One step closer to flight!
Yesterday, Ann Asberry showed up at our hangar with her trusty assistant Mel in tow. It is clear to me (second time with the Asberry’s doing a licensing inspection) who REALLY does the work in this pair. Ann stands back and makes meaningful observations while Mel pokes and prods – she even makes him do all the paperwork when it’s all over! Every once in awhile, she says things like “is that a drip of red I see on the brake bleeder?” Amazing how nothing slips past her. (one slight turn of the wrench, and the drip was gone). Mel did manage to find the one jam nut I left loose (mixture ball joint at the servo) just to test him, but overall, the airplane passed muster – here are the proud parents being presented with the birth certificate:
When all was said and done, we’d spent a couple of wonderful hours in the hangar with great people and good conversation, and RV-3 kit number 11425 is now a Dye-Hose RV-3, N13PL (jauntily sporting “NX13PL” on the tail …. because it can)! First flight is probably at least a week off due to scheduling constraints (dang work!), but the delay will serve well to force a careful transition between “building” and “flying” mindsets. I’ve been emphasizing forced landing and emergency operations in my recent daily flying just to get spun back up in flight test mode – you know what they say; if you are prepared, nothing bad will happen!
Here are a few additional shots from the day:
Ann and Louise running the inspection while Mel tries to figure out the plumbing:
In the spirit of the season, Mel is making a list, and checking it twice….(he does sort of remind you of someone, doesn't he?)
Here is Mel proving that he can lie down on the job in a smaller fuselage than Jay Pratt! (There is an advantage to being compact…)
Mel signs the pink slip, as Paul reviews the new ops Limitations…”what do you mean we're restricted to sub-sonic flight?!”
And the final step….Mel prepares the bill as Ann makes sure that the decimal point is in the right place!
Thanks again to Mel and Ann for their visit – and to all of the many folks that have wished us well along the way to this point on the RV-3 project. Most special thanks go to Louise for being a full partner in this build (she is WAY past "apprentice", and needs to start thinkign about being the lead on her next project). We have had a ball building it, and are looking forward (carefully) to the flight phase. Stay tuned!
Paul
Yesterday, Ann Asberry showed up at our hangar with her trusty assistant Mel in tow. It is clear to me (second time with the Asberry’s doing a licensing inspection) who REALLY does the work in this pair. Ann stands back and makes meaningful observations while Mel pokes and prods – she even makes him do all the paperwork when it’s all over! Every once in awhile, she says things like “is that a drip of red I see on the brake bleeder?” Amazing how nothing slips past her. (one slight turn of the wrench, and the drip was gone). Mel did manage to find the one jam nut I left loose (mixture ball joint at the servo) just to test him, but overall, the airplane passed muster – here are the proud parents being presented with the birth certificate:
When all was said and done, we’d spent a couple of wonderful hours in the hangar with great people and good conversation, and RV-3 kit number 11425 is now a Dye-Hose RV-3, N13PL (jauntily sporting “NX13PL” on the tail …. because it can)! First flight is probably at least a week off due to scheduling constraints (dang work!), but the delay will serve well to force a careful transition between “building” and “flying” mindsets. I’ve been emphasizing forced landing and emergency operations in my recent daily flying just to get spun back up in flight test mode – you know what they say; if you are prepared, nothing bad will happen!
Here are a few additional shots from the day:
Ann and Louise running the inspection while Mel tries to figure out the plumbing:
In the spirit of the season, Mel is making a list, and checking it twice….(he does sort of remind you of someone, doesn't he?)
Here is Mel proving that he can lie down on the job in a smaller fuselage than Jay Pratt! (There is an advantage to being compact…)
Mel signs the pink slip, as Paul reviews the new ops Limitations…”what do you mean we're restricted to sub-sonic flight?!”
And the final step….Mel prepares the bill as Ann makes sure that the decimal point is in the right place!
Thanks again to Mel and Ann for their visit – and to all of the many folks that have wished us well along the way to this point on the RV-3 project. Most special thanks go to Louise for being a full partner in this build (she is WAY past "apprentice", and needs to start thinkign about being the lead on her next project). We have had a ball building it, and are looking forward (carefully) to the flight phase. Stay tuned!
Paul
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