The other day was a very cold but at least clear day so I half filled the smoke oil tank with baby oil and ratcheted the securing strap up for its first proper air test.

I’ll need to source a better power plug connector .. these ones with crimped spades that push into plastic connector blocks are very weak … but should be ok for initial test.

Having run an initial 1 second ground test to make sure the pump operated from the rear cockpit switch I set off to get in and warm the engine

Getting in was its usual squeeze in the winter.. with around 5 layers on .. its cosy though and you soon dont feel the cold as everything gets going

I’d pre briefed I think it was Russell in ATC that I’d like to do a circuit just to make sure all fittings were stable and my feet remained clear of all fittings in terms of rudder access and pump … and then advised I’d like to do a straight pass over the runway at around 800′ to try the smoke …the idea being that if anything was to happen .. I could dead stick down ..

All went fine and setup the approach for the first 800′ overly… slight thing to factor was an ATR had just take off as I was on short final so I was advised to turn before I flew through his prop wash at the end of the runway .. not a problem as I usually turn just before the end to clear the centre line

Anyway … my little wing mirror I fitted a few weeks ago revealed zip coming out of the back .. tried the switch several times and nothing…

Did 4 more circuits and finished with a usual very tight 1 min circuit to land … the ATC controller was awesome as I called close downwind she cleared another FlyBe ATR to take off and he was pretty slow to move so I held a few more seconds until I saw him roll then wing over on a nice tight right base and touch down just a few seconds after his wheels left the ground…

Thanked ATC and wished a Happy New Year and taxed in to check why the oil wasnt working …

Checked all fittings and switches and fine …the realised.. doh … to prevent any spillage I’d turned the flow valve fully off … this means loading the tank is a nice dry affair ….

Anyway .. valve duly turned on and a hop back in and clear prop .. restart …and hey presto .. smoke … not as billowy as I’d like.. but smoke

Stopped the engine hopped out and found a very wet undercarriage…so it’s too rich

Turned mixture , flow down from 2 full turns to 1

Hopped on again …and restart… not much smoke.. but less liquid …

So need to check what flow valve setting is optimal and also emailed Smokin Airplanes in US to see what is best burn rate for oil on this type of.engjne … prob better at revs around 2700 vs on hard standing around 1800

Watch this space ….. 😊

It’s been such rubbish weather during the past few months , and the odd day it has been good we have been in the U.K. ..

Top that with a drop dead CAVOK day with 3kts … and it was Christmas Day .. and Jersey airport was shut ….

Mind you .. we all need to count our blessings … the airport DID open … briefly …. to let a medivac aircraft fly in from Guernsey .. an Aurigny aircraft, to pick up a sick person then fly them to the U.K. .. usually Southampton .. fingers crossed all worked out ok …

A few shots from the last days flying of 2019 … pretty cold .. so usual 4 layers top and bottom … plus a life vest on top of a flying suit and sheepskin … that was tight in the cockpit !

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It’s really useful to study some of the earlier go pro footage from earlier in the year ..

Using stills from this you can see how accurate, or otherwise, you are in holding angles or turns …

The sun on the wings shows a straight line … but not quite 90’ with the horizon …

A local guy (Alan Carvo) in Jersey has a real eye for a different angled shot and very kindly sent me some images that he took at the static display at this years Jersey International Air Display … I’m hoping to arrange some nice clear landing shots with him in exchange for a flight and some fun flying around 🙂

Slight update on the paint job on my temporary 2nd cowling

Bit of overspray on my very armature paper templates.. gives it a softer effect

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So .. after a few attempts at a range of smoke oil tank securing options … Paul Hendry Smith kindly had a chat with the top LAA man Francis Donaldson and thrashed out a workable solution… cheers Paul .. and Francis 🙂

A superbly neat solution that uses standard parts from the kit as well as a really neat alloy welded tray

The brackets will be loctite 246 glued to the outer edge of the longitudinal seat rails .. about half way down the fore-aft of the smoke oil tank

They will also be riveted in place with 2 x nickel rivets .. and then a standard aircraft grade bolt will go through these to provide a saddle clamp to run a securing ratchet strap in position

The alloy base plate also has had two pins protruding below .. alloy welded in position to prevent lateral movement

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Once the faces of each part are thoroughly cleaned you put one part of the F246 glue on the outer part of the seat rails and the other on the bracket … then rivet it in position

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Looked at the site access spread this evening …

Interesting geographics … possibly a result of being a member of a Facebook biplane site ..

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I got an update set of documentation today from SkyCraft who are the UK agents for all things Jabiru .. some is aimed at later mark engines and this is probably one of those .. but worth a look …

Browsing through some of them I noticed there was an update on cooling options using the cowls, similar to the ones that I have. They seem to fit in a slightly different way , with a front located retaining spring vs the loop one I have around the cylinder head .. And they have the same cooling pipes at the rear , pointing down onto the Mags which get hot in use. However, there was one primary difference .. which I don’t have …

The front intake holes on the cowls had 2 ram air lower ducts fitted. These look like they have the effect of

• compressing the incoming air
• Forcing it into the now reduced upper section of the duct
• Pushing this (presumably) faster air over the tops of all cylinders heads
• Preventing (pretty much all) air from ‘bleeding’ below the cylinders

This could be a useful trial update for me .. although the engine generally runs at good temps I’ve noticed 2 up and fairly full of fuel and she does get quite warm …

A few months ago, on rollout from landing I felt a slight vibration through the frame … this soon stopped as the speed fell away to walking pace and nothing further ..

I had a quick pull and push of the wheel on parking up but couldn’t really feel anything so shrugged it off as a possible ‘too quick’ landing that had induced some sort of oscillation .. somewhere ….

I flew again early September with Will , no 2 son, and we flew for about an hour over the South coast and on returning to runway 08 at Jersey the slight wind on departure had become 15kt from 360’ … not ideal … on the final bit of approach .. Will said .. “you have control” … he’d done a great job crosswind crabbing to that point

In the final 100’ we entered a bit of down draft and lost about 30’ before my early application of full power pulled her out and we rounded out in ground effect .. just a smidgen too fast ..perhaps around 55 ..

The wheel wobble , shimmy returned .. and was quite pronounced .. going away when we slowed down ..so on hangering I had a really good look and jacked up and removed the port wheel. This showed that the out wheel bearing had just started to show signs of degradation … ie the smooth black cover that circles the roller bearings was slightly uneven on one side .. the outer side.

On reflection running large, low pressure, sticky tyres on a very grippy concrete runway at Jersey for the last 3 years and a total of about 195 landings and miles of taxiing … may just be a little too much for smallish bearings .. which probably expect to be on grass most of the time

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Unfortunately the earlier failure of the bearing meant that the wheel hub centre became rounded out and so needed to replace 2 centre hub shells