Charlie Harper

Glad you survived em. I've had my share of sprains and gashes off road, and a couple on the street that should have killed me. My memory isn't what it used to be and there is an itch or two I can't reach anymore, but I'm still here...

l worked for a Harley Davidson dealership for 15 years, and have been around motorcycles most of my life. I see the old geezers (myself included) who just haven't given it up, and the new midlife crisis guys just getting started. Harleys are fun, but damn expensive. I bought my last one in 1993, still have it.The ones now range from 12k to 45k. Sorry, before I pay 40k for a vehicle, it better have wings, and I ain't tattooing any of them on my arm.(love tattoos,just not brand names) maybe super cub.... Motorcycles are fun, but they just crawl around on the ground. Harley Davidson Co dose have a great and interesting history though.

Is a great picture. Thanks.

Lovely engine, have dreams (nightmares?) of building my RW9 around one of these...

Yeowza! Thanks for the great pictures. I love old photos. There's a website called Shorpy always something interesting. Old photos of people's lives from days gone by. They have a small aviation category that's fun to see.

Congratulations! Great flying! Great aircraft! I love watching these races. Thanks for the video.

Hello Steve. Sorry to say, no experience with it.

I have two nieces, late teens. One has not made a career decision yet. (common for some crazy reason) the other wants to be a chef. I tell her, great! Learn to be the best chef there is, but don't forget to learn to fly! She looks a me like the funny old uncle that I am. Till she sees the dead serious look in my eye. I think the thought has been planted. I would hate for them to miss out due to financial issues or frivolous endeavors.

YES! I love to build. And the idea of flying an airplane I built gets me so fired up that I want to sell the house to finance the project. ( I have purchased plans) I have built fairly large flying models in the past. I am confident i can build myself an aircraft. Kinda like eating an elephant. One bite at a time till it's complete. EAA here in the USA is a great place to start. There are so MANY different kits and plans out there to choose from. Pick what you want, from general aviation to light sport to ultra lights. Just don't decide to build because your main goal is to fly cheap. Build a plane if you have a passion to build. First determine if you have or can acquire the necessary skills. It's a wise man who knows when NOT to open the tool box...

I used to get that when I was a kid. Get your head out of the clouds, and quit daydreaming! I just tell the kids, carefull, daydreaming is where it all starts!

Yup, my bad. It was the ailerons. I got to see a CH650 at Recklaw last year. very nice airplane. Can carry more weight than the Sonex. More room too. But I think the new Sonex B may be catching up.

Reminds me of the Zenith CH650. There is not a hinge per say for the flaps. The hinge is sheet aluminum. The skin on the wing covers the top of the flap. It seems to work fine. The flap I guess doesn't deflect enough to cause any stress on the aluminum sheet. I would think it eventually it would develop a crack or a tear. They have been using this system on the CH650 for as long as I can remember the plane.

Overkill, and redundancy are our guardians. As long as it doesn't fly like a manhole cover.

HA! Very interesting! Just wait till the gyrocopter guys get a hold of this...

Interesting! I like the Sonex. Being financially crippled, I am an ultralight enthusiast, but the Sonex seems a strong great flying little plane. They get some less than favorable reviews at a couple blogs here. "Under powered, Sonex guys never fly their planes anywhere," bla bla bla. Not the case! I attend a fly in at Recklaw Texas, and there is a group of 6 Sonex flyers that come here from all over the USA. Even the couple guys flying Monet's aerovee conversion have no complaints about power. As far as structural durability, I am no engineer, and would stay within Monet's guidelines for a power plant. One day I hope to own a Sonex. Possibly with Jabiru's flat 6.