Sebastien Heintz's Blog (145)

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Zenith Open Hangar Day / Builder Fly-In Event - Latest Schedule Update

Here's the latest information on our upcoming Open Hangar Day / Builder Fly-In Gathering: We've added Wayne Lanza of Composite Design to the list of participants. Composite Design manufactures the power panel…
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Added by Sebastien Heintz on September 13, 2010 at 2:23pm — No Comments

EAA president Rod Hightower in Mexico, MO

The Experimental Aircraft Association's (EAA) new president, Rod Hightower, was in Mexico, Missouri, this past weekend for the "Mexico AirFest Salute to Veterans Air Show." Rod flew in for the weekend (with his daughter Hillary) in his Stearman, pictured below.…

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Added by Sebastien Heintz on August 30, 2010 at 2:15pm — No Comments

2010 Zenith Aircraft Open Hangar Day... One Month Away

Our 19th annual Zenith Aircraft Company "Open Hangar Day and Builder Fly-In" is just one month away!

This year's events is scheduled for Saturday, September 18, 2010, at the factory located at Mexico Memorial Airport in Mexico, Missouri. All aviation enthusiasts, but especially builders and owners… Continue

Added by Sebastien Heintz on August 18, 2010 at 8:30pm — No Comments

...from Voice of America radio: "Kurdish Aviator Builds Plane, Flies Over Home Town"

See and listen to Voice of America for an interesting story about a man and his dream (original broadcast on August 12, 2010):

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Added by Sebastien Heintz on August 12, 2010 at 9:30pm — 1 Comment

STOL CH 750, Edition 2 (Design Max. Weight Increase), Now Available

As announced last month at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (view press release), the design maximum weight for the STOL CH 750 has been increased from 1,320 lbs. (600 kg) to 1,440 lbs. (650 kg), an increase of 120 lbs. The increase adds significantly to the load… Continue

Added by Sebastien Heintz on August 11, 2010 at 9:00pm — 4 Comments

A story, about a story, about a story.... worth reading.

I read the following story (about a story in the New York Times, no less) about a Zodiac builder and his love of flying. Isn't it great to read some good news about aviation and flying, especially in a non-aviation publication?…





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Added by Sebastien Heintz on August 11, 2010 at 8:30am — 1 Comment

STOL CH 750: Dual Control Sticks

Frank Tompson recently installed the dual control stick option kit in his STOL CH 750:

We were a little concerned about cabin access (getting in and out of the airplane) with the dual sticks but it appears not to be a problem. Here's a schematic of the system:

The…
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Added by Sebastien Heintz on August 7, 2010 at 8:00pm — 4 Comments

Oshkosh 2010 Follow-Up

Despite a very wet beginning, we had a great time once again at AirVenture and really enjoyed meeting both existing and new builders from around the world. Following is a summary of our week:



Heading to Oshkosh from our factory in Mexico, Missouri: The STOL CH 750 as seen from the STOL CH 801:…

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Added by Sebastien Heintz on August 4, 2010 at 10:00am — 6 Comments

Zodiac CH601XL-B Flight Test Report

We recently had the chance to give Steve Flattum the opportunity to test fly our factory demonstrator Zodiac CH 601 XL B (upgraded model). Steve flies for one of the major US airlines and has logged more than 20,000 hours. More importantly though, he has a passion for light aircraft, and he has flown more than 100 types of aircraft (from ultralight to supersonic) and performed more than 20 first flights. He holds a professional pilot degree and is a… Continue

Added by Sebastien Heintz on July 7, 2010 at 1:00pm — 5 Comments

Flying in the Caribbean: Guadeloupe

My brother Matt and I recently visited the island of Guadeloupe in the French West Indies part of the Caribbean. Like many of you, I've enjoyed watching Zenith STOL float flying videos on YouTube: There are dozens of great video clips from Greek islands, the Alaskan back…

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Added by Sebastien Heintz on June 11, 2010 at 1:00pm — 5 Comments

"B" model designation for Zodiac CH601XL and CH650

With the advent of the upgrade package for the Zodiac CH 601 XL, owners

have asked for a way of easily identifying and marking an upgraded

aircraft, and a consensus quickly formed that a "B" model designation

was the preferred way of identifying an upgraded aircraft (applying to

upgraded Zodiac CH 601 XL and CH 650 aircraft models).



We've prepared quality cut-out decals for the aircraft: We encourage all affected builders who have… Continue

Added by Sebastien Heintz on May 27, 2010 at 3:30pm — 6 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

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

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

"Don't Give Up Your Dreams"

I was pleasantly surprised to read about Tim Garrett in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch last night:





Read the full story: St. Louis Post-Dispatch



Many of you have probably met Tim at one of Zenith's… Continue

Added by Sebastien Heintz on March 11, 2010 at 12:30pm — 2 Comments

Calibrating the Airspeed Indicator (ASI)

A sometimes overlooked part of the flight test program is calibration of the airspeed indicator (ASI). The airspeed indicator is (arguably) the single most important instrument we have on board our airplane, and it's important that owners/pilots make sure that the ASI has been calibrated (that it has been corrected for errors).

Indicated Airspeed (IAS) is the speed of the aircraft as shown on the airspeed…

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Added by Sebastien Heintz on February 12, 2010 at 12:00pm — 5 Comments

Flying the Upgraded Zodiac

We've had lousy flying weather in Mexico, Missouri lately (which is really not that typical), so when the sky looked OK this morning Roger and I pulled out the upgraded Zodiac XL for a pleasure flight...

Here's the video:



I hope you enjoy it as much as we… Continue

Added by Sebastien Heintz on January 27, 2010 at 4:30pm — 14 Comments

Sebring U.S. Sport Aviation Expo 2010

Following is a recap of the Sebring LSA Aviation Expo from last week in Sebring, Florida.

The bright yellow STOL CH 750LS and the "upgraded" Zodiac CH 650LS at the Sebring Expo:

On the two days prior to the show,… Continue

Added by Sebastien Heintz on January 25, 2010 at 5:51pm — 3 Comments

Part 26: Installing the "Upgrade Package" to our Zodiac CH 601 XL: It flies!

It was a cold and windy day... but clear and sunny, so we flew our beloved Zodiac XL demonstrator airplane this morning.

Today's flight comes after the downtime of installing the Zodiac XL upgrades which we've been chronicling here over the past five or six weeks. All of you that have been following this series will agree that the upgrade package kit that we… Continue

Added by Sebastien Heintz on December 28, 2009 at 4:00pm — 8 Comments

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