Makes sense.
At the end of the day, it works and fits. And signed off.
K
Flying an Apache
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My buddy that is the fabricator builds a jig from the original piece. At least the major points are located properly. I suppose the radius might be off a bit but if you look at the original it is beat with all kinds of dents. So I don’t think it’s super critical like a structural part might be. My I/A has to sign off on it so if he doesn’t like it he either makes changes or has the fabricator fix it or redo it. The first piece the fabricator just threw away so he wasn’t happy with his first version anyway. So we are trying to have some quality control.
Annie put in some good flying recently but as always she wants MORE attention… And she gets it!
In this case we had to give Annie a new aux fuel pump on the left engine. We had replaced the right one as it simply was too old, 71 years old! The right one was newer which was confusing until we realized the wiring was bad and the pump was running intermittently. So new wiring was put in along with a new pump. But there is a reason we call the Apache the A-Patch-Y… ’cause lots of patches! The baffles on the engines are all light weight aluminum and the vibration from the Lycoming 4 cylinder engines just slowly cracks the metal. So it was time to finally replace vs. patch once again.
Here is the whole process in one picture. Bottom piece is the original needing to be replaced. It is used as the pattern. The middle piece is during construction and is still being formed. The top piece is the final product ready to go on Annie. Notice the workshop bench in my buddies shop. He always has something going on. We are building a Bearhawk and we made all the parts for it in this same shop. He is a GREAT resource for fabrication when we can’t get new or used parts for the Apache.
Here is another look at a newly made baffle for Annie.
Here is a look at the back side of the completed part. This one was painted white on the back as was the original but it will be painted flat black as will the rest. That will hide dirt better!
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My flying buddy went with me to the NC mountains and we flew into Avery County (7A8) for some mountain flying practice. Great views and a fairly short flight from home base.
Taking the runway for takeoff. Church visible in the distance.
We did a max performance takeoff. Only 3001′ for the runway length. Typically you land north and takeoff south due to slope.
Great views as we climb out
Good day for the engines to do their thing! Annie was climbing well but you have to avoid the peaks.
The next day we got breakfast across town and loaded up Annie for the last legs home. We did the same airport for our fuel/rest stop in Cartersville, GA outside Atlanta. I was filed IFR just for grins and practice for the most part. There was a broken deck leaving MEI but we could have done it VFR but I like the practice anyway. As we got close to Atlanta center gave me an Arrival into Cartersville. I wasn’t expecting that but looked it up and started loading it into my GPS. It added quite a bit of mileage so I asked for a short cut and they gave it to me. A few minutes later a new voice popped up on frequency and so apparenly controllers had changed. The new controller gave me direct back to the original fix and added the miles back in. So I decided to bail and cancelled IFR and we continued VFR. The controller seemed happy enough with that and gave me VFR flight following while I went direct so maybe he just wanted me out of the system. After Cartersville it’s a short leg home and I was very glad to be back after such a great trip where Annie behaved herself.
An example of WHY we like the ROOM in the Apache. Annie lets us carry lots of STUFF.
And more room for my man spread too!
It feels great to get home! Caught by surprise by the camera.
Working on my picture smile but very happy anyway.
Returning from Austin we did the reverse of how we flew into Austin. We went direct to Alexandria, LA and got lunch and then on to Meridian, MS for the overnight. This time in AEX we got the huge Grand Marquis as our courtesy car and one that I think is the quintessential pilot car. We had done the Mexican restaurant before but for some reason (maybe a Texas hangover?) we wanted What-A-Burger and it was great.
I love that Mercury was making sure you didn’t miss that you were driving a GRAND MARQUIS
How do you improve on that?? Add What-A-Burger and everything is better!
After AEX we headed directly to Meridian, MS where Meridian Aviation makes it all worth the effort. We got our car for the overnight and enjoyed a great meal at what we were told was the “best restaurant in Mississippi”, Weidmann’s. I don’t know if its the best but I certainly won’t argue. We were glad they only had room in the upstairs bar as our dress code was more to the bar scene than the white table cloth settings downstairs.
Always seems to be cool military jets in Meridian, MS
Alexandria, LA had some cool planes too!
Day two and we made it to Austin Executive airport in good shape.
Got to go on THE trip we got Annie for. We had flown to Texas before but that trip ended up being frustrating for several issue that had nothing to do with Annie. So this time we got to do it right. And it was great. I’ve learned that we will need two days for this much flying as we just don’t sit a long time like we used to. So we stopped at Cartersville, GA outside of Atlanta for a quick fuel and pit stop. Then on to Meridian, MS for the overnight. Meridian Aviation has been so nice to us and that continued. We were given a courtesty car for overnight stay. Pretty sweet! The next day we flew to Alexandria, LA and got another fuel stop but this time got a car and went for some Mexican food. Getting back after a quick hour or so lunch stop we did the final leg into Austin. We chose Austin Executive Airport (KEDC) this time and loved it. Classy. We had our rental car driven to us right on the ramp so we could load our baggage right into the car.
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