Cessna Skycatcher had the weirdest ?spoilers? or whatever they are grafted
on to the end of the trim tab. Any idea what they are about?
s dorr
They make the tab much more effective at the expense of a bit more drag.
It is like a so called spoiler on the trunk of a car generating down
force.
Why they did not make the tab larger is a bit of a mystery.
That may have caused a flutter problem. My guess is something like this
may
have added to the flutter potential.
Paul Lamar
Hmmmm, yes, flutter is always a potential problem. It is fun to wander
around a show like S n F and see all these weird little aerodynamic tweaks
they come up with to fix problems that crop up in testing. I saw another
airplane with oddly shaped fence tabs on the ends of the ailerons ....
obviously another afterthought patch to fix a problem that would otherwise
have required a major redesign.
Likely why an old friend used to refer to the subject as
"aero-god-damn-ics!"
SD
SD, did you see any rotary powered airplanes on the flight line this year?
They are usually parked on the first line on the left end. Facing the
airshow.
As I understand Tracy Crook did not make it but I can't get in touch with
him. Anybody know what happened?
Paul Lamar
The economy has really hit the show hard. It was most dramatic at the
east
end known as "Chopper Town." They usually have at least a couple dozen
exhibitors. This year there was ONE!
The main area was reasonably well filled but not packed as usual.
The old ultralight area was also a ghost town compared to all previous
years. I wanted to see Pipistrel and that is where they put them ...
along
with maybe a dozen other vendors, half of them hang glider trikes......
where there usually are 50 or more.
The exhibit halls were reasonably filled with vendors but not nearly as
crowded as I am used to.
I was impressed by the J model C130 .... 6 bladed propellers! I wonder
how
many shaft HP they have now?
And a trio of F16s was aurally impressive, definitely way above the normal
control zone speed limit! and NOISY! And they never even touched the
after
burners! Made half a dozen T-6s in formation at full RPM sound like
mosquitoes!
I did not see any rotary powered airplanes in the display areas. I did
not
get out onto the flight line because they started the airshow much earlier
than usual and it ran to past 1800 so there could have been one or more
out
there.
In the engine area, I saw all the usual suspects but what impressed me was
the number of airplanes with this Viking engine .... a Honda
I-4 flopped on its side and with lots of special parts to make its
oiling work in that position. I kept seeing them in many LS
airplane vendors areas.
There was a really neat 2/3 scale Spitfire with a Chevy LS3
powerplant.....
out of Australia and they are making their own gear reduction drive.
SD
Tracy came in on Thursday, and was doing programs on Thursday and Friday
(I
think). He was parked at the west side of the parking area. I didn't get
to
see or talk to him, but friends did.
Scuttlebutt is that he has been hard to get a hold of, has divorced,
re-married, and moved to California. The preceding is all 2nd or 3rd hand
info, and I am not vouching for it. Just what I heard. Personally, I hope
it's not true. Both he and Laura are nice folks!
Herb Karkheck
Tracy told me earlier that he would only be at SunNFun for a couple of
days- said he had a prior commitment.
I visited him at his Bell FL home late last year, and it looked like
"home", saw no evidence of moving. However, that's been several months.
I can confirm that he and Laura divorced- Laura has married Dominic and
they work distributing the parts from TN, according to Dominic. From a
conversation with Dominic, the divorce left Tracy with the RWS business,
the PSRU, etc, and Laura and Dominic moved to TN with the distribution
part. Kind of strange that the court let them remain connected with the
business, I know from experience that courts typically frown on that.
Usually leads to problems later. The court ordered my business of over 20
years sold off in pieces because of my X's "association" with it and the
company name carried my, and hers too at the time, last name.
I cant confirm whether or not Tracy remarried, however there was a lady at
his home when we visited. She kept my 10 year old stepson occupied while
Tracy and I talked about airplanes.
I know that in my personal case, I used to live in NC, now I live in FL. My
X of almost 5 years hires a helicopter to fly over and take pictures of my
home at least twice a year. Yes, she lives almost 900 miles away and hires
a helicopter to spy on me. I got the tail numbers off of the helo and
looked up the pilot and he and I had a lengthy discussion regarding why he
was hovering over my house on Saturday AM last March 14 at about 300' with
a long camera lens hanging out of his side window. After a reminder about
FAR 91, and the legality of flying below 1000' in a congested area, now he
flies a bit higher, or at least he did when he last flew over in November.
This time was in a different helicopter and he had a longer lens :). He
offers helo flight training, and charter flights as well, and has 4
Robinson R44s. Thankfully, his tail numbers are big, and easy to see. Its
about time for him to come back, so I will keep a look out and wave at him
when he flies over.
I like it here in FL, but at times I think farther away would have been
better. I hope Tracy has a better time with it than I did.
Kevin Alderman
Tracy has a cabin or home in Colorado. He goes there every summer I think.
Paul Lamar
He does, he told me this when I went to see him. I hope he doesn't move to
CA, in the next few months I hope to be installing my engine, and its much
closer to go to Bell Fl than to CA.
I can look at pictures and information all day, but nothing replaces
removing the cowl and sticking your head inside [?]
Kevin Alderman
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