Thanks to Sarah Harman and George Gaudin for ground shots from a 3rd smoke test today

It sort of says OK and the second (almost) circle .. was a practice to then draw line through ! .. OK maybe back to reception class … i am flying right handed .. instead of left as usual … ha ha

And thank you Martin Fallaize for the shot from the boat

As with .any aircraft you get ‘hanger rash.. the odd little dink here and mark there… some just washes out some might need polish and some more

The secondary cowl was painted using a matt black spray .. which incidentally heats up hugely in sunshine … over the year I have used it about 1/3 of the time.. opting to use the main gloss painted cowl normally

When not in use it sits in the back of the hanger and sometimes gets blown by various prop wash if the doors are left open

So .. a year or so on .. I re touched the matt black up

The 9th May marks 75 years since Jersey was liberated following the occupation in the war.

Sadly it seems that celebrations will be very much curtailed due to virus worries and social distancing but I’m sure something will be planned by the Bailiff post release

In the meantime, a slight addition to my previous ‘commemorative cowling’ which I want to use, post lockdown, on my flight through France to Cherbourg, Caen, Deauville and Abbeville …

I had to scale up the image to get a suitable size and then split the numbers across the curve of the cowl .. a bit of edge tidying still to do ..

It’s always nice to show the ‘plane to interested people .. especially little ones 😊

And a chance to sit in the much flown PA28 G-ATOT

Whilst cleaning the oil down and covering her up for the unknown time associated with Covid19 epidemic I noticed that a couple of the tail rigging wires didnt seem to have the twang they used to …

The construction has a really neat way of getting these just right in the tail .. using packing washers

You have 8 cables 2 each side top and 2 each side under providing a nice tight geometric taught support for the tail plane

Slight problem is .. there are no turnbuckle.. as this would not only weight but also drag ..

So you make each of the 8 wires to ‘exact’ length with thimble and crimps and use 2-3 washers to pack ..

Once in situ .. you hopefully have it all nice and rigid .. problem is that moving any 1 affects ALL in the setup .. beautifull engineering and geometry.. but a pain 😊

Anyway .. removing 1 washer from 2 and bingo .. the whole setup was making a nice ping noise again when flicked with a finger .. the acid test

When you go around Duxford you see all the beautiful old aircraft like Spits, Mustangs, Hellcats etc all with small metal drip trays under their engines catching the inevitable oil leaks and drips post engine runs…

My engine is pretty ckean having done less than 90 hours but … if I use smoke .. no matter how much I wipe down afterwards.. I get the excess dripping in a neat line on the hanger floor .. going to have to think of something for those days I use smoke 😊