Ground-to-air

A word on fuel pumps: Mechanical fuel pumps seem to be a source for many problems. I had a completely wrong one installed on my RH engine ... turning in the wrong direction. And if the mechanical fuel pump still works, the fail-open valve don´t go and so your boost pump is nice for making noise but useless when it comes to a half working mechanical fuel pump...

But it was quite an "opening" for Lola. Almost everything that was associated with "fuel" got replaced. Bladders, Pumps, Hoses ... it took Jan and the other folks from Piper quite a while but they did a magnificent job. Congrats, Lola fly´s beautiful now!! In fact I never had such smooth humm of the engines before ... sounds like one but performes like two :-)

Sister Ship

All the way from TF Green I recieved some nice pictures from Lola´s sister ship ... the N7998Y. It´s based on T.F Green airport in Providence, R.I. (PVD).

Thanks James!!

Lola is back!

I am not sure if Joerg's interaction here really worked, but Lola is back home! She got rid of her dirty fuel system and is waiting to flyyyyyyyyyyy again!

"I do not accept compensation"

He, honest now: When was the last time you heard these words? Especially when asking somebodys knowledge?
Your lawyer may ask for a 500 USD an hour , your tax-consultant maybe a little less. But surely just a handfull of people carry detailled knowledge and experience AND are willing to immediately share them with other people they have never seen or heard before. Unbelievable? Well, buy a Comanche and discover yourself. The ICS, the International Comanche Society, is full of those mentioned people. Good people. Old style people. They help where help is needed. They answer even when the questions is stupid. And they support even at their own costs.

"It's a group effort to keep as many of us flying as long as possible. " (Charlie Melot, 7-2007)

Drinking dirty fuel!!

After returning from our Italy-Trip we analyzed the new EDM Engine Monitor Data and found that occasionally Lola had some problems on two cylinders caused by dirt in the fuel system.

So, where do you start looking? The tanks of cause where the first thing to look after. 36 years of service is a lot for a rubber-tank and Lola has 4 of them (two more of Aluminium, but they are new and ok).

Well, the outcome was Sand, little sticky black rubber elements, even thumbbig stones ... shortly: A lot of things that doesn´t belong in a fuel system. So she get´s new fuel bladders (Thanks Ryan for your clear words!).

Further investigation also showed a little bit of Rust in the Fuelselectors (also Rust is a no-go ... especially in the fuel system.

So long Story short: Lola get´s a brand new Fuelsystem from A-Z. Hoses, Dividers, Nozzles were lately replaced, Injectors are new, Tanks and Fuelselectors now and hopefully she´ll be ready by next week for a testflight with fresh, clean AVGAS!!

Flying back home

*** still hungry for more pics? here is the full italy collection: ***

*** picasaweb.google.com/joerg.lamprecht/Italy2007 ***

*** picasaweb.google.com/joerg.lamprecht/Italia_2007_Part II ***

And that's where it ends...Our very, very, very first round trip with Lola. We flew back home in IFR - Thanks to Michael and his flight planning for us! -, tested the oxygen again over the Alps and taxied Lola straight to Piper maintenance in Kassel where everyone enthusiasticly opened her up to check what we had been doing...

Our conclusion? A round trip in Italy is an absolute must. The country at itself is paradise, and in just some hours you easily get around to the hot spots of the dolce vita.

What we learned? Don't fly at noon in the summer, always take water along and enjoy VFR in Italy - 1000 AGL is perfect to see the Italian country!

And further? We still have a lot to learn about techniques, and we love the GSM forever - especially the numbers of Friedrich Rehkopf and Piper Maintenance in Kassel where extremely helpfull - thank you all!

But he...We did it. And we just started.

She dances the tango...

There is no way to make a trip through Italy without stopping in Parma and get some real ham, we thought...So, before leaving home we made a stop on the PPR airport of Parma.

Taking off in Salerno Falconara was not so easy. Our girl, who just got some new spark plugs, shivered and coughed roughly after take off. We lost, almost immediatly, some cylinder values of the Engine Monotoring System and decided to return. No risks, with a flight over the Alps coming up the next day.

Aiaiaiai...Returning to Fernando, an extreme nice and technically gifted person of the Aeroclub, who thought us Lola had just some water and dirt in the fuel system, we got also spotted by...the inspectors of civil aviation.

"You have problem, sir?"
"No, we don't. We just wanted to have some values checked before flying over the Alps."
"If you don't have a problem, we will need a copy of the technical log and some signed papers you do not have a problem. If you do have a problem, we need a copy of your technical log and some signed papers that you do not have a problem anymore..."

So...Joerg needed a blond co-pilot to get out of this one ;-)

And off we took again - to Parma, and to eat some ham by our evening dinner. There was a lot of thermics in the air, so our girl danced a lot with us...The cha-cha, the tango and the merengue. We got shaked around...

Well, we just knew when we called her Lola (the show girl of Barry Manilow ;-)

A German never comes too late...

We took off at 6 from Salerno Pontecagnano (LIRI), saluted by half of the airport personnel and visitors. We had decided, only an hour before leaving, that we would not proceed our trip to the South but would leave back to the North of Italy. We have only a few days left, and with possible other techie problems we would otherwise not even make it in time back to Germany and Belgium. And you know... A german never comes too late...

Lola's take-off was smoothly, and she flew gentle as always. But once up in the sky, I got nervous...We wanted to fly VFR to Perugia (LIRZ) and stay in Assisi, but it was extremely misty. We have still not had an answer to where this mist came from...The Vesuvius, dirty hot smog or a forest in fire, but during the whole flight it stayed misty and uncomfortable to fly.

Next to that, there was no radio controller who felt like talking to us in the limited airspace of Napoli. Silence and mist...

By the time we needed to cross some mountains of 7,000 to 8,000 feet to reach Perugia, Lola's performance fell back. She climbed difficultly, and the engine monitoring system showed values which where too high and low (EGT). We discussed shortly, and decided not to cross the mountains this way and land to have the spark plugs checked (Joerg assumes it's a fouling one at high temperatures).

A safety landing was prepared and we choose for the airport in Ancona, only ten minutes away... An easy landing for Joerg with a 3000 meter paved runway. No way to miss this one, even if he would not have had his contactlenses...

And it looks like we have found that one hidden spot in Italy...The coast - Portonovo - is pretty busy, but the countryside looks like Tuscany, with amazing sun sets...We'll let you know soon how Lola is doing, and enjoy in meantime this wonderful hidden spot of Italia...

Techie Day at the Amalfi Coast

When leaving from Siena to the Amalfi coast, Joerg discovered the head temperature of a cylinder (techie details are for Joerg to explain!) was too high, while the Moving Terrain did not work at all. So, we inserted a "techie day" during our trip...

Replacing the Moving Terrain was a piece of cake, having a wonderful team behind us of Moving Terrain AG. They send a spare "knee" GPS to the wonderful Baia di Napoli in just one day.

The cylinder issue was a bit more complicated. While I went shopping (someone has to do the hard work), Joerg ended up at the table of the family of Nicola Romano and tried in his very best italian to explain what was wrong. While stripping Lola, they discovered the exhaust gasket was broken what caused the high temperature of the cylinder. So, exhaust gasket to Napoli for reparation and Joerg and I to Pompei for... well, for tourism.

We decided to stay a day longer to get Lola fixed, and to keep our plans open. We would not fly to Palermo in Sicilia, over water, if we would not feel comfortable with Lola's performance.

On Sunday, we got up realllllllly early to be at 2 at the airport. Super energetic as we are, we visited Capri by boat between 7 and 2, and made it then on time to the airport (I am becoming soooo german ;-). Lola was in meantime surrounded by about 10 abandoned cats and dogs, but was ready to fly off with an exhaust gasket "made in Napoli".

Big thank you to the scuolo di volo of Nicola Romani, who have been super for us!