As an aside, according to the man who wrote that rule,
the interception and tracking tasks were added to that
section of the regs to make sure that pilots flying only ASR
and PAR approaches got some practice actually tracking the
needle with a radio navigation aid on their own rather than
just flying controller-assigned headings.
Ron Levy, EAA 698577
Salisbury, Maryland
Not Gone West
In the November issue, because of a clerical error, we
incorrectly reported that Rodney Beckwith, EAA 29494,
of Howell, Michigan, was deceased. We apologize for this
error and are happy to inform Mr. Beckwith’s friends that
he is alive and well.—Eds.
Submitting Letters
Letters intended for publication should be addressed to
EAA/Letter to the Editor, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI,
54906, or e-mailed to Editorial@eaa.org. Please include
your EAA number, city, and state. All letters are subject to
editing. Unpublished letters will not be returned.
From
Norman Langlois of Northwood, New Hampshire, is scratchbuilding a wing-warping, V-tailed ultralight seaplane of his
own design. He posted an initial description and photo on
Oshkosh365, which sparked a spirited discussion. Norman
wrote, “I started my project 5 years ago (and) things have
changed a great deal from that point …The real problem has
been no sounding board…No one to talk to.”
As it turns out the Oshkosh365 forums have become a great
sounding board for Norman. People like Jim Heffelfinger of
Sacramento, California, who offers insight on the particulars
of part 103, and Mark Calder of Midlothian, Texas, who shares
his ideas on flight testing and offers this great bit of encouragement: “Good luck to you, and remember that a wheat farmer
in Oregon is the owner of the most successful homebuilt kit
ever designed, and he wasn’t an aeronautical engineer.”
Mark Stull, an experienced ultralight pilot, designer, and
builder, contributed some great additional details about how
he’d expect Norman’s design to fly. In true EAA fashion,
Mark signs off with his email address and the comment
“Feel free to contact me privately to answer any specific
questions. I’d be glad to help.”
We’re equally glad to see Oshkosh365 becoming a valuable tool in helping members like Norman find their sounding boards. To read the thread and see pictures of Norman’s
design visit www.Oshkosh365.org and click on Forums,
Ultralight Strip, then “Building a scratch built UL.”
