Had a wonderful flight this morning out at New Jerusalem.  Jeff Erck showed up flying his foot launch PPG as well as Terry Strahl who is interested in getting into foot launch PPG.  I took a short flight before work started lighting up my phone.  It wasn’t an emergency but I figured I better land before it became one.  I came around and landed after a short flight and made a great landing.  I decided I needed to do two more like that before I put it away.  I went around the pattern and made another great landing.  Third time around the landing was smooth but I popped a wheelie after I touched down.  Oh well, still good.  I taxied back to my truck to practice kiting and then shut it down.  MUCH better than my last flight.  No photos or videos because I was living in the moment.

In other news Just Aircraft as debuted a new Part 103 legal aircraft.  Just is famous for their Highlander and Super-STOL line of aircraft.  They have a new bird out called the Just 103.  It is basically just wings, a seat, and an engine but it looks very promising.  I’m keeping my eye on this one.  More info here: https://newsline.kitplanes.com/2018/04/13/just-103-solo/

The winds looked good this morning. They were not forecasted to pick up until after Noon. Seemed like a great morning to go fly. I got out to New Jerusalem at about 8:00am. There was no wind, dead calm. I unpacked as usual and set up as usual. One last look at the wind sock told me it was going to be a great flight. It was hanging down, not a breath of wind.

I took off and flew south along the San Joaquin River. I circled back to overfly the confluence of the Stanislaus and San Joaquin Rivers. It was probably a big deal back before the rivers were dammed. Now it looks like two irrigation canals coming together. I continued on south over Highway 132 and towards a large pond just next to the river. I wasn’t too keen on flying over the acres and acres of orchards in front of me (I’m still learning to trust this engine, it didn’t skip a beat) so I turned back north. Once I got just north of Highway 132 the cart started to swing and my ground speed dropped from 28 MPH to 19 MPH!

I was about 3 miles from the airport and my ground speed kept dropping and the cart kept swinging. I might have said a prayer or two. As I came in on final approach my ground speed was down to 14 MPH. Things got a little more swingy near the ground but I managed to make a really decent landing. The cart was rolling on the ground so I killed the engine and tugged the brakes to bring the chute down. After it settled down behind me I just sat there as is my habit. I listen to the wind, the birds, the sound of the engine ticking as it cooled down. I unbuckled and immediately the wind started inflating the parachute and pulling the cart backwards. I grabbed one of the brake lines to deflate the chute. I dropped my helmet on the rear corner to keep the chute from billowing up again. If the ride back to the airport was interesting packing the chute back up was every bit as interesting. I finally got it in the bag and stowed on the cart.

I thought it was just me having a problem with the wind but then I saw a Cessna 172 on final approach and he was bucking and crabbing every bit as much as I was. I was just of the runway on the downwind side and started backing up when I saw he kept drifting towards me and looking like he was going to land on my PPC! He finally decided to go-around and passed about 30 feet above me. Yeah, so much for a full flap landing in a stiff crosswind. I got the cart back to the trailer before he tried his second approach. He made it down this time. Good for him.

So the moral to today’s story is that weather conditions can change very quickly. Stay on top of the weather, stay on top of your skills, and be ready to use those skills.

And now enjoy a short video of (most of) the flight…

And if you’re interested in where I flew today…

I took a quick flight this past Sunday before heading off to church.  Weather was good if not chilly: 38 degrees F and 2-3 MPH crosswind from the right.  Otherwise wonderful flying conditions.  Thanks to some tips from a local group of PPC pilots I’m finally learning how to land!

Sorry for the low audio at the end.  What I basically said is that I’d like to thank J Bird Aviation and Six Chuter International for their amazing customer service.  They’ve been calm and helpful even when I wasn’t.  It’s a good machine and now I just need to learn to fly and enjoy it!

We finally got a break in the MUCH needed rain storms here in central California on Sunday.  So in the afternoon I hitched up my hangar on wheels and drove out to New Jerusalem Airport (1Q4).  The day was perfect for flying a powered parachute; no wind and a high overcast so no thermals either.  I pulled in and got set up.  Within about 15 minutes the engine was warmed up and the chute was laid out.  I was set up on the displaced threshold on runway 30 and noticed an aircraft on final.  I turned my strobe on to increase my visibility.  When he was on short final he went around and flew off with absolutely no radio calls.  Well, it is an uncontrolled airport.  Radio calls are not mandatory but definitely suggested.

I strapped in and with one last look around the areas called “clear prop” to no one as the airport was completely empty, and fired up the engine.  Feet on the rudder bars and gave the throttle a smooth jab forward.  The little P3 lurched forward, pausing only briefly as the chute popped up and due to the lack of wind locked in overhead immediately.  I looked up and everything looked good, no tangles or sticks in the lines so I applied full power.  The P3 lifted off smoothly and glided skyward.

One of my primary missions today was to keep an eye on my cylinder head temperature gauge.  Ambient air temperature was 58 degrees F and happily the CHT never went above 350 degrees.  Exhaust gas temperature stayed below 1050 degrees.  Seeing my temps were stable I relaxed and set about flying around the area.  I did some sight seeing over the farms and river areas and then noticed my CHT was at 200 degrees!  That was odd.  I turned back toward the airport when the CHT went to 150 degrees.  Okay, that had to be a loose connection or something similar.  I was starting to get cold anyway so I continued back to the airport.

I was a little high upon turning final so I pulled power back and the P3 began dropping down nicely.  After I had cleared the fence I applied a bit more power but not enough, the P3 landed SOLIDLY.  Well, what do I expect after 3 months of not flying?  Even so it was a great flight.  It felt good to be in the sky again.

It’s beautiful flying weather here in California’s vast Central Valley but I don’t have a wing so I’m grounded.  Since I can’t fly anyway I decided to do some preventative maintenance on the P3 Lite.  It’s recommended by some in the PPC field that you should replace your fuel lines one a year.  They are made of plastic and slowly degrade over time.  I took the opportunity to do that this morning.  It only took an hour.  It should only take 30 minutes but we’re having unseasonably warm weather here (sorry midwest), the sun was shining, the birds were singing, I figured I’d take my time.

Here are a few pictures of before and after.  Oh, and Happy New Year!

At the bottom are the old fuel lines and fuel filter, the top is the new fuel lines and filter.

The new fuel lines and primer bulb installed on the P3.

Cold weather has finally descended on the valley and since flying open cockpit in 39 degree temperatures doesn’t appeal to me, flying season is over.  Now, I could fly in the afternoon when temperatures are in the low 60’s and winds are come.  Yes, I could do that.  Except that I have no wing for my aircraft.

Why do I have no wing for my aircraft?  I sent it back to the manufacturer for inspection and repair.  Repair?  Why does it need to be repaired?  Because when I landed the last time I flew, the parachute drifted down and the lines got tangled in the prop while the engine was running.  What?!  Why didn’t I turn the engine off??  I tried, but the switch fell inside the panel.  Why did it do that?  Because I didn’t perform a proper preflight inspection.

I was cold, I was in a hurry, and I didn’t properly preflight the powered parachute.  A proper preflight would normally involve checking everything for tightness… including panel switches.  You see, during warm up, the engine is running at a fairly low RPM.  This causes the whole machine to vibrate.  The switches I use are attached to the panel via a hex nut behind the panel and a nut you have to turn by your fingers on the front of the panel.  The switches stayed secure for many flights.  But some time during this last flight the engine kill switch lost the nut off the front of the switch so when I went to flip the switch down to kill the engine, the switch fell into the panel.

If I’d had my wits about me I would have throttled back up to keep the wing in the air, and then reach down and turn the fuel off.  Then just drive down the runway until the engine quit on its own.  Well, lesson learned.  Two damaged propeller blades and at least one broken line on the parachute.  I’ve already replaced the two propeller blades and sent the wing back to ASAP for inspection and repair.  Might as well do a complete inspection on the machine while I’m at it.  Replace the cheap plastic fuel fittings with all metal ones.  Replace the fuel line too while I’m at it.

Happy Holidays!

Last week when I was talking to the owner of Jay Bird Engines, the maker of my P3 Lite’s engine, they mentioned that they don’t really have data on 4 bladed props matched up with their engines.  All the engines they shipped out for Six Chuter P3 Lites were matched up with three bladed props.  So I called Ultra Props, the maker of my propeller and ordered a three blade hub.   My blades would fit into it as the hubs are universally machined for any number of blades and blade angles.  It arrived today and I installed three of the blades from my four bladed hub into the three blade hub. I used the 12 degree spacers as this is what Jay Bird indicated I should use.  It’s now mounted on the engine and waiting for a test run and flight this weekend if the weather holds.

Had a great Thanksgiving today.  It started with a drive out to New Jerusalem airport to do some flying.  I’ve been worried about high engine cylinder head temperatures so I bought a new digital CHT gauge.  I installed it out at the airport and did a test engine run.  I put the digital gauge on the rear cylinder thinking that this would be the hotter cylinder… not so!  You see, on my engine, a Kawasaki A440, there is a cooling fan on the engine.  It is oriented facing forward.  I had always assumed that the airflow would be through the front of the engine and out the rear.  But I forgot one thing… my engine is mounted facing backwards.  So the cooling air coming through the engine flows against the relative wind created as I fly.  I’ll have to check with J-Bird, the manufacturer of my engine to see if that is how all their other engines are set up.  This could explain my elevated cylinder head temps.

Now, all that being said, oddly enough, my temps were solidly in the low to normal range today!  So I’m going to go back the the next smaller high jet on my carburetor and see if the temps stay down.  Not sure why they suddenly dropped today.  My wife may be onto something when she quipped, “Maybe it’s finally done breaking in.”  Could be.

Here’s a short video of today’s flight.

After an epic Thanksgiving dinner with my kids and a nap, I retired to the garage to adjust the fan belt tension.  Yes, the aforementioned cooling fan has a belt that needs to be tightened after the first 3 hours of operation.  Some folks never tighten their belts but I decided to go by the book.  Probably because this engine has burnt it’s rings twice.  Tightening the belt involves removing one half of the belt pulley, removing a shim, and then reassembling the two pulley halves.  That is much easier said than done.  Here is a video describing the belt tightening ordeal.

After tightening the belt I did a quick engine run to make sure the belt was still tight and all checked out.  All ready for the next flight!