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Today I had off work and the weather was just perfect for flying. Temps in the mid-60's, and very little wind. I called up a weather briefer to check for any TFR's in the area (My flight test area is near Camp David), and they said all is good. I took off and climbed over my home airport to 5,500' and then flew over to York, PA. I went back to Westminster and then back to York to just get some time in the air. Now I decided to make the big flight. From York over the Appalachian mountains to Chambersburg, PA. Here is a pic to the south of my route of a lake in the middle of the Appalachians.  Looking straight ahead. Chambersburg is out there somewhere.  And to the North...nothing much but farms.  Set up at 24 squared and cruising at 5,500'. Once I got to Chambersburg, I flew back to York, then back to Westminster to land and get some lunch. The landing was really nice. One of my better ones. I fueled up my stomach and my RV and went on another flight.  This second flight of the day I wanted to circumnavigate my Phase 1 area. The area I have is bounded by airports - specifically, Westminster (KDMW), York (KTHV), Chambersburg(N68), Hancock(W35), Martinsburg (KMRB), Frederick (KFDK) and Clearview (2W2). So I basically made a counter-clockwise flight to all of the above airports. Once I was finished, I still had some time (and fuel) left, so I went again to chambersburg and did a 180 and headed back to Westminster.   Figured I needed a self pic in the RV. Although I'm not grinning, there's no place I'd rather be than right here now!      Potomac river and route 70 to the north of it.  Climbed up to 6,500' because I thought there were bigger mountains than there really were...  Harpers Ferry is down there between the mountains.  Straight ahead is Frederick, MD.   5 hours on the Hobbs! I'm free of my FAA restriction to just take off on runway 16 at Westminster!  Coming in for my second landing today I noticed I was fast on final and I seemed I was in a flare forever. Then I looked at my idle RPM - 1,100! What? I don't know if the throttle screw backed out or something else changed. But it was definitely too high. I will reset it before next flight to a more acceptable idle speed and see what it does. Its on the list of things to keep an eye on. Since I needed to set the idle screw, I decowled the airplane.  Of course the big thing I was looking for was no more rubbing of the spinner on the cowl! Success!  I notices some oil out of the breather tube onto the exhaust. I always add oil to the 6 Quart mark on the dipstick, and it always seems to burn down to 5.75Q. So I dont know if the extra is blow-by or what. Better safe than sorry now. Next time when its at 5.75Q, I will just leave it and do some short flights. I don't think this dipstick is calibrated properly with the markings it had on it from the factory, so this could all be just fine. Hopefully she isn't burning any oil so I can call the engine broken in! A great 3.5 hours on the hobbs today! What a day. 
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Last Modified: August 13, 2023 |