Flight Log: 04/05/2011

The forecast was wrong this AM.  Instead of windy and rain, it was calm and sunny.  I headed out but the wind began to build on my way to the field.  Still I had about 4 flights with the SNAFU, and had a ball.  Wind was directly out of the south, so I used the short N/S runway.  Landings were fun, coming in slow with hardly any ground speed over the dirt road, and having a very short rollout after touchdown.  Don't know if the throttle has always been this way, but I had to use all my trim to get the engine to stay at low idle.  I adjusted the control rod at the field, to have a good idle at neutral trim again.  Maybe this will stop the engine from dying during another funfly event and getting zero score, lol.

Flight Log: 04/03/2011

Today marks the 4th year to the date of my last day of work.   I celebrated in fine style by flying most of the day, lol.  Luck was with us, and we had good weather, the few that showed up.  I flew my Yak 54 for 5 flights, all without mishap.  I leaned out the OS 120 Surpass III today a bit, and she responded with nice power.  I do think the front bearing is wearing out because the plane is starting to sound like tractor, like when the bearings in my Saito 82a (T-28) went out.  Still, the engine ran strong and the Yak had great pull through the verticals.  Lots of nice stall turns, avalanches, cuban 8's, reverse cuban 8', and a towering vertical 8.  Also did the requisite slow rolls and 4pt rolls.  Landings were all light and spot on.

Who else flew?  Joe with his ME-108 and Ultra Stick, Doug with his Nexstar, the Kudna cousins with all kinds of planes, including some from Joe...Sportster, Jaguar, Tsunami, Cessna.  Mike flew his Giant Sportster and Uproar.  Not a single crash by anyone today!  Only mishap...the muffler came off Mike's Sportster while in flight.  Brandon found it easily.

Flight Log: 04/01/2011

The trick was on us today.  Tad, Mike and I went to fly and were disappointed to find the JB field being sprayed with weed killer.  The north field was also being sprayed by about 10 guys with hand held sprayers following a large tank.  Mike and I got a couple flights in when workers on both fields were far away, but we gave up and went home rather quickly.  The stink of the chemicals in the air was not that pleasant anyway.  My two flights with the Yak 54 felt good though!  No probs except for loose wheelpants.  Landings were light as a feather.

Hangar Hangers

Too many planes were on the garage floor, so I bought more shelving brackets and pipe insulation, and attached them to the wall per the pic.  The storage on the left side of the pic is the new stuff...it has 3 fuselages on it.  I still have the Yak 54 on the floor and the SNAFU on the workbench.  Additionally I have the 50cc planes to store somewhere...the Extra is on the floor next to the car, and the Ultimate is still in the bonus room!  SOMEDAY I have to part with some planes to get any new ones, but I love em all!

T-28 Trojan Maintenance

Been flying the BHM T-28 fairly regularly and it is getting worn out a bit.  I brought it in to the bonus room for sprucing up yesterday.  Here is what I worked on:

1.  The biggest improvement was reinstallation of all LG doors.  In a prior attempt, I attached the door to the LG via a zip tie.  AND the door was attached to the wing via a hinge.  This was a failure because as the LG bounced back and forth due the grass runway, the door would gouge the wing and break the hinge connection.  I needed the door to not be attached at all to the wing.  I came up with the simplest idea after months of thinking...just do it. 

I used 3/16" ply to fashion these plates that fit between the Robart plastic strut covers and the doors.  I epoxied the plate by filing off the paint from the strut covers and removing monokote from the doors.  Added a zip tie to hold the plate to the strut cover since I think the joining of those dissimilar materials is the weak point. . 

Anyway, it looks good from a few feet away.

2.  Reattaching the nose wheel door was a simple CA job. 

3.  The nose wheel was steering too much right lately, so I adjusted that.  

4.  I also ironed down loose covering in a couple spots.  

5.  The long extension wire to the needle valve fatigued and disappeared for the second or third time, so I replaced that but I expect it to fatigue and sheer at the top of the needle valve once more.  

6.  Lastly, after flying the other day, I discovered the bottom CA hinge of the rudder was broken.  I cut the other two hinges, shaved the remaining stubs flat to the fin and rudder, and installed new Robart point hinges...stronger and better than new.  

The T-28 looks almost as good as new again!  I HOPE I don't destroy the plane now because that has happened before...spruced a plane up only to crash next time! 

Flight Log: 03/23/2011

Oh what a nice day, FINALLY!  I wasn't alone in that thought...Mike and Dean showed up to fly today too...mid 40s, very light air directly down the runway from the west, and partly sunny skies!  Took my T-28 Trojan out today and got 5 flights of about 7 minutes each.  The Saito 82a with replaced bearings is running great.  What can I say...5 flights, 5 landings with full flaps, a bunch of slow rolls and 4pt rolls, loops, cuban 8's, and inverted flying, and fast low passes as well as slow low passes with full flaps deployed.  Just a great day!

Flight Log: 03/19/2011

Hey, finally a nice day for flying!  While my thermometer said 42F when I left home, it sure felt better than that at the field around 10:15AM.  I took my SNAFU and Imagine 50 today.  Got about 3 flights on the latter, maybe 4 on the former.  One flight was particularly funny with the SNAFU.  I was doing very low passes and got too low on one.  Before I knew it, my plane seemed to be sliding on the sod farm grass with no power.  I gave up elevator; it lifted off and indeed was not running.  I just glided it back down for a final landing.  I expected damage and was very happy to discover that the wire landing gear were bent back, and one prop tip was broken off, but there were no breaks in the covering or wood!  Joe and I snipped off the prop tips to match, he sanded and balanced the prop, and I bent the landing gear back forward and down...good as new, I hoped.  I flew and all was like normal!  Oh, the wind really picked up at the end, but I flew the SNAFU and had fun landing at just about nil ground speed!

Joe flew his Rascal, but had some glitchy situations where when lots of aileron was input, there was unintended down elevator given too!  Made for two exciting flights.  Jer flew his big Extra with the muffler securely attached, and it flew well, as usual.  Jer helped fly Dean's UCanDo in the higher winds because Dean was not feeling comfortable to do so today...seemed to fly well with Jer at the sticks.