I finally got some time at the hangar yesterday. First order of business was to clean out all the Northern Nevada real estate that blew in under and around the doors over the past few months. That only took 3-4 hours and a bag of grunge from the shop vacuum.

Then I got back to work on the Swift annual. I finished up the cockpit area, including the ELT check, and was part way through reinstalling all the various cockpit parts when my hangar neighbor came by.

A few months ago he sold the FlyBaby homebuilt he had bought in Southern California and bought an RV-6. He knew ahead of time that the plane had a ‘notable’ history but got a good price for it and figured he’d correct any questionable parts he found.

His project yesterday was the problem of a ‘heavy’ left wing. That was traced to unevenly rigged flaps. One was sitting 2 degrees lower than the other. That was traced to a bent actuator rod caused by a less than stellar landing by the previous owner.

He ordered and received a new actuating rod to replace the bent one and purposely ordered it too long to he could cut it to fit. Turns out that part is just a short length of aluminum tubing, with internal threads to permit screwing in rod-ends with jam nuts which then are used to attach to the flaps. The whole process required a tubing cutter and a 1/4-28 tap to extend the internal threads after shortening the as-purchased length.

He installed the new part and wonder of wonders, the flaps are symmetrical. All it takes is time, money and the right tools.

And now we’re back to winter-like conditions for a few days. Winds are gusting to 32 kts out at Stead and forecast to stay that way for a couple more days – with a chance of snow showers tonight and into tomorrow morning.

That makes the TFR notice I just received a moot point. Looks like the VP is making a stop in Reno for a few hours. It’s going to be a bumpy ride…