Last flight of the fall

Winter starts at 10:49 PM tonight, so I got my last flight of the fall in late this afternoon.  I had fixed a few things over the weekend since it was too windy to fly.  I re-glued some rubber molding around the forward, right wing to strut fairing.  I also installed some L-brackets on the aft end of the right heat muff.  I had previously put some on the front to keep the muff from vibrating out of position.  I found I also needed some on the aft end.

I put some silicon around the edges of a few inspection plates that keep moving due to vibrations.  Lastly, I found the aft non-moving passenger door window was loose in several places.....again probably due to vibration.  So I took that apart and re-glued it with new silicon.  When I flew today, that silicon really made a difference.  The draft I have been working to eliminate is gone!  So, that should make flying in the winter more enjoyable for passengers.

                                                         Nice late day sky

                                                 View from the front seats

         To keep the windows from sliding back, I use a rubber band!  Simple but effective.

Late day flight

After a weekend of low visibility, low ceilings, and rain, the weather improved today.  I ended the day on the east side of town, so I was able to get in a quick flight before my banjo lesson.  I finally started taking banjo lessons after talking about this for years........now that I don't have an airplane to restore.

I have logged 69.1 hours, 96 flights, and 108 landings.  Hey, that's 108 landings in my restored 108-2!

                                                        Great visibility!

              Landing north at Stearman on runway 35.  Our house is left above the strut.

                                       Low light levels hide many paint imperfections!

Cooler times

The air temperatures have cooled about 70 degrees from the summer.  I noticed the other day my oil temperature was on the low side.  In the summer, it ran around 175, now about 120.  Mark says 175 to 180 is preferred.  I also wonder if that is why the cabin heater seems weak.....which needs to do better especially given all the air leaks around the doors and windows.

I flew Monday evening with half of the left oil cooler covered and did not see much change.  Tuesday I also covered half of the right cooler and saw about 140.  

Wednesday I got another nice flying evening and flew with the left cooler totally covered and the right half covered.  After about 25 minutes cruising around, I was up to 160.  Guess I will cover a little more and try again.

Saturday will be 6 months since first flight.  I have now logged 67.5 hours, 93 flights, and 104 landings.

It was about 40 degrees F at altitude.  Oil temperature 

just over 150 at this point.

            Plenty of time for a selfie while cruising around 

               waiting on things to heat up and stabilize.