We place rulers around the aircraft to insure measurement accuracy:
A additional shot for Michal of underneath the cowling:
An example shot of one of an elevator trim hinges for the walkaround:
Pulling the Comanche out of it's warm hangar to test the STEC-30 autopilot for the Accu-Sim Cherokee. I really don't like subjecting the beautiful old girl to sub-zero temperatures but the entire week is going to be cold and we need this data. She is a champ:
Camera on the dash while I go through all the modes. Had to climb to a frigid 8,000 feet to find smooth air:
Here is where the two main components to the STEC-30 are:
The STEC-30 is a beautifully simple device. It can be manually steered (like the 377 Stratocruiser), hold a heading, or track a VOR. It also has an altitude hold. It is a very smooth operating autopilot:
You can see it mounted below the airspeed indicator here:
When the testing was over, I flew over Simsbury and saw Pete's (A2A Comanche mechanic) truck, so I stopped it to say hi. You can see the tracks on the runway, no anti-lock brakes here (wouldn't want them anyway
):
Simsbury is always a nice little airport to visit:
Pete was deep into replacing the flap track hinges and bearings. They were getting noticeably sloppy, and of course, if you have the Accu-Sim C172, you know this part of the walk around by checking the flap play by hand:
Departing Simsbury, a Maule doing some work in the pattern:
A nice easy flight back, throttled back and a low purring RPM:
Scott.
