Another Milestone....

[Ironflight]

As I taxied up in front of my hangar and swung the tail around after a seven-hour day flying back from California yesterday afternoon, I looked down at my EFIS screen and saw this...



For those who don't read GRT, if you look on the right middle side of the screen, that "600.0" is the total number of hours on the airplane. I had two thoughts as I snapped the picture quickly before shutting down:

1) Wow, that's a lot of hours in two weeks short of two years!

2) Wow, I don't want to go back and add up my fuel bills over that two year time span!!

I have recounted all of the major maintenance milestones I've had over the time here on the forums as they have occurred, but in summary, I think it's been a couple sets of tires, one alternator with wandering voltage, an oil seal on the Vacuum Pump Drive adapter (used for the SD-8 Alternator), oil changes every 50 hours.....and oh yes, a Tach Drive cover!!

Build them to plans, use quality components, be honest with yourself when something doesn't look right and needs to be done over - and you'll be rewarded with a very reliable machine that you can fly anytime.

Paul

[kentb]

Will there be enough room on the GRT when you go over 9,999 hours?
Looks like it would crowd the tach. You need to be planing ahead.

Kent

[AlexPeterson]

Wow, Paul, unbelievable. I gotta get me a government job!

[apatti]

Am I reading something wrong? The left tank shows 17 and the right tank shows 21. How come the total reads 31.8??

[scard]

Originally Posted by apatti

Am I reading something wrong? The left tank shows 17 and the right tank shows 21. How come the total reads 31.8??

That is the fuel totalizer from the fuel flow. Not connected in any way to the actual tank sensors, except for the magenta diamond in the graphic. Paul probably just didn't record some fuel that was added.

[Ironflight]

Originally Posted by apatti

Am I reading something wrong? The left tank shows 17 and the right tank shows 21. How come the total reads 31.8??

The 17 and 21 are readings from the float gauges, and the 31.8 is the totalizer....the totalizer is correct to about 2%, and the float gauge readings are only accurate down in the lower ranges - they stay "full" (21) until you've burned about four gallons out of the tank (because of dihedral). I have never tried to fine-tune the calibration on the tank gauges, and just use them at the low end. In this case, I had filled up on cheap fuel in the Hill Country after a long leg from Phoenix, and burned about ten gallons on the final leg, almost all from the left tank. (My usual pattern is to burn the first hour on the left tank)

Paul

[groucho]

Great work Paul! You defintely don't want to add up the total fuel bill - just keep flying!

[frankh]

I'm a year behind and about 80 hours off the pace!

Have now formally switched to autofuel just in case I ever do add up the bill.

Frank....Did my first snap role last night..