Finish Kit Update January 2011 Updates
January 23, 2011
Copilot stick PTT and Pitot Tubing ..... - 4.0 hrs

I already had the Copilot stick push to talk switch mounted in the stick so today I needed to wire it up and make it removeable. I had left the wires really long back with I made up the switch so I cut those wires about 6 inches from the bottom of the stick. I used a small molex connector and crimped pins and used heat shrink tubing to keep the wires together. Next I climbed in the cockpit and took the other two wires I cut and crimped those into the other molex connector female. I crimped on wire to the copilot wire coming from the audio panel and used a pop rivet to the crotch bracket for ground. When you puse the PTT switch on top of the stick it just grounds this wire and activates the transmit feature on the SL-30. I used 2 double stick tape tie down blocks in the floor to zip tie the wires so they dont flop around. I powered up the avionics and did a radio check. Unicom came back 4 Romeo Victor you are loud and clear. Love it when things work right the first time!

Next I removed the left side wing root fairing and got under the left wing. I cut the pitot tube in the first inspection port and pulled out the tubing from there back to the fuselage. Back when we installed the wings we could not get the fitting to work right so we opted to cut it and removed the bulkhead fitting so I could pull it back thru in order to complete the wing install. Next I ran plastic pitot tubing from the wingroot area out to this first inspection port. This took some doing with the torque tube in the way. After some choice words and scratched up arms I was able to do it. I thought I was going to have to unrig the left aileron and remove the tube but I was able to get it installed. Next I used some 3/8 inch ID vinyl tubing to slide over the aluminum pitot tube and the other end over the red pitot tube. I used 2 tie wraps on each side of the connection to keep the splice in place.

When I was updated the page today I found I had taken a few other pics of Jim and Ian on their departure. On the take off I am a bit disappointed in Jims rotation. Looks a bit lazy on the stick. On a nice cool day like this he should of been at 500 feet by this point. O well he held down on the deck after that to so a typical RV Muscle Climb! Good Job Jimbo.





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