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Transition from HDS to HD

I built Zena Mae as an HDS speed wing. We now have over 350 hours as an HDS. Very nice, but as a taildragger with a a shallow angle of attack on the ground it requires that you land at a very fast rate of speed. So long as you are going asphalt to asphalt it is no problem. But coming on to rough dirt at 60mph is another matter.

I have wanted to convert to the HD for some time. Got all the parts last July, and spent November to March making the new wings. Added a couple…

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Added by Bill Massey on May 26, 2010 at 2:28pm — 2 Comments

750 Aileron Trim Tab

 

I made the tab out of .063 aluminum 3" X 14". I placed it a little in from the tip so that if it doesn't have enough effect in flight, I can put a larger one in it's place. To get enough room, I drilled out 3 rivets from the nose skin and put nut-plates in their place. Putting a nut-plate in the center bottom was a mistake. It interfered with the rod.I see now that the Servo could have been mounted a few mm over so that the rod and nut-plate would… Continue

Added by Jerry Bryan on May 25, 2010 at 11:00pm — 3 Comments

Cowling finally finished!

Well, the day has finally come, finished the cowling over the past two days, final fitting and a primer coat on monday and sanded and put on a coat of white as a base on tuesday. Photos are included. Now to put the prop back on, re-do the weight and balance and start testing. Testing will start with ground runs to check cooling on the ground and other items. First flight just around the corner after almost 11 years of part time work!

Added by Phillip Owens on May 25, 2010 at 3:18pm — No Comments

VDO 2 1/4 tach problem

The tach for my 912 is giving me fits. when it reaches about 3500rpm it starts spiking toward max rpm. as I increase throttle it will finally peg out. I have checked all the connections several times and I am not winning! Has anyone else had this problem? If so how did you fix it?
thx

Added by Dennis Johnson on May 21, 2010 at 7:18pm — 10 Comments

Putting on the finishing touches on the last item

Well, here it is Monday and we are finally putting on the finishing touches to the last item in the project, the cowl. Kent took two days while I was away and worked on the air intakes, today we put the finishing fiberglass on the openings. Now all we need is to let the resin harden and we can do the final install.]

Installed the bottom section today and ran the wires to the oil pan heater and the battery maintainer, put the holding…

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Added by Phillip Owens on May 17, 2010 at 5:00pm — No Comments

CH601XL Upgrades with Magnificent Machine LLC (tricks of the trade)



I just got back from a week at First Light Aviation Group in Livermore, California with Rick Lindstrom & Rich Vetterli. I went down to help them with the Upgrades on their Corvair powered CH601's. We had a great time and made excellent progress on both airplanes.

Rick Lindstrom will bring his airplane up to our booth at the Arlington Fly-in this year July 7th- 11th, so feel free to stop by and see his bird and talk to us about the… Continue

Added by Brady McCormick on May 17, 2010 at 2:12pm — 3 Comments

FAA's NKET visits the Zenith factory

Earlier this week we were treated by a two day visit by the FAA's newly created National Kit Evaluation Team (NKET) to evaluate and determine that the STOL CH 750 kit, as produced by Zenith, meets the intent of the "51% rule" and to allow an amateur-builder to register the plane as an "amateur-built - Experimental" aircraft (meeting the "major portion" requirement of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations part 21, Certification Procedures for… Continue

Added by Sebastien Heintz on May 13, 2010 at 8:00pm — 3 Comments

Zenair in Spain and at AeroSport 2010

AeroSport is one of the major annual fly-ins in Spain for recreational sport aircraft and ultralights. The event took place last weekend in spite of precarious weather and volcanic ash that kept airline traffic grounded over most of the country. Many light planes still flew in to AeroSport in Iguadala/Barcelona, including a dozen Zodiac models (CH 601 HD, HDS, XL and a CH 640). Both Zenair representatives for Spain had a display… Continue

Added by Michael Heintz on May 11, 2010 at 8:00am — 2 Comments

STOL CH750 AULA

It's Official, the STOL CH750 can now be registered as an AULA in Canada. CAN-ZAC has worked with Transport Canada to have the newest Zenith Kit added to the list. http://www.tc.gc.ca/civilaviation/general/ccarcs/advancedullist.htm

This means that you now have the choice in Canada of either an Amateur built or Advanced Ultralight registration for your STOL CH750.

At present…

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Added by Mark Townsend on May 10, 2010 at 10:15am — 1 Comment

Upgrade complete on another 601XL-B

After aprox. 70 hours and $600.00, we "Got-r-Done". Thanks to my friends and Brother Bo we are back in the air. We were short A5 rivets, too. Another Zodiac builder came up with rivets over the weekend to keep us popping w/o a break in the action. I bought the angle drill attachemnt this blog recommended and we installed new Sonex rubber bushings on the Jabiru engine mount. Got a local tow truck operator to haul for us this time.

As for the upgrade, our a/c had no signs of wear or…

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Added by Mark Ertz on May 7, 2010 at 1:25pm — 5 Comments

Modified elevator cable routing for CH701

Problem: as left/right flaperon is applied, path length of the cable changes dramatically, because the top of the elevator control horn is located about 12” off the axis of rotation of the flaperon torque tube.



With cable tension set to 20lbs at neutral stick, I was seeing 10-15lbs at full left (very slack) and >35lbs at full right stick. This was tight enough to cause the elevator horn to bend!



Solution: I have added a pulley right behind the lower access hatch, on the… Continue

Added by Sebastian Dewhurst on May 5, 2010 at 4:31pm — 9 Comments

STOL CH 750 x 2

This was the ramp in front of the Zenith factory earlier today: two burgundy and gray light aircraft visited today:

The high wing is Mike Schlichtman's STOL CH 750 and the other is Randy Schlitter's Rans S-19 LSA.

Mike's nice STOL CH 750 is nearly identical to our factory demo version - both are powered by the six cylinder Jabiru 3300… Continue

Added by Sebastien Heintz on May 4, 2010 at 8:30pm — 1 Comment

Getting closer all the time

Today was a day to get closer to the first flight, the new fittings arrived for the oil cooler and were installed back on the airplane, oil and filter were changed, Added the forward bumper buffer for the top cowl by using a small rubber hammer, cut off the handle, and cut a 1/2" piece of plywood in a cirlce just larger than the hammer , screwed the two together and fiberglassed it onto the top of the cowl, when inverted into the normal position the base of the rubber hammer will just rest on… Continue

Added by Phillip Owens on April 30, 2010 at 8:22pm — 3 Comments

First flite after modification

N408WL flew today 04/30/2010 first flight after modification very windy day 90 degree crosswind aircraft flew very well only change was the ailerons seemed heavier than before. Made the best landings I have done. extra 30 lbs helped the cg. flew 1.5 hours 3.5 of phase one to go. Emptey weight 790 lbs with jabiru 3300, icom 200, Dynon 180, airspeed indicator, Garmin transponder, air gizmo and 196 GPS, flite com intercom, exp bus and compass 406elt. Modification added 30lbs.

Added by Harry P. Land Jr. on April 30, 2010 at 5:21pm — 2 Comments

Sun'n Fun 2010 and the flight back home

After our enjoyable trip to Sun'n Fun, we are ready for a week of work in the sun! One of the first planes we saw upon our arrival was Gus Warren's STOL CH 750:

This recently completed STOL CH 750 is equipped with the lightweight ULpower UL260i engine (hence the long nose) distributed by… Continue

Added by Sebastien Heintz on April 28, 2010 at 12:00pm — 2 Comments

Trip to Sun'n Fun in the STOL CH 750

Following is a brief report and photos from our flight to Sun'n Fun earlier this month:

(Update: See my new video clips at the bottom of this post).

To test the comfort and cross-country capability of the STOL CH 750, Roger and I decided to fly together (in one plane) to Lakeland, Florida, from… Continue

Added by Sebastien Heintz on April 23, 2010 at 9:00am — 19 Comments

Kalahari Cheetah Project

Kalahari Cheetah Project

Dr Gus Mills



Pilot in Command: Andrew Conroy and Navigator: Derrick van Zyl

Author: Derrick van Zyl







Mission



Tracking and finding missing Collared Cheetahs in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park for “The…

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Added by Andrew Conroy on April 22, 2010 at 3:00am — 1 Comment

Weight & Balance 417SX

First I want to start by saying some stuff was missing. One set of seats and wing root fairings. I made my seats and the wing root fairings will be Carbon Fiber, maybe 10 pounds total. From the beginning I concentrated on building light. No wheel pants. Jabiru 3300 with a custom FWF. Grove gear. Wood propeller.



Second, I had Arnie the A&P at U76 use his certified scales.



Empty weight: 686 pounds

Left wheel: 231 pounds

Right wheel: 219 pounds

Nose wheel: 236… Continue

Added by Jake Reyna on April 21, 2010 at 6:00pm — 8 Comments

701 experience in NJ or eastern PA

Hello all,
I'm looking for someone in my area that can help me transision into my new 701, Just got it here and wings are hung, and I need to get my annual done. Then I would like to fly with someone familiar with the 701 to give me a little heads up. Anyone in the central/south New Jersey available to drop into NJ46 (PearlAcres) Apt.?

Thanks,
Tom G.

Added by Tom Genereux on April 21, 2010 at 4:20pm — No Comments

Update - Airworthiness

I plan on completing the discrepancy list by Wednesday and then head back to Astoria. Talked to the DAR, Jim Gilchrist, yesterday to verify the timeline once I had submitted the Notarized statement addressing the list. He's out of town until May 1 and will send out the Airworthiness as soon as he receives the paperwork. So, I'll be legal soon thereafter, yahoo!



Last item on the list will be Weight & Balance. I'm going to have the local A&P use his scales. I've tried to build as… Continue

Added by Jake Reyna on April 20, 2010 at 8:07am — 9 Comments

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