Throttle, Brakes, Switches, Radios,
etc.Everybody that builds a MKIII runs into the same
problem: Where do I put the switches so that they are in easy
reach? And where do I put the radios? There are about as many
solutions as there are Kolbs, but here's how it works for me.
Putting the radio /switch /intercom console between the legs is
a tolerably convenient solution. The switch panel with circuit
breakers and fuses is on top, the intercom just below it, then
the Terra 720 radio, and then a Terra transponder on the bottom.
The GPS is in a convenient position, right on the top of the stick,
and right in front of the pilot. Out of the way, and easy to see
and access.
The throttle quadrant is on the sidewall next to
the pilot's left thigh. Just in front of the throttle quadrant
are the two master cylinders attached to two brake levers which
run alongside of the quadrant. They are activated by pushing down
with the left hand. Sounds odd, works great. The learning curve
is very easy.
Took a little careful fitting to make it all fit
and work, but everything is out of the way, nothing interferes
with anything else, and using the brakes differentially is very
easy. The only thing that is a bit tricky is if you are trying
to goose the throttle and use one brake or the other to turn at
the same time.
Here's how it looks from the left seat.
Below is how the console looks from the seated position.
Look just left of the right knee, and you will see the key for
the master & starter switch, located on the angled floorboard
alongside of the console. It's out of the way, haven't kicked
it yet. Everything is in easy reach.
Somebody that was really persnickety would have
come up with a nice labeling system for their switches, fuses
and circuit breakers so that it didn't look so tacky. Oh well...
Nobody in their right mind deliberately flies at
night in front of a 2-stroke, and I'm no exception. On the other
hand, sometimes I am still not home yet and the sun has gone away,
and panel lights are needed. Radio Shack sells some neat little
12v led's that you can fit into some copper tubing from the hobby
shop, hood the light so it doesn't glare in your eyes, and light
up as much of your panel as you want for an insignificant current
draw. I have a bunch of these puppies scattered around the cockpit,
they get the job done.
Safer Seats
Something I have never liked was the fuselage structural
cross member that runs across under the bottom of the sling seat,
right below your tailbone. That is bad news waiting to happen.
So I modified it to improve the odds a bit. It now has a slanted
strip of aluminum rivited to it, with a 1" thick layer of
dense foam on top of it to let your tailbone (hopefully) slide
past the cross member in the event of a hard landing.
There is now a length of webbing with loops at each
end sewed to the sling seats at the same point where the original
rivits attached it to the cross member. The webbing strap extends
past either edge of the seat for several inches, the outside length
wraps around an added steel tube at the outside of each seat,
and the inside length wraps around the cluster weld at the inside
of each seat. Then the loops in the ends are pulled tightly together
with a length of nylon rope to hold the seat in position. There
is a slight amount of movement, but it is minor, and would also
allow your body (and tailbone) to move slightly ahead of the crossmember
in the event of a hard pancake. As a side effect, the seats are
more comfortable. I also had to slide the footpedals to the next
forward position to compensate.Cheap Noise
Canceling Headset & MP3 Player
Relocated my headset jack box to a convenient location,
and modified the jacks inside so that they would allow my headsets
to work in stereo. Then wired in my mp3 player, with a switch
to select either the VHF radio or the mp3 player. Then bought
several Philips SBC HN060 noise canceling stereo headsets, two
for the Kolb, and a couple more for the bikes. Here's how it all
works: Instead of plugging in the normal aircraft headset (although
you can, and just use the aircraft headset normally as in the
left picture) you plug in the Philips noise canceling headset
in the speaker jack and stick the earbuds in your ears. It is
at least as quiet as the Flightcom headset I had been using. Although
the noise canceling function is not quite as good as the $350
ANR units, you like it. (Since you only paid $12 on ebay, and
now you can no longer hear the prop at all, and the engine now
sounds like it is 20 feet further away...) Now go ahead and put
on your aircraft headset over the top of the earbuds, and that
makes it very quiet. So now you have your headset over your earbuds,
and the microphone is in the right place. This works good enough
that listening to music in flight is very satisfying, and is quiet
enough that the first few times you set up to land with this thing
in place, the lack of noise is odd.
Update
Had some problems with getting the mp3 player and
the VHF radio to both play well together when things were hard
wired in, so I removed the wire for the mp3 player from the intercom
box, and made up a new patch cord to simply plug the mp3 player
into the passenger's mic jack side of the intercom box. (Thanks
to Ed Athey for the idea) The intercom thinks it is a passenger
speaking, and works accordingly.
You attach the ground wire in the mp3 stereo cable
to the ground wire in the aircraft mic plug, and tie both the
hot wires in the stereo cable to the ring terminal in the plug.
