Paul,

  Good to see you at Borrego this weekend. My flight back was uneventful.
 I've done a bit
 of testing and was unable to reproduce the problem I had prior to
 departing Brown Field.
 If I wasn't clear about the problem, what happened is that I discovered
 that my B
 controller in the EC2 had completely dumped memory. When I did my
 preflight runup and
 switched to B the engine quit. Copying A to B restored the program.

  I had experienced this problem frequently last summer which led to my
 grounding the
 airplane for almost 6 months while I completely reviewed my electrical
 system wire by
 wire. I ultimately found that the B chip was not fully seated in its
 socket. After
 reseating it the problem was gone and hadnt been back for the past 6
 months - until
 sunday. I'm hoping it was an anomaly.

  I'd be interested in your subjective opinion on the relative sound
 levels
 of the three
 airplanes as we departed (my guess is I'm the loudest).

  If you put any video up on You Tube could you drop me an email and let
 me
 know? I've
 been tempted to rejoin your forum on numerous occasions, but between
 other
 forums my in
 box already gets swamped daily.

 Mike Wills
 RV-4 N144MW

 Thanks Mike. I really enjoyed that flyin. We should make it an annual
 event.
 Chuck Dunlap and Tom Parkes could fly over from Arizona.
 Nice place to have a flyin.

 I am working on the video as we speak. Your airplane is not noticeably
 louder than Dave's. Surprisingly Al's 3 rotor is the quietest of the
 three.
 When I get the video edited I'll put it up on youtube and let everybody
 know
 the address so they can hear the airplanes.

 I suspect some of the those aluminum panels on the bottom of the
 airplane
 are vibrating. If it were mine I would get some 1/4 inch thick PVC foam
 and bond them to the floor panels with a layer of .025 aluminum on top.
 That makes a stiff sandwich panel which would not vibrate and transmit
 the noise into the cockpit. You might find PVC foam in  yacht stores.
 Etch the aluminum with this kit, also available in yacht stores, or the
 epoxy won't stick.

 BTW I would uses some clear RTV and glue those CPU's into the sockets.
 It is soft enough so you can still get them out if necessary.
 I am surprised Tracy did not use a positive lock on the socket
 as they are available but not retro fittiable.

 Here are some pictures that Robin took.

 Paul Lamar


 Paul,

 Not surprised that Al is quieter given his engineered installation and use
 of 2 mufflers compared to my setup with turbo housings (no splitters) and
 very little if any muffling from my "muffler". I am surprised that Dave's
 airplane isnt quieter - a turbo is typically a decent muffler.

 My airplane as I'm sure you noticed has no soundproofing or insulation.
 I've
 been hesitant to add it since the airplane is already fat for an RV-4. But
 I'm thinking about it.

 Although the chip sockets don't latch, I doubt the chips could come out on
 their own. They are very tight in the sockets. I verified that on monday.
 I
 believe the problem last summer was an install problem either when the EC
 was originally built or after an upgrade.

 I don't know about Tom Parkes, but Borrego would be a pretty good haul for
 Chuck Dunlap. But it would be cool to try to arrange some sort of annual
 get
 together for us west coast guys that is central to whoever would consider
 going. Once the phase 1 is flown off I'd be willing to fly up to 500 miles
 for such an event.

 Looking forward to seeing that video. Thanks Paul.

 Mike Wills

 When I owned a computer store starting in 1975 I lost count of how
 many computers we "fixed" by pressing the chips back in the sockets :)
 I think it had something to do with heat cycling. The chips just crept
 out of the sockets. Gold plated pins and gold plated sockets have less
 problems. Corrosion could be a factor.

 The winter is a good time to have it as people are air show starved :)
 California City or Mojave might attract some people from Oregon
 or Northern California. California City has no tower so some
 high jinks are possible :)

 I think we would have had more people show up if Dave had given me a
 couple
 of weeks notice.

 Paul Lamar

 Yes, a little more notice would be helpful.  Borrego Springs is only about
 1:20 away in my Lancair ES.  Enjoyed the video, but did wonder about those
 clicks.

 Tom Parkes

 Valentine day is also not the best day to have it IMHO :)
 I'll get around to fixing the video now that I know what it is.
 http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=PaulLamar2#p/u/0/dibuqenWcOk


 Paul Lamar


Sorry about the timing. Wasn't really intended as a "fly-in". It came about
simply because even though Al and I live in the same county we'd never met
and I had never seen his plane. Since I'm still in Phase 1 Borrego is about
my only option for a destination with a restaurant. Dave also lives in the
county. Valentines Day just happened to be the first opportunity when the
three of us could all get together.

You want to hold some sort of western rotary round up, go ahead and suggest
a date/time/place and I'll do my best to make it. My goal is to finish Phase
1 in time to make the Contact alternative engine fly-in at Jean, NV next
month. With luck, no more EC2 problems, and good weather I will make it. I
put another 2.5 hours in the logbook today with no issues. 12 hours to go.

Mike Wills

It is up to you guys. I'll be in Germany and Florida most of
April. We are having a rotary engine get together in Friedrichshaven
at a beer stube. The who's who of European rotary engine builders should
be there. Hopefully somebody from Austro Engines and Supertec will attend
this year. Same beer stube we were in last year.

Mistral should have their Maule flying in Florida by April.

Paul Lamar