This Year's Field of Dreams

I was happy to be able to attend this years Tandem Wing Field of Dreams, in Beatrice, Nebraska this year. The plane's systems seem to have pretty much stabilized and I just went through the annual condition inspection with no major issues. The weather looked fairly good, with the exception of a 25 kt headwind at 4,000 ft.

The flight was pleasant and uneventful. I invented my own personal SPOT tracker on the way. I just hit the "nearest airport button" on my GPS then texted it to my wife. She could then Google the identifier and see where I was - kind of.

I got to Beatrice about 1:30 local time and I was the first plane there and was greeted by Alan Thayer sporting his traditional green shorts and video camera. I wonder what he does with all that tape.

I had decided it was about time I gave a few rides and there are a few guys who are approaching time to make their first flights. I always worry about this, so I feel it is my obligation to demonstrate my birdie and give them a feel (respect) for what they are getting into.

Rides went to Joseph Snow (2nd ride), and Jerry Brinkerhuff, Sanjay Dhall, Dan Yeager (webmaster for Quickheads.com and the new QBA newsletter editor) and Alan Thayer.

I messed up the last application of my race numbers so this time I enlisted the help of a professional.

It was definitely a low-key event and I'm sure the fewer number of planes and people is the reason. We had a nice dinner at the local American Legion and that was fun. Then came the inevitable group shot.

Doug didn't have a High Time award this year, but I somehow managed to pick up the furthest distance traveled award.

There was talk of moving the venue for next year and I agree. A different place could freshen things up a bit.

Here is Doug Humble carting the Brothers Johnson and Honey Lamb.

The ride home was fun, I was fairly low much of the way due to ceilings, but the visibility was better than 10 miles, so no problem.

Glad I went.

Good news and More Good News

Yesterday was a happy accident. I was scrounging some exhaust gaskets at AvTech, when I overheard a conversation that an AvTech alum was bringing his transponder and static check equipment to KMDH. I asked to be put in the queue and as luck would have it, I was in.

John checked at least two C-172, I think a C-182, an LSA, a Cherokee 140, and the mighty Q-200. All in a matter of a few hours.

This was particularly great, since I wasn't really sure how accurate my systems were. In the conversion, I had discarded the altitude encoder and now use the Dynon D180 with the gray-code (whatever that is) converter for altitude encoding. I had no way of knowing if it was even wired correctly until the checks had been done.

We hooked everything up and John fired up his test device and gloriosky! The transponder and altitude reporting were spot on.

Next, he checked altitude calibration. At 10,000 feet, the Dynon was only off by 20 feet (10,020 ft.), which was well within specs.

Finally, we did the airspeed calibration, and this was the happiest news. My airspeed indicator is reading a little low, so when the airspeed indicator reads 196 mph, I am actually going 200 mph! I just got four more miles an hour!

It's the little things in life.

Excellent.

Why Do You Think They Call it a Quickie!

For a better look, be sure and click on the image.

Now that I have your attention, I wanted to mention that I finally broke the 200 mph, true airspeed, barrier on the 15th flight.

A big hurdle has been the oil temp. The Continental overhaul manual lists redline oil temperature as 225F. Well, just about every time I flew it would get up to 225 pretty quickley, so most of the flights have been around 1/2 hour.

I started looking around at the Continental documents and found there was more to this oil temperature business. First off, remember that those oil temperature limits were established a loooong time ago. Probably in the 1950s. Oil has changed a lot since then.

Long story short, I called tech support at TCM and talked to an engine expert. He said it's official, the red line inlet oil temperature for the O-200 is 240F. So, if your plane doesn't meet the specification - just change the spec! Easy!

So yesterday I decided to go up and fly, fly, fly. First I climbed to to 5,000' or so and did a hearty full throttle run. That's when I achieved about 3,050 RPM and the TAS hit 201 mph. The highest oil temp I saw was 226, one degree above my "old" red line but well within the revised tolerance.

The engine still isn't perfectly smooth and I'm still fooling around with the mixture, EGT sensors, and maybe that darned trigger wheel sensor bracket again. But, I actually flew out past the big Mississippi and did a low approach at Perryville, MO before I came back home. (Kind of funny that I'm excited about making a 30 mile "cross-country", when 10 years ago I made this trip).

I'm still going to do something to bring the oil temps down, but at least I know that I'm not really in the danger zone and that I'm within striking distance of making this plane go faster than ever.

And that my friends, is why you call it a Quickie.

Year-end Update

Off topic, from the '70s. Here's an old photo of me and my buddies making a practice jump at East Troy, Wisconsin. We were getting ready for regional 10-man speed star competition.


It was a good year, but I do regret not getting to fly and race this thing.

Having said that, I am really getting close. I'm working on firewall forward and things aren't too bad. I just had two days of working with the hangar door open and it is really a morale booster. So much better than trying to think and fabricate in a dungeon.

My most recent success (meaning overcome obstacle) is mounting my ignition coils. With the RWS EC3 injection/ignition system, each plug gets it's own LS1 coil. I understand these coils are used on Corvette engines. I took a cue from Lynn French's creative installation and mounted two of them directly on the engine mount. I think this will work pretty well.




My short-term goal is to fire up the engine by the end of January.

I don't work in a total vacuum and certainly don't have the skills to do it all myself. Here are just some of the people that helped me this past year. I know I don't have everyone and if you don't see yourself here, please don't be offended. I probably lost those brain cells connected with your name.

Billy Cheek
Bob Knuckolls and the AeroElectric Connection e-mail list
Bruce Dallas
Charley "C-Rod" Rodriguez
Cory Steinkoneig
David Posey
Dennis Hannon
Don Bartlett
Grither's Auto Body
Harry Hinckley
Jerry Marstall
John Cotter
John Eynon
Ken Robinson
Larry Dauer
Keven Mitchell
Lynn French
Mike Bergen
Mike Burgener
Mike Dwyer
Mike Most
Rob Hoskins
Various SIU Aviation Technology students

And the award for the most help and patient understanding goes to:

My beautiful wife, Sandy

My original target date, for project completion, was May 1, 2008. I still think that was realistic for the original project list, but I kept adding things and it grew and grew and grew. Not on the original list were; replacement of the rear wing, new canopy, and TWO PAINT JOBS.

I just need to stay at it.

Good to Be Home

I did Oshkosh for the whole week. Saw lots of folks and did lots of stuff.

Paul Fisher and his boy, Roy came out and helped with pyro. Yes - those are real sticks of dynamite!

When we shot the wall of fire, Doc and I peered over our standard issue cardboard blast protection. Roy ducked a little.

The minor irritation of the week came from some Vari-Eze driver who showed up with the Plastic Explosive label on his plane. He must not know who he's messing with.

Now, back to sanding.