This is the longest planned mod of the build. I was going to add pilot side windows to my flying Long-EZ, VH-JZE some 12 years ago. When I first flew a Long-EZ I was very disappointed with the view despite it being said to be excellent.

I had come from an open frame Gyrocopter which is a totally unobstructed vision except for a tiny panel pod in front. You could even took up through the rotors. Before that I flew sailplanes, mainly an LS3a which has an amazing area of view. After over 1000 hours in my Long-EZ I still can’t see what I am flying directly over without banking the plane. It turns out no matter how many hours you have , the field of view is the same as the first flight. At night I found I wanted to use GPS to ensure I was over an airfield and then checking with high angles of bank.

Pilot Side windows are the solution.

As I eventually started this new build, December 2011, I have saved this modification for now but it was always planned from Day 1. Today I picked up the perspex window CNC cut to my specs. Woohoo!!

This is the maximum possible view area from inside the cockpit.

Here’s what it would look on the outside. Super ugly!

This shape for a window makes sense but Klaus Saviers fantastic Long-EZ has windows identical to this and I don’t want to be a copycat.

Yep, looks great to me but totally impractical as it compromises the view.

This shape is a bit clumsy but it works.  A consideration is that the throttle on the right and the control stick on the left are in the way so that I don’t really need the corners in a rectangle on the lower front. I don’t need them either on the lower rear or top rear. I can compromise a little for the top front if I make the window slightly bigger than I need. This means the useful view is similar to the rectangle view.

I eventually decided on a geometrically correct ellipse 200mm wide by 480mm long which is a lot nicer than the previous picture shape. This is an elegant design that works with the rest on the plane. I hope you agree. The lost corners aren’t really lost given the size of the window itself.

I just couldn’t get it working in my CAD software given I am less than a beginner. However two nails, a bit of string and a pencil also allow the drawing of an ellipse. When I had this on paper I just marked on it the dimensions I wanted and I then had a ‘drawing’ good enough to get the shape cut professionally.

Armed with my drawing and a pile of cash I eventually had the two windows cut out in 6mm thick acrylic. It is known as perspex commercially of course.

Paying for it to be cut was all about getting a 10mm lip cut down 3mm into the window. Yes I know its a plane build in inches and tenths of an inch. Given this is Australia, a decimal place, I gave my numbers to the window suppliers in millimeters. I will resume my imperial inches later if thats OK with you?

Today I’ve made a couple of manila templates 10mm less all around than the perspex. I’ll use these as my templates for cutting into the fuselage wall.