Monday, October 31st Drive to Sioux Falls

Sandra was already in Litchfield, so I was on my own. One thing that I had not considered was that our dog, Maizie, would have to come with me, since Sandra couldn’t take her. It wouldn’t be a big problem if she didn’t overreact to being alone for long periods of time while I was flying with Larry.

Again, after stopping several times to check the tiedowns, the trailer and JW travelled well, and about noon I was at Luverne Airport where I was to meet Larry, who has his hanger there. Larry was there as agreed. The wind was brisk and gusty and we knew we wouldn’t be flying on Monday at all. We spent the entire afternoon working on various little things on the JW, running the engine, etc. Larry was satisfied that the JW was in flyable shape, so we were both looking forward to flying it the next day.

Larry invited me to stay at his house Monday night, and I agreed. He and Cindy are wonderful Christian folks and their hospitality extended to me and Maizie was humbling. Fortunately they are “dog people” and enjoyed having Maizie there with their two dogs, Albert and Fred.

Sunday, October 30th Bring the JW Down

After church I picked up the truck and drove to the airport. Everything seemed to work well. The lights worked perfectly, the ball that John had was the correct size (2”). I rolled the trailer out of the hanger, tilted it up and put a 2x4 under the tongue to keep it tilted and rolled the JW up onto the trailer. It wasn’t easy, but wasn’t too difficult, either. I tied it down securely, attached the trailer to the truck, and checked everything out. It looked good, so I gingerly headed for home.

All went well; I stopped twice to make sure the tie-downs were still secure, and after adjusting them a couple of times, made it home without incident. After getting home, I backed the trailer partially into the garage, detached it and rolled it into the garage and closed the door. The truck was parked facing the street in the driveway. Looked good. I was ready to depart for Sioux Falls in the morning.

October 27, 2011 Prepare for a Trip to Sioux Falls

I have had several discussions with Larry Miller about possibly taking the Jetwing down there to have him check It out and even test-fly it. Our discussions resulted in tentatively scheduling the trip for October 31st, Monday and Tuesday. For the trip to happen, I heed to find something to tow the trailer and all the tie-downs and associated stuff.

I talked to John about borrowing his pickup, which he was happy to do except that he needs a vehicle to drive because he has a number of meetings to attend. If I left the car for him to drive, Sandra would not have a vehicle, since we have only one car now. So I told Larry it wouldn’t work out as scheduled.

Then something happened that was downright providential. Judy Nelson invited Sandra to spend a couple of days with her for that exact time, so since she wouldn’t need the car, I could swap with John as originally planned.

So I headed for the airport to begin preparations for the trip. I packed up the wing into the wing bag, ensured that I had everything prepared, put the JW mast down for transportation, etc. I also had to make sure the truck had the correct adapter for my trailer lights and the correct sized ball on the hitch. I checked with John to see what the lights socket looked like, found what I needed at a auto parts store, so it looks like the truck is set for action. I also bought some ratchet tie-downs for the JW.

October 17, 2011 Another Richard

I received an e-mail from a guy who got my name from the 103legal Yahoo group. He has flown trikes in years past and was interested in the Jetwing and my rebuild project. We agreed to meet on Monday, the 17th at noon. I went up earlier to set up the wing and tinker with it. I wanted to fully inflate it with battens in and make sure the airfoil was smooth and configured well.

He arrived at exactly 12PM as agreed. We talked and I showed him what I had, and even let it slip that I would probably be willing to sell the Jetwing for what I had in it. Shut my mouth! Would I really sell what I have poured my heart and soul in? But that wasn’t his intent, apparently. I don’t know what he really wanted. Maybe just to see if he might want to pursue trike flying again.

October 14, 2011 To the Airport

It’s Saturday, and a good day to go to the airport. I had received delivery of the propeller from Ultraprop the previous week and was anxious to get it installed on the JW. The installation instructions were straight-forward; I measured the blades to ensure they had been properly pre-trimmed to the correct length, which was the case. I laid out the prop on the trailer with the most important thing being to ensure the pitch matched the direction of travel, which for the Kawasaki is counter-clockwise as viewed from the rear. That makes the pitch blocks consistent with the direction of travel. With the blades mounted on the hub, the finished propeller mounted on the redrive shaft without problem. I’m pleased with the results.

Richard arrived about 1PM and we began working on miscellaneous items. We re-worked the foot feed cable attachment, replaced the fan belt, only to discover that the bolts holding on the housing needed to be replaced, so we left the housing off until I can get the proper bolts and lock washers. We ran the engine, testing the hand throttle control, which seemed to work well.

October 3, 2011 Order the Propeller

I e-mailed Bob Davis of Ultraprop today, and received a response. He is in agreement with my suggested configuration of a 3-blade, 52”, 12 pitch prop. I also had a telephone conversation with him and placed the order for the propeller. This is an exciting development because it indicates another step in the completion of the project.