Impromptu flight
Went down to the hangar to pick up something after work. Ceilings were 5500′, wind straight down the runway at 5 knots. Hard to ignore that siren song.
The cylinder temp spread from the front to the back was still a bit high on the last flight, so I put a little more aluminum tape on the front of the front cylinders as a temporary test.
The idle seemed a bit high on the last flight, so I backed out the idle screw 1/4 turn. It seemed like the quadrant lever was hitting the bottom at that point, so I screwed in the clevis end one turn to shorten the cable. Re-secured everything, re-checked everything, cowl back on, pulled her out of the hangar.
I put another 0.9 on the Hobbs. I’m still breaking in the engine, so no serious flight testing yet. I flew at 24″/2400 RPM this time and the cylinder temps are all within 25°F of each other. Actually, they are all within 10°F except #1 which is still 25°F low. Maybe a tiny bit more tape on #1 and that will do it.
The flight went perfectly. Renton to Enumclaw to Monroe. That was half an hour. Back down the Snohomish River Valley, across Lake Sammamish and into the pattern. Slowed down much earlier this time and that was a good thing. Also figured out that last flight I forgot to put in the last 20° of flaps. That’s why it felt like I was going so fast and floating. This time I was just a tiny bit low on final (need to keep more power in–probably because I still don’t have wheel pants), but the landing was great.
The GNS-430 GPS is also working much better now. I figured out after the last flight that the cards weren’t pushed in all the way. It can now figure out when I’m coming in for a landing at an airport and doesn’t complain about terrain and obstructions. I also bumped up the sidetone volume to the top value of 63. It’s better, but still not as loud as the SL-40.
Awesome, awesome flight. I still get a little worried whenever the engine changes tone, but it’s usually just because I’m drifting up or down. The engine is running like a champ and the plane handles incredibly well. It’s so very cool to just go up for a flight on a whim instead of scheduling the rental 4 days in advance just to find out it’s down for maintenance.