REFLECTOR:Gear Up

[Scott Derrick]

At 10:45 PM 4/2/2004, you wrote:
>   Scott:  Insurances for Velocity are provided at with a 10% deductible.  At
>that I felt that it was not wise to take hull coverage.

Yes, that's what I decided also.

>new desigh at no charge.  The mains, well they got stuck on me and
>fortunatelly I had someone in the plane and we knocked them loose.  The
>wheel got cought on the inbord lip of the strake.  The camber had changed 2
>degrees, enough to cause a problem.  I removed the lip and will add the
>material to the skirt.

I don't understand how a main could get caught on the wheel well 
lip?  Unless something was loose or you changed tires and didn't do a 
retract test! How did this happen?

I switched to retreads last tire change and when I did my retract test(I 
always do this on a tire change, learned my lesson with my Bonanza), the 
tires were just bigger enough to catch the lip. I filled the lip back about 
3/16 inch and all is well.  I couldn't have legally done that on my Bo..

I personally think the over all gear design is pretty well thought out.  It 
appears that certain  components had to be rethought or re-tooled, I too am 
replacing a good portion of my nose gear because of  component upgrades 
since my kit was made, at a very low price I might add..  This is my 3rd 
plane and every one of them, the prior two were type certified, had the 
same story, except the price for upgrades, they were outrageous, and 
mandatory! .

I hate to say this but I think part of the problem is we don't have some 
type of AD system like type certified planes have.  In our(Velocity's) case 
the factory uses an overpriced fluffy(my view) distribution to distribute 
news about "suggested" changes and upgrades.  The factory has convinced 
themselves that a "nice" looking publication that goes out to a small 
portion of  Velocity owners/builders, is more important than a cheap 
publication that goes out to all owner/builders.  Their choice.  Also the 
publication is in a form that is not easily searchable. So if you need some 
bit of information, and you remember seeing it in a VV, you have to go 
through every issue by hand until you find it. With todays technology 
that's absurd.  I will say having the PC's available on the web are a great 
improvement.

Also many owners just ignore the recommendations and shoot themselves in 
the foot. I know a few that don't use this forum, the factory web site or 
the VV because they don't want to spend the time.  What they want is to be 
taken care of like they own a type certified airframe at experimental prices.

I would prefer something in the middle. Maybe a post card list that just 
lists the monthly or bi-monthly change notices and upgrades available?  You 
can then go to the website for the full information or pay for a mailing to 
get the details?  Maybe those with email could get this notice for free?

I don't know, maybe its fine the way it is...

Scott









"Those who sacrifice freedom to get security, deserve neither."
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