Category: Flying

A lot has happened between the first flight in November of 2020 and now, I just didn’t write about it. The reason I haven’t posted in a while is that I locked myself out of this WordPress site and I simply took two years to get around to getting myself back in…

I flew off the 100 hours required for the airworthiness certificate.

I had only a single significant issue to deal with. I had a small but persistent oil leak near the number one cylinder. After each flight I would find a fine mist of oil on the top of that cylinder but couldn’t identify where it was coming from. I eventually took it to a mechanic who quickly found a lose plug in an oil journal in the front of the engine case. Total cost to fix it was $950 which Lycoming covered under warranty.

Lots of flights in the local area (I was limited to a 100 mile radius from KFCI) and I was becoming pretty confident in my piloting skills and my new airplane. I did quickly realize that there is a lot to learn about the avionics in the airplane. I have to admit that I had the experience of “why is it doing that?” or “why isn’t it doing that?”.

My friend, John Jaromin and I flew the airplane to and from Sun n Fun in Lakeland, FL.

Marianne and I flew the airplane to Hilton Head Island for a brief vacation. Even got to fly in some yechy IFR conditions on the return flight.

I flew it to Smith Mountain Lake multiple times.

I flew it to State College, PA (picking up Drew in Leesburg, VA). Penn State won.

I worked on getting my commercial pilot rating for single engine land airplanes. I passed the check ride (woot!).

The airplane went to the paint shop in Alabama in late October of 2021. I thought it would be there for about two months but it actually took closer to six months. They did an amazing job and I couldn’t be happier with the result despite the long wait.

It’s been back for several months now and I realize that I STILL have a punch list of random things to do on it.

Airplane flies great

The paint job by Evoke is exceptional

Garmin avionics are very, very impressive

Still need to get gear leg fairings installed

Slightly more than 150 hours on the airplane now