The way to love someone
is to lightly run your finger over that person's soul
until you find a crack,
and then gently pour your love into that crack.
~Keith Miller

Thursday, May 19, 2011

LSA

Fuel line ... that silver metalic background has nothing to do with the wing.  It's insulation inside the hanger  behind the shelf that this wing section was resting on.


 thought the engine was impressive ... didn't hear it running but ... it's a lot of uumph for the airframe



glossy ... sleek ... sexy


composite prop felt strange to me ... sounded strange, I like them to "ring"
                            
basic round instruments ... upgrades to full glass  ... stick positioned in floor

I am not a big fan of the light sport aircraft ... in general.  I don't like the idea of airplanes being piloted by people who don't want to get at very least a private certificate. Yeah, if some high hour pilot loses his/her medical and still wants to putz around, I totally get that ... totally support that. But this market appeals to people looking for a short cut into the air which seems to frequently result in a shortenned life span ... not on my dime ... that's my take on it.
The engine in this thing is ... beautiful.  This is a fast little bird.
Those two mechanics who so graciously showed us around the field, built several of these and I sure enjoyed hearing all about the construction.  That fuel line picture was taken with this story in mind:  Somehow, the line was crimped ... that was a pre- assembly rut-ro for these guys ... in other words a hidden "glitch". Once everything was bolted together, one of these guys intended to fly it to the buyer ... if I have the story straight. At some point in the flight (He said he was at 5500MSL) he starts noticing a problem and observes that the wing is imploding (my word) ... it looks like a smashed coke can.  He said he could see rivets popping.  Okay ... so it must have been pretty intense watching your wing wad up, but he is able to spiral down in to an alls well that ends well landing.  I really shoulda taken a picture of the crumpled up wing, but I didn't.  The bend in the fuel line somehow caused the wing to be sucked in as the fuel was depleted ... there was some disagreement about whether or not the vent was operating properly ... you know how old guys bicker about details.  The pilot said the owner wanted his other plane delivered (my head is still shaking a no-way there)... before they even knew what caused this mess.  I'm not telling the story as well as they did ... obviously ... but ... well, I know I would be willing to fly one of these ... no doubt there, but ... .

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