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.

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.

Homemade Tow Bar

Here's my homemade tow bar. I used it to move the airplane over to let Paula park in the garage. It's not pretty and made from an old crutch with bushings welded to scrap metal but works just fine.

Wings Moved To Hanger

Austin came home and helped me move the wings to the hanger in San Marcos. They look kind of lonely in the corner. Jack was nice enough to let me squeeze in with "Tweety Bird".

Paula's happy to have her car in the garage now that there's extra room.

Tail Number

I've successfully registered the airplane. The tail number I picked is N4EW. If you know my last name, you'll get it. The "4" doesn't really mean anything. It was just the only one available with a single digit. Hopefully it's something I'll get to say over the radio many thousands of times. It has to be on the airplane like a license plate and it can go on the vertical tail like in the picture or on the side of the fuselage between the tail and wing. Being an Experimental, I'm allowed to use 3" numbers and letters. If I fly outside the U.S. I'll need 12" ones and those can be temporary stick-ons.

Aircraft Registration

I've started the registration and certification phase of building. There's still quite a bit to build but the recommendation is to start the paperwork 90 to 120 days out and I'm probably there. The package pictured below is from the EAA. It contains a step-by-step guide plus all the FAA forms, cockpit placards and the stainless steel data plate. I also watched an hour's webinar at EAA.org about how to register and certify your homebuilt.

Portable Oxygen System

I got a good eBay deal on an Aerox portable oxygen system for the airplane. The RV series of airplanes can easily climb to and cruise well above 10,000 feet which gets you away from most small airplane traffic plus you can get above weather, turbulence, birds and the heat all while getting better gas mileage. To fly that high in an unpressurized airplane legally requires oxygen anytime you're between 12,500 feet and 14,000 feet for more than 30 minutes and all the time you're above 14,000 feet. Those are the minimums but most use it more often to arrive refreshed after a long cross country at high altitude and especially at night as night vision is affected early with just a little oxygen debt. Later, I'll get a small battery operated pulse oximeter to monitor actual oxygen content. They're the kind that clip onto your finger like you see in the hospital.

Chapter 958 Comes to the Rescue!

I needed to remove the wings as a normal sequence to the build and I knew I needed help. Austin and I were able to put the wings on by ourselves but I knew we couldn't remove them. So, I invited my EAA Chapter to my house after our scheduled Saturday meeting and I bribed them with the promise of a free lunch. I have to admit I was a little nervous having others handle MY airplane. As it turned out, I had nothing to worry about. The guys were extremely careful, amazingly proficient and FAST! I went inside to get the burgers to put on the grill and when I came out, they had already removed one wing and were working on the other.

One thing I was worried about was removing the lower wing bolts. I had read horror stories about them getting stuck and all the problems folks went through to finally remove them. I even made a special tool to use. The guys would have none of that. They left the two upper bolts in to keep everything aligned and then wiggled the wing and Stan just reached in a pulled them out.

Here's Phil. He's probably looking at the clecos I forgot to remove that hold the bottom of the wing to the belly skin.

Here are the guys about to lift the left wing.

Left wing done, on to the right wing.

Right wing being removed. Where's lunch!

After everyone had eaten lunch and departed, I told Paula how much help everyone was and how much they did and how much I appreciated it so she asked if they could come back every weekend. I don't think they can but I did tell her I'm on call for about a dozen favors I need to return.

Paula's Birthday

Today is Paula's birthday so I was making sure she didn't do any dishes and started to clean a cookie sheet and thought it could use a little garage engineering.

Christmas Present

I got coupons for an hour of garage work from no less than four this Christmas which was exactly what I asked for. I made immediate use of them. In the first picture there's me and Austin working on the forward fuselage, Spencer countersinking angle for the forward fuselage floor and Cameron and Shelby dimpling the forward side skins. They all did good work and the best part was I got to spend time with all of them. Time with loved ones is the best Christmas present you can get!

Shelby and Cameron dimpling side skins. Shelby was laughing that she was replaced by a carpeted board that kept the skins from scraping on the floor. Really, she does a good job when she helps but she prefers organizing. Cameron was a natural with the c-frame dimpler. He just finished his Eagle Scout and I joked that he should have built an airplane instead of benches for his project. He wasn't buying it.

Christmas Present

Here's one of my Christmas presents to my sister-in-law. She has an entryway wall with 20 or so small crosses and I thought she might like one that was uniquely from me. It turned out to be harder than I thought to make partially because it's small but also because I made the angle backing from one piece with notches and bent it into a cross shape.

Here's another angle.

RV Airshow

Not build related but I just had to post this beautiful picture of RVs. They're are several groups that perform at airshows. This is two flights of four caught passing relatively close during their maneuvering. I'm sure the focal length of the camera makes it look closer than it really is.

Redneck Ice Chest Air Conditioning

Here's the rough prototype of the Redneck air conditioning Austin and I made. We only spent about $60 because we already had the cooler and bilge pump. If you're starting from scratch, expect to spend about $100. Sporty's Pilot Shop sells fancy but functionally the same units starting around $500 and up! My daughter is using it now in her car as her a/c is kaput. It's meant to go in a small airplane. It is possible to install an automotive freon type system in a small airplane but they start at about $5000 for a portable system and go way up if it's permanently installed. You can buy a lot of ice or freeze a bunch of gallon milk jugs of water for that money.

We looked at several different designs but chose this one for several reasons. With the blower on the outside, it creates suction that helps keep the ice chest cooler lid closed. Also, with the screw-in plugs, the ice will last a lot longer when you're not using it as you can seal the two big holes (vent and blower).

We also liked the design of blowing air over the chilled heater core instead of just blowing it over ice. That keeps the humidity lower as it's doing basically the same thing as a freon system.

Hopefully, the pictures and video will answer most of the questions but here are some things that might not be clear. We didn't get a good picture of the plenum but all we did was take some scrap aluminium and mark a square the size of the heater core and added 1 1/2" to form a lip that we folded up and riveted to form an open top box. I used the skin from a rejected trim tab. Everyone that's building an RV knows what that is and probably has one. Some weather stripping would help seal it. The strap goes across the bottom to hold the heater core in. The plenum makes it cooler and more efficient by making all the air go past our heat exchanger (heater core) plus it makes room for the elbow of the blower to come down through the hole in the lid. It also eliminates a lot of sealing to the bottom of the lid that's required without it. We don't show it but another female clean out (or knockout) goes on the end of the blower so you can put a plug in it. Also, the wood block above the plenum shouldn't be there. That's to fill the hole in the bottom of the lid from one of our earlier attempts. On our next one, the plenum will screw right to the bottom of the lid.

The bilge pump and blower were both bought at Academy Sports and made by Attwood. Walmart probably has them, too. Get the smallest as they put out plenty of volume. The white 3" plastic pipes, clear tubing and electrical box were bought at McCoys but Lowes or Home Depot will have them, too. Get the size tubing that fits your heater core and bilge pump.

We got about 5' for the return line as it can be used for draining the water. We didn't need any extra electrical line as the pump and blower came with plenty. The two switches and a 12 volt "cigarette lighter plug" came from Radio Shack. The heater core is from an automotive parts store. I had to keep asking for the cheapest they had. It's hard to buy something from the chain stores without telling them what vehicle it's for. I think this is from an 80's Ford truck but didn't care as it was the right size and only $19.95.

We haven't finished all the sealing and such as this was just a prototype. It cools unexpectedly well and you can hear how well it seals in the video when the vent plug is removed.

Dilbert

Father's Day

Here's one of the father's day presents I received. This t-shirt is from Austin. Shelby also gave me some much needed shorts and socks. Thanks, kiddos!

David Clark Headsets

Here is my latest airplane related acquisition. I didn't have a headset so I got these on ebay along with an intercom and PTT (press to talk) switch plus two pouches. One is a DC H10-60 and the other is a DC H10-30. Both in really good condition but I haven't tested them yet.

More U.S. Homebuilts Than Factory Pistons In 2010

In 2010, there were more homebuilt aircraft registered in the United States than there were factory piston aircraft delivered worldwide! The latest General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) Statistical Databook covering the 2010 calendar year shows worldwide general aviation aircraft shipments included 2,015 total aircraft, including 889 piston-powered aircraft, 763 business jets, and 363 turboprops. Homebuilt aircraft registrations continued their growth in the U.S. last year. A total of 941 homebuilt aircraft were added to the FAA registry in 2010, an increase of 10 percent from the previous year. There are now more than 32,000 homebuilt aircraft registered in the U.S.

Birthday Present from Shelby

Here's a picture of the birthday present I received from Shelby. Cool tie clasp with a propeller and it really spins. That was so thoughtful of Shelby! Behind it is an access panel I finished yesterday.

Red Green - How To Build Your Own Airplane

I wasn't sure how to build this air-o-plane thing so I got this book.