I was talking to someone yesterday about leaving for France and how I will be getting MYRO there came up in the conversation. They assumed, as one or two others have previously, that I’ll be trailering MYRO over. Well, I have to say that the thought never even entered my head and I intend to fly MYRO the whole way down! In fact I planned the route some weeks ago, even before I found my new house in Plazac, and that’s still the way I intend to get there.

I think it’ll be the flight of a lifetime and certainly one that I’ll remember for a long, long time. The only dicky bit will be the Channel crossing – I’ve done it several times before in our Cherokee but never in a microlight and certainly nothing as slow as MYRO. I’ll be over the water for around half an hour, but that’s nothing like what Dave Sykes did during his recent flight from the UK to Australia, and so long as you are confident that your engine is in good shape, the challenge is really all in the mind. I’ll need good weather, of course, and preferably a following wind from the north, which would help the whole way down. The two tanks will also help as if the weather and wind are favourable, I should only need to stop and refuel a couple of times. But anyway, we’ll see nearer the time.

I planned the route in Skydemon but as I only used the trial version, I was unable to save the route into my GPS. It’s excellent software and I’ll buy it before I plan the route all again for real. I saved the route I planned originally as a gpx file and loaded it into Google Earth. I then ‘flew’ the whole route at about 1700ft and if the real thing is anything like the ‘simulation’ in Google Earth, it will be an amazing experience. I’ll put the route up here on my blog at some time so you can see for yourself.

But until then I must get back to work. I’ve got so much to do and as my head is in France already, it’s getting harder and harder to apply myself 😕

But I still managed to keep my 100% flying record since permit. The wind was forecast to be strong north-westerly today, something like 15 gusting 18 mph or so, but dropping during the afternoon. So I got to Stoke just after midday and the wind had dropped a bit compared to this morning, but not by much though. There was nobody else flying there except for a gyro, which isn’t affected too much by winds, and a lone flex pilot who was just finishing his lunch, having flown in from Oxford in a Quik.

AX3s don’t like strong winds of course so although I’ve now got two tanks and an endurance of over 3 hours, I still decided it was prudent to head off into the headwind towards the north west away from Stoke, over the Thames at Canvey and into glorious Essex. I’d planned a flight of about 1hour 15 mins and that’s what I got. After slogging away into the headwind for about 50 minutes up to Brentwood (take a look at your chart – you’ll see how far I’d managed to get in that time..) I then turned onto a heading to head back to the field and the vis was so good I could see the Thames, the Medway and the two power stations at each end of Stoke as clear as a bell. In fact I could almost make out the arfield as well 🙂

Got back there in double quick time with that tailwind. Didn’t see any other microlights flying – just a few Group As and a Squirrel heli that passed across my nose as it climbed and went off in the opposite direction down my left hand side. Probably the air ambulance or maybe the Police I expect. I landed back at Stoke in a 90 degree 15 mph cross wind which explains why nobody else was flying. It was something of a tricky landing too with a bit of late sink which could have been nasty if I hadn’t caught it. But it all worked out well and I was pleased with my effort in conditions that were becoming somewhat marginal.

While I was getting MYRO ready to put to bed, a young mum who was visiting with a group of friends asked if her daughter who was mad to sit in MYRO could do so for a photograph. I let her of course, and I’ve not seen a smile as broad as that for a long time. Maybe we have a budding microlight pilot there for the future. And while I was putting what is left of MYRO’s covers on after the recent high winds, Trevor from Southend flew in all sideways in his X’air. Good on you Trevor, and after you, Chris and I had enjoyed a cuppa and a chat in the clubhouse, I hope you got safely home again.

My trip down to Plazac went very well. After leaving home in the early hours and crossing the Channel by Eurotunnel, I arrived at Brive la Gaillarde in south-west France, where I’d booked a hotel room for the night, much sooner than I’d expected. There was lying snow the whole way down through France and a few times I’d experienced temperatures as low as -16 deg C in the more northern parts around Rouen and Orleans. It was quite a bit warmer than that in the south, but still hovering around freezing with snow on the sides of the roads and the fields, but the carriageways themselves had been cleared the whole way down and it was possible to drive at the maximum permitted speed limits (130 km/hr on the motorways) when traffic allowed, which was most of the time.

Rather than leave the main road, I decided to carry on and visit the house alone so I could see it and form my own impressions without anyone else being present. I had a good idea of the route having been driven around the area previously by Bob and I kept seeing places and sights that I recognised. My satnav eventually took me off the ‘main’ road to take to the hills in the latter stages and I was a bit concerned as there was still a lot of snow on the rural side roads. However, I needn’t have worried as my car handled everything well and suddenly I recognised where I was and found myself passing the end of the track that leads up to Bob and Jude’s house. I didn’t have time to stop, though, and continued on to ‘my’ house in the hills overlooking Plazac.

As soon as I saw the place again, a smile came over my face. It looked different with a covering of snow but underneath it was just as I remembered it. I couldn’t go inside, of course, so just walked around for a while taking in all the details before eventually leaving to return to Brive. This time I travelled via Montignac and Terrason instead of driving on the main road and enjoyed the drive immensely. When I found the hotel (immediately – aren’t satnavs brilliant!) I checked and found that I’d driven just over 600 miles that day and after checking in, making a few phone calls and having a bite to eat in the Buffalo Grill next door, I had an early night.

Next morning I checked out after a quick breakfast and left for Rouffignac to pick up Regis, who Bob had introduced me to when I came down in January. Regis is very practical and experienced and had agreed to come and look over the house with me. We were poking around in the attic when Ludovic, the estate agent arrived and then we all had a grand tour and inspection of the house and property. The house is named Le Bousquet and if you click on the pic below you can see a short video that I shot of it.

And then the time came to make the big decision – to buy or not to buy. I knew that I’d already made it, actually. Rather than delay things as I really had to set off to return home as soon as possible, we decided to drive straight to the estate agent’s offices in Montignac to sign all the papers. It took less than an hour and afterwards we shook hands, said our good-byes and I drove Regis back to Rouffignac before beginning the long trek home.

Once again, I arrived at Calais for the Eurotunnel much sooner than I’d expected and was able to take an earlier train, which got me home by about 10.45 pm UK time. So that was it. My two day adventure had come to an end with a successful conclusion and I slipped off to bed around midnight feeling very tired after a 1200 mile round trip, but with a smile on my face. The world didn’t feel like too bad a place at that moment. I’ve now got it all to do, of course, but that will be for tomorrow. Today was to savour and enjoy.

Re-booked Eurotunnel, picked up some currency and rearranged car insurance and break down cover yesterday, but still had lots to do today 😐 Picked up warning triangles and hi-vis vest from Ken, filled up car and a jerry can with fuel (hope Eurotunnel accept metal jerry cans…) and checked oil, water and tyres. Then emptied out all microlight stuff from the back of the car, removed the roof bars and stuck a GB plate on. And then remembered that I needed to charge up the batteries of all of the stuff I’m taking with me – phone, camcorder, camera, lap top. And in between all of this stuff, I got in an hour’s flying in glorious smooth, cold air. Oh, and fed and took the dog for his early evening walk.

It’s now 8.30pm and I’m off to throw a few things into a small case, set the alarm for 2.00am and get some sleep before dashing off to Folkstone at around 2.45am tomorrow. I’ll let you know how things go when I get back 😉

After a tense few hours, not having heard from the agent I phoned their office this morning to check how things were and make sure they knew that I really didn’t want to lose this house a second time! They said that nothing had been heard back just yet from the seller but that they would follow up the messages that they left yesterday. A short time later my phone rang ………. and I received the brilliant news that my offer had been officially accepted and the house is mine! I can hardly believe it 😀

I’m now thinking of dashing off to France this week-end using my previously booked Eurotunnel tickets. The agent said that there need be no huge hurry because it will take several days for the Compromis de Vente to be drawn up and signed by me and the vendor before the 7 day period of grace starts, but as the weather is ‘iffy’ in the Dordogne and there’s a chance of more snow there next week (although not in the forecast I’ve seen), I think I’d like to get back there as soon as possible to get everything absolutely clear and straight in my own mind. After all, don’t forget that I’ve only seen the outside of the house twice and the inside only once 😕

In the meantime, here are a couple of pics showing the house’s location. I mentioned that it’s not far from the medieval village of Plazac in an earlier post and the next shot taken from Flashearth (better quality than Google Earth) shows exactly where it is in relation.

The point of the ‘Plazac’ arrow is more or less right on La Marjolaine so you can see that I can be there for a drink with Bob and friends in just a few minutes 😉

The next shot is a close-up of the location.

The house to the south is not too close and is permanently occupied by neighbours. The one(s) to the west that are closer are apparently second home(s) and therefore only occupied a few times during the year at most, and as they are behind a strip of trees anyway, they do not impact on the house’s privacy. I’m not sure about the larger place to the north with the swimming pool, but it isn’t close enough to be of any concern really.

So that’s it! All bar completing my sale and exchanging the money to complete the purchase, that is. I can hardly believe that I’m very soon to begin the rest of my life in a way that I could only have dreamed about just a few months ago 🙂

Life really is a roller-coaster isn’t it? A week or so ago I mentioned that I’d lost the house I really wanted to buy in Plazac in the Dordogne, after someone put in a higher offer on the same day as I did mine. Since then I’ve become more and more depressed and my dream of moving to the Dordogne more tarnished as I’ve frantically searched for an alternative, but without any luck.

Well, earlier today I received a great surprise and some fantastic news. The local estate agent phoned to tell me that the other buyer had now dropped out. As I may have mentioned before, when you sign a Compromis de Vente in France to buy a house, you have a cooling off period of 7 days in which you can back out for any reason, and it appears that that’s what they have done. But anyway, I don’t care what the reason is, all I know and care about is that Charles, the estate agent, is now putting my offer forward again to the vendor and with a clear road, it looks as though my dream of living in a converted ancient barn in Plazac will now come true! I’m keeping my fingers crossed while I wait for him to come back and confirm that my Offre d’Achat (offer to purchase) has been officially accepted so I can relax again.

And not only relax, but also begin making some proper plans to move forward. Since losing the house in France, as the sale of my own home is still moving forward, I’ve been able to see nothing but problems. What happens when mine is sold and I have to move out? Where will I live, where will I store the stuff I want to keep and eventually take with me? Will I have to rent locally in France and search for a place to buy? If I do, what will happen about my dog Toddie? The list goes on and on, and all because of not having continuity between moving out of my home here and being able to move straight into another place over there. So you can see why I’m so keen to sort this one out, and not just because I happen to love the place in Plazac because it’s so perfect for me in almost every way!

I didn’t want to show any pictures of the place before but I’ve now decided that I’ll post some so readers can see why I’m so over the moon with it. First a few showing the outside.

From the front:

Now the south side:

Now two showing the back:

Now inside:

Looking back towards where the previous shot was taken from:

The fabulous stone fireplace in the living room:

I know it won’t be everyone’s cuppa tea but I’m crazy about it. I can just see a glowing wood burner in that fireplace keeping the place toasty warm (ahem… it’s -16 deg C there at the moment…) and I’ve got so many other ideas for the place too which I’ll share at some other time. In the meantime I’m just waiting for that telephone call … 😐

We did indeed get the snow that was forecast. It started during yesterday evening and continued during the night and although it had stopped by this morning, I’m looking out at a good six inches of snow as I type this. So by flying yesterday, I did choose the better of the two days as there would have been no flying today and even Heathrow has cancelled 30% of its planned flights. From the forecasts, although we probably won’t get any more, what we’ve already got is likely to be with us for the next two or three days at least before there is a thaw. My big regret is that I haven’t had a chance to repair MYRO’s wing covers since the high winds of a few weeks ago and the snow is therefore lying directly on them. Luckily the Mylar skins are pretty resilient.

I’ve just checked out the weather in the Dordogne and it looks as though we are faring pretty well in comparison. They can expect some snow today and during next week, the night-time temperature in Rouffignac is expected to dip as low as -13 deg C on Wednesday. And at no time during the whole of the coming week will the temperature get anywhere near freezing even, staying down at – 6 deg or -7 deg C until rising to a balmy +1 or +2 deg C next Friday or Saturday. So it’ll need a hardy soul to decide to get into the air down there too 😉

Even at -2 deg C it was great getting back up in the air again. Today started with a forecast of heavy snowfalls affecting the whole of the country, but not until after dark here in the south-east. There was a lot of murk and low cloud earlier on but the cloud base was forecast to lift after mid-day, so I decided that I had to get up in MYRO if I could. In fact, as I drove to the airfield there was indeed a break in the cloud and the sun burst through, but it never looked convincing and I didn’t expect it to stay out, and didn’t mind so long as the vis and cloud base remained reasonable.

And that indeed is what happened. My plan was take on more fuel in MYRO than I ever had before and fly around the south of Maidstone, possibly even as far as Linton, before returning to Stoke via the Isle of Sheppey. I loaded between 45 and 48 litres which was not far short of both tanks full, and I was particularly pleased with how quickly the fuel transferred between them. All the messing around with copper tube inserts to keep critical parts of the transfer tubing open has proven to be well worth it and the arrangement is now working well. My only regret with hindsight is that I didn’t acquire a second tank with a rear outlet, like the original one, rather than the bottom outlet that the second tank actually has, as that was the source of many of the problems I experienced that needed me to find work-arounds. But never mind, the system now works like a charm.

I took off from runway 24 and climbed out nicely, right up until I got to about 800 feet or so, and then the engine began to become a bit ‘lumpy’. I’ve never experienced anything like this before with this engine and I decided to return to Stoke, suspecting possible carb icing. I landed back on 24 without incident but still with a bit of roughness which seemed to disappear but returned when I went for another take off, which I aborted.

I decided I’d better shut down and check to see if I could spot the problem, so I taxied back to the parking area. When I went to shut the engine down, I then found that I’d managed to leave a bit of choke on after I’d taken off the first time. But there was nothing for it, I still shut down and got out to give the engine, carbs and exhaust another once over. All was fine, but having stopped the engine, I had to sign in and then sign out again for a second flight.

By this time, it was a bit too late to think about a flight around Maidstone, so I decided to just go around Rochester instead. The engine checked out fine both before and after take off and in fact performed faultlessly, just as it should have, for the whole flight. Most of the flight was in quite good vis with a fair cloud base but there were a couple of places where the conditions were quite murky but still quite legal. And anyway, this is an area I know like the back of my hand and it was never necessary to consult the chart which I, of course, had with me. I was also quite surprised at how many thermic bumps and areas of lift I encountered as I did my circuit of Rochester.

I was told by the Cherokee owner that Rochester airport was closed last week end and it looked to be so again today, but I still took care to remain clear of their zone. I turned left at the M20 junction to head up towards Sittingbourne and then continued on over the old and new Isle of Sheppey bridges, which are alongside each other, up to Sheerness. I then turned left to the south of Sheerness to head back over the Medway estuary for a downwind join for 24 at Stoke. I decided I’d better cut the corner as there was now nobody else flying and I didn’t want Claire hanging around in the cafe, where I’d left my flight bag, waiting for me before she could close up and go home.

By the time I’d landed, my finger tips were becoming nippy through my gloves, but overall I was still surprisingly warm given the general temperature, which was still below freezing with a bit of a wind chill. Before putting MYRO back to bed, I thought a hot mug of tea was in order though, and it went down very well with an eccles cake 😉

So today turned out pretty well. Another small lesson learnt with the choke – I must take more trouble with my checks after the events of the last two weeks and not allow myself to become blase or over familiar. Experience shows that that can lead to nasty things happening, so I must take a bit more care in the future. But if we do get the snow tonight that we’ve been promised, I’ll know for a change that I chose the better of the two days to go flying 🙂

The bad news is that yesterday I lost the house I wanted to buy in Plazac. The agent was as astonished as I was because the property had been empty for nearly two years and after showing it to over 30 people, in that time there had only been one offer for it that had fallen through. Then after all that time, after I’d made an offer which had been informally accepted by the vendor, another buyer came out of the blue and made a higher offer at the very last minute. I was due to view the property again on Monday and had even booked my Eurotunnel tickets to drive over. Gazumping is unheard of in France so how ironic and typical to find that the other buyer is also English. There is also a possibility that they don’t even want to live in it because they already have a property in Spain and another already in France, apparently. If so, that makes me even more disappointed, if it’s true 🙁

So I now have to begin searching for another. I can’t afford to stop my sale in the UK for fear of losing my buyer, so I could well end up with my own property sold and the furniture and belongings that I want to keep, in storage. However, if I could then dispose of my business so I have no ties whatsoever, I could then spend my whole time in France looking for another property, and given that I was only there for a few days and found this one, there must surely be a chance of finding another. But it’ll be a very hard act to follow because this one had so much going for it, being close to my friends and the airfield I’ll be using and in such a perfect area for me too 😐

So what’s the good news? Well, after receiving MYRO’s permit a couple of days ago, I was back flying again. It was a bit touch and go, though, because although the wind was not too bad, the weather was very murky with lots of low cloud around. I busied myself taking MYRO’s covers off (the wing covers are still in my garage waiting to be repaired after the high winds), putting fuel in the tanks and mounting the new placards that need to be displayed while a clump of low cloud went through and when it was clear that the cloud base had risen quite a bit, I got off at 2.00pm. As I’ve now got the twin tanks working nicely, I loaded 28 litres of fuel, more than enough for my planned flight and sufficient for me to check that the tanks are actually performing correctly (which they are). First I did a circuit to get the feel of things again. That went really well and I made a really decent job of the cross wind landing onto 06. So after a touch and go, I decided to leave the circuit and head north over the Thames into Essex via Canvey Island. It was pretty obvious that there was still a lot more clag to come from that direction so I curtailed my flight north and headed west alongside the north bank of the river. Then I crossed back into Kent and headed down to Ken’s place where I knew he was working outside. He saw me but I didn’t see him but I was able to do a PFL into the sheep field by way of practice.

Then I headed back to Stoke where the low cloud I’d spotted earlier in Essex was just coming in and landed on 06 in a light shower. The cross wind landing was a greaser and without wanting to boast, a chap who had seen it (a PA28 Cherokee 235 owner) came over and complimented me, which was a nice end to the afternoon after my disappointments of the past 24 hours 🙂

OK, I’ve just popped back to add one little thing that I’ve just remembered, which was a lesson for me and may be a warning to others. Because MYRO has flown very little lately, I decided to do power and mag checks before lining up for take off. Usually I just check the mags once after start up and then make sure I’ve got full power when I give full throttle for the take off. Well, today because the brakes and the grass were a bit wet I guess, although I had the heel brake bar pressed pretty hard, when I opened the throttle and began my mag checks, MYRO began to creep forward. More than creep actually, so I had to close the throttle, get the nose wheel under control and get the brakes back on again a bit sharpish. When I came to take off and during the flight when I applied climb power, I noticed that my revs were a hundred or so on the low side and thought that maybe I had a problem with my throttle cables stretching a bit or something.

The flight went fine though and MYRO performed very well – it seems to fly much better since the repair and the rudder especially is much better and in balance with the ailerons. Even Martin commented on it during the test flights. I also found that with the new Ivo Prop, I’m getting a higher air speed than before at 5500RPM – 55-60mph whereas previously I had trouble getting 55mph. It may just be down to the cold weather, but I don’t recall noticing it last winter. But I mustn’t digress – what did I find when I came to switch off after landing? I’d flown the whole flight, including the take off on just one mag! I obviously hadn’t switched the mags back on properly in all the kerfuffle to do with the power checks right at the beginning, so there’s a lesson for me and possibly others too. If your revs look lower than you expect them to be, they probably are, so investigate. Don’t just accept the situation. I also found that after an hour and a quarter’s flying, I’d used 20 litres of fuel which I thought was a bit on the high side but probably a reasonable price to pay if I am getting 5mph more air speed for the same revs as before. But in fact it looks as though the consumption is over-stated because of my mag cock-up. I’ll bet when I fly properly on both mags, I’ll find it’s a lot less. Or I’m a monkey’s uncle 😉

While in France in the first part of this month I naturally had a look around the local area where I would be living and also viewed a few potential home purchases. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I actually did find a house that I do want to purchase and my plan is to return to the Dordogne by road this time, as early as next week if possible, to view it again and discuss purchase terms with the estate agent. The reason for my apparent haste is that on Monday last I received an offer for my house in the UK, which I accepted and which would make it possible for my plan to come to fruition in as little as 6 weeks or so! I could never have anticipated that things might move so quickly 😯

Because of this and because of a childishly superstitious idea that to show pics and talk about the house might somehow put all of this in jeopardy, I won’t be showing any until I get back after my next visit when hopefully everything will be more firmly in place. Until then I’ll just show some pics of the village, called Plazac, that the house is close to, and some shots of two other properties that I saw besides the Perigord cottage that I showed in the video in the previous post.

There are a few British and other nationalities in Plazac but it’s still predominantly French, which is how I like it. The village has a large medieval church and castle at the top of a cobbled hill at its centre. The church was built in the 12th century and used to be the seat of the bishops of Perigueux. The first pic is taken from just outside the church looking down the slope towards the village.

The next shot was taken from further down the slope and shows what used to be the main street of the village from right to left. The village buildings are all either old or very old 🙂 and the old main street presents a charming walk if you like such things, which I do of course 😉

The next pic is of La Marjolaine (The Marjoram) the village watering hole which is on the main road that now passes through the village. When I was introduced as a friend of Bob’s I was greeted with the customary kiss on both cheeks and made to feel very welcome. I speak pretty good French, which hopefully will get even better, and that always helps as far as the French are concerned, who are very effusive in their praise for your language skills!

So that’s a very brief tour of what if all goes to plan will become my new home. Now some shots of two properties that I viewed but turned down. The first two are of a converted stone barn in a similar style to the home I want to buy but which was rather tatty, had not been converted to a very high quality and was, in my opinion, totally over-priced! I’ll just leave it at that 😕

And finally, two pics of what was a very ancient and quirky property, lots of property for the money actually, but which would never have been suitable for me. The estate agent said that it is probably medieval in origin. The reason is that in those times, before roof tiles began to be commonly used, the peasants made their roofs from carefully piled stones, and this property still has some around the base of the roof of what was the original part of the building. I was quite prepared to believe him!

So that’s it for now and I’ll have more Dordogne news when I get back from my planned visit, hopefully next week. In the meantime I received another bit of good news today – MYRO’s permit was issued this afternoon so I could well be flying it at the weekend. But not for too long though as now I have far too many other things to do connected with my move to France, plus I’ll also need to start thinking about saving my Euros for when I get there 😉

I took my little Canon camcorder to France with me and shot a few clips with it while I was out and about. I wish I’d taken more actually. I’ve now made them into a short video that you can see by clicking on the pic below.

I didn’t dwell on the events at Fanlac during WWII but you can easily find out about those yourself. Click on the following link and get Google to translate it. It makes incredible reading and really brings to life the intensity of the struggle in a way that I’ve never appreciated before.

http://www.ww2-derniersecret.com/Aquitaine/24-2.html

Later on in the video I show a fairly brief shot of the cave fort named Maison Forte de Reignac. Click on the following link to see the super web site about it.

http://www.maison-forte-reignac.com

An English version of the web site is available but the video it contains is still narrated in French unfortunately.

Finally, the Perigord cottage that I show at the end was actually for sale and I shot the video during a viewing! We think that it had been lived in by elderly people who’d died and then been used as a second/holiday home by their children who were now selling it. If you purchased it you’d get to keep all of the contents so you’d have a really pretty, old, original Perigord cottage. But I decided that although it might be fine as a second home, it wasn’t suitable for me to live in permanently. A bit too rustic even for me 🙂

I met a couple of other microlight flyers. One had a single-seat AX3 that was very reminiscent of MYRO and shared a lot of common parts. Its owner had decided to extend the wings by about a meter on each side which he did by removing the tip tubes, shoving in some extensions with wooden ribs and covering them with Oratex (you are allowed to do anything you want in France – there are no permits, no inspections etc etc). He then found that he had problems getting down because the extensions provided so much extra lift and ended up having to cut the engine on approach. The reason for the extensions is because he wants to remove the 447 and fit another lower power engine so he ends up with a sort of ULM motor glider concept for semi-soaring, low speed flight. Imagine if he tried doing his experiments here in the UK!

But that’s not all – he says he’s going to do away with the Ultralam wing covers and battens, make up a set of light weight ribs and cover the wings in Oratex. I told him I’d watch his experiments with interest 😯 He said if the weather had been better while I was there, I could have flown it. I think I was fortunate that the weather gods were on my side that day and there was drizzle and low cloud 😀

The other pilot owned an aircraft called a Mustang that you can’t get in the UK. He’d had a slight accident in it a while back and damaged the main tube. A simple repair was effected by finding another similar damaged aircraft, cutting it’s main tube and joining the two undamaged sections with a sleeve held in place by pop rivets. Here are some pics – you can see the pop riveted sleeve that connects the two different main tube parts just behind the front seat in the second one. You can tell they come from different aircraft because the back bit has a pinstripe that stops at the sleeve 😎

They had some high winds down there about the same time as we did a few weeks ago and they took half of the hangar away that the aircraft was in as you can see. We called the owner and helped him cover the aircraft up when he arrived. Beforehand he decided to run the engine – a pretty good low hours 582 actually. After emptying out the carb bowls which were full of water the engine started and ran immediately! So there you go. All ready to taxi out and take off 😕

And in all sorts of directions, which I’ll come back to later. After some to-ing and fro-ing, it seemed that there was a chance that MYRO’s test flight could happen today. The day dawned bright and freezing cold with hardly a breath of wind and having given MYRO a general check over yesterday following the very high winds that we had a week or so ago that blew over and destroyed John’s AX3 that had been tied down next to MYRO, I decided to get down to the airfield bright and early to re-attach the pitot tube that had been broken off (just two small cable ties) and make sure MYRO was all ready to go just in case.

In fact Martyn, the test pilot, arrived by air at about the same time as I did and it was agreed that today would indeed be the day. The first thing we found was that as had happened down at Linton, rainwater had been blown into the right elevator which this time had frozen, so time had to be allowed for that to thaw out and drain away before MYRO could be flown. I also found that a safety ring had disappeared from one of MYRO’s aileron attachment bolts (the second one) which was a bit of a mystery, but luckily I had a spare. An inspection revealed that the only damage that MYRO had suffered was a small nick in the rudder fabric where the wind had forced it against the elevator trim operating lever, so I could really count myself lucky given that John’s AX3, which had been only yards away from MYRO and facing the same way, had been blown over and Ken and Peter’s X’air had suffered slight damage to its elevator bracket from having been blown backwards until it had made contact with a wooden fence. Unfortunately I couldn’t say the same about my home-made wing covers which had been given a fair old pasting by the wind and quite a few of the eyelets had been ripped out. I rolled them up after getting as much of the hoar frost, which was a good centimeter thick in places, as I could off them so I could bring them home to repair in the coming week.

Eventually I took off in MYRO with Martyn as pilot and me as observer and it was great to be back in the air in it again. The air was cold and very calm and we both noticed how well MYRO flew. In fact MYRO behaved impeccably and actually there were two test flights, one with and then one without doors on. What a day to be flying without doors! Brass monkeys had nothing on this, especially when we had the doors off. There is a speed for all aircraft called Vne, which is the speed that should never be exceeded because of the chance of damaging the aircraft in flight. In the case of the AX3, this is 90mph. I had never taken MYRO up to that speed before but I felt quite relaxed with the doors on because it was pretty obvious that MYRO was flying very well without any vibration or control flutter of any kind. When we came to check out Vne with the doors off, Martyn said that I had the option of selecting a lower speed but I said that we should give it a go and decide what speed to go up to depending on how MYRO felt. Well, to cut the story short, we ended up at 90mph again with the doors off and MYRO felt just as stable as before. The only trouble was that the blast of air blowing round the sides of the screen was icy cold and whereas I could raise my arm to protect myself, poor Martyn couldn’t. As we dived earthwards to allow the speed to build up, he said that the side of his face was beginning to freeze and he couldn’t speak properly. Quite honestly, I’m not at all surprised. The price those poor test pilots have to pay to ply their craft 🙂

So that was it. MYRO passed with flying colours and I hope to be able to pick up the paperwork from the airfield tomorrow. I’ll then be able to get it off to the BMAA and hopefully MYRO should then be permitted in time to fly next week end.

So what other progress have I made? Well, the most major is that I have taken the decision to sell up and move to France. I’ll go into the reasons for this in another post in the future but suffice to say that I now want to stop working and retire in order to enjoy the rest of my life, and whereas I can’t afford to do so in the UK, I will be able to in France. I have friends in the Dordogne who I visited for a week, returning home last Wednesday. I originally only intended to scout around the area and check the availability of suitable property but in fact ended up finding a house, a converted stone barn, that I want to buy. So now all I need to do is sell my house to make the move. This also coincides with the conclusion of a divorce which has ground on for the best part of two years so at last I can now look forward to a new start and a new life. And to be honest I can now hardly wait 😉

Well, here we are again, the old year finished and a new year just begun. Here’s hoping that despite the gloom being peddled by the doom-mongers about there being even tougher times ahead than last year and the possibility of a new European, or even global, recession, things turn out better than we all could possibly hope for as things are now. After all, it’s in our power to make things happen if we really want to and we’re not just victims of ‘the way things are’. As has been proven so many times in the past, Man has the power to shape the world in which he lives, not merely be a victim of it. All it needs is for the right leadership to come to the fore and be prepared to pick things up by the scruff of the neck and shape them. The question is, do we have the such people around at the moment?

I can’t talk for the rest of the world, but a good few thousand souls were able to put smiles on their faces in London to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new one in, and my friend Mary and I were lucky enough to be part of the celebrations in the heart of it all on London’s Embankment. You had to get there hours early to get a place anywhere near the front, and we did. We had to brave a few showers while we were waiting, not to mention a continuous blast of over-loud, distorted pop music played by ‘Nihal (pronounced nee-hal apparently), Radio One DJ’ who proved that he knew his own name and could tell the time very accurately by continually reminding us of the time left up to midnight. But we all kept laughing and when the time came for the BIG EVENT, the showers had stopped and we were able to enjoy one of the warmest December nights that I can ever remember.

The scene was added to by a flotilla of cruise boats that had come up the Thames to the London Eye loaded with passengers to watch the fireworks and they and we were not disappointed by a world-class spectacular that went on for eleven minutes. If you click on the following pic you will get a good impression of what it was like, although the quality is not brilliant because of the low light level.

We’d left our car in south London at Clapham and paid to come in from there by Tube. The train in was amazing – nothing like the usual dismal atmosphere you get in the morning Rush Hour. The carriage we were in was full of young people all brightly dressed and going off to have fun, laughing and chatting. It was like the party was already underway and we loved it. Even getting away after the new year celebrations wasn’t anything like as bad as I’d feared it might be. The police fed everyone into one route which I think was a mistake because some people began to panic when they couldn’t find a way off the Embankment and soon there were floods of people going in both directions and creating a dangerous crush.

But never mind, it all worked OK in the end. After 11.45pm on New Years Eve, travel on the Tube, buses and some rail lines was free and when we eventually got onto our platform we were amazed to find that our train was relatively uncrowded. By the time I’d taken Mary home, who had to get up relatively early this morning, I got home myself and tumbled into bed at 4.00am which is the latest I’ve been for a while. Maybe I’m starting 2012 the way I intend to go on 😉

And if you had a good New Year, I hope that you are too. So here’s wishing a Happy New Year and a safe and prosperous 2012 to everyone.

It’s just gone midnight as I type this so I have to refer to ‘yesterday’ rather than ‘today’.

I managed to slip down to the airfield on Boxing Day (the 26th) to get MYRO ready just in case it would be possible to have the test flight done the next day (yesterday) but in the event it didn’t happen. But one bit of good news was that when I put fuel in for the first time since I modified the tubing connecting the second tank, the transfer between the tanks was fast enough to be totally usable. That was a big relief as at least all the current messing around will eventually be worth it, as I’ll have over 3 hours-worth of fuel on board with both tanks filled up.

I got a text message saying that the test flight wasn’t going to happen while I was on my way to the airfield but I decided to continue anyway. And I’m glad I did because I ended up having a great time. First I had a cuppa tea and a chat with Chris which I always enjoy and afterwards I got a chance to go for a flight in Chris’s SLA with his son-in-law flying it. We went off to the east over the north of the Isle of Sheppey and then south as far as Linton before turning to head back via the west of Rochester. I got the chance to get a bit of stick time in from the right hand seat so as well as this being the first time I’d been in an SLA, it was also the first time that I’d got to fly one. And I found it to be really good – light and responsive on the controls, well balanced and even with this one’s 80HP engine we were bimbling along at over 75mph. So it’s also a pretty good aircraft for touring when you want to. All in all I came to the conclusion that the SLA is a very under-rated aircraft and that there should be many more of them flying around than there actually are.

When we got back to Stoke, we landed shortly after two Vans RV8s and Dave Stephens’s Mini Mustang had flown in. This was the first time I’d met Dave and found him to be a great bloke, chatting about his Sirocket twin jet engine SSDR that has caused so much of a stir just recently. I had my camcorder with me and took some shots of them all leaving which I added to the video I’d shot earlier of my flight in the SLA. It’s now posted in the Video section or you can view it by clicking on the pic below.

And in the meantime, MYRO is still tied-down on the airfield, airworthy, flyable, insured and ready to go. But I’m still being strangled by the ridiculous system we have in the UK that treats microlights in almost the same way as Airbuses and Boeing 747s. I don’t want to say what’s causing the problem although I probably will when things have finally been resolved. It has to be test flown in a particular state and the test pilot is not going to be available until after 27th December, so despite all my best efforts, that’s finished any idea of my flying MYRO again this year.

Petty officialdom in this as in other areas in the UK delights in using ‘The System’ as a blunt instrument to frustrate and beat those who come into contact with it into submission. It’s no wonder that we’re falling down the world rankings for efficiency and productivity when our attitude to most things is – the answer is ‘No’ … now, what was the question? A chap called Dave Stephens has just test flown a Single Seat Deregulated Microlight that is powered by two small jet engines. Totally impractical as it uses 47 litres of Jet A1 fuel per hour so it can’t be flown anywhere within range of its home airfield unless the owner has a fuel bowser of the stuff waiting at the other end. But Dave did it just for fun and to prove that it was possible and in the process has achieved world-wide recognition. I notice that he posted on the BMAA forum yesterday that he’s already received a letter from the CAA and now has a lot of explaining to do, presumably because someone in that organisation thinks that ‘The Rules’ for SSDR microlights are being treated with contempt by having jet engines rather than a piddling little two or four-stroke that whoever drew them up originally assumed would be the case. What’s the bet that they’ll be amended to stamp out such flagrant disrespect in double quick time!

We’ve had some awful weather in the past week. A couple of very deep Atlantic lows have passed through bringing with them some very high winds with gusts of over 60 mph. Stoke airfield unfortunately took a bit of a pasting and I’m told a couple of hangar roofs were blown off damaging a few aircraft. Ken went down there because he received news that the X’air, despite being tied down, was blown backwards into a fence and has sustained some damage to its elevator and operating mechanism, which is a shame because Peter passed his GST just before Christmas and is now able to fly it. His maiden flight as PIC will have to be put back a few weeks by the look of it, so for different reasons, he’s in the same position as me with MYRO. When he phoned, Ken said that MYRO hadn’t moved an inch despite the winds so that’s something to be thankful for and I’m hoping to get down there later today to see for myself.

Being patient and still waiting. MYRO still not permitted but doing everything I’m being asked to to achieve the desired end result. It’s now been over a month, I ask you. The UK system has to be the most over-regulated in the world, strangled by petty rules and red tape. We don’t lead the world in very much nowadays but when it comes to bureaucracy we are still second to none. Oh well, I’ll keep a low profile for a little bit longer and just see how I get on 😐

For the second time in succession the BMAA have managed to turn MYRO’s permit procedure into a complete and utter can of worms. So after making sure I closely followed all the directions I was given to get MYRO airworthy and back in the air I’m now kicking my heels with an insured, airworthy aircraft sitting on the ground that I cannot fly. We seem incredibly good in this country at introducing unnecessary systems into simple tasks that are so complicated that even the people administering them tie themselves in knots. The inevitable result is that the unfortunate victim, in this case me, pays the cost for what then becomes a total bureaucratic nightmare. And as I say, it’s happened again for the second year running. That’s two-out-of-two, and when you point out the reality of the situation to them, the people running it get upset. I ask you 😐

I now have to make the twin-tank mod fully operational, which it wasn’t when the aircraft was inspected and check-flown as I mentioned previously, because there was no transfer whatsoever between the main and the second tank. Then I have to get MYRO re-weighed, which I was originally specifically told was not necessary, as I again mentioned previously. Then finally I have to get MYRO check flown for a second time. The latter, no matter what reason the bureaucrats come up with, is mind-bogglingly ridiculous because nothing has changed from before and the results will therefore be exactly the same. All that will happen is that yet more delay will be introduced at my cost – but it will ensure that the ‘paperwork’ is in order. This is what happens when people begin to act like sheep and stop using their own brains. And France manages with absolutely none of any of this – no complex airworthiness regulations (the pilot himself is reminded time and time again that he and he alone, the actual words used, is responsible for his own safety and the airworthiness of his aircraft), no permits, no inspections, nothing. And detailed studies have shown that their record in all areas of microlight flying is no different and certainly no worse, than ours in the UK.

So I’m just pressing on to do what I have been asked. Today I modified the twin tank connecting tube by inserting a copper bend inside the rubber tube at the second tank outlet to keep it open in much the same way as I did several weeks ago now with the main tank. That way although the flow may not be quite as fast as it would theoretically be if the connecting tube remained fully open the whole time, at least I’ll know (hopefully!) when I come to test it that there will be some flow which will make the whole system usable rather than very little or none due to the rubber tube collapsing. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough time today to get MYRO re-weighed and now that the tanks have been drained, I will probably have to make this a task for next week.

When I came to leave the field at the end of the afternoon, I found that Chris had locked me in and gone home as the weather was so poor. This was (ahem..) despite driving past my car on his way out. However, although I didn’t know the combination of the lock on the gate and none of the people I phoned knew either, I still managed to do my Houdini act and get free in one bound. I mustn’t mention how I did it though 😉

After flying MYRO into Stoke yesterday for its check flight, there wasn’t much I had to do today. Except be there and shoot a video of the event because it’s not that often that you get the chance to take pictures of your own aircraft, in the air 🙂

Everything went off really smoothly despite the fact that the wind kept picking up more and more until not only was it blowing at around 15-20 knots or so but there was also a bit of a crosswind from the left as the video shows. So many thanks to Martin who did the check flight for taking it on at all, and for completing it so professionally and safely. You can see the video by clicking on the image below.

We sorted out all the permit paperwork in the clubhouse afterwards so all I’ve got to do now is send it all off to the BMAA at Deddington with the cash! It was great just being there too because although I’ve been a Stoke member for months, I haven’t had that many chances to hang out in the clubhouse because of working on MYRO over the last four or five months. Hopefully all that will now change 😉

By the time I went across to cover and tie MYRO down, the wind was blowing really strongly so I also tightened the covers on the X’air and put a bit of tension into its and the tie-down ropes of another AX3 that is next to MYRO which had loosened in the wind. So that’s it, job done now bar waiting for a few days for the permit to come through after which I look forward to getting in a bit of safe and enjoyable flying in MYRO. And best wishes also to Rosemary and Tony H-S (Essex Flyer) who had a prang in their Rans just after I did in MYRO. They missed most of the Summer flying too but the Rans is now back in the hangar and Tony is also now just waiting for its permit to drop through his letterbox. Let’s hope we’ll both not be waiting for too long 🙂

I followed my plan through pretty much to the letter today. Bought fuel and made up a 20 litre jerry can of 50:1 2-stroke mix on my way over to Ken’s and on arrival there, uncovered MYRO and topped up the tank. The flight to Stoke is only a 20 minute one but it’s always nice to know you’ve got plenty of fuel in case you have to turn back or divert for any reason. Then we pushed MYRO into the field and I gave it a really thorough walk round inspection. My original idea was to give it another 30 minutes of ground running and power checks but after 10 minutes or so the engine was running and powering up so smoothly that I didn’t think it was necessary doing any more.

Ken then had to pop out for 15 minutes or so, so while he was away I got MYRO ready for the flight and was all ready at the top of the slope at the high end of the field with the engine running when he got back. I have to say that from there the field looked a lot shorter than it did before and although I knew that MYRO would accelerate like mad down the slope to take off speed, there’s always that little doubt in your mind that something could go wrong. I knew that if there was any doubt, I’d have to close the throttle very quickly to give myself enough time to stop on the damp grass before running out of field, but having made that decision I found that it wasn’t then the foremost thing in my mind as I put on full power and accelerated away. I didn’t even notice at what point I became airborne – Ken said afterwards that it was in 40 yards or possibly even less – I just watched the Ts and Ps and airspeed as usual and took off at the normal speed.

I’d decided beforehand that if I’d had an early EFATO I’d have no choice but to turn right onto a newly ploughed field – there was nowhere else to go – but once it was apparent that that wasn’t going to happen, I concentrated on climbing away through the gap in the trees to gain as much height as I could as quickly as possible. I also turned left to stay clear of neighbours’ houses and really that was all there was to it. It was exciting to be the first person ever to take off from the field and also to be doing my first down-slope take off, but otherwise it was fairly uneventful. But that’s just how you want it to be, isn’t it? No heart-stopping moments, no high drama. And that’s what your planning is all about achieving.

The vis on the flight across to Stoke, which did indeed only take 20 minutes, was terrible, but I know the area and all the landmarks so well that it wasn’t a problem. Pretty soon I was calling up to join overhead for runway 06 and my circuit and landing was just routine, mainly because the wind was so light.

So how did MYRO perform? I seriously do believe that MYRO flew better and more balanced than it did before the accident. Maybe it is now rigged a bit better than it was, I don’t know but what I do know is that I’ve tightened up the rudder cables a bit and it definitely seems more stable now in yaw than it was. I found before that on final, for example, even in fairly light winds, it was possible for the nose to go into a side-to-side oscillation which you had to quickly nip in the pad by quite rapid and powerful rudder inputs. I didn’t feel that happening today and in fact the final approach to 06 was rock solid all the way down. I hope I’m right because it will make flying MYRO even more enjoyable than before. I mentioned to Ken while I was covering MYRO up for the night that while I was doing the repair I was worried that MYRO would never be the same again. I think I was right. It’s even better now 😀

Well, MYRO’s insurance comes into effect from a minute past midnight tonight so in effect, I can now fly out of Ken’s any time I want to. The weather for Saturday looks as though it could be a bit ‘iffy’ with wind from the south-west together with a few gusts, but although tomorrow there could be a bit of low cloud, the wind is forecast to be north-easterly and fairly steady at 7-8mph. Now that would suit me much better as it would be blowing up the slope on the field where I have to take off and almost straight down runway 06 at Stoke where I have to land and given how long both MYRO and I have both been out of the air, the easier and safer I can make the whole exercise, the better I will like it.

So tomorrow looks to be a much better day for ferrying MYRO across to Stoke for its check flight. I have an appointment about mid-morning but I think the best thing would be for me then to take the rest of the day off and do the flight. The field at Ken’s is an unknown quantity at present and although we know it should be OK taking off there downhill even with a bit of a tailwind, I’d rather not be trying it out on MYRO’s first flight after the repair, even knowing what good shape MYRO is now in. So now all I can do is wait and see if tomorrow morning the ‘actuals’ line up with this evening’s forecast and take it from there. Fingers crossed eh 🙂

After my disappointment with Joint’s insurance quote I was delighted to receive a really good quote direct from Crispin Speers and Partners this morning which I’ll be taking up tomorrow. The weather forecast for the next couple of days is not too hot but things look as though they’ll be improving as from Friday with Saturday hopefully quite a nice day. That means I should be able to ferry MYRO across to Stoke for its check flight and I can hardly believe the day is almost here 🙂

As I type this the rain is pattering onto the conservatory roof and I’m glad that I’ve got MYRO’s covers on. I think though that when I’ve got the decks clear I’ll make another cover for the whole of the tail plane along the lines of the design of the X’air’s one and also one for the pod and screen. That way MYRO will be able to stand out this Winter and not be too affected by the weather. I think that a bit too much was left uncovered last year and I’d like to rectify that if I can.

It’s a nice feeling to know that all of the final pieces of the jig-saw that was started back in May are now beginning to fall into place 😉

There were two bits of good news today. MYRO whizzed through its permit inspection this afternoon, which was very satisfying after all the work I’ve put in, and also doesn’t have to be re-weighed after the repair as standard AX3 parts were used to replace the items that were damaged. Chris is usually a bit uncomplimentary about ‘old AX3s’ but even he had to admit that MYRO ‘is a nice bit of kit’ now, which was very pleasing.

On the other side of the coin, I had been hoping to get an attractive quotation for insurance from Joint Aviation but to no avail. Joint took over with the broker that On-Risk had been using and when I needed to take out insurance last year it was in the change-over period after On-Risk had finished and before Joint had taken over. So I insured with Crispin Speers at a cost that was quite a bit higher than On-Risk had been charging for similar cover and after Joint had taken over, the lower cost premiums returned again. But that was too late for me and I missed out. Well, it looks as though it’s happened again! I contacted Joint and was told that the original broker isn’t taking on any new business and that they have had to start using a new one. The premiums required by the latter are something like 100% MORE than previously, so whereas I was expecting to be quoted £500 or so for the cover I need, in fact the figure was around twice that! So even though I can now ferry MYRO out of Ken’s over to Stoke for its check flight, I certainly won’t be doing it this week-end as I won’t have any insurance in place. Typical 😐

And there was another bit of bad news too. After the inspection, I thought I might as well empty the fuel in the jerry can into MYRO’s tanks. After I had done so, I watched the levels in the two tanks and there was absolutely no transfer at all from the main into the second tank. It appears that by bending the rubber outlet from the second tank to reduce the bulge in the rear fuselage cover, I’ve kinked the tubing even though it is of large bore and appeared unkinkable. So it’s back to the ruddy drawing board again. I’ll still put the mod through but I think I’ll try and get hold of another standard AX3 tank that doesn’t have its outlet coming vertically out of the bottom, which is the source of all these problems. Maybe it’s why the previous owner got rid of it, I don’t know. I suppose I could try reverting to my previous arrangement with slightly smaller bore tubing with a copper elbow below the second tank, which seemed to avoid the problem. As the flow problem then was apparently due to the outlet from the main tank collapsing when the clip retaining the rubber tube to it was tightened and not strictly to the bore of the tubing itself, that could be a way to go. I’ll have to think about it for a bit.

Oh well… at least MYRO has now got through permit inspection, which is another big milestone not to be sniffed at 😕

When MYRO has its permit inspection, it’ll also have to be re-weighed. This will be necessary even though it was only weighed in August last year because several replacement parts have been used in the repair which may affect the weight. It’ll also be complicated by the fact that I have added the second tank and want to put that mod through at the same time. The BMAA Weight and CG Report is quite complicated and has to be completed and sent in by the inspector but I want to be able to do my own calculations in parallel, as I did last time, and also get a feel for what flexibility I will have with seat weights and fuel load in the two tanks in order to stay legal (max weight no more than 390kg and centre of gravity within the prescribed min and max limits). So I’ve spent this evening creating an Excel spreadsheet that does all that for me. I’ve used it to check on the figures from last time and although I’ve made it primarily for my own use, it will in fact work for any 3-axis microlight – all that is needed is for an owner to ‘plug in’ the numbers from the relevant TADS/HADS for their aircraft into the red boxes in the spreadsheet, which is protected so no formulas etc can be changed or lost by mistake, and all the figures are updated automatically.

It’s very useful for older aircraft like the AX3 which have a low maximum weight and need to trade fuel for weight if, like me, you increase the tank capacity and need to know how much fuel you can add with any given passenger. Here’s a pic of the top of the sheet with the main boxes showing the variables already entered for an AX3 with twin tanks.

All I’ll need to do is add the new weights in each wheel box and the spreadsheet will reproduce all the calculations that the BMAA need on their report, such as with min cabin weight (55kg) and no fuel, min cabin weight and max fuel, max weight in 1 seat with nil and max fuel etc etc. At the same time the spreadsheet then compares the results of the calculations with the parameters from the HADS (max permitted weight and min/max C of G limits) and indicates whether they are ‘acceptable’ or ‘unacceptable’, telling you immediately whether you’re legal or not. There’s a ‘free’ calculation section at the end of the spreadsheet which is especially useful when you are planning a real flight with a passenger to let you calculate the amount of fuel that it is legal for you to load and here is a pic of that.

And finally, here’s a shot of the bottom of the spreadsheet with the old weight figures plugged in for me flying MYRO with a 10 stone passenger that shows I could load full fuel (both tanks full) and still be legal. It also shows the figures for a couple of the other ‘standard’ calculations, both of which have ‘unacceptable’ results

In case anyone would like to have the spreadsheet to either use or just play with, you can download it by clicking on the following link.

DOWNLOAD SPREADSHEET

If you do try it out let me know how you get on.

It was another lovely soft late Autumn day today and by the look of the pink clouds while the sun was going down as I was walking back earlier with the dog, the shepherds around here must be highly delighted. Knowing that I was on the very last lap and with the weather being so gorgeous, it was an absolute pleasure working on MYRO today. I decided that as there was so little of it to do, I might as well take some of the red paint I used for the pod and touch in the two or three small chips that were now on the pod leaving time for the paint to dry while I was doing other work. After I’d done it, anyone who didn’t know where they were wouldn’t be able to find them now without a good search, so that was good.

Then all I had to do was re-do the ties between the pod and the rear fuselage cover. That was a bit more involved than it sounds because firstly there’s a gap at the back of the pod where things can drop out if they fall onto the pod floor (I lost a retractable chinagraph pencil that way when I was training with Rosie and I’m not sure you can get hold of them any more) and secondly, I had to deal with a bulge in the cover caused by the rubber tubing on the outlet of the second tank. I took a couple of pieces of polycarbonate sheet with me and the gap I dealt with as before by cutting a half-ellipse of plastic that I secured with the cable ties to cover it. I then cut an ellipse of plastic to go under the second tank’s outlet to spread the load across a wider area of the cover. I secured it by one small cable tie onto the tube and wedged a piece of foam rubber under it too. Afterwards there was still a small bulge but nothing like as big as it was previously. Another hour or so and all of the pod cable ties were in and the work on MYRO was finished. It was a terrific feeling to know that I’d at last arrived at the top of the mountain after working all the months that I have done, and the best feeling of all was knowing that as well as achieving the main objective of getting MYRO back into the air, I’ve also made it better than it was before. That was important to me because at least I know that some good has come out of the disaster that occurred back in May.

Before I can fly MYRO out I have to get it inspected of course, but I also need to get an hour or so’s ground running and power checks in so I can have confidence that I won’t lose the engine on take off. So I wheeled MYRO out into the sheep field again and here are some of the pics I shot before I started and after I’d taken a short break to loosen the font suspension bolts off a little bit.

It would be great if I could get Chris across to do the inspection during the coming week so I’ll have to play it a bit by ear. I’m busy on the afternoons of Tuesday and Wednesday so I’ll have to watch the weather forecast for later on in the week and also see how Chris is fixed. Who knows, with a bit of luck I’ll be able to fly MYRO over to Stoke for its check flight next week-end and it could be permitted the week after. Now that’s something I really am looking forward to 😀

After a very successful day today, I should be completely finished tomorrow and MYRO will be ready for permit inspection. We had the first frost of Autumn last night because we’re heading into high pressure and the skies were completely clear, as they were this morning. The frost soon melted in the morning sun and we had glorious sunshine all day today. And it was surprisingly warm too – I was still able to work on MYRO in just a tee shirt.

Fist up I re-did the steering arms and they came up perfect, just as I wanted them to. They are now at least as good as the ones I got off G-MYME when I acquired the engine and stuff so as far as the books are concerned, they are the ones that are now fitted. In fact I think mine are probably stronger after seeing how the track rod end on one of MYME’s arms snapped when I was trying to remove it. I can’t see that happening with mine as I’ve used 316 stainless steel – so no corrosion either.

The next job was to look into MYRO’s starting problem. Whereas MYRO used to start on the button, last week it took quite a while to get the engine to fire up. I noticed that there was  something weird about the choke cable – every time I applied the choke, when I released the lever, there was more ‘spare’ cable than there was before. I suspected that there was a fault in the ‘1 into 2’ cable assembly and the choke wasn’t being fully applied and my suspicions were confirmed when I had a closer look and found internal damage. This could have been a bit of a disaster but fortunately I had a spare. The one I was using was MYRO’s original cable that Rosie had left on and I also got another with MYME’s engine. The reason I hadn’t used that one was because the cables were white and MYRO’s originals were black, but now was not the time to worry about that. Suffice to say that after I’d shortened it to match the old one and adapted it to use MYRO’s lever, when I used it for the first time MYRO started immediately. That was a result!

The last job I had time to do today was to refit the top and bottom covers between the wings. The velcro is a bit tired now after all these years especially towards the wing trailing edge end. I found that by roughing it up a bit, its effectiveness improved quite considerably, so after I’d fitted the mandatory cable ties connecting it to the wing trailing edge plus another couple, I ended up with a better job than  I had originally. So another reason to be pleased. So that just leaves the ties to be re-done between the fuselage rear cover and the back edge of the pod. I’ll buy some more cable ties tomorrow morning and it then shouldn’t take long to do the job. And that’ll be MYRO all finished and ready for permitting. There will always be the odd job – for example, I doubt I’ll have time tomorrow to touch in the little chips and scratches that have occurred during the work – but they won’t delay the permit inspection which I’ll then be able to go ahead and arrange with Chris. And thank goodness for that – about time 😀

Just to conclude this post, all of my original videos were done using Windows Moviemaker, and pretty good I found it too. However, earlier this year I treated myself to Corel VideoStudio Pro X4 and I’ve used that for my more recent ones, although for obvious reasons, I’ve had less opportunity to use it than I thought would be the case when I bought it! Funnily enough, I think that Moviemaker has better scene transitions and title effects as ‘standard’ than many of the paid-for packages, including VSP X4 I might add, but the Corel software has quite a lot going for it, not least that I found that by purchasing it via download, it only cost me $40 or so compared to something like £90 when you purchase it from Corel’s UK online shop! I also find that the quality of the finished video is better using VSP X4 than Moviemaker, so when I’ve had time, I’ve been going back and re-making some of my earlier material. I’ve just finished the video of my landing on Stoke runway 06 which was quite murky originally because although it was a bright day, it was very, very hazy. The result is now up in the Video Gallery and you can also see it by clicking on the picture below.

We had rain overnight and Sunday morning was a bit gloomy and damp. I was a bit worried that the weather might stop me doing what I wanted to on MYRO but by the time I’d had breakfast and taken the dog for his morning walk, it had brightened up considerably. I got myself together as quickly as I could and drove over to Ken’s. My first job was to give the sheep some water – whenever I arrive their trough seems to be almost empty and now they seem to associate me with getting it filled up. So when I stop my car next to it and start the hose running, several come ambling over and wait for me to finish before quenching their thirst. I don’t believe people who say that sheep are stupid animals. There are one or two in the flock that were hand-reared as lambs and a couple like to come to the fence and have their heads scratched, so I guess that’s them.

I got busy straight away on my new-new list of jobs aimed at getting MYRO ready to taxy. The main job, of course, was getting the ailerons back on and that was accomplished during the afternoon by which time Peter had dropped in. After finishing off a few bits and pieces, some of which I’ll have to re-do to tidy them up, the big moment came to wheel MYRO into the field and try a few taxy and power checks. Click on the pic below to see a short video of how things went.

I was really pleased with the results – there’s certainly loads of take off power without fiddling with the prop pitch so I’ll leave that as it is. Before I went, I cleared out some dried mud that had got between the rims and tyres on the main wheels during the accident and pumped the tyres up to the correct pressures. I also cleaned the plugs because starting, which was so quick and easy before, is now a problem. I might have to remove the carbs, strip and re-set them again as they have been left ‘standing’ for over 5 months since the accident – how time flies – and have probably become a bit garmed up with deposits inside. I may be able to have MYRO inspected anyway beforehand but I’ll play things a bit by ear as I need to go back and tidy a few things up before that. But for the time being I’m so pleased to see the light at the end of the tunnel now approaching. MYRO has taken over my life since I took on the repair work after the accident and it’ll be good to get back to some kind of ‘normality’ again – whatever that is 😕

Made some good progress today, although the day didn’t start too well really. The remaining items that I needed arrived early in the post but then when I left to go to Ken’s, although I thought I’d picked up everything I’d need, I hadn’t. I thought I’d left the steering arm bits in my car but actually they were in my conservatory. As was MYRO’s starter key, so although I started on the new steering arms when I got to Ken’s, I soon had to return home again. I went straight back after lunch and finished the steering arms off and here are a couple of shots of them.

I’m pleased with how they’ve turned out but I’ll just use them to put MYRO through permit and then slightly modify them. The reason is that I’ve used M6 threaded stainless rod which I’ve enclosed in a stainless outer. The outer is made from 10mm OD tube with 1.5mm wall thickness. That gives an inner diameter of 7mm which I thought I’d need to take the 6mm dia rod. But it turns out I was wrong – the 6mm rod will fit inside 8mm tube with 1mm wall thickness without being too tight, so that’s what I’ll change the outer to when everything else has been sorted.

The other thing is that I eventually sorted out my starting problem without having to resort to dropping the panel. The clue today was that when I arrived and tried the starter, the engine kicked. That led me to believe that the circuitry is OK and when I was able to rig up my meter, I found that current was getting up to the starter solenoid when the key was turned. My initial thought was that the starter solenoid had failed but I couldn’t see why it should have after all this time. So I then had the idea of clamping a jump lead to the solenoid and the other end to the battery negative and sure enough, that did it. So the answer all along was that although the bolts holding the rectifier and solenoid to the main tube were a good enough earth before, now they aren’t, so all I had to do was make up a short earth lead which I clamped to the rectifier and battery earth terminal.

With that, although there was a lot of coughing and spluttering, probably because of the oil that had been put into the engine when it was checked, in an amazingly short time really, the engine started and was running sweetly. My new Ivo prop came off a Sluka and in theory, the pitch it should have been set to should have allowed MYRO’s engine to over-rev on the ground. But in fact it only revved to just over 6000 RPM with brakes on (that’s assuming the rev counter is accurate) so I’ll have to see what the power is like with the current pitch setting when I can do some ground runs.

There’s only one little niggle – one of the CHT gauges isn’t now working whereas it had been before. Unfortunately it was shaken a bit when I tapped the panel clips in so the gauge itself may now be damaged. I’ll find out when I get a chance to switch the wiring over between the senders – maybe tomorrow. So I probably won’t be spared my groping up behind the panel after all – but at least the CHT gauge is more accessible than the starter switch would have been 😕

Most of the stuff I need for this coming week-end has arrived today. I received a length of M6 threaded stainless rod, packs of 100 M6 nylock and plain nuts and a 100 M6 washers from Toolstation just two days after ordering them. I’ve used Toolstation quite a bit just lately and find them excellent, both on line and face to face. They are cheaper than Screwfix on just about everything and invariably have stock in their depots when Screwfix haven’t and expect you to order and wait for it to be delivered. Screwfix, why do you think people visit your depots rather than order on line…..? I’ve also received the four rose joints I ordered from McGill Motorsports just a day or so after ordering them on Ebay, although they have their own web site. That again is what I call excellent service, and the items are second to none in quality at an excellent price. Here are the two links.

Toolstation

McGill Motorsports

Now all I need is the length of stainless tube and the panel clips I ordered from Ebay at the same time as I ordered the rose joints. I’ll have to wait and see if they arrive tomorrow because without the tube I can’t fabricate the steering arms even though I’ve got all the other items I need and without the studs I can’t really drop the panel to get at the starter wiring. So now you see how the ‘weak links’ can have a knock on and prevent you doing what you want to do 😐

I’ll also have to watch the weather. Last week-end we had record-breaking temperatures and in a few days we’ve gone to bitterly cold northerly winds (this morning) and scatterings of showers. So I’ll also have to see how kind the weather is going to be to me… this is what I was trying to avoid 😕

Now that all of the main work on MYRO has been completed I seem to be running into annoying little problems one after the other, just the same as last time, that will end up delaying everything. The weather has really changed since last week-end and early this afternoon there were a couple of tremendous gusts of wind (probably just like the one that caused the accident…) that came out of nowhere and really rattled the conservatory roof. As rain is forecast for this evening, I thought I’d better make a quick visit to Ken’s, re-fit the starter motor and check out MYRO’s battery before tying it down and putting its rear fuselage outdoor cover on. I can’t fit the wing covers because without the ailerons being on they will be too big and might cause damage by flapping in the wind.

The bad news is that MYRO’s battery is fine (funny to be saying that a good battery is bad news isn’t it 😐 ) and that I will definitely have to get under the panel and check the starter wiring. I ordered some panel clips this evening to replace the existing ones that have been in and out now so many times that they are getting very tired and I just hope they are the right size. The idea will be to drop the panel front down if I can to give more access which should make the job a bit easier.

Then I decided to see if I could fit the steering arms. I found previously that one of the rose joints in the longer of the ex-MYME arms was a bit corroded in – there always has to be one, it’s always the same old story. I couldn’t get it out before so I loosely fitted it on MYRO and thought it might give me a better grip. It did all right – so good that the thread on the rose joint snapped leaving the broken stub still in the stem of the arm. Well, that made my mind up for me. I’m sick of keep messing about with old bits like this so this evening I bought the materials to fabricate my own high quality stainless steel steering arms. I didn’t even bother calling P & M because based on recent experience, I doubt they’d have any in stock and would end up fabricating some themselves at huge cost. I’ll just put mine through inspection and say now’t and I’m sure they will be OK 😉

So I left Ken’s miffed as usual, as has been the case every time recently. I’m getting very frustrated and annoyed with these almost trivial things that are now causing such delays. I fitted the outdoor covers and tied MYRO down even though it is in a fairly sheltered position which was a good thing by the sound of the wind outside now as I type this in the evening. I took a few pictures as I left and I just took a look at them. Yes, you’ve guessed it, they’re all out of focus for some reason – maybe my little Pentax camera is going on the blink as well now 😕

Here are a couple anyway after I’d sharpened them as much as I could with Photoshop.