Status Report: May 2008
By Drew Fidoe
Transponder and Comms
Operating a transponder and Icom handheld radio together on a common
battery with no engine driven charging system has worked out fine, I
just recharge the Gel-Cell battery using a battery-maintainer type
trickle charger after every third or fourth flight.
I originally had my Icom radio's external power supply fed via a
cigarette lighter connection but this proved to be unreliable, and
resulted in a NORDO landing one early flight under the direction of the
tower light signals. The Icom radio battery saver is now
hard-wired into the power supply system.
Due to the power requirements of my transponder being lower than that
of the Icom hand-held radio (both are supplied by the same battery) if
the power gets low enough the ICOM will switch off when
transmitting. My volt meter isn't sensitive enough to show this
fine line (both were designed for a higher working voltage, engine
driven power supply), so I now have options in place in the event that
this happens. One is to shut down the transponder to preserve
radio COMs, as well I carry a charged ICOM battery pack in the
cockpit. I have also discovered out that my radio reception will
noticeably degrade when my battery power is getting "borderline" low
for the ICOM, so I actually have indication of low power before I start
losing equipment. If I recharge after every second day's flying I
have no trouble.
I use a Flightcom headset (which is fitted in a leather flying helmet)
set up with gel ear-cups which keeps out the wind noise better than my
older David Clarke headset fitted in a cloth helmet. My
David Clarke set has an articulated mic covered with a newer
foamy...but I get complaints from the tower on my voice quality when
flying this headset, and in an open cockpit the wind noise is higher
with it's standard ear cups. The Flightcom set has a flexible
boom mic, and is also now fitted with a "warbird" high-noise microphone
cover of leatherette-over-foam. This has improved the voice
quality of my transmissions and I am happy with this combination, the
leather helmet gives good insulation in winter but gets a bit warm in
finer weather.
Latex Paint
To date, with well over a year of wear-and-tear on the airframe and
with over 6 months/30 hours flight time the latex paint is holding up
well. I have noted the occasional tiny fleck of paint missing on
the latex painted, previously doped wings but these are easy touch
ups.
Where I used the $20 toy paint spray gun (instead of a roller) I
probably applied the top-coat a bit thin as in some areas the edges of
the camouflage paint feathering is getting slowly scrubbed away from my
post flight rub-downs.
The latex is surprisingly resistant to chemicals, I am currently
dealing with a weeping crankshaft nose seal which invariably gets oil
onto the fabric, but using DOW "Scrubbing Bubbles" bathroom cleaner
removes oil and dead bugs with no ill effects. A quick spray with
the windshield washer fluid after POL clean up indicates whether any
surfactants are still on the fabric and requiring extra
attention. Even spilling gasoline on the latex-over-alkyd enamel
cowlings isn't a big deal. The paint does get a bit dehydrated
looking where the fuel was but a quick clean with Scrubbing Bubbles
removes it, and if required I rub the area down with ArmorAll on
completion to rejuvenate the satin sheen back. I will be working
on a comprehensive "lessons learned" to update the latex postings
hopefully in the near future.
Windscreen
My Miles Master style one-piece windscreen, made from a single piece of
"flat-wrapped" lexan gives me excellent protection as a remarkably
draft free cockpit. It is noticeably larger in area and slightly
closer to the pilot than of a stock 'Baby. My windscreen also
sits slightly wider than the cockpit than a stock FB windscreen, a
result of it originally having to match a sliding canopy that I removed
during the restoration. This extra inch per side allows me to
look over the side without much buffeting, and I have found that as
long as the temperature is not below freezing that flying without
goggles is very comfortable. I was planning on changing this to a
stock windscreen during a winter refit, but have come to appreciate the
utility and simplicity of the current design so it stays!
A-65/75 Engine
I had a to remove a cylinder for overhaul a few hours ago as an exhaust
valve started leaking. Otherwise, besides a weeping oil seal
(which I have had no luck with) the engine runs great. I had the
major reciprocating components and crankshaft of this engine static
balanced during my overhaul and it is smoooooth.
Propeller and Flight
The Sensenich wood 72-42 which I have borrowed (replacing my Sensenich
wood 70-48) is a fair compromise between climb and speed. I
cruise at about 68 KIAS at 2350 rpm, much slower than 62 knots and the
nose starts to raise into slow flight on this airframe. At full
throttle, level and trim, the engine will turn just over 2450 rpm and
approximately 74 KIAS, with significant higher fuel consumption than in
cruise (and requiring approximately 1/3 throttle more for the
additional six knots). I am satisfied with my cruise speed as the
cockpit starts getting a bit windy over 75 knots. My stall
appears to be in the mid-upper '40's. My best rate of climb is
when maintaining 55 KIAS, which is produced with the engine turning a
hair under 2300 rpm. I always wish I had a bit more climb
performance to keep pace in the circuit of my busy airport.
Current climb performance is a bit pokey but I do not want to sacrifice
any more cruise performance.
I have a glider Airspeed Indicator fitted in Stringbag, which is
designed for 0 to 180 knots but with a very large, 1 and 3/4 rotation
needle sweep. I really like this unit is has a decent, readable
range for my aeroplane's flight envelope. Many ASI's that I have
seen have maybe a 1/4" of needle range between stall and cruise and are
in my opinion a poor choice for a Fly Baby. I have been told that
ASI's designed for helicopters are a good choice for slow speed
aircraft as well.
I've discovered an interesting trait on my airframe. With the
aircraft trimmed for "hands off" in cruise, if I place both of my hands
up into the slipstream above me Stringbag noses sharply down, not up as
I would have suspected. Weird.
Belly Pan Window
The belly pan window has been pretty cool but I have to remember to
look down :) If I wear bulky clothes it does get obscured, and it
has to be cleaned frequently.
Other 'planes
I have recently had the opportunity to conduct some ground trials in a
Model A Ford powered Pietenpol Air Camper. This bird is the short
fuselage model built form original 1932 plans and was a very tight fit
for a 190 lb, 6'2" flyer, requiring a form of aeroplane yoga to squeeze
into and out of the cockpit (no wing trailing edge cut-out). The
pilot is far more exposed than in a Fly Baby...goggles were required
even for taxi. This aeroplane was very "old school" with the
radiator directly in front, straight-stack exhaust pipes popping away
in plane view asphyxiating the pilot, and the wing pressing down on the
pilot's pumpkin. It is definitely in a different league from the
Fly Baby, but this may be an unfair comparison as this particular
aeroplane was built faithfully as an "antique replica" to the 1932
Flying and Glider plans and lacks the ergonomics and refinements of
most modern Piets. It did behave well with the tail up :)
The Victoria Fly Baby Flight will soon have another bird flying, C-GVSB
belonging to my hangermate, Chuck. This bird has less than 10
hors TT on the airframe but has been in storage for many years.
The local Fly Baby community (we have a fourth Fly Baby under active
construction) has been assisting with has become a rather extensive
refit and inspection. We gave it a weight an balance on Wednesday
and then Tom Staples and I took turns trying it out on the
taxiway. It felt familiar but at the same time curiously
different from Stringbag.
This aeroplane has old top-wire Scintilla mags with no impulse, and in
spite of a shielded harness magneto noise interferes with radio
reception. Also, I HATE starting engines without a magneto impulse
coupler. If anyone has advice on quieting these units...or has a
serviceable impulse coupled and shielded magneto (suitable of an A-65)
for sale please shoot me a p-mail with details.
Cheers,
Drew
Fly Baby Mk 1a
CF-UFL
"Stringbag"