Rear baggage wall, W&B, Taxi test

Fabrication of the panels for the rear baggage wall was completed and they were then installed with self-tapping screws.  A power connector located in the center allows for easy connection to a battery charger/tender for our aft mounted battery.  Holes were precisely located for the rudder cables and elevator push/pull tube.  A large notch was cut out on one side (and then covered with plastic) to allow for a good RF (blue-tooth) connection to the transponder which sits directly behind the panel.

Rear baggage wall

A protective cover for the elevator push-pull tube (with lightening holes) was screwed down to the baggage floor.

Elevator push-pull tube cover

We changed out a fuel hose running from the header tank to the Curtis fuel-test valve.  We noticed that the old hose (Versilon SE200 tube) had two small kinks where there were slight bends, so we decided to just replace it with a more robust hose.  The hose we used was a Parker 397 Superflex hose purchased from Aircraft Spruce.

We ran some fuel tests to determine unused fuel levels in the tanks when level.  The two wing tanks which hold 13 gallons each, have about 1/2 gallon of unused fuel each.  The header tank which holds 2.3 gallons has just 8 oz of unused fuel.   

With all parts on the plane (including all inspection covers), we performed a weight and balance check.  The empty weight for our airplane is 824 lbs, and the center-of-gravity came out to be 10.9" aft of the datum (which is the leading edge of the wing).  This works out nicely and is well within the limits of 9-15.5".  We will perform later calculations for most-aft loading and most forward loading, but everything is looking good at this point regarding our weight and balance.

We rolled the plane out of the hangar and did a magetometer intereference calibration.  

Plane pulled out of hangar for a few tests

Then we decided it was finally time to fire it up and taxi it around for the first time.  The airplane fired right up, and we took turns taxiing it around the back of the hangars for several minutes.  This went well and gave both of us a chance to get a feeling for how the steering works with the differential toe brakes.  The steering worked great and we had no problems with taxiing.  Hours: 15

Initial taxi test at KTTA