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This is the goal - a composite structure, 115 horse power, turbo charged aircraft with a carbon fiber wing, a 48 foot wing span capable of a 27 to 1 glide ratio. This is the factory demonstrator.
October 28, 2001 - This is a picture about 2 weeks after delivery. The fuselage is in 2 halves and the cockpit is a module which is bonded into the lower fuselage. The instrument panel is another module as well. This is a dry fit of all the parts.
November 13, 2001 - The cockpit module has been completed with flight controls and fuel tank. This is the night the module was bonded in place. An aerospace adhesive called Araldite 420 is used. The bonding surfaces are scuff sanded and the adhesive applied with structural "flox". Mike (pictured) helped me complete this operation at 2 AM! The module was lowered in by an engine hoist.
November 21, 2001 - Here the rudder pedals are installed. The rudder pedal floors are made from plywood covered by fiberglass. The green material is peel ply used to keep the fibers down during cure and not stick to the epoxy after cure. This is work done when I didn't know I was going to become sensitive to the epoxy fumes. Now I have to wear a space suit while working, but it does keep me from having problems.
November 18, 2002 - The airplane now has the pitch trim system installed, the cockpit module and the landing gear frame/engine mount. The configuration is a mono wheel with one wheel in the center and 2 "outrigger" wheel out on the wings (hence the name "Mini U2"). The wing spars go through holes in the fuselage sides and are pinned to the seat back area by 1/2 inch diameter pip pins. The holes in the side can be seen in the picture above.
November 22, 2001 - This is the first cut at an idea for the instrument panel. The EFIS display is a Dynon Development EFIS, which is appropriately named since the EFIS is still under development. It would have been glorious, but I ended up going with traditional vacuum gyros. In this picture, you can see the completed rudder pedals, the control sticks, the slot for the landing gear control and the brake lever to the right side of the center panel. The engine monitor is an IK2000 - just a picture cut out at this stage. The white item sticking up on the right is the fuel tank filler, just dry fit at this point. The fuel tank is mounted in the seat back area. At this point, one can sit in the airplane and make airplane noises while holding on to the stick and pretending to fly!
Click here for Dynon Develpoment's web site
December 2, 2001 - Now the project looks more like an airplane and less like a boat. This was another all night operation, using the aerospace adhesive again. There are temporary clecos holding the joint line in place. You can see the stabilator tube installed. It is still less than 2 months since the start of the project.
December 12, 2001 - Now, the focus is on the rudder controls. This picture is of the all important tail wheel. This airplane is a tail dragger and the tail wheel is a steerable type. The metal rod spring is bolted to a bonded in pad in the aft fuselage and the tailwheel is controlled by the 2 cables that are also attached to the rudder and then run up to the rudder pedals. I added turn buckles to each rudder cable to allow for adjustment of the cable tension. The stabilator is also installed in this picture. It is designed to slide over the torque tube and held on with a pip pin. It can be removed in about 30 seconds.
December 16, 2001 - Work is also done on the baggage compartment. This area is rather large with a weight limit of 80 pounds - pretty good for 2 people! Underneath the baggage compartment floor will be the batteries for the redundant electrical system, the two electric fuel pumps and the ELT.
December 22, 2001 - The doors are now mounted and I have a few days before I start working for a time as an engineer. In this picture, you can see the main gear mounted and operational, the hole on the side for the wing spar mounting, the three inspection holes in the aft fuselage and the beautiful location in which we live. That is Job's Peak in the background - an 11,000 foot peak. Our house is at 4,700 feet elevation. Up to this point it has been full time, but duty calls. It is now just over 2 months since the start.
December 28, 2001 - The plan for the panel starts to take shape. I am still holding on to hope for a glass cockpit, and look to employ the iPAQ based GPS - "Anywheremap".The avionics stack is designed to allow me to fly a simple ILS IFR approach to allow me to stay current on the gauges. There are 2 new Apollo SL40 comm radios, a used King KN53 nav receiver with glideslope, a new Garmin transponder and quite a few circuit breakers to control all the electrical equipment along with the redundant bus structure.
January 6, 2002 - The time consuming and rather expensive process of wiring is under way. In keeping with airline tradition, I figure I need some switches overhead, so here some are mounted in the overhead between the 2 doors. There is also a mount for the vertical card compass. The front row of switches are for the lighting and the aft 3 are for the fuel pumps. The airplane has electric pumps for fuel and they are wired so that they can be run off either electrical bus. In addition, the #2 pump has an "auto" position that will automatically turn on the pump should the #1 pump experience a complete failure. Safety first, Robin
March 9, 2002 - Theory starts to become reality as metal is cut to form the instrument panel sub assembly. This work is mostly done in the warmth of the house.The 2 red switches are master switches for both electrical systems. In the middle, there is a custom audio switching panel and to the right are the ignition switches and starter button. Installed in the stack are the two SL30 comm radios, the KN53 nav radio with glideslope and the Garmin transponder. These are now real instruments, not picture cutouts!.
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