The plane in the lane shows disdain for the chain!

Haha, okay, maybe that's a bit much -- but have a look, for sometimes even a tiedown chain is not enough!



Witness our own 72F, needing only a run-in and re-cowling before her long-awaited return to service -- mix in a little gale force winds (reportedly 25G35), and our little hercules generated enough force on the tiedown cables (not the chains, the 1" thick steel cables to which the chains attach) that the CABLES (both tail and mains) snapped in two!

Poor 72F, so eager to taste flight again, was whipped forward like a bolt from a crossbow, but somehow instead of soaring over the hangars, did a noseplant, a headstand, and a full flip, *while still attached to the (now useless) tiedown chains!*



Luckily nobody was hurt during this acrobatic display, but it is highly unlikely that 72F will ever fly again. And that makes us all sad.

A tough week at FlyC... but please snug those chains tightly, and use *all three* to secure your aircraft... and then realize, even then, there are no guarantees!

Blue Skies, (insane winds)

- Mike

Grounded

Pilots!

I hope your holiday season is off to a solid start, and that you were able to arm-wrestle that granny successfully for your choice of Wii, Plasma Bigscreen, or a Talking Vampire Undead Elmo doll. Additionally, I hope that the 5 extra of said item that you were able to secretly purchase bring you many happy returns on eBay.



There is a storm cloud over the FlyC family this season (literally and figuratively today) -- as our own CFII Jeremy was in a motorcycle accident on Thanksgiving Eve.

Jeremy is in stable condition, and the breakage has been described as "moderate", however, he will be grounded for a number of weeks pending the installation of new titanium parts. (just kidding) We do not have the current "how long" estimate yet, but we will inform you as we know more.

Jeremy's existing students have been notified, and we are assisting in making interim plans for those affected training-wise, but it will be a quieter, more serious Fly Corona in the coming weeks until Jeremy's return.

Those interested in sending get-well wishes for Jeremy may do so care of the office, or drop an email to fly@flycorona.com, and we will pass them on. I'm sure he would love to hear from you.

Drive, ride, fly safe out there. And beware of tennis elbow when granny-wrestling in the mall this holiday season.



- Mike

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Pilots!

I hope that you have a warm and festive holiday, in whatever fashion you are accustomed to spending this time in.

Fly Corona! will be closed Thursday, Nov. 23, in observance of Thanksgiving. Scheduled Solo Flights will be conducted like any other after-hours flight, call us if you have not yet done this.

--

Some other news:

Cessna 04H has a new vacuum pump

Cessna 74U has a new compass

Cessna 74U will be receiving a new radio shortly to see if the scratchies disappear there.

Cessna 17J is down for an avionics cooling fan replacement and a look at a suspicious engine seal.



--

Please join me in congratulating Dan S on his successful Private Pilot Checkride in Cessna 04H this week!

Congrats Dan!

--

Many of our CFIs are home for the holidays, including Shannon, Jeremy, and Robert. They are all slated to return within a week, and the schedule reflects this. We apologize for any inconvenience, and let us know if you'd like to sneak in a flight with a different instructor.. Our CFIs are not possessive and will be quite fine with you staying on track for a lesson or two while the CFIs regroup and recuperate.

--

Blue, chilly skies abound. Grab some air. :)

- Mike

Fall Colors

Pilots!

Please join me in congratulating Joiwind A. on receiving her private pilot wings on Thursday. Joiwind has been flying with CFII Robert, and earned her wings in Cessna 68U with DPE Tom Hamm.

Tom's remarks were that "I wish every checkride was this easy"

Congratulations Joiwind!

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Cessna 68U will be going in for her 100hr next week, and we expect this one to be an extended one as well, as we do a series of preventative maintenances.

Cessna 04H has returned from her lengthy preventative 100hr, many thanks to the patient pilots who were affected.

Our Gyro Overhauler, AQI in Wichita, is seeing heavy volume, so we have a backlog of Gyros to install -- they're due in a week or two. Expect periodic short downtimes for Gyro swaps.

Beautiful Weather Abounds! Grab some sky, then some Turkey. (then, a nap) -- what could be finer? :)

Blue skies,

- Mike

Squawk Updates

Hi Gang,

Just some quick updates on some aircraft you may see maintenanced out this weekend:

Cessna 17J experienced her very first missed flight, at nearly 400 hours of trouble-free service, with a sticky starter bendix. We will likely be replacing the starter Saturday morning and returning her to service.

Her GPS navdata has been updated. There was a problem with her update SD card which was apparently causing update failures. Thanks to the pilots who squawked this out to make us aware of the update failures. We believe this problem to be fixed now, and you should see proper updates for Julie now.

Cessna 20U is experiencing intermittent flat batteries. Please do not leave the master on more than is necessary, and ensure the avionics are OFF for your preflight. If this situation persists, we will be replacing her battery with a fresh one.

Cessna 68U's turn coordinator will be replaced when we are able to do so.

That's it -- blue skies!

- Mike

Fun in maintenanceland!

Pilots,

We love it when our FAA inspections all line up at once, and this week, it happened again! The good news is, it's in everyone's best interest, so we grin and bear it, and please pass the coffee. :)

Here are the various plagues we are working out at the moment:

Cessna 08V will be down to have her steering cords inspected. There is reason to suspect that they need some TLC.

Cessna 68U has been flying just fine. Thanks, 68U!

Cessna 20U has completed her engine break-in, and is back to full service, however, her copilot seat will be down for additional repairs.

Cessna 74U will be down for radio work this week to troubleshoot a bad case of the scratchies. It's not the radio unit -- so it's likely off to the radio shop for her; more as I know it.

Cessna 04H is down for her 100hr inspection. We are tackling a good number of accumulated squawks and expect her to be down for a day or so more.

Cessna 17J has completed her 100hr, however, we left the master switch on last night. (hey, we do it too!) - 17J needed a jumpstart this morning, otherwise, she is a happy bird.

Chaos as usual? No, this is a bit much, but we're slogging through it. Please bear with us!



In other news, we have redesigned the website. We will be snapping additional content into the site as time allows, per many of the great suggestions we received.

I am of the opinion that the site has actually had its information value reduced, while its "pretty" value has increased. A bubble-headed trophy site if you will. Isn't that the way it goes... anyway, we hope to make our dotcom a beauty with brains too! More as we get to it.



Somebody kill the heat please, it's November!

Blue Skies!

- Mike