Flying again

[chrixxer]

After the emergency landing at Pt. Mugu NAS in early July (caused by a piece of ram air door gasket that found its way into the fuel servo throttle body) and a somewhat eventful reposition flight over to CMA ... The high fuel pressure issue was conquered, an "early" (which ultimately become a "timely") annual was performed, a bunch of crusty old stuff (magneto harness, p-leads, etc) was swapped out, and everything checks out (though a capacitor on one of the IRAN'd mags did fail just as I was about to pick it up, a couple of weeks ago; went back to Aero Accessories to be addressed).

The left fuel tank, that was empty at Pt. Mugu, has not shown any signs of leaking, over several months. I'm watching it, but, so far, it's always been exactly where I left it (dipsticking it after and before every flight). Fuel pressure is right in the middle of the green arc. Mag drops are exactly 100 RPM on both sides. Runs smooth, no missing. Temps are cooler (the baffles were installed incorrectly). Controls are smooth (the elevator bungees hadn't been removed or greased/repacked in years). Brakes work good (they were well worn). Two mild flat spots on the tires from standing on the brakes (Runway 27 at KNTD has arrestor cables I wanted to avoid!), but there's still tread.

Electrical system seems fine, on the same battery (on a tender while it was being worked on). No hiccups like before.

Did a couple of low approach trips around the pattern at CMA before I was comfortable flying back to TOA. Then the next day flew up to Paso Robles on my "scaredy-cat" routing (8,500' and an airport, or the surf, always within gliding distance); 3.5 hour round trip (tach time), and she purred. No hiccups.

Taking her out to Marana tomorrow to have the rest of the avionics work done (S-Tec serviced the pitch servo, which has to be reinstalled, and I'm swapping the EDM-700 for the -830.)

Didn't expect to need to pump $21,000 into her so soon, but, it is what it is.

[Jim Peace]

you did not mention the "talent" at the waypoint cafe which I am sure you went to.

[LANCECASPER]

35 minutes ago, chrixxer said:

Didn't expect to need to pump $21,000 into her so soon, but, it is what it is.

Wow, what added up to $21,000?

[chrixxer]

6 minutes ago, LANCECASPER said:

Wow, what added up to $21,000?

Fuel servo, $1700; fuel pump, $400; new VOR antenna (one side had broken off, the other side was stress cracked in the same spot), $320; mag harness, $400; mag IRAN, $944; pitot-static system check, $450; brakes, logbook research (they were confused initially because my plane has an IO-360-C1C that was converted to an -A1A before installation, in the 80s), p-leads, etc., plus labor (A&P + IA) ($900 for the annual alone), plus a bunch of "materials" etc., and chasing down the fuel pressure issue involved a bunch of labor, as did R&R the mags, twice (because of the infant mortality failure).

The S-Tec pitch servo troubleshooting and repair is about $1200 P&L including the ~$550 flat rate repair by S-Tec.

I took the opportunity of the plane being down to have additional sensors installed, so I could run an EDM-830 (the -700 that was installed when I bought it started getting flaky within the first 100 hours; it was going to be up to about $700 to have it overhauled, or about $1,100 to upgrade to the -730, and then there was feature creep...).

About $17,000 all told following the emergency landing + annual + what my mechanic kept calling "years of deferred maintenance."

About $4,000 at the avionics shop to fix the autopilot and replace/upgrade the engine monitor.

[chrixxer]

47 minutes ago, Jim Peace said:

you did not mention the "talent" at the waypoint cafe which I am sure you went to.

Actually, I didn't, but wanted to. Took too long with the A&P and IA, and didn't make it over before they closed. (I did have lunch there after my NORDO arrival on 7/31, but I was otherwise distracted at that point.)

[KLRDMD]

1 hour ago, chrixxer said:

Taking her out to Marana tomorrow to have the rest of the avionics work done (S-Tec serviced the pitch servo, which has to be reinstalled, and I'm swapping the EDM-700 for the -830.)

What time are you going to be around ?

[chrixxer]

4 minutes ago, KLRDMD said:

What time are you going to be around ?

Plan is to depart TOA IFR at 0700 PST tomorrow, arrive AVQ whenever I get there (call it no later than 1100 MST; 2.75 hours en route, and losing a time zone hour).

I have a commercial flight out of TUS that boards at 1210 (departure 1250).

I fly back to TUS (also commercial) on Monday the 10th, arriving 1205 MST, and I depart whenever the plane is done (they asked for two days - should be less than a half-day, total, but they're booked with installs through the end of the year - so I'm giving them almost 3 ).

[KLRDMD]

1 minute ago, chrixxer said:

Plan is to depart TOA IFR at 0700 PST tomorrow, arrive AVQ whenever I get there (call it no later than 1100 MST; 2.75 hours en route, and losing a time zone hour).

I have a commercial flight out of TUS that boards at 1210 (departure 1250).

I fly back to TUS (also commercial) on Monday the 10th, arriving 1205 MST, and I depart whenever the plane is done (they asked for two days - should be less than a half-day, total, but they're booked with installs through the end of the year - so I'm giving them almost 3 ).

Monday the 12th ? If so I can pick you up at TUS and take you to AVQ.

[chrixxer]

Monday the 12th ? If so I can pick you up at TUS and take you to AVQ.

D'oh, yeah, the 12th. Perils of tapping a response at the end of a work day. Yeah, would be great to finally meet you IRL!


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[steingar]

If it makes you feel better, ongoing avionics issues and a J-bar problem have kept me out of the air for some time. These things will work themselves out eventually.

[KLRDMD]

14 hours ago, chrixxer said:

D'oh, yeah, the 12th. Perils of tapping a response at the end of a work day. Yeah, would be great to finally meet you IRL!

We'll figure out the specifics.

[bob865]

What ended up being the issue with the high fuel pressure?  I seem to remember you going thorugh a whole series of pumps or something.

[chrixxer]

3 hours ago, bob865 said:

What ended up being the issue with the high fuel pressure?  I seem to remember you going thorugh a whole series of pumps or something.

Two things. One, the rebuilt (or whatever it was; the second-most expensive option, $1800 instead of $3800 or thereabouts for "new") fuel servo was setup incorrectly by Precision. They bench-adjusted it and sent it back properly setup. (At least that's my understanding. I don't know the specifics.)

Two, the fuel pump. The one they ended up using I linked to in the comment I linked to above, with the AircraftSpruce part no.

The combination of the "right" fuel pump and a properly configured fuel servo got me right into the middle of the green arc. 7.4+ hours later, still sitting there.

Just flew 3.0 hours (tach) at 11,000' out to Marana (AVQ). Sewing machine. TWITA! (Did a "rebuilding confidence" run up to PRB on Sunday, too.)

 

[chrixxer]

11 hours ago, steingar said:

If it makes you feel better, ongoing avionics issues and a J-bar problem have kept me out of the air for some time. These things will work themselves out eventually.

I "liked" 'These things will work themselves out eventually,' not '..ongoing avionics issues and a J-bar problem...' (natch).

 

[steingar]

15 hours ago, chrixxer said:

I "liked" 'These things will work themselves out eventually,' not '..ongoing avionics issues and a J-bar problem...' (natch).

The mechanics at my home drove will have a look at the J-bar. I'll bet it just needs some careful lubrication, but that's not something I can do effectively in flight.  I'd love to do it myself, but I haven't jacks, haven't the money to buy jacks, and am not kludging a set together from common household hardware.  My aircraft is going to have to wait a week or two because they have to fit a Mooney that fell off its home made jacks.

The avionics are another matter altogether.  They work fine on the ground, but poorly if at all in the air.  Right now I can receive just fine, but have troubles transmitting.  If this follows its previous pattern I will begin to have trouble receiving as well.  My last couple fights before the latest round of avionics I was effectively NORDO.  I am done with the guy who installed this stuff, he cannot fix the problem.  I need to find a new radio guy.  I have someone in mind.

[Yetti]

I bet that is a good feeling to get back into the air.   On the positive side the plane probably flys much better because you don't have to carry all that cash around.

[Ragsf15e]

You making me feel better after putting the $12,200 annual on my cc last week.  I had a $13k annual 3 years ago.  That one was deferred mx.  This year it was prop overhaul, alternator, and bunch of clean/repaint tiny surface corrosion.  Thanks for making me feel better.  Enjoy her running good again!

[MikeOH]

Glad to hear you're back up 'n running:)

My first annual is coming up the end of this month....palms are getting sweaty!