August 12, 2022
With the paint on and my local mechanic finally harassed enough to squeeze me into his busy schedule, it was propellor balancing day! I took a quick flight to warm everything up and then removed the cowling. After John got his equipment setup we made the first run to see how far off it would be, I was a bit…
August 1, 2022
Admittedly I did not attend many forums this year. I only attended the show for three days and there is just so much to see… But I did have a few takeaways: Vic Syracuse (Base Leg Aviation) Change auto spark plugs every 100 hours or annually (I have been following P-Mag recommendation of 125 hours) Mouse milk lube exhaust at…
July 28, 2022
The excitement, the nerves, the anticipates for Airventure builds as the days get closer. Flying into the busiest airport in the world single-handed is not for the faint of heart and I’ll openly admit there is a big sigh of relief each time I am on the ground at Oshkosh. Then the fun begins talking airplanes, checking out cool airplanes,…
June 22, 2022
April 5, 2022
So during my condition inspection I made a bad decision. I used a block of wood in between my wing jack and my wing, and that block did not match the shape of the jack stand. Lowering the jack the block rotated and flipped out putting two small dents in the bottom of my wing. Fuck me. My fault, dumb…
March 17, 2022
A big day is coming up on April 11th, I’ll be heading to Hibbing, Minnesota to drop off N241VP at Midwest Aircraft Refinishing. Before painting I had one last little project I wanted to get completed. Flyboy Accessories manufactures a high quality, stainless steel tow bar/tug guard for the nose wheel. I picked it up a few months ago and…
March 11, 2022
I customized my Condition Inspection checklist based on Walt’s (EXP Aircraft Services LLC) checklist. I also added some frequently needed documents/information to the end of my document. Here is a link to my checklist As with building, there was a learning curve this year that added a good amount of extra time and effort. Next year I think the Condition…
August 1, 2021
I’ve attended Airventure a bunch of times. Always camping but sometimes driving and sometimes flying. I’ve experienced the mass arrival at KOSH, I’ve spent hours waiting to depart after the show, and experienced the nearly every year big storm. Well this year checked most of those boxes but the most important new one, flying a plane I built. Big shout…
July 31, 2021
I sucked from the fire hose the engine information presented at Airventure this year. Mike Busch put on 13 seminars and I think I hit five or maybe it was six of them. I also took in a leaning seminar presented by Martin Pauly. And a great presentation by Vic Syracuse specific to amateur built aircraft (I was able to…
April 2, 2021
Well I have been neglecting my blogging duties lately. But with the arrival of N241VP in Steamboat it was no longer reasonable to continue my laziness. But before getting to that, a recap on the last month… The phase 1 flight testing went overall quite smooth. I had some concerns about proper engine break-in which led to flying to SE…
February 27, 2021
Holy Hannah what a day! I had not expected to make my first flight today because I wanted wind from the south since that would keep me flying on take off over empty fields until I reached a safe altitude. Winds were forecast from the north so I settled in to cleaning up a few small projects until Loyd arrived…
February 23, 2021
With four hours until the inspector arrived it was hustle time to knock off the last few items. First up was installing the lighting and Plexiglas in the right wing tip. After making a few passes on englarging the opening the landing and taxi lights slid right in and from there is was easy going. The wing root fairings were…