Flight Testing Completed

I have spent the past few days completing the flight tests required by Vans Aircraft and also to fulfill the Phase I requirements of the Airworthiness certificate.  I added a rudder trim tab to help with rudder at cruise flight. It took a couple adjustments to get it to performed correctly.

The last 4 flight tests involved climbing to 10,000 ft at different configurations and time the climb between different altitudes.  The autopilot and EFIS logged helped immensely in getting this data. The flight tests also included doing various stalls, slow speed, cruise speed calibration, turns, etc.  I had to add 20 lbs of water in a jug as a ballast to get the plane to 1050 lbs per instructions.

Overall things performed as per POH.  The RV12 is a fun plane to fly and can't wait to take some of my family up on flights.

Trim Tab clecoed

Trim tab riveted

Climbing to 10,000 ft

Selfie.

View over clouds

View of valley

Flight over my sons soccer game.

FIRST FLIGHT!!!!

Today was the big day!!!!  I received some more transition training from Jose at Vans. We went over what PAP F1 instructions were so I could be prepared for my first flight test.  I completed my checkout from him so now I am legit to fly my plane.

After flight training I went to the hangar and put the plane back together from the airworthiness inspection. I went through pre-flight checks and then performed some taxi tests. I calibrated the magnetometer and conditioned the brakes.

The weather today was excellent and wind was calm so I couldn't pass up doing a first flight.  I figured since the training was fresh in my mind it would be a good time.  So I had the family come out and performed the first flight.  The airplane is amazing and took off in no time. It flew smooth. I went through PAP F1 and everything functioned well. There is only some rudder trim to take care of. I even tested out the autopilot and it worked great! I came in for a landing and made a very smooth landing.  An of course had the RV Grin!

I checked the engine for leaks, etc. and went through making notations on the PAP F1 form. I previously ordered the rudder trim kit as I figured there was a good chance I would need it, so I went ahead and installed it. We will see how it does next flight.

After the flight we had a good family dinner at the hangar.

Pulling plane out of hangar

Checking over plane

Wheels off 

Takeoff

Landing

RV Grin

Dinner at hangar

Video of takeoff and landing

Video from in cockpit of first flight. Speed of 5X except for T/O and Landing

Transition Training / Airworthiness inspection

Today was another big Milestone. This afternoon I went to Vans aircraft and received some transition training from Jose. We flew down to Lebanon and did a few landings. I practiced some slow flight and stalls on the way there. The RV-12 is Awesome!!!  I think it helped some that I had a few hours in the Tecnam Sierra as that gave a little closer feel to how the RV12 flies. I will continue with a little more training tomorrow morning to get better prepared for my first flight in my aircraft.

This evening the DAR, Gary Brown came and did my airworthiness inspection. Everything passed with flying colors. A little time spent going over paperwork and operating limitations. N8697T is now considered airworthy and ready to fly.

Tomorrow after transition training in the morning I will put the plane back together and do some taxi tests. If everything goes right and weather is good I hope to do my first flight tomorrow evening!

Time: 1 hr (For inspection, didn't include flight transition training time of 1.7 hrs)

Receiving Airworthiness Certificate

Airworthiness Inspection

Fuel Calibration

I received a few electrical parts to fabricate a new ELT GPS tester. It is too rainy today to pull the plane out of the hangar to do the test. That will have to wait for another day.

I did complete the fuel calibration of the tank. It calibrated up to 16 gallons.  That completes G8 of the production acceptance procedures.

Time: 1.25 hrs

Newly fabricated ELT GPS test light

Fuel Calibration

Fuel Tank Ground / ELT Tests

I started today by adding a ground wire to the sender grounding plate. I have read that some people had to do this in order to get proper ground to the fuel sender. I removed a screw, added some fuel sealant and then placed the wire.

While waiting for fuel sealant to dry I performed the ELT tests. After a run to Radio Shack I made a makeshift ELT GPS tester light. I tried doing the test and could not get the light to light up.  It may be due to the wrong type of resistor so I will order a few supplies online to make a better tester.  I performed registered the ELT and performed the ELT self & G tests and they both passed.

I decided to add a few gallons of fuel to see if the ground wire to the fuel sender functioned properly.  I added 5 gallons and the results were much better than before.

Time: 6 hrs.

Ground wire added to fuel grounding plate.

Attempt #1 at ELT GPS test light

Calibration to 5 gallons

Weight & Balance / Fuel Cal Attempt #1

It is the day for weight and balance. I first started by placing the canopy seals as per plans.  I then installed the cowling and inspection plates and figured the plane for weight and balance. I also re-checked the cable tension for stabilator and they both came in at 40 lbs. All the interior was positioned back into place.

I leveled the deck and then place the plane on scales. I had bought 3 scales to make things easy and it was. Weights were obtained and recorded.  Measurements were also taken to get the measurements from all 3 axles to the reference line.  The weight and balance calculations were then performed. My plane with full interior and ADS-B out/in weighed in at an empty weight of 752 lbs.

Completed photos were also taken for the DAR.

I then attempted to calibrate the fuel tank. I say attempted because once completed it seemed like the readings were inaccurate. I believe there may be a grounding issue, so the fuel tank was drained again. I will research this out more and see what may be the issue and re-calibrate the tank.

Time: 8 hrs.

Canopy seal

Canopy Seal

Canopy seal

Preparing for Weight & Balance

Interior ready for weight and balance

Lower cowling plate attached

Inspection plates attached

Leveling of deck

Scales in place

Weight

Left 

Front

Right

Front Right

Front Left

Gauge at 15 gallons

Fuel calibration attempt #1 (is incorrect)

Draining fuel tank

PAP G6 Complete

I went to the hangar and first thing I did was to check the spark plug wire locations. Since there was such a drop in RPM at run-up last time I thought that this might be the most likely reason for it.  Sure enough, despite my efforts to keep the right plug in the right place, the top plug wires for #2 & #4 cylinders were switched. I moved them to their proper location and did another run-up.  The ignition test passed with only a 150 RPM drop in each A and B ignition.

I removed the gascolator and checked and cleaned screen. Everything looked pretty clean. I also removed and checked the carb bowls. This took a little work but manageable, especially with the right carb since there wasn't as much space. 

This completed PAP G6!

Time: 2.5 hrs

Incorrect top spark plug wire location

Correct Spark Plug wire location

Gascolator filter check and cleaning

PAP G6 cont. , Ignition fail.

Started the engine again today and continued through PAP G6. The fuel PSI was stable. The CHT both worked. I made slight adjustments to the carb sync and it seemed to be good at idle and high RPM. The throttle springs passed. I then went onto the ignition test. I took the RPM to 4000 and then shut off one ignition at a time. They each dropped about 500-600 RPM.  I then tried running at 4000 RPM for 4 min and there was still a drop.  So something is going on with the ignition system.  I am thinking of trying to replace the spark plugs since that would be the easiest fix, so may try that first. I have noticed quite a bit of soot on the spark plugs of the front cylinders.  So I am hoping it is a simple fix as that or maybe a spark plug wire not connected fully.  In reading online the worse case would be that it has something to do with the trigger coil and if that was that case I would have to pull the engine to get access.  Let's hope that is not the case.

Time: 2hrs.

Carbs in sync

Troubleshooting: CHT2, Oil Temp, Fuel PSI

Today was troubleshooting day in trying to solve the issues I have had with the CHT2, Fuel temp, and fuel gauge. I decided to first check all connections to the GEA 24 and control module,  I removed the connections from the GEA 24 and then reinstalled them. I turned on the G3X, issue still there. I then by chance bumbed the wiring bundles attached to the control module and I noticed on the G3X that the gauges in question would work and then show unconnected.  I then figured it had to be a connection issue with the control module. I checked all the D-subs attached to the control module and found that the D-sub "EFIS" was attached but not fully screwed in.  I tightened it and checked all others. Look at the screen again and all gauges in question seemed to working fine. Issue Solved!!!

I then decided to do another oil purge since I had been getting soft lifters. I put about 15 PSI on the system and turned the prop about 60 times. I then checked the lifters and they all seem solid. Finally oil purge success.

It was raining to much to pull the plane out and do another engine run, so that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Time: 2 hrs.

Checking of wire connections

Lifter Test - Solid

2nd/3rd Engine start

It was a day of troubleshooting. I first tried to track down what was wrong with the CHT2. I removed and cross tested the wires. CHT1 wire worked on both sensors, so it had to be a wiring issue. I checked the wire with a multimeter from the sensor connection to the pin on the FWD fuselage harness and it seemed to be fine. So there must be something going with the control module or GEA. It is over my head so I will need to solicit some help in figuring it out.

I then tried to figure out why the transponder wasn't showing. It had when I had originally configured it. After a few minutes it just started working. Maybe it just took some time to connect.

I removed the plastic on the canopy. Doesn't it look pretty? I also did the ADAHRS pitch, calibration. Once I did that then the autopilot showed up on the G3X. I tested the autopilot engage and release. Everything worked fine.

I hooked up the carbmate and then attempted with the 2nd engine start. Engine started and the oil temp soon had a big X again. The fuel PSI flucuated into the red some again, but after a couple minutes seemed to stabilize in the green. The CHT2 is still an X. I did some adjustments of the carbs. Each time having to turn off the engine since by myself. After a bit the battery voltage seemed to be low, so I decided to give the engine a break and charge up the battery again. I checked the lifter and there were a few that were soft.  This is what I showed: Cyl 1 - Aft lifted, Cyl 3 - Fore lifted., Cyl 4 - Lifed a little, Cyl 1 - Lifted a little. I decided to go ahead and try running the engine for 5 minutes at 3500 RPM as per SI.

The 3rd run up went ok.  I warmed the engine up again, not really knowing what oil temp was since X'ed out, but figured it had to be high enough after running it for several minutes. I increase RPM to 3500 for 5 minutes. I noticed on the carbmate that it was in sync even at the finest setting, but when I lowered the RPM again to 2200 it showed a little off. I will fine tune this at a later date.  I checked the lifters again and still showed soft lifters on all cylinders. I may need to go through the purge process again.
A few screen 

Time: 4.75 hrs

Canopy Plastic removed

Lifters Cyl #1

Aft lifter Cylinder #1

Fore lifter cylinder #3

Carb sync at 3500 RPM

Carb sync at 2200 RPM (sorry for blurriness)

Carb sync at 2200 RPM, finer setting (again sorry for blurriness)

No oil temp, Fuel PSI low

No Oil temp