Warbird Information Exchange

Got some good news and bad news today. The good news is that Randy and Karen made it to Carlsbad Caverns in time to see the bats fly last night and then visit the caverns today. Report back was that they were both awesome. The bad news is that our DC-3 has an engine problem that will cost about $25 K to fix. Donations are accepted very kindly at http://www.gga1.org. Just earmark it for the the Southern Cross please. The in between news.... it was noticed in the Federal Register that a hearing will be held soon by the FAA in Washington to discuss the Ride Exemption program. Limited Category aircraft from WWII have long participated in the Exemption program which allows them to offer Living History rides to the public. Normally, Limited Category aircraft can't fly for hire, but can with some restrictions if they have this Exemption to the rule from the FAA. The advent of jets wanting to do the same has prompted the FAA Administrator to raise the question about the safety of doing that. Comments must be made by the deadline of June 18th I think it said. If you are interested at all, please research the facts and make your opinions known. Gettting a ride in a warbird could come to a screeching halt if it cannot be done safely or found to be not in the public's interest. JR

Had to get a pic of the wife helping out Saturday. She had to get into some of that A-26 hand lotion!

_________________
Randy Ryman
Project Big Eagle
NKP Thailand 1966
http://www.coastcomp.com/av/florence/florandy.htm

Randy... good man... getting shot of the little woman helping you out in the bomb bay. I sorta doubt she would have liked doing it for real back in the day though with the steaming hot climate at NKP not to mention those little snakes roaming around that could drop you in two steps if they bit you. What did you call those, btw?? JR PS I see you made it to White Sands. What do you think?

For all of the warbird lovers out there, the Federal Register has published a notice regarding the LHFE (Living History Flight Experience) policy review coming up this summer. There are a lot of issues to be discussed. The FAA is accepting comments on these up until June 18th. A lot is riding on the policy to continue to allow warbird rides for hire in order to keep these airplanes flying. If it means anything to you, get the facts and express your opinion to the address given in the Fed Reg notice. You can find it here:

https://www.federalregister.gov/article ... ducted-for

Thanks, JR

In late June, the FAA will hold a 3 day hearing on the LHFE (Living History Flight Experience) policy and proposed new rules. The NPRM needs your input by June 18 if this is important to you. Selling rides is fundamental to the purpose of keeping the warbirds flying... to share their history. They are also vitally important to providing the funding to keeping them maintained safely. Comments are due by 18 June. They may be submitted by mail or electronically. For more information, go to the Federal Register at this address. You can also find the link to the email address to send your comments.

https://www.federalregister.gov/article ... ducted-for

Our GGA DC-3 engine has had the cylinders removed in preparation for taking the core to the shop for rebuild. It appears the main bearing let go as there are metal flakes are over the place. I will post a picture closer up tomorrow. This is a Wright 9 cylinder 1820-76D and not your usual DC-3 engine. Again, donations are accepted and appreciated at http://www.gga1.org/our-story This has a link to make electronic transactions with your credit card or PayPal account. Many thanks. The DC-3 is our main source of revenue to keep our airplanes, including the A-26 restoration going. Your help would be deeply appreciated. We need to raise $25,000 for this engine. Even $5 helps. Please consider helping us get flying again. JR

..................those little snakes roaming around that could drop you in two steps if they bit you. What did you call those, btw?? JR
Besides the nickname of "two-step snake", I think the official name was the "Banded Krait". I think they looked similar to a Coral Snake. The saying we had was, "Red on yellow, kill a fellow, Red on black, friendly Jack." Only saw one the whole time I was there.

PS I see you made it to White Sands. What do you think?======Would be nice place if we could see it! Smoke from the fires to our West infiltrating the town. Couldn't see the mountains this evening from Rte 70. But, we'll play the hand we were dealt. Still going to White Sands tomorrow and the Space museum on the way back. According to the news, the smoke is going to follow us to Santa Fe Friday. Still, no complaints. Good trip so far.

_________________
Randy Ryman
Project Big Eagle
NKP Thailand 1966
http://www.coastcomp.com/av/florence/florandy.htm

The DC-3 engine sans cylinders close up.... notice anything about the metal debris on the rod? Some of it is silver and some steel. What does that tell you?

Randy, I hope you did not bring any of those 2 steps home as pets! Sorry about the smoke at Alamogordo. It is a spectacular view of the mountains to the east. Most of those are part of the old reef structure from the Permian. The white sands though are really gypsum and not quartz sand. It was left over from when the ocean evaporated that covered the area at one time. Makes for a great place to fly rockets and do experimental work. Joe Kittinger was there with the rocket sled deal. The first chimp in space, Ham, is buried at the Space Museum. It has stuff from the German rocket program all the way thru to the present in a most unusual floor plan design. You can't go wrong there. All we need is a couple of rocket pods for the A-26 and we will make some really short take offs so see if they have any spares just laying around, ok? JR

For all the sharp eyed wrench twisters out there, what's wrong with this picture besides all the metal flakes?

Bent rod with some twist in it. Appears to have some impact damage on the left side of the beam, about 4" up from the wrist pin boss.

EWwwww, sharp eye!! Yep, the rod is a little bent. Perhaps not as much as the camera angle makes it, but something we have to fix.
Again, we would appreciate any donations to help us with the repair. They are tax deductible since we are a 501c3 Non Profit Foundation. Credit cards or PayPal are accepted at http://www.gga1.org/our-story. Please specify DC-3 on your selection. Thanks, JR

A salute to our veterans this special weekend. We were going to take today off, but many of the restoration team said they would like to come work so we will be at the hangar banging away on the airplane if anybody wants to drop by Meacham Field. Always glad to see visitors and talk about the A-26 story. JR

You might say this was our "Bright Spot" of the day! The guys got the right landing light to extend and retract. We can actually see in the dark now! JR

David and Tim are ganging up on the landing light to make it behave properly. It finally relented and agreed to work. They even found a 600 watt bulb to put in it. So now we have two good landing lights.