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

Having got very close to the final sign off there was a bit of a hold up as the Aero model demanded closer review. Paul H S has been in discussion with Francis Donaldson (Chief Engineer at the LAA) and they have been thrashing out the finer detail.

i had already placed the battery up front and wired accordingly so the plan to relocate some 3.5 m further back was quite a change .. The aim, the LAA advised was to remove the excess ballast weight of some 3kg

Another tray was ordered from TLAC and put together and a temporary fit put in the body

Have now decided to put a mains breaker in here as the battery will be difficult to separate when charging .. Ran new power cable to the front solenoid

Old post put in retrospectively

Spent a few hours pre fitting the top and bottom cowls a few weeks back to help me ensure that I got the side covering lined up correctly

The planned lines are coming together now 😃

Started wiring these up and trashed the first few as they looked so awful !

Def something to work on and refine …

The first one … Nearer .. Was just awful ! but felt I should print it .. To show progression .. I hope !

the rear is half done and looking tighter

Using a double loop design in one of Graham’s American GA manuals … Although slightly more complex the 2 wires run in opposite directions and then tie over each other, lopping through the turnbuckle …

Need to work out a better ending … The book wasn’t clear so I simply did a normal tight twist but then I am left with an ‘end’ ! Definitely not going anywhere but you want it neat and tidy as well 😄

Not forgetting ailerons

Added the underwing reg the other evening … Fun and games trying to do it in one piece single handed so cut into pairs of letters having marked the standard distance back from the leading edge for lining up

Have finally got around to finishing the stiffening strips so I can get the registration on.. What a fun evening that was .. So easy and so rewarding if you get it nicely lined up

Peel off very carefully to not pull the letterin

Now add name

As Jersey is pretty self contained we are not exactly overrun with avionics experts so when Adrain (Norman) pops over for his regular visit he is definitely a man to catch.

Having got the Trig all working I still wanted to get an expert check over and he kindly offered to give it the ‘critical’ eye .. Again .. He does this all day every day .. I put new systems into Trust companies and Banks …

We spent a while reviewing my wiring techniques and the Trig units and general setup. Before he came I spent a while routing and re routing the working harnesses to give what I felt was a more professional setup and appearance. This meant copious but managed use of cable ties but I found this bit to be quite therapeutic .. There’s something about routing and wrapping cables that makes the whole thing suddenly feel closer to THE day of readiness

Had riveted the above PTT earthing in but advised that a a screw would give better long term earthing

Cables neatly tied and routed I could ask Adrian ‘dumb’ questions about intercom cone connectivity and how PTT should earth through the body and tie off on Trig connectors. I was genuinely surprised when all those pins and PTT and earths worked first time !

I had riveted the little headset and phone brackets to the down tube in front and rear cockpits and they looked rally neat and unobtrusive but my long term mentor Mike (F) had noted that a single bent flap of alloy with two rivets over time would work loose with people pushing and pulling headsets in and out .. In fact one was showing small signs of flex already .. So these were removed and new ones made with a wrap around design and 2 rivets front and 2 rear … Nothing is going to move these now !

Adrian did pick up my inability to completely cut the edge off the cable ties .. Indeed my son Benjamin who works for Williams F1 noted that one of his mentors in engineering used to drag the backed his hand over ‘completed’ cable ties to make the point ! I now know how much to cut off !

Adrian finished with a full check of the transponder using his specialist kit .. You could see nice big fat readings of all key bits so happy days !