A filter capacitor helped reduce but not completely eliminate alternator whine audible on the GoPro videos. CHT's are very close between pairs of cylinders but still vary quite a bit between the front and back cylinders depending on airspeed. The old GoPro battery doesn't last very long so needs retired.
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.
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| 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.
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| Vance approves! |
Despite a stationary front hanging around for days, the weather on Monday was enticing enough to depart on a longer adventure. I flew to RPH, picked up 40 gallons and then off to DHT between and around various SUA's. At 8500', I was above scattered and broken clouds and descended a little under pattern altitude to land at DHT. There's a cafe on the field so I had lunch after getting 7 gallons of fuel. Rather than continue North I decided I'd head back since it was hazy and there were a lot of cumulous clouds. The weather later in Nebraska was very convective, so that was a good decision.
I'll analyze the oil and DHT temps after uploading the data, but initially appears the oil temp increased as a result of the lower baffle changes. There's a better balance between 2,3 & 4 CHT's. 1 is still running cooler than the others. Suspect the air is getting dammed up at the diffuser.
I've pulled the prop off, checked the surfaces of the extension and prop and cleaned them off with brake cleaner. Waxed the prop bolt threads after checking for galling and torqued them to 35 ft. lbs.
Also pulled the cowls off and will tweak the lower baffling again as I suspect one of the baffles is impeding airflow to much and is why the oil is running warmer than before.
Oil consumption seems to be good, showing 6 qts on the dipstick. A few drops of oil out of the breather tube are getting slung back into the aft bottom of the cowl.
The prop has a couple tiny pin head sized paint chips and a little scuffing in a couple spots but overall is in very good condition.
The ADS-B Out works very well. The track logs showed stations as far away as Houston receiving. However, the ADS-B In data was suboptimal. There was a NOTAM in the airspace section for ADS-B data 4000-50000. Doing some research, found that ADS-B ground stations that provide weather are sparse in NW Texas.
Here's a link to a map with ground station locations, I'm unsure how up to date it is:
Here's a link to a presentation that has a page with details on types of ground stations:
If I was flying a lot, the SiriusXM Weather would be very nice to have since there's huge gaps of ADS-B IN data coverage in the midwest.
1/13/2023
Changed oil, retorqued the prop bolts. Used a black light to check for oil leaks. Suspect that the oil drops found in the bottom aft cowl is from the breather tube. Ran the engine and added a quart, oil is at 7.5 on the dipstick. Filter looks good.
1/17/2023 Trip to RPH for fuel, test auto pilot:
2500' MSL, fuel flow at 7.7 GPH, TAS 154, RPM 2330, MAP at 21.9". Flight time about 25 minutes to RPH, 58.7 miles away. Headwind is about 12 knots. Auto pilot worked good going to RPH. Coming back, had some trouble after doing "Direct To", had the magenta line on the map, but the Cozy wasn't following the line. I kept hitting buttons and turning knobs until it submitted to my will.
1/19/2023
CG 101.7 departing for flight to Dublin. 38 Gallons, 1650 lbs. gross 51 lbs. ballast. I had some trouble with the Dynon flight plan/auto pilot. Switched the source to the Avidyne IFD540 and it flew fine. Possible operator error.
Dynon and Avidyne have some nice features. Occasionally they do exactly what I want and other times the operation seems arbitrary. An example is trying to easily switch radio frequencies to a nearby airport. On the IFD, you can hit the FREQ button and there's three tabs. Sometimes the En Route or Airports tab will list the airport and sometimes it wont. On the Dynon, I can pull the airport up, hit Info and sometimes when I hit the TUNE>COM it works and sometimes it doesn't. If I click on the COM tab for the airport, then select the specific frequency and hit TUNE > COM it will always transfer the freq to the radio panel.
Pulled the cowls, looked for oil and found a few drops in the aft bottom cowl. Otherwise, just some light traces around cylinder through bolts. I should probably wash the engine with mineral spirits to clean the oil off as good as I can and do some more checks. Also, I might put a catch bottle on the breather line.
The left brake seems a little soft, probably needs bled again. I'd tightened the castor wheel so it has a little higher preload, but is still a little light requiring a lot of brake tapping to taxi straight on our rough taxiways.
Since 1/31/2022 Flight:
Dynon - Saw targets disappear when near Houston, suspect limitation issues.
Painted wheel pants with epoxy primer! They're not the ugliest wheel pants any more.
Microphone 90 degrees out picking up cabin noise. Rotated and seems to be better.
Need more nose down trim when running best power at 2500'. Will need to make a stronger pitch trim spring if I run in the AVC.
Installed Koger Shade (Wide - 24"Long not 34" Long)
Reconfigured lower cowl to direct more air to #2 & #3.
Results of flight 1/9/2023
Flew with only 51 lbs. ballast in the nose. 24 Gallons. Gross was close to 1600 lbs.
CHT's have changed since modifying the lower cowl baffle. Hottest to coldest: 2,1,3,4. 1 & 2 are close to the same temp, 3 & 4 are close to the same temp. Delta between the four is a little over 20F now. About a 10F improvement and 3 is no longer the hottest. #4 has the heat muff for cabin heat so maybe this is good. I'll divert more air to #3 & 4 from 1 & 2's air flow.
Still hear a metallic "ting ting" intermittently when idling at lower speed. I haven't checked the fuel cap anchors, but the fuel & vent lines make more of a thud sound. The control rods also don't "ring".
Tweaked the auto pilot to operate at a lower speed in preparation to do glide testing. It seemed to do fairly well in turbulent air.
The GoPro has been user unfriendly lately. Inverted video the last time after the app hosed up. This time rather than video it recorded a burst. So no video again.
When landing, my fingers are bumping the throttle switch that raises the belly brake. I need to put the console cover on to prevent this.
The crosswind & turbulence at T67 was dicey. There's a wind shear typically as I come over the buildings at the North end of 14.
Here's a couple videos from this week.
A misplaced sharpie resulted in an aborted flight.
I completed a flight from T67 to KGLS (Galveston) in less than 4 hours.
Merry Christmas!!!
I've signed and entered the Phase I statement in the log book after consulting with my DAR. Over 40 hours of testing are complete. Sometime in the future, I'll expand the MGTOW limits I've tested to since our runway is only 3740'. I'll go to an airport with a longer, smoother runway. I also chatted with Vance (EAA Tech advisor and canard guru). He commented that "you'll always be testing".
Yesterday, I'd planned on a 1.5 hour flight to KGLS Galveston but shortly after taking off, found the canopy hadn't closed properly due to a sharpie that had fallen in front of the instrument panel. This left a gap and caused the front catch to not quite catch the front screw on the canopy properly. I reduced power and returned to the airport, found the sharpie and went for two short flights to get fuel.
The nose castor wheel had been sticking a little despite the preload set to about 4 .lbs. I disassembled it and soaked the brass oilite washer in 160F 30 wt. mineral oil. I put a light coat of molybdenum grease on the spindle shaft and set the preload to 5 .lbs.
Ballast was configured to simulate a 160 .lb pilot and a 200 .lb copilot with the CG at 99.6 with 22 gallons fuel. 51 .lbs in the nose, 33 .lbs by the rudder pedals and 10 .lbs in the copilot seat. It took approximately 16 seconds to rotate and lift off before midfield on the 3740' runway.
OAT was 50F, ~10 knot wind almost down the runway. Ceiling was reported at 5K but seemed lower near XBP with some rain developing (not predicted). The cabin was comfortable despite getting down to 48F, hitting TAS over 160 knots occasionally.
Had an operator error issue with the GoPro. Only got a photo of my face when turning it on. A few flights ago, the video was inverted because the camera lost it's settings.
Briefly attempted tweaking the autopilot. Switched to simplified AP and the roll control seems to be working fairly well. Switched to Expert mode and the pitch control was pitching to much. Due to the low cloud ceiling, I opted to defer AP tuning to more optimal conditions.
I turned base/final at about 77 knots, put the landing brake down but my finger bumps the switch on the throttle and raises the board before touching down. I need to put the console cover on to protect the switch.
Analyzing the CHT's, looks like they could be balanced a touch better, but the delta is about 30F. I'm going to try one more time to see if I can find and remedy the oil leak using soapy water and some pressure in the motor, then draw a vacuum and suck some Loctite into the leak if necessary.
The canopy didn't want to latch after adding weather stripping. I made a new catch for the canopy latch handle.
There was a fair crosswind taking off but I didn't have to hit the brakes so was able to take off in a respectable distance.
The autopilot seemed to be finicky today, not maintaining IAS very well. Seems like it works fine if the air is smooth but it needs some tuning to operate better in turbulence.
Much of the cold air flowing in the canopy gap has been stopped. Some cold air is coming through the panel vents and will require a little modification to get them to seal closed better.
I completed 1/2 the sawtooth climbs and descent testing at mid CG. Oil consumption is negligible despite a tiny leak, still suspect the sump gasket. The AP needs tuned as it doesn't operate well in turbulence.
.8 hour flight confirmed the Hall Effect sensor was working properly again. The air was turbulent so I didn't do any of the flight testing cards other than test for canard stall speed. The OAT was close to 30F at 8000'. I could feel a couple small jets of cold air coming under the front if the canopy above the instrument panel. Also, cold air was coming through the back seat opening where the plans fuel selector mounts, so suspect the air is coming in around the turtle back.
I didn't see oil in the aft cowl, just a little on the aft baffle. After the oil change and running twice, the oil shows about 7.6 quarts on the dip stick. One quart had been added after running the engine and filling the filter. Another quart added after getting the engine up to temp and the oil cooler filled.
EPDM D shaped weather stripping was added to the front and side of the canopy. Some V-seal was applied to the canopy over the turtle back.
Sanded on the wheel pants a little.
Checked the following after several weeks of working on the heater control and duct, moving ballast, bleeding brakes, changing oil:
Hot air was coming out of the front duct when checked at 7K', OAT 55F. The sun was shining so didn't need any heat for the rest of the flight so turned it off.
Reached 10,500 West of KXBP using the autopilot.
Ammeter is not reading correctly after the Dynon software upgrade to 16.4.0. Contacted Dynon and the vendor. Dynon recommended restoring the .dfg and .svg files (move them to the root directory and load them using the Skyview "load files" option.
The nose wheel castor Belleville washer needs lubricated again, seems to stick/chatter when it rotates. Also need to check the upper pivot bolt/bearings.
A few drops of oil were found in the aft lower cowl again. Oil was on the AN8 45 coming out of the accessory case near the oil pump adapter. I got a little more torque on the new oil hose.
The AP worked fairly well but seems to need a little tweaking as occasionally there was some pitch oscillation in minor turbulence.
I remembered to fire up the GoPro and posted one video taking off from T67 and climbing to 10500.
Noticed #1 CHT was reading >10F cold compared to the other CHT's today with the engine off. I reseated the probe and checked the spade connections, which seemed tight but were oily. Rechecked and is now reading the same as the others.
The panel shows Hobs 39.5 Tach 27. My flight logs (which include taxi/run up time) are showing 35.7 for Phase I. The last time I flew was Oct 9th. I've added up my >50NM cross country flights (mostly in 172's and a Cherokee 140) and have over 50 hours. 50 hours is a requirement towards the IFR certification. 50 hours cross country in the Cozy would be a lot more miles than in a 172.
The Dynon HDX software was updated to 16.4.0, charts and terrain were also updated. One of the Sandisc USB 32G memory sticks had to be reformatted after using the chart manager and ejecting it. I use three sticks (two on board and one spare). The software update took awhile and afterwards, the Hall Effect Ammeter widget was showing a red x on the screen. This is one I bought from Crazed Pilot. In the EMS sensor setup, the sensor type was blank but the right column for label was still showing amps. An older email from Bill McLagan reminded me he'd sent me a definition file to load. I re-entered the settings several times to try to match the amperage shown on the bench top power supply. It seems like the polarity is wrong so an engine run will be done to verify the panel is showing positive current when the alternator is working.
Several hours were spent in the hangar navigating the menus in the Skyview and IFD.
With weather changing colder and higher humidity, the prop bolts were retorqued. Recall I've removed the Belleville washers, lubricated the prop bolt threads with wax and lowered the torque value to 35 ft. lbs.
I finally got the heater duct/adapter and control cable installed after a lot of trial and error trying to reduce the duct from 2.5" to 2". The control handle is mounted where the plans fuel selector is on the seat back between the pilot and copilot.
The Dynon widget color bands were in the yellow for some of the normal values so I tweaked them. Fuel levels, amperage, voltage were changed and some set to alarm.
I ordered two Single Spotlights from Flyleds and should have them Wednesday. I'm leaning towards installing the landing/taxi lights in the nose.
Mark Reiger, N716CZ is planning on stopping by on his maiden voyage cross country. Hopefully, Scott Fish, N78CZ & I can meet somewhere.
2nd to last flight on 10/13/2022 had the fuel pressure spike for a bit. I pulled the power back (regulator is modulated by manifold pressure) and it returned to normal.
