Sunday, November 3, 2013

Taxi Test Completed

Saturday morning we went to the airport very early to get the prep work and the taxi tests done. Except for adding a couple of gallons of fuel and installing the GoPro camera I was pretty much ready to go.

After half an hour I was ready to fully open the doors of the hangar for the first time.


I pulled her out using the tow bar and got her in position for the engine start and hopped in.



The thread you see coming out the tail is a left over of a string used to pull the control cables through the tail cone and needs to yet get removed.

Here's the event from the pilot's perspective:




and here from the bystander:


Overall result: Great control of the nose wheel (to my honest surprise) and no weirdness with anything. Everything worked as it should and even a data analysis after the event showed no problems.
The only noticeable event happened a second after turning the engine off when I heard what appeared to be a backfire from the exhaust. You can hear it in the bystander video at 3:57. 
I took the cowls off after the test and inspected everything but I could not find anything wrong or even remotely concerning.

We did not wait to let it cool off but came back the next day to remove the cowls and inspect the engine and also complete the rocker test on the right side (as part of the purge procedure).

After taking the lower cowl off I found one issue that I had somewhat anticipated back in the day. The oil cooler frame sits a bit too close to the engine and a what looks like a small eye for a screw or bolt right behind the oil pump. That protrusion had vibrated a recess out of the fiberglass of the lower cowl. 




I will file that eye back a bit as it a solid part and a couple of millimeters will be enough to give it enough clearance.

I also found a wire that travels dangerously close to a metal sleeve and might eventually get chafed.


It is on the right side when you follow the fuel supply up from the gascolator. This will need a dab of RTV.
Other than that there was nothing wrong, so I went ahead and installed safety wire on the nuts and bolts.



The rest of the day I spent some desperately needed time on organizing the hangar by putting together my first rack.


And by using it right away...



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