Zenith Aircraft Builders and Flyers
Online Community of Zenith Builders and Flyers
Got my Airworthiness Certificate!
You can see my blog post for more details, but N19JF, a Viking powered Zenith CH-750 Cruzer with about 18 months and 968 hours of my sweat, (literally) blood and tears, as well a few hundred hours from my son Halden and friends John and Diego, is now certified airworthy!
Only 28 hours of that was actually in airplane construction, the other 940 hours was removing the @#^$&#$!@ part number stickers!
Thanks Roger for taking all the technical support calls, Chris for the design, and Sebastian for the encouragement and running a well oiled machine. And of course Patty, Katlin, Joyce, Steve and everyone else at Zenith!
Thanks also to Jan and Alyssa for all the help and advice on getting the Viking 130 ready to fly. Every time I fire it up the plane just wants to jump into the sky. Finally I can let it!
And thanks to Buzz Air for the transition training and 152 landings in some of the worst crosswinds I have every seen all with the panel blacked out. If I have any hope of finishing my first flight alive it's due to him.
I could not have done it without the support of my local EAA chapter led by James McGauhey( a fellow Zenith builder), and James Nichols for letting me split the apple fritter when I could not beat him to the donuts first, looking forward to seeing you fly your 750 STOL, and our EAA Tech Counselor David Weber. Phil Rueker was a life-saver helping be button everything up the last weekend.
Thanks also to the community for all the answered questions and support during the build.
And last but certainly not least thanks to Mark Pensenstadler for teaching me that I sometimes just need to settle for "good enough" if I ever want to actually fly a airplane I built! :-)
https://my750cruzer.wordpress.com
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Mark Stevens on
-
Congratulations! Looking forward to getting mine in the air this year.
-
Permalink Reply by Joe Hopwood on
-
Congratulations Jonathan! Let us know about first flight. If you build another use lacquer thinner for sticker removal.
-
Permalink Reply by Jonathan Fay on
-
Thanks. As for thinner I did use it with the squirt bottle like the factory showed us, it still takes forever and the thinner dries up before the sticker soaks it into the glue, so you have to apply multiple times and often still have to scrape it off even then. If they just printed it on the blue tape they use that would be a piece of cake!
-
Permalink Reply by Ken Ryan on
-
And there are different types of labels available including some that come off very nicely. Mysteriously, Zenith chooses to continue to use labels that weld themselves to the material to which they are affixed. I guess labels are just too small a detail for Zenith to spend any energy on. That said, the 3M adhesive remover works very well on almost all of the labels. But decent labels would be better, for sure.
-
-
Thinner worked for me. Perhaps they used a different sticker for you.
-
-
If always applied to inside then you would not need to remove.
-
Permalink Reply by Kenneth Stapleton on
-
Now that we've thoroughly hijacked your thread with various methods of sticker removal. I spray mine with WD40 and wait about 5 minutes. Stickers peel right off and there is no obnoxious paint thinner in my lungs or on my skin!
-
Permalink Reply by Mark LaPierre on
-
I like the blue nose. You wouldn't happen to be a mariner? Are you planning to fly this across the Arctic Circle?
-
Permalink Reply by John Austin on
-
I am half way in building my plane and wonder and doubt if I'll ever get it finished.
Keep at it, Ken. Be persistent and work regularly on the build and one day you'll be getting congrats from Jonathan! :>)
John
-
-
I guess I am glad I already got my insurance hours with Buzz, because it might not be possible this summer now.
https://www.wsmv.com/news/pilot-who-lands-on-lawrence-county-highwa...
His office told me after the incident that he had permission and that the whole thing was fake news. Apparently even if that was true there are more repercussions coming from it. Now they say "Do not believe everything posted". Heck I already know that, Moon landing deniers even say that, but sadly that is not a denial. They say they can still do the transition training, but now I think I would need the issue resolved before I would have any comfort in doing it.
What alternatives are there for getting the insurance hours for my son?
Right now the only thing I can think of is.
1. Finish my 40 hours of phase 1.
2. Have my sons flight instructor do duel with me for 10 hours.
3. Add son's flight instructor as named pilot on insurance.
4. Have son do 10 hours of dual with flight instructor.
Buzz Air would have been a lot cheaper and more convenient.
-
Permalink Reply by Paul Sanders on
-
Not too long ago someone from (I think) the Pacific NW area announced they could now do transition training, and they were flexible about coming to people rather than going up there. Might be an option if you can find their announcement... I'm sure it was on here but I'm not currently somewhere I can look for it.
Sorry to hear about Buzzy, I thought he'd been doing that stunt every year for ages so I wonder what changed this year.
-
Permalink Reply by R Michael Moore on
-
Correct. Posted the link below.
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- Next ›
New from Zenith:
Classified listing for buying or selling your Zenith building or flying related stuff...
Custom Instrument Panels
for your Zenith:
Custom instrument panels are now available directly from Zenith Aircraft Company exclusively for Zenith builders and owners. Pre-cut panel, Dynon and Garmin avionics, and more.
Zenith Homecoming Tee:
Flying On Your Own Wings:
A Complete Guide to Understanding Light Airplane Design, by Chris Heintz
Builder & Pilot Supplies:
Pro Builder Assistance:
Transition training:
Aircraft Spruce & Specialty for all your building and pilot supplies!
How to videos from HomebuiltHELP.com
Developed specifically for Zenith builders (by a builder) these videos on DVD are a great help in building your own kit plane by providing practical hands-on construction information. Visit HomebuiltHelp.com for the latest DVD titles.
© 2024 Created by Zenith.Aero.
Powered by
