Experimenter

SEP2014

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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32 Vol.3 No.9 / September 2014 INTRODUCING THE THATCHER CX5 to build, own, and operate. A CX5 truly can be built for under $25,000 without any extraordinary ef ort. I T 'S A L L IN T HE DE TA IL S Mr. Thatcher is an artist. He's created oil paintings of vari- ous aircraft for aircraft owners and others. He has an eye for form and detail; he's even been known to lay out rivet lines freehand. Mr. Thatcher's planes are well thought out. As an example, the fi berglass wing root fairing fi ts the fuselage and the wing so well that it goes almost unnoticed. The little verti- cal fi n fairing, though very small, makes the transition to the fuselage smooth and pleasing to the eye. Some of the artistic details of Mr. Thatcher's aircraft are also useful aerodynami- cally and structurally. The rear portion of the wing root fair- ing is pleasing to look at but also adds structural rigidity to that region of the fuselage. RECEN T P ROGRE S S ON PA R T S A ND K I T S Greg Westberry of Cloudland, Georgia ( Westberry Manufac- turing LLC ), has an agreement with Mr. Thatcher to provide parts that Mr. Thatcher doesn't provide. So far Mr. Thatcher provides windshields, canopies, welded controls, exhausts, and a nose gear for the tri-gear versions of the CX4 and CX5. Greg developed a complete CNC hole-matched kit for the CX4 and has most of the CX5 ready. Additionally, one of Greg's wing kits was used for static load testing. One wing was mounted on a load test fi xture and loaded to both positive 3.8g and 5.7g levels. Negative loading wasn't conducted, nor was the center section tested. Fiberglass parts (wheelpants, wingtips, wing fi llets, and the cowl) are made by and available from Earnest Martin ( www.CX4community.com/emartin.htm ). K EEPING INFORMED The CX4/CX5 Yahoo group (membership almost 2,000), https://groups.Yahoo.com/neo/groups/CX4/info , is a great bunch of people who post photos of their build progress, and they re- spond well to questions from anyone in the group. The CX4 and CX5 Builder Community News site, www.CX4community.com (by Todd Henning), is a super website with a wealth of informa- tion, including photos, videos, builder lists, pilot reports, and more. While the Thatcher CX4 plans are available for both tricycle gear and conventional gear (tail wheel), the new CX5 is only (currently) available in tricycle gear. However, the plane was designed with conventional gear in mind, and plans will soon be available for either confi guration. For more information, including the price of the plans and a list of available premade parts, please visit www.ThatcherCX4.com/parts.htm . In addition to being the founding editor of the Experimenter e-news- letter, the current editor and publisher of Contact! Magazine, and a regular contributor to Kitplanes, Patrick Panzera is an experienced homebuilder, EAA technical counselor, AirVenture forums presenter, EAA Young Eagles pilot, and an instrument-rated private pilot. After the CX5 was complete and painted, it was trucked from Pensacola, Florida, to Jack Edwards National Airport, Gulf Shores, Alabama, for FAA Phase 1 fl ight testing. Photography courtesy of Dr. Glen Bradley

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