Fly to Wendover

This morning I fueled the airplane with 10 gallons of premium and took off for Wendover.  I climbed to 5900’ as I departed the cross wind leg from runway 34.  As I flew over Magna I uploaded a flight plan and engaged the autopilot in the HSI & ALT mode.  As I flew over the Salt Air Resort I started my climb to 7500’.  As I arrived over the evaporation ponds north of Grantsville I climbed to 8500’.  I flew to Wendover over the Bonneville VOR.  I landed in Wendover and parked on the ramp. 

There were 4-other RV’s parked there.  An RV-7, an RV-6, and RV-8 and an RV-7A. There was also a Cessna 152 which had taken off from South Valley Regional about 20 minutes before I did.  I went inside and purchased an Historic Wendover Airfield cap.  I then got back into the RV-12 and flew back to South Valley Regional.  My trip out took 1.2 hours.  My flight back was 1.1 hours.  It was a great day to be in the air.  Upon my return and purchased another 10 gallons of fuel and put it in the tank.  As I finished fueling the Cessna 152 I followed to Wendover entered the pattern and landed.  It is a small world.  I hope to go up again next week.

Carburetor Float Buoyancy Test

Yesterday and today I worked on testing the carburetor floats as required by the ROTAX Service Bulletin – SB-912-065 R1.  I believe the serial number of my Rotax 912 ULS engine is out of the range of engines which need to be tested but I am complying with the test anyway.  Two weeks ago I ordered new choke gaskets for the carburetors.

Yesterday I removed the upper cowling.  I also prepared a 60 ml syringe by attaching a section of ¼” hose to the end.  I safety wired the hose to the syringe.  Today I modified a section of oil spout from an oil bottle to make a fitting which will go into the port on the carburetor.  I then moved the airplane out onto the apron and closed the hangar doors.  I started the engine and let it run for 2-minutes to ensure the carburetors were full of fuel.  I pushed the airplane back inside and proceeded to perform the test on the left carburetor.  I removed the choke spring and vent tube.  I removed the 4-screws holding the choke assemble to the side of the carburetor.  Using the syringe containing 60 ml of fuel I injected fuel into the lower port until it began coming out of the vent tube.  It took 25 ml’s of fuel.  The range of fuel volume for filling the float chamber is  23- 40 mls.  Any amount less or more indicates a problem.  The left carburetor is acceptable.  I reinstalled the choke assembly, vent tube and spring.  I then repeated the process on the right carburetor.

Both the left and right carburetors are acceptable.  They both required 25 mls of fuel to fill the float chambers. After putting everything back together including the upper cowling and putting the 5-gallons of gasoline I purchased into the tank I decided to go up for a test flight.  It was a beautiful day for the 7^th of January.  The temperature was 54^o F and the winds were light out of the south.  I took off on runway 16 and made 4-touch-and-goes.  The engine continues to run great!  I landed and put everything away.  I brought the engine log book home and made an entry certifying that Rotax SB-912-065 R1 has been complied with.