Drilling rear wing spars

All 4 rear wing spars have been drilled using spar drilling jigs.  Through the kind assistance of John Robert,his CNC data for the main and rear spars was used by Johnathon Pritchard to fabricate steel water-jet-cut drilling jigs for the spars that precisely place every rivet and attach bolt hole in the spar webs and spar caps.  The combination of the jigs and the separate spar components (along with some judicious use of clamps and spacers) in a kind of sandwich permits you to drill all of the holes in the assembly with a high degree of accuracy;  John Roberts reports an exact matching fit between his jig-drilled spars and his CNC-cut fittings.  Even though I plan to use hand-fabricated fittings, I still see the use of spar jigs as a time-saver and better guarantor of accuracy.  Once I am done drilling my spars, these drilling jigs will be available for other Midwest-area Skyotë builders to borrow and use; I will make them available at no cost to the borrower except for shipping and return.

Matchdrilling tooling holes to spar web with drilling jigs

Using drilling jigs to mark spar taper at wingwip

Spar web placed over lower drilling jig using pins thru tooling holes

Spacers inserted at tooling pins (will space spar caps apart later)

Closeup of spar cap spacer

Upper drill jig plate (sandwiching spar caps) installed & fixed with clecoes

Clamps and spacers used to ensure correct spar height dimension

End view of spar "sandwich" and clamps

Clamping and drilling along the length of the spar

Top view showing correct spar height dimension

Fuselage Weldment Acquired

In my original plans for building my Skyotë, my intent was to scratch build the entire aircraft myself.  I had even planned to form my own aluminum ribs.  As life”issues” arose and pushed back the start of my work on the project I began to revise my building plan.  I bought hydroformed ribs from Pete Bartoe, had Murphy Aircraft in Canada shear my spar webs to size and press brake my spar caps, got in on a group buy of flying wires through Harvey Swack, and bought a set of waterjet cut spar drilling jigs from Johnathon Pritchard with John Roberts’ help.  (Incidently, these spar drilling jogs will be available for use by any Midwest-area Skyotë builders for the costs of shipping to your project location and return.)  I then ran into some good fortune while attending the Midwest Antique Aircraft Assn (MAAC) Grassroots Fly-in at Brodhead, WI in Sept 2008.

I was admiring a very nice Cessna 170A (OSH 2006 Classic Bronze Lindy award-winner) and noted the owner’s/restorer’s name was Mark Zilinsky.  I recalled a very nice SE-5a replica that had been featured on the cover of Sport Aviation about 20 years prior that had been built by someone named Zilinsky, and I wondered if these two Zilinsky’s were one and the same, so I hung around the airplane to meet the owner.  When I met Mark, I found he was the son of Bob Zilinsky, who had built the SE-5a that was featured in the January 1982 issue of Sport Aviation.  We got to talking about airplane projects, the Skyotë came up, and Mark mentioned that he had started work on a Skyotë about 20 years ago.  However he had gotten distracted by other projects after welding up the fuselage, so the Skyotë frame had been hanging in the hangar rafters for about two decades, and he was looking to sell it.  Since he lived relatively nearby, I made arrangements to visit and photograph the fuselage, with the intent of posting pictures of it on the Skyotë website and YahooGroup for anyone who might be interested in buying it.

When I got around to visiting Mark in Nov 2008, saw the outstanding welding that he had done, the virtually new condition of the tubing (very well preserved over the 20 years), the included landing gear and vertical tail surfaces, and heard the price he was asking, I knew it was time to act.  I drove back the next day with a check and hauled the lot home to my shop.  In one fell swoop, I had taken a huge leap forward in the progress on my project (and totally violated my original concept of scratch-building everything myself). I rationalized that as a novice welder it would have taken my welding the entire project to maybe (?) having gotten as skilled at welding as was evidenced in Mark’s work.  So, that is how I have a fuselage as you see it here.

Mark Zilinsky helping to load the Skyotë fuselage in my truck.

Skyote Fuselage in Mark's hangar

Closeup of the weld quality

Flying Wires

These are the flying wires I purchased as part of a group buy by the Skyotë Type Club.  We ordered around five sets of wires and got about $1000 savings each over the price for a single set.  We ordered them through Harvey Swack of Great Lakes Aircraft (although I think they all ultimately get ordered through Steen Aero Lab, which the U.S. dealer for Brunton’s of Scotland, the only company in the world that still manufactures aircraft flying wires.)

The flying wire set for Skyotë

Center section flying wires

The Beginning

All projects have a beginning, and this is it for Skyotë Serial #73.  In this case, I have started with the workbench.  Actually I have two identical workbenches that are intended to be joined to make one large table for wing assembly. By the way, those are flying wires in the tube, and one of the preformed ribs available from Pete Bartoe on the table.

Half of the work tables

Preformed ribs from Skyotë Aeromotive