A mile of runway can take you anywhere
Sunday 2nd saw some good weather .. Crosswind of course but used to that by now ..
Nice photos captured by the local Jersey photographer Mike Illian .. He’s got a real eye for a photo
Noticed I am still flying with a couple of under tail access holes open as I await the painting of the alloy circular discs
OK .. So it looks like my first stab at cooling was way too conservative … My start up and warm up are pretty short term affairs .. Getting up to temps (50 ‘ oil temp) in about 5 mins of taxiing
The cooling however, is not brilliant after my first (tentative) hole cut
The problem at the moment is that initial climb out power at around 3200 is fine on first run .. Subsequent circuits it starts to get hot.
As Paul HS advised .. Do small things in steps so that you can monitor the effect of each change in a controlled way.
First step was to open my neat but woefully small cheek inlets (cheeky .. But hey .. It has to be done !)
Started to widen this out proportionally
Good old gaffa tape comes into play as a temporary air dam
Not particularly elegant … YET … Plan to open it out and neaten the entry duct .. Also investigate NACA
If these are being opened I should enlarge the lower exit hole which was largely blocked by the oil cooler matrix and pipe work.
Someone has just kindly sent me this link which I hadn’t seen …
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-devon-37301305
Just getting around to adding some text to earlier posts .. this one, taken by the local BBC camera crew captures the first very tentative circuit lift off and the very first landing …. very very soft …. holding off to the last moment
Leading up to the day I had a lot of people asking if I would let them know exactly when I was going to do the first test flight .. dilemma .. so many people had helped me over the years and been so supportive I wanted to involve them … but not if anything was to go wrong !
I kept it fairly low key but in the end the Jersey Aero Club had about 100 people there plus BBC and ITV camera crews and they all wanted to talk before and afterwards and BBC radio Jersey wanted a radio interview on landing.
Just to add to the pressure but there was no way I could have omitted him … I’d flown my Dad over a few days before .. in a PA28 Jersey to Earls Colne …
He can be seen in the footage standing very close to the taxiway with a great supporter Graham Nears .. engineer .. who was no doubt saying everything would be ok ..probably !!
Quite how he was allowed to stand so close … anyway a retrospective thanks to airport security for letting my mentor be so close on such an amazing day …
I managed to talk to ITV after the flight which they televised and also BBC radio Jersey .. then it hit me … just couldn’t talk to BBC TV as the tears flowed …..
Cooling is clearly a tricky subject that is not really open to novices … Like me ….
Having reviewed the back section of the Jabiru 2200 engine manual it is very useful BUT it refers to the 2200 engine going into a Jabiru aircraft ! clearly they can’t put all scenarios but it does provide useful overview and pointers.
I elected to call the oracle .. Paul H S … And this has opened up a fascinating subject
Clearly no definite right answers as each design, build, tweak could mean and drive a different result.
The initial summary for now is
This ‘plane keeps on giving … So much to learn .. So much interesting stuff !
Sunday 2nd October finally brought some lovely calm clear weather .. The 30+ westerlies of the previous day were met with a F2 albeit from the North .. So yet another cross wind sequence if flying tests !
initial runway was 08 then switched to 26 (over the cliff and bay)
Having now cracked the RPM gauge and battery charging – located to one mislocated wire on my part ! this was going to be a good test day.
Start up was its usual burst into life and taxi out fine and line up. Straight off, getting the ball in the centre … Nice and straight climb out catering for the 8-10kt from 90′ left.
Felt brave enough to do my first wing over left turn into the bad weather close circuit .. And sailed downwind for a nice wide normal approach and touch and go over the cliff. Around for a second as soon as I had let the tail come down and settle true and straight.
Powered away and checked pressure and temps as temp looked a little high .. Around 110 … I noticed as I eased off the temp went back down but when I applied 2600 or more it went up proportionally … Eased back and levelled off at around 700′ and then downwind and fine .. Offered to orbit right a couple of times to let other traffic away and 2 departed .. Then back for landing.
Short stop for coffee and cool down and check everything. All looked fine so up and away again. This time the engine was already warm so went through 70, 80, 90 in the climb quite quickly, then onwards.
Called the tower and said I would make this one a shorter .. And they said ok call final .. And I opted for no .. Like really shorter and they asked if I wanted to declare an emergency !
As she was still clearly flying and on pulling throttle back she instantly cooled I declined the emergency but landed on a tight left turn with no drama …
Back at the club, cowls off and started to check .. No loose pipes, no oil signs, level fine … One pipe to matrix hot, the other quite cool .. So checked the temps on a static ground run for 20 mins and all fine .. So maybe this is the first time the TOCA oil thermostat has opened ?
Back for another run and this time flew for around 30 mins watching the temps and pressure like a hawk !
The temps would climb rapidly as soon as I put in a chunk of power but stabilises when around 2,500
Elected to do 2 bad weather circuits then a wider around the bay and back. I felt I was nursing a heat problem so elected to land and investigate further.
So to speak …
The last minute incision I had to make just before test flight day – to replace my dead battery – left me with the need to cut my rear access panel out at some point and put a full new nice neat taught section back in.
The ‘break point’ turned out to be just right and a simple cut to remove that section was easy .. Ensuring that the test of the complete side .. Reg all the way up to the nose remains intact and untouched.
Simple and quick section back in … Doubler strips going on and new leather circular pinked access patches on the rudder and steerable cable exit lines will complete the job
Now ready for nice long flight testing hopefully Sunday as forecasting F2 on runway 26 so that will be over the sea .. Cliff edge … Left hand circuit over Corbiere lighthouse down over St Brelades bay then left at Noirmont Point over St Aubins bay for a left hand base back
i
If these go well then I plan to widen to proper ’round the island …..
Updates to follow .. Will try to learn how go pro operates and get wing tip and cockpit footage for uploads
Taxiing back after the first test hop … Pretty excited at this point as it had lifted a full 4′ off the ground and flown beautiful straight and amazingly steady … Brought back all my memories of the Stampe .. Very similar
Taxiing into the club and a pre planned de brief with Graham, Bob and Bob and Peter from Channel Island Aero Services .. It was hard to stop the trial hops but a sensible stop point to check all was still tight secure and looking good.
Guy at the club took these amazing shots … Yellow against that sky … Probably a full 10 seconds after take off
She flies just straight off the plan ! and out of the workshop
That smile that means .. She flies !!
How do you hug a ‘plane ! just climbed out and elated
… Very elated !
I had been experiencing some issues with an RPM reading on my infinity multi gauge unit and although the airspeed and EGT, CHT, Oil Temp and Pressure were all reading fine the RPM was defiantly playing up and not reading.
I had given up on the photo cell unit in the early days as I just couldn’t get it to work but on checking with another fellow builder (Danny Baker – who has been a great help) he advised he had spliced into the regulator-alternator circuit and set for 5 pulses per revolution.
Still couldn’t get a result so needed more investigation
Yesterday I finally found something .. I had chosen in my wiring to not use totally white cables to aid any problem resolution and identification later. I had also put a number of ‘spare’ cables into the 3 harnesses I had built in.
I had one spare BLUE cable – I thought … And had terminated this with a handshake connector and sheathed it. On re- checking, I had put two blue cables in and connected one to the Yellow of the regulator passed this through the bulkhead and to the rear of the panel. It was this one I had accidentally terminated and secured (without connecting!)
Both the RED and the YELLOW from the regulator need to connect to the positive bus.
Connected up and bingo ! I have a nice solid reading on the top of the Infinity gauge and also now have a big positive charge going into the battery ..
Learning all the time !!
Had a really busy couple of weeks at both work and home .. Partly frustrating as we had some nice calm evenings but partly not when , like today, we had 18kt from south on an E/W runway then going up to 30 later !
My first test flight .. Which just flew so beautifully and easily was followed by another close circuit .. It was planned to be 2 but an incoming FlyBe jet meant I had to extend my downwind (Westerly) so was over the sea for a large part of the time …
As this was a full 8 minutes into its total flying time I elected to request an orbit that would bring me nearer land and so orbited a nice tightish turn right at around 1200 and slowly descended and did about 180 degrees over the sea and 180 over the sandy beach below.
POINT of NOTE
during the Jersey Air Display week she was on static display alongside a whole host of amazing aircraft … Saab Viggen , Tornado an amazing warbird from Austria called a Boomerang real nice guy and had a full walk around
Whilst waiting on display I got the Sherwood fuelled up to save booking this later at the club. Filling her to the top.
As I orbited in the above flight over the sea and beach I was suddenly covered in fuel spraying into the front screen. I’ve had venting before in the Stampe but this is a high cabane mounted tank so it simply vents above your head. The Sherwood doesn’t and is in front of the front screen.
I realised that in the turn I had the fuel sloshing over , being so full, and it simply got sucked up the Venturi by the air passing over the top of the tube … This carried on for a while so I pushed slightly nose down and that seemed to break the pressure and it stopped instantly
Lesson learned – don’t fill to the top ! certainly not if you expect to orbit soon after !
Broke out of the turns after about the 5th and had planned a descent to around 800′ so this left me on a nice attitude for coming in over the cliff at the threshold of 08 at Jersey. 8kt crosswind from exact South yet again … And she handles so sweetly and easy to slip her down to a nice landing. Probably a little too fast if I am being honest
I have also found that running the tyres at about 12psi seems to be working but it slows quite quickly on the runway at Jersey .. I won’t change the pressures yet but perhaps a little firmer when I settle into more landings.
(with 4 test hops, 1 first flight-circuit and one this Sunday that makes a total of 6 take offs and, gratifyingly the same number of landings ha ha !
Tuesday 6th September … LAA certificate arrived and we had a Force 2-3 from around South to Southwest giving me a tricky little crosswind as well as the ‘wrong’ runway at Jersey ? Had hoped for 26 as it has a steep cliff at the end and so provides a nice run off in case of engine problems just after take off .. But wind favoured 08 which has a road, trees, petrol station !
The SATCO approved a quiet test slot of 1600-1700 local as we had only 2 planned Airbus 320’s due in .. Easyjet and BA from Gatwick …
CIAS were all on hand to provide their usual great guidance
The airport Fire and Rescue laid on the FULL compliment ! 3 massive tenders and 3 landrovers !
the scene was set !!
First hop was ok .. Lined up nicely .. Tail up almost immediately .. Aileron into wind and only a slight bit of drift … Aim was to get to around 4′ high, fly level and then power down and land .. Ideally BEFORE the end of the runway ! Second hop got a little higher by mistake but flare was nice and straight and down
I then hit a snag as I had been trailing the brakes through extensive taxiing and braking on landing .. Eventually the right brake said I’ve had enough and just way too HOT .. So stopped working !
called the tower and advised I was having small problem and parked on a Blus Island vacant stand – stand 6 ! Fire crew came up to assist and brake cooled after a few minutes .. Crew pushed on the leading edge as I braked and checked it as indeed stopping
off we went again for third hop ….
Big wing drop on this one .. Perhaps it was cross wind, perhaps it was me not applying sufficient power and easing off too early .. In any event the starboard wing was going down and heading into cartwheel territory ! pushed power and the wing lifted immediately .. Nice straight and level was restored
nice straight flare and power off to gentle touchdown .. Those (in the know ie pilots) at the club were hearts in the mouth moments !
I returned to the club and shut down for a chat with the engineers in CIAS .. Nice calm advice and settling … Then out for fourth hop
this was a very smooth affair … And nicely settled on the runway
So taxi back .. And await the A320 from BA to land and wait for wake turbulence to clear … Lined up .., Full throttle … And she just flew into the beautiful blue sky … Steady as a rock ….
One tight bad weather left hand circuit and time to sing at the top of my voice downwind !!! nice tight left base over the beach in st Ouen and roll out onto final
Touchdown 17:15 local
Jersey Sherwood Ranger 