The annual on the 108-2 runs out at the end of the month, so I took advantage of a beautiful day to fly and went up after work. Afterwards, I removed all of the panels that cover the inspection holes, various fairings, the interior, and all of the cowlings. Now we are ready for Wade to do his inspection. With any luck, we should be ready to fly in about a week.
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| Ready for inspection |
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| Everything that came off |
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| Beautiful day to fly |
Wade sent a few pictures of progress on the V-77 fuselage. He has welded in a tray for the battery and also made a battery hold down. An external power bracket has been installed near the battery as well as the bracket that holds the tank that is the vacuum source to put the flaps down if the engine quits. Great progress!
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| The hoop is for the vacuum tank |
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| Bracket for external power |
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| Battery tray and hold down |
Our friends Steve and Kim came up Thursday evening to check on progress on their home under construction. I enlisted Steve to help with rib stitching and we have completed all of the stitches that can pass through the wing from top to bottom. We are at 474 stitches so far. The remainder of the stitches only go through either the upper or lower surface due to structure or control cable interference and can be done by a single person…..so I have about 120 of those to do before taping begins. Thanks Steve!
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| Done for today |
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| Randy (L) and Steve |
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| Randy looking through a hole to guide the needle |
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| Steve looks through the landing light hole |
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| Steve |
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| Randy |
Wade has been busy on the V-77’s new fuselage. He has removed all of the good stuff from the original fuselage and also removed the boot cowl from the new one. The new one is now safely in his workshop and he is preparing to do some welding. Wade has compared the two and noted all of the various things to do.
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| New fuselage in workshop. You can see all of the wood and other items on the floor from the first. |
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| Fuselages side by side, new one closer |
I finally got my first flight for 2023 in the log book today. We had been out of town for the first several days and then needed the weather to cooperate. Looks like several nice days coming up.
Happy New Year! Wade was busy today removing the engine from the second fuselage. Fortunately, we have had a short streak of sunny and warmer than usual days, helping make the outdoor process more tolerable.
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| Instrument panel moved over |
