Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

No new flying Christmas greeting this year as my plane is still under reconstruction. I'll do better next year, and while waiting for that - here is last years Christmas greeting (still very valid)..:

Soon starting re-building

This week all metal parts are being sandblasted and painted (epoxy powder coating)... 

Ricardo is testing BPR9ES

Experiencing the same problem as me with excess oil in the spark plugs (engine mounted heads down) Ricardo is on Peter's advice testing BPR9ES spark plugs. 

Illustration "stolen" from Ricardo's blog... clickable link

Peter has been reporting significant improvement with those spark plugs where the electrode is slightly more prominent than on the regular B9ES.
To be followed...

Details

Winter flying is fun but cold... 
Last winter, flying with my skis, I was really missing heating in my plane. Surfing the web I found what appeared to be an interesting solution. It arrived today from T7DESIGN:

It is an incredibly compact heater (maybe that is why they named it "Micro Heater") that weigh only 580 grams while rated for 2,2 kW. Well worth a try - it can't get any colder anyway...  

Differential breaks 
I never succeeded to hold my plane on the foot breaks and had difficulties applying even pressure on the breaks when trying to slow down rapidly so I replaced the individual foot breaks with a central break handle on the stick already some years ago. It worked very well and I never had any problems with the ground handing due to central break.
But it is not perfect, you cannot turn "around one wheel" when needed and turns can sometimes be wider than allowed for, particularly on mountain fields. So I decided to improve my system by installing a dual break handle on the stick. It is a kit of 2 bicycle handles that I merged into one. I'm sure it will be easier to apply even pressure by hand than by foot.

Work in progress

As mentioned earlier I have turned the need for reparation due to a hard landing into an opportunity to do a complete overhaul of my plane. The plane was built 22 years ago so it was time to do it anyway.

The true definition of an ultra light

I'm making slow but steady progress. The fuselage is completely striped down, bent tubes removed or straighten. All new parts adjusted and ready to be welded - hopefully "already" this weekend.

Ready to be welded

I have had some surprises when stripping off the old covering that have comforted me in my decision to do the complete overhaul. I found rust and not only odd spots...

Rust found under glued areas

Rust under covering material and layers of paint that I had not detected at visual inspection.

Click to enlarge picture

Note how the original paint has cracked wherever covered with glue while areas without glue are in perfect condition. Using Oratex to cover the plane this time I hope to avoid this issue as their glue is water based.  

The beginning of a new adventure

The preparation work has started…

As mentioned  earlier I will take the opportunity to re-cover the entire plane when repairing the light damage the hard landing did to my fuselage.

I will take my time and do this right, there are some rust stains on some of the tubes so a full paint job of the fuselage is also needed. I will also take the opportunity to do some minor modifications (break system, luggage compartment, seats, door windows on both sides and not only pilot side etc.). So if you are only here for the for the Simonini Victor 2 experience check in again after Christmas… the counter is currently on 63 hours without any issues and a happy owner.

At “Blois Microlight Festival 2013” I had the opportunity to talk to the Oratex team and see and touch their latest products (see also my article from September 21st 2011). You need a sharp object to do damage to an Oratex covered frame. You can hit it as hard as you can without making any damage to it. Their very friendly managing director, Mr Lanitz, showed that you can actually stand on the tissue but he told me that they were forced to use a metal frame when doing this as he had broken too many wooden frames - well, he weight 120 kg / 264 lb. After that treatment a light blow from a hot air gun and it is like new again. I’m convinced about the quality of this product and the enormous advantages of not needing any nasty solvents... I will use Oratex UL600 to cover my plane. This is also an experience I would like to share with those interested even if there are already some films on YouTube and some sites talking about it already.

So get ready for the "Avid Flyer Oratex Adventure”... coming soon to a computer screen near you...

A shorter than planned flight

I had this dream about a long flight across France, by the castles of the Loire valley out to the Atlantic coast and to some of the near the coast islands (Belle Ile, Ile d’Yeu and Ile d’Oleron). Then down to the Basque country and then home again across the mountains in the center of France. 
With the rest of the family visiting the grandparents I had a week available and the weather forecast was very promising. So I made my flight plan, loaded the plane, rigged my cameras and took off an early Saturday morning. I had planned a stop for lunch just before flying over the amazing Loire valley castles. And there is where the dream ended…
I made a hard landing (I can list all the reasons but in the end it was a pilot error…) and damaged my landing gear. 

As mentioned I had rigged my cameras for my dream trip but the final film is obviously shorter than I hoped for. I hope you will enjoy it anyway:

The repair will require some welding and rather than patching I have decided to re-cover the entire plane. I have been delaying this year after year so I guess this is an opportunity. I will be using Oratex (I did a stress test on Oratex in September 2011, you’ll find it in the archive) but more about this new project later.

Summer time is meeting time...

Flying across France to the yearly French Avid Flyer Pilot meeting I added another 7h30 to the engine and I'm now approaching 60 spotless hours.
I know, I know, it is nothing and it is still way to early to judge the reliability... However, seeing other identical planes take off with their Rotax 582 or (strong but heavy) 912 I'm comforted in my choice of Victor 2 - I can easily out climb them all with my low weight and high power!



For Avid Flyer owners in France...
As you can see the French Avid Flyer association (l'APA) is still going strong. The French Avid Flyer Yahoo Group has been reactivated and you can sign up here.

Back to square one…

Slightly exaggerated illustration...

After my last flight (3 weeks ago) I had not only closed the fuel tap on the firewall but also let the engine run dry.
Yesterday I went out to the field to prepare the plane for a longer flight next weekend, I removed the spark plugs to make sure they were clean, re-gap etc.

2 spark plugs (one per cylinder) were overflowing with oil, the 2 others just full of oil… I would not have been able to start.

While the fuel tap improves the situation it does not eliminate the problem, nor does fuel tap and running the engine dry...

So what about the quantity of oil? I have not measured the quantity but estimate it to be a little less than a teaspoon – and I don’t know if there is more oil in the engine… A teaspoon is 5 ml and with 2% oil this would represent ¼ liter mixture, or the consumption for less than 1.5 minutes.

Knowing that similar problems on other engines have been resolved by using longer spark plugs (to prevent the excess oil from running in to the spark plug) I have asked Simonini for advice. 

Excellent burgers at Piper Pub...

Took some time off a few Fridays ago to take my wife to lunch at a nearby airfield...  Excellent burgers and friendly service at Piper Pub, Albertville airport LFKA, reservation recommended (04.79.31.42.58).  

And yes, it works....

Right, 3 weeks since last flight... it should normally be impossible to start without removing and cleaning excess oil from the 4 spark plugs - if normally is without a closed fuel tap...
But as I had not only installed a fuel tap right on the fire wall prior to my last flight but also closed it I had no problems starting the engine.
Or put differently even when closed the Bing carburettors leak fule and slowly flood the engine and the oil remains in the cylinder head if there is a gravity feed from the fuel tanks.

Rain and firewall fuel taps

As you have seen in the comments there is a discussion about excess oil in heads down cylinders and fuel taps. The theory is that with wing tanks (high wings) fuel continues to slowly flow through the carburetors due to the gravity feed and that the oil is deposited in the cylinder head while the fuel evaporate or disappears elsewhere – if there is no fuel tap prevent this.

As I’m normally not a friend of fuel taps (risk of forgetting them, point of obstruction, leaks…) I had reduced them to a minimum.

I have reconsidered and have now installed a fuel tap on the firewall, operated directly on the dashboard. I did this some time ago but as the weather has been dreadful most of the time and particularly so when I had the time to fly I have not yet been able to test this.

As soon as I can confirm that this is actually solving the problem you will be the first to know!

A FRIEND'S HELICOPTER STOLEN !

One of my friends recently bought an ultra light helicopter. He was just about to finish his training when the helicopter was stolen from the instructor's hangar (Planet Gyro, Ancone Montelimar Airport, France). It is a single seat Angel, looks very much like the Kompress.
He had bought it to himself for his 70th birthday - a child hood dream and now he is crying like a child who lost his best toy... 
Please help us distribute the flyer below (primary on the European continent) - the ultra light flying community is small and you never know... 
Thank you in advance for your help.

Click this link to open a PDF version of the flyer

I love the smell of snow in the morning

You know, one time we had a hill snowed for 12 hours. When it was all over, I landed there...

Bingo Simonini Victor 2 experiences from Spain

Ricardo Louis Garcia, who fly a Bingo with a Simonini Victor 2,  has just created a blog that I suggest you bookmark if you are interested in Simonini Victor 2 experiences.
Ricardo's blog is in Spanish but just like on this blog you can get a translation by selecting your preferred language.
Bingo Simonini Victor 2 experiences from Spain