Flying N6221P

The First 10 Hours –

My first flight in N6221P following reassembly was thankfully uneventful. I did a quick turn in the pattern with the gear down and a full stop landing. I shut down, gave things a quick look plus one more gear swing and after finding no issues headed back up. I flew for just over an hour five miles northwest of the airfield at various power settings noting performance figures. I also checked all of the avionics for airborne operations. The GPS, VOR, TXPDR, and all instruments appeared to function normally. The only abnormalities were erratic fuel pressure and a slightly low vacuum. After landing I discovered a bad fuel pressure sender ground and found the suction gauge to be slightly out of calibration – both minor fixes (with the right parts on hand of course). Also of note was a bit of oil on the belly from the wet vacuum pump discharge.

I followed a similar flight plan the following day, flying between 3500 and 5500 feet MSL running 21P through its paces in straight and level flight. With no significant performance deviations from the POH, I felt confident enough for some dual instruction. With the help of my hangar neighbor and long- time flight instructor we went up for several hours of slow flight, stalls, steep turns, and landing practice to completely wring out 21P and refresh my skills in the PA24 airframe. All great fun and a good learning experience.

After the dual instruction I wanted really get the feel for 21P as a straight and level cross country machine. I planned and flew a series of one- hour 75% power out and back flights to perfect trim and power settings. During these flights, I detected the left wing was noticeably heavy, and if left un-attended 21P would make a left turn in short order. Also during these series of flights, the oil on the belly increased and the right mag failed during a run-up.

The Mag failure was an easy fix with an overhauled MAG from Spruce as the existing mag was just over 400 hours. The oil on the belly was a combination of the wet vacuum pump’s normal discharge augmented by a bad Garlock seal on the vacuum pump drive. I also chose to overhaul the vacuum pump as it had never been done since new. The rigging problem was mitigated by adjusting the trim tab thanks to a hint from the Comanche community. I also rechecked the rigging of the flaps and found one flap to be one degree off from the book specs. I will re-rig the flaps as time permits and expect this to lessen the need for the trim tab deflection.

With more than 10 hours behind me, 21P is officially a “flying project”. Short term we need to add some sun visors, re-rig the flaps, and think about ADS-B. Mid-term is a complete landing gear refurb and long-term is new paint. In the meantime, it’ll be lots of fun flying.