Spruce Goose

After the excitement of having made the critical build command decision waned, it finally dawned on me that I was placing a lot of hope, time, and money on the line for an airplane I had never even been in before.

As luck would have it Steve, one of our EAA Chapter members, had built one of the nicest, fastest Long EZs out there, and offered to give me a ride. It would be an experience I would never forget.

As awesome as my intro flight turned out to be, it also highlighted at least one problem I had not given any thought to, namely the small size of the rear passenger compartment. 

Now, small is a relative statement, but you see, I had sold the Long EZ to my skeptical “better half”, as “first class accommodation with a view”, and that just wasn’t going to fly! 

More research and testing would therefore be required before I parted with any more money, and since my friend Wade always has a lot of bright ideas, I thought I’d steal another of his better ones. 

Not knowing how big a Long EZ would turn out to be, Wade fabricated a rough plywood mockup of the fuselage to check for general dimensions, so I decided to “one up” him, and build a “luxury” plywood mockup to use for testing. 

The objective was simple: spend enough time in the wooden thing until something started to hurt, then either fix it, or scrap this whole project. For this to be an accurate test, every dimension would have to be strictly per plans, at least in the beginning, then we might start chopping things up.

So, there I was... headed for the Home Depot once again, on a quest for plywood.

Is there anything this little car won't do?

The mockup went together quickly, and $20 and two days later, I had assembled my very own “test research facility”.

Making airplane noises, or was it a circular saw?

Careful inside measurements, taken from my friend Walter's Long EZ,  revealed a maximum variance of no more than 1/10 of an inch, very much above my expectations, and just perfect for the task. In other words my mockup was an exact replica of a Long EZ interior.

I bet it would float!

To increase the accuracy of the results, I borrowed Walter’s Long EZ cushions as well. The stage was set.

Actual Long EZ seat

So, did I learn anything from my many hours in the saddle? 

Getting comfortable up front

Absolutely! 

The experiment ended up reinforcing the notion of a small rear seat (bad thing), but actually uncovered more issues, and solutions (good thing).

Checking out the rear seat

A partial solution to the rear seat lack of room, became what I call “Steve’s mod”. Steve opened up some more elbow room on his plane, by enlarging the cutouts on the sidewalls a few more inches toward the rear. Originally these openings started right where my elbows are in the above image, creating the “sardine can” feel. 

Steve’s mod allowed my elbows to spread, creating an overall impression of roominess that went beyond the actual increase in volume available to the rear seat occupant. The price for the mod would be a reduced fuel tank capacity, but only by a few gallons, and with over 50 on tap... no sweat!

Another issue that did not present itself during my short flight, turned out to be the rear seat leg room. The short space forced a bend of the knees, and without the ability to occasionally stretch my legs, my knees started aching, and my legs wanted to kick right through to the front seat of the mockup.

In this case, for once, my short stature (5’ 7”) became an advantage. Sitting in the front seat, I had always felt that the control panel was a bit too far away, and I needed to lift my back off the seat to just touch it. By taking the front seat out, and moving it 2” forward, the control side-stick fell naturally into my right hand, and I could reach the instruments with ease.

I recall Mike Melvill describing the same modification on his own plane, so... if it was good enough for the first civilian astronaut, then it would be good enough for me.

Talking with Mike Melvill at Oshkosh 2011

This ended up alleviating two other issues. Obviously the increased legroom in the back seat greatly improved the knee angle, but it also shifted my weigh forward by the same two inches, and because my plan is to use a bigger engine in back, this would help restore the proper center of gravity.

With a happier passenger in the back, and tailored seating up front, I was rapidly approaching experimental aviation nirvana, if not for one last pesky thing. 

You see, because of a motocross crash (one of many), my right elbow does not like to straighten anymore, and it’s happiest when slightly bent. Unfortunately, every time I grabbed the side-stick, my bent elbow pushed outward rubbing the sidewall, not a big problem on a short flight, but  pure Chinese water torture on a long one.

Since I plan on doing a good share of hand flying, this needed to be dealt with, and the only way to regain some elbow room was to push the sidewalls outward about 1” per side. I know Burt would not approve, but then again, he's tall and skinny. 

I talked to someone who had done this already, and he seemed very happy with the modification, so I decided to accept the complications this would cause during the build, for the purpose of creating a machine that is a better fit for me. 

I also decided to carry the same 2” expansion all the way back to the firewall. This will improve even further the rear seat habitability, but it will also complicate the engine mount geometry, and necessitate a custom cowl.

Well, I guess I’d better get busy!

Long EZ mockup outfitted with headrests.