.....Takeoff distances at 450 lb weight and
1000 foot density altitude average 600 feet, and the landing rollout is even
shorter.
.....Tom Jewett made a trip to Canada in August
to coordinate the effort and to obtain a first hand look at the typical airport
in Canada. He reports them to be similar to U.S. grass airports, except that
some of the Canadian strips are âclumpyâ.
.....Donât write QAC or Garry for information.
There is still some testing remaining. We plan to release a set of plans and
parts list for the modified wheel pants sometime around Christmas. The modified
pants are retrofittable to any Quickie - after all, Garry had to cut his old
ones off to install the test ones!
.....Three other comments; Garry reports that the
new wheel pants reduce his maximum speed by 2 m.p.h., he reports that even on
grass, the revised brakes are strong enough to raise the tailwheel, and that
the modified pants weigh only 5 lb more than the stock set.
QUICKIE RECORDS?
.....We reported in the July issue of this newsletter
that we had petitioned the National Aeronautics Association (NAA) for setting
up a new international weight class for records of 0 - 550 lb gross weight.
.....We learned last month that the NAA has Set
up a national 550 lb class. Since it may take 1 to 2 years for the international
550 lb record class to be approved, we are going to concentrate on the national
class.
THE FUTURE OF N77Q
.....At Oshkosh this year, the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) asked us to consider donating N77Q to the EAA for display at the museum. They indicated that they were working with the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. trying to put together a display of homebuilts for the national museum, and that they would very much like 77Q for that honor.
.....As a result of that conversation, plus some thinking on our part, we have decided to build a second Quickie this winter. As our builders have discovered, there is a significant performance improvement possible with careful attention to details.
.....Another reason for building a second aircraft
is that we are getting embarrassed by how much better the homebuilt Quickies
perform compared to 77Q. On the other hand, 77Q is the prototype, and prototypes
should never perform as well as the homebuilt versions, unless the manufacturer
fudges the brochure data, which we did not do.
.....Our current thinking is that we will use 77Q
for several record attempts in 1980 before donating it to the EAA, and then use
our second Quickie for some further attempts late next sumeer.
QAC STAFF
.....Julia Flores â Julia is our office manager. She is the person to call with questions about shipment dates and backorders, as well as for general information.
.....Gary Morris - Gary is our shop supervisor. He has over 8 years experience with sandwich composite Structures.
.....David Hosh - David recently joined QAC after
working at the Edwards Air Force Base Flight Test Center. More than likely, when
he is not in the shop building things, he is packing boxes for Quickie Kits.
.....Gene Sheehan & Tom Jewett - These two guys
handle homebuilder support, design, development, and anything else that needs
to get done.
.....In the next newsletter we promise to show you
some pictures of this motley crew, so that at least you know who it is your talking
to on the other end of the phone. Also, on the first page, please note the days
and times dedicated for builder support; it might save you calling when Tom
and Gene are out of the office.
ENGINE MODIFICATIONS
.....Testing continues on the âbolt-onâ modifications to the Onan engine mentioned in the April, 1979 Quickie Newsletter. Our goal is 23 h.p.
.....Over 200 hours of testing has been completed
on the modified cylinder heads, and we are close to a production decision on
those. Although several different carburetors have been tried, none thus far
has given us the increment in performance necessary to warrant a change from
the stock system. The tuned exhaust has been made, but not tested on the aircraft
yet.
.....The Kevlar engine mount has been on N77Q for about 125 hours and has proven to significantly reduce the already acceptable vibration level.
.....During October, we will be testing these modifications and others on a dyno. We do not expect decisions on availability and price until December.
.....Please donât call and ask for information;
that only slows down our work. Also, we again emphasize that we are experimenting
only with modifications that are adaptable to a stock Quickie Engine. We are
not busy in the back room trying to obsolete the standard engine that you may
have already bought, or are about to buy. Further, current thinking is that 20-25
hours of running will be recommended before installing any of the new pieces.
Therefore, do not expect the kit to be a factory installed option; rather, the
homebuilder can install it after he has carefully broken in his engine.
.....A couple of builders have decided to do their
own mods to their engines. We wish them well, but cannot, of course, support
them if they run into problems. As an example of what weâre talking about, consider
the following: at least one builder has âportedâ his engine. As any serious engine
builder will testify, proper porting requires a flow bench to determine what
is going on inside the engine. We have determined that some normal porting techniques
actually reduce the Onanâs horsepower: As a second example, the revised cylinder
heads require a careful torque schedule and gasket sealant to prevent loss of
power and hard starting characteristics.
COMPOSITE MATERIALS INTRODUCTORY KIT
CAN I BUILD A COMPOSITE AIRCRAFT?
WILL I ENJOY WORKING WITH GLASS & FOAM?
IS MY WORKMANSHIP ADEQUATE TO BUILD A QUICKIE?
WHAT ARE THE TECHNIQUES USED IN THE QUICKIE CONSTRUCTION?
.....There is now available an introductory kit to answer these questions for you. The kit consists of a book and sample materials, or the book can be purchased separately. The book, âMoldless
Composite Sandwich Homebuilt Aircraft Constructionâ, consists of 26, llxl7 pages (equal to 52 pages) describing how the material is applied, education on the materials, tools required, inspection and repair methods. Sample materials include: epoxy, microspheres, f lox, peel ply, wire for hotwire saw, etc.
.....The book is $14.50, and is available free us.
.....The kit (book and materials) is $45.50 and is also available from us. California residents please add 6% sales tax.
QUICKIE CONSTRUCTION PLANS
.....At the 1978 Oshkosh, Wisconsin flyin,
we had several sets of Quickie Construction Plans available for visitors to examine. In addition, individuals
are welcome to visit our Mojave, California facility and study the plans there.
.....However, many visitors at Oshkosh wanted the
opportunity to examine the Quickie Construction Plans at length in the privacy
of their own homes. This is understandable and we have decided upon the following
arrangement to facillitate this: The Quickie Construction Plans are available
for $150. Purchasers of the plans will be entitled to a $150, discount on the
purchase price of the Quickie Aircraft Kit.
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