This time we hear about what it’s like to build a kit plane and the difficulties that come with flying with friends to different air shows. We also learn how our storyteller started a business making airplane propellers. 

The 5 bladed prop above was made for a group who built a BD5 with a Mazda Rotary engine and needed a small diameter prop that could still give them the performance they needed.

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Above are some images that our storyteller had of his Sonerai. Unfortunately, he couldn’t track down that video of his first flight that his brother took.

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Ed Sterba

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Here is Ed’s propeller workshop in his hangar. This is where he puts on the leading edges and finishes the props with varnish or paint. He has a separate shop where he does most of  his cutting, gluing, and sanding for his prop production.

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This is Ed’s Piper Tomahawk, you can’t see it in the picture but the plane has a T-tail and was designed to directly compete with the Cessna 150. The Tomahawk has a bigger fuselage, low wing with highervisability, larger flaps, more fuel, etc.

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And there’s me in the plane, and you can see the top of the elevator behind me.

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