Nov 10, 2022     Flying - (55 hours) Category: Completed

Been "completed" for a while. Had the motor off for 6 months for crankshaft replacement (thanks Superior) and all is great.

  Jun 05, 2021     changed my mind again - (35 hours) Category: Flying

I wanted to jump right into flight testing but maybe spent about 5 or 6 hours doing so. Oil consumption is nil and temps are good but I've really not seen anything over 75 degrees. I have had fun just flying around and spotting airports. Only landed at 1 other airport but that was Toledo and a friend lives on the airport. Just taking a deep breath after 15 yrs of building and wondering if it would ever get done.
Life is good.

August 2, 2021.I've flown about 21 hours and getting the plane closer to where I want it to be every flight. My main problem was a heavy left wing. I dropped the otbd left aileron about 1/16" and that helped some but ultimately settled on a trim tab on the r/h aileron. I love Gorilla Tape! Today I hope to fine-tune the Trio Easy Pilot servo for straight and level....it's off by just a hair. The l/h wing tip isn't aligned with the flap and aileron but that's such a big job right now it'll have to wait until this winter when I plan on taking the engine off for a new crankshaft.

June 30, 2022. I took the engine off in January and delivered that and a new crank to Premier Aircraft Motors at Troutdale airport. It's now back home and installed, DK is full of gas and only needs insurance and time to take to the sky again. I truly hoped that Superior would have helped a bit more but if I had waited on them I would be grounded for who knows how long.
Now, where was I?

September 6, 2021. Haven't had a lot of time to fly but every time I do it reminds me of how much I enjoy flying this machine. Trim is a non-issue but the wing leveler will take some help from Trio. I can follow a track that I manually set but wanders rather dramatically when talking to the gps. A minor inconvenience at most.

November 2, 2021. EZ pilot is finally making nice with the Garmin 660. Very accurate even in turbulent air. I guess I'll eventually get the wheel pants on but I'm really in no hurry. I received an email from EAA asking me where I was in my build. I was thinking "not yet finished" but flying. Probably never get finished...too busy flying.

November 21, 2021. I noticed a high frequency vibration while flying the other day. It increased and decreased with speed so I figured it was a seal or some small thing flapping in the breeze. After a quick look-see I found both of the inboard mounts for the wheel pants (not yet mounted) were cracked and vibrating from the relative wind. Took them off since I'm really not sure if I'll ever even mount the wheel pants.
I'll think about it...especially when going in and out of unpaved strips! All Good.

  Jan 16, 2021     changing my mind - (8 hours) Category: Research

Since the Superior crankshaft AD wasn't official, technically, there were no applicable AD's against my plane. The inspection went well thanks to DAR Charlie Cotton and I'm off to the next challenge. The inspection was on 1/11/21 and AD was official 1/15/21. It even gives me 25 hrs of flt time after the effective date before I actually have to take action. Being an IA, I do not take an AD like this lightly and I've decided to make my first flight after the crank is repaired.
Bittersweet but safety should always be a primary concern.
3/1/21. A number of us have been waiting to hear from Superior and it's been nothing but crickets. I've done a bit of research and decided to get checked out in an RV tailwheel plane and fly off my 25 hrs. I think if I'm good to go in an RV4 then the 9 will be just fine. I have a lot of tailwheel time from owning a Luscombe so hopefully should be good. The waiting from Superior is unconscionable in my view. Lots of folks who spent lots of money (and risked domestic harmony) are at least owed updates/communication but maybe that's just me. My plane now has a Condor II tailwheel and the quiet is amazing. Taxis straight and true. I've been slowly building up taxi speed and have maxed at about 35 mph. Feels wonderful! and I'm getting anxious
3/21/21. Some good news...I'm flying with Mike Seager, weather permitting, before I fly the 9.
3/26/21. After all this deafening silence from Superior I ordered a new crankshaft. This was the only route that made sense to me. I will still have a brand new engine with brand new parts. An overhauled crankshaft devalues the motor right off the bat and will I really be completely confident in a rebuild? And how much material would be removed? I could maybe end up with a part that would be good for one run and then thrown out. Still waiting for Superior but not standing still.
5/1/21. Two biggies: my new crankshaft arrived and I've flown 3.9 hrs. I'm a bit behind the plane at this point but having a ball catching up. It's not been all trouble free but still pretty awesome. Seems the left wing is a bit heavy and the radio makes noise at random times. I'm sure that it's some ignition noise. The wing is interesting. Van's says not to do anything until the gear fairings are all on so for now I have a piece of tubing gorilla taped to the bottom of the right aileron and that's working. I did measure the hinges of the ailerons and the left outboard is about 3/32" higher than the other three. I'll probably slot it to drop the aileron 1/16" to start but I'm still gonna wait till the gear fairings are on.
In the meantime.....what a freakin' awesome machine. Thanks Van!

3/01/22. We had a bit of bad weather so off came the motor and it's at Premier in Troutdale. Now is a good time for a good condition inspection and a few little changes I've wanted to make. And now a little rant...Superior has chosen to offer very little in the way of support during this ordeal and I'm sure that others are having a worse time of it. I managed to find a new crank for $5200.00 and the install will be close to $4k. Superior offered a box of bearings and gaskets. They have been promising an amoc for over a year but so far it's all smoke up the backside. Aircraft Specialties is supposedly going to rework and yellow tag the original crank but when I called they claimed to not have any instructions as to what they were supposed to do with it. I don't expect my engine to be done for at least a couple more months. You would think they would treat their bread and butter customers better. Jeez!

8/8/22. I've flown just one hour on the motor and I'm loving it. I may adjust the prop to take a bigger bite out of the air because it spools up to 2700rpm at 3k' pretty fast. Not urgent though.

9/8/22. Thought this day would never come but we are officially done with phase 1!

  Dec 02, 2020     Condition Inspection - (24 hours) Category: Inspection

12/2/20.Completed the condition inspection. I gave it the full meal deal and followed the annual inspection checklist I use. Everything was great. I did buy new ngk plugs for the Pmag just because they are so inexpensive. Filters looked good, bearings all good, timing good. Only squawks were idle....800rpm, adjusted to 750rpm...fuel supply hose from firewall to the EDP is a little tight so I'm getting a longer one and the fiberglass intake looks a little weak so that's going to get some re-enforcement.
Starting to get excited!!!
12/22/20. Got the new and improved fuel line, strengthened the intake, cleaned up some tape residue and I think it's ready for the BIG inspection.
Oh, just one last thing....seems an AD dropped on my brand new Superior IO360 that is going to require crankshaft replacement. Few unprintable things going thru my mind. Nothing to do for now but wait and see what SAP is going to do.
I mean "Seriously???"

  Dec 02, 2020     under the floorboards - (1 hour)       Category: Controls

12/01/20. Double checked my safeties, made sure everything was secure and where it needs to be, vacuumed and put a bazillion screws in the floor panels. I found a minor rubbing problem on the fwd side of both control sticks from bolts holding the center section but this was easy to remedy with washers on the fwd side. All in all it should be just fine.

  Nov 13, 2020     weight and balance - (4 hours)       Category: w&b

11/13/20. Came in at a healthy 1071lbs. cg calculations aren't complete but look good so far.
11/16/20. Completed the six sample weight and balance scenarios and all was good but #4 with the most fwd and minimum weight pilot. Looks like I'll have to add ballast if I ever drop down to 100 lbs. Other than that all was good. I'm happy.

  Nov 05, 2020     workshop - (100 hours) Category: Workshop

Just noting that I spent countless hours building all of the components of my "9" in my shop. It's an extension of my garage built off of the end of the 3rd bay with it's own garage door.
I love my little shop. It's equipped with a large 220v compressor and houses my airplane stuff, my motorcycles and a mini fridge. It is a lifesaver since I have a few hobbies that require lots of space.

  Oct 11, 2020     elt - (4 hours)       Category: Avionics

I did post a picture of my panel but not much info. First I have to give credit to Pacific Coast Avionics for their help and advice. I brought my radios to them with the racks already screwed together and pre fit to the plane. They had two tasks, wire the radios together and cut out the panel to my specs. They were awesome! I managed to get used radios from people on VAF forums who were going to glass panels and the prices were great. I got a KX155 with KI209 glideslope/localizer. #2 comm was an Icom A200 and a PMA6000B. I gave in to "new" when I decided to satisfy the ads-b out requirement by installing a Garmin GTX335.
ok, so I also got the G5 and GMU11. I didn't need them but just wanted them.
The Trio EZ Pilot was another bargain. I'm looking forward to using it.
11/05/20. I installed an ACK elt on a Van's rack just behind the baggage bulkhead. There are holes for mounting wires but not big enough for the rj11 connector used on the wiring for the remote control panel . The solution was to cut the connector off and route the wire thru existing holes. This worked out pretty well since I was able to cut an extra 4 or 5 feet of wire off. The connectors were available in bags of 50 so if anybody needs one....
Anyway, the operation appears to be a success. As soon as battery is purchased and remote is mounted I'll post pictures.
All the required tests are, hopefully, gonna happen soon.
11/09/20. Still no pictures but I did accomplish a successful test this evening. It made all the right noises at all the right times. Visual progress really feels good.
11/11/20. Lost my camera but emailed a picture from my phone to myself. You can see the elt and also the gmu11 mounted on the aft side of the cargo panel.

  Oct 11, 2020     Sam James Cowl - (40 hours)       Category: Holy Cowl

10/11. I actually got this a long time ago and work on it has been pretty inconsistent. It fit's well enough but there's a lot of unsightly gaps that will have to wait until I'm blessed with skills to fix them. Until then, this is it.
Bubba helps me out when I need to vent. He's very understanding.

  Sep 17, 2020     empennage fairing - (1 hour)       Category: Tail Feathers

This has been a challenge. I had it pretty good but the left side was scalloped. Today I mixed up some micro goo and pumped some in between the fairing and the vertical. Guess I'll see how that worked tomorrow........fingers crossed.
9/24. Sanded, mixed and sanded a couple more times. I think it's gonna be ok!.