Saturday, July 20, 2019

New Kolb Pilot, Mike Armstrong.

I  noticed on the Kolb list a new guy to the list asked for some assistance in getting current with a new to him Mark III. It is a two place big brother to my plane. He lived in Oregon, but was currently in New Mexico, so I invited him to stop by and I would take him to some of the large Playa lake beds where there was nothing to get in the way, and help him familiarize himself to the plane. He accepted and arrived the 16th of July.




We spent the rest of the day Tuesday putting the plane together and getting ready to fly. Wed. morning we spent getting the propeller adjusted to the altitude , and fine tuning the plane. We took off and landed several times to check our work. After we were satisfied with the prop, we went to Coyote Lake. After landing, Mike made his first take off and a couple of landings with me as co pilot. Mike has flown other types of UL planes and merely needed a little assistance with the "tail dragger" aspect of the plane. I got out and Mike did his first solo take offs and landings. On our return I again landed on my runway.

Thursday we flew to Rome Station to get some fuel, intending to go to Coyote Lake and do some touch and goes. The engine only requires 87 octane, so we put about 7 gallons of ethanol gasoline in the tank, took off heading towards Coyote Lake. The plane had a "flo Scan" installed, and by the time we got even with Burns Jct we were showing a "restricted " flow to the fuel. We got right over the hwy and limped back to the house to see what was the problem. Apparently the alcohol in the gas      ( what a wonderful idea) broke something loose in the tanks or lines and was blocking the filters. We spent the rest of the day changing out the flow scan and filters.

Friday was blustery and not fit weather to have any fun in the air, so we did stuff around the house. This morning the front had blown off East to bother someone else, so we got set to go to Rome State, then back to the home runway. I taxied out to take off, when my Air speed indicator fell out of the dash onto my foot, so back to the hangar for a fix.

When the repairs were completed I again taxied up the hill to take off. Mike soon followed and we went to Rome State where Mike put in about 10 or more take off's and landings. I left after his second landing and came on home. Mike called me on the radio that he was coming home so I took a video camera to the wind sock to record his first landing on my runway. He of course had no problem and put in another three or four landings. He of course is exhausted with all the adrenaline that has been flowing through his system, but quite happy to be a member of the Kolb brotherhood, or is that Personhood???????????????
https://vimeo.com/349243399   password    owyheeflyer