YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA !!!!!! After 10 weeks of not flying the KR, I finished the annual yesterday and did an hour in the air with two half hour flights. She didn't forget how to fly ! The air was calm, very little wind, and near unlimited visibility. My KR is the sweetest landing airplanes I've flown in my 1200+ hours. Having not flown for a while, I was more conscious of what I was doing then usual. With the favorable wind conditions I realized during the flare that I was using just the tip of my thumb and two finger tips on the stick and what a slow, steady, and short range of motion it takes to land the KR. I've got 274 hours on her now and I'm still grinnin' !!!!
The biggest item on the annual was a weak cylinder. The intake valve seat was no longer making good contact with the valve on all sides. I picked up a used cylinder ( 20 hours since new) from the almost local scrap yard for $395. It required no additional work before installing. I used the old piston with a new set of rings and all the associated seals and gaskets. The old cylinder appears to be the source of the "miss" I was getting for the last 10 hours or so in the 2200 to 2400 range when throttled back a bit on letdown. Other than the routine items, I had to replace a rod end bearing on one of the aileron pushrods, bush my rudder hinges to eliminate some movement, fix a slight leak on one of my fuel sending units, and do a total re-calibration of the gauges. It doesn't look like I'll get any of the "repainting" done in the short term as I had hoped so that means the vinyl trim will have to wait also. I had some foam and material at the upholstery shop for the last three months to have some seat cushions made. I finally shamed the old guy in to working on them and he tells me his machine is "too big" to handle the material I had. Yea, right !!!!! Anyway, it's back to square one on the cushions. Anyway, she's back in the air and ready for the "Rec Aviation fly-in" this weekend at a local airport and our chapter spring picnic the following weekend at a local residential air park with a 3000 foot grass strip. LET THE FUN BEGIN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Larry Flesner
