Friday, April 2, 2010 Trip to the Airport

John decided to close our office on Good Friday also, so I took advantage of the time off and went early up to the airport. I wanted to do a couple of small things--measure the engine pulley and re-drive pulley to calculate the reduction ratio to find the most efficient propeller to replace the broken wooden one. Also, I wanted to find all the pieces of cable so I could get the cables and flying wires replaced. Mission was accomplished with no problems.

While I was there, I looked over the situation with the fuel tank support sling and the seat. Both of them will have to be repaired because the straps had been cut, either by the EMT’s or by me in the process of disassembling the carriage. I found that both of the straps were attached to the rear axle in such a way that the axle assembly will have to be disassembled to take them off and then back on once they are repaired. I had hoped to not have to do that, but it won’t be difficult, just add to the time to re-assemble the JetWing carriage.

After getting home, I found that the small pulley is 3 ¼” in diameter, and the re-drive pulley is 6 ½”, which means the reduction ratio was exactly 2:1. I also was able to account for all of the cables, except that I found that I am missing one end of each of the upper engine support cables, which means if I can’t find those ends somewhere then whatever machine shop will work with me will have to fabricate two new end connectors (which should not be difficult), and I will have to determine the length of the cables. I may want to use turnbuckles to make sure the engine is suspended top and bottom tightly and securely. Something for future determination.

One strange thing was that I also found two cable ends that I can’t account for. They are definitely not the ends of the engine cables I am missing because the cable is not as heavy as the engine cables. They are each about 8” or so in length with eyelets on one end. If the ends are put together, which looks like they should be, they are 17” long. Don’t know what they’re used for, but it’s obvious that they have a purpose. It’s possible they are ends of two of the flying wires for the wing; I hope that’s not the case. I e-mailed both Dave Engle and Tom Kennedy to ask them if they had any ideas, and to get me the measurements of the engine cables.

Thursday, April 1, 2010 Spars to Linders Speciality

I called over to Linders Specialty and talked with a guy who wasn’t very helpful. I then found the name of the owner and e-mailed him. He was moderately encouraging and told me I should bring the spars over and let them look them over. I did that the next day and dealt with another man who was very helpful. He said they could straighten the spars to within 1/16” tolerance, which I was very satisfied with. I left them there with the promise they would have them done within a week or so. They were observing Good Friday and wouldn’t be working again until the following week.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010 Back to the Machine Shop

I went back to the machine shop and this time he had actually drilled the holes for the control bar. But he also said that he couldn’t straighten the spars. He said he wouldn’t charge me for the drilling, and we both agreed it would be best to take everything and go somewhere else. It was an amicable parting, but I am disappointed because it seemed like an ideal arrangement. I think he was a little concerned about his own liability dealing with working on an aircraft.

Now what? I decided to e-mail one of the guys I had become acquainted with trying to locate tubing materials. Thor Smith at Eagle Mouldings had been helpful before and since his website said his shop could (among other things) do bending of aluminum tubing, they should be able to do straightening, also. But alas, he e-mailed me back that they couldn’t do that, but did recommend another company in St. Paul who might be able to help. Their name was Linders Specialty.

Friday, March 25, 2010 Take the Spars to the Machine Shop

On Friday I took both spars to the machine shop. Again, the things I had taken there before were stacked in the same corner as before, untouched. My confidence is shaken that he will do anything for me. I showed him the spars and asked him if he thought they could be straightened. He was skeptical. He also for the third or fourth time apologized for not getting the other stuff started, and promised he would drill the holes over the weekend.

Sunday, March 21, 2010 I May End Up with Two Manuals!

Yesterday I e-mailed Tom Kennedy, who had promised to send me a copy of his Owners Manual, and told him that I had received the copy from Dave Engle, so he didn’t have to make a copy for me. But then later on, it occurred to me that Tom’s Jetwing had a Demon 175 wing, the same as mine, whereas Dave Engle’s had a Javelin 208 wing, not helpful to me. I e-mailed Tom back and asked him if he had a manual on the Demon 175 wing. After awhile he sent a return e-mail saying that he did have that manual, and he would be sending me copies of both the Demon wing manual and another copy of the Jetwing Owners Manual “…just in case”. What a good guy! Hope to meet him some day.

Saturday, March 20, 2010 Another Visit to the Airport

It’s Saturday morning, again cool and clear but promised a beautiful spring day. I headed for Crystal to extract the leading-edge spar and bring it home to take to Eric and see if he can straighten it. It popped off surprisingly easily. I’ll take it and the keel spar to Eric early next week.

Later in the afternoon, an e-mail arrived from Dave Engle complete with a copy of the Jetwing Owners Manual! He had his wife (or “significant other” as he put it, whoever that means) to scan in each page of the manual. It’s in JPG format, not the best kind of copy, but certainly readable and usable and generally a wonderful sight! I printed it off (2-sided copy) and began studying it. One amusing thing is that on the cover it describes the manual as “For Jetwing All Terrain Vehicle”. What are they saying? Isn’t this a flying machine?! The only contact with “terrain” (other than take-off and landing) would be disastrous! The Jetwing was originally designed as a kit and intended to be assembled by the owner, so re-assembling should be a piece of cake. The assembly instructions are for the most part very detailed although sometimes confusing in places, but nonetheless should provide the basis for a step-by-step reconstruction. I am encouraged. However, there is no detail on the wing at all, just the carriage.

Friday, March 19, 2010 Check on Status at the Machine Shop

On Friday I scheduled our Camry to have its cracked windshield replaced, which had been sorely needed for several years. After retrieving it from the shop, I decided to make a visit to the machine shop to see what the status was with the control bar holes and other stuff, since I have not heard anything from the shop owner as he had promised.

It was with some disappointment that when I walked in, the control bar tubes I had taken there were still stacked in the same corner as when I had left them two weeks ago. The shop owner apologized and said he had some higher priority work that prevented his getting to my project, but said he would for sure get to it soon. I gave him the nose-wheel bracket and asked if he could fix the broken parts, which he said he probably could. There were a couple of other pieces that needed straightening or other minor things. I described the bent spars and asked him his opinion about if they could be straightened, and he said he thought that could be done without weakening those pieces.

It’s Friday night, and I have received a surprise e-mail from Dave Engle. He apologized for being off-line for so long and said he was going to try to get the Owners Manual in shape so he could send it to me as an e-mail attachment. He would try to get it to me over the weekend.