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| Friday
afternoon workshops |
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The workshops started on
Friday afternoon in the Zenith Aircraft Company hangar bays (September
28, 2007) |
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Mark Townsend's workshop on "Scratch-building
basics for Zenith Aircraft designs" on Friday afternoon.
Hosted by Mark of Can-Zac
Aviation (Zenith Aircraft's Canadian representative), this
workshop covered the skills, materials, tools and commitment
required to accomplish the feat of plans-building your own aircraft,
whether the STOL CH 701 or
Zodiac XL, for less than
$10,000 (not counting the engine). Topics included: Reading and
understanding the drawings and manuals, making rib form blocks,
cutting the sheet metal rib blanks, deburring and polishing
techniques, rib forming, tips, tricks and techniques, and
more. |
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Jabiru Engine Workshop
Hosted by Pete Krotje, owner and director of Jabiru
USA, this
informative workshop covered "everything you've always wanted to know
about operating and maintaining the popular Jabiru
3300 engine". Pete explained the engine installation using
Jabiru USA's complete firewall-forward accessories package,
including engine mount and
engine positioning, fuel and oil lines (plumbing), filters and pumps,
throttle, carb heat, and mixture controls, baffles, air hoses and
boxes, mufflers and exhaust systems, electrical wiring, cowlings,
propeller, etc.
Pete and Mark also discuss maintenance and
operation issues specific to the Jabiru engine.
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A rudder
workshop concluded on the Friday prior to the Open Hangar Day |
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Three
Zodiac aircraft, each a different model, in a single row with open
canopies. |
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Zenith owners shared
information and details about building and flying their aircraft. |
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A geared VW powered STOL
CH 701 impressed onlookers with its great short take-off and climb
performance. |
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YouTube video
clip of a STOL CH 701 demo flight at
the 2007 Open Hangar Day.
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Watching the aircraft
land and take-off... |
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| In the factory: |
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The Zenith Aircraft kit production
facilities were open for factory tours and Zenith's factory-demonstrator
kit aircraft were on display. |
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Company staff demonstrated
kit production and fabrication techniques used in producing the all-metal
kit aircraft parts made at the Zenith Aircraft factory. |
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Both the standard kits
(crated) and kits
were on display. |
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The CNC router was kept
busy cutting the Zenith logo from flat sheet metal (used for the
binder cover) |
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Visitors had the
opportunity to build their own 3-hole binder made of sheet aluminum,
supplied with the CNC-cut Zenith logo, and riveted together with Avex
blind rivets! |
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Building the 3-hole
aluminum binder. |
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Filing and deburring the
parts |
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Assembly of the binder
was a very popular activity for many |
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Riveting the binder
together |
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More than 100 binders
were constructed on Saturday! |
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The completed 3-hole
ring binder |
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The factory-demonstrator
STOL CH 701 in front of the factory. |
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| Saturday
seminars and activities: |
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Sport
Pilot:
Zodiac builder and aviation writer Earl Downs presented
"everything you've always wanted to know about the FAA's new
Sport Pilot certificate" to a standing-room only crowd.
Earl Downs is a well-known aviation writer and publisher, and is one
of the best resources available for Sport
Pilot. Earl started flying more that 50 years ago and
progressed to become an airline transport-rated pilot and served with
the training department of a major airline for 23 years. He has logged
thousands of hours flying and instructing in light airplanes and is a
recognized aviation writer with EAA Sport Pilot and AOPA Flight
Training magazines. In 2004 he co-wrote the popular book titled "The
Complete Idiot's Guide to Sport Flying" and is the current
publisher and owner of The
Oklahoma Aviator. |
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Jon Croke's presentation on "Registering your Homebuilt Aircraft."
Jon, producer of the
popular HomebuiltHelp.com series of instructional material on building your own
Zenith airplane, walked participants through each step
required to successfully license an experimental amateur
homebuilt (kit) aircraft with the FAA. |
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| STOL
Flying |
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Christopher Desmond and Michael Heintz presented a seminar on
"S.T.O.L. Flying" with Christopher on the microphone and
Michael at the controls of the STOL CH
701.
Christopher lead informational 'how-to'
seminar for builders and pilots and shared how he
safely maximizes the performance and utility of his Zenith STOL
kitplane.
Christopher
Desmond has logged over 500 hours of flying time in his personal
STOL CH 701 over the last two years. Michael Heintz, eldest
son of designer Chris Heintz and owner of Quality
Sport Planes of northern California, has been flying the
STOL CH 701 since the prototype first flew in 1986. Both have been working
on producing DVDs featuring the STOL CH 701 in back-country
applications. In recent years, they have demonstrated the
exceptional short take-off and landing capabilities of the STOL
at the Oshkosh, Sun'n Fun, Arlington and Copperstate fly-ins.
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At the afternoon "S.T.O.L. Flying" session,
Christopher Desmond narrated while Michael Heintz amazed onlookers
with a demonstration of the short take-off and landing
capabilities of the factory demonstrator STOL
CH 701, as well as slow
flight and maneuverability demonstrations. |
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Demonstrating the
awesome maneuverability of the STOL CH 701. |
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Smile for the group
photo!
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Airplanes and builders
grouped in front of the Zenith Aircraft factory. |
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Some of the Zeniths
flown in... |
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Zenith owners enjoyed sharing
information and details about building and flying their aircraft. |
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Al Beyers' beautifully
built and finished Zodiac CH 601 HDS, flown in from Oshkosh,
Wisconsin. |
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Another beautifully
finished Zodiac: Mike Canion's Lycoming-powered Zodiac XL (Pleasanton,
Texas). Click here
for more photos. |
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Another Zodiac XL (flown
in from Arkansas) powered with a Jabiru 3300 engine. |
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The Ribordys flew in
their Zodiac XL from Illinois. |
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Larry Landucci's STOL CH
801 |
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Zodiac XL |
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Representatives
from Flight
Crafters / Zenith Distributing (Zephyrhills, Florida), Quality
Sport Planes (northern California), Silver
Sky Aviation (Chandler, Arizona) and Jerrich
Aircraft Company (Dallas, Texas) were on hand to discuss the professional builder
assistance services they offer as well as kits for both the Zodiac XL and the
STOL CH 701. |
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STOL CH 701 |
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Lycoming powered Zodiac
XL |
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Great weather and lots
of planes... What more could one ask for? |
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Food and refreshments
were provided by local EAA chapter 1225. |
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Local EAA chapter 1225 provided a
complimentary hot lunch at noon on Saturday, sponsored
by Zenith Aircraft Company. |
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STOL CH 701 owners
sharing
information and details about building and flying their aircraft. |
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Saturday was a busy day
for demo flights. |
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Zodiac XL take-off |
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Tim
Hickey and his Zenith CH-300 flew in from Iowa. The homebuilt aircraft
has more than 1,700 hours total airframe time.
The CH 300 model is one
of Chris Heintz' earlier designs (from
the 1970s). |
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Yellow Zodiacs |
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Zenith owners enjoyed sharing
information and details about building and flying their aircraft,
and discussed building, finishing (paint,
upholstery, avionics, alternative engines, etc.) and flying their
aircraft creations. |
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Youth hard at work
designing the aircraft of the future... |
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Zenith Aircraft builders and owners enjoyed sharing
information and details about building and flying their aircraft. |
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Pete and Mark of Jabiru USA were on hand Saturday to show why the Jabiru 3300 engine
is the powerplant of choice for most Zodiac XL builders, and answered engine installation, operation, and
maintenance questions. |
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Discussing the high
lift design features of the STOL aircraft. |
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Larry's four-seat STOL
CH 801 sport utility kit plane, flown in from Wisconsin. |
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Picking up a complete
kit at the Open Hangar Day |
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The Gemini
CH 620 project |
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Craig Pittman's STOL CH
701 from Kansas City, powered by a geared
VW engine (supplied by Valley Engineering) with a large
diameter Culver Prop |
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Homeward bound... |
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Mark Townsend of Can-Zac
Aviation (Canada).
Thanks for supplying most of these photos! |
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Two weeks following the
Zenith Open Hangar Day, Quality
Sport Planes of northern California held its own Fall 2007 Open
House on Saturday, October 13 for west coast enthusiasts.
Michael Heintz of Quality Sport Planes reported that the event was a
great success with an excellent turnout of both planes and people! |
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- Click
here for more great photos of the California event
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