Earthstar Forums

I would love to have Mark write about his performance, pros and cons
experiences in his 700 T

Alan,
Sorry about the detail, but I'm on a roll here and want to share my in depth look at the FAR's. Further reading showed me no distiction with required equipment for experimental or certificated airplanes. What did surface again to me that I kinda forgot is that expermentals are legal for day VFR only, (ref. Sec. 91.319 (d), (2) ). So my lighting is not for serious night flying, just pattern work at dusk, or late coming home. I am also out of compliance until I get a fuel gage, even if it's a mirror to look at my marked fuel tank. But hey, it's hard to have have every minute detail right, huh?

kb

Hmmm, I know my instructor and I both looked carefully at the rules and talked to the FAA to make sure I am in compliance. I don't have the energy to dig through everything so I may give a call to the EAA today if I have time or next week (this is going to be a busy week). I didn't want to have a compass because I have a JT2 with a very limited space for instruments and having a panel mounted compass took up too much space. Having a compass on top of the panel took away my view. I have a compass in my autopilot that can work in a crunch. If I lose power, I have the battery in my GPS. If I loose my GPS, I have map and autopilot. If I loose power and GPS and am in an unfamiliar area, I'm landing in the first good looking field unless the next airstrip/airport is easy to find.

Without power my battery will run down because of the demands of my fuel injection and core instruments. I'm also limited in range since I need electricity to get gas from my wing tanks to my header tank, so I'm limited to the 3 gallons in the header tank (maybe an hour of flight if I push it and I'm not going to push it unless I'm flying transcontinental ;) ).

I do think I will get a compass, but it will be a windshield mounted compass. I would like to be able to calculate winds in flight better. The compass in my autopilot only turns on when I don't have a signal from my GPS so I can't use that for wind vectors.

My instructor told me that I'm required to have my nav on lights during civilian twilight or sunset, but I don't know if that means you have to have nav lights for an LSA or daytime experimental during this time, or if I am required to use them if I have them.

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Alan,
Nice thread going here. The day VFR requirements did mention the anti-collsion light (we call them strobes), but you don't have to have nav lights for day VFR (at least I'm good here), and also as experimentals we can't fly over congested population. I'm good there too, as we are out in the country and I always look for fields and roads for emergency landing sites.
Judging from your wing tanks and a header tank, your plane probably isn't a Thundegull, and I do wish that we could have fuel in the wing to free up storage space.
Also you mention a autopilot, that must be nice on cross country's to let George hold the course until you want to do something different. I do have a panel mounted compass that came with the airplane (I'm the 3rd owner), but find that it is waaaay different than the GPS. I'm thinking about moving it away from the panel, as it has a steel cross-brace just over the compass that probably creates the error. More fun with instrument panels

kb

Oooops,
You do fly a Thundergull, JT-2, as I re-read your post. Tell me about your wing tanks, as I have wing tank envy with the Gull 2000. I have miniscule storage area, and would love to have fuel in the wing. Others have mentioned about possible leakage into the foam leading edge, but isn't that uphill most of the time except on descent??

kb

Wing tanks add weight and complexity. The concerns are that fuel will leak into the D cell foam as well as the foam in the flaps.

Foam collapses when exposed to gas immediately, so even a little gas will cause a great deal of damage.

I do like having the room and having the gas outside of the fuselage.

If I were to do it again I would have wing tanks as close to the fuselage as I can and would replace the D cell foam with a D shaped aluminum wing tank (keep CG forward).

For safety I have a 4 gallon header tank that I have artifically reduced to 3 gallons so that measurement errors etc. won't put me on the ground. Gas flows from the wing tanks to the header tank via two fuel pumps. Fuel pumps are activated by a level sensor in the header tank.

Mine currently are mid-wing (width) and slightly behind of the middle of the wing (depth).

Another issue is that aluminum tanks are notorious for leaking. Fiberglass tanks don't hold up under some kinds of gasoline. I'd use plastic or a bladder if you can find one.

Love my autopilot. Wouldn't fly without one, now that i have one. great for reading maps, trying to find something you dropped, or flying in turbulence.

I had an 1-1/2 hour flight earlier this year in heavy turbulence and just let the autopilot (wing leveler) fly me. Wasn't tired when I got back on the ground. Went up, down, sideways, etc. but I just let the airplane fly itself with the AP leveling the wings and fairly accurately keeping me on course.

When the conditions are better the autopilot will keep me right on course, increasing the fuel efficency and effective speed of the aircraft. Great for finding airports since I can tie it to my GPS, head directly toward the airport and search for the airport with binoculars if necessary.



_____

My understanding is that E-LSA aircraft are not required to have a
magnetic compas for daytime VFR flight. But, agreed, it is a good idea to
have one.

Blade.

Thanks for the info, Alan. I probably won't retrofit fuel tanks into the wing of my Gull, mainly because I don't really looking forward into unbonding the top skins. If I build my dream wing though, it will be with Mark's input to be a 150mph wing, basically a clipped two-place. I found a bladder fuel cell source from the other airplane site, but would still prefer the cross-linked polyethylene we all use. I once knew of a company years ago that would do custom blow-molds, which I think is what our tanks are made of, or similar.
And I think that your right on with weight distribution. Seems to me, the closer inboard will make the wings less heavy in feel. I also think that getting the 60lbs of weight back up to the CG, which helps the roll.

Your auto-pilot sounds interesting, I looked at installation photo's on another site and saw that It goes together pretty easy.
Do you fine tune your airspeed indicator? That's my next project before I put my re-built electric drive motor back on the Ivo prop so I can go chase my hangar mate's Titan with a 65hp MZ engine. I'm running the 503, but mine is all cowled and I smoother the wing to the fuselage, so I'm cleaner. More on that later.

kb

Hi Rahul
Happy to show you my plane. You can come out and see a variety of planes at our field. Lets wait untill summer when we are flying.
As for the wing tip extenions I believe Mark B has used them from the beginning. It makes a 24 foot wing perform like a 26 foot wing.
I guess Kolb is catching up.
Fred

What another rare JT2 driver!
Yes Allan I sure would like to see pictures of what you have done with your plane and the wing tanks.
Fred