Various projects and exploits
The quest to build and fly my own airplane has become two-faceted. To build requires careful planning, time in the shop, and craftsmanship. But in order to fly the thing, a very different sort of thinking and skills must be developed. Thus, while both consume time, one does not cast boredom onto the other. These […]
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At the end of my most recent lesson, my log book rolled over the 10hr mark; ten hours of dual instruction in a 1999 Cessna 172R. The primary takeaway from my experience so far has been that it was not like I expected. This is not to say it was a negative experience. Simply that it […]
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The high-level path I chose to follow for building the wooden structures was wing ribs, tail feathers, fuselage, and wing assembly. I say “wing assembly” because the bulk of the work has been done by the time the ribs are built; what remains is to put the ribs on the spars, and add all of […]
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While rummaging through a box of electronic scraps and parts, I found components that were purchased nearly 10 years ago for building a Sinclair ZX80 clone. I was only 15 years old at the time, and though ambition was high, electronics experience was not, and I could never get the first piece of the circuit […]
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While drawing wing ribs in AutoCad is an interesting endeavor, nothing sets the aviator apart from the idle dreamer like sawing spruce, and spreading glue. True to Mr. Pietenpol’s intention to make the design approachable, all of the sticks in rib of the wing are 1/4 x 1/2 inch cap strip. Fabrication of these pieces […]
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EDIT: Since the original publication of this article, my prospective on aviation costs have changed somewhat. The thoughts in the article below do not necessarily represent my present ideas on aviation. I am writing another article which will be linked here when it is published. From any honest viewpoint, the truth remains: Aviation is expensive. If […]
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The most commonly discussed trait of a particular application of radio technology is “the range.” Consumer-marketed walkie-talkies often advertise a “2 mile range” and Wi-Fi range extenders will claim to extend your network by hundreds of feet. The issue exists however, that the distance over which a radio signal is useful is entirely dependent on […]
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There was once a time when man could not communicate without travel. The first development in this area was the telegraph which allowed messages to be sent over miles of wire. Starting in the late 19th century however, a few brilliant people such as Marconi discovered that electrical signals could travel through the air. The […]
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The first goal after receiving plans for the homebuilt airplane was to draw the wing ribs in AutoCad. The drawings for Mr. Pietenpol’s The Improved Air-Camper date back to 1934. His grandson Andrew Pietenpol still sells them on the family-operated website: www.pietenpolaircraftcompany.com. While full-sized wing rib printings are available, I chose to conserve the $15, […]
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