Well, shuttle EZ was set to launch today as the skies were clear with a crisp 45 degree 5mph wind day. PERFECT in every way except for a surprise FLAT TIRE! I know that I've had a slow leak in the left main for a long time, so I changed out the Valve stem core and ironically it made it worse which means it's a tube or stem issue. I managed to get 2 really solid high speed taxi tests in and had just enough air left in the tire to taxi back to the hangar. probably shouldn't have done that but I really needed to know if my oil cooler intake would work and it did indeed! temps dropped by 30 degrees! Anyway, I ran to Tractor supply and picked up a 1000lb jack stand that enabled me to lift the left wheel off the ground and remove it for tube replacement. I'm just baffled as to why it took so long for the slow leak to show up in such a bad way. I guess taxi testing must have made a small problem worse and BOY AM I GLAD I didn't fly on it!! The landing would have destroyed the airplane. In fact I measured a 15 psi loss in under 5 minutes. BIG LEAK. I brought the wheel home and filled 2 new tubes with some air in order to pre-stretch the rubber for tomorrows install. I will be using the tube that has the MOST air in it after sitting all night. Then she should be back on her feet again tomorrow waiting for another sunny VFR day :)
