Rebel Trip story - no pics....

[Mike Davis]

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To: murphy-rebel@dcsol.com
From: Bob Patterson <bob.patterson@canrem.com>
Subject: Rebel Trip story - no pics....
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Date: Sat, 3 Jul 1999 23:53:07 -0400


As you all requested, here's the story ...... :-)

and some pictures ......

.....bobp

ps

Sorry - the pictures will have to follow - the mail list program rejects
the message as 'too long' ! Have sent everything to Mike, and he will
work on a way to put it up for everybody to download from the dcsol ftp
site.

Thanks, Mike !

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---


Bob & Geert's Excellent Rebel Adventure
---------------------------------------

In early May, I received a phone call from Capt. Geert Frank. He
was closing up his base in Georgia, and wanted to know if I would be willing
to ferry his Rebel up from Griffin to his home in New Hampshire. Would I ??
Would I !! :-)

For the last 8 years or so, I've flown one of the Murphy factory
aircraft from Sun 'n Fun north to Toronto, for the Toronto Aviation Show.
The dates for the 1999 shows were too far apart, so the factory decided
not to send a Rebel this year. Boo Hoo !! No spring Rebel adventure !
Then Geert called - I was delighted ! There was a lot of pressure at work,
as I was in the midst of "last-minute rush" computer system upgrades for
Y2K, but I managed to juggle a week free between 2 of them ...

Being a retired Delta Captain, Geert was able to arrange tickets
at a good price, and he sent me a round-trip set for Atlanta & Boston. I
took off from Toronto on May 25th, flying first class ! I've never flown
commercially on an aircraft with "classes", only charters - what a
delightful
experience !! Big seats, linen tablecloths, and filet mignon ! This is the
life !! It certainly helped, as I tend to be a 'white-knuckle' commercial
flier. (I'd rather do the driving MYSELF, in a Rebel ! ;-) )

Geert picked me up at the Atlanta airport, & we drove down to
"Brook-Bridge International", a fly-in community near Griffin, where his
Rebel awaited in a large hangar that had also been home for his Fiesler
Storch. We reviewed the flight notes he had emailed me, did a pre-flight,
and I went off to get acquainted with the Rebel. I came back after
half an hour or so, and we headed off for supper & some sleep.

Geert's Rebel has many interesting features - it is powered by an
almost-stock Subaru Legacy 2.2 L engine, with a Ross re-drive (2.17:1 ?),
has a left AND center throttle - for those who like to fly right-handed,
original Subaru fuel pumps submerged in each fuel tank, 2 GPS's, and
two tachometers (one for the engine, the other a photo-cell device for the
prop rpm.), split flaps and ailerons, electric flaps, flush-rivetted
leading edges on the wings, and vortex generators !!
They don't call them Rebels for nothing - no two of them are alike !!!

Geert was up before sunrise the next day, re-fuelling the Rebel
from cans (auto gas). He had replaced the Oxygen sensor, so I could run
100-LL on the trip, but preferred to have it full of mogas to start. He
left me to sleep in, bless him. We had a hearty breakfast, and I took off
at 10:05. The first couple of hours, I was moving right along, showing
120 Knots groundspeed, having climbed up to 5,500 ft., then 7,500. I was
skirting the Atlanta mode-C area (no transponder - I hate 'em !), then
heading North-East, past Spartanburg, SC. Gradually, the ceiling lowered,
and a few rain drops appeared on the windshield, then wispy scattered
cumulus appeared below at about 1,200 ft., then heavier rain. By the time
I reached Shelby, NC, I was down to 3,500, and thinking it was time
to land !

I looked ahead, and could see Blue Ridge and the Appalachian
Mountains, and remembered landing at Morganton-Lenoir airport - a nice place
to visit, so pressed on. As an old glider pilot, I reasoned that, if there
was any wind at all, there might be some lee wave action which would open
a window in the clouds, clearing a path for me. I had planned to head north,
right behind the mountains, to avoid all those solid purple circles on my
map !

Sure enough, overhead Morganton, NC, there was a strip of blue sky,
and I turned right to follow it ! The rain stopped, the ceiling went up,
and I motored on to Mt. Airey, NC, for a fuel and lunch stop. The folks
there were as friendly as usual, and interested in the Rebel. I had
flown 3.4 hours, and she took 20.2 gallons - just under 6 gallons per
hour ! Pretty good, considering it's about a 125 hp engine ! I was
cruising at 4,900 rpm, as per Geert's instructions, which yielded 2,250
propeller rpm, and about 105 - 110 mph. The airspeed indicator was
'way off, reading only about 85 mph., because the ex-Mooney heated pitot
tube had a very small opening, and was slanted downward at quite an angle.
For the same reason, it showed the stall at about 52 mph, which is a LONG
way from reality - I can get down to 35 mph with C-FINR, our 912 Rebel !

Rebels can fly though such a wide range of speeds and angles-of-
attack that they need special attention to the pitot tube. I'm told that
the ideal location is about 1/3 of the way back on the wing, about 4-6
inches
below the wing. This makes a small clip on the strut fairing very appealing,
since the pitot line runs up the strut anyway. After several trials, I
settled on a 1/4" ID piece of aluminum tubing, about 8" long, for my Rebel.
The large opening in the tube helps eliminate errors caused by different
angles.

I climbed out of Mt. Airey, NC, full of fuel, at over 1,100 fpm,
bouncing a bit in the gusts. Some of the cloud had caught up to me, so
I headed north-east at 3,500 feet for a while, until I could get inside the
most eastern ridge of the mountains, past Roanoke, VA, where I could again
climb to 7,500. It was COLD !! Geert had no need of a heater in Georgia,
so none was fitted. Reaching around behind the seat, I retrieved my jacket,
and slipped it on backwards - I didn't want to undo the belts, as it was
still a bit bouncy. Smiled at how silly this would look if I had to land
- but I was warm !! Passed Lexington, VA, and the sun was shining in -
things are looking good ahead, and I started to relax.

BANG !! The window blew open !! The metal pin latch that Geert
made had separated, the spring forcing the top off, and the bottom pin
dropping out, leaving the little spiral spring holding the window. One
good gust, and it flew open, and the spring disappeared forever ! Now
it was REALLY COLD - and I couldn't close the window !!

Slowing to 55 mph, throttling back & hanging flaps, I was able to
close the window, and drop the thin bottom latch pin in from the top of the
latch, to hold the window closed (with a half-inch gap !). The bottom
latch pin had landed in my lap when it fell, so I had something to hold
the window with ! Enough excitement for today, thank you !

After this, I thought that the engine sounded louder, but passed
this off because of the gap in the window. I continued on north to near
Martinsburg, WV, where I headed east to Lancaster,PA, landing at Smoketown
Airport, on the eastern outskirts. This had looked like a good place to stop
for the night, and I had flown another 3.7 hours. It took exactly 22
gallons,
again averaging 5.95 gallons/hour ! The friendly folks at Smoketown pointed
me to a tiedown, and I taxied down, thinking that the engine was as quiet as
ever. Hiked to the Spruce Lane Lodge next door, and got a nice room (and
some bandaids - cut myself on the cargo tie-down clips !). Walked out to the
T. Burk Deli and had some supper - it was 7:45, and they close at 8, but
fortunately, they fed me. I would have liked a nice rum & coke to help me
sleep - but, as my luck usually runs in these matters, this is the heart of
Pennsylvania Dutch country, and DRY ! Sigh - off to bed anyway ....

Out early the next morning, tie the bags in, and start the
pre-flight. Checked the oil and water, then looked down to see the exhaust
system cracked all the way around at the cluster !! Hot exhaust had been
blowing out on the radiator hose, which was a nice shade of brown !!!
I made a quick phone call to Geert, who had decided not to drive home with
the truck full of goodies after all - he flew out on Delta that morning, to
meet me in Boston, instead. He assured me that the modified Murphy 912
cowling was designed for easy maintenance, and persuaded me to tear the
Rebel apart & get the exhaust repaired. Dennis, the owner of Dutchland
Aviation, was too busy to take the Rebel into his shop, but told one of
his mechanics, Len, to give me whatever tools I needed ! What great people
!

Geert was right ! He had indeed made the cowling easy to work on,
with cam-lock fasteners and captive nuts, I had the prop and cowling off
quickly and easily. The challenge was getting the exhaust system off,
without having to disconnect the radiator. After careful study, it was
possible to undo one end, and pivot the radiator mount down enough to
clear the exhaust. Unfortunately, with only 2 hands, this left the
pipes to fall onto the grass - fortunately, no damage ! Dennis took
the exhaust system to Butler Mechanical that night, for repair. I spent
another night at the Spruce Lane Lodge - a very relaxing country-style inn,
with patch-work quilts, and no phones in the rooms.

Robert Butler not only welded the crack, but added 2 heavy straps
on the sides - it won't crack there again ! He kindly stayed for hours to
give me a hand putting the exhaust back on, too ..... You meet the nicest
people flying around the country !! Everyone at Smoketown, from Suzanne,
in the flight office, to Mr. Glick, the airport owner, was very friendly
and helpful - it IS a great place to visit !

The consensus was that the exhaust should be more flexibly mounted,
with rubber straps with steel ends supporting both ends of the muffler.
Geert
plans to have Eggenfellner Advanced Aircraft fabricate a stainless system
that will fit inside the cowling - stronger, with less drag.

We cleaned up, had some lunch, and I set out again. Back up at
7,500 ft. - (old glider pilot saying - "high is happy !" :-) ) - I flew
around another solid purple circle, going south of Poughkeepsie, NY, then
east, south of Hartford, CT, and turned north, into a 25 mph. headwind !
Down to 3,500 ft. - no better .... Back up again, to see and navigate
better.

This area proved that "the crowded sky" is real !! I almost got
run over 3 times !! The closest was a twin that came up from behind on
my left, and crossed under me less than 100 ft. below - by the time
I saw him cruising along with his head 'down & locked', all I could
do was ease gently back on the stick & hold my breath !!! Burt Rutan
has said that the present system of air traffic control is really
dangerous - putting all aircraft heading generally in one direction at
the same altitude - and I agree !! I had noticed an altimeter error of
about 200 - 300 ft. earlier on the trip, when passing a weather station
on a mountain top that was noted on the map, so I was flying about
that much higher than normal to compensate - good thing I wasn't right
on 7,500 !! ( I have often noticed 100 - 200 ft. errors - this is
common on VFR aircraft, so don't get too confident ! Keep your eyes
open & moving all the time ! )

As I headed north, past Hartford,CT , the ground turned greener
with trees, and the open fields became scarce. At least, from this height,
I would have a couple to pick from if the Rebel became a glider !

The Subaru purred on smoothly, like a Swiss watch, as the sun crept
overhead, and down into the west. I was heading north, aiming just west of
Fitchburg,MA. Throughout the trip, the engine was completely stable - the
guages read: Oil pressure 70 lb., Oil temp. 205 F., Water temp. 172 F., and
fuel pressure 39 lb. . The temperatures were slightly higher on climb, but
settled quickly. I ate one of my diet bars, and drank some spring water, to
keep my strength up ! Nashua, NH passed underneath eventually, and I turned
East toward Kensington (well - Exeter, actually, since Kensington wasn't on
the map !). I had Geert's detailed sketches of his strip & its surroundings
- how hard could it be to find ??!! South of Exeter, I didn't see the
strip,
so I went up to town & circled down the highway, heading south. No strip -
so back to town and follow the next road west - still nothing. Then, in the
twilight, a church steeple, a strip, with a hangar half-way up it !! I
landed,
only to find I'd missed the RIGHT strip by a mile and a half !!! The
neighbour pointed me in the right direction, and I took off again - in
retrospect, probably NOT the smartest thing to do ! I found Geert's strip
easily, this time. I had a hard time judging the height of the trees at the
end of his 1,300 foot strip, and was a little high and hot, so went around.
The Rebel shot up between the trees like a rocket, being down to about
quarter tanks ! By this time Geert had driven his car to one end of the
strip, and his wife had driven hers to the other end, and both had their
headlights on to guide me. The cockpit lighting was back on the shelf in
Georgia, but I had my trusty penlight clenched in by teeth, and nailed
the speed this time. Nothing like a well-trained ground crew !! Down safely,
after 5.1 hours, we watched the last of the sunlight fade, as we talked
about the trip. They both said that they didn't think I would land at
their small strip - I jokingly replied "We deliver !!", but I was happy
to be down.

I received a warm welcome at the farmhouse, ate a late supper, and
finally had my calming drink, before heading off to bed. I really enjoyed
the hospitality ! We spent the next day going over things to improve on the
Rebel, then Geert drove me to the Boston airport, and again I had a superb
Delta first-class flight to Atlanta, and back home to Toronto.

A big Thank You to Geert, his patient wife, and the very helpful
lady
in Atlanta, who was able to provide me with great detail of the best flights
to catch for each leg on Delta !!

All in all, it was an excellent spring Rebel adventure. Would I
do it again ? Would I ??!! Would I !!

..... Bob Patterson


P.S.
If anyone is looking for a Rebel, there is a tiny chance that
Geert <might> sell his - he's got a gleam in his eye towards the Super
Rebel !! :-) It's in grey primer, all ready for paint, and might go for
about $50,000 .....

P.P.S.
Geert DID make the trip by truck a few weeks later - three full days
of driving !! He was happy to be home !!!
------------------------------------------------------------------------



The following are some <PURELY PERSONAL>, <HIGHLY SUBJECTIVE> thoughts
about Rebels, some reinforced by the experience of flying this trip. NONE
of these opinions necessarily reflect ANY of Murphy Aircraft Manufacturing's
official positions on these subjects.
(and Your Mileage May Differ ;-) )


- Subaru engines:
I really like them, and think water-cooled engines are the
way of the future. They are more efficient, burn less fuel, quieter, and
more durable than old, Nineteen-Thirties Technology air-cooled engines.
Of course, I was a very early convert to the Rotax 912, which I REALLY like
!
That said, the state of development today is such that anyone installing a
Subaru should be prepared to spend AN EXTRA YEAR flying and refining his
installation ! It is NOT yet a straight-forward procedure, as many people
are discovering little tricks, and these are not all common knowledge !
Radiators, exhaust systems, and reduction drives continue to be
the areas of development. I must admit a prejudice toward gear drives,
as opposed to belts (I know, technology has moved on, and I'm old-fashioned,
BUT - I have nine years behind my gear-drive 912, and it works FINE !)
The Marcotte drive, out of Quebec, looks very rugged, and a worthy addition
to the Ross tradition.

- Subaru fuel pumps
Hardly anybody seems to be using them, although they have
served well in the cars. These certainly worked perfectly ! The fuel system
was simplified - no feed valves - just turn on the pump for flow from the
tank you want. One return valve overhead - to left or right tank, just
point.

- Fuel guages
I like the simplicity of the sight guages, but, if you want
a different guage, the mechanical guages that Geert had were excellent !
No fiddling about with wiring, just a stable, reliable dial, mounted right
in the root end of the tank.

- Split Flaps and Ailerons
I confess - I've NEVER liked the idea ! And now I'm even
more convinced.... We've been using full span flapperons on gliders for
years - they change the shape of the WHOLE airfoil at once - MUCH more
efficient. The split ailerons ARE lighter (not that the Rebel controls are
heavy to start with !) BUT, they are only HALF as effective !! I have
landed my Rebel on pavement with full flapperon down, with a 25 mph,
90 degree crosswind (only ONE runway !), with full control. I doubt that
an aileron-only Rebel could do that !
As Captain Geert said, "My Rebel is STO, but not L !" - this is
because it only has HALF the flap of a standard flapperon Rebel ! Not
only is there half the area, but there is a lot of extra turbulence created
by the gap between the aileron & the flap ! Geert tels me that, because the
Rebel only has 2 flap hanger brackets, the factory recommends only a maximum
of 18 degrees extention, the same as the standard flapperon. Given the
same angle, and half the area, it's no wonder the split flaps are not very
effective !

- Electric Flaps
Again, I've always liked SIMPLE aircraft (some say it's
'cause I'm simple :-) ). I don't mind the extra weight and complexity of
electric flaps, if it turns you on, AS LONG AS THEY ARE INSTALLED SAFELY !!
That means - a reasonably slow rate of extention, with AT LEAST top and
bottom LIMIT SWITCHES, and sufficient travel to be useful. Ideally, I
would like limit switches to stop the travel at each of the 'normal'
positions - 6, 12, and 18 degrees down, and 6 degrees up. If you have
split flaps, you lose a large part of the advantage of negative flapperon.
Putting the flapperons UP 6 degrees will give an extra 2 or 3 mph cruise,
PLUS unload the wing, so the Rebel rides smoother in rough air. Also, if you
have more than 115 hp, you can usually pull 12 degrees of negative (one
extra notch), for an additional 3 mph !

- Vortex Generators
Always seemed unnecessary on the Rebel wing, with all those
rivets ! :-) The turbulator strips used on gliders are only a few
millimeters high, and can be very effective - much more is most likely to
cut your cruise significantly. I felt these took maybe 5 mph....
I stalled Geert's Rebel several times, and tried to spin it. The
Rebel normally has a very gentle stall - it just 'nods', dropping the nose
20 degrees or so, and flying away. With the Vortex Generators, it just
developped a very high sink rate and became unstable laterally. If pulled
up steeply, it would break, but fell off steeply on one wing or the other,
into a spiral dive ! I couldn't persuade it to stay in a stable, safe spin !
I suppose some people would like that handling - I don't ! Please remember,
these are MY HUMBLE OPINIONS <ONLY> !!! (Don't 'flame' me !)
Normally, on a long cross-country in the Rebel, I fly for hours
without touching the stick. Although there is only one degree of dihedral,
it is very stable. If a wing gets bumped down, a gentle push on the
opposite rudder is enough to pick it up. The Vortex Generators seemed to
eliminate this stability - it took some aileron application to sort things
out, and generally much more 'hands-on' flying than normal.

- Window latches
Far and away, the nicest window latches I've seen are those
designed by Jack Weibe for his Rebel. They are similar to the original
Murphy design, but are mounted upside-down, in the wing root, with the
Delrin pin extending down into a clip on the top of the window. There is
a Delrin button in the wing root fairing to push up to open the window
from outside, and a short, straight rod inside. They are slick, clean,
and simple ! It is easy to fit a lock to the outside, where the tab turns
into a slot on the Delrin rod. Brian Cross has installed an even simpler
version on his Rebel - it uses the key lock flush into the fuselage side,
just like the factory setup, but above the door.

Enough rambling !!! Hope some of these comments/opinions will help
spare some Rebel builder some grief, somewhere along the line !!

Please remember - these are only MY opinions, and don't necessarily
reflect those of my wife, or ANY other person or entity !!! (Your Mileage
May Differ !! ) My apologies if my opinions have offended anyone - they're
not meant to hurt, only help !

..... Bob Patterson


-------------------------------------------------------------


The shots are:
geert - Captain Geert Frank & his Rebel, in Kensington, NH
bobp - Bob Patterson & N89MR
vgs - a shot of the Vortex Generators on the Rebel wing
athome - N89MR on her home strip (all 1,300 ft. of it !)
in New Hampshire
smktwnpa- The Rebel, in Smoketown, PA

----------------------------------------------------------------------

bobp1 - an extra shot of MY Rebel, C-FOKM ....
finrrr97- Anna, with our OTHER Rebel, C-FINR, in Ottawa,
Ontario
on 5th Annual Rebel Ramble - 1997
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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[Mike Davis]

Received: from tim - 209.119.137.69 by email.msn.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC;
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Reply-To: <tlcarter@msn.com>
From: "Tim Carter" <tlcarter@email.msn.com>
To: "'Murphy Rebel Builders List'" <murphy-rebel@dcsol.com>
Subject: RE: Rebel Trip story - no pics....
Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1999 10:22:50 -0700
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Curt:

Can you send some details about your electric flaps?

A picture??

Thanks!

Tim
#438R

-----Original Message-----
From: Rebflyer@aol.com [mailto:Rebflyer@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, July 05, 1999 3:21 PM
To: murphy-rebel@dcsol.com
Subject: Re: Rebel Trip story - no pics....


Hi Bob,
Sounds like you had a good time with Geerts aircraft. I suppose you
will be able to figure out by the end of this that I just had to respond to
your insights. (Hot day here!) The trip Dave Fife and I had to S-n-f was a
good time also. Average fuel burn was 7.2 gph @ 2450 rpm. and 118 mph
indicated with our old lycosaurous. Sometimes if you update the support
equipment the "old" tech gets newer. Fuel injection, electronic ignition,
engine analyzers, all help update the old designs, and improve reliability
and economy. Oh, wait!!! that's what they have been doing in automotive for
years right? I guess when I can get proven reliability out of the box for a
very good discounted price I will be more supportive of the conversions.

This should start a few comments!!!) I should also mention that I had the
engine "prop" balance done with a Chadwick balancer, similar to what they do
with tire balance using a strobe light. Three penny washers on the spinner
bulkhead made the engine much smoother!! The aircraft type balancer also
shows frequencies through the entire engine. Don't know what I'll use that
info for, but the graph looks cool. The tech guy said they can detect
bearing
wear in the turbines. (Now that would be a great rebel engine!) Split flaps
and ailerons? Darn, I'm going to have to agree with you Bob. I am a low time
taildragger pilot, and after returning from looking at a soon to fly Rebel
in
the Grand Rapids Mi. (I'll speak more of that in a minute) I landed on our
only available runway with 80 degree xwind and 16-20 kts. Not a problem! All
surfaces remained working until the tail was firmly planted. The taxi trip
was more eventful. Electric Flaps heavier? NO Way! You have seen my
installation. It is less than the factory handle, cable, brackets and
doublers. The flap actuating arm does not bounce in flight either. I do
have
a limit switch in the neutral position, with the length of the actuator
being
the up and down limits. I also like the V-G input you gave. Interesting.
I also have a question on filling the aileron gap. What kind of tape did
you
use, where did you start the tape and where did you finish, is the tape
easily removable?
Now about the Rebel I looked over. It's builder is Rich Engvall # 468 (I
think) 0-320 with three blade warp 960 empty, aluminum on the split flap and
ailerons, Scott tailwheel and spring gear. Nice aircraft! He should be
flying soon, as he's doing the last final stuff after the FAA approval. He
also made a mechanical flap handle on the end of the actuator and also has a
separate aileron handle for + or - 6 of ailerons. His fuel shutoff system is
nice too! I'll keep you posted as to when his first flight is. N797R flying
out of Lowel City Mi.
Whew, I've rambled long enough!! Stirred the pot a little too, I hope!
Hope to see you all soon,

Curt N97MR
P.S. Must be the heat!
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