N88tn Finaly Came Home

[Skywalker]

Dear All
would like to inform with great pleasure ,that finally I got my Skymaster N88TN home to Poland, it took almost 10 month from Pre buy to delivery and on the way some major modifications and preventive maintenance, removel of minor and major squawks ( list was 160 items long) were done,,Brant Aero Did the great Job ,although they had some times hard time ,getting things up to the standards, specially the pressurisation, Already did the first IFR Cross country from Poland, EPZE -EPZG-LIME( Milan Italy) and it was great experience, Skymaster will do honest 180 Kts True at FL170-180, Having minor issues as follow and would request some advise .
-Rear Engine dip stick is very hard to insert back, Brant Aero did not correct it or forgot about it, its really pain in A.... As I fought 10 mints to hit the right angle
-I have Stec 55X and on final approach in Milan the AP did not capture the GS?
Is any body know what will be correct procedure for the Stec set up, for approach ? I was vectored to final a so I activated the APR On GTN 750, Pressed the .APR ;button on AP panel, was also in ALT mode but AP did not capture the GS?
as the instruction manual is very very badly written and just create confusion
-My run way was is only 2000 feet and its 30 deg Celcius now, any good advise about STOL operations? I am not comfortable with short field, last approach I did was 70 kts on final and 60 kts at threshold. had 80 gallons on Board and 2 x 175 lbs persons?
-I do have the Vg installation,
-Tomorrow plan to fly high with full fuel and want to check the true stall speed
Dennis

[edasmus]

Very cool!!!

Beautiful pictures!

Congratulations!

[Red Air Rambo]

Congrats Dennis!

Try pushing the alt button twice for gs, there are some tutorials on youtube that might help. 2000' is tight but doable, if you can't add 1000' then lighter weights and early mornings are your best bet.

Cheers,
Brent

[dan1000]

As strange as this might sound, try inserting the dipstick until it becomes difficult, then grab it about an inch above the tube and push from there (rather than simply pushing it from the handle). You may find that it is easier to insert when done this way. Use a rag or paper towel to hold it if you like.

Dan

Originally Posted by Skywalker

-Rear Engine dip stick is very hard to insert back, Brant Aero did not correct it or forgot about it, its really pain in A.... As I fought 10 mints to hit the right angle

[Skywalker]

Originally Posted by Red Air Rambo

Congrats Dennis!

Try pushing the alt button twice for gs, there are some tutorials on youtube that might help. 2000' is tight but doable, if you can't add 1000' then lighter weights and early mornings are your best bet.

Cheers,
Brent

thanks for the tip about S-TEC, already watching lot of stuff on U tube, the runway length is Max 2000 ,so always planing as light as possible and evenings or early mornings ;-)
Dennis

[Skywalker]

Originally Posted by dan1000

As strange as this might sound, try inserting the dipstick until it becomes difficult, then grab it about an inch above the tube and push from there (rather than simply pushing it from the handle). You may find that it is easier to insert when done this way. Use a rag or paper towel to hold it if you like.

Dan

The dip stick was twisted and in really bad shape ,we did change with new one and also mechanic did some work with the dip stick passage and now working fine. but still it requires a certain technique to insert it inside ;-)
Thanks

[dan1000]

One thing I remember is that dipsticks for engines don't take into account that the engine is often installed on some kind of a slant. Be sure to calibrate your dipstick at the next oil change, by inserting the correct amount of new oil, running the engine up to temperature, then checking the oil. If you put in X quarts of oil, you know that X quarts of oil are in there, and the dipstick should read that X quarts of oil are in there. If it doesn't, file a notch in the dipstick at the oil line, so you know where X quarts shows on the dipstick.

Failure to calibrate the dipstick can result in overfilling, and lots of extra work cleaning oil off the belly and.or tailplane.

Note: This is not a 337 issue. All engines are installed at an angle, and the dipsticks are rarely calibrated correctly. Hence: lots of belly cleaning.

Dan

Originally Posted by Skywalker

The dip stick was twisted and in really bad shape ,we did change with new one and also mechanic did some work with the dip stick passage and now working fine. but still it requires a certain technique to insert it inside ;-)
Thanks

[hharney]

The engines on the 337 are not on a slant or angle. Yes, the dipsticks should be verified for calibration but do it when the oil is cold. Who checks the oil when it's hot? 99% of the time you are pulling the dipsticks before the flight not after the flight. Most engine systems will tend to stabilize to a level and stay there unless there is some kind of problem that consumes oil. Once you allow the level to stabilize after a couple hours of operation then that is a good indication of where you should allow the oil level to remain to avoid any blow by that make a mess on the airframe. My normally aspirated engines stabilize at about 6 to 6.5 quarts. That's where I operate them, remember there is one quart in the filter that is not indicated on the dipstick.

[dan1000]

Thanks for the "cold" clarification. I forgot to mention that after running the engine up to temperature, let it cool before proceeding

About not being installed at a slant: I'm not 100% sure in the case of the Skymaster, and am willing to accept that there is no tail-high or tail-low orientation whatsoever if that is what you are telling me. On many airplanes (the obvious examples being tail-draggers), the on-the-ground angle is non-zero. And of course, even in the air in level flight, there is usually some angle of incidence of the wing, if not the engines.

The main point is that engine installations in different types of aircraft result in some front-to-back tilt relative to level-ground. Can you confirm that the front and back installations in the 337 are at zero degrees relative to level ground? If so, the dipsticks may be accurate from the factory. If not, there will for-sure be some calibration needed before accurate readings can be obtained.

Good point about not forgetting about the quart in the filter (and that running the engine up to temperature ensures that the filter is full before letting the engine cool and reading the oil level).

I also like your point that the owner often compensates mentally to find the level that the engine likes to maintain.

Dan

Originally Posted by hharney

The engines on the 337 are not on a slant or angle. Yes, the dipsticks should be verified for calibration but do it when the oil is cold. Who checks the oil when it's hot? 99% of the time you are pulling the dipsticks before the flight not after the flight. Most engine systems will tend to stabilize to a level and stay there unless there is some kind of problem that consumes oil. Once you allow the level to stabilize after a couple hours of operation then that is a good indication of where you should allow the oil level to remain to avoid any blow by that make a mess on the airframe. My normally aspirated engines stabilize at about 6 to 6.5 quarts. That's where I operate them, remember there is one quart in the filter that is not indicated on the dipstick.

[kilr4d]

Congrats Dennis!

[kilr4d]

Showed up in my mail today.

https://brantaero.com/2019/08/13/don...ame-be-better/

[edasmus]

Good Stuff!

Congrats Dennis!!