More Delay

Kerry and Mike stop by for a visit

Well, if anyone has been checking in to see the new paint job, don't hold your breath. I stopped by the paint shop to check on progress and....you guessed it, the plane hadn't been touched. After a heart to heart with the guy who will actually (would, may, might?) do the painting, it was clear that there was no way he had enough time to do a decent job on mine until the end of the year.

I extracted another commitment, for whatever it's worth, that my plane would be painted starting in the last week of December. I cautioned them that I would go completely ballistic if I was put off again at that point and I am getting quotes from other shops just in case. I hope to be able to report that the wait was worth it and to be able to show off pictures of the beautiful paint job. Otherwise, I'll have to do what I need to do to get my money back and go with another shop.


In the meantime, the weather is perfect for flying. It took a lot longer to put everything back together than it did to take it apart. I also had some issues to fix, including a failed Aux battery from Grand Rapids. I replaced the battery and the system works fine again.


 I moved the plane back to my new hangar a few weeks ago. Yesterday, Kerry Fritz asked me to go flying with him. I took off to meet him at his airport. After I retracted the gear, I had a red "Gear Unsafe" light. I cycled the gear again, but no luck. I triple checked that I had two "Down and Locked" lights and landed.               

 I took out the vanity panel, put the plane on jacks and cycled the gear. Sure enough, the mains would not go up. Kerry stopped by in the Long EZ and my friend Mike came by as well. We found that the locking arm on the main gear linkage was binding. I filed it back a bit and it worked again, BUT the red light still came on. Turns out that the microswitch on the nose gear up side needed to be replaced.  


Now, I'm moving on to fixing my seats. The screws that are called for in the kit plans are not structural screws. If you are on the larger side (I'm 6' 2'' and 220) you will shear them at some point and end up flying your trip back home with a box holding up your seat back. The factory recommends replacing them with Grade 8 1/4 -20 bolts. In addition to this upgrade, I'm going to change the seatback angle to make them more upright. This is a tricky trade off between reach distance to the controls, headroom, stress on the seat, looks and comfort. I noodled around with spacers until I found the angle I like and now need to remove the seats. Of course, the screws are bent and won't turn out. I'll have to drill them out with cobalt drill bits and screw extractors. More fun.

That being said, all of the above are details. I have a flying Velocity at last. I don't really mind tinkering with it and each little change makes it better. I love Duane Swing's comment to me when I was frustrated. He told me "Don't hate it, fix it!" I've made that my mantra in these situations.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Here are some pictures of the fix to the linkage. Note the removed area below the notch on the right.

 ____________________________________________________________________________


I have been checking out rental properties in the Bahamas and am starting to plan a trip there on the kids' Spring break. Now that's something to look forward to. It helps this time of the year, when things are lean, to think about a nice trip.

______________________________________________________________________________