A rose by any other name.

Another thing left unsettled over the winter was the n-number. FAA rules say you can make up your own n-number but the letters can only be on the last two spaces, and it could not start with a 0.

All the good versions of __SK were taken, I tried several number sequences and finally settled on 615MK, for my birthday (61) and 5MK as a stylized version of my initials.

But I kept hearing grumblings from OspRey, she just didn't like the n-number. I asked her one day and she told me it was because it wasn't HER name, it was mine. And by coincidence MK was also Einar's wife initial's Michelle Ketilsson. I knew I had to make a change.

It was at Sun n Fun that I started mulling some other options, and it was there in front of my face: 05PY. OSPreY. 105PY was taken by a balloon, but 305PY, 705PY and 805PY were available. After talking it over OspRey got her new n-number reserved, N805PY.


Today was spent at the hangar taking the hull off the frame and thinking about where to go from here. Plans are afoot.

Spring 'n Sun 'n Fun 'n ....

Last year I went to the annual SeaRey fly-in at Garner's Landing as a way to meet other builders and research my build, and visited the factory the next day for even more info. Tuesday I was at Sun 'n Fun and ended up working in Air Ops the rest of the week when the tornadoes hit.

It was so much fun I did it again this year, but I also spent a morning with longtime SeaRey guru Jim Ratte. Jim filled me up with some great ideas about how to solve some of the problems with my build, and at Garner's both Eric Batterman and Dan Nickens kindly took the time to fill my brain up even further. Since I got back a couple weeks ago I've been sifting the information, processing it and looking at my kit in new ways. I've gone by the hangar and talked to Osp about what I've learned, she's told me what she's been thinking, and we're slowly coming up with a plan for this year.

One big decision I made was not to try to have her flying this year. If I knew what I was doing it might be possible, but it would also take a lot of the fun out of it. So I've pushed my engine back to a Spring 2013 delivery and we'll spend this year working out the kinks, taking our time, and doing it right.

It's becoming a tradition that I go to the Garner's fly-in

and Sun n Fun. I've met some great people,

learned a lot,

and had a hell of a lot of fun.

Even got to be part of Manfred Radius's ribbon crew this year, which I can finally admit was on my bucket list. 

Jenny

Back in December Einar told me he had purchased an antique altimeter from a Curtiss Jenny. He kindly loaned it to me for a few days, and I posed it with the radio controlled Jenny kit I have been building for the past several years. It was incredible to hold it and think of the things it had seen, and the men and women who had sat behind it....

A few weeks later Einar got together with me and said "Steve, we're going to build a Jenny." I said Yup, it's downstairs in my shop.

Einar said No, I've purchased Jenny serial number 2918 from Ken Hyde, we've got 5 years get her flying in time for her 100th birthday, and you're going to fly it.

Holy shit.....

During the hibernation....

It's been a long winter and I've stayed away from both the blog and my SeaRey project for a while. You'll recall that the frame-hull mating did not go very well, and I was frustrated with both the kit and my build so I decided it was time to take a break.

During the winter I finally was able to settle on the seat material. At the time I bought OspRey PA was only offering a vinyl for the seats and I didn't want that, I wanted something a bit warmer plus made to aircraft flammability standards, etc. After a long search it was suggested I contact Abby at Flightline Interiors. Abby does great work for the RV-series of aircraft, but she also worked with me to find a nice fabric.The fabric was shipped to PA, and 6 weeks later......

 

In July 2010 John  Spratt flew his 2006 SeaRey N48CJ to the Arlington Airshow, and kindly took me for a ride. 

I very much liked his non-standard throttle setup and am working on duplicating it on my aircraft. The throttle quadrant is from Aircraft Spruce, I've machined (uhhhh.... more than once) the bracket, and had a local machine shop conform a hunk of nylon for a saddle.

 

 

The thing I really like about the new setup is instead of having my shoulder hunched up to reach the throttle, it's perfectly placed to be under my hand when my arm is resting on my leg. Oh, the loverly advantages of building your own airplane.

The boom tube bracket mystery was also solved when PA shipped me new brackets that fit perfectly.