Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
As I watched the clock hands swing past 5 pm today, I found myself still in a very aviatory mood. I didn't want to be at work any more, I wanted to be looking at planes or talking to someone about planes. Hmm, pity I missed the Arlington fly-in -- I have it! I'll ride up to Arlington and have a look around!
So I packed myself up, and headed to Arlington Municipal Airport, after a brief stop at home to pick up the aviation radio and the kneeboard (which contains a few documents I wanted to refer to). Traffic was slow, but I eventually turned into the "main" parking lot (consisting of around 20 parking spots) around 6:30.
The office had closed at 5, but there was an information board up, which I perused. I saw that I was on the opposite side of the field from the ultralight operations, but decided to stay there for the moment, to give myself some time out of the sweaty riding suit.
As I was considering whether to walk out onto the ramp or not, I heard a high-pitched engine noise, somewhere between a tiny model plane and a Cessna. Ah-hah! I looked toward the lowering sun, and spied what looked like a hang glider with a framework slung beneath it. A quick examination with the monocular confirmed that I was looking at what I think is called a trike. This one looked very much like a motorized hang glider, with wheels, and a seat instead of a grab bar.
There was also a Cessna 152 doing touch-and-goes as I sat there in the sunlight, and I heard an "experimental" call on the radio as he crossed one runway on the way to another. I watched the experimental take off (usually an experimental plane is one built by the owner, such as I would do in my ideal world), but it was a low-winged, fast looking plane. Just the opposite of what I want to build.
The ultralight hang glider thing continued buzzing around the far end of the field, climbing at a ridiculous angle, then pirouetting around in an improbably small amount of space. It looked like fun. I listened to the pitch of the engine, since I'm sure it was using a Rotax engine similar to (but smaller than) what I'd use on the Classic. It wasn't as bad as I'd imagined, but definitely not the throaty burble of a big radial. I think I'll have to hold off on the big radial for a while, though.
I sat down on the bench, and read through the Airport/Facilities Directory entry on Arlington Muni. Nothing too surprising, although I was interested to note that there's no tower. I figured there would be (Arlington claims to be the biggest general aviation airport in the state). Traffic must be exciting during the fly-in.
Finally, I packed myself back up, and told the GPS to route me to the other side of the field, so I could check out the ultralights. A few scant minutes later (having had to travel around the perimeter of the airport plus some), I pulled up to the "UNAUTHORIZED PERSONS OR VEHICLES PROHIBITED" sign. I dallied for a moment, then decided that as a licensed private pilot, I was probably authorized. In any case, there was no one to ask, and no gate or even a speed bump barring the way.
I cruised slowly past the hangars, looking at the wide variety of ultralights or the bits of them I could see. Some were very run-down looking, covered in bird poop and spiderwebs. Others were shiny and new (although the old-n-rundown variety was much more prevalent). Some hangar bays were closed with solid materials so I couldn't see in, while others were partially covered with tarps, or wide open. A couple of the ultralights were for sale. The one which caught my eye was the Loehle Parasol for $4500. I'm sure the resale value of kitplanes is very low compared to their construction cost.
The hangars, I noted, were particularly low-rent looking. The term "clapboard" comes to mind. Rooves were of corrugated metal, with a variety of materials separating the T-shaped bays -- plywood, masonite, plastic "wood-like" siding, etc. It looked like they'd been constructed with whatever materials could be had cheapest at the Home Depot dumpster. Possibly they were. It was actually encouraging, in the sense that I'm very confident I can build a better structure assuming I have space to do it. A trailer would definitely be in my future.
Unfortunately, the ultralight which had been flying seemed to have dissappeared, and there was no one around the hangars. I gave up after a few minutes and headed out. I drove again to the "main" entrance, and headed for the cafe I'd seen advertised there, the Taildragger. Indeed, it looked nice too, but despite two signs claiming it was open, the door was locked, and the hours sheet said they'd closed nearly two hours ago.
I headed back down the road to my alternate, the Chrome Cafe, or Bar and Grill, or something. It seemed to have a variety of names. There was a WWII trainer parked out in front of the Cafe, which I took as a good sign.
That good omen feeling evaporated when I walked in the door. Instead of anything I might call a cafe, I was faced with tables covered in green felt, people crowded around them, clicking multicolored chips and looking at small stacks of playing cards. Oh yeah, one of the signs had said something about a "card room." Eesh. A few mulleted heads turned my way as I walked in, but quickly lost interest when they realized that looking at me was not winning them any money.
I walked in uncertainly, and finally asked one of the barmen if they were still serving dinner. It was only 8:00 or so, but the place was definitely full of gamblers (the sound of chips clicking against each other was the soundtrack for the entire time I was in there) and didn't seem to contain many people eating food. He said they did, and indicated I should take any seat I wanted. Without realizing what I was letting myself in for, I sat at a booth near one of the card tables.
The menu was, not surprisingly, full of meat. I'm not a big meat eater myself, being basically vegetarian except for the odd bit of salmon in sushi. Strike two, definitely not in my element. Click click click click click.
I ordered the "chicken quesadilla" without the chicken, figuring it would be pretty hard to screw up a quesadilla. I was right and wrong -- it's not that easy, but they'd tried pretty dilligently. A grilled cheese sandwich made with tortillas arrived on my table shortly, along with a small cup full of a tepid red soup with little chunks in it. I eventually decided it was supposed to be salsa and dumped it over the cheese concoction in front of me. If that was salsa, it was definitely made in.. New York City?! (Get a rope.) Heavy on the vinegar.
"Quesadilla" conquered, I paid my bill and suited back up to hit the road. It was around 9 pm, and the sun had already winked below the horizon, although the sky was bright and the light was still good. I was a little dissappointed I hadn't had a chance to talk to anyone about ultralights, but I hadn't really expected to.
As I spurred the bike up to freeway speeds, I saw that the horizon was rimmed with a beautiful lavender mist as the sun sank further down in the sky. Even if I hadn't seen all that I'd hoped for, it was a nice night to be out.
Posted at 22:52 permanent link category: /aviation
I just plunked down my $40 to join the EAA. I'm sure I'll get myself to the next Seattle chapter meeting when it happens next month. I spent a solid chunk of time reading this guy's construction pages as he builds a Fisher Classic.
It was quite interesting reading that site, because every time he described making a choice, I read over his explanation and reasoning, and said to myself, "yep, I'd make the same choice." Some of the things he did are probably not things I'd do myself, but I agree wholeheartedly with his reasoning almost every time.
I'm hoping I can find someone to talk to soon, to figure out if I'm travelling the right theoretical pathways in thinking about this project. To some extent, it doesn't matter right now, since it's at least two years until I'll be able to even consider building a plane for real. I know my home life will be disrupted early next year as I move out and prep the house for sale, so if I were to start anything today, it would be put on hold around January, and I'd have to move it to the new house/garage (probably in an extremely fragile state). Once I move and find a new house (which will either have an excellent shop/garage or space to build one), I'm sure I'll have projects for at least a year in the new house.
In any case, I'm having a great time researching and reading and pondering right now. I decided to tote up a quick tally of what a kitplane would probably cost, just to see if I could shock myself back to reality:
Hmm. That's actually about what I was imagining. That would set me up with an airplane that would carry myself and a passenger (and maybe a few small pieces of baggage) at 70 MPH cruise for a distance of up to about 200 miles on 10 gallons of gas (including a goodly reserve). Insurance is a wide open question, and running costs are a big question in my mind -- I'm guessing they'd be way lower than if I tried to own a Piper Cherokee or something, mostly because I can do all the maintenance and work myself under an FAA builders exemption.
Of course, that doesn't take into account the "incidentals" I'd need: trailer, vehicle to tow trailer, storage location for the plane, tools, and so on. Some of those things are useful enough that I wouldn't consider them "airplane specific" -- the vehicle (probably a small pickup truck) and the tools spring right to mind. The trailer is something I could either build, or design and have built (depends on whether I end up learning to weld or not). The storage building is something I could build myself, assuming there's enough space on the new lot, or it could be a 10' wide section of garage if I have a large enough garage. Building a simple, unheated hangar would probably be on the order of $3000 if I built it myself.
Overall, it's a big financial committment, and a bigger committment of time. Not something I'm going to enter into lightly when the time comes to actually make the decision. But in the mean time, it's great fun to fantasize about.
Posted at 17:02 permanent link category: /aviation
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater