NetHeads, I was looking through some web pages tonight and stumbled across the trip I made to Fontana Dam one afternoon after work. For those that need some motivation to finish up that KR, check out http://www.n56ml.com/flights/fontana/ for the kind of adventures that await you once you've built and flown your own personal time machine.
For those wondering, I still don't have the Swift back in the air, thanks to a grueling workload from my day (and night) job. But I am getting a lot closer. If I had about 15 hours of time to work on it, I'd be done. I did manage to put about three hours into it last weekend, and cleared my biggest hurdle, a complex lower spar cap that took five attempts to achieve and install something I'm proud of. The rest will be easy by comparison, but at 3 hours per weekend, I'm not exactly setting the world on fire. I've also bought a 90% complete (at least) stretched KR2S that's been in my basement for about 3 months now. It's very similar to Larry Flesner's plane, except without the taller gear legs. I haven't laid a hand on it though, as finishing up the Swift is top priority to get me back in the air ASAP. Once that's done I'll finish up the KR2S. I'll post some photos and a description of that one when I get a chance. And given that I've had nothing to fly since March, and it would be unbearable to show up at the 40th Anniversary KR Gathering driving a car, I finally reached my limit and bought a "previously owned" KR2 with 320 hours on it. No work required on this one, other than go get it and fly it back home. That'll happen in 2 weeks. I'm really looking forward to the KR2 experience...I'll be able to speak intelligently on the difference in the flying qualities between the two, and get back to some worthwhile testing, and therefore a reason to live! I have a feeling my view of the KR2 will improve substantially, but we'll have to see. I flew N891JF "two-up" for a few minutes at a Gathering about 10 years ago, and I thought it handled fine then. To answer the obvious question, both of these planes have VW engines, one a 2180cc Type 1 and the other a 2400cc Type 4, both of which have a pretty good record when it comes to crank failures when equipped with a GPASC Force One bearing. I'm even going to learn what it's like to fly behind a Posa carb! And to clear up any question on the Corvair, I do have a 4340 crank on order from Dan Weseman for my 3100cc Corvair for the single seater I'll likely build when I get all of this other stuff taken care of and work slows down, if that ever happens. I'm the lead engineer on a 15 year design, build, and engineering contract, and for the moment, my personal life has diminished to practically nothing. The consolation is that it's really cool work...almost worth not having a life, but at the expense of losing my sanity! Only 13 more years to go... Which KR2? See http://www.n56ml.com/n981jf/ for more on that. I'm honored to own such a fine machine...and it has a nice paint job on it already! I think it even won "Best KR" at the Gathering once or twice. Bottom line is that I'm "comin' to join ya" again. Rumor has it that Jim may put in an appearance at the Gathering this year (http://www.krgathering.org/). I'll see some of y'all at the KR Forum at OSH Monday at 1:00. Nothing prepared yet...winging it as usual, so y'all think of some good questions to ask. If nothing else, it's a good reason to tag up at least once a year. This will be the only year I don't show up flying a KR for a long while to come... ... Mark Langford ML at N56ML.com website at http://www.N56ML.com --------------------------------------------------------
