Day 57 - February 23, 2013

As we flipped through the plans, we came across a page that somehow we had skipped over.  A wire retainer was supposed to have been installed underneath the firewall shelf and above the rudder pedals.  We laid down in the airplane for quite a while with a mirror and flashlight before we were finally successful.

We installed the hinge and latch in the map box to complete it.

Throughout the day we installed both wings and trimmed the both wing roots in order to make room for the foam/rubber seal between the wing and the fuselage.

A few of us wired up and attached the cabin light.  It is a small, red LED that is meant to illuminate the cabin at night with a nice red glow.

Also, while the wings were on, we tested the wingtip lights.  The lights did not do exactly what the switch told them to, but after looking on a mentor's IPad, we found a recent notification that two of the wires in the harness had been inserted wrong at the factory.  Unfortunately, we did not have the tool to extract the micro pins, but thankfully we now know what the problem is and will be able to fix it.

More next week!

Day 56 - February 16, 2013

We had a great day of work at the hangar, as we progressed closer to completing the TeenFlight 2 RV-12.  There seemed to be an abundance of space in the hangar with the TeenFlight 1 RV-12 gone, so we decided to install the prop and pitot tube figuring (and hoping) that nobody would run into it.

One of the mentors worked on polishing the edges of the rear window.

We made a gasket around the fuel tank fill spout where it meets the fuselage skin to prevent fuel from accidentally leaking into the airplane or onto the rear window.

Many small items still remain to be finished, but we are slowly taking care of them; like safety wiring the fuel strainer.

We installed the bracket and wiring for the ELT (Emergency Location Transmitter).  The ELT is activated when the unit is jarred, and uses the GPS to send the unit's exact location via an emergency frequency to rescuers.  The ELT is used to locate the aircraft if it crashes, and also incorporates a loud horn to help rescuers find the downed airplane. 

This is what happens when shears are used to trim the wing root skin.

And this is what happens when a very creative student gets her hands on them.

Another item of interest is that a few of the guys from the EAA: Jeff Skiles, Chad Jensen, and Trevor Janz, stopped by to take a look at the project while on their way from McMinville to Seattle. 



Day 55 - February 9, 2013

We completed the service bulletin on the TeenFlight 1 airplane this week.  The last step was to trim the wing root skins to accommodate the extra thickness of the doubler plates on the sides of the fuselage.  There seems to be a lot of space in the hangar now.

 

 

One of the students installed the pitch and roll servos for the autopilot.  They are connected directly to the torque tubes for the stabilator and flaperons.

 

(pitch)

 

(roll)

 

 

We finished some minor tasks around the airframe like torquing the axle nut for the nosewheel, installing cotter pins on the rudder pedal cable attach spacers, and completing the cabin heat actuator cable.

 

 

A mentor spent the day bleeding the brakes.

 

 

 

 

Day 54 - February 2, 2013

This week, the crew worked mostly on small things around the airplane to help continue progress towards completion.

One of the mentors routed the wires for the interior cockpit light that is mounted to the roll bar.  The wires run through the roll bar and exit out a hole in the bottom of the roll bar and into the main part of the airplane.

A few students finished connecting the throttle cables to the throttle control on the side of each carburetor.  They also installed the choke cables to the choke on each carburetor.  The choke is used for starting the engine, and the throttle is used for, well...going up!

We also installed the headset jacks into the panels next to the seats.

More next week from the TeenFlight crew!