1 September 2005

CJD has been sold. It will be sad to see her go but good that she is going to a Bushbaby enthusiast!

17 March 2004

Authority to Fly has been received from CAA. Finally I can carry passengers and fly wherever I want. The ATF is valid for 1 year. The oil and oil filter have been changed and the plane test flown after its ATF inspection. This basically marks the end of the building process, now you will have to watch the web site for news of flights and adventures.

15 March 2004

The 25 flight test hours required by CAA have been flown off, and performance data from the flights included in the Flight Manual. EAA Approved Person, Bob Ilsley, was at it again, this time doing the inspection for the Authority to Fly. The cowls, covers, seats, etc were all removed and a thorough inspection was done. There were no snags and Bob signed the application for the ATF.

7 March 2004

15,000 ft and climbing. Trying to test the Bushbaby's ceiling, I got to 15,000 ft and was still climbing at 300fpm. Temperature was -1 degC and there was solid cloud above me, so down I came. Have to try another day.

February 2004

Progress on the 25 hours of flight testing required by CAA is going well. Climb tests, glide tests, stalls, general handling, etc, etc. There's also always time for a bit of sight seeing!

28 December 2003

Finally a break in the weather and I get to do the first flight. At about 11am, with Wayne Bond in the right seat, we took off from Cato Airfield runway 17. After climbing in the circuit to the bottom of the TMA (4500') we flew across to the western side of the airfield and checked out the handling and approaches to the stall. She behaved really well and after 30 mins we headed back to the circuit, did one approach with an overshoot followed by another circuit and landing.

What a great aeroplane.       More pictures.

14 December 2003

Sunday morning the aircraft was loaded onto a trailer and moved to its new home at Cato Airfield. Thankfully the journey was uneventful. At the airfield, the aircraft was unloaded, assembled and after half an hour of taxi testing, put into its hangar. More engine testing to be done now before the first flight.

Proving Flight Authority arrived on Monday from CAA. The aircraft will have to be test flown for 25 hours before receiving its Authority To Fly (Certificate of Airworthiness for amateur built aircraft).

11 December 2003

EAA Approved Person Bob Ilsley arrived at 9am to do the final inspection. After a thorough inspection with much prodding, poking and questions, ZU-CJD was finally signed off for its Proving Flight Authority.

19 October 2003

Wings are now on. Final control setups can now be checked and fuel and pitot lines can be connected. Nearly there.

15 September 2003

Fuselage now has final paint, trim and registration letters (ZU-CJD). My wife thinks it's very funny that CJD is short for Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease - or Mad Cow Disease!

09 August 2003

Finally ran the engine for the first time. It fired after only a couple of seconds and ran well. No snags or leaks during the 30 minute run and pushing it up to 4000 rpm.