Karmy Flying Adventures Rockn the left coast at 100ft

August 26, 2009

First Annual Condition Inspection

Filed under: Kitfox,Maintenance — Andy @ 11:18 am

IMG_0713Well, I finished up my first annual condition inspection on the new plane. For this first one I decided to enlist the help of Aircore Aviation in Arlington WA. Jim Scott is a friend of mine and knows so much about the Rotax 912 and planes in general that it was great to get his eyes on the details of this plane.

So, what did we find? Just a few things here and there. A broken alternator mount (factory weld didn’t hold) was quickly re-welded to fix it good as new. Found some lead in the plugs & bottom of the oil tank as expected since it’s been eating a steady diet of 100LL. Found some metal shavings on the magnetic drain plug in the engine. Looks as if the plug has never been removed since the engine was new. That’s a watch item to see if it’s clear now at the next oil change. I found the aileron push tube that runs under the seat was installed wrong which caused it to rub on the bottom of the seat pan. This was the source of my stiff aileron problem that I’ve been chasing down for the last few weeks. I suspect it’s been installed that way since new and never was found until now. Found one fabric tape on the bottom of the fuselage that’s lifting up a bit. Needs to be sealed back down.

A longer term project is to rewire the plane to provide more standard routing of wires and chafe protection etc. Also the fuel system needs to be re-plumbed a bit and a new header tank installed to clean up the fittings. I also would like to put some new fuel lines in that I know to be ethanol proof before using much auto gas.

Overall everything looked great. New Oil & filter, New plugs, a Carb balance, little welding & shot of spray lube and it’s good to go!

August 17, 2009

Open Doors

Filed under: Flying,Kitfox — Andy @ 4:21 pm

Open door flying? You bet! Works great!

Panel Upgrade

Filed under: Flying,Kitfox — Andy @ 4:17 pm

Time to install some new avionics. First up is to mount my Garmin 495 GPS into an Airgizmo Panel Dock. Nothing like taking a saber saw out and using it on your aircraft panel. Next up was to replace the ValCom with a new Icom A210 com radio. I also installed some dedicated headset plugs to power the Lightspeed headsets. While I was under the panel I pulled a few other items that I didn’t need and started cleaning up the wiring runs and getting familiar with all of the parts and pieces under there.

August 13, 2009

How could I?

Filed under: Introduction,Kitfox — Andy @ 2:13 pm

HOW COULD I?

After spending 18 months building and 6 years flying across most of America I sold my RV9A… I’ll stop a minute and let that sink in…

So parting with the RV was hard I’ll admit it. What was the most difficult was making the decision. It made me physically sick for a week before, but then once the plan was set I became at peace with it. You know if things change down the line I can always build another RV. I built this one in 18 months so the next one could be even faster.

It was a bit strange flying for the first time in 700 hours from the right seat and checking out the new owner in “his” plane, but I kept busy with inspecting my new plane and was thinking about the return trip home. My new plane was down in Las Vegas so I flew down on a Saturday, spent all day Sunday doing inspections and work on both planes with an A&P on the Ramp in the heat. Then got up at 4:30am Monday and left at first light in my new Kitfox 7. Really had a blast flying home. Flew low, much lower than I have ever done a cross country and watched the sights unfold. I would climb over a small ridge and found wild horses running through the desert on the other side! By the time it heated up enough to get really bumpy I was all the way north to Bend Or. Then crossed over to Aurora and Scapoose, back up the usual road home and greeted by rain north of Olympia.

I’m already diving in and working on stuff. Had to get the controls loosened up a bit as they were really stiff for some reason. Replaced the com radio with a new Icom A210, panel mounted my Garmin 495 gps (I kept it from the RV). Started a wiring cleanup / removal of non needed stuff. I have plans to put it on a diet and clear out quite a bit of stuff that the builder put in. Stuff I don’t think are needed for a simple LSA. Dual batteries, dual alternators, etc etc etc… I also have the gear to put it on tundra tires with a tail wheel which I plan to do once I get a few hours in it as a tri gear. You can switch between both setup’s in a few hours. I did the first condition inspection up at Arlington with Jim Scott of Aircore Aviation. I plan to take the E-LSA maintenance class later this fall which will allow me to do the annual condition inspections just the same as if I had built the plane. There are some neat features of this new LSA category.

Cruise is 120 mph the way it’s pitched right now, at 80 mph or less you can fly with both doors open. Just swing them up in flight! Stall is in the 40’s. Can haul 150 lbs in the baggage area inside of CG, however it’s easy to bust the 1320 LSA weight with too much back there. Holds 27 gallons in the wings and with the Rotax 912 burning just 5gph you have 4 hours of range.

So the question asked HOW COULD I, but I have found that there is no one single answer, and it’s best if we continue to adapt to the circumstances and curves that life throws our way. Flying is still fun, and in the end it’s the people you meet through aviation that have left the largest mark on me, not the specific planes I’ve flown! So let’s get out there and fly and those of you considering a LSA in your future, come on over and let’s take a flight!

August 12, 2009

Kitfox 7

Filed under: Kitfox — Andy @ 3:07 pm

Welcome home new little plane.

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