Experimental Aircraft » Aircraft

Confusion over FAA order 5190.6B

db483 — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:24:35 +0000

The FAA recently stirred things up with their issuing of order5190.6B. This
is the airport compliance manual. It contains all of the regulations and information on how public funded airports and landing areas operate. The manual went from 94 to 691 pages!

Here are the parts that have many concerned.

No more auto-fuel may be used in aircraft since this is not an approved aviation fuel. (I went to the FAA site and looked over the manual, like usual government publications, it’s buried in there somewhere and I could not find the part that states this. 691pages!)
Trailered aircraft like light sport, powered parachute,weight shift and gyros can not enter public landing areas. The EAA clears up some of this and this seems to have been a misunderstanding of the rules by airport operators.

Here is what I make out of this. At some public airports there are residentuial properties next to them with hangers and aircraft facilities that
use the airports. The FAA calls this through-the-fence (TTF). These residential operations and/or commercial operators will no longer be allowed to enter the public airport property for flight operations.

The EAA has intervened to clear up the trialered aircraft interpretation.
It seems that airport operators misunderstood the rules.

These new rules do not apply to private airports or landing areas like airparks. Please leave a comment on this topic as there is still much confusion in understaning the exact deatails of this FAA order

Have your Plane Painted in Oils

db483 — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 15:16:01 +0000

Challenger II Light Sport Aircraft

Qaud City Challenger II Oil on Canvas 22″by28″

Have your aircraft painted in oils on canvas on the ground or in the air

all sizes. Visit danbudde.com for details and to see other work.

In-Air Aircraft photography

db483 — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 12:46:52 +0000

If you have an aircraft that you fly and want to try something fun, arrange a photo/video shoot of your aircraft in the air flying. It really is enjoyable to share is with your friends and family who often may have never seen your plane, let alone seen it in the air flying.

Find a friend with a plane and have them fly along with you for the shoot. It’s best if they are in a two place, then the camera person can focus on your aircraft. Most of the digital cameras today allow video along with photos and its easy to download to computer then YouTube if you wish.

You fly straight and level while your chase plane does all the manuavering around you to get various angles. This keeps you both safe from collision while afording close flying.

The best video comes from breaking away from this pattern and having the chase plane follow you through turns, landings, etc.

Plan your flight to keep safe and share your results to spread the joy of flying around!

The following link to YouTube is a recent compilation done like described above.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJYDHbuoNRY

AirVenture helicoptors and Elvis

db483 — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:36:27 +0000

This years EAA Airventure will feature Elvis. Elvis is the Erickson Air Crane that will be parked on the Eero Shell Square for all to see at this years July27-Aug2 airventure. The worlds most versatile, powerful and cost efective helicoptor is this monster of a machine.

The Air Crane can lift 25,000 lbs and is very efective fighting fires with its ability to carry high loads of water, fire retardant and foam to the blaze. Its rotor diameter is 72 ft and the two Pratt and Whitney engines produce 9,000 shaft horsepower.

Also at AirVenture this year is the first landing and display of the unmanned aeirial vihicle the Pradator at a civilian airport.

The campgrounds are starting to fill up for the mecca of the aviation world. Aircraft are arriving daily and the weather looks good. The economy has not lowered the expectations for the shows attendance, although it looks like there will be more campers this year in the 700 acre mini city saving folks some lodging expenses.

Electric Aircraft

db483 — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:57:38 +0000

Last Sunday aircraft designer Tom Peghimy joined the small group of flyers piloting electric aircraft they designed. Peghiny flew his e-Spyder at an altitude of 400 ft while obtaining 55 mph. The e-Spyder is based on the Flightstar ultralight frame and used a 20 kilowatt brushless motor from china. 40 minutes of flight time is expected from the motor and lithium polymer battery.

Electric powered aircraft are just become viable with the current batteries available, they run very quiet and are reliable due to the simplicity of the motor.

Another electric airplane that is just becoming available for sale is the ElectrFlyer-C that was shown at the Osh kosh AirVenture last year and Sonex aircraft and others are busy developing electric aircraft for the future green side of aviation.

The future of electric airplanes may include some technology as nanowires and ultracapacitors. This combination is being researched to suplement batteries. The CAFE prize offered for a contest to demonstrate alternative technology in aircraft has been offered for 2011. This is hoped to spur some breakthroughs in electric powered aircraft.