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This weekend I attacked leaking brake master cylinders. Both were weeping around the shaft, so I replaced all the O-rings in the master cylinders then bled the brakes. I cut short the test flight when I felt my feet slipping on the floor, looked down and saw a large pool of brake fluid. The system appeared to not be leaking when I had applied brake pressure before the flight, but I must have missed the significant leak.

I discovered a piece of a DEL Seal stuck inside the flexible tube end that was keeping the fitting from sealing. I fished it out, installed a new DEL seal, and now I think it is OK.

The COM 1 radio transmission problem returned - no one heard it during the test flight. After landing I fired up the handheld COM, and it confirmed that COM 1 transmissions were very garbled. I reseated the same power connector that had apparently been the cause last time, and now the transmissions appear to be fine. I’ll replace that connector the next time I’m at the hangar.

I’m also going to fabricate a coax patch panel so I can switch COM 2 to the external antenna in flight if need be, or hook the handheld COM to the external antenna. As it sits now, COM 2 is connected to the internal wingtip antenna, which has much worse performance than the external antenna. The ability to hook COM 2 up to the external antenna on the fly in flight will be useful if COM 1 acts up again.