From The Right Seat

Even while teaching, I get to sometimes just assume a passenger role and look outside and enjoy the scenery and snap a few photos. Here's a collection of some random shots taken from "The Right Seat".

From The Right Seat

Orcas Fly-In 2011

We've missed the last few Orcas fly-in's either due to weather or the timing didn't work out. That wasn't the case this year, so we loaded up the airplane with camping gear and took off for Eastsound. We packed lite as we didn't need to bring meals since the EAA hosts a potluck dinner and the Eastsound fire department puts on a pancake breakfast each morning. The plan was to fly up late Friday afternoon and return to KRNT before noon on Saturday due to the TFR(s) in place for the Blue Angels and Sea Fair aerial activities.



On top enroute to KORS

Camp '907'

Mt. Baker

Dinner at Friday Harbor

We've flown to Friday Harbor for dinner numerous times over the years and I never get tired of this destination. This evening was a comfortable 70 degrees and very little wind, so sitting out on the deck over looking the ferry dock was quite enjoyable. I've started taking my pocket camera along and this time I thought I'd document the variety of places to eat on the Island.

Lots of Flying

The past 30 days have been keeping my writing hand occupied with making logbook entries. I have a new private student and a new instrument student that have been keeping me busy for several days during the week and weekends. Plus I've had to reacquaint myself with the C172S and the C172S with the G1000. Seems that timing is everything and when my then potential new student asked about training with me, I was interested in the opportunity but still needed to find an airplane to train in. I was fortunate to find a local flight school that allowed me to come on board as a part time instructor. Interestingly, a few recent flights have been in and around rain showers and I've seen numerous rainbows and during a solo flight in the G1000 I swore that I flew right through a rainbow since the colors seemed to pass right through the cockpit. Not sure if the rainbow is an allegoric or metaphoric symbol, but sure is nice to have the opportunity to pass on some flying knowledge and bring another pilot or two into the dwindling pilot population.

On another topic, I'm really liking the ForeFlight app for the iPad. With version 4, they've added digital A/FD pages and improved performance. All I need now is a decent knee board for the tablet to make it more accessible in the cockpit.

Engine Break In Complete

This week we hit the 15 hour mark since the engine overhaul and after the oil change and compression check, the shop gave us the OK to resume normal operations. Also during the month of April, the area received many inches of rain and as usual the rivers in the lower valleys flood. Captured this photo during one of the break-in flights.

25 Laps

Today was the long awaited first break-in flight of the newly overhauled O-470. We had attempted to get a flight in yesterday, but during the run-up there was an issue with the prop control so we had to taxi back and call it a day. With the prop control fixed we taxied out and made a request to the tower to circle over the airport at 1500'. The tower approved the request, and we climbed to 1500' and entered the pattern. The break-in instructions say to fly at 75% power for one hour, so once at altitude, the power was set at 23"/2450 and we went around an around and around, overall 25 laps.

At the end of the first hour, we landed and returned to the shop for another inspection to make sure that things were ok with the engine and to verify that there were no leaks. After getting the ok, we departed again for another hour in the air and after the hour stopped at KBVS to get something to eat. After lunch, repeated the same thing and put another hour on the engine before returning to KRNT.

Next up will be an oil change/inspection and then we'll be good to go for another 12 hours until the next oil change.

Back in the Air Soon

The freshly overhauled engine was delivered last week and the mechanics started the installation. We're hoping to make the first break-in flight by the end of the week. We opted for factory TCM cylinders this time around since we had three ECI cylinders fail within a 200 hour interval. Two had the cross-hatching wear down resulting in loss of compression and another experienced a broken valve guide. At the time, we also went ahead and replaced the remaining good four cylinders (when the first two failed), so who knows if they would have eventually succumbed to failure. (Previous post on the engine).

The engine shop did their best to help us with some of the costs, but in the end it was ECI that didn't stand behind their product and in my opinion manufactured three faulty cylinders. That's a 50% defect rate.

So moving forward with the cylinder problems behind us, we should have another 1500 hours or so of smooth and relatively maintenance free flying.