Seven Months and 150 Hours Later

I've had so much fun flying that I haven't kept up with this blog. I've now got over 150 hours and I'm having a blast. This airplane is much more than I ever thought it was going to be. Sport plane is the closest I can come to describing it. It's fast and has long legs. It's aerobatic and just really fun to fly. It can land and takeoff on short fields. Just a great all around performer. Although we've taken many trips, I'll highlight only a few below.

Austin and I flew to Airventure (Oshkosh) in July. It was a trip of a lifetime. We tent camped next to the airplane with 1000's of new friends. Here's our campsite, landing on the "Purple Dot" and a panorama of the homebuilt camping area.

Here's my dad on his birthday (June 19th) flight. We went to Brenham for lunch at the 50's themed diner right on the airport.

Shelby and I flew to Lost Maples State Park to look for changing leaves. There weren't many but we enjoyed the flight.

I've had many more enjoyable flights and trips with family and friends. I'll try to include some of them when I can but no promises as this plane is too much fun to stop.

Phase II and Free

I've finished Phase I and I'm now free to fly about the country. No problems with just some fine tuning of EFIS settings and such. Paula was my first passenger and our first trip was to South Padre Island. We left in the morning and flew into Brownsville and used the FBO crew car to drive to the beach for lunch and a nice swim. We made it home just as the sun was setting.

Phase I

Here's my second flight. After the first flight, I removed the cowl and spent a full day checking everything over closely. No problems found so it's on to my solo flight test schedule of 40 total hours for Phase I.

First Flight!

Success! First flight with no problems. A 40 minute flight and as promised, it was on a Thursday. I had my friend, Ron VanBeek and my brother-in-law, Stephen there to help. I didn't tell Paula until I returned. She was surprised but happy I didn't tell her before the flight. Thirty nine hours left to complete Phase I.

Ready To Fly

All ready to fly, just waiting and waiting and waiting for good weather.

After The Inspection

Austin came down Sunday and spent the day helping me put the airplane back together after the inspection. There are a whole bunch of panels on every airplane that get removed for regular inspections. We almost finished but got tired about 5:30 and went to have dip cones. I'll finish up early this week and hopefully have the first flight very soon. Maybe Thursday, Shelby :).

It's An Airplane!

It's officially an airplane! I got my airworthiness inspection done on Saturday morning. The inspector was DAR Tim Martinez of San Antonio. There were no problems and he said it was the best homebuild he had inspected and that the quality of riveting was better than the factory airplanes he had inspected. I showed Paula the pink slip (airworthiness inspection) and she said it's peach, not pink.

Fuel Testing

Part of preparing for the first flight is making sure the fuel tanks and fuel lines are clear of any construction crud. While flushing the tanks and lines I calibrated the fuel gauges which required adding two gallons at a time to tell the computers how to accurately measure the fuel. I also checked the flow rate of the electric backup fuel pump. Here's one of the filters I used. I have a big stack of them and change them often.

Here's my temporary fuel shutoff valve that I used to fill the gas can for transfer and calibration. Not in the picture is my grounding wire to prevent static issues.

Engine Start

Ready for my first engine start. Well, actually, it's not the first. I started it last week but the timing was off which made it run rough. With some help from Gafford Aero, I corrected the minor timing problem and now it runs like a sewing machine. No leaks or runs and the only problem is an incorrect oil pressure sensor. Dynon is sending me the correct one so I'm using an external gauge for the oil pressure until it gets here.

Video of the engine start. The prop looks like spaghetti because of the video frame rate of an iphone matches the rpm or something technical like that. Don't worry, it's not melting.

Wing Jack

I built a wing jack so I could service the tires and brakes easier. Works great and I used it today to while working on the brakes. The hydraulic ram is from Harbor Freight and the legs are electrical conduit.

Final Assembly And Wing Walk

I haven't taken many pictures of the final assembly but I have gotten a bunch done since my last post. Most of the things left to finish are cosmetic. I also filled the engine with oil last night in preparation of the weight and balance weigh-in and the first engine start. This is a picture of the wing root fairing and the wing walk non-skid I recently installed.

Wings Are Mounted

My brother-in-law Stephen came to the hanger today and helped me mount the wings. It only took us an hour and a half for both wings after I finished removing the floor pans. Thanks US!

Move To Airport

We made the big move to the airport this weekend. Everything went just perfect except Austin's iphone got smashed by the step on the airplane when we were loading it onto the trailer. Here's a picture of the crew. Austin, Me, Dan, Guy, our helper Johnny in the front and Paula behind the camera. I definitely couldn't have done it without them!

Here's the ramp.

Here's how we secured it to the trailer.

The truck and trailer that Stephen and David loaned me. They were heavy duty enough to haul a tank so a little airplane was easy. Got lots of honks and waves.

Carefully unloading at the hanger. Jack's Tweetie Bird is waiting.

Shelby and Dave popping the Champagne. They surprised me at the hanger along with with Uncle Steve.

Tucked in the hanger.

Celebratory lunch at Wing Stop to feed my hungry helpers.

Panel Labels Done

The panel is starting to look finished. There are a few small things left to clean up but I'm mostly done.

Shelby's Birthday Present

Shelby came home on Saturday to help organize in the garage as a part of my birthday present. She also brought some St. Arnold's Root Beer - Yum! You can see some of the bins on the lower shelves that she brought and we organized. I've needed to sort the "junk" in my parts bucket for years. She also helped place the permanent N number we applied to the tail. Thanks Shelbs!

Empennage Fairing

I'm working on the empennage fairing. Next time, I won't go to the trouble of making a one piece fairing. Too much work for not much in return. It fits well so I just need to prime and sand before painting.

Brakes And Brake Lines

Austin was home for my birthday party and helped me repack the main wheel bearings and drill the axle shaft holes for the big cotter keys. I also fabricated and installed the brake lines between the fuselage and calipers. The green cushion (made from a pool noodle) is to keep me from bending the wheel pant bracket by catching my foot on it.

Fifth Point Harness Installed

I installed the fifth point harness (also known as the crotch strap) last night. The hard part was taking out the trim and floorboards.

Here's the anchor connection. The Crow tab or tang is too long so you drill a hole above the existing one and everything fits fine.

Seat Belts and Interior Trim

I'm getting the interior fit and finished. Here are the Crow seat belts installed on the passenger side. I still need to fit the 5th point belt (crotch strap) but I tried them out last night while I was updating software and they're very comfortable.

Here are some of the baggage compartment panels and you can see where the shoulder harness anchors come through.

Here you can see the front cockpit and some of the side panels and carpet. Very comfy.

First Labels

Here are my first labels on the fuel selector plate. I'm happy with the way they turned out so now it's on to the panel in the airplane.

Laminator

Here's the heavy duty laminator I got for Christmas from my Dad. It's an Apache AL18P as specified by the Decal Pro folks. The Decal Pro instructions have you make a few adjustments to the laminator which I've done so now it's on to practicing making labels.

Started Panel Labels

I taped paper copies of the panel and switch labels to the panel to check for fit. Once I get everything the way I want it, I'll create them in the dry transfer kit I got for Christmas from my Dad.

Here's my proof sheet for labels. I might change a few items but this is close. The round ones will go on the face of the knobs. Everything below was created with Google Docs free online drawing program. The only graphic I imported was the USB symbol. Here's a link to the file: Panel Labels 2

Cowl Heat Barrier

Installed the cowl heat barrier. The exhaust is close to several spots on the lower cowl and this reflective material keeps it a little cooler.

Finished Filtered Air Box

I finished the filtered air box (FAB) and all the connections. This shows the cable connections for carb heat.

Here's a bottom view showing the alternate air door. This should be the last major firewall forward or engine related work. I'll still need to go over everything to make sure it's secured and torqued and safety wired as needed.

Alternate Air Door

This is the alternate air door. It's the almost round thing on the bottom of the air box with two screws. If anything clogs the normal intake or filter, you pull the knob in the cockpit that opens the door to let air in through the bottom bypassing the filter. I've finished almost all the construction of the air box and intake. I just need to do the final installation connecting cables and making it pretty by sanding and painting the front and inside of the snorkel.

Carburetor Heat

This is the intake for carburetor heat on the air box. The lever that sticks up in the upper right of the photo will connect to a cable in the cockpit for activating it. Only riveting left to finish it.