Tuneturkey
Well-Known Member
After 3 years of preparing the Max, and 10-12hrs preparing me to fly it, We did the deed! The weather was good and the 503, with 8 hours total time, was running well, and this 82 year old pushed the throttle up and away we went. Wheels got light at about 35 mph, and up we went.
Didn't think the 503 had that much power. It climbed out at 50 -55 mph and got me to 1,000' quickly. Keeping in mind the advice received from many, "don't venture too far from the airport on first flight", I almost did a little easy flying, being duly impressed that I was actually flying, my better judgement took hold, and I banked back to re-enter the pattern for some touch and
goes. All was well until I started to turn on Base, and the engine abruptly stopped. "expletive" or two! There being no restart possible (recoil starter), my training took hold and I had altitude and airspeed, so I said to myself, what's the big deal, so I followed the normal landing plan and got it down strait and level to the runway. However, having not landed it before, I misjudged height above the runway, and when it reached stall speed, it dropped more then I would have preferred, but stayed down and rolled to a stop. My ground crew approached immediately and with one pull on the handle, the 503 started up and I taxied the plane back to the hanger. Had plenty of fresh, premix in the tank, Engine restart cleared the MAGS, and any major issue with the engine. Fuel lines were full and no air visible. Most advisors suspect that it was a fuel problem. The engine was runt for 15 minutes, tied down, at all rpm's including 5 minutes at full throttle, and it ran like a top. At this point, no smoking gun has been found, so, The fuel system has been rebuilt, including fuel pump, new filters and tubing, and fuel takeoff changed from top to bottom. The hard hit did cause some damage to the nylon wheels, and the aft end of the wood LG moved toward the center of the fuse. Have not figured out how to easily rectify that, as the tube braces from fuse to center of axle, forced the center down, bending the main axle. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Error on my part was to lower tire pressure to smooth out the rough runway, but that caused the tires to bottom out, damaging the wheels, My Bad!!!!!
Didn't think the 503 had that much power. It climbed out at 50 -55 mph and got me to 1,000' quickly. Keeping in mind the advice received from many, "don't venture too far from the airport on first flight", I almost did a little easy flying, being duly impressed that I was actually flying, my better judgement took hold, and I banked back to re-enter the pattern for some touch and
goes. All was well until I started to turn on Base, and the engine abruptly stopped. "expletive" or two! There being no restart possible (recoil starter), my training took hold and I had altitude and airspeed, so I said to myself, what's the big deal, so I followed the normal landing plan and got it down strait and level to the runway. However, having not landed it before, I misjudged height above the runway, and when it reached stall speed, it dropped more then I would have preferred, but stayed down and rolled to a stop. My ground crew approached immediately and with one pull on the handle, the 503 started up and I taxied the plane back to the hanger. Had plenty of fresh, premix in the tank, Engine restart cleared the MAGS, and any major issue with the engine. Fuel lines were full and no air visible. Most advisors suspect that it was a fuel problem. The engine was runt for 15 minutes, tied down, at all rpm's including 5 minutes at full throttle, and it ran like a top. At this point, no smoking gun has been found, so, The fuel system has been rebuilt, including fuel pump, new filters and tubing, and fuel takeoff changed from top to bottom. The hard hit did cause some damage to the nylon wheels, and the aft end of the wood LG moved toward the center of the fuse. Have not figured out how to easily rectify that, as the tube braces from fuse to center of axle, forced the center down, bending the main axle. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Error on my part was to lower tire pressure to smooth out the rough runway, but that caused the tires to bottom out, damaging the wheels, My Bad!!!!!
