ANSWERS
Note that the aircraft bears no identifying marks associated with Canada, other than its colours.
This site is dedicated to Maple, a GlaStar which has demonstrated outstanding performance and reliability at every opportunity. For these and other delightful attributes, she is the 'Star of the show.
Maple at Sechelt-Gibsons Airport (CAP3), Sechelt, BC
Starting with my parents—both pilots—I've been flying since Nixon was a choirboy (figuratively speaking) with Canadian, Japanese, and US pilot's licenses. It's been a good run over many years, but alas, it's time for Maple to move on to her destiny, to a good home where I know she'll be well taken care of, as I have endeavoured to take care of her.
Maple and owner at Copalis Beach Airport (S16)
* Limited space in the wingtips requires a smaller LED housing, thus lowering LED-light output compared to the significantly greater output of larger LED lights.
* The range of angle of adjustment of LEDs enclosed in wingtips is severely limited—and severely inconvenient to adjust.
* Installation of LEDs on the wingtips is too far from the pilot's line-of-sight, requiring that the lights be turned somewhat inward toward the aircraft's centreline.
* Installing LED landing-lights into wingtips is irreversible, insofar as wingtips must be permanently modified.
Standard—if limited—LED light installation
* each provide 4900 lumens (76,194 candela) in a 12oz (340g) case, consuming just 2.9A / 40W per unit
* are easily adjustable, with an wide range of angles and optional interchangeable lenses
* are significantly closer to the pilot's line of sight
* can be removed in minutes if necessary, with virtually no visible trace of having previously been installed, including no holes left behind
* enjoy a limited lifetime warranty (Baja Designs, n.d.)
As a bonus, the housing for each landing light accommodates a GoPro ball-head camera mount.
The system includes a wig-wag function, and the ability to independently control each of the LED lights: Off - Steady On - Pulse On.
For details about this system, see documents and LED landing lights. See photos below.
Yes, this aircraft can have its wings folded. The Wing Brace Kit is installed in Maple.
Overview
Although every GlaStar retains the ability to have its wings folded thanks to the way its wings are attached to the fuselage, some GlaStars are missing the Wing Brace Kit, which must be installed before the wing-fold function can be used.
Wing-fold procedure
The first step in folding a GlaStar’s wings is to remove the two fiberglass hatches above the baggage compartment. When the hatches have been removed, part of the wings have room to swing into the back of the cabin as the wings fold.
When you fold the wings on a GlaStar, the wingtips will lower, which puts the fuel tank vent outlets below the top of the fuel tanks (even more so on taildraggers). In this situation, fuel may flow out the fuel vents, creating an expensive puddle of flammable liquid under the airplane.
One answer to this problem is to plug the fuel tank vent outlet at the bottom of each wing, while being sure not to forget to remove the plugs prior to next flight. A better solution is to have only a small amount of avgas remaining in each tank. Installing a one-way Andair CK375-M check valve in each wingtip is not effective for this purpose, because fuel will still drip out of the fuel-tank vents, albeit at a reduced rate of flow.
With hatches removed and fuel vents plugged, one of the two long support struts (which are much longer than the other two struts) is connected to a permanently installed AN42B-C4A eyebolt located on the wing near the wing root. The other end of the support strut is then connected to a permanently installed strut lug where the base of the strut joins the fuselage.
This operation is repeated on the opposite side of the aircraft: one end of the remaining long support strut is attached to the eyebolt located on the other wing near the wing root, and the bottom end of the support strut is connected to the corresponding lug at the base of the wing strut.
These two support struts serve to relieve the load on the two forward spar pins in the cabin, thus enabling the spar pins to be removed. The support struts also hold each wing in proper alignment so that the spar and the wing attach clevis in the cage line up again when the wing is swung back into flight position. The support struts are adjustable at one end to accommodate minor dimensional variations on each side of the aircraft.
Following attachment of the support struts, the two short steel-tube struts are connected to eyebolts which have been permanently attached to the aft spar of the wings toward the wingtips. The eyebolts are located on the lower surface of the wings directly aft of the outermost inspection holes, close to the trailing edge of the wings.
The two short struts do not support a vertical load. Instead, they serve to hold the wings in their fully folded position close to the rudder, so they don't swing away and risk being damaged.
At this point, with the two long support struts attached at top and bottom, and short struts attached to the wings, one of the spar pins can be removed at the wing root inside the cabin. The wing is then free to swing back toward the tail; during this operation cable tension on flaps and ailerons will be relieved and their control surfaces will droop.
When the wing has been swung close to the vertical fin, the wing is secured to the tail by attaching the free end of the strut dangling from the eye bolt to another AN42B-C4A eyebolt permanently attached to the vertical fin. Once secured, the remaining wing can be swung and secured to the vertical fin with its strut.
Note that the action of swinging the wings backward moves the center of gravity aft. For GlaStars configured with tricycle landing gear, the tail of the aircraft will to move to the ground as the wing swings rearward if the tail is not supported.
Note also that with the two fiberglass hatches above the baggage compartment removed, the cabin is exposed to the elements.
wing folding - pilot side
It is important to check that the combination of control-run friction and flap air-load does not result in an excessively high flap deployment force being required.
The best operating practice is to slow the airplane down to the GlaStar’s Vfe—and avoid the problem entirely.
By the way, if you really feel the need for speed, for just $8,325* plus installation, you can install speed-brakes in the wings to slow down (Precise Flight, n.d.).
* as of Spring 2023
Speed-brakes from Precise Flight
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