Bob .. My local inspector .. Did the final full pre check with me a couple of weeks ago

He was very thorough .. Of course … And it did feel like an end of school .. See me later moment ! But just like your IMC renewal .. We treated it as a big exercise in engineering … Explaining the background to why he might pick certain things up and why not.

in general he was very happy with what had been done and very complimentary which was mildly embarrassing ! But a nice feeling when ‘cross professions’ meet and compliment 😃

There were, of course, some items to review.

• He wasn’t happy with 2 or 3 wing rigging cables .. They were nice and tight but the number of threads showing were a little too many
• This caused some discussion later with another local engineer which was fascinating and informative .. How many threads is enough !? .. One theory is that the diameter of the thread and the nut it’s going into have a proportionality .. Ie once it starts to bite .. 4 full turns and you have gained maximum connection strength .. After that the shear strength will not be enhanced by further turns …. I guess the difference here is that a turnbuckle has a deeper body than a nut so naturally holds more thread BUT I guess the ‘mechanics’ STILL dictate that the weak point – once threaded in by however much- is still that the bolt / thread will shear irrespective of how far in the body it is ! ?
• Is t engineering amazing ! why isn’t it mandatory on all school syllabuses !!!!
• Anyway .. Cos the Boss wasn’t happy they were replaced .. He was quite right as was PHS .. Don’t want to become a statistic in GASCO !
• He also noted that a couple of the 9 aileron bolts were a bit long and could be shorter .. Not impeding but did look long when you step back and compare .. One also just made it to the nyloc so was just too short – easy fix
• i had left the split pins out of the rudder as I had intended to remove it again .. But once up at the airport I felt loads of rigging and de rigging was educational but not conducive to letting her ‘settle’ and I had missed putting them back in before he inspected ! Rooky error !

That was pretty much it so not too much to tidy before the letter can go to the LAA

So close to finishing and yet work has managed to got through the roof along with what I call normal flying !

At work we have what is called a Management Buy Out which basically means that the years of frustration trying to get funding for big or small business change projects and programmes suddenly disappear and you can do all those exciting meaningful add value projects and get the resource to do it .. Means a very busy three years but hey .. Better than being bored …

The other, nicer part is that because I spent over 6 heads working for the government out here I met and now know loads of people in all sorts of roles … From our Chief Minister (equiv of Prime Minister) through all he various ministries and departments.

This means I get asked if I can pop various politicians over to various French locations for political meetings and events. The recent Somme commemorations saw a contingent from Guernsey and Jersey, various Heads of government needing to be picked up and ferried to Abbeville and Caen and Cherbourg and back. All this in a week where we generally had BKN below 100 .. Made for some interesting and challenging flying … Did about 15 hours flying last month, including a business hop to Luxembourg .. Long way in a PA28 ! And around 5 hours IMC .. Which is all good practice for Jersey approaches !

Have managed to secure the ability to work late at night in the hangar which is great for big catch up completions ….. To follow in blog ….

Well, after many hours of careful preparation and meter continuity testing of the two prime D plugs it came to the time to connect up. Realised I had managed to run out of positive bus connections so a brief pause whilst I change the behind the panel bus bar to give me up to 10 locations.

I also changed from the screw type connector block to a crimped ring connector with a handshake fly lead .. This means I can isolate and fully remove any powered item without affecting any others.

First power up and bingo .. All lights up … Default frequencies were changed to add 134.67 the ATIS for Jersey and then 119.45 (Tower) and

My original taxi checks had proved interesting as what had seems like good brakes turned out to be quite soggy !

Mike and I had a look and tightened up a few parts so they became much more firm and solid affair.

So these were re tested today. Took the checks away and started her up .. She start so sweetly … First turn every time !

Then waited for the relatively busy area outside the Jersey Aero Club to settle …this area is a strip of Tarmac in front other hangers quite short and quite narrow … Should be a good test and if it all goes to pot .. Just shut down .. Jump out and turn her by hand.

i should not have worried  … I temporarily disconnected the steerable Tailwheel to leave her castoring and, with differential brakes, she nipped up and down .. With careful but beautifully tight right hand turns. The Stampe used to react quite positively to blips of throttle but I don’t want to use too much in such a confined space with about 8 aircraft all around.

Spent a very happy 20 minutes going up and down and around to the left then around to the right .. All turning in her own length ! great .. And I feel so much more confident now about popping into the active taxiway at Jersey … Don’t fancy holding up and Easyjet of BA airbus whilst I ground loop ?!

At the end of 20 mins I stopped as I could hear a graunching sound .. Turned out to be hot brakes ! but hey it had been on them the whole time against power … Very pleased with the result !