N324RH in the making

[joejenie]

I had the opportunity on Thursday to fly to Eldorado, KS and meet with Todd Peterson and Kent with Bevan Avionics to get things going on my new Katmai. It was really cool to see Todd's business and see a little more detail on how he puts these planes together. The only bad thing was the 50 knot winds!

The schedule is for Bevan to start the Avionics next month and for Todd to do his magic starting in September. Hopefully this will be a nice Christmas present!:D

We found a 1979 182 with 700TT with a perfectly straight body. Todd flew out to Oregon to pick it up and flew it back a week or so ago. It's a good thing that we are replacing everything however, because the plane used about 1 quart of oil per hour of flying and a lot of the avionics didn't work. I posted a couple pictures of it in the photo gallery and will add more as I get them. Todd has the plane in Kansas now and is waiting to go to the avionics shop.

I have the avioncs figured out with Bevan and will post the photo make-up when they send it to me in the next couple weeks. I ended up going with:

1-Garmin 530W w/GI-106
1-Garmin sl40 Comm
1-Garmin 496 in the panel (for weather, TAWS, XM Radio)
1-Garmin 327
1-PMA 8000B
1-JPI 700 Engine Monitor
1-Fuel Totalizer
1-STEC 50 Autopilot
1-TAS 600 Traffic

I decided that I didn't need a 2nd 430/530 since I don't plan on flying this IFR. I went with the 530 because for a better view of traffic, map, etc. Total cost of avionics upgrades will be in the 65-70k arena. Airframe ended up costing 120k. I paid a little more because I wanted a 1979 model with more fuel and I wanted a really low time airframe and this one is extremely straight. I could have saved 20-30k in the airframe if I wanted, but in the end I wanted this one, so I bought it. Total cost for the project is looking like 300-325k by the time I get the interior and paint done along with the big katmai tires. Well worth it in my opinion compared to what else is out there.

My new tail # is N324RH. I picked it because my other plane is N824RH and I wanted them to be really close so I don't screw them up on the radio!:o

As you can tell, I'm excited to get this project done and would love to be flying it tomorrow. I'm excited to trade up from the Scout for sure! No more wondering if the taildragger is going to ground loop on landing and no more straight and level flights hand flying for 2 hours at a time! Oh ya, no more fights with my 3 kids on who gets to go flying this time. It will be nice having a little better wing loading as well. The Scout finds every damn bump in the air.:mad:

Thanks for listening and watch the photo gallery for more updates as we go along.

Joe Rainey

[joejenie]

I just added photos to the website that shows the mock-up of my panel. Bevan is starting to work on it and is suppose to deliver it complete to Todd on September 1.

As for the picture of the paint, I seen the new Cessna 182 paint and fell in love with it. I was going to do white/blue/grey as well to match my other planes, so this paint job was perfect for me. Is there any issues with using a current Cessna design?

Now all I need is the FAA to hurry w/ Todd's new STC for the IO-550. :rolleyes: Hopefully I won't have to wait too long! I decided in the end that you can never have too much power.:D

[morrisond]

How much of an upcharge in price to go from the IO-470 to IO-550?

[joejenie]

I'm not sure yet. I'm betting it is in the 10k range. IIRC, we talked about it and the engine was another 5k, but there was something else like a core charge that hit another 5k due to not turning in a 550 engine as the core. This is a question that Todd will have to answer.

This 10k is for a re-man. A factory new would be another 5k I think. I decided to go with the re-man.

In the end, I figured that you never have too much power and what is 10k on a 300k project really?(that is how I sold myself anyway)

[kwmoore]

I just added photos to the website that shows the mock-up of my panel. Bevan is starting to work on it and is suppose to deliver it complete to Todd on September 1.
They used my panel picture as the template for your mock-up! :) :) I note that the 530/SL40 combo takes up almost exactly the same space as the dual 430's.

Interesting that you have arranged the "6-pack" in a mirror image of their usual setup. What was the reason?

[joejenie]

This isn't the exact set up I wanted, but it was the best I could due to certification issues. I wanted the altimeter and vsi on the right with the GI-106 and the airspeed on the left, but the GI-106 would be too far from the 530. This would have been exactly how my TBM is set up currently so the scan would have been the same. When I couldn't get that, I decided to leave the horizon and DG in the center and swap the other stuff around. having the vsi under the altimeter is what I'm used to and I'm used to having the GI-106 under the airspeed.

So in the end, no reason other than it made sense to me!

On another note, I did contemplate 2-430's vs. the 530/sl40, but for me it won't be a real IFR plane, so I decided I wanted the bigger 530 display. If it is really IFR around here, the MEA's are 13,000 so that is icing territory and a reason to take the TBM. I don't think the alaskan bushwheels will do very well in ice!;)

[joejenie]

I just posted pictures of the finished panel. Now the plane will be going to Dodge City to get the refurbishing done (Todd would have been doing it, but the avionics shop is 30 days behind and therefore screwed up Todd's schedule I think). The new IO-550 is waiting at Todd's. Damn this is taking too long for an impatient guy like myself!;) Hoping that it is still done in January somehow....

[joejenie]

I just posted new pictures of my bird. It made it's maiden flight last Saturday. So off to paint this week and then interior next. Looking like 4-5 weeks left! :D

Only problem now is it will be "Experimental" for awhile until the IO-550 STC gets finished. If it looks like it will be done in the next 60-75 days, I will probably just leave the plane with Todd until it is certified. If not, then I will fly it for awhile and then take it back to Todd later for the certification.

I guess I better talk to my insurance agent about this?!:eek::rolleyes:

[kwmoore]

Nice photos, especially the sunset shots.

Which prop did Todd install: 82", 84" or 86"? I'm guessing it may be one of the shorter ones based on his experience with the 86" prop in his King Katmai demo.

[joejenie]

We put the 82" prop on my plane and he is putting the 84" on another guys plane. That way he can test all 3 prop combinations. Todd hasn't flight tested it enough yet to see if there is any difference between the 82 & 86. I do know that he has been having problems with the tips getting beat up and the paint falling apart on the outer edge of the 86, so hopefully mine doesn't have those same problems. I'm also hoping that I don't lose much/any thrust as well. I'm sure Todd will report to us in the next week or so once he has flown mine a little more.

[kwmoore]

We put the 82" prop on my plane and he is putting the 84" on another guys plane. That way he can test all 3 prop combinations. Todd hasn't flight tested it enough yet to see if there is any difference between the 82 & 86. I do know that he has been having problems with the tips getting beat up and the paint falling apart on the outer edge of the 86, so hopefully mine doesn't have those same problems. I'm also hoping that I don't lose much/any thrust as well. I'm sure Todd will report to us in the next week or so once he has flown mine a little more.
Even if there's a little loss in thrust, climbout should still be like a ground-to-air missile.

Then again, I've heard it said that sometimes even just 2" can make a big difference. ;):p

[joejenie]

New Pictures of the plane coming out of Paint this week are in the photos section! Picking her up in 3 weeks. Hurry up Todd!:D;)

[kwmoore]

Looks great! I like the finished panel too.

Regulation-size N-numbers will go on as decals later?

Hope you'll have time to bring it to Sedona for the fly-in! :cool:

[joejenie]

I'm hoping I can make it to the Sedona fly-in, but it depends on when my new TBM is delivered. They are telling me the 1st of May right now which would screw it up. They are usually a week or two late though, so I'm betting I'll be able to go.

The tail # will go back on the tail and will be smaller than the 12" standard. Once your plane is 30 yrs old, it is considered an "antique" and you can make the tail #'s much smaller. Mine will be 8" high.

[Ozone]

Joe,

That is one great looking bird. Love the new paint job. What are the chances of a demo ride after you get it broken in?

Brent Barlow

[joejenie]

Just call me when you are in St. George and I would be glad to take you out! I'm picking it up in 9 days 18 hours and 34 seconds, but whos counting.;)

[kwmoore]

...I'm picking it up in 9 days 18 hours and 34 seconds, but whos counting.;)
That would be this weekend. Have a great time! :cool:

[joejenie]

Actually we have a couple exhaust issues (need a new one), so it looks like I'll be heading to El Dorado on Tuesday/Wednesday. It should be fun!

[Ozone]

You'll probably have no desire to ever fly the TBM again.;)

[joejenie]

The project is finally complete after 10 months. I flew commercial to Wichita on Thursday evening and Friday morning Todd came over and picked me up in Wichita with my new Katmai! I posted some pictures in the photo section of the final product.

I did an hour or so of touch and go's, slow flight and stalls before we decided to go to lunch. After lunch me and my 13 yr old son took off on our way back to Utah. We ended up flying to Farmington, NM with a stop in Springfield CO yesterday. We had enough fuel to get to Farmington, but my son had to use the bathroom! 5.5 hours without fuel with 1.5 hours of reserve! Bad part was it was bumpy most of the way and was a little hair raising at times over the mountains in CO. This was a long day of flying for sure. Then we had a beautiful non-turbulant flight back home this morning for a couple hours.

All in all, the flight was great and the plane was even better. Of course in Farmington, I had everyone running up to me to check out the plane and of course they were loving it. The tower guy loved my 300-400' takeoff's and landings too!

Todd did a wonderful job on the finished product and everything works perfect other than a little more tweaking needs to be done with the Gami's. I couldn't find any sqwuaks at all! Wow!

Doing some speeds tests this morning, I was at 17.5 GPH doing 138 KTAS and at 12.5 GPH I was seeing 133 KTAS. Not bad for all the drag I have hanging out there! Temps were 6C and I was at 10,500 MSL. The thing climbs like a rocket ship too! I was able to climb at 90 KIAS at 1000-1500 FPM up to 10,000 and 800-1000 FPM up to 14,500!

Now I'm off to get all of these damn databases updated!:p

[kwmoore]

Wonderful news, congratulations! I hope TBM is a bit tardy so that you can join us at Sedona with N324RH. :)

Looks now like I may not get there until late Friday morning; new family obligation Thursday evening! :( If so, I'll be launching about 5 am which should get me there at 10:00 or 10:30. LOP should do it non-stop I think.

[joejenie]

I'm not sure what I am doing Kevin. I have something I need to do Friday late afternoon at home as well. So my thoughts are to fly down Friday morning for awhile and then come back home. Then if I have time on Saturday, I'll come down again. Lucky for me, Sedona is only about 1 hr away!

[joejenie]

See my ad in the marketplace. I've decided to sell my new King Katmai. Someone is going to get an unbelievable airplane. I've decided that two airplanes is too much for me to upkeep and fly. Since I received my new TBM a month ago, I'm finding that with flying back and forth to work weekly and 3 kids to chase around, I won't have enough time to fly both. :(