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: |
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Workshops started on
Friday afternoon in the Zenith Aircraft Company hangar bays (September
19, 2008). |
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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.
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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.
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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). |
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An outdoor dinner buffet was enjoyed by more than 135 builders, pilots
and Zenith employees on
Friday evening prior to the Open Hangar Day. |
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Entertainment was provided by the local trio "The ECHO's". |
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| Saturday
activities: |
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Discussing engine installations. |
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Thanks to great weather, several dozen Zeniths flew in to the Open
Hangar day |
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Owners of completed Zenith Aircraft flew in for the activities and to
show off their completed projects to fellow builders |
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A
great view of the Zenith factory and Mexico Memorial Airport from the
back seat of a Yak. |
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Builders and their planes pose in front of the Zenith
factory for the traditional group photo. |
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Workshops and seminars kept builders busy all day. |
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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.
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Local EAA chapter 1225
provided a complimentary hot lunch on Saturday, sponsored by Zenith
Aircraft Company. |
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EAA chapter 1225 volunteers cook the pork steaks... |
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Zodiac XL |
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Owners of completed Zenith Aircraft flew in for the activities and to
show off their completed projects to fellow builders |
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STOL CH 701 |
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More planes on the ramp |
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Customer-built
Zodiac aircraft on the ramp |
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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. |
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Trying on the
STOL CH 801 cabin for size. |
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Mathieu led the workshop on the
new Zodiac CH 650 |
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Mark Townsend (right)
discusses aircraft building techniques. |
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Stan Smith of AveoAmerica, US
distributor of the popular
AveoFlash LED aircraft light systems, showed off their latest LED lighting systems. |
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Sebastien
(middle) speaks builders who flew in for the Open Hangar day |
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STOL CH 801 |
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STOL CH 701 |
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Not just for Zeniths, other aircraft flew in for the day, including this
Yak. |
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Zodiac CH 601 |
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Yellow
Zodiac with a Jabiru 3300 installation |
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Builders
discuss seats... |
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Showing
off a Subaru-powered Zodiac |
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Patriotic STOL CH 701 |
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Another patriotic STOL CH 701. |
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Back by popular demand, builders
were given the opportunity
to "build their own" all-metal large format (11x17) binder for
the Zenith plans set. |
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The CNC router cutting out the Zenith logo from flat aluminum sheets
(for the binder covers). |
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Two large CNC routers cut out the aircraft parts. |
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Zenith
staff discussing kit parts production |
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STOL CH 701 |
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Pete heading back to Tennessee with the Jabiru 2200-powered STOL CH 701 |
Thanks to all who
participated and made this a fun event!
See you next year! |
