Saturday, July 31, 2010 Axles and Wheels

I went up to the airport to hopefully get the side rails done and attach the front wheel assembly and rear swing axle and attach the wheels. I also wanted to redo some of the connections I had done before to add the plugs on the ends of the side rails that I didn’t include last time, correct the installation of the gas tank sling and seat, and replace the old AN hardware with new bolts, washers, and nuts wherever possible.
It took awhile to all the rework done, but then I turned my attention to getting the axles and wheels installed. The axle bracket on the left side (away from where the crash damage was) went together smoothly, but the right side wasn’t so slick. I worked the rest of the morning on getting the holes aligned for the main axle bolt. No luck. It came to within about 1/4 inch of aligning, but no further. I think I need a come-along or clamp or something to compress the brackets to get the bolt to go in. It’s a complicated sub-assembly and everything has to be perfectly aligned for it to come together. I left and went home without resolving the problem.
Chad, a friend of John’s, owns every tool known to mankind, so I asked him for help, and he kindly loaned me a C-clamp to compress everything so the holes in the axle brackets can be aligned and the axle bolt can be pushed through the brackets and axle tube.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 Collecting Carriage Parts

Called around the Minneapolis area for tubing to have Victoria Repair fabricate the uprights again, using the correct lengths. No 1 3/4” available anywhere, so placed an order with Aircraft Spruce. It will arrive Friday the 30th.

Saturday, July 24, 2010 Jetwing Rebuild Chapter Two

I’m calling this post “Chapter Two” because it refers to rebuilding the carriage part of the trike. I have already completed the rebuild of the wing, or at least 90% or so of that part of the project. Now it’s time to get started on the carriage rebuild.
Last night as I was loading the car, I found that Victoria Repair’s fabrication of the upright support tubes, the main tubes supporting the wing connection, were cut five inches short of what was on the instruction sheet I had given them, 54 9/16” instead of 59 9/16”. The 54 9/16” was the length of the side seat rails, so it’s obvious where they had gotten the wrong dimension. In spite of this mistake, and even though I won’t have the uprights to take to the airport, I will take everything else up and get as much done as I can.
Saturday morning I went to the airport. The first thing to do is to unload the car and lay out the parts. I’ve decided to use the side of the hanger that is cleared out and has nothing to obstruct the project. There doesn’t seem to be very much here, but on the other hand, there isn’t too much to the carriage, just some tubes and cables. I’m not very impressed with the machining work done by Victoria Repair; things fit together, but not perfectly. I had to redrill one of the holes on the front wheel bracket to get the bolt to go through, and the bolt holes on the front bent downtube don’t line up and I’ll have to redrill those, but otherwise there are no show-stoppers so far.
Part of the challenge is to cope physically with the work. I’m working on the floor and the bending down and up is hard. I think next time I’ll sit in the wheelchair; I can maneuver it around and it should be easier to work from that level. Also, the hanger is very dusty and dirty, so I need to spend some time cleaning it and sweeping the dust from the work area.
At least the job is started. I connected the side rails to the seat plate and swing axle cables. Also I attached the gas tank sling and seat and the front wheel bracket. Overall I’m pleased with the work, even though it doesn’t look like much was accomplished.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010 Carriage Parts Complete

It’s been a long couple of weeks. Since before the July 4th weekend, I had taken the tubing and instruction sheet to Victoria Repair so they could fabricate the carriage parts. There had been a number of delays due to the guys being gone during the holidays and their not understanding the instruction sheet, but finally today and several visits, the parts are ready. I will take them up to the airport on Saturday and begin the actual reconstruction of the Jetwing carriage.
Meanwhile, last Tuesday, I flew with Don in his Airborne for 1.8 hours. I felt more in control than ever before, from initial take-off to final full-stop landing, and the T&G’s in between. Don complimented me on my increased skills, and agreed that I need to fly with more regularity. Don’t know if he’ll sign me off for solo in 10 hours, but I’ll give it my best effort.

Friday, June 25, 2010 Bungees Arrive

I had placed an order with a Canadian company for the 3/16” bungees that attach to the swing axles, and the 3/32” bungees for the wing batten safties and front wing attachment. The box arrived today and I threw it into the trunk of the car without opening it. Earlier in the week, I had taken the wheels to Eric’s Bikes & Boards in Eden Prairie to have them mount the tires on the new wheels from the old broken wheels. With that accomplished, and hopefully after I get the pieces from Victoria Repair, I’ll make a trip to the airport and start some serious assembly work.
I had e-mailed Steve Gund to come up and stay for a week-end and help with the assembly of the carriage. I had hoped to get started the week following July 4th, but Steve’s schedule won’t allow that. I could push it out to the next week if he’s available, but if he isn’t, I’ll probably go ahead with the assembly process. It’s not really a 2-person job; just might be more fun if we could do it together. I have to wait to hear from him.
Meanwhile, we had committed to dog-sit for our friends Larry and Judy Nelson the week of June 27th through July 4th. So nothing will get done until after that. Hopefully I’ll pick up the carriage pieces and if Steve can’t come up the following week, I’ll start with the rebuild the weekend of 10th-11th. Who knows, maybe Larry Miller will enjoy coming up to help. I’ll ask him.
Also, Don Lindemann wants to get me “finished up” with my flight instruction. I committed to 10 hours dual and have done slightly over 3 hours. He wants me to have at least 100 landings. He hasn’t given me a schedule, but I’ll try to finish up within a couple of weeks. My goal would be for him to sign me off for solo, even though I can’t solo any certificated aircraft because of my revoked medical. I can fly under Part 103, but that’s all. Fine with me, but I would feel much more confident when I fly the Jetwing for the first time if I felt that at least Don thought I was safe to solo.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010 Carriage Pieces to Machine Shop

Today I plan to deliver the tubing and instructions to Victoria Repair so they can cut and drill the carriage pieces. This is the last step before I will be able to put the carriage together. There will be much to go after that, but this will be a big step, psychologically as well as actually, because I will actually have the Jetwing basically built. There will be other work, including the throttle cabling and electrical hook-up, propeller installation, and general engine check-out. But getting past this step will be huge. I measured everything out meticulously and gave Victoria Repair a list of all the carriage components, side rails, uprights, side brace tube, and bent front downtube. The side rails and uprights are sleeved, so hopefully they will do that correct. I am doing a slight modification to the uprights; I’m going to add a full-length inner sleeve rather than duplicating the original design of three sections of sleeving. Since the wing and engine hang on these pieces, I don’t think it’s a bad idea to have full-length inner sleeves like the side rails. The added weight will be minimal. We’ll see how Victoria Repair does with these components.

Saturday, June 19, 2010 Finish the Wing

Today started out with blustery winds but the temperature was very comfortable. I headed for the airport with hopeful intent to get the wing fully inflated to check out all the fixes. With the help of Larry Miller’s pictures, I bolted up the kingpost to its attach point on the keel and the tensioning bracket. My attention now turned to the control bar and cables. I attached the front and back control bar cables and assembled the control bar, attached the front cable to the nose, and set the wing on the control bar. Looking good! I spread the wing and tensioned it. After a couple of false starts due to some tangling of the kingpost cables, and trying to figure out how the top loop stayed at the top of the kingpost, the wing finally fully inflated. Because of the wind gusts, the wing wanted to fly and I had to hold it down on the ground. I attached the wing cables to the control bar and during a short decrease of the wind, walked around and took some pictures. As I head for home, I’m physically exhausted but very gratified.