Brodhead Pietenpol Association

taildrags

Several builders who have bought the rough-cast hinge parts from me for turning into finished parts have asked for ideas on how to set up a jig for drilling the pivot pin holes in the parts, so I made a sketch that I hope will help. Although my jig isn't like what I've sketched, it doesn't have to b...

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Yes please... details! Will you be bringing the stand back to Louisiana or is it a one-way trip?

taildrags

I have been in touch with Mr. Harrington about Pietenpols. Long history of building things... race cars, restorations, boats, you name it. Quite common among Pietenpol enthusiasts, most of whom seem to have little hesitancy in learning new skills and making things themselves.

taildrags

This fellow is only 55 miles north of the Mecca of West Coast Piet aviators... Frazier Lake Airpark. I think he's come to the right place.

taildrags

Terry; yes, depending on which information one references, at a high angle of attack and positive G loading, the main spar carries anywhere from 84% to as much as 95% of the load. Your aft spar is fine.

taildrags

In a recent post and discussion on another list, a pilot reported having broken several prop bolts after experiencing vibration after takeoff and returning to the field under reduced power. Inspection upon landing revealed that the prop bolts apparently weren't properly torqued and there had been bu...

taildrags

I have started writing the second installment of a multi-part review and analysis of the Air Camper wing. The first part may be published this winter in an upcoming issue of the BPA Newsletter if Pat finds it satisfactory and has room for it. The first part is an analysis of the strength of the wing...

taildrags

Mmmm... looks delicious! Those ribs just need some spicy varnish on them ;o)

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Richard; I'll bet you're right, since the rib capstrips are 1/2" wide by 1/4" thick and the tongue on his trailing edge looks just a bit narrower but about the same thickness.

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Pat; a quick search of the Matronics archives didn't turn up a single hit on 'Tomlinson', and the only hits on 'Marv' were on things like "Marvel Mystery Oil" or other Marvs. He may have never been a pilot, although a search of the FAA registry turned up a Piper J3C, N2167M, registered to ...

taildrags

Brian; I don't know of anyone who has run an injected Corvair in a Piet. However, there is a separate discussion group dedicated to Piet/Corvair builders and pilots so you may inquire about joining that list and see what they know about the subject. Terry Hand is on this list and is the moderator, s...

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Brian; I'm not sure about places like Burns or Bend, Oregon but I'm in Medford and I know of Piets near Salem and Portland. A good 470-500 miles away from you.

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Absolutely gorgeous work, Rob. Artistry in wood!

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Donald; I doubt that anyone will argue that the three most popular engines on Air Campers are the water-cooled inline Ford "A", the flat air-cooled Continental A65, and the flat air-cooled Corvair. However, there have been a vast number of different engines used on this airframe. I wrote a...

taildrags

Yes, another good trick! I thought the Cleco plier trick had the benefit of holding everything in place independent of the sleeve that is to be crimped, but you're right- being able to work away from the bench and vise probably make the split bolt method much more versatile.

taildrags

I don't know how many of you get the weekly tips and tricks emails and linked videos from HomebuiltHELP.com , but they posted a really nice one today about how you can use your ordinary everyday Cleco pliers as a third hand to help make thimble ends on your cables. No modification of the pliers is n...

taildrags

Richard; excellent information, and a lot of it. You and Ken obviously did the W&B the right way and did it carefully. No guessing about where the pilot's belly button is or any of those other approximations. Like they say, if you do it right the first time, there will not need to be a second ti...

taildrags

Kenneth; one more thing. If you are thinking of the kind of water drain such as you find in many certificated aircraft where you pull a knob in the cockpit to allow the contents of the lower part of your fuel system to drain out onto the ramp, you might want to rethink that. Yes, you can certainly f...

taildrags

Kenneth; Can you clarify a few things about your questions? 1. You say "water testing". Do you mean checking to see if water has settled to the bottom of the fuel tank? You should have a gascolator between the fuel tank and the carburetor, and the gascolator should be the lowest point in t...

taildrags

Oops... those numbers can bite you sometimes. If the savings for routing two spars is 7 lbs, then just routing one would yield 3.5 lbs.

taildrags

OK, I'll admit it... I'm a numbers addict. I just had to run through the numbers regarding weight savings gained by routing a 3/4" spar. Routing 1/8" by 3-1/4" off the face of each cheek of the spar, times 28 ft total tip to tip length of the spar, yields 0.158 cubic feet of wood if t...

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Ethan; here's a summary of my pencil calcs on the spar configuration you asked about. You'll have to read my upcoming article to get the calculations and assumptions that I made to arrive at the design basis, but if I assume an Air Camper with a maximum gross weight of 1,080 lbs and an unrouted 1&qu...

taildrags

Ethan; congratulations on taking on a project like building your own airplane so early in life! Excellent. About Doug fir, I've been working on a light single-place composite high-winger and am using Doug fir for all of the wood framing and wing spars since it is readily available here in Oregon. It...

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Ethan; It's not clear from your post as to whether you are one of the high school students or if you're the instructor. Can you elaborate? In any case, I recently sent the BPA Newsletter editor a draft of an article that I wrote on this subject, and if there is room in the next issue and it passes t...

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I just got mine in today's mail, and it's a beauty! Can't wait to get into it this weekend. Thanks, Pat!

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Tony; while looking for something else, I found just what you're looking for... the photos of Dan Loegering's landing gear fittings and assembly on Westcoastpiet.com . Go to that site, scroll down the list in the 'Pictures' page, and you should have some excellent guidance on assembling your landing...

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Don; there are plenty of Ford Model A engine builders and flyers out there, so I'm not sure why you haven't gotten any responses. My usual go-to source is Westcoastpiet.com and I just looked at a couple of likely candidates to see if there were any pictures of the magneto setup. One that most people...

taildrags

Tony; Your references to inside and outside landing gear fittings sound like you've got the wooden gear leg, solid-axle gear arrangement as shown in the 1932 Flying & Glider Manual. My airplane doesn't have that landing gear so I can't be of much help other than what I see on the details and cal...

taildrags

Well, now that I've seen the strap hinge version compared to my piano hinge version, I like the strap hinge version better. Much simpler, fewer fasteners, it lays flat. Nice!

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Johnny; see photo of my flop in the flopped position ;o) Note that it will not fold forward any more than it is in the picture due to the hinge geometry. Mounting the hinge a bit higher up would remedy this condition but would place the hinge line above the surface of the wing, essentially tripping ...

taildrags

Nope... no ledge around the underside of the flop cutout. The flop when lowered rests with its forward lower edge against the aft face of the cutout in the wing. I added a thin strip of wood to the forward lower edge of the flop to bring the trailing edge of the flop into line with the trailing edge...

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Mike; by the way, our son Matthew (boat captain and fishing guide) lives in Port Aransas, right across the channel from you. Believe me, we know what Harvey did, and how much mess there is to clean up! In Port A, they haven't even touched the boats and harbor yet... still trying to take care of home...

taildrags

Mike; I have a set of GN-1 plans sitting in my hangar. Get with me, let me know where to send them, and I'll get them out in the mail to you. Let's get the repairs underway on that airplane!

taildrags

Also -and I am no expert on water-cooled engine operation- be prepared to deal with ironing out cooling problems that might crop up from having the radiator mounted below the engine. The Model A engine setup has the water pump below the level of the radiator, so it's always got a positive gravity fl...

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Bob; all of the Subaru installations that I've seen have the radiator down under the engine, so you might look at those to get some ideas. John Dilatush's (now Greg Bacon's) Piet is a good case in point. Go to www.westcoastpiet.com and the Pictures page, then scroll down to the J's to find John/Greg...

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Johnny; not sure what you're asking. There are many, many Air Campers out there with hinged flops... mine included. Mine uses a section of piano hinge to connect it to the aft face of the rear spar at the cutout, but it creates a bit of a problem because the flop can't really flop all the way forwar...

taildrags

Well, I used to sell complete, finished sets of hinges (less the mounting hardware and hinge pins), but have not had time to finish them anymore. I have since been selling sets of the rough castings for builders to finish on their own though, and I have plenty of those available. There is no "k...

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Alexb: Thank you for the CFI's perspective (clarification)! I just can't imagine trying to traverse (or underfly) Class B airspace after reading the list of U.S. airports that are in Class B. I have flown light single-engine aircraft into several airports in Class C airspace, but never into Class B....

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Luis; I'll attempt to answer your questions, but I don't profess to be an authority on either subject. 1) A header tank would be in exactly the location that you describe, yes. That's where the tank is on my airplane. If you're sitting in the front cockpit, the tank is directly in front of you behin...

taildrags

This will probably date both me and the information in this post, but some time ago a builder/pilot posted that he had improved the mic noise problem by using an empty plastic 35mm film canister (which some of you may not have ever even seen). I believe it was Walt Evans who originally posted how he...

taildrags

When you think about it, the Ford A engine is a big monolithic hunk of iron with some holes in it while the Corvair is a hollow aluminum casting with heavily finned head castings and finned iron cylinders. The Ford is basically solid iron, the Corvair is basically hollow or finned aluminum. I have n...

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Luis; where in the SoCal area are you located? The first weekend in June every year, there is a West Coast Piet fly-in that is held down near Hollister, at Frazier Lake Airpark. Santa Cruz/Monterey area. If you're still thinking about the Air Camper next year, head over there to see some Piets in pe...

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So what happened to him?

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Kenneth; you shouldn't have much trouble finding a Piet builder/owner/pilot in Tennessee who is willing to look over your project to see what you've got there.

Welcome to the group!

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Rick built SUCH a beautiful Piet!!! Lovely airplane (and stunning photography by Jon & Julia, too).

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From my flight to the EAA 292 "Wings Over Willamette" fly-in Aug. 19. Photos courtesy of Paul Martin, flying his beautiful Tri-Pacer in formation with me as I headed home to KMFR.

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Well, I made it to the Wings Over Willamette fly-in and back on Saturday. No glitches, no squawks, and no oil mist on the windscreens. Happy, happy! Headwind going up there, nice tailwind coming back. Including one fuel stop each way, I averaged 53 MPH over the 199 statute mile flight up there and r...

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Only thing I'm aware of is down at the bottom of the list screen, right-hand side, is a tab labeled 'Members'. I just checked and Ray Krause is shown as a member of this list but has not posted to it since he joined.

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CuBob- there are several people on the various Pietenpol lists and forums who are building Sky Scouts. One who comes to mind is Ray Krause, who is in Colusa, CA. I believe he is raykrause (at) frontiernet.net . I thought he was using a Continental on his Sky Scout.

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Belay that last. The Subaru EJ22 is a naturally-aspirated engine, not turbo'd, with multi-point fuel injection, rated 135 bhp at 5800 RPM. Herb's engine has a reduction drive on it and he claims a dyno-tested 150 crank HP per his post to this list on April 28 of this year.

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