Today marked a real mile stone! After 18 months building time, N417CT had her engine cranked for the first time! All went well! All parameters were in the green; no oil or fuel leaks. We ran her up to full power for a minute and she will get it! After 3 short runs with a long period for cooling between runs, I taxied her back to the hangar and it surely was fun! Vern Darley, the DAR, will be down for her final inspection in 4 days. I don't know if I can wait! Keith surely did a great job getting every thing in the fire wall forward just right and as you can see, he really kept a close check on N417CT to be sure I didn't do something to hurt that smooth running Lycoming O-320!
BTW, the engine screen on the Grand Rapids EFIS is awesome! The parameters are so easy to read!
A few photos are posted on the following URL http://picasaweb.google.com/cleve3/N417S1stEngineStart
Great to hear of your progress. I have been meaning to stop by Waycross and look you up at your hangar. Can't seem to work it in. It will be good to have a new 9A in south Georgia. take care.
For all the folks who couldnt attend the show, here is live action marking the blessed event. A couple of short videos with Dr Cleve at the controls of N417CT cranking up that 0320 for the very first time. It was a day to remember. These are windows media viewer format.