I was right behind you in the Rutan mass arrival in 2005 and that's the last time I ever saw you flying your Varieze. Such great news! Look forward to seeing you and the VE at RR maybe?
Ryszard
On Tuesday, May 12, 2020, 02:49:47 AM CDT, Mike Tooze via groups.io <miketooze@...> wrote:
Great, congratulations Steve,
Like finding an old flame - as pretty as ever!
Your spec. looks good, resisted the starter, etc.. Is /will be fun.
With the shutdown I have been thinking of bringing mine home for a bit of TLC, but does she really need it, Naa!
Sincerely,
Mike Tooze
On Monday, 11 May 2020, 19:41:48 BST, Steve <josteve100@...> wrote:
Yesterday I did the second first flight on my VariEze. The first was in July 1981. I flew N118SJ for over 1400 hours including ten trips to Oshkosh from California and it was my ride through the 21 years it took to build my Defiant. When the Defiant was flying I decided to retire the VariEze and it sat in the back of my hangar for 14 years. About two years ago I really needed a project and decided the VariEze needed to go into restoration. A new paint job on the fuselage, new (overhauled) O-200, new instrument panel (no screens) and electrical system, new brakes, and adsb. I decided to keep the original concept of light and simple so I left off a starter. I did install an alternator since it now has two electronic ignitions (Pmags). I had flown nothing but a Defiant for the last 15 years but sitting in the Eze felt familiar and it took very little time to start feeling comfortable again. I did several high speed taxi tests then took off. I stayed in the pattern at Leesburg, VA which is under class B at Dulles thinking it was a good idea in case of engine problems on the first flight but it all went perfectly. It needs a couple of adjustments like trim springs but she is a flying machine again and now the fun starts.
