Vance Visits-Ardmore trip-squawks

 

Vance Atkinson came out to get a stack of aviation magazines I had saved for him and to get a long overdue flight in the Cozy.  

I pulled the 50 lbs. of  ballast out of the nose and dug out an old ANR headset, and adjusted seat foam.

We loaded up and headed North.  Vance took the controls and checked the stall speed, stick/pitch force etc.  He admired the panel and avionics capability.  He gave the controls back.  I zig zagged around Class B space, climbed to 5500 and headed direct to KADM Ardmore OK.   Unfortunately, my ARINC module had gone off line and I was seeing some other Dynon messages.   It's seeming to me like the transponder's RF is causing problems since one of the recent changes I made was to pull some shielding foil off the annular slot antenna.  I'll check electrical connections again to be sure nothing has loosened up again.   The tower cleared us to land on 17 but I had a brain fart when I saw a Cherokee doing a low approach on 13 and followed it.  Oops.   Tower called me and asked if I was on 13 and then gave taxi directions to the ramp.  5 of my neighbors had also flown up to Ardmore for lunch.  

Went WOT/Rich for a bit.  More work to do tweaking CHT's.  Probably need something that is adjustable in flight.

Vance noted that he couldn't hear my transmit audio when I talked on the radio.  I think the headset was set for mono and not stereo so will check that.  He could hear fine when we were talking on the intercom.  

I noticed that the belly brake switch had been flipped accidentally in flight, but fortunately the WOT switch on the throttle had latched the relay to keep the brake up.   I've had two pilots ride with me that bumped switches on the console so need to finish the switch protector before someone breaks a switch inadvertently.  I hadn't put the "protector" on because it isn't pretty, but for now it will be more prudent to install it.

The engine did start nicely although it had to crank a bit longer after the last SDS map tweak so maybe needs a touch more fuel on the start cycle table.

Vance approves!