June 28, 2005
Autopilot saga continues...
Apologies to readers for my lack of zeal in creating new entries... not much new is going on.
The autopilot saga continues. After a flight back south to Chino, the heading mode is now active, but unfortunately the gain calibration is still off: the GPSS input is way too weak, causing the autopilot to make corrections at a rate of perhaps 5 degrees per minute - barely perceptible.
Meanwhile, a new pilot may be flying N626FT. Elliot Floersch, CFII/MEI extraordinare will borrow the airplane to fly to Columbia about once a week. A welcome division of the operating costs.
Myself, I'll be starting work on my CFII rating. Let's see how that works out...
Posted by Christian Goetze at 01:20 PM | Comments (147)
April 13, 2005
Panel Upgrade Done
After 8 weeks of down time I finally got to pick up my airplane from Advantage Avionics in Chino. The upgrade consisted of replacing a Narco radio and Rnav unit and the audio panel with a GNS430, a Garmin 330 audio panel, an EDM 701 engine monitor with fuel flow and an stec 30 autopilot.
Most of the stuff actually worked, amazingly enough. Especially the autopilot impressed with rock solid flying even in light turbulence.
Not everything worked, though. The GPS steering unit had a faulty heading mode, the fuel flow was exagerating the consumption, claiming the flight used 35.7 gallons when only 33.7 fit into the tank on arrival, and there seems to be a weird ticking noice in the background from the audio panel. Also, my additional request for a cigarette lighter (to be used only as a power source) somehow got lost.
There also remains some paperwork to be done for the IFR certification of the GNS430. I need to fly to 5 known points - VORs mainly and read off the position indicated by the GPS and compare it to the actual positions. I probably can't fly precisely enough to get within the GPS error margin, but such are the rules... and yes, the database on the unit was from last year, and the manuals are hidden someplace in the shop - at least I have all the official FAA paperwork and log stickers.
The guy in charge at Advantage Avionics promised to fly himself up with a replacement GPSS unit and some other goodies, which would really be excellent service if it happens. I sure hope so, snagging rides to SoCal isn't easy - I was very lucky to have Gal Bar Or fly me down, comforting me with his avionics shop horror stories.
Considering the cost of all this, the visible effect of the upgrade is rather deceiving. The only real eye candy is the moving map from the GNS 430. Nothing else is really apparent - yes, there are two extra switches on the left yoke, and there are some new switches on the panel, but that's it.
Now I'm looking forward to velcro-ing a CD player or an XM receiver onto the right side and feeding it into the audio panel for in flight entertainement.
Posted by Christian Goetze at 12:28 AM | Comments (828)
December 12, 2004
Preparing for Panel Upgrade
These are the "before" pictures.
Note the paper gasket on the compass window showing
Note the paper gasket on the airspeed indicator obscuring the true airspeed readout window.
Posted by Christian Goetze at 03:51 PM | Comments (0)
December 04, 2004
More Formations - with Pictures
So today we did another 2-ship formation. Wolfgang from Palo Alto was flying the photo plane, with Melinda Green (a co-worker of mine) taking pictures, and I was flying N626FT with Colin Aro.
The conditions were not perfect, with a lot of smog in the air and some low level stratus. We did several circles over the Golden Gate Bridge. These are probably the best pictures of the lot:
Posted by Christian Goetze at 04:59 PM | Comments (1)
November 26, 2004
Back Home
... and it's so beautiful... and about 4 knots faster too! Really!
Posted by Christian Goetze at 04:50 PM | Comments (1)
November 12, 2004
Wow
This turned out even better than I imagined.
Posted by Christian Goetze at 09:59 AM | Comments (7203)
November 11, 2004
About to become blue
Blue paint is about to be applied
Posted by Christian Goetze at 11:21 AM | Comments (1726)
November 09, 2004
N-Number placement
Placement of the N-Numbers...
We'll probably go for white with blue outline, but not sure yet...
Posted by Christian Goetze at 02:00 PM | Comments (2753)
November 08, 2004
Paint Scheme being prepared
The new paint scheme is being taped off. The bottom will be blue. The transition between the blue area and the white area will start with thin white stripes, growing thicker. This scheme is similar to the Rockwell Commander scheme.
The wing tips, elevator tips and rudder tips will also be blue, tapering into the white in the same fashion. Apparently, this design is quite hard to do well, but this is at least the second time that they're doing it on a Grumman Tiger, so it should work out fine.
Posted by Christian Goetze at 12:54 PM | Comments (1343)
November 07, 2004
Tiger being repainted
Our trusty little tiger is getting a new skin:
Stripped
White base
The right step must have touched the ground on some very hard landing in its previous life at the Florida Institute of Technology. There was a big crack in the fuselage, not easily visible, right at the attach point for the step (the flat piece of metal above the bracket).
Posted by Christian Goetze at 03:34 PM | Comments (509)