JdFinley.com

Fulltime RV Living Adventures

ADS-B Equipment

Aircraft Spruce recently announced their new Freeflight XPlorer ADS-B Receiver.  Very interesting product. It appears to be quite similar to the Stratus unit marketed by Sporty’s for the iPad.  I’m anxious to see which of the Android aviation app providers interface to any of these units.

Oil Change

Just like my car last week, my RV-3 was due for an oil change. Not exactly my favorite job but it isn’t the worst either.  Out came the old milk jugs and off came the cowling. I have one of those handy-dandy quick drain fittings on my Lycoming O-320 so draining the oil is about… [Read More]

Tire Maintenance

I had several issues to resolve on my Vans RV-3B: The right main gear shimmies. Tire Pressure constantly leaking. Tires wearing on the outside and need rotated. I figured I w0uld take a stab at resolving these issues. The shimmy problem will probably take a couple of tries to resolve.   It can be really bad… [Read More]

Negrito Camping

I did a little Negrito camping this past weekend. Negrito is a USFS back country airstrip located in the Gila Wilderness Area of southwest New Mexico.  What a wonderfully peaceful setting. I departed for the Gila immediately after work. For July in New Mexico, it was a relatively cool day.  However; that 92 degree OAT… [Read More]

Aircraft Trim

I was flying with a student pilot the other day.  He says: “For some reason I can’t get on altitude – I keep chasing it around.”  My response was: “Let go of the yoke.” Guess what happened?  Ya, the aircraft nosed over and headed down. It was not in trim.  The pilot was having to… [Read More]

Fuel Indicator Calibration

My Vans RV-3B has a fifteen gallon fuel tank and Princeton capacitance fuel quantity sensor in each wing.  These sensors are connected to a Grand Rapids EIS.  As long as I’ve owned her, the fuel quantity indications have been wrong.  The fuel flow gauge has done an excellent job as a backup but the quantity… [Read More]

Negrito Breakfast

Negrito (ONM7) is one of the New Mexico backcountry airstrips.  It is on the north side of the Gila Wilderness Area which is a spectacular area.  The strip is at 8143′ MSL and has two runways. 17-35 is 7500′ x 60′ and 3 -21 is 4000′ x 60′ and in pretty good condition. Plenty good… [Read More]

Value of a Pound

Aviators, more specifically homebuilders, are constantly trying to save a pound.  This is no different than most other “performance” hobbies – motorcycles, cars, etc… all benefit from reduced weight.  I’ve heard it said that in Formula 1 auto racing (the most advanced form of motorsport) saving a pound is worth $100,000. That’s nice if you… [Read More]

Stereo Music

Ipod, MP3 and satellite radio stereo music in the cockpit is finished and working!! I’ve been wanting a stereo music input in my RV-3 for awhile now. I had satellite XM/Sirius radio in my previous aircraft and love listening to my MP3 collection while flying. A few months ago I did the research and selected a… [Read More]

Delta 4 Launch

I’m a big fan of space flight – have been all my life.  It seems we are launching rockets all the time and almost seems routine, almost.  I don’t remember all that often but when I do, I try to watch whatever is being launched. Today, it was a Delta 4 heavy lift rocket.  VERY… [Read More]