Longer flights

Having been so busy with family bits and work going crazy it was nice to finally get a decent flight in.

With no fuel guage on the new top tank its a bit tricky to know what’s in there so must sort a method of filling then timing fuel drop through the open tap

As it was only me flying i filled the main tank to about 1″ from the top .. amy more just vents on climb out and you get a screen full of avgas !

The forecast crosswind was meant to be about 4 to 6 most of the day but the sock at Priory was about right angles from the East when I arrived.

Starting up in warmer weather is great as she generally picks up much sooner and also gets the oil up to temp really quickly

Taking a last look at the sock I started to backtrack as it favoured a southerly takeoff. As you can see from the video ..even tho its an Easterly ..as soon as the wind was not being interrupted by the Westerly hedge I got a load of right weathercocking .. more than full right rudder and some judicial brakes could stop … then, on such a narrow strip, the field aint far away !

Heel brakes on the Ranger stopped her but I thought post the flight .. I should have killed the engine too .. no point having a running prop.if you are going Into unredictable ground of a field

Being far more wary I started up and continued the backtrack .. speed can be helpful to maintain direction but its def not your friend if you lose rudder authority

Returning back to the field and the crossing if anything seemed to have got a little stronger .. post the landing it did say 10kt across ..but def felt more …

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Shetland engine reaches 50 hours

My second Jabiru 2200, bought fromShetland, has reached 50 hours and has just had its second oil change

KODAK Digital Still Camera

It’s proving to be a great engine ..as I continue to pre prep the Rotax 912

KODAK Digital Still Camera
KODAK Digital Still Camera
KODAK Digital Still Camera
KODAK Digital Still Camera
KODAK Digital Still Camera
KODAK Digital Still Camera
KODAK Digital Still Camera
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Test flying 2017

Some shots of one of the many test flights conducted in the early days.

This one with my son Sam, who helped not only in many parts of the construction but also in logging various bits on test flights.

Flying the Ranger 2 up has never been super fast but Sam is pretty light so it used to nip around ..even though I had yet to put the wing root fillets in place !

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Rotax 912 planning – Cowl

Niw the engine radiators and exhaust are in place in the mock up jig we need to get much more accurate measurements for the proposed cowls.

The recent photos from Christophe in France have been a great help and will defiantly assist the next steps over here in England

The best way to get accurate measurements is to remove the Jabiru engine and so provide a better access to the clear bulkhead areas

I normally remove the engine from the engine frame but this time it seemed better to take the engine plus frame as one

Tricky keeping the exhaust and oil radiator in situ and taking it down to floor level safely.

Post this removal, the guys from Competition Fabrication will measure after which I can refit the Jabiru whilst the cowls are built

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Way back …

Its a time of tidying up and making sure ive got copies of things before deleting!

Way back … this was a series of shots that the factory put out to show jist what you received when you embarked on such a programme !

The undercarriage with plates and bolts and tyres and tubes … now, 10 years on, some of these bits have been replaced .. a bent leg (following a tow by the Jersey Airport firecracker over a speed bump !) .. at least 3 sets of new tyres .. all that taxying at Jersey wore the tyres out …

Plus done new rubber bungees post the baby oil from the smoke system making them all floppy!

Elevator parts … i ended up thinking I needed to use the whole curved trailing edge ! .. so I now officially have the largest Sherwood Ranger elevator ! Great .. flies hands off !

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Cap loss

Over the years ive lost many caps.

The first was over our house in Jersey .. flying with my son … pulling the aircraft around to stay in focus on the house, your instinct is to pull your head back and start to look for the ground to the side and below you.

Eventually, you bring your head back into line and, invariably, raise your eye line

This has the effect of getting a smidgen of wind under the peak ..and woosh … the cap is gone

The first one ended in a field and was never found

The one in the pictire above was in the bay of St Ouen just off runway centreline. Id been asked by a local commercial pilot if I could do a fly by of his wedding reception.

Stupidly (ney Honestly) I advised ATC that I was doing 2 fly pasts, offshore, N of the runway centreline. At the hold and about 2 minutes to the scheduled reception time, ATC advised they were holding me whilst they decided if this constituted a ‘flying display’ !

Minutes passed … and eventually I was cleared to line up

Pulled up and right.. a sort of part heading towards Guernsey, and could see people just coming out for the reception. I peeled over and around (this era was pre smoke .. which sort of would have classed as a ‘display’)

I think this was one of the first time I flew through my own prop wash in the Ranger. It was VERY pronounced and getting a rather large dip whist about 500m offshore was quite alarming …

Pulling up and away into a turn and this shot shows what happened to the cap ! Never to be found again !

A more recent one was in Norfolk .. about September 2025 … just departing with my son and into the circuit and turning to see who was departing behind us .. cap went and I thought oh no not another …

As I looked around.. in the small rear view mirror I have for the smoke system, I could see the cap was wrapped around the tailplane rigging!..

We pulled around onto a long gentle curved approach..trying to keep the cap in situ

All was fine until the round out .. and the change in air flow and reduction in power ..and off it flew.

We touched and I left my son in the front on tickover on the ground whilst I ran back and jumped the ditch and across the field to retieve !

First save ! ❤️

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Approaching 500 landings

Ive been tracking all landings since the build and its approaching 500 … but not quite there yet !

As at this morning I needed 54 to make it to the 500

Planned some teardrops out and back to speed up the circuit times but then realised id be passing a couple of houses on both outbound and loop back to the opposite approach.. so they woukd get the noise both ways ..

Rather than attract some adverse feedback I opted to do around half and mix with some full size .(normal) circuits..

Just as I got in i discovered that a mouse had managed to chew it’s way through my cap that I leave in the aircraft ! So, a very cold flight of 26 circuits with a blast of icy cold air and only a small headset to fend off the blast !

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Grab a sunny day when you can

John and I had discussed a formation sequence a few weeks ago but he saw we had a nice weather window this week, so we planned to meet and pre brief.

We agreed method of lead and follow… when and what frequency to switch to and what actions to take if anything went a bit odd.

John’s new 360 camera was a great new add on and so we were using this flight as a pre test

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