Author Archives: Michael

Battery Charging Port

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Time: 2 Hours

When I decided to put the battery in the lower forward baggage area I also included a cover to make the entire upper area usable for storage. I’m having Abby at FlightLine Interiors make me a carpet piece, that matches the kit I already bought from them, to go over that cover so the entire space is carpeted. With the cover in place and the need to charge the battery I have to remove the cover and connect the clamps to the battery. Not a big deal but since I have time on my hands due to the COVID-19 pandemic my flight schedule is nil to say the least here at United Airlines. So many builders connect wires from the positive and negative posts on the battery and run them through the firewall up to the area where the oil door is on the engine cowl. That way they only have to open the oil door and use a plug, like a two pole SAE plug, to connect a battery charger. For me that doesn’t work great as I have a hidden oil door pin that’s accessed from inside the baggage compartment. So I would have to open the baggage door then open the oil door to charge. So I decided to put the access in the baggage area. I looked around and found one builder used a flush mount SAE port. I like the looks and ordered one off Amazon. There are many brands with different wire sizes. I decided on one and went with 10AWG wire size as my charger has 10AWG wire and wanted to match it just to be safe.

My plan was to install the port on the forward facing side of the aft baggage wall. That way the wires could go straight down into the battery area. Then when I wanted to charge the battery all I would need to do is plug in either the big charger or my smaller trickle charger as needed. I will buy a Odeyssey approved trickle charger for long term use if needed. I don’t plan on letting the RV sit long enough to let the battery get low but you never know.

I wanted to make attaching the port a one man job and since it had four screw holes I fabricated a backing plate that would have four nutplates. This way I could insert the port and slip the backing plate over the wires. I could reach through the avionics door and hold the plate in place while starting one screw. Then the other three would be lined up and installed pretty easily.

Then it was just the process of extending the two wires and installing the port. I then ran the wires down through a bushing into the battery compartment. Then I routed each wire to the posts, in this case I ran them to the hot side of the battery contractor and the ground lug on the grounding tab block. This way the wires are out of the way for battery removal and replacement. Once I had the wires routed I cleaned them up and laced them to the wire runs to secure them.

The battery cover in place. This is where the new carpet piece will go.
Temp plug to see the fit.

Autopilot Pitch Servo

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Time: 2 Hours

I received one autopilot servo from Aircraft Spruce today and got right to work installing it. I decided to put it in the pitch spot since that’s the toughest one to get to back in the tail cone. I had installed the mounting bracket a few years ago when I had the tail still open in prep for today. So the process was pretty easy. I started by putting a 9 pin d-sub connector on the end. This is the matching connector to the one I had wired already back to the location where the servo will be mounted.

I did a quick test by connecting the d-sub connector to the one in the RV and powering up the SkyView system. I had issues right away when I powered on the autopilot switch. After a short time searching for issues I decided to take a look at the d-sub pin layout of the wiring I did a few years ago in the tail. Turns out I had a different layout than what Dynon called for on the servo end. So I made a note of how the layout was and changed the pin layout on the connector on the servo. A re-test proved to be perfect. So I then installed the servo which isn’t very easy especially as you are laying in a tight space of the tail. I secured the wires and torqued all the nuts. I also safety wired the two bolts that screw into the servo.

I did the servo calibration and tested the function and all was perfect. Now to order the second servo for the roll axis and get that installed. Every step is getting me closer to flying.

Dynon Heated Pitot

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Time: 8 Hours

I finally got back to working on the RV. When I built the wings one of the items I planned for was the Dynon heated pitot, for the non pilots it’s the tube that measures the air pressure to determine airspeed and angle of attack. I had installed the mast that would hold the pitot since it needed to be riveted and the hole cut into the wing so it made sense to install this early on. I had also wired for the pitot which includes the power, ground and indication wire. The wiring is for the heat controller that allows the pitot tube to keep ice from forming as you fly through moisture which could freeze on an I heated pitot and block it’s function. First task was about getting the pitot attachment screws drilled, tapped and countersunk.

This pitot has a special function in that it has one hole on the tip to measure pressure indicating airspeed but also has one in the angled face. This hole compares pressure between the two and as the angled ones pressure increases and the tip decreases it can measure the angle of attack, the angle of the wing relative to the air it’s traveling through. This angle of attack or AOA is used to determine when the wing stalls or no longer produces lift.

First up was to determine where the screws need to go. The pitot has some thicker sections on the wall to allow for the screw holes. I transferred where those would line up on a piece of tape I put around the edge so that I could reference them onto the mast.

I also used some electrical tape to help make the fitting tight. I put the pitot tube in place on the mast and used the reference lines on the blue tape to transfer those marks onto the mast. I then used those marks to drill the initial holes after removing the pitot.

I then returned the pitot tube back to the mast and used the previously drilled holes to mark the pitot tube itself. This way I could remove the pitot tube and drill in a more controlled environment as you need to be careful to not drill too deep and hit Bart if the inner tubes or wires.

With the holes drilled in the pitot I could then use my tap for 6-32 screws. I then countersunk the mast to accommodate the screws to be flush.

Once the pitot was secured into place with its new countersunk screws I marked the ends of the aluminum tubes inside the wing so that I would have good clearance. I need to transition from the aluminum tubes to the plastic SafAir pitot/static hose that I had installed a few years ago. I removed the pitot again so that I could cut the aluminum tubes to the final length. I decided to stager them to help with installing the pitot with the fittings installed. I needed to flare the the aluminum tube to work with a compression fitting that allows to transition to the push-to-connect fitting that allows the plastic hose to connect.

The next step was to mount the heater controller. I searched several websites prior to this and decided that I would mount the controller directly to the access panel. This allows for easy installation and removal as needed. So I took some measurements and decided exactly where to mount it on the panel. I made some reference marks and clamped the controller to the panel so I could drill the four mounting holes.

After I had the holes drilled in the panel I went to work on the attachment hardware on the controller. I decide to use nutplates to make installation of the controller as easy as possible. This included drilling for the nutplate rivers and countersinking for the dimples that would be in the panel. Once all cleaned up I riveted the nutplates and dimpled the panel for the #8 screws. Overall a pretty easy process just time consuming.

Now I needed to figure out exactly how to route the wires to make sure they don’t interfere with the aileron bellcrank or the edge of the rib. Once that was decided I started lacing the wires so that they would lay correctly. I also added a couple of adhesive zip tie attach points to help secure the wires.

I laced up the wires that come off the pitot so they look good as well.

The last task is to cut the two plastic lines inside the wing. I had left these long when I installed them a few years ago since I wasn’t sure how they would be routed in the final install. I made some marks where I thought the should end up and cut them about an inch long to start with. After a few trial fits I removed a little at a time to get a perfect fit. I decide to go with two 90° push connect fittings versus bending the aluminum tubes which will all for easy removal of the pitot should it need replacing.

just need to order and install some edge guard along the rib lightning hole to protect the tubing. I also did a pitot test with a 12cc syringe and some surgical hose following the HomeBuiltHelp technique from this video: Leak Testing. My system stayed pressurized and a constant indicated airspeed help for several minutes which tells me I have no leaks. I will test the static side after I crawl into the tail to add a tee fitting. I then tested the heating function of the pitot by powering up the RV and flipping the Pitot switch on. I watched the VP-X screen to see the AMP draw increase indicating the that controller and pitot are drawing power. The indicator I created on the Dynon screen turned green, that’s how I programmed it, to give an indication that the pitot was turned on and is functioning properly. I also tried to use a laser thermometer to see if the probe was actually heating. I could get a good reading so I quickly touched it with the back of my hand. It was hot but not so hot to burn me so that was good enough for me to say it’s working. One more task done on the RV!

Boeing 757/767 Training

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While I’m still in the “save money mode” for the Hartzell propellor I figured I would just do a little update. I have been in flight training since January 14th for the 757/767 here at United Airlines. It has been a fun training event but stressful none the less. This is a weird fleet for us as it incorporates several variants of both of these aircraft. We have 757’s with Pratt & Whitney engines and Rolls Royce engines. We have the 757-300’s as well as the 767-300’s. We also have the newer version 767-400 which has a completely different avionics package. All that being said it is a challenge to manage all the differences especially for a first officer as we are the ones who start the engines and each have differences. I can’t wait to get the training done and head back home so I can do some of the little items still left to do on the RV-8!