Experimenter

July 2013

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.

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13, a month later. Both dates could have been seen as ominous, and to a certain extent they were prophetic: The company suspended operations before James was very far into the build, and he was on his own. But not quite. To learn more about James Redmon's Tirteen, including numerous other notable performance mods, visit www.Berkut13.com. James said, "I have to give Dave Ronneberg credit because he stuck right in there and did his best to support builders. I could call him at almost any time and ask him dumb questions, and he'd do his best to answer them. However, at that time we had no plans, drawings, or building manual, so we had no idea what something was supposed to look like. In fact, we were told to get a set of Long-EZ plans for the building technique involved, and they'd send photos, which didn't happen. So there was a lot of research and guess work to do." James started with the hot-wired foam core parts such as the winglets, canard, and eventually, the wings. He said, "The wing stuff moved fairly quickly and was easy to do, but when I got into the molded parts, things really got sticky quickly. This is where the lack of instructions, or even photos, really hurt. Plus being an early kit, a lot of the molded parts weren't available yet. Dave would do his best to describe how something went together, but without photos, it was difficult." It has been said that the camel was the result of someone trying to describe a horse over the phone, so James had his work cut out for him. However, he was devoted to the project and wouldn't let anything distract him. He said, "I'd have to admit to being a little compulsive about the project and didn't have much of a life. I was in my mid-20s when I started it and decided early on that girls were cool, but airplanes were cooler; and I didn't want anyone slowing me down on the Berkut." But it's funny how life sometimes tosses us curves and how some of them turn out for the best, and this was true with James' move to Dallas, Texas, and some chance meetings. "First, I met Scott Carter, who was an experienced Long-EZ builder and a born teacher. Scott's custom Xtra-EZ was the 2010 Sun 'n Fun Grand Champion and 2009 Oshkosh Reserve Grand Champion. So, he knows what he's doing. He mentored me on composite construction and systems installation. Without him, it would have been difficult finishing the project." Then James formed a partnership, of sorts, on the build. "A blind date led to a surprisingly compatible relationship," he said. "I showed Sandy the airplane on our third date and explained that this was a major piece of personal baggage that came with me because it was going to be, if not first, certainly close to being first in my life. She loved the idea of building our own rather strange-looking airplane. I'm not stupid and knew I couldn't let a girl like that get away, so I married her. We've been partners in Thirteen since. In fact, she would shoo me out into the shop after dinner to work on it and loves going to fly-ins and standing around answering questions about it." There was a lot about the Berkut that was left to James' imagination, which was okay with him because he glories in designing and building things. So there is very little about the airplane that hasn't been changed to match his taste and mission. After all, when you're training an eagle to hunt, you want it to know your every move and thought. Let's look at some of the detailed work that James accomplished. EAA Experimenter 15

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