Finally! My MGL autopilot servos are permanently installed in my Bede BD-4C airplane. In my last post, Mounting Autopilot Servos in the BD-4C (Really), I included photos of the roll servo, mounted underneath the right rear passenger’s knee. The pitch servo is aft of the baggage compartment and connected to the middle of the push-pull […]
Saving Our Planet Earth, One Lazy Step at a Time
I like to think of myself as an ecologically concerned citizen but, to tell the truth, I’m too lazy to do it “right.” I don’t compost (and I don’t garden). I didn’t recycle until it was convenient. I should probably be more focused on eating locally grown food and fewer high carbon footprint animals. But […]
Kids and Parrots: More Fun than a Barrel of Monkeys
Here is Robin Hood, playing “catch” with our grandsons, Caedmon and Silas.
Shabbat Service with Nefesh Mountain
Who would have thought that you could blend bluegrass music and a Jewish soul to create an incredible Friday night sabbath service? Nefesh Mountain can, and did, at United Hebrew Congregation. Check out the video below.
Mounting Autopilot Servos in the BD-4C (Really)
If you have been following along, you know that I have spent the last couple of weeks tossing ideas around, and getting lots of suggestions, for how to mount autopilot servos in my Bede BD-4C airplane. This is the fourth in my series of blog posts on the subject and, I am happy to say, […]
Autopilot Rudder Servo First Test
I have been a little bit concerned that there might not be quite enough space inside the main landing gear box of my Bede BD-4C airplane for the MGL autopilot servos. Physically, the box is clearly wide enough for the MGL servos; you can see that in the photos in Mounting Autopilot Servos in the BD-4C. […]
Thinking about Mounting Autopilot Servos in the BD-4C
I got lots of helpful responses to Planning BD-4C Autopilot Servo Installation and have decided to attach the autopilot servos in my Bede BD-4C airplane to the horizontal stabilator and to the rudder. Over the years, many people have experimented with autopilots in BD-4s and controlling the rudder seems to work better than controlling the aileron.
Planning a BD-4C Autopilot Servo Installation
I need your help. I am beginning to plan the autopilot for my Bede BD-4C airplane. I selected an MGL Avionics iEFIS for my glass cockpit and, as with many EFIS systems these days, the autopilot software is built-in. I need only add a pair of autopilot servos to have a fully functional 2-axis autopilot […]
Hurry up! Paint it again!
Have you ever wondered what happens when you spray paint something without thoroughly cleaning the metal first? You get to paint it again. When I painted the seat frames of my BD-4C airplane back on the 14th, I was hurrying to finish up in time for an evening commitment. Big mistake. Most of the paint adhered nicely but I […]
Painting Seat Frames
We got a bonus warm day here in St. Louis, with sunshine and temperatures in the 60s. I took advantage of it to prep and prime the seat frames for my Bede BD-4C airplane. It made a busy afternoon, sandblasting then wiping clean with acetone and then finally spraying primer. All of the pieces are done, though, […]
Bede BD-4C Safety Harnesses
The Bede BD-4C is a nutty efficient airplane but, since it was designed in the 1960s, some aspects are a little dated. In particular, the plans call for the cabin to be fitted with just three seat belts: one for each front seat occupant and a single belt to be shared by the rear seat […]
Bede BD-4C Custom Front Seat Support
If you have been following my progress building my Bede BD-4C airplane for long, you may have wondered if I quit or vanished or what. I have not posted an update on the project in almost four months. No, I did not quit but I did have a death in my family which kept me from […]
One Week with Google’s Project Fi
Today is my seventh day on Google’s Project Fi, with a Nexus 5X. Here is what I have learned so far.
Adapting Piper Airplane Seats to a Bede BD-4C
Though I spent most of the week at AirVenture, I did have a little bit of time to work on the seat frame for my Bede BD-4C airplane. I am adapting seats from a Piper airplane and the first post is here, Individual BD-4C Seats. Today, I finished tack welding the first seat. Here are photos of […]
Individual BD-4C Seats
With the seat track supports off at the welder, I am tweaking the seats that I got for my Bede BD-4C airplane so that they fit properly. The old Piper airplane seats that I got are designed to sit on the floor. In the BD-4C, though, they are about 5 inches above the floor. As […]
Assembling the Bede BD-4C Seat Track Support
It is good to have a long weekend with lots of time to work on my airplane. I got almost all of my custom front seat track supports for my Bede BD-4C airplane tack welded together. The trickiest part was figuring out how to notch the square tubing so that the round tube would fit […]
Test Sitting the Pilot’s Seat
Last night was good for HUGE GRINS when I got to sit in the pilot’s seat of my Bede BD-4C airplane for the first time. 😀 I temporarily mounted the seat with C-clamps, temporarily sewed some furniture webbing onto the seat frame, temporarily added a couple of throw pillows, clambered aboard, and sprouted a permanent […]
Mounting Individual Seats in the Bede BD-4C
When the Bede BD-4 airplane was first designed, in 1968, the plans called for a bench seat in the front. I remember bench seats; my first car (a 1964 Dodge Dart) had a bench seat. Despite my fond memories of my Dodge Dart, I do not want a bench seat in my 21st century airplane so I […]
Bede BD-4C Door Hinges Completed
Believe it or not, sometimes life gets so busy that a guy cannot even work on his airplane. When that happens, the best answer is to take a few days of vacation and get stuff done. Yesterday, I finished up the hinges for the doors on my Bede BD-4C airplane. In my last post, I showed […]
Fabricating Aluminum Hinge Parts
In a previous post, Fabricating Steel Hinge Parts, I showed how I made the steel half of one of the Bede BD-4C airplane door hinges. The other half is an aluminum block which gets bolted to the fuselage. For the upper hinge, the block is kind of teardrop shaped and has slot in it for the steel part. I […]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- …
- 46
- Next Page »
