Ground Zero: May 19, 2011

It all started at Triple W airport (5W5) with a crew of determined Plane Movers :





Followed by our marching orders from Kent Misegade Chapter 1114 President:

Thanks again for your interest in our new Stits SA-7 Skycoupe project.

Attached are several articles on this design. You'll find quite a bit of information on the web on the SA-7 and its certificated sister-ship, the SA-9A. See the links below.

Ray Stits not only offered kits for the SA-7, but gained FAA certification of a modified SA-7D he called the SA-9A. There are a number of them flying and we have established contact with their owners. I will be calling Ray Stits (who is 90) this week in California to see if we can obtain a set of "fresh" plans.

What's next?

1. The plane is now safe and dry in Terry Gardner's hangar/shop at Eagle's Landing.

2. Noel Falwell plane to contact the FAA's Greensboro FSDO to retrieve copies of all records related to this particular project, which came with a good builder's log.

3. Noel will be loaning us his wing slings used during the construction of his RV-6A.

4. Terry will schedule a cleaning session at Eagle's landing soon where we'll clean two decades of dust from the airplane in preparation for its first inspection.

5. As soon as possible, we'll invite Tom Malechuk and Jack Phillips - among others - to have a close look at the airplane and its engine, which looks in good condition.

6. The engine is a Lycoming O-290-G4, 125-hp four-cylinder original from a military ground power unit that was converted back to an airplane engine.

Once the inspection is complete, we'll make a decision on how to best proceed, which will likely involve assigning tasks for each person to do.

Assuming the plane and engine are usable, I believe we should set ourselves the goal to fly it to AirVenture 2012 in 14 months.

We'd likely establish a separate aero club that would own and rent out the airplane to members. Too early to specify details, though. From what I have heard and read, the plane flies much like a Piper Tri-Pacer or C120/C140. The engine burns 6.5 gph of autogas or avgas in cruise.

If you know of others in the chapter who would like to be involved in the project, please have them contact me for now.

Kent

http://www.fraseraerotechnologycompany.com/Ray_Stits_Aircraft.html

http://www.steenaero.com/articles_detail.cfm?ArticleID=13

http://www.flycorvair.com/hangar0405.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarchives/4822020417/

http://www.aerofiles.com/stits-skycoupe.jpg

http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/Coates/3737L.jpg