July 19 Added Lip to Cowl Skirt - July 22 Last Flight From Gordonsville's Old Runway

 

My last experiment, for now, was to add a small curved lip to the bottom of the shallow cowl skirt and reinstall it in place of the steep one.  By the time I got done, on a very hot, humid evening, it was too late to go flying.  I hammered the curve using a plastic hammer and dolly while holding the skirt so it was curved, like when it is installed.  I only did about 20" in the middle where the skirt is perpendicular to the airflow under the cowl.

It came out nice but made the temps hotter so I was back on the ground in 15 minutes.

They're rebuilding our runway, last paved around 1955, to get rid of the cracks, widen it from 40 feet to 50 feet, get rid of the hump near the north end and the dip near the south end.

Looking southwest from the displaced threshold for runway 23.  There's a low spot near the south end.  From here the runway goes downhill, behind me to the northeast

This view is from the north end looking back uphill to the displaced threshold

Another nice warm evening flying.  This was the first change I made which made the temperatures worse, so I learned something from it.

This view is from the end of runway 5 looking back to the northeast.  You can see the dip near this end.  The runway will be flat but still run downhill when they are done.  This end can't be lowered because it's at the property line and the adjoining land owner won't give permission to cut into their property.  The crack will be gone and you'll be able to see if someone or something is on the runway when you start your roll to the south.  Their plan is to reopen it in November, about Thanksgiving (120 days).

While it's closed I plane to recover the fuselage and tail which I covered with cotton it 1994, 28 years ago.  Time goes by quick

July 15 - Nice Evening Flight

 

I didn't have time to mess with the cowl so I enjoyed a nice warm evening flight.  Straight ahead under the right brace wire is Orange airport about 3 miles out.

The white building is the Rigid factory south of Orange.  They had very sexy calendars at one time.  I expect they're not allowed anymore.

The ever present tail.

July 13 - Reinstalled Steeper Cowl Outlet Baffle

I removed the shallow outlet skirt and reinstalled the steeper one.

It made on change but I had a nice warm evening flight for about 1/2 hour. 

The setting sun was lighting up the clouds east of us nicely.

It was pretty when the sun finally hid behind the clouds over the Blue Ridge, to the west.

I have one more experiment to try before they close the runway.

July 11 - More Baffle Changes and A Nice Evening Flight

 I keep looking for some reason that I'm getting high Cylinder Head and Oil Temperatures. My belief is that there are 3 most likely causes.  The first is that I have a leak somewhere from the high pressure above the cylinders to the lower pressure below.  The second is a poorly designed outlet. The last is that somehow changing to the Taylorcraft nose bowl is causing low inlet pressure.  The last doesn't seem very likely since there were a lot of Taylorcrafts made using this nose bowl.  I decided to remove the nose bowl and reinstall a baffle I had made to force more flow below the crank case for better oil cooling.

When I removed the nose bowl it looked like my front seals weren't rubbing as tightly against the nose bowl as well as I would like, especially on the left cylinders, there was a gap between the 2 pieces of felt.

I remade these to cover the gap and to allow more felt to lay against the nose bowl for a better seal.

On the right side I moved the felt away from the baffle a little so there would be more of it lying against the nose bowl on this side as well.

The main plan was to reinstall the baffle below the crank shaft so more air would flow under the crank case to cool the oil better.

I had originally made this baffle so the felt sealed against the case, forcing all the air down. I decided to remove some of the felt to allow a little air to go over the nose of the crankcase.

The baffle is back under the crankshaft.

There is now a small gap to allow some air to move by it on the right (arrow) and left sides of the case.

Another beautiful warm evening for flying.

An algae clogged lake south of the airport.

Looking north the airport is to the right of the water tower and left of the left brace wire.

Looking south the airport is in front of the wing strut.

It was a nice flight but my efforts had no affect on the temperatures.  I haven't given up but I'm running out of time before they tear up the runway to rebuild it.

Sailplane Ride At Harris Hill, New York

 I'm a couple weeks behind reporting what I've been doing with the Fly Baby.  But before I get caught up, yesterday my Grandson, Duncan and I went for Sailplane rides at Harris Hill Soaring.  While we waited for our turn, our tickets got us into the National Soaring Museum. Both were great fun.

Duncan and his pilot ready to go in a 1984 Schleicher ASK-21, N363KS.

Takeoff

Adjusting the rudder pedals so I could fly once we released.  A good plan but once the canopy was closed I couldn't get my knees under the panel.  I flew the stick and he flew the rudder, it worked.

My ride is a 2008 Schleicher ASK-21, N621HH. Very nice feel and easy to control.

Takeoff!

Heading down the runway and liftoff.

Towing out over the drop-off.  The field is on top of the hill about 750 feet above the valley.

Steep Sides of the valley and river below.

Just before release at 4200 feet MSL, Good countdown communications with the tow pilot.

A couple more pic's before taking the stick.

Returning to land.  We had a cross wind so landed from the grassy end and taxied back to the paved launch area.

Landing

The end of a nice 17 minute flight as one of the helpers gently lets the wingtip down.  It seemed much longer and was great fun.

Celebrating Independence Day Flying

We finally had some more nice weather July 3rd.  I decided to reinstall the oil sump cooling baffle I had removed, before I went flying.

I annealed the area along the 2 sides, so I could form some more curve for a tighter fit to the sump.

It was a beautiful clear, calm evening. By the time I took off it had cooled down to about 80° F.  I only flew about 1/2 hour because the oil temp slowly creeped up close to the Red Line, 210° F.

The lake is Lake Louisa where we live, one street back from the lake.

The Race track is at James Madison's home, Montpelier.

This year's corn maze is in the field ringed with trees.  The corn wasn't tall enough to get good shadows, so it's a little hard to make out.  By the time the corn is tall the runway will be closed for a complete remake.

The next morning, Independence Day, was still calm and clear, and about 10° cooler.  You can see the ripples in our lake from a gentile NE breeze.

It was a perfect morning except right around Gordonsville Airport.  The wind must have been coming slightly across the mountains on the NW side of the airport, because it was turbulent in the pattern.  On the ground the wind was almost straight down runway 5.

Mike in the hangar next to me took some more pictures of my landing.

What you can't see in these pictures is that the approach from the SW is almost clear of any trees.  It's actually a very easy approach and that water tower is a good way from the airport.

Nice 3 point attitude for touchdown on 23.

July 4th evening I got to fly again, ending a short stretch of nice dry weather.

There's a resort, Shenandoah Crossing, a few miles south of the airport.  Looked like they had a good crowd for the holiday.

In the downwind for runway 5, ending 3 flights in 2 days.  A nice way to celebrate Independence Day.  Flying's about as independent as it gets.

I have an idea to try improving the oil cooling for my next flight, more later.