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/401344
IT ALL STARTED IN A DARK, damp, fuel-and-oil-perfumed hangar. Dim moonlight seeped through a crack in the hangar doors, picking out, with an eerie glimmer, a shiny spinner. That hangar held within it the "spirit of building aircraft." This was a place where an aircraft had been built. There is nothing more magical, more inspiring, or more emotional than building an airplane and watching it take to the sky. The spirit was truly in that hangar on the EAA grounds, but it felt neglected; it realized that too few people had known the magic of bringing to life a fl ying machine. So, that spirit decided to seep out into the night, with a mission. It sought out minds that would light a fi re for a new generation—an adventure that would start on a Monday morning in July 2014, and in just seven days, ignite a fuse with the potential to change the world. The spirit found those minds, all associated with EAA, primed from years of exposure to homebuilt aviation. The spirit gave them a challenge—build a plane with thousands of builders in just one week. They met, they spoke in hushed tones, they doubted at times, and yet they convened, planned, and connived. And together they brought to the world—the One Week Wonder at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2014. BEFORE T HE E V EN T Planning for the One Week Wonder started well in advance of July 2014. The team had to get all the parts for the project together. Once the airframe, engine, and avionics were chosen, those parts had to be ordered and delivered to the build site. In the case of the One Week Wonder, the team chose: • a standard Zenith CH 750 Cruzer "matched hole" kit ready to ship from the factory, exactly the same as for any other builder • the Rotax 912 iS Sport engine, with dual ignition, dual injec- tors, dual engine control units, dual generators, and a host of other features that make this engine as simple to operate and maintain as a modern automotive engine. The standard 912 iS Sport fi rewall-forward kit came from SkyTec in Canada. • a Dynon SkyView avionics suite with a touch screen and more gizmos and gadgets than you will fi nd on many airliners, built 18 Vol.3 No.10 / October 2014 ONE WEEK WONDER! This is the sight that greeted volunteers as they arrived on Monday morning, July 28, to begin work on the airplane. Some of the major sponsors of the One Week Wonder project—(L-R) EAA Homebuilding Community Manager Charlie Becker; Scheme Designers CEO/Founder Craig Barnett; EAA Chairman of the Board Jack Pelton; Jim Irwin, president of Aircraft Spruce and Specialty; Jack Samuels and Desiree Czaplinski, of Aircraft Spruce; Sebastien Heintz, president of Zenith Aircraft; Chris Throndsen, Sennheiser Aviation; Ian Jordan, Dynon Avionics; Mark Gleason, SteinAir; Mark Paskevitch, Rotax; and Robert Hamilton, president of Dynon Avionics. Photography by Jason Toney