Hello WIX people,
I'm wondering what to do here.
When I started this thread, back in November (man, that seems like a long time ago now), it was planned as a Diary of How We Changed the Engine and Got Hot Stuff Back Into the Air.
Well, we've done that, now, and this past week's posts documented the glorious end to the long process, in which she did in fact rise up into the air and became a flying airplane again.
So, like I say, now I'm wondering what to do.
This has become a surprisingly popular thread, and people do know where to go to get their "Hot Stuff" news. Would it be better to keep all the Hot Stuff News right here, do you think?
Or should I start up a fresh thread, now that the purpose of the original has been fulfilled?
And for that matter, how does one go about making a post a "sticky?"
So, your suggestions are encouraged. I'm going to be out of commission for a couple weeks, probably, while the docs cut on my foot and feed me excellent drugs that make one hear sitar music when there is actually no sitar music there. Everyone on our little team, maintenance people and admin people alike, have been in maximum-effort mode for months, and I've been thinking that everyone deserved a bit of a break. I didn't really plan on using hospitalization as an excuse, though!
With the potential of this being the tail end of one story, and the beginnings of the next, there are some people and entities who deserve recognition, so let me give them a shout-out here--we would never have gotten to this point without the significant contributions of these folks. We can never sufficiently thank them, but let's try:
1. Anderson Airmotive, Boise ID: repaired the trashed engine and worked with us on the cost to make it possible for us to even try to resurrect this grand old bird. Before they stepped up, I honestly thought we were done. They are primo folks. They do good work, too.
2. FedEx. Having a repaired engine in Boise is great, but how do we get it from Boise to Indianapolis, when we're barely affording to pay the bills as it is? Enter FedEx, a connection we have through our own Johnny Gearpin, a flight-line mechanic of theirs in real life. Free shipping in a semi-trailer, along with half a load of onions so it's not a dead-head trip. (Even now, when she starts, I conceive that I smell onion rings.) J. Gearpin's boss, who orchestrated the move, still stops out to see the progress from time to time.
3. Greg Minneman and Competition Welding of Gasoline Alley, Indianapolis: Gratis, high-quality sheet-metal repair of our nose ring, and magnesium weld repair to our carb riser's primer attachment. They have a TIG welding setup that would make you drool, if you're inclined to drool over such things, which IndyJen totally is.
4. Delta Airlines/Dennis Combs: Dennis is the man for sheet-metal work we can't do in-house. Our man Johnny Gearpin does fine work, and a lot of it, but there was some complicated forming needed back in the tail area, and we needed someone who does such work for a living, every day, to get it done. Dennis, a friend of Long Tall Glen's, came in and took care of it. His employer, Delta, saw to it that he had time for us, and were very accommodating.
5. Intercontinental Avionic Insrument Corp of Tyler Hill, PA: Bob and Arlene are just about the nicest folks you will ever deal with in your aviation lifetimes. Gratis overhaul of two gauges at a critical time, refused payment when offered, and gave us back nice clean working equipment in very little time, and offered up that we sure ought to just send whatever we want whenever we want for more of the same. I expect that we will, too! These folks appreciate old obscure planes like one wishes everyone did--we felt like our old bird was as precious to them as she is to us.
6. Tree City Buggyworks: How many warbirds can say they have Amish-made accouterments? These folks get a huge kick out of doing work for "Der bomber," and we use 'em whenever we need heavy-duty stitching done, such as for cockpit covers. We're planning to go get 'em sometime soon, and bring them out for a visit.
7. Of course there's our core group of pilots--Steve Rider, Glen Matejcek ("Long tall Glen"), and Scott Curtis ("Scotty"), and our maintenance crew, who you've heard all about throughout this thread. But you haven't heard so much about the rest of our amhf team, such as our admin staff: John P. (marketing), Ted O. ("sideshow Ted"--facilities), Penny L. ("President Penny"--bookings, grant writing, publicity). Ted and John did a bang-up job remodeling the office spaces over the winter/spring. The place is frankly unrecognizable from its former self now.
Penny makes a career out of pulling rabbits--or 2,000-lb engines--out of hats, and basically wears every administrative hat all at once while managing rambunctious kids and an even more rambunctious husband (Hi Joe!). She's ridiculously overloaded, frankly, and we've let her be so for far too long--basically, we all just stand back and gawp at her, like the audience for a juggler who's balancing an improbably-sized stack of plates. We're going to start dishing out those resposibilities shortly, and get her down to a human-sized workload, before we burn her out.
And even though Machine Shop Gaylon threatens dire consequences if I ever make a big deal out of his contributions, I'm not letting a shout-out post end without giving him a big one. He doesn't want to hear his praises sung, but I'll say without exaggeration that we couldn't get along without him. You want to talk about skill set? Gaylon's got your skill set, right here.
So, that's pretty much the story of how Hot Stuff was returned to the skies. It wasn't the first time she went through this kind of process, and it surely won't be the last. I'm proud to have been a part of it, and happy to have shared the tale with you.
Whether we keep this same thread, or start a new one for the next chapter, I'll keep the Hot Stuff stories and pics coming. But first, the docs await. See you soon!
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It will be about time that we get to carry her for a change.
