The flange on the forward half of the wheel pants had gotten pretty thin over the top due to sanding to try and line up the surface with the top of the aft half. There was also a gap underneath the flange which was causing the flange to flex down when tightening the screws. I applied a layer of packing tape to the aft flange and some electrical tap to the joint. I then mixed up some epoxy/flox and applied it to the underside of the forward flange and installed the pants.
Some local RV pilots arranged a camping trip at the Alpine County Airport. We had about 10 planes show up on Saturday morning to the quiet little strip nestled in the foothills of the eastern side of the Sierras. I took my 11-year-old son which was his first real trip in the plane.
There’s not much there, just a 5k’ runway and a small ramp, but there is a really nice spot to camp just a couple of hundred feet off to the side of the runway.
After everyone showed up, we hiked down to the Carson River for lunch and to wade in the water.
After resting back at camp for a bit, a few of us decided to hike to the top of a small hill on the other side of the runway (you can see it to the far left of the first picture). The terrain was pretty easy going and we reached the top after 45 minutes or so. Here’s a nice shot looking back toward the Sierras. Lake Tahoe is just beyond those mountains.
The rubber on the lower right wing root fairing came loose and started banging into the bottom of the airplane in flight. I pulled of the fairings, and the rubber easily came off. It looks like the 3M weatherstrip adhesive I used didn’t work well.
There is a thread on Van’s Air Force about carbon build up in the breather tube. I pulled the tube off and there was some build up (maybe 10% of the cross-sectional area of the tube). Most could be easily removed with a pick, but I used a wire brush to get the inside of the tube totally clean. Here are all of the carbon bits that came out of the tube.
If this tube were to totally close off due to carbon buildup, it could pressurize the crankcase and blow out the front oil seal. To prevent this, I put a T in the breather line and ran that to a second vacuum valve positioned above the exhaust pipe to burn off any oil that might drip out.
The Gemini needed a software update, and the only option right now is to pull the unit and send it to TruTrak. They’re going to be coming up with a box soon that can simply plug into the back to allow updates.
Work has kept me busy the last couple of weeks, but I wanted to give the plane a thorough inspection after the trip. While I was doing the inspection, I upgraded the SkyView system with the version 11 software that was announced at the show. It included a new very-high resolution database, so it took quite a while to load.
I gave the engine compartment a thorough inspection. There were no surprises, and everything looks great.
One of the tabs on the upper gear leg fairing broke off. This allowed the clamp to loosen and the gear leg fairing to slide down a bit.
The side cowl hinge pin also broke loose from the hinge pin cover. I cleaned out the old JB Weld and mixed up some epoxy/flox. After applying some electrical tape around the opening to prevent the epoxy from adhering, I applied the epoxy. After it cured, I popped it off and cleaned up the excess. This seems quite a bit stronger than the JB Weld, so hopefully it will hold up. Other than these couple of issues, there were no faults on the plane.
I got a very early start out of Tulsa, OK since I need to fly all the way back to San Jose, CA and then grab our Bonanza and fly up to South Lake Tahoe and back to get my kids. I battled pretty stiff headwinds across most of New Mexico (over 30kts for much of the time).
I passed just south of Edwards Air Force Base and the famous dry lake bed. There is so much amazing history at this place including all of the X planes that lead to our space program. Coincidentally, I have been reading Chuck Yeager’s autobiography during the trip, and much of his flying career takes place here.
I stayed in Lexington for a few days visiting family and giving some rides to family and friends before heading down to Tulsa, OK to visit some more family. While I was out giving rides to family, one of the prototype Honda jets stopped for gas. The crew was great and let us look over the airplane and ask questions. They didn’t want any pictures of the inside since it was unfinished and loaded with test equipment, but they were more than happy to let us take pictures of the outside.
I left Oshkosh and flew down to Lexington, KY to visit family. There was a line of storms between Indianapolis and Cincinnati, so I had to deviate a bit west to clear them. I also popped up to 15,500 so I could get over most of the clouds.
I crossed the line through a low spot in the clouds.
It’s pretty dark under those clouds…
…as you can see on the weather display. It shows yellow right where I am, but that’s below me. If I had been in IMC, I wouldn’t have come through here. You can see a really large buildup ahead and to the left.
You can see that buildup just to the left of the propeller tip in the distance. I gave that a wide berth and then turned on course to Lexington.
Greg and I flew into Oshkosh today as part of the Bonanzas to Oshkosh formation group. They fly as elements of three planes with about 1/2 mile spacing between elements. We were the photo ships for the flight, so we flew along the outside of the line of elements, slowing down to around 125kts at each element to take pictures then speeding up to around 175kts to catch the next element. It was a blast, and I’m sure we had way more fun than the rest of the formation.
