Jun 20, 2023     The drive south and unloading the truck - (8 hours)       Category: Overall

It turns out that, while a 26' box truck is relatively easy to drive on the freeway, every time I stopped for fuel (3 times) was a terrifying experience! I got used to having the maneuverability of a car and, while I had a high level of respect for bus and truck drivers before, I now know they are actually incredibly skilled technicians. There are a lot of tight spaces in the world, and they all seem to be around the gas stations!

Once I got everything to The Airplane Factory, it was pretty quick work to unload the truck. I had about 6 people from the Build Assist Center help me pull it into a hangar. Now I just need to wait until we get a chance to work on it.

  Jun 19, 2023     Loading up for a move - (5 hours)       Category: Overall

I had to make a really hard decision. About 3 months ago, I started a new job. I am working at The Airplane Factory. Yes, the same one that sold me the Sling TSi. I am now doing sales for them. Funny how life takes these strange twists and turns, and this has been a great one!

I jumped in with both feet and between all the time I am spending coming up to speed with them and the trips, projects, and other fun things I have in my life, I decided to bring the plane down to the Build Assist Center at TAF in Torrance so that I could work on it down there with them. On the one hand, it feels a bit like cheating because I'll be getting top notch help. On the other hand, my goal with this project to is to work on a plane that I will love flying for years to come, so getting a little "Builder Assist" is not the end of the world.

I rented a 26' long box truck from Budget (I only needed 20', but that wasn't an option) and got some help from my son and some of the local EAA builders to load up the fuselage and wings. Tomorrow, I start the drive down to Torrance.

  Jan 22, 2023     Happy and sad day - sold my Cherokee       Category: Overall

After many months of trying to sell Rudolf, he finally found a new home. It is back in Florida (which is where he was living when I got him). It was sad to see him go, but I know the new owners will like him. Also, selling him gave me the finances I needed to buy the engine, prop, firewall forward kit, and parachute for Nessie (N35513).

  Jan 04, 2022     Finally finished counting the parts! - (15 hours)       Category: Overall

WOW! That was a lot harder than I thought it would be. We had to verify the inventory for the entire plane. Luckily, I had some help from my son David and luckily, it was a Quick Build so a lot of it was already assembled, but that was still a lot harder than I thought it would be. There were only one or two items we couldn't find that were not listed as back ordered, and there were only a few back ordered parts.

I am glad to have put the shelves together so I'd have a place to put everything after taking it out of the box (I left the big parts, like the windscreen, in the big box). I am betting that in 6 or 7 months, I'll look back on today and wish I put the parts on the shelves, and hung the smaller parts on the wood, in some kind of order to make things easier to find. Of course, as I assemble, there will be fewer and fewer parts left on the shelves and the board. At least, that's what I am telling myself.

  Dec 20, 2021     Big day today - got the QB kit!! - (6 hours)       Category: Overall

Finally got the Quickbuild kit today. It took 16 weeks going from South Africa to Hamburg, switching boats, then coming to Oakland. I estimate that it was on the water for about 7 or 8 of those 16 weeks. It got through customs at Oakland just as I was going on vacation, so it had to sit another week. It was quite the challenge getting it out of the shipping container. Many of the screws broke off, so we ended up using pry bars and hammers in addition to screw guns to get everything out.

It probably would have been easier to have it delivered directly to my house, but since I didn't know how big the container would be or what equipment would be needed to unload it, I had it go to my former place of work, Unique Elevator Interiors. The folks there helped me unload it, put it on a flatbed stake truck, and bring it to my house (it took two trips). So now, I have a fuselage in my garage, two wings in storage, and a bunch of really big boxes. The plane is taking a lot more space than I thought, and the wings are less-than-easy to work with. They are up on an upside-down "u" shaped stand that is not stable, so I had to tie them to the ceiling. Next step is to build a wing stand, then do the inventory check....

I gotta say, it is pretty inspiring to step into my garage and see the plane sitting there. Now I am really looking forward to getting it going!

  Dec 01, 2021     The rest of the kit is close!       Category: Overall

After the ship holding the rest of my kit left South Africa on August 11, it finally made it to the Port of Oakland. It did have a stop in Hamburg, so that took a while. Still, it is still going to be some time before it is offloaded and clears customs. That is 16 weeks so far, almost 4 months.

For when I look back at this years later and try to remember why it took so long, we are currently in year 2 of the COVID pandemic and having massive supply chain issues, including a lack of shipping containers and a lack of labor to process the containers at the different ports.

  May 21, 2021     Bought a Sling (partially) Category: Overall

Made the decision to go forward with this thing and. Signed the contract for a Quickbuild TSi, with the parachute cables, split rear seat, and set up for IFR (heated pitot, wiring, antennas, etc.).