Dave Casey, Morrisey N51002V “The Second Annual Central Coast VargaFest took place during the flrst week in September at Santa Maria and was another huge success. Three local Vargas were joined by three others from Northern Cal and Reno. In addition, squadron members from as far away as London, Phoenix and Colorado Springs joined in the festivities under sunny skies and a cool breeze. Friday night, Officers Call at the Raddison Bar provided a great opportunity for renewing old friendships and making new ones. The maintenance hangar seminar on Saturday consisted of the customary burgers and the examination of the newly complete restoration of 88J. The festivities continued with museum tours and a Dining In at the Raddison on Saturday evening. On Sunday morning, delightful fall weather permitted a Dawn Patrol launch and aerial tour of the Central California Coast and wine country, followed by lunch at the Rock n Roll Café in Oceana. VargaFest 08 is tentatively planned for October 08 in conjunction with the Copperstate EAA fly-in.”

Greg Judy, Varga N5102V Greg is asking for suggestions on how to have a successful VG-21 fly-in down in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Greg is looking at May 24-25,08 as a possible date. There are a number of VG-21 aircraft in the Lone Star State. He is looking for some help from those folks. Possible sites for this gathering is Arlington (GKY) or Grand Prairie (GPM).

Mark Oliver, Shinn C-F11Z (Mark makes his home in Canada. Aircraft maintenance is remarkably different than in the US,) “We have spent the past 2-1/2 years going through C-F11Z. Overall the plane bad a general need for TLC, numerous repairs, crazed glass, flaking paint with minor hail damage, cracked gel coat on cowling and upper boot cowl from a previous remote compass installation, grinding gyros, vacuum pump blowing by oil, tired radios, a myriad of unnecessary antennas, dried out/cracked fuel hoses and SCAT tubing, engine baffles, etc etc.

In the end, we fabricated a complete new lower cowl, upper boot cowl, replaced all the glass, stripped and painted the entire plane, redid the instrument panel with a Dynon EWFIS to replace the worn out gyros (w/analog backups for partial panel), installed a Vision Microsystems engine monitoring package, new Terra 760 comm & intercom, removed some tired nav/comms & antennas, redid a previously done flap repair, new fuel hoses & SCAT tubing, installed an oil separator on the crankcase breather, removed the vacuum system, repaired all the fiberglass parts, new wing attach bolts and most of the control system hardware, got the charging system working again, redid some wiring largely associated with the panel rework & cleaned up the fuse panel, repaired a cracked air intake to the carb, new insulation on the side/bottom panels & firewall, serviced the engine, rebuilt most of the engine baffling. Looking back, I guess I see where the 2-1/2 years went.

Where this ties into your latest Maintenance Item is that all of the above work was done under Transport Canada’s recent ‘Owner Maintenance Category’. Transport Canada created the category partially in recognition that maintaining some older aircraft was becoming more difficult and exceedingly expensive within the confines of full certification and in cases was potentially hampering aviation safety. The category effectively allows maintenance similar to amateur built (Canada’s Experimental/Homebuilt class) standards although in reality it is more restrictive in that major modifications are not allowed. What it does allow is uncertified parts to be utilized, or parts to be manufactured in cases where original OEM parts may no longer be available, and for the owners to sign off the maintenance and repairs to the aircraft. We put the Shinn into this category for exactly these reasons.

When we looked at upgrading the engine monitoring system, as the existing Smart Engine analyzer wasn’t working properly, we were able to utilize a Vision Microsystems VM1000 from a wrecked G202. This will allow us to better monitor the health of an engine that is in the last half of its TBO, but still runs well and checks out fine. We may still overhaul or change the engine next year as an additional bit of insurance. We’ll also have some more options at that time, in that we can use some uncertified parts (ic. cylinders/pistons, etc) that arguably are better than their certified counterparts for the same or less.

By being able to do the work ourselves, we could take the time to fabricate complete replacement panels for the lower cowling, upper boot cowl, & replace most of the engine baffling instead of continuing to band-aid them along. The same goes for the time to replace fuel hoses, SCAT tubing, fiberglass repairs, painting, removing/inspecting control push/pull tubes, replacing control system hardware, etc. This work was all done with AN hardware and aircraft quality materials and workmanship standards. The cost to have a shop do this is prohibitive to most and so I believe a lot of planes end up limping along with the bare minimum rather than getting the repairs/upgrades they really need. Additionally, when components such as exhausts, landing gear parts, etc. require replacement in the future, we’ll be able to replace them more readily with more options available to us to achieve high quality repairs.

However, I don’t want to give you the wrong impression. I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment that not all owners should own a screwdriver, and that some mechanics are willing to overlook some sketchy repairs. The existing flap repair we redid was a prime example of the workmanship that you referred to in your newsletter. We could not find any log book entries to indicate that it had been repaired, but a hinge had obviously been replaced at some point in the life of the plane. Unfortunately, the quality of the replacement hinge was suspect and it was misaligned and caused the bottom skin to oil-can as you actuated the flaps. Luckily, there was no damage to the ribs/bottom skin and new aircraft quality hinge and more care in installation resolved the problem. I suspect it was a budget repair either by a previous owner or shade tree mechanic that didn’t want to put it in the log books.

My partner in the plane, Bob Rige, and myself are both Mechanical Engineers and have long backgrounds working on aircraft. We have signed off the maintenance/repairs ourselves, and I believe this is an important part of the Owner Maintenance category and where Transport Canada has been able to satisfy themselves there is no additional risk in comparison to a category such as amateur built. By requiring the owner, who must be a licensed pilot, to sign off the maintenance/repairs, there is more ‘skin in the game’ and I believe a reduced tendency to perform shady repairs and hope the mechanic signing off the annual either overlooks it or doesn’t catch it thereby trying to transfer the liability to him. Additionally, the increased flexibility of reasonably priced, but good quality uncertified parts for the homebuilt market reduces the incentive to band-aid a problem along.

Varga Radio Control Model

About three years ago, Lee decided to build a scale model of our Varga. After spending several hours taking dozens of measurements, he began drawing plans. By accident, he learned that VG-21 member, Greg Judy, could be of great help by cutting out the balsa parts by machine, a great time saver. After much grinding of teeth, the electric power model was ready to fly. Sorry to say, Lee has had two test flights and two crashes. He didn’t trust his flying skill, so he had the best model pilot in our area do the flying. After the last crash (always drop left wing on take off and cart wheels) he said no more flights until he installed ailerons. He had built it with rudder and elevator controls which is all many models have. So now, he has reworked the model with scale size ailerons (a big undertaking), and they are ready for test flight number three. Keep your fingers crossed, no more crashes, please! And thanks again, Greg, for all of your help. We can e-mail pics of it if anyone is interested.

One Last Time

So this is it, folks. This last Newsletter has been quite a challenge. The illness of both of us has been followed by numerous weather-related power outages. We’ve enjoyed our years trying to keep our great planes flying and making many great friends along the way, but we are simply burned out. Knowing Max is taking over is a real stroke of luck. Max, thank you so very much. And heartfelt thanks to those that expressed their appreciation for our time and effort. They meant a lot.

Pat & Lee

Max Bishop
2062 W. Gila Ln.
Chandler, AZ 85224
Phones: Home — 480-786-3578; Cell — 480-201-6553
E-Mails: maxbishop@gowebway.com ; or mbishop5@cox.net

MAINTENANCE ITEM #31 - Newsletter #59
(by Lee Beery)
Recently, during our aircraft annual, I disassembled, cleaned and inspected the nose gear assembly. I then replaced the 0-rings (2) and installed a new oil seal. (See Maintenance Item #23.) I then installed the correct amount of hydraulic oil and reinstalled the assembly. Then I added the bearings lubricating oil (I use chain saw “bar” lube). Before I reinstalled the screw in the bearing lubrication port of the outer cylinder, I removed the nose gear support. With the aircraft weight now on all three gears, I pulled down and pushed up on the propeller to cycle the nose gear to achieve maximum travel. When I did this, I could hear rushing in and out of the lubrication port.

I explained all of this to Max Bishop and we think we may now know what it is so hard to keep that lubrication oil in the gear assemblies. When the aircraft becomes airborne, the springs extend the gears, increasing the air capacity of the assembly. The easy route for the air to enter is past the oil seal. When the aircraft lands, the air in the cylinder is compressed and with oil sitting on top of the oil seal when the air is forced out past the oil seal, it takes some oil with it.
This is just a theory but I am in the process of testing this theory and will report my findings in future newsletters.

VG-21 SQUADRON MEMBERSHIP LISTING, 1/18/07 - REVISION - K