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That's how long I was unable to find the time to go flying my RV9. It's pretty
sad and was really pissing me off, but I'm really happy to have finally gotten
airborne again. Recently I was really trying hard to find time to go as the
weather has been clear & cold, but so many obstacles got in my way that
I began to wonder if it was a bad omen trying to tell me something? Finally
a commercial pilot friend of mine came up for a few days before starting a new
job in Iqualuit & Resolute Bay (yeah, look them up on a map, bet you
Floridians didn't know people could live that far north :-), so I took a few
days off just to get flying again. However I almost still never got flying, due
to brake problems.
Last spring during taxi testing (after EC2 update) I had a brake fire,
requiring parts replacement. After receiving the brake parts I decided that I
really should replace the tires as well, but by the time I had everything I no
longer had the time until this week. Unfortunately in my infinite wisdom back in
the spring I had changed my brake fluid to ATF as I'd read many positive reports
on it and it is cheap & plentiful. Unfortunately I don't think any of those
other users were trying to reprime the brake system in -15C temperatures. After
spending all day Monday freezing my a** off with no success, Tuesday I brought
out a portable air compressor and it took 120psi to blow the ATF out of the
system. Then using the air compressor I blew 3 bottles of gas line anti freeze
through the system to flush out the ATF, then continued to blow air until
completely empty. Then it was still a bitch to get the DOT 5 through the system
at that temp, but once through everything worked well, so we did some quick taxi
testing and got airborne shortly before dark.
Everything was going well so we stayed airborne after dark and did an
hour of night circuits, which was a first for me. After flight it was to damn
cold (-18C) and dark so I didn't pull the cowl off for a post flight inspection,
but other than a few minor issues the plane seems to have weathered a year+ of
outdoor neglect with no harm.
I'll mention some of
these minor issues in a subsequent e-mail, but right now I have to run (at
work)
Todd
Bartrim
C-FSTB
RV9
Turbo13B
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