Ups and Downs in Flying and Life

This blog entry was originally left unfinished on 03/20/2023. 
I've cut it back to 02/02/2023 and pasted the remaining content into the next post.
My reasons for doing it this way will become apparent in the long run.
In the meantime, I can finally publish this part and move on from there.

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     Another four months (actually TEN months now; see above) have come and gone since my last entry.  Although that seems like a lot of time, the onset of winter has slowed my flying activities; only five flights and two taxi tests.  That doesn't mean that life has been dull; the title of this post should have given a pretty fat clue.  Let's do this.

     As December 2022 wound down, I finally started working on the wheel fairing repairs and modifications.  Initial retrimming was done around the damaged aft edges of the wheel openings.  The parts were temporarily assembled and cleco holes were drilled around the perimeters of the lower intersection fairings.  The parts were prepared and each lower intersection fairing was epoxied to the front and rear halves of the wheel fairing in such a way that separation cuts could be made and the halves disassembled.  After that cured, further reinforcement was done with flox.  Repairs to the aft wheel openings was also begun.

     I had two more flights in 2022; the first one was a camera mount test flight in the pattern.  The first two circuits were done with the camera facing the EFIS screen; the next seven circuits were captured with the camera facing forward.  Despite a couple of clerical errors, this was a fun time that showed me that I was really starting to get the feel for the airplane.  Every approach was different; standard, short, emergency, long; wheel landings; three point landings, etc.  All the landings were good; smooth landings were finally becoming the norm and I was gaining confidence that I could put the plane down how and where I wished.

Camera Mount Test - Pattern Work 221213

     The final flight of 2022 was the long-overdue Angle Of Attack calibration flight.  I did a lot of studying for this flight; it would be the first time I would do in-flight calibration procedures.  After flying with this calibration for a while, I may want to repeat the procedure as I suspect I'm not getting audible warnings as early as I expected.  We'll see... but at least I have a working indicator and audio stall warnings now.  The two touch-and-goes at Marlette (77G) were fun, and the landing back at PTK was butter.  Good times.

AOA Calibration, 77G Pattern 221221

     The end of the year was capped off by a long road trip to Florida.  My brother-in-law and dear friend Dan wanted me to help him tow his newly acquired boat from Lansing MI to Spring Hill FL, since I have a lot of towing experience.  The trip morphed into a big family gathering; Amy drove her car down with her sister Sue and our daughter Naomi and grandson Joey while Dan and I towed the boat down with his car.  We spent a week down there, celebrating Christmas and New Years Eve together with Amy's extended family.  I also visited some old bandmates that spend their winters down there.  While I was there I scoped out the local airport (Brooksville/Tampa Bay Regional/BKV), checking out the best FBO for future flight planning.  Naomi and Joey flew home from Tampa on January 2 and Amy and I drove her car back to MI, making our way carefully through a severe storm that ran from Louisiana to Pennsylvania.  I know this trip wasn't directly related to flying the RV-8, but I did share a lot of my flying videos while I was down there and it was an epic trip that was worth sharing.

     2023 began with some avionics software updates and minor repairs.  The first flight of the year was a meander northwest, then northeast for awhile, staying clear of some low clouds to the northwest that may have presented some icing conditions.  After dancing around a bit I turned back toward PTK for some recurrency pattern work.  That got quite interesting with a couple last-second runway changes which I actually rather enjoyed.  There were a couple issues with the last landing; I didn't have half flaps when I thought I did and my idle was higher than usual.  All's well that lands well, but I had some work to do.

Recurrency Flight 230109

     Maintenance and repairs were done over the next week.  Garmin databases were updated and repair work was continued on the aft wheel openings of the wheel fairings.

     Prior to the next flight the engine was preheated, the Garmin software was updated, the cowling was removed, the idle screw was adjusted and the cowling reinstalled.

     For the post-maintenance flight I decided to visit a couple local airports I hadn't flown into yet; New Hudson (Y47) and Brighton (45G).  The Sandbar Mitchell restoration group recently relocated their B-25 project from Brighton to New Hudson; it was tempting to stop in during this trip but I decided to wait for a warmer day.  It was cool having a Piper land on the runway as I taxied back for my takeoff.  Heading over to Brighton I made an errant position call inbound and initially planned an approach for runway 4 but was advised by ground traffic to use 22.  My first approach was close in and unstable; I didn't like the way it felt so I went around and made a longer and better approach for a full stop landing.  During the taxi back I noticed my idle adjustments hadn't been effective; it was still idling too high.  The return to PTK was uneventful and pleasant.  Full and detailed disclaimers are pinned in the comments section of the video.

Post-Maintenance Flight 230115

     A few days later I preheated the engine, pulled the cowling again and inspected the throttle cable and made more adjustments.  After one taxi test and runup it became evident that in order to reduce the idle any further, I'd need to readjust the cable at the engine bracket to get enough travel.  Once that was done I restarted the engine and checked the idle again.  This time it would idle around 600-700 rpm at full aft throttle, which was good.  I shut down, put the airplane back in the hangar, reinstalled the cotter pin in the cable assembly and tucked the airplane into bed.  Job done.

     I had hoped to fly soon afterward to obtain more detailed V-speed and fuel flow data.  I also began to ponder my end game with my videos; they had started to fall into a pattern and I wanted to make a more direct connection with my audience about my personal goals and how they relate to what I do and why I do it, with the airplane and with my video productions.  I had a plan to make a video that captured the process of compiling the data; then I would head toward the sun to optimize the cockpit lighting and just have a heart to heart conversation with my audience.  It was a grand plan, but the winter weather didn't want to cooperate.  So I decided to produce some hangar segments, airport segments, office segments and shop segments that I could edit into a cohesive video that would cover all the topics I wanted to discuss in a truly heartfelt way.  What I ended up with was a weird, funny, weird, chopped up, weird, soul-baring chitter-fest that was nonetheless effective in both genuinely communicating with my audience and keeping them amused all the way to the end... I hope.  It also achieved the short-term goal of keeping the creative urge satisfied in a slightly perverse way.

Why Do I Do This?

     Luckily, it wasn't that long before I got to make the V-speed/fuel flow check flight.  I followed a similar course outlined in the previous video: northwest to Glowaki (97G), northeast to Tuscola (CFS) then back to PTK.  Glowaki was hard to find in the snow; I was only able to find it in the photos after the flight.  On the way to Tuscola I started getting high voltage alerts at 14.5 volts indicated.  I did some checking, turning things on and off, but wasn't able to eliminate the issue completely.  I made a note to discuss it with Jason Smith, my Aerotronics guy.  When I finally got around to calling him, he asked me to send him a copy of the Garmin flight data logs.  We analyzed the data together on a video call and determined there was nothing to worry about.  My voltage during the flight varied from 14.3 to 14.5, only going outside those parameters during troubleshooting.  This was another video where I posted disclaimers in the comments; my verbal data recording was often inaccurate, but the video captured what I needed and Jason showed me how to use SavvyAnalysis to review my data logs.

V Speed Flight 230202
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Then, suddenly, everything changed.  Buckle in, folks; this is a long story.
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Ok, you can unbuckle your seat belts; that particular thought train isn't leaving the station just yet. 
 

(I know; trains don't have seat belts.  I was speaking metaphorically.  Work with me, here.)

A lot has happened in the past ten months.  Life continues to be a roller coaster ride.

(And roller coasters do indeed have seatbelts.  Buckle in again; I'm back on track.)

There were some very scary lows that felt like diving off a cliff, but the path leveled again and continued to some very spectacular highs.  The best part is that the ride isn't over yet.

The Journey Continues.  Stay Tuned!