Salem OR was blessed with good weather again today, about 50F and winds under 5mph. The T-28 flew even better than the first two outings. I only got in one flight today though, because my nose wheel crumbled on a good landing. Recall that I cut 1/2" out of the stock gear and soldered it together with brass tubing. The nose wheel failed on my 3rd flight a few days ago. I resoldered with the next larger brass tubing to go over the first. It broke again today. The real interesting thing is the solder joint does not break. The brass tubing breaks where the two pieces of wire strut butt up to each other. The solder can't get all the way in there. The back side of the tube is in compression, the front is in tension when pressure on take off or landing pushes the nose wheel back. Anyway, the tube breaks on the front then tears right through all the way. I came home looking for a replacement nose gear and lucked out when I looked at my Tower Trainer 40. The nose gear is the right diameter and the right length, same as my stock nose gear, less the 1/2'' I removed to make the plane sit more level. Now I can just get a replacement for the Trainer at a later date, maybe from a club member who destroyed his last Summer.

The T-28 flew great today with the heavier battery I put in. I received a 6V 5 cell pack the other day, and it is perfect. It weighs about 5 ounces vs the 3 ounce battery I had for the first day of flying, and the 4 ounce battery I had for the 2nd day of flying, haha. Both of those were 4.8V 4 cells. The battery is right behind the firewall now instead of at the leading edge of the wing. CG is just under 95mm from the LE. The plane now weighs about 7lbs 5oz. Downthrust is about 5/32" due to a plywood wedge. The T-28 was rock steady today and I buzzed the runway at full throttle and low throttle a bunch of times. Loops were better, and all turns were solid with no squirreliness. Inverted is solid and needs pretty typical amount of down elevator to hold level, not too much. All in all, a good day albeit short! Jon

With the new nose gear, I should be set for good times from now on. Gonna have fun fooling with flaps. Jon