Sonex 815 - Continuing the Kitlog - 13
*This web site is NOT owned or managed by Sonex, Ltd.. Sonex, Ltd. is not responsible for the content unless explicitly stated. See Disclaimer.
9/21/10 - Annual, Continued
Torqued the RH cylinder heads and reinstalled the cooling plenum. The lower portion cracked through between cylinders 1 and 3, including the hinge. But nothing can move as the hinge pin holds the top of the plenum. Not sure if I want to try adding a doubler here or not, as the damage is done. Also checked that nothing on the floor would have a problem if water comes in, as they are predicting rain (30%). Sounds "light" but it means 30% of the area is in a torrential downpour while the rest of us are high and dry.
9/22/10 - Annual, Continued
Torqued the prop. Fixed the EIS ground wire. Attached to a different point on the engine (same bolt as the ignition switch lead). Cleaned the outside of the cowling. Bugs, mostly.
9/23/10 - Annual, Continued
Put red hi-temp RTV on the ends of the fire sleeve on the fuel hose. Should have done that back when I installed it - that was easy. Put the cowling back on. Tried to install some clickbonds, but the little foil pack of adhesive had dried up. So put the seat back in. This evening, Carol had picked up the batteries for the ELT, so I put those in. Annual is done.
9/24/10 - Flight 169
0.3 hr, 3 ldg. Post-annual check flight. Everything normal. C-172 in the pattern with me. Also reinstalled the ELT and safety-wired the latch. Checked ELT operation. Endorsed airplane logbook for ELT battery change and annual check.
9/25/10 - Flight 170
0.6 flight time, 1 ldg. Took Carol to the fly-in breakfast at Casa Grande. Spoke with a few people about the Sonex, but then a Davis DA-2A parks right next to me, and well, that was that. Spoke with the Davis owner, Nick. He just traded a C-140 for the Davis. Seems like he wanted to both get into a homebuilt (to do mods and maintenance himself) and also to have something different looking for his display at the big fly-in next month. He's making/selling "portable fuel systems" to transport auto fuel to the airport. Need to look up exactly what that is, but it looked like a tank on a dolly with a built-in pump. Nice flight. Debonair that took off right behind us from KAVQ made a point of passing fairly close while we were over Picacho. About 100 yards off at our altitude exactly. Surprisingly not much faster, but then maybe he slowed down for a look.
Davis DA-2A, Continental O-200 power.
The owner said it cruises about 100 mph.
Not too busy today, but there were quite a few planes calling inbound when we left.
Maybe I should have the fiberglass painted, to add some more color to pictures like this.
9/25/10 - Flight 171
0.6 flight time, 1 ldg. Return from Casa Grande. Added 8 gallons while there, was indicating 7.5 gallons before adding the fuel.
9/29/10 - Flight 172
0.4 flight time, 5 ldg. Quick patterns. "Short" 0.4 (21 1/2 min), so with ~9 min of taxi time, that's 12.5 minutes of flight, for 2.5 minutes per pattern. Yes, they were small. All power off approaches. Wind 080 at 7 on takeoff, but it decreased as time went on, and GPS showed about 4-5 mph wind on downwind.
10/2/10 - Flight 173
0.6 flight time, 1 ldg. Over to the I-10 project. Lots of traffic there today. About a week ago, they separated the two directions under the bridge. Circled my house a few times, but nobody was outside (sometimes they are). Then headed out west of the UL field and did 2 rolls. First one I felt fine, but the 2nd I think I turned my head to look at the instruments as it went around, and that gave me a bit of a funny feeling. Returned to the field and landed. The green Legend Cub took off right in front of me (I was considering doing a T&G, but just made it a full stop), then a Champ was just pulling into midfield downwind as I was pulling off the runway - and he stayed in the pattern for T&G's, so it would have been a time of doing extra-slow flight to stay in the pattern with that guy. Two Long-EZ's were at the restaurant when I left - one landed about a minute before I did and I saw him taxiing.
10/3/10 - Flight 174
0.5 flight time, 1 ldg. Circled over the house a couple of times, as I had told Carol & the kids to go into the back yard. Indicating 140, the GPS showed 118 on upwind and 156 on downwind, so there was some wind up there. Then heard a bunch of people calling inbound to KAVQ, so I went out over the UL field and circled there for a minute, then did a big S-turn on the way back. Could feel the turbulence off the mountains as I headed NW to the UL field. The planes calling inbound said they were a party of 5, plus that Diamond called inbound. He wasn't too clear about his position, and I could hear the others asking. I came into the pattern just as the Diamond was leaving, I passed above / behind him kind of on a crosswind leg. Fit right into the pattern just as the party of 5 was landing. Looking at the restaurant as I was leaving, it was a 601XL, 2 RV's a Mooney, and a Champ.
