I am considering putting together another gathering during the Arlington Fly In.

Would anyone be interested?

This would be at KAWO (Arlington, WA) during July 6, 7, and 8.

Activities could include a Zenith Fly Out. We will also have access to a runway for flight activities during the fly in.

I wanted to finally reveal an electronics project that some of you may want to build.

It is cold outside, the engines need to be warmed for long periods of time, and no one wants to go to the hangar and wait for hours while the engine slowly soaks in heat.

This solution is called the “Hangar Buddy”, and it is based on an incredible project by Maria DeGrazia. You may have seen it in the EAA Experimenter under the name “piWarmer”. This is my version that has been…

The inaugural year of the West Coast Zenith Fly - In is now in the books, and it was a success.

This event was held in Arlington, WA during the annual (and great) Arlington Fly In.

Despite very threatening weather, we had seven zeniths show.

A 750, a 601, an 801, and four 701s. Two of the planes were from California!

We also had about a dozen active builders join us, which may be the most rewarding part of any fly in. Ideas and tips…

It has become old hat to complain about the decline of General Aviation. We can rant about the costs, how airports have been fenced off, or any number of ailments.

This tract is a little about one of those symptoms, a little about how to make flying more fun, and about making flying safer.

There is a vicious circle, a fully developed spin that we must recover from. Something that used to be ordinary, but is now feared.

Something that is fun, but potentially…

I have spent the past five months tracking down a strange problem. It was a problem that confused me, A&Ps, and lots of very smart people.

It was a problem that sent me down a path of inspections, repairs, experimentation, and lots of test flying.



It was a problem that was ultimately solved by two cents with of zipties.

When I pulled back the throttle on my 912ULS powered (550 hours on the engine) 701, the engine would start to get rough around…

UPDATE: This is now a REALITY!

http://www.zenith.aero/events/west-coast-zenith-fly-in?xg_source=activity

Who would be interested in a West Coast Fly that is part of the Arlington 2016 Fly In?

The Arlington Fly In is willing to give us a…

It is finally time to "finish" N701GV. Wittman regional is 1400NM in a straight line from KAWO.

That will be a bunch of flying.

Anyone have plans, or perhaps spare wheel pants that would fit a 701?

I will also be adding temporary strut fairings.

Back of the napkin match shows that every 5 knots gained removes about 1.5 flight hours for the trip.

Anything above a 10kt total gain is going to be endurance.

To say the landslide near Oso is tragic is an understatement. This is only a few miles from my home field of KAWO.

I know this area well. This is the river (Stillaguamish) where I land gravel bars. These are the mountains where I fly. It hits home big.

Currently my home airport is now the center of the rescue and recovery efforts.

If you have watched any of my videos then you know this area too.

I had shot a video with cockpit audio showing how I do slow flight, stalls, more.

Plugging in the cable should have been on the checklist.

I am planning on "re-shooting". Any requests regarding my cockpit\701 operations?

Any other requests?

Last week the Seattle area became unseasonably cold. During the past three years that the 7-Oh-Fun has been flying we had not seen temps in the 20s.

Disclaimer: No warranty is implied and no liability is accepted. This sort of preheater will require supervision. Do not leave unattended.

What to do? If necessity is the mother of invention, then the Lowe's next to the airport was the father.

I found  the following…

Did a long cross-country on Saturday. It was a 300NM flight, taking 5 hours of time (including touch and gos, ect). 19.5 gallons burned.

Landed at four airports that were new to me and to the 7-Oh-Fun.



That leaves only 11 public airports in Western Washington that I have not landed the 701 at.

 …

So here are the facts:

1) My engine is back together and the plane is flying again

2) The only parts replaced were CHT probes, seals, gaskets and overflow bottle.

3) Compression is 86,86,86,85

4) Full root cause is still not fully known.

Between myself and my Rotax guru A&P we have a probable cause:

1) A near gross load reduced climb & cooling performance allowing for increases in coolant and oil temps.

2) The…

We are still trying to figure why exactly all the coolant came out. The best hypothesis is an airlock developed in the system and forced the coolant out.

That still leaves us wondering why the airlock started in the first place.

Once piece of the puzzle has been figured out, which sadly creates a new question. The bottle failed due to exhaust heat. We were seeing EGTs close to the yellow\warning zone before the failure. The portion of the bottle that melted was…

Some good news:

First the cylinder bodies were all fine. They measured in spec and had no scaring and no signs of warping.

The better news is the cylinder and heads all passed their hardness tests. The minimum hardness of the heads is 85HB and the Cylinders 90HB.

The heads measured between 102-134 and the cylinders 108-118. The lowest values were for #1 head and #2 cylinder.

As expected the bolts were all loose from the…

I need some Rotax advise as my plane is stranded at another airport.

The coolant overflow bottle failed in flight. The first sign was some red fluid in the cockpit a few minutes after take off. At first I thought it was brake fluid.

I noted the EGTs were high, but the CHTs were in range, and the oil temps were slightly high, but not in "the red zone"

A minute later I started smelling something in the cockpit and turned back to the field at reduced…