the pilot side wing. Then it's fuselage and reassemble time. Canard
04/19/2009 So, the co-pilot side (damaged) wing has been polished, buffed, and covered in plastic. It's done, ready to get the N number and go on. She looks good. Really good, in fact, and better than I really thought we'd get on our own. It's not perfect, though, and we'll get a professional paint job some day. But she looks 1000% better than she did in 'opening day' primer last year, and will not be an embarrassment on any ramp (hell, I was proud of her in her dirty, nasty 40-flight-hour primer last year). This weekend we also worked at the hangar (pretty spring day here Saturday) and finished the GRT engine wiring on the firewall side. We've got a bit more work to do on the cockpit side, but not much. We also removed the bit of delamination around the copilot door (very minor), and started the finishing work on the canard.
04/06/2009 We sprayed white on the (repaired) copilot wing today, "officially" completing the wing repairs. A bit of touch up and we're on to the canard. Painting.
04/04/2009 Those of you that have been keeping score know that today is Beth and I's 1 year anniversary. It also happens that I'm taking my spring break this week, so we hope to make some good progress on the painting and basement this week. Today, before shutting it down for our 'date', we sprayed the first color on the aileron. It seems to have come out pretty well, somewhere between 'not perfect' and 'more than respectable'. It will certainly do, and I think will buff up pretty well. No more ramp envy for us. I also got my "headset to video camera audio adapter cable" finally, so this year we'll be able to record our in-flight audio during our travels. Pretty sweet. Check out the new pictures, and look for more this week. Painting.
03/09/2009 It's time for your monthly update. I have to apologize for the regular reader of this blog, as I've been most remiss in my updates of late. I have been crushed with to-do items between the new job, the airplane, and our basement finishing project, and although all fronts continue to make acceptable progress, the website has suffered as a result. So, what's new? Well, we've finally got a functioning paint booth up and running at the house. We were going to paint at Jerry's, but it was just a bit too cramped for the 10'x20'x9'6" booth that we'd envisioned. In fact, getting it in my garage, and getting the heat back up and running was a bit of a challenge. But paint we will, and are, we got the copilot aileron and upper wing surface primed this weekend, and will sand it out over the next couple of days. We might even prime the bottom skin before the weekend. In any event, we should have topcoat on it by the weekend and we've already moved the canard to the house so we can start stripping the old primer off of it as time permits. Check out the progress here. Oh, and if you want to check out the basement you can do that too, over at FerrellMedia.com
02/07/2009 It's about time for an update. My new job is causing me to work more than I would like, and spend somewhat less time working on the plane than is typical, but we have been working away the whole time. We've just finished up the fill-and-finish work on the damaged copilot wing area, and are cleaning up the aileron pocket and bolt hole recess. We should be spraying primer on it soon, and, as it's been warm this weekend, we're doing work at the hangar as well. Today we put in the new oil hoses to replace the kit tubing which failed. I'm really happy with how this turned out. We're looking forward to priming the wing and swapping it out with the pilot side and getting it fixed up (and hopefully the canard too) before spring hits. Then we can focus on some finishing work on the fuselage and prime it, then paint everything. I bought the factory-recommended Nason grey primer and snow white top coat, so she should be looking sweet when we next take to the skies. Check out the progress here.
01/11/2009 Ah, our first update of the new year. Well, we're still making steady progress, but I was really lazy over the holidays (we got a Wii, and I really took a stress relief break). See, I'm taking a new role at work, returning to engineering from my 9 year IT hiatus, and the decision to change back took a toll on me. But, enough of that, we are making progress, doing final finishing work on the wingtip, fairing the wing repair, and getting the rudder cable delamination laid up. Jerry has pretty much talked me into finishing the whole wing and removing and reapplying primer and some actual paint. The primer took a real beating last year, and he's right, it ought to be covered. The factory recommended Dupont primer and paint (Nason urethane primer and topcoat, select primer 421-17 color buff and ful-thane 2k snow white top coat), and that's likely what we will use. Check out the progress here.
12/02/2008 OK, so we're not making progress as fast as I would've guessed, mainly because of parts. Just before Thanksgiving we got the last bits in, two leading edge wing cores and the strobe bump-out molded replacement piece. We spent the holiday with friends and family, and took a couple days at French Lick, Indiana. There's an old resort there with a gorgeous domed hall (the largest up till the building of the Astrodome, and only masonry-based construction), casino, and many other attractions. We went horseback riding and visited the Finkelstein's (see incident in Otisco) while we were in the area, and they fed us a great meal! But, now we're back at it, and the wing repair is coming along nicely. The wing cores have been fitted, and the bump-out is nearly ready to be bonded onto the winglet. We might have the wing structure repaired by the end of the weekend, and just have some filling and sanding left there, and then need to hook up the new engine monitor and oil hoses on a sort-of warmish day. Check out the repairs-page.
11/09/2008 The road to recovery has begun in earnest. I'm still splitting time between Victor Fox and the basement, but I have decided to go with the GRT EIS engine pod. That will keep me from having to run all of the engine instrument wires back up the electrical conduit after pulling the oil lines outs. To that end, I have pulled all of those instruments out of the Blue Mountain EFIS/1, and pulled the wire back to the cowling, and pulled the hard-tubed (3003) aluminum oil lines out as well, and cleaned up the oil in the nose and cabin. The panel and all of the seats are out, so we're in a good position to make our repairs. I have 2 new oil lines on order, made from SS braided hose, and I've decided not to put any valves in up front. It just ended up being too complicated, so both nose oil coolers will always be in the loop. If the oil gets too cold in the winter, I'll just block the inlet air from the fresh air cooler, and if the nose is too hot in the summer, I'll ventilate the nose. Also, Jerry and Bob kindly helped me get the damaged copilot wing to Jerry's shop, and all of the delaminated skin and damaged foam has been removed back to the spar, and Velocity is making a custom forward wing foam block to replace it with (they wanted it to be one chunk of foam - thanks guys!). So most of the thinking and decision-making is done, and now I'm mostly waiting for the parts. Check out the repairs-page.
10/06/2008 One thing I think I'm going to get to before I repair Victor Fox, since winter is closing in on us is our basement drywall. I'd planned to do it now before the incident, anyway, as I've been putting it off all summer trying to keep the plane flying. I'm a little concerned that the cabinets we've bought for down there will suffer if they're still in the garage when we hit freezing weather. I expect that will take about 2 weeks. In the meantime, I have been playing with Google Maps and Google Earth for our APRS tracking system (now that I've coded my website to pull tracking data from the Internet and store it in a mySQL table). Check out my new aprs.velocityxl.com subsite for the latest track. Here's a shot of what's possible with Google Earth, though I haven't quite figured out how to do this with the web browser plug-in yet (though you can select "Earth" view on the map at aprs.velocityxl.com.
10/02/2008 Some folks will tell you that Andy Millin is a good guy. Not me. Andy is the best. Andy, his lovely bride Theresa, and "the girls" stopped by on they're way to Tennessee for a weekend get away to check up on us and share well-wishes up close and personal. And he brought some foam for me to get cracking on that wing repair to boot. What a guy! Check out his website, it's one of the best.
09/30/2008 Thanks to Roger Cummins at Three Feathers Aviation, Victor Fox is back home at Lebanon, and we can begin the process of putting back to rights.
09/27/2008 The Accident Flight. Well, we did launch for Rough River as expected, but we never made it. You'll want to check out our page dedicated to our emergency off-airport landing in Otisco, Indiana. I think it's a pretty good read, and it has some interesting pictures. Also, it was the first day the APRS tracking unit was operational, so we can show you this picture. The last return was where the tracking system lost contact with us. Otisco is where we stopped, right off of Highway 3.
09/24/2008 Wow, is September ever a busy month around the Ferrell home. First update, I did take my Ham exam, though delayed due to the wind storms that ravaged the Buckeye state, and my call sign is KD8JJO! should have my call sign later this week. We've also celebrated both of our birthdays, but that slowed getting the plane back in the air. Elizabeth did fly last night, and will hopefully get some extended time tonight as well, so we're on schedule to fly to Rough River on Friday night. In other news, Beth started school today, and is working on getting a Master's in Education, and a teaching certificate, and I'm proud and excited for her. It was a tough choice, but I think she'll have a long, happy career teaching.
09/16/2008 What a difference a few days makes. We were clipping away at the punchlist, nearly ready to fly again, and then we were visited by Ike. Former Hurricane/Tropical Storm Ike caught a ride on a strong frontal system and strengthened to just below TS levels as it passed Cincinnati, and we had gusts up to nearly 60 mph. Cincinnati isn't built for strong winds because, well, we just don't get them. Needless to say, we shut down work at the airport early on Sunday and now over half of the city is without power (including both of my work locations), and we're hosting friends at the homestead. There is a line from "Liar, Liar", that I will never hear with the same jocularity - "Hit me again, Ike, and put some stank on it!". Luckily we personally were spared major damage, and still have all of our services, but not everyone even in my neighborhood was so lucky. Here's a little flavor for what we're dealing with.
09/12/2008 We've finished up the majority of fixes and adjustments that I wanted to get in this down period, and I'm anxious to get Beth back in the air to keep her currency up. However, in a real lapse of memory, we're over due for for annual condition inspection, so we have to do that as well. Oh, and this weekend features "P&G Day" at Kings Island, so there's a whole day down. But, we did get Andy's alternate air door mechanism tested, and I've got my APRS transmitter ready to go into the plane, so if I pass my test next week, we'll have a neat new feature soon! For those interested, this version isn't available any more, but the new Micro-Trak 8000 FA (8 watt Frequency Agile) version is. I still need to figure out where to mount it, with it's dang 17" antenna.
09/08/2008 Well, it's been a week without an update, and that would leave you with the impression that we hadn't done anything. However, that's only mostly true. While on vacation last week (man I don't want to drive that ever again) I did study for my amateur radio exam. I plan to take the test next Wednesday night, and I did the required soldering work yesterday while watching football and recovering from the drive home. If I pass, look for tracking data on N44VF to show up here shortly thereafter. For those interested, I found HamTestOnline pretty useful.
08/28/2008 Regular readers here are probably starting to Jones for a fix, so here you go. We're pretty close to finishing up our post-40-hour fixes (pitch trim has been adjusted, the pitch servo and autopilot controller are reinstalled, the doorseals are in but not tested, the air/oil separator is 80% installed, the rudders need readjusting, and the alternate air door needs to be tested). But, we need to packup and get ready to leave Saturday for our Labor Day retreat to the Garden State. I really wanted to fly this one. It would probably work out fine. But flying 435 nautical miles from I68 to KWWD without checking the systems thoroughly is a fool's errand, especially in light of recent events. So, we'll occupy ourselves, probably with a visit to the great white north, and then our Debutante's Ball will be Rough River.
08/22/2008 "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times". I wanted to start this entry with a simple WE DID IT. And we did do it too, or rather she did it. Elizabeth flew the remaining 2+ hours in poor conditions this afternoon (low haze and approaching weather), and I have made the appropriate entry in the aircraft log. She is legal, she can fly anywhere she wants now, with non-participants on board, so to speak. But that is tempered by another tragic loss in the community, as another Velocity is down, this time it's N415MK, with 3 souls lost. It's been a tough year for our community. First Uli was seriously hurt and 3 were killed in March, then Steve Goldman passed away and 2 were lost in an accident in N269VE at St. Augustine in July, Jack's eRacer burnt up in June, and now this. So, as happy as we are, it is metered. More so now that the media are reporting that apparently the owner was not aboard N415MK, that it had only 5 hours, and a 40 year veteran was at the helm. I'm worried that perhaps our friend and mentor Dave Bertram might have been test flying this aircraft. I pray not, though it seems wicked to wish the ill fall upon someone else, but I do with all my heart.
Update: We are hearing now that the pilot was Mack Murphree, a pillar of our community, a 40 year pilot and A&P who's done many first flight for folks, and had a ton of hours in the Velocity. We're shocked and sadden by the news, which is a painful reminder that 'but for the grace of God, there go I'. God be with you, Mack.
08/21/2008 We're getting really close now. Beth took her out and did 1.8 hours tonight, for a total just short of 38. The plan is to go out and finish up our 40 tomorrow and start cleaning up the punchlist repairs and adjustments this weekend. Assuming we can do that, there will be much rejoicing on Friday. It's quite a thing to think about, having built an airplane. I told my buddy Andy recently, and I don't think he can understand yet, how really surprised I am at how commonplace it's beginning to seem to see my plane fly overhead. N44VF has performed so well lately that I don't really worry Beth when she flies her - which is as it should be, but it really seems amazing. Soon my baby will really be free to leave the nest and travel this wonderful country and explore the wider world. To say that I'm ready to accompany her is an understatement. May she always have fair skies and tailwinds.
08/20/2008 No flying yesterday, but to make up for it we got 2.3 in today. Up next on the plan was max gross weight testing. Beth picked up a parachute rigger from our airport and met Jerry and I over at Butler County for the testing (it's runway is 5,500' with a 750' overrun and 100' wide, whereas ours is only 4,500' and 60' wide). We gradually loaded up, and determined to limit the aircraft based on take-off roll, as you need some runway to be able to abort a takeoff. We'll loaded up to 2,800 pounds with a roll of just over 2,600' (2,700 density altitude), and called that enough. The ship clearly would have managed our target 3000 pounds, and would have about half the runway to abort on if need be, but we'll hold off on that until we have the constant-speed propeller.
08/18/2008 Another hour today, and we started ceiling testing. However, poor Elizabeth had to shut down the testing when she got a solid sump fuel level warning (under 5 gallons available). I think this erroneous indication, probably because of the long climb at high power creating turbulence in the top of the tank, but it is really hard to ignore a fuel warning. She did climb to 14,000 before calling it off. We'll be looking at the fuel system to understand better what's going on there.
08/17/2008 We borrowed an oxygen system to do some service ceiling testing, and were going to try that today, but because of cloud cover and a busy Dayton tower, elected to leave that to another day. However, we did do another hour to put us over 32. If we get our new pitch trim spring in today, we'll start a short down window.
08/16/2008 Another big day. We're starting to really get to the end of the flight testing plan. Most of the tests now require more and more weight to try various centers-of-gravity (cg), and testing up to the maximum gross takeoff weight. And, Elizabeth has been harping on me to act as the ballast, for a variety of reasons, some more valid than others (like look at what the EFIS is doing...). So, with a BBQ at Butler County, we loaded up and launched on the short (14 nm) trek to KHAO. I got some video, check it out. Landing at Warren County Departing Butler County Full Flight from Lebanon to Hamilton
08/15/2008 A very cool evening tonight, we met up with of our oldest and dearest friends, the Trenaman's, for dinner. As they happen to live on the other side of our neighborhood, we set up for Elizabeth to taxi the kids out, and then go off and fly around Dayton while John and I picked up dinner. Then, timed to arrive just as we got back to the neighborhood N44VF did a (relatively) low and slow couple of passes over the house. Of course I was unduly nervous, but it was really cool to see Space Ship Fox over the 'hood, and the kids and neighbors seemed suitably impressed. It's just one of those days that you'll remember for a long time. I got some video, check it out! Touch and go and High Speed Low Pass Taxi with the Boys Flying over the TrenaHouse
08/13/2008 Another 1.3 hours, just tooling around. We're closing in on 30 hours (just under 28 now).
08/12/2008 Another day, another 1.2 hours. Beth flew to Piqua today! She dropped in to see her parents, and let her dad see 44VF fly for the first time. Piqua (I17) is a sleepy little airport, but happens to be home of the Hartzell Propeller folks, and she created quite a stir, with the growl of the unmuffled IO540 bringing folks out of all quarters. She got to chat with some of the folks that worked the Hartzell attempt at a prop for the Velocity, and Velocity enthusiasts, and worried me by not being off the ground early enough (though she was back before twilight).
08/11/2008 Beth did our first hard-core speed and cross-country work yesterday, circling Dayton. Check out the picture to see where she went. I'm disappointed with the speeds, even with the rough paint, fit and finish, and no wheel pants. We were only mustering 155-160 kts at about 2500 RPM (and 20 gallons an hour). So, we were definitely at full throttle, but she just can't turn that prop any faster, and we need to be able to run her to 2,700 or 2,750. We're going to do some more testing, at altitude, to see for sure that we don't get greatly different RPMs up there (I don't expect we will, but...) than we do at 7-9k MSL. I'm going to get with Catto, but will probably not have the prop depitched until the cooler weather sets in, because it'll be awhile before we get it back. Along the same vein, we're still collecting a fair number of items that we intend or want to fix/change/adjust, but as they say, you have to "make hay while the sun shines", and the weather right now is just too great to miss. Oh, and we cross the "40 hour" mark on the Hobbs yesterday. And, another big shout at to folks at Dayton Approach for taking care of us.
08/10/2008 Beth did our flutter testing yesterday, with some help from the nice folks at Dayton approach, and checked N44VF up to 205kts IAS! Next we'll be doing some high-speed runs in level flight to see what she tops out (in her primer-covered, no pants incarnation). Also of note, we took her to the pancake breakfast and R/C Flying Circus today, and set her out on display. That was kind of cool in its own right as it was our first chance to really let people look at it and ask questions. Then Beth and Ray (in his Vari EZ, N47VE) went out to do a lap of the field in loose formation. I got some video, but they never really got joined up properly, so it's not quite as cool as it could be. Chaulk that up to an area that needs more work. Check out the video and pictures here.
08/09/2008 Well, this is turning out to be quite the week. I told Elizabeth we had 21 days to fly 21 hours off so we can fly to Jersey for Labor Day weekend, and she got religion! Well, part of it was I realized we had more hours than actual testing to do, so I told to just go out and have fun, and we've really started to rack up the hours. So, I'd slightly mis-remembered how many ours we had before we went to Oshkosh, I was telling everybody 18, but it was really 16. But this week we've logged 7.5 hours (to 23.8)! Outstanding! We've also done our first real cross-country work, flying to Middletown (Hook Field, MWO), Hamilton for the pancake breakfast (Butler County Hogan Field, HAO), and Dayton Wright Brothers (MGY). We'll need to take some maintenance time along the way, but with a couple of weeks like this we should be OK.
08/04/2008 Back home, charged up, and back in the saddle. Beth put an hour on the plane yesterday, and she and Jerry did .9 today! Outstanding!
08/02/2008 Midnight of the last day. I feel hung-over and beat up, but we had a great week. We spent all day driving, after getting a late start, and I'm just now heading to bed. Wake-up call was at 6 am so I could get over to the awards breakfast and receive my Chapter Web Editor Award (4th place for EAA974).
We had the usual great Velocity BBQ hosted by Theresa and Andy Millin, but even better, they and Kathy and Dave Spano (along with Liz and Tim Popp) threw us an awesome "wedding reception". I guess some folks just can't take no for an answer, so when we eloped an evil scheme was hatched. They went all out with wedding cake and party favors, and a gratuitous golf cart and scooter, honk-filled, joy-ride around the campsite so they could embarrass us in front of everyone! Then they decorated our car, which caused quite the stir at the campsite all week (they came *here* on their honeymoon?!). Nice work, guys, you're the BEST!
Little did poor Andy know that I'd pulled a sneak of my own, proudly attired in my "My Airplane flies" shirt at the BBQ, and of course I had a shirt for him as well....
It's amazing, really, every year we spend more time at Oshkosh, and do less and less "show" stuff. We've met so many wonderful, amazing, and entertaining folks that we simply must visit this one week every year that the demands quickly outstrip the time available. Old friends we visited included those mentioned above, Carlos (Thunder Chicken, 2 time World Champ, ask him what happened in 2002), the Cozy Girrrls, Terry Schubert (CSA lead-man), Rich and Ricardo Guerra (Race 24!), The Tvedte Clan, Burrell Sanders (FreeFlight Composite), and many, many more, and new friends galore - Mark and Nancy Riley (we're GOING to the Bahamas!), Sue and Ed Richards (Cozy N826ER folks), Joe Ramsey (down the shore), among a lot of others.
Check out our Oshkosh 2008 picture gallery!
07/25/2008 Well, we're firmly ensconced in Camp Schoeller whiling the morning away. Oshkosh, baby, 2008 edition!
07/23/2008 Interesting article in this month's Kitplane's Magazine about using short-wave HAM radio to track your aircraft online. SWEET! Where do I sign up? Seriously, this sort of thing is right in my wheelhouse. Here's a good website describing how it works, but I've ordered the hardware and will be setting this up as soon as I can pass the Ham operator test. Here are a couple of pictures of the possibilities. The first is the tracker module, hooked to a GPS antenna, it broadcasts your position to HAM iGate repeaters, where (as in the second and third pictures) anyone can see your current position, or total trip, speed, etc. on Google maps. AWESOME! Click for large versions of the pictures.
APRS Transmitter
Google Map 3d
Google Map
07/22/2008 I've recently been notified that one of my other big commitments, the website for my EAA Chapter (974) has been nominated and won a Web Editor's Award. We won't know until Airventure closes (Saturday a week) where we placed, but it's nice to be recognized.
07/21/2008 OK, some good news for a change. The fixes and changes are finally completed, and we (Beth) flew tonight. It's been a long two week outage, and we're getting ready to depart to Osh Kosh on Friday, so it was particularly sweet to see her back in the air. So, how'd it go? Well, sort of a mixed bag, Beth didn't like the feel of the rudders in flight, like they required too much pressure to deploy. We'll look into that. Otherwise, things were great. The new nose gear shock absorber seems to be the cat's meow (thanks Andy and Jorge!), and the factory trim was very stable, and the new toe brakes were great - better control and total braking force. We probably won't get any more time before Airventure, so we'll see everybody there!
07/17/2008 OMG. Could this take any longer? Seriously. We started putting things together last night, and BINGO, the factory trim spring blasts the back of the radio. I guess my idea of "slightly left of center" and the factory's don't match up very well. This brings up a point that I reflect on more and more lately.
It's the point of "changes" to the plans. Don't do it. Sure I was given that advice by more than one well-meaning person, and I cheerfully ignored it. I thought, "hey, I'm smart, I'm an engineer, and it's my plane, I want it the way I want it...". Rrrriiigggghhhttt. Here's the thing. None of that matters. It's the Law of Unintended Consequences meets the Law of Tight Spaces. You simply will not see all of the dependencies of any change (or simple imprecision) will generate.
OK, so there are places this clearly isn't true, do whatever you want with the overhead lights. You've got a LOT of latitude on panel design. All I'm saying is, if I had $1USD for every time I went to install something only to find "Oh d@mn... that won't go together", I'd be a rich man.
07/14/2008 Well, we've been down a week now, and we're still not ready to fly. We're adjusting the new toe-brake system, and still have some work on the factory trim system, and then we can start putting things back together. Hopefully another couple of days will finish it up. We'll see.
07/13/2008 Sometimes you gotta look back and see where you've been. Today is the 1 year anniversary of our Airworthiness Certificate. Feels like the ink is still wet on that sucker...
07/12/2008 I've captured and put up a copy of Steve Goldman's builder's website up on our website, based on a request from our buddy Andy Millin. It was a great idea to capture the spirit of Steve's project forever, and is a happy homage to the hobby and a community that he loved and enriched. We're happy to be able to provide this legacy, see it at goldman.velocityxl.com
07/10/2008 It now seems quite likely that we'll not have the time flown off for Oshkosh. Bummer. The brake change is just taking too long, and while we've got the canard and panel out, we're changing out the nose gear shock (see the wiki). This is leading to a bunch of non-safety related fixes/changes that may be convenient to do now, but doom getting the 40 hours in by Airventure. If I had to do it over I might've held off on the brakes and disallowed take-offs and landings from the copilot side, but looking back is not constructive. There's always Rough River.
07/06/2008 Hope everybody had a great Independence Day weekend. We got some good flying in over the long weekend, and got Jerry some time in the right seat. That's the good news. The bad news is, since he was doing well, Beth decide to let him land. Well, the landing went OK, but we knew that the braking from the copilot side was imperfect (Dave Bertram had noticed this flying with Beth). Well, not only was the braking weak (probably from the pedal frame flexing), but somehow he was able to lock the system to the point that Beth couldn't generate much braking or steering control. The end result (everybody is fine, and no equipment got bent) was an overrun of the end of the runway. They went right between the red lamps and the big control box and into that grass, and then back to the ramp. So, although Jerry was probably nearly ready to transition into the left seat, and everything is good from that side, we're taking a few down days to change to the newer "toe-brake" system.
07/01/2008 Back in the saddle. Elizabeth got some work in yesterday, on the other runway (1). I'm not sure if I've mentioned it, but Lebanon (I68) is a little unusual in that all traffic is on the east side of the airport. That means that RWY 1 uses a right traffic pattern and 19 uses left traffic, so it's a bit odd when you move from one side to the other as the airport is on other side of the airplane. She did well, though was touching down a little long. She did an hour, and then today did over an hour of stall testing, and then took her mom up for some stall testing near the forward CG limit. Stall near aft is a gentle sink at 60 kts, and loaded forward is a light pitch-buck near 70 kts. Notch 3 more hours on the test plan.
06/30/2008 Well I spent the whole weekend (OK, not the whole thing, we saw Get Smart last night, but damn near 10-9 on Saturday) working on the plane. The good folks at the Lebanon Airport Maintenance shop got the plane back to us, and I busily tried to get it ready to fly. First we found the mag check failed (I wired my key switches to the new LSE ignition interconnect cable backwards-which shouldn't matter, but does), then she ran rough on the left mag. Obeying Stockman's Law of Aircraft Problems (thanks Bill), I replaced the plug lead to thb bottom #6, where I'd just installed a Tiny Tach back-up tachometer. Bill's law states that the last thing touched is thing that's broken, and it's true 90%+ of the time. So, we got everything squared away, but had 20 knot direct crosswinds with gusts to 29. Hopefully we'll fly today.
06/23/2008 I just heard that Jack Morrison has had an accident in his e-Racer, N345JM, and it has been lost (Jack's recap-News Report). Happily Jack was able, in quite extreme circumstances to get her back to the runway, and was essentially unharmed. Jack's plane was beautiful, and he's always been so gracious to us, that it is a very sad day for all of us. We hope he'll rebuild, and that we can help Jack get back into the air somehow.
06/19/2008 I blew my top today at the airport. It doesn't happen very often, and I'm not proud of it. We'd been assured that our local shop had all of the parts they needed to put our fuel system back together today, and I'd done all of the work I needed to do in the evenings this week to get us back into the air, and now I find out that the shop didn't have the parts. Another weekend without flying. Sigh. These are the times that try men's souls.
06/15/2008 So, we're washing the fuel tanks to make sure we've gotten any debris out of them, as we keep having issues with junk getting to the fuel injectors. So, we filled one tank at a time and pumped it dry - into 5 gallon drums - and then strained the fuel through coffee filters. There was some debris in there, and on the scale of a 30 gallon tank, it wasn't that bad. On the other hand, if you're a tiny fuel injector, it was Not Good. We ran fuel through the pilot side 4 times before it ran clear, the copilot only needed 2 rinses. We're also getting the spider valve and injectors cleaned professionally, and I'm pulling the fuel filter and servo filters and cleaning them in an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner. We probably won't be able to fly again for another couple of days when our parts come back from the shop. In the meantime, I'm cleaning up some odds and ends. Airventure is just around the corner.
06/10/2008 Different day, different story. This time, we got the prop in operational order, went out for some testing, and after 2 passes plugged an injector. Now, I have to give huge props to my lady - Elizabeth handled it like a champ. I was on the ramp monitoring the frequency, and as she turned crosswind the engine went from full song to a muffled rumble. She called downwind with engine trouble, and I {Mr. Obvious} advised her not to get too far from the airport. She brought her around and put her down right on the numbers. She was shaken a bit, but did a great job.
06/08/2008 Well, well, well. The ups and downs life brings to you are THOROUGHLY on display today. The highest of highs the last two days, and today just the opposite. We were going to take 44VF out and stretch her legs, and we've found a good-sized slice in our prop, about midway in the length. No fly-y today. ;-( I need to get with Craig Catto and see what needs to be done. In other news, we did get to fly to breakfast in Dan Reagan's cherry Lancair... Thanks, Dan, for the pick-me-up... Check it out here
06/07/2008 Three more laps around the pattern today for Ms. Elizabeth and my other baby, three more quality landings on a rain-drenched Saturday. "In other News", Bob Buls has finally arrived in town, setting up shop with our friends the Brainards, so we'll be helping him out some (and his baby-puke-beige wings will be living in our hangar for awhile). Nothing like unloading a plane from a trailer in a steady rain for a few hours to set a man up. ;-) Look for pictures over at Linda and Jerry's website
06/06/2008 I took my first ride today, and it was awesome - one of those days you'll remember forever. We climbed out over nearby by Waynesville and the lake, and I made a lazy circle about Caesar's Creek State Park, and then we brought her back. It was only about a 30 minute flight, but it was the culmination of almost exactly 6 years of hard work. Thanks Dave!
Also, on the last flight of the night, as the winds began to calm, Elizabeth really got into the groove, and was approved by Dave to fly the plane solo! So, Dave hopped out, and he and I watched pensively as she made three great take-offs and landings. Congratulations, Sweetie!
06/05/2008 Fly the plane, break the plane. Fly the plane, break the plane. Or, as we in the shampoo business like to say, Lather, Rinse, Repeat. Or, as Mr. Lennon put it, "Mama never told me there'd be days like these". The last couple of days I've worked a {nearly} full day at the office, and then work all night getting N44VF back in fighting shape for the next flight. Punchlist items are coming fast and furious, and it's hot, and I've been eating late and going to bed later. I'm beat. But I'm getting a stinkin' ride in my baby before Dave leaves this time (as essential ballast)!
06/04/2008 N44VF took her 4th and 5th flights today, and what makes it a banner day is that that second trip included Elizabeth at the helm! Now, Dave Bertram (our test-pilot extraordinaire) was along to coach her, but we hope that today or tomorrow she'll get up to speed and solo.
05/16/2008 N44VF took her third flight today, though it won't impress anybody. However, it was the first time we landed out! She's now at Dayton Wright Brothers Airport (MGY) for a check-up from the folks at Magnum Engine. Thanks Dave and Gene (and the folks from Commander Aero, for letting Gene borrow their shop to look at my motor)!
05/10/2008 Check out the Wiki, we've added a fair amount of content, including nearly 100 pictures of completed and flying Velocity airplanes (good for those considering paint schemes). See it here. Special thanks to Andy Millin for helping with the construction pages!
05/06/2008 I've got the Wiki up and running now, check it out here. Fellow builders should check it out, create a login, add a bio or your builder's tips and tricks!
05/04/2008 We've had a great reaction to the new website. In the first week after announcing it, we've had 80 builder/owner requests for logins to restricted areas of the website (nearly 1 in 5 kit owners)!
05/02/2008 We've got it confirmed, Magnum will be looking at our motor at Commander Aero's shop at Wright Brothers Airport (MGY) over an upcoming weekend, and Dave will be flying her up there for me (hopefully next week).
04/27/2008 Welcome one and all to the new VelocityXL.com. How do I know you guys made the switch? Because the old site is officially gonzo, baby....
04/25/2008 OK, our request is in with Stan at the Cincinnati FAA FSDO, so hopefully we'll get our ferry permit next week. Also of note, Elizabeth is in Dallas this week, and over the last couple of days has gotten some time in Dave Bertram's XL/RG (V8 power!), which is especially cool since he has a Blue Mountain EFIS as well.
04/22/2008 Well, I think I'm officially fed up with not getting the engine fixed on my own, so we're trying to get a ferry permit to take our baby back to Magnum up at Fort Wayne to get our RPM issues squared away.
04/17/2008 We ran the engine again last night, after checking the new fuel flow meter for calibration (it was pretty close), and hoped to check the timing. After reexamining the E/1 calibration, I think that we're getting erroneous readings. I'm not sure that's the whole problem, but it is a problem. We'll try to check the timing over the weekend, and I received today another fuel servo (Thanks Andy!) to try out as well. I expect to see the same readings with it as mine, and expect the timing will be within 1-2 degrees. I'll correct the E/1 "standard" calibaration with my optical prop tach when it comes in. Beth is in Dallas next week visiting family, and our test pilot Dave Bertram, so he's not availble to fly for at least that period. Hopefully my glass swan with spread her wings again soon.
04/16/2008 We ran the engine last night after cleaning the plugs and injectors, and at 2150 at full rich, 2250 RPM leaned out (the intake runner was off as well). The new floscan 231 fuel flow sensor does at least read all of the time, but it looks like the readings are high, so we'll have to check the calibration next.
4/16/08 30.09"Hg | DYNO 29.92"Hg
RPM gph MP | RPM #/hr (gph) MP
800 3.5 17 | 1523 28.1 ( 4.67) 13.46
2150 21 30 | 2100 58.9 ( 9.78) 20.06
2250 18.5 30 | 2200 65.2 (10.83) 20.70
| 2300 95.1 (15.80) 22.78
04/14/2008 Stop me if you've heard this one before. Seriously, though, it seems that my beloved Velocity Aircraft has been purchased. This time, by the Rocket Racing League, check out the announcement here, and a demo video of the prototype here. I have to say that this worries me. Perhaps it's unfair, but the RRL seems destined for the junk heap to me. I don't think that anyone will watch it (does the Red Bull series make money?), and it seems it would have to dilute the focus away from the kit building business. I hope I'm wrong, and I wish Duane the very best in his retirement.
04/14/2008 OK. So we're fighting with the motor. My buddy Andy Millin has kindly offered us the use of his fuel servo, 1 magneto, and prop to do some testing with, and we will likely take him up on it. First, though, I'm going to check our LSE timing. Interestingly, I've just posted our dyno information (fax, Excel curves), and it turns out my EGT's are not out of line for the power we're generating. This puts the whole situation back under mystery, as I'd thought the low EGTs pointed towards the ignition being too advanced, and it now seems just as likely (again) that it's a fuel flow issue.
04/10/2008 We've been fighting RPMs on our engine forever. On our second flight performance was good, but the static was about 2150 RPM, and best in flight was 2335 RPM. This is complicated by the fact that the HIGHEST EGT was 1083, which is just too low (they ought to be at least 1280 F, I'm told by Magnum Engine). Also, from talking with Craig Catto, we should be getting at least 500 RPM difference from static to in-flight, though to be fair, Dave was holding the speed down because we haven't done high speed or flutter testing yet. Net, we've got an issue we're working here, because Gene at Magnum is concerned that we'll glaze the cylinders if we don't get more RPM. Craig can depitch the prop, he tells me, by adding material to the back of the blades (which could be removed later, after the engine is broken in), but I'm looking for a shorter prop to play with for now. Also, since the EGT's are so low, we're going to send our fuel servo and injectors back to Airflow to have it recalibrated, as it seems we're probably way off on mixture. Related to this, we're trying to our Floscan 231 to work properly so we know how much fuel we're really using.
04/04/2008 Elizabeth and I ran off and got married today (4th) like impetuous kids (4/4/08... n44vf...)! Check it out here.
04/02/2008 We've finished moving the battery to the sump area (under the baggage shelf, and the ground power to the side wall above the gear bow, and the contactors underneath the bow. With much anticipation we reweighed the airplane, and found the nose weight had dropped to 113 lbs. This puts the empty arm at 138 1/4", and is slightly better than I'd expected. This most excellent result means we can now carry four 200 lbs folks in the airplane, and if/when we get a CS prop our W&B will be pretty close to ideal.
03/18/2008 OK, well, we need to work on our weight and balance a bit before we can fly with Dave (to do our transition). We knew we were a bit forward of "typical", but didn't think it was that bad. This was partly because we originally planned on getting little, 130 lbs, John Abrahams to come up and do the test flying and transition, and flying with him wouldn't have been an issue. So, a couple of nuggets. The XL empty CG should be way aft of the flight box (near 139 or even 140"), and the nose weight needs to be near 100 lbs. A "good" nose weight would be 60 lbs, and as much as 120 lbs is workable with two 200 pounders up front. While the plane is down for maintenance (I'm moving the battery to the back), we're clearing up a few odds and ends on the punchlist (and, since Dave's going to Sun-n-Fun next week....).
03/14/2008 Our baby took her second flight today, again with Dave Bertram at the helm, and another beautiful take-off, flight, and landing. Check out some high-quality pictures here, taken by our friend and Lebanon airport bum Al Wolfson, or the slideshow here.
03/01/2008 A sad day. A friend of ours, Uli Christen, was involved in a serious accident today and is in serious condition. Elizabeth got to know Uli while she was getting her transition training at the factory a couple of weeks ago, and this is quite a shock. We want to extend our thoughts and prayers to all involved.
02/14/2008 Congratulations are in order, as Elizabeth has gotten her factory sign-off, and is thereby qualified to fly the Velocity! Way to go, Sweetie! Now we just need to get some decent weather for a couple of days, and Dave up here. Another hour or so of flying by him, and a little transition with Beth and she's good to go.
02/04/2008 Since Elizabeth already has here PPL, she's in Sebastian this week getting factory transition training with John Abrahms. Look for a full report, and hopefully some nice pictures and video soon. Once she gets back, we'll try to get Dave back to do a bit of test flying, and transition Beth into our plane (the factory trainer is an SE with steam gauges).
01/05/2008 While we're waiting for good weather to get our test flight program fired up in earnst (with Dave flying at least a couple of more hours), I'm looking to get my PPL finally with a new instructor, and I've started a new project. It's a EFIS (PFD) project, just because it interests me. We'll see what comes of it, but I'm reading Dr. James Hauser's Book Building and Programming a Synthetic Vision Information System (SVIS) Grand Rapids Avionics. Here's a online test I wrote as an example of the techniques and algorythms.
12/29/2007 I've installed our backup flight display (PFD). It's a Grand Rapids Avionics Sport, and you can see the installation pictures here. A big thanks to my buddy Carlos (building an Aerocanard/Cozy) for helping me get it in a hurry, and answering all of my questions.
12/26/2007 I'm working out some stats and interesting details from our first flight. Here is a google map image of the first flight patter (only the first few minutes got saved on the EFIS, sdaly). N44VF 1st Flight Box - I68 The stray mark off to the south west is my house. And here is a spreadsheet with the EFIS data. Some interesting facts based on the data that was captured, 0-74 kts flying speed, 15 seconds and 1,800' (41% of runway length). Highest Altitude 3,680' or 2,780' AGL, Greatest Climb rate 1,138 fpm, Highest airspeed 155 kts (166 TAS).
12/20/2007 Our test pilot is up and about after his knee surgery, and suggested that we bring the ship to Dallas to test and transition ourselves into her, so we're working with the FAA to get a ferry permit and new test flight box down there. In the meantime, I've ordered a GRT Sport EFIS as a backup flight instrument from Grand Rapids Avionics. This is partly because it's a good idea for the long cross-country (we'd always planned a backup unit, just hadn't purchased it), and partly because Dave's Blue Mountain recently locked up on him in flight (YIKES!).
12/08/2007 A fellow Velocity builder was featured on "World's Most Extreme Homes". Check it out here.
09/07/2007 A good friend of mine is fond of saying Shazam when something exciting happens. Shazam indeed. Our first flight happened this evening with Dave Bertram at the helm. I wish I could describe the wrenching self-doubt I experienced as he taxied to the end of the runway, or the elation of watching him lift off smartly within 1/3 of the runway length, or the concern that I felt when, after 30 minutes of predictable easy flight the engine began to run roughly (again), but I can't do it justice. It's an overpowering emotional experience that words cannot adequately describe. I can say that I'm not a particularly religious person, yet I said a prayer for Dave before he took off though (I didn't even think to ask that the plane come back unharmed), and tears welled up in my eyes as she leapt from the tarmac - obviously answering the helm in the brisk and gusty breeze we had last night. And the calm, content feeling that I had when on long final I could tell he would surely make the runway, and awe of watching Dave grease her onto the runway like she was an often-used bicycle of his. What a day. Check it out here.
08/23/2007 Well, what a week! We were visited byDave Bertram, a Velocity test pilot with thousands of flight hours and his own Velocity. He was in town for a personal function, and looked the plane over. He would have flown her, but we've been having some issues with the motor running rough and not generating enough RPM. Well, tested the flow through the injectors and found uneven flow. Once we pulled the injectors we found some debris in them, though the fuel filter was clean. After cleaning, she seems to be running quite well! Ready for first flight?
07/18/2007 We've registered the new domain N44VF.com, to go along with our recent achievement. There will be a major website rework coming in the fall, as the site has dated badly while building has consumed my time.
07/13/2007 Very scary! OK, so having your air-worthiness inspection on Friday the 13th doesn't sound all that smart, but it worked out and N44VF is officially an airplane - a tangible asset with value - not a project, a kit, a time or money hole. I know because I got this pink sheet of paper from the government. First, let me say that Stan Faske is a class guy, and made the process very easy when it could be pretty stressful. Second, as I take stock and end one phase of this incredible journey and begin another, thanks to all of the folks along the way that have had a positive effect on this project. The list is too long to include here, but you folks know who you are, and I thank you more than you will ever know. Now we fly, but not until after Oshkosh, by gosh...
07/10/2007 FAA inspection is scheduled for Friday the 13... is that bad? Wish us luck.
06/24/2007 FAA paperwork is mailed off to Stan Faske in the Cincinnati Flight Standards District Office (FSDO). We removed the whiskey compass (too much interference, it'll probably move overhead), moved the BMA EFIS/One's magnetometer to the strake, added bumpouts on the keel for the Strong Pitch Trim system (it was limiting aileron deflection slightly), installed trailing edge fences, recalibrated the fuel gauges, continued work on the cowling, and started working on the inner door panels. 44VF Ready to Run.
06/05/2007 The homestretch is here. Installed the rear seat belts, compass installed, data plate installed, parking brake handle completed, cowling center flange, and cowling augmentation finishing work.
05/19/2007 Well, we've been back at it for a few weeks now, trying to tie up all of the loose ends, do the W&B, and complete a condition inspection. The W&B went fine (see the downloads section), and we're working on priming everything that's still bare, checking all bolts and screws for proper tightening, lacing abrasion protection around the wiring, installing the parking brake,splitting the cooling plenum for maintenance, installing the radio tray rear bracket, Decals, installing fuel shut-off valves in each strake feed line, vortilons, sparrow strainer, landing light lens, glareshield, etc. in preparation for our FAA inspection and first flight.
12/23/2006 Merry Christmas! Well, here we are at the holiday break, and I didn't get the inspection done before it. Oh well, she looks sweet though, with some fresh primer, and the registration on the winglet (44VF). I've got to a condition inspection and get Stan from the FAA out here, there's just been so much going on. But, to tide you over, here are a set of pictures of Victor Fox in her war paint.
12/13/2006 Ah, a brief respite from the cold temps! Today we got the engine's mixture and throttle settings squared away, and she ran s-w-e-e-t. Thanks to Jerry for doing the dangerous, adjust stuff next to a whirling prop thing. She starts on the first blade, idles at 700, and develops about 2150 RPM static, and the brakes hold, so life's good. Also, we did the first W&B yesterday in preparation for the FAA visit. She came in at a chunky 1768 pounds, but you couldn't call her obese, which I had my concerns about.
12/02/2006 Well, winter is here again, and it and life are slowing progress. Beth's mother has had some health issues in the last week or two as well, so things have slowed to a crawl. On the upside, we've been making some progress on Jerry and Linda's plane in their heated shop, and have made some engine adjustments on our plane, and are making progress on the main wheel pants. Also I'm going to grab our EAA Chapter's scales and try to get the weight and balance completed so we can invite the FAA to pass judgment on my baby.
10/18/2006 FIRST TAXI! After quite a laborious build-up, the first taxi test is out of the way. We still need to get the brakes settled and broken in, but what a major hurdle! Check out the video! Sorry that it's so grainy, it's getting dark early here.
10/16/2006 Wow, what a long no-update cycle. We've been slowed up by a variety of factors, vacations and a new project at work requiring too much of my time. It's all very frustrating, but we are making steady progress. We've finalized the autopilot servo installations, hooked up the elevator push-tube, tested our radios and antennas, and cleaned up the anti-shimmy dampener on the nose gear. The front seats are installed, the pilot seat belt, the headset rack, and we're getting ready to start our taxi-tests.
08/07/2006 Finishing up the cowling attachments, connecting autopilot servo arms, installed radio and tested, system integration tested.
07/30/2006 Another Airventure is in the books. Of course I haven't done any work in the past 10 days because of it, but it was great. Of interest were the Velocity Twin (model) and Turbo, and the Stagger EZ (not a Velocity, but very cool). Also check out the Velocitys that flew in here, I didn't get all of them, but this is a good sampling of what was there. And Ariventure Cup Results. Also, we had a great turnout from my Chapter 974, with something like 30 folks camping in Camp Cincy. It was great to spend time with old Velocity friends like Jerry and Linda Brainard, John and Anne Tvedte, Gilles Gratton, Dave Nelson, and Andy and Theresa Millin, as well meet new ones Pat Shea, Dave Spanner, and Bob Buls. And for those of you who I've overlooked, because there are always some, my apologizes, you all made this a great trip. Hope to see you all at Rough River. I hope we can repay everyone's hospitality by flying Velocity Builder friends!
07/18/2006 Cowling finishing, ailerons rigged.
07/10/2006 Rudders rigged, elevator torque tube opening redone, cowling work progressing
06/21/2006 Wings attached! It looks amazingly like an airplane now...
06/17/2006 Entertainment input wiring completed - Sirius satellite radio and aux (MP3/iPod) inputs connected to the audio panel.
06/16/2006 Preliminary test runs of the engine are now completed, and I've uploaded movies to the website (downloads/movies). Also, I've gotten the DVD/CD player hooked up to the audio panel, which is pretty geeky too, so a very good week. Next we'll be mounting the wings and getting the cowling/wing joints finished up.
06/03/2006 Wow. We had the first engine run today! We still have a minor quirk to figure out in the LSE ignition (the sides won't run together while interconnected), but we'll get that squared away. Our thanks to Jerry, Ray, Gene, Klaus, and everybody that helped get us to this point.
05/29/2006 Wow. I got the audio panel preliminarily wired up last night (long holiday weekend), and it is simply awesome to plug in a headset and talk into your own intercom. Seems silly, I know, but wow, I totally geeked out. And I have to say, the Approach System, makes it almost too easy. Highly recommended.
05/28/2006 Spinner work completed (for now, it'll need final paint with everything else later), radio trays installed and intercomm and transponder mounted-wiring beginning, and still chasing various engine bugs preparing for first run. Wing-root fire protection installed, ailerons installed, rudders/cables installed, more engine connection work, brakes bled (again). Addtional pictures in plane-to-airport section from the Brainards.
05/06/2006 First propeller spin, to check for spinner tracking! Brakes tested, wing root fire protection, rudders, and ailerons mounted.
04/24/2006 More spinner work completed. Check out the expanded spinner section, sparrow strainer.
04/11/2006 We've started test fitting the prop, and finishing up the engine connections. We hope to have our first engine runs "soon". Propeller section.
04/01/2006 We're ramping up for the Big Finale, and NO, it's not an April Fools joke (though I'm sure many thought it was as we worked our way down the road). Check it out here. The move was handled by Roger Cummins of 3 Feathers Aviation, who does cross-country hauling very affordably, and like it was their own. Highly recommended (937) 533-6111.
02/06/2006 Well, it's funny how life goes, huh? We'll be keeping our engine after all, through a partnership arrangement with another local couple that are also building a Velocity. Since our plane is progressing faster than theirs, they're getting a share of our plane to have something to fly sooner, and we'll have the option of buying their share back as we can, so it really works out nicely for everyone. ;-) We're hoping to move the plane to the airport next month, and start getting the pieces together and prep to fly (hopefully this year, we'll see).
12/15/2005 Due to a family situation, we're forced to sell our engine to recoup some cash for awhile. Fear not, however, this is a temporary set back and we will be moving forward with the plane, though on a longer time frame than we had hoped.
08/23/2005 Well, we're post-Oshkosh yet again, which is like caffeine to a homebuilder, and the flurry of work that it inspired has begun to settle back into the usual workman-like rhythm of the last 3 years. Thanks to the members of EAA974, the Cozy Grrrrlllls, Andy Millin, Rich Guerra, Keith Hallsten, and everybody else that made this trip so fun and a lot like home on the road! Since last update, we've connected the engine throttle and mixture controls, received the engine hoses, and installed the ELT. Also, I'm about 80% done with the installation of the rear cabin (false) bulkhead. Oh, and we've been looking into moving the plane to the airport, and have found it very difficult to find someone willing to move the wide-load of our airplane. Most towing services won't even talk to us, but I think we've got a solid lead. Stay tuned.
07/23/2005 Oshkosh preparations are in earnest today, but we found time to head up to south Dayton to check out the Airventure Cup racers
07/18/2005 ELT installation proceeding, preparing for Oshkosh... Catto prop due after Oshkosh along with our move to the airport! Engine Controls installed, and oil door completed, and spinner fitting started.
06/05/2005 Nose hatch and work, stainless installed into exhaust augmenters.
05/20/2005 We've received our registration from the FAA for our N number, 44VF, and have been building our exhaust augmentation system.
05/01/2005 Another week's vacation spent working on the plane. We got lots of little things done, and I think we've officially reached the mythical "80% done, 80% to go stage". The completed exhaust has been installed, and the fuel servo was mounted and ducted along with the oil cooler. The last of the engine (EGT, fuel and oil pressure) instruments have been wired to the EFIS, and the power distribution wiring is complete (with the exception of the radios we don't have yet). There are a variety of projects to be completed before flying, buying and installing the radios, installing the parking brake and pressurizing the brake system, create the exhaust augmentors in the cowling, install the autopilot servos, but the end is in sight, and we're going to officially register 44VF with the FAA as an airplane this week.
03/29/2005 Our EAM Velocity RC kit was finished over the long Easter Weekend as a brief diversion from building the 1:1 scale airplane. Check it out in detail here.
03/16/2005 Update time. I've always gotten frustrated by the builder's sites that I love to read going dormant for long periods of time while the work of building gets in the way of the website, and now I'm that guy. My updates just keeping getting further apart. So, what's up? Beth is between consulting jobs, so I've put the radio work on the back-burner (until we can buy a few more bits), but have been doing a fair amount of engine work. This includes cooling plenum and fuel plumbing work. The exhaust is out at Custom Exhaust and should be back about the end of the month, as should ourCatto propellor.
02/14/2005 Happy Valentine's Day everybody! I've been on a bit of a lull here, with some international business travel and work concerns, but we're back up to speed now. Currently working on installing the intercom and the engine, including mocking-up the exhaust for fabrication.
01/01/2005 Power Distribution wiring is essentially completed. There are some odds and ends, like the radios we don't have yet, but the engine is back on, and the alternators are wired.
12/16/2004 Artex G406 3-Frequency ELT (emergency locator transponder) and PS-Engineering PMA8000 audio panel/intercom arrive!
12/14/2004 Engine testing has been completed, we will be posting the torque and power curves once we have them, but the engine ran well and generated 316HP at 2750RPM. Our thanks to Gene at Magnum Engine and Ken at Lycon for going the extra mile for us! Also, we're nearing the end of the power wiring, with only the radio stack, alternators, and starter remaining.
11/24/2004 NOTE: The Velocity XL is featured in this December's edition of Kitplanes, on shelves now!! -And- It's the annual holiday-break Airplane Construct-Athon, where I take some much needed time off and foolishly spend every waking moment thinking abou or working on the airplane. Here's an update thus far: Autopilot arrives, installing the Strong pitch trim system, mounting the BMA EFIS/One into the airplane, cooling plenum flanges glassed, defogger mounted, and Cleveland brakes mounted.
11/16/2004 Our engine has gone back to Magnum for test runs and Ken 'EZ' Miller spinner arrives!
11/08/2004 Instrument panel Glare Shield preparation and engine cooling plenum glassing
10/21/2004 Instrument Panel work, EFIS and other components installed
10/10/2004 Expanded engine pictures! Engine plenum and runner fitting.
09/27/2004 EFIS Delivery by Blue Mountain, Engine Delivery by Magnum Engine, OH MY!
08/29/2004 Axles/Brake prep, annunciator panel, long-range tanks,circuit breaker panel and box, andbaggage compartment and DVD Player.
07/24/2004 Seat hard-points are installed, and the seats dry-fit, and the hangar floor pictures posted finally.
07/01/2004 Big week here. We're heading to Texas for a long weekend, but we've made some major purchases. First we ordered a Catto propeller with a Saber extension and aKen Miller inverse taper spinner. We'll try this fixed pitch combo since it's much cheaper, and everybody that has one swears by them, and it should help us a bit on the high end. If we find we need better short field performance we can get an MT later, and keep the Catto as a spare (for us or other Velocity owners) since the MT's are very susceptible to damage. Also, we took the money we saved and placed a deposit for August delivery of the Blue Mountain EFIS/One. Good Stuff. I'm all tingly...
06/24/2004 Things are moving along now, our seats have come back from Oregon Aero, and they are very well done! I've installed the LCD screens back into the headrests of the front seats and tested them again. Also, electrical work continues, wiring is complete on the Master Switch, dome lights, roll trim, and speed brake.
06/08/2004 Well, I'm back to work now. Things hit a lull here this spring as circumstances conspired against me a little. Beth had an emergency appendectomy, just as she started a project to finish our basement. Soooo, I had to nurse her, and then spent a lot of time working in the basement while she healed up, and we had house guests for a week, etc. Anyway, back to work now, and starting to wire up the power distribution system, expect the engine to be complete soon, and have painted our hangar floor!
03/14/2004 Electrical work continues with headset/microphone jack installation, nose oil tubing installed, aileron cables pulled through firewall, and seat heater switches installed.
02/08/2004 Electrical installation continues including the relay box, along with beginning panel work; roll trim modifications are completed, map and landing lights installed, engine/prop/mixture controls installed, and oil system work continues
12/21/2003 Electrical design is done, diagrams are available here, and initial electrical work began including installing the stick grip, the overhead panel, and the master solenoid.
12/12/2003 Engine is on order! We've selected an IO-540-D2A from Magnum Engines in nearby Kettering, to be flow and mass balanced, and upgraded with 9.5:1 pistons and dual Light Speed Electronic Ignition.
12/02/2003 Pitot Tube and Static Ports Installed, Canard Cover attached and faired (including the novella "what I did with my Thanksgiving Holiday), Engine installation kit ordered, in finally engine negotiations, and fuel gauge legends ordered, Instrument Panel fitted, speed brake limit switch installed and Seat Belt Hard Points installed
11/20/3003 Doghouse cover flanges completed, nose tie down completed, nose cover fitted, ground power plug installed, interior handles installed, and strake drains drilled
10/23/2003 Fuel Chapter (9) Complete (shut-off valve and bulkhead fittings)! Main wing tie-downs completed! Door switches and handles installed.
10/14/2003 Pilot door lock installed, door springs installed, canard front attach tabs installed, rear bulkhead started, and Fuel Shut-off valve control
09/15/2003 Fresh Air Duct installed, co-pilot door leading edge progress & hinges bedded, firewall protection installed, plane back on gear, and Main wings moved to Hangar (I68), N-Number reserved - 44VF
06/01/2003 Fresh Air Duct fitted, top strake skin internal seal layups done
05/24/2003 The bird is flipped! Seats ready for upholstery (DVD screens installed!),auxiliary heating system, overhead switch panel, and antenna wiring complete.
01/31/2003 Pilot side strake completed, Ailerons and Rudders installed!
01/05/2003 Holidays are over, major Strake Repair is complete,Canard Tips installed
11/29/2002 Pilot strake/fuel tank progress, strobe power pack installed
10/24/2002 Pilot Side wing attached and strake work begun, canard tip fitting
10/14/2002 Canard Chapter Complete, more fuselage work, nose-mounted oil cooler complete!
08/08/2002 Center Section Spar, Landing Gear, and Bulkheads chapters are complete!
08/01/2002 Center Spar has been set, and Master Cylinders installed!
07/26/2002 New web host and vanity address www.velocityxl.com secured!
07/24/2002 New Sections (Fuselage & Fuselage Completion) have been added!
07/16/2002 The kit has been delivered!
07/14/2002 New sections (Center Section Spar, Bulkheads, and Canard/Elevators) have been added!
06/26/2002 Speed Brake section has been uploaded, and some glitches in the way the linking was working have been fixed.
06/22/2002 We've just returned from a week at the Factory! We spent a week in the Velocity Service Center taking part in the Head Start Program, and the time and money was well worth it. Check out the trip report here.
05/15/2002 We're Back! Well, after a rather long dry spell, we're back into the plane building business. Check out the May 2002 section for details. We'll be taking delivery of an XL fixed gear this year!
07/8/2001 Well, it looks like delivery might be postponed. Although we've secured financing, our insurance company would require Hull Insurance (the equivalent of comprehensive coverage on a car) if we want to fly it with a lien on the aircraft. Since that coverage would be approximately $6,000 a year, we will probably finance very little of the aircraft.
07/4/2001 Site initially posted. We're busily working on our pilot's certificates while preparing the financing and insurance to get our Standard Velocity FG ordered. The folks at Velocity have been really helpful and patient, which gives us a good feeling about our choice.
08/15/2001 Site updated for our trip to Osh Kosh for AirVenture 2001, where we put down a deposit!