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I don't want to steal Ted Noel's thunder, but today I had the great fortune to be part of a significant event in the construction saga of N540TF, Ted's Eagle540-powered Lancair IVP.
After 7+ years of gestation in Ted's workshop, Ted's IVP experienced its first climb to what was to be a cruising altitude of 3'-9" AGL, atop the back of a tilt-bed on its maiden voyage to Delta-Echo-Delta, the DeLand Municipal Airport in sunny Deland, Volusia county, Florida. A picture of this first leap to the heavens is included for your enjoyment <g>.
I've been involved in the movement of many different types and sizes of machinery and equipment over the years, and learned long ago that it is always prudent to make one final check of the load after the first mile or so, before getting onto the expressway... just to be sure that everything is as it should be after it's been jiggled for a bit. We pulled over at the entrance to the ramp to give the load a once-over and found that the straps on the nose-wheel had actually caused it to turn and, as a result, they were no longer providing their desired tension. We repositioned the straps, re-tightened the binders and hit the road. Pic attached.
Once at the airport, 540TF settled into its new temporary home and had its wings reapplied for the last time. (Once again, pic attached.) We modified a set of jacking cups by turning down their screw sections and rethreading them to mate with the tie-down sockets in the wings, allowing us to use the jacks to maintain the wing positions while the wing-attach bolts were inserted. This turned out to be a much easier process than I expected, both wings were installed in just a few hours. what a nice surprise.
While it's not as exciting as a first flight, it's a huge day nonetheless. We're so close we can smell it... more to come...
<Marv>
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