Hello everyone,
This is Steve writing. So what have I been doing these past year? Here are a few pictures to show some of what was keeping me from blogging in December, January, February, March, April, May, June, and July. I actually uploaded these pictures in April, then we became parents an I'm just now getting around to posting this blog.
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| I inspected this Mooney and Herman ferried it at the end of January. |
I inspected the Mooney that was a t a grass strip called Kilometro 7. We needed to ferry the plane 4 miles to another airport where it could be receive an annual inspection. I then received pars for the plane in December. I then installed the parts and filled the papers with the FAA for a Special Flight Permit(ferry permit). However, one stipulation of the FAA is that they require permission from a foreign country in order to issue a ferry permit for a U.S. registered aircraft in a foreign country. The civil aviation authorities here were slow to respond and then went on vacation for the holidays.
When they came back from vacation they told us that we needed insurance on the plane in order to get permission to ferry the plane. So then the insurance company was slow in responding also, but insurance was issued for the plane. Then the civil aviation authorities us that they don't issue permission for ferry flights. So, we then asked what do we do in order to ferry the plane. The civil aviation authorities then responded by emailing us a letter saying that if the plane has insurance coverage, and a ferry permit from the FAA then we can ferry the plane.
So we emailed that letter and an application for a ferry permit to the FAA and the FAA emailed us a ferry permit. Then it started raining with low clouds and we had to wait to fly the plane. Thankfully on the last day of the ferry permit the weather cleared and Herman made an uneventful flight.
Then came the job of inspecting the 182J and the T182 that had been trucked and the Mooney that had been flown.
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| Here is where we started working on the T182 |
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| Here is where we parked the 182J. |
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| We needed to start the engine and run it up after moving the planes. So we used a jug of fuel and ran the engine up to start the inspections. |
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| A borosborescop really helps inspect the exhaust/turbocharger system on the T182. |
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| The turbine on the turbo charger on the T182. |
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| The waste gate on the T182. |
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| The borescope comes in handy some times when you need to read numbers in hard to get to places. |
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| Planes being inspected in the halfway finished hangar. |
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| The small air compressor we bought to get started inspecting the planes. |
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| The shop really helps things stay organized. |
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| The 182J being inspected. |
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| The Mooney being inspected. |
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| Engine parts from the planes to be sent for inspection/repair. |
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| Radios and instruments to be sent for inspection/repair. |
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| The T182 being inspected. |
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| The planes under the new hangar roof. |
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| The view from the computer while up on the plane for fuel tank inspection. |
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| The borescope helps with fuel tank insections. |
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| The fuel tanks in the T182 were nice and clean. |
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| This is what is looks like to be inspected. |
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| The 182J under inspection. |
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| An old honey jar works as a makeshift shop light. |
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| And there is always paperwork involved in working on airplanes. |
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| Servicing the oxygen system in the T182. |
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| Swinging the gear on the Mooney. |
We got the Mooney flying before Helen and I left Bolivia for a visit to the US and Canada. We are now on our way back to Bolivia from Canada.
Steve
