Clear of Cloud

Beaten by the Battery

It looks like HI needs a new battery.  I was back out at the airfield yesterday to do a couple of touch and goes, maybe make use of the lovely crisp day to go for a bimble out west.  I pulled HI out of the hangar and up to the bowser - why does the bowser have to be up a hill - to top up the tanks. Unfortunately when I finally got around to starting her  - nothing. Well, not nothing but certainly not enough to start a cold O-200.

It looks like my engineering guru was right, charging wasn't enough. 

If you're interested, I found this useful info on www.batterystuff.com  and there's plenty more there:

" Battery life and performance - Average battery life has become shorter as energy requirements have increased. Two phrases I hear most often are "my battery won't take a charge, and my battery won't hold a charge". Only 30% of batteries sold today reach the 48-month mark. In fact 80% of all battery failure is related to sulfation build-up. This build up occurs when the sulfur molecules in the electrolyte (battery acid) become so deeply discharged that they begin to coat the battery's lead plates. Before long the plates become so coated that the battery dies. The causes of sulfation are numerous. Let me list some for you.

• Batteries sit too long between charges. As little as 24 hours in hot weather and several days in cooler weather.
• Battery is stored without some type of energy input.
• "Deep cycling" an engine starting battery. Remember these batteries can't stand deep discharge.
• Undercharging of a battery to only 90% of capacity will allow sulfation of the battery using the 10% of battery chemistry not reactivated by the incompleted charging cycle.
• ...
• Low electrolyte level - battery plates exposed to air will immediately sulfate.
• Incorrect charging levels and settings. Most cheap battery chargers can do more harm than good. See the section on battery charging.
• Cold weather is also hard on the battery. The chemistry does not make the same amount of energy as a warm battery. A deeply discharged battery can freeze solid in sub zero weather."

Of course if that's not interesting, here's a pretty picture instead: 
 

My Batteries Are Charging

It took some while to troubleshoot why the battery wasn't charging but the the dodgy mains outlet was identified as the culprit and now HI's battery in charging and I'm working on some photos from a friend's wedding.

It's freezing in this hangar. Dubilin Airport is reporting temperature as zero degrees but it's the most comfortable I've been while losing sensation in my toes. Outside the hangar, my little Trangia stove flickering away safely, making a warming cup of tea, watching the lights of arrivals and departures from Dublin airport against a clear sky. Elbow singing in the background

"Are we coming across clear?
Are we coming across fine?
Are we having the time of our lives?
...
One little room and the biggest of plans.
The days were shaping up,
Frosty and bright.
Perfect weather to fly.

Perfect weather to fly."

I'm back inside now with my tea cooling rapidly and I notice, in the frosty fluorescent haze of the hangar, that I'm not alone with my flying machine. I'm sure it's way past his bed time but a robin has flitted up, checking up on this earth-bound flyer, perched on chair, plumped out in his winter coat, tap, tap, tapping away on his keyboard.

On a frosty clear night, in a countryside hangar, tending to a vintage aeroplane with robin and a mug of lukewarm tea for company: such is contentment.

This Evening's Task

... is to try and get this fellow charged! Brrr is it cold in this hangar

Here's another Tip.

Aeroplane's don't like to be left alone in the hangar with nobody visiting and boy did HI let me know today.

I went out to the airfield, donned my wellies and walked the full length of the field, looking for the wet or soft patches. It was a little squidgy underfoot and in one place there was puddling but I decided that it was at least good enough to try.  There was a reasonable headwind component and the runway direction was uphill, if she didn't want to fly I'd know early on and there was plenty of opportunity to to stop.

Back along the runway to the hangar I walked, thinking how good it would be to even get 30 minutes of flying in. When I got back to the hangar, I decided to ring and move a business meeting from 1 to 2pm.  If I was going to go flying, I didn't want to rush it.  I'm still new to this and I didn't want any pressures to land HI off any particular approach.

I did the walk around in the hangar, nice to be able to do.  Oil levels were fine and I had plenty of fuel for an hour of circuit bashing with reserve. Space is generous in the hangar at the moment and I've got a good system for manuerving her out, thanks to one of my Luscombe mentors, Pete. I pull her out from her spot using the the prop and front struts, then once she clear of the other aircraft, I pull her out of the hangar tail-first using a rope looped around the tailwheel spring.  This dog-leash technique is brilliant and a couple of people have commented on it's cleverness - I've had to assure them that its cleverness is more a reflection of the people I know than any inherent brightness of mine.

Here's the proof. Primed, master on, mags on, "clear prop!", push the button, whirr, tak, tak, tak, tak, tak, tak, clunk.  The prop struggled its way around.  I tried everything I could to coach her to life but it was pretty clear that the battery had gone flat. We haven't flown in nearly six weeks and even then it probably hadn't gotten enough charge from forty minutes circuit work.  I 'rested' the battery and retried a couple of times to no avail. Even very, very careful hand-swinging didn't work.  I think I may not be tall enough to get a good enough pull to start her - it's certainly not because it's a difficult engine to start.... ordinarily.

In the end, I gave up before I got either tired or frustrated which might have led me into stupidity. I put HI back carefully, offered my apologies and promised to come back next week with my battery charger.

Winter's Not Good for Flying

Here's a tip for you; or frankly a blinding flash of the obvious; if you buy an aeroplane, try to buy it at the start of the flying season not the end. It's been nearly six weeks since I've flown HI and I'm definitely getting withdrawl symptoms.The evening's are too short to go flying and all my weekends are spent trying to build a new home for us - or to stop that home sinking beneath the record breaking floodwaters Ireland is experiencing at the moment.  I should consider a float plane rating and floats for HI if recent weather becomes a regular feature of our climate.

Anyway, I'm off work tomorrow and I'm going to sneak off the ''strip.  Ceiling and vis look like they might be okay even if the breeze is a little stiff. The winds are forecast for between 10-15knots but straight down the runway.  Of course all of that presumes that the runway isn't completely waterlogged.

Variables,variables, variables. Still fingers crossed because I miss my flying aeroplane.

Permit to Fly

Great news, HI received her Permit to Fly from the LAA yesterday.  She's now fully finished and ready to go (ish).  Now that we have a permit, Pete's going to do some shakedown flying just to make sure he's happy that everything is in order.  Next up on the list of things to do is to get me trained up!

I've got my instructor lined up but trying to get our schedules in synch and get the weather to co-operate will be a challenge but then isn't that what flying is about.  

Time to go flying I think.

A Beacon that Couldn't be Bettered

I've been putting off buying a PLB (personal locator beacon) for a while for a couple of reasons: one, I don't need one right now and two; I couldn't afford the one I wanted. 

Originally, I wanted a McMurdo Fastfind Max-G, which was the guts of £400.  They've come down but they are still well over £320.  Then, recently McMurdo launched a lower cost PLB, the Fastfind 210 (About £230).  It's a slightly lower specification device but it is a lot of safety equipment for the money. The big differences between the two are that the MaxG runs for 48 hours and is buoyant while the 210 runs for 24 hours and is not buoyant (though it is waterproof to the same level as the MaxG)

I would be happy enough with the 24 hour runtime as I would expect a recovery from any situation that I foresee myself in could be effected in that time. The buoyancy issue is more significant. In the case of a ditching the last thing I want to do is get wetter, crying, as my life-saving PLB transmits in vain from the depths of the Irish Sea.

McMurdo do make a buoyancy pouch for the 210 to make it float, so one of those plus tethering the PLB to your person got mitigate the floating issue to some extent.

That was where I was at in my decision making. Today, I bought a PLB. The MaxG? No. I got the best PLB there is, the Fastfind 210...discounted. I was offered a brand new Fastfind for under £200 and I couldn't refuse it. Is the Fastfind 210 the best beacon, perhaps not but the PLB you own and have with you when you need it is infinitely better than any higher spec one sitting the shop.

Contracting Horizons, Spectacular Visibility.

M. from the flight school gave me a call the other day to see if I wanted to go flying this weekend. He and P. were planning a flight to Haverfordwest and they were looking for me to make join the crew - I think more for my local knowledge, than my aviating skill, which is a bit rough around the edges at the moment.

By Sunday, the flight's ambitions had shrunk to Cork. Cork, I had never been to Cork Aiport, not quite as adventurous as Wales but it would be fun. By Monday, P. had to cry off, so with only two sharing the plane we planned for a shorter trip.  Kilkenny became the new target.

We put in a quick phone call on Monday to confirm that the airport was open but all we got was disappointing news.  Only 400 meters of the runway was available.  Neither I nor M. felt we could get the C172 in and out safely so our horizon contracted even further - if it is possible to "contract further".

We settled on Kilrush Airfield in county Kildare - a short bimble but any flying is better than no flying.

M. flew the leg down and it was remarkably quiet out.  No sign of any traffic and very little activity in Kilrush when we floated in. It seems that family commitments take precedence over flying on bank holiday weekends.  There was a little bumpy air around with the easterly breeze, rolling off the mountains. The visibility was fantastic though. I still haven't figure out how far south we could actually see but on the route home we could definitely see Kingscourt in Cavan and, we think, the Mourne Mountains.  I don't think I've ever seen visibility that good and certainly not after a prolonged warm spell.  A few days of the glorious weather we've been having normally means quite a lot of haze but not yesterday.

Yesterday was spectacular..... if only we managed some more flying

120 knots indicated, ha, ha ha

Apparently, flight testing has revealed that my Luscombe is good for a 120 knots indicated.  I'll break with the long established traditions of aviators and anglers and I'll tell the truth: HI doesn't do 120 knots.  However, in her defense, HI will do a quite respectable 90 knots with the power set 2350 rpm.  This speed was established by taking GPS-based averages into- and down- wind.

In terms of maximum speed, Pete didn't want to run the engine full out for too long but he thought that 110 was HI's top speed.  I'm happy with 90 knots though.  Given that I'm still a novice pilot, it's probably a good idea that the plane and my brain travel at the same speed for now.  All of my training was done at that speed and its a handy number for mental calculations - 1.5 nautical miles a minute. That's an easy enough number for time and distance calculations. For navigation calculations, the maximum drift in degrees can be calculated by the following rule of thumb:

(60/TAS) X Wind Speed = Max Drift

With a speed of 90 knots, that calculation can be simplified:

Wind Speed / (90/60) = Max Drift

or

Wind Speed / 1.5 = Max Drift.

....well in my head, it's easier.

All of the rest of test data has been gathered at this stage and the paperwork is to be submitted to the LAA in the coming days.  Pete's going to do some more shake-down flying.  There have already been a few tweaks - the brakes have been adjusted, new oil filter that sort of thing. It's nearly nearly ready to come home, if only I could say the same about me.

120 knots a Luscombe, that would be good, particularly flying her home over the Irish Sea.

Permit to Test Changes

There's been no real update on HI though we've discovered the Permit to Test requirements have changed slightly.  We thought that there was a 5 hour test period but that's not the case.  The LAA requirement is that a specified test schedule be carried out.  If that can be carried out satisfactorily in one or two hours then that is all that is required by the LAA. Pete and I have agreed that in any case, a minimum 5 hour shake-down would be prudent - so a shake-down there shall be.

The weather still isn't particularly great for test flying so I expect things will be quiet here.