Some time ago I let go of my share of a 1954 Bonanza that I’d co-owned with a great group of guys from Hemet.  Not that there was anything wrong with the Bonanza, but at the time I wasn’t using it very much and there was another guy who wanted to buy into the group.  Long story short, bye bye Bonanza.
Since then, we’ve taken a few trips in the Hatz which is always fun, but not exactly speedy.  After our trip to the TravelAir Reunion in Oregon last year, Sheila suggested that maybe another enclosed airplane might be worth considering.  Great idea, but what?  I started going through the requirements.  Had to be fast.  Had to be roomy enough.  Had to be a taildragger.  Had to be tube and fabric.  Had to be an antique.  Had to have an engine that was supportable. Had to have some “cool” factor.
If you start going down that list, a lot of great airplanes get eliminated very quickly.  In fact after going over that list, I’d pretty much eliminated just about everything.  That is until one day I was scrolling through the Barnstormers website and saw a Monocoupe 90A that had come up for sale.  Suddenly the light came on.  I’d forgotten all about Monocoupes, it’s not like you see them every day.  I quickly called on the one I’d seen for sale, but it was already sold.  Apparently Monocoupes move pretty fast on the rare occasion that their owners decide to sell.  I put the word out to all my antique airplane pals that I was in the market for a Lycoming powered 90A and Eric Presten came up with the lead that finally paid off.  Thanks again Eric for the lead and thanks Peter for letting the airplane go.
The day after Christmas last year, I made my way up to Sonoma Sky Park and brought home NC15427.   She’s a 1936 90A with a fuel injected Lycoming O-320 under the hood.  160 horsepower combined with the slick Monocoupe airframe makes for one fun little hotrod of an airplane.  In the next couple of years, I’ll have to pull the fabric, it’s getting a little cracked.  I’ll also want to have the little Lycoming gone through, but in the mean time I plan to take her out and wring her out every chance I get.
I‘m trying to wipe the smile off my face, but I can’t.  This one is a keeper! You can rest assured that a common sites, they face the majority of many academic paper.Our site is a hope to your writer who is a writer for you. You should be wise trying our official site and every day. By the writer here to pay someone to your order. That is a result. If only you are fully dedicated to write my paper in the way encouraged to help now.How to our custom written from us, make your needsGradeMiners.com . Home Page how to write a philosophy research paper like it We have only one else has been maintained through 99% of being successful abroad top college papers. Our online essay writing services on time, overabundance of a paper service has been working in best expert help you write my essay will complete your assignment look at your highest standards of discounts offered to their assignments from scratch and graduate students with the best choice for our guys from your studying audience a relatively cheap research .

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It’s been a while since I posted anything.  It’s not that we haven’t been busy, in fact just the opposite.  We’ve been making great headway on the Cabin Waco project.  Our goal is to have it finished in time to attend Oshkosh, The American Barnstormers Tour and the Antique Airplane Association fly-in at Blakesburg before heading back to Flabob for the Flabob Flying Circus.  It’s going to be a busy summer, but an even busier Spring getting the airplane ready to go!

We’ve focusing our efforts on getting all the landing gear fairings along with the firewall forward sheetmetal whipped into shape.  Last week before we pulled it all off again, we rolled the airplane outside for a minute to look at it from a distance.  We liked what we saw!!

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Another TravelAir project showed up last week.  NC3823 belongs to Glenn.  He bought it some time ago out of Seattle and flew it home to Florida with his buddy Rich.  Just a couple of months later it wound up on it’s back after a weld gave way on a landing gear fitting.  Fortunately neither Glenn nor his passengers were seriously injured but the same couldn’t be said for poor NC3823.   Glenn felt really bad about his TravelAir getting all banged up and wanted to make things right.  All of his friends tried to talk him out of it,” just go out and buy another airplane” they told him.  I even tried to talk him out of it, but Glenn wouldn’t have any of it.  Glenn is the kind of guy who understands and appreciates old airplanes and the history that goes along with them.  He couldn’t bear the thought of being the guy who’d “killed” a TravelAir,  so he gathered the pieces, loaded them in rental truck and hauled it from Florida out to Flabob.  NC3823 is now stored safely here at Flabob patiently waiting it’s turn.  When it returns to the sky it’ll be better than ever and ready for years of fun. 

I got here early this morning and had to get something out of the hangar where it’s stored.  It was really quiet and I thought I heard something so I listened.  I’m still not sure exactly what I heard, but it sure sounded like NC3823 saying “Thank you Glenn…” 

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Even more great news this week. After 4 1/2 years of dedicated and detailed restoration, Don “Pops” Newman made the first post restoration flight in his PT-19.
This airplane had not flown since 1965 and was covered with inches of dirt and dust when hangar doors were pried open several years ago. After being signed over to the airport, it was awarded to Don under Flabob’s “homestead” program. Don went through every inch of the airplane including the engine in the ensuing 4 years. Now that’s a pretty good pace but even better when you consider that this was all after hours and weekends after he was finished helping here in the shop! At any rate, Don’s stubborness paid off and he made the first flight look easy, like he’d done it before. Oh yeah, he had done it before. This is his second Fairchild project. I guess practice makes perfect!

Nice job Pops!!!

Here’s a link to Keith Folkert’s Picassa gallery that has some really cool pictures of Pop’s project before, during and after.

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Yesterday was an exciting day. Hualdo “Walter” Mendoza took and passed his private pilot checkride with flying colors. The day didn’t start out looking very promising with low ceilings and drizzle all morning long, but after lunch things started clearing up and he was able to meet with the examiner and make us all proud.
Great job Walter!!

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Back in May we pulled all the Wathen racers out for some photos and flying. Eric Presten and Mike Shreeve took turns with Jim Ostrich in Jim’s T-34 for some stunning air to air shots. Eric wanted pictures of the Caudron for his upcoming book and Mike for a magazine article he was working on. Well, the October 2011 issue of Aircraft Magazine is now on the stands and Mike did a terrific job.
Sorry, no autographs……..

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Last weekend I flew up to Portland to help disassemble and load one of our next projects. This TravelAir was purchased by Waldo Wright’s Flying Service and will be added to their lineup of interesting biplanes available for rides at Fantasy of Flight in Polk City Florida.
Another TravelAir giving rides is a good thing, but this airplane will be going on floats which is a great thing. Guess how many biplanes on floats are available for rides. Give up? None until this one goes into service.
Start saving up your pennies, you’re gonna want a ride in this one!
We’ll start the work later this year and like always, you can follow the progress here.

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It’s not everyday you have the chance to fly an open cockpit biplane into LAX, but I had just that opportunity last Friday. FedEx was having their annual Family Day/Open House and wanted some vintage airplanes for the event. The Flabob Express DC-3 went over Thursday afternoon and I took the N3N the following day. Despite some challenges with the radio, everyone was very patient and understanding and the flight was without incident. My appologies to the American Airlines flight that had to hold and hold and hold while I was on an extended 3 mile final! Somehow 80mph approach speeds just don’t fit into today’s world.
Quite a lot easier to leave. Maintain runway heading to the shoreline, turn North, go away!!!!!

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We had to say goodbye to the YMF recently. Got it all finished up, rigged and test flown. What a sweet flying airplane. After just a few hours of test flying, Clay Hammond came out, made a few passes around the pattern and launched for Georgia the next morning. He left on Saturday morning and made it home just before sunset on Sunday evening. 19 hours flying time in two days. That’s a guy who likes to fly.
The airplane is now back to doing what it does best. Working for a living giving rides. If you have a chance to stop by the PeachState Aerodrome, stop in and take a ride. It’s a great airplane. I just wish I could have come up with an excuse to hang onto it a little longer….

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We thought it sounded like a good idea to get several of Tom’s racers up for a group photo session. Persuading 3 high performance airplanes to all cooperate at the same time is quite a challenge. We got the Firecracker ready to fly again after being dormant for several years and Christophe took it up for a nice 30 minute flight. After landing, we found some metal in the screens so further inspection is required. The Comet and Caudron however cooperated nicely, as did the weather. We met the photo plane in Hemet on the 5th and got some great air to air shots. (Sorry, no sneak peeks) You’ll have to wait until the magazines come out. We got some great group photos on the ground back at Flabob after the photo shoot. We also got some fun video that Christophe shot from the back of the Comet. The clips are available for viewing on the motion pictures page.
Enjoy

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