VG-21 Squadron |
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VG-21 SQUADRON MORRISEY/SHINN/VARGA
NEWSLETTER
#48
- May
15.2004
We're back. "We" are Pat
(Patricia) and Lee
Now we're
starting in again from scratch. This means that there is no money in the cigar
box. This is strictly Lee started at United as an apprentice, got his A&P licenses and retired 35 years later as a supervisor in Engineering. I started out as a clerk, worked 13 years for a Senior VP as an executive secretary and was in a management job in Sales when I retired after 30 years.
We purchased our Varga in 1987 and flew it
back from
Lee has made seven pre-buy inspections for
prospective Varga buyers and ferried a number of Vargas to their new owner's
local airport. Again, this is all done at NO COST. He does ask that his expenses
be paid (fuel, food, motel, return transportation). In the past, we have hosted Maintenance
Seminars where Lee shares his knowledge and everyone shares their experiences,
problems and solutions. Those efforts were well-received and always had a number
of attendees from western states. If there's enough interest, we can do that
again. We're here for phone calls and e-mails, as well. We would prefer to
receive your phone calls between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. Pacific Time. Please Pat & Lee Kelseyville,CA95451 Phone: 707-279-0259
E-mail: varga~mchsi. The purpose of the club is to simply help
each other. We all have had experiences, problems, solutions that will help some
other Varga owner. It's also fun to contact other nearby members and get
together for a fly-in. One of those $50 hamburgers. One thing that has been brought up is to
possibly have Chapters in areas where there are several Vargas. We could easily
have a No. You have probably already learned
from your mechanic that there's a lot about our
aircraft that's unique. We've learned that some of the problems are also unique
and can be difficult to identify. The latest example is lack of sufficient
elevator travel. After making the first ever horrible landing in a Varga, Lee
discovered that the elevator wasn't adjusted properly and it was impossible for
the airplane to flare on landing. More details A Club For Many Reasons - This all began
when my husband and I agreed that a Varga Kachina would be the best We purchased the first Varga built and it
had been used in the certification program.. It has a few one of a kind,
hand-made parts, but overall, it is a Kachina. It was during the first year or
so of ownership that I realized that a unique airplane I had. It was also during
this tune that it became apparent that ownership of an airplane with such a limited
production number could present serious maintenance problems. My mechanic
husband and I concluded that what we were learning about the care and feeding of
a Varga could well be shared with other Varga owners. We also felt we could
benefit from their experiences and perhaps create new friendships. All of this
proved to be true. Although I'm sure no two type-clubs are
alike, we feel the following are essential. Purpose: This is a key Interest: Not everyone who flies
"your" type airplane will have the same level of interest you have.
You can expect a limited few that want the newsletter, maintenance information,
and especially they want your source for those hard-to-find parts but can't make
it to the scheduled events. I think this is normal in any club. Intangible benefits derived from a type
club are more difficult to define. Certainly a sense of doing something as
worthwhile as keeping out-of-production airplanes flying is at the top of the
list. Having several of these airplanes parked next to each other and watching
the crowd of curious fellow-pilots form around them provides a lot of selfish
pride and joy, too. I can think of only one negative in
forming or joining a unique aircraft type club. It's tough to tell people,
"No, my Varga isn't for sale" and, "no, I don't know of one that
is." My fervent hope is that each and every
member of our club realizes how important their contributions are and how much
the rest of us appreciate them. The future of this group is up to all of
you. If there's minimum response to this mailing, we' II bide away all the
documents and files. If there's sufficient response, however, we'll plan to
publish three Newsletters a year and schedule a social activity or two. Let
us know what interests you the most. As an
example, do you want to fly in for a Maintenance Seminar next September or
October? We can host it at our hangar, lunch at the Skyroom Restaurant located
on Lampson field, etc. You folks -let -us know-what you want to do and
we'll do our best to fulfill your interests. We'd like to wel Enclosed is a questionnaire that will help
us direct our Now, here's the ringer:
Send us your name, address, e-mail address, N number(s) -AND a donation of money
to cover our expenses of copying and mailing. Please let us hear from you no
later than June 15,2004. Happy flying! Pat
MAINTENANCE ITEM - NEWSLETTER
#48 - bv Lee *** ELEVATOR
TRAVEL*** Recently, while landing a Varga (not ours), I found that with the control stick full back against the stop, it did not produce the normal, expected reaction. I made a perfect Fl 8 landing on a carrier! All three wheels hit at the same time, about a 2G hit, with no bounce back into the air. Back at the hangar, a quick check of the elevator travel told the story. Elevator trailing edge up travel was limited to 9 to 10 degrees of travel. The Maintenance Manual calls for 16 up and 18 degrees down, +/- one. I question the difference between the up and down travel. The only time you would use that amount of down elevator would be at the halfway point in an aileron roll, and we all know you can't do that in a Varga. Reference Section V 5,6,5 Figure 5.3. I was able to back off the stop screw at the rear control stick (Fig. 5.1 Torque Tube Assy) Item #12 to obtain the correct amount of elevator up travel. Subsequent test flights revealed that now elevator movement, even at stall speeds, produced rapid nose up motion as it should. As it happens, there is a fairly large aircraft rebuild shop (insurance jobs only) at our airport and just recently they repaired a Varga that had experienced a hard landing which damaged both wings at the gear attach areas and deformed the engine mount I spent many hours looking over their shoulders as they did their repairs. We even rebuilt the landing gears and installed new seals. When the repair shop delivered the Varga to its owner, the pilot related to me that the aircraft did not want to flair so he had to jab on some power to raise the nose. I just had that owner check the elevator travel and sure enough, it is short on travel. Would anyone care to guess what it cost this owner
and the insurance MEMBER
INFORMATION
- Newsletter 48 - May 15.
2004
Now that we are in
the Still in factory
colors?
Y N Original
engine?
Y N Plane hangared?
Y N More than one VHF
radio?
Y N A Loran? Y N ADF
?
Y
N DME?
Y GPS
?
Y N Any long
trips?
Y N Your age group is:
Teens__20s__30s__40s__50s__60s__70s__80s What does your
annual cost?
$ Are you an A&P?
Y N Are you an AI? Y N Are you Instrument Rated? Y N Fly at night to any degree? Y N Use your plane for business? Y N Should we do a survey on insurance? Y N What maintenance
items concern you the most? What subject matter
would you like us to cover in the future? Do you have any
information/stories we can incorporate in future Newsletters? Your e-mail
address_______________________________ Donation?_________________
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