Momentary Lapses, Gumption Traps and Fast Eddie (long)

[FastEddieB]

Have absolutely no idea how that happened!*

Fixed in post above and here as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3iPrBrGSJM



*maybe I hooked the url up backwards!

[FastEddieB]

Update:

Sigtronics has shipped the repaired intercom - total with shipping was about $105.

Horizon in Knoxville bench tested the encoder and it was fine. That plus the transponder repair came out to about $143, and Karen picked them up today and will be home with them Sunday.

I'll be so lucky if that was the extent of the damage.

Let's hope!

[drseti]

Fingers crossed, Eddie.

[FastEddieB]

Great news!

I went out to the hangar today and reinstalled the repaired intercom. I had already reinstalled the transponder and encoder.

On reinstalling the panel and hooking it up, everything worked. Pulled the plane out of the hangar and it started right up, and the charge on the new battery looked fine. Assuming no further hidden damage, I'm out only just under $250 in repairs, not including my time. Whew! Too windy and cloudy to fly today - hope to tomorrow.

Some photos and comments:

1) I printed out a photo of the correct battery cable orientation and taped it to the battery box:



If nothing else, hopefully it will remind me to check.

2) Every plane I've owned has in some cases had me praising the designers for making things simple, and other times cursing them for making things hard*.

In the Sky Arrow, one very nice feature is that the panel is held in place with 2 10mm nuts and I can have it out in less than 5 minutes. Everything running into it is easily unplugged/disconnected:



The blue hoses are the pitot and static, making it easy to blow them out if water gets in.

Here it is on the bench:



This allows:

Ready access to the rudder pedal adjustment assembly and heater valve and other items in the pilot's footwell for routine maintenance:



Easy access to the encoder and intercom:





And easy access to all the instruments and switches and breakers - much less aggravation that any prior plane I've owned.


Oh, and the new LED landing light is really bright:



When I do get to fly, I'll let you all know how it goes.



*On the Sky Arrow they mounted the voltage regulator in a location nearly unreachable by normal human hands - it took us 3 hours to remove the old one, using all sorts of mechanic's tricks and specialty tools - and swearing. The new one got relocated to a much easier to reach location, with more air flow to boot.

[Flocker]

1) I printed out a photo of the correct battery cable orientation and taped it to the battery box

Great idea!

[FastEddieB]

1) I printed out a photo of the correct battery cable orientation and taped it to the battery box

Great idea!

Thanks!

And I just flew her!

.6 and 3 landings.

First two pretty bad, third OK - easy to get rusty.

And...

...I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but when I pushed down on the tail during the preflight, it went down noticeably easier.

I guess losing 10 lbs from the nose at quite a distance ahead of the main gear makes a difference.

I think I noticed it on landing as well, with the nose feeling just a bit lighter.

I will post the W&B change shortly, and I did run through "what-if" loadings with heavy rear passengers and the rear limit is still safe.

Here you go:



But as I said, I had looked forward to the weight savings without really considering that I might feel it in any way.

Always learning!

[MovingOn]

.......