Ricky at MARC

Today I am helping to build an MARC float.  Mike Boettcher has been the man in charge of design and building. He is unavailable today, so I am taking a turn. Tonight its get painted, thus the need for me to actually work on it. What you see behind me in the picture is the tail and uncovered body of an “airplane”. I am holding one of the wings.

Also if you did not receive the newest newsletter, it is now posted. It is four pages, so make sure you see them all. You will need Adobe Reader to view it. The link is provided on the newsletter page.

Hello all,

Good news, I figured out how to add pages with pictures on them! Thank you Greg for explaining it to me again, and adding the flickr link. If you want to see pictures of me FINISHING the TRIATHLON they are now available under the pictures tab above. I hope you enjoy them.

I have also updated the prayer requests, please stop in and and say a quick prayer for the people listed there.

The shop work is going well. In the picture below you can see three parts that broke on the King Air. To the left is the Flap Dynamic Brake Relay. I troubleshot this part as being the culprit for why the flaps were not always working. Not a good thing to have happen. In the middle is the HF radio we are going to be replacing with something newer, perhaps a GPS tracking devise. On the right is the EPA can float switch. This switch turns on a pump that returns extra fuel not needed after engine shutdown to tank instead of letting it drip on the ground. This little switch is $1200!! Our parts guy found one for only $900, a great find.

Hopefully two more aircraft will be done tomorrow. Check back for news on them.

I have exciting news, this Sunday, June 13, I finished my first triathlon!!

It was a lot of fun, a lot of hard work, and it was a great party. I had said that I was viewing the actual race as a “graduation party”. I had already put in all the hard work, all those days of practicing and eating right. On the Tuesday before I had done the entire race, just to prove I could. So all I was doing on Sunday was showing the World, that I could in fact, swim 500 yards, bike 10 miles (it felt up hill the whole way), and then run a 5K.

My bib, Finisher Medal, and Finisher T-shirt

Tuesday I had done the race in 2:05. I was really hoping the adrenaline would help me make it under 2:00. IT DID!! I finished in 1:47:06. My transitions were very fluid and I felt fast changing to the appropriate attire. The swim and the first transition happened in 12:34. I was money on the bike like I have never been before. I was even able to haul myself up the hills and pass a few people on the way up! Being one of the bigger (AKA Clydesdale Division) racers, I obviously had the momentum and passed on the few downhills as well. The bike and transition 2 took 44:56. Obviously that leaves most of the time left for the run. Not my strongest part of the race. Turns out everyone I passed on the bike passed me on the run, and then some. My run was 49:36, and I am going to work on that part especially for next year.

To answer the most asked question, Yes I am going to do one again. I challenge all of you to do one with me. Its a lot of fun, and for the rest of your life you can say “Yes, I am a Triathlete!”  I will be posting the tri picks hopefully in a few min. If they are not in the picture tab in a few min, come back tomorrow at lunch to see them.

Check out the Tri the Kenai @ www.trithekenai.com

Last week I told you, excitedly, how 65MR is now flying again! It had been crashed about 5 years ago, and it is great to have it back in service. Well after 6 hours of flying, the problems are starting to come to life. We expected this, since the plane had sat for 5 years. It needed a good wring-out. We did not however expect what we found.

Both engines are freshly overhauled, so we expected them to be fine. Well one of them is having problems. In the picture above you can see the fuel pump, an oil seal, and the adapter the seal is suppose to be installed in! After the last flight, we found oil all over the side of the plane. After investigating, we concluded it was coming from the fuel pump drain. We removed the fuel pump and found the oil seal not properly installed. Good News, as this is a relatively easy fix. The other problem the engine is having we hope will also be solved by fixing the oil seal. If not, we will replace more parts.

PS, the house video will be posted this weekend. I have made a video (easier then photos) for all of you who have asked to see it. So come back and check it out!

Well after this weekend of flying I have lots of work to do! It is now summer so our pilots are flying a lot more, and that of course means the airplanes break a lot more. Each time they find something wrong during their flights, they fill out a sheet and turn it into me. I then use these as a list of projects to get done before the planes next flight, which might be the next day.  As I am the only full time mechanic in the shop for the summer that means I am busy. The picture below is the slips for 2 airplanes after one weekend! At least I have job security. Also, I have not been feeling well again and would appreciate your prayers! I have a stomach ulcer or acid reflux or some other acid related stomach issue. Pray I can work though, and the problem will resolve itself. Thanks.