Let’s Splice Wood and Steel Aircraft Tubes
The shipping cost nowadays makes it more economical to splice the wood and the tubes for the Legal Eagles airplanes rather than pay the cost to ship the long pieces. Splices can be safe and as strong if done correctly. Wood sailing ships have many splices in their...
Scruffy and Misfit
After the Hall of Fame awards, my scruffy and misfit friends got together and awarded me this plaque announcing that I was elected the be the head scruff and misfit. This proves that they knew me well. I keep it hanging in my office and get a kick...
EAA Ultra Light Hall of Fame
Leonard was inducted into the EAA Ultra Light Hall of Fame. He was given a trip to Oshkosh to accept this trophy. The award was given after a nice dinner, and He was asked to make an acceptance speech. The awards were held in the hangar that...
Let’s Do a Weight and Balance
You will need to do a weight and balance test on your plane before you fly. This is necessary, so your plane will be in a controllable condition, not nose heavy nor tail heavy. On the Cabin Eagle plans, I have 5 different weight and balance pages. An FFA...
Compression Leak-Off Test
I explained to my Daughter how a compression leak-off test was used to troubleshoot an engine's cylinders. She asks me, why don’t you put that on the Builders page? So here you go. The old timers know this and have been using this test for decades....
Lucky Leonard
I was born in Kansas City in 1924. At the age of 3 years old, my mother said I was making airplane noises and waving a toy airplane around. Fast forward, to me being 11 years old, my uncle gave me a model airplane kit. That...
It Won’t Start if it’s Tied Down
This is about hand propping your Legal Eagle or the Double Eagle. I started flying legally in 1970. I have had the misfortune to have witnessed seven hand propping accidents. I believe that I stopped one just a couple of weeks back. I warned an airline...
Cold Engine Start
Here is how to start the Briggs and Stratton engine. I usually start my VW engines from the rear and have the right hand on the throttle. When starting a cold engine, it helps to crack the throttle a tiny bit as a cold engine will...
Don’t taxi the fuselage without the wings.
You have got the fuselage built, and it's on the wheels. Boy, is there a temptation to taxi it! Well, I am here to tell you don’t taxi the fuselage without the wings. It is amazing how easy it is to turn over the fuselage. Several builders have damaged...