Post Oshkosh Inspection

Work has kept me busy the last couple of weeks, but I wanted to give the plane a thorough inspection after the trip.  While I was doing the inspection, I upgraded the SkyView system with the version 11 software that was announced at the show.  It included a new very-high resolution database, so it took quite a while to load.

I gave the engine compartment a thorough inspection.  There were no surprises, and everything looks great.

One of the tabs on the upper gear leg fairing broke off.  This allowed the clamp to loosen and the gear leg fairing to slide down a bit.

The side cowl hinge pin also broke loose from the hinge pin cover.  I cleaned out the old JB Weld and mixed up some epoxy/flox.  After applying some electrical tape around the opening to prevent the epoxy from adhering, I applied the epoxy.  After it cured, I popped it off and cleaned up the excess.  This seems quite a bit stronger than the JB Weld, so hopefully it will hold up.  Other than these couple of issues, there were no faults on the plane.

Headed Home

I got a very early start out of Tulsa, OK since I need to fly all the way back to San Jose, CA and then grab our Bonanza and fly up to South Lake Tahoe and back to get my kids.  I battled pretty stiff headwinds across most of New Mexico (over 30kts for much of the time).

I passed just south of Edwards Air Force Base and the famous dry lake bed.  There is so much amazing history at this place including all of the X planes that lead to our space program.  Coincidentally, I have been reading Chuck Yeager’s autobiography during the trip, and much of his flying career takes place here.


Overall, it was about 9 hours of flight time from Tulsa to San Jose and then another 2.7 hours up to Tahoe and back.  I’ve done a number of 12 hr flying days before and they’re always pretty tiring.  Over the whole trip, I put just over 30 hours on the RV and it performed flawlessly.

Headed to Tulsa, OK

I stayed in Lexington for a few days visiting family and giving some rides to family and friends before heading down to Tulsa, OK to visit some more family.  While I was out giving rides to family, one of the prototype Honda jets stopped for gas.  The crew was great and let us look over the airplane and ask questions.  They didn’t want any pictures of the inside since it was unfinished and loaded with test equipment, but they were more than happy to let us take pictures of the outside.