Return of the Gremlins

Return of the GremlinsI think the coffee spilling inside the lunch box cooler is what released them. They're probably offspring of the ones that ruined my Oshkosh trip a few years ago. That year the gremlins had been especially active — a flat tire, a plug wire coming loose, the Dynon screen shorting out internally and a string of other daily anomalies. It got bad enough that my wife convinced me to ground the plane and I drove to Oshkosh instead. That forced the little pests elsewhere for a while, but this spring's weather must have called them back.I'd broken the Condition Inspection into stages and flown several post-maintenance flights to verify everything and isolate maintenance-induced issues. Minor drag reductions included countersinking the cowl screws deeper so the heads sat flush. I was also keeping an eye on a prior oil cavitation event (momentary low oil pressure) linked to turbulence; we'd inspected the regulator spring and ball, installed a new crush gasket, checked the screen, changed the oil and filter, and verified the sender.  Oil sample taken.  The bottom cowl cooling ramps had been tweaked, steadily improving the CHT deltas to less than a 20 F spread.Camping gear went in Thursday night. Before dawn Friday, I packed clothes. Weather looked marginal but doable for an early departure. After breakfast and a final sky check, I texted LuAnn (at her brother's in Oklahoma) around 8 AM that I was heading out soon.As the hangar door rolled up, the sky had that "get going now" look. A student was in the pattern as I taxied. Broken clouds were already at pattern altitude, so instead of risking getting pinched between FTW Class D and DFW B, I departed Runway 14, turned crosswind, and climbed through a shallow canyon to get on top west of Bravo and head south then east. Takeoff felt great — little radio chatter while climbing to 11,500 feet. All parameters looked good, though oil temp was rising, so I enriched the mixture slightly and shallowed the climb.

Broken layers.  In the distance, another above 11K' south of DFW. Photo was taken NE of Denton looking south.

Clouds from the south were solidifying, with another broken layer above 9,500 feet so I opted to level there for now. It was clear to the north, but graphical METARs on the HDX and FlyQ showed airports under the Bravo flipping from VFR to IFR quickly. I could still see terrain below, and things looked more scattered east. It's fine… until it's not.

Then the panel lit up: "Oil Pressure!" — 90 PSI in the yellow, sometimes higher. Nearest VFR options were Ennis or Tyler farther east. I modulated throttle/RPM; the pressure responded but stayed erratic. All other temps and indications remained solid. I'd seen a similar "glitch" before that we'd traced to turbulence-induced cavitation, and recent post-maintenance checks (screen, regulator, filter, oil color still amber after 30+ hours) had looked clean. Still, with a long trip ahead and fresh in my mind how quickly things can go south after recent work, the mental checklist started: How many strikes? Abnormal indication… marginal weather… spilled coffee in the cooler…I found a stable spot below 2,400 RPM where pressure held around 80 PSI. Rusk and Tyler were still VFR. I was already monitoring ATC and nearby airport frequencies, and I reviewed divert options, transponder codes, and possible radio calls. Rather than press on, I turned toward Tyler at 9,500 feet as a precautionary measure. Clouds were lifting in spots, some METARs improving, and ADS-B traffic was increasing. It didn't look terrible below, but I could see why fields were toggling IFR as clouds passed over.At Tyler, I decided the Florida trip was off. I had planned to fly down for the Sport Air Racing League events on Saturday and Sunday, then continue on to Lakeland for Sun 'n Fun. Stopping at Tyler risked being stranded for several days as the weather system moved north. Things seemed to be trending better, so I diverted toward McKinney (where James Redmon is based), descending to 8,500 feet while trying to keep the RPM under 2,400 and CHTs near 300°F. I was still weighing it: sensor glitch? Alternator debris in the accessory case? New filter shedding media? Weather holding? McKinney sits on the edge of DFW Class B.  I didn't want to give up altitude so opted to skirt the Bravo on the North side.   Is that still two strikes? The airports aren't IFR here…

McKinney TX

 Denton, Gainesville, I-35, and Hwy 287 were all within easy reach. I descended further to 6,500 feet, planning lower near Denton to avoid arrivals into DFW, but not too close with high density student traffic. Then the phone lit up with texts from my wife: "You're not on FlightAware. Everything ok?"  The transponder showed it was receiving and I had ADS-B traffic on my screen.  I'd moved the antenna to the copilot side during the CI, so I power-cycled the transponder anyway. I was now literally just minutes from home.THUMP! Like a bird strike, not mechanical. Then another. Nothing else changed. Copeland, Propwash, Alliance passed below. Approaching at 2,000 feet, T67 had no traffic and higher clouds. I announced five-mile final for Runway 14 as a helo crossed in front of me going to Copeland.  I noted conflicting windsocks (not unusual due to the hangars, trees and RR tracks), got a bit slow, and touched down firmer than ideal — but safe.Back in the hangar, I texted LuAnn that I was down. Post-flight inspection told the story: A screw holding the temporary fence (lip) on the #3 cooling ramp had come loose, allowing the fence to flap around and cause the thump. This was from my recent tweaks to improve CHT deltas. I also found the cowl screws were not as tight as when installed (countersinking had disturbed the fiberglass surface where the washers seat, so it will need some cycles to restore its hard polish).EFIS data was uploaded to Savvy's site.  This was flight #531.  The #1 & #3 temp graphs indicated when the ramp extension had started coming loose.  Early in the flight, they were within 4 degrees and later went to a 20 F delta.The oil pressure sender seems to be the main culprit behind the erratic oil pressure reading (At least for now). Note that I had already replaced the original pre-2018 Kavlico sensors per Dynon’s Technical Service Bulletin (issued May 2020, updated August 2020) regarding potential issues with the older units. I swapped them for the newer Kavlico v2 sensors (P/N 103757-000 / 105492-002 style), which now have over 350 tach hours on them with no prior problems. The suspect sender was replaced with one of the known-good extra spares from another builder, and oil pressure is now rock-solid at 70 PSI with zero jitter. Finally, my avionics neighbor spotted a pushed-back BNC center pin on the transponder coax about 1/16", which we fixed by installing a new connector and moving the antenna back.I’d been distracted by neighbors during the earlier test run, and another gremlin had quietly arrived. After shutting the engine down and pushing the plane into the hangar, I turned the master and engine bus switches back on — and the relays didn’t pick up. My first thought was, “Did my EarthX battery just die?” The next morning everything was normal. Research suggests the BMS likely isolated due to multiple start/charge cycles until the cells cooled. Resting voltage measured 13.53 V, which is excellent for a three-year-old battery.The old sensor was bench-tested with an air pressure gauge, 5-volt power supply, and voltmeter. At 70 PSI, the green wire voltage fluctuated only a few microvolts (2.302–2.313 V), equivalent to just a few pounds — nowhere near the 100+ PSI swings seen in flight. I’ll still check grounds and connections closely. These piezoelectric sensors are notoriously difficult to diagnose with a simple ohm meter.No test flight was possible before the weather went IFR, so the trip to Florida — and the Sport Air Racing League events plus Sun ’n Fun  — is officially scrubbed. Time to sweep the gremlins out of the hangar. There must be a high concentration of them southeast of Dallas.
Update 4/17/2026 - I've added a redundant oil pressure sensor and added it to the Dynon EMS220 along with a widget labeled "OP2".  I've reinstalled the suspect sensor in this position and will monitor it against the new sensor and eventually test less expensive sensors.

2025 Review

 2025 saw approximately 150 hours of flight time on the Cozy.  Tach 339.4 Hobbs 421.3 on December 31st.   Total number of flights since new at the end of 2025 is 485.   A few operational and mechanical events were notable.  Trips to Oshkosh, Rough River, St. Louis and multiple to Nebraska were made.

On a trip back from the midwest over St. Francis KS, the belt driven Plainpower alternator failed.  I was at 9500' and saw the pad mount alternator pick up the electrical load as the buss voltage decayed to 13.7.  The essential buss has diode isolation feeds from both alternators and the battery.  The critical EI/EFI had reliable power from two sources rather than 3.  Since I was solo and my planned route took me within airports no more than 15 to 20 minutes off the course on the way home, continued without any more issues.   The Vans forums have many entries about this alternator failing at about 300 hours and mine had just over that.  I replaced it with a newer internally regulated B&C.  It required a new mount and baffle.  It was also less than half the price of the Plainpower.  Coincidentally, a neighbor with an RV8 was having trouble with his but was able to replace the brushes to get his charging again.   The case on mine was shelled out despite the bearing still spins quietly.  And apparently due to it's manufacture date (2017?) is not repairable or useful as a core.  Plainpower used to be owned and operated locally but was purchased by Hartzel.   I asked Aircraft Spruce if Hartzel had made any improvements to that alternator and got a reply that they hadn't.  Easy choice to switch to B&C although the pivot bolt is a different size so the mount had to be changed and a new baffle around it was made.

Another event was when returning to my home airport, immediately after touching down, the left side tire went soft, then completely flat resulting in a hard pull to the left.  I had to use maximum right brake to stay on the runway and quickly made a radio call to the RV8 landing behind me.   He touched down short, taxieed around and parked nearby.   Several locals came to the rescue and helped lift the left wing and push the Cozy off the first taxiway to a lot near one of the maintenance shops parking areas.  I went back to my hangar, got the tools I needed and stole a wheel and tire assembly off my other Cozy project.  The nylaflow got pulled out of the fitting that connected to the stainless steal line so the left brake was inop.  After getting a good tire and wheel on, got the plane back to the hangar with the help of a friend guiding the left wing.  The flat tire had hit a bolt and punched a circular hole through the tread and tube.  I put new Flight Custom III tires on and really like them.  They don't seem to be as harsh taxiing and landing.  A durometer shows the sidewalls are softer than the older tire's sidewalls.  They are a bit more expensive but claimed to last longer.  The wheel pant had some minor damage that was easily repaired.  In hind sight, if I have a flat and there isn't anyone around, it seems pulling the wheel pant off and rolling on the flat would be an option.  It would also be nice to have a better option to jack the wheel up rather than a wing jack.

N724 ran several SARL races but was the only competitor in the FX Blue  Gold  class, finishing with average speeds over 200 mph.   In the 2025 Airventure Cup, fully loaded with fuel and camping gear, finished 3rd in the Cozy class.  A mistake on a turn (I'd put the wrong airport code in for one of the turns) caused me to go an extra mile or so, but did result in being in cleaner air, so that may have helped.  There were around 125 aircraft in the event.  Afterwards, a LongEZ and I flew formation and used the Warbird arrival at OSH.  Visibility was poor due to the fires in Canada.  On final, I couldn't slow down as much as the LEZ so went around.  Had a Cessna cut in front of me so I asked ATC for the left runway and was cleared.  

I havn't tallied up how many rides and hours were given in 2025 yet, but it was over 10 hours.

During the 2025 CI, I'd found the engine was sagging a little.  The #2 & #4 cylinder exhaust pipes were lower in the cowl.  I consulted with the engineer at Lord who recommended the same mount the Extra 200 or Lake used.  ACS had the Extra200 mounts in stock locally for about $900.  Ouch.  I've heard others are using a less expensive but possibly harder.

I've had this draft setting here for quite awhile so decided I'd post it rather than procrastinate more.

N724CZ May 2025 Nebraska Trip #1 Report

Several times a year beginning in the Spring, I commit to helping with maintenance on our family's 3rd generation homestead in Nebraska.   At least when we fly, we wait for acceptable weather and can make the trip in around 5 hours with one potty break for my coffee drinking passengers.  Traveling solo with no stops, the trip takes about 3.5 hours.  Driving takes around 12 hours with three or four stops.

This year, my wife and daughter sauntered off to Cancun for Mother's day.  A quick solo trip to Nebraska would be an opportunity for me to shake out any issues that may have been caused by recent Cozy maintenance.  New brake shoes and other brake parts, motor mounts, tweaked oil exhaust vent scoop were the main items to check.

One of my sisters planned on picking me up in Sidney NE (KSNY) on Friday.  I saw LuAnn off on her Mexican trip with our daughter and then I departed Hicks T67 (Fort Worth) at 0830.   I made a quick stop at XBP Bridgeport TX for 35 gallons of cheap gas then headed for F05 (Vernon TX).  I hadn't filed a flight plan since I wasn't sure exactly what time I was departing.  The winds weren't going to be favorable later, so stopping sooner at XBP was ideal with calmer wind.  

After departing Bridgeport TX, ATC was busy near the Class B so I opted to get out towards Wichita Falls before requesting Flight Following.  The Avidyne's Nearest frequency was selected for ATC.  After monitoring for awhile and nearing Vernon TX (F05), I'd weave by MOAs near Sheppard and Altus.  A call to ATC resulted in an immediate hand off to a controller that was having a busy and bad day.  "Listen to me everyone...you need to pay attention...there's multiple aircraft with similar call signs..."   I was on my best behaviour and continued North at 8500' where there was the least amount of headwind.  I punched in different VOR's to see if there were any active.  I noticed that Dynon had one VOR that the Avidyne didn't list and it was active.  Then I noticed that the nearest ATC frequencies in the Dynon weren't exactly the same as the Avidyne.  Switching between the frequencies, could hear some were weaker or stronger.  Good to know though.  After awhile, ATC handed me off to KC Center and then Denver who advised the Cougar MOA was hot.  I punched in Scott City Kansas KTQK and Oakley (OEL) as waypoints to avoid the big grey birds not showing up on ADS-B.  The new Lightspeed Delta Zulu's were slightly uncomfortable on top of my ball cap, so I adjusted them a little and took off the cap.

Denver Center advised they might lose me for awhile but should get me back closer to my destination KSNY Sidney Nebraska. There were a lot of contrails near V6 and V80 and as I neared them, started getting tossed around so backed the speed off.  About 30 miles from Sidney, began decending and called ATC to advise.  They terminated flight following and I mentioned the turbulence near Haxton, Holyoak and Sidney.  A PIREP for turbulence was for FL36 about 40 miles NW.

The wind had changed at KSNY while I was en route and Rwy 31 was now favored.  A Skylane was West of the field about 5 miles and I was about 6 South.  They advised they'ed continue downwind and turn in behind me.

Taxiing to the ramp, what a surprise to see a canard setting in front of the FBO.   George and Jake (locals) are looking at a Variez with it's cowls off.  George points me to the transient hangar where we unload some items from the Cozy that my sister had me pick up in FTW.   There wasn't any room for passengers this trip.  George asks how long I'll stay and how much fuel I need.  Unsure of the departure date, wind & weather I opt to hold off on fuel until I get ready to head back.  If I have a tail wind, I won't need fuel. Ha.  Tail wind.  That's a unicorn.

The Variez did a precautionary stop on its way from Minnesota after developing an oil leak at the alternator gasket.  Not much I could do to help and he was in good hands with George and Jake.  

My sister and brother-in-law stopped in Sidney at an old style restaraunt for lunch.  We remembered the last time we flew in and stopped for lunch, tornado sirens were going off and one touched down just North of town.  After lunch, we drive 30 miles to the farm/ranch.  The land is between flat table land and the North Platte River valley with pine tree covered hills that our city cousins used to call mountains.  None of the fields on the place are farmed anymore and were planted back with grass when my dad retired.  A brother-in-law of one my sisters now rents the pastures.  Mending barbed wire fences and well maintainance are annual tasks.  Last year, we replaced the rod, pipe and cylinders in one of the 180' deep wells using the same tools my 100 year old had dad used as long as I can remember.  Another well needed multiple sections of pipe and cylinder replaced.  We had a small disaster when the pipe slipped through a dog and dropped down the well.  We managed to get a pipe threaded into the pipe that dropped and pulled it back up.  The pipe and cylinders can last 7 or more years but at minimum, the cylinders usually need new leathers and often the pump rod wears thin spots in the pipe.   This year, the windmills we had worked on are in good shape, but the Dempster windmill at the house has a broken brace on the wheel and the yaw bearing seems to be shot.  Despite that, it still pumps.  As a back up, another well with a pump jack can be used to fill tanks.  We're planning on drilling a new well to replace the old windmill this summer and will use solar and commercial power for pumping.  It's not far to water here and a submersible pump will be much easier to maintain.

I'd gotten texts that the girls had arrived and my daughter posted some beach and resort photos.  

On the list of tasks, we keep most of the vehicles running and use them periodically.  We charged batteries on several of the ones that had sat most of the winter.  One of my least favorite to start (by hand) is an old John Deer Model A farm hand tractor.  Surprisingly, it only took a couple of pulls on the flywheel and quick manipulation of the choke and throttle.  It's first task was to haul off the piles of tree branches that my relatives had gathered that had fallen off the trees around the farm houses. Lack of power steering on the tractor resulted in sore shoulder muscles the next day.  We got Starlink last year but the WiFi didn't reach the other house so I installed a repeater to extend coverage to the other house.

One of the solar pumps needed attention so we took dad's 48 Willys Jeep up in the hills and pulled the pump.  The pump had an aluminum case and electrolosis was starting to erode it.  We replaced the sock type filter, cleaned the stainless steel screen and solar panels.

Friday evening, we decided to go to Bridgeport NE for dinner but my brother-in-law decided a steak place in Scottsbluff sounded better.  We picked up a friend in town to go along with us.  After dinner, we stopped at Harbor Freight to buy some wrenches.  I bought a set of metric stubby ratchets.

My brother-in-law had a commitment on Sunday morning so Dot & I were on our own.  She mowed and I worked on vehicles.  We went up in the hills to check the head on decomissioned windmill and found it was pretty similar to the one at the house that needs repairs. The renter offered to bring a bucket truck over after they were done getting cow calf pairs sorted and herded to different pastures.  It was too windy to work on the mill and since it was still pumping and there was some redundancy with the other well, we opted to pursue other options in the mean time.  I scavenged some parts off a retired windmill wheel and assessed another windmill head as a possible spare.  A company still makes and sells most parts on eBay for quite a few different brands of windmills. 

 The next task was to retrieve the 37 Chevy pick up from the "junk pile".

My grandfather had given me a highly used  rusty, bent, parts missing 1937 Chevy truck in 1981.  In 2014, one of my nephews asked for the truck.  I said okay, but I want it back if you haven't done anything with it by the time I finish my plane, he agreed (but hadn't touched it since). One of my cousins (another grandson) had sent me a photo of a much newer truck that he'd restored.  I felt compelled to save this truck from turning into a pile of rust and asked him if he'd like to restore it.  He was excited to get Grandpa's old truck and was able to come from Wyoming on Monday with his son to load it up.  

My sister & I had taken my dad's pick up to town on Monday with empty gas cans and got them filled.  Most of it will be used for mowing, some for the old Willy's Jeep and other vehicles.  We also got groceries, including some awesome fried chicken and other food from the local grocery store.  I ran into a high school classmate.

We initially had some fun getting the 37 Chevy title straightened out.  The county courthouse actually still had the title in their system so we were able to get a new title and sign it over to my cousin with a notorized bill of sale.

We left town with renewed registration on the truck we were driving so I was less inclined to maintain the speed limit with the aroma of fresh hand breaded fried chicken to eat.  We'd already said hi to the Sherriff at the courthouse.  The Nebr. State Patrol are notorious for pulling people over for speeding just a few miles an hour over the limit, but the highway out of town just has a few big hills to be careful on as you go over them.

We got to the farm and my cousin Tom and his son Tyler were drooling on the old rusty truck.  We tried to winch the truck onto their trailer.  The front end went on straight but the back tires were crusty and flat and not following the front.  I got the farmhand fired up, hooked a chain onto the rear of the truck and lifted it while they winched, then lowered it in place.

The chicken, macaroni salad and watermelon for lunch couldn't have been better.  About like what my mom would have fixed.  

Tom said Google gave them notoriously bad directions and as a result drove 18 miles on dirt roads.

After lunch, Tom wanted the grand tour of the vehicles, most still run but have deficiencies like brakes don't work on the 63 Chevy, the hoist on the grain truck isn't working (again), the Dodge Dynasty needs a fuel pump, the 55 Ford hasn't been started for over 10 years.  My dad's (original owner) 1948 Willys CJ2A Jeep fired right up.  It has over 80,000 miles on it, most of them checking cattle, fixing fences and windmills.   There's my mom's 1959 FC150 Jeep that runs but smokes pretty bad.  A couple other vehicles are licensed and dependable despite having plastic on them.

We put the trailer in the shade and tied the truck down.  A few wild turkeys going after grasshoppers nearby entertained us for awhile.  We've had other wild game (deer, elk, bobcats), but the most concerning is we've had recently are  mountain lions walking around one of the houses at night.  Recently a pack of 7 or 8 coyotes were in the same area.  My sister carries a pistol loaded with .410 snake loads and buckshot for protection.  They have a small dog that needs to go outside at night so it is escorted.  We have to keep noxious weeds under control and have to walk canyons to get to some of them, so need to look in the trees before you walk under them.   I can remember one time when I was maybe 7 years old, climbing through a barbed wire fence on my way to the neighbors a mile away through the hills and saw a coyote about as big as me setting not far away just looking at me.  I hollered at it and threw some rocks that fell far short.  It stood up and walked away unconcerned.

My sister's husband got back to the ranch in time to help tie the truck down.  We worked on other miscellaneous items and had left overs for supper.   I emailed George that I'd like 10 gallons of fuel and would depart Tuesday morning. I thought I'd have adequate fuel to make it non-stop.

Our cousin's departed before it got dark and we gave them directions to the nearest paved road 3 miles away.  I touched base with the renter about our plans to either repair the mill or replace it with a solar pump and said we'd be back in a few weeks.

Tuesday morning I was dropped off at the airport and paid for 4 nights of transient hangar rent ($25/night) and 10 gallons of fuel.  I only had two bags to load and did a preflight.  The Variez was waiting on a gasket.  Previous weather checks was showing a bit of a guantlet regarding the wind.  Further East would be worse.  My ideal path was through the Cougar MOA (East of Denver), but I planned on a reverse path since it was likely to be hot again.  

After taking off, I quickly texted LuAnn that I'd departed before I lost service.  Denver ATC was busy and intermittently weak.  Soon they were calling for radio checks with some clear and some weak.  I climbed to 9500 which seemed to be most favorable (least bad) then called ATC for flight following.

Initially, it looks like I should be able to land with the requisite VFR reserve.  Periodically check the sight gauges, electronic gauges, headwind and ground speed.  Should be okay.   Then I remembered I'd forgotten to stretch my feet and leg muscles before departing.  I've had some pretty bad cramps on longer flights in the past.  I'd had a banana for breakfast and I pack 6 .oz bottles of pickle juice, but the best remedy for me so far has been to stretch.  I put one foot on the bulkhead between the rudder pedals and stretch my thigh muscles and alternate legs. Preferably, I do stretches before boarding.

After a while, Denver hands me off to KC and then FTW as I get near Altus.  Oddly, two different controllers asked type and destination again.  The fuel gauges tell me that I have plenty of range in miles but not quite 30 minutes at cruise power.  There's some good alternates on the way so decide Graham TX would be a good stop and advise ATC.  I begin decending and the fuel goes forward in the tanks which makes it look like there's quite a bit less fuel.  In hindsight, I could have leveled off to make sure, but stopping sooner wasn't a big deal.  I see Altus on the left and cancel flight following, then do a spiraling turn to get below Altus AFB towered airspace. 

There's two aircraft making calls at Altus Quartz Mtn.  There's also some big grey tankers crossing in front of me not showing on ADS-B.  The GA aircraft at Altus Quartz Mtn. are stepping on each others transmissions.  One has landed so I called for the other's position (last I gleaned from his call was ....entering on the 45...).   The guy in the Centurion not so helpfully answered he was in front of the hangar when the other guy (not on ADS-B) was answering and stepped on him again.  As I crossed over midfield, could see a small biplane was taxiing from the runway to the FBO, apparently he did a short approach.   Someone reminded me that 17 was a right pattern as I was doing left base to final for 17.  I acknowledged and added that I'd lost sight and communications with the other aircraft.  I should have done a left 360 and then entered the right downwind. The disadvantage of that is in the Cozy, sitting on the left, visibility of the runway in a right pattern is not good.

One of the line two line guys walking up, carrying chocks "said I guess you don't need these"  as I was lowering the nose.  The new line guy said he hadn't fueled a canard before so watched the same guy that fueled several of us recently when we were doing formation flying with Mark Richardson, Jay Van Every and Troy Chaddon.  I asked for 20 gallons knowing that 10 was enough to get me home, plus I'd have whatever was left in the tanks.  

Departing Altus to the South, I did a slow climb to avoid high temps and busting the airspace.  Punched in F05 (Vernon TX/Wilbarger Airport), then T67 on both the Skyview and IFD.  I'd noticed previously that the magenta line didn't seem to switch when I added a waypoint on Skyview.  Also as I got near Vernon, noticed I was a bit to the East of the course.  I tapped the NAV button on the AP panel again and noticed the status changed so possibly when I initially engaged the AP, it wasn't in NAV mode.  Sometimes it's still a mystery what it's going to do when  forgetting to set IAS, VS, ALT etc.  Usually, if you punch enough buttons, it will submit.  Dynon has been putting out more videos, but usually operation is intuitive except when it's not.  

I'm monitoring ATC but don't have an appetite for getting handed off quickly four times when it's hot, busy and bumpy so stay VFR and out of everyone's airspace.  Turning SE, finally my groundspeed is higher than TAS.  Looking at current fuel, I would have only had about 15 minutes reserve, so it was a good thing to have more fuel.  

My iPad displays temp warning from being in the sun so I position it on top of my flight bag with the vent pointed at it.  Another anomoly that I'd noticed is that sometimes traffic would show on my phone running FlyQEFB, but not on the iPad or the Skyview panel.  I think the settings are to filter anything more than 15 NM or 3500' above or below out on each handheld device, so not sure what's going on there.

Soon I see an airport by a lake and recognize that it's Jacksboro so that means I'm getting close to Bridgeport.  The VSR is indicating close to 500 FPM.  I increase the mixture and start the decent.  I noticed the aft cylinders run cooler than 2 & 4 at higher airspeeds. The NACA diffuser and ramps seem to be optimized for cruise around 170 KTAS.  I'll have to take a microscope to the EFIS data to see if the oil exhaust scoop (on an 18 row top mounted cooler) made much difference. 

I've had XBP and T67 unicoms dialed up.  Glad I'm not landing at XBP as there's a big wad of students and instrument practice approaches there.  I make an advisory call that I'm transiting over Bridgeport and soon dial up Copeland since there's choppers in the pattern there and one on the way from Meacham.  It's hot and bumpy at pattern altitude near Hicks T67.  When turning final, notice our PAPI's are back on line!  They've been OOS since a cub ground looped and took the North one out last year.  

LuAnn has the hangar door open for me so I taxi in and shut down ready for a break.  Dang it's getting hot.  Summer is here.  I haven't found any items worthy of grounding the Cozy for, so it's ready for more trips soon.

Flyover for Aircraft Spruce Roanoak TX Grand opening

 https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?replay=2025-03-08-16:24&lat=32.723&lon=-97.602&zoom=9.4

Click on T to turn traces on.  Click on L to turn labels on.

Jay departed Bourland in N656EZ at 16:22.

I departed T67 a few minutes later.  My transponder is off for the formation flight with the exception of entering Class D at KAFW.

2024 summary

91 flight hours in 2024, 269.2 since new.  Flights to Rough River KY, Sidney NE.  Attempted 4 SARL (FX Gold) /AVC (Cozy) races, completed two at Jasper (209 mph) and Cleburne (204 mph).  Aborted trip to OSH due to shorted PFD.  Several trips involved reroutes due to thunderstorms & overcast weather.

115 TO/Landings.  One flat main tire when landing. Replaced main tires (Air Hawks 270 landings) with Flight Custom III's. One flat nose tire in the hangar.  PFD shorted, SDS programmer failed.  Upholstery acquired.  Various minor squawks.  

Rides given:

David De Sosa (Cozy builder)

Ross Leavitt (Long EZ N99BX)

Doug Steen (ATP flies King Air, owns a Jet Prop. Had a Variez)

Bill James (Variez) (ATP)

Vernon Johnson (ATP.  Bought N17AJ)

Scott Patterman (CFII ride to MWL)

Gregory Cross (Cozy Builder)

Mrs. Gregory Cross

Mark Venzon (neighbor/student pilot)

Dustin Veigelt (Plans on buying a Cozy IV)

Steven Scheibner (ATP bought LongEZ N327MB)

LuAnn Satchell (Flight Officer N724CZ)

Rough River 2024 & Jasper TX SARL

Here's N724CZ doing the final pass at ~240 MPH at Jasper.

Race results: https://sportairrace.org/sarl/node/4641#overlay-context=

Here's a video by "Canard Boulevard" of Rough River 2024.

May 2024 Nebraska Trip report (and more)

 My family needed help fixing some windmills at my dad's place in Nebraska.   My wife had some things going on and the trip up was going to be pretty bumpy so she opted to stay home.   Since this wasn't my first trip up, planning was a bit easier but the weather was going to make it a challenge.  Normally I like to take off early in the morning but the weather was IFR here and cleared around 11 AM.  Monday morning (late) I departed North and followed Hwy 237 towards Wichita Falls.  The weather wasn't very good around Altus and Sherman so I stayed to the South for quite a ways, figuring I may need to go to Dalhart before going North.  Before getting close to Amarillo, the weather on the western side of Oklahoma and Kansas was looking better but it was very turbulent and clouds weren't very high.  My ground speed was between 120 and 135 knots most of the time with a crossing headwind hitting as much as 50 knots.  As I neared Garden City, noticed Meade KS had cheaper fuel so buzzed over there.  The leading edges were plastered with mashed bugs so I took a few minutes to clean them off.

I departed Meade and ultimately climbed to 13,500 to clear broken clouds and skirted one of the MOAs that appeared to have a tanker active.   The OAT was showing 34 F but the cabin heat was working good. It was about a 5 hour trip.  George, one of my sisters and brother in law were ready for me and helped push the Cozy inside his big hangar for transients.  George pumped in 30 gallons which would be enough to get me home on the return trip.

A week was spent working on windmills, vehicles and other miscellaneous tasks.  It was hard work and brought back a lot of memories working with dad growing up.  A couple of nephews and a friend also helped with one of the mills.  We made informal plans to tackle more projects on the next gathering.

My brother in law hauled me to the airport the following Monday and watched me depart.  The weather coming from the West wasn't looking good and Kansas was looking sketchy.  Leaving Sidney and climbing high enough to see off towards Ft. Scott KS, decided to head towards Dalhart TX where I could have a nice lunch if I needed a rest and to check weather.  As I passed Burlington CO, I could see cumulo nimbus clouds further south that weren't showing up on ADS-B weather.  They were probably south of Dalhart.  Checking other options, a direct to T67 actually looked pretty good but was skirting IFR weather in Oklahoma.  Most of the trip was around 11,700 with a bit of a head wind.  As I neared the MOAs, I descended to 7500, skirting Altus and Wichita Falls. Soon I was near Class B and dropped down to 3500, then lower to get into the pattern for T67.  Flightaware shows 684 miles in 3h 41m.

After getting back, a builder contacted me about giving him some assistance.  He's about a two hour flight from here.  I contacted another builder/flier to see if he'd be available as well to get another pair of eyes.  I'll probably be able to buzz over there soon.

Another fellow that I gave a ride to texted and called me about a Cozy he's buying.  Sounds like the prebuy has gone well with minor concerns.  He's making the decision to proceed with the purchase.

Mark Rieger contacted me and discussed some issues with broken ring gear teeth.

I spent a few days prepping the plane for the Mark Hardin SARL race at KTRL on 5/25/2024.  Changed the oil, spark plugs etc.  The vinyl trip on the trailing edge fins was starting to peel some so I pulled it off and put race numbers on the rudders.  The glare shield was recovered with black mat vinyl.  I ran to XBP for fuel and found the ceilings were low.  There were thunderstorms forming so I didn't go to the dinner on Friday in Terrell.   Saturday morning, the weather at T67 was misty with a low ceiling with broken clouds higher.  I took off, skirted Alliance and Meacham's airspace, down towards Cedar Hill and was on top at 2500'.  It was looking like a solid deck the further east I traveled.  I'd hoped that the clouds would be breaking up but instead, they were lifting and there was still haze being reported at various airports.  I flew over KTRL but there weren't any holes to drop through.  Johnson County showed VFR just east of KTRL so I flew over there, but there was a sold deck there too.  I'd been cruising at pretty low power since I wasn't in a hurry and was thinking that the weather was going to get better, but ended up having to climb to 4500 to stay above the tops.  Then 6500 as I headed back west to get back to some accessible VFR airports.  I had 40 gallons on board and the EFIS was showing over 800 mile range.  As I got near Cleburne, it looked like Waco was VFR.  The front that was moving through was further west and I wanted to be a little closer to T67 so cruised by Granbury.  I could see the ground south of there, but there was a heavy fog like layer covering Granbury.  There was an airshow going on at Breckenridge but some of the nearby airports like Bridgeport and Graham were showing IFR.  I noticed Stephenville was VFR so punched in direct to and sat there for a couple hours watching weather, ADSB exchange and chatting with the few pilots that were at the airport.  The National Weather Service advised there was a likelihood of severe weather in the afternoon coming from the west.   The folks in Terrell decided to race.  I didn't want to get painted in a corner by the bad weather coming from the west so decided to get back to T67.  KAFW and nearby airports were showing marginal.  A few aircraft had departed T67 according to Flightaware so left KSEP and headed for T67.  It was awfully warm and bumpy with a low ceiling.

I pulled up KTRL on Flightaware to watch the racers.  Wow...they are fast!  

The evening was spent cleaning bugs off again.  I fired up the grill, ate dinner with my wife and then putted around the airport on the golf cart for awhile.  It's nice to be home for awhile.

4/22/2024 Trip Report - Livingston TX

 The weather and schedules were finally conducive to haul the Sunmate seat cushion foam and patterns to Livingston TX 00R.   I preflighted the plane the night before, adding a little air to the nose tire, updated the Skyview database.  I filed a flight plan from Hicks T67 to Livingston 00R using FlyQ EFB the night before.

An email to Richard (the upholsterer) was sent to reconfirm I'd be on my way and I received his reply Monday morning.

Occasionally leg cramps have bothered me so I try to remember to  use Theraworx (for muscle cramps) before longer flights.  I also carry some homeopathic cramp remedy which are small tablets that go under your tongue, and always carry water.  

Monday morning I made a quick breakfast, checked the weather, pushed the plane out, started and taxied.  A few students were already in the pattern.  I checked my pre-take off list and set Com2 to Meacham, anticipating a transition immediately after departing Hicks.    After taking off, I called Meacham and the tower responded "Do you have a working transponder?".   I'm already going about 150 KTAS, climbing to 2500.  I make a quick 180 and respond to the tower that I'm checking...   Usually the transponder is set to Automatic but it had manually been set to Standby.  I hit the VFR button, but still showed Standby...so hit the Automatic button and the tower advised they saw me going North near Hicks.   She asks if I'd still like to transition at 2500, showing a Cessna at 2000' 1/2 mile south of me and I reply affirmative.  She clears me through on the West side of the field.

The Avidyne IFD540 alert audio is announcing "Airspace ahead".  This is new to me after spending a few days during the CI, pinning the wires that hadn't been installed by the shop that built the audio harness.  I hadn't worried about it much as getting my IFR certification has been lower on my priorities.  I'd suspected that the lack of alert audio was a configuration issue but that would have been to easy.

After passing South through KFTW's airspace, the tower approved the frequency change and apologized for the confusion which I replied, "The pleasure was ALL mine!"  lol  

I was monitoring several frequencies and the air space was plenty busy.  I opted to skirt around Arlington then climb after exiting out from under Class B.  I'd been hand flying and finally dialed in the altitude and engaged the AP in Nav mode.   After skirting Arlington, headed direct to 00R.  

FlyQ EFB has a nice "winds" feature under the weather tab.  It showed if I climbed up to 5500, I'd avoid a head wind.  It was moderately bumpy so had the power pulled back yet was showing some respectable ground speed.  I watched the map along with the roads and airports nearby, monitored local airport radio traffic occasionally until the heterodyning crosstalk made it difficult to listen to, so turned the volume down.

Nearing Lake Livingston (5th largest lake in TX) from the Northwest when descending to TPA, there is mostly wetlands and trees.  I disengaged the AP about 15 miles out in a 800 FPM decent.  A Cherokee called 7 miles out shooting an RNAV from the South as I landed straight in on Rwy 12 on the 3700' runway.   Trees are on the ends of both runways.  There is no taxiway so back taxied to the ramp.   The Cherokee did a low approach and exited to the East.

I closed my flight plan and called Richard (the upholstery guy).  I repositioned the plane closer to the vehicle entrance and heard a firetruck siren, then a medivac chopper approaching. I double checked the ELT to make sure it wasn't going off.   Soon an ambulance arrived, then Richard.   After a few minutes, the patient on an ambulance was loaded into the medivac and it departed.

Richard took photos of the interior and we loaded up the boxes of foam and patterns, then drove to his shop.   One of his customers had recently had some seats done for a Ferrari.  He showed me different types of stitching and material.  We talked about pricing and (ouch) I had some sticker shock.  Not terribly surprised though as a neighbor just had a Mooney seat redone and it was $3600 just for one seat.  This neighbor had also bought a Juki machine and said it was hard to sew a straight line.  Months previous, my wife caught me watching upholstery videos and commented that I wasn't going to buy a sewing machine.  Other amateur upholsterers in the past had commented they wouldn't make any one else's seats. The mental gymnastics going through my head had lead me to this path of having someone else do it.   I put down a deposit after deciding on material.  Then we laid out the foam and patterns to make sure it was in order and instructions were clear.  Richard showed me some large RC aircraft that he'd designed and built.  He also had a large bicycle that he'd made.

Richard took me to lunch and then back to the airport.  We chatted some more, he took more photos and he watched me depart.

Initially, on climb out, full power, the turbulence wasn't bad but after starting to level off, it was not pleasant.  I pulled the throttle back to about 2300 RPM.  Ground speed fluctuated from 150 mph to 180 mph.  The AP was doing it's job better than I could at maintaining altitude and heading.

Soon, I started to get cramps in my legs.  I reached down to massage my legs and noticed they were cold to my hands, so turned the heat on a little and that helped some.   Suspect the turbulence and lack of cushion under my thighs were also contributing to lack of circulation.  I drank some water, took some of the homeopathic tablets and suffered a couple more cycles of cramps.  I also recalled that I didn't exactly follow the directions for applying Theraworx.   Lesson learned.

Nearing Class B, air traffic was very busy around the airports.  The rainy weather had many students grounded and now they're trying to get their lessons in and time building back in motion.  I opted to stay further south and skirt the Class D's and B to get back to T67.  

Finally back on the ground, I hobbled around and managed to push the Cozy back in the hangar.  The leading edges were splattered with bugs, probably the worst I've seen in two years.  A hazard of flying over lakes.

This is probably one of my least enjoyable flights ever and if every flight was like this, I'd probably quit flying.  OTOH, this would have been almost a 4 hour drive one way and would convince me that flying is wonderful even when it's bumpy.  I know better weather is coming and will soon have some awesome seats.  Oh....and my wife had sticker shock too.   My daughter nailed the price when mom asked her how much she thought it would be.   She said, "You can't take it with you." and I replied, "That might be soon!"  lol

In four weeks, the patio furniture cushions should be back where I borrowed them from.   Maybe I  should finish the wheel pants?

More rides

 Doug Steen and Bill James are the newest names on the list of pilot/ATPs that have flown N724CZ.  

Doug contacted me and offered to trade rides.  A neighbor of his needed a ride to retrieve his Bonanza so on a frosty Tuesday morning 2/13/2024 I flew from T67 to 50F (~9 minute flight).

Doug gave us (Bill came along too) a ride in his PA46 JetProp to Georgetown and back to Bourland 50F going up to FL19.  Doug's wife Valerie and son looked over the Cozy.  They showed me their Whitman Tailwind.   An RV in their shop was getting a new Dynon panel.  Doug & Valerie own and operate a 145 repair station for avionics, www.semiplane.com. A podcast interview with Doug: https://open.spotify.com/episode/20oomjCjaZn64kLKr3oqsp?si=jrCzrItfSuiR_j_yEdzUrA

Doug was impressed with stability at low speed.  We had the IAS under 60 KIAS and could bank left or right.  VSI was showing about 600 FPM decent.  

After we got back to 50F we chatted and went to lunch.  When we got back to 50F, Bill was eager to go for a ride.  He asked me about the feeling of the realization that "you built this and are flying it".  I think every time I preflight and push it out of the hangar I'm still getting butterflies.  When we got back to Bourland, we chatted for awhile.  The sun getting lower in the West was my queue to head home.  

 

 

Trip to KLAW Lawton

Tallying up hours for insurance renewal and FAA survey, I was looking at my own data and was surprised that my logs showed giving 20 different people rides during the last 12 months. The youngest was 9, the oldest was +75. 15 are pilots, at least five are ATP's (two retired).  Three +500 mile trips and one short flight were with 3 on board.

Today was a good day to not give a ride since there was a turbulence SIGMET up higher and wind (per KLAW Lawton OK tower) was 250@18G27 across RWY 17 (150' wide). The Sheppard MOA above me had a few targets on ADS-B, one coming right at me but 1500 feet higher. The METAR wasn't showing as much wind as the tower reported. Despite carrying 85 knots on final, the wind gusts picked up the right wing a couple of times and there were a few moments of excitement after touching down.

Karl Riley & his wife met me at the FBO where he was bestowed Eureka canard core foam.  Karl insisted on paying for some fuel.  I had the lineman put the fuel in the right (upwind) tank. We chatted a bit, watching the wind socks sticking straight out and the linemen were taking photos of the Cozy.  Major construction on a new terminal was going on next door.

I taxied for take off and asked the tower to repeat the wind again.  Gusting 28 at almost 90 degrees.  The guy in the Tower seemed to be using his Dad voice.  Angling into the wind on the 150' wide runway, the rudders were starting to do their job at about 40 knots at about the time I was intersecting the center line.  On departure, the AP wasn't wanting to track very well until the wind direction was more stable at 5500'. The Tower reminded me to use caution exiting Class D and transiting under the MOA ahead.

Radio chatter from a few students when approaching T67 had students making pattern calls for RWY 14.  There was a batch of helos flying patterns at 4T2 (Copeland), so I followed Hwy 287 at 1500' to stay clear of them, KAFW Alliance and KFTW Meacham traffic.  On upwind for 14, the windsocks were showing a comparatively meager crosswind.  A student and instructor along the taxiway had their cameras out as I touched down. Glad I didn't repeat the previous landing and become Internet famous.

One of the FAA survey questions had tickled my memory about a puzzling stat I recalled from my earlier student pilot/CAP days.  Pilots that file flight plans have a lower accident rate.  Today I'd easily filed and activated flight plans for two "short for a Cozy" flights using the EFB on my phone.  Hey...if it helps...why not?  There's still a lot of nothing for miles in parts of OK and TX.  

Cozy builder visit David Desosa

 David has been building a unique Cozy.  Apparently it was a Cozy III morphing into a Cozy IV, one of the first prototypes.   I invited him out so he could go for a ride and take a close look to see if anything I did could help him with build decisions.

We departed T67, went past Stevenville, then North to Graham for 10 gallons of fuel.  About 20 miles West of Hicks, dialed up the radio to see what runway was in use and it was quiet.  Then I radioed we were over the lake and now there was a Cessna taking off staying in the pattern, another student about 8 miles out and two Christen Eagles a ways to the North.  I fell in behind the Cessna in the pattern, the Eagles did a 360 for spacing and I think another aircraft said he was the only aircraft in the pattern.  I called that I was 1 mile final behind the student Cessna and the Christen Eagle said my audio was low.  The targets on the screen when clearing the runway showed three or four aircraft on final and a couple more out west.  Wow!  Busy!  As I was taxiing the Eagle called, "GOOD JOB EVERYBODY!"

Back in the hangar, I pulled the cowl and a screw dropped out of the bottom.  The #2 valve cover was missing one so that mystery was solved quickly. 

A few things popped up on this flight.  The ARINC module went off line, the standby network went unavailable and the fuel pressure glitched to 75 lbs. a couple of times.   The EFIS data was uploaded and will be analyzed for clues.   

I have some 15 volt TVS diodes & some capacitors ordered.  I'll install a small mylar cap across the pitch trim servo since it has generated a bit of noise on the GoPro audio.

The heater control is located where the fuel valve is usually located and is a pain to get to.  I'd like to move it to the side or instrument panel.  An alternative is to implement a servo.

The Telex headset I've used for passengers seems to not get my transmit audio when talking on the radio.  I'd suspected it was in mono mode but checked the dip switches and seems like its set for stereo now.  When we took off, we had some scratchy audio that was cleared by reseating the headset plugs.  

So the squawk list has: ARINC module/standby network alerts.  Noisy headset audio/jacks.  No pilot transmit audio to the copilot.  Move heater control.  Replace missing valve cover screw.  Check the fuel filter, pumps and regulator.  Check connections on the copilot HDX panel.

An email from Marc Zeitlin advises the nose gear clamps have been shipped.  Tracking info shows it will be here tomorrow.

Formation flying practice

Three of us met at KRPH Graham Texas to do some formation practice.  We briefed, flew for an hour and then debriefed.  Mark Richardson got some nice photos and videos.