The Moment

After the final hurdle has been cleared, the lengthy list of issues resolved, and the vexing problems solved, there comes the point where there are no more excuses. The time has come for video cameras to be turned on, computers booted for sampling the data, the fires ignited in the cylinders, and the craft to taxi to the end of the runway for the real departure from terra firma. The months of time became years, and all for this moment of truth.

With an experimental airframe mated to a first-of-its-kind power plant, how does one calibrate the risk to the point of no more than usual? Many tests were done, and unexpected issues needed to be fixed. The numbers for sizing the cooling system proved to be too marginal for me to risk someone, so an overkill radiator and static ground fan system were installed. We will find out if it really has too much drag on the go-fast part of the equation.

This will be my last major engineering accomplishment of this mortal coil. It is a period on the culmination of building cars with engines they didn’t leave the factory with, learning how to build and then constructing several homes with my own hands during the boom-boom years of the Reagan era, and then settling down to a profession of designing space borne sensors that have examined the stars, the earth, and even the planets (yes, Pluto is a planet, and my bit of minor intellectual contribution passed by it before they stole its honor). This was not enough excitement for the perennial problem solver; it required graduating to constructing a 2-seat airplane that has been my avatar for the last decade. In my 50s I was captivated by the need for speed. The 2 seater was a test run of my skills, thus a 4-place sleek 200+ knot starship was in the offing.

This aircraft was to be the go-fast, go-places capstone of my piloting desires. The name of the airplane is “Velocity,” and compared to other experimental GA aircraft, it certainly lives up to the title. It has become my final big project in life, and for the last 3 years it has been all-consuming in my time and resources. The life calendar for this type of project says no más.

So today I graduate my avatar to the new aircraft. I have sated the need for speed, but perhaps that is just the normal aging process that has reduced the innate desire to just get there. Of late, the journey has become increasingly as charming as the destination.

This post from 10 years ago was an interactive journey for those who had questions about the entire adventure of building one’s own airplane. I will repeat that invitation since I cannot imagine trying to anticipate the queries at this stage of development.

Fire away.

III