Sort and seperate

I think our row of hangars

is busier than SFO. Scary times. 

 Also had a guest from down south migrate up. 

The bundling is in it's final stages. I'm not trimming the wires until we make sure everything is running and we have the bundles in the proper places, then we'll go back and trim the wires to their final sizes.

The ACI Power Buss has been shipped off the Ben for updating and repairs, more on that later.

Planning...

Got my birthday present last week, the radiator and engine mount. One day...

Gone West, Clair "Toby" Dunlap. UAL, retired.

I did back to back trips to Chengdu in January over the Lunar New Year, and in those 14 days saw the whole thing start, making the final flight from Mainland China to the US for my company.

On March 31 our airport community at Skagit lost one to the COVID-19 virus, Clair "Toby" Dunlap. UAL, retired. He and his son own an orange Stinson 108-3 he kept at Skagit with his son, Mark, Captain Dunlap was always a gracious gentleman the times I spoke with him.


Godspeed.

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/seattletimes/obituary.aspx?n=clair-dunlap&pid=195950378&fhid=5809

Bundle up!

When the hangars on the north side were destroyed last year it gave me a chance to do a bit of salvaging (with the permission of the Port of Skagit). I was hoping these were Baklite enameled metal, but it's only cardboard. Still a cool souviner of the old days when Skagit was Bayview Airport, and some simple rules to live by. 

I've been using the hangar door as a place ot hang notes, with the weather getting better I need to find another method.

I found a made-to-order battery mount for my 680 on eBay, I was still a bit nervous of the strength of the bulkhead, but they all disappeared one I got it mounted. That thing is SOLID.

As usual, it was one of those things I did twice. Mounted it on the front first, then switched it to the back after a d'oh! moment. The stater solenoid will go to the left of the Master solenoid. 

One thing that's frustrated me is telling wires apart, I wish we had used black wires for grounds. Syd loaned me a tool he has that you put a Sharpie in one end and run the wire through the other, marking the wire.

Good in theory, but I found it just as easy to mark it freehand. 

Next project has been to separate each group of wires into section related bundles, so if I need to replace a bad switch or connection, I don't have to pull the entire bundle of wires down.

We're also separating wires for the right side of the panel from those on the left. Should save a couple pounds, and make it easier to repair in the future. Again, tricks learned from decades working on military planes, and electronics since Syd was a kid.

Syd has to work harder when he plays Stump the Chump, but sometimes I know he's pulling his punches.

I am a lineman for my SeaRey...

Grrr....

I was cutting the wire bundles open one night when I wasn't as careful as I thought, and accidently cut the wire to the left MLG Down LED.

Solution is called a Linesman Splice. 

Which just leaves me with this. Dollar if you can decipher the abbreviation. 

A builder down the row moved his project out, hopes to have it flying soon. Workmanship is beautiful. 

And a couple pictures from work. We ferried an airplane to Dulles, the terminal was surreal.This was 6:30 pm on a weekday.

sigh......

Be safe, practice physical distancing.

Support Sun n'Fun

I started (accidentally) volunteering at Sun n' Fun during the tornadoes in 2010, and have gone from gopher to working in the Air Boss stand during the show. While the show must normally go one, the organization has correctly decided to cancel the show for this year.

Sun n' Fun is a 501(c)3 charity, and it's unsure if it will be able to survive the loss of the show. If you'd like to help support the organization and it's charitable efforts, please consider buying a cool 2020 t-shirt commemorating The Greatest Airshow that Never Happened

https://shop.flysnf.org/

Our prayers go out to everyone affected by the Corona19 virus.

Switching around

Originally I ordered Fast-on switches, which I found out really meant "Fast on, Never off." After ruining some wires trying to remove & replace wires, I decided to change to switches with screw mounts. Means redoing the wires, but will make repairs a lot easier.

These are available at SteinAir.

Thanks to the Vans Air Force

Much as I like my Seagulls, I've found that another group of pilots, the Vans Air Force, have a huge resource of knowledge and have been very welcoming to me asking questions on their forum. Appreciate it, gang.

"I don't know." is not an acceptable answer to a USN Chief (ret.)

Syd: What does this wire do, Steve?
Me: I don't know.
Syd: (looks at me)
Me: I will know next time I see you.

The cockpit was my office

 Panel temporarily mounted in place, it will be held from overhead by the nosedeck, but this allows me to work on the wiring. 

And put everything (or as much as possible) back in place.

Spaghetti, Part ????

New panel in progress

It may not look like it but there's a huge difference from this

to this. Very happy with my progress.

Still cold, but good enough weather for outdoor cookin'....

back scratches,

an airshow

and soaring. 

With the wiring sorted out it was back to working on the panel. I had been thinking about doing a 3 piece removable panel mounted to a frame, but the weight and complexity stymied me. I know there's a way to do it, but I'd rather go with a tried and true solution and get going. Paper template transferred to cardboard

and fit checked. 

drawn on some .063" 2024T3

and cut. My new favorite tool, it cuts faster than a sabre saw, which is good (job is done faster) and bad (easier to f-up and make a terminal error in the cut.).

All that other cutting wasn't for waste, practice makes perfect, things fit better and were cut faster this time.

Something that REALLY made me nervous  was bending the side panels. Had to get it right the first time, and I measured,

and remeasured

until my hangar neighbor Jerry kindly showed me how to bend it on his brake.

Perfect. (in retrospect I wish I hadn't drilled the left side panel until after I bent it, but I was worried about trying to drill it after being bent. Oh well, the changes I would have made are not significant.) Off to work for about 2 weeks, things will start moving quickly now. I hope. 

I missed it over the winter, but a little bit more than 30 years ago I started flying fixed wing airplanes. Never in my wildest dreams did I dream I'd be flying a 300+ passenger, 3 week old 787 for a living.

Company policy about social media is pretty restrictive so I won't post who I fly for, but check out this shiny clean landing gear!!!