I'm back in the air!

AirCommandPilot

Just a fledgeling
Joined
Feb 24, 2014
Messages
617
Location
Houston
Aircraft
Air Command Elite #003
Total Flight Time
88
After 8 months of poking around issues with engine power, I finally got it all taken care of. I took a decent pair of heads to an engine machine shop and had them do a valve job and repair a small crack. I replaced my existing "Delta" cams with the stock Subaru cams so I can get rid of the crappy way Delta suggests spacing the lifters. I reset the timing, as well as the prop angle, and ended up with 465 lbs of thrust!
I was able to finish a very thorough pre-flight inspection and decided it was time to see what it will do. The winds were about 6 knots from the South and not a cloud in the sky.
I pre-rotated my 25' skywheels to about 140 rpms and started to roll. I arrested the nose as it rose within seconds and started adding throttle slowly until the machine started to climb. I still had some runway left to bring it down if It didn't feel right, but I felt like I was on an elevator! As the numbers disappeared under the cowl, I knew it was time to go for it. I took it for 3 short loops around the pattern and set it down, Not being up for 8 months made my nerves a little tense. I decided it was time to bring it down and do another inspection to make sure nothing worked loose or was missed. I'll have to work my way back up to longer flights as I build confidence in the engine again.
It felt good to fly again!
 

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Great news, back in the air again.
 
Nice video nicely edited Bobby. I love progress; thank you for sharing the fun.
 
Lake Anahuac is the roundish lake to the North. Trinity Bay is the large body of water to the West.


Lake.JPG
 
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