Saturday, September 04, 2010 Continuing theWork

This has been a very productive week, not so much with the Jetwing rebuild, but with other things. I flew with Don twice and like many things in life, seemed to “catch on” to the landing technique. I flew on Thursday and also early today, a total of about 3 hours and 20 landings in just these two sessions. Don said the improvement in my flying was noticeable and he would be willing to sign me off for solo next session. That means it will be less than 10 hours total WSC time or maybe just over. He thought my airplane flight experience helps me in visualizing in three dimensions, a critical element for the landings.
On the way back from the flying, I stopped off at Crystal to work on the Jetwing. I got the nose wheel installed, along with the rear wheels and swing axle cables and front downtube. It’s beginning to look like a Jetwing should. I should be able to get the engine on soon.

Friday, August 20, 2010 Finish Uprights

The next task is to get the uprights on the carriage. I felt unsure of the measurements for the holes in the uprights, where the brackets go for the side braces, the engine mount brackets, and the attach points for the Upper Frame Plate that attaches the uprights to the main center boom. With Larry Miller’s help, I got those measurements so I could finish up the uprights.
I had used Wesson oil to make it easier to slide the inner sleeves inside the uprights; worked well. I took the uprights up to the airport this morning. I wasn’t feeling very energetic, but managed to get the holes drilled to attached the uprights to the center boom brackets, taking care to ensure correct alignment of the boom and ensuring the uprights were square with the side rails and each other. Everything seemed to work out, but as usual it seemed to take longer and took more effort than I anticipated. But that part is done, although I still need to get the brackets for the side brace and engine mounts done. That will be for next time.
For now, it’s time to go home.

Saturday, August 7, 2010 Try Again to get the Axles and Wheels Done

Last Monday I took the tubes I had ordered from Aircraft Spruce and instructions to Victoria Repair and asked them to redo the uprights. I picked up the redone tubes on Friday, the 6th. Everything’s wrong. Well, not everything, but they didn’t do much right. I’ll have to finish the work myself; they don’t seem to have a clue.
Today we’ll go back to the airport. Sandra wanted to get out of the house, so we drove up to the airport together and stopped at the Perkins in Crystal for breakfast. It was raining hard, but it won’t affect me because I can just turn on the hanger lights and keep the main door closed. I left Sandra at Perkins reading the paper and sipping iced tea and went to the hanger. The first job is to get that right axle attached. I worked for at least an hour with no results. The C-clamp I had borrowed from Chad wasn’t doing the job I had envisioned. The sequence of heavy brackets that attach the swing axle to the side rail weren’t allowing alignment of the holes well enough for the bolt to slip through. Finally I took the whole thing apart again and, using a hammer, was able to widen the small bracket just enough to finally get the axle bolt through. But the work was fatiguing enough that I didn’t feel like finishing the axles and wheels. I’ll do it next time. Time to go home.

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.