Wednesday, December 19, 2007
First Run
Today's the day, almost. She's fully reassembled and the weather is conducive to bringing her out to ground run the engine. The engine was run in a test cell at Mattituck after it was rebuilt, but this is the first time that it's been run since being reinstalled. I managed to get away from work for an hour or so to watch
For the first time in five months, Yellowbird tastes sunlight. It was the height of summer when she entered the shop, now there's snow on the ground. I can almost imagine her squinting as she comes out of hibernation.
We ran her up a total of three times, the longest run being about 15 minutes. The essential engine systems (Magnetos, mixture, prop) were checked, and after each run we looked her over for signs of oil leaks or any other problems. At the end of the process, she seemed in good health. All that's left to do is document everything that has been done in the logbooks, pay the bill, and wait for the next VFR day.
In the deep mid winter, the song of the Gold Crested Yellowbird is heard for the first time. Legend has it that if she sees her shadow, she'll return to her hangar, there to await the next sunny day following the payment of large sums of money and the writing of an extensive logbook entry. Once she emerges, she'll romp about the sky in delirious joy, making all the other birds jealous.
