FINI! RV-10 Inspection prep, first engine run and Airworthiness Inspection

Añadido: 2026-05-31

[00:00:12]Hi everyone. Welcome back. Special update today. So, we've been doing a lot of prep, getting ready for the final inspection, the airworthiness inspection. And I just want to share with you a lot of what has gone into doing that. First off, you want to do a thorough inspection yourself and have as many eyes as possible look over things and make use of that torque seal cross check and uh put it on all your jam nuts. Make sure they're all tight and all nuts are safety wired, bolts are safety wired, nuts are cottered, etc. kind of thing. So, that takes quite a bit of time and uh have somebody go behind you and check everything because you'll be surprised what you miss. And then, uh it was really exciting this week. We ran the engine for the first time. It started up on the second blade.

[00:00:56]You'll see that in the video. And here we go. Clear.

[00:01:37]and uh we have one surefly ignition.

[00:01:40]Managed to get that on and then one magneto. Uh everything worked. All the engine instruments worked. alternators.

[00:01:46]Both alternators, the BNC main alternator and the Monk Works standby alternator all worked very very nicely.

[00:01:54]I like that Monk Works. It puts out good uh amperage even at idle. And uh let's see. Pressures were good. The propeller cycled properly. Now, I know I've mentioned this before. One of the things you want to do before you make that first flight is set your low pitch stops. And uh you can watch the video.

[00:02:13]Carol will probably put a link into it to further further explain it. But basically, we want this constant speed propeller to act as a fixed pitch propeller during the initial takeoff run. What does that mean? We don't want the governor holding back the RPMs because if that governor were to let go and the engine over speed, it's a problem. These things do have a limitation on max RPMs.

[00:02:37]So, what do you do? What you want to do is run that engine up to max throttle and set it in this case for around 2650 RPM somewhere between 2640 2660 works and and that way the low pitch is holding the propeller back from over speeding. And how do you know the low pitch is doing that? If you reach up and try and pull your governor back and the propeller immediately starts to come back, then your governor is holding it back. So, what you want to do is adjust your governor off of the stops and then go ahead and set your low pitch stops.

[00:03:10]It took about three runs to do that.

[00:03:13]There's two big one and a quarter inch nuts on the front of the MT propeller.

[00:03:18]You just cut the safety wire, loosen it, and then to get more RPMs, you turn that nut counterclockwise, lock it down before you run it. Be safety it. I had a friend that actually uh couple days before his inspection didn't safety that nut and on the subsequent run up the nut came off and destroyed a blade. So pay attention to that and then again run it up to full power and you can adjust it.

[00:03:41]So mine started out around 2600 2590 and it took about three runs just to get it nailed in there to about 2640 2660.

[00:03:51]What will happen now is on that first takeoff, right about the time uh we rotate, break ground, that propeller is unwinding because now we're moving through the air and we should see about 2700 RPMs, then we want the governor to take over. Now, there's a good chance the governor isn't adjusted properly yet. So, on that first flight, you want to watch it when you take off. Don't let it oversp speed. And uh if you have to, you can pull the governor back for this flight. And then before you land, go ahead and run full throttle and uh pull that prop governor back to 2700 RPMs and don't touch it. When you land, just come and reset the stop on the governor safety wire and should be done. So, I've got that all set up.

[00:04:36]>> Okay, one more caution on running up to full throttle when you >> Yeah. So, here that that's a good point Carol brings up is be careful on your first engine runs because the reality is the brakes aren't seated yet. We haven't done any setting of uh uh those brake pads. So, we got to chalk it really well and with this 260 horsepower and we're kind of light. Uh we only put 10 gallons of fuel in it for the initial engine runs. It will jump the chalks and then you really don't have enough brake. So, what did we do? And she's probably got a picture to show you. I parked the pickup truck behind it and used the tail tie down to hold it and that worked fine.

[00:05:12]So, be careful doing those full throttle frontups. So, let's go. What else we did? You can see the baffling here. I like to use the silicone baffling and then I do run a bead of hightemp RTV all around it. We want to keep all of this air here and then going back down through the engine for cooling purposes.

[00:05:31]Uh have one minor oil leak on the back of the uh uh remote oil filter adapter.

[00:05:36]So, I'll get that taken care of today.

[00:05:38]But other than that, everything worked really well. All the gauges work, fuel flow. Uh, by the way, if you want to make use of the additional pilot program, which I'm not going to do here, but I am going to do uh the AAA flight test card program. Uh, so if you want to take somebody else with you, meaning the additional uh pilot program, you've got to do a documented fuel flow test. I do that anyway just to flush out the fuel system and verify uh the fuel flow is all working before we run it. And so we got a little over 40 gallons an hour.

[00:06:08]You're supposed to have 150% of maximum fuel flow. We're getting about 25 26 gallons an hour at max power that matches the book. So you take half of that and the 13 is around 38. So 40 gives us more than 150%. So the flow rate looks really really good. Carol's done a wonderful job of rejects over the whole airplane. It's really slick. So, uh, it's recommended to do that after paint before we get it outside. So, we went ahead and did that. Um, so now it's a matter of putting all the fairings on >> and the weight and balance.

[00:06:45]>> Yes, we also had to do a weight and balance and I'll I'll mention on that.

[00:06:48]So, because everybody's always curious.

[00:06:50]Ours came out at 1734 pounds, I think, which was about 2530 lbs heavier than the last one. So, I'm fine with that. If I think about the differences, we've got some heavier wheels here, uh, with the 600 by sixes, so tires and wheels are a little heavier there. Paint might be a little heavier.

[00:07:08]Don't know if we put some more insulation in it, but hey, 30 pounds, we're okay. It gives us a good uh,000 pound useful load uh on this one. So, um, and extended range fuel tanks as well, now that I think about it. So, uh, what else? Is there anything else to talk about prep?

[00:07:26]>> Yes. Um, talk about getting the cowling off because it's a little bit of difficult. So, show the >> Yeah. So, uh, for the three-bladed uh, cowing propellers, one of the things you'll want to do is cut an extra slot in this cowling here. You can see Okay. So, the normal pal cut is somewhere in here. So, extend it a little bit. And then I just put a filler plate in there with some screws. And put this over top. This anti-splat makes these. They're really nice.

[00:08:01]>> And you trim it down a little bit.

[00:08:02]>> Yeah, I trimmed it down. And it goes right over top of your fairing so you don't mess with it when you're putting it on and off. And that makes that fairing to get on and off a little easier. And I can't think of a whole lot more to tell you. Could you show your interior? All right. Here's the star of the show. The reason why I say that is we've been looking at the outside of this airplane for so long. And now we finally get to sit in it and you should see this thing. So, I'm going to let Carol do the talking because she is what made this thing so nice. What do you want to tell us?

[00:08:36]>> Over here, we have the panel that I did the video on how to do the pen uh holder pocket panel. Um this is the finished one and um on the website um for base leg aviation interior I show how to do all these other panels. We have everything covered. Um and you can see uh some of the panels like this one right here. Vic has to actually get in the airplane and glue it down in place which is very difficult and that's why he does it and he contorts and everything. And then we have the seat cushions which we did sheepkin in the front because Vic really likes sheepkin.

[00:09:18]And um those are finished. And then >> and those are heated as well. We have seat heaters seat heaters in the back.

[00:09:26]>> Okay. There's the controls.

[00:09:28]>> And then in the back I showed you how to do this little uh vent cover right there on that panel. And uh the back seats are the uh diamond quilted.

[00:09:43]And then this roof headliner is the aerosport uh fiberglass covered with um vinyl.

[00:09:54]And we have the crow seat belts which are kind of pushed in the back because we were getting pictures of stuff but um we haven't tried them yet but we did get the crow seat belts.

[00:10:06]And we have the Aerosport center console up there. And Vic likes to see experimental when he gets in the airplane when he's inspecting airplanes.

[00:10:15]So we put it in vinyl across the top there. And we have the Aerosport.

[00:10:21]What is that called?

[00:10:22]>> Yeah, the glare shield cover that came out real nice.

[00:10:26]>> The piano.

[00:10:28]Everything worked on the avionics. That was exciting.

[00:10:31]>> Oh, and show the carpets.

[00:10:32]>> Carpets. We I I love these carpets. They just seem to last forever. And Vic makes a plate. He puts wood underneath, I believe. And then >> he makes a plate for our feet. So, >> yeah, the stainless there so the carpet doesn't wear by our rudder pedals.

[00:10:48]>> And then we'll come around and take a look at the baggage compartment.

[00:10:53]Baggage compartment came out real nice as well. All right. And get these seat belts out of the way.

[00:11:02]You can see I've got an ox power jack here inside the baggage compartment. So, this just uses a typical Cessna plugin.

[00:11:11]I like it back here. It doesn't get any corrosion from exhaust gases or stuff ones that typically get put on the outside of the aircraft. That's why I put it in here. And then nobody is near a propeller when they're connecting, disconnecting.

[00:11:24]Uh I've got lights back here in the baggage compartment that are hot to the battery bus.

[00:11:29]>> What is that antenna for? And the antenna over there is for the ELT.

[00:11:33]>> Okay.

[00:11:34]>> Okay. Let's see. I'll move it on that.

[00:11:36]Right back there. You can see the white antenna for the ELT. Okay. It's protected there in case of a flip over.

[00:11:42]And then here's the strut on the door.

[00:11:44]This is just a 10-in 20 Newton strut off of Amazon. I think they're $8.99 for two of them. So, this works really nicely.

[00:11:52]>> And the baggage panel >> that um we did the video on >> came out real nice. Good. and we finally get to see the thing pretty much together. Uh we've got most of the fairings on. Some of the all the inspection panels are still open. And now we've got a very special guest that you're going to hear from.

[00:12:14]Hi everyone. Guess what? The big day is here. And Vern came by and uh I think he's got something to give me.

[00:12:23]>> It was very tough and very close, but we we squeaked by on another one, Vic. Gez, >> I know you can relax a little bit now.

[00:12:31]>> Yes. Yeah. Right.

[00:12:32]>> But you got a beautiful airplane here as usual. All the the others that I've inspected. This is the cream of the crop. It's really pretty.

[00:12:40]>> So, hold that thought for a minute. So, this is Vern Darly. Vern's a D. We're fellow DS. And I know you guys all know that I'm a D as well, but we don't inspect our own airplanes. And there's a reason for that. Okay. And what's really exciting to me is, you know, when I do finish an As you're aware, sometimes we use them as an FAA training class. I'd rather have somebody actually look over the airplane. And Vern has done that for me now what, four times?

[00:13:08]>> Four times.

[00:13:09]>> Four times. I've had Vern come by.

[00:13:11]Vern's been a D for how many years?

[00:13:13]>> Over 20 years. And done hundreds of airplanes. And uh been an A&P for 50 years about waiting to get the Charles Taylor award any day now. And I also have the uh uh Light Brothers Award for 50 years of safe flying. I got back in 2018. So uh been in aviation maintenance since I was about five years old helping the next door neighbor recover Cubs and uh go over and help do that. And I so I when other teenagers were out running around hot rods, I was hanging out at airport helping and working on all kinds of airplanes over the years. just it's my fun, happy place to be around an airport or hanger or an airplane.

[00:13:58]>> I enjoy talking to Vern. We're both, as you know, D's in the Atlanta area. We go all over. He's part of the FSDO operation. As you know, I'm part of the Maido operation in Atlanta, but Vern is a very thorough inspector, and I really like that. It's just important to me.

[00:14:15]You know, we get one chance to give this thing the actual most perfect pre-flight that it will probably ever have >> because the next flight, the next step is a flight.

[00:14:25]>> It is. Yes.

[00:14:26]>> And so we want it right.

[00:14:28]>> Yeah. Carol's getting ready to do that.

[00:14:32]Not really. No. Finally, the camera person woke up.

[00:14:38]>> Anyway, but again, thanks Vern. Really, really, really appreciate it.

[00:14:41]>> My pleasure. My pleasure.

[00:14:44]And now a final message from my sponsor.

[00:14:49]>> As you know, we usually name our airplanes. The last one, RV10, was named Vicious Cycle. Um, and Vic wanted to name this one Baker's Dozen, but I said no. And I chose the name for this one, and it is Ben. Now, I'm hoping it is Fine. Um, he tells me for sure it is, but uh, it's only made in vinyl, so I should have had him painted on.

[00:15:17]>> Ah, we can always put an international no over top of it. But it feels good to be finished, but I have to admit the RB10 is a really, really big project, especially at our age. So, uh, and I know you're wondering when we're going to fly it. There's work to do yet. So, we've got to put everything together and I've got some tidy up things and uh the weather's not exactly cooperating. So, we should get there in the next week or so. We'll keep you posted. Thanks for watching.