Flying Antique Airplanes

Cow Pastures to Commercial Carriers

2012-01-23T05:41:00.000-08:00

Cow Pastures to Commercial Carriers
Featuring the American Barnstormer's Tour Aircraft
AAA/APM Invitational Fly-In, August 29-September 3 2012

I just found out the theme of this years AAA Fly-In and I can't wait to go!

Always a good time, the Taylor's host a great fly-in. The local Hy-Vee is there 7-7 to serve food, many people fly their airplanes or just sit around telling stories. My good friend Addison Pemberton is going to fire up his Boeing 40 for a return visit.

Save me a cup of coffee and a gallon of 60 wt., I"ll be there.

Missouri Aviation Historical Society Meeting.

2012-01-19T20:09:00.001-08:00

Tonite Sky and I went to the monthly meeting of the MAHS. Tonites topic was the Tuskegee Airman and it couldn't have been more timely with the movie coming out tomorrow. (Sky and I are going to a matinee Saturday.)

Presenter Myron Lane spoke about the unit, its history, the adversity they faced as the first all black fighter unit and much more. We had to leave early to get Sky home in time for bed since tomorrow is a school day, but he said he enjoyed it.

Black Thursday up in Oshkosh

2012-01-12T19:34:00.000-08:00

Several EAA Staffers were let go today.

More info here:

http://rvnewsletter.blogspot.com/2012/01/big-cuts-at-eaa.html

In my opinion, the organization has completely lost focus. Rod is moving it even further from its "Enthusiast" beginnings towards emphasizing its "business" .

They're totally leaving behind us little guys who love flying and airplanes and are moving towards the high dollar guys who have someone build a kit for them, fly a warbird or have a business that rents space in the display buildings.

I posted a picture of the empty spaces at the front of Vintage Parking this year. That wasn't enough to get their attention.

I'm starting my "Do Not Occupy" Oshkosh movement. Maybe if the guys with showplanes don't show up and half of Camp Scholar is empty they'll start to realize something is wrong.

2011 Creve Coeur Christmas Lunch.

2011-12-18T14:25:00.001-08:00

Little Boo poses as part of a Winter Scene.

Casey Miller Peters was here with her new baby!

A couple of dim bulbs? The kids do their best Uncle Fester imitation.

Santa Stix passes out presents.

Santa Stix with two of his grandchildren.

A new Robin in the nest.

2011-12-12T18:12:00.000-08:00

A Curtiss Robin awaits its turn in the restoration shop.

Paul Glenshaw stops by Creve Coeur.

2011-12-11T20:34:00.000-08:00

Paul Glenshaw, a St Louis native and co-producer of the film Barnstorming stopped by Saturday to see the museum. I gave him the quickie tour as he had to catch a flight but all he could say was "Wow!"

Headed towards Indy.

2011-12-08T05:57:00.000-08:00

Headed towards Indy in our Citation V.

Happy Birthday Doug Watanabe!

2011-12-02T20:11:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday to my great friend Doug Watanabe.

Test-fitting the Monosport Gear.

2011-12-01T13:13:00.001-08:00

Went out to visit my friend Glenn Peck this morning. He was in the process of test-fitting the Monosport landing gear. He says he has about a month worth of work left to do on the airplane including painting the cowling, finishing the wing and painting it.

Morning in the Museum.

2011-11-19T09:58:00.000-08:00

Spent part of this morning helping out in the museum as they shuffled some of the airplanes to another building to perform routine maintenance on the building. I was able to get this aerial view from the scissor-lift they're using to change the light bulbs.

My F-24 inflight by Gilles Auliard.

2011-10-25T18:20:00.000-07:00

My good friend Gilles Auliard shot some air-to-air pictures of my airplane up at Blakesburg and sent them along today. Bottom is me and friend Mike Tindall in his Warner-powered Fairchild 24.

Photo Day at Creve Coeur

2011-10-23T06:41:00.001-07:00

John Cournoyer had some of his airplanes out yesterday (which was a stunning fall day!) for pictures for his new website. John has a few of the airplanes for sale, so if you're interested, drop me a line.

Scott Johansson flies one of John's Waco UBF-2 at sunset.

A Spitfire graces Creve Coeur.

2011-10-02T18:19:00.001-07:00

A Spitfire Mk IX runs up it's engine at Creve Coeur on Sunday before going flying.

Or at least we can dream-it's a Park Zone RC flyer.

Watching the storm go by...

2011-09-29T14:46:00.000-07:00

Watching a nasty storm go by in Gulfport yesterday.

Headed home.

2011-09-04T15:12:00.000-07:00

Gilles Auliard gets ready to shoot us with his camera Sunday morning.

Photo by Skyler.

Blakesburg on Saturday.

2011-09-04T15:07:00.001-07:00

One of the two rows of Monocoupes at Blakesburg.

Greg Herrick parks his Stinson Tri-motor.

Waco on takeoff. This picture was an experiment and

I really like the way it turned out.

Bellanca

Sky runs the flight sim for the kids.

Monocoupe under clear skies.

We're going to Blakesburg!

2011-09-04T15:00:00.000-07:00

We're headed up to Blakesburg for the annual Antique Airplane Association Fly-In. I pulled Sky out of school after his 2nd hour Algebra class and we went out to Creve Coeur and pulled the airplane out of the hangar.

Sky munches on a sandwich before we depart.

Hot and hazy were the words of the day. When we left it was 96 degrees out
with a heat index of 102. We had to go up to 4,500' to get out of the bumps.

Headed North.

2011-09-01T10:47:00.000-07:00

Bill French climbs out on takeoff in his 1935 Waco CUC headed towards the Antique Airplane Association Fly-In held at Blakesburg, Ia.

Building the Monosport Exhaust

2011-08-30T16:49:00.000-07:00

Glenn Peck adjusts the jig for the Monosport exhaust he's building.
He won't have the airplanes at this years AAA Fly-In up at Blakesburg, IA.

Bill Austin gets a Rawdon T1!

2011-08-29T06:28:00.000-07:00

Bill Austin returned this week with his recently acquired Rawdon T1 from North Perry Airport in Miami.

The airplane had been built as a sprayer and owned by a banner-towing operation. The airplane hasn't flown in years but is complete having set inside a hanger the entire time. It's serial number 31 out of the 36 built.

This will make the second Rawdon at our field, the other being Phil and Terry Chastains. Their father, Jack Chastain, formerly worked for Herb Rawdon and served as Test Pilot pilot for the T1 series.

2011-07-30T14:21:00.000-07:00

T-28 Trojans make a pass.

The Aeroshell Aerobatic Team.

Gene Soucy and Teresa Stokes.

We were asked by a magazine photographer to go for a

photo-shoot alongside our friend Mike Thern in his

yellow Fairchild 24 Sunday morning.

Sky snapped this great shot during that shoot.

This was the most exciting part to an otherwise drab and rainy Oshkosh.

Oshkosh-Long Post

2011-07-30T13:55:00.001-07:00

Sky and I on our way up to Oshkosh Monday morning. Clear weather and smooth flying.

The view of Oshkosh looking north from the final to 36L.

A panorama of the Vintage West parking/camping area. That's right, it's empty. Why? Maybe it was the weather...but the homebuilts and warbirds made it. Maybe the economy in general or the price of gas? Or maybe it's just the owners of Vintage Aircraft have finally got fed-up with the way they're treated by Vintage and EAA and they no longer attend.
You decide.

Aerobatics.

The CAF's B-29 "Fifi" attended, its first visit since 1995.

A Corsair takes off runway 18. Several Corsairs were in attendance as part of

the Salute to Naval Aviation.

Always a crowd favorite, a P-51 Mustang lifts off the runway.

A Curtiss SB2C Helldiver, the only one flyable in the world.

Sky tries out Eric Presten's Bleriot.

Sky and a F4F Wildcat.

Sky in front of Fifi.

Andrew King sits in the Curtiss Pusher.

A Harriet Quimby reenactor poses by the Bleriot.

-continued on next post-

It starts!

2011-06-25T16:58:00.000-07:00

http://youtu.be/3d4F2XP26c8

It started for us twice this past week! But we still have some figuring out to do. The first time, we let it run for about a minute and then shut it down because we had no oil pressure.

After clearing the block in the line, we tried to start it again. No luck.

We tried again two mornings after. It lit on the first blade. This time we had oil pressure and we let in run for 2-3 minutes. It was idling at 550 rpm's. Glenn pulled the throttle back and you guessed it, the engine quit. Couldn't get it started again.

Glenn is gone for the weekend and I have to go back to work tues pm so we'll probably try again mid-july.

Testing the fit.

2011-06-19T17:06:00.001-07:00

Jimmy Johnson had his Emeraude wings ready to test fit on the fuselage this morning. The airplane was built by someone else and put into storage during the '80's. Jimmy bought the airplane, stripped the fabric and is in the process of rebuilding/restoring the aircraft.

It wouldn't be spring in St Louis...

2011-05-26T15:55:00.000-07:00

unless I had to change a least one cylinder on my Ranger.

Any one have a Candy Bar.

2011-05-22T17:42:00.000-07:00

Terry Chastain about has another Waco finished for John Cournoyer's collection at Creve Coeur. This one is the original "Baby Ruth" which flew in the 1928 on the National Air Tour and in the National Air Races.

New Plane at Creve Coeur.

2011-05-22T17:39:00.001-07:00

This beautifully polished Globe GC1B Swift now owned by Rolla Henry calls Creve Coeur home. Rolla purchased it from a gentlemen in Oklahoma City and flew it to Creve Coeur a couple months ago. Upgraded from its Continental 125, it nows sports a fire-breathing 0-360.

On the way to Jakarta.

2011-05-14T15:28:00.001-07:00

Had to dodge a few boomers on the way to Jakarta earlier this week.

No damage at Creve Coeur.

2011-04-23T16:20:00.000-07:00

Phew! Creve Coeur lucked out and there is no damage from last nights tornado that caused extensive damage over at Lambert Field less than 10 miles away.

A golf driving range had the windows of its office blown out but the only damage near Creve Coeur is a mailbox blown down, and it was on its last legs.

A bunch of smiles at the airport this morning.

DO-335

2011-04-18T05:37:00.000-07:00

On my way home from work I had to good fortune to be going thru Washington Dulles Aiport, home of the National Air & Space's Udvar-Hazy Museum.

Though I'd been there before, I wanted to specifically to see two airplanes; the Northrup P-61 Black Widow and the ultra-rare Donier DO-335 Pfeil (Arrow).

The DO-335 never saw combat during World War II, but if it had it would have given Mustang and Thunderbolt fighters a run for there money. Fast, maneuverable and packing a 30 mm cannon and twin 20mm cannons, it could handle it's own in a dogfight.

The story goes that when this one was captured by US forces in 1945, it was flown to Cherboug to be taken to the United States. Escorted by two Mustangs, the Pfeil easily ran away from them, arriving 45 minutes before it's escorts.

Oh the humanity...

2011-03-24T12:19:00.000-07:00

Went from Liege, Belgium to Baghram AFB to Tashkent today. 9 hours of flying only to wait 4 hours t get our Visa's. Typical (Ex-) Russian bureaucracy.

My calves are terribly stiff and sore from my walk around Liege yesterday. Walked to dinner tonite like an old man.

Snow Day

2011-03-14T14:05:00.001-07:00

View out Creve Coeurs Office window looking to the west showing

the snow/slush that made a mess of everything today.

Pictures out my office window.

2011-03-06T15:42:00.000-08:00

Pictures heading back from Tashkent, Uzbekistan to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The little camera I have with me is maxed out trying to get these pictures.

The mountains are in Tajikistan, to the south of Tashkent.

Sad ending for a Fouga.

2011-02-25T11:00:00.000-08:00

This Fouga was located just outside of our hotel in Basel, Switzerland.

Home for a couple days

2011-02-20T17:40:00.001-08:00

Was home for a couple days. Took Sky out to the airport, had Glenn show him some of his balsa-wood models. Sky has been building plastic models like a fiend, home he moves on to balsa soon.

Sandblasting Velie Cylinders

2011-01-15T14:21:00.001-08:00

Bead-blasted some Velie engine cylinders for Glenn and Wayne today. I'm 2/3rds of the way finished, have a few to do Monday.

First Bald Eagle sighting of the year.

2011-01-10T17:16:00.001-08:00

I saw my first Bald Eagle of the year going to lunch this morning. He was sitting admiring his catch on the partially frozen-over Creve Coeur Lake. All I had with me was my little point-n-shoot so apologies for the quality of the picture. I'll take my big gun next time I go out as I heard later there are three Eagles hanging out there.

A Milestone: As tall as my Mom.

2011-01-08T12:43:00.000-08:00

Sky has reached a milestone; he's as tall as or taller than his mom. The kid is eating us out of house and home. He eats mini-pizzas like they're going out of style.

How was It?

2011-01-01T20:48:00.001-08:00

So How Was It?

Long. 53 days in a non-English speaking city takes a toll. Ground School flew by, as advertised, by a friend who is a Captain there.Cockpit Procedures Training (CPT) and Sim(ulator) seemed to take forever.

We did Company Benefits/Procedures/Wt.& Bal. the first week. Started in on systems Tuesday of the second week. Took half a day for a swimming lesson (overwater ditching) which was great fun.

We had a little controversy. We had one gentlemen from Barbados in the class, very nice, classy guy. Someone called his sim partners room and said a racial slur. They then called his room and said the same thing. This went on most of the night, along with a wake-up call on the hour for both of them. They wanted to fire all of us but cooler heads prevailed for the defecant always rises to the top of the punchbowl.

Thanksgiving came and though we had to stay, the Instructors gave up some of their holiday to come over and fix us a Thanksgiving Dinner that I can truly say ranks right up there with the best I've ever had. Then we had an additional day off due to a Fed Ex truck hitting a power pole and knocking out power to our classroom. This was good and bad for we had an extra day off, but we had to go an additional 2 hours for the next 4 days, days we really wanted to be out of there and in the sim.

I was fortunate to have two great guys as sim partners. The first was an ex-F14 Tomcat pilot who flew for another freight hauler and had been laid off. He had flown big airplanes, but not this big. My engineer also flew for the same carrier and was in manglement, he was a very steady and supportive friend.

They gave us 6 CPT sessions, mainly to familiarize us with the cockpit layout and procedures. These were conducted in the sim, but not on motion.They then gave us 7 Sim sessions, which were basically a repeat of the CPT sessions we had just done. Lession 8 was the Check Ride done by a different Instructor (Check Airman) then we'd had for Sim and Lesson 9 was our LOFT. I don't remember much of Lesson 9 due to a headache I had after Lesson 8.

All the Instructors were great and very supportive. The scheduler, John, was a FE and someone we could go talk to for encouragement. It was obvious they wanted every single one of us to pass and they went the extra mile to make sure it happened with all of us.

The hardest part for me was to relax and to not put pressure on myself. I knew they wanted us to pass, but still, you can't help but put pressure on yourself. It became really tough during CPT when I called home and my 4-year old daughter asked, "Daddy, when are you coming home and never going back there?" I had tears in my eyes. I had always promised myself I would be a better dad than a pilot and this was killing me.

We had Sim from 6 to 10 most every night. One of the Instructors picked us up at 4:45 for the briefing. Then the Sim, then the debrief which lasted anywhere from 3 minutes to 45 minutes. The Instructor then took us back to our hotel where we met in my room, affectionately known as "The Whale" or "Don's Place" for our own debriefing and to wind down over a couple beers. I usually got to bed between 1 and 2 AM.

Now I'm awaiting a call for my Initial Operating Experience (IOE). They tell me there's a very good chance it will be in Anchorage, going to Seoul as this is the most senior route and all of our IOE Check Airman bid it. Better get a good pair of mukluks.

Sky the Tour Guide

2010-12-29T15:15:00.000-08:00

Sky and I spent part of the morning giving a a HARM Museum tour to his Science teacher, Mrs. Jungbluth and her husband. It was chilly but with the enthusiasm of the tour guide, the morning flew by in no time.

Happy Campers

2010-12-03T17:57:00.001-08:00

My class of 23 after passing the written test.

It's onto CPT (Cockpit procedures Trainer) from here.

To the Carving table.

2010-11-26T05:08:00.000-08:00

One of the turkey's our Instructors cooked for us for Thanksgiving heads to the carving table.

The new torture (sim) chamber

2010-11-13T17:42:00.001-08:00

I was able to get a quick tour of the torture chamber (flight sim) they are preparing for me next month. It's not as big as I thought it would be but takes a different thought process because the airplane is so big and has so much mass.

Creve Coeur's Got Talent! or So You think you can dance???

2010-10-24T05:41:00.000-07:00

"Dolly and Kenny" opened the show with "Islands in the Stream."

The Local Pickers.

Comedian Les Grotpeter.

Al Stix plays guiter?

"I can't play guitar."

"How about a poem?"

Albert's Daughter, Chloe.

The youngest Stix enchants the crowd with

her rendition of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."

And fun was had by all.

Rick Ramin

2010-10-18T07:22:00.000-07:00

My friend Rick Ramin poses with his recently purchased 1971 260 Comanche on a nice Sunday morning.

A few tasks to finish before I leave.

2010-10-14T16:35:00.000-07:00

Sky and I went out to the airport this afternoon to help Glenn with an annual on the late Ken Kotik's Cub which has been sold and is going to Texas next week. We helped him remove the greenhouse glass, which is being replaced and then went over and hooked up the aileron pulleys on one wing and made the control cable for it.

I have a class date November 1, so will do a little touch-up on the compresson struts on the butt-end of the wings and then put everything away until after I finish training.

Aha! Found It! I think?

2010-09-24T18:18:00.000-07:00

Found a box of parts with lots of pulleys in it at home. It was in a poly-whatever box along with about 30 inspection covers and the spinner for my prop. Must have gotten mixed up when I took the paint home.

I'll take it out tomorrow and see if they're the right size. There are also some pulleys inside the fuselage but I have them so hopefully I'm set.

Now where I'd put that....

2010-09-24T14:55:00.000-07:00

I'm almost ready to cover the wings. I went to put on the aileron cable pulleys and I can't find the ones (there are two of the buggers) that go on the top of the wing.

I've looked in 7 boxes 6 times of all my parts and they're not there.

Crud...looks like another trip to Wicks.

Beautiful Night for a Balloon Glow.

2010-09-18T07:58:00.001-07:00

Beautiful night on an early-fall evening in Forest Park as the Great St Louis Forest Park Balloon Race held it's annual Balloon Glow.

Plenty of food and drink, things to do for the kiddoes and a great weather had probably 100k people basking in the glowing balloons, taking pictures, chatting with friends and just enjoying the evening.

We all had a great time until Lindsay said "Put Lindsay to bed!" so we missed the end of the evening's fireworks.

Friends

2010-09-08T06:37:00.001-07:00

My friends Don and Ann Pellegreno were up at Blakesburg, as usual. They brought their Fairchild XNQ-1 again for the celebration of Fairchilds. I've known this wonderful couple since I was Skyler's age as they were in the same EAA Chapter my dad was in Des Moines.

I had a great time talking with them and I really want to thank them again for letting Skyler and myself sit in the airplane. It's a beautiful, rare bird that they've saved and it just glowed sitting there on the flightline.

Blakesburg Report

2010-09-05T15:08:00.000-07:00

Friday they closed the field due to strong crosswinds. The wind was really blowing but helped to dry out the 3" of rain the airport had received the previous day. A T-6 misjudged, landed long and groundlooped into the trees.

An AAA volunteer stands with a trophy which is supposedly from the Rhimes, France 1909 Air Gathering.

Andrew King fires up the Vintage Aero Flying Museum's replica Fokker D.VII in prep for a photo-shoot with my friend Gilles Auliard.

Russell Williams's Ryan SCW sits under the beautiful Blakesburg night sky.

Went out Saturday and looked in the Fly Market for parts for the Monosport for Glenn with our friend Wayne Muxlow. Wayne spotted one that Glenn needed and he bought that one.

Mike Gretz grabbed me on the way by for a picture op of a Trophy supposedly awared at the 1909 Rhiems Air Meet. The Air Power Museum is checking on the provenance of the trophy.

Hy-Vee did a superb job with the food again this year and we were never hungry. A little thirsty but if I'd take a water bottle with me that would be solved.

Went to the Aero-cinema Saturday evening to see Pearl again. I liked it even better the second time. DJ Carlton, the screenwriter, Angela Gair, Lucy in Pearl, David Mars (who supplied the Curtiss Robin for Pearl), Clay Adams, Ted Davis and Jim Hammond (Pilots who did the flying) were also on hand. It was a rather cool night, but the masses huddled and everyone seemed to enjoy the movie.

Saw a bunch of friends that I knew and was surprised by greetings from people I didn't that told me they read this blog and asked where Skyler was at the moment. Thank you all, it makes me feel like I haven't totally fallen off the face of the earth.

Headed up to Blakesburg this morning.

2010-09-03T04:36:00.000-07:00

Sky and I will be fighting a strong headwind in the mighty Civic as we head up to the Antique Airplane Association Fly-In at Blakesburg, Ia today. If you like to see lots of vintage airplanes, this is the fly-in to go to.

Covering lesson of a different sort.

2010-08-21T18:27:00.001-07:00

Sky and I went over to our friend Roger Teagarden's house this afternoon for a lesson on covering balsa-wood models. Roger offered a few precovering airframe finishing tips and then showed Sky how to prep the frame for covering. Sky's homework for the week is to do this prepwork and to come over next Saturday for the lesson on attaching tissue paper.

New Job

2010-08-19T17:25:00.001-07:00

As many of you know, I accepted a position with a freight hauler last month. Not with Fed Up, but with a smaller, expanding company. I'm starting out as a First Officer on a 747-200. They have professional engineers who have a lot of time on the airplane. I'll be doing mostly international flights.

I was told that class was starting either Aug 23 but it may be moved back to Aug 16th. I was about to crawl out of my skin yesterday when I finally broke down and called the Chief Pilot's assistant.

She said that managment had been in meetings all week and that class was not postponed yet and she didn't think it would be. She just didn't have to go-ahead to call and set up plane tickets and hotel rooms yet. I thanked her and told her I was ready to go at a moments notice.

I talked with one of my friends who works there yesterday and he told me that the bids for the 747-400 had come out.

She called today at noon to tell me the class had been postponed til Sept. 13.
I'm hoping the delay is to let them fill slots in the -200 caused by the -400 acquisitions. Two other freight haulers are hiring for heavy jets but I really want to work for these guys because I have at least 3 friends there.

Oh well, another 3 weeks to study the systems before I go to class.

How many of you want a grass runway at Oshkosh?

2010-08-07T18:13:00.000-07:00

Simple Poll. How many of you want a grass runway at Oshkosh? Just respond yes in a comment to this message. I'll give it personally to the new president of EAA.

I know this blog doesn't get out to all antiquers, but this will give me an idea.

Thanks and let the responses begin!

My world is awfully small.

2010-08-03T17:50:00.000-07:00

So Skyler and I are sitting there Sunday night after the airshow, drinking beers (him =root, me=sam adams) when a green truck pulling a 5th-wheel trailer pulls out a couple blocks down from us. We wave and I wonder to Sky where they're headed to this evening.

The truck comes down the street, pulls in besides us and a guy hops out. He checks a couple connections, the trailer doors and lights. I ask him where they're headed to and he says "Louisville".

"You look familiar to me, ever work at Smokin' Hole?"

"Is your name Don?"

He goes back and tells his son to shut down the truck. "Scot Evanson".

"Oh my god." I turn to my son. "I've known him for 25 years, he used to be an instructor and Winona and then I flew with him at Package Air."

They grabbed a couple chairs and we talked until the 'squito's drove us out. They were headed south, hoping to make it to Chicago tonite.

Only at Oshkosh do you run into someone you haven't seen in 25 years.

Really have to hand it to the Oshkosh Crew and Volunteers.

2010-08-03T17:46:00.000-07:00

They did a marvelous job with the less than ideal circumstances they had to deal with for this years fly-in.

There were a lot of people there along with a lot of mud and standing water but it didn't seem to damped anyone's enthusiasm. Aircraft parking was slightly messed up, but considering everything, no one seemed to mind.

Hats off to the crew, excellent job this year!

Oshkosh 2010 Report

2010-08-03T17:03:00.000-07:00

Sky and I left home at 5:45 Friday morning for Spl'oshkosh.

Andy Parks and Andrew King discuss flying the Fokker's.

Beginning of the nighttime airshow. This was wonderful and they're planning on doing it next year.

Made friends with the cast of "Pearl" the movie. It's the story of a 13-year old Oklahoma girl who got her pilots license becoming the youngest licensed pilot in the US. We also met the songwriter for the music in the movie, including "Just one Dream". Incredibly nice people, they all loved the flying. David Mars, Ted Davis and Clay Adams did the flying for the movie.
Look up Pearl on facebook.

"You gettin' this camera guy. Order in the next ten minutes, and we'll send you an additional mini-shamwow!

The North Dakota Zero. It has an R-2800 engine and is built-up from three Zeros.

Matt Younkin does a routine in his Beech 18.

SNJ peel-off during the Warbird show. Not many warbirds there on the last weekend.

Chuck Greenhill's Mustang.

Wildcat dives out of the clouds Sunday afternoon.

The Zero on top of a smoke layer.

Sky takes a shower sunday evening.

Notice the mostly empty campground.

Quick glimpse from Osh

2010-08-01T06:14:00.000-07:00

While we're wearing our legs down to nubs at Oshkosh, here's a quick one to keep you happy. The Zero flying by right before the start of Saturday's night airshow.

This trip was more social, so it will be light on the airplanes I post. I'll put more up later.

Creve Coeur pilot named President of EAA!

2010-07-26T18:08:00.000-07:00

Creve Coeur Stearman Pilot and an ulta-nice guy was named the new President of EAA today in Oshkosh, WI.

I couldn't be happier as Rod is a friend and a stand-up guy. I've known him for years and always liked him and considered him a friend. We've gone flying in his Stearman, sat around and swapped stories. He always has a smile on his face.

Here's to ya Rod! A new chapter in your life and in EAA has begun.

Punks

2010-07-26T05:42:00.001-07:00

. Some a-hole threw a baseball thru our front window about 3:15 this morning. They also drove thru several neighbors yards in the area. We were awoken by a thumping noise, sounded like one of the kids or dogs fell out of bed. Upon further investigation, we found this.

We called the cops and they were here immediately. They stopped a couple teenage boys who had seen the car driving by, flipping them off and taunting them. It was a black Ford Ranger.

The police said they already had other reports. The took the baseball and swabbed it for prints, so hopefully something will come of that.

Getting ready for Big O.

2010-07-23T17:11:00.000-07:00

Here's the deal. I've been hired by a freight company, start class on Aug. 23. Be flying the big kahuna. More on this as it gets closer to my class date.

Since ground school runs 9 weeks, I've decided on a little last getaway for the boys up to Oshkosh. We're planning on heading up at o'dark-thirty friday morning and staying for the weekend. Going to drive because it doesn't make economic sense to insure the airplane for one trip of eight hours.

Oshkosh has had 17" of rain since the middle of last month, they're saturated. The campgrounds are a mess. We'll probably take my wifes van up and sleep in that to stay dry. We can take out the rear seats, take our hiking boots and poncho's and get along just fine.

Glenn got the Triplane delivered fine and is back in town. He's working on the Monosport fuselage while he awaits the return of the fuel pump and carb from the shop.

Update on Glenn's Cross-country with the Triplane.

2010-07-05T07:22:00.000-07:00

They made it to Grand Island, NE last night at 7 PM before calling it good for the day.

Leaving early the next morning, they blew a tire on the trailer about 100 miles east of the Wyoming border and had to go to a gas station (that had a repairman on duty on Sunday July 4th no less-kudo's and thank you!) to get a new tire.

He not only had a new tire, he had 4 so Glenn bought two to have one as a spare. He also had them check over the other tires on the trailer which they pronounced good.

Back on the road at 2 PM.

Can we get a biplane dad?

2010-07-05T07:18:00.001-07:00

Sky trying on a Creve Coeur Stearman for size. Now he's got the "Stearman-cough!"

Go west young man!

2010-07-05T07:03:00.001-07:00

Went out early Saturday morning to see if Glenn needed any help with the final loading of Ken Kotik's triplane onto the trailer for the trip to Schellville. Glenn had done a wt & bal. on the trailer and decided to move one of the crates back a little bit to take some of the weight off of the trailer tongue. He used Al's forklift and quickly accomplished that task.

He and Barb hopped into the truck and headed of towards the flatland of Nebraska, a 30-hour drive ahead of them.

Glenn's got Mono...

2010-06-24T10:29:00.001-07:00

Monosport that is. Manufactured in 1929, this is the fourth Monocoupe Monosport built out of 16 in all. Powered by a Kinner K5 of 100 hp, it has a listed cruise speed of 110 mph. The Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum obtained this aircraft from the estate of Bud Dake, who was the 3rd owner.

Glenn is starting work on this airplane while he waits for the carb and fuel pump off the Standard's Hisso to be overhauled.

The aircraft will be painted black with orange wings, at least at this point.

Off Topic: Quick Trip to Des Moines.

2010-06-21T14:09:00.000-07:00

Tackle Box 1 of 4.

"Which lure do you want?"

Rod 3 of 8.

Found out Friday that Gina has an interview this afternoon for a new and exciting job. Since my dad had been unable to make the trip down to see Boo's Dance Recital, mom came down alone on the bus. We decided to take her home, get out of the house so Gina could prepare for her interview and also let Sky get his fishing stuff from his grandpa.

Off topic: Little-boo's Dance Recital

2010-06-19T19:54:00.001-07:00

Our little girl Lindsay had her first dance recital tonite. All the grandmothers were in attendance for this momentous event. Lindsay had been taking lessons since early this spring building up to this recital.

Lindsay was nervous. When we laid down to take our naps yesterday, she said so. She said she just wanted to sit with grandma and watch the other kids. So we were really surprised tonight when she came out to do her number.

A rose from dad, a stop at Mickey-D's courtesy of mom and a pat on the back from Sky. She made it thru it fine.

Neat picture but still won't start.

2010-06-17T06:55:00.001-07:00

I took this as Glenn was priming the Standard's Hisso engine for another start attempt. We had pulled the Standard into the shade from the hangar (door) to make it bearable for us. He had finished working on the carb and the fuel system the day before. Still didn't help.

He worked on the flow dividers for the primer later in the day, but it is storming out now so the next attempt will have to wait.

Takeoff roll-goodbye til next year

2010-06-13T09:36:00.000-07:00

Some of the Waco's departed this morning to go back home. Creve Coeur returns to normal.

Wacofest '10

2010-06-12T19:56:00.001-07:00

Went out to the airport early this morning to try and start the Standard after Glenn worked on the mags. Now we have a carb problem which he'll try to solve Monday.

Rained like the dickens 3 times today.

Glenn stopped working on the Standard and started building an Ark.

I rounded up the Waco's 2 x 2.

The Creve Coure crazies held their annual parade.

I took a shot to the throat with a marshmallow and ate it.

All in good, clean fun.

After that, Al BBQ'd his famous filet.

I can't begin to tell you how good this is to eat.

While dinner cooked, Shannon and Terry and others flew

their electric RC planes. Shannon and Moe had a

midair later, destroying both models.

After supper, Al and John were awarded Certificates of Appreciation

for all the work they've done for the American Waco Club.

Stepping outside after dinner, we were amazed by this glorious sunset.

Waco Fly-In

2010-06-11T19:38:00.000-07:00

An UPF-7 and a Cabin Waco grace the flightline.

Glenn thinks it's the mags.

2010-06-10T20:01:00.000-07:00

At first, we thought the Hisso was going to start. But it didn't. It would run, but only as long as the prime lasted. Both Glenn and John Cournoyer thought the only way to really tell was to put the mags on a test bench and see if they are firing under compression.

Glenn doesn't have a test bench, so he improvised using his lathe and a homemade spark indicator. The mags, at low (starting) produced 0, no, none spark. Neither one of them. Looks like the booster mag is causing the spark for the start and the mags are not picking up when they are supposed to. At fast idle rpm (bottom) the mags are producing sparks to fire the engine.

Now, how to fix it? Haven't read that chapter yet, I'll keep you informed.

Sunset Departure

2010-06-10T19:59:00.001-07:00

Robert Parish departs in his families Beech 18 at sunset from Creve Couer Airport.

Trying to start Waldo.

2010-06-08T14:17:00.000-07:00

Photo Courtesy Ken Thomas.

Maybe if y'all push it real fast and then I pop the clutch....

It has fresh gas, the timing is correct (we think) and yet it won't start. Glenn is tearing apart the mags today and the carb today.

Any suggestions? Better yet, anyone have a spare Hisso (Dixie) mag they can lend Al and Glenn?

Trying to start the Standard.

2010-06-01T14:34:00.000-07:00

We rolled the Standard out and tried again to start her today, but had no luck. We did get about 5 blades on one attempt, but that was it. We'll try again tomorrow.

I'm a lucky devil!

2010-04-17T17:14:00.000-07:00

Went up this morning with Doug and Rod again, this time with my good cameras. Had a great time.

Ride in a Stearman.

2010-04-10T11:46:00.000-07:00

I was out at the airport, having a cup and making my usual Saturday rounds when Rod Hightower asked me if I'd like to go up with him and Doug Watanabe in the Stearman for a little formation practice. Oh yea....

I only had my little digi-point-n-shoot with me so these pix aren't the best but at least you can share in the fun we had.

Out my Hotel Window: April 7, Hilton Garden Inn, Morgantown, WV Rm 427

2010-04-08T05:29:00.000-07:00

A quiet night.

A man of many needles

2010-04-01T18:09:00.001-07:00

While I cleaned my aileron attach brackets, Glenn rib-stitched the first wing of the Standard. Not satisfied with one, nor two, nor three needles, he made his own out of welding rod. He had about 10 needles stuck in that wing at once. I walked into the hangar and it was like he was in the middle of a medievil torture device. He finished the wing by the time I went back to the airport tonite.

Not so fast.

2010-03-31T05:11:00.000-07:00

Looks like the triplane won't be headed west for a while. When the owner of the airport, who is the purchasers US representative, found out that they were planning on taking the airplane on an open trailer, a severe pissing-match ensued. The result was they unloaded the trailer and left without it.

I've volunteered to take it to California the second half of next month. We're looking at options now, including getting a truck to take it out and drop the truck and rent a car to drive home so I can sight-see. Do you think I ought to take Skyler?

Triplane goes away.

2010-03-29T14:30:00.000-07:00

Dot Kotik, widow of the late Ken Kotik, has sold Ken's Fokker Triplane project and the guys stopped by today to load it onto a trailer. They are taking it to Sonoma and from there it will venture on to New Zealand. Sad day.

Tempted fate again.

2010-03-27T15:25:00.001-07:00

I pulled the leading edge aluminum of the other wing this morning and cleaned it off. This one wasn't as bad as the other, having fewer mud dauber nests and no mouse nests. I got it ready to reinstall which Sky and I will do tomorrow. I feel a covering party coming up!

Screwed again.

2010-03-26T19:57:00.001-07:00

I hate #4 sheet metal screws. My fingers are too fat to hold onto them. I don't know how many times I've fumbled them onto the ground trying to get them into or out of a little tiny hole in the leading edge of the wing. My little girl can't count that high. They fall to the ground, and bounce and bounce hither and yonder. If it weren't for that eagle-eyed little girl who can walk standing up underneath the wing (on sawhorses) and pick them up for me, I'd be lost. She feels she's helping and little does she know how right she is.

The good news: one wing is 10 minutes away from being ready to cover. The other about a day. We put an extra gas tank in the left wing in anticipation of putting an O-200 in the airplane in the future. Still haven't heard from the engine guy on how my second set of cylinders is fairing but should early next week.

Night Current again.

2010-03-24T20:37:00.000-07:00

Tim, Cooper and I went out in their Citation V tonight to do our 3 full-stop landings each in order to update our night currency. Tim had me ride upfront for all 9 landings and swap seats so I could get more comfortable in the airplane. The company I previously flew for had a Citation V that I flew for 4 years but I hadn't flown the airplane in 5 years except for last weeks flight. It's hard to land a V when you're light (and you haven't flown one in 5 years) but we all had pretty respectable landings.

Slow but steady progress.

2010-03-19T12:48:00.001-07:00

Sky and I started in tearing apart the A65 a couple days ago that we got from Glenn's friend, Roger. It looks freshly-majored, no evidence of being run. As of Friday morning, we had it all apart, the cylinders sent out to be checked and the rest mostly solvent-cleaned.

Lindsay helps by coloring and playing with Legos. Here she's telling me which part to clean next.

America has lost it's rock.

2010-03-17T06:21:00.001-07:00

Now you're probably wondering what a manly-man like me is doing watching American Idol on tv. Well, it was Rolling Stones night and I wanted to see how the kids did covering the the iconic songs of the Stones. (Who are still not as good as the Beatles, but close. I don't care what you say.)

Frankly, I was disappointed. All the kids sang the songs like they were at a funeral. The only exception was Casey James and he wasn't much better. They all just stood all the mike, no showmanship at all. The whole show was boring with a capital B. In Simon's words, "Easily forgettable." It's like all the kids were auditioning for the Frankie Avalon show.

The Rolling Stones are all about rock 'n roll. They epitomize it, they live it (except for Keith, he's the walking dead), they set the standard for what makes a rock star.

These kids have no ideas. And you can't really blame them with the current rock stars being Justin Timberpuke and New Pervs on the Corner to learn from. America has lost its Rock.

What happened to the days of "Whole lotta love" and "Sunshine of your love"? Have kids become so tame that they think Britney Spears is cutting edge? Last nights show sounded like the "Best of ABBA."

So what makes my show? Easy. Hendrix's "Star-Spangeled Banner "to open the show. Follow that with McCartney's "Rock Show/Jet". Move on to Clapton's "Sunshine of your Love" and keep it going from there. No country-rock. Definitely no metal or rap or reggae crap. The Who would have to be in there, George Thorogood too. A little Bryan Adams perhaps.

Get our your lighters man, tonite we rock!

All is not lost.

2010-03-17T06:10:00.000-07:00

After not flying let alone thinking about a jet in the past 13 months, I went up with my friend Tim Akey in his company's Cessna Citation V yesterday to get landing current and comfortable in the airplane. I was somewhat apprehensive, the only thing I'd been scanning during that 13 months was frozen pizzas at the checkout line in the grocery store.

We sat in the airplane, hooked up to a power cart for 45 minutes reviewing switches and speeds and then decided to brave the sky gods and go flying. We hopped over Lambert to Alton, shot a RNAV 29 and a BC 11 before heading back to Spirit to do the ILS 26L and three landings.

The good news is I was never seriously behind the airplane, I didn't bust mda or the 200 kt restriction under the Class B and I made 3 very good landings in an airplane that ususally just arrives on the pavement. It felt like old home week to me because I'd flown a V for 5 years, I just had to relearn where the switches were.

Bringing the wings down to remove the fabric.

2010-03-13T16:58:00.000-08:00

Sky and I bringing the wings down to strip the fabric this morning. We're at the point where we need to fit the new fuel tank and associated plumbing so it's time to do the wings. The outside is terribly stained by bird-droppings and discolored from the sun. We didn't know how the inside would look unless we took the fabric off. The fabric is 18 years old, so it was about time to do it anyway.

Engine news: Glenn's friend Roger Teagarden has a core A65 sitting in his basement and has graciously allowed us to send the cylinders in to have them checked out before we decide it we want to purchase it. No logbooks, so it's only value is as a core. But we'll have a spare crank and cam too.

Oh good golly.......

2010-03-13T12:57:00.000-08:00

I had sent my 4 A-65 cylinders off my Cub in to be inspected. The previous owner had thrown a rocker arm boss in 1996 and had parked the airplane. He had 4 cylinders in boxes in his basement, but never put them on. Good thing.

The shop called yesterday with the results and it was the last thing I wanted to hear. All 4 cylinders had exhaust guides in the intake guide spot. One cylinder was 15-over but otherwise okay. One cylinder has the exhaust valve seat peened into place but was otherwise okay. The last two cylinders were both shot and one of those had deep divots in the head that he didn't think chroming could fix.

I'm going to take the crank and cam shaft in on monday to be magnafluxed and see if they're okay. Then I'll decide what to do about the cylinders.

Anyone have a spare C-85 or O-200 laying around?

Where we are.

2010-03-09T18:41:00.000-08:00

Sorry, it's been a while, I know. Lots of things going on here. First of all, I had an interview with an airline in Atlanta. They turned me down, which is good because I didn't have to turn them down. My airline days (being on reserve, being junior available, working all holidays, maintenance delays, lying dispatchers) are fortunately behind me. I've also become a house husband, taking care of our 4-year old. My wife has a temp job that may lead to full-time so my time to work on the Cub is limited.

One of my friends has asked me to fill in for two weeks on his Citation V. We're going to go get me somewhat current next week. See if I can fly a Cessna around the patch. The job is in april so we have some time and I'll be riding shotgun anyway so all I have to know is how to close the door and talk on the radio and I'm set.

That's leads to the question of "Where are we?" Well, I put the brace wires on the tail today. You'd think it would be easy, but no, it's not. You have to clean the holes for the bolts, find all the fittings, nuts, bolts and wires. Okay, that's about 2 hours. Then you can start to fit the parts together to make it pretty. I'll level it tomorrow and hopefully attach the elevators and connect the control cables.

I sent the engine cylinders off to be checked out yesterday. The were either new or yellow tagged in 1996 but they'd been sitting ever since then. We took out the pistons and hot-tanked them before sending them off. Should be back in 10 days.

Sky has his spring break next week so I'm hoping we can make great progress then.

That's where we are.

Amazon Sucks.

2010-03-09T13:20:00.000-08:00

I ordered a book from amazon last week, Mark Steinmetz's South East. I had been interested in this book for a while, even before Mike Johnston featured it on The Online Photographer. After he did, the book became unavailable at list price, only used and collectible ones being offered. When I saw one pop up on Amazon for $37 I went ahead and ordered it. I ordered it on Monday, they shipped it on thursday and I received it today. Almost. They sent the wrong book. They sent Greater Atlanta which is an okay book but I really wanted what I had ordered. I went to the Amazon website to see how to send it back. A few clicks later and it told me I had to call customer service. A phone call later and I was talking to Rinja in New Delhi. She said she couldn't help me because they were changing out the computers and could I please call back in an hour?

Now I was mad. I tried calling Amazon's Corporate office in Seattle only to play ring-around the phone tree. When you press either 5 or 0 for the Corporate Operator, it just takes you back to the recorded message. So now I'm on a misson to get people to buy from local booksellors and tell Amazon to take a hike.

BTW Amazon, the person who packed my book at Warehouse Deals in Lexington, KY should be fired. How ironic that a booksellor employs people who can't read the title and the listing on the invoice, compare the two to make sure they agree and then ship the book. It's like ordering Laura Ingalls Wilder's The Long Winter and getting Little House in the Big Woods. There's even different pictures on the cover!? You would think you would want them to ship the correct item, it'd be cheaper, but from your response and lack of customer service, it's evident you don't care what they ship. You don't care about customer service because you outsource it to India. When I order something from a US company and have a problem, I want to call customer service to fix it in the United States! The last thing I want is to call and hear the person speaking with a Indian or Pakstani accent. Even my e-mails asking for help are sent from New Delhi. And back up your computers so when you have to take a system down, the customer service people can still access the information they need to help your customers!

Now I could crack some joke about how most of the people in Lexington, KY where Warehouse is located, have some of their teeth, they just can't read. But I'd hate to disparage one of your vendors.

Sign me...a very dissatisfied customer.

"Thank you very much"

ps...the Book is now available from www.photo-eye.com. No discount on the price but at least you'll get what you order.

02-26 Cub Progress

2010-02-26T07:12:00.001-08:00

Sorry about the lack of updates recently, I've been looking for and applying for a job with a vengence so I haven't spent much time on the Cub.

Sky is busy building balsa-wood models. We have to run to the Hobby Shop every saturday to get paint or more models. He's foaming at the mouth to cover his models.

Glenn has two of the Standard J1 wings covered with one coat of clear polybrush on them.

In his "spare" time, Glenn painted my tail surfaces for me since when I paint it's "run central." Little Boo and I are headed out to the airport this morning to hook up the tail control cables and the gas shutoff valve cable.

02-09 Hooking up the stab to the trim.

2010-02-09T16:06:00.001-08:00

Sky hasn't had school the past 2 days, cancelled due to snow. He went out to the airport this afternoon with me and watched me cut out the fabric where the stab trim mechanism is located. We put in the cross bar and hooked up the trim and tested it out. After that, we gathered the tail pieces and hung them up so Glenn could put on the final coat of polybrush and then silver them tomorrow.

01-31 Front seat and Gear

2010-01-31T15:07:00.000-08:00

Sky went out to help me work on the Cub again today. It's getting more difficult as he has hobbies/school activities to do, so his time to help is getting more valuable. He helped me finish putting in the front seat and tightening the bolts and then he put washers/castle nuts on all the gear attach fittings while I ironed down tape edges on the tail.

Now you're probably wondering just how long I'm going to spend ironing tape edges. Good question. What you probably don't know is that I was unhappy with my first effort in taping the trailing edges of the rudder and elevators, so I took off the tapes, cut new ones and put them on this week. Glenn can't paint them until the end of this week at the earliest anyway, so no big rush.

01-19 Cub Progress - It's on the gear!

2010-01-19T17:25:00.000-08:00

I thought we were going to do this tomorrow. But things were going so well, we hoisted boo-boo up and had her walk on her own three wheels. I'm just besides myself in disbelief.

01-17 Eagle Day!

2010-01-17T14:43:00.001-08:00

We headed up to Clarksville this morning after breakfast. It was a grey, foggy day but we wanted to check out the wintering Eagles. On the way, we saw a bunch of Hawks. We stopped to look at this, thinking he was going to fly when we pulled up. He sat there for a couple of minutes before finally flying off.

The Bald Eagle is heading back to his perch to enjoy a fresh-caught lunch.

01-11 Too cold to work.

2010-01-11T17:50:00.001-08:00

It's cold in here! Glenn's heater broke this weekend and we didn't know it until today. It was pretty cold in there yesterday when Sky was working on the baggage compartment lid and I was trying to get cotter-key holes lined up in castle-nuts. When we came out this morning, it was 46 degrees in the hangar. We had the guy put some more propane in the tank but it turned out to be the blower fan.

01/05 Cub Progress - Putting on the Shock Cords

2010-01-05T14:30:00.001-08:00

Under Glenn's supervision, Sky and I learned how to put on shock cords this afternoon. He has a homemade "stretcher" which you put in a vise to use. Then it's a piece of cake to stretch them out and put them on. You just have to be careful, it one breaks it slaps you upside the head!

How we all started.

2009-12-15T19:22:00.000-08:00

You old guys remember these. We youngsters had plastic models to satisfy our aviation urges. But the real-deal is Balsa wood, flying models. Sky has started building Guillows models. Waiting on dad to come home so he could go out and be bored waiting for direction to work on the full-size Cub wasn't enough for him. I haven't helped him at all. He builds 6-thousand piece Lego kits all the time, so this should be a cinch.

Now to teach him rib-stitching...