I just got back from Redmond and I had a productive trip. I tried to download the data for the two GNS 430s the first night but one card wasn't recognized. The next morning I went by Bend airport and bought 15 gallons of TKS fluid and was able to download the data and we determined that the Jeppesen card reader was defective. I will call for a replacement after the holidays. Hopefully they will send me a free replacement or the updated reader without a hassle.
I then went to the airport and installed the data cards, signed up for XM weather and radio and hooked up the gopro, and installed a couple of foldable cup holders on the lower panel.
I then decided to fly to Skagit regional in Northern Washington. The weather had been great so far. Rain, drizzle and low ceilings. I filed and picked up my clearance. On departure the ceiling was 2000 overcast. I got above the weather at 9000 feet and leveled at 14000. I was cleared direct kichikan, which was the first solo certified gps direct, that I have had. I look forward to many more.
I had topped off the tanks and oxygen so that I could use my fuel computer to have accurate fuel calcs in the long range tanks for tomorrows trip with the instructor and the oxygen to test out the flight levels.
I then requested flight level 20, which was incorrect, since it's stated FL 200. This is why I like training flights to pick up how the system works and get a better understanding when it is less critical. By the time I made it to FL 200 the clouds had cleared and the view was awesome. I went to mask and titrated my oxygen to 95%. The flow was at 15000. I had been using much more oxygen than I needed. The pulse ox will save me a lot of Os. The price is only $32 for a Fill up but it is a hassle. I will probably get my own system for convenance.
On my decent I did go imc but the airport was visual which is fine since I will be spending plenty of time with the instructor to improve my approaches. My landing was perfect if I say so myself and I have the video to prove it.
By the time I filed my flight plan it was dark and I got my clearance through flight service and was as filed. About half way back I went IMC and turned on the TKS when some very light rime started forming. The normal and maximum started going yellow/red and the overpressure went on. I turned off the system and then turned it back on and it did the same thing. I used a pen to reset it with no change. I turned the system off and left it off since the ice had stopped forming.
I had primed the system when I preflighted but maybe I sould have reprimed after takeoff.
At twenty miles I had Redmond in sight and cancelled but put the approach in the autopilot and started it. While turning off the pitot heat I accidentally turned off the autotrim and the autopilot turned off and the trim light went wild. I turned the auto trim back on but the trim light was going wild. I remembered that the autopilot needed to be tested before use so I pressed the test and after the test it engaged.
As I got close to the airport I turned off the autopilot and used the electric trim that didn't seemed to work. I turned that off but found the trim to be stuck. I stopped using the trim so that I didn't break anything, remembering the airline that broke the jackscrew. I determined that I had enough travel and made a good landing.
On taxi to the hanger I knew that it would be unlikely that I would be going with the instructor tomorrow.
The next morning I took off all the side panels, including the rear pivot cover. I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary although the back boot looked a little wrapped up but couldn't tell for sure. The jack screw looked fine and I called Eldon over in Prineville. He had tuned up the mixture and repaired my electric fuel pump. Luckily for me he was working on Saturday.
I called Professional Air and cancelled for both days.
I flew over to Prineville without trimming. It was a good lesson in using power to keep the nose down when adding power the pressure to keep the nose down increased significantly. So I used only enough power to keep a adequate climb.
When entering the pattern the force made it hard to make good turns. So I exited the patter climbed above the pattern so that I could make a decending pattern this took off the need to push down and increased control. I remembered reading how a run away trim could exert up to 40 pounds of force. This really brought it home and I have been playing out different scenario's of using power in a stuck up or down trim. Good stuff!
I met Eldon and his wife for the first time and found them to be great people. He will be my mechanic for all the time in Redmond! We put the plane in the hanger and closed the doors and turned on the heat it was great.
We took off the belly panels and side panels, I asked as many question as possible without being annoying. Unfortunately, I saw the electric gear motor but didn't think to look for the clutch. Anyway, we tried turning the rods by hand then disconnected parts until we narrowed it down to the bearing under the electric trim motor. We lubricated it and that solved the problem. It was better than when I got it and now know the lubrication points of the trim system. By the time that we where done it was raining and I flew back to Redmond.
Since the problem was solved I rescheduled with Pro Air for tomorrow.
The next morning I flew to Bend and Shawn and I decided to fly to Eugene. I used the excel program to do the weight and balance calculated that we could carry 65 gallons of fuel for a 47 minute flight. The weather planning was easy icing was a given, just how much and agreed upon exit plans. Once that was done it was time to fuel up and take off.
After take off it was to put it on autopilot, pitot heat and TKS. This time everything worked, but the TKS didn't take all of the ice off the wings. Some areas were clear but other had up to 1/2" even at maximum. It didn't seem like it wasn't keeping up but more like some areas were not getting enough fluid.
With the incident before I knew that I would be calling CAV for suggestion and a new filter. On the decent the controller turned us late and we flew through the localizer and I turned off the autopilot followed the localizer down and broke out at 700'.
I would have to say that I was way behind the airplane following the glideslope was easy with the G600. And the landing on a rainy runway was awesome.
We fueled up and put more tks fluid into the tanks and took off for Bend. They gave us the whole procedure into Bend and the autopilot start the procedure turn only to breakoff and start flying straight to Bend at the last second suspiring both of us.
By the time we turned off the autopilot the turn looked pretty bad. After that I hand flew it and felt more in control and ahead but there is plenty of room for improvement and I look forward to the next training flight.
I flew back to Redmond and the controller cleared me back to my hanger without requesting it and I towelled her down and cleaned her up getting her ready for the next flight when I get back to Redmond.
