John Austin

Male

Crossville, TN

United States

Profile Information:

Aircraft Model
STOL CH 750
Project Status
Flying
Building From
Kit
Engine installed (or plan to install)
Jabiru
Building Experience
Have already built an airplane
Flying Experience
Private Pilot
Building and Flying Info / Your Profession / Other Background Info
Retired physician, 2700+ hr private pilot, instrument rated, built Monerai (Monnet) glider years ago.
Home Airport (ie. KMYJ)
TN66

Comment Wall:

  • Bill Carter

    Welcome to the family.

    I wish you the all the best with
    your project. If you ever get the chance to visit the Zenith factory please
    take the time to stop by our builder assist facility too. We like to have
    visitors here and we are right here in Mexico, Mo., not far from them. Take
    care and good luck,

    Bill Carter

    American Light Sport Aircrafters  Builder Assist & Assembly Center www.LightSportAircrafters.com

  • Russell Calhoun

    My airport is 3m8. Give me a call. 205-399-1747

                                                

  • Russell Calhoun

    John I have 18 hrs on the 750. It is down right now with minor problems, but will be back in the air soon.

  • Scott Tyler Bragg

    Can I have some more picture of your wingtip lights please? And what brand are they? Any other information would be great (for research purposes).

  • Christopher Jon Brown

    HOPE YOUR PROJECT COMES ALONG QUICKLY. ID BETTER STICK TO FLYING AND TRY AND TEACH MY 4 KIDS HOW TO FLY AND GET MY WIFE CURRENT.  MAYBE ILL BUY ONE COMPLETED LATER WHEN THE KIDS ARE GONE OR BUILD ONE THEN. AND I HOPE I DO BETTER THANKS

  • Dr. Edward L. Olds III

    John,

    Was in Tenn. to install the engine.  Jabiru did a great job.  Everything ran well, now just have to finish.  Where did you get your proposed paint scheme and who is doing the work for you?

    Ed

  • Russell Calhoun

    Come on down, I'm home till the last week in June. I fly most days when the weather permits. Give me a call when you get ready to fly.

  • Stephen R. Smith

    Hello John,

    Yes I use NGK DR9EIX plugs.  I have experimented with plug gaps. Iridium plugs can have a wider gap then the standard plugs. With standard plugs I have had starting problems when the gap reaches about 27.  With my Iridium plugs, I started to see problems when the gap reached 34.So, what you do may depend on how many hours you want to put on the plugs before replacing them. On iridium plugs it is the center electrode that is fragile. Just be careful when gaping so you don't put pressure on the center electrode by accident.I like to have one or two plugs gaped at 22.  This makes it more likely the Jabiru motor will start when the battery is low. To minimize starting issues, also make sure the mags are gaped at 10.

    Steve

  • Stephen R. Smith

    Hello John,

    The sump cooler was not all that effective.  I don't use it anymore. I am using a TRU-Cool 24 row cooler. My oil temp never get over 195. The 750 is slower and needs higher-power out of the Jabiru 3300 then the 601 needs.

    Quality sport planes has a 750 with a Jabiru 3300.  They had endless oil temp problem until they replaced the stock cooler with a TRU-Cool 36 row cooler.  I think the 24 row cooler might have done the job but they wanted the problem fixed for sure.  You can get TRU-Cool coolers here:

    TRU-Cool Oil Coolers

    Steve

  • Max Russell Baldwin

    John    I have been admiring your Aircraft pictures. I started a 750  and am looking for ideas that has worked well for others. Your seats are very nice and I would like to know if it would be possible to find out where you got them?  I am about an hour south of Chattanooga in north Georgia        Thanks Max R. Baldwin .

  • David J. Beaulieu

    John,

    Saw your aircraft in the months EAA magazine...recognized your name from this forum.

    Nice color scheme - kind of what I was envisioning if I do not go the "polish" route.

    Very nice looking airplane.  Cheers!

    Dave

  • Gordon Arbeitman

    John;  Thanks.  I think your approach is right.  I've concluded that I created my problem by having both ailerons in neutral position, the stick centered, but the horizontal rods (and therefore the vertical rods) different lengths.   I wont' be able to get back to this until Saturday but I'm confident that starting with exactly equal length horizontal rods will lead to success.

  • Rodney Wren

    Adding a new section to the forum.
    John,

    Appreciate all your efforts on behalf of the forum.

    Several years ago I was pretty interested in the Kitfox and followed their forum most every day.

    One of the neat things on their forum is that they have a section that I still like to visit and read from time to time.

    That section contains two areas. One is entitled "Trips" and the other is "Destinations."

    I really like reading the "Trips" reports. There, pilots tell of their adventures from flying solo to Alaska to trips to the Bahamas. There are stories of several pilots getting together and flying the mountain strips of Idaho, Wyoming and other sites in the northwest. These stories make for good reading and are even useful for adding to a "bucket list."

    One of the trips on my bucket list would to be to get a group together and fly to Alaska. How about flying the mississipi river from the gulf to it's headwaters in Minnisota?

    It gives builders a place to document their trips and how they use their airplanes. The Zenith forum is tremendous in its information for the building phase, but not a whole lot for what's going on in the lives of those of you that are flying.

    For your consideration. Thanks. Rodney Wren
  • Rodney Wren

    John,

    Thanks for your reply and forwarding the idea on to Sebastien. I would be willing to help in any way I could, even moderate if asked.

    I'm in the process of selling my 172 and waiting until I can pick up the entire Cruzer kit at the factory. Hope that will happen by next summer. Plan on a 120 HP corvair for power. Really looking forward to building my own airplane and I always am reading your technical notes and ideas.

    I'll send a note to Sebastien later this week. Perhaps he will receive this as a positive addition to an already great forum.

    Regards
    Rodney

    ....for some reason I'm having trouble sending you a message. I can write it, but nothing happens when I hit the send button. Am having to leave comments to communicate. Am using an Ipad, but don't know if that's the problem.....Rodney
  • ronald zielke

    John ron  zielke here-- would like to know were did you get your v-gee's and what type of paint did you use?  thought you posted that some were , but I can't seem to fined it-------thanks

  • ronald zielke

    thanks for the speedy reply John, are you going to the open house? if so hope to meet you there.

  • ronald zielke

    John would it be possible to get your phone no. and the best time to call.  I have a bunch of questions for you if it's o.k.,  if not, I well understand  thanks Ron  my email is zman@scrtc.com

  • Larry Griffin

    John...just dropping a line to say hello. New at this site and looking around to see who flys in the area.

    The glider club moved to Cherry valley many years ago and I have flown off of it. In fact, I live 5 miles south of the field.

    Is there a lot of Zenith‘s in your area?

    Larry

  • Theodor Galdi

    John:

    Don't know an easier way to contact you. 

    I ordered the folding wings option for my Cruzer and will soon be setting them up. I asked Roger if Zenith had any material on user experience with the folding wings and he said no, try the forums. I want to post in one of the forums asking about users set ups and  experiences, good and bad with the folding wings. Which forum do you recommend?

  • ronald zielke

    hey John  saw your plane  at the open house, and a  much deserved award, congratulations  

  • Theodor Galdi

    John:

    There was a posting on the Cruzer forum about building the vertical stabilizer. I replied with the "draft" email that Roger had just sent me. It is not there now.

    Did you delete it?

  • Theodor Galdi

    John:

    I still have not figured out a way to make my replies to your entries show up in them.

    My current question is: How do you like your Conform Foam now that you have been flying the plane for a while?

    Because of a motorcycle accident many years ago, I prefer a very firm foam on the seat base with no bolsters to keep the head of the femur off the seat. My experience with conforming foams is that they become soft and you sink in--which puts pressure on the hip.

    BTW, the seats really do look nice.

  • David Muse

    John,

    I need to thank you for the tip about helicopter blade tape. I wandered over to the downtown airport last week and caught a mechanic working on a Jet Ranger (Sky4News) and asked him about it. He laughed a bit and told me to go over to Pep Boys and get a roll of clear rock guard tape, like is used on car rocker panels. Said it was the same thing, only cheaper. You might want to look at this.

    Dave Muse

  • Theodor Galdi

    John:

    Thank you VERY much for you reply concerning mounting the windshield. On the basis of a more recent post by you I had already increased the thickness of the windshield support to .050. I am going to order some 1/8 by 3/4 black butyl tape from amazon tomorrow.The idea of making a butyl "sandwich" sounds like an excellent way to seal the windshield.

    What I did not see in your reply was a response to my suggestion that thin sections of 1/4 inch nylon tubing (like we have for brake lines) be put in the 1/4 inch openings in the windshield.

    Did you leave them out?

    Thanks again.

    Ted Galdi

  • Theodor Galdi

    Thanks, John for indulging my poor memory.

    I got some 1/16 by 1/2 inch butyl tape ordered this morning. Amazon was nice enough to offer me 20 rolls for a total of $176. After a fair amount of surfing, I found a seller that would sell me one or two. Jon Croke had indicated that some of new bubble door builders had used adhesive on them. I ordered enough butyl tape to do the windshield and the doors--using the spacer bushings on both.

    On the basis of your comments below, my guess is that the ideal spacer bushing will tubing will be the plastic fuel line that they use for model airplanes.

    Thanks again. Ted Galdi

  • David Banahan

    Call me.  David Banahan 270-784-9299

  • Theodor Galdi

    John:

    I hate to bother you again about this, but the "search" function in Ning is totally useless.

    Briefly, I got a windshield which was flat across 80 percent of  the top, BUT the left and right ends were elevated about 3/4 of an inch. I got on the Cruzer forum and laid out my problem. Some of the members said that one could gently heat the ends with a heat gun to to make them flat. I tried this and could not evenly heat the whole end to lie flat, making these really ugly distorted ends that still had dips in them. I emailed,then spoke to Roger who said a small rise was not unusual. I can't figure this out because water will get under the rise. In the end, I reordered a complete windshield--which was expensive, but the shipping was almost as much as the windshield.

    With that as background at an earlier time we discussed your installation and I bought enough butyl tape for the perimeter, BUT I cannot find the email or forum entry in which you set this out.

    Would you please send this to me again.

    Ted Galdi

  • Carlos Sa

    Hello, John

    Looks like I can't reply directly to your comment re engine mount installation, so here it is:

    I wasn't aware of the existence of this tool - it would probably have made life easier for the other three bolts, but I suspect it would not fit in the space I had for the 4th bolt.

    Just inserting the regular C clamp took a great deal of maneuvering... 

    But still, not as daunting a task as I expected. Patience and creativity go a long way.

    Cheers

    Carlos

  • Jack E Martin

    Hello John,

    First I want to thank you for all the good information you have shared with the forum.

    I also have a question. Since the horizontal tail section produces a downward force in flight, I wondered if a larger horizontal tail section would cause additional drag. Have you noticed any reduction in speed due to your elevator extensions?

    Jack Martin

  • Jeffery R Millburg

    John , their is inspection panels for the rear tail where u need them call me   1-217-473-3269 Jeff millburg ch750

  • Mel Asberry

    Hey John,  Thanks for the heads-up n the DAR question. I normally don't visit the 750 forums.  I'm happy to "act" as a DAR consultant whenever I can help.

    Maybe there could be an "Inspector Consultant" forum.

  • Dennis Hutchinson

    John, 

    I just changed my internet service from AT&T to Xfinity, which as a result, my e-mail address is changing. How do I change my e-mail address for my log-in? When I go to my profile options, I follow the link for “change” under the e-mail settings, at it just dumps me back to the previous page. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks,

    Dennis Hutchinson 

  • Chris M. Brammer, Jr.

    Sorry John.  Did not mean to offend anyone, or post an add to sell my plane.  Was merely replying to a question on my selection of a 0-320 engine.  Don’t see how to delete, so maybe you can do that for me.   Chris

  • Joe Hopwood

    Hi John, 

    Michael Mccarthy put a comment on my wall that he has tried to contact me before and I did not reply, but he has not contacted.  Don't know for sure whether he attempted and it just did not get to me.  I tried to reply but his is set to private.  I do not want to send email to the one in his comment as that would expose my email.  Is he a valid member?

  • LARRY TRAMEL

    Thanks, John for showing me your plane I got a lot of info from our visit. You have a beautiful home and landing strip in on of Tennessee most beautiful valleys. Hope you got your water leak fixed and sorry if I held you up. Thanks again

  • Michael A Housewert

    John Austin ... John .... Then approximately how from the wing tip before transitioning from 30 to 60 mm spacing for the VG's?