February 28th

I started the day looking at the DRZ, as it won't run without the choke.  I'd hoped it was an air leak that I could easily fix, but it looks like the jets need cleaning.  Oh good, I get to try and take the carb out again.

Randy came and picked me up (because the van won't start until I replace the gearbox safety switch) and we went to the airport to fly to Auburn to meet everybody for brunch.  It was pretty busy getting in there, so I did an orbit to let a couple of people get on the ground before me.

Afterwards, we flew down the North fork of the American River canyon, then back up the South for a ways before heading home.

I had intended to look at the DRZ carb, but meh, I wasn't feeling it by the time Randy dropped me home.

February 27th

Chris had asked to meet at the airport to change the front tyre on his gyroplane, so I headed out early to send in our taxes, then picked Randy up on the way.  The wind at Roseville was pretty blustery:

Lincoln was, if anything, worse, so Chris decided not to come over.  No worries, we loaded all the crap into the van and drove over to him.

We got there just after he'd finished changing the tyre (I said it was either going to be a 5 minute or a 2 hour job - it seemed it was the former).  We went out to lunch, then worked on his brakes when we got back, rebuilding a master cylinder and bleeding them up again.  While he was under the plane pumping up the brakes, Chris noticed an oil leak had been coughing oil all down the underside of the plane, so we took the cowling off and looked at the engine - the valve cover gasket on one cylinder was leaking, so I took the cover off and found it a little bent.  And the gasket was split.  We straightened the cover as best we could and put a new gasket on to hopefully allow Chris to fly while waiting for new covers to come in.

On the way out of Cameron Park, we stopped to talk to Don and see his new flight simulator.  When we got back to the van, it wouldn't start.  We pushed it out of the way, and I started tinkering.  I suspected the gearbox safety switch, and pulled the gearbox covers out.  At first glance, it looked fine, but jumpering around the switch got the van to start.  I dropped Randy home, then drove home without turning the engine off.  Looking into it properly when I got there, I found the wiper part of the switch was worn out.  As in a new wiper:

My wiper...

I've ordered a whole new one :o)

February 21st

I picked Randy up on the way to the airport, and we flew up to Auburn to meet Chris for brunch.

It was Chris' birthday, so I brought him a birthday (cup)cake - it was all I could fit in the storage cubby in the plane :o)

Bill and his son Willy from Lincoln met us in his RV-6 - he could be moving in to our hangar when Larry's Remos leaves any second now.

As Chris had brought a bunch of cameras, we decided to run down the American River on the way home :o)

As always, Big Brother can's see up below the rim :o)

I threw together a couple of videos...

February 20th

I went to the airport for the Display Day, and stood around talking to people about the plane for a while.  As it was winding down, I took the plane out for a potter around.  I circled over the house, but nobody came out and waved, then went and flew up Coon Creek towards Auburn, then down Bear Creek and along the Camp Far West Lake Reservoir before heading back to Lincoln.  It was a bit bumpy under the clouds, and they were clearing up by the time I headed home.  Obviously.

February 19th

Well, my day got a little brighter by reading about people saving cold stunned turtles in Texas :o)

February 17th

In the evening I went to the EAA member's Zoom meeting.  Yay.

February 15th

Today was Presidents' Day, when Americans celebrate George Washington's birthday by going shopping.

The weather sucked, so we pretty much just stayed in and tinkered with things all day.

February 14th

I flew over to Auburn to meet Chris and Vic for breakfast.  It was crazily busy there, and I ended up going around twice because people weren't getting off the runway.

On the way home, I flew over Vic who was parked up on highway 49 so she could take pictures of me in the canyon, then flew part of the canyon before heading back to Lincoln.  I was annoyed at myself for forgetting to turn my GoPro on :o(

February 13th

We went out to the airport early and pulled the brakes apart on the plane to clean and rebuild them with new O rings.  It seems to have fixed my dragging brake problems, so yay.

We met Randy for lunch, then Vic went home, and Randy and I went and installed a new brake cable on his plane, then went out for a quick flight.

We flew all the way around Beale Air Force base, and part of the way around the Northern part, we were caught up by a guy in a Carbon Cub who was going to land on one of the sand bars and go fishing.  We followed him to where he was going to land, but there were some people already there, so he decided to head back and land somewhere else.  Eh, we headed back to Lincoln, landed and put everything away.

February 10th

I attended an EAA (mothership, not our chapter) webinar about talking to air traffic control.  It wasn't as great as I'd hoped, but what else was I going to do on a Wednesday evening during a pandemic?

February 7th

I picked Randy up on the way to the airport, then we flew to Auburn to meet Chris, Kim, Victoria and Vic for breakfast.

On the way back, the plan was for Vic to take pictures of us in the North Fork canyon.  She got screwed up and got there pretty much at the same time as we did, so that didn't work out.  We were also higher than usual, as there was some guy with a line across the canyon.  I did turn my GoPro on, but then it took one picture and then stopped recording, because with it mounted to the mast, I can't see what it's doing.  Chris also didn't bring his Insta 360 out, so we'll just have to do it again some time :o)

Chris headed out early to get home to watch the Superb Owl, and Randy and I pottered along the shore of Folsom Lake before heading home.

February 6th

I had intended to fly to Jackson with Chris, but I was on call, so I decided to follow the crowd to Sutter and have lunch there.

Work didn't seem too awfully busy, so I meandered back along the Feather river and Bear Creek, then along Camp Far West Lake reservoir before heading back in to Lincoln.

I did a little bit of maintenance on the plane before heading home, dropping off Randy's empty gas cans on the way.

February 5th

I'm off this week, and the plane's back in annual, so I went out and did a thorough pre-flight before taking off for a potter around.  I flew over our house, Chris' house and Don's house, but nobody came out and waved at me, so I went back to Lincoln.

February 4th

I'm off this week, but I didn't get anything useful done today, as I didn't feel like flying without my stamped log books, even if it's legal :o)

February 3rd

I went to the airport to meet Randy and Randy, and we got my annual inspection done and out of the way.  We also got Randy's 100 hour maintenance done, and balanced his propeller.  We checked my propeller, but it was close enough to not worry about trying to get it any better balanced.

February 2nd

I'm off this week, but I just spent the day pottering around at home.

February 1st

A new month, so here are the solar stats:

Power billed

Power generated

I've taken the week off, as the annual inspection is due on the plane.  Today I picked up Randy and went to the airport, where I fixed some bent pins on the hangar doors while Randy changed the prerotator belts on his plane.  I suggested he break them in, and he was surprised at how grabby they are straight out of the box.  After about 30 minutes running the rotor up and down in speed, he went out and did a couple of circuits - the belts seem close to broken in now... if they're like mine, a short flight'll be the last thing they need to be sorted out.  I did tinker with the plane a little, but I don't want to break anything until after the inspection, so it was mostly cleaning and greasing stuff.