Hi All –

 

I spent a year in Ohio last week fixing my plane. The folks at MMS Aviation were incredibly kind and helpful but all things being equal it would have been better to avoid this whole mess in the first place. But at last my plane is home and more or less complete again. As you may recall I had a nose gear collapse on Nov 1 which damaged the prop. It took until yesterday to get all the parts together, complete the repairs, and wait for the weather to clear.

 

Those dastardly Bosch

When I was building the plane in the early 2000’s I used the Bosch relays recommended on the LML. They appeared to have an adequate power rating and came with built-in suppression diodes. They worked reliably for 200 flight hours (plus dozens of gear swings prior to first flight). After the down relay got stuck in the ON position on two different occasions I figured it was time to order replacements from Brandon Products Group. They sent me Tyco relays with a different part number, but identical form factor and ratings. I figured that they would last long enough to get me home and then I could start looking and a longer term solution.

 

During my engine runs to exercise the new prop and purge air from hub guess what – the pump started running all by itself! The Tyco relay had welded itself shut after only a handful of gear swings and 0.3 hours of engine running. I made phone calls to several Lancair friends for advice and information. I ended up getting two starter contactors from Advance Auto Parts. They are made by BWP, p/n S63P. They appear identical to relay sold by Lancair. Naturally the mounting hole spacing was different but I was able to mount them temporarily and fabricate new wiring.

 

Choose your vendors carefully

This is the third time I have been burned by non-standard/experimental components. Back in 2005 I went with a dual-EFIS setup from Blue Mountain Avionics. They were leading the market at the time, had a vibrant on-online community and were releasing new hardware and software regularly. By 2009 they had ceased operation, leaving me with $30k worth of orphaned products. Sure enough, the attitude indicator in my primary EFIS got a bad case of the leans shortly after my first engine start. I now have a Dynon Skyview front and center. The Skyview is still experimental but Dynon is a much bigger company with products in a variety of markets including certified light sport planes. I hope they’ll be around for a long time.

 

My first propeller was made by Aerocomposites. That company had a solid presence at Oshkosh in the mid-2000’s and offered a modern all-composite lightweight design. By the time 2012 rolled around they had abandoned the GA market to build composite props for military, rotary wing and drone customers. It took me a month of phone calls to determine that they had the ability to build me a replacement blade but were unwilling to re-enter the experimental market. I now have a Hartzell.

 

Lessons learned

For those of you who are still building, think long and hard when selecting components, especially those which are single-sourced or unique such as avionics. Stick with tried-and-true products from well-established vendors.

 

On a brighter note

It’s quite a relief to have my plane back safe in its hangar. The 411nm trip from I40 to KHWV took just over 90 minutes. We had a 45kt tail wind and were making 254kts ground speed – nice! Next week we’ll be heading to Florida to spend Christmas with the in-laws. The trip is over 1000nm and should take around 5 hours. You can’t beat Lancairs!

 

Performance

I’ve only had one flight with the new prop, but here are the preliminary numbers: 9,500 ft, full throttle, 2300RPM, 50deg LOP and 11gph worked out to 215ktas. That is the same speed as my old prop.

 

-Adam Molny