From: Bill Marvel [mailto:bmarvel@ix.netcom.com] Sent: Tuesday, 16 May 2000 3:03 To: Ian Stevens Subject: The latest on N142CDHi, Ian:
1. Paperwork-transfer of the plane's ownership to the U.S. company owned by one of Rob's friends is underway. This is about a two-day effort, given that physical documents have to be sent from one place to another. Faxes and emails are not allowed. The actual, signed documents are required. Cirrus executed the new docs today and sent them to the FAA. The FAA in turn will issue a "fly by wire", which is a temporary registration document that allows the plane to be exported. Expect this to be complete in about 48 hours.
2. Oil system-I worked on this project today. We used an existing, factory supplied data line port in the firewall to install the bulkhead connector that will allow Rob to put oil into the engine in flight. He uses a hand pump that goes into a line connected to the cockpit side of this connector. On the engine side, another line goes into a modified oil cap that provides access to the oil sump of the engine. This was finished this afternoon, and required drilling a hole in the rear metal baffle on the left side of the engine. A plug will fill it later. Had to be done.
3. HF system. Rob's hot wire to his HF was tied into the circuit breaker panel, thus providing DC power. The right side door lock was removed and an insulator installed, allowing the antenna out through this existing opening. Worked out well. The antenna will go to the right wing tip and then to the tail tie down ring instead of to a machine screw on an access plate under the horizontal stab, as I said earlier. Rob thought the tail tie down ring was the place to terminate it.
4. Ferry tanks-a real problem here. They tried a bunch of tanks that are in storage to find a combination that provided adequate fuel and an allowable CG up to the max allowed weight by the factory. Nothing worked. Either there was too little fuel, or there was enough fuel but the CG was aft of the envelope. They considered lead shot ballast on the floor of the copilot side but that brought the weight up beyond that which is allowed by the factory. The decision was finally made to custom build a new tank for the copilot seat location that would meet the size requirements of the plane and yet contain sufficient fuel volume for endurance and weigh enough to keep the CG adequately forward. Remember that this is the very first time this type of plane has received "Pacific tanking." Tanking for the Atlantic is no big deal since it is a much smaller ocean. Doing the Pacific is a different beast and it will require a special tank to be built. There are going to be two tanks for sure, and possibly three. Keep in mind that the tanks have to:
1. Fit in the plane through existing openings. 2. Be safely supportable by existing structure. 3. Contain sufficient fuel for the required endurance. 4. Distribute weight so that the CG envelope is not exceeded.
This is no small challenge and it will no doubt be several days before the final configuration is determined. Today we actually made up cardboard boxes to the proposed sizes to see that they would fit in. There is no point spending several hundred dollars to build a custom tank only to find that you cannot get it through the door!
Tees have been fitted to both the fuel supply and vapor return lines in the console, so that the ferry system can be connected into the aircraft fuel system. FYI, all takeoffs and landings are made with the ferry system off and the aircraft system on and unaltered. Only in cruise is the aircraft system turned off (literally turned off with the aircraft fuel selector handle) and the ferry system turned on. The design is such that the fuel is supplied by one of the ferry tanks and the engine vapor returns to the same ferry tank. This is different, for instance, from the Bonanza I took to South Africa from Wichita. In that system the ferry tank vapor returned to one of the aircraft wing tanks, which meant you had to pay attention to making room in a wing tank or pump fuel overboard. Not a nice thought. That won't be a problem here.
We also disconnected the co-pilot side stick assembly so that it would not move aft when the pilot side does. This is to provide for as large a tank as possible on the co-pilot side without needing a cutout to allow stick movement. Tank cutouts mean less fuel and less fuel means a long swim.......
Walt Conley came by today with his digital camera. Walt is a former AYA member, former Tiger owner, and the first to take delivery of a Cirrus. He lives in Monterey and flew the Cirrus to Hayward to meet Rob and get some shots of your airplane. I will attach several of his photos, which he e-mailed to me earlier this evening. Also, it now looks like the plane will leave Monterey for the crossing.
That's about it for now. They'll be working hard again tomorrow (Tuesday) but I expect it will be four or five days before the airplane and paperwork are all ready to go. After that, it is just a matter of the winds.
Bill