This is my
Airplane
I spend a lot of recreational time
building and flying an amateur built experimental plane. Mine is
called a Quickie
Q200 and it has been flying since May 1998. It presently has
about 400 flying hours logged. This airplane is a two seat
side-by-side machine powered by a 100 hp Continental O200A airplane
engine. It has a useful load of about 590 lbs and cruises at 175 mph
burning about 6 gph of auto gas. It has a range of about 650
miles with a 40 minute reserve. It is a canard of the tandem
wing persuasion (which means that there are two wings and that the
elevators are on the front wing. I have flown it all over the
western states and as far east as the EAA Airventure Flyin at
Oshkosh, WI.
This is a view of the
instrument panel 
The airplane has a full gyro panel and barely enough radios to
fly instruments. It is also equipped with a "Nav-Aid Devices" wing
leveler autopilot and a "Porcine
Associates" Smart Coupler which allows my handheld GPS to steer
the airplane automatically. The aircraft also has plenty of fresh
air ventilation and cabin heat to make the long trips comfortable.
Comfort is further enhanced by a semi-reclining seating position -
something like the first notch back in a living room recliner.
My Airplane has a
different design for the braking and steering
systems
To improve the braking
and steering, I have added toe brakes, modified the caliper mounts
per Bob La Rue, added a full swivel tail wheel, reduced the
tailwheel steering throw by about 1/2, added conventional tailwheel
springs, and split the cables to the rudder and the tailwheel by
means of a tailcone mounted belcrank. The result is a Q which
behaves on the ground as a better than average taildragger without
bad habits.
I have added a 7.5 gallon
aux. fuel tank which greatly improves the range.
A permanent 7.5 gallon aux fuel tank is
installed in the floor of the baggage compartment. It has a separate
filler under the right rear wing. It is plumbed to use the original
transfer pump with a tank selector valve before the pump.
Either main or aux. tank pumps to the header which then overflows to
the main. I usually fly an hour out of the main, then select the
aux. for about 20 minutes which transfers all of the fuel to the
main.
Angle of
Attack Indicator
I have been experimenting with an AOA
system made by "RiteAngle".
It is a vane type with a row of LED's for readout. At present the
vane is mounted on the left wing tip where it is working well.
I'm still getting used to using it, but it is helping me to slow
down for landing when the airplane is light
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