I made my annual foray down to Lakeland Linder International (international for almost ten years now!) airport for two days of sweating off a few pounds of water weight, which was almost immediately replaced by an equal weight of Florida sand from the knees down.
Instead of my usual MO of visiting toward the end of the week, this year I was there at the beginning of the show so that I could spend the end of the week with my son at the house of the mouse. One of my annual highlights is right at the entrance to the show: the solar telescopes. If you have not done so before, next year take a minute to enjoy a live view of the morning sun and being able to see views of sunspots and solar prominences only nine minutes after they occur. Thank you to the guys who do this every year; it is a real treat.
After that, it was into the vendor hangers with the objective of procuring avionics for my T-18. After evaluating a number of possibilities, the Dynon setup with the integrated radio and ADS-B Out had me sold. I’m in the stage of trying to pull things together and get it into the air, so an integrated suite of avionics greatly appealed to me. That high-pitched sound you hear are the tiny screams of protest from my credit card after putting down a payment on my completed order. The big spend for a ground adjustable prop has thankfully been deferred due to finding a new-to-me fixed pitch prop from one of the guys on in the Thorp Facebook group (gotta love type-specific forums and FB groups!). Whew.
Another product I was interested in was the new Champion Lightning Series [electronic] Magneto (LSM in their parlance). I saw the prototype at SnF last year and have been interested in the LSM as a potential option for my own airplane but hadn’t seen it available for sale yet.
I spoke with one of the Champion representatives at their booth and was told that the development was done, they are waiting on the test plan approval from the FAA, and that they hope to be offering it by the end of the year. When I asked about pricing, the response was that it would need to be competitive with the other e-mag products available. Much as I like the electronic ignitions already out there for experimental aircraft, I also like the idea of a drop-in replacement and not having to change my spark plugs or plug wires or do software updates. If I learn anything new, I’ll let you know.
With the major spending behind me, it was time for my son and I to head to Paradise city for the STOL demonstration flights that were essentially practice for the competition later in the week.
But…on the way over there, I happen to see the new Spirit Engineering SE-1 sitting in front of the vintage headquarters, gleaming in its polished metal glory. If you’ve seen pictures of this airplane, all I can say is that it looks just as good, if not better, in person as it does in photos. More on this airplane in a later article.
After finding our way to Paradise City, we enjoyed watching the highly skilled flying of the STOL pilots there. I can only hope to be half as good as these guys as I continue gaining tailwheel experience. There would be somebody balancing on the main gear with the tail up in the air and I would just sit there amazed and in awe of that level of skill and precision. Ditto with watching somebody use power to drag the airplane down the approach at four feet AGL before plunking it down just past the finish line. When I first heard about STOL competitions, I wondered how such low-n-slow flying could be interesting. Now I get it. Just great stuff, and I now make sure to spectate every year.
While over there, we visited with Alex Pearson, who now owns the rights to Thorp aircraft and is kitting the S-18 (the version of the original T-18 with a slightly longer and wider fuselage) airframe and is on track to announce kit availability by Oshkosh. For those not familiar with it, John Thorp’s design is a fine flying aircraft noted for its control harmony, and my usual comment to people who don’t know about it is that it was the RV-6 long before the RV-6 existed. I cannot say for sure that John Thorp invented matched-hole tooling, but he did pioneer the use of this method for homebuilts so that when you drilled your holes in parts, they aligned with the mating parts. The T-18 was introduced in the early 1960’s and has been primarily plans-built since then, with different people supplying various components and limited kits off-and-on over the years. It looks like Alex is going to do a proper job of providing a more comprehensive kit version of the S-18, which will be a welcome addition (or re-addition) to the homebuilt universe. Stay tuned.
Leaving Paradise City, we wandered over to the homebuilt area to look at the other Thorps on the field and visit with their builders as I continue to collect photos and ideas for completing my own project. We left the show as the sun was setting, missing the night air show due to heat and fatigue, along with a son who didn’t think he needed sunscreen feeling the effects of being out there all day in the sun. Some lessons are learned the hard way, rather than the easy way of listening to Dad…
The next day included a visit to the “garage sale” hanger, which was a bit of an experience in itself. My thoughts on that are that you need to know specifically what you’re looking for, what shape it needs to be in to be acceptable/usable, and have a pocket full of cash, since that is the only form of payment they take. I went looking for a couple of items, didn’t see them, and got back to the regular show. Wandering back from that remote hanger to the common area meant visiting the vendors with their odds and ends hardware for items needed to finish my project. This is again someplace where it’s best to have a shopping list compiled ahead of time so that you get the correct quantities and sizes. Wallet lighter and backpack heavier, we wandered around the display area where my son was able to see up close and in person some of the aircraft that he “flies” on his simulator at home. Thank you to the big-name guys for letting potential future pilots/customers check out the airplanes in your display areas.
The Super Guppy was a real treat to see in person. This is my first time ever seeing this behemoth other than in photos, and nothing diminished the impressiveness of seeing it and its cavernous interior in person. Equally interesting were the mechanisms employed to swing the nose open. There are integral jacks built into the main fuselage to support it when the big door is open, pretty straight-forward as it goes. But on the nose section is gadgetry that looks straight out of Tatooine, à la Jawa crawler, that is used to swing the nose open. It would have been cool to see that in operation, but your humble scribe stayed on the move and was not present for any opening or closing of the Guppy. Fortunately, others were present and have their videos are out there on YouTube. Looking up from the ground (see photo), I could see that electrical lines and hydraulic hoses are routed next to the hinge with slack built in, but flight control cables have to be unhooked to allow the nose to swing open. I inquired and was told that varying lengths of cable to the disconnects help ensure that controls are connected correctly every time.
One of the other aircraft that I was hoping to see was an example of the Timber Tiger ST-L, their replica of the Ryan ST trainer. The fellow who owns the prototype, Ollie, had it there and that specimen is every bit as spectacular in person as it looks in pictures. The gleaming polished metal of the metal parts, the painted fabric, the whole Art Deco feel to it, and in this case, a wind driven generator between the gear legs that adds an extra touch. It turns out the generator isn’t used for the electrical system, but was often found on the originals, which is why it’s there. This whole airplane is another example of a kit I probably will not be able to purchase and build, but I am so glad that these guys have made this available.
I also made it past the Viking engines booth and saw the prototype for their new twin engine offering. More about this venture in a later article.
One notable performance in the airshow was watching the Red Bull helicopter flying aerobatics, including going inverted. That’s just unnatural! If you haven’t seen it, search the interwebs for video and be prepared to be astounded.
As always, the WWII warbirds are a pleasure to both see and hear, both in flight and on the ground. A main regret for this year: that I missed the Connie in action, with its graceful, well-nigh sensuous lines combined with the rumbling power of its four Wright R-3350-75 18-cylinder radial engines. History, flight, power, and art in one package. The other regret was in missing the F-104 Starfighter; just spectacular that a small fleet of these are still flying. The other jets were/are all equally impressive, and really make it clear just how good our aircraft are (yes, I’m biased), but too numerous to mention here.
Wrapping up, look for product articles from Sun-n-Fun in future issues. Whether or not I make it to OSH is still TBD. In the meantime, thanks for the letters and suggestions for future column topics.
