On
10/2/2003 (Thursday morning), the FAA inspection went off without a hitch.
Taxi tests on Saturday the 4th. Got the brakes nice and hot to glaze the
pads - no problems found.
Startup for the first flight was around 1pm on Sunday, Oct 5th. Everything
looked good - no more reasons not to fly.
Friend, EAA Tech Counselor, and hangar neighbor Brian Denk took one last look at
everything and then off we went. Ken did the first flight at 2pm.
40 minutes long. Explored slow flight, flaps, turns, yaw, rudder - all
slow and steady movements while radioing statistics back to the ground crew.
The slow flight was last, and that sent the oil temps up above 200 degrees so
Ken returned for a near perfect landing, right on the center line, 2000 feet
down the 8000 ft runway. Couldn't ask for anything better.
The
obligatory RV-Grin after the first landing.
After the
first flight, we pulled the cowl and checked for any problems. The oil
sump plugs appeared to leak a bit. Not enough to worry about, but enough
to make our pristine new engine look a bit dirty. After the temps cooled
down to <100F, Brian took it up for the second flight. 1800fpm climb at 90
knots, 500fpm at 110 knots, 9000 ft cruise at approx 155 true air speed.
Both of us noticed a heavy left wing - likely beyond what would be expected with
a single pilot. No other squawks.
