Aging like fine wine

I forgot to include it in the previous post but, when I was speaking with the mechanic a couple days ago, he commented that the airframe is in very good condition. Because my plane was originally used as a trainer, it has a lot of time on it. In fact, it has over 12,000 hours total time on the airframe. There are a few other planes in this line with similar time, but most have far less.

One reason it's still in good condition is that, when it was used for flight training at the University of Illinois, it was also used for mechanic training so it was maintained to a high standard during that time. And it has continued to be well maintained since then. Another reason is that Beechcraft built quality airplanes. They may not be the fastest, but they're solid. So, even though the engine needed overhauling, and it could use some paint, the bones are very good.

I have no reason to believe that this airplane will still be flying in ten or even twenty years time. I don't know how long I'll have it, but it's entirely possible this will be the only plane I ever own.

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Thwarted

The plane is done being fixed again. Well, for the most part, but I'll get to that. The vacuum pump had indeed failed, so they replaced it. They also replaced the starboard fuel sump drain valve. Interestingly, I received an email yesterday from the shop with an invoice attached. It was for a credit to my account, which they gave me because they drained the fuel from the right tank. The invoice notes that 16 gallons were removed. The tank's capacity is almost 30 gallons, and I had filled it almost full on Sunday before my flight. So either they didn't credit me for all of the fuel in the tank, or it had continued to leak and had lost about 12 or so gallons over the course of a few days. I don't know which, but I'm not going to worry too much about it. I went out today to put some Camguard in the oil, run the engine, and possibly even go for a flight if the weather was nice enough. The grass runway and temporary taxiway are open so limited flight operations can proce

My engine is so pretty

I went out to the shop today to take a few pictures of my engine and plane before the engine is remounted. The baffling and some other stuff has already been attached to the engine. The engine mount is not back yet. Since the nose gear is attached to the engine mount, the plane is currently sitting on the main gear, and a couple of supports just behind the firewall, and under the tail. Here are a few of the photos I took. The engine looks lovely, to me at any rate, especially since I know those are new cylinders.

Fresh tarmac

The runway at Harvey Field is in the process of being resurfaced. So far they've removed all of the old asphalt, graded the dirt surface, and hopefully laid down the first layer of the new asphalt. I received an email the other day stating that they were scheduled to lay the first layer yesterday, and lay the second layer today. However, that would depend on the weather and it's been raining today. Once the second layer is in place, they have to wait at least three days to paint the runway markings. There are also a couple other things that need to be done. In all, the completion date is likely to be no earlier than October 10. I went flying the weekend before last. The grass runway was open, and folks were taking off to the north, so I joined them. I was a bit too aggressive on the takeoff when it came to my soft-field technique, as the stall horn sounded as I lifted off. I think next time I take off from the grass, I'll leave the flaps all the way up, instead of down one

A Man and His Airplane

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