FALCON, COLORADO

RECENT  PROJECTS

above, the canard bulkhead sustained substantial damage when the NG 30's were ripped from the floor

above, the old NG30's had been scabbed on top of scabs...very poor workmanship was used in previous repairs.  The strength of the entire nose gear attachment was seriously compromised, indicating the "hard" landing may not have been so hard after all.

Above, the new NG's with the electric retract installed, and the after installation in the airframe, note the new battery tray and hold down and the retract covder.

While the CozyIII is called a side-by-side Long Eze this plane could be called a tandem Cozy.  It is wider, longer and taller than a Long Eze with a way over sized canopy with built in roll over protection

A forward tilting front canopy makes getting in and out easily from either side and should make taking off with an unlatched canopy a non event.  It also allows for a skirt on the canopy frame that laps over the fuselage and longerons which should make for a great water and air seal. The canopies were made with tolerances built in to accept good quality rubber seals, that let's us control the squeeze pressure on the seals.

The rear canopy at far right above opens like a conventional Long-Eze canopy.  When closed it is overlapped by the rear flange of the front canopy and cannot open as long as the front canopy is closed.  It does however have its own latches similar to the Long-Eze canopy latch.

Above far right the rear equipment bay can be seen with the Lightspeed EI control box mounted along side the back-up alternator regulator.

              

Electric Landing Brake with LED landing lights and an external Transponder/DME antenna

The Advanced 4500 EFIS, DynonEFIS, Garmin radios and GPS, Digiflight Auto Pilot all would make for amazing capability and redundancy in any aircraft...much less the tiny panel of this plane.  I'll post some shots of it all when the wires are bundled and the rest of the panel is finished.

"The Cozy Mark IV" DVD that my friend Paul Drexler of 4D Solutions http://www.4dsolutionsinc.com/index.htm created for Aircraft Spruce.

Above are some shots of the Cozy at work on the project.  I felt very lucky to have been able to participate as a subject ship pilot, Aerial Director and Technical Advisor. This was an amazing learning experience.  The camera ship is owned and piloted by my long time friend and neighbor, Richard Martin, flying his BD-4 modified for camera work                        

The DVD has an astounding sound track in 5.1 Dolby and was written and produced for this DVD. If you do not yet own it you can get the DVD from Aircraft Spruce at http://www.aircraftspruce.com/menus/kits/cozy.html if this does not motivate you, better get  your pulse checked!!

In March Kitplanes came to town to do the August cover story on Cozy N14CZ.

The writer was in town for two days then the photographer came.  The photographer said that the last thing the editor told him that it was for the August issue so there could be no snow!!  March on the front range of the Rockies is the snowiest month of the year. I was to fly the BD-4 as the camera ship for the mission and suggested that we go to Pueblo Reservoir where at least the water was not frozen and was blue.  So it was there and over the Royal Gorge that we got the great shots that turned up on the August cover and article.  My good friends Aaron Hollingsworth and Chris Woodard were pilot and co-pilot as well as the owners of 4CZ.  They did some excellent flying. Both guys from Kitplanes were professional and personable.

The  aircraft pictured below has been flying for several years in primer on the outside and no interior paint.  There are several innovative features that were incorporated by the builder. These include armpit scoops for downdraft cooling, unique exhaust ports and roll-over protection with rear tilting dual canopies.

Freeflight has had this aircraft for six months while we performed maintenance, repairs and re-worked the body fit and finish, cleaned and prepped the interior and sprayed Zolatone after we installed a fresh air ventilation system and a few personal touches for the owners., We also installed arm rest pads and control stick boots to match the existing seat arrangement (not pictured). The artwork on the belly was a very interesting and labor intensive job.  We needed to turn the entire aircraft over and then after the artist was done, turn it all back over without chipping or scratching the beautiful and expensive paint job. We expect to have it ready right after the first of the year 2008 for the anxious customers to come pick it up.

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On January 22,2008 N139BJ was issued a special airworthiness certificate (Amateur Built).

On January 24 it made its first flight, two days later it made the second flight.  Initial test results are encouraging.  With only two hour of testing  the plane there are many things that are favorable.  Highest CHT is 385 and the coolest is 340.   Oil temps stabilized at 205...a little warm but acceptable.