April Interior and new engineer
The interior had been water damaged due to the canopy window being open during its prolonged stay outside at the airport.
It had been sent to an upholsterer for a quote on reupholstery, it took a few weeks to get a response, verdict, "not less than $28,000"
I decided to do it myself.
Before
After
A new engineer is appointed with an apparent mandate for no work on 'external' planes which are not part of the flight school. The plan was for work to be done on my aircraft after hours.
May
The maintenance business closes abruptly leaving my plane locked in their hangar. Numerous phone calls and visits to work out what to do. In the end no other maintenance organisations on the airport could take on the work at short notice. As a consequence of having a Continental diesel the next centre that could help me was 1000 miles away so in a container it goes.
June
The logbooks went missing after the business closed down, they turned up 100 miles away after a month of being missing
July A New Home
The plane arrived safe and sound with only a few bruises from transport.
Unfortunately in the midst of the previous troubles the autopilot head unit had gone missing, it later turned up in another aircraft, someone must have 'borrowed' it.
August-October The dark ages
A few minor things happened with the aircraft during this time, but it still remained on the transport frame, no engine, no wings, no landing gear.
November Another move
The business where it was being worked on closed, thankfully another maintenance organisation on the same airport came to the rescue and agreed to help with the work. A nice parting gift from the closing business was a very large bill, including over 120 labour hours, despite all those man hours there seemed to be very little material progress.
December A new hope
Initial optimism slowly dragged on, as being the lowest rung on the totem pole at a new shop started again, with seemingly minimal progress for months
2024 The year it takes flight
It took until late April for the landing gear to go on, followed by the engine in May, and by June it was starting to look like a plane again.
There would be a few teething problems with a new fuel tank that leaked that delayed the first flight until September, but after a long, long process, it is airborne, a few more issues to get to the bottom of, but for a while there I thought I would never see it fly.
Keep the clean side up!
