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.

Hello all,

I am back! Sorry I took so long writing again, but here is what has happened:

I got back from training where I had a great time, and learned a LOT!  We learned about the engines that we have on the King Air, and all about the new airplane designed for mission aviation, the Quest Kodiak.

On the flight home I stopped in Oregon and Seattle to visit friends who have moved down there. I got to watch a MLS game, visit the Boeing wide body facility, and explore the area.

After I got home, I got very sick for several weeks. I ended up going to the ER for a quick trip, and all told the doctors and hospital ruled out everything, but do not know what I have. The best guess is an ulcer or acid reflux, so I am on medicine for that. Praise the Lord with all your prayers I seem to be getting better.

It is a good thing too, since Travis left on Tue I am “alone” in the shop. I will have the help of some pilots in the shop but all summer it is just me. Please pray for all the “EMERGENCIES” that are sure to crop up.

Come back soon!

My time in Spokane is over today, but I learned much. Yesterday we got to fly Kodiak serial number 001, 30-45 min up to Quest’s factory where the Kodiaks are made. They gave us a tour and I saw a plane for JAARS and one for MAF on the assembly line.

That morning I was able to fly the full motion Kodiak simulator. The benefits of the simulator are numerous. As I was flying the instructor was able to fail all of the different instruments. Normally for pilots this allows them to practice how to fly in dangerous conditions without actually being in danger. For the mechanics it allowed us to see what various issues look like to pilots so we can better interpret their “squawks” when they come back from a flight. On top of the simple display issues the instructor was able to actually give us mechanical engine failures. This allowed me to practice my troubleshooting without actually damaging an engine. To put it in perspective, if I was to actually go back and damage one of the two engines on our King Air, the replacement value is in the neighborhood of $300,000 – $500,000. Obviously the training received here is valuable, if for no other reason then to keep us from breaking parts on real planes.

I now head out for a week of vacation. Since January 1 I have averaged 55 hours a week at work, and I am really looking forward to getting my mind off maintenance. Since I am already in the northwest I am going to visit a few friends I have in the area, and my cousin. I will be back to work next weekend, and ready to put my knowledge gained here into practice.

Hello all,

I hope you all enjoy the new website! Greg whipped up a new layout and made it much easier for me to add information and update the blog. I also can add new pictures here and maybe even the new MARC video!

At this point I should let you all know that I am not in Alaska. I am currently in the third week of training in Spokane Washington. Travis and I flew down to get some in depth training on PT6′s,  the engines that our King Air uses. We spent the first week taking apart a non-working engine, running a good engine to get comfortable with that, and learning LOTS of theory that we had learned in A&P school but had long since forgotten. We do not normally get to work on Turbine Engines, so the class was a very important safety update for our maintenance department.

We are spent the second week learning about an incredible new avionics package that makes life much easier for both pilots and mechanics, and doing a “heavy maintenance” class on the PT6′s. This week we are learning about the systems and capabilities of the new Quest Kodiak. Some of you may have heard of this plane. It is the new plane purpose built for missions and there are several already in use by MAF, JAARS, and Samaritans Purse. The picture I included above is of the Kodiak.

I also wanted to take this time to ask for some prayer requests:

1. Pray for the guys at MARC we left behind, they are having to pick up the maintenance duties while we are away.

2. A family from a different mission agency have a hearing for adoption of a pair of young twins on Thursday. Pray that it goes smoothly, and for these children to be able to stay in their loving family.

Thanks and keep checking back!