Jeff Oslick
Final Approach
We did it!!! After a long afternoon of inspecting, checking, reinspecting, fixing, and more inspecting, we finally got our plane off the ground for the first time since Feb. 4.
5CY decided to save a surprise for the end of the process... last Friday when the rudder was pulled for balancing we noticed that the top cap fin was unacceptably cracked, so we had to rush-order a new one from Cessna and get it overnighted for painting on Tuesday, reinstallation this morning. All the other controls were put on late last week and Monday. Starting a bit after noon yesterday, Mike (one of my illustrious partners in the plane) and I started going over the plane with a fine-tooth comb looking for anything that could be wrong. A few Cessna Pilots Association members have developed a good post-paint checklist that was the basis for our inspection, and was extremely helpful.
Here are the few things we encountered in our final checking of the plane (all corrected before flight):
- four inspection plates weren't installed in the correct locations - countersunk screw-type plates were where pan-head screws should have been and vice-versa.
- one of our wing tip nav light bulbs decided today would be a good day to blow (was fine sitting on the ground a few weeks ago...)
- the other wing tip nav light bulb had a bad connector and we had to pull the wingtip to track down the problem and fix it.
- the landing/taxi light harness had to be reconnected.
- a small piece of tape in the avionics cooling intake vent (sharp eyes, Mike!)
- somehow, some paint (maybe some oversray) got on the (brand new) Brackett air filter, and we had to pull and replace that (paint and air filter oil makes a messy combination).
- a couple missing inspection plate/wing root cover screws.
I got to do the first post-maintenance flight - not just new paint here... except for the main wheel pants and a couple small pieces of trim plastic, every piece of fiberglass/plastic trim is new. New metal gear leg covers. Gear and strut cuffs. Both lower flap bay trailing edge skins replaced. Two new flap track brackets. New flap rollers. One aileron partially reskined. New ducting and air intake seals. New EI UBG-16 engine monitor. New cowl flap hinges.
Our A&P/IA did a great job tuning up the engine during the annual a few weeks ago, because she was running great. The timing had been pretty far off, which was manifesting itself as some rough spots, especially at moderately-low RPMs.
It was quite breezy late this afternoon at Corona, 15G20, but mostly down the runway, just about at the limit of what I was willing to deal with on a flight of this importance and for my very limited recent flying time, though I did rent a 182 with a CFI about a week ago to practice emergency procedures. I checked the radios on the ground before departure, all good. Took off, circled the field a bit, then once I felt everything was good, headed a few miles away to get away from what was a lot of traffic at AJO. I cycled the flaps to 40 degrees at altitude, because I wasn't going to try to use 40 degrees flaps on landing in that wind. All good. Looked over at the EI, and thought, gee, that display looks dim, I thought there was a dimmer for it? Oh well, didn't want to mess with it this flight.
Got back to AJO and thoroughly went over the plane again to make sure nothing cracked, shifted, bent, etc. All good. "Hey Dave (our IA), where's the dimmer control for the EI?" ... "next to all the other cabin/panel dimmer swiches, where you told me to put it..." "Duh..."
A short flight home (HOME!) to Fullerton and I was a Very Happy Pilot. Got to play with the UBG-16 for just a minute or so on the return. I was loafing at 60% power, and the hottest cylinder (#4, I think) was only ~330 degrees. Nice. EGT differential, if I was reading it correctly, was only 65 degrees, but I was low and sorta slow, and hadn't tried to do much leaning, so lots more to play with and learn on that.
Here are a couple pics. Unfortunately she's already getting a bit dusty and has already been targeted by a couple birds, and we're not supposed to wash for another 3 weeks. Gotta get a new car duster and do some spot cleaning.
Jeff
5CY decided to save a surprise for the end of the process... last Friday when the rudder was pulled for balancing we noticed that the top cap fin was unacceptably cracked, so we had to rush-order a new one from Cessna and get it overnighted for painting on Tuesday, reinstallation this morning. All the other controls were put on late last week and Monday. Starting a bit after noon yesterday, Mike (one of my illustrious partners in the plane) and I started going over the plane with a fine-tooth comb looking for anything that could be wrong. A few Cessna Pilots Association members have developed a good post-paint checklist that was the basis for our inspection, and was extremely helpful.
Here are the few things we encountered in our final checking of the plane (all corrected before flight):
- four inspection plates weren't installed in the correct locations - countersunk screw-type plates were where pan-head screws should have been and vice-versa.
- one of our wing tip nav light bulbs decided today would be a good day to blow (was fine sitting on the ground a few weeks ago...)
- the other wing tip nav light bulb had a bad connector and we had to pull the wingtip to track down the problem and fix it.
- the landing/taxi light harness had to be reconnected.
- a small piece of tape in the avionics cooling intake vent (sharp eyes, Mike!)
- somehow, some paint (maybe some oversray) got on the (brand new) Brackett air filter, and we had to pull and replace that (paint and air filter oil makes a messy combination).
- a couple missing inspection plate/wing root cover screws.
I got to do the first post-maintenance flight - not just new paint here... except for the main wheel pants and a couple small pieces of trim plastic, every piece of fiberglass/plastic trim is new. New metal gear leg covers. Gear and strut cuffs. Both lower flap bay trailing edge skins replaced. Two new flap track brackets. New flap rollers. One aileron partially reskined. New ducting and air intake seals. New EI UBG-16 engine monitor. New cowl flap hinges.
Our A&P/IA did a great job tuning up the engine during the annual a few weeks ago, because she was running great. The timing had been pretty far off, which was manifesting itself as some rough spots, especially at moderately-low RPMs.
It was quite breezy late this afternoon at Corona, 15G20, but mostly down the runway, just about at the limit of what I was willing to deal with on a flight of this importance and for my very limited recent flying time, though I did rent a 182 with a CFI about a week ago to practice emergency procedures. I checked the radios on the ground before departure, all good. Took off, circled the field a bit, then once I felt everything was good, headed a few miles away to get away from what was a lot of traffic at AJO. I cycled the flaps to 40 degrees at altitude, because I wasn't going to try to use 40 degrees flaps on landing in that wind. All good. Looked over at the EI, and thought, gee, that display looks dim, I thought there was a dimmer for it? Oh well, didn't want to mess with it this flight.
Got back to AJO and thoroughly went over the plane again to make sure nothing cracked, shifted, bent, etc. All good. "Hey Dave (our IA), where's the dimmer control for the EI?" ... "next to all the other cabin/panel dimmer swiches, where you told me to put it..." "Duh..."
A short flight home (HOME!) to Fullerton and I was a Very Happy Pilot. Got to play with the UBG-16 for just a minute or so on the return. I was loafing at 60% power, and the hottest cylinder (#4, I think) was only ~330 degrees. Nice. EGT differential, if I was reading it correctly, was only 65 degrees, but I was low and sorta slow, and hadn't tried to do much leaning, so lots more to play with and learn on that.
Here are a couple pics. Unfortunately she's already getting a bit dusty and has already been targeted by a couple birds, and we're not supposed to wash for another 3 weeks. Gotta get a new car duster and do some spot cleaning.
Jeff
