CofA

Well I have now finally received my CofA.

 It was a great feeling to have that hurdle ticked off. The day went ok and mostly it was sorting out log books, maintenance release paperwork and all the little things required for CASA and the SAAA. The inspectors had a good look over the plane with a keen eye and were happy with what they saw. I had some help from a local club member and fellow builder during the day which helped beyond all measure.

The guys flew up from Perth in the RV7 for the day. 

The Inspectors and myself for the happy snap just b4 departing back for home in the RV7. 

The Waiting Game.

Well it sure has been some time since an update. To be honest I haven't really had anything to report. As it stands now I am just waiting on the inspectors to make the trip to Geraldton and see what they think of the finished plane.

I have been tinkering a little on the plane. I have had my data plate engraved. I had one already done previously from Aircraft Spruce but I also had a second one from the SAAA. I thought, seeing as I am going through the SAAA, I would use their data plate so had a second one engraved. I have also done a climb attitude fuel flow test. This proved it has a nice fuel flow for those big long climb outs ;) to 16 000 ft ;).  The Tacho issue is finally resolved and now reading well. I have done a few run ups and reset the tappets just for something to do last weekend. I also have adjusted the Ailerons so they line up with the flaps,,,,looks cool now ;).  I did have an unusual issue raise its head last week. I would have nice and free movement of the ailerons but when I added full back stick also, they were jammed. I looked into it to find that the rod ends were causing the issue after the adjustments. I had never had the lock nuts on the rod ends tight. To have full and free movement over the whole spectrum of travel the rod ends need to be adjusted and tightened in a specific position. I have never come across this issue or read about it b4 so I thought I would mention it in case others one day find they have the same problem. It is possible to have full travel and both rod end tight but it took a few goes through get it right. Hopefully I haven't missed something in the plans explaining all this.

Pilot awaiting,,,,,,,, I think that's all these photos portray.... 

Weighing in the ol Boomer

Yep, weight and balance. Such a small task yet vital.

The weight and balance was done in a very controlled atmosphere. I had, again , another different builder help me for this skirmish. Someone seasoned in the weighing process. It was just the two of us with an empty hangar.We took our time and documented all the different configurations.  

All scenarios came out within tolerance and now I just need to do up an official document and fill in the Flight manual as required and all will be good.

SO I have two planes now,,,,,,Really need just one :) 

I have to question that though. The other plane flies so well now I almost can't bare to part with it. Still, if I got a hangar bill for two aircraft, I soon could make the decision. 

A New Home

On the 12th Dec the plane went to the airfield.

 Our trusty Transport tech

 The centre figurehead and finance officer

Don't panic, there is a mattress under the wing :)

BTW wings laid out on the wrong sides,,,ooops

It was one of the most nerve wracking things I have done in the last year or so. It all worked out really well. My mate was a bloody legend in helping with the transfer and it went smoothly. 

By the end of the arvo there were people EVERYWHERE, coming and having a look at the new plane. It was a bit of a stress here and there. I was trying to get the wings mounted and so on as I had planned on the weight and balance for the next day. A good friend had driven a 1000km round trip and picked the scales up for me and they needed to be back for the following weekend for someone else so the job was certainly 'on' as one would say. 

We eventually got the wings on toward the end of the day. It was good that I had other builders to help me as it made all the difference. You can always count on another builder to have those bits and bobs in the hangar like the extra split pins and bolts and nuts that weren't quite right. Someone drops a hardware assortment kit in front of you and suddenly your world is all happy again. Another builder came out especially half way through the day at the drop of a hat to help me install the three Solid rivets that the plans call for in the spar tunnel. That was one of those jobs again I thought I would just get around to and then when putting the wings on thought aaarrrrrggghhhhhhhh. 

All in all I rate the 12th of Dec as a 9 out of 10 :)

End result...what's this then?????

A change of scenery

So I have started to make some plans about relocating the plane now to the local airport. I need to sort out the weight and balance and carry out all the final rigging so I can go about obtaining a Certificate of Airworthiness. The best place to do this is at the field so I can have the wings on permanently and do all the fuel calibrations as well with avgas.

Some small tasks I have had to do before this occurred was re glueing the dash matt down, changing the turbo boost line as requested by my TC to a braided Teflon hose and sorting out a multitude of bits and bobs that come into play when doing finalisation work. All in all I am travelling well on the "to do" list. 

It seems my other plane has been a little harder to sell than first anticipated. I was banking on the folding wings to be a real drawcard in this day and age of ridiculous hangarage prices but I guess not. I still have some interest in it so I will give it a few more weeks and if it's a no go I will bring it home and wait until the market improves while I carry out the list of things I would like to optimise. 

I am not sure why, but my Tacho has been a real issue to sort. I at first had a real variable reading and thought I would sort it out sometime later. Well that later soon came and I had a good time trying to fix it. I changed wiring routes, changed wire types and many things in the settings on the RPM 1 and 2 lanes. Eventually I wiped all of my settings and inputted them again. This gave me a reading, finally, and you wouldn't believe how happy I was to see it reading correctly as I was at the stage where I was almost certain it would have to go back to the factory for some fix or another. Still it worked well so all in all a good outcome.  

Registration

Finally have my rego sorted

Remembering where the shed is

So, I have, in what I think, found my spine again, and am going to get my act together. Since starting a new job and a few other cards being thrown out on the table, the poor ol Sonex has taken a place on the priorities list somewhere near house cleaning.  I have ordered a few things from the outcome of the TC inspection and they basically arrived today. This mostly was bolts and fuel fittings, but all jobs to be done none the less. One of the big players to arrive in the bolt order however were the prop bolts. SO......... basically one could not resist in fitting that fine specimen that I received in the mail some time ago.

Photos, I hope got it from every angle.........just in case you missed it....  it does look pretty. 

I did do a little work on the fuel lines too tonight. I was never happy with the routing of the lines and after the inspector mentioned it, I sat down and had a good look on how I could improve it, in accordance with the Aerocarb manual. I hope that I have interpreted it right. Uphill from the gascolator, No big curve backs, shortest path possible. I have flown with this exact carb with some serious burps before on the other plane so if I do encounter some on my first flight at least I will know what they are and not freak out.  I also still need to insulate the Gascolator but will do that later.

So anyway, hopefully I can start to get some momentum happening again and get the project back on track. 

Here is a parting shameless selfie from my last flight in the old plane. Was a good local flight over my house.