in this issue - velocity aircraft · 2009-02-03 · 2nd quarter 2003 1 velocity views in this issue...

Velocity Views12nd Quarter 2003

In this issueDash 5 Model ...................1

New model the VelocityXL-5 debuts

Annual Fly-in Event .........4Scott B talks about “TheWilliamsburg Gathering”and Oshkosh events

Composite Workshop......4Calendar of Events ..........5Factory KPCs ...................5

Kit plans changes to keepyour manual up-to-date

Builder Hints & Info .........6Aircraft leveling & rigging,lateral fuselage leveling

Factory News ...................7Insurance issues, electri-cal problems, kit sales,retirement, engine things,renewals, stolen demo

Safety Corner .................10Accident & IncidentReports and MaintenanceService Difficulties

Antenna installation ......12Strikefinder & Stormscopeantenna installation

Electric Buzz ..................14Avionics & electrical tips

CFI Notams.....................15learn from a story about acocky pilot

Builder Forum ................16Tips, information & letters

Buy Sell or Trade ...........19

Volume 34

OW CAN YOU IMPROVE ON THEVELOCITY XL? Fly in the newestVelocity factory-built demo

plane and you’ll know! The “Dash 5Edition”, introduced at Sun n Fun, isan exciting new option to the highlysuccessful Velocity XL design. Still x-tra long, x-tra wide, x-tra headroom, x-tra large engine, x-tra fuelcapacity, x-tra fast, x-tra easy toboard, and all the other popular fea-tures of the Velocity XL... but witheven more “extra’s”:

An extra seatDash 5’s five-seat interior layout fea-tures two bucket seats in the front

and a single rear bench seat withenough room for three. The curva-ture of the fuselage gives the backseat passengers an extra-wide 49” oftotal hip room, with as much as 50”of shoulder width.

Extra baggage spaceBehind the back seat is an extra-largebaggage platform, measuring 18”deep by the full width of the fuse-lage, 48”.

Extra packing versatilityNeed to pack your golf bag? The seatback of the rear bench seat is split

Velocity XL-5Debut of the “Dash 5”

H

Continued on the next page

Velocity Views 2 Volume 34

Velocity XL-5 storyContinued from previous page

60/40, with each section able to befolded forward, providing versatileloading configurations for large bag-gage. This aircraft can comfortablycarry 3 adults and 3 sets of golfequipment ! Or, if just two of you aretravelling, both rear seat sections canbe folded forward, offering an extra-extra-large area (50” deep x 48”wide) as a baggage platform behindthe pilot and copilot seats.

Extra passenger comfortThe rear seat back also features adeluxe armrest that is stowed in thecenter of the seat back. The armrestcan be folded down into position,like in many automobile rear seats,providing a comfortable elbow restwhen there are two rear passengers.The center keel of the Dash 5 is cutdown to within four inches of thefloor, allowing the back seat passen-gers ease of entry plus lots of legroom. The kit option comes with areinforced keel cap and a drop-downaileron control mechanism.

Extra load bearingThe main landing gear legs arewrapped with carbon fiber BID rein-forcements at the factory, to accom-modate the expected heavier loads ofthe aircraft over the main wheels.

Extra engine power, extra brakingpowerA 300 hp Lycoming or 310 hpContinental can be selected to powerthe Dash-V aircraft. The gross weightof the aircraft is increased to 2,900pounds with either of these enginechoices - a 200-pound increase inuseful load compared with theVelocity XL with a 260hp engine.Heavy-duty Cleveland brakes areprovided with this kit option toaccommodate the heavier grossweight of the aircraft.

Extra ruddersNew! A dual, interconnected rudderpedal assembly, with toe brakes,comes standard with the Dash 5option. This allows full rudderdeflection during crosswind land-

ings, without worrying that thebrakes are engaged.

As an option to the existing VelocityXL, the Dash 5 Edition is available onboth the fixed-gear or retract-gearversions. The introductory price ofthe “Dash 5 Edition” option is $3,000,and is immediately available for newVelocity XL kit buyers. Velocity willalso offer a “Dash 5” retrofit kit forVelocity XL owners in the field, at acost of $3,500. Special Dash-V com-ponents, such as the Clevelandbrakes, toe-brake pedal assembly,and drop down keel, will also beavailable as individual subassemblyoptions.

The New Demo Velocity

Velocity’s new factory-built demoairplane, N271TC, boldly demon-strates the fantastic enhancements ofthe Dash-V Edition of the VelocityXL. In addition, this plane is packedwith the latest state-of-the-art tech-nology now revolutionizing generalaviation – making this a truly excit-ing aircraft!

The new Velocity factory demo planefeatures all the Dash 5 options, plus:

Continental 310hp engine withPowerLink FADEC (Full AuthorityDigital Engine Control) Engine

Power Management System:A multitude of sensors send engineinformation to three computers,which then analyze and adjust theignition spark, engine timing, andfuel delivery to each of the six cylin-ders, maximizing performance. Thesystem allows the pilot to select bestpower – or best economy. Mixturecontrol is eliminated. The system iselectrically operated and does notrequire the use of magnetos for igni-tion (there are no magnetos on theengine). PowerLink FADEC promisesa 15% improvement in fuel economyand about a 5% increase in power.This is the first Velocity aircraft pow-ered with a FADEC system. FiveVelocity customers have already pur-chased Continental FADEC enginesthrough Velocity’s OEM buying pro-gram.

Dual Large Screen “Glass Cockpit”EFIS Display Units:Manufactured by Blue MountainAvionics, the EFIS/One system pro-vides a full display of flight informa-tion including attitude information,heading information, a moving map,air speed, rate of climb, turn coordi-nator, altimeter, true air speed, trendmeters for airspeed and altitudereadouts – and a host of informationthat are too numerous to list in a sin-gle page! See their product informa-



tion atwww.bluemountainavionics.com.For the demo aircraft, the factoryinstalled a second display, so guestscan experience the same full EFISsensation that is offered the demopilot. The EFIS/One comes with anoptional autopilot sub-assembly,with climb, descent, and altitudehold capability.

WSI In-Flight Cockpit Weather:The demo aircraft has a WSI satellitereceiver to collect and process a fullmenu of aviation weather informa-tion. For less than $50/month, pilotshave unlimited in-flight access toweather reporting products such ascomposite radar images, thunder-storm tops, METAR’s, TAF’s, a colorgraphic depiction of airports basedon their current weather reportingstatus (IFR or VFR), and more! TheWSI system integrates with severaldisplay units including the BlueMountain Avionics EFIS/One andthe UPSAT MX-20MFD. All fromouter space and updated every 6 sec-onds!

The UPSAT Unveiling:Velocity has the distinction of intro-ducing (nationally and for the firsttime) an exciting new radio productfrom UPSAT at Sun n Fun in thisnew demo plane. Sworn to secrecy(legally and in writing) not to revealthe name or any of the details of thisproduct beforeApril 1st, informationwas not available from the factory atpress time, except for the fact thatthis radio is the “latest and the great-est” from UPSAT, manufacturer ofApollo brand radios.

You can experience the new VelocityXL Dash 5 Edition, in all its splendor,at Velocity headquarters inSebastian, Florida.

•••••

Velocity XL-5 storyContinued from previous page


Golf Resort. Historic Yorktown andJamestown are nearby as is VirginiaBeach (less than 30 minutes away).Home to some great seafood restau-rants – we will probably be having adinner at famous Nick’s SeafoodPavilion.

On Sunday morning Velocity, Inc.will scoot over to nearby Dinwiddie,Virginia to show off new VelocityXL “Dash 5” at the Virginia StateEAA Fly-In. The Virginia State EAAFly-In program is scheduled forSaturday and Sunday, September20th and 21st. It would be great tohave several Velocity aircraft join usfor the trip to Dinwiddie!

Be sure to contact Melanie at theVelocity factory to add your name toour Annual Velocity Fly-In mailinglist. Do this now so that we can bet-ter plan this sure to be fun event!

OSHKOSH 2003

Velocity will be at Oshkosh with afull force of aircraft and people toshow off the latest and greatest fromVelocity, Inc. “Oshkosh” runs fromTuesday, July 29th throughMonday, August 4th.

Something new as far as demo rideprocedures - Velocity, Inc. will beoffering demo rides the day(s) fol-lowing Oshkosh, and not during thedays of the show. For those who areplanning to attend Oshkosh andwho want to take a demo ride,please take this into account whenmaking your travel and lodgingplans.

The Velocity dinner is on Friday,August 1st – and will again be host-ed on the Kitty Hawk Deck of theOshkosh Hilton Garden Inn (locatedat Oshkosh Airport). This is a won-

By Scott Baker

Join Velocity, Inc. at Williamsburg,Virginia during September 18-21 forthe Annual Velocity Fly-In and FunTime Gathering of VelocityEnthusiasts!

Please mark your calendars to joinVelocity and fellow Velocity flyersand enthusiasts in historicWilliamsburg and Yorktown,Virginia. The dates of the Fly-In arefrom Thursday, September 18ththrough Sunday morning,September 21st. Group events will beplanned for each day – however youare welcome to pick and chose yourschedule to take in some personalsight seeing and activities.

Aircraft home base is WilliamsburgInternational Airport (PHF) – whereVelocity, Inc. will be sponsoring awelcome BBQ. Plans are in the worksto arrange ground transportation tonearby Yorktown, Virginia, and theDuke of York Motor Inn, where ablock of rooms will soon be reservedfor the event. WilliamsburgInternational Airport is a completeservice airport that supports bothVFR and IFR operations. Rental carsare available for those who plan totravel about this beautiful area of thecountry.

Group events are still in the planningstages, but are sure to include a din-ner in an historic colonial inn, a tourof historic Colonial Williamsburg(also home to William and MaryCollege), side trips to several muse-ums including the Virginia Air andSpace Museum, shopping at the pot-tery and glass factory (save room forextra weight in the aircraft for thetrip home!). Williamsburg is alsohome to Bush Gardens (amusementpark and brewery) and to Kingsmill

VelocityWorkshopVelocity will be conducting a com-posite workshop Friday May 30ththrough Sunday June 1st. We willcover all the basic skills needed inorder to complete a Velocity. Thefirst night will be used to getacquainted with one another. Wewill also go over the basic toolsneeded to build a Velocity, FAR'sand general F.A.A. paperworkneeded to register an Experimentalaircraft. On Saturday we will startoff with basic fiberglass lay-upsthat will be used throughout thebuilding of your Velocity. OnSunday we will continue with thefiberglass lessons building onsome of the pieces constructedfrom our Saturday session.

Basic program schedule:Friday 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.Saturday 8:00 a.m. - 12:00p.m.Lunch 1:30p.m.- 5:00p.m.Sunday 8:00 a.m. - 12:00p.m.Lunch 1:00p.m.- 3:00p.m.

Dinner Friday night, lunchSaturday and Sunday will be pro-vided by Velocity Inc. Coffee anddonuts will be provided eachmorning and refreshments will beavailable throughout the day.

Fee- $325 per person

If we do not get a minimum of 6people we will not conduct theclass. Maximum is 20 people.

Williamsburg Fun Time Gathering

derful location for a gathering! If thesky conditions and temperaturecooperate, we can enjoy the timetogether and judge the landings asaircraft come into Runway 09.

Social hour begins at 6PM – Dinnerfollows. Be sure to let us know if youplan to attend!

Be sure to monitor our website fordetails on all our events!

••••


July 9-13 - Northwest EAA,Arlington, Washington

July 29-Aug 4 - EAA AirVenture2003, Oshkosh, Wisconsin

August 1, 2003 - Velocity Oshkoshdinner will be hosted on the KittyHawk Deck of the Oshkosh HiltonGarden Inn on August 1st from6:00PM to 9:00PM. Dinner ticketswill be on sale from now until theevent. The dinner price is $23 perperson. A no-host, cash bar will beset up at the dinner. Call the factoryto sign up.

Sept. 18-21 - Williamsburg VirginiaVelocity Fun Time Gathering andFly-In (see Scott Baker’s article onprevious page)

Sept. 21- Virginia EAA Fly-In(Sunday only) Dinwiddie, VirginiaSept 26-28, 2003 - CSA Rough RiverFly-in, Kentucky

Oct. 9-12 Copperstate EAA Phoenix,Arizona

Oct. 30-Nov 1 AOPAPhiladelphia, PA

Nov. 8 Factory Open House andWorkshop Factory's semi-annualopen house in Sebastian, Florida(X26). * 9:00am Welcome! Please register and take in the sur-roundings. Enjoy some coffee andbreakfast snacks. The Velocity Staffwelcomes you to the Velocity ServiceCenter. Please introduce yourselfand mingle amongst the severalVelocity building projects. NathanRigaud will be conductingDemonstration flights throughoutthe day in the Velocity XL-RGmodel. The price of the ride has beenreduced to $100 for today’s event. Besure to sign up at the registrationtable. * 9:45 Factory Tour by Scott BakerEnjoy a walking tour of the Velocityfactory. See how we go about mak-ing the many quality parts that gointo your Velocity aircraft kit.* 10:30 Workshop TBA by ScottSwing

Calendar of EventsApril 27 - Patrick AFB Air Show,Patrick AFB, Florida

May 3, 2003 - Factory OpenHouseand WorkshopFactory's semi-annual open house inSebastian, Florida (X26). * 9:00Welcome! Please register and take inthe surroundings. Enjoy some coffeeand breakfast snacks. The VelocityStaff welcomes you to the VelocityService Center. Please introduceyourself and mingle amongst the sev-eral Velocity building projects.Nathan Rigaud will be conductingDemonstration flights throughout theday in the Velocity XL-RG model.The price of the ride has beenreduced to $100 for today’s event. Besure to sign up at the registrationtable. * 9:45 Factory Tour by Scott BakerEnjoy a walking tour of the Velocityfactory. See how we go about makingthe many quality parts that go intoyour Velocity aircraft kit. * 10:30 Workshop TBA by ScottSwing * 12:00 Lunch – Courtesy of Velocity,Inc. Enjoy! * 12:45 More Workshops TBA * 3:00 Program Ends Please be sure to call the factory andRSVP! Friday arrivals can book aroom at the Key West Inn at CaptainHiram's here in Sebastian. Call 800-833-0555 and mention Velocity to geta corporate rate. When you call thefactory to RSVP, let us know whenyou plan on arriving so we can makearrangements for transportation, etc.

May 30, 31 and June 1 - VelocityBasic Composite Workshop,Sebastian, FloridaVelocity will be conducting a com-posite workshop Friday May 30ththrough Sunday June 1st. We willcover all the basic skills needed inorder to complete a Velocity. See thearticle “Velocity Workshop” to theleft for details.

June 20-22 - Golden West EAA,Marysville, California

The reason we haven't had anyKPC's for the last three newsletters isnot because we couldn't find some-thing to put in, it is because we are

Kit PlansChanges“KPCs”

by Scott Swing

just about done with the new versionof the plans and we can then startover. The new version is re-orga-nized, updated, and on line and weshould be able to a better job at keep-ing it that way in the future. Weappreciate all of your patiencethrough this process. At leastBrendan does since his eyes are both-ering him these days from all of thescreen watching.

••••

* 12:00 Lunch – Courtesy of Velocity,Inc. Enjoy!* 12:45 More Workshops TBA* 3:00 Program EndsPlease be sure to call the factory andRSVP! Friday arrivals can book aroom at the Key West Inn at CaptainHiram's here in Sebastian. Call 800-833-0555 and mention Velocity to geta corporate rate. When you call thefactory to RSVP, let us know whenyou plan on arriving so we can makearrangements for transportation, etc.

Dec 5-7 2003 - Velocity AdvancedWorkshop, Sebastian, Florida

••••

ReminderAll parts orders placed after12:00pm EST will not beshipped any way other thanUPS ground. If you need anitem shipped overnight, theorder has to be placed by12:00pm EST


and spar or canard if you startedwith that first) and the wings arenow level according to the wing jig.Remember that the wings are actual-ly at almost +1 degree but you do notneed to know this. The next impor-tant thing to consider is the wingstrake incidence. The relationshipbetween the wing and strake is oneof the most important parts of themix. When marking the future lead-ing edge position of the strakes, youhave to make sure that the wing isleveled with the jig then marking aspot or range on the side of the fuse-lage that is 2 or 3 inches (dependingon SE vs. XL) above a level planecoming off the bottom of the mainspar at the side of the fuselage. Thisposition gives the strake a slightlynegative angle of attack as comparedto the main wing's position. Evenafter you have glued the strake bot-tom onto the spar and onto the sideof the fuselage, the wing can still bemoved slightly since the box of themain spar and strake is not complete.For argument sake, lets say thatsomeone needed your supports andchanged the airplanes position whileyou where working on the bulkheadsand baffles of the tank and when youreinstalled the wings and were get-ting ready to close the strakes, thingshave moved. What do you do? Whatdo I level now? Well, if you had putsome kind of level in the plane whileyou where doing the work before, itwould be easy but if you didn't, itcan be difficult since the firewall isnot completely flat and levels can bedeceiving, and electronic levels needto be calibrated all the time so whatdo you do? To be sure, you can checkyour bottom strake. Check the lead-ing edge of your strake as comparedto the position it is supposed to be in.You can do this after your wing hasbeen bolted on but as I mentioned,the wing can still be moved a little sojust getting the wing level is notgood enough. Once you havechecked your wing with the jig andyou are sure that the leading edge ofthe strake is in the proper positionbased on its relationship to the bot-tom of the spar, you can proceedwith the closure. This just makessure that the relationship of the wing

and the strake is correct. What elsemakes a difference? The canard is leftwhich will complete the picture.Since your strakes are closed, youjust need to use your wing jig to levelthe plane in order to rig your canardin the proper position. The canardwill most likely give you some differ-ences along the surface. What I liketo do is to find the average of the twoextremes and mark the canard at thatpoint. You should use that positionto rig the canard. I tend to cheat onthe high side when installing thecanard. By that I mean that I like thebubble in the level to be more towardthe forward line almost up to it. Thereason for this is that from experi-ence I have found that a little toomuch incidence on the canard is bet-ter that not enough. If you alreadyhad your canard in position, I wouldlevel it like I said then level yourwing with the jig, then mark youstrake position. Any way you go,you want the wings, the strakes, andthe canard to be in proper relation-ship to each other. The fuselagecould be 2 inches high or 2 incheslow and it won't make enough of adifference to think about. If you havea fast build fuselage and you are try-ing to level your fuselage, we usuallyuse the firewall as the judge on foreand aft level of the fuselage. Since thefirewall is not completely flat andyou know where the spar will be upagainst it, concentrate on that area tolevel it. Again, it is not importantthat it be exact.

LATERAL FUSELAGELEVELING

The right to left level of the fuselageis important and you must considerthree things when leveling it. Thesethings are the gear boxes that thespar will sit on, the gear pivot loca-tions (RG only), and the canard bulk-head. On the fixed gear, you havesome latitude since you can moveaxles if you need to but you need toknow the axle to axle position orhow level the fuselage will sit on thelevel floor, the gear boxes, and thecanard bulkhead. Some of this also

by Scott Swing

AIRCRAFT LEVELINGAND RIGGING

I am sure that I have talked aboutthis subject before but because of itsimportance and because it still seemsto be an issue, I will discuss it again.The subject is rigging or the relation-ship between the wings, strakes,canard, and fuselage. Lets first talkabout the fuselage. The fuselage is alifting surface and because of that, itaffects the overall flight characteris-tics of the plane. A little higher angleof attack will help the plane achievea slightly lower landing speed butwill also increase drag and make theairplane slower at the top end. Thedifferences though are so small thatother things about the aircrafts con-struction can offset them. Since weunderstand that the fuselage angle ofattack is not that important to theflight qualities of the aircraft, we willconcentrate on what does affect it.The first thing you put into the fuse-lage that has something to do withflight will be your canard or yourmain spar. If you put your canard infirst, you would then use it as yourleveling device and not the firewallor main spar. If your main spar isput in first then it should be closelymatched to your firewall. Even afteryour spar is glued in, you still havesome latitude as to how much thenose of the plane can move to its per-manent location. Once the main sparis in you will be working with thewings. So, with the aircraft level(firewall, spar) you install the wings.To keep things from moving around,you need to support the main spar.You then would use your wing jig toalign your incidence angle. This mayrequire a little twisting of the mainspar but shouldn't take a lot. At thispoint, the plane is still level (firewall



Continued on next page

Insurance issues

How many times have I addressedthis subject and how much timehave I devoted to finding solutionsto the many problems regarding thissubject? Most recently I received acall from one of our flying Velocityowners who has insurance withFalcon. He told me that Falconrequires him to return to theVelocity Service Center every yearfor factory re-currency training.After talking to Falcon and beingassured that all the underwriterswere now requiring this training, Ispent considerable time organizing acurriculum that could be sent to ourVelocity owners so they could workwith their local CFI's and get thenecessary annual training. I first ranthis past Falcon as an alternate tofactory training to save the expenseof the owner having to travel toSebastian. Falcon agreed to workwith the underwriters and get theirOK before we proceeded further. Ithas taken 5 weeks for the underwrit-ers to agree and this policy was thenput into effect ------- with certainconditions. If the instructor has 1500hours total logged time and 250hours of RG time (if applicable) with50 hours of Velocity flying time,Velocity can approve this instructor.If he does not meet the minimums,then his qualifications must be sentto Falcon for approval. I guess this isbetter than a stick in the eye.

Sometime later I got a call from apotential Velocity builder who calledFalcon at my request to find out thecost and availability of insurance forthe Velocity he was planning onbuilding. He was told by Falcon thathe would need a minimum of a pri-vate license, 500 hours of pilot incommand time, 100 hours ofretractable time and an instrumentrating. This was for a standard RG

by Duane Swing

airplane. I immediately called Falconand was told the same story. I askthe Falcon representative if all theunderwriters were requiring thesame thing and I was assured thatthey were. I later received anothercall from someone wanting to pur-chase an already flying Velocity andhe confirmed that Falcon wanted allthe above. He ask Falcon if he couldpurchase just liability and no hullcoverage and was told that Falconwould no longer insure the Velocityor any other high performancehomebuilt for liability only. Hewould have to meet the require-ments plus insure the hull for fairmarket value.

By now, I was getting quite upsetand tried on several occasions to callthe president of Falcon who I hadworked with in setting up the rea-sonable conditions for insuranceover a years ago. I was not able toget through to him and decided totry talking to the underwritersdirect. My first call was to AerospaceInsurance Managers, Inc. who Iknow was one of the underwritersFalcon uses. After four attempts Ispoke to the vice president and whathe told me was totally different thanthe information I was getting fromFalcon. What I found out was thatFalcon was not even checking withAerospace Insurance Managers andwas, instead, using a company calledGlobal and AIG. In any case, I wastold that the conditions that applieda year ago still apply today. Whatfollows is what we determined to beacceptable to both parties. Pleaseremember, however, that AerospaceInsurance Managers are not licensedto do business in all states. Yourstate might be one of those wherethe following does not apply. IfFalcon uses other underwriters, theconditions will be quite different

Builder Hints & InfoContinued from previous page

has to do with how it looks from thefront or rear of the aircraft. Lets goback to the RG. You must be carefulnot to concentrate only on the canardbulkhead since you will be beddingthe canard in place and a gap oneither side will be eliminated. Whatyou can't do, is mess with the pivotholes in the fuselage. If you level theaircraft with these two holes way outof level, you will have to teeter thegear more to level it before youinstall the sockets and you will endup with a big difference in camberangles on the gear. There is nothingwrong with the pivots being a littleout of level but you don't want it outmuch. What I am saying here is thata little compromise helps here andyou shouldn't need to put a lot ofshims under the spar on one side toget it to level up. I would say if youneed more than two or three tonguedepressors under or behind any-thing, something else is wrong andyou need to give us a call. On thefixed gear you just need to rememberthat your main spar should be levelto a level floor since the tires arealready in place. In order to removethe differences that can occur withtires at difference camber angles, youshould use the centers of the axlelocations for your reference. You canalso set your cambers first, thenmake sure your floor is level and thetires are at the same air pressuresand use that as your starting point.

Next time, we will talk about howgood is good enough when buildingan aircraft. I will go over things suchas neatness, tolerances, lay-ups, whatcan be fixed and what can't, commonquestions that builders have aboutthese things and more. It should beinteresting.

••••

Visitthe Factory’s

Official Web Site:velocityaircraft.com


Factory NewsContinued from previous page Note:

1. Deductible amounts and premi-ums rates will vary based on

pilot experience, total time, ratings,retract hours, time in type and

other variables. 2. All aircraft will require a one-timeinspection by an authorized factoryinspector prior to any hull insurancecoverage.3. Liability insurance only is avail-able if desired.4. Please note that the insuranceunderwriters may elect to changeany of the above at any time withoutconsultation with Velocity.5. Also keep in mind that the premi-ums and deductibles have a constantupward spiral.

Electrical Problems

Wayne Lanza has been receivingnumerous calls from some of youabout your electrical glitches inradios, navigation equipment, wiresizes, circuit breaker sizes, his adviseon what to buy, how best to do thewiring in the Velocity, which radiosare best for your airplane etc. We allappreciate his knowledge in thesematters but it is important for all ofyou to know that Wayne is not onthe Velocity payroll. Many of thethings he does for you, he charges usby the hour as a private contractor.Your call to him about why your #2com radio has a scratchy sound isbilled to Velocity by the hour. Waynedoes his best to sort out what shouldbe a Velocity bill and what is not. It isyour responsibility to sort out thesame. I know of one instance (thereare many more) where Wayne spendmany hours over several days work-ing with one of our customers help-ing him design his panel and orga-nize the items he would need tomake it complete only to find outlater that the customer purchasedeverything from sources other thanVelocity. This is wrong. Wayne ishere to help us help you. I just askthat you use some common sense inyour approach to what you want himto do.

Kit Aircraft Sales

I received a call the other day from apotential new Velocity owner and hewanted to know if Velocity wasgoing to continue building kit air-craft. The reason for his question wasa result of someone who had toldhim that we have so many sales tocountries and individuals who wantcompleted airplanes that we were nolonger building kits. This is, ofcourse, just not true. The kit businessis our bread and butter. All the otherstuff is just extra. If we were to actu-ally sell and build all the aircraft thatwe are presently working with cus-tomers on, the total would be over 65aircraft. Some of these are US gov-ernment projects and some are for-eign customers, none of which do wehave any deposits on. Therefore, ifyou are concerned about us beingaround, don't worry, we will be here.

My Retirement

Several months ago I told you aboutmy desire to slow down and smellthe roses. Sometimes things don'twork as planned and the sale of thebusiness was moved back to April orMay of this year. As I told youbefore, Scott Swing and all the otherkey people here will remain in con-trol and set policy, R & D and contin-ue working to make our airplane bet-ter. The new owner will be workinghard at establishing a European man-ufacturing facility to better handlecustomers in that part of the worldand working with the Chinese on acertified version of the Velocity. Iwill have a working relationshipwith Velocity for at least a year afterthe sale is complete and will stay intouch with what is going on andmake a contribution whenever andwherever necessary. That includesthe new Dash 5 and the pendingtwin project which is on the backburner awaiting proper engines.

Engine Things

We are often encouraged to jump inbed with a new engine manufacturer


than what is specified below.

PILOT QUALIFICATIONSFOR INSURANCE

Standard Elite Fixed Gear 200 HP orless (this includes the Franklin)1. Private license minimum2. 150 hours total logged time mini-mum3. Factory check-out4. No home brewed auto engines orturbines5. No instrument rating needed6. No annual re-currency trainingneeded

Standard Elite Retract Gear 200 HPor less (this includes the Franklin)1. Private license minimum2. 200 hours total logged time mini-mum3. Complex or high performanceendorsement in log book4. Factory check-out5. No home brewed auto engines orturbines6. No instrument rating needed7. No annual re-currency trainingneeded

XL Fixed Gear 250 HP or over1. Private license minimum2. 200 hours total logged time mini-mum3. Complex or high performanceendorsement in log book4. Factory check-out5. No home brewed auto engines orturbines6. No instrument rating needed7. No annual re-currency trainingneeded

XL Retract Gear 250 HP or over1. Private license minimum2. 250 hours total logged time mini-mum3. Complex or high performanceendorsement in log book4. Factory check-out5. No home brewed auto engines orturbines6. No instrument rating needed7. No annual re-currency trainingneeded


so you, our customers, will be able totake advantage of the newest tech-nology available out there.Sometimes these changes must passthe test of time before we can getinvolved. I actually had a customerhang up on me because I would notsupport his desire to put an 800horsepower Pratt and Whitney propjet engine in a pressurized Velocity.We had some customers that justcould not understand why we wouldnot build an engine installation kitfor the French diesel engine. Thisengine is now certified but to pur-chase one you would have to shellout over $65,000. Something we feltour people will just not do. We havealso spent considerable time tryingto convince the Velocity builders notto buy the Affordable Turbine Power(ATP) engine until they could provetheir claims of same fuel burn perhorsepower as a piston engine withacceptable reliability. More than oneof our customers have given ATP adeposit on an engine and now thecompany is on the verge of bank-ruptcy with little chance of gettingany money back. Their claims of 300horsepower on a 150 lb. engine burn-ing 20 gallons of JP4 per hour wasjust not going to happen. We haveseen many auto engine conversionthat look good on paper and many,in fact, are not that much differentfrom the certified aircraft engines.The Subaru four and six cylinderengines are horizontally opposedwater cooled engines and look verymuch like an aircraft engine. Theyare not, however, designed to runalmost all the time either wide openor at 75% of the rated power. Canyou imagine how long your autowould run if all your accelerationswere pedal to the metal and a cruiseof over 100 miles per hour when notaccelerating? As an example, my 240horsepower Honda would be using180 horsepower at 75% power andwould result in a fuel burn of over 10gallons per hour or a maximumendurance of less than two hours orabout 225 miles. I can drive this carall day at 65 miles per hour and con-

Factory NewsContinued from previous page

sume only about 2.25 gallons perhour. (about 13% power) I am notsuggesting that an auto conversion isnot possible; it is just that Velocity isnot able to support an engine instal-lation kit for every conversion pack-age out there. Many of you ask usabout the Delta Hawk diesel engineand many of you purchased your kityears ago with the intention ofinstalling one of these engines. Ourcomments back then was to put in aLycoming and fly the airplane untilthe Delta Hawk is on the market. TheLycoming will hold value very welluntil the Delta Hawk is ready. Italked to Doug Doers of Delta Hawka couple days ago and he said theywill be flying the diesel poweredVelocity at Oshkosh this year. Wehope to support Doug by giving himspace at our booth to show to all theworld that he has done whatLycoming, Continental and othershave not been able to do. We wishDoug and his team well in this pur-suit.

I suppose it is only natural for manyof us homebuilders to look long andhard at those alternate engines anddream of flying on a fuel that the by-product is water and oxygen. Youcould then quench your thirst withthe water while breathing in thenewly produced oxygen at a cruisingaltitude of 18,000 feet doing 240miles per hour on a dollars worth ofhydrogen.

Velocity Views Renewals

Many of you have received a letterfrom me requesting that you renewyour subscription to the VelocityViews. I got a call from one of yousuggesting that the Views is nolonger necessary as he is getting theKPC from our web site. Please beadvised that not everything regard-ing the safe operation of your air-plane is part of KPC's. I ask you toread the Safety Corner articles as anexample. These will not be reprintedon the web site and if you are not asubscriber, you will not get thisinformation. One of my problems isthat those who have left their sub-scription lapse are not reading what I

am now saying. Perhaps this is areminder for the future. I can't imag-ine anyone building or flying aVelocity that would feel the fee forthis is too much even though I haveheard of many who have notrenewed just for this reason. It isinteresting to note that the peoplehere at Velocity spend well over 50hours an issue researching informa-tion and offering it to you in the writ-ten form. We give of this time freelyso you might be better informed.Velocity receives no kickbacks fromLavoie Graphics and pays LavoieGraphics the going rate for the firstyear subscriptions for new Velocitybuyers. Believe me when I tell youthat Rick Lavoie is not getting rich onpublishing the Views and it takes acertain number of mailings to justbreak even. Over 200 people failed torenew this year. If Rick gives this up,we will probably not be able to findanyone else willing to take the timeto do it at even twice the price.

Stolen Aircraft

Many of you have called askingabout our demo aircraft that wasstolen in early December. We havenot found the aircraft, but the author-ities are almost certain who it wasthat put together the theft. A word ofwarning should be issued here. Ifyour trying to sell your Velocity,don't allow anyone to talk you intoletting them fly the airplane awayfrom your home field unless you arein the airplane. The story goes likethis; "I will give you a deposit on theairplane if you will allow me to fly itto Tampa for my investors to look atand to do a pre-buy inspection." Youwill probably never see your airplaneagain. I can't mention names but if apotential buyer from the Tampa areacontacts you, give us a call and wewill notify the FBI who is handlingthis case. They, in turn will be intouch with you with instructions asto what to do.

•••

Visitvelocityaircraft.com



Safety CornerAccident & Incident Reports,Maintenance & Service Difficulties

Mt-PropellerService Notice

This note affects Velocity aircraftpowered by Lycoming 4-cylinderengines without a counterweightedcrankshaft, including the popularIO-360C1C (200hp) and IO-320-B1A(160hp) model engines. Be sure tocheck with your engine shop orLycoming to learn if your modelengine features a counterweightedcrank - or not. Again, this note isonly applicable to non-counter-weighted Lycoming engines.Counterweighted engines, such asthe IO-360C1E6, do not have arestricted rpm range.

Mt-Propeller has announced thefollowing rpm restrictions for allMTV-12-B (hydraulic) and MTV-18-B (electric) propellers that aremounted to non-counterweightedLycoming engines:Avoid Continuous Operationbetween 2250-2550; and above 2,650rpmBe sure to placard the aircraft andreference the Aircraft Limitationssection of the Operator’s Handbookto highlight this restriction.

Operators of MTV-12 or MTV-18propellers on non-counterweightedLycoming engines should check theleading edge of the propeller bladesfor possible signs of fatigue cracksthat run perpendicular to the blade.Please consult with Mt-Propeller orVelocity, Inc. if you suspect possibledamage to your propeller.

Mt-Propeller is performing addi-tional analysis to determine if a pro-peller dampener might mitigate theaffects of the stresses imposed bynon-counterweighted Lycomingengines on Mt- propellers.

••••

I have a good friend in Ohio who is acar dealer. Several years ago he andhis brother decided to add a motor-cycle dealership to their businesses.One of his long time friends decidedto purchase a motorcycle for his sonas a birthday present. Two weekslater, he had to go to the funeral ofthis young man who crashed thecycle and was killed. This event hadsuch a profound effect on him thathe sold the motorcycle business andvowed never to again place himselfin such a guilt complex situation.

I tell you this because of the effectlosing one of our builder/pilots hason me. A couple months ago we hada pilot killed in his Velocity near ourfacility here in Florida. He was agood man who I am sure loved hisfamily and they loved him. Howdoes one cope with these kinds oftragedy without loosing total interestin ever selling another airplane?Believe me it is not easy. I guess afirm belief in God and the knowl-edge that He is always in controlhelps, but is not always enough.Sometimes the circumstances helpsooth the pain, as I will try to explainin this case.

The airplane was partially built bythe owner and then turned over toothers to complete. Wiring, engineinstallation, panel work and the likewere handled by others. The air-plane had been flown about 10 hourswhen the owner showed up on aSaturday morning. His intentionswere to fly the airplane back home, atrip of about three hours. The personwho had flown off the first 10 hoursof the restrictions strongly recom-mended he wait until Monday andget some dual with our instructorand then spend several hours flyinglocally getting used to the airplaneand making sure all was ready for

his intended trip north. We under-stand the owner had not flown any-thing for about three years and hadlimited Velocity time prior to that.He said he had to get back home forsome meeting scheduled for Mondayand that a Saturday departure wasimperative. At about noon on thisSaturday he came into our shop andask if I could find the problem withhis Horizontal Situation Indicator, ashe could not rotate the CDI function.He also said his GPS was inoperativeand wanted to know if I could figureout why it didn't work. I suggestedhe not take any chances and waituntil the radio shop opened onMonday and have everythingchecked out and while he's waiting,pick up some dual with Nathan. Hetold me no, he had to get back homefor a meeting and wanted to know ifhe could borrow a hand held GPS ashe was concerned about flyingthrough the Florida airspace with allthe restricted areas and no VOR orGPS.

The two of us tried to keep him onthe ground but to no avail. Saturdayafternoon he departed a near-by air-port, retracted the gear and headednorthwest. A few minutes later hemade a left turn and reduced thepower. It was thought he was return-ing to the airport to land for someunknown reason. No radio contacthad been made. About 1/4 mile fromthe end of the runway, the airplanewas observed rolling inverted anddiving into the ground. Post accidentinvestigation revealed no apparentcontrol surface malfunctions and noobvious reason for this accident. Theindividual who had flown the air-plane the first 10 hours reported nocontrol problems during this phaseof flying. He did, however, offer afeasible answer as to why the air-

Annual Velocity Fly-in“The Williamsburg

Gathering”• September 18-21, 2003• Historic Colonial Williamsburg• See Scott Baker’s article page 4• Get latest details on:velocityaircraft.com


Flight Check!Be Safe!

Velocity Service Center Inc. offers flight training forbuilders/pilots to safely learn how to transition into flying aVelocity. Get a Flight Check Out prior to your first flight!Flight training is available from:• Nathan Rigaud, CFII• Brendan O’Riordan, CFII• Scott Baker,CFII

The following Flight Instructors have also been approved byAvemco Insurance:• Sam DaSilva - Seminole FL 727-595-6384• Mike Gunvordahl - Burke SD 605-775-2952• Mack Murphree - Dayton NV 775-246-9364• Manny Lewis - Scotia NY 518-399-8614

Don’t take a chance, get checked out prior to your first flight.Please note that you should be current in some other type of air-craft prior to your Velocity check out. The purpose of the “flightcheck” program is to transition you from flying other aircrafttypes (like a Cessna) to a canard pusher (Velocity).

Factory Authorized Insurance InspectorsPlease make note of these individuals:

Name - Location Home Phone / Work Phone

Brian Gallagher - Murrieta CA 909-461-9990 / 909-696-0160Barry Gibbons - Palmdale CA 661-273-7398Don Pearsall - Owasso OK 918-272-5551 / 918-474-2610Mike Pollock - Sachse TX 972-530-8400 / 972-728-2725Glenn Babcock - Tampa FL 813-677-2543 / 813-604-2637Wes Rose - Grand Rapids MI 616-772-7235 / 616-530-0255Jean Prudhomme - Boca Raton FL 954-559-4988Mack Murphree - Dayton NV 775-246-9364Gary Stull - Tampa FL 813-949-1297(Gary is an airline employee and can travel inexpensively)Mike Watson - Mt. Vernon NY, 914-699-3915 / 201-476-8231

plane would have rolled inverted.He said he observed the pilot set theportable GPS on the glare shield andit was his theory that it probably slidoff and under the pilot or co-pilotseat during the take-off. His attemptto find it could have resulted in atwisting body turn that would applyrudder pressure and thus the roll tothe inverted. This is exactly what isconcluded caused John Denver tocrash his Long Ez into the water.Rudder application at low speed isabout the only way we can get theVelocity to roll as was described byan eyewitness.

Regardless of what caused his crash,he is no longer with us and I feelemotional pain at his loss. I knowmany will say he should have beenmore careful and listened to adviseand that his actions should not forcea guilt trip on anyone associatedwith his loss. This is a whole lot easi-er for you to say than for me toaccept.

What I am trying to say to you is this;I cannot totally divorce myself fromwhat happens regardless of the rea-sons. It is up to all of you out there todo your absolute best in being pre-pared for every flight you take. Makesure the airplane is ready. Have youdone an adequate pre-flight? Makesure you are ready. Are you takingrisks regarding your health? Are youflight current? Are you pushing yourlimits regarding weather? Is the "gethome at any cost" going to get you introuble? If you can minimize therisks, you will have a much betterchance of reaching your destinationsafely. I'll sleep better knowing youdid.

Service CautionWater Ingestion

We have had two reports of waterinjection caused by water accumula-tion on the lower lip of the earlyXL's. On the early XL's. we supplieda surface

Safety CornerContinued from previous page

NACA duct that was installed on thelower cowling and supplied air to theengine mounted oil cooler and to thefuel servo. This duct has a lip on thelower edge that will hold water aftera wash job or after a rain. On thetake-off roll, the water is forced

directly into the fuel servo causingengine misfiring. It is important thatwater drain holes be drilled on thislip. Failure to do so could cause theengine to sputter or quit entirely.

••••



Those who fly composite aircraftshould have a healthy respect forthunderstorms and the prospects of“bad things happening” in the eventof a lightning strike. The Velocityaircraft design – as is the case withall composite kit aircraft manufac-turers – offers no safeguards againstpossible damage from a lightningstrike. For Velocity pilots, the bestprotection is to avoid flying in ornear thunderstorms – and the bestway to do this (besides refusing tofly in bad weather) is to have an in-cockpit display of where lightningstrikes are occurring relative to yourdirection of flight.

B.F.Goodrich and Insight are twocompanies that offer lightning detec-tion devices and displays for thegeneral aviation market. These sys-tems start in price from $4,300 forthe Insight Ultra Bright LED StrikeFinder Display unit – to $5,950 forthe remote mounted Goodrich WX-500 StormScope (more on this later)– and higher for more sophisticatedsystems such as the Goodrich WX-1000 Series with its own display thatis capable of showing traffic threatson the same CRT display. Velocity,Inc. is a dealer for both StormScopeand Strike Finder products.Both the StormScope and StrikeFinder units use a “hockey puck”shaped receiver antenna that mustbe mounted against a ground plane.To work properly, the antenna mustbe mounted in an area of the aircraftthat is free of electronic interference.To many installers, finding a “quiet”location for the antenna is thesupreme challenge. Avionics shopswill tell you that every aircraft is dif-ferent. An antenna location thatworks for one, may not work for theother (even amongst aircraft of thesame make and model). This is whymost shops perform an operationcall “skin mapping” to locate thebest antenna location. Skin mapping

by Scott Baker

Installing StormScope andStrikeFinder antennas inVelocity aircraft

involves the waving of a portablesensing device over the aircraft wingand fuselage surfaces to determinethe presence and severity of electron-ic noise. Technicians confess thatthere is a certain “Black Magic” ele-ment to all of this – in that theresometimes is no scientific reasonwhy one spot of an aircraft wouldturn up “suitable” for the antenna;and others, not.

The dilemma facing Velocitybuilders is this: should you guess thebest antenna location and install theantenna ground plane, mount, androute the antenna cable during con-struction – or wait to determine theantenna location through the use ofskin mapping after the aircraft isbuilt, making the job of installing theground plane and routing the anten-na cable much more difficult?The good news is that we haveinstalled several StormScope andStrike Finder antenna installations inboth Velocity SE and Velocity XLmodels – and have found a set loca-tion on the left main wing that (forevery installation so far) has beenworking well. The antenna is mount-ed on the underside of the left mainwing, just forward of the main sparand over the pre-formed channel inthe foam (see diagram). It is impor-tant that the antenna be oriented asper the manufacturers instructions(parallel to the line of flight).The ground plane is made of perfo-rated wire mesh (available throughVelocity, Inc.) and measures 10square feet in area. The antenna doesnot need to be centered on theground plane in order to work effec-tively. The diagram shows what wehave done ref: the positioning of theground plane.The installation procedure goes likethis:Locate the center mounting positionof the antenna (make sure it is cen-tered over the pre-formed channel in

the foam).Remove wing foam as needed toembed the base of the antenna mountPosition the base of the antennamount so that it is flush with the sur-face of the foam, and aligned withthe direction of flight.Position 4-each pieces of maskingtape – approximately 3/8” diameter(round in shape) – over the baseplate. These will later serve as cutoutguides to achieve a grounding bondbetween the wire mesh and theantenna base plate.Prepare the foam to receive Triaxaccording to the VelocityConstruction ManualPerform skin lay-up as instructedand let cure.Notice that depression in the wingsurface at the wing spar caps. Fill-inthis depression with micro so that thewing surface forms a consistentplane. Let the micro cure.Using a razor or Exacto-knife, cutand remove the Triax that overlapsthe masking tape that was previouslypositioned over the antenna baseplate. Remove the masking tape andsand away epoxy residue that mightbe present on the exposed areas ofthe base plate.Trial fit the layout of the wire mesh(see sketch)Rough scratch the surface area of theTriax that will be under the wiremesh, plus about a 4” border.Remove dust and wipe the surfaceclean before proceeding to the nextstep.Apply a thin layer of Cabosil mix tohelp adhere the mesh to the wingsurface. Be careful not to apply Caboor epoxy over the 4 spots on theantenna base plate.The wire mesh must be bonded to the



AntennasContinued from previous page

antenna base plate to complete theground plane. Addressing the 4spots over the antenna base plate,drill a 1/8th inch hole through thewire mesh and then through baseplate. Install 4 pop rivets (1/8th inchdiameter) to fasten the wire mesh tothe antenna base plate.Apply a layer of 3 oz fine bid overthe top of the mesh – overlap theedges by about 3” – wet the layoutwith epoxy – and cover with peel-ply.Cover the wetted area with a thinlayer of Lexan or Plexiglas and posi-tion weights as needed to hold downthe mesh. Let cure.Using an awl, puncture holesthrough the skin and mesh to locatethe antenna mounting screw holesand the center hole for the antennacable.When filling and sanding the wings,it might be easier to locate a tooth-pick in the holes during the“schmooie” process – than it is tocover everything up and try to findthe holes later.Once the wings are filled, sanded,and primed – clean out the holes forthe antenna mounting screws andenlarge the center hole for the anten-na.Fish the antenna cable from theantenna location through the channeland into the wing strake area.Both B.F. Goodrich and Insight rec-ommend against splicing the antennawires. Since the antenna lead is hard-wired into the StormScope receiver,and the lead to the Strike Finderreaches all the way to the instrumentpanel – there is no easy way toremove the cable once it is installed.Therefore, if you want removablewings, there is no other option but tohave a quick disconnect fitting wiredinto the antenna cable.Spicing and installing a quick-dis-connect coupler is not a simple task.This operation needs to be done by aprofessional avionics shop. The sameholds true for the wiring of theStormScope or Strike Finder system.


AntennasContinued from previous page

You have the option of sending theantenna wire to Velocity for theinstallation of a quick-disconnect fit-ting. To do so, loop the antenna wirethrough the bottom bolt access holeto allow a 12-inch service loop. Cutthe wire into two pieces. Send bothpieces to Velocity, Inc. in Sebastian,FL. The current cost for the discon-nect hardware and labor is $300.(Please don’t ruin the performanceof a $5,000 system by trying to splicethis wire on your own).The installation of a metal groundplane necessitates moving the NAVantenna that would normally bepositioned in this area of the wing.We suggest relocating the NAVantenna to the other wing, position-ing the two NAV antennas in thelocations shown in the sketch.

Customers can order this customservice option when orderingFastbuild Wings from the factory.The cost runs $600 and includes thewire mesh, the installation of theantenna base plate and ground plane(as described above) and the quickdisconnect feature to the antennacable. The price does not include theactual cost of the StormScope orStrike Finder, antenna, antenna baseplate, or the antenna cable.

••••

Electric Buzz...by Wayne Lanza

In this issue of the 'Views, I'd like tomention a couple of tid bits regard-ing wiring andnew electrical stuff. I get a lot ofinquiries regarding wiring as you'dexpect but there are a lot of questionsthat I can not and should not beanswering. OK now don't get mad atme yet, let me finish... I am a contrac-tor at Velocity and have one of thebest jobs in the world! As this con-tractor deal goes I will honestlycharge Velocity for my time support-ing certain products sold by Velocity,many are designed and build by mycompany (Composite Design, Inc).BUT when questions come up like"How do I wire the B&C alternatorand regulator?" or "How do I wiremy intercom?" and the all timefavorite "If I buy the harness, howmany feet of wire will I need to fin-ish?" The answer is the same, I don'tknow... Hate to sound like a jerk butI really can't help with these types ofquestions. Off the soap box now,back to useful information... As youmay recall from some of my earlierarticles, I am adamant when it comesto using proper tools for wiring youraircraft. Crimping and wire strippingtools need to be adequate to ensure areliable electrical system. So aftermuch though and reflection andfinding my Techni-Tool catalog, I'dlike to recommend the followingtools. I am recommending tools Continued on next page

made by IDEAL, they are a greatcompany and I have used their toolsfor many years. You can contactTechni-Tool at 800-832-4866, 8AM-5PM EST.

For a wire stripper order (Techni-Tool) catalog number 462ST034, costabout $30. This has the most usedblades - strips 16-26 gauge wire. Thecrimping tool is catalog number is462ST500, this includes the crimpingframe and dies for crimping red,blue & yellow terminals (22-10gauge wire), about $60. The nice partabout this tool is that the dies can bechanged for different operations. Soif you will be doing your own coaxprep order die# 462PA581, about$24. A useful tool for stripping coaxis catalog# 618TE255, ~$16.

As with the stripper, crimper andcoax stripper the tools are alldesigned for the wires and terminalsto go in one way. For example, thecrimping tool die does a doublecrimp operation on insulated ringterminals. On the die you will seethree dots - red, blue and yellow.The dots tell you the color of termi-nal for that die and that is the sidewhere the wire goes into the termi-nal. Do not put the terminals inbackwards!

Now for some really cool high techengine development news, I'd like toextend a copy of my report on theContinental 550 / Aerosance FADECproject.

The FADEC concept from Aerosancehas been well thought out but wehad several problems with thecabling and interface hardware thathad to be resolved. I have an exten-sive electronic background and feelthat without this experience wewould still be trying to get thingsright. The president of Aerosanceworked with me for several daysand we got most of the detailscleaned up, he was very knowledge-able and a pleasant fellow to workwith. Engine start was uneventfulwith all systems nominal... The nexttask was to get the information to

We need your inputfor this newsletter tobe a success!

• Builder Forum Input• First Flight Photos• First Flight Stories• Velocity Flying Adventures• Velocity Fly-in Suggestions

PLEASE!Send your photos / stories toRick Lavoie for the nextnewsletter!


CFI Notamsby Nathan Rigaud, CFII

Too Cocky for his own good

We had a Velocity owner and hisCFI, lets call him Dick, come toVelocity last week for a visit. Dick,his CFI, was going to fly theVelocity back home for the owner.They both came into the ServiceCenter and talked to me about get-ting some flight training for Dickbefore he flew the airplane home.The only problem was the Velocitytrainer was down for maintenancefor a short period of time and notable to be flown. Also, there was nophone call to schedule flight train-ing for Dick so we had nothingplanned. They asked me about flighttraining in his airplane, but I do notdo that for a number of reasons.

We talked a few more minutes andthen the owner and Dick left. A cou-ple of days later, Dick shows up andstarts talking with some of the otherbuilders in the service center asking

general questions about Velocitiesand about the airport procedures.Well, Dick decides to start the air-plane up, and proceeded to taxi toget some gas. After filling up withgas and checking out the local air-port, he decides to taxi out to therunway and do some high-speedtaxis to get the “feel” of the Velocity.After a short run down the runway,the Velocity became airborne andwent about seven feet into the air.Dick now realizes that he is flyingand decides to cut the power andland back on the runway beforegoing any further into this flight.Dick cuts the power, and what hap-pens, you guessed it, the nose comesup and the canard stalls and Dickcomes down like a ton of bricks. AsDick hit the runway, the left mainand the nose wheel broke off andcame to a stop in the grass at the endof the runway. Dick probably nowrealizes that he should have waitedand received some of that flighttraining that we talked about a fewdays before. After getting the air-plane on a trailer and back at theshop, more damage was found. Theprop had both blade tips missing, theleft winglet and rudder were dam-aged, and the belly had some dam-age.

Even though Dick has his CFI andhas flown other types of airplanes,this airplane handles a little differentand requires some flight instruction.

If you are planning to do only a run-way taxi test, then be ready to fly.Anytime you put an airplane on arunway, you should be ready to flythat airplane. Be prepared that whenthe plane becomes airborne, youhave everything ready to fly it safelyand able to get the airplane on theground in one piece. Something assmall as putting your seatbelt on, ormaking sure you have enough gas,or the biggest question, do I have theability to fly this airplane?

Don’t be a Dick; get proper instruc-tion before flying any airplane.Thanks Dick for teaching us anotherlesson on what not to do.

••••

Electric BuzzContinued from previous page

the Blue Mountain system. GregRichter made the scene and did agreat job of getting the software towork but in the process we found acouple of more minor problems withthe Aerosance hardware interface. Iwas able to remedy these issues andwhen Greg left we were about 100%.

Bottom Line: Aerosance has done agood job of design but has somedetails to address for an experimen-tal installation. This is not a negativetowards Aerosance, there were a lotof variables unknown to themregarding this installation. Now weknow & are in the process of imple-menting a redesign of problemissues. * Instrumentation is some-thing that needs consideration. TheBlue Mountain works but if you arenot using their system your optionsstart getting limited. Standard offthe shelf engine instruments cannotbe used with this system! Most of theprobes are part of the FADEC pack-age, they are pre installed and godirectly to the ECU modules.Engine data is only available via aserial data source.

Plans:Composite Design is involved withAerosance in an effort to redesign thecabling and interface hardware forFADEC installation kits that will beused in experimental aircraft. Myobjectives are to basically get thingsto a true plug and play format. Thiswill reduce installation time, confu-sion, and possibility of error, whileallowing the cabling and sub sys-tems to be tested and documented byAerosance. It will also make troubleshooting a lot easier as more of thesystem is standardized. To get thisstuff to work properly from one typeof A/C to another is at times a chal-lenge. * I am the U.S. rep for Digifly,and old Italian company that manu-factures electronic flight informa-tion systems. Their new fms100 EFISsystem is a really nice solution thatwhen coupled with their AHRS andengine module can replace every-thing in the panel, except radios.

We are in the process of modifyingan fms100 display to operate as anengine data display that will directlyinterface with the FADEC. Thiscould go as an OEM product throughAerosance if all goes as planned...

Comments:If you feel that the FADEC will bene-fit your flying needs then I'd recom-mend the Aerosance systems with-out reservation.I'm not too keen on using the VisionMicro System / FADEC for enginedata. I have "picked up some badvibes" regarding this solution.

••••



BuildersForum

Builders Forum is full of tips, information and letters (“material”) supplied toVelocity Views Newsletter from individuals that are Velocity builders (or want to bebuilders). It is provided as “USE AT YOUR OWN RISK” material. NeitherVelocity Inc. (The Velocity Factory) nor Velocity Views Newsletter (Lavoie Graphics& Rick Lavoie) have endorsed this material, and disclaim any liability for the use ofthis material. Individuals who use this material for the operation, maintenance, orconstruction of their homebuilt aircraft do so at their own discretion and at theirown risk. Any variance from the builders manual is high risk.

New prop, new airplaneby Gilles Gratton of Embrun Ontario

Once upon a time when I took myfirst flying lessons back in 1978, Ilooked upon airplanes as complicat-ed machines made up of intricateparts and pieces put together bygeniuses and mechanical wizardsin big factories probably in a foreigncountry. As I became more and morefamiliar with the Aeroncas , Cessnasand Pipers at the local airport, I soonrealized that yes they were intricateand complicated but neverthelessthey were the products of humaningenuity and they were necessarilyassembled by ordinary humanbeings. In any case, I would leavethe building of airplanes to the fac-tory people. When a friend of minetold me that he was building hisown plane, I thought that he mustsurely be out of his mind; whywould he trust something not builtin a factory by qualified persons.

Then in 1988 I acquired an AeroncaChief that needed a new fabric job.I embarqued upon this project withthe help of a friend who had previ-ous experience with fabric covering.This really convinced me that air-planes were not such a mysteriouspiece of equipment and that anyreasonable person with reasonableskills could work on them as long asone is patient, precise and particu-lar. This rebuilding project turnedinto a masterpiece, the envy of fel-low pilots at local fly-ins and even atOshkosh in 1994. This successwould lead me to more interestingprojects.

My friend Nigel Field, flying hisown Vari-Eze, challenged my skillsagain by suggesting that I shouldbuild my own airplane. I had previ-ous experience working with fiber-

glass, building veterinary mobileunits and contracting fiberglass partsand molds for Clarkson University’sSolar Car Team which my son wasleading while doing his mastersdegree. I had been dreaming ofowning a Velocity, my wife agreedwith the project, my son and daugh-ter-in-law (both mechanical engi-neers ) volunteered to help. So theproject got under way and two andone half year later, I conducted myfirst flight on the Velocity LWFG, C-GDOU.

Meanwhile during the Velocity con-struction, I was looking for the idealprop that would propel my airshipwhich was to be powered by aFranklin engine. My friend Nigelsurfaced again telling me that if Icould build an airplane, I could builda propeller. (He had already builtthree different ones for his Vari-Eze) .He promised to coach me in theprocess. The challenge was on. Myson Mathieu, the engineer, took care


of the designing. After two monthsof wood carving , blade aligning,fiberglassing and sanding, I came upwith a usable prop. We used DonBates’ optimizing program fordesigning and Nigel’s own construc-tion technique. It’s basically a threeblade prop, 67 in. diameter and atrue pitch of 73. The blades arecarved out of laminated pine and areheld together on a carbon fiber hubusing E glass spars inserted ingrooves under the fiberglass skin. Acarbon fiber tip allows to obtain athin airfoil at the tip while at thesame time being very strong.Glassing consists basically of inter-secting layers of uni glass on theblades covered by multiple intersect-ing layers of bid glass on the hub.Balancing and tracking of each bladeis especially important throughoutthe construction process. Final bal-ancing is done on a ball bearing spin-dle during the finishing and paint-ing process.

This prop turned out to be very goodon the Velocity. Performances wereacceptable and the price was right(total cost of material was aroundone hundred dollars (100$). But afterflying it for about100 hrs I now real-ized that this prop was not quitewhat I needed to get the Velocity outof the 2500 feet grass strip that I wasusing as home base. Even afterremoving the cuffs on my elevators,take-offs on grass were sluggish, notto mention darn dangerous on ashort strip with obstacles at bothends. I was not getting maximumpower out of the Franklin enginesince the most I could get on take-offwas 2475 rpm. (Nigel had warnedme that the first one would not beright for my plane even if I had pur-chased an expensive fixed pitchprop from conventional sources).

So back to the drawing board. Aftergetting an update from Don Bates’program, Mathieu configuredanother prop with better take offperformance. Figures spewed out bythe program indicated that I couldget 2800 rpm out of a 67 in. propwith a true pitch of 68. We optedfor scimitar blades, hoping to

achieve a self-induced variable pitcheffect on take off. (If nothing else, itcertainly would look different thananything else on the market today.)Isn’t that one of the objective ofexperimental building? Scimitarblades are not part of Don Bates’options but were Mathieu’s own con-tribution to the design. So anotherfew months of carving, glassing andfinishing and the Velocity becameairborne in less than 1000 feet on thegrass strip. Whow! now that’s a dif-ferent airplane. Now turning at 2775rpm on take off, the Franklin is nowvery well matched to this new acces-sory. And I really like the feeling ofbeing pushed back into my seat asthe Velocity accelerates. And thosegrain bins at the end of the runwaylook a lot better from 900 feet up.OK, I did sacrifice 10 knots in cruise,but I still get there ahead of everyonein the local flying club. If you thinkyour Velocity makes heads turn on aramp, wait till’ you run it with ascimitar prop that is one of a kind.

Oh, I forgot to mention that this sec-ond prop set me back for another100$. Maybe if I save enough, some-day I will be able to afford a variablepitch prop to recover those bygoneknots in cruise

••••

N713MR FIRST FLIGHTby Ronnie Brown of CORNELIUS NC

March 4th was a perfect weatherday, high clouds and very littlewind, my Velocity 173 Elite RGmade its maiden flight lasting 40minutes.

It was a chilly 40 degrees when I gotto the airport at 9:00 am, but theexcitement was building and some-how it didnít feel that cold at LincolnCounty, NC. We followed the firstflight plans developed by DaleEnsing, our EAA Chapter 309ís(Charlotte, NC) flight advisor andmyself. Dale had just completed theEAA/SportAir FA class at Lakeland.We had a ground crew recordingdata via the flight test frequency123.45, three folks in a pick up truckand large fire extinguisher, and an

RV6A chase plane with pilot andobserver. And a bunch of folks tak-ing pictures and videos. I had keptmy planning for the first flight prettyquiet, only inviting the flight advisor,his assistant, and two folks in thechase plane. Somehow the word hadgotten out and the audience hadgrown to over a dozen people. But,no problem, I had rehearsed, I wasfocused, and tried to keep my mindon the task at hand.

When I got to the airport at DaleEnsing had just arrived. We went tothe plane and took the cover off. Ibriefed him on how to open the nosehatch to disconnect the battery, howto unlock and open the pilotís doorusing the key, where the masterswitch and emergency fuel shutoffvalves were. I also had chosen run-way 23 since there were better emer-gency fields to the south and west.Then the Andy and John arrived inthe RV6A, Howard and Don Sink inhis 172, John Schroeder and Ron Szotin a 172, Jim Schnicker in his recentlyfinished Wittman Tailwind, then mywife, Mott and son-in-law Jerrydrove up. Then my dadís deaf friendwho loves flying and had been track-ing my construction project for thelast two years and taking great digi-tal photos, arrived to take pictures.Then there was Ron Archer, who hadjust completed a RV6, offered his hel-met, parachute, fireproof jump suit,fire extinguisher, - wow! I took himup on the helmet and fire extinguish-er. I already had cotton clothes onand a heavy leather jacket. But KentAshton and his newly finished CozyIV hadnít shown up. We decided togo ahead without Kent. (Later hecalled to say he couldnít get hisengine cranked ñ his primer lineshad plugged up).

Dale conducted a preflight briefing,assignments were made, emergencycrash fields were discussed, and theground crew were shown the air-planeís emergency features. I decid-ed that since it was a bit chilly, Iwould make one high speed taxi testbefore the first flight. Andy and Johntook off in the RV6A after I took the



Builders ForumContinued from previous page

runway, ran the power up to fullthrottle, held for about 30 secondsand then released the brakes for atrial run up to 60 knots and liftingthe nose a bit. Engine is runningsmooth and strong, although onlygetting 2200 rpm due to the highlypitched Catto prop (66î dia x 72îpitch). I let it coast to the other end ofLincolntonís 5500í runway, then tax-ied back for the take off. By now,Andy was up at 2000í on a rightdownwind.

I then took the runway, nervouslyadding full power. A touch of rightbrake and here we go! The Velocitywith its new VGís but in roughprimer, rotated well before my 1500ítake off abort limit. (The factorytrainer that I flew in December withNathan was a 173 with VG's and itflew GREAT so I had to do mine thesame way.) Dale asked what myrotation speed had been, I utteredìUh, I donít know, I didnít have timeto notice!î. But she rotated easily,wings level and gained speed to 100knots and I began a slow left turn tocrosswind at 500í. Wow, it flies!!!!Andy flew across the airport andcaught me on downwind andannounced that everything lookedgreat ñ no smoke, no fluids and noparts falling off. I continued theclimb up to 3000’ (2100’ AGL)reduced power to about 2200 rpm(the most I saw was 2310), to reducethe speed to 130 knots as I leveled offñ not bad for the gear hanging out.The head temperatures had gottenup to 344 degrees on the climb butthe oil never got over 200. Thesedropped to 320 and 190 after I lev-eled off. I decided to get it trimmedand see if I had a heavy wing. Sureenough, it started a slow turn to theright. Ah, ok, not too bad, maybe oneshim. But wait, letís try the ailerontrim. Tap left, once, twice, three shortones. All right, it is flying straightnow!!!! I asked Andy to close up andcheck my ailerons. Andy reports theyare straight. Wow. After three yearsof building strakes, checking inci-dences, leveling fuselage, leveling

wings, and checking incidences, itflies straight! I never was so lucky onany of my RC models. Invariably, allmy wooden wings seemed to take ona bit of twist after all the constructionwas done and the wings were cov-ered.

I flew a race track pattern over theairport at 3000 feet MSL for 20 min-utes checking temperatures, flows,pressures, and air speeds. Makinggentle turns left and right, checkingrudders (pretty stiff at 130 knots).Everything was in the green andworking great. I was even gettingcomfortable, then it came to an end.Its time to start working on the num-ber one objective, getting this hunkof fiberglass back on the ground safe-ly with wings, wheels and me intact!I slowed to 110 knots, called out datato the ground crew, then to 90, 80,and 70. Still no pitch buck but thenose sure is getting high. With myhelmet limiting how high I can lookover the glare shield, I start gettingeven more nervous but I pressed on,pulling back and trimming, finallyfeeling a bit of buck at 65 knots. Ok,power back up, and climb back to3000í.

After a lap or two trying to decidewhich runway to land on, we chose23 ñ winds were still light and vari-able. I got to midfield, and startedthe 1000í above the airport practice

approach and did my GUMP check.Then powered back to 1200 rpm,started a 500 feet per minute descent,turned base and final slowing to 70knots 1000’ above the runway. Feelspretty good, add power and turnback to the downwind still at 1000AGL. Checked GUMP again, slowedto 100 knots, turned base, but myfinal was wide, high and Iím still at100 knots. I decided early on finalthat this wasnít going to be a goodone, announced my intentions that Iwould do a go around after gettingdown to 100-200 feet. Add power andback up to the downwind.

This time, I announced that I wouldmake the down wind wider sincewhat wind there was, was pushingme to the left. After I turned base,Andy and John were above me say-ing I looked awfully low, doing aworm burner approach. I checked theVASI lights and announce that I havetwo white lights and therefore I wasabove the glide slope. Hmm, 90 knotsand a bit high, I pull the power downto about 1000 rpm, and here comesthe red light, right on the glide slope.Now Iím down to 80 knots and Iannounce this one is looking good,Iím going to put it down this time.Down to the numbers, pull the noseup and just above the asphalt, lettingit slow down and kerplunk, and

Ronnie Brown and wife Mott, just after shutting the engine down after the first flight.



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Builders HOT LINEPlease remember that on weekendsand after hours, we do not answerthe 561-589-1860 phone number.Our unlisted builders hot line is561-589-0309 and, if we are here,this is the only number we willanswer.

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Builders ForumContinued from previous page

whiff of tire smoke, and no bounces,a GREAT landing (probably the bestI'll ever make!). After coasting to theother end, I released my death gripon the control stick. WOW. What agreat flying airplane!!!

I taxi back, thumbs up everywhereand I popped the door open. Mottcomes up and gives me a big hugand kiss after I got the helmet off ñjust like a NASCAR driver. Then Iclimbed out, lots of big grins, andhand shakes and atta-boys. What afantastic first flight in an unbeliev-ably great flying machine, everythingworked just like it was supposed to.Plan the flight, fly the plan, just likein the Flight Advisorís work book!

And THANKS to the folks atVelocity, Inc.; ALL of you on theReflector; and my great friend JimWhite who pushed me over the edge!Oh, and Steve Korney who has beena great long distance friend aftermeeting him at Oshkosh in 1998.And you too Rob!

••••

Matco W600 Brakes as newUsed only 6 landings. Also 2 XLsize wheels & bearings Cost $1000Will accept $250 send eMail to:[email protected]

Velocity Viewsis published Quarterly by:

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Velocity Views newsletter ispublished by Rick Lavoie / LavoieGraphics as an agent for VelocityInc. (the factory). Prior to printing,the factory reviews each volumepublished for accuracy.

Velocity Views newsletter mate-rial has been supplied voluntarilyfrom the Velocity Factory,Builders, & Vendors. This materialis printed for informational pur-poses only. Opinions expressed arethose of the author. LavoieGraphics & Rick Lavoie do notendorse and are not liable for thecontents of such material. Use ofthis material is at your own risk.Any variance from the factoryplans is a high risk endeavor. Anycontemplated modificationsshould be reviewed and approvedby Velocity Inc.

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