FLYER Club Member
Sun Apr 24, 2016 7:46 pm
#1451142
...it almost feels like I have and it's just from soaking in airfield-ness for days.
Some too-large-number-of weeks ago my trim cable let go when I was doing the walkaround. The fact this happened on the first day the wind and ground had been suitable for flying after the windiest, wettest winter since I got the little X'Air made me something close to incandescent with frustration, but on calmer reflection it didn't look a hard job to replace. Until the replacement arrived minus the UK mod and needed heavy duty soldering and potching, and when I got the covers off to rerun it I found a cracking fuel hose and two broken baton tips, and then everyone started telling me what a dog of a job refitting the skins would be, and in any case I'd found an eyelet tearing out of them and then I decided that since it was all in bits anyway I really would find that drizzling drip of a coolant leak this time and maybe even sort out the rats nest that is the electrics behind the panel.
But I've been up there every free weekend plugging away. Learning everything from scratch because before I got the X'Air everything was an engineer's problem and the most DIY I ever did was the odd bit of dado trunking and bit of Cat5 termination and I don't even drive a car so mechanically it's been all theory up until now.
And up until last year my partner in crime was the one who knew everything about everything mechanical whereas me on my own I have to Google everything from "how to use a torque spanner" to "how to disconnect the battery" and end up buying everything direct from the kit supplier then wondering if this skin lacing really IS just lightswitch-cord.
And now I'm the same colour in the face as the little X'Air's newly replaced skins from wind and sun and the contortions under the pod and heaving on the skins and I've just tried to comb my hair and found that the 'tangle' is actually a one inch length of trim cable and half a ziptie, and I'll sit on my hands in work tomorrow because the gunk under there seemed to have dyed my fingernails black for the forseeable and the **** is literally hanging out of my trousers which failed to pass their impromptu Betts test, courtesy of the fuel drain tap as I slithered out from under the pod. And of course it probably took me five times as long as someone who'd already known what they were doing!
But Rhubarb is delivered unto her inspector and I'm happy.
I got a microlight because it was cheaper to be out from under the licensed engineer requirements, not because I thought I'd enjoyed the DIY. But I do.
I've drunk gallons of coffee, scrounged tools and advice from practically everyone on the field and soon I'll be flying again.
But meantime this feels almost as good.
Some too-large-number-of weeks ago my trim cable let go when I was doing the walkaround. The fact this happened on the first day the wind and ground had been suitable for flying after the windiest, wettest winter since I got the little X'Air made me something close to incandescent with frustration, but on calmer reflection it didn't look a hard job to replace. Until the replacement arrived minus the UK mod and needed heavy duty soldering and potching, and when I got the covers off to rerun it I found a cracking fuel hose and two broken baton tips, and then everyone started telling me what a dog of a job refitting the skins would be, and in any case I'd found an eyelet tearing out of them and then I decided that since it was all in bits anyway I really would find that drizzling drip of a coolant leak this time and maybe even sort out the rats nest that is the electrics behind the panel.
But I've been up there every free weekend plugging away. Learning everything from scratch because before I got the X'Air everything was an engineer's problem and the most DIY I ever did was the odd bit of dado trunking and bit of Cat5 termination and I don't even drive a car so mechanically it's been all theory up until now.
And up until last year my partner in crime was the one who knew everything about everything mechanical whereas me on my own I have to Google everything from "how to use a torque spanner" to "how to disconnect the battery" and end up buying everything direct from the kit supplier then wondering if this skin lacing really IS just lightswitch-cord.
And now I'm the same colour in the face as the little X'Air's newly replaced skins from wind and sun and the contortions under the pod and heaving on the skins and I've just tried to comb my hair and found that the 'tangle' is actually a one inch length of trim cable and half a ziptie, and I'll sit on my hands in work tomorrow because the gunk under there seemed to have dyed my fingernails black for the forseeable and the **** is literally hanging out of my trousers which failed to pass their impromptu Betts test, courtesy of the fuel drain tap as I slithered out from under the pod. And of course it probably took me five times as long as someone who'd already known what they were doing!
But Rhubarb is delivered unto her inspector and I'm happy.
I got a microlight because it was cheaper to be out from under the licensed engineer requirements, not because I thought I'd enjoyed the DIY. But I do.
I've drunk gallons of coffee, scrounged tools and advice from practically everyone on the field and soon I'll be flying again.
But meantime this feels almost as good.
"Let's go flying"
Scribblings of a novice PPL
Scribblings of a novice PPL
