Tulip Patrol

I am now 8 flights into phase one and up to about 12.5 hours on the airframe.  Things are going well and I am just starting to get my head around some of the things I want to work on.   I don’t have a heavy wing so that is good, most RV’s come off the line with the need to address what is perceived as a heavy wing.   The airplane also seems to be fairly well coordinated, although I do find myself resting my right foot on the pedal to keep the slip ball exactly centered..  I still need to get the gear and leg fairings on before I do any adjustment to coordination though.

I changed the oil at about 5.5 Tach hours, looked at the oil screen, found nothing, cut open the filter, found nothing..  Very happy with that.

My Oil temp does seem to be a little low at 160, probably due to the northwest temps, but I might put some reflective heat tape on the cooler to see if I can raise it up to the 170-80 mark or so.

Fixed the canopy air exiting noise by using some stick on felt over the roll bar, makes it a bit harder to lock the canopy down, but the reward is a clean seal that is soft on the plexi to boot.

My morning flight today before work rewarded me with nice views of the Tulips over Skagit Valley.  I also did a stop and go at Arlington which is the first time my RV has touched any surface besides Paine Field.  Its only about 12 miles or so, but  was so exciting to actually touch down somewhere new for my RV ! 

Back to Building while in Phase 1

So Phase 1 is going pretty well.  I have had a few issues, but at this point most of them have been resolved.  The funny part is that most of my issues were with vendors work not mine.  Re-assuring, but at the same time I have given money to the vendors and when things don’t work it really is frustrating.  For example my fuel pump.   I really would not recommend the EFII pump to anyone, I’ll do a write up on that later, but that thing has leaked out of every single possible place that it could have.   Working with the vendor and doing some stuff on my own, it is functioning properly now with no leaks.  All other items except some really minor stuff have been resolved, so the plane is online fully and I have 5 flights with about 6 hours on the plane. 

So in my off time I am getting back to building.   Here is the first step on the wheel pants, basically getting each of them to fit together as good as possible.  Lots of sanding fiberglass, but I got them to the point where I am happy.  These will come together slowly over the  next few weeks, but at least I got a start on them.

Continued Phase 1 Flight testing and Squawks (Items needing attention)

So now that my first flight is complete, I have flown the airplane a total of 3 times.  Logging a total of about 4 hours.  Each time getting more familiar with everything and trying to identify and address issues between flights.  The weather around here has been a factor, so it slows me down just enough to try to work through each item between flights.   Issues that have come up and I am tackling are outlined below.

 

• Cabin heat door pulls shut due to pressures in the lower cowl.
• Slight sound of air exiting the cabin where the canopy connects with the roll bar, need to address that.
• My oil filler tube started to loosen as the paper gasket became lubricated with Oil.  It was safety tied, but I could tighten it about 1/8 inch so I tightened and re-safety wired it.
• Ensuring my engine alarms are set correctly for right pressures.  I had a high fuel pressure alarm due to incorrect setting, and an alarm on takeoff roll due to alternator not being turned on..  These issues are mostly ironed out.
• One of my Capacitive fuel senders is not reporting and I need to dive into that.

Tonight I will be going through everything again and getting ready for the 4^th flight.  Then probably an oil change after 5-6 hours of engine run.  Once things stabilize I will be starting work on the gear leg and wheel fairings.

Slowly working my way to 40 hours so that Bekah can fly with me !