Fwd: Impressions from the 2018 Independence EAA Fly-In

[mkoxxy]

Hello Earthstar forum! Here is a review of my flight to the Independence
State annual EAA fly-in. I thought this may be of interest to some of you.

Flying stats: 41 miles between Twin Oaks Airpark (my home base) and
Independence State. On the way there, I used 80% of my charge, in 50
minutes. On the way home, I used 83% charge in 60 minutes (slight headwind).

Martin

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Martin Koxxy <martinkoxxy@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Aug 21, 2018 at 1:48 PM
Subject: Impressions from the 2018 Independence EAA Fly-In


This annual mid-August fly-in is organized by the local EAA chapter 292. Dr
David Ullman is the current president, and he was also heading this event.
Dave, I applaud you for orchestrating such an informative, fun, and
smooth-running show! I know you will point to the many volunteers and
sponsors, but seeing you in action (and unwinding afterwards) was very
impressive. It was also good to see that organizational skills, motivation,
and sheer stamina can last well into retirement - I know you have a few
years on me.

As an "exhibitor" I felt I needed to stay close to the Quark to answer
questions and promote electric propulsion, but I did catch most of Dave's
talk Saturday morning on the status of electric airplanes, USTOL, and the
IDEAL concept (https://www.davidullman.com/distributed ... propulsion).

Having attended several aviation events recently, this one felt different:
lots of interesting projects and a wide variety of aircraft (stationed
there and flown in), good number and spacing of activities (never a dull
moment!), a good announcer, and more pilots than dreamers. And Dave was
right to talk me into flying in: the Quark generated a lot of interest, and
I saw many double-takes when visitors realized this was electric powered.
Range came up a lot, as expected, but everyone seemed to be amazed that I
can fly more than an hour per charge. The ratio of people who suggested
solar cells on the wings was definitely smaller than at other events - a
sign that the audience was more educated about the realities of
photo-voltaic power density. As an aside, the number of solar arrays on the
houses and hangars in the airpark was probably way ahead of average, too. I
handed out 20+ flyers, and had many interesting technical conversations.
Growing up in Europe, I missed the heydays of the Ultralight movement, but
having followed the literature since the 80s and talking with Mark about
the early days, I sensed a lot of the same enthusiasm for innovation and
experimentation. A far cry from the two shows I attended at Arlington. But
I hear, Airventure also had good attendance this year - maybe we have
finally turned the corner.

Saturday was Van's Annual Homecoming, and many RVs flew in for the day. I
had a couple nice conversations with Dick V. Who knows: maybe RV-16 will be
electric. He does fly an electric motor glider...

The apron at Independence is relatively small and may eventually put a
crimp on attendance. But for now, it just means less walking to see
interesting planes and exhibits, and denser crowds tend to raise the
enthusiasm level. I liked talking with groups of 3 or 4 people about the
Quark - more efficient, of course, but also more lively conversations.

I followed the "Taxiway of Dreams and Projects Tour" on Saturday. Many of
the 200+ residences at the airpark have interesting projects and finished
planes in their (backyard) hangars, often several, and we got to see the
many of the more interesting ones and talk with the owners / builders. If
my spouse were more interested in aviation, I would love to live there.
Dave's hangar contains a wind tunnel he built, fully instrumented, in which
he is testing scale models with distributed electric propulsors. He also
got his latest full scale test cell (with a 120mm diameter electric
shrouded fan on a section of wing) fired up the morning I got there. The
idea is to generate a large portion of the required lift by directing the
air from the fan over the top of the wing to generate lift, in addition to
thrust. He is using CAD solid modeling and a 3D printer to optimize the
shape of the shroud behind the fan. The test cell is not fully instrumented
yet, but I can attest that this little fan produces a lot of wind, in a
fairly tight cone. I could see myself flying on 4 or maybe 6 of these on
the Quark. Dave also has bought a high-wing tractor plane (forgot the
model) which he plans to use as a test bed (flying with the ICE in place
initially).

I did not see any other electric propulsion activities, but the EAA hangar
was full of unusual projects. I saw a Drifter, Breezy, Kolb, Zenith, and a
Facetmobile! I hear Barnaby comes by periodically to consult. There was
also a section of "Custer channel wing" (look it up). I understand many of
these projects involve teenagers, and it was great to see them advocate for
their project.

Arty Trost flew in and gave a talk on "Up, Up and Away", part of the Teen
Track Program. She also entertained us after dinner Saturday with her
recount of her epic flight from the NW to Sun-and-Fun and back, in an
open-air Maxair Drifter.

There are many high-end airplanes at Independence, a lot of them in the
airpark hangars. But there are also many smaller, unusual airplanes, like
Sonex, Rans, even a little Osprey, a few canards, and a handful of gliders.
It looked like about half the resident airplanes were something other than
certified GA (Dave?). It seems there would be at least one resident expert
on just about anything one would build, restore or maintain here. Except
warbirds - I guess the runway is too short (3100 ft). Personally, I did not
mind a little less emphasis on military aviation - Arlington had too much
of it, and there are other venues if that's your thing. Love and Peace!

The silent auction and raffle were a big success. I did not bid on anything
- nothing I *needed* or could carry home. But donors and bidders were
generous, and I suspect the economic stratus here is a bit above average,
even for pilots.

On Sunday we had the STOL competition. Most of the RVs had left, and only
one RV-8 was competing, but in all, there were 18 planes in 3 categories,
with each getting two attempts. I was "strongly" invited to compete, even
offered to fly in an ad-hoc category "electric", but I had never done a
STOL competition and did not want to break my plane in the process. I did
agree to fly a STOL demo ahead of the competition, and I think I did OK,
except I forgot to get on the brakes after touchdown. I think the Quark
could have won in two of the three classes. No chance against the highly
modified STOL planes, with 40ft take-off runs and 100 ft roll-out. Still,
people came away with high respect for what an electric plane can do. If I
really wanted to compete, I would have to experiment with prop type and
pitch, fly on a lighter battery, and possibly get hydraulic brakes. And
practice! But I would give $200k carbon fiber planes a run for their money.
See photo "wanna STOL?". So, no trophy. But I got a nice T-shirt to
commemorate the event.

The fly-in was well organized, even considering this is just the latest in
a long tradition. Having the Van's Homecoming there on Saturday (also a
tradition now) infused the event with a fresh set of planes, pilots, and
copilots, and the large event tent that Van's sponsored was perfect. It got
hot in the afternoons, but there was always some shade and a breeze. The
meals were handled expertly (catered dinners, chapter breakfasts, and boy
scout hamburger lunches) and the lines were manageable. I was grateful to
have vegan options for both dinners. The scouts had garden burgers on
Saturday, but Sunday I had to divert to the Starduster Cafe on the field
for a veggie burger, due to time constraints. Having an ice cream truck on
the apron Saturday and Sunday was icing on the cake.

Many of the attendees who flew in for the weekend were put up by chapter
members in the airpark or nearby. I was lucky to stay with the Ullmans, in
a neighbor's trailer. Adele was kind enough to cook vegan dinner Friday and
vegan breakfasts (all of them from scratch and delicious!), even though
that is not their normal diet. We had good conversations about all the
places in the world we had visited or lived in, about culture differences
and trends, and of course, diet. We never strayed far into politics, but I
doubt Dave is a climate change skeptic... Dave and I compared notes on the
state of CAD and CFD. He alerted me that SolidWorks gives EAA members free
use of their CAD program, like they do for students - I have since
successfully downloaded a copy. I would have enjoyed his classes on the
mechanical design process.

Last item: Dave and I would love to have Mark come up for next year's
fly-in and give a talk. Mark, I know you have been here before, but the
time is right to make another push. Judging by the interest the Quark
generated, I think you would have a large, informed audience. In addition
to electric propulsion, many here would also love to reminisce about the
early days of the Ultralight movement, the history since, and future
trends. Not many movers and shakers from those days are around or active
any longer, and your perspective and anecdotes will find a receptive
audience. Same for your interactions with (current and former) FAA
officials, another subject dear to Dave's heart. If you make it up here
next year, I will bring the Quark and we can both compete in the STOL
competition.

Martin

[rahulchoudhary73]

Niice read. Will read David's books someday soon; feel good by their titles alone.

A sneeze goes ~100mph, entrains surrounding air too with lots of vortices and turbulent flow. Synthetic jets work like that with far less electricity than equivalent fans, with a fairly low profile form factor, silent, last longer. They're common in big LEDs, likely MacBook Air too. Nuventix makes piezoelectric ones, with new age materials, patent to go free in a couple of years now. May get even more value for money.

Once, i did think of placing many on top of the eGull's wing just after the D-cell when the flow begins to get turbulent, subject to the power budget. Now it seems it might be even simpler, if they're only used at take off & landing. Thought i'd bring it up for pilots who already own eGulls to delve into further.

This investigator may have something worthwhile to share.
https://sbir.nasa.gov/SBIR/abstracts/05 ... -9831.html

two cents,
Rahul

[rahulchoudhary73]

Niice read. Will read David's books someday soon; feel good by their titles alone.

A sneeze goes ~100mph, entrains surrounding air too with lots of vortices and turbulent flow. Synthetic jets work like that with far less electricity than equivalent fans, with a fairly low profile form factor, silent, last longer. They're common in big LEDs, likely MacBook Air too. Nuventix makes piezoelectric ones, with new age materials, patent to go free in a couple of years now. May get even more value for money.

Once, i did think of placing many on top of the eGull's wing just after the D-cell when the flow begins to get turbulent, subject to the power budget. Now it seems it might be even simpler, if they're only used at take off & landing. Thought i'd bring it up for pilots who already own eGulls to delve into further.

This investigator may have something worthwhile to share.
https://sbir.nasa.gov/SBIR/abstracts/05 ... -9831.html

two cents,
Rahul

[blaswichk]

Lot’s of dollars.