5/19/2008
On Saturday I competed in an IAC "One Design" acro competition in the RV Basic category. This was hosted by the IAC chapter 26 in Giddings, TX. I handily won this since the only other competition - Jeff Stoltenberg - flew the entire routine inverted (in a so-called RV) causing him to loose many points. Actually, I had a great time and really enjoyed rubbing elbows with some very talented and friendly folks. I met Debby Rihn-Harvey who was one of the judges.
Here is the routine for RV Basic:
This is all very doable by someone with average (in my case below-average) abilities in an RV that does not have inverted fuel or oil. I managed to get a decent score without going over 4 Gs and no oil on the belly.
Today Christine and I went up to warm the oil for an oil change. It was a great excuse. Check out the weird reflection in the picture below left.
Rather than inspect the filter visually, I decided to use the Force. I did not detect anything metallic and I promptly threw the filter away. I love good news like this.
The oil change was the first step in my annual condition inspection. Christine and I were able to accomplish all of the firewall forward items today. Besides the oil change, we checked the oil screen, cylinder compression (78-76-76-77), timing (both mags were at 28 deg BTDC - set them back to 25 deg), torqued prop bolts, torqued engine mount bolts, torqued servo attach nuts and cleaned the air filter. Whew! The thermometer in the hanger read 100 degrees. I think it is broken but we believed it and guzzled water like the Hoover Dam.