Ahhh … summertime means warm days and great flying opportunities. Oh, yeah, and it means OSHKOSH!

Gateway to "Businessliner-land"

This year, we had a true gaggle of 190/195s at OSH. Cliff Crabbs, president of The Eastern 190/195 Association, and John Barron of Barron Aviation coordinated a type-club parking and camping area for us. At peak, there were 37 beautiful Businessliners parked together in five rows (from 79-83) just west of the taxiway to rwy 36L. There were an additional 5-6 planes scattered through the Vintage Camping and Vintage Parking area, making this a real 190/195 Oshkosh! There was at least one Airmaster (on amphib floats) in attendance this year, too.

Look at all the beautiful Businessliners!

Look at this lineup! And it's only two of the five rows.

When I arrived on Sunday morning before the show, there was already three early bird 195s and a 190 parked in our camping area. Throughout the week, the inventory of planes changed as people would leave to return to their workaday worlds only to be replaced by other owners and their Businessliners.

The weather was nearly perfect! It was just right during the days (70s - 80s) and brisk enough at night to make us feel that bringing along the sleeping bags wasn't for naught. A little rain (one day, one night and part of the following morning) and some breezy days added variety. After all, it's Oshkosh! The breezes and cool temperatures kept the state bird of Wisconsin (mosquito) in check for the most part.

"Margaritaville Night" sponsored by Radial Engines, Ltd.

Lots of sunny airshow demos and evening hangar flying around the campsites made for a great time for all. And the Wednesday evening Margaritaville party at Aubie Pearman's airplane was a delight. We all got to see the first-ever 195 to be equipped with Radial Engines, Ltd's new fuel-injection system (more details below). I'm not sure if the injected Jake was more popular than the gasoline-powered Margarita blender or not, though.

Steve Curry, Proud Papa of Fuel Injection for our 195s (view sign)

A comment often heard during the week was, "How gorgeous these planes have become!" It's true. The crop of 190/195s at Oshkosh this year was even prettier than last year. Owners are lavishing TLC and improvements on their planes at an unprecedented rate.

Another oft-heard phrase is, "these 195s are the next Staggerwings." Well, I think they're already as classy and just as much fun to fly and to be seen in. Of course, that's just my opinion. You might feel differently?

Cessna Aircraft Company gave us a great foundation to work from, but it's the owners and specialty manufacturers / overhaulers that create all the buzz around the Businessliners. After all, these beautiful works of art retain all their nostalgic charm and attraction while providing true utility and comfortable transportation. These airplanes aren't destined to be hangar queens, and many of us fly them regularly and even in IFR conditions. How many other vintage planes can make that claim?

I describe mine as "about halfway between a 182 and a 206 in performance, but it always get preferred parking!"


Technical News:

Saturday evening marked the 195 forum, hosted by Al Seniw and Cliff Crabbs of the Eastern 190/195 Association. There was a wealth of news and products for our birds. Here are some of the highlights:

Pete Jones of Air Repair, Inc. airrepairinc.com

As the Type Certificate owner for the Jacobs R755 family, Pete's team has just completed a 150 hour endurance / certification run and has received approval for a myriad of improvements to our engines. The items he discussed included -

Pete described some of these as being truly new items, while many of these are merely certification of procedures / products that many were using under field approval, etc. This certifies them and removes any question as to their airworthiness. He can be contacted at the above website for more details.

Cliff Crabbs, President of the Eastern190/195 Association

The Eastern 190/195 Association has paperwork for a field approval (and The 195 Factory, LLC has a STC) for an alternate tail wheel, tire and tube for the 190/195s. The kit is available from The 195 Factory LLC and costs about $400, including tire, tube and paperwork. Replacement tires are only about $19 and replacement tubes are about $9 according to Cliff. Replacement "stock" tires are about $150 and the tubes nearly the same, so the payback is pretty quick. Also, Cliff maintains that the relatively square-shouldered STC tire has less tendency to shimmy than does the standard smooth contour (SC) tire.

The pending AD for the inboard aileron hinges has language that appears to exempt any approved non-magnesium hinges. So, those who have bought or will buy Barron's STC'd hinges should be ok as are those few who have Cessna's factory non-magnesium parts (they are cast with "Alcoa" on the sides of them). There is a potential for conflict in the wording of the proposed AD as it refers to installation in accordance with Cessna's bulletin (which doesn't specifically cite Barron's hinges), so several groups and companies are communicating with the FAA in an effort to get clarification. Incidentally, the p/n listed in the NPRM is incorrect according to Cliff.

The missionary group, JAARS, reportedly has quite a number of spare parts on hand for the Goodyear crosswind wheels. I'm not certain how to contact them.

After polling attendees, Cliff is going to investigate having the forum earlier in the week next year (maybe Wednesday?), in addition to having the dinner on Thursday night..

The Eastern Club will also have a forum and dinner at next year's Sun 'n Fun.

Mike Barron of Barron Barron Aviation, LLC barronaviation.com

There was a fair amount of conversation regarding the pending AD for the aileron brackets. Mike reiterated that their brackets are an approved method of compliance. It was reassuring to hear that they're made of 2024-T851 aluminum alloy and are 350% of the strength of the originals!

Barron has completed tooling for and can manufacture new aluminum wheel pants, the lower engine cowling skins and the air intake skins. These can be provided as owner-produced parts under the F.A.R.s.

They have STC'd the intake tube drains for #4 and #5 cylinders, improving the engine's resistance to hydraulic lock.

They are working on an Electronics, International / Mitchell hybrid to replace the stock fuel gages and fuel quantity transmitters.

Barron can manufacture custom instrument panels using CAD/CAM and a water jet cutter; all popular instruments' footprints are contained in their existing database.

In addition to the previous catalog of replacement parts and technical Q&A, their website now offers gifts for the 190/195 enthusiast.

Bill Milton, The 195 Factory, LLC service@the195factory.com

In addition to continuing the production of the approved airframe parts formerly manufactured by Ray's Aircraft Service, The 195 Factory can manufacture many airframe parts as owner-produced items, helping to keep our planes healthy and flying.

In the STC arena, Bill highlighted his locking tailwheel kit, the alternative tailwheel and tire described above in the Cliff Crabbs segment, the 195 clean kit and the flush fuel caps.

Bill is working on a 50.5 gallon long-range fuel tank to replace the standard ones. He's also asking owners to help him prioritize future products. A considerable amount of discussion centered around a replacement for the corrosion-prone aluminum-bodied gascolator with the steel plug and for an alternative to the no-longer-available cockpit fuel control valve.

Last but not certainly not least, Bill will be hosting our International Cessna 195 Club fly-in in 2005 in upstate New York (near Albany). This should be a wonderful experience with new sights for many of us to see and exciting places to visit! Just up the road a bit is the Adirondack range, and more early American history than I would have guessed.

Steve Curry of Radial Engines, Ltd. radialengines.com

The biggest news is that the long-awaited fuel injection STC for the R755A2 (300 HP) and R755B2 (275 HP) is here at last! It uses a Bendix RSA series fuel servo with adapter plates that have the same form factor as our existing Bendix NA-R7A carburetors. This means no modification to the engine cowling! The Bendix flow divider feeds each cylinder via GAMI fuel injection nozzles (GAMIjectors) to perfectly equalize fuel flow to each cylinder.

Claimed advantages include smoother running, reduced carbon and lead deposits (leading to lower cylinder maintenance) and dramatically reduced fuel consumption due to the ability to better control the leaning of the engine. And, of course, it's impossible to have carburetor icing, since you no longer have a carburetor.

Installation on a 195 is very clean; special care was taken to keep it simple. The only additions to the airframe are an auxiliary boost electric fuel pump and the requirement for a fuel flow gage (minimally the JPI FS-450) or graphic engine monitor (the JPI 700 series). The fuel pressure gage will also have to be changed out since the system operates at a higher pressure than the carbureted version, although the stock engine-driven Pesco fuel pump is certified for and adjustable to the higher pressure.

The engine STC was granted just two weeks before Oshkosh, and Aubie Pearman's Cessna 195 is currently sporting a fuel injected R755A2 and flying in the "experimental" category, with airframe STC grant expected before the end of August. There is minimal testing to be done, mostly to demonstrate that vapor lock will not be an issue.

Aubie reports much smoother running and very easy starts, hot or cold. He flew it from Tupelo, MS to Fond du Lac, WI on Wednesday, using 23" and 2,000 rpm. His fuel burn at this power setting, as detailed by the JPI graphic engine monitor, was only about 13.5 gph. Wow!

Aubie and the Curry's are analyzing the stream of data from the JPI and will doubtless have graphs available on the Radial Engines website soon.

Steve Curry says that the complete Cessna 195 system (for either -A2 or -B2 engines) is $10,800 plus installation. They can be installed by Radial Engines, Ltd., Waco Classic Aircraft in Battle Creek, MI, Tupelo Aero or Butterfly Aviation.

Steve also discussed other products and enhancements for our planes' engines, including hardened exhaust valve seats, improved oil control rings and better oil seals for the Jakes, and an improved carburetor (Bendix NA-R6G) to improve acceleration flat spots and the installation of shielded ignition harnesses for the Continentals.

Wrapup

There were many members in attendance, and (hopefully) many members-to-be. Interestingly, attendees are split roughly evenly between west and east of the Mississippi. Here are the names I caught of those lurking in the vicinity (I'm sure I missed some and apologize in advance!):

So, if you missed Oshkosh, you missed a really fun and informative get-together. Our planes are getting better and better each year, and newcomers and old-timers alike have much in common and a lot to learn from each other. The wonderful individuals and companies that provide parts and service for our Businessliners grow each year and provided greater support to the fleet.

Hope you can make it next year … this year, the Businessliners were a presence and all of us who were there were proud to be part of it! Let's see if we can double the number of parking rows we need in 2005. All it takes is for each person who was there in 2004 to bring along one additional plane! In the meanwhile, we'll be looking for you at Midland and at next year's Sun 'n Fun! I'll bet that both will be gala events!

Respectfully submitted by Coyle Schwab,
responsible for the care & feeding of N3457V
For the past 18 years