vintage airplane - mar 2003

8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 2003

1/36


2/36

VOL 31

, No. 3

2

VAA NEWS /H.G. Frau tsch y

4

JOHN MILLER RECALLS

MY TRA NSPORT

LI

CENSE TEST/Jo

hn

l l

er

5

MYSTERY PLANE

MARCH 2003

5

6

IN SEARCH OF THE NORGE

TELLER, ALASKA'S CLAIM TO FAME

Irven F Palmer

10

TYPE

CLUB

NOTES

THE TECHNICAL

CORNER

Robert G.

Lo

ck

13

THE VINTAGE INSTRUCTOR

ASSUMPTIONS

D ou g Stewart

14

WHAT OUR MEMBERS ARE RESTORING

16 BOB DALZELL'S GERONIMO

Budd

Davisso n

21

PASS IT

TO

BUCK

22

CALENDAR

27

NEW MEMBERS

28 CLASSIFIED ADS

30

VAA MERCHANDISE

6


3/36

STR IGHT

e

EVEL

Each

of

us

in

various parts

of

the

United States has

to

deal with some

form of adverse weather. Here

in the

southeastern United

States, it's ice.

During this year, the power compa-

nies have

gotten

really good at

restoring

the electrical grid in the

southeast, with all

the

practice

Mother Nature has given

them.

Ice storms can be really devastat

ing,

and

we

had

a

whopper

of

an

ice

storm

this

past

week.

t

turned

off

the lights and furnaces of more than

250,000 people for three

to

six days,

and

created

some

very real

hard-

ships for many people. What s

heartening is how

people

jump in

and help

each other out during

times like this. It reminds me a lot of

aviation, where we

often

see groups

of folks pitch in and help

out

with a

common goal in mind.

Even though

the drooping

branches

were glistening with en-

crusted ice just a few days ago, we've

already had a temperature of 60°F,

and

the calendar

tells me we're just

a few weeks

short

of Sun

n

Fun.

I m

ready How about you? Norma and I

are looking forward to standing in

the

Florida sunshine and enjoying

seeing our many friends from down

there and across the United States

Y

SPI BUTCH JOYCE

PRESIDENT

VINTAGE

ASSOCIATION

little

perspective

really know your airplane

or

to find

out about one you

want

to buy.

It's

going to be a spectacular start

to

EAA s

Countdown to

Kitty Hawk,

which

is sponsored by Ford Motor

Company. The beautiful

reproduc-

tion Wright

Flyer

built by Ken Hyde's

Wright

Experience

will be

shown

publicly

for the first

time

, and you

really have

to

see

it to

appreciate

not

only

the

great

craftsmanship

of Ken

and

his crew s

work,

but

also

the

work of

the

Wright brothers.

The cost of fuel has been a subject

for some pilots, and there are those

who are certain

that i t

will impact the

attendance at aviation events across

the nation. In some parts of the coun

try, avgas

is at

or just below $3.00 per

gallon. That can be a pretty bitter pill

to swallow when it comes time to pull

out

the

credit card or checkbook and

pay

the

bill. Still,

perhaps

some per

spective

might

help. While I was

coming of age in

the

late 1950s, I was

pumping a good deal of avgas

at our

airport. I was flying, too, so I was

painfully aware of how

much

it cost.

At that time the 80

octane

in our

tanks was selling for 60 cents a gallon.

At that pOint in time, the average Joe

was taking home a weekly paycheck

of $50 for 40 hours of work, for a base

in 1958. I m sure there are

plenty

of

opinions

about

this particular aspect

of flying. There seem

to

be so many

things that

demand a dollar or more

from

us

now

than

there

was

back

then,

that

for many, it becomes a mat

ter of priorities.

Enjoying local fly-ins is a great way

to enjoy this spring and summer's

ac-

tivities.

One example is

the

VAA

Chapter 3 event that takes place

the

first full weekend in May. Folks will

start flying in

on

Friday, May

2.

We'll

have old movies for everyone to enjoy

that night, and then

the

fly-in will be

in full swing

on

Saturday. We'll park

about 200 airplanes on

the

airport in

Burlington,

North

Carolina. Old

friends will see one another, and new

friendships will

start

as folks give

buddy

rides

and hang out around

their airplanes. There's no air show,

but the fly-by pattern is usually plenty

busy. Judging of aircraft begins after

lunch, and the awards are given out at

the awards banquet Saturday night.


4/36

A N WS

COMPJLED BY

RJC REYNOLDS AND

HG

FRAUTSCHY

Field Approval Process

EAA and VAA continue to ac

tively

work

with the FAA

Small

Aircraft Directorate office to ensure

the

confusion

regarding Form 337

Field Approvals

is

resolved as soon

as possible. We continue to hear

from members who are unable to

get a local FSDO approval on a 337,

regardless

of whether or

not

it is

based on a previously

approved

337. Under the new system the

FSDO is to contact an FAA engineer

who

will then review your package.

A

properly

filled

out

337

with

a

copy of a previously filled out 337

forwarded

to

an FAA

CO

(Aircraft

Certification

Office) is all

that

is

needed.

An

engineer in the CO of

fice will review your paperwork

and

then

return it

to

the

FSDO

with a

sign-off.

The policy

is

being reworked into a

single Revision 16

document,

which should

clarify the issue, but

members are encouraged to

go

to the

manager of their local FSDO

if

they're

told a 337 cannot be approved.

If

the

FSDO manager

is

unable to clarify the

procedure for the inspector, please

contact

EAA

Government programs

at

[email protected]

or 920-426-6522.

Wrigbt lyer

Sim

Makes

First

Fligbt

Before it welcomes thousands

of

would-be

Orvilles

and

Wilburs,

the

Wright Flyer

simulator

made

its

first flights in January in

its

birthplace, the restoration

center

vator. These simulator controls are

an e la b o ra t e joys ti c k, said Mi

croso ft Flight

Simulat

o r' s Bruce

Williams after m aki

ng

several test

flights

an

d a

fe

w last adjustment s .

The Flyer is included

in

th e n ew

Microsoft Flight Simul

ato

r: A Century

of Fligh t whi ch will be in sto res

th

is

July.

Th e Wrig

ht

Fl

ye

r simulator will

on ly be availabl e at EAA s Co unt

down to Kitty Ha wk. (For complete

tour in fo

rm

ation, visit ww

w.

count-

downtokittyhaw

k.

com. What 's

u n iq ue about EAA-a

nd

we h ave

partn

erships

with a

numb

er of or

ganizat

i

ons

in th e wo rld of

avia

t

ion,

William s said, is

that

EAA

is

t

he

only one

with

access to

aircraft,

th

e skill

s,

and th e people to

re-create this sort of experie

nc

e.

Bellanca-Champion

Club

Announces

Its Fly-In Schedule

Sun

'n

Fun 2003 Apr

il

2-8: We'

ll

be

at

the

Vintage

A

ir

craf

t

Type

Club Tent du

ri

n g

th

e

eve

nt ,

manned by Club

represent

ati ves

and

vo

lu nteers welcomin g, assist

ing,

and ch a t t in g with o u r

members,

gu ests,

an

d visi t o rs.

Items of

interes

t and som e of our

publications will be on displ

ay.

Two prese

nt

ations are sche

dul

ed

on Thursd

ay,

April 3:

At

12:00 p.m.

we prese

nt

Aeronca legend and au

thor Cha

rl ie

Las her, who will speak

on

Aero n cas (a lso a

ppli

es t o

Citabr ias) in Fo

rum Ten t 2. At 1:00

EAA s

Timeless Voices at Sun n

Fun

Aviation history is more than arti

facts; it 's about the people who make

the artifacts significant. The EM Air-

Venture Museum is preserving these

stories through Timeless Voices

of

Aviation, and

www timelessvoices org

tells

how to videotape the

story of

anyone involved in

aviation's first

century and share

it

with future gen

erations. Besides all

the

deta

i ls

about how to participate,

it

includes

selected videotaped inte rviews al

ready conducted.

Timeless Voices headquarters will

be

in the Greatest Aviators section

of EAA

' s Countdown

to

Kitty Hawk

pavilion . If

you

have

a story to tell,

you

can

schedule a

Sun

'n Fun interview by

contacting Mary McKeown at 920-426

6880 or

timelessvoices@eaa org

Forum : Learn how

to set

up and

conduct a Timeless

Voices

intervi

ew

at

EAA s

Timeless Voices

of

Aviation-

How To Get Involved,

on

Thursday,

April

3,

at

1

p.m. in

Sun

'n

Fun

Forum

Tent

4. Visitors

can

also meet project

staff

and

pick up project kits.

CURTISS-WRIGHT PROP DECALS

Fe ll ow VAA member Sylv a in

Melancon is looking for a pair of

decals for hi s 104-inch-long Cur

tis

s

-Wright metal prop.

t

was

made in 1937, and he's been told

it wa s used on a C

an

adian Pacific

Airwa ys

airplane

in th e ear ly

1940

s,

but he was unable to sup

ply us with any further details. If

mailto:[email protected]:///reader/full/www.timelessvoices.orgmailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:///reader/full/www.timelessvoices.orgmailto:[email protected]


5/36

VAA s

Friends of The

Red

Barn

VAA 2003 Co nve nt ion Fund Ra i

sing Program

The Vintage Aircraft Association is a major partici

irplane magazine, and on a special display at the VAA

pant

in

the

World's Largest

Ann

ual

Sport Aviation

Red

Barn.

You will

also be

presented with

a

special

Event - EAA AirVenture Oshkosh! The Vintage Divi

name

badge recognizing your level of

participation.

sion hosts and parks over 2,000 vintage airplanes each

During AirVenture, you'll have access to the Red Bam

year from

the Red

Barn area

of Wittman

Field south to Volunteer Center, a nice place to cool off.

the perimeter of the airport.

Gold Level

contributors

will also receive a pair of

The financial su

pport

for

the

various activities

in

certificates each good

for a flight on

their choice of

connection

with

the weeklong event in the

VAA

Red

EAA's Ford Trimotor or New Standard

Biplane,

re

Barn area has been principally derived from the Vin

deemable

during AirVenture or during the summer

tage Aircraft

Association's genera

l income fu

nd.

flying season

at

Pioneer Airport. Silver Level

contribu

Starting in 2002, the Vintage Board elected to more tors will receive one certificate for a flight on

their

properly underwrite

the annual

Vintage Red Barn area choice

of one of

the

two

planes.

Convention

activities from a year ly special conven-

This is a grand opportunity for all Vintage members

tion support fund. This effort is the VAA s "Friends of to join together as key financial supporters of the Vin

the

Red

Barn" program.

tage Division . I t will be a truly rewarding

experience

This fundraising program is an annual affair, begin for

each of

us as individuals to be part

of

supporting

ning

each

year

on

July

1

and end

i

ng

June

30 of

the

the

finest

gathering

of

Antique, Classic,

and

Contem-

following year. This year's campaign

is

we ll underway,

porary

airplanes in

the

world.

with contributions already arriv ing here at VAA HQ. Won 't you please join those of us who recognize the

Our

thanks to

those

of

you

who have

already

sent in

tremendously valuable key role

the

Vintage Aircraft Asso-

your 2003 contributions.

ciation has played in preserving the great grass roots and

You can join in as well. There will be three levels of general

aviation

airplanes of the last 100 years? Your

gifts and gift recognition:

participation

in

EAA s

Vintage Aircraft

Association

Vintage Gold Level - $600.00

and

above gift

Friends of the

VAA

Red Barn will help insure the very

Vintage Silver Level - $300 .

00

gift

finest in AirVenture Oshkosh Vintage Red Barn programs

Vintage Bronze Level - $100.00 gift

For those of you who

wish

to contribute, we've

Each

contribution

at

one

of these leve ls

en

t itles

included

a copy of the contribution form . Feel free

you to a Certificate

of

Appreciation from the Division.

to copy it and mail i t to VAA headquarters with

Your

name

will be listed as a contributor

in

Vintag

your

donation. Thank

you.

2003

VAA

Friends of

the

Red

Barn

Name______________________________________________ EAA#_______________VAA # ______________

Address,___________________________________________________________________________________

C

ity

/Sta te/ Zip,

__________

__________________________________________________________________

__

Phon

e

________________________ ____________

_ E-Mail

______________________________

___________

Please c hoo se your level of participation:


6/36

pleasant en-

countErsthro.ugh

the

1930s

with

George

Ream, the early

Department of

Commerce in-

spector at

old

Roosevelt Field.

He was quite a character, and I

had many contacts with

him,

especially

when

getting planes

inspeCted,

which in those

days

was

done

by

a

Department of

Commerce inspector. The first

time was in early 1928 when I

flew to Roosevelt to

take

the

test

for my transport license,

equivalent to today's commer-

cial

certificate. This was to be

my first

pilot

license under

the

new

1927 regulations.

I had an early morning ap-

pOintment

for

the test

and

took

off from Poughkeepsie's

old

air

port (long gone now) in my

OX S

powered IN-4 Canuck

in

beauti

ful

calm weather. The direct

course

took me

across Long Is

land

Sound, qUite a

broad

area.

Over the water I encountered

some

rather rough

clear air tur

bulence, and then the

airplane

seemed

to stand almost

still

in

an

extremely

strong

head wind,

descent

and

landing, after

I

had to

hold

the

power

on and

the tail up to prevent having the

plane

rolled

over

by the wind.

Several

men

came out

and

held

the wingtips so that I could turn

the plane to a crosswind position

to

keep

t from being blown

away. A Jenny does not have

brakes,

and the

way to "lock"

the

controls is to put a tightened seat

belt over the stick. The rudder

re-

mains free.

George Ream, whom I had

"\'ou '

mean

to tell

me

that

you

came here

never met up to

that

J l t ;

out of

the

little office and

"You

mean

to tell

me

that

you

came here in this wind expecting

to take a flight test?" When I af

firmed that I did, that I

had an

appointment,

and

that

there was

NO

wind

at Poughkeepsie,

he

said, "Okay, we'll go," and

he

got

aboard. With the help of the men

holding the wings, we turned

into the wind and

lifted

off.

There was no interphone, so no

communication between us,

and

:no

airspeed indicator. I just made

a few 45-degree turns and did the

required spins with

the

wind

drifting us clear across the field

each time.

Then I made

another

vertical descent

and,

knowing

that the

landing

had

to be made

within 200 feet after crossing

the

fence, landed about

one

fuselage

length

windward of it at zero

ground

speed. The

men on the

ground

held

the wings again.

George said,

That's enough.

Come into

the

office."

He

made


7/36

A few of

our

mem bers

were ab

le

to identify

the

pretty cabin biplane

that served as our

December

Mys

tery Plane. Here's one answer:

The December Mystery Plane is

the one and only Mode l E Cabin

Bird that was

bu

il t . It was built in

1931, and had experimental registra

tion number X8SSW.

It

was built by

the

Bird Aircraft Corp.

in

Gl

enda

l

e

Long Island, New York. This

com

pany

was the

successor

to the

Bru

nner- Winkle

Aircraft

Corp.

,

wh ich originally

designed

and

mar

keted

the

Bird line of biplanes.

The Cabin

Bird was

in

t rod u

ced

to the public at

the 1931

National

Aircraft

Show

that

was

held at

De

troit

City Airport in

Detroit

,

Michigan,

on

April 11

to 19,1931. It

was a

hit

at

the

show. The

plane

was

powered with a 12S-hp Kinner BS

engine, was described as a five -place

plane with capability for

big pay

loads, and was advertised at a price

of

4,995.

B Y

H G F R U T S C H Y

DECEMBER S

MYSTERY

PL NE

Our thanks to Dick and Jeannie Hill , who shared this photo from their collec-

tion of Bird Aircraft Co. materials. This version

is

not retouched, unlike the

December issue s photo. You can see they added a square window in the

cabin during the retouching, along with a D window. The actual registration

number

is

also shown

in

this version of the shot. There are a few more de-

tails coming to light concerning the Bird Model E, which will be included in

the forthcoming book,

History

o

the Bird ircraft by

Richard C Hill.

The Cabin

Bird had a

very short

life. It was

an entrant

in

the

1931 Na

tional Air Tour competition for the

Edsel B. Ford Reliability Trophy (com

monly

known as the Ford Air Tour).

On

July 4 1931,

the

Ford Air Tour de

parted

Dearborn, Michigan. The

THIS MONTH S MVSTERV PLANE COMES FROM THE

COLLECTION OF ALFRED FOX

JR.

OF GRAV, LOUISIANA.

Cabin Bird was flown by Leonard Flo

from Dearborn.

The tour

spent

the

first night in Le Roy, New York . On

July

5 the tour

went

to

Binghamton,

New York. On July

6

the Cabin Bird

suffered

an engine

failure near Ceres,

New

York

(on

the

New York/Pennsyl

vania

border

about

20

miles east of

Bradford, Pennsylvania). This resulted

in

the

Cabin Bird being

out

of the

tour for good.

Although

Bird Aircraft Corp . ad


8/36

The semi-rigid dirigible Norge as it

appeared just prior to its arrival at

the Artic Circle.

In Search of the

Norge

Teller, Alaska's Claim

to

Fame

IRVEN F PALM ER

As

a

member of

the

EAA

Vintage

Aircraft Association I tried for yea rs

to keep my airplane in its original

configuration. My reasoning was

simple. Since Cessna s design

team

worked for years developing its four

place

economical-to-operate

all -

metal

, easy-

to-fly

,

low-mainte

nance

good-performance

personal

transportation aircraft, why should I

try to change anything? Living in

Alaska, though ,

did require

a few

modifications, such as steel axles to

safely use skis in th e winter.

I purchased

N342SC

in 1975.

t

had rolled

out

of

the

Wichita factory

in 1954; a beautiful Cessna 170B, Se-

rial

No. 26471

that

had

incorporated all

of

the refinements

to the original 170 design.

The original

Continenta

l 145-hp

engine had

been

replaced back in

1967 with a new Continental 0

300A 145-hp engine. I

had

acquired

the aircraft with about 250 hours on

that

engine, and I

put

another 1,400

hours on it before I decided to have

it

overhauled

or replaced. The time

between

overhau

ls (TBO was listed

as l,SOO hours,

but

I decided to do

something befo re things started to

go bad.

The Norge

as

it deflates after arriv

ing in Teller Alaska at 7:30 a.m. on

May

14

1926

I looked at various options. A few

people I knew owned Cessna 170s.

One had replaced his engine with a

160-hp Lycoming, another with a

lS0-hp Lycoming, and still

another

with a new lS0-hp Continental with

fuel

injection.

All

of

thes

e conver

sions gave

their

owners a little

higher cruise speed

and

better take

off performance , while the gross

weight and useful load remained

nearly

the

same. The downside was

that all of those engines burned a lot

more fuel. So unless an auxiliary fuel

tank

is

installed,

which

usually de

creases the baggage area, the range

goes down as the fuel cost increases

as you arrive at

your

destination a

little sooner.

In

addition the installation

of

these engines requires major

and

costly changes to the airplane. For

instanc

e,

an

auxiliary fuel tank, new


9/36

engine mounts, relocation

of

the

battery,

alteration of the engine

cowling, installation of

propeller

controls, purchase of

a

constant

speed prop, installation of manifold

pressure

gauge, and more. All of

these things cost money,

and

the re

sult

is

only

a marginal

increase

in

performance

at certain weight

and

balance configurations.

So, I

made

the

decision to

keep

my Continental 0-300A

and

have it

overhauled.

After

this work was

done

by Alaskan Aircraft Engines in

Anchorage, Alaska,

and after

the

break-in period, I wanted

to

go

on

a

long trip

to

see

how

the

airplane

performed with its new engine.

During

the 7

years I have owned

N3428C I have flown it to nearly all

parts of

Alaska,

either

on

work

as

signments or

on

fun trips

that

have

included

hunting, fishing, and

prospecting. The one area of the

state that

I

had not ventured into

was

the

extreme northwestern part,

so I began

planning

a trip to tryout

my new engine.

Nearly

all

of

us

have been

on

many of

the

so-called 100

ham

burger outings, where we fly

out

to

some

destination

for

lunch and

re

turn home

the

same day. It's just an

excuse to go fly

on

a pretty day. Up

here in Alaska

many of our destina

tions

are

hundreds of

miles

apart,

and overnight camp-outs

are

com

monly associated with weekend trips.

This is especially true in

the

winter,

where the small number of daylight

hours makes planning critical.

One village in northwest Alaska

on the

Bering Sea gained

national

recognition in aviation circles back

in

1926

as the landing site of the

very first transpolar flight from Eu

rope to Alaska by the dirigible Norge.

The Norwegian

ex

plorer Roald Amundsen

wanted

to

be the first to

fly

to the North Pole and

then

on

to

Alaska. He

and Lincoln Ellsworth, a

wealthy

pilot and ex

plorer, tried in i t 1925

using

a

pair of Dornier

Wal seaplanes, but failed

in

the

attempt

and had

to

return to

their base.

Deciding

that

a dirigible

was

more

likely

to

suc

ceed on such a flight,

Amundsen made

a spe

cial

purchase

deal with

the

Italian government,

which

was

approved

by

Mussolini

on two

conditions:

that

the

Italian Col.

Umberto Nobile,

designer

of

the

air

ship, be appOinted

commander,

with

five

other Italians

forming

a part

of

the

crew, and that

Italy would

repur

chase the ship,

then

called

N-l,

if

it survived the ex

staked their claim to

reaching

the

North

Pole by air on May 9, 1926 .

The first flight

to

the

North

Pol e

would

not

be theirs to grasp,

but

the

crew of the Norge would be

the

first

Ten-year-old Janelle Menadelook

stands by

the

con

crete block that

used

to serve

as

the monument at

the spot where the

Norge

landed. A

bronze plaque

used to be mounted

on

the base, but it has been

missing

for some

time.

pedition in

good

Later, the

bronze

plaque

used

to be

on

display here at

condition.

the Teller Trading Co. store, but it s

no

longer there.

Later, Ellsworth

eventually contributed more than

to attempt a transpolar flight. Like


10/36

The Norge s landing spot

is

now oc-

cupied by fishing bo ts , a snow

machine, nd a

dog

sled.

Are

these

pieces of

the

Norge? I

don t know, but if they are, they are

a sad reminder of a once large air-

ship th t

weighed ton s and made

history when it landed t this small

Eskimo village.

Norwegians,

one American, one

Swede,

and

six

Italians,

the

Norge

lifted off

of

Spitsbergen, Norway,

at

Kings Bay on May

II,

1926,

and

headed for

the North

Pole, with a

planned destination of Nome, Alaska.

Navigation

was difficult in those

days before

LORAN

and

GPS, as a

magnetic compass is

not reliable

at

high latitudes. Perhaps celestial navi

gation

was the key

to their

success.

After

an exhausting

three-day flight,

disagreement

between

Amundsen

and Nobile became

known,

particu

larly after President Coolidge and

Italian

dictator Benito Mussolini

feted Nobile

as

a great hero. Amund

sen had felt

that

credit for the

planning and

execution of

the

flight

belonged to

him,

Ellsworth, and his

crew, and that Nob il e

had

been no

more

than

a

hired

pilot

and engi

neer. No sign

of this

rift

appears in

the

book

First Crossing of the Polar

Sea by Amundsen a n d Ellsworth,

published

by

Doubleday, Doran

&

Co. in 1928. Yet

in

his other

book,

My Life as

an

Explorer,

he spent

nearly 100 pages discrediting Nobile.

Still,

inJune

1928,

Amundsen

chose

honor

above his

hard fee lings

and

joined a rescue

operation to

retrieve

Nobile

and the crew of the airship

Italia.

After

departing Tromso in

a

search plane, Amundsen

was

never

heard from again.

He and

his plane's

crew disappeared without

a

trace.

Nobile, after

a

tumultuous

career

punctuated

by

persecution by

the

Italian Fascists,

immigrated

to the

United States, where he died in 1978.

After landing in Telier, the crew de

cided

not

to proceed any farther even

though a big

celebration

awaited in

Nome . The unceleb rated crew

set

about dismantling the airship. Nobile

wanted

the engines returned to Italy,

so

they

were crated

and

shipped out.

The rest

of

th e airship was also taken

apart,

but

here the differing accounts

become confusing.

Some old-timers had stories about

vi ll

agers carting

off pieces of

th

e

Norge. Was

the

Norge fabric used for

remembered or been told

about

the

Norge. I

wan

ted to get my hands on

a piece

of

the airs

hip or at

least stand

where th e hist

or ic

flight

had land

ed.

On September

20, 2002

, I

got

a

good

weather

report

on local

news

,

and Duat.com confirmed

a

nice,

sunny

high-pressure

weather win

dow

of

about five days. I sorted all

my

camping

and surviva

l

gear and

loaded

N3428C,

Char lie , and took

off at 10:47 a .m. From my home

base

at

Sold

ot

na , Alaska, I

climbed

steadily westward, crossing Cook In

let and the Al

aska Range

throu

gh

Rainy Pass

at

6,500 feet

with

a

good

tail

wind and

a groundspeed

of

125

mph . Mount McKinley

and

the

other

peaks,

partially covered with

new snow,

provided spectacu lar

scenery. I landed at McGrath

and

again

at Unalakleet

t o gas up

and

found

fuel cost 3.45 per gallon, so I

had

an

instant

clue that this trip was

going

to cost me. I continued flying

to the north

and

northeast around

Norton

Sound.

My

groundspeed

dropped to abo ut

60

mph

as I

bucked about

a

30-knot easterly

flow. Once

aro und the Sound, I

could then run

west again,

and the

groundspeed

picked

up to

115

mph.

I flew on

into

Nome, arriving

at

6:25

p.m. I gassed

up

at

th

e Bering Air

terminal

and pitched

my tent

beside

the airplane for the night.

The

next morning

I awoke to a

24°F temperature

and

lots

of

frost

on

the

tent and

the airplane. I turned

Charlie around so its tail pOinted east

and exposed

the top

surface

of

the

wing and

tail surfaces to

the rising

http:///reader/full/Duat.comhttp:///reader/full/Duat.com


11/36

The author inside of

n

Eskimo

sod

house

in

Point

Hope Alaska. This may very well

be

one

of the last

surviving

sod

houses

in

all of Alaska. The interior

framework is made with bowhead whalebones.

t

is

amazing

what

we

pilots

can see

on

our journeys

I wa lk

ed

around

th e village, knocked

on

a few doors, and

t a lk ed to a lot of

peop le. Most of

th

e

yo un g

people

I met

had

never h

eard

of

the Norge, and those

that had

only knew

about the

concrete

block over

by

the

beach

that

used

to

be th e monum ent.

One

middl e-aged

man

sa id he remem

bered people talking

round

this amazing state.

to a stop. I told the driver

that

I'd like

a

rid

e

to

the vi ll

age, and he said,

Hop in. On the drive

in t

o town I

told him my mission.

He

told

me

th

at there aren't any really old peo

ple in the village that

wou ld

have

seen th e Norge, that th e on ly person

who did see it that

he knew

abo

ut

was living in Seattle, and her name

was Ethyl Vogen. It is rumored the

Mrs.

Vogen

made

a

bl

o use

from

a

piece of the Norge's rubberized silk

gasbag.

She

wou ld be in

her

90s if

she was still alive.

My new friend drove me to town,

and

we stopped near

th

e beach. He

pOinted to a large block

of concre

te.

That

is all that's left

of th

e monu

m e

nt

to

commemorate th

e

Norge

landing, he sa id . He

told me

it used

to occupy a prominent place on the

beach,

but was pushed out

of the

way

to

make a better tie-up spot for

villagers'

fishing

boats. He pOinted

about the Norge,

and

that ther

e used

to be pieces in the local landfil l. Since

there has been 76 years

of junk

piled

on top of an ything put there in 1926,

it seemed

ho p

eless to

me that th

ere

would be

anythin

g vis ible. Another

man sa id his uncl e had some odd

pieces of aluminum in his shop tha t

might have come from

the

Norge. We

went to a small shed used as a work

shop, and he rummaged around and

fo und a

co

upl e o f pi eces, and

said

there a re more but he didn ' t know

where. I looked at

th

e pieces and took

a photo . I h eld th em in my hand . I

could not tell

what

they were. Since I

had never seen any part of a dirigible,

I couldn 't kno w

if the

y were a part of

the puzzle. My search for

th

e No rge

e

nd

ed right

th

ere with a couple piec

es

of scrap aluminum .

Since I had come so far, it seemed

like a go ld

en

opportuni ty to see th e

most remote part of northwest Alaska.

So

I flew across th e Seward Peninsula

blown across th e fores t ed

terrain

.

From

Ga lena it

was

on

to Nenana,

th en so uth through

the Alaska

Range , o nc e again v ia th e aptly

nam ed

Windy

Pas

s, and on south

through Anchorage to my hom e

base at Soldotna.

My G

PS

and LO

RAN proved extremely valuabl e

during those long flights over forest

a

nd

hills, where

th

e sameness made

picking

out

promin

e

nt landmark

checkpoints extremely difficult. The

entire trip was flown VFR so I

could

en joy th e scenery.

Av ia

tion

in Alaska is

the

lif

eb

lood

of the sta te.

With

so few

roads to

supply towns and villages with es

sential

it

e ms needed

to condu

ct

daily liv in g, airplanes are essential.

Most sit

es

I landed

at on

this trip are

way too small for co

mm

ercial airlin

ers.

Small private plan

es

and lo

ca l

fixed-based operators keep th ese vil

lages supplied, and

th

eir citizens in

contact

with th

e outside world.

I flew

on

thi s trip al

one

in my small

airplane and saw things that the earth

bound

or commercial airline traveler

will never see. My new engine ran per

fectly. Charlie and I flew over some of

Alaska's, ma ybe the world's, m os t

beautiful vistas. My trip cost me nine

tim es a 1

00

a

hamburg

e r, but

the

memories of my search for the Norge,

the surpr ise of the ancient sod hous

es,

and the wa

rmth

of the Nor

th

ern hos

pitality were well worth

the

expense.

For your interested readers I offer th e

followin g numbers:

Food and supplies : . . 65

Film

and processing: . 54


12/36

The Technical orner

The

Travel

Air

Log

the newsletter of

the

Travel Air Restorers Association.

Repairs AHerations

Maintenance Preventive

Maintenance

We begin

this

column with

a dis

cussion

about

maintenance,

repairs,

and

alterations

for the antique air

plane. Let's proceed from

the

owner's

standpoint and talk briefly about pre

ventive maintenance. Federal Aviation

Regulation

(FAR) 43

Appendix

A(c)

describes

preventive maintenance

as

that maintenance that can be accom

plished by the owner, provided it does

not

involve

complex

assembly opera

tions. We will cover

just

a few; i f

you're interested consult

the FAR.

First,

the

owner can make

minor

fabric repairs consisting of bonding a

patch to

small

holes. The FAR does

not

allow patching large holes

or

do

ing any kind of rib

lacing.

Also

included

is

making sheet metal repairs

to

secondary structures, such as

the

cowling, fairings, and the like. t does

not authorize repairs to primary struc

tures. The

owner

can

repaint

the

ROBERT G. LOCK

gap spark plugs; and replace hoses in

fuel

and

oil

systems (excluding hy

draulic system). Please

note that this

is only a partial listing.

f

the airplane is operated for hire,

then the work needs to be supervised

by an A P (airframe and powerplant)

mechanic who needs to make an ap

propriate

entry

in the logbook.

I'd like to briefly discuss

the

certifi

cation of A&P mechanics and why

there is a shortage

of

qualified people.

When I began

instructing

in

the

A P

program at Reedley College in 1967,

the local

FAA mandated that

we teach

students how to make a five-tuck wo

ven cable splice, splice a wood wing

spar,

and weld

a

cluster

out of

steel

tubing.

The

FAA's reasoning

was

that

many modified Stearman agricultural

aircraft were located in

the

valley

and

therefore all

mechanics should

have

these skills. Eventually these skills be

came even more outdated and were

dropped in the level

of

importance.

Skill levels are dete rmined by the

FAA

and

appear

in FAR

Part 147. There

are

now

44 subject areas that all

stu

dents for the A P certi ficate

must

be

exposed to, and

there are three levels

of

exposure.

Levell

means to

be

lec

ES

chanic/inspector supervise their work

and sign off such work in logbooks,

or

they must have an

experienced

per

son do the work. These

experienced

wood, fabric, steel tube welders, and

radia

l

engine

fo lks

are

becoming

harder and harder

to

locate . The

Travel Air Restorers Association has

several experienced mechanics and

inspectors

within its ranks. But there

never seems enough to go around.

To

compound the problem

of

me

chanic shortage, general aviation A P

mechanics must

endure very low

wages

to stay in

the business. And

fixed-base operators

don't

like to hire

newly certificated mechanics because

they don't

have experience

and must

be trained. It's a vicious cycle; it was

when I started teaching

in

1967, and

it still

is

now. Where are we

going to

find experienced young mechanics to

maintain the fleet

of

aging airplanes?

I'm still looking for that answer!

Before I get too far off

the

subject of

repairs,

alterations, and preventive

maintenance,

we

shou

ld

look at the

above issues now. Let me state

that

an

A P mechanic can perform and return

to

service

minor

repairs,

minor

alter

ations, and maintenance,

including


13/36

pair

is a repair to the

aircraft struc

ture

that

returns

the airplane

to

conform with its

approved

type cer

tificate (ATC), or

in rare

cases

its

Group 2 approval.

A simple definition of a major al

teration

is something done to

the

structure that moves

the

airplane out

side of its ATC or Group 2 approval.

Let

me list just a few major repairs,

as

specified by

FAR

43 Appendix A(a).

Splicing of structural members-such

as spar splices and steel tube splices

large repairs

to

stressed sheet metal

components,

and

the repl

acement

of

fabric (original type only). And

there

are many more.

Now, here

is

a very brief list of ma

jor alterations,

as

specified by FAR 43

Appendix

(b).

Electrical system ins tal

lations in non-electrical airplanes,

radio installations,

battery insta

lla

tions, and replacing of synthetic fabric

on surfaces originally

approved

for

Grade A cotton fabric. Again, there are

many more

to list. But, some

major

alterations

can

be

approved

by an

A P who also

ho

lds an IA.

Other

major

alterations cannot be

approved by

the

A&PIIA. A few

of

these

alterations are

engine

and/or

prop changes, changes in wheels and

brakes, changes in tail wheel insta

ll

a

tions, changes in fuel system (addition

or subtraction of fuel tanks), install

a-

tion

of an

entire

electrical system

including battery

and

charging

sys

tem, and alteration of wing

and/or

control surface shape.

So what happens

(with the

FAA)

when a person buys an airplane that

had

been converted to

a

crop

restricted

category and is no longer

valid.

The

point here is that

the

me

chanic

is

modifying existing structure

back to

standard,

not the opposite.

Thus

far, in my

career

as an

aircraft

mechanic, I've been through six dif

ferent

FAA conformity

inspections,

the

most difficult being on

the

1929

Command-Aire because there were

no

drawings

. Fortunately for the Travel

Air

folks, Phil Wyles has a large collec

tion of drawings for the purpose of

keeping

t h ese airp lanes

airworthy.

And

that

is an

important

factor for fu-

ture dealings with the

FAA.

More on

that

later.

THERE ARE

NOW

SUBJECT AREAS

THAT

ALL

STUDENTS

FOR THE A&P

CERTIFICATE

MUST

BE

EXPOSED TO ,

AND THERE ARE

THREE

LEVELS

OF EXPOSURE

.

Factory draWings

continue

to be

an

important

item

for aging aircraft.

Drawings are needed

when the

owner

finds it necessary to replace a primary

structural

component,

such as wings,

control surfaces, fuselage, and landing

gear, among others.

How were drawings originally sub

mitted to the aeronautics

branch

of

the U.S.

Department of Commerce, or

ment

's

files."

t is

the location of and

access to the

second

set

of

drawings

that

is controversia

l. Some drawings

have been released,

either

hard copy

or microfiche, while some are still in

storage. And many drawings were de

stroyed. Such was

the

case

for the

Command-Aire.

Where

were (are)

the drawings

stored?

Originally they

were

stored

in

Washington, D.C., in the

depart

ment's files. As the drawing files grew

and more aircraft received the coveted

ATC, the drawing files were relocated

to

the old

torpedo

factory building at

Suitland, Maryland. As the files con

tinued

to

grow, the FAA

re located

drawings to the District Office (D.O.)

nearest to where the

airp l

ane was

manufactured. Some drawings were

lost

during

transfer,

and

some

were

destroyed at the D.

O.

But,

many

draw

ings are still being stored at the

Federal

Records

Center

in Maryland. I

have

perused

boxes

and

boxes

of

original

blueprint drawings stored

there

for

years! /t's absolutely amazing what is

there. But

no

one knows exactly

what

is in

each

of the boxes. I have a brief

transcript of what I saw in 1982, but

it's a drop in the bucket of

what

is ac

tually

there. Perhaps this could be

another future col

umn

for liThe Tech

nical Corner."

So draWings are an important item

when

it

comes

to

repairing

a

struc

ture or fabricating new. What if you

want to

make

a new wing structure

and no

drawings

are available. Aha!

The

wall has been

set,

and it is a l-

most

impossible

to obtain draWings


14/36

steel

tube

structure. Was it originally

SAE

1020, SAE 1025,

or SAE

4130?

What

type of filler rod was originally

used, was

the structure heat treated,

and if

it was heat treat,

what

specifica

tions were followed

and

what

was the

final tensile strength of

the

material?

My

point

here again is that drawings

are most valuable

when reproducing

parts.

Without

them it can

be

very

difficult. And these

needed

drawings

are sometimes impossible to obtain or

have been destroyed .

If

the

drawings

are

not

available

and the

owner needs

to fabricate a primary structural part

for

his/her own

airplane, then my

question is-where is the middle

ground?

And how can we keep

this

airplane airworthy?

Alterations are necessary

to mak

e

an aircraft safe; one

doesn't

want

to

build problems that

came

with

the

airplane

in 1929 back

into

a restora

tion

completed in 2001. What

are

some

common alterations that one

finds

when

dealing

with

older

air

craft?

The

first that

jumps

out at me

is an

engine change. Say from

an

OX

5 or Wright J 5

to

a Continental

W-670 or Lycoming R-680,

as

is com

monly found

in

many Travel Air

airplanes.

Originally, these conver

sions

were

done with

field

approval

from

the

CAA Try doing a complete

engine change

without

any type of

approved data

in

today 's

world.

It

's

near impossible. To remove a Wright

R-600

Challenger engine of 185 hp

and

install a Wright R-760 engine of

240 hp, I had to do a one-time STC

It

involved 1-1 /2 years,

much

paper

work,

and

rapidly increased

the

gray

hair

on

my

head.

But 1

finally pr

e

vailed and have a

one-time

STC

approval for NC997E only. I cannot

do another installation , but I can use

my original Form 337 as substantiat

ing evidence that th

e

installation

might be

field approved again. The

use of previously approved Form 337s

can be another topiC for "The Techni

cal Co rner" at a future date. Perhaps

ALTERATIONS ARE

NECESSARY

TO

MAKE

AN AIRCRAFT

SAFE;

ONE

DOESN

'T

WANT

TO

BUILD

PROBLEMS

THAT CAME WITH THE

AIRPLANE

IN

1929

BACK INTO A

RESTORATION

COMPLETED IN 2001.

when the

waters

are a little less

muddy.

There are

many changes

occurring within

the

FAA at this time,

and the field

approval process hap

pens

to

be one .

So

we'll just have

to

wait and see what happens.

Supplemental type certificates

(STC) are just

what the

term indicates.

A major alteration of the original type

certificate (TC). Obtaining an STC

takes

time, money,

and the " know

how

to get

it

through the

system.

When I was working on my one-time

STC

for

the Command-Aire, there

were

FAA

folks

who didn

' t

know

ex

actly what a

Command-Aire

was

They

knew what

a MOD DC-lO was,

or a Boeing 727. In other words, these

engineers primarily were assigned ma

jor

modifications to very large

transport category aircraft. That's part

of

the

problem I finally

had to

hire a

designated airworthiness

representa

tive (DAR) to help

get the

STC

application

off dead center.

All

I

can

say that it was a nightmare But I, with

the help of my DAR, finally prevailed.

And the Command-Aire was licensed

standard

(NC) in 1989 and has been

flying ever since.

Lastl

y, I'd

like

to

say a few

words

about

maint enance. I know I am

preaching to the choir, but continu

ous maintenance

will keep

the older

airplane in airworthy condition.

Many owners are not certificated me

chanics,

but

it

is

extremely

important

to

be able

to

diagnose a

problem

, or

be able to thoroughly describe what

the problem

is

to

get it repaired.

As

I

stated earlier, many new

mechanics

don't have a clue about

the

older air

planes. I have instructed

my son, Rob,

who

operates a 1929 New Standard -

25

biplane,

how

to

time a magneto

and how

to check

and

reset idle mix

ture or speed-things

that can

or will

go wrong with a radial engine. Now,

Rob

cannot

do any of these mainte

nance

items because he

operates the

airplane commerCially. But, he can de

scribe a problem, diagnose how to fix

it,

and if

it's a magneto, describe

how

to

time it

to

the

engine.

It's

kind

of

like when I ferried his Fairchild PT-26

from Kentucky to California,

and the


15/36

o¥JJ ASSOcI

T

- Qq,.

•

Assutnptions

t

was one of those fall days that

we all

dream about.

The

azure

sky

yielded unlimited visibility. The air

was as smooth as glass. Not a ripple.

The cool temperatures and high

pressure had every airplane perform

ing as i f

the

engine had just

had

a

major overhaul. This was

the

quin

tessential

CAVU

(ceiling and

visibility unlimited) day. What a day

for our local Chapter's fall fly-in

breakfast. This would be the day

that

we obliterated all previous

records for attendance.

The light breezes favored landing

to

the south, meaning that

all ai

r-

craft would

have an

unobstructed

approach. They wouldn't have to do

that gnarly

approach to

the

north,

slipping

down

over

the tall trees at

the south end of the

runway

that

prevented a low approach. Nor would

they

have to float

and

float . . .

and

float, as the runway,

sloping down

hill,

dropped out beneath

them,

while correcting for a choppy cross

wind and wind shear that the

trees

on

the west

side

of the

runway al

ways

crea ted

when the wind

was

from the northwest. Landings

today

should be a piece of cake.

Although we

had

experienced a

DO

UG STEWART

NAFI MASTER

IN

STRUCTOR

to coordinate

the

parking

and man

the multicom

frequency

that

we

would smash all previous records for

our breakfast fly-ins. In prior fly -ins,

the

typical aircraft

attendance

rarely

exceeded 40 planes, and

the

job I vol

unteered for was easily handled by

one person, with some occasional as-

sistance. This time we ended up with

more

than

80 airplanes flying in. Not

on ly would we be running out of eggs

and

bacon and pancake mix, but we

would also be running out of parking

spaces for all the aircraft.

Landings

today

should be a

piece

of

cake .

• •

Little

did

I

know . . .

The

tone

for

the

excitement

of

the

day was set ea rly on, as a flight

of

four

biplanes arrived. The two

Tiger Moths,

a

Fleet, and

a Waco

UPF -7 set up

to

land on Runway

Ol.

the Cherokee. By the time the Cessna

was

back

on

fi nal

for 19 all

the

re

maining biplanes

were

on the

ground, off the runway, and with en

gines

shut

down. Maple syrup would

soon be dripping off their chins.

This turned out

to

be the

only

ar

rival incident of the day. The only

problem

now

was

getting

airplanes

clear of the runway before the

fol

lowing aircraft touched

down.

(Boy,

did

I

gain an

inordinate

amount of

respect for all those

wonderful

vol

unteers

at

Oshkosh who

do

this type

of

thing

routinely.) Luckily for me ,

the airport's resident mechanic,

and

his teenage sidekick, seeing my work

overload, quickly moved to the fore

to

help

me

get aircraft moved to safe

parking spots.

As

the morning wore

on, things

settled into a routine. t was harried,

but

it was a

routine

.

Although not

every pilot followed instructions, we

were able to get

them

clear of

the

runway and parked

without

inci

dent. The

first

to have syrup

dripping

off his

chin

would

soon

be

the first to depart. Who would want

to spend

such

a glorious day ground

bound?

So now, added

to the

mix of

the arrivals, would be departures.


16/36

WHAT OUR MEMBERS ARE RESTORING

BY H.G. FRAUTSCHY

M I L L E R S

T R A V E L A I R

Jim Miller,

of

Spokane, Washington , believes he has

berton

all lent

their

expertise. The cockpit has a

set of

the oldest flying Travel Air in existence. Originally built as

original 4-inch instruments, and under the cowling is

an

an OX-5

powered Travel Air

2000, Jim

has converted it to original-looking custom exhaust system welded up by Ra

a 220-hp Continental-powered Model

4000.

The project

dial Exhaust Systems

of

Jumping Branch, West Virginia.

was not much more than a fuselage frame and a set of (See their ad on page

28

.)

new wings built by Brodhead, Wisconsin s Kent McMakin

Jim named the airplane after his wife , Bernadine (he

when Jim purchased it from Kent

in

1997.

says she

must

like him, because

they re

just

past

the

Jim says

that

restoring the airplane had a huge learn

hand-holding stage ). Jim was thrilled when the Travel Air

ing curve, and

that

a few key people helped along the

won the Jesse Woods (Best Biplane) trophy at the

2002

way.

Jack Lanning, Harmon Dickerson, and Addison

Pem-

Evergreen fly-in.

MONOSKI 'S

L I N D Y- WI N N I N G

STINSON


17/36

O R I G IN A L W R I G H T

E N G I N E

R W

Scotty

Markland,

the

Technical

Counselor

for

EAA

Chapter

961,

dropped us a note

to

tell us about

this

remark

able project:

"

In

May

2002

the Aeroplane Works,

who

are mostly EAA

mem

bers ,

ran up

the Franklin Institute 's original Wright engine , Serial

Number 57. This engine is from the original Wright B aircraft, SI N

13. The Wright Co . built it in 1911. The engine had been installed in

the aircraft that was flown

by

Grover Bergdoll ,

who

was trained

by

the Wright Co . Pilot/ owner Bergdoll was reported to have flown the

airplane

on

748 flights,

over 312

hours during a period of two

years

"The Aeroplane Works

of

New Carlisle , Ohio, is meticulously

restoring the

Wr

i

ght

B

airplane

for

the

Franklin Institute of

Philadelphia. Interestingly, visitors who examine the details

of

the structure and working

parts

of

the engine all seem

to

have

the same comment: '

So

that's how they did that '

"Subsequently,

EAA

Chapter

610

members and others are

constructing

an

exact replica side-

by

-side with the original Wright

Model B It will

be

powered

by

a modified

Ford

Model A engine and will have the control system revised to enable it to

be

more flyable to modern standards. After limited flying,

it

will

be

donated to the Greene County Ohio Historical

Mu

seum for display. "

S E L I G S B I G T A I L S T I N S O N

From

Nick and Suzette Selig, Naperville,

Illinois,

we

have this note:

"Here is our

1948

'big tail Stinson Flying

Station

Wagon

after

a 3-1 / 2-

year-long

restoration.

We

used

the

more

distinctive

1946

paint scheme

and

restored the instru

ment panel

and

interior to original , including

a faceplate from a

1948

Hallicrafter low-fre

quency radio

to cover

the

modern

electronics while on the ground.

We

have

owned ive

ike

since

1969.

Our

oldest

daughter soloed it

on

her

16th

birthday,

and

Sue and I have put over

2,500

of its

4,800

total

hours

on in

the

Chicago

area, with

some long cross-countries thrown in, such

as our trip

to

Stinson Field

in

San Antonio,

Texas.

We

are also

the Midwest

regional

representatives for the International Stinson Club.

We

joined

EAA in

1964

at the Rockford fly-in . I am the Technical

Counselor

and

Flight Advisor for

EAA

Chapter 15.

We

volunteer at the Stinson table

in

the

VAA

Type Club tent each year


18/36


19/36

more

angular

lines of

the

WOIl1Imlo tell you this Is not

your

grandfather s Piper

Apache

a doctor. No, that's

not

. He's

actually

an air

just

happens

to be a

his tastes run to

the

the bright

and

shin

y.

in

college, in

what

was

fortuitous events of

doctor who

owned

a

took a liking to him.

in

exchange he'd let

had a Champ, which I

.a Jungmeister, a Great

an

RNF Waco, and a

friend's

to

fly,

but,

still,

he wanted one

he

could call his own, and he didn 't think small.

My first airplane was a Staggerwing Beech,

but

it was far from being a pristine airplane.

It

had gone through a bunch of hands after sit

ting in a hangar for

17

years. In fact, a pilot in

Kodiak,

Alaska

bought it, stuck the wings back

on

it, and took it to Alaska without rebuilding

.When I bought it, most of the fabric

still the original, and it was really getting

),at .

So,

once we got it home, we started to re-

build it.

It goes without saying that rebuilding a

Stag

gerwing, especially one that

went

for long

periods of time with no TLC, isn't for the faint

of heart, and it isn't something

that

happens

quickly.

It was obvious the Staggerwing was going

to be down for a long time,

and

I still needed

something to fly, so on a whim, I bought a 195

Cessna with a 300-hp Jake as a fill-in until the

Staggerwing was finished.

I

flew the Staggerwing for a couple of yea rs,

and then I had a heart attack. I'm not certain

which scared me more, the danger to my health

or the

thought that

I might never fly again.

Fortunately, it was a mild one, and after jump

ing

through

all of the FAA's regulatory hoops I

got my medical back.

By this time I had kids, and I thought I

needed to

be more

practical. As part

of

my

practical mode, I also thought I needed two en


20/36

The Geronimo

is

so heavily modified that i t carries a new

dataplate for

the

complete conversion. Originally developed by Seguin Aviation ,

the

27 STCs

needed for the conversion are now held and marketed by Diamond Aire Avia Bob Dalzell pulls a fuel sample from

tion, Kalispell, Montana. the left engine nacelle.

the

C-310

(If

you ignore surplus Bam

boo Bombers),

the two usually

eronimo

weren't

mentioned in

the same sen

tence because the only similarity was

the

number of engines. Where

the

Cessna was

svelte

and capa

ble of quickly

disappearing over

far horizons, the

Apache was none

of

those.

How

ever, the Apache

had traits the 310

couldn't

touch. It

was the soul of

docility, a big, fat

pache

Facts

Piper's f irst foray Into the l ight

twin

field,

via

an

acquisition

from

Stinson,

the

Apache was a stubby

lit

tle

contradiction:

on

the

one

hand

i t

was

the

butt of

endless jokes

("at

least the second engine carries you

to

the

scene of

the accident,"

yuk,

yuk),

while

on the other, i t undoubt

edly generated

more

multi-engine

puppy of an air

plane

that

always

treated

i ts pilots

right regardless of how numb- or ham

handed they might be.

At the

same

time

i t

offered

a cabin

that

had

to

be

flown to be believed. It

was,

and is,

huge

It's a

true mini-airliner.

A very

slow mini-airliner.

The Apache s

big,

comfortable

cabin was one reason

i t

was so slow

atlves Included engines that were

too small, a nose that

beat the

air

Into

submission

rather than cleav·

ing through i t

and an

air f rame

that

brought new meaning to

the

word

"dowdy"

with drag protuber·

ances

and funky

corners. I t didn't

take

a genius to know

that

those

were

all

fixable

problems.

I f

Piper

wasn't going to do

It,

then Seguin

Aviation In Seguin, Texas,

would.

The power problem could

be

solved

several ways, by far

the

simplest be

ing

to

bolt a couple of 0-360s

in

place

of

the 0·320s. That however

raised

the

single

engine speed

to

unaccept·

able levels, so a big dorsal was added.

Drag, however, has a funny habit

of

going

up

much

faster than

the speed

when power alone

is

added to an ai

frame. So, the watermelon

nose

had

to

be

streamlined,

which meant ex·

tending i t several feet and carefully

fair ing i t into

the

exist ing

sheet

metal. Then the tail was reshaped to

give more rudder authority and help

the VMC

(minimum

control

speed).


21/36

The front office of Bob mini-airliner, neatly laid out with the latest in IFR in-

strumentation, including a set of flight instruments for the co-pilot.

Today

the

STCs

for the

Geron

imo mods,

27 in all, rest with

Diamond Aire Aviation

la93

Air

port

Road,

Kalispell,

MT

59901,406/752·5092, e·mail:

[email protected], web

site: www.diamondaire.com).

Diamond Aire is run by CEO John

Talmage,

who

says, We purchased

the tooling and

STCs at

auction

in

1997.

Prior to that, everything had

been in

storage,

and

the

conver·

sions were unavailable

for

nearly

nine years.

Talmage estimates

300

to

400

conversions were done by Seguin

prior to it selling the material.

One

of

the things

John points

out is that the secret is as

much in

the aerodynamics as the power.

People think they are going to

hang

180 hp

engines

on

it and im·

mediately see the

25 mph

increase

quoted

in

original Geronimo mate·

rial, and that just isn t so. The

climb goes up, and the single

I get asked about the airplane a lot.

Bob's airplane

is

a

full

Geron

imo,

which means

all

of

the

modifications (mods)

that

can

be

done

,

with the exc

e

ption

of

the

cowlings

,

have been

done. The

Geronimo mods can

be

done in

stages (see sidebar), but whoever

had

Bob's done went all the way, right

from

the

long

nose to

the

squared

off wings

and tail to new

cowlings

with

gear doors

plus

the 180

Ly

comings

in

place of

the original

150/160 hp versions.

I was

looking

for solid

perform

ance

and

single engine costs with two

engines, and that's what I

got.

For

one

thing, at a

normal

cruise setting

I'm burning 19-20

gallons

per hour

total,

and

I can get it

down

from

that

at altitude. It's not incredibly fast,

but

its usually truing 178-180 miles per

hour, which isn't bad. I always flight

off the ground easily.

liThe

airplane

is a real

gentleman

on

one engine. Because of the big dor

sal

fin, the

Single-engine speed is

nearly down at stall, but it's really easy

to control at all times. Also,

if

you do

lose

one,

everything

happens

so

slowly

that

you have all day to figure

it out. Now

that

t has enough power

to

fly well on

one

engine, I

think

it's

one of the safest light twins ever built.

In fact, its single engine ceiling

is

up

around

12,000 feet,

which

is impres

sive, considering

that

with the smaller

engines and

none

of the drag mods, t

had trouble just staying in the air with

one shut down.

I flew

one

of

the

original airplanes

and

then set

mine

up with a full copi

lot panel and arranged the engine

instruments

across

the top, which

makes it easy to fly from either seat.

When

it

comes

to

smaller

twin

engine airplanes, it's pretty hard

to

find

anything

that has some 'charac

ter,' but the

Geronimo

has

that.

The

fact that the

airp

lane was the third

one built in 1957 and is

45

years old

mailto:[email protected]:///reader/full/www.diamondaire.commailto:[email protected]:///reader/full/www.diamondaire.com


22/36

: i;

t

SU

FUN

This is the

year

to warm-up your passion for aviation in Lakeland, Florida at

the

2003 SUN'nFUN Fly-ln.

Debuting at this year's

Fly-In

will

be

EMs

Co

untdown

to

Kitty

Hawk

Pavilion featuring an accurate reproduction

of the 1903 Wright

Flyer-

built

to flyabove

the

sands of

Kitty

Hawk , North Carolina

this

December

in

commemoration

of

the

100th anniversary of

the

Wright Brothers' historic flight.

Be part of this week-long

AeroExpo starting

Wednesday, April 2.

Share

experiences

with thousands of aviation

enthusiasts

from around

the world.

Thrill to the precision and

skill

of

the world's best

aerobatic

pilots

performing

daily.

Gain insight on the latest aviation products

from

500

exhibitors.

Review

mile after mile

of

restored and

revered

aircraft.

Participate in

one or more of 450

educational

forums

and

hands-on workshops. Visit our

permanent

display

in the Florida

Air Museum featuring

the

recent addition of

the Howard

Hughes Aviation

Collection.

Visit

th

e

SUN n FUN web site W\\l\vsun

-n-

ful1

.org

for complete information

-review

progran1 schedule,

exhibitor

listing and

lodging

information-o r

call 1-863-644-2431.

I

/ .........

. , . ........

Fly-In D

ate

s:Wednesday, Apri l 2-

Tuesday,

April 8, 2003

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23/36

P SS T CK

Y

E.E.

BUCK HILBERT, EAA 21 VAA 5

P O Box

424,

UNION,

IL

60180

hink

about it

As

an old-time CFlI (certificated

flight

instructor-instrument),

with a lot of the old basics in

grained in

me,

and with several

forced

landings

to think

about,

landing an

airplane when you ab

solutely

have

no

choice has

become foremost in

my mind

over

the past several months.

I read the ads in publications,

and I read ads in

our own

publica

tions, for the latest technological

advancements-how

this

radio,

and this wing leveler,

and

this safe

flight indicator, and this oil filter,

and these anti-collision lights,

and

this

GPS,

and

all those

other

gadg

ets

that take

your

mind and

eyes

deeper into the cockpit supposedly

guarantee

to make life easier and

safer for

the

average

pilot.

I read

how

this

power

flow

system

will

increase the

horsepower

output,

how

this

add-on will bring you

safely to earth if your airplane falls

apart, and on and on.

I attend sessions, and they are

all very

much the same-FAR

re

views, safety lessons, how to use

the equipment

in

the

panel and

on

board. Total time

on the

air

frame, engine, and propeller

seem

insignificant to the

radios,

electronics, gadgets, and

doo

dads advertised.

All this is

building

up to

one

thing. How

much good

is

this

stuff going to do you when

that

engine quits?

When

you're in the pattern, you

hear all this radio chatter: turning

downwind,

turning

base,

turning

final, and

on

and

on.

En

route

it's

the same thing; people at local air

ports

up

and down

the

state are

chattering

away.

What's your

po

sition,

Booger

One,

this

is

Cloud

Runner." Oh, it's you Cloud Run

ner I'm 11 and 1/3 miles on the

332

nd

radial of

whatchamacallit

VOR, where are you? Right

off

your right wing, Booger. Try look

ing out the window "

What I'm getting at

is

all

these

devices

that

supposedly make fly

ing easier and safer seem to ignore

some of

the

basic facts of flight.

I 'm talking abo ut emergency

FARs.

No

one

is

going to reach out,

take you by the hand,

and

tell you

what

to do. It's all up to you and

y u alone

Do you prepare yourse lf before

every

takeoff

by rehearsing in

your mind what action you'll

take

if that engine

shells

out on

takeoff?

When

is

the

last time

you practiced S-turns

across

a

road, or

rectangle

patterns, or

precision spot

landings, or

any

other b sic head-out-of-the-cock

pit maneuvers?

Frankly,

those

maneuvers

should be

an

every day, every flight

exercise. The traffic pattern itself

is

nothing

but

a rectangle pattern . S-

turns flying

a ground

pattern

included. The four basics of flight

take place in the pat tern the

climb, the turn, straight and level,

and

the glide. Ground reference all

the while to place yourself where

you

want

to

be. This

practice

should be ongoing

and

in prepara

tion for what cou ld

happen.

Learn your airplane.

f

it's only a

partial power failure, can you fly


24/36

FLY-IN CALENDAR

The fo llowing

li

st ofcoming

events is

furnished to

our

readers

as

a matter

of

in fo

rmation on ly and

does

not constitute

app

r

ova

l,

sponso

rs

hip

, invol

vement,

con

trol

or

direction

of

any event (fly- in,

seminars, fly market, etc.)

li

sted. To

submi t an even t , please log on

to

www.eaa.or

g/events/eve

nts.asp. Only if In

ternet access

is

unavai lable should you

send

the

information via mail to:,

Att:

Vintage

Ahp

lane

P.O.

Box

3086,

Oshkosh,

WI 54903-3086. Information should be

re

ceived four months prior to

the

event dat

e.

MARCH

7-9-Casa Grande, AZ-45th annual

Cactus Fly- In at Casa Grande Airport. Info:

www

cactlls{lyil1.org/or

call

john

Engle, 480

987-55 16 or Dave Sirota, 520-60 3-5440.

MARCH 12-13

-Romeovill

e,

IL -

29

th

Annual

Ge nera l Aviation

Maintenance

Seminar. At

Lewis Un iversity. Co-sponsored by

the

[lli

nois DOl: the

FAA

and the Professional

Aviation Maintenance Association (PAMA).

MARCH

22

-Fort

Pierce, FL-EAA

Ch. 908 Fly

[n Pancake Breakfast,

Ft.

Pierce

[nt

'[ Airport.

Info: Pau , 772-464-0538

or 772-461-7175.

MARCH

20-23

-Cil1cimwti,

OH-14th

Annual

[ntl Women in Aviation Conference. Info:

386-226· 7996.

APRIL 2-8-Lakelal1d, FL-Sun

'n Fun

EAA FJy

[no Inf

o:

863·644-2431,

www.s lI1-I1-fun.org.

APRIL 19

-Fort

Pierce, FL-EAA Ch. 908 F[y-[n

Pancake Breakfast, Ft. Pierce [nt '[ Airport.

Info: Paul, 772-464-0538 or 772-461·7175.

APRIL 19

-20

V

isalia,

CA-Ch. 262 Fourth

Annual Spring Wing Thing

and

Visalia

Vintage Airshow. Info: 559-625-9889, e-mal

[email protected]

APRIL 27-H a

lfM

oon

Bay,

CA-13th Annual Pa·

cific Coast Dream Machines Show, Half Moon

Bay Airport. 10am-4pm. Admission $15 adults,

$5

(age

5-

14 65+), free for kids age 4 and un

der.

Parking included in price of admission.

Info: 650·726-2328, www.miramarevents.colII .

APRIL 2 8 -Half

Moon

Bay, CA-Pacific Coast

Dream Machines Fly-[n

and

Show. Half

Moon

Bay Airport. 20 miles so

uth

of

San

Francisco. I

Oam-4pm. Displays and

rides. Info:

650-726-2328,

web:

MAY

16-18-Collllllbia, CA-Ga

thering of

Luscombes 2003. Aircraft

judging

, spot

landi ngs more. Info:

559·888·2745.

Web

www.

/ll

scol1lbe-c1a.org.

MAY 18-R

omeoville,

IL

-EAA

Ch. 15 32nd

Ann ual Fly-In Breakfast,

L.ewi

s University

Airport (LOT), 7am-Noon. Info: George

630-243-8213 .

MAY

1 8 -

Troy,

OH - VAA

Ch.

Olel Fash

ioned Barbeque Fly·ln, WACO Field (I WF),

I lam-4pm,Young Eagle Flights. (Rain date

for Young Eagle tlights, june 22, Ipm·4pm)

Info: 937·335·

1444

, e-mail:

dickandpatti0.aol .com.

or 937 ·294·1107, e-mai l

navion

@ge

lllair.colll.

MAY 16

-

26--

Fayetleville, NC-

Fe

stival

of

Flight

2003. Info

www.(eslivaloft

li

giIt.or

g.

MAY 24-F

ort

Pierce

,

FL-EAA Ch. 908 Fly-

vintage airplane - mar 2003

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