DAR inspection, Taxi Tests, First Flight

Before first flight I had a lot of ground running time. First engine start, first taxi, high speed taxi down the runway and slam on the brakes. I actually did that one a few times to condition the brake pads. And there is magnetometer calibrations which require the engine running. Lots of run time before you even get to take off. I tried to keep the engine cool and did a lot of this during the evening hours to try and not die of summer heat.

Somewhere in the midst of all this taxi testing I had my DAR inspection. Went really well. He had a few pointers and suggestions but nothing show stopping. We signed all the paperwork and I got my airworthiness certificate! All in just a few hours.

First flight. 

I am hangared at a Class C airspace. And no they didn't care that this was a maiden flight for an experimental aircraft. I requested to stay above the airport, denied, " well can I stay next to the airport?", denied,.....ok, I guess I'll head to the next closest airport. "cleared as requested have a good flight".    Ugh.   So I line up for take off and throttle forward, man this plane moves, accelerating down the runway and off the ground in just a few seconds.....I am now flying in an airplane I built! OK, focus Justin, whats your airspeed, 140KTS!!! jeez ....OK pitch up a little....climb? 2000FPM!!! damn this thing is fast....3500ft altitude already...OK....keep the throttle open we need to break the engine in....150-160-175KTS!!!! wow....(there is so much going on this time I can't even describe the complexity) I then discover my trim isn't working...crap....OK fly the airplane. With lots of stick force I flew the airplane wide open throttle for almost an hour. I tried different power settings and simulated landings and then finally decided it was time to head home. 

174kts! that's fast. (for you non airplane types that's 200mph! in something I built...in my garage...at home)

I got clearance to land on 36R and followed the landing procedure I had written down and it resulted in a great landing. I call tower "Successful first flight for experimental 521 Tango Whiskey!" Tower answers back "Except you landed on the wrong runway....taxi back to hangars via Juliet" .....dang it, I was so focused on my landing speeds and procedures I turned into 36L instead of 36R. But you know what...that's fine....I had a great first flight, a great landing, and I'm still alive. All is good.

Finished and Ready to Fly

Finshed and ready to fly!  After 3 years 2 months 2 weeks and 2 days (March 23 2012 - June 8 2015) and over 2000hrs of work.

The plane is finally complete.

Interior lights on and the wing walk light in the door shining down. It all looks really nice lit up.

System Testing and First Fuel

LOTS and LOTS of system testing and tweaks after all the parts came together. I also wired the wings and wing tips as well as the tail light. Chasing small gremlins and finding a few things that should have been wired differently but nothing major and nothing was destroyed : ).

First fuel! ....I was really nervous about leaking fuel tanks but not a single drop leaked out. I then worked on calibrating the fuel tanks. For those that have floats, take note, the float can get stuck to the bottom of the tank after sitting for a while and it won't move when you put in fuel. But it will shake loose after taxing around with fuel in the tank. But you then have to re-calibrate that tank. So go fly around until you run that tank dry, can be a startling event, but it's a good test to be sure you are using all of your fuel. Then re-calibrate while refueling. 

Custom vinyl decals around the fuel caps.

Tail, Prop, Wings, and N Number

Working at the hangar is not fun. Delay this move as much as possible.....I miss the shop.

Jess and I took a day off work and got to work on the plane together. We made good progress but the only picture I got was after we installed the stabilizers.

I was nervous about pulling the prop plug on the engine. But it turned out to be really ease. I just used a punch and hammered the center of the plug enough to bend it. Then used a strong magnet and it pulled out. Easy.

There was A LOT of work that happened from the above pics to the ones below. I had a day where I scrapped together as many guys I could find to help install the wings and any other help they were willing to provide. Brian U. flew over from Atlanta to give my a hand and I had a few other helpers. It was a really productive and exhausting day. Wings, flaps, rudder, some sound proofing, and several other things were finished up on this day.

Kris came by and we got the N numbers on the tail. They are vinyl "stickers". Really easy to put these on and its hard to tell its not paint.

Move to Hangar

The BIG DAY is here. Moving to the hangar! The fuselage will join the other parts at their new home.

Waiting for the tow truck.

Loaded and ready.......so nervous. I was so tense during the drive to the airport my neck muscles hurt. A good driver though he had to swerve a few times to narrowly miss low hanging tree branches. Whew.

Home....safe and sound.

Arm Rest

Working on the armrest wiring. I have all of my headset connections, a USB charge port, and music inputs in my arm rest. This results in a lot of wires in a small place. But it is a very convenient spot to locate these. All of the wires run to a disconnect so I can remove my console when needed.

Check out Stein videos for how to wire up the headset jacks. Really easy. Also if you are installing a carbon fiber (electrically conductive) console then you need the insulating washer you see in the background. 

The back of the headset jacks installed in the console.

Wired and ready to go.  (Cat not included)

Firewall Forward Pics

While the paint was drying I figured I'd get some good pics of the firewall forward stuff. I think at this point everything was installed.