Jeff and Tim's Mojave Adventure Part 1

The Mojave Fly-in is over and the plane is loaded and ready for the road. We are taking a day to get some rest before headed home. Here is a recap of the trip so far.

The Mojave Fly-in is focused on innovation. Its the kind of fly-in that even if I had not been nominated for an award, I would have made a commercial flight to be there anyway. Lots of very cool aircraft and people who are thinking outside of the box and developing new ideas.

I had originally planned on flying the Sonerai to the event, but as the event got closer, it was apparent that I was not going to be able to complete the work and flight test it in time. The amount of work to be completed was overwhelming and I did not want to cut corners just to make it to the fly-in. I did my best to get it ready for flight before I left. The week preceding the event I got a total of 17 hours of sleep and lots of help from a few friends, but there were just to many things to do.

The day before we were going to leave, we got 4" of snow, 16 degree temps and 30 mph winds.

The plan was to load the trailer up Monday night and leave early Tuesday morning. We did not end up loading the plane until Tuesday morning and left at 2pm.

Getting the cowl installed for the trip

Getting ready to load up

Loaded up and ready to rock!

We made it as far as Des Moines Iowa the first day. We were concerned that the truck's starter was going to completely give up, but it started the next morning so we headed out for Hammon Oklahoma with the plan to stop at Tim's friend Jeff's shop to change the starter.

Grabbing a nice dinner with Jeff and Tim

While Tim and Jeff worked on the truck, I finished up a few things on the plane. 

 We finally rolled into Mojave on Friday at about 3pm with lots of things to tidy up on the plane.

A quick picture stop as we arrived

We unloaded the plane and got to work tidying up a few details. It took until about 10:10am the next day to get everything put together and ready to taxi to the event. I had hoped to get some flight testing in once we got to Mojave, but I was unable to finish the right side cooling baffle in time. Soooo close, but no cigar. I decided to leave both baffles off of the engine for the event and temporarily tied up the wires.

Not much room remains!

Ready to taxi to the event

I had hoped to have more time to look at all of the other aircraft on the flight line, but I ended up spending most of the day talking to people about it.

Waiting for the judges to take a look

Ended up having to install the old wheel pants since the new Sam James pants required significant modifications to install

Lots of great company on the flight line!

 

 After the event, we tucked the airplane back into the hanger for the night.

The awards dinner that evening was fun as well. It was in a large hall with about half of it being used for tables and seating. The other half was filled with people flying electric model aircraft ; )

Record Attempts

Below are the results of the record attempts that took place during the preceding week:

The Awards

Four awards were up for grabs:

Best Design 2014:

This award is for the best technical mod of the year, corresponding to the technical (aerodynamic, mechanical, structural) nature of the mod.

Best Build 2014:

This award is for the best craftsmanship mod of the year, corresponding to the build quality (aesthetics, schedule, build difficulty) of the mod.

Best Test 2014:

This award is for the best test series related to a mod of the year, corresponding to the testing (documentation, scope, difficulty) done associated with a mod.

Experimenter of the year 2014:

This award is for the best overall mod of the year.  Best combination of design, build, and test.

Mojave Experimental Fly-in Awards, left to right, Kevin Eldredge Best Build, Zach Reeder, Scaled Composites Catbird Pilot won Best Test for his 5000 KM Speed Record, Mike Patey, won Experimenter of the Year for his Highly modified Lancair Legacy, Jeff Lange for his highly modified Sonerai I. In the Yellow Jacket is Tom Aberle, who got the award for Best Failed Record Attempt. (caption courtesy of Eric Whyte)

I was honored to have even been nominated for an award, but to win one was the icing on the cake. The modifications I had done stretched my knowledge and abilities well beyond where I was when I started them. Many of the parts were made two or three times before I was satisfied with the results. Once again this little airplane has taught me new skills that will surely come in handy when building my next project.

Without the help and sacrifice of a bunch of people I would have not even been able to get the plane far enough along to take it to Mojave.

In no particular order, I want to say thank you to everyone that helped with the plane!

Tim Kline, for helping me get the thing out there behind his truck and lots of hours helping me tie up details.

Scott Severson, for helping me get paint back on it (which was shot the day before we left).

Ed Fisher, for countless hours of advice.

Eric Whyte, for his "gophering" for supplies and making my ass happy (he helped make the seat pan and cushion).

Mark Hegy, for helping me get the new spinner cut and fit.

Mat Klatt, for helping me with lots of little details.

Michael Long, for helping with the seat cushion and other details.

Tracy Buttles, for helping me with the firewall forward fuel lines.

John Lange, for helping with various projects.

Joe Corragio, for being a great sounding board for ideas and many valuable suggestions.

Brian Long, for plasma cutting a number of parts for me and keeping me company late into the night.

Joe Horvath, for lots of advice and guidance, as well as sponsoring me with a set of Revmaster's awesome 049 cylinder heads.

Dick Keyt, for heling me sort out my oil cooler ducting design.

Jeffery Boal, for the use of his shop along the way.

Jeff Barnes, for helping offset the fuel costs for the trip.

Elliot Seguin, for putting on a great event and nominating me for an award.

Packing up and heading home

Before we took the plane apart, I asked Tim if he wanted to see if he fit into it. Wellllll, no ; )

Tim trying to squish himself in under the canopy ; )

We loaded the plane up on Sunday and took the rest of the day to relax at Tim's friend Art's house. 

Part 2 to follow with the rest of the trip home!