The Engine Runs!

I am a bit behind on the blog posting.

On Saturday, October 10th we did the empty weight and balance measurements. We put the airplane on 3 car scales and recorded the weight on each wheel. A bunch of simple math later and we had the Weight and Balance and the Center or Gravity all calculated. The good news is it was exactly where we wanted it to be and right in line with other planes that were already flying.

Here are the calculations:

The allowable CG is 82 to 88” aft of datum

The max gross weight is 2050 (1900 for aerobatics)

My CG of the empty airplane is 81.25 which means fuel burn does not change the CG but baggage and people move it aft.

Even with minimum fuel, no baggage and a very light pilot I can’t get it forward of the allowed CG

Note the front tire is flat (intentionally). The airplane needs to be in it’s flight attitude to get a proper measurement of CG. By letting air out of the nose wheel tire I was able to get it to the proper angle.

We finished all the pre-start engine tests including checking fuel pressure and volume, oil pressure and cleaning out the engine preservative in the fuel system.

My friend John was a trooper as we moved 25 gallons of aviation fuel back and forth between the two tanks several times. Without complaining he filled the 5 gallon bucket from one wing and moved it to the other and then back.

We wanted to run the engine that day, but it was a steady drizzle outside and we finally gave up and continued to work inside.

We did the first engine start on Sunday, October 11th. The engine started without issue and ran well for the 15 minute test run.

You can’t easily tell, but the engine is running at about 1000 rpms here thus the wind in my face and hair.
My Dad and Brady watching while I am running the engine.

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