Our first annual condition inspection is complete on N4822C! What a process. We took it very seriously and did a thorough job. As I see it, our lives depend on it. We have looked at every square inch of this machine, inside and out, most of the time with a flashlight and inspection mirror. It really is a lot of work to do this right. It took us two full weeks with working on it every day after work (except for two days) and full days for 2.5 weekends. That is with both Tanya and I. I’m certain it would have taken me closer to four weeks to do it by myself. I used a 10 page check list for the general whole procedure. A very valuable process indeed. We learned just how well it is wearing over this period.
The changes that we made are:
- Prosealed the bulkhead openings at the tipup canopy skin for water penetration.
- Added sprung metal doors to the wheel pants to cover the openings for the tire air valve stems.
- Changed the carb heat control attachment at the airbox.
- Turned the oil pressure relief valve out two turns to reduce the oil pressure about 5 lbs.
- Replaced the intake gasket on the #2 cylinder. I could see it leaking just a hint in the instrumentation, and indeed when I pulled it, it had gone to crap.
- Main gear leg fairings were shortened by about 1″ at the bottom for brake line clearance.
The only wear item that was caught was the right gear leg fairing beginning to rub on the aluminum brake line down at the wheel. I complied with two service bulletins. The first being an ECI SB for cylinder head cracks. This requires periodic inspection. Duh, no big deal, I would be doing the same inspections anyway. The second (this is actually two separate SBs) is a recent Slick magneto inspection of the carbon brush and rotor. Yeah, there was just a hint of wear on the brush, but it looked perfectly normal. I’ll keep an eye on it in another 100 hours. I learned that there isn’t much to be afraid of in opening up a magneto. There isn’t much in there.
Obviously in addition to all the interesting things, we checked, touched, sniffed, and inspected every joint, pivot, bearing, control, etc. at least twice. All rod end bearing jamb nuts were secure as well as every other bolt on the whole thing. We didn’t find a single loose piece of hardware except for a couple of canopy screws that we tightened up just a hair more. The main tires wore pretty well with the large number of landings that we did, but the brakes were just barely worn. I was sure the brakes would be worn down by now. We’re planning on replacing the tires and brakes in another 100 hours.
Tanya reinstalled all of the interior panels, got the upholstery in, and it was time to drag it out onto the ramp for a runup. We left the cowl off and did a run and post run inspection. During the run I did a number of functional system checks. Finally, with it all warmed up we did a compression test: 78, 77, 78, 77. The engine is still healthy. We reinstalled the cowl and did a very thorough standard pre-flight. Never assume that you’ve put everything back together correctly, I always assume the opposite until I’m still alive many hours of flight time later.
I made the requisite log book entries as the one with the Repairman Certificate for this airplane. Tanya drug it out for our first test flight. We treated it very much like an experimental test flight and coordinated with the local controllers as such, except this time my second set of hands was coming along. We got clearance for departure and a shallow climb through the pattern for a couple of laps over the field 1000′ above the pattern, then out to the east if all was well. Tanya and I both did our full ready to go check lists and confirmed “ready”. Blast off is still just as exciting as the first day for me. It is hard to describe. Feeding in full power with the constant speed prop turning 2700 rpm with the nose wheel just off of the ground, straight down the center line; it is impossible not to be grinning from ear to ear.
As we climbed out at about 90 knots (it was about 100 degrees OAT today), Tanya was glued to the engine instruments and I had eyeballs out the window and “feeling” the airframe. The weather was clear but very hot and bumpy all the way up to 6k’. I started an early turn to cross wind and kept my climbing pattern very tight just in case. We stabilized in the bumpiness at about 3000′ and did a couple of laps around the field. The oil pressure change was perfect. We went from about 82 psi to 75 psi. Exactly what the engine builder suggested. The improvement in the #2 cylinder was very evident with its temps (CHT & EGT) were much more inline with the others. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t that bad to begin with, it is just amazing how minutely you can recognize symptoms with full instrumentation on each cylinder, with all of the trend data and analysis that is displayed on the efis in real time.
More systems checks while over the field: Yep, the prop responds to commands, the mixture works as expected, the ignitions fire as expected, this switch change produces those results, that switch produces these results, controls feel solid and correct, eyes out and all parts are still on it (really). Tanya and I “ready to depart the pattern?”, “ready”. “Georgetown tower, 22 Charlie departing our orbit on crosswind at 3500′ to the east, back with you in a few.” We flew out to the east just a few miles over another smaller airport and continued the flight test… Still bumpy the whole way.
My skills are clearly a little rusty after only these two weeks of not flying but I did manage to grease it back on the runway 40 minutes later.
Ahh, life is good. Hopefully we used the opportunity of the annual condition inspection to stay as safe as possible and enjoy many more travels out of this great machine.
