New EGT Probes

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

After I hit the 170 flight hour mark I started to see some fluctuations on my number one cylinder EGT(exhaust gas temperature) gage. It started with slow but ended up showing an extremely high temp them going to zero. This happened on two separate flights. On the second flight the number three cylinder started showing similar signs.

So off came the edging cowl to inspect the probes and their wiring. First I checked all the wires for any signs of chaffing or cuts. Then the connections to make sure they were tight and intact. Last thing I did was to remove the number one probe from the exhaust pipe and bingo there it was. So I removed the number three probe as well and it looked the same.

Here is what they looked like when I removed them:

Luckily we have a Aircraft Spruce location an hour away. I looked up the part numbers and they were in stock so I made a drive down there and picked up four new probes. Figured I would replace all four since I was at it. Good thing because the other two looked similar to the first two. l

This photo is of a new one and you can see how the probe is supposed to look. Not sure if this is a normal wear pattern for the Dynon probes but will do a little research

After replacing all four probes and a quick run up on the engine we are back in business and indications are all normal.

The latest YouTube Video

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

I had a chance to go out the other day for an hour and do some crosswind landing practice. I have over 10,000 hours and nothing compares to crosswind landings in a tailwheel airplane. I have the utmost respect for pilots who have tons of tailwheel time landing in challenging wind conditions. True pilots for sure…and they know what the rudder pedals are really for!

Also practicing making YouTube thumbnails!

First Condition Inspection

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

For those of you not familiar with the amateur built experimental aircraft world we have to do an inspection similar to a certified aircraft airworthiness inspection, like a Cessna, but it’s called a condition inspection. In an experimental aircraft we never certify it’s “airworthy” but rather say it’s in a safe condition for flight. The rules fall under FAA part 43 chapter D for what a condition inspection must look at. It’s rather broad in its requirements. So many builders, myself included, create their own checklist that covers all of those items and many more. I created mine based off of several other builders checklist that I used to pick the things I wanted as well as add my own items as well.

The idea is you are inspecting all items that could be critical to Flight and making sure that they operate and are secure as they should be. You look at things like flight controls, flight control surfaces, flight control linkages and items like that as well. I broke mine down into Aircraft sections starting with the tail, the wings, the fuselage, the engine, and an interior space.

I have a total of 158.4 hours on the RV for the first year. My inspection went really well, I did not find anything loose broken or inappropriate. Prior to starting the inspection I had a list of things I was going to replace. The list of items for me was: oil/oil filter, brake pads, spark plugs, spark plug wires and two Dynon fluid pressure sensors.

After the inspection was completed I did a engine run up to verify no leaks or issues. I did find that I had two of my ignition wires swapped which revealed itself as a very rough running engine when I did a test. That was a 30 second fix and all was well in the second engine run.

I now just need to do a couple of high speed taxi runs to break-in the brakes. After that I will do a test flight to make sure all is ok and we will be good for another 12 months.