Second and Third flights
There were a few things that needed fixing after the first flight:
- Idle mixture was still to rich
- One of the oil cooler fittings was leaking a little (I really dislike tapered pipe fittings on airplanes)
- Prop governor needed to be adjusted to give 2700 RPM maximum (was getting only about 2600)
With the help of our friend Marc, we addressed these things and cowled it up for another flight on Sunday. Same plan as before, circling the airport at 3000′, but did a full 30 minutes in the air this time. After landing, we took the top cowl off again to check for problems. The oil cooler leak is gone, but there are still a couple areas losing some oil: at the oil sump and one of the oil return lines. These things are annoying and messy, but not a safety issue.
After work on Monday, I went back out to the airport to get another flight in, since the weather is supposed to be crappy for the rest of the week. Same as the last flight, pretty much. This time I took a picture and a quick video with my phone.
Other things that need to be fixed, but not urgently:
- The right wing does seem to be slightly heavy with the flaps up, so will take a look at how to fix that
- The manifold pressure gauge fluctuates within about 1″ or so. This is a common issue and is fixed by putting a restriction in the line
- Idle mixture is getting better but is still a little too rich
- Need to figure out some good starting autopilot servo settings for the RV-10. I’ll have to tweak it in flight, though.
