Sorting Out a New Airplane
by: Eric Lyon
Sorting out a new airplane can be a lot of fun. It can also be quite nerve racking at times too. You have a pretty good amount invested counting the airframe, poweplant and electronics and all your time. I have been working on a .40 size Seagull Decathlon and had some issues come up on a used engine I aquired. It would not idle right and would die when you throttled back. I also had to get a pitts muffler so it would fit the airframe because of installing a .61 instead of a .46. I do not like an underpowered airplane.
I was pretty nervous on my first flight with the Decathlon as I am used to flying smaller electrc airplanes up to a 4' wingspan. I haven't had a glow engine plane in many years and was a little rusty at tuning it, but after help from a couple of fellow club members and a little tinkering of my own had it running well.
