Checking in from Western PA

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Spark6
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Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2020 11:55 am

Checking in from Western PA

Post by Spark6 »

Howdy! I have recently become the new owner and steward of N325TM, a 1986 completion, which recently underwent a light restoration and re-engine. It now has a C65 nestled in the nose. It's a stone-simple, no-electric/no starter airplane. I've long admired Pietenpols, and am thrilled to finally be able to call one my own! After removing the ballast that the previous owner had installed and re-weighing the aircraft, I ran it up today and, lacking any further excuses lined up on the runway and let all 65 horses putter along for a few laps of the pattern. What a terrific airplane! I've arranged to hangar it at a grass glider strip south of Pittsburgh, where I live - and I'm looking forward to the 2-hour-and-half-hour flight to reposition her from eastern Ohio where she's been living to her new home. I'm here to learn everything I can about the care and feeding of my ship, and hopefully to bump into any other Pietenpols in the area!
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- Barrett
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taildrags
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Re: Checking in from Western PA

Post by taildrags »

You're in the right place, Spark6. We speak Air Camperese here, but with many different accents (as you'll find out). You'll find that the configuration of Five-Tango-Mike is a common one, with a small Continental up front, no electrics, no starter. That describes my airplane, NX41CC, with an A75 on it. Originally flew with a 65. Since you won't have many builder-type questions, just fire away with your "how come...?" questions about flying the plane, landing, rigging, anything- and it's likely that someone here has been there, done that, and can help you with it.

Now I have a question for you since I'm just finishing a tail tiedown release for my plane to help when I'm prop-starting the plane solo. No parking brakes on my plane, so I've been having to drag one or two chocks into the cockpit with me after getting the engine started, and it's a pain and a lot of extra clutter to deal with. Does your plane have parking brakes, or how are you dealing with keeping it secured while you prop it?

Oscar Zuniga
Medford, OR
Spark6
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Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2020 11:55 am

Re: Checking in from Western PA

Post by Spark6 »

Oscar! Thanks for the warm welcome! I’ve definitely noticed that the recipe 5TM follows seems to be a common one. And it seems to work - she’s a peach! I drive an A320 for a living, so the goal with the Piet was to scratch the stick-and-rudder itch - and I’m definitely on the hunt for every tip, trick, and best practice I can soak up!

A few quick questions for the hive mind off the bat:
- I’ve got an old 121.5 EBC ELT in the front cockpit that I’ll gladly keep running until it either quits or gets taken from me, but what are folks doing when it comes time to modernize to a 406hz ELT? I’d love to avoid having to mount a remote antenna.
- Being fairly new to small Continentals, what should I be look out for in terms of care and feeding and any gotchas with these motors? (I’m sure the subject could fill a book!)
- 5TM sits at just about 700lb empty... is that fairly on average for a C65-equipped Piet?

Regarding chocks, I’ve been doing the same thing when it comes to propping her. The chocks are a pain to bring along though - I am very interested in setting up a tail hook assembly myself. How did yours go?

Regards,
Barrett
- Barrett
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taildrags
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Re: Checking in from Western PA

Post by taildrags »

Barrett; you'll find that there are a number of commercial pilots building and flying Air Campers, mostly for the same reason you are... the simple joy of flying an honest airplane without a lot of cost and trouble. Neither the landing nor the takeoff checklists on these airplanes has more than a half-dozen items on it... you pretty much just hop in and go. I fly out of a tower-controlled field so I need to have a 2-way COM and headset, but whenever I'm away from my home field I stow all that stuff and flying is even simpler.

I just finished up and installed my tail tiedown release yesterday. It's sort of a special arrangement of a common type of release similar to what banner tow and glider tow planes use, but I designed the baseplate of mine to fit horizontally and bolt onto the tail spring mounting bracket, with the actuation lever and cord over on the pilot's side so I could run it up inside the empennage to the cockpit. I just rigged it temporarily with a cord to give it a try and learned a few things. First, it should work great once I get it rigged right but right now I have to reshape the hook that swings away to release the tiedown because it didn't want to slide off. Some work with a grinder and file will fix that. Also seems like the best thing to use for tiedown rope is something with no stretch. First piece of junk rope that I tried it with, I could pull the plane forward about 6-8" against the stretch of the rope, and that's not a good thing when the engine lights off. I'll probably use cheap nylon braided rope, round and not flat, since the nylon will help the rope slide off the hook and a round rope will also encourage that. A pic of my release is attached. I primed mine and painted it red to make it easier to find back there.
tailhook.jpg
About the ELT, my airplane is fitted with a Narco ELT10, 121.5 like yours, that I can still get batteries for every 24 months. I've resisted going with a 406 Mhz. Mine is mounted in the empennage behind the pilot's seat where I can check it on preflight by opening the hinged seat back. It's mounted to the framing on a piece of aluminum sheet which is the ground plane for the conventional ELT cat-whisker antenna back there inside the empennage too.

41CC weighs 636 lbs empty, so you're right in there with the rest of the small Continental bunch, I'd say. Mine has a 16 gallon fuel tank behind the firewall, with a Cub-style float rod fuel level indicator sticking up in plain view.

Maintenance on the small Continentals is pretty standard and pretty minimal as engine care goes. Regular oil changes are a must, since there is no oil filter per se and the oil can get pretty gunky. There is an oil screen under a big brass cap with a square head on the port side rear of the engine and it should be inspected and cleaned regularly. The square head on mine was kind of chewed up and the edges and corners rounded when I got it, as most of them are after dozens and dozens of different pliers and wrenches have been used on them. I had a machinist clean mine up and make me a custom socket to fit it so the chewing would stop, and of course that socket will go with the engine when I part with it. They are often overtightened, too, so getting a good grip on it is needed to break it loose if someone with a heavy hand has been on it. I clean my screen in avgas and then run the gas through a coffee filter and let it dry. I take it out in the bright sunshine and go through whatever shows up on the filter, looking for anything that looks like metal. My engine is still quite fresh after being rebuilt so there is still a tiny bit of aluminum showing up sometimes, but going through it with a little magnet doesn't pull up any steel. I've tried running my engine with oil at the 'full' mark (4 qt) but it dislikes that... I'll check it after flying through a couple of tanks of fuel and the oil level will be back down to 3 qt. I'll top it off and fly it again and after a while, back down to 3 qt. If I leave it at 3 qt, it'll stay there till the next oil change (or seems to, anyway).

Compression check is one of the best indicators of engine health, and you'll be pulling the plugs to clean and re-gap them at annual anyway, so run a compression check. If you have a little borescope, you can run that down there and look at the piston tops.

My engine has new Slick mags and harnesses, so it's got good spark and impulse coupling for starting. It also had a complete new gasket set, fasteners, and hardware installed when it was overhauled so it's almost perfectly tight and oil-free. It does have one rocker cover that shows a little oil after a long flight, but I'm not going to mess with the screws ever again if I don't have to because my engine is very dry and clean compared to quite a few that I've seen. Mine has the "Real" brand silicone rocker box gaskets.

My engine has a Stromberg carb on it and if there's any part on the engine that can be fussy, the Stromberg is it. I've learned a lot about them over the years, overhauling and then flying probably four different ones (and I have a couple of cores in the hangar if I need them). If yours starts, idles, and runs fine- don't mess with it ;o) I run avgas in mine exclusively. I tried running autogas once or twice before, but found that the carb would dribble fuel into the air box when I did, so I just went back to 100% avgas. The specific gravity of autogas is a bit higher than that of 100LL, which apparently changes the level of the float just enough to make a difference.

You'll want to re-torque the prop bolts seasonally (assuming you run a wood prop). So... what else?

Oscar Zuniga
Medford, OR
Air Camper NX41CC, A75 power
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taildrags
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Re: Checking in from Western PA

Post by taildrags »

Aha. I just looked at your pix again and see that you're also flying a fuel tank up front, and that you have a metal prop. Good deal... the additional weight of a metal prop couldn't be in a better place than way out there on the nose. That will also account for some of the empty weight difference between your plane and those with wood props. And you shouldn't have to retorque your prop bolts like us toothpick flyers.

-Oscar
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taildrags
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Re: Checking in from Western PA

Post by taildrags »

Oh yeah, and sorry for the string of posts here, but check the mounting brackets on your cooling air scoops during preflight inspections. Mine cracked several different brackets several different times due to fatigue from being pummeled in the propeller slipstream, until I finally replaced them with a set of store-bought J-3 eyebrows. Some pix here- http://www.flysquirrel.net/piets/engine/eyebrows.html . I'm very happy with the new scoops.

-Oscar
Spark6
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Re: Checking in from Western PA

Post by Spark6 »

No apologies on the string of posts - it’s all great info, thank you! The gentleman who owned 5TM before me and restored the airplane is an excellent metal-worker, and hand built those cooling eyebrows to replace some that were cracked and worn - I have a high degree of confidence they’ll hold up for a little while. I’ll try to grab some detail pictures next time I’m at the plane - they’re worth sharing.

I too am running dual slicks with impulse couplings, and very much appreciate the ease of starting. My last experience with a hand-prop only aircraft having been a very temperamental Cub many years ago, I was leery of a plane that relied solely on the Armstrong method to get it going, but I’ve been very impressed so far.

I’ll take note of those C-65 care tips! The motor is presently running aeroshell 15w-50, and definitely mirrors your motor’s preference for about 3qts on the dipstick. More than that, and it just seems to go out the breather tube.

Yes, 5TM has a 12gal tank in the forward part of the fuselage, just slightly forward of the CoG. The previous owner, being a rather larger man than I, actually had 46lb of lead slung over the motor to get him in the w/b envelope. Gratefully, I am able to forego the ballast, and in the most aft-loaded configuration, am about an inch ahead of the back of the envelope. I DO need to play with the trim tabs a little bit, as I have to exert some slight forward pressure on the stick to maintain level flight in cruise, unless I pull the power way back. That actually leads to a question - what are y’all using as a cruise power setting on the C-65? If memory serves, other day I was using about 18-1900rpm, which was giving me about 80mph indicated... but requiring a touch of forward stick. I definitely need to go invest several more hours in getting fluent in my airplane. I was pleasantly surprised by the control coordination in flight - I expected to need more rudder than I ended up needing. 5TM has rudimentary gap seals on the ailerons, which may help, as I didn’t notice a terrible amount of adverse yaw.
- Barrett
Spark6
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Re: Checking in from Western PA

Post by Spark6 »

One thing I notice this forum doesn't have that many type-specific forums do is a section to compile trip/flight reports! So, rather than start a new thread, I'll add mine here - I apologize if it doesn't belong!

After several failed attempts to get the time/logistics/weather curves to line up, I finally was able to enact a plan to fly 5TM from the previous owner's communal hangar to her new home south of Pittsburgh. The proposal was a bold one: rent a car at Pittsburgh Int'l, and convoy it and my own car to the new hangar at 22D, leave my car in the hangar so I had a ride home from the airport. Then, the following morning drive from Pittsburgh where I live up to 5TM in Geneva-On-The-Lake, OH, where I'd drop the car off in town, whereafter the previous owner graciously offered to give me a ride to the plane, make sure I was all squared away, and send me on my way. The big ask: I wanted to be back in Pittsburgh in enough time to catch the only commercial flight of the day out to Boston so that I could start 4 days of work the next afternoon, which by my calculations meant that I needed to be landing at 22D no later than 2:30PM. Gulp. If I missed my afternoon flight, I had several contingency plans for the following day, but none were as good as making that flight!

8/4: The car rental went smoothly, and despite a frog-strangler of a rainstorm as we pulled out of PIT, my fiancé and I got my car tucked away in the hangar at 22D. The weather forecast for the following day remained good, with a high pressure system moving into the area, and light winds. The plan is to fly from 7D9, where the plane has been living, south-west, threading between the Youngstown TRSA and the edge of the Cleveland Class Bravo, then turn south, stopping in Carroll County (KTSO) for fuel and a socially distanced piece of pie at the airport restaurant, before heading south-east towards 22D. A last minute check of the NOTAMs, however, showed that a VIP TFR had popped up, stretching from Cleveland almost to Youngstown. Time for a re-route. The new plan took me east of Youngstown, then on towards a fuel stop at Butler Regional (KBTP), northeast of Pittsburgh. No pie for me, but fuel for 5TM and a field I know fairly well. From there, I'd keep going south-east to stay well clear of the PIT arrival/departure corridor and out where the floor of the Bravo was plenty high, before turning back west for 22D. When all was said and done, both routes came out to 152nm. I'll have to go for pie another day. So far, so good!
7D9 KBTP 22D.jpg
8/5: Alarms that go off at 5:30am on my off-days are a mixed bag for me. Usually it means adventure is afoot, but it's also 5:30am, and that feels a lot like work. A look out the window over the day's first cup of coffee shows fog to the ground, and every airport in the region reporting LIFR. Huh. The TAFs are still optimistic though, and I have a flight to catch, so I grab my stuff, get a nervous kiss goodbye from a fiancé who is much better at early mornings than I am, and point the rental Nissan towards Ohio. Thanks to COVID, the roads are clear, but the fog is full-on soup, and there isn't a breath of wind. Every now and again, I'll drive into a pocket that is patchily lifting. Putting my trust high pressure systems and the encouraging TAFs I drive on, and by the time I near Lake Erie, the visibility and ceilings have risen. In their place is a very dark bank of clouds moving in from the west. A rest-stop radar-check shows a loose pack of green blobs moving along the lake shore. They're localized, but moving fast. There is no yellow in the returns, but I remind myself that 5TM isn't the A320 I go to work in, and hope that they don't connect. Worst case scenario, I reason, I happen to know of a local rental car place that will have a car! 5TM's previous owner and I meet up and head to the rental car place in the streaming rain, but it lets up just as we pull in. Fingers crossed, I hand over the keys, climb into the car next to the PO's boisterous german shepard, Jake, and we head to the airport. There are puddles on the taxiway, but no new ones forming as we open the hangar door. 5TM is tucked snugly away, and after a pre-flight and some careful arranging and re-arranging of my flying kit, we pull her over to the fuel tanks. One last weather check shows the next green blob is still twenty minutes out, and all the weather is right along the lake shore. I should be south of the whole thing in fifteen miles and the morning's fog has completely lifted - all the reports along my route are CAVU. Out of excuses, Jake is banished to sit in the car, I buckle in, and the previous owner flips the prop for me. The C65 is a touch cold-blooded, but warms up nicely and the mag checks are good - we're off. It’s 11:40AM… I’m behind schedule but there is plenty of day left to go!

The longer I spend driving jets around, the harder I find I have to work to remember and trust that I can fly at airspeeds that wouldn’t even register on the Airbus speed-tape. Rolling down the runway, I push the nose over and hold 5TM’s mains on until the ASI shows 60mph… 65mph, then sheepishly realize she was ready to fly ages ago, and we leap off the ground. As we climb shallowly towards my lofty 2500’ cruising altitude, I look down to check the vertical speed, then laugh at myself. There isn’t one, and that’s the point - so long as the altimeter is waffling along in the right direction, I’ll get there when I get there. As soon as it’s evident that we’re above Ohio’s rolling terrain, 5TM and I bend off to the southeast. My headset isn’t clamped down as well as I’d like, and begins a slow, slipstream-induced migration towards the back of my head. 5TM is in pretty good trim at full fuel, however, and I find that I can let the stick go for a minute or so while I fiddle with things. After a few moments, I reach a stalemate with the headset that is good enough to be getting on with - some sort of flying cap/helmet that holds it in place is going to be an important addition to my flying kit going forward. Attention back fully on flying, I note that even in the relatively smooth air, the old whiskey compass in 5TM’s panel does an awful lot of seesawing back and forth. The average between swings is roughly the heading I want, however, and ForeFlight agrees that I’m tracking on course. Maybe in time, I’ll track down a better compass solution. With a handheld radio, a cellphone, and a portable GPS receiver all within 2’ of the compass, I can’t be doing its accuracy any favors.

As we make our way southeast, the ceilings continue to rise, with occasional shafts of rain to keep things interesting. I manage to slalom around most of them, but learn quickly that hunching down in the cockpit gets me below the drops that splatter the windscreens and sting my cheeks. On the ground I was comfortable in a button-down fishing shirt and shorts. Up here, I wish I’d donned to puffer I have stuffed into the backpack that’s belted into the front cockpit. Another few minutes, however, and the patchy rain and rising ceilings give way to clear skies as forecast, and the sun raises the temperature back to comfortable levels. I find myself, elbow over the cockpit rail, admiring the fields as we loaf along. 5TM has a thin green band painted on her tach, and not knowing the motor, I set the power at the bottom of it - about 2000 RPM - and we rumble along at about 75mph indicated. Before long, I’m crossing the shoreline of the Pymatuning Reservoir - my first turn point comes shortly after, over Greenville airport, and we bend further south for the long leg down to Butler.

As the day wears on, and the thermals pick up, I’m reminded just how much of a kite this little airplane is. We’ll cross over a parking lot or dark field, and I find myself having to kick the tail back in line, or correct for several hundred feet of altitude. The updrafts are easily dealt with, but I notice that it takes a bit more time to regain feet lost. I’m reminded of a miserable day flying on Nelson Island, Alaska, when pitched for a Vx climb, with the motor and prop redlined, I found myself continuing to be sucked down into a valley at 1000 feet per minute. I resolve to be more alert on my altitude monitoring, and to be a bit more aggressive in my willingness to pitch 5TM’s nose skyward. She definitely climbs more smartly at 50mph than at 60.

Twenty five miles or so from KBTP the AWOS comes in clear as a bell. It only took an hour and a half, but I finally have the squelch on my battery-powered intercom tuned so that I no longer hear the prop and slipstream roaring through the headset. The wind is right down runway 26, and switching over to CTAF reveals that it is a busy day in the pattern. I find that my radio calls sound much clearer if I adopt my rain-dodging pose to make them, so I hunch down several inches to make sure I give the local traffic the best chance of understanding me. Cognizant that my best forward speed is many trainers’ approach speed, I let the gaggle go by, and sequence behind a Cherokee doing it’s best B-52 traffic pattern impression. I’m amazed by the sound and vibration change in the airframe when I pull the power back to idle. I’m also reminded of just how draggy a Piet is, when I have to add the power back in to make the runway! All told, the landing is uneventful, and far smoother than my second Pietenpol landing ever has any right to be. I chalk it up to beginners luck, and hustle to the next taxiway, feeling very small and like my butt is very close to the ground. The self-serve pump is over by the flight school’s corner of the ramp, so I taxi that way, careful to S-turn so as not to find myself sneaking up on any Cessnas or their students, then spin around (5TM has Grove brakes that work beautifully) and shut down. I’m suddenly very glad that I got here when I did. It’s time to pay the rent on the morning’s coffee.

Back at the plane, I’m struck by how wind-blown I feel and by just how petite 5TM is, parked next to one of the flight school’s 172’s. The clock says it took 1:27 to fly 85nm, and the tank takes 6.7 gallons to top off. Napkin math says about 4.5GPH, which sounds right. With the airplane’s care and feeding taken care of, I dig out an energy bar and my water bottle, and chat with a few folks who have wandered over to the airplane. (I hadn’t considered the possibility that 5TM would attract a crowd, but looking around the ramp, I realize how silly that was.) The evening flight to Boston is still within reach though, so I pack away my things, check the oil, chock the plane with a borrowed set of chocks (gonna have to solve that in a better way going forward), and give the prop a swing. I’d been nervous about hot-starting problems, but the little Continental caught on the second pull, and idled away smoothly while I pulled the chocks, climbed into the cockpit and got my harness belts assembled. Post-start checks are refreshingly simple - oil pressure: good, oil temperature: good, all set! Wait… did I tighten the oil cap? I sat there trying to remember, then stopped. If you have to ask, then you have to check. I’d rather be the idiot trying to prop a hot engine than the idiot that deadsticked into a field because I couldn’t be bothered to double check the dipstick. Mags off, harness unbuckled, unfold myself out of the plane, check the oil cap… it was screwed down snug. (Of course!) Chocks back in, mags hot, and 5TM repays my abundance of caution by starting up on the first blade. This airplane and I might just get along!
5TM at KBTP.jpg
I get settled back into the cockpit, get my kit re-situated, and taxi out to 26. The pattern is filling back up again, so after a run-up and a radio call, I bug out and keep my head on a swivel as I peel away southbound. As I climb, I feel something slap my shoulder. A check around the cockpit doesn’t show anything loose, and my stomach sinks as I start to catalog what could have flown out of my backpack if I’d forgotten to secure it closed. I’m considering turning back to Butler to check when I get slapped again! This time, I catch the offender - I’d forgotten to tuck the tag end of my shoulder harness in properly, and every now and again the slipstream is lifting it up and whipping me. Mystery solved.

The second leg of the flight is more challenging. The terrain around the Pittsburgh area, while not high, is much more rugged, and the orographic lifting and thermal activity results in a much more difficult ride. Add to that the increased air traffic in the area and the sprinkling of very tall towers set on the tallest hills in the area, and I have my work cut out for me. It begins to feel that the air is waiting until the exact moment that I go to check the chart to send another whoop or dip my way. It’s frustrating flying, and by the time I have gotten to the point where I can turn west and head for 22D, I’m more cranky than I am enjoying the ride. Still, a bad day flying… well, sorta. Turning west, I glance down at the ForeFlight groundspeed read out, and have to laugh - I’m below 40knts! I wave at a few trucks zipping by below me on the highway, and ponder which road I’d land on if the Continental chose now to have a bad day. I definitely prefer open fields to fly over rather than shopping malls. The stakes are lower and the likelihood of making the news is diminished.

Even hampered by the light headwind, Pittsburgh proper began to give way to rural western PA again, as I edged nearer to my destination. Eventually, the hangars at 22D hove into view. No weather reporting here, but there are two windsocks, which, naturally, were pointing different directions - both full. The runway here is 2300’ long and over 100’ wide, but one end has trees and a hill off the end, and the other end drops off into a tumbling pasture. Figuring I’d rather not have to add rising terrain to a go-around attempt should I need one, I spiraled down over the hill, and lined up for the approach. Despite the shifty breeze, which helpfully swung around to a tailwind over the hill before dropping off before the trees, we hushed down into the grass. I probably should have logged a couple more landings than I did, based on the touchdown… Things to practice going forward! Five minutes later, I was swapping the Volkswagen for the Pietenpol, and 5TM was tucked away in her new home. All told, we covered 150nm in 2.7hrs of flying time. I got started getting to know my airplane, and wouldn’t you know it, but I made my commute to Boston too!
5TM at 22D.jpg
5TM in new home.jpg
- Barrett
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Richard Roller
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Re: Checking in from Western PA

Post by Richard Roller »

Spark6.

A great story! I enjoyed it very much. I've flown a model A powered Piet (N34KP) 400 miles to Brodhead from Kansas many times. Sometimes coming home against the winds it would take over 8 hrs. of flying time, rocking and rolling in 100° temperatures, to get home. Still, I loved the flights.

One more thing. Your comment on needing forward pressure in cruise. I couldn't tell in your photos if your Piet has a flop over the rear cockpit. When I fly my Piet, I fly with the flop unlatched. It rides up about an inch, gives me some headroom that I need and relieves the forward stick needed in cruise. It also makes a good stall warning, it stands up just before the break!
Spark6
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Re: Checking in from Western PA

Post by Spark6 »

Richard, wow - now that sounds like quite a journey! One day I hope to get out to Brodhead myself. Definitely need to build my Pietenpol chops up a little first though!

5TM doesn't have a flop, actually. If I ever need to recover the wing, that would definitely be a modification I would do, however, as it would greatly ease ingress and egress. The previous owner installed fixed trim tabs on both sides of the elevator, and the result is a fair bit up nose-up pitch in cruise. I took some of the bend out of them prior to this flight, and think I'll continue to experiment with removing some of that bend as I continue to fly. Eventually, I may simply drop down to a single tab, as I'm not sure that, in my CG configuration, that much trim is necessary. I've also been toying with the idea of a controllable trim tab, as that seems like it would improve the experience in cruise significantly. But the weight and complexity are both something I'm wary of.
- Barrett
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taildrags
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Re: Checking in from Western PA

Post by taildrags »

Barrett; great writeup, great first adventure in your airplane! Many of the same sensations and thoughts most of us have had while flying our planes, and I'm sure you got a lot of people smiling knowingly and nodding their heads in agreement while they read. One thing I'll mention when I see that yours is one of a row of hangars that appear to be along the runway, because that's exactly the arrangement that exists where I used to be based, San Geronimo Airpark just outside of San Antonio, TX. When the wind was blowing from the hangars towards the runway, that meant you could be near the runway on final as you came to the row of hangars and the breeze became a series of wind-tunnels shooting across the runway from between the hangars. You'd be on heading, on glidepath one minute, then drifting off the runway as a wind-tunnel caught you, then it would be down the runway again and you'd correct for that, then the next row of hangars and its wind-tunnel, down the runway till you were down and rolling slowly. You adjust for that if you're familiar with the effect, but visitors to the field would typically get quite a surprise as their planes got up to where the hangars were.

I like to cruise at around 2500' too. Where I'm based, the field elevation is about 1,300 so when I get to pattern altitude and out of the pattern, I can level out at cruise and enjoy the countryside without much of a climb at all. You might hear Piet pilots talk about a strange feeling when you get up higher in your airplane. I've written about it myself, the time I went up to 7,500' to get over some terrain and once I cleared that and the ground dropped back down, looking down at the ground waaaay down there and feeling quite small and lonely. It was cold up there, too.

-Oscar
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taildrags
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Re: Checking in from Western PA

Post by taildrags »

I just realized that Pietenvair pilot Ed "KTOWN" Knouse might be reading posts to this list and if he read what I posted, I would instantly be branded as a 'fraidy cat sissy for worrying about flying my Piet way up there at 7,500 feet. KTOWN flew in the "Dragon Lady" U-2... service ceiling somewhere north of 80,000 feet.

-OZ
Spark6
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Re: Checking in from Western PA

Post by Spark6 »

I think I've seen the photo of KTOWN on his record-setting flight! :lol: Remarkable!

I can certainly relate to the "high-altitude" willies. We used to run down as low as we could as a rule in Alaska... there was a pretty long stretch there where I was pretty sure that anything over 1500' would give me a nosebleed! How'd your Continental run up at 7500? With no mixture control on mine, I'd be interested in how it would do in the rarified air...

Where are you based now, Oscar? I used to live and work in San Marcos, TX. I miss Hill Country badly!

22D is an interesting little strip. According to the owner, it's been around since the 60's, when the guy who built (the current owner's father) it carved it out of his back 40. It's been home to the Pittsburgh Soaring Club for almost as long, and they keep a fairly good fleet of gliders and a tow plane down on one end. The runway is cut into a hillside, so on one end, you're down below the hilltop. The other end launches you OFF the hillside, and that's the end where the other hangars are. Prevailing winds seem to be from the southwest, while all the hangars are on the east side of the field. I'm definitely looking forward to learning the quirks and intricacies of the area as I continue operating out of there.
- Barrett
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taildrags
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Re: Checking in from Western PA

Post by taildrags »

Barrett; I am located in Medford, Oregon. On the I-5 corridor, about 30 miles north of the Oregon-California state line. About San Marcos TX, that's not too far from where I made my first solo... grass strip at Tims Airpark north of Austin, long gone.

My Stromberg carb actually has the mixture control parts installed in it, but it's wired full rich. I've thought about putting a mixture control on it but since I rarely fly high, decided not to complexify a simple setup. We do get some days in the summer when the density altitude is quite high and I could possibly benefit from some leaning, but my airplane still jumps off the ground pretty well and the leaning protocol on the Stromberg has been to not even mess with it below about 4 or 5,000 ft. To be honest, I didn't even think about loss of performance when I went up to 7,500' because I still had plenty of throttle and oomph when I got up there in the nice cold air.

-Oscar
Spark6
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Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2020 11:55 am

Re: Checking in from Western PA

Post by Spark6 »

Oscar, that's supposed to be a lovely area - very cool.

I've been happy with the performance of my Stromberg so far, and your early advice matches everything else I've found regarding it: If it's working, don't mess with it! So I won't. Feels odd not to have a mixture control, but I can't argue with the results. As with most quirks about this airplane, I suspect that, with a bit more time, it will start to be the most natural thing in the world.

Another question for those more experienced with these airplanes than I: What are you folks doing for insurance? I've put out some feelers, and have a few quotes for between $12-1500/yr premium, for hull and liability. All require some dual instruction to qualify, which I'm not sure about how to acquire, as both weight and knowledge is at a premium there. I've proposed using an alternative aircraft for training, and am waiting to hear back from the insurance folks on that front.
- Barrett
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taildrags
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Re: Checking in from Western PA

Post by taildrags »

Barrett; I only carry liability on 41CC (it's required for rental of hangars on my home field), $1M, and I have mine with Global Aerospace through their agent Falcon Insurance in Kerrville, TX. It costs me one dollar a day... $365/yr... and I'm the only operator on the policy right now.

-Oscar
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Richard Roller
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Joined: Mon May 22, 2017 11:14 am
Location: Olathe, Ks.

Re: Checking in from Western PA

Post by Richard Roller »

I'm also with Falcon/Global. I just renewed and it was $495 (it went up $45), no hull. Covers airport liability and passenger medical.

I'd already had a tail dragger endorsement (7AC Champ) and time in the a/c, so no duel was required.
Spark6
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Re: Checking in from Western PA

Post by Spark6 »

Yowza! I knew my low time-in-type would probably hurt me, but geez. Sounds like I better keep hunting. the $1200 quote was from Starr. I'll have to see if Global is an option. My field has no insurance requirement, and I am really only interested in liability coverage myself - several other GA friends have me nervous to take anyone up with me without some financial protection. I'll keep turning over rocks, and hope that as I build time in the plane, it helps ease any insurers concerns...
- Barrett
Spark6
Posts: 31
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2020 11:55 am

Re: Checking in from Western PA

Post by Spark6 »

Some of the other airport tenants have warned me that the hangars have some mouse problems in the winter, so I've spent a fair bit of time on mouse-defense measures instead of flying this past week. So far I've installed ultrasonic emitters around the hangar, and sprayed the perimeter with what is supposedly commercial-grade deterrent. In addition, the tailwheel is up on a 5 gallon bucket, and both the tailwheel and main gear are surrounded by sticky-traps. So far, I'm mouse-free, but it's not really started to get cold at night yet... we shall see.

In spite of all that, N325TM and I got up for a quick jaunt today - mostly just a fuel run to the neighboring, "grown-up" airport, but it was fun to get up! Despite a late start, the air was almost dead calm, and it was a lovely, relaxing flight over Washington County Airport, a whopping 8nm to the west. The pattern was empty, so I "cheated" and did a straight in approach to 27. The plane is definitely a bit more tender on tarmac, and I found myself working harder than I like to on the rudder pedals. Still made the first turn-off though! Fuel wasn't too expensive, and the FBO manager graciously waived the ten-gallon minimum purchase. The free coffee was fresh and, as a long-time mooch of free coffee, quite good. I'll definitely be back!
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I didn't notice until taxiing away from the hangar just how filthy my windscreen is. Ugh!
Dirty Windscreen.jpg
That does bring me to a question I've been meaning to ask - what do you folks prefer as a cleaning method for your Piets? I'm wary of sluicing it with soap and water, but she badly needs a bath.

I'm practicing my fly-in parking for whenever the COVID situation lifts, and we can go back to doing those. I was pleasantly surprised how neatly 5TM fit into this parking spot!
N325TM at KAFJ.jpg
Fueled up, having had a leg stretch and some coffee, it was time to flip the prop over and head back home to get some chores done. After waiting for a 172 to do a downwind landing on 9, I departed (not without having my headset blow off shortly after rotation!) and headed back to the barn.
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The grass is oh-so-much-more pleasant to land on, and despite being a little fast over the threshold, we hushed down smoothly and rolled out straight as an arrow. As I touched down, a spike buck bolted across the runway ahead of me, luckily with plenty of room to spare. PA deer season isn't for a little while yet... hopefully his instincts improve before then! All-in-all, it was a great way to burn .9hrs of air time, and exactly the kind of flying that drew me to Pietenpols in the first place.
- Barrett
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