Tuesday, February 13, 2018

back in the nest

Home at last... ADSB works except I don't see Wx on the IFDs, and seems the avionics guy accidentally disconnected the suction gauge.. the standby AI spins right up and works fine but I'm showing 0 on the gauge.  Maybe I'll just ditch the vacuum system and put a Sandia Quattro there instead.  

Here is the worst thing though... I had the shop replace the wing bolts due to the AD, and somehow the cover for the bathtub fitting on the right wing wasn't secured well enough.... When I took her for a post Mx test flight and got around 3,000 ft over farmland, the cover flew off the wing.  Obviously gone forever. Anyone know where I can find a replacement wing bathtub fitting cover?  

On the bright side, the overhauled props look new and no more oil leaks from the hub.. the plane starts right up and runs smooth and cool. I had about 13 pages worth of other improvements and I feel pretty good about her overall now... and she's back in the hangar where she belongs.


Thursday, February 1, 2018

She's naked

She looks so naked without props.  Turns out the left prop had similar issues to the right.  Glad I did this bit of preventative maintenance, hopefully the props will go the distance now.  Expecting to have her home early next week, fingers crossed!


Good news is that the GTX 345 is installed, hooked into the IFDs delivering traffic and weather there.  Unfortunately I need to wait for a software update to pass that through to the Aspen.  Also my JPI is now passing fuel flow info to the IFDs and the IFDs are wired to the 796 to pass flight plans over.  Not sure why that stuff wasn't done by the last owner, but I consider it complete now!