The Inspection

On the morning of Saturday, July 15th, I departed for Winnipeg. Mervin and I were not planning to depart for Minneapolis until Sunday morning, so arriving in Winnipeg I found myself with some time to kill. For an aviation enthusiast, and a glider pilot, there is no better place to go for a visit than the local gliderport. Off to the Winnipeg Gliding Club I went! I met some great people and stayed for supper, some great conversation, and some great pie.

On Sunday, I drove to meet Mervin at his home in Kleefeld. I parked the rental car in his driveway and we took his wife's car and departed for Minneapolis (we didn't want to encounter a border hassle with the rental, and Merv's wife was extremely generous to grant us the use of her fuel efficient Corolla). Approximately 7 hours later we found ourselves at the Airlake airport, south of Minneapolis.

Mervin had been to Airlake previously while he was building his Sonex. There are a few Sonex aircraft that are based at this airport, and I made an attempt to contact as many owners as I could. John Koser, owner of a Jabiru 2200 Sonex (N167JK), came to the airport to meet us. Joel Fuller was also there when we arrived and he had the hangar open and N14YX pulled out of the corner and ready for inspection.

Now is the time to admit that I was not as thorough with my inspection as I could have been. Here are the principal deficiencies noted with N14YX during the first inspection:

1. Oil leak from engine at crankcase parting line
2. Fuel seep at fuel tank sump
3. A few minor, easily corrected interferences on the airframe (rudder pedals, Y-rudder fairing)

That I missed things on the inspection, as will become apparent as you read future posts, actually wasn't that consequential at this time. Joel had had enough interest in the aircraft that there was no room to negotiate - this was pretty clear. As I had said in a previous post, I figured that I could sell the airplane at any time and not take a huge loss if it looked like things were starting to get out of hand or over my head.

It was time to come to a decision: take it or leave it. Based on the fact that I am writing a Blog, it should be clear that I decided to take it! Joel and I wrote up an Offer to Purchase and I handed over $4800.00 US to leave him with a large deposit of $5000.00 USD. The Offer to Purchase was drafted based on an agreement from the COPA Guide to Buying an Airplane (pp.110-111), viewable online for free by COPA members (recommended read for any Canadian contemplating an aircraft purchase).

Joel threw in pretty much everything he had kicking around the hangar, including a few tools (battery charger, power buffer), an AVMAP EKP-IV GPS, and a LightSPEED in-ear headset. I am glad for the headset ... headroom is limited for me in the Waiex.

Another person also came to meet us at the Airlake airport: Kim Johnson, president of EAA Chapter 25. Kim is a very friendly, helpful person. I reached out to Kim to gain access to his network of local pilots/mechanics. I knew that to pull this project off, and stay within my budget, I was going to have to find a local pilot to fly the flight test hours for me and that I was going to need some help. I consider myself handy, but I don't have much experience working on aircraft. I hoped that Kim could connect me with the right people.

With the deal done, Merv, Kim, and I had dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Lakeville, MN. After dinner, Merv and I then started our drive back to Canada. Once on the other side of Minneapolis, excited but exhausted, we spent the night at a hotel and finished the drive the following day.

Upon arriving in Canada on Monday, Merv and I went out to the Steinbach airport to take a look at his airplane. It really is nice - he did a great job building it. I took some photos of things that I would like to do to my aircraft.

Fuel Shutoff linkage:

Fuel shutoff linkage (and fuel seep repair):

Cabin heat diverter valve:

Cabin heat diverter valve (inside) - simple and no cable to run through the firewall:

Cabin heat box and firewall grommets:

Tailwheel linkage with rod ends (the stock Sonex linkage will ovalize the holes in the horns prematurely):

Merv also took me flying! I'm glad that I liked the way the Sonex flew .... because I had already bought one! My only complaint would be that I found the rudder to be too light. It took more work than it should to coordinate turns because I was over-controlling the rudder. Stiffer springs would help. The Waiex may not have this "problem." The "problem" could also be with me - I'm used to flying the CC-115.

After the short flight, it was off to the Winnipeg airport for me, for my return flight to Comox. What a whirlwind trip!