January 2008

01.01.2008: Any New Year's resolutions? Mine are of course SportCruiser related... Let's hope it is going to be the year of plane building...

I am still working on my panel layout. One problem I am facing is to find a 2 1/2" horizon that is affordable. Most of the ones I could find are 3 1/8", which is too big, and the only 2" gyro is 3500$! If anybody has some suggestions, they are more than welcome.

02.01.2008: I am surprised how people are reading my website, even though I have not posted the address anywhere. I got a mail from Cees regarding my question above, pointing out that Tru Trak has announced a 2 1/2" ADI. Thanks Cees. Great news, as Tru Trak usually have decent prices...

03.01.2008: Today I got the information from CZAW that they will start producing my kit within the next 1 to 2 weeks! This means that the delivery should be possible at the end of February or beginning of March as already confirmed earlier. Cool. I really have to make room in the garage now. I am planning to go and see the factory during the next weeks just to see how they build my plane, as well as to clarify open issues with shipment, customs etc.

04.01.2008: I started looking into the IFR requirements in more detail. In general the requirements seem not overly complicated to meet, there are however some "killers", like certified engine and propeller, for which I am not sure how much room there is for negotiations. I know some other builders are attempting to get an IFR approval for their planes, so I will get in touch with them.

06.01.2008: Yesterday I got the information that the paperwork for the type approval of the SportCruiser by the UK Light Aircraft Association (formerly PFA) has been finished, the last flight tests have been done and that the issuing of the corresponding papers is imminent. This will finally allow me to send in the forms to the Swiss Experimental Aircraft Association to register my project. I could also do without the UK approval, which would however mean a much more cumbersome certification process, as I would not only have to deliver all the engineering data and have it re-calculated but also perform load tests of the wings etc.

15.01.2008: Rolf and I are busy with our LED projects. We intend not only to make position lights with LED's but also strobes and landing lights. For both of them it means pushing the LED technology to the limit, so we are busy finding the right components and verifying that we meet the FAR requirements in regards to colour, intensity, and visibility angles. Rolf has built some prototypes and I went into the hangar at our airport to make comparison measurements on the conventional lights on one of the Robin DR-400's. I will publish more info soon.

I continued with the panel too. I am currently checking IFR and NVFR requirements to see which way to go. IFR seems to be more difficult than I thought, so I might go for NVFR in a first step. Maybe the currently ongoing efforts of other builders bear fruit and the IFR requirements are lowered (dual NAV, DME, certified prop and engine).

I have had some mail exchange with CZAW regarding some of the options. I learned that a vapour lock return line and spades to increase aileron sensitivity seem to exist as options too, so am looking into these issues.

20.01.2008: Yesterday I ordered the vapour lock fuel line option, as I have read somewhere that it exists as an option. With that I believe only the radio and transponder are open, I will probably decide what to put in later.

I continued looking into the LED issue. The position lights are the easiest to build. The required intensity can easily be achieved with two high intensity LED's each for red and green (one narrow beam pointing forward and one wide beam) and a single white one for the rear light. A little more difficult are the strobes to build. The required intensity is not only higher, it is also calculated as the integral over the flashing interval, which means the intensity during the active phase has to be even higher. With the most modern ultra bright LED's it should be possible however. The landing lights are a challenge too, but again the ultra bright LED's should work. The best ones I could find so far produce 1100 lumen of light, which is about the same as a 60 W halogen lamp! For both strobes and landing lights a cluster of maybe 10 or 15 "standard" high intensity LED's could be used too.

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