Daily Archives: 26/07/2019

Avionics, Controls, Engine, Flying Controls, Fuselage, Ian Daniels, Peter Sharpe, Systems, Wings

Friday 26th July 2019

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Music: My Rotax bursting into life on the first turn.

Video of first engine start: https://1drv.ms/v/s!Au02Zz1cs6-RgbAhlIeJQiX5mrKNxA

With only a few things left to do one of them is to set the control surface deflections. On the face of it, it’s an easy job but it requires a differential movement from fully up to fully down. Due to that specification there’s more than one place to adjust. It requires a bit of juggling to get it right and in the heat of Thursday it wasn’t the day to do it.

One of the adjustment points in in the rear of the aircraft with a very small inspection panel to undo nuts and make the adjustment. It was very tricky and time-consuming but got there in the end. I used an iPhone inbuilt app for the level that was then checked by Ian who has a digital protractor. Amazingly the iPhone reading match Ian’s readings +30 deg -15 deg.
Ian came round to ask if I wanted to run the engine today as he’s away Monday and Tuesday. With the temperatures very much lower today it seemed a good idea so we got on with checking everything was ok before taking it out of the workshop.
The workshop ceiling was far too low to fit the canopy so needed to do it once it was out. It took a lot of jiggling to get it out of the workshop and now it’s out it won’t be going back in!
Out on the grass away from all the stones and Pete Sharpe recording the event on my iPhone it’s time to do a final check before the first start. The electric fuel pump was switched on to check for leaks from the fuel system, all seems ok.
First time in the cockpit for real so another good check to make sure every thing is working as expected. Ian is standing by just in case anything goes wrong with a radio and fire extinguisher!
Canopy down, calling “CLEAR PROP” as I turn the ignition key and my baby burst into life on the very first turn – I can only shake my head in disbelief – Amazing!
Watching the Ts&Ps as the engine is running Ian does a walk round to check for any obvious problems but there aren’t any. It’s running as sweet as a nut.
After being told to smile I look up as one happy chappy…
Ian prompted me to taxy the aircraft to spread the noise about a bit so I did a few runs up and down the runway checking brakes, steering, instruments, pitot system and then power checks. All very good apart from the flys on the firewall. Ian carried out a further check once the engine had stopped but all was ok and there were no problems.
A very empty workshop. It seemed big enough when I first started but as time went on it proved to be too small to house the aircraft on a permanent basis.
So this is where G-MLSY will be for the weekend before being moved to its new position in the main hanger.