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Q-talk 12 - LETTERS

Dear Jim,

I am pleased to announce the first flight of Quickie N5425D on Sept. 10, following 8 hrs. taxiing to get used to ground handling. After 5 hours of flight time I am beginning to appreciate all the hours it took to build. I started the project in 1980.

Thanks to the QBA and Charlie Lipke of La Crosse, WI, I have a flying Quickie.

Arden Krueger, Wausau, WI


Dear Jim,

Has anyone made a trailer for a TRI-Q? I don't remember reading about such an animal, but there certainly is a need. I would appreciate some information - sketches, drawings, pictures - whatever! Thank you!

John Derr, 706 Partridge Circle, Golden, CO 80403

ED. NOTE: Now this may be the last time I print such a tip query with a builder address attached. Wanna know why? I've found several instances where information we all need has been artificially restricted when guys link up through Q-TALK, help each other, and never relay this valuable info back through the newsletter to a larger audience. That ain't right, and you know me, I'm gonna think up a creative way to combat that (like mebbe a Butt-seeking missile with a cattle prod warhead!).


1989 DUES NOW PAYABLE - $20

ALL CURRENT SUBSCRIPTIONS (EVERY LAST ONE, YOURS INCLUDED!) END, AS USUAL, ON THE FIRST DAY OF '89. AF OF THE MAILING DATE OF THIS ISSUE, RENEWALS AND NEW SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR 1989 WILL BE $20.00. DON'T MISS AN ISSUE.


Dear Jim:

I am renewing my subscription after a lapse of over a year. This year's forum at Oshkosh was very informative, and the letters to the editor and Q-Tips in the latest issues are great. I'm glad to see the "Hate Gene Sheehan" forums of the past 3-4 years have finally given way to constructive discussions of our chosen homebuilt and how to make it better.

After 6 years, my Q-200 was waiting final inspection before Oshkosh. After talking to the Q-200 and Tri-Q flyers at Oshkosh, and after a few ground handling accidents of 2 other Q-2/200's at our airport, my airplane is back in the shop being converted to a Tri-Q 200. As I get older I guess I get a little less daring. The Q's at our airport fly well and are a dream in the air. I decided though, that I wanted my excitement to end once the wheels touch down rather than have it just beginning.

Greg Zimmerman, Iowa City, IA


It takes a "National Enquirer" mentality to start these phony myths and I can't stand by with my hands in my pockets and let them perpetuate.

1. Produce, if you can, any statement made in this newsletter or at a QBA forum that shows "hate" for Gene Sheehan.

2. When you confuse truth (true life experiences told by honest people in an effort to inform) for hatred, you put down the honest people to promote the dishonest.

3. True fact: Sheehan is a bankruptee. He left a lot of people up a creek without a paddle. Just because it's legal doesn't mean it didn't happen. Just because it's legal doesn't make it moral. Anyone who finds it praiseworthy either has excess cash or doesn't respect the value of the cash he has.

4. Get this straight: nobody here "hates" Gene Sheehan. He can be a wealth of information and he's likeable enough. But we reserve the right and obligation to truthfully criticize his no-class business practices. A Stoddard-Hamilton, Lancair, or Richard Van Grunsven, he wasn't.

Meanwhile, all the guys who dropped QUICKTALK out of some misguided sense of protest changes nothing and only cut off their noses to spite their faces...for the criticisms continued to be overwhelmed by solid, constructive information. And they missed it.


Jim,

Just as a matter of information, so we can plan for next year, the total cost of our wine and cheese party was $198.20. We consumed 21 liters of wine, 2 cheese trays, 42 cans of soda pop and could have used more of each of them.

Lyle Harrison, La Crosse, WI


Dear Jim,

I hope I can visit Oshkosh next year and see everyone. Those were good pictures in Q-TALK, but why didn't you put in the names? Didn't know them all, huh? At least we could pick out Jim Prell! Thanks to Barth, Kerr, Howell and all the others for their letters in Q-TALK and keep up the good work, Jim.

V. D. "Jinx" Hawks, Camarillo, CA

ED. NOTE: Rats!! I can't pull anything over on you guys. Yup, I figured if I couldn't name them all, I better not take the chance of disappointing someone. Besides, I thought, the pictures are only interesting to the people in them. Here's the way I shoulda done it (and, heh, heh, heh, you still don't know who I don't know).



Hi Jim!

I have enclosed my dues for another year of Q-TALK. In the hustle-bustle of air shows and talk with other builders, I sometimes forget to see the forest for the trees...and you, Jim, created the forest. I sincerely thank you for the tremendous amount of work you have put in to make this club such a great success and such an important and pleasurable part of my life. As I said before in the article in Sport Aviation, I never in my wildest dreams ever realized that this airplane-building hobby would result in such a wonderful social interplay with so many like-minded people. THANK YOU.

Norm Howell, Spangdahlem, Germany

ED. NOTE: And THANK YOU, Norm, for many worthwhile contributions and more to come, if I know you. I appreciate the pat on the back but never forget this is a team effort.


Jim,

For those still in the early stages of building, a reminder and caution about making changes - they can cause a domino effect and problems later on. I originally planned to switch to a Duncan Wankel rotary engine on my Q-2. When I gave up and settled on the Revmaster I found my header tank was too close to the firewall for the engine to fit. I modified the header than had to replace the fuel sender. I built the mag/starter box then had to modify, my rudder pedals which were hitting the box. On and on!

Alan Schaffter, Alexandria, VA



BACK ISSUES - QUICKTALK AND Q-TALK - All 30 issues of QUICKTALK are still available for $2.00 each ($2.50 Overseas). All 12 back issues of Q-TALK are available for $3.00 each. Seven years of tips, ideas, pilot reports and history at your fingertips. Complete your collection to use it as an extra bonus if you decide to sell your project!!!

QBA BUILDER ROSTER - At the end of each year our roster is as fat as it gets. Still available for $5.00, the QBA member roster contains nearly 400 names, addresses and phone numbers of fellow Q-builders. Now is the time to have a list of contacts to further discuss an idea or flight report that you read about in Q-TALK. $5.00


CHRISTMAS IS HERE! - A great gift for you and/or your favorite co-pilot is this very attractive, gilt, 3 dimensional Q-2 casting made up as a tie tack or collar pin. Pins are approx. 3/4" long. $13.50 each and still available in time for the holiday. Great for explaining your project at those boring holiday parties full of non-fliers.



Dear Jim,

I am an old WWII Navy driver and although I've had my problems with the Q-2 building, I'm having some fun and above all, the newsletter and comments from builders were all worthwhile. Living up here in the boondocks with no help at all has been trying.

I built and installed the micro-monitor and a multiple switch to give me EGT and CHT on all 4 cylinders. Also built an RST 720 radio and it has been fun.

I had the old canard on when I decided to change to the carbon spar. What a trying project! I found myself with a 3" high gaping hole the width of the wing. And the instructions read "The installation of the LS-1 modification will tax your imagination..." To top things off, I never received the template drawings for the shear web. Needless to say I had to tear the whole thing off and start over. The Hail Mary's I was saying turned to another litany.

John Marrotte, Hankins, NY


Dear Jim,

Gary Jones called me to find out about first flight in a Q-2. I told him don't hold the stick aft of center on the takeoff - let it fly off. On landing, come in with power around 1000 rpm and hold it just above the runway and let it get tired and it'll make a good landing (40 lbs behind the seat, up some reflexor, full header tank, 4 or 5 in aux.). He called to say it worked just fine.

Jim, I think when guys cut the power to idle and start driving to the runway they get confused as to what's happening. I really think first flight should be a long steady descent with a little power and let it play out. I do this for builders in my area to build their confidence that this is the same as any other airplane when you make it fly the way the pilot wants and not let the plane fly them.

Marv Getten, Plymouth, MN


ED. NOTE: A couple of interesting tidbits from RVator, the RV builders newsletter:

"...I talked about a prop bolt failure I had experienced on the RV-6...Over the service life of subject prop, prop bolts had not been checked and re-torqued at regular intervals. I am still confident that wood props, correctly torqued through a three-step sequence upon initial installation, and then re-torqued at 50 hours or 3 month intervals thereafter, will provide trouble free service."

"In homebuilding circles, pride of workmanship is the most often applauded personal virtue. Pride of airmanship isn't given too much thought...However, excellence in one field cannot be carried over into another like so many shares of stock...we regularly see examples of...the homebuilder who feels that it is OK to be a mediocre, semi-current pilot as he takes on the role of test pilot...after having spent extra years and dollars making an airplane "better" than just OK. It is just plain stupid and irresponsible.

In our macho, male dominant, society, it is very easy to fall into the trap of self complacency regarding our own piloting skills...Ask yourself how well you compare in all important respects to the better fellow pilots you know. Where you find obvious room for improvement, work on it...Is your past flying experience, particularly military, so far in the past that it is of little value for other than "hangar flying"?..."



You can order a PDF or printed copy of Q-talk #12 by using the Q-talk Back Issue Order Page.