UPDATED:
[10/12/14] First flight with the new fairing, and we’re seeing about 10 kias better speed at 25 squared (full rich mixture)
I’m finally getting around remounting our nose hear pant. It’s been basically ready to go back on all year, but I hadn’t done the work for a couple of reasons. One, I knew I wanted to replace the axle. Our buddy Andy made some custom nose gear axles at a local machine shop that include the needed gear pant spacer, which doubles as a tow bar attachment when the pant is off, and includes a threaded end for tow bar “ears” when the pant is on. Very nice, but the last axle I replaced was after we had our hard landing in Piqua, and the axle was bent creating all kinds of fun to get it out. This one was pretty straightforward, as it turns out, and I probably should’ve at least done this part already.
The second reason was, I was getting transitioned into the airplane, and the nose pant can be a little tricky for inexperienced pilots. It puts weight on the front of the gear and can cause shimmy. We haven’t had any shimmy yet, but it’s a big problem, so I wanted to start flying without it. I wasn’t even sure I should fly with the main gear pants, and John at the factory recommended against it, but so far it has worked out fine. I’m planning a longer flight this weekend, and I don’t want to mount the leg fairing until I get a part for the top of the leg from Ken Mishler. Andy and seen this on Ken’s plane too, and it seemed so clearly the right idea I asked him if he’d sell me one, and it should be coming along shortly.
So, after this weekend’s flight, I’ll mount the pant and fly it. I will probably hold off on the leg fairing until we I get Ken’s part to make sure I don’t trim too much, but then I’d like to get back out and do some air-to-air pictures with the airplane ‘visually complete’.
The pant and fairing should be worth a few knots on the top end as well, so I’ll be curious to see where exactly we end up on cruise speed.
Posted By: Brett FerrellThursday August 21st, 2014 at 9:37 AM