The Christley Delta Project

<!!body> <div align="center"><big><big><big><big><big><u><b>MY DELTA PROJECT<br> <a href="Delta/Pictures/Dyke_Pictures.html"><img src="Delta/Pictures/MyDeltaSmall.jpg" alt="My Delta hanging from the ceiling of my garage." width="422" height="279" align="top"> </a> <br> </b></u></big></big></big></big></big></div> <hr width="100%" size="2"> If you really want, you can read my <a href="ErnestChristleyResume.rtf">log</a>.<br> <br> The Delta aircraft gets its name from the engineering symbol for a difference or change, a triangle.  This is an interesting fact to me, since my decision to build a Dyke Delta JD-2 represents a radical change in my life.<br> <br> September 11, 2001 marks the date of the most horrific foreign attack ever to mar American soil.  In a single day, the American public went from feeling secure in their persons and property to feeling under siege. Many of us questioned our goals, our motives, and our priorities.  We go caught up in asking that most dangerous of questions.  Why?<br> <br> "Why?" is not a question that should be asked lightly;  all too often you find that you don't have an answer, leaving you with no direction.  Bin Laden forced the question on me and my countrymen.  A software engineer, I had spent years working and going to school, and in the trailing end of the "Internet Boom" I was making a shameful amount of money.  But now I had to ask, "Why?"  My childhood dream was to be an astronaut.  I must have been 7 or so when I first saw that cartoonish character in a picture book.  An astronaut tied to a triangular capsule by a wavy umbilical cord, floating above a miniature Earth.  I decided on the spot that a spaceman was what I wanted to be.  Somewhere along the way I lost the course.  I made it to the US Air Force Academy, but punched out after 9 months in a fit of stupidity.  After that the dream was hard to hold onto.  I grew up in a family of little means and almost as if by training saw flight, airplanes and everything to do with them, as only being available to the idle rich; a category that I felt far from fitting into even though I probably fell into the 80th percentile income bracket.<br> <br> After 9/11, I had a different perspective.  I deserved the privilege of flight as much as anyone.  I would look up at the planes arriving and departing KRDU with longing that even my wife, Dawn, noticed.  Then I read a comment on Slashdot, a high-tech discussion board populated by geeks and freaks.  One guy was saying that people built and flew their own planes.  And that it wasn't incredibly expensive.  Most important was the notion that anyone could do it.  And he provided a link to a website where people actually discussed building and flying their own aircraft.  I was immediately hooked.  I talked to my brother-in-law, a fellow enthusiast with limited funds and extensive obligations.  "We can do this together, and on the cheap," was my message.  His response was basically, "I will go (as far as I can), though I do not know the way.  And probably not right now."  Hearing him say what I had told myself so many times hardened my resolve.  I decided not to wait until he was ready;  although, I plan to greet him at the finish line.<br> <br> I bought a copy of Aerocrafter, a publication of the EAA that list just about every homebuilt aircraft that one can buy the plans or a kit for.  I had a family of four, Dawn, son Robert (10yrs) and son Lee(7yrs) plus myself, so the plane had to be a carry four.  To sell this scheme to Dawn, the plane had to actually get us somewhere faster than a car, so I wanted a 200mph cruise speed.  I didn't have a huge bank roll to make a lump sum payment, and a loan was out of the question.  I figured on the project taking years, and I didn't want to gamble on a kit maker to stay in business while I worked my way through hard times.  The plane had to be plans built.  Finally, I wanted an airplane that was very unusual.  I want to be recognized and questioned about my creation when I fly into airports.  Out of the hundreds and hundreds of plans and kits, there was exactly one that met my criteria, the Dyke Delta JD-2.  <br> <br> I immediately fell in love with the plane, but my decision was not yet made.  First, I had to confirm that it was a safe and reliable aircraft.  I had to find out what others had to say.  I visited the Delta Builder's Network's website, and ordered the complete set of backissues of the group's newsletter.  After reading all five years worth of  newletters, my decision was made.  I would build a Delta.  My life was changed.<br> <br> In February of 2002, I sent John Dyke $200 for a set of plans, and Aircraft Spruce $1200 for a load of steel tubing.  The plans arrived, and my reaction to them was, "How can I possibly do this?"  The links below document how I have progressed so far.<br> <br> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="100%"> <tbody> <tr> <td valign="top"> <div align="center"><a href="Delta/Dyke_Engine.html"><img src="Delta/Pictures/PSRUSmall.jpg" alt="Engine Information" width="100" height="80"> <br> <i>Engine Information</i></a></div> </td> <td valign="top" align="center"><a href="Delta/Dyke_Frame.html"><img src="Delta/Pictures/FrameSmall.jpg" alt="Fuselage Construction" width="100" height="75"> <br> <i>Frame Information</i></a> </td> <td valign="top" align="center"><a href="Delta/Dyke_Cockpit.html"><img src="Delta/CockpitSmall.jpg" alt="Cockpit Details" width="100" height="75"> <br> <i>Cockpit Design</i></a><br> <br> <br> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="center"><a href="Delta/Dyke_Gear.html"><img src="Delta/Pictures/GearSmall.jpg" alt="Landing Gear Details" width="100" height="75"> <br> <i>Landing Gear</i></a> <br> </td> <td valign="top"> <div align="center"><a href="Delta/Dyke_Controls.html"><img src="Delta/Pictures/ControlsSmall.jpg" alt="Controls Details" width="101" height="74"> </a><br> </div> <div align="center"><a href="Delta/Dyke_Controls.html">Controls</a> <br> </div> </td> <td valign="top"> <div align="center"> <div align="center"><a href="Delta/Paperwork/Building_of_my_Dyke_Delta.html"><img src="Delta/Pictures/LogSmall.jpg" alt="Builder's Log" width="100" height="75"> <br> <i>Builder's Log</i></a><br> </div>   <br> </div> <br> <br> <br> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <br> <!!/body>