Details
Hits: 2454

I’ve wanting to record some flight test data for awhile now, to help answer the question about whether the aircraft’s cruise performance has changed with the overhauled engine. But, I found that the EFIS data was not being recorded by the data recording script on my laptop. It took a few hours of troubleshooting, but I eventually ruled out EFIS configuration problems and wiring failures. Today I finally figured out that the problem was a a failed serial port on the four port Keyspan USA–49W Serial to USB Adapter. This morning I switched the EFIS to the port normally used for my Event Marker, and the data recording was working again.

After sorting out the data recording, I went flying to do several cruise performance test points. It’ll take a few hours to crunch the data to see what it tells me.

Details
Hits: 2409

I was in Washington, DC most of the week, getting home on Thursday evening.

I had tentative plans to fly to Yarmouth, NS on Friday to visit my folks, flying home on Monday. But, the weather story on Friday morning wasn’t nearly as good as the forecasts had suggested, with an extensive area of low, cold cloud extending about an hour east of Ottawa. Both Nav Canada and the US National Weather Service were forecasting significant icing in that band of cloud. I pondered waiting a few hours to watch the PIREPs, to see if the icing was really there, but that would have eaten into the short time available for this trip. I decided to cancel and try again later in the season, then the freezing level is higher allowing flight at IFR altitudes without picking up ice. I also hope to have a longer window of free time on some future trip.

Details
Hits: 2413
We had a strong cold front blow through on Saturday. I spent a few hours at the airport doing maintenance, but the 30 kt winds put me off any thoughts of going flying. Today was much more hospitable, with relatively light surface winds, so I did a short local flight after lunch.

Details
Hits: 2442

I spent the week in Wichita, getting home late Saturday afternoon. Today Terry had a commitment, so I went flying by myself - lunch in Lindsay, at the Airportview Restaurant. More info on the COPA Places to Fly site. The restaurant is nothing fancy, but the food is always good. I arrived shortly after a large group who flew in from Kingston, so the restaurant was packed - I was lucky to get an open table, and the last table was taken five minutes after I sat down.

Details
Hits: 2698

I had a day off on Friday, so I decided to inspect under the cowling, plus check a few other things. I was happy to see only one tiny sign of a possible oil leak under the cowling - there was just a hint of a possible oil leak somewhere in the vicinity of the fuel pump. I couldn’t get a clear indication of where this tiny bit of oil might be coming from. I’ll keep an eye on that. This is a big improvement from last year, when there was oil coming from several different places.

I replaced the removable connector for the #1 Cylinder Heat Temperature (CHT) probe with a butt splice, as that CHT had been reading too low, and there was visible corrosion in the connector. That CHT was right in line with #2 and #3 when I flew the next day, so it looks like this was a good fix. #4 CHT has also been reading low for some time, so I need to look for something amiss in its wiring next time I have the cowling off.

I was dismayed to see that the right fuel tank once again had blue fuel stain at the lower, inboard, aft corner of the right fuel tank. I had first spied this in early 2012, but after cleaning off the blue stain it did not reappear. I kept a closer on it since then, and this is the first time I’ve found fresh stain. It looks like I’ll need to remove the tank, open it up and apply some sealant inside. I’ll acquire the items I’ll need for that task, and tackle it sometime before winter.

On Saturday I flew for an hour, intending to do some instrument approach practice at Ottawa. My previous instrument practice flights at Ottawa have always been productive, but they were very busy on Saturday. I had to orbit for a few minutes before they would accept me for one ILS approach, but they wouldn’t let me do any more. Oh well. I headed back to the south west for some sight seeing and a practice approach at Smiths Falls.

Details
Hits: 2326

Today Terry and I did our first lunch trip of the year, to the Landing 27 Bistro restaurant the the Peterborough airport. It was the first time Terry had been in the aircraft since our trip back from Nova Scotia in early July 2012. I discovered a major engine issue shortly after that trip, and the aircraft was out of service until November. The back seat isn’t a fun place during the winter, as there isn’t enough heat back there, so she didn’t come along on any flights until today.

The flights to and from Peterborough were great, and the food was excellent. We even got rarely lucky with the winds. There was a cold front approaching, and the winds at altitude changed significantly while we were on the ground. We had 10–15 kt of headwind on the way to Peterborough, but the wind increased while we ate so that we had a solid 25 kt tailwind on the way home, with the ground speed averaging 200 kt.