Well, let me weigh in on that one. EAA had a competition some years ago for
a "safety related" design. I submitted a low-fuel ("bingo") light that
would come on when you had half an hour of fuel remaining in the tanks.
Another colleague of mine submitted a particularly clever electronic angle
of attack indicator that could be made for peanuts. There were several
other entries, most of them pretty good stuff.

The prize was a brand new Lycoming O-235. My intention, if I won, was to
auction the engine off and donate 50% of the proceeds to the Voyager
project, then in the final stages of testing.

Well, wouldn't you know it? The EAA inexplicably "extended" the deadline
for filing, and lo and behold, one of the EAA directors submitted a book
during the extension. The book was, by any reasonable standard, a
hodge-podge of "how to fly safely" tips that would probably, in any college
classroom, be examined closely for plagiarism.

Would you care to guess who won, and who just happened to need an O-235 for
his current project?

Jim



How about the EAA offer a competition for a
plans built 2 place airplane to suit the catagory? They've done
similar things in the past.