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rsrandazzo(at)precisionma
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 Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 9:18 am Post subject: N414C Flew (finally!) |
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Commanders-
I thought you’d all be interested to know that the long derelict N414C finally flew again after two years and two days of languishing in the rehab hangar.
We have run a series of engine check-runs during the past few weeks as a lead-up to flight testing, and aside from a bit of fuel flow tweaking that was required, all was in great shape.
First flight was conducted on Friday afternoon in 94 degree heat giving us a density altitude at 4SD of a paltry 8200’. Takeoff was conducted with 12 knots of crosswind at an all up weight of 7700lbs. Takeoff was uneventful except for the left prop control having to be held in the full forward position. (It tended to want to slip back to a position that nicely set 3,000 RPM…) Climbout was conducted at 37”/3000RPM, resulting in about 700-800fpm in the climb. Since the new right engine wasn’t seated, we were concerned about leaving the engine at MRCP for the climb, as the TIT was only just within limits at such a high power setting. The engine seated itself about 10-15 minutes into the flight, so the next takeoff will be flown at MRCP to 1500’ AGL then at 40”/3000RPM.
Both engines performed flawlessly- and since the purpose of the flight was to validate that the airplane was mechanically flight worthy, we didn’t spend much time on the avionics. (Okay- I admit- I was mesmerized by all the pretty stuff on the displays…) We ran through our pre-planned profile of power settings and climbs/level flight/descent profiles. We engaged the autopilot briefly during the flight and found that the gains need to be adjusted slightly in roll and significantly in pitch. This plus a dozen or so minor squawks were identified- but the airplane is in great shape considering that she’s had her innards torn out and almost completely replaced. We are working to iron out the couple of squawks related to left engine (oil seepage) and then N414C will be headed to Morris in California for a wing spar inspection, and sea level adjustment of fuel flow to both engines... (Morris is only 140nm from here- how convenient is that?!)
Monday looks to be a working day to clear up squawks, then we’ll conduct another, longer flight on Tuesday morning when the temperature is down around 70F, in order to give the airplane some advantage.
I can’t even begin to tell you how nice it was to by flying a commander again. The entire staff at Aviation Classics here in Reno stayed nearly an hour over on Friday afternoon to witness the test flight. There were plenty of smiles all around when we taxied back in and shut down with an overall-good flight report! A lot of people have invested a lot of time to get this airplane back in the air- there are a dozen or so people who have adopted this airplane as a result of their hard work- and it was rewarding to all of us that they finally saw her fly! Image of new cockpit is attached…
One interesting side note on N414C- we discovered something HORRIFYING about our airplane on Friday morning. (Kieth & Milt: this will put your hair on end…) When N414C was built, she was weighed at 6500lbs and flown to California where the interior and avionics were installed. The installation facility included the work on a 337 which listed all of the equipment weight- and a new calculated W/B was entered into the flight manual. This W/B was in error, as it OMITTED THE WEIGHT OF THE NEW INTERIOR AND AVIONICS FITTINGS. To make matters worse, the airplane has not been on scales since the date of manufacture and all other W/B updates were done as calculated updates- so throughout the airplane’s entire career, her paperwork has shown that she weighed hundreds of pounds less than actual weight.
Since 1973, almost 200lbs of “other stuff” was added to the airplane, so while the most current calculated W/B showed 6690lbs, we estimated that the airplane actually weighed 7,140lbs. We had conducted three flights at or near MGTOW- and the airplane seemed to struggle more than would be expected- apparently this is why.
On a happier side note, we gutted the avionics and effectively rewired the entire airplane with new, modern avionics and their associated light weight components. Everything that wasn’t required came out- and anything that could be replaced by modern, more reliable, light weight components was replaced. For our amusement, we were keeping an approximate weight of everything that was taken out of the airplane- and expected to see N414C lose 250+ lbs during this renovation.
All up weight of N414C is now accurately known: 6792lbs.
Lesson learned: Have your older airplane thrown on scales if it hasn’t been done in some time. You just never know…
Robert S. Randazzo
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CloudCraft(at)aol.com
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| Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 9:39 am Post subject: N414C Flew (finally!) |
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In a message dated 12-Aug-07 10:19:42 Pacific Daylight Time, rsrandazzo(at)precisionmanuals.com writes:
| Quote: | | We had conducted three flights at or near MGTOW- and the airplane seemed to struggle more than would be expected- apparently this is why. |
Mystery solved!
Great work and congratulations, Sir!
Wing Commander Gordon
AOL.com.
[quote][b]
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nico(at)cybersuperstore.c
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| Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 2:50 pm Post subject: N414C Flew (finally!) |
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Congratulations, Bob. I cannot help but think of Bilbo’s plight with his 500A. What is one to do when the experts give a clean bill of health and it turns out to be a lemon? That’s such as pity.
On the other hand, you took no chances and gave the plane a thorough rebuild. Perhaps if Bilbo had the right information, a rebuild might have been a better option for his ship at least returning a ‘new’ Commander to the pool. But the seller, it appears, walked away with all the money that would have been required for a rebuild plus some.
Back to N414C. If you don’t think this is too forward, how much did the rebuild set you back?
I thought I had pictures of N414C but couldn’t find any, not even after the accident in 1998. Do you have some to share?
Nico
From: owner-commander-list-server(at)matronics.com [mailto:owner-commander-list-server(at)matronics.com] On Behalf Of Robert S. Randazzo
Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2007 10:16 AM
To: commander-list(at)matronics.com
Subject: N414C Flew (finally!)
Commanders-
I thought you’d all be interested to know that the long derelict N414C finally flew again after two years and two days of languishing in the rehab hangar.
We have run a series of engine check-runs during the past few weeks as a lead-up to flight testing, and aside from a bit of fuel flow tweaking that was required, all was in great shape.
First flight was conducted on Friday afternoon in 94 degree heat giving us a density altitude at 4SD of a paltry 8200’. Takeoff was conducted with 12 knots of crosswind at an all up weight of 7700lbs. Takeoff was uneventful except for the left prop control having to be held in the full forward position. (It tended to want to slip back to a position that nicely set 3,000 RPM…) Climbout was conducted at 37”/3000RPM, resulting in about 700-800fpm in the climb. Since the new right engine wasn’t seated, we were concerned about leaving the engine at MRCP for the climb, as the TIT was only just within limits at such a high power setting. The engine seated itself about 10-15 minutes into the flight, so the next takeoff will be flown at MRCP to 1500’ AGL then at 40”/3000RPM.
Both engines performed flawlessly- and since the purpose of the flight was to validate that the airplane was mechanically flight worthy, we didn’t spend much time on the avionics. (Okay- I admit- I was mesmerized by all the pretty stuff on the displays…) We ran through our pre-planned profile of power settings and climbs/level flight/descent profiles. We engaged the autopilot briefly during the flight and found that the gains need to be adjusted slightly in roll and significantly in pitch. This plus a dozen or so minor squawks were identified- but the airplane is in great shape considering that she’s had her innards torn out and almost completely replaced. We are working to iron out the couple of squawks related to left engine (oil seepage) and then N414C will be headed to Morris in California for a wing spar inspection, and sea level adjustment of fuel flow to both engines... (Morris is only 140nm from here- how convenient is that?!)
Monday looks to be a working day to clear up squawks, then we’ll conduct another, longer flight on Tuesday morning when the temperature is down around 70F, in order to give the airplane some advantage.
I can’t even begin to tell you how nice it was to by flying a commander again. The entire staff at Aviation Classics here in Reno stayed nearly an hour over on Friday afternoon to witness the test flight. There were plenty of smiles all around when we taxied back in and shut down with an overall-good flight report! A lot of people have invested a lot of time to get this airplane back in the air- there are a dozen or so people who have adopted this airplane as a result of their hard work- and it was rewarding to all of us that they finally saw her fly! Image of new cockpit is attached…
One interesting side note on N414C- we discovered something HORRIFYING about our airplane on Friday morning. (Kieth & Milt: this will put your hair on end…) When N414C was built, she was weighed at 6500lbs and flown to California where the interior and avionics were installed. The installation facility included the work on a 337 which listed all of the equipment weight- and a new calculated W/B was entered into the flight manual. This W/B was in error, as it OMITTED THE WEIGHT OF THE NEW INTERIOR AND AVIONICS FITTINGS. To make matters worse, the airplane has not been on scales since the date of manufacture and all other W/B updates were done as calculated updates- so throughout the airplane’s entire career, her paperwork has shown that she weighed hundreds of pounds less than actual weight.
Since 1973, almost 200lbs of “other stuff” was added to the airplane, so while the most current calculated W/B showed 6690lbs, we estimated that the airplane actually weighed 7,140lbs. We had conducted three flights at or near MGTOW- and the airplane seemed to struggle more than would be expected- apparently this is why.
On a happier side note, we gutted the avionics and effectively rewired the entire airplane with new, modern avionics and their associated light weight components. Everything that wasn’t required came out- and anything that could be replaced by modern, more reliable, light weight components was replaced. For our amusement, we were keeping an approximate weight of everything that was taken out of the airplane- and expected to see N414C lose 250+ lbs during this renovation.
All up weight of N414C is now accurately known: 6792lbs.
Lesson learned: Have your older airplane thrown on scales if it hasn’t been done in some time. You just never know…
Robert S. Randazzo
[quote][b]
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bowing74(at)earthlink.net
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| Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 4:32 pm Post subject: N414C Flew (finally!) |
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Congratulations, best of luck.
bilbo
From: owner-commander-list-server(at)matronics.com [mailto:owner-commander-list-server(at)matronics.com] On Behalf Of Robert S. Randazzo
Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2007 1:16 PM
To: commander-list(at)matronics.com
Subject: N414C Flew (finally!)
Commanders-
I thought you’d all be interested to know that the long derelict N414C finally flew again after two years and two days of languishing in the rehab hangar.
We have run a series of engine check-runs during the past few weeks as a lead-up to flight testing, and aside from a bit of fuel flow tweaking that was required, all was in great shape.
First flight was conducted on Friday afternoon in 94 degree heat giving us a density altitude at 4SD of a paltry 8200’. Takeoff was conducted with 12 knots of crosswind at an all up weight of 7700lbs. Takeoff was uneventful except for the left prop control having to be held in the full forward position. (It tended to want to slip back to a position that nicely set 3,000 RPM…) Climbout was conducted at 37”/3000RPM, resulting in about 700-800fpm in the climb. Since the new right engine wasn’t seated, we were concerned about leaving the engine at MRCP for the climb, as the TIT was only just within limits at such a high power setting. The engine seated itself about 10-15 minutes into the flight, so the next takeoff will be flown at MRCP to 1500’ AGL then at 40”/3000RPM.
Both engines performed flawlessly- and since the purpose of the flight was to validate that the airplane was mechanically flight worthy, we didn’t spend much time on the avionics. (Okay- I admit- I was mesmerized by all the pretty stuff on the displays…) We ran through our pre-planned profile of power settings and climbs/level flight/descent profiles. We engaged the autopilot briefly during the flight and found that the gains need to be adjusted slightly in roll and significantly in pitch. This plus a dozen or so minor squawks were identified- but the airplane is in great shape considering that she’s had her innards torn out and almost completely replaced. We are working to iron out the couple of squawks related to left engine (oil seepage) and then N414C will be headed to Morris in California for a wing spar inspection, and sea level adjustment of fuel flow to both engines... (Morris is only 140nm from here- how convenient is that?!)
Monday looks to be a working day to clear up squawks, then we’ll conduct another, longer flight on Tuesday morning when the temperature is down around 70F, in order to give the airplane some advantage.
I can’t even begin to tell you how nice it was to by flying a commander again. The entire staff at Aviation Classics here in Reno stayed nearly an hour over on Friday afternoon to witness the test flight. There were plenty of smiles all around when we taxied back in and shut down with an overall-good flight report! A lot of people have invested a lot of time to get this airplane back in the air- there are a dozen or so people who have adopted this airplane as a result of their hard work- and it was rewarding to all of us that they finally saw her fly! Image of new cockpit is attached…
One interesting side note on N414C- we discovered something HORRIFYING about our airplane on Friday morning. (Kieth & Milt: this will put your hair on end…) When N414C was built, she was weighed at 6500lbs and flown to California where the interior and avionics were installed. The installation facility included the work on a 337 which listed all of the equipment weight- and a new calculated W/B was entered into the flight manual. This W/B was in error, as it OMITTED THE WEIGHT OF THE NEW INTERIOR AND AVIONICS FITTINGS. To make matters worse, the airplane has not been on scales since the date of manufacture and all other W/B updates were done as calculated updates- so throughout the airplane’s entire career, her paperwork has shown that she weighed hundreds of pounds less than actual weight.
Since 1973, almost 200lbs of “other stuff” was added to the airplane, so while the most current calculated W/B showed 6690lbs, we estimated that the airplane actually weighed 7,140lbs. We had conducted three flights at or near MGTOW- and the airplane seemed to struggle more than would be expected- apparently this is why.
On a happier side note, we gutted the avionics and effectively rewired the entire airplane with new, modern avionics and their associated light weight components. Everything that wasn’t required came out- and anything that could be replaced by modern, more reliable, light weight components was replaced. For our amusement, we were keeping an approximate weight of everything that was taken out of the airplane- and expected to see N414C lose 250+ lbs during this renovation.
All up weight of N414C is now accurately known: 6792lbs.
Lesson learned: Have your older airplane thrown on scales if it hasn’t been done in some time. You just never know…
Robert S. Randazzo
[quote][b]
| | - The Matronics Commander-List Email Forum - | | | Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:
http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Commander-List |
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