Day trip to Alex City

Flew to “Alex City” in Alabama today to go meet a fellow Delta guy, Tom Hollywood Henderson.  Tom is captain on a B737-800 and also flies some more maneuverable aircraft in the military.  Here’s a shot of his gorgeous RV-8, N469SH, before we launched for a two-ship.  He gave me an aerial tour of Lake Martin near Alexander City, Alabama.  Home to Russell Athletics – hence the name of the airport, Russell Field.  Gorgeous part of the country over there – the lake is the US’s biggest in terms of coastline, or so they tell me.  Many new housing developments are going up there.  Wouldn’t mind living there but I don’t think I could convince my wife to move away from the ATL.

Thanks, Tom, for the good time and good eats.  One thing’s for sure Alex City… things move at their own pace there.

Fixing the NLG

Yesterday the goods to fix my nose landing gear showed up from Genuine Aircraft Hardware.  Good people to deal with.  So today a good friend of mine helped me get the plane back in flying shape.  First order of business was to remove the nose gear assembly.  Not a problem.  Then we came up with a plan of attack.

Ideally we’d like to ream both the mount and gear leg at the same time.  However we couldn’t guarantee the parts would stay lined up.  So we reamed the engine mount first and then the gear leg.  We set the NAS6605-28X bolt in the freezer while we went across the hangar row to chat with another buddy and fix a CHT probe on his gorgeous C-182.  After that was done, I lubed up the bolt and proceed it to insert it from the bottom.  Took a hammer with me in the plane – it needed some tapping to get it in.  Eventually we stepped up to the rivet gun.  Once it was in we tightened it a little at a time.  Unfortunately it took 5 washers (one under head, 4 under nut) to get it on there properly.  Not the ideal situation but it’s not coming out. 

 

Made a jack, jack

Copied idea from buddy’s website who I believe copied the idea from the RVator.  Here’s my take.  Still have to drill some holes in the top blocks to anchor the bottle jack.  But it works for now.  A $20 solution to a $300 problem.

Fixed the breather hose

Been meaning to do this for a while… so why not while I wait on the parts to fix the NLG.  Previously it was held in place in a very ghetto fashion.  Not that this is any better but it should help.  Holes are drilled in the tube further up so it can breathe.  But it’s not airtight at the bottom.  This contraption just holds it in place a little better.  Maybe the bottom of the plane will be less oily as well.  Only time will tell.

Speed tests with Alan

Just thought I’d post some air-to-air shots.  My buddy Alan wanted me to go up side by side to compare speeds.  So we did.  And after that we brought out the cameras.  Actually they were both my cameras but he had one and I had the other.  Here’s some pictures.

 

My baby

She absolutely loves to come out to the airport and see Daddy’s airplane.  I think we have the next Patty Wagstaff on our hands!!  She’s so fun to be around at this age.  One Sunday morning my wife said to her “Heather, you want to go to church?”  She immediately responded “No, how bout go airport!”

Sun-N-Fun 2007

Made it down to Lakeland for Sun-N-Fun 2007!  First major fly-in in my own machine.  Of course I got there too late to be judged but now at least I can say I made the trip.  Hoped to lauch out of KLZU around 6AM but instead didn’t make it in the air til 7AM sharp.  Stopped at 42J, Keystone Airpark, to fill up ($3.45) before I made it to the KLAL area.  The arrival went pretty well… but I did learn one thing.  I should not paint my next RV red and white because there was another RV entering SnF with the same colors right behind me!  Had no idea who they were talking to.  But alas I made it there.  Took forever to get to parking.  Bet my engine loved that – just turning over for 30 min on the ground. 

Right after the airshow, and I mean right after… I pulled the tie-downs, hopped in the plane and launched for KLZU.  Was thinking of flying west to the coast and do a little sightseeing on the way back.  Decided against that due to fuel reasons.  I made it back to KLZU non-stop in about 2 hrs, 20 min.  Could have done it faster had my intersection fairing not been sticking out in the wind.

I have a picture album online if you’d like to see.  Lots of great airplanes there.  Some planes and performers I’ve never seen before.