Ed_Wischmeyer
Well Known Member
Six and a half weeeks after the fire in a nearby hangar innundated and coated the RV-9A with soot, the shop blessed her and I flew her again this afternoon.
Went great. Bumpy, wallowy crosswinds, two gentle touchdowns, one of them with long, slow chirps from each tire in turn. Nice!
After all the emotions surrounding the fire, I knew to take it easy on this flight. Still, I rotated more than normal on the first takeoff and the RV-9A leapt into the air. I was back home. And after that first landing, i was totally in control and confident.
But there were little things, too.
* The interior had not been cleaned, nor the upholstery, so there was a light coat of soot on everything. (I had to wash my hands after the flight)
* I removed everything from the plane before it went into the shop for its soot-ectomy, and my cozy routines were disrupted. For example, when I went to preflight the gas tanks, I couldn't find my stubby screwdriver, and had to look for the dipstick. (On the -9A, the gas can be barely visible through the filler and you can still have six gallons or so.) I guesstimated 20 gallons, and the dipstick confirmed it.
* The ADS-B in was removed, and I didn't realize that it wasn't working till I went to check traffic in the runup area. I pulled it out of the plastic tub beside me, connected it, and all was well.
* I normally fly with extra cushions, and so the sight picture felt different -- especially after six weeks away. No problem, I've flown this plane from both seats with different sight pictures.
* The brakes felt funny. They had resistance, so maybe that was just me.
* The only real squawk is that the two touch screens got swapped, left and right. I was wondering why the configuration on each one was goofy till I figured it out.
* The radio frequencies were not as I left them / expected them (the nav frequencies were changed on the last trip, so that was not surprising).
* I always leave the autopilot servos turned on, but they were turned off.
In other words, the airplane was fine, it's just that my routines were all discombobulated. And it's worth noting that a good checklist should not make any assumptions about how things were left on the last flight.
I'm not sure what guidance would alleviate what I found, other than take it easy on the first flight. In this case, two landings, and they uncovered pretty much everything that was important for flight. (I'd been thinking of doing an instrument approach, but that would have been wonky with the screens swapped.) And almost nothing that has a place in the cabin on every flight was there, this time.
There's still lots of little things to be cleaned / replaced, but everything works. And there's plenty of time to address those items before corrosion even comes close to rendering them unserviceable.
Went great. Bumpy, wallowy crosswinds, two gentle touchdowns, one of them with long, slow chirps from each tire in turn. Nice!
After all the emotions surrounding the fire, I knew to take it easy on this flight. Still, I rotated more than normal on the first takeoff and the RV-9A leapt into the air. I was back home. And after that first landing, i was totally in control and confident.
But there were little things, too.
* The interior had not been cleaned, nor the upholstery, so there was a light coat of soot on everything. (I had to wash my hands after the flight)
* I removed everything from the plane before it went into the shop for its soot-ectomy, and my cozy routines were disrupted. For example, when I went to preflight the gas tanks, I couldn't find my stubby screwdriver, and had to look for the dipstick. (On the -9A, the gas can be barely visible through the filler and you can still have six gallons or so.) I guesstimated 20 gallons, and the dipstick confirmed it.
* The ADS-B in was removed, and I didn't realize that it wasn't working till I went to check traffic in the runup area. I pulled it out of the plastic tub beside me, connected it, and all was well.
* I normally fly with extra cushions, and so the sight picture felt different -- especially after six weeks away. No problem, I've flown this plane from both seats with different sight pictures.
* The brakes felt funny. They had resistance, so maybe that was just me.
* The only real squawk is that the two touch screens got swapped, left and right. I was wondering why the configuration on each one was goofy till I figured it out.
* The radio frequencies were not as I left them / expected them (the nav frequencies were changed on the last trip, so that was not surprising).
* I always leave the autopilot servos turned on, but they were turned off.
In other words, the airplane was fine, it's just that my routines were all discombobulated. And it's worth noting that a good checklist should not make any assumptions about how things were left on the last flight.
I'm not sure what guidance would alleviate what I found, other than take it easy on the first flight. In this case, two landings, and they uncovered pretty much everything that was important for flight. (I'd been thinking of doing an instrument approach, but that would have been wonky with the screens swapped.) And almost nothing that has a place in the cabin on every flight was there, this time.
There's still lots of little things to be cleaned / replaced, but everything works. And there's plenty of time to address those items before corrosion even comes close to rendering them unserviceable.
