Today's Message Index:
----------------------
1. 04:03 AM - Was it such a good idea to split (Frank Derfler)
2. 04:53 AM - Ready for first flight (The Minearts)
3. 05:05 AM - Re: Ready for first flight (Paul Mulwitz)
4. 08:51 PM - Airworthiness Certification Is In hand!! (DaveG601XL)
5. 09:02 PM - Re: Airworthiness Certification Is In hand!! (LHusky@aol.com)
Message 1
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| Subject: | Was it such a good idea to split |
Jeff -- Obviously, you are replying to someone, but I missed the original
posting. If all of the fussing is still going on, then forget it. -- FJD
--
See my new Novel, "A Glint in Time" at http://GreatGuyBooks.com.
See my discussion of All the Guy Toys that aren't (clearly) illegal or
(blatantly) immoral at http://mostlyflying.com
Pilots: See me at www.flyinflorida.com
Guys: See www.greatguybooks.com
Message 2
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| Subject: | Ready for first flight |
As of 7/15/08, N164SM received its airworthiness certificate, and is ready
for flight! Have a test pilot lined up, and insurance coverage for him to
fly, next thing will be finding a way to get myself some dual time in type,
so I can obtain coverage.
Steve Mineart
CH601XL/Corvair, (started with rudder workshop 2/03)
do not archive
Message 3
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| Subject: | Re: Ready for first flight |
Hi Steve,
If you post your location then you might learn where you can get some
dual time. There are a few Zodiacs available for commercial rental
(at least for dual instruction) and perhaps someone who has one along
with a CFI certificate lives near you.
Also, let me say that when I spoke to an insurance guy about
qualifying experience all he cared about was something that had 601
in its type. If I could get a couple of hours in any Zodiac I could
get coverage for my first flight. It didn't need to be in a Zodiac XL.
Congratulations on your airworthiness cert.
Paul
XL getting close
do not archive
At 04:30 AM 7/16/2008, you wrote:
>As of 7/15/08, N164SM received its airworthiness certificate, and is
>ready for flight! Have a test pilot lined up, and insurance
>coverage for him to fly, next thing will be finding a way to get
>myself some dual time in type, so I can obtain coverage.
>Steve Mineart
Message 4
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| Subject: | Airworthiness Certification Is In hand!! |
July 16, 2008 was a big day for my Zodiac 601XL. N554SG was granted its Special
Airworthiness Certificate and made a very brief disassociation with the surly
bonds of earth. But lets back up a little bit. At Oshkosh 2006, I finally
affirmed my much-delayed decision to build an experimental airplane. It was my
29th trip to Oshkosh and was about time to get the show on the road. I had
a fairly complex decision tree based upon type of construction, seating arrangement,
projected build times, flight envelope, company support, etc. The final
arrangement was basically all metal, side-by-side, and meets the LSA specifications.
I would have preferred a high wing, but the only one that even came
close to my specifications was the CH701 and it was off on enough other specifications
to miss the cut. The only two left were the Sonex and Zodiac 601XL.
The RANS S-19 and RV-12 could have been contenders were not out yet at that time.
Sitting in the Sonex was not very comfortable for me, plus the wife nixed
it on looks alone. Although the 601XL is not the sexiest airplane alive, it
seemed to fit me pretty well (not an easy task at 600, 240LB) and had a decent
useful load with the right engine and equipment. On September 16, 2006 I went
to a rudder workshop in Mexico, MO and got a demo ride with Nick. I was hooked
and came home with the rest of the tail kit. I cleaned out the 2-car garage
and began in earnest.
22 months and 780 logged labor hours later N554SG is considered to be airworthy
by the FAA. It is unpainted, but has a basic polished finish with several passes
of Nuvite F9. It is by no means a show polish, but will do for now. Fiberglass
painting and some trim paint will come later. It is powered by a Jabiru
3300 and has in the panel a Dynon D180 EFIS/EMS, Garmin 296 GPS, ICOM IC-A200
comm, Garmin GTX327 transponder and a PSE PM-501 intercom. The empty weight
came in at 749 pounds.
The registration took about 2 weeks from submission to the 8050-3 form in the mailbox.
I live fairly close to my FSDO so I hand carried the certification application
paperwork. An Inspector called me about 2 hours later and we scheduled
an appointment six days out. The Inspectors visit lasted just about an hour.
He spent about 20+ minutes going over the airplane itself. There were three
deficiencies during his inspection. The trim power connection decided to
act up and was erratic so I needed to fix this. The ELT battery expiration dates
were not labeled on the outside of the unit. I had labeled the remote unit
battery expirations on it, but not the ELT batteries themselves. The third
finding bothered me. I had made one of my elevator cables three times until I
got it right. After all that, I forgot to put a cotter key on the clevis end
castle nut. It troubled me because it was a stupid thing to have missed.
The rest of the time was spent going over paperwork. He read over my operating
limitations document word-for-word. After each paragraph we discussed its intent.
All was pretty straight forward, but there was one surprise. The exact
wording of one paragraph is During the flight testing phase, no person may be
carried in this aircraft during flight unless that person is essential to the
purpose of that flight. On this and other forums, I have read the discussions
that the overall consensus of various FAA Inspectors is a hard line opinion
that no one other than the pilot is essential for any flights in the test period.
None, Nada, end of story. My FSDO Inspector has a different view on this.
For gross weight flights, he feels that sandbags have their own inherent dangers,
including falling loose and jamming controls. He recommended that I consider
a person in the passenger seat for those flights. He spelled out that
if I chose that route, the purpose of the flight must be clear and that the person
be briefed and understands that their purpose on that flight is as essential
ballast and nothing more. Not a pleasure joy ride and not flight instruction.
It was a very pleasant and informative visit. Afterwards I buttoned up the inspection
ports and put the cowling back on. It was a blistering 96 humid degrees
out but I decided to put a few more taxi tests under my belt. All tests up
to now were limited to around 40 MPH or so and with full nose down elevator.
The first taxi was up to around 45 MPH and after I cut power, I neutralized the
elevators to let the nose get a little light. The second was up to 50 MPH
and I pulled nose wheel off the ground for a few seconds. The third and last
taxi test was up to around 55 MPH and when I chopped to idle and pulled up a bit,
I was a little startled by a quick liftoff to about three feet. It bounced
a couple of times on the way back down and decided it was time to call it a
day and tuck the airplane back in the hanger. I was getting a little overheated
and not mentally ready for a purposeful first flight anyway. That will happen
sometime in the next week, hopefully before I head up to Oshkosh with the
camper.
My overall impressions of the 601XL and the Jabiru engine are very positive. The
airframe build was very straightforward and factory support from Nick, Roger,
Caleb or Shirley was prompt. There are some design aspects that I have had
issues with, primarily the canopy. None are serious and are more on the aggravating
side as far as trying to build and perfect. Pete, Mark, Dana and the
rest of the team at Jabiru USA have been very helpful with their FWF class and
continued support. My check ride in the CAMS Flight S-LSA 601XL verified honest
flight characteristics. Of course its light wing loading shows every bump
in the air, but is not out of line for this class of airplane. I am surprised
with the twitchiness of the nose wheel steering on the runway in my airplane.
The CAMS 601XL was sensitive, but mine seems more so. Maybe it is because
I am by myself and lightly loaded. Every time I look down at an instrument, it
seems as though I am pointed towards the grass when I look back up. I find
myself dancing on the pedals more than when I am landing a tail wheel Champ in
a crosswind.
Pardon the long discourse, but I am pretty pumped. First flight will be soon.
--------
David Gallagher
601 XL, ready to fly.
Read this topic online here:
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Message 5
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| Subject: | Re: Airworthiness Certification Is In hand!! |
Congrats Dave!!! I am hoping to be behind you within the next year. Keep
us informed on the first flight!
Larry Husky
Madras, Oregon
In a message dated 7/16/2008 8:51:52 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, david.m
.gallagher@ge.com writes:
--> Zenith601-List message posted by: "DaveG601XL"
<david.m.gallagher@ge.com>
July 16, 2008 was a big day for my Zodiac 601XL. N554SG was granted it=C3
=A2=82=AC=84=A2s
Special Airworthiness Certificate and made a very brief disassociation with
the surly bonds of earth. But let=C3=A2=82=AC=84=A2s back up a littl
e bit. At Oshkosh
2006, I finally affirmed my much-delayed decision to build an experimental
airplane. It was my 29th trip to Oshkosh and was about time to get the sho
w on
the road. I had a fairly complex decision tree based upon type of
construction, seating arrangement, projected build times, flight envelope,
company
support, etc. The final arrangement was basically all metal, side-by-side,
and
meets the LSA specifications. I would have preferred a high wing, but the
only
one that even came close to my specifications was the CH701 and it was off
on enough other specifications to miss the cut. The only two left were the
Sonex and Zodiac 601XL. The RANS S-19 and RV-12 could have been contenders
were not out yet at that time. Sitting in the Sonex was not very comfortab
le
for me, plus the wife nixed it on looks alone. Although the 601XL is not t
he
sexiest airplane alive, it seemed to fit me pretty well (not an easy task a
t 6=C3=A2
=82=AC=84=A200=C3=A2=82=AC=C2=9D, 240LB) and had a decent useful l
oad with the right engine and
equipment. On September 16, 2006 I went to a rudder workshop in Mexico, MO
and
got a demo ride with Nick. I was hooked and came home with the rest of the
tail kit. I cleaned out the 2-car garage and began in earnest.
22 months and 780 logged labor hours later N554SG is considered to be
airworthy by the FAA. It is unpainted, but has a basic polished finish wit
h
several passes of Nuvite F9. It is by no means a =C3=A2=82=AC=CB=9Cshow
=C3=A2=82=AC=84=A2 polish, but will do
for now. Fiberglass painting and some trim paint will come later. It is
powered by a Jabiru 3300 and has in the panel a Dynon D180 EFIS/EMS, Garmin
296
GPS, ICOM IC-A200 comm, Garmin GTX327 transponder and a PSE PM-501 intercom
.
The empty weight came in at 749 pounds.
The registration took about 2 weeks from submission to the 8050-3 form in
the mailbox. I live fairly close to my FSDO so I hand carried the
certification application paperwork. An Inspector called me about 2 hours
later and we
scheduled an appointment six days out. The Inspector=C3=A2=82=AC=84
=A2s visit lasted just
about an hour. He spent about 20+ minutes going over the airplane itself.
There were three deficiencies during his inspection. The trim power
connection decided to act up and was erratic so I needed to fix this. The
ELT battery
expiration dates were not labeled on the outside of the unit. I had labele
d
the remote unit battery expirations on it, but not the ELT batteries
themselves. The third finding bothered me. I had made one of my elevator
cables
three times until I got it right. After all that, I forgot to put a cotter
key
on the clevis end castle nut. It troubled me because it was a stupid thing
to have missed.
The rest of the time was spent going over paperwork. He read over my
operating limitations document word-for-word. After each paragraph we disc
ussed it=C3=A2
=82=AC=84=A2s intent. All was pretty straight forward, but there was
one surprise.
The exact wording of one paragraph is =C3=A2=82=AC=C5=93During the fligh
t testing phase, no
person may be carried in this aircraft during flight unless that person is
essential to the purpose of that flight.=C3=A2=82=AC=C2=9D On this and
other forums, I have
read the discussions that the overall consensus of various FAA Inspectors i
s
a hard line opinion that no one other than the pilot is essential for any
flights in the test period. None, Nada, end of story. My FSDO Inspector h
as a
different view on this. For gross weight flights, he feels that sandbags
have their own inherent dangers, including falling loose and jamming contro
ls.
He recommended that I consider a person in the passenger seat for those
flights. He spelled out that if I chose that route, the purpose of the fli
ght
must be clear and that the person be briefed and understands that their pur
pose
on that flight is as essential ballast and nothing more. Not a pleasure jo
y
ride and not flight instruction.
It was a very pleasant and informative visit. Afterwards I buttoned up the
inspection ports and put the cowling back on. It was a blistering 96 humid
degrees out but I decided to put a few more taxi tests under my belt. All
tests up to now were limited to around 40 MPH or so and with full nose down
elevator. The first taxi was up to around 45 MPH and after I cut power, I
neutralized the elevators to let the nose get a little light. The second w
as up to
50 MPH and I pulled nose wheel off the ground for a few seconds. The third
and last taxi test was up to around 55 MPH and when I chopped to idle and
pulled up a bit, I was a little startled by a quick liftoff to about three
feet.
It bounced a couple of times on the way back down and decided it was time
to call it a day and tuck the airplane back in the hanger. I was getting a
little overheated and not mentally ready for a purposeful first flight anyw
ay.
That will happen sometime in the next week, hopefully before I head up to
Oshkosh with the camper.
My overall impressions of the 601XL and the Jabiru engine are very positive
.
The airframe build was very straightforward and factory support from Nick,
Roger, Caleb or Shirley was prompt. There are some design aspects that I
have had issues with, primarily the canopy. None are serious and are more
on
the aggravating side as far as trying to build and perfect. Pete, Mark, Da
na
and the rest of the team at Jabiru USA have been very helpful with their FW
F
class and continued support. My check ride in the CAMS Flight S-LSA 601XL
verified honest flight characteristics. Of course its light wing loading s
hows
every bump in the air, but is not out of line for this class of airplane.
I
am surprised with the =C3=A2=82=AC=CB=9Ctwitchiness=C3=A2=82=AC
=84=A2 of the nose wheel steering on the
runway in my airplane. The CAMS 601XL was sensitive, but mine seems more
so.
Maybe it is because I am by myself and lightly loaded. Every time I look
down at an instrument, it seems as though I am pointed towards the grass wh
en
I look back up. I find myself dancing on the pedals more than when I am
landing a tail wheel Champ in a crosswind.
Pardon the long discourse, but I am pretty pumped. First flight will be
soon.
--------
David Gallagher
601 XL, ready to fly.
Read this topic online here:
http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=193291#193291
Attachments:
http://forums.matronics.com//files/img_9027_958.jpg
http://forums.matronics.com//files/img_9016_152.jpg
http://forums.matronics.com//files/img_9013_839.jpg
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