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

Vice President: Eric Kennard 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

The next meeting will be the second Wednesday of November

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EAA Chapter 724

P. O. Box 320923

Cocoa Beach, FL 32931

Nov 16-17 Griffin, GA, EAA/Aircraft Spruce Aircraft Builders’ Workshops, 1-800-967-5746.

Nov 30 Arcadia, FL, DeSoto Aero Club Fly Market/Pancake Breakfast, 941-494-6456.

Dec 7-8 Lakeland, FL, EAA Antique/Classic Chapter 1 5^th Annual Christmas Fly-In, 941-676-0659.

Every First Saturday, Cannon Creek Airpark, Lake City, Fly-In Breakfast, 904-755-4760

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

Every Third Saturday, Sebring Airport, Chapter 803 pancake breakfast

Dunn Airpark, pancake breakfast

Every First Sunday, Ft. Myers Airport, Chapter 66 pancake breakfast, 941-947-1430

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, 904-985-5373

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With profound regret, Chapter 724 notes the deaths of members Thomas Hennessy and Arthur Lindberg, Jr., in Art’s Kitfox on October 27. Tom was our chapter’s Flight Advisor for many years, and gave Biennial Flight Reviews and taildragger proficiency training to many of us. Art, who joined the chapter comparatively recently, spoke at the October chapter meeting about his project. Chapter members extend heartfelt condolences to the families of Tom and Art.

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October’s chapter meeting was held on the 9^th. Alan Shaw presented an update on his homebuilt project, which might be described as a "cabin class" Velocity (no connection with Velocity Aircraft). Art Lindberg gave a brief description of progress on his Kitfox project. Ted Yon pointed out, once again, that the chapter library was slowly being moved from his hangar to the meeting room, and that a good number of books, magazines, and plans were available for examination and checkout.

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We’ve published this tip from Chuck Downing before, but it’s a good one, in case you missed it. Here’s what he says:

"Have you ever had a starter solenoid fail to release after the engine has started? It causes the starter to continue to turn with the engine running, which is difficult to detect and can cause some costly damage and possible inconvenience. By adding a simple indicator light on the panel you will be alerted when the solenoid does not release.

Connect a wire to the output side (starter side) of the starter solenoid and run it to the indicator light mounted on the panel where it will be noticed. The light will be on during the start cycle and should go off when the start switch is released. Failure to go off indicates that the solenoid has failed to release. Solenoids should be mounted vertically with the top (where the part number is printed) up."

Thanks, Chuck!

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from AeroElectric Connection, June 1995

Trends for the past 20 years have convinced me that the composite airplane is here to stay … from a systems standpoint, a big problem with this technology is a lack of good electrical grounding. The carbon fiber ships provide a modicum of grounding capabilities for antennas but you can’t run 200+ amps of starter current through a graphite skin. So, whether your airplane is glass or graphite, plan on installing your first wire, a nice, fat 2AWG conductor from battery minus (-) directly to the engine crankcase. The next wires to go in are ground bus feeders and sized according to the alternator capacity: 40-amp alternator, use 6AWG; 60-amp alternator, use 4AWG; 100-amp alternator, use 2AWG. If your airplane is a pusher with the battery up front, your second wire runs from battery minus to the instrument panel ground bus. My favorite ground bus is a strip of brass with 48 Fast-OnÒ spade lugs soldered to it. It’s also got a fat brass stud for attachment of a ring terminal and wire. Incidentally, never use steel bolts in your cranking current conductor path. If your engine is forward, a 48-point bus can be mounted on the back side of the firewall behind the panel and a smaller one, say 24 points, interconnected by means of a single, brass stud on the front side of the firewall.

One to two of these bus bars provides *all* of the grounding points for everything in the airplane. This single location grounding technique has several advantages: First, the conductive quality of the ground is good; bringing individual wires for each load to a common point behind the panel discourages the use of "daisy-chain" ground wires commonly found on plastic airplanes. The single location grounding greatly reduces possibilities for "ground loops" which can cause instrument errors, noises in headsets, etc.

Keep it simple. Minimize the number of joints in the cranking current path. Put ground busses in convenient locations but keep their numbers low too (airplanes with battery on the opposite end from engine can include a small ground bus right at the battery which is also

tied to battery minus).

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Richard Snelson, T-18 Newsletter, #95

Here’s a tip on a neat landing light. It’s compact, lightweight and puts out a flood of light. As I visited the Lancair display at Sun ‘n Fun, I noticed a tiny coke bottle lens staring at me from the air inlet of a factory-built Lancair cowling. I had been looking for a landing light for some time, and had put off purchasing one because I didn’t want the problem of building a bracket for a conventional type bulb. Sitting there in this $75K airplane was a little marvel of a light, with its own case and mount. I was sure that the thing would cost at least $100 and that it could not put out close to enough light for landing. The near-sighted coke bottle lens "BLAZER" sure fooled me.

Before I tell you where to get this little gem and how much it will set you back, let me tell you about its features. It’s powered from 12 volt dc, has a quartz halogen bulb, and internally is all reflector with a thick coke bottle lens in front. Trying it out in my backyard, it lights up backyards four houses away. It’s made of light weight thermoplastic and takes the heat of the halogen bulb with no sweat.

Really, folks, it’s not a lot bigger than the bottom of a coke bottle. The really big surprise came when the salesman told me, It’s called a Blazer and you can pick it up at Wal-Mart in the automotive section." Two of them cost $39. What a deal.

The Blazer is a driving light that you can mount in the lower front bumper of a number of cars. One thing you will notice, when you turn it on, the light pattern is cut off sharply across the middle. The Blazer has an internal aluminum shield that keeps the light out of oncoming drivers’ eyes. To remove it, for a full pattern, you must take the light apart. Here’s how – with a small pen knife work around the large diameter cutting the small amount of rubber cement away and gently prying the lip up as you go. This will take several trips around and some patience to do without breaking the case, so stay with it. Two plastic keepers hold the case together – by compressing them, it will come apart. Don’t touch the halogen bulb, or the reflector portion of the light while it’s apart. Oil from your skin will shorten the life of the bulb. Remove the aluminum cross reflector with a small Phillips screwdriver and you can reassemble it and get a full lighted pattern. Remember to put a little rubber cement in the groove as you put the two halves together. This will keep out moisture and help hold it together.

The Wal-Mart product is called: Blazer Projector "The Ultimate Driving Light" C8004K.

The newsletter editor is still looking for news, articles, and gossip for the newsletter. What’ve you got?

RV-4 Project. Steve Pangborn is putting his RV-4 project up for sale, having decided to build a Bearhawk. Included is a completed tail kit, an unstarted but complete and inventoried wing kit, plans, and engine rights. $4200. Call Steve at 631-1979 for details, or grab him at the Wednesday night chapter meeting.

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