A mile of runway can take you anywhere
Today .. Monday 9th March I received an email response from Francis Donaldson at the LAA 6 hours after I had resubmitted my updated Pilot Operating Handbook notes for the smoke system …
Just need some good weather and MORE baby oil !!
The really useful course at Skycraft covered some sensible – regular- checks I could do around mags ..
Turns out this is especially good in moist environments.. so on an island of 9 miles by 5 miles surrounded by sea probably constitutes as ‘moist’ … add to that if course salt air … and you have good properties for corrosion ..
Checking the magnets on the flywheel is really simple with the cowling off and sure enough.. rotating the prop to reveal the magnets showed a fair build up of rust …
As Dave noted .. this could be a cause of radio noise.. and I’ve been having that creep in in last few months… probably proportionally ‘noisy’ as time passes… and surface rust builds …
Every time I’ve gone up to the hanger .. with good intentions to wash the ‘plane … then you get reasonable weather to fly… you fly .. of course … so that means I haven’t washed her since before Christmas !!
So so dirty after all the dust in the hanger….
Also… after 3 years of flying .. it’s good to double check for any little lifting of the small pinked edges… and iron them flat
What a fantastic day with a great bunch of people ….
Flew out from misty foggy Jersey yesterday to even mistier and foggier Gatwick and then long drive up to Holbeach to stay in a small pup overnight ahead of today’s starter course for those who want to know a bit more about the Jabiru 2200 engine.
Started with lubrication … a very good place to start …
Next … electrics … not everyone’s favourite …
Next … mechanical bits … valves and tappers and compressions ….
Other useful bits to write up from my little notebook.
Got an email from the busy LAA this morning … working on a Saturday … so good to get feedback.
Having never submitted an aircraft modification before I am still learning the sequence and paperwork that is required.
The 12 pages of what is called a MOD3 went through quite a lot of iterations but, even though we have now reached a high degree of acceptance I have omitted to provide some other elements:
Spent this evening completing these so just need to meet up with my local LAA engineer for counter signature ..
Update to POH
POH Addendum Smoke System
Smoke System – Principle of Operation
The oil smoke tank uses a kit supplied by American supplier Smokin Airplanes and comprises the following elements:
– Smoke oil tank with associated pump
– Feed pipes and delivery pipes
– Spray bar fittings for exhaust pipes
– Electrical switches and fuses
The tank accepts a paraffin based oil (Baby oil) and the electrical switch , momentary switch provides power to the pump which draws oil from the tank into aircraft grade aeroquip rubber hosing.
The hosing routes to the rear of the stainless bulkhead and passes into a T bar aeroquip fitting that splits the single feed into a steel braided double feed that connects to spray bar atomiser injectors fitted into each exhaust outlet.
Fitting Of Oil Tank
The oil tank is fitted into the front seat (P2) location. The seat base and seat back are removed prior to installing. This leaves the Sherwood standard plywood seat base which has had 2 holes drilled in to accept 2 alloy pins on the underside of a tailor made ally mounting tray.
The mounting tray has lips on all sides to ensure the oil tank does not move in any direction.
Underneath the plywood seat base 2 alloy brackets have been riveted in position on the outer edge of the 2 longitudinal seat rails. These brackets accept a 1” wide ratchet strap.
Weight and Balance Consideration
As the oil tank is located in the P2 position, and this location is dead centre on the C of G , mainspar there is no change to weight and balance whether the oil tank is empty or full.
Filling the Tank
The tank is generally filled outside the aircraft but it can be filled in situ with a suitable long stemmed filler flex pipe. Filling is through a large hole in the top of the tank which has a securing screw cap. Do not overfill the tank .. 3/4 is sufficient for approx 4 mins of continuous smoke.
There is an overflow pipe if excess washes over in any steep turns. This pipe routes to the underside of the aircraft behind the u/c.
A quick release break valve is fitted to prevent spillage. The tank can be removed , even if oil remains in the tank.
Smoke Operation
The smoke can be operated once the engine reaches suitable temperature. Usually 150’ and above EGT.
There are 3 ways of operating the smoke:
– The main switch panel has a 3 position switch, continuous on, Off and Armed for intermittent
– A remote Push button allows momentary operation of smoke .. IF the primary switch is in the UP (Momentry) position
– If the primary switch is set to ON, the. The pump operates until it is turned off.
Note .. a red light is illuminated all the time the pump is in operation
Note .. the pump will continue to operate even if no oil is in the tank amd the switch is in the ON position.
The smoke oil.residue is wetting the tailwheel and bungee so I have decided to create a new boot to protect
A bit if blue sky and yes… blxxdy freezing .. but hey lets try second attempt ..
Tried 1.4 instead of 1.5 on the mixture and smoke was a little less ‘full’
Last Sunday we finally had a slight lull in the weather and .. having fuelled up … loaded about 30% of smoke oil into the oil tank.
Having started up and warmed the engine whilst waiting for the fueller to arrive I had a nice warm engine so was ready to taxi out pretty much straightaway.
I made a quick mobile call to Jersey ATC to request circuits and also advise that it would be a second test of the smoke system. There was a short delay whilst the clearance chap checked out with the tower and all ok.
Duly taxied out and lined up on runway 26 at Jersey .. with a nice warm engine … I had said I would probably do a full normal circuit before doing a long runway pass at say 700’ and try the smoke on and off serveral times.
Just after take off .. I banked out left towards Corbiere lighthouse and quick glance in my new small rear view mirror … thought .. let’s just flick the smoke switch for say 2 seconds and off…
RESULT …..
Lots of lovely white billowing smoke and stoped the instant you turned off. A few more on,off combinations and works a treat.
Clearly my previous setting of 2 full open valves on the mixture was way too rich .. Smoking Airplanes had suggested trying something between 1.3 and 1.6 .. I tried 1.5
Awesome smoke trail ..and BEST thing … if you waited for say 2-3 seconds and then looked back .. you could see the biplane wing wash and prop wash swirl beautifully symmetrically in the trailing smoke.
Will try a rear facing go pro on the next flight ….
Bad weather circuit at Jersey .. try to always squeeze one in depending on traffic volumes
It’s really good practice to see if you can get one of these tighter circuits in or you get used to very large semi cross country circuits … the tighter ones keep you on your toes as everything happens much quicker and .. just as you turn crosswind .. you bank over to turn downwind … then it’s ready for base
The last landing is a little too fast … you can see the starboard wing just lift a little as the tail comes down …. but you can also see how quickly the speed falls away .. combination of super sticky international runway … grooves cut at right angles across the runway to encourage water to dissipate … and also low pressure larger tyres .. running at around 11psi
Here is a slightly fast approach around August 2019 …
It was slightly choppy conditions but I planned a touch and go and … as you can see … the touch was ok but the starboard wing lifted a little as the approach speed was too fast .. 😊
Jersey Sherwood Ranger 