Zenith Aircraft Company's
OPEN HANGAR DAY and Fly-In Gathering
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Mexico Memorial Airport, Mexico, Missouri

Open Hangar Day

Zenith Aircraft's 17th annual OPEN HANGAR DAY and Fly-In Gathering was a great success, with a lot of sun, planes, food, and great company.  Thanks to all who participated and made this a fun event!

Friday afternoon workshops and early arrivals:
17th Annual Open Hangar Day 2008 Workshops started on Friday afternoon in the Zenith Aircraft Company hangar bays (September 19, 2008).
17th Annual Open Hangar Day 2008
Jabiru engine Workshop: Hosted by Pete Krotje, owner and director of
Jabiru USA, this workshop covered everything you've always wanted to know about operating and maintaining the popular Jabiru aircraft engines, including the four-cylinder Jabiru 2200 and the six-cylinder Jabiru 3300.

Pete and Mark explained the engine installation using Jabiru USA's complete firewall-forward accessories packages.

Pete arrived at the Open Hangar Day in this yellow and red STOL CH 701 powered by a Jabiru 2200 engine, and impressed everyone (including the Zenith crew) with the excellent performance of the Jabiru 2200 powered 701.
17th Annual Open Hangar Day 2008
17th Annual Open Hangar Day 2008
Gus Warren A&P mechanic / pilot Gus Warren (www.FlyWithGus.com) showed how to thoroughly inspect a completed Zenith aircraft prior to your first flight, and how to adequately preflight your aircraft before every flight. 
17th Annual Open Hangar Day 2008
Mark Townsend 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). 
Dinner An outdoor dinner buffet was enjoyed by more than 135 builders, pilots and Zenith employees on Friday evening prior to the Open Hangar Day. 
Dinner
Open Hangar Day 2008 Entertainment was provided by the local trio "The ECHO's".

Saturday activities:  
17th Annual Open Hangar Day 2008
STOL CH 701 Discussing engine installations.
Planes... Thanks to great weather, several dozen Zeniths flew in to the Open Hangar day
17th Annual Open Hangar Day 2008 Owners of completed Zenith Aircraft flew in for the activities and to show off their completed projects to fellow builders
17th Annual Open Hangar Day 2008 A great view of the Zenith factory and Mexico Memorial Airport from the back seat of a Yak.
17th annual Open Hangar Day 2008 Builders and their planes pose in front of the Zenith factory for the traditional group photo.
Open Hangar  
Dynon presentation Workshops and seminars kept builders busy all day.
Workshops

Dynon's marketing manager Robert Hamilton and technical expert Mike Schofield met with builders and pilots to show Dynon Avionics' latest EFIS and EIS avionics.

EAA Chapter 1225 Local EAA chapter 1225 provided a complimentary hot lunch on Saturday, sponsored by Zenith Aircraft Company.
Food!
Cooking EAA chapter 1225 volunteers cook the pork steaks...
Zodiac Zodiac XL
17th Annual Open Hangar Day 2008
Open Hangar Owners of completed Zenith Aircraft flew in for the activities and to show off their completed projects to fellow builders
STOL CH 701 STOL CH 701
Open Hangar Day More planes on the ramp
Customer-built Zodiac aircraft on the ramp
Open Hangar Day  
HomeBuiltHELP HomebuiltHelp.com offers a complete line of "how-to" videos available on DVD, and will have the DVDs available for preview and purchase.  Some of the popular titles include: Metalworking101 with Rudder Workshop, Rotax 912 Installation Tips & Techniques, Weight & Balance101 for Homebuilts, Electrical Wiring101 for your Homebuilt Aircraft, Scratch Building Basics for Metal Aircraft, and more. 
17th Annual Open Hangar Day 2008  
17th annual Open Hangar Day 2008 Trying on the STOL CH 801 cabin for size.
Mat discusses the STOL CH 650 Mathieu led the workshop on the new Zodiac CH 650
17th annual OPEN HANGAR DAY and Fly-In Gathering: Saturday, September 20, 2008, at the Zenith Aircraft Factory in Mexico, Missouri. Mark Townsend (right) discusses aircraft building techniques.
Aveo Flash LED Stan Smith of AveoAmerica, US distributor of the popular AveoFlash LED aircraft light systems, showed off their latest LED lighting systems.
Sebastien (middle) speaks builders who flew in for the Open Hangar day
STOL CH 801 STOL CH 801
STOL CH 701 STOL CH 701
Not just for Zeniths, other aircraft flew in for the day, including this Yak.
Zodiac Zodiac CH 601
Zodiac  
Zodiac Yellow Zodiac with a Jabiru 3300 installation
Zodiac
Zodiac Builders discuss seats...
Zodiac Showing off a Subaru-powered Zodiac
STOL CH 701 Patriotic STOL CH 701
STOL CH 701  
STOL CH 701 Another patriotic STOL CH 701.
Hands-on construction Back by popular demand, builders were given the opportunity to "build their own" all-metal large format (11x17) binder for the Zenith plans set.   
Zenith Open Hangar Day 2007 The CNC router cutting out the Zenith logo from flat aluminum sheets (for the binder covers).
CNC routers Two large CNC routers cut out the aircraft parts.
Workshop Zenith staff discussing kit parts production
STOL CH 701 STOL CH 701
Zodiac XL  
STOL CH 701 Pete heading back to Tennessee with the Jabiru 2200-powered STOL CH 701
Open Hangar Day
 
Thanks to all who participated and made this a fun event!
See you next year!

Related Info:

  

[Back]


Zenith Aircraft at Work and Play... Click here for photos and stories from around the world

Sport-Pilot Ready Kit Planes from Zenith Aircraft Company

 Zenith Aircraft Company

Zenith Aircraft Company
Mexico Memorial Airport, PO Box 650
Mexico, Missouri, 65265-0650 USA.
Tel: 573-581-9000 (Mon - Fri, 8-5 Central),
Fax: 573-581-0011
Comments or questions? Click Here