Snuck in .8 this morning, ran test card 12a, which puts 80 lbs of weight in the right seat and then checks stalls, climbs, descents, stability, turns, etc.. It was a perfect morning, glass smooth, relatively cool, so it was almost cheating. The 1260 fpm 90 knot climb rate was better than the rate with no weight, which probably means I'm just getting better at flying the plane. The 80 knot idle power descent rate was around 800 fpm, right at what earlier tests showed with no extra weight.

Still fighting a fouled plug on #2 cylinder, will try trading out plugs one more time. I will change the oil tomorrow, 24 hours is enough for the breakin oil.

Oil consumption was running about 1 quart in about 6 hours. It seems like it jumped up a little recently.

I took the upper cowl off earlier this week and we found a small oil leak from the sender manifold. There are two oil pressure guages and 7 different connections that could leak. Tightened them up and we'll see how they did when I take the cowl off again tomorrow.

Let's see, what have I missed posting in the last 3 weeks. Landing and refueling in Lampassas. Touch n goes at Burnett. Full stop landing at Burnett and visiting the FBO just cause I can. Lunch and a plane visit with the gang from work. Lunch at the airport diner in Fredricksburg. Miserably hot and bumpy conditions on the way home at 5500 ft.

Cav with the Hangar Hotel in the background.

I have stall speeds. Vs, stall speed with no flaps is 51 knots. Vso, stall speed with full flaps is 42 knots. Not much warning between buffet and stall. Buffeting seemed to happen sooner with more weight. Vx is about 75, Vy is around 80, at least with the data I have now, which was taken with only the nose gear leg fairing. Wide open throttle speed is 132 knots, or a true airspeed of 144 knots. Climb rates of about 1300 fpm with a light load. The airframe passes the stability tests.
This data is sufficient to sign the airframe logbook at the end of the 40 hour period, but I still need to take data with wheel fairings in place.

Speaking of which, I've been inching closer on the fairings, and I may try to drill the main gear intersection fairings this weekend or next week. Once that's done, I can glass the lower intersection fairings to the wheel fairings, and then finally fly with my pants on! Wheel pants, that is.

I've also been working on finishing the glare shield cover and edge trim. Cut a sheet of .016 to fit under the canopy, and bought new glare shield material from Cleaveland. The first attempt at glueing didn't work too well, but I hope to fix this up this week as well.