Joshua's RV-9A Project

Out to the airport early today, to meet the DAR for the airworthiness inspection.  The inspection went well–shorter than my expectation, a quick engine run, and in the end, I’m the owner of a shiny Special Airworthiness Certificate, now installed in the plane.  No squawks on the inspection…hooray!

With that hurdle cleared, the rest of the day was spent reassembling the plane.  Inspection covers, fairings, wheelpants, interior panels, carpet were all reinstalled.  A few panels remain off, so that the test pilot can re-inspect the flight control systems before the first flight.  Because the seat pans are out, the seats are also out, and the cowling is off as well.  Before installing the baggage wall, I armed the ELT.

I decided when reinstalling the spinner to see how it would work just using screws, and omitting the tinnerman washers — it turned out nice, the look is much cleaner without the tinnermans, and there is plenty of fiberglass for the heads to bear on, so it shouldn’t be an issue.  If required in the future, it’s easy to add them back.  For now, I’m alot happier with the way it looks.

I added a #8 nutplate on the underside of the aft tail cone, in front of the tiedown ring, for mounting a video camera.  I took one of the GoPro flat surface mounts and modified it so that it could be mounted with a #8 screw and tinnerman washer, as I don’t trust adhesives at 200 mph!  Mounted it to the tailcone, and took some test clips to aim the camera.  If the mount proves stable enough, the video should be decent — you see the full wingspan at the top of the frame, with a bit of the horizon above, the landing gear, and a wide view of the terrain below.  I also snapped in the camera to the mounting point on the roll bar brace, which will get forward-looking video including the panel.

Checked some programming on the VP-X for flap control and wig-wag: making sure the entered airspeeds are correct, fixing the neutral trim position, and locating & setting the 15° flap stop.  For now, I’ve left the flaps in momentary (push and hold) mode; after flight testing and proving out the settings, I’ll switch it to position preset mode (where a single click of the switch advances to the next increment of flaps, and a click raises them, without needing to hold the switch).

Re-checked the tire pressures and added air.  I intentionally set them a couple PSI higher than the nominal setting; at the rate they deflate, they’ll be right on by tomorrow.

Talked the insurance agent and bound flight coverage effective tomorrow.

Tom Berge is coming down tomorrow, we’ll make an early start and hope to finish up the remaining 3 hours of training, and do the first flight, before the day is up.  The weather forecast couldn’t be better: clear skies, cool temps, and little to no wind.

Milestone: 1949.7 logged shop hours, airworthy and ready for first flight!

No work on the plane yesterday, as I came home from the office and put in a second 8-hour shift working to get some client projects out the door.  The previous night, I sorted through my build documentation pile and found all the in-progress inspection sheets from tech counselor visits and packing lists.  Also finished the first version of the POH and entered the checklists into the EFIS data card.

Tonight after work, I slipped out to the hangar and polished off the rest of the work there.  Removed the spinner and cut the safety wire on the prop, loosened the bolts, and retorqued them to the specified value.  Reinstalled the safety wire, but left the spinner off for the inspection.

Pumped a few squirts of grease into the nosegear fork pivot, for good measure.  I have a little rubber cap for the zerk that I found in the Fly Market at OSH a couple years back, which is supposed to keep the leaking down in case the ball doesn’t stay firmly seated.

Loaded the checklist file into the EFIS and made sure it displayed properly, and verified the fuel level alarms are set the way I want them.

Finally, with the condition inspection checklist complete (except for the fairing/inspection panel reinstallation lines), I signed off on the engine ground run and inspection entries in the logbooks.  Finally, laid out all the documentation, build log, POH, logbooks, tech counselor reports, and so on, for the inspection.

We are officially ready for the DAR inspection.  With any luck, we’ll be airworthy by the weekend.

I heard back from the DAR today…the inspection is officially scheduled for 8:30 Friday morning.

Just a couple things to wrap up before then: I need to remove the spinner, retorque the prop bolts, and add some grease to the nosegear pivot.  Also, make the final entries in the engine & airframe logbooks.

I also want to test the comm radio, but that may not happen until later, since I know the radio doesn’t work well inside the hangar with its double-layer metal walls.  And, I’ll load the checklists into the EFIS when I have them finished.

Insurance needs to be finalized, first flight still to be set up, and 3 more hours of transition training — but we’re getting close…

Logged another 3 hours on transition training this morning on a neat trip over to Waukesha (near Milwaukee WI).  We picked up flight following on the way out for the experience, and did some autopilot work on the way back.  In between, saw a nice RV-3 and a T-6, and heard some classical guitar.  The 1:15-ish enroute time gave us a chance to talk about various aspects of owning, maintaining, and flying these machines, along with being a safe pilot.  A fun day, for sure.

Back on the ground, looked over yesterday’s work, updated some paperwork, and finally pulled the plane out for another engine run.  The last thing on my engine check checklist was to verify that turning the fuel selector to “off” did indeed shut down the fuel flow to the engine.  Testing showed that it did, though it takes a surprisingly long time for all the fuel to be sucked out of the lines (at least at the low RPM’s I was running).  I also did another ignition check, and verified yesterday’s idle speed findings.  Having nothing better to do, I taxied down to the compass rose and checked the indications on the EFIS for north and south…right on.  Back to the hangar, shutdown with 1.02 on the Hobbs…engine runs complete.

Inspected the FWF for leaks, as I’ve done after each engine run…all clear.  The last remaining task on the condition inspection checklist is to pull the spinner & inspect the prop, then retorque the prop bolts.  I also need to finish up work on the preliminary POH, including checklists and preflight inspection.  And, “publish” the build log for the inspection.  Then, it’s just waiting for the inspector to stop by.

The last big push is underway…

Mike, a tech at SteinAir who has a Zenith on the field, brought down the static & transponder test gear, and I met him at the hangar this morning.  An hour later, we had tested the static system for leaks (it’s good), and put the encoder/transponder through their paces.  I’m within 20 feet up to 12,000′, which was where we stopped testing.  Allison ran out with the checkbook that I forgot, and we got the inspection sticker in the log.

Installed the document pocket I picked up on the last Spruce order…it’s attached to the side wall with velcro.  Finished removing fairings, panels, and wheelpants.  With the wheelpants off, I was able to drill & install the miniature nutplates I bought, to the outboard wheelpant brackets.

Measured and set up the assortment of strings to align the gearleg fairings, and clamped them down in place.  I’ll need to draw some marks from the fairing to the leg, so they can be reinstalled into the correct position without having to redo all the string business, should they need to be removed for service.

Started working through the condition inspection checklist, for one last checkover of everything on the plane.  Once finished, I’ll sign off the inspection in the logbook, which is part of the airworthiness process.

It cooled off as dusk prepared to fall, so I pulled the plane out and finished off the day with an engine runup.  I had adjusted the idle stop on the throttle, since the engine wanted to quit the last time I pulled it to idle.  In order to check that it’s set right, the engine needs to warm up, so I ran it for awhile keeping an eye on the temperatures.  The idle setting checked out perfectly–she idles right around 600 RPM…it’s a touch rough down there, but it stays running, and bumping the throttle to 680 or so smooths it right out.  Another round of mag checks, and a verification that “off” on the P-lead does kill both ignitions.  Also checked the parking brake holding power.  All in all, added another .3 to the clock; engine runs should be complete tomorrow.

Also spent what probably amounted to an hour or two sitting in the seat, learning the buttonology/knobology of the EFIS display, setting up radio sidetone, audio alert volume, and so on.

The first week back at work after time away always feels long. Made it out to the airport tonight for a couple hours, and updated the software in the EFIS, loaded the latest map files, as well as removed all the panels aft of the seats, and started pulling seatpan screws. Also added a placard to the bulkhead channel behind the seats, stating the max baggage capacity. I stopped off at Menard’s on the way and bought a little organizer caddy to hold the various fasteners from all the panels.

Talked to the MIDO today, and they said they had received the packet and already sent it out to the DAR, so I called to let him know it was on the way. He called back later in the day to say he had it, and needed a measurement of the wing, which I emailed to him after coming back from the hangar. Also talked to SteinAir and set up a transponder inspection for Saturday morning. And, scheduled more training with Tom Berge for Sunday late morning/afternoon.