Experimenter is a magazine created by EAA for people who build airplanes. We will report on amateur-built aircraft as well as ultralights and other light aircraft.
Issue link: http://experimenter.epubxp.com/i/307497
24 Vol.3 No.5 / May 2014 ONE WEEK WONDER so the holes in mated parts match exactly. They're punched to fi nal size and are ready to be de-burred, put together with Clecos, and riveted. Sebastien Heintz says, "The real work and challenge for us at the factory is the planning and coordination of the project: making sure that the various dif erent sections are fi nished, when needed, so that they are ready for the next step. We will divide the volunteers into teams, and we need to coordinate everyone. Some of our volunteers will be experienced kit builders who will spend some time training new, inexperi- enced volunteers and explaining more about the skills needed to build an airplane." The work site will be near the EAA Welcome Center at the main crossroads of the AirVenture grounds. There will be inter- active displays that highlight the aircraft construction process as well as helping portray the wide variety of aircraft to be found in the homebuilt community. The most interesting part of the display, however, will be the workshop area that will lean heavily on workbenches and tools borrowed from EAA staf ers who are building their own CH 750. Every operation that must be performed while building an all-metal airplane will be involved in this project. So, the vol- unteers may spend a morning de-burring holes or helping pull rivets. It'll change as the project progresses. Embedded in the building process will be occasional demonstrations by sponsors, when they direct the installation of their own products. For in- stance, Matco may help with mounting the tires on the wheels, since the tires will come to Oshkosh the same way they would come to the builder: separate from the Matco wheels and need- ing mounting. The same type of thing will happen with other specialty items. The panel itself will also refl ect the way in which the home- built community has rapidly moved into the pre-assembled, digi- tal age. No steam gauges will be in evidence, replaced instead by a complete Dynon SkyView glass panel system. Here too Zenith staf ers will work with the volunteers on fi guring out how the pre-fabbed harness and panel components supplied by SteinAir specifi cally for the 750 are to be installed. Like we said, building a kit today is much dif erent than only a decade ago. Ahead of the fi rewall, the volunteers will be hanging a Rotax 912iS that has been donated by Rotax, for the purpose, and incorporated by Zenith into one of its optional "engine installa- tion kits," as supplied to the customer, when so ordered. This kind of an undertaking literally begs for it to be made into a video, so EAA will do time-lapse photography from beginning to end. This will result in a short video that, like a new fl ower opening in high speed, will compress seven days of nonstop building into three or four minutes. Viewers can see an array of random aluminum pieces grow into an airplane right before their amazed eyes. The conclusion of that video will be on day seven. After a des- ignated airworthiness representative has inspected the airframe and the appropriate paperwork is fi lled out, the aircraft will leave its nest for the fi rst time and be towed to the taxiway. There, after fueling and doing preliminary engine runs, a brand new Zenith CH 750 Cruzer missing only paint will make its fi rst taxi tests. As the aircraft rolls under its own power, what the crowd will witness is the mechanical equivalent of the proverb "It takes a village to raise a child." The very concept of an indi- vidual actually hand-building an airplane sounds absurd to those not familiar with EAA. But the concept of amateur-built aircraft, as represented by this particular Cruzer, has been the result of long-term nurturing that has, over the years, been provided by the community we call sport aviation. And a criti- cal ingredient in that nurturing is a passion for what many see as a machine, but which we know actually represents a portal into the magical kingdom of personal fl ight. To many within our own village, the concept of building that magical machine seems beyond their grasp. Hopefully, through the One Week Wonder project, would-be builders will be convinced that the concept is neither as complex nor as unobtainable as it would seem, and they'll take that critical fi rst step into experimental amateur-built. EAA will be announcing additional ways for visitors to get involved both before the convention and on the grounds. Check the EAA website for updates and details on this as AirVenture grows closer. Budd Davisson is an aeronautical engineer, has fl own more than 300 different aircraft types, and published four books and more than 4,000 ar- ticles. He is editor-in-chief of Flight Journal magazine and a fl ight instructor primarily in Pitts/tailwheel aircraft. Visit him at www.Airbum.com. AVIATION COMMUNITY UNITES BEHIND ONE WEEK WONDER More than a dozen companies are pitching in to support our unique One Week Wonder airplane-building project planned for EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2014. Zenith Aircraft has donated a CH 750 aircraft kit. The Zenith CH 750 is an economi- cal all-metal light aircraft available as a Cruzer (for cross-country operations) or STOL (short takeoff and landing) model. Rotax has contributed its new 912iS engine. The engine features the latest technol- ogy with a single-lever control, fuel injection, and extremely effi cient fuel burn. In 2013, Rotax received EAA's August Raspet Award for innovation such as the 912iS engine that advanced sport aviation technology. Skytek Aircraft Services Ltd., which designed the Rotax 912iS fi rewall-forward instal- lation for the CH 750, is providing a Rotax Engine Installation Package (REIP) kit. In addition, Dynon Avionics has donated a complete glass cockpit, featuring the new SkyView with comm radio, intercom, transponder, ADS-B weather and traffi c, and new control panels. Aircraft Spruce & Specialty, one the world's leading aviation and pilot supply com- panies, is also backing EAA's unique building project with extensive promotional support before and during AirVenture 2014. Other companies already committing to One Week Wonder include Poly-Fiber, Sensenich, Sennheiser, Scheme Designers, SteinAir, Matco, and Flightline Interiors. E A A E X P _ M a y 1 4 . i n d d 2 4 EAAEXP_May14.indd 24 5 / 5 / 1 4 3 : 1 8 P M 5/5/14 3:18 PM