Awesome new beginning

I'm back in business with ZDL now home. Thanks to The Airplane Factory, Gareth, Andrew, Daniel and probably Lyle who all had a hand in re-wiring our plane, fixing the fuel-tank leak and respraying parts where corrosion was evident, as well as a host of other adjustments and upgrade of my dash and efis software. You guys did a great job and I'm very proud of you!

 

Louis and I took off this morning as early as we could get out of bed and up to Light Flight where Sling JAL is hangared so that we could leave JAL for it's 25 hour service and minor delivery adjustments in Johannesburg, and fetch ZDL flying back to Durban together in my plane. The sky was beautiful with a few patches where the morning mist had not yet lifted and the sky all the way to Johannesburg for the 2 1/2 hour flight was as smooth as a baby's bum. I've never had such a smooth flight to Jhb.

 

Camperdown from the air as we took off from Light Flight

 

The route to Johannesburg over the escarpment - some clouds to the right but clear ahead

The "koppies" just below around the Harrismith area

 

Once in Johannesburg Gareth went over a few of the adjustments and re-wiring done and I managed a look-around the factory - 2 of the new Sling 4-seaters were flown for the first time yesterday and a few other Slings were in production that I could see with more spread around the factory in various stages of assembly and painting.

 

Re-united with our Sling ZDL

Gareth, Production Manager at The Airplane Factory, chats to Louis about the 25 hour service due now on his new Sling JAL. We hope to return to Tedderfield next week to fetch it and then fly back in our respective planes.

Louis inspects the new Sling 4 as well as Sling 4 OMG below that took their maiden test flights yesterday. The Airplane Factory reports orders for the 4-seater of 20 at present, the first of which was delivered recently.

Got the Sling decals back on our plane ZDL, although Gareth forgot the dot on the i

 

 

The clouds were starting to gather on the route back to Durban - windguru said it would cloud over by 2pm, hence the need to fly there and back all in a morning, getting home by 12.

This cloud was awesome. With them gathering, and the temperature rising to 30 deg c, the air en-route back was a bit more turbulent, but nothing like the horrendous flight we had to Jhb not too long ago through the storm clouds.

en-route Louis (left) and I in the pilot seat getting the feel of the re-wired and sorted ZDL. We flew flight level FL085 to Jhb and FL075 back using the ENO rule.. even flight levels flying on a heading between 180 - 359 deg, and odd flight levels for headings between 0 and 179 deg. Flights are further separated by 500 feet for those flying VFR (Visual Flight Rules - in sight of the ground) and IFR flights (Instrument Flight Rules, for those rated to fly in clouds). In this way the risk of mid-air collisions between planes can be reduced by changing the levels at which planes fly depending on the type of flight and direction headed. We also had approved routings from the Johannesburg East (KZN) and Johannesburg South (Gauteng) Flight Information Sectors, so we were on their radars for most of the flight there and back. To do this they give you a squawk code (like 4507) which you dial into your aircraft transponder and this sends a unique signal back to the air taffic guys who are able to spot you on their radar like commercial airliners. Other general aviation flights use a squawk code of 2000 which enables them to be seen, but does not identify which plane it is. Useful little gadget. We were on the ground home by noon.

 

Dry spell

 When our trip to Jhb was cancelled, we turned back and Louis and I in his Sling JAL did a consolatory flight to and touch-and-go at Pietermaritzburg instead from his home base at Cato Ridge
 

This is a nearby airfield we have been looking at with a view to renovating it and possibly building a hangar with the owner's permission to base our 2 Slings at, away from the coastal air.

It's been a bit of a dry spell. ZDL is up at The Airplane Factory in Tedderfield. As indicated in earlier posts, we have had an unresolved electrical fault which mysteriously gobbles up our power and blows the regulator which has been fixed twice. We asked the factory to give the electrics a thorough checking over and after investigating everything for a week, it has been decided to rewire the plane. It may also have something to do with the MGL Avioguard we had fitted after the last failure. It is an electronic device intended to ensure that smoothed power is supplied to the sensitive avionics at all times, even if there is a dip or surge in the current. The wiring diagram for this new product from MGL seems to have caused some difficulties and had to be re-checked with MGL. Feels like we are being guineapigs here.

The Airplane Factory have been marvelous and are leaving no stone unturned in getting the problems sorted out and a decision was taken to disconnect everything and re-wire the plane from scratch using the most-up-to-date wiring harnesses developed by the factory.

In the meantime I am in Durban and the plane has been in Johannesburg for 3 weeks now. We were on our way to fetch the plane on Wednesday and had to turn back when the factory phoned to say that ZDL was not going to be ready. Looking forward to getting back in the air next week.