Typical December weather:
…even with some snow thrown in:
It wasn’t all doom and gloom, some aviation was achieved. The RV6 over the fog filled valley of the Tay at Ballinluig:
Back in the hangar and safe from the elements, the Cub inches towards the point where the wings can come off for repair…
Control cables disconnected and ailerons removed to the workshop at home for safe keeping:
Cables tidied up and strapped to the struts:
I’ve got loads of yellow tape in the locker for the RV; it’s coming in handy for the Cub now as well…
The control cables sometimes do manage to retaliate:
At least we’re doing it under cover and not in the Ardennes in the freezing cold of the Battle of the Bulge…
The freshly printed instructor rating finally got used in anger, here’s Oli my first ever student. He’s off to an integrated course next year with a conditional offer from BA…
…so in the future I am going to be able to say that my first ever student now flies for BA!
On a cold day, with another student, we just couldn’t get the aircraft started. Even before we climbed into the aircraft we had about 30 minutes of de-icing to do.
The battery was a little inefficient in the cold, the oil was all huddling together for warmth at the bottom of the sump, the inside of the canopy was starting to ice over from our breath and the engine stubbornly refused to start.
Eventually we overprimed and flooded the carb intake box. The next failed start must have had some flame blowback through the intake valve and like a dog, it went WOOF and we were on fire.
It became obvious quite quickly, a strange smell and people shouting “YOU’RE ON FIRE!” – those were the main clues…
We did the fire drill and jumped out. There was a residual flicker of flame from the carburettor intake filter element – it’s made of foam and impregnated with oil to trap dust and other bogies, so it burns quite nicely.
The last item on the fire drill in the checklist reads:
“Vacate aircraft, taking fire extinguisher with you”
…so naturally I had to go back into the cabin to get the extinguisher and only then were we able to put the fire out.
The extinguishers in aircraft are very effective; one quick squirt to test then another longer squirt to put the fire out. Almost 12,000 hours and that was the first time I had to use an extinguisher in anger. All those fire courses my previous employers put me through were well worth it!
So, yeh. We were on fire. Tried to burn down a Cessna. Tough old birds, we didn’t manage to complete the task…despite forgetting the extinguisher.
Happy New Year! Both of you…