REFLECTOR: Speaking of Repairs

Tue Apr 29 11:36:47 CDT 2008

Am curious if the new aircaft owner went through the Velocity flight transition training program.
SB
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Ron Brown 
  To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list 
  Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 10:26 AM
  Subject: REFLECTOR: Speaking of Repairs

  A few weeks ago, I was asked to take a look at a Velocity that had broken its nose gear. 

  The broken nose strut was the result of an ill handling aircraft while taxiing.  They had tried to adjust the tendency of this aircraft to wander off the center line by adjusting the wheel bearings.  While trying to fix the problem, they also blew out a nylon brake line by overheating the brakes and the plane went off the runway.  Eventually the nose strut was broken and the pivot mount was damaged.  We observed that the right main gear was tracking about 5-10 inches off of straight ahead!!!  Not sure what caused this, but the bottom line is that a Velocity will taxi as well as any plane that has castering nose wheel with differential brake steering - if the main gear toe in is set up correctly.

  Several recommendations:

  1. Make sure that toe in is correct - about 1" toe in total as measured with a straight edge or laser to a point abeam of the nose wheel.  IE, the laser track width of the mains should be about 1" wider than the two marks at the nose wheel.  If it is toed in too much, it will wear out tires.  If it is toed out, now you have a REAL BEAR!!!!  This is true of any airplane, tail dragger or nose dragger.

  2. I highly recommend that the bottom 6-8" of nylon tubing where it connects to the brake caliper be replaced with 1/8" aluminum tubing to minimize the chance that the nyloflow tubing blows out due to excessive heat.  This tubing is rated at about 4 times working pressure of the brakes (400 psi) - but not if it is soft from overheating.

  3. Make sure the nose wheel castering torque is set correctly - 15-20 lbs of break out force as measured with a spring scale attached to the rear edge of the nose wheel.  I have found that the new thick Bellville washers work better than the old thin ones.  

  The plane I inspected was just purchased, had a great paint job and interior, nice (if not dated) panel, but now the new owner is thoroughly pissed off because the Velocity is such an ill handling airplane??????????  I have offered to take him flying in my plane to show how nice a Velocity IS!!!!  I am waiting on his response - but the latest I have heard he is still ready to get rid of it!

  Ronnie

    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Kirk Aragon 
    To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list 
    Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 9:46 AM
    Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: The redesigned Velocityxl.com website

    Brett,

    I want to thank you for creating such an easily navigable site. Two weeks ago during a flight, my left rudder cable broke at the rudder end. In less than 30 seconds, I was able to locate a  picture (http://www.velocityxl.com/Rudder_Bushing.JPG) on your site of the repair that needs to be done. Since I'm not the original builder, having pictures to accompany a text description is invaluable.

    Kirk Aragon
    N360TV SE/RG

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      Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2008 18:28:18 -0400
      From: reflector at velocityxl.com
      To: reflector at tvbf.org
      Subject: REFLECTOR: The redesigned Velocityxl.com website

      I wanted to announce our newly renovated Velocityxl.com (and n44vf.com) website.  I hope to make it the ultimate resource for Velocity builders, owners, and fliers (outside of the factory site), and I think there are a bunch of features that folks will be interested in, including more non-building content and a greatly improved navigation system.  If you have suggestions for additional content, please let me know!  Here are some highlights of the new features:

      Databases
      I've created a Velocity owners and Airplanes database from a variety of publicly available sources (FAA database, Sport Aviation and Kitplanes Completions entries, Velocity Views, etc.) including owner name, address, email, builder's name, model, gear type, airworthiness date, engine, prop, and pictures of airplanes and pilots, and other data where available.  NOTE:  Although this information is all publicly available, I've decided to require a login (email me for this) for the database functionality to protect folk's privacy.  I simply ask that you provide me with updated information on your kit/aircraft to help improve the data quality to gain this access.

      The database search page also displays current Velocity fleet information, such as total number of sold kits, flying aircraft, number in construction, and number destroyed or de-registered.  There is also a "mobile" version available for small-screen-formats, so you can lookup N-numbers on your phone or PDA, and contact the owner from the flight-line!

      Also, there's a searchable KPC database so you can quickly find the KPC #'s relevant to your particular kit, and a text overview of the change (you should still see the factory site for the complete KPC with drawings, etc.).  

      Publications
      I have pulled together a large collection of articles and publications related to the Velocity for folk's enjoyment, including the articles announcing the XL, the XL-5, and Turbo Charlie as well as pieces covering the solution to the Deep Stall issue and development of the 173 wing.  Note that copyrighted content is also only available after logging in for obvious reasons.

        a.. Velocity Views    - The complete and searchable PDF collection, courteous of Rick Lavoie 
        b.. Sport Aviation    - 23 articles from 1985-2006 
        c.. Kitplanes         - 17 articles from 1991-2007 (NOTE: Reprints are no longer available from Kitplanes!) 
        d.. Custom Planes    - February 2000 
        e.. Air Progress     - April 1988 "Pilot Report"

        f.. Flyways          - 2003 Article about Kevin and Brooke Stiener's 'Deception' 
        g.. Grass Field Tips - From "Waiter", and experienced Long-ez pilot

        h.. Canard Pusher    - Deep Stall article 
        i.. IFR Requirements - EAA's thoughts on IFR requirements 
        j.. Buffalo Forge    - Article on exhaust augmentation

      Forum
      Check our forums, which offer all of the Reflector messages online and searchable, displayed by conversation thread, and with new-messages-since-last-visit shown first for quick browsing.  Now you can check the reflector from anywhere-the house, work, the FBO, your phone, or while you travel.  Quickly find those old topics you know were covered, but can't easily find in your email.  Just click on Reflector on the main menu!

      Pictures and Videos
      I've collected all of my pictures, as well as many of my and other's Velocity videos, including the recent RRL test flight and press announcements, "World's most Extreme Homes" on Ricardo's cool home, as well as coverage of our test flights, engine runs, and 'building montage' slideshow.  Some of the sets of pictures provided are:

        a.. Airventure                   - 2005 Cup Race Kickoff and 2006 convention pics

        b.. Velocity Barnstorming Tour   - Houston 2005 stop

        c.. Rough River Fly-in           - 2003 Fly-in near Louisville 
        d.. EAM RC Velocity              - Check out our RC Velocity from Experimental Aircraft Models 
        e.. Bill Stockman                - Check out Bill's Thunderbird paint scheme! 
        f.. Chuck Jenson                 - Chuck visits Ohio 
        g.. Al Gietzen                   - Beautiful aircraft! 
        h.. Rich Guerra                  - Rich takes great pictures on his travels 
        i.. Antonia Espinal              - Jet powered Velocity! 
        j.. Rocket Racing                - Some pictures of the RRL trainer 
        k.. Jack Morrison                - Supercharged e-Racer! 

      History
      I've been compiling, and will continue to refine, the "Unofficial History of Velocity Aircraft", and an easy-to-browse Timeline presentation.  I find it interesting to learn more about the people and events that brought this great design to us!

        a.. UnOfficial History   - http://n44vf.velocityxl.com/velocity_history.php 
        b.. Timeline                  - http://n44vf.velocityxl.com/timeline/timeline2.htm 
        c.. Venky!                   - A great historical builder website that many us loved, replicated here: http://n44vf.velocityxl.com/venky/index.html 
        d.. Classic Ads!           - Check out the classic Velocity ads on the homepage

      Accident Information
      I've collected an extensive collection of accident and incident data, presented by date and by incident aircraft, with links to the relevant NTSB reports.  I will also be creating an analysis with accidents by Year, Model, Gear Type, Engine, % of Fleet, Flight Hour, % in First 40 Hours, etc.  Also, I've gathered a large collection of images to show just how well our aircraft perform in these extreme situations.  I do want to stress that I don't present this data to embarrass anyone, but to improve safety and confidence in the Velocity's design, and I try to be sensitive to the fact that folks will want this data to be as objective as possible.

      Maintenance Documents
      I've included as many documents as I can thus far to help folks who are completing their aircraft and doing 'on-going' maintenance, such as:

        a.. Checklists 
        b.. Flight Test Plan 
        c.. Condition Inspection Checklist 
        d.. My Blue Mountain Avionics Calibration Tables 
        e.. My Weight and Balance Spreadsheet 
        f.. My Electrical Diagrams 
        g.. Koch Chart 
        h.. Bill-of-Sale

        i.. Pilot's Operating Handbook (must be a member) 
        j.. Instrument Manuals - Garmin, Blue Mountain, Lightspeed Engineering, Honeywell, PS Engineering, RSA 
        k.. Grass Field Tips - From "Waiter" 
        l.. Buffalo Forge    - Article on exhaust augmentation 
      Brett
      www.velocityxl.com
      www.n44vf.com

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