David, that’s the question I’m hoping the tear down will answer. Was it the bearing? Was it assembled wrong? Was it a failed crank? I understand that is isn’t really common, but wasn’t unheard of either. I guess we will see.

Thinking about your cold weather trip coming up. Have you thought about wiring the capability to plug in an electric vest? My friend I mentioned earlier did that and found it made flying during the winter not just tolerable but fairly pleasant.

A friend and I recently bought this Stearman. We had a fantastic fall day here yesterday for flying so I took it up for a bit. I flew it out of it's old nest about a month ago. It had sat for 12 years before that flight. It actually was a Delta duster many years ago and then converted back to standard at some point.

The last post in this thread was just before Thanksgiving and now its just after St. Patrick's Day so it is definitely time to be thinking about biplane flying!

I had my Waco dewinterized last week and it's ready to go flying! Today is IFR here so maybe later this week when it warms up a bit and the sun comes out.

The airport was deserted (not a single plane on the FBO ramp - I've never seen that before in 50+ years) but I was glad to see that the lineman at PWA, Inc. (our condo hangar association) was on duty and getting paid.

I asked my wife if she thought I could practice "social distancing" and fly with a passenger in the front cockpit. My last planned flight last fall got cancelled due to a leak in the oil tank and I was thinking of inviting that friend next week. If I get the plane out and engine started before he crawls in the front hole, and then he crawls out during the cool down there ought to be enough wind blast to prevent any "droplet exchange". What do you guys think?

Man, I'm ready for some open air flying!

I haven't done anything about ADSB yet so I've been talking to the avionics shop. They are slowing down from the last minute crush so we're talking about how to do an install that doesn't destroy the antique appearance of the plane.

One thought I've had is the Uvionics Echo UAT:

https://uavionix.com/products/echo-uat/

I haven't asked the shop about that but have sent Uvionics an email, to which they have not yet responded, to see if that might work.

Anyone have a better idea?

The Echo is for non certified at least so far based on my reading. Isn’t the Waco certified? If not it would be perfect but more work than the wing tip or tail install don’t you think? While I hate it I’m looking at their wing tip unit temporarily. When I update the GPS/radio I’ll remove and use something else with in/out.

I did the sky beacon on mine. I like the idea of it being high up on the upper wing vs on the tail where it might be within reach and an object of interest to children (and adults, for that matter).

Pic attached.

CK that’s the D17S plan too, for now.

My Waco is "Experimental". Long story but maybe it's an advantage here. CK I'm considering that too. The tail beacon won't work due to location. The thing about the wingtip version is I'd have to remove one of my 1934 lights. Don't want to do that.

We just put the tail beacon on the Stearman last week. Some minor trimming with a dremel tool was needed. I think the last time I flew it was Christmas day. We've been working like mad on a lot of cosmetic stuff. The biggest project was stripping and painting the metal panels. Most of the paint on the metal panels was faded so we removed all of them except the one between the cabane struts. Some flying wires have to come out to get that off. We stripped the paint back to bare metal for the respray.

We're hoping to get the old bird in the air this week.



I did the sky beacon on mine. I like the idea of it being high up on the upper wing vs on the tail where it might be within reach and an object of interest to children (and adults, for that matter).

Pic attached.

CK,
Did you ever get an answer?
Dave


David, that’s the question I’m hoping the tear down will answer. Was it the bearing? Was it assembled wrong? Was it a failed crank? I understand that is isn’t really common, but wasn’t unheard of either. I guess we will see.

Hi CK-

I just happened onto this thread almost a year late to the party. I am sorry to hear about your engine failure, but it seems that the Jake will be a nice solution. I have briefly flown a 450 Stearman, and it was a lot of fun, but a very different airplane. You will have an airplane that still flys like a Stearman, but has the capability to operate easily at high density altitudes. Let us know how it goes!

Regards,

Bob

Yep. Two big cracks in the crank, one behind the main bearing and one behind the prop. I was just about to lose the prop or experience a rapid unplanned disassembly of my 220 Continental. Pete figures I was inside of 15 minutes from this happening. Had a long sobering talk with Gunny Perdue...his quote will stick with me. “When these things talk to you...you HAVE to listen!”

Glad I pulled it off and retired it. Looking forward to being in the air with the new rig soon.

I got an answer back from Uvionics that said I could place the wingtip device anywhere in the fabric covered fuselage and it would work well. Apparently, you can turn the light off in set up. I think that is what I'll do.

Looking forward to the Jake, Bob. Just got a video of it running so it won't be long now!