Feb. 2010 Kitfox of the Month Paul Zimmerman

[Paul Z]

Well I went out flying today. I am beginning to think, when I bought the Kitfox, John also sold me Low Ceilings & Foggy Weather along with the plane. Tonight 35 Deg with rain tomorrow H 37, L 32 rain & snow. Right now it is 36 and cloudy, visibility is pretty good, just a low ceiling. Last Saturday, the weather was beautiful, but I wasn’t up to flying after having had a skin cancer removed on Friday. I decided to pull the duct tape off of the oil cooler, that John had put on for the Idaho cold weather, I figured I wouldn't need it since our Texas weather was moving from Winter to Summer. Today, I was having a rough day at work, so I figured if I was going to fly this week, I needed to do it today. Sounded like a good excuse to take some time off. I pulled Kick Ass out of the hanger, I taxied North down a 6000 foot taxi way for take off on 17, the Oil Temp was about 89 degrees. So, I taxied south back to the hanger, then back North down the 6000 foot taxi way, then I taxied over to the tie down area, then to the fueling area, and finally the oil temp got to 110, after about 20 minutes of taxiing, it finally got to 119, as I was pulling out onto the runway, the temp hit 120. I pushed the throttle in, and off into a Low Ceiling, and as quick as this plane climbs solo that doesn’t take long. (John, you need to make a point of selling a certificate of conformance for some clear skies with the SLSAs.) They are a kick in the pants to fly, but I can never seem to get much above 1500 to 2000 feet above the ground before I am flirting with the clouds. Today I actually got to about 1800 feet, now that is HIGH FLYING! I stayed in the pattern and did 1 touch and go, then I headed southeast from the airport, and just cruised at about 1800 feet. (This Idaho weather that John drug down stinks.) I pulled it back to about 5300 RPM, and continued south. I was cruising at about a 115 MPH. As I was flying around I noticed the Oil Temp was 98 degrees. It was getting dark so I decided to turn around and head back to Mesquite, nice landing. Taxied back to the hanger, and put her away. I think I need to look into a Oil Cooler Shutter, fancy Duct Tape!!