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airframe
[to be added]
avionics
[to be added]
electrical
firewall forward
[to be added]
fueslage & wings
[to be added]
panel
[to be added]
engine
gear and brakes
[to be added]
wings
[to be added]
Checklists
Pre-Flight
Before Takeoff
Pre-Taxi
Project task list
Here it is, the let-it-all-hang-out TO-DO list. Once daunting, now manageable and, as progress is recorded, good for the psyche and soul. 
The most recently posted version is from JUNE 18, 2010:
| Attachment | Size |
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| 254R-tasks-061810.xls | 30 KB |
Design
CAD - Left panel legends
The attached file contains the full layout for the left panel legend lettering design. It was created in TurboCAD™ and should be readable by most other CAD programs. It took about 10 hours to create this file, though a good bit of that time was attributable to learning to use the program. I could do it in 2-3 hours now. But that's true of most tasks in building an airplane. As someone said, "Everything is hard until you know how to do it."
| Attachment | Size |
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| panel-left-final-D-2.tcw | 32.5 KB |
Electrical
doubling electrical terminations
Inevitably, choices must be made about how to terminate various wire runs, in particular, doubling up of fuse and ground connections. This occurs because in general, I prefer having separate power and ground wires out to each device, as opposed to making one wire serve as a serial connection, and the fuse block and ground tab block positions are limited in number. So the question arises of how best to "double up" connections to fuse and ground "quick tab" connections.
In the fuse, or power, connections, there are essentially three potential faults unique to these situation. Decisions about how to "double up" will depend on how the failure of one of these with respect to one device may impact operation of the co-terminated device. The four potential faults are 1) internal device fault resulting in blown fuse, 2) wire fault, resulting in blown fuse, 3) corrosion or metal fatigue failure of the quick tab connection itself, resulting in failure of both devices.
Resolution of these concerns comes down to two principles:
A) Whenever possible, do not double up terminations for any critical device or function, and
B) Do not double up fuse wires for devices unless the single fuse is appropriate to protect both the loads and the wires of either wire and both devices.
Critical device circuits that should not be doubled will include such things as low voltage and low oil pressure circuits and indicators. This means that power and ground terminations for a) the left panel LED indicators and b) center panel LED indicators should not be doubled up because the latter include critical information, for example.
As a practical matter, it will only be possible and/or prudent to double up small load devices that can both be adequately protected by one relatively small fuse. For example, I am doubling the clock and the CO monitor, each of which draws just a small fraction of an amp, so I can use a single 1A fuse to protect either wire, with adequate current available for both devices. In some cases it helps that I've shunned the use of 24AWG in single conductor wires in favor or 22AWG, because the former are just too fragile for my taste. In such cases, even two 1A loads can easily be protected by one 3A fuse, so long as neither is deemed "critical".
[8/10/08 -- to be cont'd.]
electrical spreadsheet
The attached spreasheet (see link below) is a constantly changing work in progress, containing fairly comprehensive electrical info that is extremely useful as the panel and other wiring progresses.
The different sheets (tabs at the bottom) include complete load analysis, with wire and switching requirements, a switch list, annunciator list, fuse block assigments, the primary wire routing runs, and locations of miscellaneous gadgets, such as over-voltage circuits, diodes, EFIS serial port assignments, relay shelf gizmo pinouts, etc. The fields are liberally commented with explanations. Again, this is a work in progress, so it's not always accurate, much less complete.
DISCLAIMER: Like everything else on this site, the electrical spreadsheet should not be used verbatim by anyone else. It is presented here only as an example of the kinds of information it is useful to track, and one method of organizing it. Your mileage will -- and should -- vary.
The most recently posted version is from June 10, 2010.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Electrical-254R-061210.xls | 98 KB |
flaperon wiring
The flap operation switch, on the throttle bracket, operates in the usual manner. However, it is a DPDT, with one pole of the switch (airplane right terminals) operating when the flap mode switch, an S700-2-10 toggle on the left side panel, is in AUTO mode. The green (UP) wire connects the bottom right terminal of the operations switch to terminal 7 on the FPS-Plus Reflex controller. The purple (DOWN) wire connects the top right terminal of the operation switch to terminal 6 on the FPS-Plus Reflex controller. However, the physical routing of the purple wire is circuitous, running first to the left side panel area where it is spliced (label=FLPAUTDWN) to another purple wire that runs back to the controller. (This routing is an artifact of a previous, abandoned switching design.)
When the flap mode switch is in MAN mode, the (airplane) left set of terminals on the DPDT flap operation switch on the throttle bracket control the flaperon actuator directly through RELAY #3. The red (DOWN) wire connects the upper left termain of the switch to RELAY #3, pin #3. The white/red (UP) wire connects the lower left terminal of the switch to RELAY #2, pin #2.
Additional information on flaperon control operation can be found here.
linear actuator
The linear actuator used for electric flaperon control in 254R is a Thomson/Danaher Motion Electrak Q050 DE12Q17W41-02FPM3HN, purchased in 2006. The specifics in that lengthy "DE..." number include order specs for 12VDC, 2" stroke, internal limit switches, a particular speed and torque, orientation of mounting pins, and internal position-sensing potentiometer. I bought mine through the Richards Co., a Thomson/Danaher distributor.
At this writing (12/08) Danaher does not seem to use the "Q" designation any more and instead appears to just have the "E050" versions. However, the same specifications are apparently still available in that nomenclature. The current ordering specs and wiring diagram PDF files (see p. 1 in each) are attached below for further reference.
Photos and info about the linear actuator design and installation work in this airplane can be found by using the search box, above left, and searching on "actuator".
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| 200708132230330.LA_Order_NA.pdf | 160 KB |
| 200708132217010.LA_WirDia_NA.pdf | 98.24 KB |
notes on D-sub connectors
Following are some random notes on use of D-sub connectors in the panel wiring:
There are pros and cons to using D-sub connections, however, in my opinion, in most cases, most of the considerations are positive. When connecting to an avionics chassis or custom relay box with multiple wires, there's really no other choice. There may be some controversy when it comes to inline connections. On the down side, any added connection introduces another potential point of failure. However, on the upside, D-sub connections with high quality gold-plated pins are highly unlikely to corrode, and they provide a high denisity connection that makes disconnection, and therefore service & maintenance, much more efficient. Standard D-sub pins will carry 5A with ease, which covers the vast majority of circuits to and from the airplane panel. Although the old-school option is a hard wired or solder-spliced connection, a modern panel may have several complex avionics instruments with hundreds of connections. When (not if) it becomes necessary to remove the panel for any reason, the person who has hard wired all those connections, or even several of them, won't do it again.
Excellent high quality pins, plugs, receptacles and tools are available from B&C Specialties. At Steinair, they have all that and hoods (backshells) too. Mouser Electronics, a major online distributor, has all the above and specialty items, such as weathertight connectors, some with relatively shallow depth hoods (backshells.) Bob Nuckolls' iconic Aeroelectric Connection web site has short articles about how to crimp D-sub pins and how to extract a D-sub pin from a connector.
When using D-sub connectors for inline connections, such as panel interconnects or disconnects, don't be stingy with the wire. Leave enough extra wire length on both ends that you'll have a chance of not only reaching it from under the panel, but also getting at the retaining screws, in case you need to open the connection for troubleshooting -- without having to remove your whole panel just to get it apart -- and back together.
When testing and troubleshooting D-sub's make a couple of jumper wires about 12" long, with a male pin on one end and a female pin on the other end. Then you can stick the appropriate mating end into the plug you're testing, and clamp the other end of the test jumper to your voltmeter. If you don't use real pins to check things, you'll have a heck of a time getting most VOM's probes to reach the pin inside the connector, especially without doing some damage to the connector and/or pins inside it.
Inline connections require female chassis nut hardware on the female side of the connection. It's highly recommended to also use removeable (blue) Loctite on the threads of the mounting stud of the chassis hardware (not on the actual pin-to-pin or retaining screw connections.). When joining the two sides of an inline connection, screw the retaining screws into the chassis nuts until they are snug, but not too hard. If you tighten too much, you may break the chassis nut's seat against its D-sub plate, causing the retaining screw and female chassis nut to just rotate. You'll have to take it all apart, and retighten the chassis nut side. One source for chassis nut parts is Altex Computers & Electronics. Be sure to get lots. The parts are tiny, and you're bound to lose some.
The D-sub hoods, or backshells, come in various metal or plastic forms. I prefer plastic. Although the metal ones are undoubtedly more robust, they are very heavy. If the harness is properly secured, and handled carefully during maintenance, there should not be a lot of strain on the connector, and plastic should suffice.
When crimping pins onto small wires, such as 24AWG, be careful not to push the wire into the pin too far. It is possible to get the insulation inside the pin, in the crimp area, and you'll have a weak connection, if any.
When using the small red & white D-sub tool, the red end is used for insertion, and the white end is used for extraction. When inserting wires that are 22AWG and larger, you usually don't need an insertion tool. Be gentle pushing the pin in and it will usually "snap" into place without the insertion tool. With 24AWG wires always use the insertion tool, so you don't apply too much force and break the wire at the crimp connection between wire and pin.
Take care to record and annotate everything on both sides of the connection, including ultimate destination of wires and the wire colors. When using jumpers across D-sub pins, whether inside a custom chassis or on either side on an inline connection, be sure to record which pins are jumpered, and which ends of a jumper has the actual circuit wire. Once the D-sub hoods (or backshells) are closed up, it's hard to tell. If you don't have this data, you may not be able to tell whether you have a jumper problem, or an actual circuit problem in a wire out beyond the D-sub.
panel LED indicator lights
[...a work in progress, as I plan to add more photos, etc.]
Friend and fellow Rebel builder Terry Dazey was the latest of several people to inquire about details of the LED indicators. My response below covers most of the details of the why, what, and how. Terry asked:
Maybe I missed a link in your web Rebel photo description, but I am curious what is the part number and where did you purchased the small, colored LED annunciator lights as shown on your left wing panel? I like 'em.
Well, that's a story. After way too much cogitation and research, and after trying several things, I ended up with the design and parts I did because I had the following requirements:
A) I wanted a semi-flush appearance, B) I wanted wide angle visibility, C) I wanted a couple of the LED's to be self-blinking, and D) I wanted them to be replaceable, because even LED's do sometimes burn out.
Although these goals were met, the tradeoff, at least as I did it, was to give up getting out-of-the-box-robust mechanical strength, and I had to beef up the parts I has chosen with lots of heat shrink. In detail....
First, the basics: in a nominal +12 VDC circuit (more likely north of 13.8 VDC with an alternator running) an LED must have a resistor ahead of the LED, in series with it, to act as a current limiter. Without the limiting resistor, the internal resistance of an LED is too small to self-regulate at that voltage, and excess current will promptly burn out the LED. LED's come in different colors, which are derived through use of different elements (metals and minerals) in the LED. The current handling (internal resistance) characteristics of the different materials also vary, which means different colors of LED's will often require different values of external resistors. Common values range from 470 ohms to 1K ohms or more.
A bare LED has small stiff wires coming out of a plastic bulb. The wires are fragile, and can be easily broken off where they enter the hard bulb. It's not easy to solder resistors on one of these wires without breaking it, or overheating the LED, much less solder a longer wire onto the resistor. Consequently, manufacturers have come up with various standard, and not so standard ways to mount the fragile LED wire leads, including use of external ceramic "sockets" into which the bare LED wires are plugged, and encasing the whole thing is a larger volume of plastic, etc. In addition, there are different ways the physical mounting or encasing can be built to include the necessary (at 13.8 VDC) resistor. Most amateur builders will not buy bare LED's, but rather one of these kinds of preformed, pre-wired LED assemblies that include at least a resistor and extended wires. [See photo below for views of the parts I used, as well as a couple alternatives.]
I used the preformed "hobbyist" 5MM LED assemblies available in various colors from SuperBrightLEDs. The trouble with those is mechanical -- the resistor is soldered right onto one of the stiff and fragile LED leads, then attached to longer flexible stranded hookup wire. The resistor and hookup wires continue to hang onto the very fragile junction between themselves and the glass "bulb" of the LED -- there is no external casing to cover and connect both the bare lead, and the resistor and stranded hookup wire extensions. Until the LED assemblies I chose are beefed up with multiple layers of heat shrink, such that I could finally enclosed both the mount (see below) and the heat shrink laden wires together as one unit -- the fragility remains. SuperBrightLED's pre-wired LED assemblies include blinking RED ones. (http://allelectonics.com also has blinking ones in other colors.)
Now for the assembly. Looking at the edge of the panel, with the finish side to the left, and proceeding left to right, first there is the plastic, cylindrical (Fresnel) lens, cylindrically shaped with one end open. The lens "cylinder" goes through the panel opening, and snaps in place. On the back side of the panel, a white plastic ring "spacer" is slipped over the lens barrel. It's sole purpose is to take up space. (See photo below) Then the LED assembly (LED, resistor & extension wires) is gently pressed into the back of the lens barrel. Fnally, the black plastic ring retainer is press fit over the wires and the last part of the lens barrel, and clamps the lens around the LED body, locking it in place so it won't slide out of the lens barrel. Additional layers of heat shrink are then added carefully, until the fragile leads are protected all the way from LED body to the extended hookup wires. It's good to order several extra LED's of each color... some may break in this process, and they're not terribly expensive.
The LED mounting pieces came from Mouser Electronics. Representative part numbers are:
Red lens 593-3000R (other colors have a different last letter)
White spacer ring 593-SPC125
Black plastic retainer ring 593-RNG268
All these individual parts are very cheap. Get extras. The biggest expense is shipping. I should also note that it's not advisable to use a plain white LED behind these colored lenses. A plain white LED will tend to wash out the color of the lens a great deal. Better to match the LED color with the same lens color. All that having been said, as it turned out, the only place I needed blinkers was the oil pressure and stuck starter LED's, both RED.
There are several other, more out-of-the-box-robust assemblies available, including ones from SteinAir, RadioShack, etc. Unfortunately, the LED's with hard plastic cases from SteinAir sit quite high off the panel, definitely not flush, and have a limited viewing angle. Radio Shack has some nice plastic-encased LED's that are nearly flush, but they also have a narrow viewing angle. I wanted the co-pilot to have almost as good a view of these lights, especially the annunciator LED's above the left EFIS, as the pilot. That requirement led to the Fresnel lenses I used -- which also happened to lie very flush. The photo below shows a collection of the parts I used, and the RadioShack and SteinAir alternative styles. Of course, there are others too.
This picture shows, clockwise from top, 1) a "hobbyist" LED/resistor/wires assembly from SuperBrightLEDs.com, 2) another one where the resistor and red wire have snapped off the LED bulb, 3) red Fresnel mounting lens, 4) green Fresnel mounting lens, 5) black retaining rings, 6) white spacer rings, 7) one of the fully encased LED assemblies from Radio Shack, which does mount relatively flush, and 8) one of the fully encased LED assemblies from SteinAir. The latter two alternatives are mechanically robust, but suffer from a relatively narrow viewing angle, and the SteinAir model is not flush.
For more info, search on "LED" on the web site. Most of the relevant info will be on the first page of search results.
panel philosophy 101
As you can probably tell from reviewing the early panel and final legend layout, the concept behind the graphical legends is to easily distinguish between "simple" and "complex" toggle switch operations. A "simple" toggle switch has only two possible states -- DOWN for OFF, or UP for ON. A "complex" switch is anything else. The "simple" switches do not have directional outlines connecting the various switch position legends -- because they don't need them. They are binary and intuitive. The "complex" switches are distinguished by the addition of directional outlines, which indicate to the pilot that those switches are not simple ON/OFF switches and/or they may operate in reverse form, where the UP position is OFF, like the FLAPS mode control switch.
Another concept behind design of the panel & switches is that for routine daylight VFR operations, ALL switches should be fully DOWN, except for the MAIN switch, and all annunciator lights should be OFF. If a switch is UP, or an annunciator lights is ON, something other than basic, normal operation is occurring. Annunciator lights may indicate a whole range of non-basic normal conditions as benign as the Autopilot or Landing lights being ON, to something critical, such as loss of oil pressure.
Finally, the bottom row of switches on the left panel all have something to do with DC power management. The upper switches control other specific operational devices & instruments.
Flight Testing
There are two aspects of flight testing: 1) what's required, and 2) what's prudent. Except for the length of flight testing time, usually very little is actually required. With the particular engine and prop combination I have, I anticipate a standard 40 hour flight testing period will be required. That requirement is set during the formal FAA inspection at the end of construction. During that test period, completion of which is self-certified, the airplane will be restricted to a local area -- usually a 25 nautical mile radius of the home airport -- and no passengers may be carried. At the end of that period the builder must certify in the logs merely that the airplane has been flight tested and performs as expected throughout its normal flight range.
More important is what's prudent. There are numerous guides for flight testing, including materials at the EAA, though access to the latter are generally restricted to members. Other builders of this type of airplane have also compiled and shared guides and of course, the original kit designer has published specifications of appropriate flight parameters (speeds, weights, takeoff and landing requirements, etc.) The materials available from many sources include generalized guides, as well as articles on more specific topics such as calibration of specific instruments. However, amateur built aircraft vary quite a bit even within the same general type -- due to choices of engine, propellor, and many other factors -- so ultimately, the builder is the legal manufacturer of the aircraft, and responsible for the performance characteristics of the aircraft.
The FAA also publishes an "advisory circular" known as AC 90-89A [gotta love that bureaucratese] on the subject, which lays out a flight by flight regimen of progressive testing of all aspects, including flight characteristics at various speeds and flight attitudes, calibration of instruments, and more. (It is a suggested, but not required procedure.) IMHO, it is one of the best publications the FAA has ever produced. Although some adaptation will be required for this aircraft, I intend to follow it as closely as practicable. A copy is attached below.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| ac90-89a.pdf | 797.99 KB |
Misc
windshield notes
Attached is a rough compilation of discussions on the Rebel Builders List over the course of several years about windshield installation. Read everything before deciding what to do. Opinions vary, and several different ones are expressed in this document. Similarly, the terminology is not consistent from one writer to another -- sometimes not even by the same writer! :-) So be sure you know what it means. No warranties. These are just snippets I thought were significant -- to me. Your mileage will, and maybe even should vary.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| windshield-notes.txt | 28.4 KB |
Pilot's Operating Handbook (POH)
flaperon controller documentation
Documentation for the FPS-Plus Reflex controller from Aircraft Extras.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| fps-plus-reflex manual addendum.pdf | 100.15 KB |
flaperon operation
The mode of flaperon operation is controlled by the flaperon mode switch on the left side panel, labeled "FLAP". The first, normal mode is AUTO (down position) in which the flaperon actuator is controlled by the FPS-Plus Reflex controller under the right panel relay shelf. The controller operates the flaperon actuator via control of the N.C. terminals 5 and 6 of RELAY #3. When in the AUTO position, the controller itself can be programmed in (6) different modes, using the PROG CTRL momentary push button switch on the left side panel. See controller documentation for important details of controller programming and operations.
With the flaperon mode switch in the MANUAL position, the flaperon actuator is controlled only by the (airplane) left side terminals of the flat "bat" handled DPDT (ON)-OFF-(ON) flaperon operation switch on the throttle bracket. Those terminals are wired to the N.O. terminals 4 and 3 of RELAY #3. In the MANUAL position, stepped positioning of the flaperons is not available. Operation is continuous as long as the flaperon operation switch is ON in either UP or DOWN direction, until the actuator reaches full travel and is shut off by its internal limit switch in that direction.
WARNING: Finally, the OFF (UP) position of the flaperon mode switch turns off all electric control of the flaperons and is strictly an emergency position, in the event of a serious fault in either the controller or the actuator that produces erratic operation, or in case of suspected intermittent short in the control wiring, i.e., when further operation of the electric flaperon system is deemed to be a risk. In the OFF position, the LED above the flaperon mode switch is ON, as a reminder to the pilot that electric control of the flaperons is NOT AVAILABLE.
Additional information on flaperon control system wiring can be found here.
sample docs
Reference
Electrical Design
The ultimate source of information about and wisdom of aircraft electrical design, is the book Aeroelectric Connection, by Robert (Bob) Nuckolls. It's available from B&C Specialties, or from Bob's own site. (Be sure to check the latter for updated schematic drawings, which do evolve over time.) Bob also leads the Aeroelectric mailing list which, in addition to its ongoing, high volume discussion, includes an invaluable archive.
Panel Design
Some excellent articles about panel design by Ricardo Price, in KitPlanes magazine:
http://www.kitplanes.com/
http://www.kitplanes.com/
http://www.kitplanes.com/
An article by Eric Jones, of Perihelion Design, on panel design:
http://forums.matronics.com//
Stories
Cub goes to fly-in and the big city
The 22nd Annual West Coast Piper Cub Fly-in was held July 7-9, 2006, at the Lompoc, CA, airport (LPC). I was privileged to attend, piloting the 1946 Cub (NC73BB) in which I trained for my pilot license. This is the story. Most of it is true. :-) Some pictures are here.
On Friday, July 7, I departed Salinas (SNS) at about 1015. Conditions were excellent. Climbing out at a breathtaking 300 FPM, I was pleased to find the elevator trim cable was tight and working, but wondered how long that would last. In the preceding two days, I'd planned a fairly precise route to skirt the eastern side of the two military operations areas (MOA) between Salinas and Paso Robles (PRB), my first fuel stop. I'd manually entered cooordinates for all the airports en route in my ancient little Garmin 12 hand held GPS. The route took me SE to King City (KIC), and a few miles east of Hwy. 101 from there to Paso Robles.
Nearing PRB, the ASOS reported winds calm, and I heard other traffic in the pattern using left traffic to RWY 19. I decided to make a straight in approach and, although I called it several times in advance, it was probably not the best choice. Other traffic appeared in the pattern about the same time as I did, and they had to adjust a little for me. Nobody got upset, but that's the last time I'll do that unless I have a real need to do it. Landing was not great, but OK. Funny how there can be turbulence and wind shear when landing in "calm" conditions.
At the fuel island, a Cheyenne was ahead of me and, forgetting the Hobbes meter, I waited with the engine running. That wasn't too smart, given the Cub can be pushed around about as easy as a wheelbarrow. Just as I finished refueling, a flight of five Cubs from Frazier Lake (1C9) came in, also on their way to the fly-in, along with a Cherokee, their "cargo plane." Here we were, still sixty miles from the fly-in, and already six yellow Cubs filled the ramp. Lunch at the terminal restaurant was fantastic. Excellent, 3-star+ food, worth a stop anytime.
Climbing out of PRB to 4500', thermals and mechanical turbulence from the ridges ahead tossed the Cub around a bit. (I heard the flight of five Cubs take off behind me on the radio, but didn't see them again until nearly a half hour after I made the destination.) At first, I headed west of the course line to follow the freeway as it curved through Atascadero, then up through a pass. Over the ridge line, then back down to 3500', I passed east of San Luis Obispo (SBP) and then Santa Maria (SMX). Visibility was at least 40 miles. After SMX, I passed several miles east of Vandenburg AFB, then turned south to Lompoc (LPC). The LPC AWOS was out of service, but the friendly UNICOM voice said the wind was about 8 knots, and right down RWY 25. I flew a proper 45 deg. entry to the right traffic pattern. Perfect conditions allowed me to accomplish an OK landing in front of the crowd of Cub pilots already on the ground, watching every arrival. Whew.
Cubs were everywhere. I guesstimated more than 30 were already on the ground when I arrived, about 1430. I was waved to one of the last tie downs on the tarmac -- a good thing given I'd forgotten to bring any tie down anchors. During the afternoon I wandered around the field, checking out the Cubs and various other strange aircraft, including a Curtis Jr., and a couple of beautifully restored Stearman biplanes. The Cubs have come in from Washington, Oregon, Arizona, all over. Then I saw the kids.
Over by the chain link fence at the edge of the airport a gaggle of kids from the local Boys and Girls Club was waiting for a tour. I put them in my camera's sights, then started answering (and asking) questions over the fence. When a local EAA officer arrived to guide them around, I could tell right off that he and the group chaperones would need all the help they could get corraling this herd of some 30-odd kids bouncing around a noisy, windy airport. I volunteered. That led to me explaining propellors, their function and dangers, to the group, then offering to let them see inside a real Cub. I led groups of four at a time to peer into the port-side windows of NC73BB, holding the little ones up so they could see. They were stoked, and so was I. When they heard the EAA Young Eagles program provides free rides to kids, they went bananas! Turning these kids on to aviation was worth the trip all by itself, and I was just getting started.
Just before dinner, I found that my wife's uncle would not be able to join me for a flight on Saturday after all, so I started conjuring up other plans. At the spaghetti buffet dinner in the main hangar, in conversation with a couple of veteran Cub pilots, I suggested I might try to fly to Van Nuys (VNY), which happens to be the busiest general aviation airport in the country. I was considering getting a car from VNY and zipping to downtown LA for a few hours to massage one of the computer servers I have in a data center. Their eyes got a little big. They thought taking a Cub with no electrical system and no transponder into the busy LA airspace would be, uh, challenging. They steered me to Eric Libby (a friendly local CFII from Santa Ynez) for advice, probably thinking he'd talk me out of it.
Eric was more encouraging, and very helpful. He suggested a route straight east up the valley above Santa Ynez, then jogging south over the mountain ridge, staying above the Santa Barbara Airport Class C airspace, and continuing east toward Van Nuys. He agreed either Santa Paula (SZP) or Camarillo (CMA) would make a good refueling stop. He also suggested calling ahead to the Van Nuys FAA tower and SoCal Approach ATC folks to let them know I was coming in without a transponder, and gave me some phone numbers. I returned to my motel room, fired up the laptop, and got to work planning a flight for Saturday. While scouring the AFD, I entered coordinates for another half dozen airports along the route into the GPS -- just in case I decided to actually do it.
Saturday morning I awoke at 0600, surprised to find the sky already clear, no hint of fog anywhere. It looked like another fabulous day for flying. I hurried through breakfast, walked across the field, did my pre-flight check, refueled, and took off about 0815, climbing out on a right downwind departure toward Santa Ynez. Over Santa Ynez airport (IZA), some 20 miles to the east, the Cub was still climbing through 4500'. The vistas were spectacular. Ahead was a long reservoir. I reached 5000' about mid-way down the reservoir, and saw a highway cutting across the steep ridge to the south. That was my cue to make a dogleg south to cross the ridge. A few minutes later, popping over the ridge, suddenly there was Santa Barbara below, with the Pacific and Channel Islands shining in the distance. I was right next to but above the Santa Barbara Airport (SBA) Class C airspace, with the stunningly beautiful ridge to my left, and the Pacific to the right. What a view! I pulled out my camera and began taking my first ever aerial photos from the Cub.
I had chosen to land at Camarillo instead of Santa Paula because Camarillo is bigger, with full time FBO's and, in addition to refueling, I needed to buy an LA Terminal Area Chart (TAC). Although I had visited Camarillo on the ground in December, it was still nice to have friendly ground control assist with a progressive taxi to the one FBO I could remember seeing in December, called Channel Islands. After securing the Cub, I wandered in, hoping to pick up an LA Terminal Area Chart (TAC) -- essential for navigation in the busy LA airspace ahead. Amazingly, in a huge rack of charts for sale, the only one missing was the one I needed. Even more amazing, the guy at the counter declined to even suggest where else I might go to find one, saying it was against company policy to steer people elsewhere. Incredulous, I asked, "Even when you don't have a no-margin, essential product like a chart?" Yup. Needless to say, I wouldn't recommend you patronize the Channel Islands FBO at CMA.
At the much more friendly Western Cardninal FBO nearby, I found not only the chart but other helpful advice. I tried calling the number for the VNY tower but got only voicemail boxes. The SoCal Approach number didn't work ("You have reached a non-working Federal telephone number." I wondered, do any of them work, but that's another matter.) Oh well, I decided to just call SoCal Approach (SCA) when in the air, as usual. Western Cardinal's fuel truck came and filled the Cub. (TIP: Although getting fuel from a mobile truck is a little more expensive than pumping it from a self-serve fuel island, by the time you factor in the Hobbes time on the engine, it's no more expensive to call a truck, and usually a lot faster -- just like back home at SNS.)
I taxied out to RWY 25 and took off for a right downwind departure. That's when things started to get real interesting. As I turned right crosswind, a twin engine plane on a left downwind across the field called the tower saying his gear indicator lights weren't working correctly, and he wasn't sure his gear was down. Ooops. He requested a fly-by so the tower could look and see whether his gear appeared to be down or not. Then, just as I turned right downwind, climbing through 700', the tower alerted me to a low wing Cheyenne flying ahead of and well below me, perhaps only 200' off the ground! The tower repeatedly called this plane but was unable to get any radio response, and the plane didn't even respond to the tower's request for a wing rock acknowlegment. That got the tower a wee bit excited -- understandable with a potential gear failure and uncontrolled plane in the pattern at the same time -- but the controller remained very professional. As the twin flew by the tower to confirm its gear was down (even I could see it looked to be down) the controller cleared all other traffic out of the way as the mute white Cheyenne turned right base, then landed on RWY 25 with no clearance, no communication. I never did hear what had happened to it or why. The twin also went around and landed gear down without incident. Another whew!
Meanwhile, I was climbing east, and rapidly approaching the Class B "veil" where I would be required to check in with SoCal Approach (SCA). I tuned them in. Wow, busy frequency, lots of traffic. Mostly big airplanes. When I got a chance, I called. "SoCal Approach, 73BB, VFR request." No reply, so a minute later, I repeated. Eventually, SCA reponded, getting my numbers wrong, "Uh, 53BB, say position, altitude, nature of request." I replied, "SoCal Approach, 73BB is a Piper Cub, slant x-ray, 10 miles east of Camarillo, level at 3000, VFR enroute to Van Nuys." (The "slant x-ray" lets them know I don't have a transponder.) After a little silence, and some other traffic, SoCal responded, "43BB, what are you squawking" -- assuming any plane baudacious enough to enter the Class B area would have a transponder, of course. I replied, "SoCal Approach, 73BB is a Piper Cub, slant x-ray, exempt from transponder requirement, VFR enroute to Van Nuys." Silence. Several seconds of silence. Then, "73BB, say again, what is your aircraft type?" Good. He had the number right. "SoCal Approach, 73BB is a Piper Cub, Juliette Three Charlie, slant x-ray, no transponder, exempt." More silence, a rare condition on this frequency, as no doubt 30-40 planes in the NW quadrant of the LA airspace listen in to this dance between SoCal Approach and a little yellow airplane. Finally, "Uh, OK, 73BB, turn left heading 30 degrees so we can identify you on radar." I reply, "73BB turning left heading 30 degrees." A minute or two pass, lots of other orders given and received with other traffic, then finally SCA commes back, "93BB, 10 miles west of Camarillo, we have you on the scope, resume own navigation, advise before changing altitude." I reply, "SoCal Approach, roger, 73BB is 10 miles east of Camarillo, resuming own navigation enroute to Van Nuys. Will advise before altitude change. 73BB" I figured they had mis-spoken my numbers at least twice, so the erroneous spoken version of my position was likely also not too serious, and with no more reply, I turned right, back on course.
It's only 30 miles from Camarillo to Van Nuys, a short hop over some low, rugged, scruffy hills. I'm flying about 800' above them, but a little on edge -- probably not a bad thing. Not many good places to land below, and visibility declining to about 8 miles as I enter the San Fernando Valley haze. Still, SCA seems to know where I am, as several times they alert me and other traffic to our mutual proximity. Most of the time, I eventually locate the other traffic. After passing over the hills, they ask if I called to request a lower elevation. I hadn't, but they know I need to get lower now to go into Van Nuys, which itself is under the Burbank Class C airspace. I say no I didn't call, but yes I'd like to go down to 2500', which is acknowledged. I'm less than 10 miles from VNY. Minutes later, I'm told to switch to Van Nuys tower. "Van Nuys tower, Piper Cub 73BB slant x-ray, with you 6 miles west, inbound VFR with information Delta." They reply, "73BB, report two mile right base for One Six Right, altimeter is 29.98, wind 130 at 8." I acknowledge, excited to be headed for the famous, original, historic runway, with a Hawker Jet on final, and a King Air sequenced ahead of me.
Then VNY tower asks, "73BB, where will you be headed on the field?" Somebody in Lompoc had suggested I go to the Clay Lacy FBO. "Van Nuys tower, 73BB will be headed to Clay Lacy," I tell them. "Well that's on the south side of the airport. You're cleared to land One Six Left... unless you'd rather stay on One Six Right." I pause, "Well, it would be pretty nice to land One Six Right, so if it's OK, I'll stay there." VNY replies, "No problem, cleared to land One Six Right, number two behind a King Air on a 3 mile final." Wow, I'm going into the busiest GA airport in the country, landing on a historic runway, right in with the big boys. Hmmmm, better watch out for wake turbulence.
By the time I get to my short final, the King Air has long ago settled in, and I'm not worried about its wake anymore. I execute a pretty darn good crosswind landing, and scoot down the runway until advised to exit left and cross 16L. I switch to ground control, ask for progressive taxi and am given directions to the SE corner of the field. "Turn left just after that fuel truck and helicopter to get into Clay Lacy."
Wow, I'm on a huge apron, in between huge hangars, putt-putting slowly through a bevy of Citations, a Beechcraft Premier Jet, with a couple of Gulfstreams of various sizes off to the side. Looking all around for a tie down, none in sight, so I go all the way to the glass wall of the FBO office and shut down. The line foreman climbs off a tug that's maneuvering a Citation, walks over, and says, "Welcome to Clay Lacy." Never missing an opportunity for a wisecrack, I say, "Well, I thought I'd park this Cub right in front of your lounge window here, to add a little class to this joint." He smiles. "I'd like to tie down for a few hours while I go downtown on some business. I'll be back by mid-afternoon at the latest." The line boss says, "We don't have any tie downs here." Oh oh, why did those people in Lompoc suggest I come to a jet joint with no tie downs, I wonder? Were they setting me up for some embarassment. Not to be dissuaded, I continue. "Well then, can I just park here? Looks like I'd be out of the way of the heavies." "Well no, the wind will come up soon. You'll blow away. But I guess we can put you in a hangar for a few hours." "Wow, that would be great, thanks." He calls over an assistant, and points to their humungous hangar #5. "Jose, help push this Cub into hangar 5. Be careful. This is a clipped wing Cub and there aren't many around any more." Now I know I'm in good hands.
Some 50 yards away, hangar 5 is immense. There's already a Gulfstream V inside, engine cowlings gaping open, mechanics climbing over it, with room for at least one more. We push the Cub inside, right to the middle of the other half of this huge hangar. Cool. I see the Gulfstream does have chocks around its wheels. Of course, the Gulfstream weighs many tons and isn't going anywhere, but still, I'm thinking, wouldn't want it rolling onto my Cub. The mechanics might hear something as the Gulfstream crunched the Cub, but they wouldn't feel it.
I grab my laptop and walk into the FBO office lounge. At the counter a pleasant lass welcomes me, "What can we do for you?" "Well I'll need to refuel, and I need a car for a few hours. Can you arrange that?" "Yes, we'll be happy to assist you." She takes down my name and the Cub's numbers. A couple of uniformed pilots walk by, headed for their Gulstreams, no doubt. "Do you need jet fuel?" she asks. Uhhh, no, 100LL AVGAS. "Oh, well I'll see if we can find some." I'm off to the restroom. When I return, there's a small rental car already waiting in the turnaround outside the door. I sign a few papers, grab a freebie bottle of water, hop in the rental car, and head out to the 405 freeway. So THIS is what travel by private plane is like, I think. Cool.
In about half an hour, I'm up in a skyscraper on Wilshire Blvd. working on my server. Two hours later, I'm back at Clay Lacy, handing in my car keys. "Have they managed to fuel the Cub yet?" She radios the line foreman, and tells me to meet him outside at hangar 5. When I get there, he has the Cub already pushed out on the apron. "We don't have any 100LL AVGAS here," he says. "You can go to the self-serve fuel island halfway down 16L, or we can call SkyAir to send a truck over." I ponder for a moment, then ask for the truck. It'll be faster. While we wait, he stands around and we shoot the breeze about Cub history. There's only one other J-3 Cub that lives on the airport. Big jets loom overhead as other workers drag and push them around with tugs. The fuel truck arrives and I instruct the driver on the fine points of putting a mere two gallons or so into a Cub, the need to leave room for the cork, etc. He overflows the tank anyway. Oh well. The foreman stands in front of the stabilizer to hold the tail for me, I thank him for their hospitality, prop the engine, climb in and putt putt away. He waves goodbye, sorry to see the Cub leave. It will be a long time before another Cub pulls into Clay Lacy Jets FBO. I paid for the car, but otherwise they charged me nothing! I'll definitely go there again, especially if I'm in a Cub. 
I call ground for taxi clearance. They direct me to 16L. As I emerge from behind the huge hangars onto the taxiway, I imagine the view from the tower over on the other side of the field. They see several big jets on the south side, a few Citations and helicopters and then there's a tiny little yellow speck putt putting out of Clay Lacy. They are overjoyed to have a Cub on the field. "73BB, would you like a mid-field takeoff, or would you like to taxi to the beinning of the runway?" I ponder for a moment, "If it's alright, I'll go for the whole ride," I reply. And off I go, taxiing all the way down. After my run-up, I'm immediately cleared for takeoff, right crosswind departure. They've planned my slot in the traffic perfectly, and I'm in it. Up and away, frequency change requested, goodbye and thank you, Van Nuys tower. I think they're sorry to see the Cub go too.
Climbing through 2000' I call SoCal. They don't seem to hear me for awhile, but a minute later, I call again. Eventually they respond, "Piper Cub 73BB, standby." That turns out to be my last certain contact with SoCal. They have lots of other business, but having acknowledged me, at least I'm officially legal, somewhere in their system. They never call me back. Eventually I hear a controller telling other airplanes they have some unknown westbound target on their scopes, in roughly my postion. The other pilots look for and spot traffic, probably me. I call SoCal two or three times, thinking they've forgotten about me. They don't respond. I keep flying west. Pretty soon I'm out from under the Class B, and I don't worry about it anymore. They aren't worried about me, and I'm climbing through 3500' for 5000', headed for Santa Ynez (IZA), about 82 miles from VNY.
Leaving the LA haze behind, it's a gorgeous afternoon and I'm a happy camper. I just flew a 1946 Cub into LA's busy airspace, got treated like royalty at the big jets' FBO, and flew back out, all legal, pretty safe, and definitely fun. Cool.
The flight to Santa Ynez (IZA), retracing my route from the morning, is uneventful. Santa Barbara ATIS and Santa Ynez ASOS each report less than 8 knots, so I don't expect or get too much turbulence crossing the ridge from south to north above Santa Barbara. The scenery looks a little different in the afternoon light -- still superb. I fly a left pattern into IZA, where the wind has piped up to about 12 knots, 20 deg. off the runway. No problem, good landing.
Refueled and ready to go by 4:30 PM, I contemplate heading north to make it back home to SNS well before dark. I proceed NW toward PRB for ten minutes, making excellent progress in the climb (why is the Cub climbing so well, I wonder) before I come to my senses. Sure I'll get to PRB, but will there be too much fog at SNS by the time I get there? No way to tell, and I don't want to have to backtrack to spend a night in King City! I turn left and glide 15 miles back down to Lompoc, where I have a reservation for another night anyway. After 4.8 hours on the Hobbes in one day, I have an opportunity to thank Eric for his guidance, and tell the grizzled pilots I did fly the Cub to VNY and back after all, and it was a snap. Cool.
Sunday morning there's thick fog over everything at 0630. Good. Time for a decent breakfast and a stroll to Starbucks down the road, before loading up all my gear in the Cub one more time. I add a little oil to the Continental, and taxi to the fuel island where there's a crowd of at least a dozen planes, jockeying for position. It's 45 minutes before I can add 2 gallons to fill the Cub, then I'm off on RWY 25, with a right crosswind departure headed to PRB.
From 4500', I listen to Santa Maria tower below. The controller tells a Centurion there's some plane a mile south of the tower up high and yes, with the binoculars it's a, a Cub. So I call in to acknowledge yes here I am way above your airspace. The controller thanks me for checking in, and on I go.
Crossing the ridge north of San Luis Obispo, about 30 miles from PRB, the batteries in my venerable Garmin 12 hand held GPS give out. I think about putting in new ones, but decide to wait until I'm on the ground at PRB. I land, refuel, and in no hurry at all, replace the batteries in the little GPS. But I neglect to turn it on for a check. Duh. Taxiing back out to RWY 19, the AWOS reports a wind shift from variable/calm, to a small tailwind on 19. I decide to take off there anyway, but notice there are a couple of small CDF fire bombers in the pattern doing practice drops of red fire retardant as they make low approaches over the field before the approach end of 19. I stop taxiing so the faint breeze now in my face doesn't blow red stuff over the Cub. And wait. They go around, make another drop, and another. I wait. The Hobbes runs. Finally they land and, a little too eager to get in the air, I hop on the runway as soon as the last one clears. Takeoff is fine, but about 150 ft. up, I get hit with a sharp jolt of roll turbulence -- for just a moment. Not a big deal, not really that unusual for taking off on a warm day with strong thermal activity in the area. It's not until a half hour later that I realize I had taken off in a light quartering tailwind, classic worst case conditions for wake turbulence. Fortunately, the CDF bombers were not really big airplanes. Another lesson I'd learned before in training, now relearned in the real world.
After climbing out and turning NW, I try to turn on my little GPS. Nothing but a blank screen. Ooops, I must have pulled stale batteries from one bag that I thought would be good. So I reach forward to my flight bag and grab four more batteries and stuff them in. Still nothing on the screen. Well that's no big deal. I have 50 mile visibility, Hwy. 101 underneath, and can almost see King City. Who needs a GPS to get home from here! So I put it away and enjoy the view. It was not until I got home several hours later that I discoverd I had put the batteries in wrong. But twice? Wow.
The flight over KIC and on to SNS was again CAVU (ceiling and visibility unlimited) and smooth. So smooth I could pretend I was driving an airliner. A straight in approach to RWY 26 ending in an excellent crosswind landing brought three days of fantastic flying to a close. Ecstasy. If the Cub could refuel in the air, I'd still be up there.
Rebel Goes to Oshkosh
Whilst on the Rebel Ramble in July '07, pilot Garry and co-pilot Ron leave to rejoin the Ramblers, headed for Oshkosh after a brief overnight at Ron's house. Waaay too much fun. [Film by J.T. Meyers of Aeronot.]