Alex's RV-14A Build Log: Final touches, several more engine starts, taxiing around, and ... she's ready for the Airworthiness Condition Inspection!

The big day is getting closer, and I am pleased to say that my bird is now officially ready for her Airworthiness Condition Inspection, which is scheduled in a couple weeks! All the paperwork has been completed, and everything I can think of has been done to the airplane to make her ready for flight. I'm sure I'll fuss over her a ton, recheck everything, and pitter around over the ensuing days.

I performed several more starts to set the low pitch on the prop to obtain 2650rpm at max throttle, which took only two tries since I read that others had to turn the set screw "in" (clockwise) at least 1.5 turns - mine took exactly 2.5 turns. I also taxied around and checked the brakes - I'm not used to taxiing a castering nosewheel, so it took a couple turns before I got used to the feeling. I'm looking forward to transition training in the factory RV-14A, since this beast is very different from the Cessnas I'm used to flying. Hopefully, the next post will include a picture with my DAR and an aircraft airworthiness certificate. As usual, below and past the break are details from the last two weeks:

- final-drilled #19 holes, deburred, drilled #40 for nutplates; countersunk holes; riveted nutplates; checked prop clearance of gap filler and spinner (and adjusted as necessary); safety-wired 4 bolts that attach forward spinner bulkhead to prop hub

- finished spinner - riveted gap fillers to rear spinner bulkhead (involved removing rear bulkhead to gain access, and retorquing those nuts); sanded aft edge to be flush with bulkhead; checked gaps again and adjusted; safety-wired main wheel pants brackets; torque-striped painted as many nuts/bolts as I could find that were torqued but weren’t striped

- finally fixed the flaps switch! required reversing the flap molex pins at each stick; thanks Ken B. and Glenn M. for making me do this; checked function of autopilot in heading mode (works - goes side to side when the HDG bug is turned); painted seat pans

- worked on the emp. fairing (improved fit, blind-drilled using magnets, up-sized #27, drilled nutplate rivet holes in VS and HS, countersunk #27 holes in fairing)

- deburred holes of emp. fairing, riveted nutplates, attached gap fairings, outlined areas to trim on emp. fairing

- performed second and third run-up; static RPM is now 2650-2660rpm (IAW Hartzell manual, increased fine pitch to reduce top prop. speed); started cleaning plane

- Sanded edges of emp fairing, installed and floxed all “high” areas for better fit; filled fuel tanks with an additional 20gal (approx. 38 gal remaining on board now)

- Removed emp fairing, sanded edges, epoxied inside parts that touch metal; Finished ELT installation, performed ELT self-test, performed yearly ELT function test (between top of the hour and 5min past the hour); installed Canopy Hinge covers; installed database updates

- Taxi and brake test and mag ground check (Hobbs: 0.5h; Tach 0.3h); added W&B to G3X; applied 3M 2000+ degree fire barrier to firewall pass-throughs; attached crotch seatbelt straps; finished initial Condition Inspection and wrote the certification statement in my logbook. The airplane is ready for the Airworthiness Condition Inspection (although I’m sure I’ll still fuss over it)

Emp. fairing, floxed on the airframe:

Emp fairing, before floxing - a few gaps, that needed to be closed:

Another view of the gaps:

Spinner gap fairings:

This is the molex from one of the control sticks - I had to switch the green and the green/white wires in order to reverse the flap switch polarity ... and it worked! Thanks, Tim Day from SteinAir, for helping me figure this one out. And for sending the extraction tool, and making a nice tutorial in how to (properly) remove and replace molex pins.

Hinge gap covers, installed (from Plastic Parts for RVs - well worth the money):

ELT tested and then final installed; quite a shock to hear that emergency sound on 121.5MHz (I had the volume up waaay too high)! Make sure you do both the self-test and the deceleration (annual) test between the top of the hour and 5min past, and reset the ELT as quickly as possible. Even the self-test produces a short emergency signal. Note that turning the ELT from OFF to ARMED also initiates a self-test.

Emp gap fairing, drilled and up-sized - those are blindly drilled holes, and using the magnet trick is a must (a strap duplicator is too thick for most of the holes):

Application of the 3M 2000+degF sealant in the firewall passthroughs - inject it in the bundle of wires as many places as possible, then smear and push it around and in any available hole/crack. It is a little messy, but way easier (and perhaps better) than the Vans instructions. It's intumescent, which means it expands when exposed to fire thus making it more likely any remaining voids will be sealed.