Interesting Lazair picture

[Shannon]

Not the first picture of "Tundra" tires on a Lazair that I've seen.

[Shannon]

Anyone know this intrepid aviator ? If you look closely you will discover what appears to be some type of unusual hand applied braking apparatus developed for this plane.

http://www.usua4.com/Photos/Fathers_Day ... r_0506.JPG

[lazairiii]

Shannon,

You have a keen eye. I'm not sure I'd have noticed those hand applied friction brakes. I wish I had a nice grass strip like that to fly from!!

George

[Shannon]

I'd imagine this "friction" brake concept works pretty well. Probably beats the heck out of grabbing the wheel with a hand or sticking a foot under the tire (Series I and II's without brakes). Nice... don't we all !!!!

[walterfd]

What Have I done!!

I attended an estate auction yesterday in Indiana. When it was all over I was the proud new owner of a Lazair.

I've always wanted to learn to fly but have taken the opportunity to purchase only two lessons (in 10 years) in a small Cessna 1xx. Although, I've often thought of selling my 3 horses and really working on getting a pilot license.

With the advent of the Sport Pilot certification and all the possiblities that that opens I've been thinking of this more and more.

Then came my faithful afternoon at the auction. The aircraft that I purchased was pulled out of a large barn on the estated along with 2 other older ones and put on the auction block.

I'm not even sure what I bought, but it's definitely a Lazair that was in the process of construction but was never finished. It came with a few boxes of "parts" and the family claims it to be complete. There is a 3-ring binder with pages and pages of assembly instructions. It starts with a Wing Assembly section, moves on to Conversion Kit Instructions (Wheels, seat, downtubes), Rudder Pedal Modificaiton Kit, Parts Catalogue, Flying Manual, then a series of Technical Updates starting May '81 through June '82.

From what little I know I would guess it's at least 75% complete on the construction. It looks like the last thing completed was the Mylar covering in one of the wing tips. I'm only assuming that this was the last thing because the other wing tip has no covering. One of the boxes has what looks like more Mylar (red) and there is also a roll of clear covering material.

So, I'm thinging the next step is to go take a lesson in an ultralight and see if this is something that I can do. Then I guess I'll decide whether or not to pursue finishing the construction.

I'm pretty mechanically inclined and I can follow directions but if I'm still hundreds of hours away from completion it might not make sense for me (still have the horses to ride you know).

Anyway, I Googled "LAZAIR" and found this forum. I'm hoping to hear from knowledgable folks that might tell me whether this old aircraft is worth any effort or not. The way to figure out what model it is, what to expect from the engines, etc.

Any help will be appreciated.

Doug.

[JPXman]

Good score!

First thing to see is look on the cover or the first few pages of the manual. there should be a serial number somewhere, that is "Axxx" the x's being three numbers. you didn't mention how many seats it has, but if it has 2 seats then it will be a "Bxxx".

do the engines say rotax or pioneer on them? how many propellers did you get?

some good first items to check - very exciting to buy a never flown lazair if this is the case. as always, pictures speak the most here.

Tyler

[Shannon]

Simple...post some pictures. I (we) can tell you exactly what you've got.

[xgary]

Nice find,

Might be a series 1 or 2 if if hass the rudder pedal kit.

What are the engines ?

There should be some identifying marks on the engine or carbs.


Post some pics if you can .


Painted the 2 seater today -red and white on ceconite.

NOTICE THE Bungees to hold the wings down -- 12 to 25 mph after i finished a few hours later ........ I had to go out and was afraid i would come back to Lazairs wings out in a field somewhere . but was ok ...........

[walterfd]

Thanks for the posts on my auction find.

I checked the manual again and the first page is titled Wing Assembly. I don't see what I would expect to be the first page of the manual. I can find nothing that looks like a serial number. I'm guessing that there are more that one manuals and I'm looking at the last one. I’ll have to dig through the boxes and see what else I can find.

I checked the engines; they are mounted on what the book calls the Nacelle Assembly, with one prop on each engine. I could find no identifying marks on the engines except for one end of a typical looking metal tag that has been cut off of both engines. The only part of the metal tag left are what would be the very right end where it is riveted to the block, just below the cylinder head. It looks like they were both cut off before the head was bolted on. I can see R at the end of what’s left of tag and an ER at the end of the other.

It has only one seat and it has rudder pedals with a little lockout that allows you to couple and un-couple the rudder control from the ailerons. Pretty cool little setup. Now if I only knew what a rudder is for and why you would want it coupled!

Anyway, I’m having fun with it even if I never fly it. I’ll get some pictures posted in the next couple of days and give you guys a look.

Thanks for pointing this rookie in the right direction.
Doug.