September 21, 2017 - EAA Chapter Meeting
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| Mark P. was the guest speaker at our August EAA Chapter meeting. Mark traveled to the meeting in his RV-7A from Frederick. So we all headed over to the ramp to check it out. | ||||||
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Checking out the RV-7A.
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| September's meeting was at Chris's house to check out his Panther project. Sport Performance Aviation makes the Panther kit. The Panther is a single-seater with wings that fold. | ||||||
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Chris had everything laid out nicely so we could see.
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| Wing assembly is very similar to the RV-7. | ||||||
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| Chris has been working on the project a little over a year and has gotten quite a bit done. The empennage components are all done, as you can see. | ||||||
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| This wing is coming along nicely. | ||||||
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And another wing is mostly done. The Panther uses pop-rivets.
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| Chris is powering his Panther with the Corvair engine, which produces 100-120 horsepower. He has been to the famous Corvair College. Chris actually has two Corvair engines. This one is for learning and practice. Chris is building the wings in his basement. | ||||||
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The kit is very high quality: pre-drilled holes, well-labelled parts and hardware.
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| I was very impressed (and envious) with Chris's tool organization. | ||||||
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| The fuselage is in the garage. The Panther fuselage differs radically from the RV or Sonex series in that the forward half is a welded steel tube structure. | ||||||
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| The aft section is the traditional aluminum bulkheads, strings and skin structure. | ||||||
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| The forward section comes already welded and epoxy-primed. It looks very strong. | ||||||
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| The aft section will bolt on to those tabs pictured here on the forward section. | ||||||
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| Chris shows off his "grease" Corvair engine. | ||||||
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| The Panther should be a great ride! | ||||||
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