President: John Murphy 783-1515 Ted Yon 783-7966

Vice President: Eric Kinnard 631-3264 John Murphy 783-1515

Secretary/Treasurer: John Soukup 783-7128 Young Eagle Coordinator

Newsletter Editor: Fred Mahan 452-5797 Tony Yacono 459-0080

Flight Advisor

Tom Hennessy 452-4021

The next meeting will be the second Wednesday of February

in the CAP Hangar at the southwest corner of Merritt Island Airport

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EAA Chapter 724

P. O. Box 320923

Cocoa Beach, FL 32931

Feb 17-18 Lake City Airport, Chapters 977 & 797 Festival Fly-In, 904-752-1066

Mar 3 Arcadia Municipal Airport, Pancake Breakfast, BBQ Lunch, and Fly Market

Mar 16 Gilbert Field, Winter Haven, Pancake Breakfast and Big Band Music

Mar 15-17 Tico Warbird Show

Apr 14-20 Sun ‘n Fun

Every Saturday, Cannon Creek Airpark, Lake city

Every Second Saturday, Charlotte County Airport, Punta Gorda, 813-575-6360

Every Third Saturday, Dunn Airpark, at the parachute center

Every Second Sunday, Naples Airport, 941-775-1661

Every Third Sunday, Kissimmee Municipal Airport, west side of the field, 9 am on.

Every Fourth Sunday, Bob Lee Airport, De Land, Fly-In Lunch, bring your own.

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You are invited to a retirement dinner for Alice and Irv Bubeck at Quincey’s on Wednesday, February 21, at 6 pm. No reservations, just show up. All are encouraged to contribute stories about Alice or Irv. What do you know that no one else does? Call Bobbi Lasher, 636-5346.

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The February Sport Aviation has a summary of the findings of the NTSB on the cause of the crash of Steve Wittman’s O&O Special last April. To condense and simplify the article greatly, it appeared that Steve painted the Poly-Fiber covering to the plywood wing with the nitrate dope he had used for years with natural fiber wing coverings, instead of with the approved Poly-Brush. The O&O Special flew for 10 years. The NTSB believes that on the April trip back to Oshkosh, the fabric in front of the right aileron finally debonded and ballooned up, which caused the aileron and then both wings to flutter. The wings separated from the aircraft. The article stresses the importance of using components approved by the manufacturer when covering an aircraft.

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Be sure to check out the March, 1996, issue of "Kitplanes." Jim Weir has an article in it that shows you how to build a simple antenna for your hand-held radio that will double or triple its range and increase it’s sensitivity. Total cost is only $10 or $15 in parts you can buy from Radio Shack.

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From "The AeroElectric Connection," published by Bob Nuckolls

Q: "I’ve seen some ads comparing alternator regulators, one with ‘crowbar’ overvoltage protection, the other purported to have a ‘relay’ instead of ‘crowbar.’ The implication was that a relay might be the more desirable of the two. Which one do you recommend?"

A: Over the years, I’ve designed and certified dozens of overvoltage relays. Most function as intended but when we did have problems, it was nearly always a difficulty with the electro-mechanical relay. I can advise you that mean time between failures (MTBF) calculations per military handbook No. 217 yields 2 to 10 times better life figures for the solid state crowbar system as compared to an OV relay. Some people are uncomfortable with the idea of deliberately creating a short downstream of a breaker to shut off an offending alternator/regulator. The idea of simply breaking the line with a set of relay contacts seems somehow less "violent."

I can assure every dubious builder that the dead short on your field breaker is much less violent than the little fire that can start inside a relay that’s trying to open a 32-35 volt, 3-5 amp, very inductive field circuit. See "Sport Aviation," Dec. 1993, page 68 and chapter 6 of "The AeroElectric Connection" for more details. In my humble opinion, putting an OV relay on a new airplane is like choosing a carburetor over electronic controlled fuel injection! Crowbar style protection has been used in large computer systems for over 20 years.

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The December, 1993, "Sport Aviation" referred to above contains a one-page article by Mr. Nuckolls comparing overvoltage devices, and has another page of schematics illustrating them. Near the end of the article, he says, "For those who are interested in building a crowbar over-voltage module, I will supply a schematic with a list of materials to any who send a #10, self-addressed, stamped envelope to me at ... the AeroElectric Connection, 6936 Bainbridge Rd., Wichita, KS 67226-1008." He also mentions that he can be contacted directly, for the computer-oriented, at 72770.552@

compuserve.com. Mr. Nuckolls also sells a 200+ page manual and a newsletter which cover aircraft electrical system topics.

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from Pou Review, March 1995

If Loctite had been available when aircraft standards were being written in the 30’s, I believe it would be used more. I have used Loctite for many years on real problem cases and have found it to work excellent. I will be referring to Loctite brand part numbers, but there are other brands of liquid lockers that work just as good.

Red Loctite #262 is a high strength locker for bolts you won’t be removing and for use as a bearing retaining compound. It has a gap filling capacity of .007" and a full cure in 2 hours. It should be used in problem areas such as high vibration and bolts that turn. It requires more force to remove bolts with Red on them, but it can be done.

Blue Loctite #242 is a medium strength lock with a gap filling capacity of .005" and a full cure in 6 hours. Partial cure is in 20 minutes. This is the one I use the most. It keeps bolts from loosening, yet can be removed easily. The rudder bar pivot bolt on my plane is below the engine and cannot be tightened or the rudder bar won’t turn. The vibration had worn all of the threads off the nut and bolt, so only the cotter pin held the castle nut on. When I replaced them, a drop of Blue Loctite on the nut has kept it from vibrating.

Green Loctite #290 is a wicking locker with medium strength. It fills gaps of .004" and has a full cure in 2 hours. It can be used on pre-assembled nuts and bolts. Just put a drop on the threads and watch it wick in. It is good for adjusting screws that you want to stay put.

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from the 1994 Federal Radionavigation Plan

Up to the present, users of Loran-C have been one of the largest communities employing a single radionavigation system. This situation is now changing now that GPS has achieved initial operating capability, and GPS user equipment prices continue to drop. Use of the Loran-C system is expected to remain constant with little or no growth anticipated in the near term. As existing Loran-C user equipment becomes outdated, it is anticipated that users will purchase GPS, or augmented GPS, equipment and begin transition away from Loran-C. The Loran-C system is expected to remain part of the radionavigation mix until the year 2000, to accommodate the transition to GPS. Continued operation after that date will depend on validating requirements for Loran-C that cannot be met by GPS or another system.

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from EAA ChapterGram, February 1996

As you may have read in Sport Aviation, outside laser light shows have temporarily blinded several pilots in the Las Vegas NV area in the past year. Because of these incidents, the Food and Drug Administration recently ordered Las Vegas casinos to stop using outdoor laser displays following numerous reports of "illumination" of aircraft cockpits. All outdoor laser displays within a radius of 20 miles of any of the operating airports in Clark county, NV, are required to cease operation until they comply with interim guidelines issued by FAA.

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Paul Millet is looking for a McCauley CM 74-45 propeller. This is the prop for a 65hp Aeronca Champ.

Jack Heiring has a Long-EZ for sale. TTAF 675 since 1986, engine time since major, 675. 150hp Lycoming O-320. Nav-com, Mode C transponder, vacuum, Loran, Navaid Devices autopilot, intercom. John A. "Jack" Heiring, 14 N. Lotela Ave., Avon Park, FL 33825, 941-453-3381 or 1-800-237-1303.

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