EAA Chapter 25

Pat Hoyt is in the process of building a Zenith Zenair 601. At our March meeting, Pat talked about his project. Pat tells us, ” Here’s a picture of the tail section. I’ve got a bit more done since the picture was taken. Construction started in November 2006 when I planned a family vacation around a Rudder Workshop hosted by Zenith Aircraft in Mexico, Missouri. Prior to that, I’d done a fair amount of research to determine exactly what I wanted. This research included getting my Private Pilot License, and flying a number of different aircraft before choosing the Zodiac XL.I am converting a 1967 Corvair engine for this aircraft. The Corvair (which has been powering Pietenpols for over 40 years) is a popular engine choice for the Zodiac 601.

This is my first aircraft project. Wife won’t let me start another one until I finish this one…”

Pat has done extensive rebuilding of his Corvair engine, and has a well - documented photographic record of the entire project. Pat is also interested in sharing his experience with other builders. Contact him at pwhoyt@yahoo.com for more information.

Take a look at the cover of the February Sport Aviation and you will see the wonderful picture of Dick Navratil’s latest Pietenpol creation. A great article describing this project is worth reading and saving. Congratulations again to Dick on his accomplishment.

Joining Bert Sisler’s model of the Six Pac, our venerable historic aircraft the Gusty now is flying just below the ceiling of our Chapter Hangar at Airlake. Thanks to a volunteer crew assisting Dale Johnson — Ron Hoyt, Steve Adkins, Bert Sisler and Jim Ladwig — the Gusty took to the air last week. We know Bert was especially pleased that this “flight” did not require a test pilot, as we had threatened him with when he led the crew to reassemble the airplane. Join us for our Chili Feed on March 8th and get a chance to see the new display!

Jim Ladwig and his family are taking up flying — again. As Jim told us,

“I have known the Sisler SF-2 Whistler since it was first built back in 1973. And I knew that Gene Stinar, whom I had known at Southport airport in the 60s, had bought the Whistler project from Bert Sisler.

Recently I had been planning to buy a plane so my kids could learn to fly. My thought was to buy back the black-and-gold Pietenpol I had sold to Vi Kapler in 1988. (Vi had worked with Bernard Pietenpol in Cherry Grove in the 60s and 70s.) However, it occurred to me that a side-by-side airplane was much more suitable for training purposes than an open-cockpit tandem arrangement.

Considering possibilities, I remembered flying the Sisler SF-2A Cygnet for a 3.5 hour dual cross-country on the afternoon of May 19,1979, the day it finished its test period and received its airworthiness certificate. (That morning, after a 10-year break from flying, I had received my first BFR in the J-3 Cub belonging to Paul Wilcox.) A Cygnet seemed the ideal choice for us.

It was at Paul’s funeral last November 1 that an attendee mentioned that Gene Stinar was selling the Whistler to someone. Right there I asked Lee Hurry if he would give me Gene’s phone number, which resulted in my visiting Gene on November 14 and subsequently purchasing the plane.

At the January 16 meeting of Chapter 25, Jon Cumpton offered the use of his trailer to retrieve the plane, which we did on January 26 (see photo) with the help of Jon, Bert Sisler, Bert’s son Eric and my son, Forrest.

Gene had hired a person to plow a long, wide path to the front of the hangar on his country home, and helped in removing the wings and loading the plane on the trailer. His wife, Billie, served hot chocolate and cookies as we were finishing the task.

It was a wonderful experience to have all the advice and assistance from everyone present. I will never be able to repay their kindnesses, but they have my everlasting gratitude.

I am also grateful to many, many other members of Chapter 25 who offered
to help, but were unable for one reason or another.”

Dick Navratil took to the skies in his new Pietenpol on September 22nd. Dick’s flight marks the fifth airplane completed and flown by Chapter members in the last year!. The airplane, powered by a Rotec R-2800, has received much attention from both the engine manufacturer and EAA Headquarters. EAA’s Sport Aviation Magazine is also planning an upcoming article.

Dick says, “The plane handles very nicely, and I’m happy with it so far.” After an initial oil leak problem during taxi tests, Dick was able to correct the problem and clean up the airplane for his Saturday test flight. “I went out to repeat the high speed taxi tests, and had an open mind as to the aspects of flying. I couldn’t have asked for a nicer day with a 12 knot wind almost straight down the sod runway at Osceola. At about 50 mph I expected the plane to want to just lift off and climb, but that did not happen. I had to apply some back pressure and it lifted off smoothly.”

Dick was impressed about the rate of climb in his new airplane, too. He identified some other squawks, and plans another test flight this week. Congratulations Dick!

Chapter 25 has another member with an airplane he built now flying. Joel Fuller reports, ” I made my first flight in Waiex SN 14 on January 13. The engine I selected is the Aerovee. I received my airworthiness certificate on December 9th, and had just been waiting for the holiday craziness to be over and the weather to cooperate.

I took off from Airlake at about 1:30PM. There was no wind and the temperature was about 9 degrees F. I basically just made one circuit around the pattern and landed. I was seeing some high cylinder head temps on my rear cylinders, so I decided to make it a short flight.

I have had a dream of building and flying my own plane since I was a kid, and I have finally accomplished it (yay!). The flight itself was totally uneventful, which is what I was counting on, but that didn’t mean the adrenaline wasn’t flowing pretty hard anyway. Now the flight almost seems like a blur.

The plane handles great. It has a nice balance between responsiveness and stability. The only other taildragger I have flown is a Cub, and all I can say is that the Waiex is way way easier to land and taxi (and start, and take off, etc.). Everyone told me this would be the case, and they were right. I don’t think I really looked at my flight instruments during the whole flight, I just did everything by feel.”

For anyone that is interested, Joel’s builder’s log website is here: www.mykitlog.com/joelfuller