Today I started fixing the horrible canard fillets that I currently have.  The first step was removing the old and that's about all I got accomplished....  I started a permanent page here.

I was asked by a fellow Q2 builder to tuft my airplane and take video and still photos of the plane in-flight.  So, that's what I did today.  A big thank you to neighbor Dave for flying Pamela so she could be my photographer!!  The images came out great - the airflow around the plane is not so great.  Lot's of analysis to do...  Videos are here.  Images are here.  Note that both images and videos are pretty large.

There is a lot happening but no time to report on it!! Since my cowling changes, I have started having a bit of a cooling problem. Not overheating but running at the upper end of the tolerable range. I made a 4 hour flight to El Paso and back like this so it can be "managed". However; I don't like it. The only thing that has changed is the lower cowling. My current theory is that airflow to the P-51 style radiator inlet is now "better" which is flowing too much air thru the ducts and not allowing it to properly slow/increase pressure and absorb heat thru the radiator. To test the theory, I have temporarily reduced the size of the inlet. We'll see what happens....

For the past week I've been working on improving the lower half of my cowling.  It has been huge and bulbous since I ran a radiator in there many years ago.  There has been a huge bottom of the cowl to bottom of canard gap of about 4 inches.  So, I cut off the bottom and starting making a mold for a much more streamlined bottom.  Pictures coming soon!

I installed and flew with an MGL Flight-2 instrument this past weekend.  What a wonderful product!!  It was easy to install, easy to setup, is loaded with features, displays a TON of data, and is very reasonably priced - I HIGHLY recommend it.

This past weekend I made a trip to Jean, NV and back home for the 2009 Mountain States Fly-In and Contact! Magazine Alternative Engine Roundup.  It was a blast and a very big thank you to Pat Panzera of Contact! Magazine and all the folks that made it happen!  More details and photos on this trip page.

Today I flew the prop that I made myself from a Paul Lipps design. This first prop was a fact finding exercise as I was unable to provide exact performance numbers for my engine. The prop had too much pitch for my little engine but hopefully this information get's us a step closer to the ideal propellor design. View photo album of the propellor construction from start to finish.

I am very honored to have been published a couple of times lately.  First was Contact! Magazine and now in the EAA Experimenter.

Spring is windy season in New Mexico. Usually; it doesn't kick up til mid-morning or so.  Not this past Saturday....  I enjoyed breakfast and conversation for a bit too long at a nearby airport on Saturday.  When I stuck my head out the door to leave the wind was really howling.  I took off and returned home to find the wind was a direct 20kt crosswind with gusts.  Given our very narrow runway (E98), I figured I would claim 'yeller' and live to fight another day.  So, I returned to the breakfast airport, tied down, and called for a ride.  My poor girl doesn't sit outside very often and, come Sunday morning, was quite annoyed that I had done that too her.  It had been cold overnight and she didn't want to start.  I cranked and cranked and finally got a nice backfire - then starter problems....  It was obvious pretty quickly that I had broken something.  A look revealed that the starter mount that was an integrated part of my engine block (previously part of the bell housing before I cut it off) had broken.  I was...

I am well into my 2009 condition inspection and happy to report that there have been no surprises.  While I have the wheels off, I'm taking the opportunity to change the brake mounting to the LaRue/Coughlin setup. My brakes have worked ok up to this point with the floating caliper approach - ok means that they did not grab unexpectedly. However; they had little "holding" power and their effectiveness after landing was questionable.  As part of this update, I have made my own brake pads out of a softer material so we'll see how that works out.