This
article first appeared in RAA's Recreation Flyer in
March, 1993.
The Fever
A
change in personal fortunes resulted in a two-year commitment
to work in the Canadian North. My pregnant wife and
I were to spend a year in Rankin Inlet on the north
shore of Hudson's Bay and a year in Yellowknife in the
Northwest Territories.
The very long, dark, cold winter months of the North
are everything the rest of the world imagines them to
be. And so, after the 33rd consecutive weekend in our
apartment listening to the howling winter winds of Rankin
Inlet, it was clear to me, that I needed a "project"
and what better project than an airplane to wick up
all my spare time (and cash!)?
Now,
I was (and still am) a novice pilot. At the time I had
about 60 hours of glider time and about 55 hours of
power time. Clearly it had to be easy to fly. Also,
I had about 0 hours of "airplane building time", so
it had to be easy to build. I didn't have a shop to
build in, so it had to be small enough to build in an
apartment, and lastly, I didn't have any money so it
had to be cheap. Pretty tall order. I hadn't gotten
very far with this plan when I met in Rankin Inlet a
fellow exile from Vancouver, who, without either wife
or child, was even more desperate for a project than
I. Considerably more experienced as both pilot and builder,
he was just finishing up the "tail feathers" of a MiniMax.
The rest of it was still in shipping crates in his living
room, kitchen, bathroom and second bedroom. I could
see this was a project to live with! He made a set of
plans available to me and I was off.
The MiniMax
On the ground, the MiniMax looks like an adult sized
model airplane. Low wings and a traditional tail, give
it a "real airplane" look uncommon amongst single seat
ultralights. There is no rocket science here, the MiniMax
is a "wood and fabric" aircraft, designed around long
established wood engineering construction practices,
modified for the use of modern epoxies, aircraft plywood
and new covering systems. Except perhaps for the Rotax
two cycle power plant, this is a low tech airplane.
With the canopy on, it resembles some of the control
line contest planes some of you may have flown as kids,
but it flies much better than my models ever did!
This
is a real airplane, capable of climb rates in excess
of 1200 feet per minute (w/Rotax 447) and a comfortable
cruise of 50 to 60 MPH. Conventional three axis controls
to large control surfaces make it very comfortable.
Full span 'flaperons' on "shoulder" mounted wings make
for amazing roll rates, and it's relatively short fuselage
makes for very responsive pitch and yaw control. Most
significantly, pilot positioning very close to the center
of gravity makes the MiniMax an aircraft you 'wear'
rather than 'sit' in. It is the most fun thing to fly
this short time pilot has ever had the pleasure to get
into. But more later.
The design of the MiniMax is simplicity itself. New
wood construction techniques, using modern epoxy resins
and epoxy fillers are combined with traditional wood
engineering. Sitka spruce, specialized aircraft plywood
and epoxy are easily fashioned into structural members
that are strong and precise. For those with an affinity
for working with wood, the MiniMax offers many hours
of good 'plane' building enjoyment. All fittings are
hand made by the builder from aircraft alloys and all
fasteners, cables, etc. are aircraft quality.
The plans reflect this dedication to simplicity. Except
for a full size rib pattern, the complete plans are
contained in twenty-three 17"x11" sheets stapled in
a booklet. The plans are very clear, easy to "read"
and un-cluttered with instructions. It's all there,
but it's up to you to decide what to build when.
The wings are square, with constant cord sections to
facilitate construction. Twelve identical truss ribs
per side are made of º" square spruce stringers sandwiched
between 1/16" ply gussets. The ribs slide over leading
and trailing web spars terminating with spar pins at
the root and simple cover plates at the tip. Compression
and diagonal bracing gives transverse rigidity. Leading
edge 1/8" nose ribs are 1/16" ply covered and the trailing
edge is trimmed off and re-attached with hinges to give
full span ailerons/flaps. The fuselage is a simple tapered
box girder of spruce stringers and plywood facing and
gussets. I added a turtle deck for my own enclosure
design and to clean up flow over the fin and stabilizer.
Finally the whole business is covered with heat shrink
aircraft fabric and painted. Once materials are dimensioned,
as supplied in kit form, it can be constructed with
a good hack saw and with some simple hand tools
Landing gear is rigid type with solid one piece axle.
Wing struts from both leading and trailing spars attach
to the axle protrusions beyond each wheel. With a pull
of two pins and an axle bolt, and quick release of the
aileron cables, the main wings are off.
The uncovered structure, especially the wings, are things
of beauty. You'll need an arm chair to sit in to enjoy
the fruits of your labours, or perhaps like us, you'll
want to hang a wing on your living room wall as a conversation
piece and shelf to place greeting cards and knick-knacks
on. It is as much fun to build as fly. This "man sized"
model is a home-builders dream.
Getting Ready
Before I could get started on my "project", Christmas
intervened and so a holiday to the South (Toronto, that
is) was arranged. A move to Yellowknife was also to
occur over the festive season, so we left Rankin Inlet
behind for the last time. Foolishly, I thought it would
be possible to cut some cost corners and assemble the
materials to build a MiniMax from scratch (first mistake).
I prepared an inventory of materials from the plans
and started phoning. Some hunting around southeastern
Ontario uncovered a dusty pile of rough sawn sitka spruce
in 1 inch thin planks, a source of aircraft plywood
and a second hand Rotax 447 (second mistake). Three
days in a friend's pipe organ building shop reduced
a precious 45 board feet of sitka spruce and 7 sheets
of a/c plywood to a pile of sawdust and dimensioned
materials.
Yellowknife, thankfully, is on a road. So a truck was
bought and a trailer frame welded. The trailer frame
was to hold a box large enough to contain and transport
the MiniMax home from the North on that fateful date
not too far off. With the trailer in tow (I would build
the "box" in Yellowknife) and the truck loaded with
airplane materials and nonessentials, such as a dishwasher
and barbecue, we set off from Simcoe, Ontario for Yellowknife,
3000 miles away across Canada.
The Building
The trick in finding an apartment to build an airplane
in is in not telling anybody you are eyeing up the living
room for a 16 foot work bench. The apartment needs to
be on the ground floor, have a patio door and have deaf,
or very forgiving neighbours. Two sheets of plywood,
end to end, on 2x6 joists on saw horses made a very
adequate work table with a very important straight edge
down the work table face. A large tarp covered the living
room and kitchen dining furniture, carpet and sometimes
the baby during construction. Wall decorations - designer
wing hangings and body parts - were by TEAM Engineering,
dust byÖÖÖ.
I
would be a deserving homicide victim if I failed to
mention the patience and endurance of my partner during
this time. Can you imagine being held captive in a two
bedroom, basement apartment, in Yellowknife, in the
winter time, with a baby and a man crazed by his project?
And the dust? It is not too much of an exaggeration
to say the first words of our darling daughter growing
in the midst of this madness were "dirty, dirty, dirtyÖ.."
The
winter passed and spring arrived in "Bug City". The
basic structure was complete and covered, and we were
all keen to get the "project" out of the livingroom.
So, armed with bug juice that would melt the handle
off a plastic power tool, I set to work on the trailer
and box in the parking lot. The trailer box was constructed
of º" ply and spruce 2x2's bolted to the steel frame
of 2x4 rectangular steel pipe. The box is a whistle
over 16 feet long, 6 feet high and five feet wide. The
wings go on either side wall and the "project" rolls
front first on its own wheels up the rear doors (serving
as ramps) into the box. The tail feathers fit into wing
stubs on both sides of the trailer box.
Now, some of my more direct friends have uncharitably
referred to my creation as the world's ugliest trailer.
This may be so. However, in the truest sense, beauty
is only skin deep. With the trailer I can go anywhere
and tie downs and storage are not a problem. Lastly,
it is secure against weather and the cursed among us
who would wantonly destroy another's property. A trailer
is highly recommended.
If any part of this project nearly defeated me, it was
the painting. I could not rent paint shop space in town
and the cost of paying a professional painter to do
the work was prohibitive. So I waited for that fateful
day they said I was free to go home, to go South. At
last, in Victoria, under a plastic tarp, I finally got
to painting. A rented compressor couldn't keep up to
the pressure demands of a standard paint gun, and without
a respirator, I thought I would die of asphyxiation
and brain damage. A word of advice, get a BIG compressor,
large enough to run both a paint gun and a respirator.
But at last, my project was painted and ready for final
assembly. A little over a year and a half had passed
since I had started. Not bad for an airplane project,
by most accounts. Certainly, even without even flying
it, I had my money's worth. Lots of building fun. I
estimate about 450 hours for the basic airplane, another
250 for the modifications and another 150 hours for
the trailer.
The Flying
The prospect of flying the "MukTuk", as I have affectionately
come to call the "project" in honour of its Northern
origins, kept me awake more than one evening. Reasonably
believing more in the original designer's design skill
than in my own, I kept very close to the design specifications.
My apprehension was more a general anxiety of having
made some tragic blunder. (Was it really sitka spruce?
It the fabric tight enough?) It was not unlike the fear
before one's first solo flight - prepared but aware
of the consequences of error.
The first day on the field, was a day for "taxiing"
trials. At a local (uncontrolled) airport, with permission
of the airport manager, I taxied, first slowly, then
more quickly, up and down the taxiways. First with the
tail down, then with the tail up. Eventually, the inevitable
happened - MukTuk, as airplanes are wont to do - took
off. Before I knew it, I was just about 4 feet off a
rather narrow taxiway in a slight cross wind, wondering
whether to firewall the throttle and fly a proper landing
approach, or to wrestle it down. Foolishly, I wrested
it down. Thank you, instructor Bob, for your lessons
in aggressive footwork in the Canuk. I am also embarrassed
to report that during a "downwind" taxi run, I lost
control of MukTuk and left the taxiway, but luckily
without incident. Tsk, tsk, especially in taxi trails,
don't forget this is a tail dragger.
A couple of weeks later, MukTuk, having survived me
and the taxi trials, was ready for the "Real Thing".
I chose Hope airport, British Columbia, for its two
parallel 4000 foot grass strips. Despite its reputation
for rough air, it is known to me from glider training
and the two grass strips offered a very comfortable
landing opportunity.
Early morning saw me on the field with the "world's
ugliest trailer". After assembly and a very thorough
pre-flight and run-up I taxied into position at the
threshold of two seven left. Well. This was it. I had
built it, now I had to fly it. No excuse now. I had
mentally rehearsed this moment many times beforeÖÖ.
Stick full back, centre runway, full throttle, tail
up, straight down the runway until she lifts herself
off, climb out at 40 MPH, watch altitude and plan for
a flame out - right? Wrong. Ö
Full
throttle, (holy smokes, this thing accelerates!)Ö start
forward pressure on stick to lift tail, LIFTOFF, already!?
In less than three seconds I was off, in probably less
than a 100 foot ground roll. I didn't even get the tail
off the ground and I was climbing out at thirty degrees.
Airspeed 40 MPH, temperature okay, wings still on, might
as well sit back, enjoy the ride. Before I passed over
the far runway threshold I was at 1200 feet AGL. It
seemed seconds later, I was at 3000 feet AGL. I felt
secure in a borrowed glider parachute so as I throttled
down into cruise attitude and messed around a bit. 4300
RPM delivered 60 MPH and the controls felt like I was
flying at a maximum maneuvering speed. I was flying
with the cockpit configuration, so for the first time
ever, I had the pleasure of open air flight. Stuck out
my left arm, and MukTuk started a left turn (that's
interesting!). Slowed to 45 MPH and controls still very
positive.
My first landing followed a power on approach. Dead
easy. Chop power, round out, hold off, and "plop", I
was down to stay. I practiced the rest of the day doing
circuits to 500 feet and power off landings. Flaps with
side slip is a very effective way to get down if you
are high on a short field, but if you are dead sticking,
dump the flaps (watch the airspeed) well before round
out and end up flying it on hard. As the designer says,
flap landings require power on to give sufficient round
out authority.
This
is fun flying! I passed the flying summer without event,
until the "music stopped" at 2000 feet AGL, over the
Town of Hope one beautiful August morning. I made it
back to the airport with 200 to 300 feet to spare on
a straight approach. A broken ring seized the engine
and now the engine is toast. Lesson learned - never
fly out of range of a place you're happy to land in
and never buy a used 2 cycle engine.
Epilogue
Few things in life are as worthwhile as a "project".
While working oneself into a state of exhaustion while
juggling "project", work, family and other interests,
a project gives the average working man's mundane life
meaning and accomplishment.
TEAM
engineering in Bradyville, Tennessee, design and sell
the Mini Max kit. This is a great project for the builder
of overgrown model airplane kits or for the first time
home builder of "real" airplanes. I understand TEAM
have a two place machine under development. Check it
out.
I made only a couple of embellishments to the original
design. I have built the cockpit to afford either open
flying behind an oversized windscreen or enclosed flying
inside a canopy enclosure. The designer offers a similar
kit add on. I added toe brakes by leading the brake
cables to some hinged pads atop some "beefed up" rudder
peddles. A trim tab was added to the elevator and the
pull cord for the engine start is run between the rudder
pedals into the cockpit. Instruments are an altimeter,
airspeed, tachometer, CHT, EGT, compass and engine hour
meter.
My next project is to build floats for "MukTuk". In
this regard, I wish to thank those that responded to
my request in "The Recreation Flyer" for information
on wooden float designs. Your assistance was much appreciated,
but I am still looking for a design that uses epoxy
and aircraft plywood. I'll keep you posted.
To those of you out there at the 500 plus hour mark
on your project, I can only offer you my encouragement
(and sympathies). For those of you yet to begin your
project, I can only ask, "what the heck are you waiting
for?"
