After a few flights with the SimNav navigation device I decided it was time for an update. This update was mostly an bugfix update. Due to the design concept a simple swap is possible. Without disturbing flight critical instruments. HW changes: Software changes: The breakout board and cable set was re-designed to make it more…

After a long winter it was finally time to weigh the plane and determine the balance. When the balance point is too far forward or worse far aft the plane becomes unstable or unflyable.when calculating the balance point it was clear the CG was not correct. The plane was tail heavy. we created a weight…

My wife made me a new chair pillow as a present. She is more optimistic then I and thought “If you make a long flight you better sit comfortable”. I could choose the fabric and pattern and she would make something nice out of it. Really cool and I really appreciate it 🙂 So I…

In the previous part (Dashboard: build in SimNav part 1) you could see that the navigation device was installed in the dashboard. The second part of this job is trying to fit everything back together in the plane. Before we take the dashboard back to the plane lets document some of the wiring harness. I…

A pilot told me “You have pilots that already forgot the landing gear and pilots that will forget the landing gear”. In my case the landing gear or “wheel” indicator was so loud I wanted to replace it. When working on my dashboard I removed the old wiring harness. Cables, cables and cables. So I…

It is maintenance season. It is December so most of the club fleet is in maintenance. Planes that have to be available next season for training and club flying have priority. When I was helping with maintenance of those planes, I got lucky. There was some room for my Libelle in the club workshop during…

After completing the development of the SimNav v1 (my own navigation device) it was time to install this device in the Libelle. I had removed the dashboard once before to update the red box flarm system. So I was expecting a lot of cables and tubes without a lot of labelling. In my professional life…

Most gliders require different types of weak links for aerotow or winch launch. For the Libelle it is the same type for both types of launches; a white weak link of 5 kilo Newton.The weak link is crucial for protecting the plane’s structure. When there is too much force from the cable on the hull…

There was a lot of documentation to go through.

When the administation of the import was about halfway I could request a registration number and a call sign. The registration number was placed using stickers, rather than being painted on the plane. Unfortunately the original registration was painted on so it took some effort to remove it without damaging the gelcoat. But the people…

With my limited presentation skills it was a real challenge to complete the presentation. I hope you enjoy it nevertheless 🙂