BUILDER CAN'T FLY DREAM PLANE; TIME RUNS OUT FOR LOCAL MAN TO GET LICENSE.Byline: Krystn Shrieve Staff Writer The main fuel switch and the alternator alternator: see generator. alternator Source of direct electric current in modern vehicles for ignition, lights, fans, and other uses. The electric power is generated by an alternator mechanically coupled to the engine, with a rotor field coil switch are on. Turn the starter, and the engine hums while the wooden propeller propeller, device consisting of a hub with one or more blades that propels a craft to which it is attached by rotating its blades in a fluid such as air or water. whirs into a blur blur (blur) indistinctness, clouding, or fogging. spectacle blur the indistinct vision with spectacles occurring after removal of contact lenses, especially non–gas-permeable lenses; it is . Ian Wilson-Dick loves starting the bright yellow kit plane he recently finished building in his three-car garage. He settles his 6-foot-1 frame into the cockpit This article is about the flight deck of an aircraft. For other uses, see Cockpit (disambiguation). A cockpit is the area usually nearer the front of a piloted aircraft from which a pilot controls the aircraft. and listens to the engine that sounds like a loud lawn mower mower, farm machine used for cutting grasses and other hay crops. Mowers, drawn by or attached to tractors, or self-propelled, have superseded scythes. The mower is essentially an adaptation of the much earlier reaper. The first commercial mower was patented in 1847. . But that's all he can do: start the 65-horsepower engine and sit in the cockpit. In his driveway. ``It would be nice to fly,'' Wilson-Dick said. ``The engine runs beautifully. It would be great fun to go up in the evening and fly over the fields locally just for the joy of being out there.'' Wilson-Dick is one cross-country trip short of getting his pilot's license, so he must not fly the 535-pound plane that he has been building for nine years. Next month, he will make his long-planned move back to his native England, so there is not enough time for him to fly the 40 solo hours required by the Federal Aviation Administration Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), component of the U.S. Department of Transportation that sets standards for the air-worthiness of all civilian aircraft, inspects and licenses them, and regulates civilian and military air traffic through its air traffic control for him to get his license and certify cer·ti·fy v. cer·ti·fied, cer·ti·fy·ing, cer·ti·fies v.tr. 1. a. To confirm formally as true, accurate, or genuine. b. the plane. Building the plane took much longer than he originally expected. Although attached to the plane, he intends to sell it rather than go through the restrictive and expensive process of having it shipped overseas. Although not a pilot, the engineer has been a member of the local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association for 10 years and has been interested in airplanes since he was a boy. He has devoted much of his career to aviation as a flight test engineer for airplanes and helicopters in England and the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . Later working in other types of engineering, he kept a connection to aviation by painting pictures of airplanes and helicopters. Many of his paintings are displayed in a spare room in his Westlake Village home. Wilson-Dick estimates he spent $25,000 and at least 500 hours building his airplane airplane, aeroplane, or aircraft, heavier-than-air vehicle, mechanically driven and fitted with fixed wings that support it in flight through the dynamic action of the air. , called a Kit Fox. The plane is 17 feet 8 inches long. Its silver-color wings span 31 feet and 4 inches. It can carry 1,050 pounds and cruise at 90 mph at about 1,200 feet above ground. It holds 26 gallons of premium automobile fuel and gets about four miles to the gallon. It is among about 3,000 experimental airplanes in the world, he said. He warns others who might want to build their own plane to be realistic about how long it will take. ``However long you think it will take, multiply mul·ti·ply v. 1. To increase the amount, number, or degree of. 2. To breed or propagate. it by 10,'' Dick said, as he walked around the plane, wiped off the dust and patted the tail fin. ``Some people never finish. Some dreams never become a reality.'' Neal Fowler of Ventura, a fellow member of the Experimental Aircraft Association, has rebuilt several planes and his own experimental plane. ``It's a labor of love and takes a lot of time and patience,'' said Fowler. ``And there's a certain thrill thrill (thril) a vibration felt by the examiner on palpation. diastolic thrill one felt over the precordium during ventricular diastole in advanced aortic insufficiency. to flying it once it's done.'' Wilson-Dick's wife, Jane, said she never doubted her husband would finish the task, even though it took years. ``It's a great relief after such a long time,'' she said. ``But I know he's the kind of man who, once he gets his teeth into something, will finish it. As long as he was happy doing it, that was fine.'' She is sorry he ran out of time to fly the plane. ``Life catches up with you at times,'' she said. ``But Ian is a very creative man. For him the building was just as important as the flying.'' CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- 2 -- color) In the cockpit, Ian Wilson-Dick, above, points to the fuel tanks in the experimental airplane he built himself in Westlake Village. Below, the plane sits in his driveway, the farthest he has moved it from the garage. Lilly Barrett/Special to the Daily News 
james ivy (Member): 9/19/2009 8:01 PM
all he needed was a student pilot ticket to fly his plane and that does not take 40 hours but between 14 and 20,so if he had everything required but i cross country he could have flown his plane, experimental airplanes are confined to a 25 mile radius for the first 40 flite hours so that it can be proven the plane is airworthy. And most experimental builders never leave the traffic pattern in a home built for at least an hour or 2 in case of an emergency . Emergencies are usually in the first hour or so. I think there is something he may have not understood or was confused because he could have flown his bird if he was at least a soloed student. Adios from an EAA member, pilot and airplane builder.
|
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion