Updated 27 June 2010

BowersFlyBaby.com

The Unofficial Fly Baby Home Page

Maintained by Ron Wanttaja

This web page is for those interested in the Bowers Fly Baby homebuilt aircraft. This page is for information only, and is not affiliated with the owner of the rights to the Flybaby design.

What's New?

General Information

This section discusses general aspects of the Fly Baby design. Contents:

Why a Fly Baby?
Description and Specifications
Ordering Information
Wood and Welded Parts Suppliers
Some Real-World Performance Numbers
Engines
Cost Estimates
Results of the Builder Survey

Why a Fly Baby?

Face it. You can page through the Aerocrafter Guide , or pick your way through the KITPLANES December issue, and find a lot of homebuilts that are faster, sleeker, and newer than the Fly Baby.

Why not build one of them, instead of a 40-year-old-design?

The answer lies in your own flying habits.

Why do you want an airplane? Will you be making regular trips for long distances? Carrying passengers? Blasting up to high altitudes?

Or are you just looking for a fun, knockaround airplane? Something that doesn't cost much to own? Something that you can go sightseeing in without breaking the bank on fuel costs. Something more substantial than an ultralight or ultralight-based design.

Take an honest look at the way you fly an airplane now. Do you just make "Hundred Dollar Hamburger" runs on the weekends? Do you fly just for the joy of flight? Do you generally go by yourself?

Then maybe...MAYBE...a Fly Baby might be the plane for you.

They're cheap as dirt to operate. Our EAA Chapter operated Pete Bowers' prototype as a club airplane from 1987 to 1994. Rarely did our yearly maintenance bill exceed $100. That's not a typo... One Hundred Dollars. Most years, the total maintenance cost was less than $25. Insurance (liability only) for five pilots was $215/year. In the club, we charged $5/hour, dry, for flying the plane, and ran the thing on car gas ($1.20/gal, 5 gal/hour).

The major drawback: Fly Babies don't come in kits. You carve every piece of wood; bend every bit of metal. Yet the Fly Baby is designed to be as simple as possible to build. EAA Judges rate aircraft at Fly-Ins, not only on how well the builder did, but on how difficult the airplane was to build. The Fly Baby has ALWAYS occupied the "easiest" category...even in today's modern kit era. They go together like a big balsa-wood model. You don't even have to build-up ribs like most wood homebuilts. Instead, you stack up sheets of plywood and "gang-saw" them all at once on a bandsaw.

By not buying a kit, you save tons of money. Even today, one can probably build a Fly Baby (less engine) for $6,000 or less. Even though it doesn't come as a kit, a lot of the major parts (fuel tanks, engine mounts) come from the J-3 Cub, and companies like Wag-Aero and Univair still sell these parts.

It's not "Tab A into Slot B" kitbuilding. But the Fly Baby was the seminal EAA project; it was the first (and so far, only) design ever to win an EAA design competition. EAA essentially cut its teeth on Fly Babies. If you need help building one, assistance is as close as your nearest EAA Technical Counselor.

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Description and Specifications

The Fly Baby is a single-seat, open cockpit, folding-wing monoplane powered by engines ranging from 65 to 100 HP. It was originally designed in 1960 to compete in the first (and so far, only EAA design competition). It is built primarily of wood, with fabric covering. Most are powered by Continental A-65, C-75, C-85, or O-200 engines. Performance is sprightly; a bit better than that of, say, an Aeronca Champ.

While a single-seat airplane, the Fly Baby isn't small. It has a wingspan just two feet less than a Cessna 150. It's got a big cockpit. Pete Bowers is six feet two inches tall, and I weigh about 250 pounds. That gives you an idea of the range of sizes that can be accommodated.

The Fly Baby can be built as a biplane as well as a monoplane. The two monoplane wing panels are replaced by four smaller ones, plus a center section for the top wing. The aircraft can be switched back and forth between versions in about an hour, but it does take a helper. The biplane, while cool in concept, doesn't really offer too much. It's slower, and the wings don't fold. Still, its swept-back upper wings make it look a bit like a Bucker or Tiger Moth in the air, so if you'd really rather have a biplane, the Fly Baby would do the trick.

My advice: Build a monoplane first, to have something to fly, and build the biplane wings in your spare time after the first flight. The biplane wings take longer to build, since there are four panels and a center section, and they're swept rather than straight. If you build the monoplane wings first, you'll have something to fly while building the extra wings.

The monoplane/biplane issue is more than a wing swap...there are some internal braces and external tangs that have to be added to the fuselage. You can do this once the fuselage is done (The prototype was converted after completion), but it is, of course, easier during construction.

Switching back and forth between the wings takes two people about an hour. This assumes the rigging has already been set. While I helped on a wing swap, I never flew the biplane version. Other than appearances, there isn't much advantage. It's slower, and glides at an even steeper angle.

In monoplane or biplane configuration, the Fly Baby does meet the US rules for Sport Pilot. In the United States, you do not need an FAA medical to fly a Fly Baby.

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Some Real-World Performance Numbers

Howard Jones from Perth, Australia, was involved with the completion of an O-200 powered Fly Baby, and sent along the following performance figures. Note that this is with a 100 horsepower engine. These were the measured results from a field at 50 foot elevation during a 68-degree (F) day, with no wind:

Distance of ground run 265 feet/81 metres
lift off to 50' 450 feet/137 metres
total distance 715 feet/218 metres
add 30% safety factor = 925 feet/283 metres Take off Distance

Speed at 50ft 57 MPH/50 KIAS
50' to touchdown 640 feet/196 metres
ground roll 660 feet/201 metres (moderate braking)
add 30% safety factor = 1700 feet 516 metres recommended landing distance.
Suggested minimum runway distance for this aircraft:

 1975 feet/600 metres.

[RJW Note: This seems reasonable. A 2,000 foot runway is pretty much my threshold of "pucker factor". I've landed in shorter fields, but they take good concentration. If you've got unobstructed approaches, the 660-foot ground roll is definitely doable.]

Best rate of climb speed 57 MPH/50 knots IAS
recommended 69 MPH/60 Knots IAS
Takeoff safety speed 63 MPH/55 Knots IAS

[RJW Note: The best rate speed seems a bit slow. I've been using 65 MPH for best rate, but haven't actually run a flight test on it. I like the extra speed buffer over stall.]

Maximum level speed 112 MPH/97 knots IAS
maximum climb rate 1300 ft per minute at 50 KIAS
normal climb rate 1000 ft per minute at 60 KIAS

[RJW Note: Don't forget, these figures are with a 100 HP engine!]

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Engines

Bowers recommends Continentals between 65 and 85 horsepower. The biggest engine I've heard of is a Lycoming O-290 (~125 HP). The 'Baby isn't a fast airplane by any stretch of the imagination, so bigger engines don't really buy you much. You're better off with the lighter weight (and lower fuel burn) of the little Continentals.

On the subject of the Continentals, both 'Babies I've flown have been powered by the C-85. I've formated on A-65 powered versions. The performance difference was marked, especially considering I was heavier than the pilots flying the 65 HP versions. Tom Staples has replaced his A-65 with a C-85, and his daughter reports that his cruise went from 80 to 95 MPH and his rate of climb from 500 to 1000 FPM!

Other Engines

There's no reason at all you couldn't fly a Fly Baby on a Rotax 532 or 582. These engines are considerably lighter than the Continentals, though, so you'll need a longer engine mount for CG. Might look a bit goofy. These two engines are only 65 HP, though.

Volkswagens are too anemic. Draggy airplanes need large propellers, and your typical VW ends up with a little 42" toothpick to be able to turn the 3400 RPM where it produces 65 HP. VW-powered 'Babies have flown, but the owners soon convert them to Continentals.

An 85-HP Rotax 912 (four cylinder four stroke) would be ideal, if you've got the $9,000 or so to buy one.

Personally, I'm somewhat taken by some of the smaller auto-engine conversions. I've met the designer of the Stratus Subaru conversion a number of times, and think the engine has excellent possibilities as a Fly Baby powerplant.

An examination of Fly Baby engine options can be found on the Engines page.

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Ordering Information

Fly Baby plans cost $145, but the package includes both the monoplane and biplane section. To order, make your checks or money orders out to David R. Bowers, and mail to:

David R. Bowers
13730 Burke Rd.
Los Altos Hills CA 94022-3549

One warning: The process by which orders are filled has problems. Mr. Bowers does not own the rights; he merely forwards the orders and the money to the person who does, and that person gets the copies made and mails out the set. This process has basically collapsed several times...in one case, it took nine months for a person to get their plans. This amount of time is atypical, more-usually it runs three or four months.

In my opinion, this is an organizational problem, NOT an attempt to rip people off. There is no question the people involve want to get the plans shipped out, and as far as I know, everyone who ordered them eventually received them.

One of the biggest problems is a lack of direct customer-service contact. David Bowers has a publicly-listed phone number, but once he sends the money along, there's no way he can affect the process. The person who fills the orders has chosen not to publish an address, phone number, or email.

If you've been waiting for more than four months, drop me an email and I'll see what I can do. Please note, though, that I am not a part of the plans-sales organization. There's nothing I can officially do, but I can pester the people involved and try to get an estimate on when your plans will go out.

If you're an EAA member, you can actually download Pete Bowers' original Fly Baby construction articles for free. Go to the EAA Members Page, log in, and use the "Sport Aviation Online" links. The series of Fly Baby articles begin in December 1962. Right-click and save the articles to your own computer rather than trying to read them "live."

You can see a list of all Pete's Fly Baby article on the EAA Fly Baby Information Page. It says that the book "Building the Wood Airplane" is still available...this is actually a reprint of all the Fly Baby construction articles. I do not know if they actually still have the book.

There have been some updates since the articles were first published. As far as I know, there were only a couple of "real" changes; most of the plans updates were clarifications. See the Revisions List for a description of many of the changes.

Ron Wanttaja

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Suppliers

Here's a list of suppliers that carry Fly Baby-specific sort of parts. This doesn't constitute an endorsement; this isn't an "approved" list. But they might be good starting point. The customer must make his or her own decision as to the airworthiness and value of the items mentioned.

Those who like to get an idea of the total order size required can check out this attempt at a representative materials list. It's in Microsoft Excel format.

Several Fly Baby builders have been working with Ray Landis (president and also a pilot) of Advanced Manufacturing Systems (Decatur, AL) to fabricate new Fly Baby metal parts. Folks report excellent workmanship and fast response. Contact Ray at 256-350-8386.

Andrew Budek-Schmeisser is now selling welded Fly Baby components, from a single piece to a full-blown set.

Aircraft Spruce and Specialty sells practically all the individual components, and Materials Kits to provide all the raw materials.

Wicks Aircraft is a well-liked supplier of a wide variety of homebuilding materials. They also have Materials Kits.

Some Wood Sources:

B&D Plywood, in Tacoma, Washington is a good source for plywood.
Crosscut Hardwoods in Portland, Oregon sells marine plywood
Chesapeake Light Craft sells boat kits, but supposedly has some of the lowest wood prices around
Boulter Plywood is located near Boston, and is recommended by one of our New England builders.

Probably the best source of Fly Baby goodies are unfinished projects and Fly Markets. There are still a number of unfinished projects out there...I once called on one that was essentially complete, less engine. The owner wanted only $1,000 for it.

Also Available: Downloads/Reprints of The Fly Baby Bulletin

Back in the late '60s, Hayden Ferguson published a newsletter for Fly Baby builders. Hayden has kindly provided me with a clean copy of all the newsletters, and permission to reprint them.

This are of pretty good interest to Fly Baby builders. There are a number of hints and suggestions, and a total of 200 pages (printed double-sided, so there are only 100 sheets). Be advised there is an equal amount of "What Joe Smith is working on now" sort of information...vital and informative when the newsletter is mailed out, but of less use to builders thirty years later. It's fun to read, though.

Steve Pitts took the old Bulletins and converted them to Adobe Acrobat format (.PDF). You can now download them for free. Also, I've still got a few hard copies left, if you would prefer. I'm selling these for $20, US Postage paid. Email me for ordering information.

Cost Estimates

Building Cost (Updated Sept 2006)

One of the main reasons the Fly Baby was so popular in the 1960s is its low-cost construction. Back then, aircraft-quality wood was still in wide production, and huge stocks of aircraft hardware (like turnbuckles) had been produced during the war and were still being sold at low prices.

Unfortunately, in the 45 years since, things have changed. It used to be that wood was cheap but alumimum was expensive; that's no longer the case. The surplus turnbuckles are long gone, and the new production stuff is quite a bit costlier.

In September, 2006, Dirk Chubbic of San Jose, California, took the bull by the horns:

"I got my Aircraft Spruce and Specialty catalogue recently and spent some time pricing FB construction. I started with the materials list from Ron's site and plugged in prices from AS&S, using the lowest prices when a choice was necessary (e.g. cad plated vs. stainless bolts).
"The total was about $8,125.

"Of course, that doesn't include engine, fuel tank/lines, prop, instruments, covering, paint or even glue. It's just the airframe and fittings. Of course, a good scrounge/bargan hunter can do it for less, but I think that's a good benchmark, just in case somebody asks."

Since the Fly Baby is plans-built (e.g., no complete kit) the cost of construction varies from builder to builder. Some folks opt for all new hardware, some haunt the Fly Markets for good deals. As Dirk says, his pricing assumes new parts (albeit the lowest-cost new parts) exclusively. If you scrounge, or buy partially-completed aircraft, you can do a lot better.

The price can go higher, too.. If you decide to add stuff like an electrical system, radios, and a transponder, you'll add quite a bit to the cost of the airframe.

As far as engines go, check Trade-A-Plane for prices. A good C-85 will probably run ~$3,000-$4,000. A run-out will go for quite a bit less, and you can overhaul it yourself. A wood prop will run $600 or so.

Operating Costs

Fly Babies are very cheap to run. I'll give you my costs as an example.

(Updated June 2001)

My C-85 burns ~5 gallons an hour of $1.60/gallon car gas. That's $8 an hour, plus a bit more for oil.

I have an open hangar that costs $155 per month. I currently chose to pay the whole expense myself, but in the past I've shared my hangar with another airplane and cut the hangar costs in half.

Liability insurance (only) costs about $525/year. Adding $10,000 not-in-flight coverage bumps that to about $700, and going whole hog for in-flight coverage adds another $100. Liability plus hull coverage (ground and flight), then, costs me a total of $800. (Keep in mind...while I'm not that high in total hours, I've got a LOT of Fly Baby time. Your liability coverage should be about the same, but hull coverage will probably be higher.)

My first year of ownership has had some unusual expenses, like the need to replace the radio. On the old, no-electrical-system Fly Baby, we spent ~$25-$100 or so a year.

So: If we assume I fly 50 hours per year, my total costs come to: Gas: 50 hours x 5 gal/hour x 1.60gal, or about $400. Hangar: 12 x $155, total $1860 Insurance: $800 (full coverage) Maintenance: $150.

Total yearly cost: About $3210. If I still shared the hangar, my total yearly cost would be just $2200. Hourly rate: $44 wet, and I can fly anytime I want.

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Links to other Web Pages on Fly Babies and Fly Baby-Like homebuilts:

Builder/Rebuilder Pages and Blogs

Bruce Olson's Fly Baby Blog. Bruce is rebuilding an older Fly Baby.

Billy Beck is documenting Fly Baby construction.

JP's Fly Baby Progress. John Paul is an Australian, and his web page has tons of construction photos.

Corrie's Fly Baby Blog

Greg McCormick's project. He's posting about his experiences, and already has a nice bit of information on wing-building.

Dave Munday was working on a tandem Fly Baby of his own design a while back. His page includes drawings and technical information.

Owner Pages

Jonathon Jackson's web site has some pictures of the bird he bought in July, 2002. Check out both his Fly Baby page and his Photos page.

Johnnie Bulllen's Biplane. Johnnie has one of the rare Fly Baby biplanes. See also his stories.

Argentinian Fly Baby web page. Pablo Tschopp has set up this page for his father's Fly Baby with strut-braced wings.

Ross Wolin has some pictures of the 'Baby he used to own on his web page
John Day and Bob Gauld-Galliers did a great plastic-surgery job on their Fly Baby to make it look like a WWI Junkers trench-strafer. They fly air shows in Great Britain with several other WWI replicas as part of the Great War Display Team

Other Sites of Interest

While Robert S. Hoover isn't building a Fly Baby, he's a champion of those who want to build low-cost wooden airplanes. He's written numerous articles on the subject, which you can read on his blog, and you can find his downloadable drawings and instructions on the Chuggers Group on Yahoo.One of the earliest Fly Baby web pages was set up by Luis Hernandez, back in the mid-90s. Luis now has an online bookstore. The Motor Bookstore now offers aviation manuals and books as well as all kinds of repair manuals for cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats, and much more. If you need aviation books, buy them from a Fly Baby fan!

Fly Baby ++. Frank Stutzman's thoughts on a tandem Fly Baby concept plane.

William David is building Crowbird, a two-seater inspired by the Fly Baby.

Hevle Aviation two-seater. It's available in both plans and kit form.

The Warner Revolution is a single or two-seat homebuilt quite similar to the Fly Baby, but is available in a full kit.

The Buckeye Pietenpol Association runs a page for this "grand old dame" of homebuilding. The Piet is a parasol-winged two-seater dating back to the 1930s.

Fly Baby Email List . Hosted by Yahoo, the email list can be used to ask questions of your fellow builders. You can sign up for the email service without signing up for Yahoo by email . However, viewing the posted photos requires signing up for Yahoo.

BowersFlyBaby.com Index

For overall categories of information on these pages, go back to the top of this page. This index provides a bit of cross-referencing, where a given topic might be discussed in several places.

Aerobatics

Aerobatics and the Fly Baby: An Editorial

Accidents:

Detailed Report: N2695
Detailed Report: N96MG
Detailed Report: N101LX
NTSB Summaries

Avionics (See Also Electronics)

Panel-Mounting a Handheld Radio
Antennas for Fly Babies
Wind-Powered Generators
Ron's Avionics Box
Building an Adaptor to Use a Commercial Headset with an Aircraft Radio
Converting a Russian Helmet - Part 1 and Part 2
Instrument Panel Pictures

Bracing:

Aerobatics and the Fly Baby: An Editorial
All Those Wires! A look at alternative wing-bracing schemes
Overall Discussion
A Look at Wing-Failure Accidents:

N2695

N96MG

N101LX

A Wing-Folding Guide
A strut-braced Fly Baby, courtesy of Miguel Tschopp's web page. This airplane was built in Argentina, and Miguel's web page includes the official drawings needed for approval by the local FAA-equivalent.
Split-Axle Landing Gear

Comfort:

Ear Protection
Seat
Warmth and general comfort
Eric Whittred's Seat Design
Fly Babies for the Big and Tall
Leather Jackets
The Belly Inspection Panel
Scarves
Goggles
How to Add a Canopy
Converting a surplus Russian flying helmet to Fly Baby use

Follow-Up: Adding IPOD ear buds to the Russian helmet

Elevator Trim
How to add a baggage compartment

Electronics/Avionics

Battery installation
Panel-mounting a Handheld Radio
Ron's avionics box
Wind Generators
Surviving Without an Electrical Syste m
A low-cost radio antenna
Instrument Panel Pictures
Installing an Electronic Tachometer

Engines:

The Engines Page
Engine Option s
Maintenance Problem Reports
Survey Results on Engine Selections
Harry Fenton on Engines
Starter Clutch Problems
Remote-Release Tail Hooks as a Hand-Propping Aid
Battery selection and location
Trouble-shooting electrical system problems
Adding an auxiliary fuel Tank

Flight Simulator

Fly Baby Model for Microsoft Flight Simulator
A Radio-Controlled Fly Baby for $40

Flying Advice/Reports:

Aerobatics and the Fly Baby: An Editorial
Flying Advice (General)
Nouvelle Classique (pilot report by webmaster)
Punkin (Biplane pilot report by Chris Eulberg)
Jerry David's account of the first flight of his OWN Fly Baby Bipe
Chuck Davis' report of his first flight in the Fly Baby he bought.
V-Speeds.
Preflight/Pretakeoff Checklists
The Fly Baby and Sport Pilot
Fly Baby Bulletin downloads. Pilot reports, builder reports, etc. from the 1960s.

Folding Wings

A Wing-Folding Guide

For Sale

Aircraft and Components
T-Shirts and other Gear
Pre-Buy Inspections for Used Fly Babies

Instruments

Panel Photos
Installing an Electronic Tachometer

Landing Gear and Brakes

How the landing gear is part of the wing bracing system
How about tri-cycle gear?
Rolling your own Goodyear brake pads
Tailpost Problems and their Correction.
A discussion on split axles.
Drew Fidoe on care and feeding of Maule SFSA tailwheels.
Rotating Tires
Split-Axle Landing Gear
What Size Tires for a Fly Baby?
Replacing Goodyear Wheels with Grove Wheels

Light Sport Aircraft

The Fly Baby and Sport Pilot

Magazine Articles

Bibliography
Nouvelle Classique (KITPLANES pilot report by webmaster)
Fly Baby Bulletin downloads. Pilot reports, builder reports, etc. from the 1960s.

Microsoft

Fly Baby Model for Microsoft Flight Simulator

Patches

Ordering Jacket Patches

Painting

Painting a Fly Baby with Latex house paint
Three-View Drawing for working on paint schemes (works better if you right-click and save to your own disk)

Poetry

A Poem for Old Tail Dragger Pilots, by Wendell Davenport
He Wanted to Fly, by Robert Gellock

Pictures

Index to Fly Baby Photo Albums
"Altered States" - Doctored photos
Arlington 40th Anniversary Event
Flabob 40th Anniversary Event
Videos
Fly Baby-related Artwork
Three-View Drawing
Insrument Panels
Fly Baby Persona for Firefox

Pilot Reports

List of Pilot Reports

Plans and Parts:

Ordering Plans
Commercial Suppliers
Making your own Goodyear brake pads
Cheap 'n Easy Gap Seals
Materials List
List of Plan Revisions
Templates for Fly Baby Parts

Propellers:

Survey Results on Propeller Selections
Propeller Selection: That Ol' Black Magic

Rebuilding a Fly Baby

This Old Plane - Drew Fidoe's rebuilding notes

Safety

Aerobatics and the Fly Baby: An Editorial
The Safety Page
Fly Baby Weight and Balance Spreadsheet

Simulator

Fly Baby model for Microsoft Flight Simulator

Sport Pilot

The Fly Baby and Sport Pilot

Stories

The Stories Page

Structural Issues

The Bracing Page
English translation of Finnish Load-Test Report

Suppliers

Plans Sales
Commercial Vendors
Materials List (Excel Spreadsheet)

Tailwheels

Drew Fidoe on the care and feeding of the Maule Tailwheel. PDF File.
Tail Post Repair
Tailwheel Springs

Technical Issues

The Advice Page (for folks new to the Fly Baby world)
Tech Talk (more in-depth technical material)
List of Plans Revisions
The Fly Baby and Sport Pilot
This Old Plane - Drew Fidoe's Restoration Notes
Fly Baby Bulletin downloads. Pilot reports, builder reports, etc. from the 1960s.
Adding elevator trim
Adding an auxiliary fuel Tank

Templates

The Templates Page

Tires, Wheels, and Axles (See also "Tailwheels")

Tire Rotation on Fly Babies
Split Axles
Tailwheel Springs
Tire and Wheel Selection for Fly Babies
Replacing Goodyear Wheels

Videos

In-Flight Videos with external cameras
Links to Youtube and other videos

Weights:

Design Weight (See the text on the figure)
Survey Results on Empty Weights
Typical weight of individual components

Windshields

Plexiglas or Lexan? One-Piece or Three-Piece?
How to Add A Canopy

Wood

Wood Selection and Testing (PDF file)
Wood Suppliers
Wood Construction Links
Robert "Veeduber" Hoover's Blog

What's New

27 June 2010

My apologies for not having updated the page for a while. It's been a busy winter and spring.

Matt Michael uses his Fly Baby for longer trips and had made several modifications (such as a canopy and a baggage compartment) that makes his plane more suited to his mission. For his latest writeup, here' the auxiliary fuel tank he's designed for his Fly Baby.

There's a lot of interest in two-seat Fly Babies. Don Taylor built a standard single-seater back in the '60s, and has been designing and building his own planes since. His latest is a spin-off of the Fly Baby...not only a two-seat tandem aircraft, but all metal! I've added a picture and a bit of information at the bottom of the Two-Seaters page.

Folks have been posting their own Fly Baby videos to Youtube and other places. I've started adding more links to my Pictures page.

Two additions to the Altered States page: A Twin-Tail variant, and a way to float my Fly Baby if the hangar floods. Scroll down to the bottom of the page.

I get hit with a Ghost Gust during a go-around....

Harry Fenton has sent me a ton more entries for the Engine page, but haven't had a chance to put them in yet...

22 February 2010

Just a minor update... Matt Michael sent me a good write-up on how to install a baggage compartment in a Fly Baby.

23 December 2009

Gorgeous painting on the header, isn't it? Colin Pattle painted Tom Staples' Fly Baby in 1979.

The 2010 Fly Baby calendar is available for downloading and printing. This time, an alternate version highlights the Canadian holidays for our friends up north.

I get tickled by Matt Michaels' stories, as he is kind of the "Anti-Ron": Where I use my Fly Baby solely as a local fun machine, he's configured his for a cross-country cruiser. Check out the tale of his Long Trip. Matt has previous written up how he built his canopy, and is working on an article on his auxilliary fuel system and baggage compartment.

Brian "Brain" Kissenger bought Jerry Gardner's old Fly Baby, and shared both a nice in-flight-picture and shares another Fly Baby-inspired poem.

There may be snow of the roof...but I can still mess with models.

And of course, a metric ton of new Harry Fenton on Small Continental Engines.

15 August 2009

I've had an ugly summer so far, fraught with mechanical problems. This means you see fewer "Flying stories," and more long whines about having to fix things.

But don't fret...there's still a bunch of cool new stuff.

This is waaaaay cool. If you're using the Firefox web browser, there's now an option called "Personas" that let you customize the appearance. I've developed a Fly Baby Persona.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser is now selling welded Fly Baby components, from a single piece to a full-blown set.
Chuck Baynard sent a neat writeup on how to add Elevator Trim to a Fly Baby
I put together a page consisting of Fly Baby instrument panel photos. It's strangely compelling...these are custom-built aircaft
There was a stack of new Fly Baby photos that I finally got in, too.
"Veeduber" (Bob Hoover) made a great set of drawings showing how to build a remote-release tail hook.
While I was on the subject of wheels, I put together a guide to Fly Baby wheel/tire selection

And...dare I say it again... a LOT more Harry. He's been sending in more photos and PDF files, too.

And kind of an update: The plans-ordering process has been really messed up lately, but the backlog has started to clear. Folks are getting their plans, it's just taking months and months (and months....). Please note that I am not involved in the plans process, but if you've been waiting too long, drop me a line and I'll see if I can stir things up.

14 March 2009

Minor tweak to the links area...add a new Fly Baby builder's blog and reorganized a bit.

Also added a bit of an ironic twist to the end of the IPOD ear buds in the Russian helmet story.

1 March 2009

The wing-rib templates in the Fly Baby plans have become distorted over time due to copier problems. You can now download accurate templates to print out on your own computer.

Want to give rides in your Fly Baby? You Can!

About five years ago, I tried converting a surplus Russian flying helmet to Fly Baby use. The original conversion was OK, but it starts kicking tail when one swaps the little speakers for IPOD ear buds....

More problems with my plane's charging system yields another story, plus a bunch of troubleshooting advice.

Bomar Flying Service now carries PDF copies of the manufacturers manuals for hundreds of engines, engine accessories, and other aviation-related items. You can find the overhaul manuals for the little Continental engines, the magnetos, carburetors, etc....all for free!

About a month and a half ago, my web pages went down for two weeks. Nobody seemed to notice the Fly Baby page was gone...but a lot of people complained that Harry Fenton's Engine Page had disappeared!

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