I originally made this post in 2010 (as a page on halls.md), and am updating it in 2014 (and moving it into a wordpress post). It documents the construction of the aircraft that I now own. The reason I’m moving it into a wordpress post, away from a static html page, is because the original page had a mixture of my unique photos, and photos of old planes that would be subject to duplicate content penalties by Google. In 2014, Google is penalizing websites that post duplicate images.
The Expedition E350 aircraft, made at the Parry Sound, Ontario factory
Spring 2008. I became interested in the aircraft, when I found their website.
Summer 2008. I had a test flight of the plane, with chief test pilot Ted Dirstein. I placed an order and gave them a deposit. Then a 2 year wait occurred, which I wasn’t happy about, but it was delays related to getting certification from Transport Canada, and later, from the FAA.
Summer 2009. Construction of my plane is underway. Here are pictures of my plane being built in the factory. And here are some ‘shiny new paint’ photos.
My Expedition E350, serial number 302: DELIVERED, July 11, 2010.
Update August 3, 2010. Being a low-time pilot, my insurance company asked for 10 hours of dual instruction on the E350. I’m at 8.2 hours so far. We’ve landed on a few grass airstrips in farmers fields, and practiced the usual things.
Here are some blog’ish comments about the plane. The Flaps switch is in a fantastic place, which I had never appreciated beforehand. It is up high on the dashboard, so your eyes are seeing the clouds while the flaps change, and you can instantly adjust the yoke. The MPV-50 is really really great. I bought a 6′ telescoping aluminum ladder to carry in the back compartment of the plane. Unfortunately, 6′ is too short to reach the front of the wing! Oops.
August 5, 2010. Found aircraft sent me a short video showing “Hot startup”, which I had requested, so I could learn from an expert handling the fuel pump, throttle and mixture. You’ll see him run the fuel pump for about 6 seconds with the mixture full, then pull throttle and mixture back, then turn the starter motor, then push the mixture in as the engine starts. I’m posting this for my own future reference, in case I forget.
August 5, 2011 update.One year later! For a hot start, always do the above method. But for a cold start, just set the mixture to a normal flying mix (like 1cm away from being pushed all-in), and pull the throttle out to a medium idle setting (not fully pulled all-out), then turn the key for the starter motor.
Sept 10, 2010. I got some more pretty pictures, and some comments.
Next post in this series: My earliest flights in my new Expedition E350 aircraft.
