Happy New Year - 2022!

 

Caught with his pants down, Kermit awaits new sparks

The LASAR ignition system that was originally installed on Kermit's Lycoming O-360 began hiccuping, defaulting from electronic to fixed timing (as it should in failure mode) during my last flight so I made a command decision to sacrifice some of the new instrument panel money for an up-to-date hybrid electronic ignition system. The winning combination is a Kelly impulse magneto on the left side and a SureFly electronic module on the right. That seemed to be the best for me as I don't like to put all my faith in electricity. In the event of a total electrical failure (admittedly a remote chance) I'll still have sparks coming from a technology that's well over 100 years old. What was good for tractors is good for me.

The new system works very well. SureFly mentions in passing that it may seem to skip a bit when doing the magneto/ignition check as part of the pre-takeoff checklist, but I did not find it disconcerting. In fact, when I slowed the test down a little (as they recommended) the skip was hardly noticeable.

The traditional Christmas Day flight was delightful, with calm winds and temperatures in the balmy, unseasonable 70s. New Year's Day was another story. Winds were blustery aloft, leading to moderate turbulence around the valley of the old French Broad (River). It was nice and warm, still in the 60s, but I was glad to get on the ground. All was well until I put Mark's airplane back in the hangar and learned the hard way how a wingtip can grow, putting a dent in the front fender of his Porsche. (Cringe)

Of course, Mark dug into the medicine kit and put a band-aid on it

Even with the gusty winds I did ok on my New Year's Day landing. I need some work on hangar operations, though.

The nice weather didn't last. It's a couple of days later when I'm writing this and a front came through last night that was pretty ferocious. Asheville, just up the road, reported winds in the 30-40kt range with gusts to 51kts, freezing rain, then snow. Temps that started today in the 50s are now, in mid afternoon, in the low 30s and we have snow on the ground, although that's going away with the wind, sun and residual ground temperatures.

I fear winter has arrived. There will be nice days, though, good for flying when we aren't tinkering with this or that. The air will be cold and, as Gordon Baxter once wrote, fat with lift. The Glastar will enjoy it and so will I.