Kneeboard Notes

It's always pleasant to spend a little time in the workshop making chips (or curlicues) out of 4130 Steel rod stock - especially when you have a use for the parts you are making. Such was my afternoon today - turning raw stock into squeezer die extensions to help set the rivets on our Xenos spar project.

The "little device" is the new digital, solid state turn coordinator from Belite - the makers of small, light airplane kits and gadgets for their panels. Their latest offering is something that will make folks looking for discrete gauges sit up and take notice.

One of the great things about experimental avionics has always been the ease of doing software updates--and the fact that most software updates bring us enhanced features well beyond what we might have been possible a few years ago.

Remember the old days? Back when batteries had caps you took off to check their fluid level? They had vent lines, and we worried about hydrogen venting and stuff like that – and really worried about having a battery that wouldn’t spill during aerobatics.

If you own a Lycoming Engine, you probably think of it as a piece of tired and true technology that has been around for so long there is not much anyone can discover that is new. And... you'd be wrong!

Guess what we're doing here. If you own a fuel injected aircraft engine and do your own maintenance, you probably recognize the process--we're cleaning fuel injector nozzles.

Sometimes its just fine to be lucky when what you'd really like to be is good. Take, for instance, the rear corner of the...

Why yes…yes it is! One of the clever inventions we ran into at AirVenture this year was on display at the Click Bond booth. Click...

One never stops learning! Although I have been working on airplanes most of my life, I still smile when I get to learn something...

Boy, I am enjoying building "simple" for a change. Most of my airplane projects are fairly complex machines with multiple EFIS screens, IFR capability,...