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/339662
14 Vol.3 No.7 / July 2014 CHAMPION FOR A DAY been damaged after an engine failure. Then, tragically, one of my brothers was killed in an airplane accident, which devastated my father. He decided to sell the airplanes and stop working on them altogether. He wanted nothing to do with airplanes. "About six years later, I came home on leave, and he showed me a brochure of an Acey Deucy. I then realized that he was planning on building one. By then he was retired and wanted to do something rather than sitting around doing nothing all day. Soon after that, he started construction on an Acey Deucy. "He moved to Florida, next to the Winter Haven airport, and brought the project with him. Unfortunately, shortly after that, he was diagnosed with cancer. I was stationed at Fort Rucker teaching in the UH-1, so I started going home as often as I could. "During one of those visits, dad asked me, 'What do you think is going to happen with the project after I'm gone?' I told him that he needed to be more positive about his illness, and he said, 'We have to be realistic. I'm not pulling out of this one.' I said, 'We have to fi nish it. No question about it.' He smiled and immediately said, 'Good! That's what I wanted to hear. It's yours. I think you're the only one that can fi nish it.' He passed shortly after that, and the airplane stayed in his garage for three years until 1995, when I brought the project to my home in Ala- bama. However, because of the Army, progress was very slow until I retired in 2000." Even though retired from the military, Ed was still heavily involved in rotor wing training and traveling a lot. Plus he said, "When I started building the wings, it was obvious I just didn't know enough and needed help. I went to Wingnuts Inc., a local company that specialized in restoring airplanes, and talked to the owner, Mike Haynes. He said that labor alone was $48 an hour. Even though that was a lot of money, I fi gured that he could start working on the wings and get them to a point that I could take over. "When I told him to go ahead and do it, he said, 'It will be about a year before I can touch them because we have too many airplanes to work on.' I replied, 'It looks as if you need help. What if I come to work for you for free just so I can learn what I need to learn?' That's exactly what I did. And it was terrific on-the-job training because I got in- volved in all areas of building and rebuilding on everything from a DR.1 triplane to Skybolts, J-3 Cubs, and Aeroncas. I was with them for more than two years, going over as often as I could. "To this point, nobody in the shop had even seen my air- plane. Then one Christmas, Mike asked me when I could bring the airplane over. I said, 'Right now.' He said, 'Okay, we'll go get it in the morning. No big deal.'" But the "no big deal" became a very big deal for Ed short- ly after the airframe arrived in the shop. Mike looked over at him and said, "Well, what are you waiting for? Go work on your airplane." By this time, both the airplane and Ed were local to Fort Rucker, where he was shuttling back and forth between Ala- bama and Colombia on contracts. "I'd spend 21 days in Co- lombia and come home to spend 11 days at the airport working on the airplane," he said. "With Mike's help, I fi nally got the airplane fl ying in October of 2008." Using a Continental C-90 for power, Ed started taking it to local fl y-ins and received the Grand Champion Plans-Built at the Southeast Regional Fly-In in 2009. "I tried to make it to Sun 'n Fun in 2010 but couldn't, so I went in 2011," Ed said. "A lot of people looked at my airplane, and I received many positive comments. Even the judges were like ants on candy looking at Daddy's Dream. Then the next day the tornado hit!" The 2011 Sun 'n Fun International Fly-In & Expo became every airplane owner's worst nightmare and will long live in the memories of those who were there. Ed said, "I was in an exhibit building when the tornado hit, and they closed the doors for protection. That was a good thing because I would have been out there on the fl ightline trying to save my airplane and could have been seriously hurt. "Being locked in the buildings was almost a surreal experi- ence. People were crying, the noise was like being under a pass- ing freight train, and you could only imagine what was going on outside. It was frightening and frustrating in the extreme. SPECIFICATIONS OF ED'S ACEY DEUCY Engine: C-90-12 Hp and rpm: 90 and 2,475 Gross weight: 1,600 pounds Empty weight: 913 pounds Useful load: 687 pounds Seating: Two tandem Wingspan: 32 feet, 6 inches Wing chord: 5 feet Wing area: 155 square feet Wing airfoil: 4,412 Aileron area: 9 square feet Fuselage length: 20 feet, 9 inches Height (three-point): 81 inches Fin area: 5 square feet Fin airfoil: Flat Rudder area: 5 square feet Stabilizer area: 13 square feet Stabilizer airfoil: Flat Elevator area (including tab): 10 square feet Trim tab type: Variable Propeller diameter: 71 inches Power loading (one passenger): 15.5 pounds Power loading (gross weight): 19.5 pounds Wing loading (one passenger): 6.3 pounds Wing loading (gross weight): 7.9 pounds Baggage capacity: 50 pounds Fuel capacity: 14 gallons Fuel grade: 100 LL Tire pressure: 20 pounds per square inch E A A E X P _ J u l y 1 4 . i n d d 1 4 EAAEXP_July14.indd 14 7 / 1 / 1 4 9 : 5 4 A M 7/1/14 9:54 AM