“Blue Thunder II Crew Report”

December 31, 2009

 Happy New Year to all from the Blue Crew.

During the BT II construction we described many modifications we made with the flight control and trim systems.  Now that Blue is flying and doing our job for our sponsors the first question is, how does it fly?  The short answer is that it flies well but differently than a standard TM.  Blue flies more like a Questair than a TM.  It is essential to keep Blue in trim at all times.  During this winter down time, we are making small changes in the bungee spring rates to get the control balance and stick force more balanced and linier.  The photo to the left shows the pitch trim bungee cylinder.  We are still making changes to that spring and hardware to improve the smoothness of operation and durability.

During this winter down time and post air race show, we are doing an extensive conditional inspection for 2010.  Blue has right at 48 hours on the engine and we are quite happy with its performance to date.  It hasn’t missed a beat in the 48 hours, and all cylinders are 75/80 or better.  A little finer tuning of the injector timing may give us a little more power.

During the first day of practice for the 2009 Reno Air Races, the Blue II’s chubby little pilot managed to ground loop her.  The tail wheel trailing arm trunion attach bracket was bent and missed in the subsequent inspection.  A considerable amount of the tail wheel geometry is under scrutiny during this conditional inspection, including to a change in the bolt pattern that secures the new bracket that replaces the one pictured.

The pitot static probe we installed on Blue is one that is used on many military RPVs and similar to ones I have used on several Formula One racers in the past with considerable success.  This system on Blue tested perfectly on the ground but was totally useless during flight.  

In the thrash to Phase One flight time, we tried the flap well, wheel well, and instrument bay for a static port location.  All locations worked better than the pitot mast port but still had measurable errors.During this inspection we have installed static ports with more traditional plumbing and location. The port location is at WL 100 and FS 183 on both sides.

Installing the static ports after the aircraft is painted is delicate work to keep from doing damage to the exterior finish.  We were lucky, and the holes are nearly invisible.

Next month I will talk about the problems we had with the oil cooler door.  For now, we will be enjoying the New Year calibrations and continuing the planning for 2010.

The entire Blue Crew, Jan and I have so much to be grateful for that a, thank you, to all of our fans, friends and sponsor just isn’t enough to express our gratitude for your continued support; but what other words are there?

Blue Thunder Air Racing