OK, so I am still banging on about the variety of sizes of screws all over the airplane. The lower wing to fuselage panels are somewhat over engineered with a large number of fixings which is just as well considering the number which are the wrong size or stripped thread. I am replacing with the correct size but have found an aviation source for M4 x 16 raised slotted stainless difficult to find.
Metric Screws
Taking the lower cowling off to replace the SCAT hoses revealed that the biggest assortment of metric and UNF hardware you could imagine was being used to fasten the cowling. It appears to be pretty commonplace that metric hardware will gradually become diluted over time. I replaced some #10 UNF screws with their M5 metric equivalant, they are a little wider (.2mm) and now the correct length plus LAS were selling them at 8p (now 45p) which was a bit of a bargain!
Northrepps Picture
Nice picture here taken by Jayson Cork at Northrepps, must get in contact to see about a print. G-EJBI has been in the hanger for a few weeks, Andrew busy with ATPL studies and myself waiting for an opportunity to fly her from the left seat. I am about half way through changing all the Scat hoses, should be done by the end of the week and hopefully there’s time enough to give her a good clean.
LAPL
I managed an LAPL medical with Examinair and revalidation flight with Premier Flight Training at Norwich, so after a suitable wait, about 4 weeks, the CAA have issued me a brand new EASA LAPL(A) on account of my old and expired JAA ATPL(A). Not too sure about the stated requirement that I must complete 10 hours P1 before I carry passengers. With about 19,000 hours logged another 10 probably won’t improve things much. It really is a long long time ago since I flew an aircraft solo, I do like somone to talk to.
Door Latch
The Bölkow 207 has, or should have, a secondary door latch on each of its rather large doors. G-EJBI latches are either missing or not working so I have been trying to find some replacements. So far I have bought four different latches and for one reason or another I am not happy with them. The original is in the picture and would love to find one of these.
Weybourne
Prior to our trip to Priory Farm we had taken G-EJBI to Weybourne on the North Norfolk coast, It is a very pretty spot but can be a bit of a challenge depending on the wind direction. We landed on the short runway to take advantage of the clear approach, 10 to 12 knot headwind and nice up slope. We used about 250 of the 350 metres available. For departure it was the longer runway with a bit of a tailwind. You do the calculations but it still sometimes feels like an act of faith!
Weybourne pic.
Priory Farm Aviators 2
Last weekend we left Tibenham pretty early to fly to Seething and then Weybourne From Weybourne it was on to Priory Farm. An earlier post shows John Fielding letting me fly his Skyfox, this is a picture of Andrew having a go. John had flown previously in the back of G-EJBI and shot this video. We were so pleased to have this record and John has a heap of other good videos on his YouTube channel.
G-EJBI Video
Priory Farm Aviators
Just to the west of Tibenham (G-EJBI home base) is a grass strip which is the home of the Priory Farm Aviators. Andrew and I took the Bölkow along to a recent fly in, the theme being to offer flights in each others aircraft and take non owners for a trip. The Bölkow was very popular and this was the first flight Andrew has done with all four seats full. The event was really well organised by John Fielding pictured here letting me fly his Skyranger Nynja G-SNUG.
Return to Calais
We took G-EJBI to Calais. The main motivation was to claim the fuel duty, which works out at about £70 for full tanks in the Bölkow. The airport restaurant has now reopened and we enjoyed a very good meal before heading down the road to the supermarket for a few bottles of wine. €10 landing fee and although the weather wasn’t great we were the only aircraft there. They deserve more business and we will definitely be returning soon.
Old Warden
I phoned the day before to enquire about flying in to their season opener display. Yes we could come they had one slot left at 9.00 am. What a great day we had. No landing fee but the £30 each entry fee was payable and was well worth it. The setting, the sounds, the sights, the picnic we took were all delightful.