Great Ideas From Phoenix Owners

 This one is absolutely the best one.  Jeff Shingleton reported that he saw significant performance gains from the addition of top surface gap seal to the elevator.  As you probably know, air below airfoils in high pressure areas tries to sneak around the ends (vortex) or up through gaps, to get to the lower pressure area.  So I ordered some 35mm x 33m mylar gap seal tape from Wings and Wheels.  To hold it to the surface, transfer tape is used, 16mm x 33m.  And then to make sure it does not come loose, 25mm PVC tape is used along the leading edge of the mylar.  There are also application instructions on the W&W website.
Ok, so what are the performance changes?  To find out, I took my clean and polished plane up for some pre-gap seal numbers.  Minimal stuff in the baggage area, 5 gallons of fuel total and 190lb me flying solo:  At 0 degree flap, stall buffet is 42kts, stall is 40kts.  With 10 degrees of flap, buffet is at 41kts and stall is 38kts.
After the gap seal was applied the next day, I flew again.  0 degrees flap, buffet is 40kts, stall is 39kts.  At 10 degrees flap, buffet is 39kts and stall is 36kts.  So a 2kt improvement after the gap seal!  I was able to thermal at a constant 40kts without buffet, using 10 degrees of flap.  I'm telling you, it was almost like flying a different glider!  Just amazing.  Thanks Jeff!!!
I will also apply the gap seals to the undersurface of the elevator and both sides of the rudder for drag reduction.  I also bought some 60 degree zig-zag turbulator tape and will apply it to the wing undersurface once I figure out where to put it.

Next up, O rings on the pitot tube.  The Boulder Phoenix Syndicate had very low airspeed readings on both Dynon and mechanical ASI's.  They found a missing O ring (the 3mm ring) and the others were cracked.  They have replaced all of the O rings and everything is good now.  Their probe had been stored on the front panel in the sun so maybe the O rings dried out and rotted earlier than usual.  I keep my probe on the back shelf and apply Carmex regularly.  The photo above is my probe and O rings and they all checked out good.  O rings can be obtained from theoringstore.com  They are Buna-N 70 O rings, 1mm x 3mm, 1mm x 6mm, and 1mm x 8mm and cost 14, 16, and 18 cents apiece.  The Boulder boys plan to replace the rings yearly.  

Oh yes, Eric Greenwell came up with the great idea of wrapping the black probe with yellow tape to make it more visible.  We do that to all of the new planes now.

 The O Ring Store also sells this lube specifically for the O rings, so I bought a tube and will use that from now on instead of the Carmex.

 Another pilot who will remain nameless took off one to many times without the probe installed.  I admit I have done this as well.  (If this happens to you, will you immediately think to use the GPS speed to get back on the ground?).  So his idea is to hang the keys from the probe plug.  Great idea, so I am doing this now too.  Also, the bungee loop on my keys is to hang the keys on the prop feather lever when the prop is feathered so I don't try to start the engine with the prop feathered.  (Someone broke their prop doing this!).
Keep those great tips coming, folks!

More on the Washington Fire Quilt Airlift

Jan's new Gel Cushion puts her higher,

where the seeing is better. Feels nice,

too.

 Miserable visibility going up, as the

smoke from 5 major fires darkens the

skies. It smelled very smoky at times.

 We remove the quilts at Anderson

Field near Brewster, WA.

 Ready to return to Richland. It's looks clear from the

ground, but only 3000' aloft, the smoke is so dense,

we decided against any sightseeing near the burned

areas.

 On the way back to Richland, we stopped at

the tiny town of Mansfield for some coffee

and buns at the Town Bar. It's a rare

situation: The airport is right on the edge of

town, and it's only 600' from the tie-down to

the bar!

You walk through the park to the bar, so the

"pilot's lounge" is only 300' from the ramp.

Quilts by Air

Here's how FedEx gets packages from remote areas

It's actually twelve quilts (40 lbs) on their way (tomorrow) to the victims of the fires in northern Washington, scene of the worst wildfire in our state's history. It's an hour from here to Brewster (Anderson Field), or over 3 hours by car. The Phoenix will let us view huge areas the fire has burned in the last month.

The quilts fit in more easily than I thought, and the space behind the oxygen bottle is unused. I'd taken everything out of the baggage area, but after the quilts were stowed, I put the tie-downs, canopy cover, jacket, and the step stool back in. Still space left!

Eric

Australian Flying

Attached are some photos of my plane on a recent trip to Fraser Island which lies off the coast of Queensland (about 90 minutes flying time north of Brisbane).  The airfield as you can see is located right on the beach with a pub 50 meters from where you park your plane.  There is plenty of accommodations within walking distance.  Its a great place for a fly in.

Cheers

John

Australia Scrapbook

Sebring Expo 2014

Alright!  Photos are back on the air.  All I have to do is sign on to the net with Google Chrome.  Don't ask me why.
 Each morning of the Expo brought frigid temps (for Florida anyway).  Rather than scrape the ice off of the wings which could damage the finish, John would rotate the plane so that the sun did the work.

 After a few minutes the ice would turn to water and could be squeegeed off and then a chamois would finish the job.  (The perfect fitting canopy cover comes standard with each plane).

 Winds were brisk the first day, but the remainder of the show as cool with light winds each day.

We gave a dozen demo flights, sold a plane, made new friends, reacquainted with old friends, and even met a Phoenix deposit holder that we had not seen face to face.  Sweet!
Thank you Kathy and John for all of your help and hard work!

Sebring Expo

We just arrived in Sebring, FL for the Sebring LSA Expo.  This airshow is dedicated to light sport aircraft, so it is a one of a kind in the US.  The Expo runs tomorrow through Sunday, January 16-19.
For some reason I can't post photos to the blog,  and since this is primarily a visual post, we'll wait until the problem is resolved before continuing.
Don departed Melbourne last week, and stopped off in Miami, Key West, Cozumel, Belize, and finally to his destination, Costa Rica.  He will be on vacation, exploring in his Phoenix for a month, and then will return to the US via western Mexico.  I have urged Don to send us reports of his travels, so hopefully we'll have something for you here soon.
Save flying!