Thanks for the details Steve and congrats. My only two cents is that the
disposable
fuel filter you're speaking of needs to be a high pressure one- the cheap
glass see thru ones won't suffice. Take a look at high performance racing type
fuel filters.
Take care,
Paul Boulet, N914PB
testing after monowheel to tri gear conversion
----- Original Message ----
Sent: Monday, July 31, 2006 8:55:55 AM
N40SH with a 914 and an Airmaster prop took to the air at Gateway Airport under
the capable and skillful hands of Bob Lindsay. The plane works as advertized.
Bob noted that it was the smoothest Rotax he has flown behind yet. This
is no doubt due to the good job that Phoenix Conposites did balancing the
prop and my experience I had in balancing the Bings on my old BMW Paris-Dakar
with my murcury manometers, It must be the hazardous material in the tubes that
gives you just the right amount of granularity in your adjustments. The plane
is a good deal faster and more efficient than the spam cans I am used to.
We passed the Coolidge airport that usually takes 30 minutes to get to in
only about 20 minutes. I didn't expect it to show up so soon.
The aircraft is very stable, the wings giving a very good rumble when
approaching
a clean stall is un-mistakeable. With one person aboard there is left wing
drop in a dirty stall at about 40 kts. Though not much worse than I have
experienced
in a certificated plane. With 2 people aboard it becomes more stable
in the dirty stall. The times I have tried it., it appeared to just burble
a bit before letting go.
The plane has been tested for flutter to Vne plus a good margin and everything
was fine and stable. Some basic aerobatic maneuvers were tested. The plane
flies like it is on rails.
All subsequent flights during the week originated from Falcon Field with me
doing
my practice take offs and landings at the huge runways at Gateway Bob signed
me off to fly it by myself this Saturday, he added a 10 kt cross wind
restriction
until I get some more time under my belt. I did indeed use a good deal
of the width of the 100 + ft wide runways at gateway on some of the early
landings.
Excitement:
We succombed to the dreaded clogged fuel filter syndrome. This has happened
so many times. I figured I had it licked as I ran a minimum of 40 to 50
gallons
of fuel through the filters and then changed them out. The clear filter
housing was inspected before the flight also. Evidently running fuel through
them doesn't do any good unless you have the plane strapped to a paint shaker
to stir things up while sucking the gas out. Also it appears what clogs
the filter is the same color as the filter, you only see some black particles
in the filter that look benign. Its what you don't see is what kills you.
The filter decided to stop passing the correct amount of fuel at the most in
opportune time. During a touch and go after we had lifted off and were about
a hundred feet in the air and with most of the runway behind us. We probably
touched down within 10 ft of the end of the runway and headed it into the
mud and water rather than the fence along Greenfield road. The plane handles
much better in the sloppy stuff than it does on the pavement. The fire dept
took some real good pictures and the lines through the dirt are straighter
than any track of a Europa on the pavement. A very good rough field aircraft!
I will have the post about 20 photos that were taken. After talking to the
guy with the FAA badge for a few minutes. It only took a little effort to
pull it out. The reserve tank was selected and the motor started ri ght up
and we taxied back to our spot. The aircraft was hosed off and cowlings removed
to get the stuff out of the heat exchangers and
every thing was inspected. The plane was no worse for the wear. It flew the
rest of the week (Thurs, Fri, Sat) with nary a peep. Cooling was not a major
concern as expected in the Phoenix summer. Oil temps were good. CHT was
close but stayed away from 135c but not by much. I do have an air diverter
between
my oil and water heat exchangers. So maybe this is telling me to bend
it toward the oil cooler more to get more air to the water.
Solution:
I need to change the fuel system. At this time I have a filter at the outlet
of each side of the tank (primary and reserve). Each one of these lines feeds
the Andair selector valve and then this goes to the two fuel pumps. There is
no redundancy here, I'm using two pumps for takeoff and landing however I'm
sucking off of one filter. The two filters need to be downstream of the
selector
valve, just ahead of each pump. That way if a filter gets clogged the other
pump can take up the load through its own filter. I don't see how I missed
that item. The small filters with the replaceable elements are going away
and some larger disposable cheaper automotive types are going in their place.
Other issues:
At pattern speeds with the flaps down, carbon mon-oxide builds up in the
cockpit
to a very noticable extent. We had a monitor but it wasn't needed. I need
to put some seals at the flap actuation tube slots, like I believe Dave and
Terry did. I also have a good breeze comming up through the two holes in the
console that are open where the rudder pullies are. These need to be plugged
up. I am also going to stick a small air dam 1/4" high at the back edge of each
Naca fresh air duct to see if I can get them to grab more air. I have two
through vents in the aft baggage bay D panel to open up some more to get the
air flowing out the back.
The bungies could use a little tightening after sitting for at least 3 years
during
the build.
Both the fine pitch stop and the coarse pitch stop on the Airmaster need
coarsening
up.
Flight instruments appear to be spot on. (I had to turn me a new static nose
piece from aluminum for the pitot tube after busting the plastic unit a day
before
Bob arrived)
The plane has over 9 hours of its 40 hours flown off. The next week or two
will
be used to work on the above items and to snoop around to see if I can find
a hanger to share with someone. I would think a Europa with one wing off would
fit just nicely with a high wing aircraft. Its a real pain to be toting
the plane around. I will probably fly two to three times more if I was able to
park it at an airfield.
That's it for now you'll probably see the plane at Copperstate this year. It
however will still be in primer by then.
Steve Hagar
hagargs@earthlink.net
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