Saturday, November 3, 2012 Beautiful Day at the Airport

I haven’t updated this log since August, mainly because there isn’t much to tell. I’ve been to the airport a couple of times still fighting the throttle cable problem, but in fairness, there’s been some lag in my enthusiasm about the JW lately. I guess I would call it a love-hate relationship. I keep saying that I should sell it, but no one would want buy it if they couldn’t see it demo’d?!? Richard and I have talked about the cable problem several times and he was convinced that we could make the old cable work, but after trying everything we could think of, it seemed like that cable was not allowing free movement of the throttle; either it would impede the opening up of the carburetor to full power, or oppose the return back to idle. Finally I made the decision to scrap that cable and replace it. After some research on the web, I was pointed to a company in Santa Ana, CA named MotionPros who make all kinds of cables. Since my cable was apparently custom fitted, the only recourse would be to have MotionPros duplicate the cable with the proper ends and housing. I pulled the cable off, packed it up with instructions to reproduce it increasing the length. The cost came to $35 plus shipping; spendy, but necessary. It took them awhile, but finally I received the new cable by UPS. Initially I wanted to have Bob come with me to install the new cable, but his priorities were skewed…he goes hunting every year and I couldn’t make him understand my problem was more important than his hunting with his hunting friends. So I asked Richard to meet me there and help me get that cable installed. Although I did not divulge to anyone my intentions, if the cable solved the throttle and acceleration problem with the engine, it was my plan to fly the bird. I went out to the airport about 10AM and began to tinker with the JW. I put the charger on the battery, tightened all the nuts and bolts, got the wing inflated (not easy, but got it done), and waited for Richard to arrive, which he did as planned at 2PM. For November (albeit early November), the weather was beautiful. Cool, about 40 degrees, but no wind. The conditions would have been very flyable, although it would have been too cold to be aloft for very long. My plan was to do only a couple of T&G’s just to build confidence that I could handle the JW. Richard is very thorough (a euphemism for SLOW) and he did more than just install the cable. The battery charger didn’t seem to charge the battery very well, but we got the engine running using the pull rope. It was the first time we’ve done that, and it worked OK, although I can’t imagine using that method to start the engine during actual flight. We spent probably an hour just running the engine, tuning the idling and checking out the new cable effectiveness, and testing the lower hand throttle with the control-bar throttle control. Everything worked better than ever before. I was exhilarated! One thing I’ve found about the Kawasaki two-cycle engine is that it is a little hard-starting, but once it runs and warms up, it starts like a champ every time. My method of operation in the future will be to get the JW started standing and facing the engine so I can get to the choke contol and primer pump, etc., but to then shut it down and then get the helmet on, strap myself in, and then start it seated in the seat. So after we had run the engine and Richard tuned the idle speed and mixture, I put the helmet on and got into the seat and did some taxiing around the area. I had learned from my previous disastrous experience to keep the speed under 20MPH, since lift-off is somewhere around 25MPH. It was a foreign feeling, and very uncomfortable. I attributed that to rust, but whatever, I didn’t have a “feel” for the aircraft, and after doing the taxiing for a half-hour or so, I decided today would not be the day for a test flight. It was getting late, the wind was picking up a little, it was turning cold, and I was tired. But now at least, I know that at any time I can go out there. start It up, and taxi as much as I need to get the “feel” of it on the ground before I try another take-off run. Another goal is to try to find a hanger so I can leave the JW set up rather than having to inflate the wing every time. It sure would be great to be able to go out there, open the hanger, taxi out and fly!

Saturday, August 11, 2012 Still Working on the new Hand Throttle

A month or so ago I had ordered some cabling and other parts to complete the sub-project of converting the foot-feed throttle control to a control-bar-mounted hand throttle. Earlier in the week, Richard had proposed several options and finally after I took the parts to him, he found a way to fabricate the cable-end so it would fit on the lever that was mounted on the trike. Today he came down in the afternoon to hopefully get it finally installed and working.
But in the morning, before Richard came out, Bob Frolund came out to the airport to borrow the snowmobile trailer so he could haul some stuff up north. It was the first time I had been there myself since he and I were last there. While he was there he wanted to check out how the bracket he had made for the folded wing was working, and also to see if we could figure out how to get the wing inflated on the carriage. We got the trailer out of the hanger and hooked up to his pickup and then turned our attention to the trike. We saw some issues with the bracket that needed to be tweaked, and he has plans to resolved those issues.
But the wing was still stubborn and would not inflate. He saw that the left wing would fold out fine, but when we tried to stretch out the right wing, the left one would retreat back. He suggested that we tie down the left wing to a stake in the ground so it could not retreat back. He had a tent stake in his truck and drove it into the ground and tied the wing to that. We tried again to push the right wing out, but it resisted. Then suddenly it popped open and the haul-back tensioner came back as it should. At the same time, the left wing sprung loose from the stake. Turns out it was tied too closely to the stake and needed more slack; easy problem to solve. So this procedure to get the wing inflated should work in the future, hopefully.
So after a break for greasy tavern burgers for lunch in a local Winsted bar and grill, Bob took off.
After Richard arrived, we set about to get the throttle cable installed. With much frustration, nothing seemed to fit or to work the first time. Richard had to make constant adjustments to get things to work together. The cable housing wouldn’t go into the control, the location of the other cable end was wrong qhich required drilling a new spot for the cable to attach to the hand control, but to do that, he needed to move the bolt that attached the plate to the control, then the starter switch needed to be moved, because it was in the way, then the wire connecting the hand control to the new cable needed to bne replace by one that would retract property and on and on. But the more critical issue was to ensure that the new hand control would open the carburetor to full power, and retract it back to idle. It wasn’t doing that initially. Richard worked for several hours to get the proper balance, but he finally succeeded to make the proper adjustment.
Finally, at about 5PM, we quit, thoroughly exhausted. But we’ve made progress, and hopefully next time we’ll be done with this phase. Then I can get to the process of flying.

Saturday, July 28, 2012 Back to the Airport with Bob Frolund

Bob Frolund is a friend from church who has shown interest in the Jetwing project, and has wanted to go “…look at your toy…” as he told me. So this Saturday after the mens’ group meeting at the church, we went out to the airport. Since he is mechanically minded and very resourceful, I told him that there were several things for which I needed advice. I want to be able to get the Jetwing set up to fly when I am by myself, and there are three things that currently prevent this. I need to be able to: 1) fold up and deploy the wing without demounting the wing from the carriage, 2) find some way once the wing is folded to control it when I am wheeling the Jetwing out of and into the hanger, and 3) be able to steer the plane by controlling the nosewheel.
After getting the hanger door raised, which was no mean feat, we wheeled the aircraft out. Keeping the wing mounted on the carriage, I lowered the control bar to the ground, and we spread the wing and tried to tension it. As was the usual case, I could not get the wing fully deployed and tensioned. The eye came within about 5 inches of the tensioner bracket. Between us, we still could not get it to reach. Finally, Bob detached the Velcro overlap of the wing fabric to expose the crossbars. By pulling directly on the main crossbar, the wing expanded all the way. So the conclusion was that I simply did not have the leverage to pull hard enough to get the wing to expand fully with it attached to the carriage. I was very concerned about not forcing anything and possibly damaging it, but it seemed that there was no inordinate stress on the wing structure by doing this. Bob’s suggestion was to attach a ratchet strap or some kind of come-along to the tensioning cable to give it more muscle than I could manage. So one issue was resolved.
As we were working around the hanger and the plane, I showed Bob the Cessna tow bar that had been used by John’s 172 but was overlooked by the buyer when the airplane was sold. I said that I would like to modify the bar to work with the Jetwing but couldn’t figure out how. He took a quick look and pointed out that there seemed to be a natural place to attach the tow bar on the nosewheel bracket already. Sure enough, for some reason I had completely missed the attach point that had probably been designed on the nosewheel bracket for this very purpose. I guess no one should accuse me of being all that observant of the obvious!
We turned our attention to how to control the wings when there were in the folded position. Bob saw immediately what the need was and said he could fabricate a simple bracket out of scrap 2x4’s or 1x4’s with casters on the bottom that would wrap around the wing so it would not drag on the ground. Amazingly, the next day at church, Bob informed me that he had built the bracket and had brought it with him that morning. What a guy!
So the day with Bob was extremely productive. This in spite of two very bad knees that make it hard for him to get around. He is looking forward to replacement surgery later this year to resolve that problem.

Saturday June 30, 2012 More Work on the Hand Throttle

Richard and I again met at the airport on Saturday the 30th. He brought along the things he had worked on to hopefully get the hand throttle to work. The modified control lever fit very well on the control bar, although it wasn’t very tight. We found that that would probably be better because I could adjust it in flight to be comfortable.
He also produced the bell-crank lever and we put it on the carriage throttle so that the both the hand throttle and the carriage throttle would pull out the throttle cable. We tested the bell-crank and it seemed to work perfectly if only we could find the cable to attach to it. The control bar throttle would override the carriage throttle control, but the carriage control with its lock knob would be used in cruise flight.
The bad news was that 8’ cable that I had which seemed like it was plenty long was not long enough. The cable housing was long enough, but the cable itself was too short. So by trying all possible combinations using the cable we had, we finally gave up for the day and I had my marching orders to find a longer cable. The problem with just getting 11’ of raw cable was that on the control lever end, there had to be the right kind of button (or whatever it is called) to fit into the lever.
So for lack of an 11’ cable, so we couldn’t finish the job. We gave up for the day and I went home discouraged that something this seemingly simple should be such a stumbling block. But later, I found in the LEAF catalog a list of parts for a brake system that allowed for special orders of cable by the foot. I e-mailed Richard and sent a scan of the catalog page. He encouraged me to order the parts, since they didn’t amount to much cash-wise, which I did.

Saturday, June 18, 2012 Working on the Throttle Problem

After my abortive attempt to fly the Jetwing May 24th, on June 12th I e-mailed Richard Schmidt to ask for technical advice. He is the ex-racing car driver/mechanic that helped me get the Kawasaki engine to perform well. I explained the problem with the foot throttle and the basic need to find a way to control the power by 1) not using the foot-feed because of my physical limitation, and 2) keeping both hands on the control bar at all times during landing and take-off.
My thought was that I probably needed a hand control that was attached to the control bar, which is what the Jetwing had on it originally when they were first built back in 1982. In fact, Larry Miller’s Jetwing is still set up that way, except that his has the cable from the control connected directly to the carburetor. I rather like the idea that if I could get a hand control to connect to the existing control on the carriage, I could still use the control on the carriage during cruise flight and not have to have the control on the control bar effective all the time. Sort of like a Jetwing cruise control. I included some pictures with the e-mail of Larry’s plane. He thought that would work, and we agreed to meet at the airport the following Saturday, the 16th.
True to his word, Richard was at the airport waiting for me when I arrived. It was hot and muggy, and we worked most of the afternoon. I had gotten some bicycle brake control levers from a used bike shop, along with a cable, but not surprisingly we found that what we had in mind wouldn’t work. The throttle lever (bicycle brake lever) was too small and would not attach to the control bar, and even if it could be made to attach, the “travel”, which is the distance the cable has to move to apply full power, was longer than the control lever could move. Although this seems like a pretty obvious conclusion, it took several hours to determine what exactly needed to be done.
Richard wasn’t discouraged, though, and said that he could fabricate a 3:2 “bell-crank” lever that would solve the “travel” problem, and he also would modify the control lever so that it would attach to the control bar. After some e-mails back and forth, we agreed to meet again the first available Saturday.

Thursday, May 24, 2012 My First Jetwing Flight

This is a red-letter day. I have decided to go fly the Jetwing. The plane has been in the hanger for a couple of weeks now, and I haven’t been out there since. Sandra agreed to go with me to film the event (and pick up the pieces, if necessary). After rolling the Jetwing out of the hanger, I discovered that with the wing attached I could not fully deploy the wing. I could attach the kingpost after-cable, but the main tensioner cable would not pull back far enough to attach it to the turnbuckle.
Finally, I detached the wing and was able to get the tension on. But this is a potential problem, because my entire thinking was that I wanted to deploy the wing keeping it attached to the carriage, and then just raise the wing into flying position.
But that is a project for later. I did the pre-flight check, started the engine, and taxied to takeoff position. The wing was light and out of the west, which was the direction I preferred. If I was to take off the other direction, there were power lines that in a worse-case scenario could come into play. Taking off to the west was over fields and unpopulated areas.
I decided that now was the time, and gave the foot-feed full power. The Jetwing responded and we were rolling. The Jetwing left the ground but it seemed sluggish. Although I thought I was giving it full power, I reached down and gave the hand throttle a push to make sure it was getting full power, and doing so the Jetwing started to skew from side to side as I had only one hand on the control bar. Why couldn’t I get full power by using the foot feed and/or the hand throttle? The aircraft was mushing dangerously toward a stall, or may have actually been in a stall, when I reached down again to the hand throttle and discovered it had retreated to maybe half-position. Obviously I had much less than takeoff power, and the plane was headed perpendicular to the runway toward the weeds. I had the bar full forward, but as I saw the takeoff had failed, I pulled the bar back to regain some airspeed and then as the Jetwing approached the ground, I pushed it back out and landed it gracefully in the weeds alongside the runway. The landing was the only positive thing this day, and what was positive was that I hadn’t damaged the Jetwing. What an ignominious first flight! I taxied back to the hanger and put the Jetwing away, discouraged with the outcome of the day.
After I arrived home, I called Larry and discussed my experience. I told him my suspicion that because partially my height, being a little taller than Larry who had used the foot feed without any problem, and that my right ankle was the one that had been injured in the crash in 2009, maybe I couldn’t use the foot-feed effectively. He agreed that that might have been an issue, and also that because I was heavier than him, that I maybe should keep the control bar at neutral longer before pushing it out to allow for more speed on the ground run before liftoff.
That all sounded right to me, so I began planning for the next step.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012 The Beginning of Part 2

In April, the Jetwing flew for the first time since its rebuild. But the pilot was not me, it was Larry Miller. He proved that my Jetwing flies. That was a joyous event, but now it time for me to fly it.
Since the maiden flight by Larry Miller at Luverne in April, the Jetwing has inhabited dormant in the garage. Seems like there’s always something to prevent me from getting out to the airport and making my initial flight.
But since it has become a priority to find a hanger, I have called around and visited numerous airports nearby to find something I could use or share. Buffalo, Glencoe, Molnau (Waconia), and Winsted were the initial candidates. Dick Molnau is the owner and operator of (surprise!) Molnau Airport, the closest airport on Airport Road in Waconia. He told me in no uncertain terms that ultralights were not welcome at his airport. I don’t know what prejudice he holds toward us innocent little fuzzballs, but that’s the name of that tune, and he probably has his reasons, as fair or unfair as they may be. A guy at Buffalo called me and said I could share some space for $175/month, much too high a price at this point.
Glencoe Airport, which is owned and operated by the City of Glencoe, had space available for $90/month, which seemed very promising. I scheduled with the airport manager and went out there to see the available hanger. It was beautiful; spacious, clean, and much more than I needed, but who was I to argue?!? I had visions of sub-leasing space that I did not need, and possibly coming out with hanger space with little or no out-of-pocket expense. I called the lady at the City of Glencoe to discuss signing the lease and closing the deal. She e-mailed me a copy of the lease, which looked fine to me; not overly restrictive, and as I was about to fill it out, sign it, and send them the lease back along with some money, I received a call back from the lady. She apologized and said that the lease she had sent had just been superseded by a new lease which had just been released by the city attorney, a copy of which she would e-mail. I was a little concerned, but assumed it would not be a show-stopper. Soon the new lease arrived. Buried in the Appendix were specifications for required insurance, a whole section that had been added to the previous lease. In summary, the conditions stated that I would have to include a hold-harmless clause coupled with a half-million in liability and property damage coverage naming the City as beneficiary. I couldn’t even imagine the cost of that, so I called the City Attorney directly and after a couple of days of dancing around, finally got in touch with him. I asked if there was any way to waive the insurance requirement, to which he responded with a definitive NO, and that was the end of my dreams of a hanger at Glencoe.
I had been to the airport at Winsted several times, talked to several people, and had wandered around, getting the lay of the land. I had also seen a sign on at least two hangers there that had FOR RENT OR SALE, with the same telephone number. I talked to a number of people on the field and no one knew of any available hanger space, except for the afore-mentioned signs. I put in a call to the phone number and got messages, but no reply. Finally, Tom Casey called back. He had been travelling and had been out of touch so it took him awhile to answer my phone messages. He was kind of curt and not easy to deal with. I asked about hanger space and told him I had a small aircraft and would be willing to share space, provided that there would be cost consideration. He said that he had two hangers, one large one and one small one. The small one had furniture and “stuff” that his kids were storing, and would not be appropriate for me. The other hanger was large and would probably not work either because that hanger was really design for large corporate aircraft and he thought he had someone would be moving in soon.
I asked him if I could look at the small hanger, and he agreed to let me do that, but that he was sure there would not be space for my aircraft. He said he would send his son there to let me in to check it out. So the next day I went out to Winsted Airport and met up with Tom, Jr. He was working on the hanger door, which tended to bind when it was raised and lowered, but it was up and I looked in.
The hanger was indeed small. I don’t know what airplane could fit into it, maybe a Cessna 152 or something like that. And it was certainly stuffed with junk, two large snowmobiles and a bunch of furniture. It looked hopeless, but as I examined it further, I began to formulate a plan to reorganize it and if I could fold the Jetwing’s wing, I thought it would work for me. I asked Tom, Jr. if I could bring the Jetwing out to see if I could fit it in, and if so, I would commit to renting the hanger. We had not discussed the rent; Tom, Sr. had initially said “…around $100/month…”, but with the situation of sharing and the general condition of the door and otherwise, I wasn’t interested in $100/month.
Two days later, I took the Jetwing out to Winsted. Tom, Jr. had given me the combination of the lock, and I opened the hanger and surveyed the situation. One obstacle was that the height of the opening was only about 8 feet, so with the wing attached and the kingpost raised, there was no way I could roll the Jetwing into the hanger. But I had seen that before and assumed that with the after-cable of the kingpost unattached, the kingpost would lay down to clear the height of the opening. It looked like it would, just.
The ideal setup would be to be able to store the trailer in the hanger along with the aircraft. I spent some time rearranging Tom’s kids’ stuff to clear a space in the center of the hanger. Along with the 8’ height restriction, I needed an 8’ space for the trailer laterally, and enough space in depth to allow the Jetwing to sit in front of the trailer, with the wings sitting folded on the trailer. I rolled the trailer into the hanger all the way to the back, which seemed to work, and the trailer new resided in the hanger, tongue forward.
The next step was to get the wings to fold to a total width of no more than 8 feet, which was the available space horizontally. I wanted to be able to fold the wings with the battens inserted, which would make things only slightly less convenient than having the wing fully deployed all the time. My main concern was that I did not want to put any tension on any wing parts when the wing was folded to avoid any damage to the wing. Since my Jetwing has a modified nosewheel bracket, there is an ideal place to rest the control bar which would allow the height of the wing to just fit under the top of hanger door and still allow the Jetwing to be rolled around on the wheels. I found the wing would fold to 8’ but that I would have to figure out some way to keep the wing tips from dragging on the ground. That was the least of my worries, however, and I was very pleased that the wings folded with the battens fully installed.
I rolled the Jetwing into the hanger, rear-first, with the folded wings resting on the trailer as I had planned. Although there were still some issues to be resolved, I was confident enough with the situation to go ahead with the renting of the hanger. We agreed on $90/month, although that was more than I wanted to pay since I was sharing the space, but I would accept it. So I have hangerage, and am very pleased with that. I have redeemed my garage back, and the aircraft is actually stored on an airport site; very cool!