The SeaRey has wheels!!

My friend Einar stopped by today, and we had a great day finishing rigging the tailwheel retraction cables.

With the gear complete, we decided it was time for her to feel the sunshine. 

And I got to try her on for the first time. 

Einar (right) and Mike inspect the engine pylon. Mike is building a RV-7 a few hangars over.

Afterward I went to work fitting some reinforcing to the hull. I'll do the layup Sunday. First I had to strip the paint.

Then roughen up the hull a bit. 

A piece of cardboard made a former to trace onto the foam core. 

And then it was a matter of trimming, fitting, trimming, fitting...

Nice that foam is so easy to shape. 

The foam is punctured to allow excess resin to escape. 

Sun goes down, moon comes up. That means it's time to call it a day. 

Well, maybe in a while. After I cut the glass out. 

A piece of butcher paper works very well for a pattern. 

September 11, 2001

Anyone flying within 25 miles of the Washington TACAN is authorized to be shot down.

— Washington Approach ATC, radio broadcast to the CAP (Combat Air Patrol) forming over Washington DC on the morning of 11 September 2001. AW&ST 9 September 2002


JFK KJFK 111430 111351Z 3507KT 10SM FEW010 SCT250 23/13 A3014 RMK A02 SLP205 FU FEW010 FU PLUME DSNT NW DRFTG SE T02280133           
— JFK airport New York METAR weather report, 0951 EDT 11 September 2001.

  


There is a bomb on board, we are meeting their demands, we are heading back to the airport.
— thought to be terrorist Ziad Jarrah, Cleveland Center ATC picked up this announcement, that he meant to deliver over the airplane PA. 11 September 2001. 


It is I...


It was I who listened to the terrorists tell everyone to remain calm over Boston Center's frequency, knowing that the pilots of American Airlines Flight 11 were dead...
 
It was I who watched in horror from my cockpit at Newark Airport as UAL Flight 175 took an eternity to fly up the Hudson River and into the South Tower...

It is I who had to sit down with my partner to explain why I was going back to work September 14. And why I would never allow myself to be called "just a bus driver" ever again, even in jest...

It is I who is strip searched by TSA screeners who make more than some pilots, while thousands of cleaners, caterers, and others who have unlimited access to my aircraft are only minimally screened.

It was I who TOLD you REPEATEDLY that our aircraft were vulnerable to takeover and that our screeners were inadequate.

It is I who’s life depends on a security system that can be beat by a 20 year old child.

It is I who receive a worried call from my husband/wife/father/mother/son/daughter every time CNN or Fox screams the headline of "Aircraft Accident" whenever there is the slightest aircraft mishap anywhere in the world.

It is I who am one mistake away from being that headline, every time I go to work.

It is I who carries the weight of the company on my shoulders to ensure that I do not make that mistake. Yet you tell me that I am overpaid and underworked and approach me for paycuts every time your mismanagement puts the company in financial difficulty.

It is I who brief my Flight Attendants every day that "If there is any attempt to take over the aircraft under no circumstances will we open the cockpit door to help you.” knowing that I am issuing their death sentence.

It is my flight attendants who will again be the first ones to die next time. And May God Rest the Souls of the brave Flight Attendants on the hijacked American and United flights who kept calm and used the cabin phones to call their bases and describe the bloodbaths that were occurring on their flights before they were murdered.










AA Flight 11
Captain John Ogonowski
First Officer Thomas McGuinness

Flight Attendants
Barbara Arestegui
Jeffrey Collman
Sara Low
Karen Martin
Kathleen Nicosia
Betty Ong
Jean Roger
Dianne Snyder
Madeline Sweeney


UAL Flight 175
Captain Victor Saracini
First Officer Michael Horrocks

Flight Attendants
Robert Fangman
Amy Jarret
Amy King
Kathryn Laborie
Alfred March
Michael Tarrou
Alicia Titus.[6]


AA Flight 77
Captain Charles Burlingame
First Officer David Charlebois

Flight Attendants
Michele Heidenberger
Jennifer Lewis
Kenneth Lewis
Renee May


UAL Flight 93
Captain Jason Dahl
First Officer LeRoy Homer Jr.

Flight Attendants
Lorraine Bay
Sra Bradshaw
Wa Green
CeeCee Lyles
Deborah Welsh