17.02.2012: Even though this site is about flying I am sometimes also moving other kinds of vehicles. I am making a living working for a large German company that manufactures all kinds of electrical and electronic products. I am working in the mobility division, specialised in train control systems. Today I had to make a presentation about some new type of European train control system at our vehicle test site in Germany. It’s located on an old Royal Air Force airbase and includes a loop track where you can test trains running in circles, just like a really big model railroad. Unfortunately the runway is gone, so I could not fly there myself.
After my presentation we did a tour of the site, including driving around the loop in the newest generation of ICE, the German high speed train. Of course I could not resist taking control for a few loops, note that it has as many screens in the cockpit as my plane.
20.02.2012: I did some maintenance yesterday and today, as there were some small issues lo be looked at which I could not find the time for last year. First I had noticed that the FLARM collision avoidance alarms were visible on the FLARM device itself, and audible from it’s internal buzzer, but not over the headsets as they should be. Some checking revealed that there was a broken wire in the connector to the intercom, which I re-soldered. Then with the help of Silvan we adjusted the idle rpm, as I had noticed last year that it was a bit high.
When readjusting the idle RPM Silvan noticed that the carburettors only went to full rpm with a little delay, which some checking revealed to be caused by friction in the throttle cable. It was hardly noticeable with the engine running, but visible when operating the throttle with the engine off. We pulled one of the throttle cables out and noticed that one of the strands was broken, resulting in an increased diameter and therefore also increased friction. When looking at the cables we noticed that they are the same ones as used on bicycles to shift gears or pull the brakes, so I went to a local bicycle shop to buy two new ones. Luckily they had them in stock, and after some fiddling we managed to push the new ones in without removing the throttle assembly.
Of course I had to do a short check flight after that to verify everything was fine. It was quite cold (below freezing), and the QNH was above 1030 mbar, resulting in a density altitude indicated on the Dynon of -340 ft at an airport altitude of 1540 ft! Climb performance was accordingly. There were small patches of snow on the runway, only a few cm thick but creating quite some braking action especially if only one wheel went into the snow. It was however no problem to keep the plane going straight with the brakes.
The ambient light was quite special, as can be seen on the two pictures below:
