Pietenpol-List: NX41CC is rolling again
Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 4:18 pm
Original Posted By: Isablcorky(at)aol.com
Howdy, Pieters-Yesterday goes down in my memoirs as a red-letter day. Saturday, Jan. 13, in the final fading minutes of the day, I taxied 41CC up and down the runway at Zapata County Airport to the applause of a cheering crowd of several uncaring South Texas coyotes and one grizzled old airport manager. The A65 thundered mightily, with all those hungry horses just waiting to be let out of the corral... but never saw more than a couple of hundred RPM this day on the ground.The weather was perfect. Very slight breeze, overcast, 80 degrees (yes, EIGHTY degrees Fahrenheit, you northerners), and I had just worked furiously to get the brakes finished up and the cowlings back on before dark. An old Alabama A&P with a long southern drawl had signed off the annual inspection about an hour earlier after only picking up a few little squawks, and neither the airplane nor I had any more excuses. My instructor (the grizzled old airport manager) propped it off with me at the controls and the A65 fired on the first blade after sitting quietly since Thanksgiving, oil pressure came right up, thumbs went up, chocks were pulled, and off I went.It was my first time at the controls of a fully operational and airworthy Pietenpol. I only had a few minutes of daylight left, but it was enough to let me taxi around on the apron, get a feel for the rudder bar and brakes, then roll up and down the runway to get a feel for the view over the nose and the general ground handling characteristics. The biggest surprise was how responsive the airplane is to the rudder and steerable tailwheel. I was expecting the usual slow swing of the tail, but this airplane is almost zippy enough on the ground to run a slalom course. It was absolutely delightful to taxi this airplane, but I'll have to watch the rudder dance to make sure I don't overcontrol it on the ground.More taxiing is in store, to be followed by return to flight. Right now I have a brake on the port side that will not release completely. The shoes stay on the disk pretty tightly, and post-taxi inspection (my hand) proved that the port side brake was mucho hot while the starboard brake was not. I may have to disassemble the wheel cylinder to see if the piston is dragging or something. Any ideas on what might be wrong are appreciated.Weather will be very bad for at least the next week, but soon enough 41CC will again grace the skies of South Texas! Thanks to everyone who has helped along the way... Corky, Randy, Mark, Jeff, Mike, and a host of others. I know I keep repeating myself, but there have been so many who have helped me with so many different things over the last two years. I owe you all rides ;o)Oscar ZunigaSan Antonio, TXmailto: taildrags(at)hotmail.comwebsite at http://www.flysquirrel.net_________________________________________________________________Your Hotmail address already works to sign into Windows Live Messenger! Get it now ________________________________________________________________________________
Howdy, Pieters-Yesterday goes down in my memoirs as a red-letter day. Saturday, Jan. 13, in the final fading minutes of the day, I taxied 41CC up and down the runway at Zapata County Airport to the applause of a cheering crowd of several uncaring South Texas coyotes and one grizzled old airport manager. The A65 thundered mightily, with all those hungry horses just waiting to be let out of the corral... but never saw more than a couple of hundred RPM this day on the ground.The weather was perfect. Very slight breeze, overcast, 80 degrees (yes, EIGHTY degrees Fahrenheit, you northerners), and I had just worked furiously to get the brakes finished up and the cowlings back on before dark. An old Alabama A&P with a long southern drawl had signed off the annual inspection about an hour earlier after only picking up a few little squawks, and neither the airplane nor I had any more excuses. My instructor (the grizzled old airport manager) propped it off with me at the controls and the A65 fired on the first blade after sitting quietly since Thanksgiving, oil pressure came right up, thumbs went up, chocks were pulled, and off I went.It was my first time at the controls of a fully operational and airworthy Pietenpol. I only had a few minutes of daylight left, but it was enough to let me taxi around on the apron, get a feel for the rudder bar and brakes, then roll up and down the runway to get a feel for the view over the nose and the general ground handling characteristics. The biggest surprise was how responsive the airplane is to the rudder and steerable tailwheel. I was expecting the usual slow swing of the tail, but this airplane is almost zippy enough on the ground to run a slalom course. It was absolutely delightful to taxi this airplane, but I'll have to watch the rudder dance to make sure I don't overcontrol it on the ground.More taxiing is in store, to be followed by return to flight. Right now I have a brake on the port side that will not release completely. The shoes stay on the disk pretty tightly, and post-taxi inspection (my hand) proved that the port side brake was mucho hot while the starboard brake was not. I may have to disassemble the wheel cylinder to see if the piston is dragging or something. Any ideas on what might be wrong are appreciated.Weather will be very bad for at least the next week, but soon enough 41CC will again grace the skies of South Texas! Thanks to everyone who has helped along the way... Corky, Randy, Mark, Jeff, Mike, and a host of others. I know I keep repeating myself, but there have been so many who have helped me with so many different things over the last two years. I owe you all rides ;o)Oscar ZunigaSan Antonio, TXmailto: taildrags(at)hotmail.comwebsite at http://www.flysquirrel.net_________________________________________________________________Your Hotmail address already works to sign into Windows Live Messenger! Get it now ________________________________________________________________________________