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I did it. Today Dec. 18 Th., I flew 2.5 hours in MY AIRPLANE. What a thrill,
I can't explain really how great it is to finally fly this masterpiece. Not
only is it great looking but it fly's much better than I had expected. I hope
you can see that I have lost 30 years today. It feels great to be young
again.
First the weather. This morning looked bad again but by the time I got to the
airport it looked almost nice in the East direction. By the time I got the
plane preflighted and out of the hangar it had started to snow and the wall
of weather, extending form the ground to what ever, was just to the West so
we had to hurry. I did all the right things and Peter was beside me to keep
me honest. It was very good to have someone with me because things happen
fast, especially with the power. We went up and around the airport a couple
of times with the gear down just looking at the engine numbers. I had to keep
the power down with the gear down and to keep in the airport area. We landed
and taxied back. This next time we would get some altitude and retract the
gear. The ceiling was about 2.5k over the field but was higher to the East.
We circled about 3.5K and retracted the gear. All looked and sounded fine so
after climbing to 4.5k east of the airport and doing 200 kts. IAS we turned
toward the airport and put the gear down, the plane did some side wiggles as
the gear went down in stages. The second time we did this everything was
straight perfect. The controls feel better than the last two L4's I flew but
the ailerons don't feel any lighter then the factory L4P even though our
modification was supposed to lighten the controls. We got some numbers
written down and landed and parked to inspect the plane for leaks or
anything. It was perfect. The weather didn't look good so we made another
flight before putting it in the hangar. This time we wanted to record the
engine MP, RPM, and Fuel Flow. The Sierra Flight System is beautiful but the
delays built into the MP and Fuel Flow means that you are 500 ft. off the
runway before the MP and FF are stabilized. RPM looked fine even though it
went to 2760. The airport called us after take off saying we were smoking on
takeoff which we felt was the rich mixture from the FF going to 49 GPH before
we leaded it. Also the MP pressure was up to 41 in. With the delays in the
indicators you have to watch the numbers and leave it there for longer than
you would normally. I landed shortly in the snow and by the time I got the
plane in the hangar the ground was white.
We took the cowl off and made the adjustments and went to lunch. It looked
like we wouldn't be able to fly anymore today but we were patient and a hole
opened later so I got another 45 min. in close patterns around the airport. I
saw 220 kts IAS and with the downwind leg having a 30 kt wind when I looked
for the airport it was way behind me. I could just stay VFR enough to land
and put the plane in the hangar again. That added up to 2.5 hours. We had the
MP right and the RPM came down but we needed to lower the FF some more. which
we did before going to a celebration dinner.
Tomorrow I hope we can find the sky to fly a while then take it to Redmond
Lancair to calibrate the SFS AHRS and fuel indicators. With all 6 screens
lite up it is a real show in the cockpit that you all need to see. The last
landing was with some very rough air and wind sheer and I had to use full
aileron control twice on final. to another good landing. I think this plane
will make me look good.
I got my Christmas present so I hope you all get what you want. Hope to see
you soon.

Sexy N6XE Pilot, JIM Hergert
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Please send your photos and drawings to marvkaye@olsusa.com.
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