What I Go Through to Get in the Big Race.

Right now it's Wednesday evening and I am scheduled to fly to Dayton on Saturday morning to enter the 2011 AirVenture Cup Race. The only problem is, the plane's not quite ready. It never is.

This happens ever year, it seems. Right down to the wire I am screwing around with stuff to make it right. This year's issue is the oil temperature (again). Ever since the major rehab of the Quickie, the oil temp reading have been unreliable. They are "jittery" and bounce around a lot. The Dynon company reps said I had a bad ground for the single wire temp sensor and that was causing the problem. Well, I chased bad grounds until the cows came home and no joy.

They also said I could go to a two wire sensor, made by GRT, and that would eliminate the problem. The problem with the GRT sensor is that I would have to remove the engine to install it.

Well, I finally got tired of screwing around and ordered the GRT sensor. Last week I took a couple of days, pulled the engine off its mounts and installed the part. At the end of day one, the engine was still hanging from the hoist and I figured I would start the re-installation in the morning. Oh, did I mention that we were also having the house painted?

I got lazy and figured I could let the engine hang overnight. I braced the lift's hydraulic cylinder with a block of wood and fastened with cable ties. Good enough.

The next day at the hangar, after promising my wife I would come right back home as soon as the engine was back on, I was dismayed to find the cable ties failed, allowing the block of wood to fall out, and the lift sagged. Take a look at the following sad photos. Click on the photo to see how ugly it really was.

There was some damage, but only a few wires pulled out. Shit. Business as usual for Sammy Boy.

Anyway, I got it back together, engine reinstalled and the new sensor wired into the Dynon D180.

The next day I made the test flight (Honey, I promise I won't be gone long) and flew over to Marion for the pancake breakfast. Pulling the engine involves lots of fuel, electric, and electronic systems , so there is a lot to disturb. Everything seemed to work fine, but to tell the truth I didn't pay much attention to the actual oil temp, but I did know that it seemed very steady.

Yesterday I worked on some elevator trim issues and decided to make another test flight today. Everything seemed great. I knew I was a bit rusty and figured I would make landings at several local airports. I flew over to Perryville, MO, landed, then took off for Sparta.

Looked at the oil temp and it said 210. Not unusual for a 90 degree day. Nice and steady, no jitter.

Two minutes later I looked at it and it now read 15 degrees! Hells bells. Now what? I re-booted the Dynon but that didn't help a bit. So, now what? Guess I'll head back to the barn and see what's up. Sure can't fly a race without knowing what the oil temperature is doing.

Basic troubleshooting determined the problem is in the sensor itself. I put a meter on it and it read dead open.

Three days till the race. What do I do now?

I called GRT and they promised to overnight a new sensor. She also said it was the second call she had that same day about the same failure. I was able to grab a A&P student from AvTech and we pulled the engine and the sensor. This time we temporarily installed it back on the mounts.

FedEx should get here around 11:00 tomorrow morning. When the part gets here, I will call Steve and we'll reinstall the damned thing.

The problem is, I seem to go through this every year. Did I mention that it was 102 deg. in the hangar? I wonder how many other aviators are in the same boat? A lot, I'll bet.