I'm catching up on some of the past work with this post as the video was done a about a week ago (yeah past-date availability on blog postings!!)

The later half of October we got moving on the fuel tanks.  There aren't many stages of this project that I somewhat dread, but the fuel tanks were definitely one of them.  In following the videos from Sling (youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQcGDbAAIZb00QsNn6om0xTirTiVaLn3h) put out through Evan Brunye who finished his sling earlier this year.  His hints, tips and suggestions make a lot of the prep work and assembly go so much smoother.  Quite often I just sit down, watch and re-watch the given task video I'm working on so I know the steps well.  Then leveraging the documentation in the build kit and then the online updated PDF's from the Sling Factory.

The assembly of the fuel tanks is a big messy project - or at least it can be.  I didn't find it too bad as it was an "all hands on deck" day with myself, Laurie, her dad Harold and then recently joined by my nephew Nathan for the second tank.  

We could only go as far as assembling the lower section of the tank as I'm going to go with a non-stock fuel sender.  For those of you who aren't familiar with what a fuel sender is (which I can't say I was until a few years ago), it effectively is the device which sits in your fuel tank with a float and tells you how much gas is in the tank.  So why go with a non-stock (and thus added extra cost) fuel sender?  Well, when I was a partner in the T210 we put in a whole new modern panel which required upgrades to the fuel senders as well.  Cies makes a fuel sender which is very modern and provides accuracy to within 1/10th of a gallon of gas in the tank.  To read more about the differences, check out their site at ciescorp.net/documentation/comparative-fuel-sensor-technology/. 

This is the nice part about building an experimental kit in that I can upgrade where it makes sense in the process.  I have a few other upgrades planned, but this is the first one where I am deviating from the basic plans - and it makes sense.  I think it's rather important to know how much gas is in the tank.  Although I have to say, my general rule/habit of flying is to always land with an hour of fuel left in the tank.  Given the SlingTsi burns around 8gph, that's not a lot of fuel to be sensed.

The other part of the build that I'm kind of amazed by is how fast it's going together.  Granted building an airplane is an exercise in you're 90% of the way done with 90% more to go, but the timeline in my head didn't fit it was going to be at this stage by now.  I'm waiting on some parts for the wings still and have been assured by TAF in Torrence and Sling proper in South Africa that the parts have been shipped.  They aren't coming by boat, but by air.  By air doesn't mean a direct flight from SA to CA, but it does go cargo.  So it may make a few stops in-between.  I probably have about a months worth of work to do on the wings to get them wrapped up.  The next few days are going to be spent finishing up the other control surfaces I have left to work on and the ones I can work on.  If we don't have any new parts before then, it'll be time to crack open the main fuselage box and get working on that.

The other news that has evolved the later half of October is the finishing kit has shipped as well.  Now I'm nowhere near ready for that to arrive yet, but it's good to know it's "expected" arrival is the first week in December.  Given they have a bunch of cargo ships sitting off the coast of LA waiting to be unloaded, even if it takes an extra month I'll still be in fine shape.

Before the end of the year I expect to pull the trigger on getting the engine and avionics ordered.  Timing is definitely the bigger challenge on this project as with the upset delivery schedules around the globe and manufacturing bottlenecks it's tough to gage when things may arrive.  Sadly, engine and avionics warranties start when they are bought, not when they go into service.  So even though I may have an expected tight timeline on this project, it could be six months before either the engine or avionics get turned on after they are received - and that is even i I take them out of the box and install them on the day they arrive.  That wouldn't be the case.  It's more likely the materials would arrive and they get worked into the build cycle somewhere.  Possibly a few weeks or months.  The idea is to just minimize the exposure to the warranty slowly drifting away.

Anyway - the next video likely will be a few minor parts being tidied up and the fuselage start to take shape.  let me know if you have any questions.

Building an airplane is an interesting experience.  It's been a month since my last update and it feels like I've accomplished little to nothing, when in reality I've got a good chunk of the wings together.  Having a week off at a time has helped a lot and the coming week is no exception.  What is slowing me down is parts.  For the wings, as I mention in the video, I am missing one very key part to be able to close out the bottom skin on the wings which will allow me to work on getting the wiring installed on both wings and the pitot tube on the left wing.  Apparently this part is very constrained because even the kits arriving now in Torrence are missing this part.

Thinks I need to get better on are working in the evenings (as I had planned) and taking more pictures.  I do continue to make progress as time goes by, but with the weather getting cooler and the days getting shorter it's harder to go out and spend time working on it.

At this time I have most, if not all parts for getting the fuel tanks at least underway.  I am looking at using a CEIS fuel sender vs. the stock one that came with the airplane as the CEIS has a much more modern way of sending fuel information to the Garmin system (think digital vs. analog).  I had these CEIS installed in the T210 I was part owner in for a while and I think we had an accuracy down to a half a gallon of what was actually in the tanks.  Another owners of a Tsi has reported some "stickiness" of the fuel level information and a need to "bang on the wing" to get it to read correctly, or in other words, loosen up the sensor so it takes a good reading.  Obviously something I want to avoid if I can.  I don't know if CEIS makes a sender for the Tsi, but I have reached out to them to find out at this time.  If they don't, no biggie, I'll use the stock ones that came with it and work with the issues as they come along.

Unfortunately this change may add several weeks in allowing me to close out the fuel tanks completely, but I think the time involved in going this route will be worth it, even if it is an added cost.

At this time I'm still hopeful that I can get all of the control surfaces finished before the end of 2021.  If I can meet that goal, then I feel like I'm on track to a 2 year build.  That is of course baring any delays in other shipments.  Instrument panels can take between 6 and 10 months as well as the engine delivery.  Those aren't small windows of guesswork delivery, so I'm inclined to order these very big ticket items sooner vs. later as I'd rather have them on-site waiting on me vs. weeks or months waiting on them.

I've been talking with Midwest Panels to do my panel and wiring work.  I haven't had much engagement with them other than in passing, but even at that level, their customer service makes going any other route other than to use them a no brainer.  I've experience nothing but responsiveness and clarity in all of my engagements, so I'm certain I'll be happy with that process.

Oh - and we did settle on a color for the plane and interior.  As for the paint scheme - that's a whole other level of "what should we do".  We needed paint schemes so we can pick interior colors and get that process going as well.

Anyway - enjoy the pictures that I have and the video.  Hopefully in a month you'll see fuel tanks!  :D

Since the last post we've made some good progress on the left wing.  The spar and ribs are pretty much together at this minus a few key parts.  I'm working around the items I'm waiting on the best I can to keep the project moving forward.  The past week I have been a bit under the weather so no real progress in that area. 

​Once we got the empennage mostly together we started working on the right wing.  I say "mostly together" because we do have a few parts here and there that we need to be able to close out the horizontal stabilizer, elevator and I'm working on some slight customization for the vertical stabilizer including the VOR antenna.  

The wing's aren't too bad to assemble.  The biggest problem I had so far is the torque setting on the wrench.  I'm still fiddling with that to get it right.  I'm missing the Flap Torque Tube Assembly which needs to go in before some of the ribs.  I'm working around that at the moment but trying to get as much done in the process of waiting.  I think I'm also missing one of the leading edge ribs, but I'm going to work on that this weekend by checking to see if the skin for the fuel tanks fit up to that point.  If it does I may be mis-interpreting the build plans.  We'll see.

​Beyond that, this go-round was just a lot of removing the protective covering, cleaning the skins, deburring and assembly.  Much of the next couple of weeks will be working on the left wing.  I got the electrical wires and upgraded pitot tube ordered from Midwest Panels this week, so that will be a bit of a waiting game now.  

What else?  Let me know if there is anything I can answer questions on, or if you'd like to see more of anything during the build.

The past week I was off of work and spent a fair amount of time getting the elevator and horizontal stablizer as far along as I could. We are missing a couple of critical parts to be able to close out each segment but I am not wanting to wait around for the final pieces to come in and am instead choosing to close up what we can and leave the rest held together with clecos.

By and large the kit is going together well.  The instructions are mostly easy to read.  The parts that consume a lot time are trying to find the parts and then trying to sort out in which order they go together.  Both of which can be worked through once you get an idea of how things are laid out. 

​Spent a fair amount of time today getting the horizontal stabilizer assembled. I got a number of parts delivered one of which was preventing me from getting the beginnings of the horizontal stabilizer together. Now I’m just missing one rib on one side. But I can get the other side riveted together. Tomorrow I’m going to check for square on the stabilizer and if all looks get that done and start working on the rudder.

It’s been a little over a couple of months since my last update and a lot has happened in that time.  The biggest news of all is the wait is over!  On July 8th we took delivery of the empennage kit, the wing kit and the fuselage kit.  All in all it was 5 very large boxes and a couple of longer tubes.  The delivery driver actually works for a company that specializes in shipment of aircraft parts and has a few decades of experience in doing it.  He clearly loves his job.

The wing spar and the box of the wing parts are shown here.

This kit contains the undercarriage kit and fuselage kit material.  Both from the front and the side

There was a little damage to the end of the wing spar box, however there was so much packaging material around it that it really didn’t make much of a difference.  We definitely made sure we inspected it pretty closely just to be sure

The other end faired much better.

When the shipping company called me to let me know the delivery was underway, they gave me an ETA of about an hour until it would arrive, so I headed out for a quick walk.  I was about 15 min into my walk when I got a call saying “the driver is here”.  Not a big deal in the end, but it was just kinda funny about the disconnect between the driver and the dispatch center

We’re now ready to get busy!

We cracked open the wing box to take a peek inside

The prep work included building a few work tables and the documentation seems to indicate only an 8 foot table should work for the empennage.  So that’s where we started.

I quickly outgrew that and added on the second of the two tables.  Having more space just was better/easier.  This is the elevator part starting to go together

Having the dimpler is definitely a great tool to have.  We also got the horizontal stabilizer put together

And then the vertical stabilizer as well

Overall we are making great progress.  We are missing a number of one-off parts which is preventing us from completing pretty much each of the sections.  The missing parts are all on order and should be in reasonably soon.  But we aren’t waiting.  We’ll clear off some room once we have finished cleaning the surfaces and tidied up the parts we have and then start working on the wings!  We’ll have a new update coming up in September.  For those of you not watching our YouTube channel, I’m going to try to keep that up to date as well.  This was our introductory video which mirrors much of the same details mentioned here, but in a video format. 

​If you'd like to watch the video aspect of our progress, please see our video here:

The wait continues for my SlingTsi kit.  The good news is the kit is currently on Romulus.  No, really.  Romulus - the cargo ship.  It left Ireland a few weeks ago and has been making the trek across the Atlantic.  I expect it to make a few stops along the eastern seaboard, cut through the Panama Canal to the LA area where my kit will be unloaded.  Once that is done a cargo truck to my home here in Colorado should put the delivery sometime in (fingers crossed) July.  Just in time for Oshkosh.  

In an effort to keep my blog post going and in the spirt of Fathers Day in June, I’m sharing my journey into aviation and how it has kept me connected with my dad.  

A few months ago AOPA was asking pilots to share their stories on what led them to flying and I thought I’d give it a go here.  Most pilots that I have encountered found flying at a young age or even are a second or third generation pilot.  While I am a second generation pilot, the initial spark wasn’t necessarily family related, but certainly inspires me along.

Growing up I knew my dad was a pilot but never really thought much of it as I never actually had any recollection of him piloting a plane.  We didn’t hang out at the airports and it really wasn’t ever discussed.  In fact before I was born my dad was building an airplane in the very prototypical “home builders workshop”, which if you’ve ever been to the museum at Oshkosh they have a mock-up of what it might have looked like.  

Having kids interfered with the dream to build and he never got much beyond some of the fiberglass forms needed to make the fuel tanks.  We moved a few times, from Iowa to Colorado, to Nebraska and the back to Colorado.  I remember the kit parts moving with us from home to home and with each move the parts seemed to be farther and farther apart.  There still are some tools around such as Cleco pliers and rivets but everything else seems to have been displaced with the moves.  Unfortunately my dad passed away in my late 20’s at the age of 58 and he never got back to working on that kit.

As for myself, fast forward about a decade later after he passed to about 2007.  I remember very specifically going out to dinner one evening with my wife’s family and there was a Flying magazine sitting in the waiting area of the restaurant.  As I was flipping through the magazine, I started thinking to myself - this would be fun to do.  And that was it - the seed was planted. 

Getting started really was about removing roadblocks out of the way from life.  Picking up a Plane & Pilot and Flying magazines here and there I did notice that a lot of the failed starts had a lot to do with life events getting in the way.  At the time, I was  recently married, we were combining households and I had a basement to finish to improve the living situation at home.  Flying became the carrot for getting motivated to finish our home basement.  I got busy on the basement and spent the next year and a half finishing that project.  

Initially my plans for flying were to fly only Light Sport Aircraft with the Sport Pilot license mainly to keep my costs as low as possible.  And hey - the path to the Sport Pilots license was faster, and the planes less expensive to fly - right?  I tend to absorb things a bit slower than some folks, and with a number of aircraft and instructor pauses, along with weather, the “20hrs to the license turned into many more than that…  with of course the extra costs to go along with it.  
Once I got my ticket, we purchased a share in our first airplane partnership.  As my wife, Laurie and I flew more we both understood the importance of needing more… of well, everything.  After a few years I worked on moving my Sport Pilot license up to a PPL, then the instrument rating after that landing most currently on my commercial rating.  I started looking to longer-term goals.  I’m reasonably comfortable in my career and knowing the airline life wasn’t for me, but ah - instructing could be the path.  This will be the next series of steps for my progression in aviation.

A few years ago as I was going through some of the remaining boxes of my dad’s stuff and came across much of his aviation documentation - including his log book.  The great thing about log books is it becomes a personal journal of events in ones life.  My dad’s first flight was on May 2nd, 1963 at KCID, or Cedar Rapids Iowa.  In all told, he logged only 129 flights from the initial flight to the final flight on July 26, 1969.  From his first flight it was a scant 13 flights later for his first solo in a Luscombe Silvaire Deluxe none the less.  

One of the other more notable flights that I noticed was a mere four days after I was born.  Fortunately I was too young at the time to notice the conversation that took place between my parents at the time, but I’m certainly it had to have been, how shall we call it… lively?  In looking beyond that date this flight made sense as shortly after that there were flights from Cedar Rapids to Kansas where my grandparents lived, Minnesota to where my other grandparents lived and another stop in Cherokee Iowa where my mom’s sister and her family lived.  

The fact my dad was able to use aviation to introduce me to the world in the late 60’s and, even with his passing, is able to share this experience through these logged journals resonates with me today.  

With my dad’s log book I went through and entered all of the flights and airplanes into an electronic log book to analyze the data even better and in doing so, I found a new mission for my flying.  I am slowly flying into each of the airports he has logged time into as a way to sort of retrace my steps and his.  Additionally one of the other sparks of inspiration, I started checking on the availability of tail numbers and found one available.  I have since then, registered the available tail number for my upcoming build which will bear it’s identifier.  

Normally this may be the end of the story.  A few months ago an article caught my eye on Air Facts Journal which fit into the theme I had been mulling about for this article as well as the APOA outreach.  I pulled up the article and started to read it (to read the actual article visit https://airfactsjournal.com/2021/03/the-logbook-a-generational-connection/).  It’s a similar story, written by Keenan Gehman, of someone who falls in love with aviation at a young age and as an adult finally makes the journey.  

What stopped me dead in my tracks while reading the article is the picture from his grandfathers logbook.  My dad and his grandfather were at the same airport on the same day back in 1963.  The odds of these two men being at the same airport and now I’m sitting here reading an article from his grandson just blew my mind.  I immediately worked to reach out to Keenan and was successful.  We’ve had a number of great exchanges via email.  
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In addition to our paths crossing this way, Keenan’s grandfathers flight instructor from back then actually is still alive and recalls his grandfather.  The flight instructor doesn’t recall my dad’s flight instructor, who passed away a number of years ago.

Although my dad and I never really talked much about his flying (if ever) I like to think he never lost the passion for it, but gave it up for the time being for the family.  Once I get the Sling done I’ll start checking the flights off into the airports and retrace his aviation journey with him in mind each time I venture out.  It’s just my little way of keeping him alive for me.
Happy Fathers Day dad…

Not a huge update here - but I finally got the shipping information for the airplane... here's the map of where it's at on the globe.  Click the blog post to bring up the map.

When I kicked off this blog series it was full steam ahead to get prepped with both knowledge and the building space with the anticipating of having a kit in-hand by January.  I mean after all, how hard can it be to put together a series of aluminum parts to build an airplane?  Especially considering the plant for fabrication is already in place.  Oh.  Let’s not forget to factor in our once-in-a-lifetime pandemic to throw a monkey wrench into my otherwise streamlined plan of events. 

This threw a bit more of a delay into the system than I expected, but in retrospect, it’s probably expected.  It’s not so much the Sling airplane factories issue at this stage as much as it is shipping.  Since the kit is fabricated in South Africa it has to get onto a boat.  The shipping industry is experiencing a pretty significant bottle neck, mostly with shipping containers.  For more information on this, see https://tinyurl.com/yhxkecs4.  

In December I thought I caught a break as my order got bumped up due to another future builder having to back out due to unfortunate health issues.  So, for now I have entered into what is likely to be one of many delays during the build process.

One of the things that has been noodling around in the back of my brain during this idle time has been some of the supporting organizational structures in aviation to help people build airplanes in addition to aviation in general.  In my most video I talk about this as a bit odd or confusing for me that such organizations aren’t discussed at the entry level to aviation.

When I started flying some dozen years ago, I never had any instructor explain in detail how these organizations help to benefit aviation in general.  I suppose some of this may have to do with the fact that a good chunk of folks going through pilot training aren’t into it for the recreational aspect, but more on the career track.  Overall, organizations such as the AOPA and EAA have always seem to me to be something to be important to be part of their community.  At a local level there is even more of a direct impact with groups such as the local EAA Chapters and in Colorado with the Colorado Pilot Association (CPA).  Both of these local groups offer a variety of resources to help make general aviation that much more rich.  

Almost as soon as I wrapped up my license I joined both the CPA and the local EAA chapter.  I haven’t been very active in the local EAA chapter simply because I wasn’t a builder.  But I can tell you that when I have reached out for questions, comments or even participating in a local event everyone has been very welcoming.  Granted this is overall the nature of the pilot community, but it’s helpful to have a group to return to with familiar faces.  It even started out with their post-Oshkosh pizza party debriefings.  This was the first event I ever really heard of Oshkosh.

Having shifted into the build mode for my next plane, I’m attending the local chapters events on a regular basis to get to know the community there better.  They have been very open to helping and I am looking forward to getting to know others through this group as my build progress evolves.

The CPA is also one of the best groups I could recommend anyone locally to Colorado to be a part of for at least two reasons - but there are many more of course.  The first of which is their very popular Mountain Flying program.  This one day ground school event just makes one realize how dangerous flying in the Rocky Mountains it can be.  I remember after taking it walking out of the program wondering why on earth anyone would FLY much less in the mountains.  However, with knowledge comes power, so I left with more knowledge of what I would want to avoid for sure.

The second program for the CPA gives you a reason to fly; their annual Fly-in events.  The point of getting a pilots license is to GO places, not just fly locally.  At least that would be the only reason I would think someone to become a pilot (other than it’s fun of course).  This Fly-in program with the CPA puts together a series of places to visit through other CPA-member hosted events.  My wife and I have traveled to places we would never imagine ever stopping with a group of very wonderful people.

The national level programs also have their benefits, but all of them (nationally and locally) have their places to help make aviation be a great activity to be involved with.  Certainly they compete with other recreational clubs supporting different areas of interest, but these groups are one area which could help overall with the retention of folks within the aviation community.  I wish this were more encouraged on the onset of flying.  I think it’s great for the pilots that maintain their connection to their local community through their membership.  What do the folks reading this think?  Should pilots be more involved with their local and or national organizations to help keep a healthy and vibrant community?

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I spent some time going over the past few blog posts in a video format for everyone to watch.  I'll be updating the blog post with my next post here soon.