Feeling better about the situation

I went out the shop today and spent about half an hour or so talking with the shop manager about my plane. Much of the work is done, but some remains. The trim tab has been installed, but apparently the rivets are not ones they normally have a large supply of, as they're waiting for one more before they can finish the installation and paint it. Currently that rivet hole is occupied by a cleco. Some things still to be done are fixing the wing root seal, replacing the landing light bulb, and fixing the red interior light. He thinks it's not the bulb, so fixing it will be a bit more involved, but hopefully not too hard.

Regarding the metal in the oil, he said it appears to be steel, so he doesn't think it's from the bearings. Rather, it could be from a gear, or possibly the cylinders. Either way, it's not like it's going to blow up or anything. The original plan was to run it for a time on the ground, then check it again. However, he is now recommending that I fly it for two hours or so, and then he'll bring it in to look at it. If they can't get to it right away, I'm okay to fly it more, just as long as I get at least two hours in. That shouldn't present a problem. I feel better about the situation than I did when I first heard about it.

He estimates it will be done sometime in the middle of next week. Hopefully the weather the following weekend will be nice and I can get that flying in as soon as possible.

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My engine is so pretty

I went out to the shop today to take a few pictures of my engine and plane before the engine is remounted. The baffling and some other stuff has already been attached to the engine. The engine mount is not back yet. Since the nose gear is attached to the engine mount, the plane is currently sitting on the main gear, and a couple of supports just behind the firewall, and under the tail. Here are a few of the photos I took. The engine looks lovely, to me at any rate, especially since I know those are new cylinders.

She flies again!

It's been a long and sometimes difficult road to get to this point but today I flew Ariel for the first time since last March. It is difficult to describe the emotions I felt after I stopped in front of the hangar and shut her down after the flight. I about broke down crying. I've waited for this for so long, and had to deal with so many frustrating setbacks that it sometimes felt like I'd never fly her again. Following the instructions from Preston, I flew her for half an hour at 3000' feet over the airport in case something went wrong. I ran the engine at 75% power (maybe a bit more, but that's okay) for as much of the flight as I could. The engine started right up, and I thought it sounded better than it had before. It seemed smoother, somehow. When I took off, I had one notch of flaps in, and she flew off the runway on her own without me having to pull back on the yoke. It was as if she was eager to get back into the sky. The flight was completely uneventful, as...

The family that flies together...

The weather wasn't great today, but it was nice enough to go for a local flight, and my wife went with me for the first time since 2004, shortly after I got my private pilot license. It was a bit windy, but there was little crosswind so we had no problem taking off from Harvey's relatively short runway. As we climbed, it became rather bumpy, with the wind changing direction several times. It was a bit better when we got to 3000' MSL, but still not very smooth. I kept the flight short. I headed southeast for a ways, then turned north, then came around the north side of the airport to the west, and finally headed back in to land on runway 15. Despite it being a bit windy and gusty, I made a landing that I'm very proud of, touching down smoothly and slowing in plenty of time to exit at the taxiway, instead of having to go to the end of the runway. Overall, Ariel performed beautifully. I love that plane more every time I fly it. The flight was only about 25 minutes, but I w...

A Man and His Airplane

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