06/09/2022 –
Over a week has passed since our 4 canard drivers had last flown to see each other. It was getting to be too long. So another trip we forged. This time to do some camping at Petit Jean Park in Arkansas. Christine, Ella, and I had to first figure out how we’d get 2 tents, 2 air mattresses, 3 pillows, 3 sleeping bags, and the rest of our camping gear into plane. This was a lot easier task when Ella was a toddler, but now her legs actually reach into the footwell, so we’ve lost a bit of luggage area. 😀 We decided we’d probably have the most luck coming up with a smaller solution for the air mattresses. A friend suggested a cheap pool lounger, so off to Walmart we went in search of the smallest inflatable flat lounger we could find, which turned out to be substantially less bulky than the mattresses we normally use.
I tried to get info about reserving a camping spot at the airport (there is a small camping area right next to the runway) which is a couple miles from the main campground, but there was no way to reserve those spots online. Several dozen attempts to call the visitor center yielded no response. So we were a little uncertain if there’d be openings.
On the afternoon of the 9th we flew down to Rochester to visit a few other friends before departing with Jake the next morning. Russ and Bob would be meeting us there. The flight down was uneventful. We were the only 2 planes on the ramp when we arrived. There were plenty of open camp sites, but again no information as to how to register, and more attempts to call the visitor center went unanswered. For the time being we set up camp and figured we could sort registration later.
Soon after getting camp set up Russ arrived. We did a little local exploring down to the other end of the airfield where we thought we saw a hangar. Perhaps there was an FBO that would have info about registration? But no, it looked as if it hadn’t been used for a while.
Bob was having to wait for a bit of weather to clear out before he departed and asked us to check the runway lighting status. I was unsuccessful in getting the lights to come on with my handheld radio, so we tried with Jakes plane, also to no avail. Advising Bob of the lighting issues, he elected to land at Russellville for the evening and connect with us in the morning.
The next morning the park rangers stopped by. We asked about registration and they advised us to call the visitor center. When we mentioned the difficulty we had reaching them they told us to just keep trying. Eventually Jake was able to reach them and register. He asked if they needed to get info from the rest of us and was told they did not, so we thought we had everything sorted. Once Bob arrived we called the restaurant in the park as they had a shuttle service that could pick us up. The restaurant was right at the trail head so we hiked out to the falls. It was hot and humid, but beautiful.
When we arrived back at the trailhead / restaurant, we were “greeted” once again by the park ranger who informed us that our registration had only been completed for Jake, and we’d need to all stop by the visitor center to register. This wouldn’t have annoyed me had it not been for the fact the ranger was now clearly upset at us for not properly registering. At least they were nice enough to drive us over there to register. Pro tip for the Arkansas Park department…if you aren’t going to make all your registration available online, ANSWER THE PHONE! We did dinner back at camp, and then decided on a sunset flight before beers. Unfortunately, we were going to have to endure another night with our inflatable pool loungers. We had learned the ‘hard’ way the night before that there is a reason camping air mattresses are thicker, they hold air for more than 2 hours. Oh well, it was only one more night. Lesson learned.
The next morning we packed up camp and made the short hop over to Russellville for fuel before starting the leg home. About 45minutes after departing Russellville the engine started running a little rough with EGTs acting erratic. Ava Missouri was our closest suitable airport, about 15nm to the northeast, so we diverted there to see what was going on. Jake, who was on flight following as well, heard us tell Springfield approach our intentions and opted to land at Ava as well in case there was something he could help with.
When we got the cowls off we could see no indication anything was physically wrong. Everything looked secure. I pulled the spark plugs, and noticed a couple of them looked fouled, so it was possible it was a plug issue. I was able to get a replacement set from the local parts store, but an engine run up indicated the problem still persisted. Unfortunately for us, it was now getting late in the day and we had a bit of a time constraint with getting home. Christine was starting a new job on Tuesday, we were a solid 10 hour drive from home, the closest place to get a rental car was 50 miles away, and the soonest we could get it would be the following morning (Monday). On the fortunate side, the airport manager and his wife were the nicest people one could hope to meet. They offered to drive us up to Springfield where we had found a hotel and the rental car.
Monday morning we picked up the rental car and Christine drove us back to MN, while I spent the trip working from my laptop in the back seat. Tuesday I made a list of all the possible tools and parts I may need to diagnose and hopefully repair what was going on with the Cozy, and that afternoon I took the rental car and drove back down to Ava with all my gear. It was late when I arrived, so no chance of checking anything out, instead opting to get sleep so I could start work extra early on Wednesday so I could spend time in the evening sorting out the plane.
While chatting with Bob, Russ and Jake about my diagnostic plans, Russ asked a question I SHOULD have asked 2 days earlier. “What happens when you run it on one ignition system instead of both?” Had I thought to isolate the ignition systems it would have directly led to my problem. Sure enough, it ran perfectly fine on the Right side ignition, but coughed and sputtered and nearly died on the Left. A few other tests confirmed what I had started to suspect, a failed timing sensor was the culprit. Now the trick was getting a new one before the weekend.
After a bunch of back and forth with the manufacturer, I finally had a new timing sensor enroute for delivery on Saturday morning. I spent Thursday and Friday working from the hotel, and Friday after work Christine and Ella drove our car down to Springfield so I could drop the rental car off, and we’d take our car back to Ava for the evening.
Saturday morning the sensor arrived and upon installing it the plane fired up and ran smooth once again. I flew direct back to St. Cloud in a little over 3 hours. About 7 hours later Christine and Ella made it home. It was good having all of us (plane included) in the same place again.
