Snow and the Brazil 206

Snow
We returned to the hangar this morning with five inches of fresh snow on the ground. The main roads were in good shape and it's always nice when the snow plow beats us up the hill that leads to the airport. Yesterday we beat the snow plow up the hill and Andy gained some winter driving experience.

Snow on the ground means "Dave's on the Steiner". Dave, our facilities manager, is our dedicated snow removal specialist. And I mean dedicated. It's very important for an aviation facility to have full ramp access in all types of weather. To have full ramp access means the snow needs to be constantly cleared so airplanes can be moved or parked wherever and whenever they need to be. Even a small amount of snow on the ramp can make it nearly impossible to tow or move an aircraft into a different hangar or position. Dave makes sure we're always able to move aircraft.

Dave clears the ramp between hangars B & C.

Brazil 206
The Brazil 206 fuselage has been painted, the wings are repaired and ready to be painted, and work's begun on building the avionics harness for the airplane's communication/navigation stack.
It won't be long before this airplane starts coming back together. The goal is to have it completed by the end of March.

The painted fuselage in our paint booth

Jim wraps a wiring harness.

Andy, Jim, and Mike organize components to complete the wiring project.

I'll update on the 337 for ministry in Canada over the next couple days. It looks like we're going to spend most of tomorrow taking part in the annual review of our Standard Operating Procedures manual.

We're Back At Work!

Welcome to 2010! Everyone's back in the hangar and ready for another year of serving our Lord through preparing people and planes for worldwide mission service.

The first order of the day, after returning from Christmas break, is to perform our year-end inventory.

While it's not the most exciting activity, it is an important activity as we reconcile actual count with our records. Consequently, the guys are down in the hangar happily counting and measuring the day away. If everything goes smoothly, inventory should be finished tomorrow. After inventory is completed we'll take a full day to review our Standard Operating Procedures manual as a group. Now THAT's something to look forward too!

Actually, the group SOP review is an important activity too. Not only does it provide a refresher of the SOP contents, it also provides a forum for us to analyze whether or not we're operating "by the book". And if we discover areas in which we're operating inconsistently with the SOP we can then decide whether we need to change our practice to conform to the procedure or change the procedure to conform with our current practice. We always have good discussions during this process.

Jim, Tim, Mike, and Mark organize for inventory.

Dennis & Andy focus on the job at hand.

Ian, Mike, and Mark conducting inventory.

Weather-wise we're back in the snow mode...

Two inches of fresh snow with more falling.

It's great to be back and posting blogs again. Stop by often. I'll update on the aircraft projects soon.

The Final Post for 2009

This is the final post for 2009. If the Lord doesn't call us all home in the mean time, we'll resume the blog the first week of January 2010. It's been fun writing about and posting photos of our ministry over the past year.

Over the next few weeks, please feel free to cruise and peruse the archives to review the many different ministries we served, the aircraft we've repaired, and the families we've sent out and the families we've welcomed in to ministry over the past year.

May we give God the glory as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Here are a few last snapshots for 2009:

Josh fabricates a floor panel for the Brazilian 206.

Paul makes repairs to the Brazilian 206's left inboard fuel tank.

Inside the Brazilian 206, Jim uses a set of locking pliers to situate a tiny nut beneath a hole in a floor panel in order to drive the screw in place.

Chuck and Dennis inspect the right boom structure of the Canadian 337.

Insulation, Glare Shields, and Starter Adapters, Oh My!

Honduran 206
After working through a vendor-related miscommunication, the insulation is now being cut, fit, and secured inside the cabin area of the Honduran 206. Once all the new insulation is in place, the plastic interior panels will be installed over it, the seats will go in and, after some weighing, balancing, and ground runs, the airplane will be ready for test flights early next year.

Andy measures insulation before cutting and fitting it inside the Honduran 206.

Brazilian 206
Due to some maintenance complications, painting of the wings has moved into next week. Repairs to the wings and fuselage continue in the meantime. Josh is working to install the control cables in the belly of the aircraft so the floor panels can be riveted in place. Mark is tasked with making repairs to the airplane's glare shield.

Mark makes repairs to the Brazilian 206's glare shield.

Canadian 337
Chuck continues to work through a long list of small discrepancies on the 337's airframe. Scott and Dale continue to prepare the accessories for assembly of the front engine.

Scott assembles the starter adapter for the front engine on the 337.

Chuck makes another structural repair to the 337's airframe.

Quick Snapshots from the Hangar

Here are a couple quick snapshots from the hangar:

Scott fabricates tooling to assist with the Canadian 337's engine assembly.

Chuck makes repairs to the 337's left outboard flap.

Paul makes repairs inside the Brazilian 206.

Mike organizes components prior to installing the interior panels inside the Honduran 206.

Driving, Closing, and Joining

Brazilian 206
Rivets of all shapes and sizes continue to be driven in the Brazilian 206 in preparation for painting the fuselage.

Paul drives rivets to secure the rain gutter he'd just fabricated. Josh bucks from inside.

Honduran 206
The Honduran 206 continues to creep toward completion. Final steps are being taken to clean and "close-up" various aspects of the project!

Andy vacuums beneath the floor panels of the 206 before securing the access plates in place and "closing-up" the floor.

Canadian 337
The airframe repairs and engine overhauls continue simultaneously on the Canadian 337.

Scott and Dale double-check critical data prior to joining the engine case halves for the front engine of the 337.

206 Tuesday

The progress on the Brazilian 206 continues.

Josh fabricates a radio mount.

Paul measures aluminum to fabricate a rain gutter for over the 206's cargo door.

Mark and Ian discuss repairs to the rudder pedal assemblies.

It won't be long now before the Brazilian 206's wings and fuselage will head back to Hangar C for paint.