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QuickTalk 30 - QUICKIE HINTS

From Dick Pettit, Circleville, OH

My Quickie flying continues to be fun, but it would be nice to have a little more power. This summer I installed a Great American prop to replace the Cowley that had started to show some delamination. Builders should watch this closely. The Great American is a much better made prop, but I didn't notice any performance gain. I also found a loss of compression in one cylinder and so I replaced all the valves. I was pleased to find no loss of torque on the 20 hp head bolts, so that mod with the graphite gaskets must be doing the job. However, I've never had a serious cooling problem with the engine. I avoid flying on unusually hot days, not only for the engine's sake, but for me - it gets hot under the canopy and every builder should strive for the most ventilation possible.

By the way, what is the status of your Quickie? Keep us posted.

ED. NOTE: Sorry you asked. After my aborted attempt to be ready for OSH '85, I got back on the plane the middle of that August to find it ran rough above 2800 and maxed out at 2900. I'm a 200 lb fella and so I ain't gonna fly it until I have the 3150 static that I had throughout my previous 42 hours. I cleaned the carb, took it to Onan for advice, changed valve and seat, changed float - no workee. Norm Howell loaned me his carb and it gave 3100 revs but put out lots of black smoke at idle even with the needle valve shut off. I'm a rank amateur at engine work - even cowardly. I pulled the heads and found evidence of blowby and crudded up valve seats. Howell had the valves re-ground for me but I had to lap the seats, hadn't ever done that before and so I stopped until I could get help. Meanwhile I got hot and bothered about flying Giles' Global Quickie and I ignored mine for months. This fall I moved mine into Robert Herd's hangar hopefully to inspire him to finish his and me to fix mine. Over Thanksgiving, my Dad, a retired Pan Am mechanic visited from Fla. and taught me about valves. Some further carb work and maybe I'll get some flight time in while the air is cold for awhile.


Incidentally, Bob Giles has finally won his Private Pilot's license and is happily terrorizing his countryside in his GLOBAL QUICKIE instead of watching me do it in his plane...with no ground control problems, I might add.


From Charles Lipke, N84CL

Good news! First flight of Quickie SN 335 occurred on 10-27-85 at 22:08 Zulu, 4:08 CST. I tried to do everything suggested by QBA and QBA members. As a result, the first flight turned out to be a step-by-step process (small steps). Therefore the risks were greatly minimized. Bottom line was that the plane flies great and plane and pilot both survived without broken body parts. I have logged 2.5 hrs. and 11 landings so far. Having flown I now regret not working on the project more religiously I now recognize all the fun I've been missing.

My credentials: I am a 33 year old, low time (100 hrs) pilot with skills that never impressed me, but somehow I have succeeded. I ordered my kit in Dec., '79 and found that for me the worse part of the project was when coming to the end after 6 years of putzing and almost no flying I was somewhat scared. After all, reading some of the letters etc. had me convinced that if I didn't have everything just right it would be gloom and doom.

I got my local instructor to agree to build up my confidence in a Taylorcraft. He and I had done some slow taxiing in the Quickie and he read some of the QUICKTALKS and the QAC info to help in my training. After 5 hrs, 50 landings, numerous aborted takeoffs and even more takeoffs with partial power (1600 rpms), I felt pretty good. With a fresh biannual and very recent tailwheel experience, I figured it was time for some high speed testing. Things got interesting above 40 mph. I had already explored the aileron steering at low speeds and the effects of not having the stick full back at 40 mph, so the transition was natural. I was slowly approaching 50 into the wind with comfort, so I switched to the crosswind runway. With the 10 kt. wind I suddenly noticed the main gear sliding slightly sideways. I switched runways back into the wind. The next half hour was a turning point for me. I learned that, yes, in fact, it will fly, control was good and there was plenty of power. Over the next one and a half days I completed 10-15 runway flights, first just bouncing along, then 6 inches, then 2 feet and so on until I felt comfortable lifting off, letting the tail rise slightly, then gently easing off the power and settling back down, stick full back. Most of this was done with only 2500 rpm so things would happen a little slower. It worked!

By now, the guys in the tower were convinced that the FAA must require 10 or 20 hours of ground testing. Not so, but all that ground time paid off. I felt very comfortable maneuvering either on the ground or close to it.

So what was left? The next afternoon we gathered a few souls, the wife and kids (camera crew) and headed for the field. Winds calm, 70 degrees and blue skies, everything just right. One more runway flight at 2500 rpm and then I was off. I was really nervous. After leveling off at 3000', I throttled back for a 70-80 mph glide and the engine seemed to start missing. Throttle up and it went away. I thought I had checked everything. I decided to land while it was still running. Landing was great!

After several days of checking everything, I went up for flight 2 and realized that the engine wasn't missing but that the vibrations changed at about 2000 rpm. I wasn't very observant on that first flight. Seems like a good reason to keep it short.

The performance pleases me much more than I had anticipated after reading all the low power, slow climb stories. Of course, this far north at this time of year the air is real dense, and that helps.

Immediately after my first takeoff I felt a canard flutter but immediately resolved it as I recalled a letter in QUICKTALK describing the effect of tires turning in flight. Since I switched to 11x4.00x5.00 with conventional tread (not knobby) the wheels now just barely turn and things are not so noisy when taxiing. Braking is not as good, but then the brakes were almost too good.

I built my plane by following the plans with some minor exceptions: the instrument panel is attached to the front turtle deck not the canopy, a PVC plumbing elbow and cover were used as a gas tank filler, Anderson/Little baffling, carb and head mods. It weighed in at 296 lbs. with a handheld radio. I guesstimate that I added 20 lbs. of paint and dry micro filler. It has finally paid off to be skinny; after I get in, there is 24 lbs. left for fuel.

There is a lot of flight-testing yet to occur. Being a Mechanical Engineer, I never felt out of my league during building, however I never considered myself a test pilot. But I'm really glad I made the first flight myself.

Please keep writing your comments in QBA. I re-read every one before my first flight. They were invaluable, and without them I would have felt all alone on my first flight. I may never have gotten this far without the drive generated by your Oshkosh builder sessions.

I like Norm's idea of a hospitality club. Certainly anyone even close to LSE (LaCrosse, WI) is welcome to stop and stay at our house. We're on the way to Oshkosh (almost). I'd love to swap stories.

ED. NOTE: All of us who have shared the ideas and tips that have helped you reach success are just tickled pink for you. Thanks for letting us know we helped.

As far as a hospitality club, I volunteer to help, but somebody else is gonna have to organize it, meanwhile I'm gonna keep your address handy!


One more comment about the reduced power takeoffs. The power was increased after the long ground run for normal climb. However, the most beneficial part was the takeoff roll that lasted forever. Really helped the footwork and anticipation. It also helped me to learn not to over control.

As of today I have survived 11 hours and 80 landings. In fact the landings have been better than I had hoped. No really bad bounces yet! However, I have not worked much yet on crosswinds; have been using an approach speed of 80, with 75 at the numbers. Then during the flare speed decreases until I touchdown with "full aft stick". I try for three point, sometimes the tailwheel touches first. Even the times I have had a small bounce, with the stick held full back things are under control. It seldom takes a second bounce.

Going back to takeoffs, I start with neutral stick position. By the time I hit 40 I have gradually moved the stick to full aft. My next goal is to have the stick near neutral immediately at liftoff. The problem with the first flight was that I had no idea where neutral trim position was. I don't think there is an answer that applies to all Quickies. However, for what it's worth my elevators are at about the +5 degree position when parked on the ground with trim in the takeoff position.

Who out there has some words of wisdom on how to trim this plane? I have started trying things but I really could use some help. Where do I start? At cruise the elevators are about minus 2 or 3 degrees up. With the wings level (ailerons neutral) results are a very very gradual turn to the left. In other words it flies straight if the right wing drops slightly. Slight right rudder does straighten it out, but also slows me down slightly I think.

Thanks again for working so hard for the newsletter. I will keep you informed. Have a safe holiday. See you in the sky!!!

Charlie Lipke #0335



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