Through the immense generosity of a group of aviation friends, I have come to begin a new stage in my flying career, that of "aircraft builder".
With luck, persistence, and cash, lots of cash, I should at some time in the future have a hand in completing a kit-built Mustang II. The project is currently sitting abandoned in a barn in Eastern Washington, where we left it two years ago when I first saw it. At that time I took some cellphone photos of it, and as soon as I track down the hard drive they reside on I'll forward them on to this blog. However, here's a link to some photos I took of a Mustang II a few weeks ago at the Arlington EAA airshow. This is what my pile of airplane parts might look like after I put a lot of sweat and a lot of cash into the mixture, liberally dosed with a lot of time.
In the meantime, the plan is as follows:
Do the documentation with the current owner, releasing he and his heirs and successors from any and all liability pertaining to my further messing with the project.
(Addendum) Went to my local EAA meeting last night, found a resource, a gentleman who had a copy of a presentation given a few years ago by an aviation liability lawyer. My source also has copies of the contracts the lawyer drew up for him when he sold (that is, when my source sold) his own plane (sorry, collection of aircraft parts...)
(Addendum) Found the hard drive tucked away, and bought an external cover for it, powered it up, and found the cellphone photos from so many years ago. Here they are. Each needs some comments. The workmanship on the cowl is so poor that it's a full reject. So too will be some of the other cosmetic work, but the basic assembly workmanship is at least passable, at best good.
Haul the aircraft, the parts, the plans, and the dust, over from the dryland farm country to a storage area as yet to be determined. I hope that storage area is somewhere near my place of employment.
Start with a clean sheet or two of paper, an A&P or two, an afternoon or twenty, and review the work that has been completed so far. This analysis will lead me to one of two decisions, which are, of course, proceed or abandon.
If proceed, then I'll be making myself MUCH more active in my local EAA chapter, of which I'm already a member (just in case this project came to pass....).
And, I'll be scrambling for the cash of course....which is sparse to say the least....
But, over the horizon and out there somewhere, God willing and weather permitting, an airplane, a sweet little two seat semi-aerobatic ride, will be mine for the asking....and what's not to like about that?
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
