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What did you do with your RV this Weekend (2/6/21 - 2/7/21)

Cold and smooth in SW Ohio

Quick 1 hour above the cold. 22F in the ground
 

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Another dog (puppy) rescue

Flew a pair of 3-day old cleft palate puppies from Little Rock, AR to Cullman, AL. Puppies this young get transported in a cardboard box with blankets and hot water bottles to keep them warm. They were going to a rescue lady who tube feeds them. One of them unfortunately expired on the trip - but the other one is doing fine.

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It was definitely an IFR day with a solid undercast spanning the entire length of the trip.

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Got to shoot approaches at all the airports. I managed to pick up some ice during the descent into North Little Rock Municipal (KORK). No obvious handling changes, but it definitely got my attention since this was my first encounter with ice!

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Nothing too exciting.. just a flight for about 45 minutes to keep the juices flowing. Hope to do more flying in about a week when work offers a little quiet time.
 
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Completed right / left fuel supply and vent line fabrication.

Note: Nevermind the wire location. I'm not done securing all my runs yet. These will be above the fuel line when complete.

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I flew from base down to the pilot store at Montgomery field in San Diego. I picked up a new Bose headset then attempted to fly to Santa Barbara. Learned at Montgomery that I don’t know how to hot start this motor. Killed the battery. Got an external jump start and flew to Santa Barbara. This morning at startup battery was dead. Another jump start. Landed back home and shutdown and you guessed it, battery was dead. Looks like I fried it. New battery being placed on order tonight

I do enjoy this airplane but it’s humbling as it teaches me know little I know.
 
Completed condition inspection on engine

Finished the condition inspection on the engine compartment, and after 12 years decided to replace the baffling material and try to do a better job this time, mounted with screws and nuts vs rivets so that I can improve or make changes if required. Also put silicon tape on the engine mount under every zip tie stand off after reading some threads on VAF.

Everything looking good and engine fired on 2nd blade :D

Will be too cold this week to work in hangar, arctic blast arriving :(

Figs
 
Way too cold

I'm a fair weather flyer, but usually not to bothered by flying when it's cold out, -20C is about as cold as I'll brave. We are in a deep freeze right now, it was -43C this morning with -56C wind chill. So no, no flying this weekend. Maybe next weekend if the cold breaks.

I did manage to do a little work on the plane on Saturday, upgraded my Skyview to 16.0, re-installed my newly upgraded transponder. Waiting for my long lost GPS 175 to arrive.... And today it did! So I'll be heading out to the airport one evening this week to install that with its antenna and the Dynon ARINC module. Most of the physical work is done, so shouldn't take too long.
 
Got to shoot approaches at all the airports. I managed to pick up some ice during the descent into North Little Rock Municipal (KORK). No obvious handling changes, but it definitely got my attention since this was my first encounter with ice

Doug,
Did you check your horizontal stabilizer when you landed? They say that will pick up the most ice first and can quickly lead to control problems if the elevator freezes.
 
Great flight from KWHP up to KHAF, Half Moon Bay, Ca.😎
 

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Completed right / left fuel supply and vent line fabrication.

Note: Nevermind the wire location. I'm not done securing all my runs yet. These will be above the fuel line when complete.

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maybe a little off topic but can you share why you have that hole in the bottom of the gear web gusset on the left side of your 3rd picture? I know theres a corresponding hole in the skin there, but pretty sure on the tail dragger version you are instructed to just put a rivet to nowhere there?

Not saying you're doing anything wrong, but I'm at that spot right now and just trying to educate myself as to possibilities...
 
maybe a little off topic but can you share why you have that hole in the bottom of the gear web gusset on the left side of your 3rd picture? I know theres a corresponding hole in the skin there, but pretty sure on the tail dragger version you are instructed to just put a rivet to nowhere there?

Not saying you're doing anything wrong, but I'm at that spot right now and just trying to educate myself as to possibilities...

Rivets not yet installed. It's clecoed in with that hole missing a cleco. There will also be AN3 along the side. I know the bolts are tight there (close tolerance) and I want I do not want to have an interference with the bolt and the gusset hole because of misalignment. I'd rather have it adjustable for the wing hardware so I won't destroy the threads going thru.
 
I hope that hangar is heated!! ;)

I'm a fair weather flyer, but usually not to bothered by flying when it's cold out, -20C is about as cold as I'll brave. We are in a deep freeze right now, it was -43C this morning with -56C wind chill. So no, no flying this weekend. Maybe next weekend if the cold breaks.

I did manage to do a little work on the plane on Saturday, upgraded my Skyview to 16.0, re-installed my newly upgraded transponder. Waiting for my long lost GPS 175 to arrive.... And today it did! So I'll be heading out to the airport one evening this week to install that with its antenna and the Dynon ARINC module. Most of the physical work is done, so shouldn't take too long.
 
Did my first engine start Sunday afternoon. Got my FAA signoff today. N781DM is an official airplane now.:D
 
Brought my new baby home from ABQ and started transition training. Absolutely loving it so far!
 

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Flew to work

Flew to a job despite being a Sunday, but well worth it!
 

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Yep

Doug,
Did you check your horizontal stabilizer when you landed? They say that will pick up the most ice first and can quickly lead to control problems if the elevator freezes.

I did. Every forward facing "edge", including the horizontal stab, had some ice that looked similar to the wing leading edge in the photo. Really not too much ice on the surfaces themselves though - just a few frozen "streamers".

I was really looking for any control differences, having read all the wisdom about ice build up - but I never really noticed anything.

This was in the final descent to landing phase of the flight, so I don't really know what else I could have done other than go ahead and land. I picked this up at about 4500 ft in the top of the overcast (undercast?). It did not continue to accumulate as i continued to descend. I flew the approach and broke out about 1500 ft or so.
 
RV-ing this weekend

Flew to Marco Island, FL (KMKY) after a fuel stop in Baxley, GA (KBHC).

Baxley is, without any doubt, the greatest place to stop for fuel in all of general aviation.

Marco Island: https://youtu.be/cQ6c9P0TXxA
 
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