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QUICKIE NEWSLETTER 14 page 2

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Category: QAC Newsletters
Published: Friday, 01 December 2006 14:12
Written by Quickie Aircraft Corporation
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Some of the 9 Quickies and 2 Q2s at Oshkosh
QUICKIE NEWS
      The production Van-Prop is installed on N77Q. The turbo-Onan is installed in N8OQA. Both aircraft are awaiting FAA inspection.
      At last count, over 115 Quickies have made first flights. Nine Quickies attended the Oshkosh flyin this year. Doug Swanningson’s beautifully painted Quickie received the award for the best Quickie or Q2. All pilots of attending Quickies received plaques suitably inscribed.
      We are saddened to report that Mike Sullivan’s English Quickie was involved in a fatal midair collision with a BBC camera aircraft. This is the first fatality in a Quickie; Mike was not the pilot of the aircraft at the time.
      We appreciate Quickie builders sending along builder tips, suggestions, etc., for inclusion in this newsletter. In recent months, the number received has been diminishing. We need your support to make this column as informative as possible.
This month we have several cautions to pass along to all Quickie builders.
1.   There have been at least two forced landings resulting from builders using the small skull cap spinners on their propellers. In each case, the spinner separated from the propeller and either damaged the propeller or removed it from the aircraft. Fortunately, neither pilot was seriously hurt. Do not use these spinners on your Quickie.
2.   Many builders are still using bathroom scales for weight and balance data. This is an absolute no-no. You must use a set of accurate platform scales or aircraft scales. One builder found his aircraft ‘lost’ 20 pounds by weighing it on platform scales instead of the bathroom scales he had been using. More importantly though, inaccurate scales cause substantial errors in weight and balance computations. Weight and balance errors cause serious problems on first flights.Only with an accurate weight and balance will the pilot be able to load his aircraft within the published envelope.
3.   We continue to see shoddy workmanship on engine baffling. Holes allow airflow to leak out of the high pressure area without contributing to cooling. All baffling must be tight with no air leaks. Otherwise, hot spots may lead to engine damage.
4.   We still receive reports of fuel contamination incidents on early flights; please check for contaminents relentlessly. These types of incidents would never occur with proper vigilance.
 
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      Late in the week, the report reached Oshkosh that the first Q2 built by a home builder had flown. That gentleman’s Q2 was completed in only 5 months of effort.
     The Quickie/Q2 banquet Monday night was a sellout. This will become a regular feature.
     The trip home from Oshkosh for N81QA was very quick. Gene left Oshkosh at 10:30 a.m. Saturday morning and arrived in Mojave, California at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, having spent the night in Tucumcari again. On the way home, Gene found a considerable quantity of rain and bugs. He reports that a heavy load of bugs will cost 8-10 mph IAS on the slippery Q2. Although flying through moderate rain will wash the bugs off, the moderate rain also costs 8-10 mph lAS. Gene also noted a nose down pitch trim change flying into the rain, just like a Quickie. This pitch trim change is easily compensated for with the pitch trim control. Many conventional aircraft have the same trim change.
     Garry LeGare has taken off and landed in the rain. He recommends a higher approach speed and cautions that the elevator force increases rapidly at low speeds.

     We have commissioned some analytical detective work to model the effect of bugs and rain on Q2 airfoils. We will publish the results when they are available.
     QAC cancelled its entry in the Oshkosh LBF 500 race in late July when it became obvious that we could not prepare the aircraft in time. Because of the rules governing fuel capacity and fill rate, it would have been necessary to build two extra fuel tanks and the attendent plumbing, install the hardware, and then test it. The race organizers were very cooperative and did everything they could for us; we are sorry that we could not participate. As it turned out, we were facing very stiff competition in the form of A.J. Smith and his one-of-a-kind $100,000 racer. A.J. walked off with first place in all three events with a marvelous effort. His efficiency event score, corrected for fuel burn, of over 230 mph was within 1% of what we calculated N81QA to be capable of! A.J.’s 200 hp Lycoming made the difference here, as the rules favor using about 120 hp to run the race. Last month, A.J. stopped by Mojave to admire the Q2, and we had the chance to admire his racer up close.