Spring 2026 (The Last 10 Percent)
(24 June 2026) The 2025-2026 winter season was brutal in New England, which made work hard despite being in a hangar. Unfortunately, the hangar wasn’t heated well, and we had several bouts of cold or snowy weather. With the arrival of spring weather I made significant progress, including starting up the engine and taxiing N541NE under its own power! Here’s an abbreviated digest of major events in late 2025 and the first half of 2026.
Engine Cowling
I fit the exhaust pipe shroud to the lower composite fairing, using rivets to secure the shroud and 3M body filler to fill in and smooth the seam.
Wing Fuel Pickup System Install
I developed a feed pump system that fits into each wing root. This replaces the boost pump of the original kit design. The feed pump is the same Facet Posi-flow pump and is designed to provide head pressure to reduce the possibility of vapor lock. A mechanism on the fuel selector knob inside the cabin ensures only the boost pump for the selected tank will operate. A bypass check valve ensures that fuel can still flow even if the feed pump fails or gets blocked.
Lighting Control Modules
Behind the light cluster is a custom control module that individually controls each lighting element and provides diagnostic information back to a central controller on the instrument panel. These are second gen devices, incorporating improvements and fixes from testing of my first-gen design. They also have a failsafe mode to provide illumination if the comm link or controller fails. Each wing has a module behind the lights, and a third module is located in the tail just below the vertical stabilizer.
Forward Lighting Cluster
I’ve spent way too much time working on the lighting system. My first design was a minor upgrade over the kit-provided lights, replacing the stock bulbs with larger brighter LED-based PAR36 bulb and new mounts. Later I added a halo light assembly around the landing / taxi bulb. The halo design iterated a few times. The final design is really cool, using dedicated light sources for taxi (flood pattern) and landing (spotlight); animated halo lights; and a runway turn-off light, designed to illuminate the taxiways when decelerating and turning off the runway after landing.
Lens for Forward Lights
The kit includes thin flat sheets of clear polypropylene plastic to serve as lens covers. I decided to use something better: a thicker, scratch and UV-resistant polycarbonate. Because this PC material comes in sheet form that’s slightly thicker than the PP sheet, I couldn’t simply bend it. So I made a fixture to thermoform the lens on a buck (mold) that was the same shape as the leading edge of the wing. And, rather than using thread-forming screws through this plastic lens, I took advantage of the thicker material I used to embed brass heat-set threaded inserts so that the lens could be secured with M3 fasteners.
Parachute Rescue System Install
One of the more delicate and nerve-wracking parts of this installation, since one of the required steps is to arm and carefully install rocket motor. I had to request a special installation manual from the Stratos 07 (manufacturer) for the rocket motor installation since it was not provided with the kit, but the Stratos manual was excellent with many detailed photos showing exactly how to arm and install the rocket.
Interior Installation
The Sling upholstery kit is quite complete and includes panels and carpet pieces to cover most every surface in the cabin. It take a little time to trim the pieces to the exact side needed and then attach to the surface. For the most part I used 3M Super 90 spray glue to attach carpet pieces. For the footwell tunnel panels, they also have some padding that first needs to be glued onto the fabric.
Windshield Brow
The lower edge of the windshield meets the dash and a fuselage skin in an awkward manner so fiberglass strip is included to cover it up. After masking off the area, I applied a bead of Sika sealant to the brow and then used a whole lot of tape to secure it since there’s not really any good way to clamp when brow down while the sealant cures.
Controls Rigging
The elevator, elevator trim tab, flaps, and ailerons all have adjustable links for throw, balance, and neutral range. The ailerons were the most difficult part to get right since there are 5 different torque tubes, bellcranks, plus the joystick tubes that all need to be correct to ensure the aircraft flies level. I used a digital inclinometer for most of the adjustments.
Weight and Balance
With most of the above work completed, I contacted a DAR to arrange for an airworthiness inspection. The DAR required me to complete a weighing of the aircraft and to prepare a W&B report for the first flight. I used a set of scales, one under each wheel. During the weighing we made sure to include all fluids (minus fuel), and any loose objects that were not yet installed, but expected to be installed later such as wheel pants, floor mats, and paper manuals. The plane came in at 1,165 lbs, which was pretty consistent with my expectations for this airframe including a recovery parachute.
Fuel Flow Test
The DAR’s other prerequisite was a fuel flow test as prescribed in AC 90-89C, which states that for a low-wing aircraft such as mine, the airframe must be proven to supply no less than 125% of the maximum engine fuel demand, which for the Rotax 915iS is 11.4 GPH at 100% power x 1.25 = 14.25 GPH. With help from a colleague from work, we performed this test at both level and at a 15 deg nose-up attitude, which is the highest I could achieve (tail tiedown hook touching the ground). I wasn’t too sure where to make this measurement, but I decided to check right before the fuel rail / injectors right before the #3 cylinder — this ensures the effect of all supply lines, valves, filters, etc. are reflected in the measurements. I measured how long it took to drain 2 gals or 12 lbs of fuel into a container. We repeated this test several times, with all possible combinations of left/right tank, fuel pump 1, 2, or both; and boost pump on/off. The airframe fuel supply system proved more than adequate, supplying the equivalent of at least 44.4 GPH for all conditions.
Transponder Check
Required of any airplane flying in most airspace is a VFR transponder check every 24 months. This has to be completed by an approved repair station. I contacted Twin City Avionics, and Ken was graciously able to come right to the hangar to perform this check. He will need to come back when I’m ready for a pitot/static system leak check to be IFR-compliant. Ken still had to tap into the pitot tube because the Garmin G3X uses airspeed as a trigger for changing the GTX 45R Transponder from Ground to On/Altitude Encoding mode.
