Annual Condition Inspection 2007

The cowling comes off for another year's annual condition inspection!	This year's modification: replacing the old style vacuum pump with a piston pump from Sigma-Tek: the AEON Piston Air Pump!	The compact unit is designed to be a drirect replacement for the usual carbon vane pump. See www.sigmatek.com for details.
Dad fits the new pump to the accessory pad of our IO-540.	Open pilot side door showing position of the LOCKING gas strut.	McMaster-Carr 60# LOCKING strut. There are no worries that a random bounce or a gust of wind will accidently close the door. To close the door, one simply reaches over one's shoulder, pulls the lock knob and allows the strut to compress and door to close.
Closed copilot side door. The strut does not push upwards so much as to distort the fuselage. It simply assists in opening and closing the door. The lock holds the door open.	Pilot side door in open position	Pilot side door in open position sans cover.
Pilot side door in latched position	Pilot side door in latched position sans cover.	Inside the nose section looking rearward toward copilot side. Hydraulic pump for landing gear is seen bottom middle.
Looking rearward. Left to right: battery and landing gear hydraulic pump, nosegear door retract mechanism, bilge fan cabin heater/oil cooler mechanism.	Detail of the nosegear door retract mechanism.	Oil cooler/cabin heater. Flapper valve at bottom middle allows air pulled from cabin by bilge pump at top to be recirculated after passing through the oil cooler for heat or be dumped overboard for oil cooling only.
Landing gear controller and battery.	Landing hydraulic pump and battery.	Bilge fan/oil cooler cabin heater. Brake master cylinders are seen along with vacuum line left center photo.
What you see when looking into the nose hatch from the front of the plane.	Canard cover removed/back of instrument panel.	Back of panel: Pilot side You can see AI and airspeed indicator top middle
Back of panel: rear of MX20 MFD seen. Elevator trim spring at right. Aerotronics annunciator controller bottom middle.	Back of panel: Rear of radio stack.	Back of panel: Copilot side. Back of breaker panel seen. S-Tec autopilot pitch servo lever seen extending from bottom right.
View of top of canard, copilot side. At center is S-Tec autopilot pitch servo and pressure sensor.	Top of canard, pilot side. Bilge fan is seen bottom center just behind elevator pitch trim. GPS antenna top right.	James Redmon and his Berkut, RACE 13, go zooming by!
Berkut 13 in flight!	James Redmon and Berkut 13.	Mounting the Sigma-Tek vacuum pump: That last nut is a bear!
View from directly above the engine compartment. Vacuum pump seen left of center. Firewall is at top. Oil filter top center, thick black hose leads to oil/air separator, 'power cord' is plug for Reiff pre-heating system.	Closeup of mounted Sigma-Tek Aeon Vacuum Pump. Note that a spacer was required to mount the pump to clear fittings.	Slick Magneto seen looking from the copilot side. Firewall is at right of photo. Thick black hose leads TO the oil/air separator. Smaller black hose at bottom right leads FROM separator back to engine.
Mechanical fuel pump seen at lower part of engine case.	View from pilot side of engine compartment. Sigma-Tek Aeon Pump at top center. Firewall to left of photo. Jeff Rose EI pickup at bottom center.	View from pilot side of engine compartment.
Rear of engine, pilot side.	Side view of engine compartment from pilot side. Vacuum pump at top center, EI pickup at center, oil cooler lines bottom center.	Looking into the air induction system located in copilot side wing root after removal of air filter.
Copilot side wing root. Rudder cable at center, aileron push/pull cable seen in firesleeve alongside of lever for S-Tec autopilot roll servo.	S-Tec autopilot roll servo mounted on firewall behind a heat shield.	Reassembling the engine plenum...
Rear section of plenum reattached.	Upper cowling in place.	Underside of engine. Underwing oil cooler intake at far left and air induction intake at far right.
Lower cowling in place. Fuel tank air vent at center and oil/air separator outlet to the right of it.	S-Tec autopliot roll servo mounted on firewall with control arm attached to the copilot side aileron bell crank.	View from above: S-Tec autopliot roll servo. Air induction system seen traversing from bottom right corner to engine via scat hose.
S-Tec autopliot roll servo attached to copilot side aileron crank. Note aileron push-pull cable in firesleeve alongside the control lever.	S-Tec autopliot roll servo	S-Tec autopliot roll servo. Firewall at bottom of photo.
After final checks and runup, the cowling is going back on...
	Ready to fly!!

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