I have been following your TTC project from the time you started working on
it. It is apparent that the machine is ready for the pilot to begin
practicing for this record attempt. As of yet the pilot hasn't even pulled
the nose up and tried a moderate climb. This attempt requires flight and
power management on the edge of the envelope. It would seem to me that
getting the pilot ready for an attempt would take some actual flight time on
the edge of the envelope. Your pilot has demonstrated beyond any doubt that
he is unwilling to do that.
Not enough headwind to fly a demonstration flight is not an excuse I would
expect to hear from the caliber of pilot required for this mission. In my
opinion this record attempt is not going to happen.
To bad, this has the ability to change the worlds conception of aircraft
rotary engines. Sorry to be so blunt but this project needs another pilot if
it is going to be anything other than a pipe dream.
Paul Shamlian
I totally agree with what you are saying. The rotary movement really needs a
test pilot familiar with the rotary installation to inspect new installation
and do one or two first test flight. My guess it would be worth a $1000
plus expenses to the builders.
People are very reluctant to fly their brand new creations for the first
time.
We are going to move the TTC to another airport close by that is surrounded
by large farm fields.
Paul Lamar
Here is the only TTC flight we have so far.
For those of you with cell phones and tablets. You must save the file first.
Tablet and cell phone email programs do not tell you what folder it is in so
you then need ES File explorer to list all the movies and try to find it.
If you find it, ES Explorer will give you choice of movie players.
So you need to install half a dozen different ones to find one that will
work with mpeg format. Some that work well for my 4.4.2 version of Android
are MX and Video Player. Other versions of Android may require other movie
player versions.
Paul Lamar
Paul, I thoroughly disagree with Mr. Shamlain.
A careful, methodical, approach will yield the best outcome. You (and the
pilot) are doing it correctly.
The machine may be ready. But, we certainly don't know that for certain at
this point.
Your number one priority at this point is to preserve the machine, so, when
the machine is fully tested and understood, the attempt can be made with a
high probability of success.
Aubrey Thompson
I think the pilot is over doing it a little bit Aubrey.
He has never owned a Mazda nor seen a rotary airplane take off or land let
alone fly over.
The rotary mechanism is totally foreign and he is not an engineer with an
understanding of the extraordinary engine structural advantages.
He still thinks it might blow up in the manor of a boosted piston aircraft
engine.
Electronic ignition on an aircraft engine is totally foreign. As is
electronic fuel injection.
There is so much he knows nothing about. To his mind there is far too much
that can go wrong. In the past year there have been a lot of things we had
to fix. This sets up a very negative environment.
It turns out Jim Mederer apparently did not warn him about the aluminum
tubing and methanol problem. I can't imagine Jim did not know about that.
That has been a major problem and the pilot has refused to totally re-plumb
it in SS or AN hose. I am not the boss :-)
Some of the problems are traceable to the engineer that was managing the
program when Jim was building the engine. We spent a lot of time fixing
those problems. That person was fired.
Some of it had do to Jim himself insisting on certain features like the oil
cooler. I had known Jim for 40 years and he could be blind and stubborn at
times. He was not a trained engineer. Four gallons of oil that Jim installed
will not even get warm in 90 seconds.
We are not using an oil cooler now.
If he had taken my aerodynamic advice on his land speed record car when I
saw it before the attempt he would not have crashed.
There is a you tube video on that subject under PaulLamar2
I too have learned a tremendous amount with this project. I hope all this
news letter will be preserved after I am gone.
Paul Lamar
My father taught me to never consider the odds without considering the
stakes. You might feel that the odds of a mishap are very low, but your
pilot is obviously considering the stakes. Smart man.
You've waited this long. A slow start might be the best way not to snatch
defeat from the jaws of victory.
Dave Klingler
The experience we have gained is priceless. The Wankel will now join the
exclusive ranks of aircraft engines.
To get a feel for how important this is I highly recommend a book called
"Aircraft Piston Engines"
by Herschel Smith.
Fascinating I could not put it down.
Paul Lamar
Paul,
We set many time to climb and speed records with Steadfast.....
All of them required careful planning, flight testing and a well sorted out
aircraft.....
I highly recommend flying out of an airport that has long runways in
different directions and nearby alternate airports.
I can't tell you how many times it saved our bacon! Santa Rosa (KSTS) was
great as the control tower there is also friendly to warbirds and
experimental aircraft. Great air density and two runways with several nearby
alternates. We ended up with many records and an airplane and pilot still in
one piece.
Speed record runs were done in Wendover as it had the perfect density
altitude to allow us to make full manifold pressure, but be low drag on the
airframe.
For your pilot to error on the side of caution should be respected. There
are few bold, old pilots!
Larry Childs
Thanks for the tips Larry.
Our trouble is those airports are 100 miles away out in the desert.
You were lucky. Your shop is close by.
At Oxnard the runway is long and if we can't make it back
there is always the farm fields. This area is the vegetable basket
of the US with 3 crops a year and a million illegal aliens to pick them :-)
I am real excited about the ballistic parachute. That is ideal for a first
flight. We can take if off for the actual attempt and save the weight.
By that time the pilot will be comfortable flying the rotary.
Paul Lamar
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