"Nightmare of a flight. Spent 2 - 3 hours refitting the throttle body, did several ground runs with no problem, then taxied to VAP for fuel and back, again with no problems. Had to taxi for 06, then took off from the Hockey Stick entrance. Slight hesitation initially which I thought might be carb ice as I'd forgotten to apply Carb Heat (idiot!). However, the engine quickly started 'hunting' and I was very worried that it might stop. Marham were excellent and let me land straight back on. Quite a pain in the arse, compounded by being 'worked' by Mil ATC. Engine fine on taxi back and shut down ok."
Anyway, that was then and this is now! I spoke to Adam after my flight and explained that I thought it may have been a carb ice related non-fault, asked him to check my installation and then do some egr's, followed by a check flight if he felt all was well. I'm pleased to report that he flew twice today for just over 2 hours, with not a hint of erratic performance. Phew!
Anyway, as I write this, I should be in Portugal on holiday, but following the Icelandic eruption, my flight was cancelled. Naturally, I had to get airborne one way or another so following Adam's text I decided to have a quick flight in the Nipper late this afternoon.
With nary a cloud (or contrail!) in the sky, I climbed to 5000' over Marham, and with gliders launching below me did my first aero's in what seems like forever. After such a long lay-off I took it easy, but it went very well indeed. I started with a loop, then introduced left and right rolls followed by multiple loops. Absolutely brilliant fun and the Nipper didn't miss a beat. I was in bit of a hurry so did a powered side slip to get down to circuit height ASAP.
When I landed I was definitely sporting the famous 'Nipper Grin'. I taxied in to be met by Adam, who'd been watching me from his garden! All-in-all, a very satisfying 30 minute flight.
Let's hope the weather holds :-)
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