At this morning's breakfast meeting near KPTK, one of the builders, Harry Manvel, announced that he did his first test flight this week with new main gear fairings and saw a 4 kt. gain in speed.
On the surface, this may not seem a big deal, but Harry's plane is a Rutan design Defiant. One of only about 25 flying and built entirely from plans. Did I mention it's a twin engine canard? Harry spent over 15 years building this beautiful plane and to me, he epitomizes all that EAA is really about. With no background in aeronautical engineering, structures, or mechanics he tackled a four seat twin project where only one or two had been previously built. All while running a small business.
How many homebuilts are 4 place? How many twins? How many 4 place, twin, glass, canards? You get the picture. Oh yeah, and the wheelpants: He saw what was happening with the RVs using a pressure recovery design and decided to apply this to his Defiant. Of course, he had to design it from first principles, make a mold/plug, design and fabricate mounting brackets, etc. The project started in December and just made it onto the aircraft this week; primer painted and without intersection fairings (more molds yet to make).
So next time you're stressed from working on your pre-punched quick build, think of Harry - and build on. You'll see N2HM on the flight line at Airventure this year as always. Stop and say hi.
http://flyballoons.net/HarryM.htm
Terry, CFI
RV-9A N323TP
Builder Musings on a Rainy Day
Linear Mode
