Diego's 2nd. Flight

Saturday October 9 Diego asked me to take him flying again.  He and his parents (my daughter and son in law) live in Spring , TX next to David W. Hooks Airport.  Peggy and I flew there from KTFP on Saturday afternoon. Early Sunday morning Diego was up and ready to go. Rudy (Diego's father) drove us to the Airport.  Diego and I walked to the plane and he helped me check the plane prior to departure. He listened attentively to the procedure and even placed his little hand on the left static port. He helped untied the plane.  I then helped him get in the plane and placed his seat belt and Bose headset.  Our destination was Brehnam Airport's Diner, 11R, this is the perfect place to enjoy the company of a 3 year old.  Diego was looking forward to share a vanilla milkshake made with the famous Blue Bell ice cream. Just 20 minutes flight time landed at 11R and we were welcome by one of the nice young poodle girls.  Diego and Grandfather thought this to be a top class welcome. It was just 11 AM and the restaurant was opening.  We enjoyed the milkshake and the view from the  deck of the ducks swimming in the pond.  We were ready to return to Hooks Airport, gave a call to Rudy and let him know we will be there in 20 minutes. Diego is getting used to handling the stick and it will be a few years before he can use the rudder pedals. Contacted Houston approach, then Hooks Tower and we were on the ground being welcome by Rudy. He got off the plane and asked me "Tato, I want to fly again". There will be a next time.See Video:

SKYVIEW 2.5

This morning I upgraded the software to the new 2.5 version. I also used Google Map and the Dynon export utility to upload user way points. The picture below shows the upgrades.

FLIGHT OF A LIFE TIME - GRANDFATHER AND 3 YR OLD GRANDSON

I arrived to T. P. McCampbell airport at 8:00 AM this morning with Diego my 3 year old grandson and Rudy my son-in-law. Diego has never been at the airport, as we got out of the car I waited for him to come to the hangar door so we could open it together.  His big eyes looked at the big door opening and I could detect that he had no idea of what to expect. The noise of metal on metal scared him and Rudy explained to him what was going on. Diego saw the plane and said " I want to go the back", thinking of a car. I opened the canopy and he was ready to be helped inside. He sat on the left seat and thought it was neat. We turned on the Skyview and proceeded to upload a new software.  He also thought that was neat.  Rudy said "Diego, don't touch anything". We completed the upload, everything checked OK.  I moved Diego to the right seat, I sat in the left seat, Rudy pulled the plane out of the hangar. I asked Diego if he wanted to go for a ride, he said "yes!". Seat belts on, Bose headphones on. I said, "Diego, I am going to start the engine and it will be noisy" he said "OK". The idea was to taxi around the airport and come back to the hanger.  I did not want to scare him. We got to the end of the taxiway, the end of runway 13. I asked him if he was OK and he replied yes, talking through the intercom. I asked him if wanted to go flying and he said yes. We announced, and were airborne, around the pattern we went.  I asked him if he wanted to go back to see his daddy and he said, no.  We went for a half hour trip, made a few turns so that he could see outside. He was happy, talking to me and smiling. We came back to the airport and did two landings. We taxied to the hangar and Diego was happily waving at Rudy. Diego's big eyes and smile were enough to make this flight one of the best I ever had. We'll do it again.

KTFP - 1T7 - KTFP

We flew to our house at Kestrel Airpark, 1T7, this past Saturday at 10:00 AM. The weather was excellent in this part of the country. Filed IFR, climbed to 8000 ft. 35 minutes latr we were flying by Randolph Airforce Base and descending to 1T7.

Returning to our home in Portland, TX at 5:00 PM, clear skies, tail wind, cruising at 168 KT. Soon were seeing the Corpus Christi, Portland, Aransas Pass gulf coast. Also a few of the local Chemical plants.

Landed at KTFP, T.P. McCampbell at 6:15 PM

RV12 Webinar

We had the pleasure to listened to the EEA RV12 Webinar presented by Dick VanGrunsven this past Tuesday April 21 2009. We are somewhat getting interested in building a slower airplane and certainly looking at the new family addition to Vans Aircraft. Our dogs also enjoy aviation, Sue our 8 year old cocker spaniel came up to the table to listen to Dick's presentation. She started upbeat but was falling sleep during the questions session as can be seen on this picture. The information was excellent.

Exhaust Adjustment

As per conversation with Larry Vetterman, Vetterman Exhaust, I have:

1. Adjusted the left  hangers tubes to have a max separation of 1/4" inside the hoses.
2. Raised the exhaust pipe about 3/4" to prevent it from touching the cowling.  The horizontal hanger pipe is now 1 1/2" from the firewall. This is the closest that I could get to the firewall and still keep the separation inside the hoses to a max of 1/4"
3. The pipe clamp is located about 1 1/2" from the last bend on the pipe.  See pictures below:

Exhaust System

Found that the left exhaust pipe has moved and it was no longer pointed downward. This was due to a worn out hanger kit. Called Larry Vetterman, Vetterman Exhaust, and received adviced to replaced the hanger kit. I received the kit on Friday April 9 and replaced the kit on Saturday. Here are pictures of before and after replacing the kit.

Skyview Calibration

Resolved the problem with the Skid-Slip ball. It was corrected by leveling the ADAHRS.

Skyview Calibration

Today I received advice from Dynon, great customer service, to adjust the level of the ADHRS to center the skid-slip ball. This shlould not be a major task and will do it this coming weekend.

After yesterday's flight I found the need to adjust the position of the end of the exhaust. The problem seemed to be the hanger for the exhaust pipes. After talking with Larry Veterman the hanger will be replaced. The ball joints need to be lubricated and the hanger needs to be located as close to the firewall as possible, the end of the exhaust needs to be at a 20 deg angle of the belly of the plane.  Thanks Larry for the advice.

Flight from KTFP to KVCT

Nice flight from T.P. McCampbell to Victoria, TX airport to check out the Skyview. Visited with a couple of friends. Also checked out the EZ-Auopilot from Trio Avionics. I am impressed of the results having had the Navaid autopilot for 10 years. The Trio is definetely a superior unit. Did a GPS approach to runway 13 at McCampbell and it tracks the approach with surpricing accuracy. Great unit.

The reason for the Skyview to shut down on the first day was due to a low battery. The unit is working fine now after the battery was charged. Yesterday I calibrated the magnetic heading. It is not correct yet since there is a difference between the Skyview and the D10A. Will calibrate both of them at the same time today. The skid-ball indicator shows an inclination to the left while ball on the D10A and on the Trio autopilot are dead center. I don't have an answer for this at this time.

New Software Installed

The new Dynon sofware was downloaded and succesfully installed:

Version 1.5 released 3/29/10
US Navigation Database valid 08Apr10 - 06May10

Pictures of the airspace around T.P. McCampbell, Corpus Christi and Victoria, TX are attached.

Annual Inspection

The annual Inspection was finally completed on March 28, 2010. The following additional maintenance and modifications were sone:

- replaced instruments with Dynon Skyview
- replaced Navaid autopilot with Trio EZ Pilot, kept the Navaid servo
- installed new panel to host the Skyview and Trio
- replaced brake lines from co-pilot side to pilot side
- replaced brake fittings on both brake cylinders
- replaced right fuel tank gage and fuel sensor
- replaces rear bag compartment carpet
- replaced batteries in ELT
- replaced back up battery
- re-painted nose gear fairing and nose wheel fairing

Ready to go flying!

Skyview Installed

Yesterday I completed the installation of the 10" Skyview and the EZ Trio autopilot. Tested in flight around KTFP (T.P. McCampbell). The Skyview has not been calibrated and it shows to be 10 deg of on heading and a few degrees off on attitude as compared to the installed D10A. I will calibrated sometime this week. One glitch occurred at start up, the unit came on as per instructions but it shut off after 2-3 minutes. Had to shut off and on the Master switch and the unit came on and stayed on during taxing and first flight test. Don't know at this time what caused the unit to shut off. Attached are a few pictures. The EZ Autopilot has not been tested at this time but it is receiving GPS information from the Garmin 430W. The signal is received once the plane is airborne.

Oxygen bottle installation

Attached are pictures showing the installation of the oxygen bottle in my RV6A. I completed this installation this past weekend. The bottle sits behind the flap enclosure on the baggage compartment side. I built an aluminum bracket and purchased and instlled 2 pipe ss clamps from Lowes.

Condition Inspection 2010 - continued

The inspection and installation of new avionics is in progress. I have completed the installation of the Dynon D10A on the copilot side.

The ADHARS for the Skyview is in place, so is the temperature probe. The static and pitot plumbing is now connected to the ADHARS. The GPS 250 is also in place. Waiting for the network harness for the Skyview and the ADHARS.

It is early January 2010 and started the annual condition inspection. This inspection will take longer than previous ones since I will be nstalling a Dynon Skyview, a Trio EZ autopilot and a Dynon D10A. I will no longer have analog instrumentation with exception of the Garmin 106 glideslope/lsi indicator, and fuel tank level gauges.

I have received all the above equipment. I am now resolving a few questions:

1. Connect the Garmin 430W to the EZ Pilot, if replacing the Navaid autopilot with the Trio EZ autopilot connect pin 56 from the Garmin to pin 8 of the Trio's adaptor connector.

2. To provide back up power to the Rockymountain engine monitor if you have a Dynon D10A with an internal back up battery, connect pin 12 from the D10A to pin U of the engine monitor.