Well as some of you know, my Navion was down for nearly three years following an engine failure which was then followed by the mechanic who was doing the restoration work having a stroke about half way through the project. I got it back just in time for COVID to hit so really didn't do too much flying.
What happened is I screwed up and let the annual expire. Fortunately, my mechanic is a good guy and he was willing to fly down and do the annual (I have jacks courtesy of iflyifr). We found a couple of things on the left main gear that need attention (not an immediate airworthiness concern) but needed to be done back at his shop. He said it would take about a week but offered a loaner Navion (he had just bought an additional one for himself to fix up), so it was hard to pass up that offer.
Planned an 8AM takeoff. Forgot about the DST change so it was just getting light when we pulled the plane out. Nice flight up but it is cold up north (that's why I moved to NC). Got the new plane which has an MVP50 (like mine) and a pair of uavionx av30's (which was good because my neighbor who was along for the ride was thinking about putting them in his Wing Derringer). Unlike my plane the thing doesn't have toe brakes and it's been a while since I flew a Navion without them but I got used to it pretty quick.
The thing took off and I had been warned the hydraulics were a bit slow. I decided to do the Navion whoop-de-do to help the gear lock up, but I should have warned my passenger first. Nice plane. The AV-30 simulation of a DG processes like crazy (supposedly a software fix is coming) but it was a beautiful day and the route between these two airports is so familiar to me that I flew it by heart for an hour and a half. We did have Foreflight as a backup.
What happened is I screwed up and let the annual expire. Fortunately, my mechanic is a good guy and he was willing to fly down and do the annual (I have jacks courtesy of iflyifr). We found a couple of things on the left main gear that need attention (not an immediate airworthiness concern) but needed to be done back at his shop. He said it would take about a week but offered a loaner Navion (he had just bought an additional one for himself to fix up), so it was hard to pass up that offer.
Planned an 8AM takeoff. Forgot about the DST change so it was just getting light when we pulled the plane out. Nice flight up but it is cold up north (that's why I moved to NC). Got the new plane which has an MVP50 (like mine) and a pair of uavionx av30's (which was good because my neighbor who was along for the ride was thinking about putting them in his Wing Derringer). Unlike my plane the thing doesn't have toe brakes and it's been a while since I flew a Navion without them but I got used to it pretty quick.
The thing took off and I had been warned the hydraulics were a bit slow. I decided to do the Navion whoop-de-do to help the gear lock up, but I should have warned my passenger first. Nice plane. The AV-30 simulation of a DG processes like crazy (supposedly a software fix is coming) but it was a beautiful day and the route between these two airports is so familiar to me that I flew it by heart for an hour and a half. We did have Foreflight as a backup.