2015 McMinnville KR Gathering


2015 McMinnville KR Gathering


The 2015 KR Gathering was hosted by Dan Pritchard, with lots of help from John Bouyea, September 2015, in McMinnville Oregon.


When I arrived, I followed this KR down the road for the last few hundred yards, and figured somebody was bringing a project for sale. It turned out to be Dan Pritchard's plane, and he'd brought it for Show and Tell. The first thing I noticed was the wide gear stance, and the innovative "aircraft carrier deck" that he built to haul it on the trailer.


He had a lot of help getting the plane off the trailer, but he probably put it up there by himself with the winch.


One of the many innovations on his plane was a spoiler, and the location was not coincidental...if you want to kill lift, there's no better place to start than where the flaps are! Note the guide plate on the end that makes it deploy like a Fowler flap. The white pushrod forces the spoiler up. Oncoming air forces it down.


This is Joe Beyer's plane. More innovations with this one, including the minimal wheel pants on the main gear, not to mention the main gear itself.


Joe changed his plane from a taildragger to a trigear without molesting the gear mounts or the main spar. The original gear legs were re-purposed and angled back and hinged, with an added rubber bumper for shock absorption.


This is Dan's plane again...a single seater with the pilot in the center.


These pedals look like they came out of a classic of some kind, and don't look nearly as heavy as the cast aluminum "KR" pedals that RR sold.


The nose gear is definitely different, and I believe he said it was made from a piece of leftover Grumman gear.


Seatbelt anchors, and DIY seatbelts.


Kim Neibauer's newly minted KR2S. He barely had his 40 hours on it, and flew it in with Roger Bulla from Colorado.


This viewport for the wing attach fittings is on another of the KRs...I think these were on Kim's KR.


Kim and Paul Visk.


Kim's interior.


Jeff Scott's very cool plane, with new LED landing light and carbon fiber spinner. I took a lot of pictures of both Kim's and Jeff's plane, but managed to screw them all up by accidently changing the camera setting, washing them out to the point of useless. Sorry about that. I have plenty of Jeff's plane from previous Gatherings, but Kim's will have to wait until the next Gathering, unless somebody sends me a few of theirs (and Jeff did send the nice one of Kim's a few photos above).


Jeff's interior is quite nice.



The ADS-B is in the middle of the photo.


Mike Stirewalt's plane never made it to the hangar, so this is the best I could do.


Roger Bulla's very nice KR2. It was recently finished up as well.


Rear view of Roger's plane, with a very nice paint job. Jeff and Forrest are giving it a good looking over.


Here's another view of Joe's main gear with hinge point and rubber bumper.


Dan is using this LiFe Po battery, and it weighs almost nothing. Although it's smaller than my 10 pound Odyssey 680 AGM battery, it has the same 360 CCA and weighs 2.1 pounds! It felt like an empty case.


Back to Dan's plane, here's the iPad in place, as the "glass cockpit".


Pete Klapp, Jeff Scott, and Roger Bulla discuss the Corvair engine up front.


Here's the belly board on Dan Pritchard's plane, as well as the flap and spoiler. This will be the first KR to incorporate all three features, as far as I know.


One of the forums was put on by Jeff Scott...this one on weight and balance.


Pete Gautier is getting ready for his second flight.


Looks like a familiar gear leg extension.



Joe Beyer is preparing to install his wings. He recently moved to MMV, and took the opportunity to get his plane airworthy again, while help and interest was available.


Side conversations got answers for people that needed info, from those who've been there already.


Jeff Bertuleit from Props Inc. gave a great presentation on propellers, and enjoyed the Gathering so much he hung around long enough for two dinners with us. He's a pretty good conversationalist over a few beers too! We also had a very good lesson on ADSB from Dynon's Kirk Kleinholz, who shed a lot of light on what the rules are, what they imply, and how to see if your installation is in compliance. This isn't just a paperwork exercise, it's a real-world test done automatically using your equipment and the FAA's equipment receiving it.


These are Joe Beyer's wing attach fitting bolts. They are tapered pins to assure a tight fit...no friction required.


John Bouyea got a free Dynavibe engine/prop balancing from Mike Stirewalt, the phantom Gathering pilot.


Joe Beyer, John Bouyea, and Mike Stirewalt


This is the optical pickup for the Dynavibe system, and the vibration transducer. The optical sensor (yellow) reads from a reflective sticker on the back of the spinner or prop, which serves as a reference when the Dynavibe tells you where to add weight to balance the engine/prop system.


Roger Bulla pulls his plane out for the photo shoot.


John Bouyea and his KR2, during the flight briefing for the air-to-air photo shoot, which he organized.


Roger Bulla with Kim Neibauer trailing.


Kim Neibauer


Jeff Scott


John Bouyea's new KR2. It'll look a lot slicker when it finds its wheel pants.


John's interior. I like the lack of a right seat (or perhaps removable aspect)...it creates a lot of space to carry things.


John's engine







Canopy latch



Roger's KR2


Vasile Handolescu and his cousin.



Kim's engine


This is the interesting end...looks like a giant generator back there.



Roger's plane again.


This is some pretty clean baffle work.



Here's one way to tie the cool tin to the bottom of the cyinders.





Somebody tell me what kind of carb this is, and what's that plate underneath with the tube running out of it?


The rounded firewall bottom is an effort to return engine cooling air with minimal disturbance.



Roger's panel. It's very clean, along with the rest of the plane.




Joe Beyer's KR2. I believe it's a single-port 1835cc engine.




Dan's Corvair engine, with Dan Weseman's "better than air" front bearing installed.






Dan officiated over the Banquet.


Kim Neibauer won Best Paint, Best Interior and Panel, and Best Judged. Kim's plane is newly minted, so he definitely had an advantage, and kudos for him for flying out from Colorado with so few hours under his belt. Roger Bulla's plane was a close third in many respects, but maybe next time.


Jeff Scott won Best Firewall Forward and Greatest Distance Flown, as well as the coveted People's Choice award.



Larry Flesner read some of his great poems as part of the program. Good stuff, as usual.


Here's the whole bunch (with only Mike Stirewalt and Jim Moorehead missing, I think). This is a long picture, so scroll to the right to see them all. Left to right is Mark Langford, Dan Heath, Dennis Dyer, Hugh Cooper, Al Hawkins, Jack Dougherty, Jeff Scott, Jerry Pryce, Vasile's cousin, Dave Mullins, Vasile Handolescu, Kim Neibauer, Roger Bulla, Mike Simmons, Roger Baalman, Joe Davis, Paul Visk, Chuck Gautier, Ray Fuenzalida, Allan Fink, Pete Klapp, [I can't place the next two], Forrest Seale, Pete Gautier, Chuck and Robin Stiles, Jim McGauhey, John Bouyea, Rodger Nicolls, the next one escapes me, Dan Pritchard, Larry Flesner. Please let me know if you can help me fill in the three blanks or otherwise get these names right. It's always good to put a face with a name. Thanks to Julie Flesner for taking this photo for us.

Many thanks to Dan Pritchard and John Bouyea for pulling off another great KR Gathering. It was a good opportunity to meet the Northwest contingent of KR builders and their KRs, and for some of us, to see that wonderful part of the country for the first time.

One order of business was to vote on the location of the next Gathering, and it was suggested and agreed that given the small percentage of the "KR Community" that was present to vote, that the location should be voted on by the noline community instead. After all, that's where the majority of KR folks are these days, on the KRnet email list. The exact location is still up for debate, MVN is always an option, and Larry Flesner and Chris Collins are "all in" for that option, but all other viable options may be brought forward on KRnet for discussion.

There was also discussion of establishing an organization devoted to furthering the KR cause, and a loosely grouped committee was later assembled to discuss both the Gathering location and the potential of organization. The Gathering location is awaiting further host volunteers (until the end of October), and the organization is still a matter of discussion that is ongoing.


Here's the scene across the street from the airport...a giant vineyard.


The vineyard is in front of the Evergreen Aviation Museum. Yes, this is a 747 on display on the roof! This is one of the smaller buildings!


Directly across the road from the MMV airport is the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum, home of the Spruce Goose and a whole bunch of other cool airplanes. Admission is free for EAA members (show your EAA card) so we made two different trips over there, and still only managed to see half of it. This should give you an idea of the scale of this thing, which really is made of spruce.


Here's a cutaway of the giant radial engine, one of eight.



Being from Huntsville, I'd call this a V-1, except for the USAF markings.





Yep, it really is spruce. This is a detail cutaway at the lower doorway. I suspect it's where the door hinges were, which have now been removed, along with the door. Notice the curved "angle" reinforcements...which are likely steam-formed aircraft plywood. Now that's an idea!


Here's the "business" end of the plane. Thanks to Larry Flesner for paying our way up here. The deal is four folks for $25, a pretty good deal!


The regular tour is simply a 12 x 12 area just inside the lower port side door, with a view that includes a look up towards the tail of the plane. This comes with admission, and even that shows how huge this thing is.


Although I work right next to the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, I've never seen a Mars rover up close before, until now.


And I've seen plenty of Gemini and Apollo capsules before, but not quite like this...



I took this picture as an example of an airplane that attaches the wings with pure shear, rather than relying on friction. The airplane has foldable wings for aircraft carrier operations.

Joe Beyer, John Bouyea, and Mike Stirewalt.


Larry Flesner is enjoying tales of flying in the SR71 from a guy that's been there, done that.


This box is the memory for the navigation system. I believe he said it was good for 256k!

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