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In The Hangar

The weather was poor this morning. Bruce attempted to complete is flight schedule, with Steve tagging along. Steve is flying the right seat now and then to start getting a feel for the area. He'll start his on-field training soon, now that the Chief Pilot is back from a 2-week trip to Mexico. Steve has also had to spend the past two months getting his house finished and ready to live in. Bruce made his first stop, but then ran into bad weather and had to return. Dan, who elected to wait in Shell, had a hard time not saying 'I told you so'. Later in the afternoon both Bruce and Dan got their flights done.

Mike and Dave both flew down from Quito. Dave had flown up at 3:30 PM on Monday afternoon with a patient transfer, and spent the night. Mike flew the shuttle flight down, and waited all day while John worked on HC-BZE, the Quito plane. In the end, John couldn't resolve the problem and Mike flew home in a different plane.

Curtis spent the day putting his toolbox together and getting organized. He's a new maintanence specialist and his shipment arrived on Saturday. He and his wife, Rachel, are living in temporary MAF housing while they look for a permanent place to live. They also just announced that Rachel is pregnant. That was a surprise to them.

The prop has been pulled of HC-BXB, and now we wait for a new engine, or a decision on whether we can rebuild the engine. That's the plane that was involved in the prop strike ten days ago. Oscar and Mateo put a new nose fork on another of the planes, and this will allow the 8.5" tires to be run on HC-BQV. The idea is to increase the tire size up front to keep the nose from sinking into soft spots on the runway, and to keep the prop farther away from the ground. The new configuration changes the way the plane flies, and also affects takeoff and landing distances. But, if it can save a few $35,000 engines, then it should be worthwhile. Dan really hates the way the plane flies with the modification.