Month: April 2022

Elevator center weight

There was a notice released about a month ago from Europe’s version of the FAA… Saying to remove your center elevator weight to help with CG…. And in the forums people were mentioning or wanting to know exactly how much that weighed…. 3lbs 10oz. Approx.

Elevator almost done, and Emergency Landing

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… I got as far as I could on the elevator. My elevator trim tab is missing, on backorder. And one of my elevators side skins is missing. But I was able to make most of the elevator. I did prime the inside mating surfaces. But I am just priming the surfaces that attach to the skin. Even if the priming isn’t necessary because the aluminum is 6061…. I think priming would help to smooth over any tiny burrs… I can’t feel any burrs with my hands. I’m impressed with the quality of the product that sling sends out it is all cut very smoothly. If I do find any burrs or make any myself of course I debur it. But I feel a layer of paint can’t hurt. Sadly I did put eight rivets in too soon. So I had to drill them out. It wasn’t a mistake in the instructions. It was just me reading incorrectly. So I have tried to slow down and do better going forward. I also did the safety wire through the end of the piano hinge for the elevator trim like others have suggested.

Yesterday, I was not able to work on the plane because I had to fly a plane. I did an hour flight South and then I was supposed to come back. I was flying my friends Cirrus SR20. It recently had a new engine put in it. And on the way there the oil pressure raised into the danger zone… The higher the oil pressure went, the higher my heart rate went. The oil pressure steadily increased about 1 psi every 5 minutes so I set myself a mental limit. And said if it exceeded the limit. I was going to land. It exceeded it so I put it down at the nearest airport which of course was not a convenient location. Then we got a rental car and drove 3 hours back home. To make matters more stressful, I had my 7-year-old, in one of the pictures below, flying with me.

But I’m back home now safely I will figure out what was wrong with the plane and I continue to work on the Sling.

Horizontal Stab, done

20hrs. It was fun and rewarding to get the first part of my plane out of the way but also very tiring. I did go ahead and prime the meeting surfaces. I cleaned them with green cleaner and acetone them and self etching primer them. I didn’t plan on doing that but I decided since the airplane factory allodined the rest that was the least I could do. I did have to put in an email to Jean in California. He called me back just 15 minutes later,,,great customer service,,,and he was able to answer a question I had about drilling out some of the pre-dimpled holes. The called for rivet wouldn’t fit in the pre-dimpled hole but apparently it has to be reamed out. After all that was straightened out, and a bunch more cleco’s put in, I checked with a laser level,, everything looked great!! Close it up with rivets on both sides and it looked great. Calling it a night.

Arrived !! Unpacking

I watched my ship arrive at the port of Norfolk. It was scheduled for 4/19 but arrived on 4/12. A welcome surprise. Two days later I received a phone call asking when they could deliver my container. I said as soon as you can. They scheduled it for 4 days later at 10am. I was skeptical that they would not be late… but they made it here .

Myself, three very kind friends, and a forklift helped unload. Thanks be to Scott Johnson at TOA for telling me I would need #2 and #3 square bits to back out the 15 lbs of screws that they used to attach it. The surprise gift was the tremendous amount of beautiful lumber that was used to secure the shipment. I believe its mahagony. But whatever it is, it’s beautiful wood. By the time we backed out all the screws and unloaded we were all very tired. Unloading took just under 2 hours. Which I am told is the max time allowed without incurring additional charges.

It’s building time !!

Planned delivery

My ship was supposed to dock 4/6. But then it got pushed to 4/19. But managed to dock on 4/12 Today 4/13 I got a call from the freight forwarder saying to expect delivery to my house on 4/18. So needless to say I am ecstatic. So happy. Can’t wait.

Now I just need to find out where my under carriage kit is, cuz it accidentally didn’t ship in the container. My firewall forward kit should be here later this month. And avionics should be in Aug.

Things are looking up.