Back In the (jet) Saddle Again!

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Loki got back in the air again today, the first time in just over two months. Back in the first week of November, an engine problem came up that required the motor to be shipped back to the factory near Prague (Czech Republic), and with the cooperation of everyone at PBS, they turned it around in just a few weeks of shop time. Unfortunately, you can add a week of shipping on the front end, and three weeks while the motor sat in its crate on the shipping dock through the European holidays, when nothing, but NOTHING moves. It shipped last week and got here in three days travel, took about an hour to have it installed, hooked up, and serviced with oil – but by then, I had a bit of a cold, and only wanted to fire it up on the ground and taxi a bit.

Today we had a narrow weather window between cold morning temperatures and afternoon wind with storms moving in, so when the temp got above freezing, I climbed into my heavy Patagonia underwear, flight suit, heated socks, and heated vest, and took the machine aloft to see if I still remembered how. The motor purred along great, the airframe and instruments showed no sign of a layoff, and we’re back in business. Of course, now the winter weather will set back in…

Can’t say enough good things about the folks at Sonex and PBS who made the turnaround as short as they could. Czech Customs… well, they could at least have an intern around one day a week through the holidays!

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Paul Dye
Paul Dye, KITPLANES® Editor at Large, retired as a Lead Flight Director for NASA’s Human Space Flight program, with 40 years of aerospace experience on everything from Cubs to the Space Shuttle. An avid homebuilder, he began flying and working on airplanes as a teen and has experience with a wide range of construction techniques and materials. He flies an RV-8 and SubSonex jet that he built, an RV-3 that he built with his pilot wife, as well as a Dream Tundra and an electric Xenos motorglider they completed. Currently, they are building an F1 Rocket. A commercially licensed pilot, he has logged over 6000 hours in many different types of aircraft and is an A&P, FAA DAR, EAA Tech Counselor and Flight Advisor; he was formerly a member of the Homebuilder’s Council. He consults and collaborates in aerospace operations and flight-testing projects across the country.

2 COMMENTS

  1. Does anyone have any information on the intended new power plant for the two passenger version? Projected performance figures. It would be nice to have a larger fuel tank too that could be used for longer range.

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