With a better roll trim and improved engine cooling plenums to provide better airflow to cylinders 3/4, I took her for another flight. There were broken clouds down to ~4000′, so I climbed up to 10,000′ to get on top. First off, I noticed the improved roll trim out of the gate. I could now […]
Build log
New headset
After my first flight, I realized I’ll probably need to get a better headset. My current one has served me well for most of my flying so far, but the Velocity is a rather loud beast. Another builder a couple hangars down works for Bose, and he loaned me both Bose X and A20 headsets […]
6th test flight
In attempt to figure out the plane’s left roll tendency, I picked up a digital level at Harbor Freight this morning, leveled the plane and started comparing angles between the wings. No matter where I measured, they were very close, within 0.3deg. I put the level parallel to the longitudinal axis of the plane and […]
5th test flight
Today I spent the morning taking care of a list of squawks. First, I found an oil leak in the engine. One of the cylinder drain tubes was leaking from where it joins to the cylinder. I took off the tube and discovered that it was cracking right at the base of the flare for the […]
4th test flight
On the third test flight, once I climbed to 5000′ and brought it up to speed, I noticed a definite roll tendency. To see if I could correct this, I drooped the ailerons so their trailing edges were 1/8″ below the wing at rest/level. During this test flight, tho, it still wanted to roll left […]
3rd flight
I took it out today for a bit longer flight. I took off from KORH on 29, stayed in the pattern for one round to ensure everything was ok, then headed, climbing out west. I climbed to 5000′ (got there pretty quick, too), then after going out 15mi from the airport, setup a race track […]
Second flight
I had a few things to take care of after the first flight. Right after that flight, I jacked the plane up and found why the gear was not retracting properly – newly inflated tires not fitting into wheel wells. I opened up the wheel wells so they fit in easily at 55psi and also […]
First flight
Since getting the airworthiness certificate for my Velocity, I’ve been preparing for first flight. Over the last week or so, I’d run out of things on the list and little issues to take care of. On Thursday, I took the day off, prepared to fly. I started by doing some high-speed taxi tests. KORH has […]
Airworthiness granted!
This morning was my appointment with an inspector from the Windsor-Locks FAA MIDO (Manufacturing & Inspection District Offices) for my airworthiness inspection. I thought it was the FSDO that took care of airworthiness inspections, but its the MIDO. Anyway, great guy, very thorough. He spotted a few things that I was able to correct while […]
Fuel flow check
I checked the fuel flow to ensure that there are no restrictions and that, by gravity feed alone, there’s plenty of fuel flow post-fuel pump to supply fuel to the engine. To check this, I closed the emergency fuel shut off valve and disconnected the fuel line exiting the electric fuel pump and replaced it […]