$5.50 U.S. - glasair-owners.com · Volume 7 - Issue 4 Fourth Quarter 2005 $5.50 U.S. Another...

Volume 7 - Issue 4 Fourth Quarter 2005

$5.50 U.S.

Another GlaStar® ‘Slips the Surly Bonds of Earth’by Dave Prizio

Ron Way takes off from Port Townsend, Washington, on his first flight and returns with flair, making a perfect wheellanding. With the new Sportsman 2+2 grabbing most of the headlines lately, I am happy to report that GlaStar® builders are aliveand well and making good progress on their projects. For more on Ron’s first flight and others no less noteworthy please seehis First Flight article on page 6.

GlaStar Flyer 2 Fourth Quarter 2005

©Copyright 2005All rights reserved.

a quarterly publication of theGlaStar Association International

Editor - Publisher

Dave Prizio

Regional Newsletter Editors

Joe Colquitt, Southeast USABarry Gear, West CanadaJane Grove, South Pacific

Simon Jarman, Pan EuropeDick King, Midwest USA

Dave Prizio, Southwest USAKathy Sutton, East Canada

Web Addresswww.glastar.org

E-mail Address

[email protected]

Mailing Address

1533 South Grand AvenueSanta Ana,CA 92705

Phone/Fax Numbers

Phone (714) 543-3366Fax (714) 543-3388

Back issues: $5.50 + Shipping

Contents of this issue...

Features

1 Another GlaStart Slips the Surly Bonds...Dave Prizio

13 Tom Setzer Leaves UsTom Setzer

13 The CAC ExperienceEric Nelson

14 Thoughts on the CAC ProcessWill Stevenson

20 Major and Minor ChangesDave Prizio

22 It’s Them Danged ElectronsBill Yamokoski

24 New Pricing for GlaStar and SportsmanDave Prizio

24 Crash of First Turbine GlaStarNTSB Report

25 Morley Accident ReportNTSB Report

25 N90PM an dthe Lake DitchingJoe Colquitt

26 Frappr.com Web SiteDave Prizio

Regular Columns

3 GAI FlightDeckDave Prizio

4 Builder Tips

9 First Flights

15 Regional News - MidWest USA,Southwest US, Southeast US,Eastern US, Europe, South Pacific

27 StarFlight Achievement Awards

28 Calendar of Events

Fourth Quarter 2005 3 GlaStar Flyer

GAI Flightdeck

continued on page 12

by Dave Prizio

Marc Cook to Build a Sportsman 2+2The number one guy at the number one publication

serving our favorite activity has chosen the number one utilityairplane kit for his own project. That is how I describe the newsthat Marc Cook, Editor-in-Chief of Kitplanes Magazine, hasdecided to build a Sportsman 2+2. Marc and his family paid usa visit on December 3rd to look at GlaStars®* and talk to builders.I took the opportunity to introduce them to our group and makethe official announcement. I think his choice says a lot abouthow far we have come and how good a job Glasair Aviation isdoing with the Sportsman 2+2 project.

Marc is set to go to the Customer Assembly Center(CAC) in January for three weeks. He assured me that he willbe flying his new plane to AirVenture next year. When Imentioned that to Harry DeLong he said, “We plan to see hisplane before that. We are looking for him to fly it to Sun ‘n Fun.”That would only be three months from start to finish! I guess theheat is on Ted Setzer now. And I thought I was crazy for hopingto have my Sportsman done in five months.

Marc is looking forward to making the Alaska trip withus in the near future. I think he regrets letting Brian Clarke(Kitplanes editor) have all that fun this year without him.

Move-up Sportsman BuildersWe are now starting to see some GlaStar builders trade

up, so to speak. Charlie Burton was the first to commit, thenNick Reid. I joined them a few months later, and now DaveAmmenti has signed on the dotted line for a Sportsman kit.Interestingly each of us is taking a different approach to his newproject. Charlie is planning to do it all himself and not use theCAC at all. Nick has employed a number of different resourcesto assist him including Airlink, Zach Chase, and KenKillingsworth. I am planning to do the full three weeks at theCAC, in hopes of really getting a flying start on my project. Daveis planning to do his own metal work and then go to the CAC laterfor the fiberglass and systems work. Maybe this will start atrend. I know at least one person who hopes so.

Zach Chase Settles Down a BitZach Chase, the man behind the now-famous “Zach

Attack” and owner of Fibertech Composites, may be cuttingback just a bit on the traveling and so he can spend more timeat home with his family. He has become so popular as anitinerant builder assist guy that he hardly has any time to watchhis son grow up. Understandably he wants to do somethingabout that before it is too late. Zach now plans to spend moretime on projects that people bring to him at his shop in Floridaand less time on the road. He has also developed someSportsman accessories such as those that are available for theGlaStar from Airlink, Jeff Liot, and others. He says the moldsfor a strut to fuselage fairing, a strut to wing fairing, and a tail

spring fairing are being fabricated right now, with other parts tofollow next year. Good luck with your new venture, Zach.

AOPA ConventionAOPA was in Tampa, Florida this year for their annual

convention. Luckily I was able to squeeze in a day and a halfthere to attend some seminars and see what was going on in theworld of certified airplanes. Their show is tiny compared toOshkosh or even Sun ‘n Fun, but it is always enjoyable. Theyhad over 50 different airplanes on display, including a goodselection of S-LSA planes. It seems like a new model is gettingcertified every day in this fast-growing field. RANS was therewith the S-LSA version of their S-7, which looks like a likely-to-succeed entrant to this field. They are a regular fixture atOshkosh with their kit products, so the move to LSA was not tootough for them. The two Cub builders – American Legend andTop Cub – were both there fighting over who is entitled to use thename Cub for their newly certified S-LSA planes. They both looklike winners, but I’m sure the lawyers are going to get their cutof the action before the dust settles. Aerocomp and Velocity

Errataby Dave Prizio

Wherein your humble servant is humbled even further byadmitting he screwed up a few things in the previous issue ofthe Flyer.

I wrote that Vince Bastiani flew the farthest toOshkosh this year, but in fact Ken Wiley (N12AK) flew fromConcord, CA, which as it turns out is 126 nautical milesfarther. I further compounded the indignity by not seeing hisplane there and noting its presence.

My account of Leo Leclair’s dealings with WhirlwindPropellers was not really meant to for general publication. Iam afraid I embarrassed Leo by publishing his privateremarks on the matter. Now I am trying to put the toothpasteback in the tube by telling you to tone down those previousremarks about a certain propeller manufacturer. I guess allI can really do is apologize to Leo for not checking with himbefore I went to print. Sorry, Leo.

The title to the NTSB report on Bill Yamokoski’saccident identified his airplane as a Sportsman. I should havecorrected their error and noted that Bill’s plane is a GlaStar.


Builder TipsGlaStar Association International (GAI) shares ideas submitted bybuilders. However, inclusion of an idea in this newsletter shouldnot be seen as official endorsement or approval of the idea by GAI,which neither tests nor reviews ideas submitted. Builders mustexercise their own discretion and judgment when considering theimplementation of a suggestion presented in this column.

Looking for Fiberglass Helpby Nolan V. Frederick

A knotty problem! I have been doing my fiberglass lay-ups with the vinyl ester resin on a film of original Saran Wrap.This film is a PVDC product which is no longer available. Thenew product is a different chemistry that puckers when the vinylester is put on it. This, of course, distorts the fiberglass material.I have tried several film but they all pucker. Has anyone foundone that doesn’t? I have located a source of PVDC film but theysell it only in industrial quantities.I would appreciate any helphere that anyone can give me.

Thanks, Nolan V. Frederick #5409 85% done 85% togo. E-mail: [email protected]

Seeing Pillar Point Indicator Lightsby Ted Cohen

I recently installed the auxiliary tanks with the PillarPoint smart switch. When I was flying I tried turning the switchon, and it appeared to be not working. When I got on the ground,it appeared to be working. I e-mailed Pillar Point. Dennis andAlan suggested a few things to check. The problem was not thatthe switch wasn’t working, but that I could not see the LED inthe bright cockpit. The problem was solved when I removed thewhite plastic insert which is attached to the clear button (on theinside). I now have no problem seeing when the pumps are on,even when I have my sunglasses on.

Air Gizmo Panel Mount for Garmin196, 296, and 396 Unitsby Dave Prizio

If you are looking for a slick way to incorporate aGarmin X96 unit into your instrument panel, then check outthis new item by Air Gizmo. I saw it at AOPA and was in-trigued by how well it seemed to integrate these popularunits into a standard radio stack. Aircraft Spruce now car-ries these items as Part Number 11-03509. They sell for$99.95. They also have a unit to hold the Garmin 295, whichis Part Number 11-04315, selling for $95.00.

Important Notices forSportsman Builders fromGlasair Aviationby Dave Prizio

Sportsman builders please note that Service Bulletin52, dated 11/9/05, is now available to download from our website www.glastar.org or from Glasair Aviation. This importantservice bulletin addresses potential problems with the pins thatare used to mount the horizontal stabilizer. If you do not haveInternet access and need this service bulletin, please call meand I will print it out for you. Dave Prizio 714-543-3366, 7:30 AMto 5:00 PM PST.

An Advance Notice of Revision (ANOR), dated 11/21/05, is now available to download from our web site or fromGlasair Aviation. It contains a number of corrections andrevisions to the Sportsman Assembly Manual. If you arebuilding a Sportsman you need to look at this ANOR before youproceed any further with your construction. Again, please callme if you need a copy and do not have Internet access.


More Builder TipsWeight & Balance Adjustmentsby Dave Prizio

Whenever you add or subtract equipment from your airplane you need to update your weight and balance. This couldbe fairly minor such as adding a radio or major such as changing from trike to tail dragger landing gear. In each case the weightand moment of the added or deleted item needs to be recorded and a new empty weight and balance noted. The point of thefollowing example is to show that you do not need to re-weigh the airplane for even fairly significant changes. Here are the stepsfor a landing gear change revision to the existing weight and balance.

Original Weight and Balance (weighed) - Tricycle Configuration (SAMPLE. DO NOT USE FOR YOUR PLANE!)Item Weight - pounds Arm - inches Moment - in. lbs.Right main gear 470.0 113.6 53,392.0Left main gear 472.0 113.6 53,619.2Nose gear 331.0 46.5 15,438.0Totals 1,273.0 96.2 122,449.2Change to Conventional GearOmit trike gear legs -39.0 113.6 -4,430.4Add tail dragger legs 39.0 80.0 3,120.0Omit 5.00x5 wheels and tires -29.0 113.6 -3,294.4Add 6.00x6 wheels and tires 40.0 80.0 3,200.0Omit nose gear assembly -25.5 48.1 -1,112.6Add tail wheel assembly 16.5 272.6 4,497.9Total changes 2.0 --- 1,980.5Revised Weight and Balance 1,275.0 97.6 124,429.7

In each case the arm is actually measured using the cowl joggle as 58.0 as per the assembly instructions. Just chalkit out on the floor after leveling the airplane. I used a bathroom scale for the component weights. Once you have the weight andthe arm, just multiply the two to get the moment. The new center of gravity or overall arm is calculated by dividing total momentby the total weight. Be sure to also check the minimum and maximum loads as per the assembly instructions to be sure youstay within the allowable CG envelope of 95.6 to 103.5.

Attach your worksheet to your original W&B paperwork, sign and date it, and you are all set. You just saved $200. Ofcourse, if you can get a hold of some scales for no cost, it wouldn’t hurt to check your calculations against actual measurements.

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Builder Tips continued on page 6


More Builder TipsFuel Venting Fixby Al Dean

I have seen the cost of gasoline escalate to the highestlevels I have ever experienced in the last year. As most buildershave noticed, if their GlaStar is parked on an uneven area, gaswill run out of the low wing vents. I discussed this problem withLeo LeClair, and we decided to vent the main tanks into theoutboard tanks with a T connection. The vent then comes fromthe outboard tank through an Andair check valve and minimizesany loss of gas.

I looked at many check valves and felt that the Andairwas the best, as it has a fail safe of three small holes drilled inthe event the valve does not function. I typically put five or sixgallons in the outboard tanks anyway, so the system workswell. Only once have I seen any fuel dribble out of the vent whenoutboard tanks were full.

Of course, the same Andair check valve can be used ifyou do not have outboard tanks to vent into. I did not have timeto install Adel clamps to the check valve and fasten it to the rib.I will do this at the next annual. The valve can be purchased fromAircraft Spruce (part number CK250HB)

Editor’s Note: Modifications to the fuel system should be madewith great care and extreme caution. Serious consequencesinclude engine failure can result from fuel venting problems.Proceed at your own risk.

Fixing Heavy Wing Problemsby Mark Neubauer

In 6-1/2 years building this airplane and reading tipsfrom GlaStarNet, I have re-confirmed THE MOST VALUABLENUGGET OF WISDOM IMPARTED ON THIS WEB SITE. It isso valuable because it so perfectly corrects the heavy wingproblem and is not obvious to anyone, so determining thisconclusion without this guidance would be nearly impossible.

First flight of my plane was October 16, 2005. As mostother builders have mentioned on their first flights, I also had aheavy wing (the right one on my airplane). Not making astatistically valid observation, it seems like most builders havehad a heavy left wing condition, but I always found it interestingthat the one, most observable complaint was a heavy wingcondition. I would guess that less than 1/4 of all the builders didNOT have a heavy wing condition.

So, on the 5 or 6 flights after discovering my problemand trying various fixes, I realized it was time to really get somevery accurate measurements of the wing geometry as it isinstalled on the airplane. I was meticulous as humanly possiblewhen I built the wing in the fixture, literally checking forangularity and linearity in the proper locations too many timesto count. But I had little data of the wing as mounted on thefuselage.

Last week, Howard Plevyak, another aero engineer,and myself spent several hours checking the geometry of thewing. The two key parameters were the dihedral and Angle ofIncidence at defined stations along the wingspan. (Nowhere inthe assembly manual does this idea - measuring forconsistency along the span - even get mentioned.) They onlycall for the AOI at the root, and one reference from 1999 said itcould vary 0.5 degrees. During our measurements weuncovered data that would generally corroborate the actual flightcharacteristics. While the dihedral was very close (within 10%of the book value as measured from the wing root vertically to astring stretched between wingtips), the AOI did indeed vary. Iwasn’t concerned about the absolute value of the AOI, since thatis not important for finding the problem I was experiencing; I wassimply interested in the differences in AOI between spanwisestations along the left and right wings. Along the spans, the AOIwould vary about +/- .1 degree except at the tip of the left wing.There, the AOI was .25 degree higher on the left wing than onthe right. This makes the left wing “work” more, thereby inducinga right rolling moment, for which we use the slang term “heavywing”. I tried biasing the left aileron upward via cableadjustments but this had minor effect, and it certainly threw offthe factory specified aileron differential throws.

Howard and I knew there was GlaStarNet informationabout adjusting the trailing edge of the wing in front of theailerons which corrected this condition. A check into theArchives returned information from 1999 - 2001 about bendingthe trailing edge to correct this problem. Affecting this changeon my wing COMPLETELY SOLVED THE HEAVY WINGPROBLEM.

Here is the fix, distilled from ‘Net messages over


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several years: SLIGHLTY BEND UP THE TRAILING EDGE OFTHE WING IN FRONT OF THE AILERON ON THE WING THATFLIES HIGHER. Read that statement again - it is the mostvaluable piece of information contained in this builder’s forum.

The reason it is so valuable is because while it may berather logical - it has the same net effect as reducing the overallAOI on that wing - the degree to which this has to be done isincredibly small. Several days ago, I took a dial caliper andmeasured then bent the trailing wing edge in front of the leftaileron so that the gap was .335", measured vertically from thetop of the wing skin to the top of the aileron skin with the aileronin the flap-aligned position. Getting this dimension involvedbending the trailing edge anywhere from .015" to .060" (myvariance was around .045" as originally built) “Adjusting” thewing down the length of the aileron by this imperceptibly smallamount, generally less than 1/16", made a huge difference inthe way the airplane flies. Before, the stick required constant leftforce to keep the plane from rolling into a right spiral. Now, it flieshands off. MAKING A 1/16" ADJUSTMENT TO THE WINGMADE A HUGE DIFFERENCE IN ITS HANDLING. Thecomparable gap on the right aileron is around .28".

My Findings1. Accurately measure the wing AOI down the span aftermounting on the airframe and compare the final result with thedesired dimension. Mounting the wing results in different staticdeflections not associated with the wing in the fixture or onstands.2. Take this data and null its effect by adjusting the aileron/winggap by accurately making it consistent for each side down theaileron’s span. If the AOI is high on one side, bend the edge up.(BTW, it is generally better to work with the “light” wing becausereducing the heavy wing gap will eventually cause interferencewith the aileron skin at full-up deflection)

3. This dimension (aileron gap along the trailing wing edge)should be adjusted at some time before first flight to make themconsistent.4. For my airplane, .2 degree error in AOI at the tip required about.060" bias in this gap.

Finally, picture this in your mind for a moment: 1/16"difference from left to right wing makes a huge difference in flyingquality. You can’t even see this difference when looking at thewing and knowing it’s there! Which brings me to my final threelessons:5. For those who did not have a heavy wing condition -congratulations! You were lucky.6. Nowhere, except in perhaps software development, can sucha small error create such a large effect. (For anyone who haswritten computer programs, how much difference can a “;”instead of a “,” in the wrong place cause!?) And finally,7. THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS

I would like to thank those who have gone before me andfound this information to be true. I would never have developedthis solution on my own.

Bending the Tabs on theFirewall FlangesBy Dick King

Here is another use for the Harbor Freight vise attach-ment that Howard Plevyak mentioned in the last issue of theFlyer. Howard used his 4 inch magnetic mount vice brake tofabricate the GlaStar door dogs. I used a 6 inch attachment tomake the 90 degree bends on the Stainless Steel flanges for

Builder Tips continued on page 8


Builder Tips - continued

the firewall. These vise attachments come in a four inch($18.00) size or a six inch ($26.00) size.

The bending portion of the attachment has three sec-tions that are held in place with set screws. One is 3 incheslong, another is 2 inches long, and the third is 1 inch long. Iwas able to bend all of the tabs by selecting different lengthsand combinations of these sections to bend matching lengthsof tabs on the stainless steel flange. To bend a 4 inch tab usethe 3 inch and the 1 inch sections. To bend the 5 inch tab usethe 3 inch and the 2 inch sections. Of course use the 3 inchsection to bend the 3 inch tab. To make your bends just cen-ter the brake on the 5/8 inch line that was used to locate thecrack-stop holes on each of the flange pieces and slowly crankin the vise until the 90 degree bend is formed. You will have todo some bends from the right side and some from the left side.

For example the three end tabs (2", 1.5", and 1.5")can be bent using the 5 inch combination of 3 inches and 2inches or you could use the 6 inches combination, becausethe other tabs are held outside of the bending area.

I don’t know if this was any better or easier than themethods mentioned in the manual or not, but it worked for me.

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First Flights: Congratulations!Eric Nelson, September 1, 2005Sportsman #7075, N803SB

Eric was the tenth CAC customer to go through theprocess. He said, “I found the CAC process very enjoyable andeducational. We completed everything they promised and thensome. I opted for some of the overtime offered to completeadditional tasks. I was disappointed to realize, as time went on,just how much work was really left to do, but that is reality. Istarted on April 19, 2005, and had my first flight on September1, 2005.”

Eric is from Lynnwood, Washington, so he didn’t haveto go too far from home to get to Glasair Aviation for the CAC.

Eric’s Sportsman (below) really looks sharp. I can’t wait to seeit at Oshkosh.

Bob Cassell, September 16, 2005GlaStar #5350, N80GS

I flew my GlaStar on September 16 after moving it toWolf Lake Airport from my home base at Anderson Lake airstrip,near Wasilla, Alaska. I want to thank my father-in-law, GeorgePappas for his eight year of advice, making parts for the plane,and being ground crew on the maiden flight. I logged 1450 hoursof build time for myself and 300 hours of other people’s timeincluding two Zach attacks (thanks Zach, there is some moregelcoat to polish anytime you want).

It flew a little left wing low and will be easy to correct.I have flush riveted most of the surfaces and will paint it in thewinter. It will soon get tundra tires, and I will rig it for skioperations as well. The empty weight is 1190 pounds. It has aLycoming O-320-D2J, 160 hp engine. I kept it light and so have

enjoyed climbing out at 2000 fpm at 90 mph. This is remarkablefor me, as on a good day I will cruise in my Piper Cub at 80 mph.I am looking forward to getting around Alaska a little quickernow.

Bob Cassell looks happy, and why not? He has a new GlaStarto fly..

Peter Braswell, September 23, 2005GlaStar #5710, N275PA

Well it finally happened!!! This morning at about 10:30a very competent and kind pilot (Gene Hershey) took N275PAfor a spin around the patch. The flight only lasted about 15minutes. The engine was running very hot after extensive groundrunning, and we didn’t want to melt anything down.

I’m suffering from a minor heaviness in the left wingwhich should be easily correctable.

Thanks so much for all the support from all the NSIowners/operators over the last year or so. And also a big thankyou to all the GlaStarNet folks over the years. You guys ROCK!

Also, I’m interested in ANYTHING that might bring mytemps down. We think a cooler day and less ground running willhelp, but I’d like to not get deep in the yellow so fast if it can behelped. Temperatures here in Chesterfield, Virginia, wereHIGH. Hot and humid, around 95 degrees and nearly 2000'density alt...

I’m going to be doing some tweaking on the rigging inthe next few days and Gene will take her up for another triparound the patch. Stay tuned!



First Flights: Congratulations!Since that day Peter has given up trying to sort out his

NSI Subaru. He is now working on installing a Lycoming enginein his GlaStar. We are all anxious to hear about his next firstflight with an engine that really works.

Peter Brasswell - continued Vince Tillion, September 30, 2005Sportsman #7003, N3ZY

The first Alaska Sportsman took flight today fromHomer, AK. I just went around the pattern, because it wasblowing about 15 knots. I was going to bag it but thought I wouldgo ahead and give it a try. I have some temperature issues goingon; the Blue Mountain and the OBD II were not agreeing and theOBD was getting high, so I went around the pattern and put itback down. The plane flew great, but being gusty I could not tellif it trimmed out just right, but it sure seemed to fly straightwithout any trim, landing was straightforward. I think I’m justgoing to install three temperature gauges to find out what isreally going on there.

I have not painted the trim on the cowl yet, as I willprobably be cutting into it again for more exit air. N3ZY came inon the heavy side at 1570 pounds, but that includes thehydraulic system for the floats as well as a fairly sporty panel,dual batteries and the electrical system and fluids associatedwith the Subaru. The engine is an Eggenfellner Subaru H6,


More First Flights on page 12

which puts out 190 horsepower with a 76” MT prop with reversefor float operations. It seems to have lots of power, but until I getthe cooling figured out, I don’t really have good numbers (onlytwo flights) 60% power was around 110 knots. Like any buildingexperience it is like crawling from Homer to New York on yourknees. She also needs a bath.

With the cowl off you can see the Eggenfellner H6 engine.

Vince may have a bush plane but is panel is defititely not“bush league.”

N3ZY sitting in its hangar sporting some big Tundra Tires

Mark Neubauer, October 16, 2005GlaStar #5733, N875ED

With the advice and assistance of Dick King andHoward Plevyak, both GlaStar builders in Cincinnati, (along withsome other significant friends and family), N875ED departed theplanet’s surface around 4:45 PM local time on Sunday, October16. (Disclaimer: the attached photo taken by Dick has not beendigitally enhanced in any way.)

The flight lasted about 45 minutes and went very well.The right wing on my plane appears to be a bit heavy, but I thinkI need to concentrate on verifying that the rudder is in proper trimfirst, then look into the wing heaviness.

Some other points of interest: Engine - XP-360 withSensenich 76" x 65" pitch propTake-off roll at 1000' densityaltitude was ~900 feet at 1710 pounds gross weight (~65Fambient temperature)Climb-out was ~900 fpm.

I have an adjustable cowl flap which I clamped in thewide open position. This was too much cooling inasmuch as myCHT’s were never over 300F (good and all within 25 degrees ofeach other), but my oil temperature never got above 150degrees. My plan here is to reduce airflow to the cooler duct butleave the cowl flap clamped in such a way that it will never closeless than about 20 degrees and then experiment with thiscombination. Obviously, I want warmer oil but keep the CHTswhere they are. Being able to completely close the flap shouldonly be necessary in cold weather descents.

All-in-all, I had a fantastic flight capped by a perfectlanding with excellent manners (the plane, not me).By the way,thanks again to Glenn Culver for our flight at Rough River inN747GC on September 10. That was clearly the most directlyapplicable experience which helped me yesterday. Whatsurprised me more than anything during the actual flight washow natural everything seemed. My best piece of advice I cangive each of you is to get some flying time in a GlaStar just beforeyour first flight and you will feel the same way.


were pretty much the only kit plane manufacturers thereshowing experimentals.

As always AOPA offered some good seminars. Iattended one dealing with FARs, especially air space, justas a review. The subject matter was a bit on the dull side,but I still managed to glean a few tidbits from it. I also tookin a seminar on medical concerns, which, again was lessthan exciting, but full of useful information for pilots like mewho are slowly but surely becoming more regularcustomers of the medical/pharmaceutical industry. Thesessions on flying to Mexico or Alaska are more fun, but Ihave already been to those.

Next year AOPA will be in Palm Springs, CA,again, which is an easy trip for me of about 100 miles.Mikael Via has said that he plans to have the GlasairAviation there with a Sportsman 2+2. We may also see afew other representatives of this important segment ofgeneral aviation there. The last time the convention was inPalm Springs we did.

As I left Tampa I still had a few questions: How cana new Baron and an Eclipse jet be selling for the same price?Will Beech ever sell another Baron? And, of course, whywould someone buy a new Cessna 172 for nearly $200,000when they could own a new Sportsman, which will fly circlesaround it, for less money?

* The name GlaStar ® is a registered trademark ofthe GlaStar ® airplane kit manufactured by Glasair Aviation.The ® symbol is shown here once to preserve the trademarkstatus of the GlaStar ® name, but for convenience thesymbol will not be shown again in this publication.

FlightDeck continued from page 3

First Flights -- continued from page 11

Barry McCallan, October 3, 2005GlaStar #5842, C-FCXR

After almost 6 years and 3000 hours of building plusseveral hours of taxi testing, TD GlaStar kit #5842 jumped offthe runway for its first flight at Whitehorse, Yukon, on October3, 2005, behind a rebuilt Lycoming O-360-A1A with a big 80inch Hartzell prop. I was doing the flying.

It was the first flight for the airplane as well as for mein a GlaStar, and only my ninth hour as a TD pilot. On take offI was behind the airplane for the first few seconds as it flewaway before I had the throttle firewalled – WOW— this ain’tno Cessna! Even the tower noticed the truly surprising takeoffperformance. The controller remarked on how little runway wasused by the airplane on takeoff (measurements to follow an-other day).

Once I figured out how to keep from climbing, the 45-minute flight was of the perfect “hands off” variety, except thereis a hint that a bit of left rudder trim might be required.

I really had to experience the “stall” characteristics inorder to appreciate how benign they really are – “what stall??”It is a little surreal to be flying around at below 40 knots indi-cated watching the VSI for the only sign that a stall conditionhas been entered. And you seem to still have full control – thiscannot be so!! Full power stall attempts have failed so far as Icall a halt to the exercise when the controls get overly mushyeven though the VSI still shows ‘way better than 1000 fpm upwith speed down to below 40 indicated and the nose pointedto the heavens.

A few first flight impressions were not positive, though.Even with the aileron servo option I found that stick forces wouldtake a little getting used to, compared even to my Cessna 337.A bigger surprise was the effort required to achieve flap retrac-tion and extension. I would need to spend more time in thegym before I could enjoy this part of flying a GlaStar, so I nowhave my order in for a set of Jim Miller’s bushings.

Much is yet to be done to determine speeds but two-way GPS showed 128 - 130 knots at 2450 RPM and full throttleat 6000 feet. So the big prop I chose in order to get off quicklywhen the plane is on floats (next summer) extracts a price withregards to cruise speed.

Instruments were normal except for oil pressure thatwas over 100 psi at cruise, and I have had continuing prob-lems with the EXP Bus by Control Vision (inconsistent alter-nator charging). The bus has since been switched out with afree replacement from the factory, as has the defective oil pres-sure valve. Problems solved.

At the end of the flight, very much to my relief, landingwas no problem for this beginner TD pilot – not a greaser butno bounce either for the 3-pointer.

I thought I was building light but the plane came in at1282 pounds with a float kit installed. I guess about the middleof the pack.

My wife, Jennifer, is the only reason the GlaStar gotstarted OR finished. She exhibited tolerance beyond measure

for my project, which was, in fact, much larger and more ex-pensive than I anticipated, and she even helped out on occa-sion to buck a few hundred rivets.

There is more tweaking to do (including getting thatpower-on stall figured out), but to keep me busy I have nowstarted on a rebuild of an old Land Rover. There may be an-other airplane project in the future but not soon – the Rover willbe simpler and, most important, much less expensive.

Ron Way, December 13, 2005,GlaStar #5452, N29RW

N29RW had its first flight out of Port Townsend, WA.With Pete Albrecht flying chase in his Harmon Rocket andfellow GlaStar owner Nick Reid as photographer. Kit #5452 waspurchased in Dec. 2000 from the original builder and wascompleted with the help of lots of folks, (you don’t even knowwho you are as I was haunting the GlaStar line at Arlington forthree years looking for ideas), including a very patient wife,Barbara. N29RW is equipped with an XP-360 FADEC engineand a Whirlwind 200RV constant speed composite prop.Performance and handling are great. Now I am looking forwardto flying off the restricted time (40 hrs.) so we can gosomewhere!


TomSetzer Leaves Usfrom a GlaStarNet post by Tom Setzer

After much soul searching and thoughtful prayer, I havedecided to leave the Glasair Aviation community and move onin a different direction with my career, attempting to attend to thegreater demand of my family and my time. It has been a thirteenyear ride for me as the lead engineer on the GlaStar and myinvolvement in experimental aviation. One that has seen manyhighs, some deep lows, but definitely a venture that I am proudto have been associated with.

Some of you are probably asking, who is Tom Setzer?Those of you that know me, realize that that is the way I like it.I don’t always want to be in the lime light, but rather like beinga part of the team.

It all started back in 1992 when Tom Hamilton and TedSetzer asked my brother Mike and myself to be a part of adevelopment team to help bring to life the GlaStar. Many longdays and nights ensued; designing, building, testing andeventually showing the people at Oshkosh our creation in 1994.I so vividly remember the crowds of people standing under thewings, asking how soon they could take delivery of an aircraftwe designed. It was an American dream come true for us.

In 1998, I was off to Germany to lead the certificationefforts of the GlaStar. This was a goal all through the design ofthe GlaStar, that someday we would like to certify this ‘Star, forit would be a wonderful trainer. That was an exciting two yearsfor me and my family, one that ended with what you see todayas the OMF Symphony.

Unfortunately, all did not go well upon my return as thebankruptcy Stoddard-Hamilton ended in a mess andcompletely sank our venture. It would have been easy to walkaway from it all back then, literally having to start from scratchon a new career as we had lost it all. But that is a little likewalking away from a child when they ask you for help. It was apart of us we couldn’t let go.

Fortunately for all of us, Glasair Aviation came to town,and turned on the lights again. It was not an easy task to helpbring this company to life again, but one that I have enjoyed.Working with Mikael Via, Nigel Mott and Ted Setzer and all thefolks at Glasair Aviation has been a pleasure. Once again,teaming with great people, we took a sound design andimproved uponit to bring you the Sportsman. Glasair Aviation isonce again an industry leader with strong products and anexciting Customer Assembly Center that is meeting thedemands of the new 21st century builders and helping peoplebuild and fly their own airplane. The Glasair Aviation employeesare like family and they all really strive to do the best for thecustomers. In reality, I will miss them more than the companywill miss me, as no one is irreplaceable.

In closing, I will miss you all. For those builders that Ihave been counseling over the years, remember the words“perfect” and “exactly” do not belong in an aircraft builder’svocabulary. You cannot afford tools to measure perfect andexactly, so stop trying to build it that way. Besides, I have nevermet a pilot who could correctly fly the perfect airplaneanyway.

The CAC Experience: Answers to aFew of Your Questionsby Erik Nelson

Quality of Workmanship?I believe the quality of workmanship is excellent. They

know what they are doing; they’ve done many fuselages by now.The tooling and jigs are very accurate, and they have learned asthey have gone along and made modification. Also theproduction side of the molds and various parts have beenadjusted by what was learned in the CAC. An example is thenose gear fork. They found the nose gear fork tolerance was totight and could not accommodate various tire widths of differentmanufacturers so they widened it. I have an earlier fork and theysay they will replace it because it is too tight.

Quick Decisions?Yes, there are some quick decisions but not a lot. Most

everything is pre-programmed. The pace in CAC is at timesalmost overwhelming. You will be tired when you go home, butyou are not faced with any long term decisions that effect theultimate outcome of the plane, ie. a paint scheme.

Work Completed as Advertised?Yes and no depending on how you mean. The amount

of work promised in the specific agreement in the CAC willdefinitely get done. It is also possible to get extra work done bypaying for overtime. The amount of time needed after CAC tocomplete the project was more than I expected. I was number10 in CAC. I think that as they do more projects they are gettingeven more done now, but there is still a lot of work left tocomplete when you leave CAC. I know their ultimate goal is tolower that to almost zero as their process progresses. Theywant to offer the ability to come to the CAC and leave with a planethat will fly. I believe they will accomplish that in the not sodistant future.

Preparation Beforehand?Not really. I did the reading of the manual they

recommended and found it to be helpful. I thought about takinga riveting class and didn’t and was glad I did not invest the time.It wasn’t necessary. Come rested and wear comfortable shoes.

Firewall Forward Week?Firewall forward week is very different than the other two

weeks. You have three people all working on just getting theengine mounted and systems built and connected. We got a lotof work done that week. Had we wanted to we could have firedoff the engine at the end of the week. It was that completeincluding prop mounting and finishing of the engine cowling,which is a lot of work by itself and surprisingly difficult.

I found the CAC process very enjoyable andeducational. We completed everything they promised and thensome. I opted for some of the overtime offered to completeadditional tasks. I was disappointed to realize, as time went on,continued on page 14


just how much work was really left to do, but that is reality. Istarted on April 19, 2005, and had my first flight on September1, 2005. I would do it again, but really think the approach theyare taking to get CAC to the point that the airplane is flyable atthe end of their process is a great way for the company to go.The only thing I didn’t like was that so much gets done everyday,and you have your hands on so many different sections andsystems each day, it gets overwhelming and confusing. I dobelieve that this is just a result of what is being accomplished.I can’t have it both ways, go slow so I can be involved ineverything and have a complete understanding of what wasdone, how it happened, etc. and at the same time get as muchwork done in three weeks. They are opposing statements.

Come rested and be prepared to work hard, it is a greattime!!

CAC Questions - continued from page 13

Thoughts on the CAC Processby Will Stevenson

I went through the CAC process in June of 2005. It issomething of a blur now, as much is crammed into every day--it has to be, so much is accomplished at the end of threeweeks. If memory serves, my kit was the 14th Sportsman theybuilt at CAC, and they had it down pretty well. Ted is constantlystreamlining the manufacturing process and improving theaircraft. For example, he went with a screw-together cowling forthe first time on my aircraft, rather than the hinge-type cowling.In a conversation I had with him, he mentioned that they aredoing many more things on the aircraft now than they did whenthey first started on the Sportsman. The CAC process isconstantly getting more efficient and cramming in moreassembly sections.

Upon arrival the first day, the quick-build wings are laid

out on two long benches, ready for installation of tanks, wiring,cables, pulleys, pitot, and so on. The quick-build fuselage isinstalled in its jig, leveled and ready for work. They have interimgoals to hit during the process, such as wing closure, thatindicate whether they are on schedule or not. You are pulledfrom one aspect of the building process to another several timesa day. Photos are taken of you throughout the day doing variousassembly sequences in order to document the whole CACprocess. The riveting of the wings is the longest single project.Wear really good, shock absorbing shoes as you are on yourfeet on concrete all day. Bring a lunch, you get a half-hour lunchbreak and a couple of fifteen minute breaks during the day.Quitting time is 4:00PM, but they will do overtime projects; all’sit takes is money.

The CAC guys are a bunch of real dynamos, anincredibly hard and fast working bunch. I truly don’t know howthey do it day-after-day, week-after-week. The quality of theworkmanship is first-rate. I would approach the CAC processlike a season-deciding high-school varsity football game andyou’re a member of the varsity football team. It is intense andrequires physical as well as mental stamina. It’s reallyimportant that you are ready to contribute your all every day,starting with an early morning rise. The guys respond verypositively to your working hard, asking questions, and generallybeing deeply involved. If you want to just watch them do it, or justloaf along, CAC isn’t for you; it won’t work out well.

Most of the decisions you will make are ones you haveconsidered for a while anyhow--trike or tail-dragger, avionicsgear, motor and prop combination, vacuum vs. electric, etc. Ihadn’t figured out my panel yet, so that wasn’t installed. Thefellow before me had his panel already assembled and waitingat the CAC, and I believe his was installed, not sure about that.I’m working with Scott of Xpanel trying to get the factorySportsman panel template into his program, we’re havingissues with the panel scaling. Hopefully it will be sorted out inthe near future. It would be nice to get the Airlinktech panel inXpanel too, I’m not sure I can get the gear I want into the factorypanel. Wolf, would you be interested in sending digital photosof your panel to Scott? Please contact me and I will be more thanhappy to help, if wanted.

The one disappointment was that I didn’t learn as muchas I had hoped. Many of the assembly sections are going onsimultaneously, so you just don’t get to see them all while youare busy with one. You sometimes only do a brief part of theassembly section while they take a picture. You are sometimesgiven ‘occupy-me’ work while the real work goes on around you.Certainly not always. It has to be this way in order to accomplishthe whole process in three weeks, especially if you are abeginning experimental aircraft enthusiast. If you are a goodriveter, a good composite man, or a good craftsman who knowshis way around experimental aircraft well, you will help speed upthe process quite a bit and get more accomplished on youraircraft. If not, no big deal, the CAC guys know how to deal withthat in a gracious way, they will keep you busy, and your aircraftwill get done.


Eric Melson and his Sportsman before its nice paint job


Regional NewsContact your GAI Regional Newsletter Editors (see Spring issue)

with your articles for GlaStar Flyer. They’re looking for articleson building experiences, first flights, builder tips, GlaStar® Fly-insand GlaStars at airshows, GlaStar® flying adventures, trips to visitother GlaStar® builders, and anything of general interest.

Midwest USACheeseland Fly-in 2005by Steve Salmon

My wife Cheri and I just wanted to send a special ‘ThankYou’ to GlaStar flyers/builders Ron Steponkus, Gregg Allmann,Sune Ericson, Dave Paulus and Bill Knutson for attending our2nd Cheeseland Fly-in. You guys helped make this anincredibly enjoyable time, and we’re already looking forward tonext year’s event. I’ll plan it as far in advance as possible to lureeven more enthusiasts into joining us. (And I’ll avoid Badgerhome game weekends so Dan Dudley can join us fromMadison.)

Ron, Sune, Bill and I have every intention of having anairworthy ‘Star to join the fleet for next year’s get-together. I haveno doubt Bill Yamokoski will be back in the air again soon, sohopefully he’ll be able to attend again next year. JimHatzenbeller and Mark Krezowski (Amphib) have alsoexpressed serious interest in attending next year, so that wouldmake at least 10 GlaStars, which would be an incredibleturnout. Combine that with a re-appearance of the Pitts who puton a mini air show for us, the beautiful grace of the ’42 Stearmanwhich was giving rides, and everything in between from theshort-wing pipers to the 170 in attendance, and you’ve got arecipe for another memorable time. I can tell you that everyonein our airstrip community just loved seeing all the airborneactivity and they’re looking forward to next year as well.

Thanks again to all, looking forward to seeing you atOshkosh & later at Cheeseland ’06!

SoCal GlaStar Fly-inby Dave Prizio

We had about 50 people at our December 3rd fly-in atChino, CA, including some new Sportsman builders. We weredown on airplanes a bit from previous years, but that promisesto be rectified by next year. We had no representatives of theArizona contingent this year, and the northern California groupwas largely discouraged by the weather, with the lone exceptionof Ken Wiley, who made the trip from Concord. For those of uslocally the weather was beautiful, although the night before ithad been raining. Our friends to the north were not so lucky.

Those who did make it with their GlaStars included LonRosado - N199GS, Bill Jones - N186GP, Ken Wiley - N12AK,Vince Bastiani - N586R, Dave Mullins - N8488, and myself andEd Zaleski - N634DP.

Chris Wills has his plane out of commission while heputs in a FADEC system, but he and daughter Kelly flew in withtheir Avenger ultralight. We missed all the free rides Chrisusually gives. I will get a full report from him as soon as hisFADEC is up and running.

Steve Tillinghast drove but is very near his first flight ashe works the final bugs out of his NSI Subaru engine. I expectto be taking him flying again to get him current later in Decemberin anticipation of the big day.

Charlie Burton was there sans wings as he works onhis new Sportsman project. I finally got his prop off my GlaStar,but apparently he doesn’t need it back just yet. Charlie is still

my leading candidate for good guy of the year for lending mehis prop for the last six months.

Rocky Morrison and Barry Brocato, both back fromrecent visits to the CAC were there and hope to be flying intime for next year’s event. Barry flew up from San Diego inhis Luscombe.

Marc Cook, as mentioned elsewhere, is committed tohaving his new Sportsman flying long before our fly-in nextyear. He was there with his wife and daughter to check outthe action, meet the group and let us all know about hisdecision to join the ranks of GlaStar and Sportsman builders.He is going to write an article for Kitplanes Magazine, of whichhe is editor-in-chief, about his building experience.

Tom Fleming came, telling us about the difficulties hehad with NSI and the progress he is making now that he hascontinued on page 16

Southwest USA


a Lycoming-clone engine coming from Aerosport Power. Hemay be flying by our next fly-in, but he still has some work to do.Gus Gustavson also came by and informed us of the steadyprogress he is making with the help of another builder, MitchBerger.

Glenn and Marianne Smith came by to tell us they havebeen making much more progress on their place in Utah thantheir GlaStar, but they promise to rectify that after they move.

All in all we had a great time, squeezed in a few demorides, and sent at least one prospect back to Harry DeLong.Next year we should have Tom Wathen’s Sportsman available,so we don’t have to worry about the weather in the Northwest toget a Sportsman to the event, plus my own Sportsman will beflying for sure, so lots of Sportsman demo rides are in store for2006. Hope to see you there.

Last, but not least, a special thanks to Irene Zaleskiand my wife, Kathy, for all the work they did bringing the food andkeeping the trays full throughout the event. Kathy also puttogether all the decorations, which I always forget about butreally do make the place look great.

Regional Reports -- continued from page 15

The Chino group chowing down (above). Bill Jones’ N186GPgetting the once over from the Chino crowd (below).

Columbia Fly-inby Dave Prizio

Coming at the beginning of October as it does everyyear now, the Columbia, CA (O22) fly-in always seems to beblessed with good weather and a good turn-out. This year wasno exception as we were treated to good flying all up and downthe state, which made it easy for 14 GlaStars® and oneSportsman 2+2 to make the trip. We would have had anotherone if Bill Jones hadn’t fallen ill just before the event.Fortunately, it was just the flu, so he’s better now, but it ruinedhis weekend.

We even had a cameo appearance by David Codding,the elusive Sportsman builder from nearby Santa Rosa, CA.You may remember him as the first customer to complete aSportsman 2+2. His plane is now painted and looking sharp.But when I saw his plane I didn’t have my camera with me, andwhen I returned he was gone, so you’ll have to wait for a photoof N249AD.

Amazingly enough we had two amphib float-equiptGlaStars® in attendance. One was from (are you ready for this?)Scottsdale, AZ. It isn’t actually as crazy as it sounds. LakeHavasu, Lake Mead, and Lake Powell are not that far away. BillGrieme has given himself the call sign of Triple Nickel QuackQuack (N555QQ) Hopefully ATC has a sense of humor when hetries that on them. Come to think of it, guys on floats don’t talkto ATC much as a rule, which is probably best. The second float-‘Star (N241WW) belongs to Walt Wester of Larkspur, CA. Helives right next to the San Francisco Bay, so his waterconnection is a bit more obvious.

Including Walt Wester, the northern Californiacontingent was largest with seven planes – Dave Ammenti andhis wife of San Mateo in N297RA, our host Charlie Burton andhis sister Margaret of Jackson in N331F, Dave Hulse ofSacramento in N646DG, Arlo Reeves and Anne of Santa Cruzin N4224, and Ken Wiley of Concord in N12AK.

Southern California was close behind with five GlaStarsand one late scratch due to illness – Vince Bastiani and his sonof La Quinta in N586R, Richard March of San Diego in N163DM,Lon Rosado and his wife of Encinitas in N199GS, Chis Wills andhis wife of Santa Ana in N433WW, and myself and Tom Flemingin N634DP. Nevada was represented by Armin Tuma of LasVegas, and Arizona sent us Jerry Sparks and, of course, BillGrieme.

An unexpected surprise was the appearance of Simonand Tina Jarman from France. Needless to say, they did not flytheir GlaStar® to the fly-in. But they did at least begin their tripin their GlaStar®, flying it from France to Spain. If we could onlyfigure out how to get this many GlaStars® to Sun ‘n Fun.

Charlie and Margaret did a wonderful job of hosting us,treating us to way too much great food. The facilities atColumbia are ideal for our event. There is a nice meeting roomwith a full kitchen, and a nice campground adjoins the building.The airplanes can park just a few feet away. For those who donot want to camp the town is less than a mile away, an easywalk or short ride in the car. The town itself is kind of touristy,


Southeast USA2nd Annual Florida GlaStar Fly-inBy Ric and Bobbi Lasher

The morning of October 29th dawned clear and cool,unfortunately the cross winds at Merritt Island

Airport were gusting to 25 mph. Not Good! One GlaStarand two Cessna 172s flew in. One other GlaStar owner wasplanning on flying, but the battery was dead when he tried tostart the engine. Fortunately, he still had time to drive to MerrittIsland.

All together there were 17 people in attendance, sevenwith flying planes and the rest either building or still thinkingabout it, and looking for information. We were also joined byZach Chase, his lovely wife AJ and their adorable, pilot to be,Bryce. Everyone enjoyed looking and drooling over DonRussell’s and Ric Lasher’s planes. Don has a Subaru engineand Ric has a Lycoming, so there was lots of room for com-parisons.

After lunch in the hangar of Island Aviation, the FBOon Merritt Island Airport, Darren Tillman of Power Flow told usabout his exhaust system, how it works, how it increases theperformance of an engine and how it can save gas. Power FlowSystems are now available for the GlaStar and the Sportsman.

Steve Wood’s Excellent AdventureBritish Record-Setter Plans New Flight InHomebuilt Aircraft

Steve Wood, the first British pilot to fly around the fourcorners of America in a homebuilt aircraft, plans a record settingsolo round the world flight promoting British American trade,travel, culture and the Royal International Air Tattoo supportedcharity Flying Scholarships for the Disabled.

but it is fun to walk through it for an afternoon.If you came this year you will probably be back next

year. If you haven’t been there yet you should plan to changethat. This fly-in is just the perfect set-up for a weekend getaway.Thanks Charlie, you did good!

No British pilot has flown around the world in ahomebuilt airplane, and Wood aims to join an elite group as only10 pilots of other nationalities have flown homebuilt aircraftaround the world in the 102 years since the Wright Brothers firstflight.

A member of the British American Business Counciland the International Fellowship of Flying Rotarians, Wood willbe promoting Britain as he travels the world. During Wood’sattempt to establish a new FAI round the world flight record fromNew York to New York, British American links will be promotedat 12 US cities which have BABC chapters.Adventure of Flight -- Wood’s world flight program -- also aimsto raise $1 million for Flying Scholarships for the Disabled.

Wood is following in the flight path of Polly VacherMBE, the record setting aviatrix and Wood’s mentor, who hasflown two fund raising world flights for FSD.It took Wood seven years to build his “Spirit of Endeavour.” Thename honors the memory of fellow Yorkshireman Capt. JamesCook, the world’s greatest navigator, and his famous shipEndeavour.

Amongst young and old alike, Wood’s airplane is alsoaffectionately known as “Goofy” from its unique registration, N-600FY. Wood wants to encourage British American businesssupport for the flight and has advertising space available onSpirit of Endeavour, the world flight airplane and on theAdventure of Flight web site. FMI: http://adventureofflight.orgSteve and his GlaStar N600FY aka GOOFY, are based inFlorida at Spruce Creek.

Portions Copyright (c) 1999-2005 by Aero-News Network, Inc.All rights reserved.

Eastern US


Virginia Regional Fly-inby Dee Whittington

Clear and sunny weather throughout the Mid-Atlanticafter two years of hurricanes drew about 3,000 visitors to seewhat was new, and old, in aviation at he Virginia Regional EAAFly-in. The Virginia GlaStar/Sportsman Builders Group madesure Glasair aviation was represented for the first time. Alongwith eight LSA manufacturers and eleven other aircraft vendors,Glasair Aviation was easy to spot wit the largest banner at theevent.

The banner pointed out the location of Steve Jakulski’sEggenfellner-powered GlaStar on Saturday. On Sunday DaleFowler showed off his GlaStar tail dragger. On both days, AlexRose had his Sportsman quick-build fuselage, rudder, and anaileron for people to examine. Under the tent Alex showedvisitors more features of the kit: a multi-compartment box ofparts, a shrink pack parts board, as well as the builder’s manual.

James Merrill of Lanexa, VA, a GlaStar builder, and DjMerrill, a Sportsman builder from Chapel Hill, NC, assistedSteve and Alex talking to potential customers.


Europe

2005 European GlaStar Fly-inby Werner Schneider

We had for some months prepared to have our 2005event in Aschaffenburg,Germany. However St. Peter for oncemore this year sent cold front after cold front over England andFrance, getting many trapped in bad weather.

Saturday morning did not look good here inSwitzerland. I could hardly see the hillside two kilometers away!Rolf, myself, and Peter spent the whole morning looking atweather radar and watching TAF’s. North of the border weatherwas clear, but how to get over the hillsides (Simon can tell hisshare from last year). Close to lunch time we did see someimprovements. A round of calls got us going. We met at Birrfeld(waited for Peter to arrive), fueled and prepared HB-YKP for thetwo hour trip, and filed the flight plan plus customs.

A quarter past three did see us leaving mother earth andflying under a solid cloud cover. 30 minutes later the ceilingbroke up and as we got further north and let us see the sun.About an hour and a half later we did arrive in EDFC and hadseveral “Glastarians” greeting us (see pictures). We were threeplanes at this time and after custom duties we got togetherlooking at planes, discussing matters, and doing phone calls.I got the message that Frank Miskelly from the UK had to turnback due to technical problems. However Jan came later onfrom Paris to make four. Guenter with his TD had to leave thesame afternoon as well as Walter who attended in a Grob G109.

After an aerobatic demonstration from our friend Peterwe settled in the restaurant for a decent meal. Later on that nightthe driving Glastar Community brought the flying communityinto the hotel where our friend Roberto from Italy offered someSicilian red wine and grappa. After looking at Peter’sperformance on my laptop we got to sleep.

Next morning was first foggy outside but cleared soonto a beautiful sunny Sunday. Back at the airfield we started touse the guides to measure angle of incidence and difference

between wing and horizontal stabilizer, with theresults some of the trim tabs could be explained.Then Jan had to fly back. As it was late and theweather forecast did not look to good, we had onlytime for three short flights, one was for the buildingWolfgang to let him see how the GlaStar handles.

It was again a weekend with a lot of fun andpeople all over the world. Tthanks Pete and Cyndifor the lift to the hotel. And thanks to Roberto fromItaly who drove hours to come there (weather didnot allow a crossing of the Alp’s) and brought usbeautiful wine! It was great meeting new people,and we hope that next time weather cooperatesand more builders/flying planes can join from evenmore nations. And finally a big thank you toWolfgang Wagner for organizing and hosting the2005 event!!

Watch out for this space and reserve the last

Regional Reports -- continued from page 17

Other GlaStars flew in for the event including SteveHancharick of Raleigh, NC, Jeff Matejka and Bobby Thomasfrom Maryland, Juliette and Roger Cosh from New York.

A 1929 Fleet was the oldest airplane to attend. Nearly500 aircraft flew in during the weekend from states up and downthe Eastern Seaboard. Ultralights arrived from as far south asGeorgia and as far north as mid-New York state.

For the first time Aircraft Spruce and LowranceAvionics attended as vendors, and both reported good traffic attheir displays. Causey Aviation Services, a long time attendee,not only was there as a vendor but also provided two discountcertificates. Oregon Aero and Aeroware Enterprises alsoprovided prizes as an enticement for those flying or driving in tofill out a registration form. In the major drawing four luckywinners took home a Lowrance AirMap 1000GPS, a LightSpeedTwenty 3G headset, an ICOM A-23 sport radio, and a P-51 pedalplane.

Any fly-in is months of work for volunteers before thedate arrives. This year a total of 217 people were on the fieldduring the weekend with others setting up during the precedingweek, making this year the best organized and executed ever.The parking crew waved in 974 aircraft. During eh peak arrivaltime on Saturday morning a stream of airplanes landed oneevery 30 seconds.

This year 19 forums dew a record 221 attendees. Pilotsespecially gravitated to the “Wings Program Approved” forums,which counted towards their participation in the new VirginiaAviation Ambassador program.

You couldn’tmiss theGlasair bannerat the VirginiaFly-in.

H. O. Maline and his son look over the Sportsman assemblymanuals.


two weekend in June 2006 for the next Fly-In. Have fun watchingthe pictures on www.glastar.ch!

(Above) From France Jan den Hollander - F-PSLJ, FromSwitzerland Werner Schneider - HB-YKP, and from germanyhost Wolfgang Wagner - D-EUWN.

(Below) After Arrival, from left to right, Kiwi Pete (ZK-PCW),Fausto Cecchinato, Cyndi (ZK-PCW), organizer “the chef”Wolfgang Wagner (in the front, D-EUWN), Roberto Bormioli (I-BRMS), Günter Bauernfeind (D-ESGB), Wolfgang Fechner(#5923), Manfred, Rolf Wälty (#5466), me doing the picture (HB-YKP) and Peter with his Acro Racer (N107FP) (refueling due tolow endurance)

South Pacific

South Pacific GlaStar RegionBy Jane Grove

The Victorian group of Australian GlaStar builders andflyers have continued to live their dream of all things aviation.Ken Wickland’s NSI powered GlaStar with the CAP 200 propnow has 230 hours and just purrs along. Ken reports that theengine is very quiet and vibration is almost nonexistent. Flightplan fuel consumption is 22 litres/hour at 130 knots, largelydue to the prop being specifically designed for this engine.

Fuel consumption during circuits is below 15 litres anhour. For take-off Ken uses 5,000 rpm, well below the red lineof 6,300 but still producing 160hp with another 40hp on tap ifneeded. Operation consists of opening the throttle then ad-justing the rpm by two switches on the control stick. That’sit; no run up, just a check of the oil and coolant within limitsand away you go. Sight seeing, he just sets 3,200 rpm [prop1,500] and at 110 knots fuel burn is less than 15 litres/hour -- 7+ hours on standard tanks.

The development of this engine is now almost com-plete and, as NSI is under new management, Ken is sure manymore builders will be taking to the sky behind this smooth andeconomical power plant. As far as the airframe goes he hascompleted three annual inspections for less than $100, exclud-ing oil changes and tyres.

Jim McConville hasn’t been able to fly his GlaStar forsome considerable time now whilst waiting on replacement en-gine related components from NSI. The current rejuvenationof NSI has yielded immediate results with the recent receiptof dual engine computers.

Terry Dovey is benefiting from the close proximity ofthe other builders. Terry appreciates their contribution of ‘beenthere, done that’ to his project. He is finishing the skinnedbalsawood baggage compartment works and aft cable tunnelfit out. He has installed the main gear legs, mounted the brakeassemblies and fitted the main wheels. A modification to thenose wheel fork to raise the nose 1.75 inches is complete inanticipation of a 76 inch prop from NSI. He is progressing tofit the aileron trim and servo tab options.


Major and Minor Changes:No Job Is Finished Until thePaperwork Is Doneby Dave Prizio, with valuable help from Joe Gauthier DAR, andScott “Sky” Smith

Since we are flying experimental GlaStars andSportsmen we can work on our own planes without consultingthe FAA or doing its cumbersome paperwork, or so we mightthink. But is that really true? Not exactly. Routine maintenanceshould be noted in the aircraft logbook and/or engine logbook.Once a year an annual condition inspection must be done, dulyrecorded in the aircraft logbook, and signed by the holder of theRepairman’s Certificate for that airplane or an A&P mechanic.If this is not done the airplane’s Airworthiness Certificatebecomes invalid. Replacing parts with like parts should berecorded but requires no further action. So far we aren’t doing toomuch paperwork.

But what if we change something. At this point webecome concerned with whether or not what we are doing is amajor change, and the answer to this question can be less thanclear. If we are making a change that does not appreciably(emphasis added) affect the weight and balance, structuralstrength, reliability, operational characteristics or othercharacteristics affecting the airworthiness of our airplane, wehave most likely escaped the requirements of dealing with amajor change. Though it is not an official term, we can call these“minor changes.” Major changes require more thoroughdocumentation and typically a new flight test period, but let’sdeal with minor changes first.

Minor ChangesA minor change might be adding a radio, changing from

one brand of starter to another or installing a different sizebattery. These things have a minor impact on weight andbalance and no appreciable impact on handling or performance.They should be noted in the aircraft logbook and the weight andbalance paperwork should be amended to reflect the change inweight and center of gravity. You, as the owner of the airplane,can do this yourself. Remember, current, accurate weight andbalance information must be kept in the airplane at all times.

Here is an example that is not so clearly minor. If youwant to take your favorite taildragger GlaStar out to the booniesand decide that you need to replace your 6.00x6 tires with8.50x6 tires (forget tundra tires for now) does that constitute amajor or minor change. The answer is, it depends. It dependson how restrictive your Operating Limitations are, and itdepends on the interpretation of them by your local FSDO. Themost conservative view of the regulations would say it is a majorchange, but you won’t know for sure if you don’t ask.

Major ChangesThe question now begging to be answered is, where is

the line between major and minor? The answer to this question

must begin with a review of the Operating Limitations for yourairplane. Remember your Operating Limitations? You got themwith your original Airworthiness Certificate. They should still bein your airplane, in fact they are required to be there. Thisdocument spells out what is considered a major change andwhat you need to do for the FAA when making such a change.Here is some typical language as shown in the most currentFAA Order 8130.2F:

“(19) After incorporating a major change as describedin § 21.93, the aircraft owner is required to reestablishcompliance with § 91.319(b) and notify the geographicallyresponsible FSDO of the location of the proposed test area. Theaircraft owner must obtain concurrence from the FSDO as to thesuitability of the proposed test area. If the major changeincludes installing a different type of engine (reciprocating toturbine) or a change of a fixed-pitch from or to a controllablepropeller, the aircraft owner must fill out a revised Form 8130-6to update the aircraft’s file in the FAA Aircraft Registry. Alloperations must be conducted under day VFR conditions in asparsely populated area. The aircraft must remain in flight testfor a minimum of 5 hours. The FSDO may require additional time(more than 5 hours) depending on the extent of the modification.Persons nonessential to the flight must not be carried. Theaircraft owner must make a detailed logbook entry describingthe change before the test flight. Following satisfactorycompletion of the required number of flight hours in the flight testarea, the pilot must certify in the records that the aircraft hasbeen shown to comply with § 91.319(b). Compliance with §91.319(b) must be recorded in the aircraft records with thefollowing, or a similarly worded, statement: I certify that theprescribed flight test hours have been completed and theaircraft is controllable throughout its normal range ofspeeds and throughout all maneuvers to be executed, hasno hazardous characteristics or design features, and issafe for operation. The following aircraft operating datahas been demonstrated during the flight testing: speedsVso ______, Vx ______, and Vy ______, and the weight______, and CG location______ at which they wereobtained.”

Unless you are changing engine or propeller type anowner with these limitations needs only to notify the FAA toobtain concurrence that the flight test area is still appropriate.Thus your paperwork for such a change (excluding engine orprop changes) consists of two logbook entries. One entry tonote the installation of the change, the other to note thecompletion of the test flight period with the language shown inbold above included with the speed blanks filled in. If you arevery conservative you might want to have the local FSDOconfirm in writing that they acknowledge your change and thetest flight area to be used.

Major Changes Requiring a Form 8130-6If you change engine type or propeller type (fixed to

constant speed or vice versa) in most cases you will need to doall of the above plus complete a Form 8130-6. This form may beobtained from your local FSDO, any DAR, or online at the FAAweb site, www.faa.gov. This completed form must be turned into


your local FSDO prior to commencing the flight test period.When you do they will tell you what test period is required andwhere it must be flown. In most cases this will be the typical five-hour period flown in the same area as your original flight test. Ifyou started off with a Subaru engine and then decided to switchto Lycoming you probably need to complete a Form 8130-6. Ifyou started out with a fixed pitch prop and later installed aconstant speed prop you need to do the same thing. Of course,if your Operating Limitations are more restrictive than the onesabove, you may have to complete a Form 8130-6 for other majorchanges, too. In all cases check your plane’s OperatingLimitations and talk to your local FSDO.

POH UpdatesOnce the local FSDO has been satisfied, your flight test

period complete, and the entries are made in your log book, youmay think you are finished and ready to fly again. Well, no quite.If the operation or performance of your airplane is changed youneed to amend your Pilot Operating Handbook (POH). Newspeeds, power settings, and fuel flows and possibly operatingprocedures need to be noted. For instance, if you just changedfrom a carburetor to fuel injection, weight and balance and flightperformance may be substantially unchanged, but startingprocedures, emergency procedures, and fuel flows are going tobe different. These changes need to be noted in the POH.Remember, an up-to-date POH is required to be in the airplaneat all times.

Insurance RequirementsAn important step in the paperwork process is notifying

your insurance company. This should be done before beginningyour test flight period, and it should be done in writing. Whenyour test period is completed, it wouldn’t hurt to notify themagain. In fact it is an even better idea to call them before youmake a major modification just to be sure they will still cover you.If you wish to switch from trike to taildragger, for instance, youcan bet your insurance company is going to have something tosay about it. There are other changes, too, that they may wantextra premium for or even refuse to insure. In any event they wantto know about major changes.

The insurance company also enters the picture in thatthey typically only insure airworthy airplanes. If you have notdone the required paperwork your airplane is not airworthy. Ifyou have an accident and your paperwork is not in order, youmay find yourself without insurance coverage. This hashappened to other people. It could happen to you.

Here’s a scenario: Manny and Mo just replaced the oldfixed prop on Manny’s GlaStar with a new Hartzell constantspeed prop. Eager to try out their new high-dollar fan, they jumpin the plane and take it out for a spin. Something goes wrong,maybe something that had nothing to do with the new prop, andthey crash. Manny is OK, but Mo is badly injured. Theinsurance company, as they always do, asks for all thepaperwork on the airplane. They soon find out that there is noForm 8130-6 and no logbook entries for the new prop. Mannypleads that they were going to do the paperwork, but they justhadn’t gotten around to it yet. The insurance company says,

“Well Manny, no paperwork, no insurance. You flew yourairplane in an unairworthy condition in clear violation of the termsof your policy. Tough luck, buddy.” Mo sues Manny to help payhis medical bills, which are mounting up quickly. Now Mannyis not only out an airplane, but he is personally on the hook forMo’s medical costs. And just to add insult to injury, the FAAcites Manny for flying an airplane with an invalid AirworthinessCertificate. That’s a pretty ugly scenario, but one that couldhappen.

SummaryLet’s sum things up. If you change something on your

airplane first ask yourself, “Is this a major or minor change?” Ifyou are unsure check your Operating Limitations and call yourlocal FSDO. Even if the change is minor, don’t forget to note itin the airplane logbook and revise the weight and balance.

If the change is major but does not require a Form 8130-6, then here is the process:1. Call your insurance company2. Notify your local FSDO3. Make the change to your airplane4. Note the change in the airplane logbook and amend yourweight and balance5. Fly off the test period hours as required6. Make the second logbook entry with relevant speeds noted7. Update your POH.

If the change is major as per your OperatingLimitations, then complete and submit a Form 8130-6 beforeStep 5 above. Just remember, when in doubt ask for help.

The Operating Limitations issued to your airplane are the keyto properly documenting modifications. By the way, don’t goflying without them in your airplane!


It’s Them Danged Electronsby Bill Yamokoski

The following is an accident report, submitted for educa-tional and recreational purposes only. Any subsequent at-tempt by a reader to make me feel incompetent will be greetedwith an icy stare and quite possibly a harsh, but of courseunspoken, word. Here goes:

Going DownIt was a dark and stormy night….. Not really. It was

a very nice August 21st morning. Temperatures were in the70s with a scattered layer of cumulus at about 3,500 feet. Ihad a brisk 25 knot wind from the west and was headed east.This was a purely fun flight, just tooling around. I chose tostay below the layer rather thango on top of it. Turns out thatwasn’t such a good choice.

My plane has 600 hourson it, flying an EggenfellnerSubaru engine with Grand RapidsEIS. The first indication of anyabnormality was a sudden read-ing of ZERO rpm on the EIS. Ev-erything else was normal, enginehumming along. The prop con-troller (Quinti constant speedelectric) also has an rpm readingand it was indicating the normal4,200 I had previously set in. Thisabnormality had happened oncebefore a year or so ago andseemed to be caused by a bad connection between theengine’s computer and the EIS. I replaced the connectionand subsequent rpm readings were back to normal. There-fore, I wasn’t at all worried about the current rpm reading. Mo-tored along happily for another five minutes, but still checkedthe GPS for the nearest airport, just in case.

The next oddity noted was a slight decrease in fuelburn. I had been at about 6.0 gph, now I was down to about5.6 gph. I hadn’t touched the throttle or the prop. RPM read-ing on the prop controller stayed at 4,200. Within about tenseconds fuel burn was down to 5.0 gph. RPM remained at4,200. I’m figuring the EIS is having problems, as the enginecontinues to run smoothly. I turn toward the nearest airport,about 15 miles away. My altitude is 2,800 feet MSL, which isabout 2,000 feet AGL.

Ten seconds later fuel burn is down to 4.5gph and theengine coughs for the first time. The prop controller is saying“prop over” which means the controller had exceeded the maxi-mum current allowable for changing blade pitch. It had triedto maintain rpm, but now couldn’t keep up. RPM started todecrease. I had lost about 150 feet of altitude. I tried to in-crease rpm by manually changing blade pitch, but the bladeswere at the stops. Throttle was already firewalled, this beingthe normal flight configuration. Airspeed was still above best

glide, so I continued to pay attention to trying to correct theengine problem. Here’s a hint…I think you’re much better offif the engine just blows up rather than goes through a continu-ous decline. While it’s still running you think you can correctthe problem.

I was now down to about 1,700 feet AGL. The enginewas coughing continuously. From the time I noticed fuel burngoing down until now was about one minute, I think. Sureseemed fast. I was now down to about best glide, so I trimmedup for that and looked in earnest for a spot to put down. Thenearest airport was obviously out of the question. All I couldsee in every direction was corn. This time of year the corn isabout 7 feet tall. I finally spotted what looked like a clear fieldto my northwest. Remember that 25 knot wind? It’s so nicewhen it’s at your back, and so evil when it’s in your face. Ifirst brushed the corn about 350 feet shy of the clear field.

Damn wind! I’m not sure if the engine

every actually stopped. I think itkept sputtering all the way down.I remember how smoothly thecorn seemed to slow me down.OK, this won’t be so bad! Thenthe nose got grabbed and theplane started nosing over, slowly.For a second it seemed like itmight settle back down in an up-right stance. No such luck. Itcontinued on over onto its back.

It took a couple seconds tofigure out I was upside down,hanging in the harness. The har-ness and the cage did a great job.

Not a scratch on me, and I hadn’t bumped my head on any-thing. At first it seemed like the door was jammed shut. ThenI remembered where the handle was and it opened easily. Istuck one hand up on an overhead tube and popped the har-ness latch. I settled easily onto the top tubing and crawledout of the plane.

A couple of farmers had seen the plane coming downand were trying to find me. The tall corn was hiding every-thing very effectively. I walked toward the road that separatedthe corn from the clear field and then walked down that road totheir farmhouse. The sheriff was called and the official worldgot rolling.

OfficialdomThis was Sunday in the country. When the sheriff’s

office was told there were no injuries I slipped a little lower onthe priority list. The deputy, a very nice and helpful guy, showedup about an hour later. He didn’t have a whole lot to do otherthan secure the area and notify the FAA. The FAA guy showedup about 2 hours after the sheriff. He had about an hour drive.He was also friendly and helpful. His main task at this pointwas paperwork, i.e., making sure I had mine. I did. We thenexamined the plane briefly, looking for an obvious cause of theproblem. He asked about fuel (I had filled the tanks 30 minute


prior to things going bad.) He asked for the fuel receipt. I geta monthly bill, not receipts, so he said he would call the air-port and verify that I had filled up. I assume he did that. Hethen had me turn on the fuel pumps. They seemed to workfine. That was it for the plane. Back to his car where I filledout the report, which is now what shows up in the NTSB data-base. Since this was an experimental with a non-standardengine, he explained the NTSB would not be trying to figureout what went wrong. He asked me to let him know what I findout.

RecoveryThe plane was on its back 200 feet into a cornfield.

From the first sign of broken tips of the stalks to the restingspot of the plane was about 150 feet. The first chore was get-ting the plane upright. As usual in the country, one of theneighbors had a front end loader, another one had a Bobcat.Between those two they were able to tip the plane back ontoits nose and then lower it into a normal position with no furtherdamage. The nose gear leg was folded into a C shape, butthe mains were fine. The bobcat hoisted up the front end andthe plane was dragged out of the field, down the road and intothe farmer’s front yard. Then I was shuttled close to home bytwo different deputies, where my sweetie Carol picked me upand finished a rather long day.

The next day I asked our airport manager if he knew ofanyone with a trailer who might help haul the plane back. Hejumped right in with an offer of equipment and personnel, foressentially the cost of gas. They would be able to do it in acouple days. I used that time to get the plane ready for thetrailer ride as best as I could. Mainly I was interested in theengine. The evening after the accident I drove to the plane,removed the very broken prop, turned on the masters and hitthe starter button. It fired right up but ran quite rough. Hmm.

Transporting the plane was done two days later. Therewere really only two significant issues. The right rear sparwas visibly deformed about a foot from the root. I had to workon it with a sledgehammer to allow wing folding without dam-age to the fuselage. The second problem was getting the planeon a trailer not designed for vehicles. The farmers, and there-fore their lifting equipment, were not available so it was doneby hand. It took some doing but it got done. The plane wastied down with about 15 nylon ratcheting straps and off we went.Dismantling at the other end of the trip was considerably easier.The airport’s front end loader lifted the plane off the trailer andset it almost all the way inside my hangar. Home at last.

So What Happened?Now it was time to try and figure out what went wrong.

Jan Eggenfellner ran me through a list of the basic engine di-agnostics. Fuel pressure was good, fuel return was good, airflow good, etc., etc. Engine continued to start but run rough.Oddly enough though, the EIS was now back to reading rpmin an appropriate manner, even though I hadn’t done anythingto the connection. So that little tidbit got me to thinking aboutthe electrical side of things. As you no doubt know, modernauto engines are essentially controlled by a computer. This

particular one has two power leads. I therefore had designedan electrical system based on two batteries, one of which wassupposed to support each power lead with a direct connection.(I should clarify that I got one of the earliest engines, before acomplete installation manual was available. Now the electri-cal system is totally designed and tested for the buyer. I was– gasp – EXPERIMENTING!!) I took a voltmeter to the batter-ies. One was normal, one was about 7 volts. Guess whichone connected to the primary computer power lead. In mymind, though, I still should have been OK. The secondary powerlead was supposed to be connected to the still good battery.So I looked at it and found that its fuse had blown. I moved theprimary power lead from the bad battery to the good one, hitthe starter and the engine fired right up and ran as smoothly asif nothing had happened.

This was definitely a puzzle. Why did the one batterydrain? It was only about 8 months old. I replace one batteryper annual. Even more importantly, why did the fuse for thesecondary power lead blow? This was beyond me so I startedseeking advice. I sent my electrical design to various peoplewho know better than me. They all agreed it was odd, andalso that my particular design choices were the basic culprit.In essence I had the batteries communicating with each otherin an inappropriate way.

In the end the basic cause of my accident was inad-equate power to the computer. Why I was able to go 600 hourswith this electrical system is still a bit of a question. However,it is likely that my earlier EIS rpm problem was not a bad con-nection but rather unusual electrons traveling where theyshouldn’t have. My first trouble indicator, the decrease in fuelburn, can be attributed in fluctuating power in the computer, ascan the subsequent power loss.

Now What?I feel satisfied that the problem has been diagnosed

and that the electrical fix is pretty simple, although there willbe quite a bit of testing of the new system, that’s for sure. Ihave complete confidence in the engine. After all, it was mydesign that led to the power loss. If I had purchased the en-gine a year later none of this would have happened, as I wouldhave used the Eggenfellner-designed electrical system thatcomes with the package. The big problem now is repairingthe plane. I guess the problem is not really so much the re-pairs as the motivation to do the repairs. My hangar is coldand dark in the Michigan winter, so it will probably be next springbefore I really get down to things. The major structural prob-lem is the right rear spar. It definitely has to be replaced.Forward spar looks good. At this point I’ve torn the right wingapart and harvested those internal parts that I could, which wasmost of them. Left strut is broken, but the wing looks goodexcept for some forward edge dings. The nose gear leg willhave to be replaced. Lower cowl will be replaced. Fairingswill be replaced. Man...I’m getting tired just writing about it.However, I have come to the following conclusion. Having torebuild my GlaStar is bad, but not having one to fly around inwould be even worse. Wish me luck.


New Pricing for GlaStarand Sportsman 2+2 Kitsby Dave Prizio

As of January 1, 2006, the price of GlaStar andSportsman 2+2 kits will be going up. Glasair Aviation has alimited number of delivery slots reserved for the lower 2005pricing for each month in 2006. Once these slots are filled thepreferred 2005 pricing will no longer be available. As you canprobably guess, these slots fill up rather quickly, and when theyare gone the new 2006 pricing will prevail.

Here are the increases: The Customer AssemblyCenter (CAC) pricing will increase from $7000 per week to $8000per week for the Sportsman. Full standard kit pricing for theSportsman has increased 14.3% from $34,950 to $39,950. FullPre-built kit pricing for the Sportsman has increased 11.6% from$51,535 to $57,535. Full standard kit pricing for the GlaStar hasincreased 34.5% from $29,950 to $40,285. Full Pre-built kitpricing for the GlaStar has increased 28% from $45,190 to$57,870. These increases reflect the increased cost of laborand materials necessary to make these kits.

You may have noticed that the price of a GlaStar kit isnow higher than the Sportsman. This due to the fact that theGlaStar kit is more difficult to prepare due to numerousrefinements in the Sportsman kit. It is also owing to the fact thatthe GlaStar is now the exception to the normal flow of work.What does it all mean? Well, it means that the GlaStar productis approaching the end of its life cycle. In other words they justain’t makin’ many of ‘em any more, and they don’t expect thatthe change in the foreseeable future.

The big concern for GlaStar owners and builders is notso much whether or not anyone else builds one as whether ornot they will be able to get parts and product support in thefuture. No one wants on orphan airplane. To address thisconcern Mikael Via has assured me that they absolutely intendto maintain product support and spare parts for the GlaStar foras long as he has anything to say about it. They are, after all,still supporting the Glasair I, which has been around for over 25years.

The other thing you should take from this is don’t waitto make your Sportsman decision for one more day. Get on thephone and lock in that 2005 pricing today.

Crash of First Turbine GlaStarNTSB Identification: CHI05LA094

Accident Occurred: Sunday, April 10, 2005Location: Kendallville, INProbable Cause Approval Date: 7/7/2005Aircraft: Tschida GlastarRegistration: N5DKInjuries: 1 Uninjured.

The amateur-built experimental airplane wassubstantially damaged when it lost engine power after takeoff.The pilot was in the traffic pattern and attempted to execute aforced landing on the departure runway. However, the glide pathwas not sufficient to reach the runway and the airplane impacteda road and ditch adjacent to the airport. This was the first flightof the airplane.

The pilot was the owner and builder of the aircraft. Thepilot stated that after takeoff, he experienced a “very quick” 8-knot reduction in airspeed. The loss in airspeed was followed bya reduction in engine exhaust gas temperature (EGT) of about50 degrees Fahrenheit. The pilot noted that the loss of airspeedfelt like “someone momentarily deployed a speed brake but theairspeed remained at the lower speed.” He recalled that the fuelpressure indicated 10 pounds per square inch (psi) at that time.The pilot stated that when he reached a point abeam the end ofthe runway and began a 180-degree turn to final approach forlanding, a second airspeed reduction occurred. He reported thatwhile maintaining a 65-knot glide speed, the glide path would notallow a landing on the runway. The pilot reported that the fieldadjacent to the airport was too small to permit a safe landing.Because there was no traffic on the road adjoining the airport,he elected to dive toward it in an effort to maintain enoughairspeed to pull up and land in a grass area off the end of therunway. However, the airplane’s nose wheel caught the edge ofthe roadway and the aircraft slid across the road and into a ditch.

A post-accident inspection revealed that a piece ofsilicone rubber sealant obstructed the inlet of the internal enginefuel filter. The pilot/builder reported that to the best of hisknowledge the sealant material was not used in the constructionof the airplane and he was unsure of the source. In addition, aFederal Aviation Administration inspector examined theairplane. He noted that several bends in the fuel lines wereflattened and did not have a uniform cross-section at thoselocations.

The National Transportation Safety Board determinesthe probable cause(s) of this accident as follows: A loss ofengine power due to fuel starvation as a result of the fuel flowrestriction at the internal engine fuel filter due the presence of thesilicone sealant material. Contributing factors were theunsuitable terrain for a forced landing short of the airportproperty, as well as the road and ditch.

Engine was an Apex Turboprop T62 power plant.


Morley Accident Report -- from NTSB Preliminary Accident Report Web Site

IDENTIFICATION Regis#: N90PMMake/Model: EXPDescription: GLASTARDate: 09/28/2005Time: 1900 EventType: AccidentHighest Injury: NoneMid Air: N Missing: NDamage: SubstantialLOCATION City: HARTWELL State: GA Country: US

DESCRIPTION ACFT ENGINE FAILED AND ACFT MADE A FORCED LANDING INTO LAKE HARTWELL AND IS SUBMERGEDIN 10 FEET OF WATER, LAKE HARTWELL, GA

INJURY DATA: No injuries

WEATHER: METAR AHN 1851Z 11008KT 6SM HZ FEW016 BKN022 26/21 A3006

OTHER DATA Departed: ATHENS, GA Dep Date: Dep. Time: Destination: Flt Plan: Wx Briefing: Y Last Radio Cont: ONAPPROACH Last Clearance: FLIGHT FOLLOWING FAA FSDO: COLLEGE PARK, GA (SO11) Entry date: 09/29/2005

Registered Owner MORLEY, PETER B504 OLD STAGE ROADROSCOMMON, MICHIGAN 48653

Airworthiness Engine Lycoming O-360-A1DClassification ExperimentalCategory Amateur BuiltA/W Date 02/05/2001

N90PM and the Lake Ditchingby Joe Colquitt

I was approached by the pilot, Chris Hayne, (formerlyof Magnolia Springs, MS, now living in Foley, AL) at the EAASoutheast Regional Fly-in (SERFI). My GlaStar, N63GS, wasin the homebuilt section, and he walked over and introducedhimself. He said he had put an GlaStar down in a lake in Georgia.He was delivering the aircraft for a sale to someone in SouthCarolina from Foley, AL. The plane was GlaStar N90PM, beingsold by its owner, Pete Morley.

He said the engine started running hot and he wastroubleshooting the problem when the engine suddenly andcompletely quit. No restart. He said he saw no suitable landingareas other than a decent-sized lake. From engine trouble to nopower (or was it splashdown?) was about two minutes.

He told me that he was down to about 45 knots justabove the water. N90PM was a taildragger. He said when themain gear hit the water, she went over on her back immediately.He said he remembered the windshield virtually exploding away.He also said the aircraft sank quickly. He rememberedunfastening his belts (presumably under water), but does notremember how he got out of the aircraft. He did not mentionopening the door prior to impact. He guessed that he went out

through the windshield opening.He didn’t know which way was up, but saw something

floating and swam to it. It was a wheel pant. The nose of the pantwas intact and held air so he used it as a floation device andcommenced a “long” swim to shore. About 200 yards from theplane, he heard someone and saw that a boat had come to thedunking site. He waved and they saw him. He was picked up bythe boat and carried to shore.

Since he was just ferrying the aircraft, all he lost washis Garmin 296 GPS and clothes. To his knowledge, they hadnot floated the airplane at the time of our chat.

See NTSB Preliminary report above.


I did the third week as well and am very glad of it. Theengine with accessories, prop, firewall, oil cooler, carburetor,induction assembly, gascolator, cowl, and spinner are allinstalled. If you want to do the third week, as far as I know youhave to go with one of the factory power options. I went with theO360-A1F6 and 80" Hartzell constant-speed prop. Thiscombination is somewhat nose-heavy, so I’m working on puttingthe battery behind bulkhead A to avoid installing ballast in thetail cone if possible. Anybody who has done this, I would reallyappreciate hearing how your W&B came out and any othermods you did to make it come out correctly.

Would I do it again? No, if the road getting there(learning all the skills involved in building an experimentalaircraft) is important to you. Yes, if I wanted a Sportsman asquickly as possible, nothing is faster, and the workmanship istop-notch. You end up with an aircraft sitting on its gear, engine/prop/cowling installed, cables/flight controls rigged, wing tips/hatches/gear leg fairings done, fuel system in (except flexiblehoses at wing root), and wings/tail feathers installed (removedagain for shipping). I.e., a basic airframe with power plantinstalled, and waiting for the final fun detail work to be done byyou. Your work begins in the ‘Final Assembly’ section of themanual, and even some of that has been done. A reallycompetent craftsman who has his panel and can work on it 6-8 hrs/day should be able to finish it up in 4-6 mos.

CAC Thoughts -- continued from page 44 Frappr.com Web Siteby Dave Prizio

There is a new web site called www.frappr.com/glastarsportsman that has a map on which the location of eachGlaStar or Sportsman builder can be plotted. This can then bea reference for other builders and owners to see who is nearthem or near a place they plan to visit. Signing up is easy andfree (free is good!). The Lancair builders has a big head start onus, so we need to get busy. Please go there today and putyourself on the map.

By the way, you don’t have to live in the United Statesto get a spot on the map. Werner Schneider tells me that thereare a number of European builders already on the map.

Check it out, and let the world know where you are.

Wings laid out and ready to go at the Sportsman CustomerAssembly Center (CAC).


GAI StarFlight Achievment Award Nomination

Name: ____________________________________

Address: ____________________________________

____________________________________

City: ____________________________________

State/Prov.: _____________ Zip/Postal Code: _________

Country: ____________________________________

E-mail :______________________________________

By completing this nomination form, I certify thatI have personally logged _____ total hours asPilot-in-Command of a GlaStar® aircraft.

____________________________________Signature Date

I am applying for the following StarFlight Achievementlevels:

100 hour - Osprey 250 hour - Kestrel

500 hour - Hawk 1000 hour - Falcon

2000+ hour - Eagle

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Osprey Level Over 100 hours Pilot-in-Command of a GlaStar®

Randy Gaugler N929RG

StarFlight Achievement Awards!

GAI has instituted the StarFlight Achievement Awards for GAI members, recognizing those who haveachieved Pilot-in-Command time of GlaStar® aircraft. Upon receipt of your form a ptach will be

mailed to you and your name will be listed on Stargate as well as being listed in GlaStar Flyer. Be proudof your achievement! To submit your nomination, please fill out the form below and mail to GlaStar Asso-ciation International, 1533 South Grand Avenue, Santa Ana, CA 92705, or Fax to 714-543-3388. Youmay also fill out the on-line nomination form in the Members Only section of Stargate at www.glastar.org.

Kestrel LevelOver 250 hours Pilot-in-Command of a GlaStar®

Gregg Allmann N643PMDave Ammenti N297RAJack Avery N103AJuliette Cosh N567JAl Dean N6ALJan den Hollander F-PSLJMichael Harfst N9TZLes James G-LEEZMark Kiedrowski N899KADale McClure N286DM


FIRST CLASS POSTAGE

1533 South Grand AvenueSanta Ana, CA 92705-44103

2006 Calendar of EventsApril 4-10 Sun ‘n Fun Lakeland, FL

April 7 GlaStar/Glasair Dinner Lakeland, FL

June 24 Mid-Atlantic GlaStar Fly-in Farmville, VA

June 24-25 European GlaStar Fly-in Buttwil, Switzerland

July 5-9 EAA Northwest Regional Fly-in Arlington, WA

July 7* Arlington Salmon Bake Arlington, WA

July 24-30 AirVenture Oshkosh, WI

July 26 GlaStar Hot Dog/Brat Roast Oshkosh, WI

July28 GlaStar/Glasair Annual Dinner Oshkosh, WI

September 8-10 Rough River GlaStar Fly-in Rough River, KY

September 30 Cheesseland Fall Colors Fly-in Green Bay, WI

October 7-8 Columbia GlaStar Fly-in Columbia. CA

October 28 SoCal GlaStar Fly-in Chino, CA

November 11 Merritt Island GlaStar Fly-in Merritt Island, FL

*tentative date

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