KFAM 052156Z AUTO 17010KT 10SM CLR 24/19 A3001
I haven't flown for a few months. I was away on a trip in late June and, when I came back, a flight showed that there was a problem with the left brake. The annual was scheduled for two weeks later, so I opted to wait for that.
Probably a good thing. The brake became a real clusterfrak. They are Bodell brakes, which I like, because they have just enough braking authority without too much. Too much braking power in a tailwheel airplane is not a good thing.
The left brake took two pumps to activate it. The friction disk was shot and the return spring was old, so both were replaced. But the brake still didn't work right. Getting the parts proved to be a problem. It ended with sending the lower brake assembly back to the vendor, who apparently replaced either the hydraulic piston or the floating disk (I haven't seen the invoice). Getting that back was a good part of the overall wait. That frustrated the hell out of the shop, as my airplane was sitting on blocks and couldn't be moved.
But yesterday, it was done, everything put back together, logbooks signed and I flew it after work. I flew around for a bit to ensure everything was good, then shot three landings: One on the grass, a 3-pointer on the pavement and a wheel-landing on the pavement. Sad to say that it doubled my flight time for the last four months doing that (haven't bought any 100LL since then), but I'm back in the air and in time for the Fall foliage to turn.
Life is good.
