11/8/09 Flight

1.7 hours flown

New 1” foam behind seat cushion.  Very cozy now.

Brake caliper repaired, no leakage, but I’m no longer trusting the thing.  Saratoga Airport has finally been mowed, so if I have to go off the runway in a wide left turn the field seems flat enough.  The plane has at least half full tanks, heaviest yet.   In the two weeks I haven’t flown, things are no longer automatic.  I’m very dependant on the checklists.

But she still flies great.  Temps go right up to maximum on take off. 425 degrees CHT.   Oil temp is fine.  Nose gear is up right away.  Throttle back to 2,000 rpm to let things cool off.

I followed the Northway up to Glens Falls,  one big long emergency landing strip.  GPS   ‘Direct To’  works great.   Over my partner’s house for the first time and………   nobody home.

Next came Argyle, where I found Mike Shearer in his Aeronca.  We just started to play tag when the engine faultered.  At about 1200 ft I could make the grass strip, but I don’t want a forced landing!   I gained some altitude and started going through the systems.  Still plenty of fuel, but some fool pulled the mixture back instead of the throttle.   The knobs are completely different in shape so as to avoid any confusion but it still happened.  

Today’s big experiment was to test the relief tube.   It works well and I learned why the system earned its name.

Also, a problem with all Long EZs is the terrible draft of cold air entering around the elevator tube.   The problem is greatly reduced if not solved by simply taping on and aluminum fairing which directs air away from the hole and tube.  I will make it permanent with fiber glass when it comes home.

Just before sunset, everyone is trying to land at once.  Hard to find a space to talk on the radio.   I want this landing as slow as possible so as not to depend so much on the brakes.  80 kts on final, touch down at 65, and she still floated off again,  but the brakes worked fine and we rolled slowly down the second half of the runway.

Parked again, the sun has set, and I still spend long moments just marveling at what this machine has just done.