RV-4 Ride, Alex Peterson, Maintenance
The plan was to go on a breakfast run this morning over to Eau Claire, WI with a couple of other RV'rs but the rain yesterday left us with dense, heavey fog this morning. Pete Howell, fellow RV9 builder, made arrangements for me to hangar with Doug (RV-4) and Paul (RV-7A Under Construction). Doug called to let me know the breakfast flight was scrubbed but if I wanted to go with him, he was headed over to Anoka County to visit Alex Peterson (RV-6A)around 9:30. Doug and Alex have decided to replace their existing ignition systems with Lightspeed systems. Alex is replacing a set of Lasar mags that have failed him 3 times and Doug is replacing traditional magnetos. It was kinda nice to meet Alex as I knew of him from his website and various online groups. I've always thought his simple paint scheme was nice. We spent an hour or so with Alex, helped him pull off this prop and generally discussed the installation of the new Lightspeed system.
Back in the RV-4 to Lake Elmo. As soon as we taxied up to Doug's hangar, I got wrangled into helping the guy next door with his Cessna 305 (Birdog?). He needed a 2nd set of eyes and hands. Doug proceeded to pull his cowl off and drain the oil and remove his mags.
I took the opportunity to work on my plane a bit as well. On the way up, I was about a whole ball out of center. I figured it was the gear leg fairings since it flew straight until I put those on. I had done some digging before I left and learned that you twist the fairings in the direction you want he nose to go. Since I had to use a lot of right rudder to get the ball centered, I tweaked them to the right some. Then I noticed my nosegear strut fairing had compe loose from it's hose clamp, so I fixed that. My right brake pedal seemed to be sticking and holding the brake a little bit, so I backed off the nut one slot. On a roll, I started to think about dealing with the heavy right wing I have. I adjust the right aileron push tube 1/2 turn out to push the aileron down a little. With that, I decided to go up flying for a bit. After 40 minutes or so of getting pounded with turbulence I decided to head over to Anoka County where I saw a sign for $3.30/gal gas! That's a great price right now. We paid $3.23 before we left and most places are $3.80ish now. Seems like my tweaking of the gear legs fairings and the aileron have corrected most of the rig issues. From what I can tell the ball is centered now.. at least at 2300rpm and the right wing isn't so heavy now. We'll see how it works on the way home.
I'm meeting Pete Howell at the aiport Sunday morning to give him his first ride in an RV-9A. Pete should be flying this summer.
Back in the RV-4 to Lake Elmo. As soon as we taxied up to Doug's hangar, I got wrangled into helping the guy next door with his Cessna 305 (Birdog?). He needed a 2nd set of eyes and hands. Doug proceeded to pull his cowl off and drain the oil and remove his mags.
I took the opportunity to work on my plane a bit as well. On the way up, I was about a whole ball out of center. I figured it was the gear leg fairings since it flew straight until I put those on. I had done some digging before I left and learned that you twist the fairings in the direction you want he nose to go. Since I had to use a lot of right rudder to get the ball centered, I tweaked them to the right some. Then I noticed my nosegear strut fairing had compe loose from it's hose clamp, so I fixed that. My right brake pedal seemed to be sticking and holding the brake a little bit, so I backed off the nut one slot. On a roll, I started to think about dealing with the heavy right wing I have. I adjust the right aileron push tube 1/2 turn out to push the aileron down a little. With that, I decided to go up flying for a bit. After 40 minutes or so of getting pounded with turbulence I decided to head over to Anoka County where I saw a sign for $3.30/gal gas! That's a great price right now. We paid $3.23 before we left and most places are $3.80ish now. Seems like my tweaking of the gear legs fairings and the aileron have corrected most of the rig issues. From what I can tell the ball is centered now.. at least at 2300rpm and the right wing isn't so heavy now. We'll see how it works on the way home.
I'm meeting Pete Howell at the aiport Sunday morning to give him his first ride in an RV-9A. Pete should be flying this summer.
posted by Matthew at 8:14 PM
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