Sonex 815 - Continuing the Kitlog - 8
*This web site is NOT owned or managed by Sonex, Ltd.. Sonex, Ltd. is not responsible for the content unless explicitly stated. See Disclaimer.
6/8/10 Landing gear - LH wheel pant tire valve door
Did most of the metal work for the wheel pant tire valve door. Got the hinges cut, the hidden hinge piece riveted on and riveted to the door. Found a little trick in the geometry to get this door fitting a little better than the other one. Two major steps left are to bond the hinge to the pant and add the Southco fastener to match the other side. Getting closer.
6/9/10 Landing gear - LH wheel pant tire valve door
About finished that up. Drilled the bond-on side of the hinge for epoxy holes, drilled the axle doubler plate for the Southco receptacle, c-sunk the holes. Before riveting it on, cleared out the adjacent lightening holes of now-useless epoxy to make the access opening a little larger. Riveted the receptacle on. Mixed a little epoxy and bonded the hinge in place. Tomorrow should be able to finish it off by drilling the hole in the door for the Southco fastener and put that on.
6/10/10 Landing gear - LH wheel pant tire valve door
Cleaned up the epoxy squeeze out. Located and drilled the hole for the Southco fastener. Went looking in my bin of fasteners for one the same length as the other side and didn't have one. So tried the next one shorter. By some luck, that fit just right. Now, to put them back on the plane. Oh wait, got to flip the tires on the rims while the pants are off.
6/11/10 Landing gear - flip tires on rims, install wheel pants
Jacked plane on the sawhorse. 4 gallons of water on the tail held it down lightly, so I added a 40 lb ballast bag on the other side of the tail to really stick it down. Flipped tires on the rims. 129 landings from this first half of these tires. Finally got one tube to seat with the valve in exactly the right place - I think these tubes are really meant for narrower rims. Looking at it this time, I considered relieving the valve notch in the rim to let it sit a little more off-center, but this would leave unsupported tube on the other side, which might not be a good idea. Added the wheel pants. Noticed the LH gear leg fairing bracket is cracking where it attaches to the fuselage - this is a little bracket I added to hold the fairing in position - not per the plans. Might be flexing due to bending on landing, but I think it's being loaded by the rivets for the nutplate (not countersunk heads). Will need to replace this bracket at some point. Took plane off the jack. Quite windy today.
Up on the jack.
Wheel pant in place.
RH tire, post-flip. Worn tread is on the brake side now, new tread outboard for more landings.
6/13/10 Flight 138 - Casa Grande
1.1 flight time, 2 ldg. To CGZ and return. To CGZ in 0.6, 0.5 on return. Departed w/ ~7 gallons (maybe a hair under). Landed at CGZ w/ ~5 gallons indicated. Added 11 gallons at their fuel pump (4.40 at KAVQ, 3.90 at CGZ). Had a little tailwind on return, indicating 156 mph ground speed, about 135 mph on the trip up. Flies at about 130 kts indicated at ~2950 rpm. Didn't seem like there was much speed change for adding the wheel pants, but I probably wasn't steady state long enough for it to show. It's 42.9 NM, about 22 minutes total flight time takeoff to touchdown. By the time the climb from surface (2000 MSL) to 6500' MSL (1500 - 5500 on return), there's about 6-8 minutes of level flight before starting descent. Airplane back at KAVQ is a Bakeng Deuce, and the MetLife small blimp was arriving right as I was driving away.
Pinal Air Park (KMZJ), where the airliners are stored.
Bakeng Deuce.
Forward cockpit access.
