98% complete

The first 100 hours I've flown have been with a disfunctional CDI. Builder-Buddy-Bill just finished installing his 209A with a KLN-94 and KX155 and he had trouble too but finally got it working. We talked about a couple of wires that weren't obvious, so I checked my wiring and found one ground wire that hadn't been connected. That made the CDI work with the KLN-89B but it still wasn't working with the KX155 with VOR indications. I know I was getting VOR reception since I could hear the indentifier in the headset. So today it finally cooled off a bit and I headed to the airport.

First up I adjusted the aileron bracket on the left wing to raise the elevator up to be even with the flap. The inboard bracket position left the aileron sitting below the flap about 1/8" and I've had a heavy right wing since day 1. I slotted the holes in the bracket to allow repositioning.

Next I tackled the CDI again. I checked the CDI connector to make sure I had pins in all the right holes, which I did, so I then slid out the radio to see if the pins were in the right place back there... oops... I had one pin off by a slot. It was one of those Bendix King pins that requires a flat little extractor tool to remove, which I didn't have. I called Builder-Buddy-Bill to see if he was around, so I flew up to Lee's Summit to use it. Within a minute of sliding the radio out, I had the pin moved to the right slot. Time to fly from OWI to LXT: .6 hours. Time to fix CDI: .1 hours Time to return to OWI: .6 hours. As Bill said.. you spent $35 in gas to avoid buying an $11 tool. Yea.. but it was a lot funner!

As I departed LXT, I quickly picked up the VOR at OJC... it works!!

Getting the CDI fixed was the last thing that truly needed 'fixed'. I titled this entry 98% complete because I still need to get the intersection fairings installed and get the plane painted! Who has time for all that when you can fly!

Hobbs now reads 113.6 hours!

Barnstorming

Wellllll...... Sandi and I did a little barnstorming Sunday morning. I am fortunate enough to have Mike Foote in my EAA chapter. Mike has a 2001 Grand Champion Plans Built Hatz Classic Biplane. It is a beautiful airplane. Even though the RV isn't entirely finished, I'm looking toward the future and the next project. I've always had it in my mind to build and open-cockpit biplane after the RV but Sandi was kinda set on building an RV-10. We've talked a lot about it and recently Sandi agreed on the biplane. (I'm not entirely sure if she caved or really came to agree with me.)

Anyway, I've seen Mike Foote's Hatz for the last couple of years and it really appealed to me. I've heard him talk a little bit about it was well. I dropped him a few emails last week with a few questions about construction and shortly an invitation came out to meet up for breakfast and go for a ride. So Sunday morning, Sandi and I headed over to Miami County (K81) for breakfast.

Sandi got the first ride and came back smiling saying "I think we can build this!". It was my turn next. We went up for 15 minutes or so and I did a little flying and Mike did a few wing-overs and some fast turns and showed the Hatz's non-existant stall characteristics and we returned to land.

Doesn't get much cuter!

My Turn

So... I'm thinking we may be ordering plans for this baby.... we do have a tail number reserved already... N598SM. Stay tuned....

Broadway and Beechcraft

Over the July 4th weekend, we made a trip to Wichita to visit my Aunt Gwen but the timing was bad due to my broken leg. We really couldn't do much. We did notice they had a dinner theatre called the Crown Uptown that was going to have "I Love You, Your Perfect... Now Change", something we wanted to see in NYC but choked on the price, so we made plans to return to Wichita.

We departed Ottawa around 4:00 with the OAT being 97 degrees. It was bumpy down low so I planned to climb to 7500 but a layer of scattered clouds forced us on up to 9500. We picked up flight following as usual. (OAT was 61 degrees at 9500) We landed at Colonel Jabara Airport, unloaded and headed to the show. Dinner was OK and the show was pretty good. It's sorta like 19 little skits rolled into one big show. Some good singing and pretty funny scenes.

Big clouds at 7500


Crown Uptown theatre


Saturday morning we got up early and headed back out to the airport to give my Aunt Gwen a ride in the RV. She's a pilot as well but really has flown much in years. I think she got a pretty good kick out of the RV.

Gwen works for Raytheon (Beechcraft) and we asked her if we could get a tour of one of the production lines. She hit a home run and got us a personal tour of Plant IV where they do assembly of the Hawker, Premier and King Air lines. Our tour guide was the director of Hawker Assembly Operations, David Nield. David was a really great guy. We got an up close tour of each production line... Hawker 400XP/800/850XP, Premier 1 (all composite), King Airs, and the Hawker 4000, their newest jet.

End of assembly lines at Raytheon


After a little more socializing (and maybe a short nap) we headed back home, stopping for fuel on the way back. The Kansas summer heat kept us in mild turbulence most of the way, which wasn't making Sandi to happy.

We'll be attending a local RV Flyin on the 26th at Grain Valley, MO and then we'll make the big trip to Aurora, OR for Van's Homecoming. Looks like Mike Schipper will be going along with us as well.