Inventory

Spent the day doing inventory and storing parts that I will not need for a while.

There are  a lot of parts in bags

And checklists to go over

This is the single largest bag of rivets.  These are for the fuselage alone.  To paraphrase that classic line from Clerks, "5000?!".  Note, there are several thousand other rivets for the aircraft.

Though she enjoyed the company (and the fact that the heat was on all day), Bleriot was quite bored by it all.

Picking Up The Aircam

Well, the big day finally arrived and it was time to head to Florida to pick-up the AirCam kit.  It was snowing pretty hard when I left the house at 5 am and I could only drive 42 mph getting over  to Tmacs.  Once there, he and Earl were in the Crown Vic ready to roll.  We pulled out and decided to stay as far east as possible so we took HWY 17 to Jacksonville NC, Wilmington, Myrtle Beach and on to Charleston before we joined up on I-95 in Walterboro.  We saw snow all the way to Myrtle Beach.  Once on I-95 we were good to go.  We made our lunch stop at my favorite I-95 eating establishment, The Georgia Pig.  The Pig looks like where Lil" Abner would take Daisy Mae on a date if it was for  a formal occasion.  It was cold inside but they had the heater full blast.

This was one of those small propane heaters that was roaring like a J-52 engine in an A-6.  The BBQ was excellent but I'm not sure Tmac will stop by there again.  He described it as a once in a lifetime experience.

Earl and Tmac leaving the Pig.  It was cold and windy.

Spent the night in Lake Wales and picked up the mighty Penske in Sebring on time.  Loaded the truck and we were headed North.

The mighty Penske and the Crown Vic at the starting gate for the trip home.

725 miles later and it was time to unload...

Don and Myron came over to help with the big stuff.

Have to go over to Tmacs to get my car and return the truck today, but the drill bits are sharp and we will be officially starting soon.

Powerful As A Nation

Today I put away the engine for the Vagabond.  It is an A-75 Continental.  Continental's trademark slogan was, "Powerful As A Nation".  I put the cylinders and crankcase halves in separate rubbermaid containers and put them upstairs in the clubhouse.  Here they are after being sprayed with preservative

The next task was to clean up the trash that accumulated in the downstairs of the clubhouse.  The Vagabond wings had been stored in there so not much cleaning had occurred.

Here is the before picture

And after.

We also had a visitor today.  Travis from RDU stopped in with his new Carbon Cub.  I flew a Sport Cub at the factory in Yakima Washington this year.  I was not impressed.  The Carbon Cub has the big engine.

Well that's all for now.  I have to go furniture shopping with Mom because my cousin Carl Jr. broke one her chairs at Thanksgiving.  Bleriot is not looking forward to the cold weather coming next week.

Wrap That Rascal

 Continuing to get ready for the Aircam project by storing the Vagabond.  Today we wrapped the wing panels with heavy painter's drop cloth.  Bleriot loves to help with anything made of fabric.

 After Gina stitched them up we hung them from the ceiling.  This will be their new home for a few years.

 It will be cold tonight so Bleriot is checking out her new heated bed.

Preperation

One of the things I have to do to get ready for the Aircam is put away the Piper Vagabond project.  On Thanksgiving day I hoisted the fuselage up inside the big hangar. I'll put the wings up tomorrow. In the foreground is my AcroSport II.

 I also took the time to wash and wax my RV-6A that I bought from my friend Dennis Milsap.  It is as clean as it has ever been since I have owned it.


This is Bleriot, the shop/hangar cat.  She will be featured in upcoming posts as my #1 assistant in building the Aircam.  I got this idea from my friend Jerry at Clipwingcub.blogspot.  He usually ends his blogs with a picture of BC, the Black Cat.

Ocracoke for lunch

Bought the hardware to put the Vagabond away but it was such a beautiful day decided to go to Ocracoke for lunch. Went high and straight through 5306A and it took about 30 minutes. When we left there we decided to go by First Flight and the long way round by Edenton.

Back to work tomorrow!

Bit the bullet

Sent the check off to Lockwood Aviation yesterday for the airframe kit. Plan to pick it up at Christmas unless my friends go get it for me.

Factory Visit

What better way to spend your first day of retirement than to take a 750 mile drive to fly an airplane you always thought about. That's just what Gina and I did as we went to Sebring Florida to check out the Air-Cam at Lockwood Aviation. We were greeted by Aircam president George Weber and he showed us around the shop. The AirCam has always fascinated me and especially since I am a former Breezy flyer, I really miss the type of open air flying you get with a tandem pusher. The Aircam is somewhat more civilized than the Breezy with full lower enclosure provided by the aluminum fuselage and a protective windshield. It is a two passenger airplane with the safety benefit of two 100 hp Rotax engines.

After the tour we met with the designer Phil Lockwood. Phil and I talked about our aviation backgrounds and then got down to the reason for the trip, the test flight. Phil let me fly from the front seat so I could get the full flavor of the experience. It was blowing quite hard that morning, 15-20 knots but right down rwy 36. He said, "Let me show you a short field takeoff.". We rolled maybe 30 feet and then whoosh! We were off and climbing at a near vertical angle. This was just what I was looking for. A 200 hp big slow airplane with great STOL performance. We went out and did stalls and some single engine demos. The Aircam handles it all easily. It will take off with one engine out at gross, even on floats. We then went down low to look at the lakes and waterfowl. At 50 ft. I even saw one gator sleeping in the shallow waters. We headed back and Phil let me land it. Not too bad for the first time. Gina went next and loved her flight too. Phil could get the plane to stop in the air but could not quite get it to back up. A few goodbyes and a couple of Aircam visors later and we headed home.

There may be a big crate to open at Christmas!!