March Already!
Can't believe it is March already. February was jam-packed so I guess it just flew-by. SNF is almost here! We are in discussions on sharing a booth with Myers Aviation. We were not planning to go this year, but Verner is concerned about representation, so we are gonna try - last minute! If we go, it will interrupt our flight testing, but not too much if we don't trailer the P-36.
We are on-track for completing our flap installation and the oleo strut conversion by early April. The flaps are built and ready to install. The flap actuation torque tubes and drive arms are fabricated and ready to install. The wing modifications are under-way. Those modifications involve removing the aft, lower skins and modifying the ribs to make room for the flaps. We will also install a Z bent spar for the hinges to mount to. The hinge blocks will hold the actuation drive system. The flap actuator is electric and will mount behind the pilot seat bulkhead and below the baggage space. The flap switch will be mounted to a small box that will fit on the left side-wall of the cockpit - between the throttle and the arm rest. We will have a circuit breaker mounted into the box there also.
In February, I made a trip down to Florida to visit some customers and give/receive advice on FWF installation of the Verner engines. That was a very productive trip and fun too! At the end of the month, I took a full week off to go on a Caribbean cruise with my wife-where I am writing this blog from. Yah-Mon! My first cruise - very fun! I did get sick the first night, but felt good after that.
Standing in line for a show, met a married couple-both airline pilots. He flew airshows in a Bede 5 micro-jet he built. She has an RV-8 they built. He is retired, she is still working. They know my wife’s sister who is an airline pilot. I also donated my BD-5 project to Art Nall - the same guy he sold his micro-jet to. Mine will be converted to a jet with the larger engine after his. So two of the fastest BD-5J’s. You never know who you will meet. Aviation is a small World in the sense that you meet people and they know your friends from some crazy interaction. It’s cool! Planning to meet up at SNF and for sure Oshkosh.
Just before leaving for this cruise, we got our new replacement propeller blades from NR Prop of Kiev, Ukraine. They sent it parcel post and USPS delivered it here. Only took two weeks - from a war zone! They are still in business. It is important for their economy to keep moving along so business is encouraged. They have mostly scheduled power outages from the damaged electrical grid. The blades look great. Very good quality and finish. These are not the exact same blades we had. These are going to have a smaller over-all diameter of 68". The old prop was 72". We are re-using the hub. We wanted a known performance blade and tip design for flight testing. These are a standard propeller model for NR Prop so they know the performance it should provide. Designed for 125 hp and 115 to 135 kts cruise speeds. The shape is slightly slimmer than before, but it looks WW2 in shape but with squared tips instead of rounded. I'm very eager to check the balance and install this and the 2-blade wood prop from GSC for static pull testing.
Our plan is to get you real performance numbers ASAP. March and April will be very busy! Flight testing in April and May.
Update: Trips over - Back to work! I wasn’t able to edit the website blog from the ship - internet was spotty for andriod phones. Sending it from home. Promise to update you on any SNF plans and if we get a booth.
