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I took some time off from work yesterday afternoon and picked up the aircraft. I got lucky with the weather, and it stopped raining shortly before I rolled the aircraft from the paint shop down to my hangar.

This morning I started the reassembly. I got the canopy, spinner, ailerons and wing tip light covers back on. I reinstalled the EFIS and EIS 4000 engine monitor, which had been removed for updates. It was a very cold, damp day, and I ran out of steam around 2 PM. It was just really miserable and I wasn’t having fun anymore, so I stopped for the day.

I took Monday and Tuesday off, and I’ll reattack the project then. Korrey will paint the back half of the wheel pants and the gear leg fairings on Monday, and he’ll also touch up a thin spot on one of the elevators. Those parts will need to cure for several days before I can put them back on the aircraft, which means the aircraft won’t be all back together until next weekend at the very earliest.

The aircraft looks really nice with the canopy and spinner back on.

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I had a proficiency flight scheduled on a C182 this morning. For some crazy reason Transport Canada can no longer purchase AvGas on the south field at Ottawa, so you need to be careful to not bring the plane back too low on fuel. Smiths Falls has the cheapest AvGas in the area, so I stopped there near the end of my flight to gas up. I then pushed the plane to the side of the ramp, and walked over to the Kolorfast paint shop.

Korrey was anxious to show me the aircraft - he was very happy at how it had turned out, and he was proud to show me. I was blown away when I walked in the door - it looks gorgeous! The camera doesn’t really do it justice. I’m looking forward to seeing how it looks in the sun once it is reassembled, and the reaction it gets from other people.

It was sweltering in the paint shop, as the heat was cranked way up to help the paint cure. I’ll pick the plane up late tomorrow afternoon, and start reassembling it on Saturday.

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I got a phone call from Korrey at Kolorfast a few minutes ago. He said the paint job was essentially finished. Woo Hoo!! Finally!! He wanted the plane to sit in the heated paint shop for two days to cure before I picked it up. And he wasn't happy with the body work on the back half of the wheel pants, so he redid it, and they are not painted yet. That isn't a problem, as I have several days of work to do before I would be ready to reweigh the aircraft.

I should pick the aircraft up late Friday afternoon. I'll spend a bunch of time at the hangar this weekend to rebalance the elevators, reinstall the canopy, all the control surfaces, access panels, intersection fairings, etc. I've also got some small mods to make to the engine cooling plenum cover. I'll ensure the fuel tank vent lines and the pitot and static lines are clear. I doubt I'll get all this work done on the weekend.

Sometime next week I'll drain the fuel tanks, install the wheel pants and weigh the aircraft. Then on some day with nice weather I'll take it flying again. I'll stick very close to the airfield for the first flight or two, just in case something is awry with all the work that has been done.

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I took advantage of the down time while the aircraft was being painted to apply for a 100 lb increase in the gross weight. You have to give Transport Canada the aircraft's Special Certificate of Airworthiness whenever you apply for any changes. I have no idea why they need it back, but it is what it is.

I got the new Special C of A back on Monday, and now I am approved for a 1900 lb gross weight, which will give a lot more flexibility when flying with two people, full fuel and baggage.

Wing Structure - I did a rudimentary wing bending moment calculation, using Van's recommended aerobatic envelope of 6g at 1550 lb as the starting point. A load factor of 4.75g at 1900 lb gross weight will produce about the same wing bending loads as the 6g at 1550 lb that is recommended by Van's for aerobatics. I'll restrict the g loading to 4.4g when the weight is above 1800 lb, which will ensure the wing bending moment is less than the design loads - 4.4g is equivalent to Utility Category for type-certificated light aircraft. I'll also only fly off smooth hard surface runways if the weight is above 1800 lb.

Landing Gear Structure - Many RVs are operated from grass airstrips, at all weights with no apparent ill effect. I'll impose a few restrictions for operations at weights greater than 1800 lb. Landings at weights above 1800 lb will be done in daylight only, and with a crosswind of 15 kt or less. These restrictions should ensure that the loads on the landing gear will be no higher than for operations at 1800 lb weight on unprepared surfaces.

I will conduct stability and control and performance tests at 1900 lb gross weight before I carry passengers at that weight.

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I was in Wichita for the week of 22 March, doing some Global Express avionics update flight testing. Last week was a busy week at work here in Ottawa, but I did get out to the paint shop first thing Tuesday morning to discuss a few details with Korrey. He had just started laying out the hawk graphic on the side of the fuselage. It is looking really good.

The green is a vinyl stencil. The shape compares quite nicely to the picture I took of the Golden Hawk Sabre at the National Air Force Museum of Canada at Trenton, ON.


The weather is absolutely fabulous this weekend, and it is killing me to not be flying the RV-8. I’ll be on the road again this week, and hopefully the aircraft will be ready to leave the paint shop when I get back home.

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Once again, not much to report. I did quite a bit of proficiency flying at work this week, so that was good. But I really miss flying the RV-8. I dropped in the paint shop on Wednesday afternoon, to see how things were going. They hadn't made quite as much progress as I had hoped, as they ended up spending more time tidying up the fibreglass than expected. They hoped to start spraying paint tomorrow, on Monday. And they figured they would need about two weeks to finish things off.

It'll take me a few days work to get the aircraft all put back together, and to give it a good inspection to try to catch any issues. I hope to be flying again sometime in mid-April.