QuickTalk 30 - LETTERS
- Details
- Category: Q-Talk Articles
- Published: Friday, 31 October 1986 06:11
- Written by Jim Masal
- Hits: 2600
Dear Jim,
I've never written a "fan letter" as such, but this might qualify. I have every issue of QUICKTALK in a binder with an index as it pertains to Quickie and I have read them many times. It distresses me to think that all this may be coming to a close. You and your newsletter are all that hangs all the Quickie/Q-2 builders together. I appreciate your feelings that you're going it alone, but isn't that the lot of leaders?
Dick Pettit, Circleville, OH
ED. NOTE: It's not the going it alone so much as it is not hearing SOMEthing from EVERYbody once in a blue moon.
Dear Jim,
This song and dance coming from some QBAers, not wanting to tell us their stories of "HOW THEY DID IT" because it might incriminate them is a bunch of B. Nobody's even been sued for telling his or her story! Their rationalization is just a form of cop-out of their moral responsibility to their fellow QBAers. They don't have to give any advice or guidance whatsoever, just give the story and sign-off. The rest is up to the reader, same as when you read a horror story paperback - nobody can sue the writer for doing what the story contains. Keep up the good work.
Emil MirSepasy, Bellevue, WA
Dear Jim:
I was sorry to read you are considering folding QUICKTALK. It never occurred to me that individual contributors should fear liability. Your risk seems somewhat greater but the caveat you print each issue seems adequate.
My failure to contribute stems from the belief that I'm behind other builders and thus my solutions to problems would be of little interest. I purchased my kit a few months before Quickie filed for Chapter 11 so it's probably among the last 50 kits to be sold.
I've benefited enormously from QUICKTALK and feel it allowed me to avoid many of the pitfalls faced by others. My project is a Tri-Q200 and should be flying next year.
Yours truly,
Al Medley, #2879
YOU NEEDED TO KNOW: of our survey of 110 Quickies reporting weights, the average empty weight is 292.4 lbs. Half of all Quickies built weigh 294 or greater. - ED.
HOLY COW, Jim,
Maybe those QBA members who refuse to send in letters and construction tips are acting correctly! In the last 3 weeks I have received four letters from different attorneys who claim to represent some major suspender manufacturers in the U.S. One of them called me long distance and threatened immediate litigation if I used a certain "brand name" set of suspenders for aircraft structural use! I tried to explain very plainly that what he saw printed in QUICKTALK #29 was a CARTOON...you know, something to provide humor & laughs! It was not meant to be a viable construction method. The attorney didn't look at it this way. According to him, all you other Quickie builders out there are so gullible and (Ahem!) ignorant, that he (quote) "would PROTECT you from any more hare-brained schemes of mine.
So...for all your QBAers who seem to be running scared out there...here is the guy who should be holding your hand. Just send him large amounts of money...and...he just may(?) give you permission to write a letter to QUICKTALK.
Jim Prell, Kansas City, MO
Dear Jim,
I don't know if you are still in the business of writing the "QUICKTALK" newsletters since the last one I have is Sept/Oct 1986. It makes me real mad to think our nation's lawsuit happy mentality would influence you to stop publishing the newsletter. I have really enjoyed the spirit of free exchange, editorial comment and builder's tips that are contained in "QUICKTALK" - PLEASE DON'T STOP!
Now down to business! - if you are still in business. I am enclosing $22.50 for a one year subscription, Nov/Dec newsletter, and a membership list.
I should tell you that I bought Q-2 #2577 from Carlo Del Pinto in Oklahoma City, OK on November 1986. A friend and I drove from Valdosta, GA picked up the partially completed aircraft and returned to Valdosta in 49 hours (2200 mile trip). I was overjoyed to have the airframe safe in my garage and after such a long trip. My enthusiasm was sky high even though there are many hours of work still left until I can fly this little screamer. Imagine what happened to my state of mind after I started to read your newsletter!!! If anything can crush the slick hype of the advertising types who want to sell you a dream it's ----REALITY! I could not ignore the monumental evidence of all those people who wrote in and told of problems with the plans, orders, Sheehan, ground handling and, the hardest part of all flying - landing! I was devastated. Oh well, I thought. I'll learn a great deal just building the plane so I just continued reading. Well now I am through all your newsletters and through all the builder inputs I have learned that the airplane is superb in the air but high speed taxi and landing are a problem, but they can be managed. I found all this through your newsletter - not from the establishment (Quickie Aircraft). That's what freedom is all about. You have a dream, you find it's not quite what you expected but everybody working together can make a reality that is close to your dream - and it wouldn't have happened if "QUICKTALK" weren't there. So please don't stop. I enjoy your editorials too much. Besides, if somebody does sue you, I will contribute $25 towards your defense fund - to help save aviation!
A little about myself, if it matters. I am 36 and have been in aviation since I got in the Air Force. I flew fighters for about 8 years and have about 1200 hours total time. I got out and now own a small business. I enjoy building things but I have never built something as complex as this. I went to A&P school and only got about 1/2 of the course completed (PCS you know). I will be completing this project as a Q-200 in a 2 car garage if my wife doesn't throw me out first (go ahead and complete your dream, just don't track up my house!).
Larry Koutz
923 McAfina Tr.
Valdosta, GA 31602
912-247-5297/244-2665
Dear Jim,
After reading QUICKTALK #29 and being a member since #3, I've decided to say a little something the way I really feel.
I own a 22.5 hp Quickie supposedly owner and A&P built with no shortcuts. I have over $13,000 in it not counting my time. After 35 hours of engine running, slow and high speed taxiing, I tried first flight. I was unable to establish a rate of climb so I landed straight ahead. Did a little damage, but I'm alive.
4 years have since passed. I know this aircraft like some others will fly, but it is very short on power, rate of climb, etc. I was not forced to buy and build this aircraft, and since I'm alive, have no regrets. BUT, if I would have had all the honest, straight forward input from the members of QBA due to the different and demanding job that Mr. Jim Masal has done with QUICKTALK, I would never have spent $13,000 and put my life on the line.
My thanks to Jim and all you contributors.
Harry Daymond, Prescott, WI
Dear Jim,
A milestone! My Tri-Q is now structurally complete. Estimated time to completion is still 2 yrs. and holding. Enclosed are some detail pictures.
By the way, I've sold everything you've advertised for me. Maybe I haven't asked enough, but the ads work, and you can't beat the price of the ad!
A final note: I've been calling the number you gave for Sheehan for a week with no answer. I'll keep trying...
John Derr #2562, Golden, CO
ED. NOTE: Ted Fox mailed a registered letter to QAC and got it returned early Dec. with the notation "Box Closed".
Dear Jim:
32 miles due west from the Golden Gate bridge are the Farallon Islands, the home of hordes of wildlife, a lighthouse, fog horn and LF beacon. Flying along the coast in the early morning you can see the sun tinting these islands all orange.
It beckoned; I went. (This is a Quickie driver, you should know, and from his pictures, these "islands" look like God spit out a few craggy rocks in one place.-ED.) Water temperature in the low 60's. Home and breeding ground of the great white shark; right on the very edge of the coastal air defense identification zone.
25 minutes out (I went past the main island to the little ones further out), 15 minutes loitering in the area, and 20 minutes back for a total of almost an hour over the water. The Konig purred, the camera clicked, and let me tell you it was a TRIP! However, I don't want to encourage others to do dumb, stupid things in their Quickies.
Robert Godbe #397, Palo Alto, CA
ED. NOTE: This guy Godbe must have brass stones! Are you Quickie pilots believin' this?
BACK ISSUES - QUICKTALK - All 24 back issues of QUICKTALK are still available for $2.00 each ($2.50 foreign); includes postage. Four years of tips, ideas and experiences at your fingertips. Complete your collection or use it as an extra bonus if you decide to sell your project. $2.00 each.
QBA BUILDER ROSTER - At the end of each year our roster is as fat as it gets. Still available for $5.00, our roster now contains over 600 names, addresses, and phone numbers of fellow QBA members. Now is the time to have a list of contacts to further discuss a creative idea or flight experience that you read about in QUICKTALK. $5.00
Dear Jim,
Several years ago I joined QBA and since then have benefited from the newsletters that you and others have worked so hard at providing to your readers. It's time I returned the favor.
My experience over the past 3 years and 1000 hours has been most satisfying thus far and may offer some encouragement to those of you who may be wondering, "Why am I building?" as I did at about the 600 hr. plateau.
This is my second airplane (the first, a Thorp T-18 was never completed). I learned from that experience that a person without a parts depot or aviation mechanic available should seriously consider the purchase of an airplane kit, the more complete the better. In my case, I work in an office environment outside the general aviation industry and have no contacts with the industry other than the interest and desire to "join", and have not been a "joiner" of organizations such as local EAA chapters, at least not until now.
The work on #2525 has progressed more slowly than anticipated, but what else is new? While I expected/hoped for construction time to be 1,000 hrs over a 2-year span, I soon found that to be ambitious for me. Struggling on a 6-8 hr per week average, I have just completed 3 years and 1,000 hrs and will soon be starting the major assembly of components. With the exception of the fuselage assembly (trailer version) all other work has been in the basement with space heaters for temperature control. The northern New Jersey climate is not always conducive to epoxy layups. As soon as I can I'll report on construction hours and weights for major components.
Joe Martin #2525, Woodcliff Lake, NJ
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P. O. Box 6
Friedens, PA 15541
(814) 893-5806
Plans - complete kits - customer technical support - building service - composite workshop - Cowlings for Q-2, Turbo and Q-200 - all metal fabricated parts - Tri-Q sparless canards - builders assistance - plans for all Q-Birds.
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Customer Composites has been in the custom fabrication business since 1981 and has built over a dozen Q-2's and dozens of composite parts for Q-2's and other types of planes. As the new dealer in the eastern U.S. we now offer building services for the Quickie and Q-2 and can supply you with a complete Q-2 kit including those hard to find items. We are service oriented and will respond to the customer's demands. "Our goal is to provide the potential kit-plane builder with the best in kits and the best in customer services. We welcome your inquiries and will honor your business."
Dear Jim,
Here is the letter I promised you twice.
Being a first-time builder, I am always looking for a way to make my project more organized and economical. I would like to recommend 2 items I purchased after reading about them in QUICKTALK.
The first is a C.P.M. (Critical Path Management) analysis from Phil Haxton. This tool has done exactly what Phil said it would do: "save time and help you work smarter." The CPM analysis that Phil developed consists of a list of all the operations required to complete a project, and a flow chart, which depicts all of those operations. The charts also made it clear that many of the operations could be accomplished independently of other ones. For more info: Haxton Enterprises, PO Box 1291, Smyrna, GA 30081-1291.
The second item I recommend is the "Poor Man's Epoxy Pump". I have personally found it to be very accurate and easy to use. The cost is very appealing also. Write to: Scientec, PO Box 2872, Sarnia, Ontario, Canada N7T-7M1.
Keep up the good work, Jim, I don't know what I would do without QUICKTALK.
Jeff Cox, Arlington, TX
I do.- ED>
Dear Jim,
I am a young man that is very interested in the possibility of one day building my own high performance kit plane. The Q200 is the plane for me. The looks, performance and safety of the canard design steered me to it.
I have subscribed to a couple sport plane magazines, the Quickie Newsletter and your newsletter. Frankly, your newsletter scares me (I am grateful for what you print). Occasional in flight fatal accidents are bad enough, but the frequent breakage of canards on landing and taxi really troubles me. Are most of these accidents pilot/builder error?
Thanks for all the good and sometimes distressing information that the other newsletters and magazines skip over.
Lee Jinks, McAllen, TX
When built precisely, the Q series are a handful to handle and are not docile aircraft. Build one with only average care and you will have an experience you won't soon forget. Consider reports that on ground angle of attack you must build within a HALF degree; wing angle of incidence tolerates less than a degree. Some builders have no business whatsoever building this airplane due to their innate lack of care for precision workmanship. Unfortunately, ego being what it is, one only finds out it is inadequate after he reaches the end. That costs...more than you had expected to pay.- ED.
*** STRESS ***
THE CONFUSION CREATED WHEN ONE'S MIND OVERRIDES THE BODY'S BASIC DESIRE TO CHOKE THE LIVING SH_T OUT OF SOME A__SHOLE WHO DESPERATELY NEEDS IT.
Norm Howell did lots of nice work here...and so far it runs well without the nose bump.
You can order a PDF or printed copy of QuickTalk #30 by using the Q-talk Back Issue Order Page.