Friday, August 23, 2013

And now, we can fly!

Yes, today I got the Airworthiness Certificate for N124BX, the conclusion of 3 years of a labor of love. Here is the patient waiting for the visit of the DAR:





And here is the result of the visit of the darned DAR:




To his credit, the DAR found a few things that needed fixing. Fixing them will take less time that it took me to remove the about 50 nutplate screws that dot the floor panel under the seats but I was lucky, he did not ask to take the lower cowl off, a major annoyance in the RV-12.
$340 for 50 screws amounts to about 7 cents per screw... and I get airworthiness as a bonus!

The hilarious part was when the DAR started moving the sticks which produced an horrible "cling" I had never heard before . We soon located the noise to be an interference of the flapperon skin (both flapperons) with a rivet head on the fuselage! What happened is that the temperature was in the mid 90s for the first time since I installed the wings and the flapperons grew a tad longer, enough to hit the rivets... I mentioned the precision of my workmanship as both flapperons were affected the same way. You guys in the north better watch your flapperons when you come south!

Sunday, August 11, 2013

First Engine Run in Pictures

Today I had my first engine run with the help of Donald Berry a certified Rotax A & P. The following pictures taken by my daughter Anne who assisted in the preparation of the run tell it all:

Anne in the hangar, making airplane noise for the last time before the run:


The setup, plane tied to my car, just in case...


Preparing to crank under the eye of the expert, Donald Berry:


Engine started, I lost my hat:


Here we go, 2000 rpm, no hands!


2500 rpm, lost my hat again!


3000 rpm, I miss my canopy!



4000 rpm, that's it, I can take no more, no more, no more!


Victory lap back in the hangar