Hail in Chino yesterday? Lightning at Lake Matthews? Are we in Kansas still, Toto?
My goodness. The bizarro weather seems to have trucked its way over to Las Vegas, or parts unknown, leaving us with tranquil, yet ominous-looking clouds to play around.
Tell that to Jake M., who knocked out his first Solo today in Cessna 20U. According to CFI Elian, the landings "were his best yet", and according to Jake, "Elian was clearly just holding me back all this time". Ha ha. Nice work, guys!
For those who didn't know this, Elian was an artist in a former life, and doodled this excellent shirt-tail artwork. Expect to see it up for auction at Sotheby's in their Fall catalog.
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On the plane maintenance front, I have some bad news. Here it is:
Cessna 630's oil pressure woes have us concerned still. We've spent a few attempts to get it to stabilize, and we've decided that "we think it will work" is an incorrect thing to say to the C150 renters. We are having the engine inspected, and expect either a major repair (ETA 2 weeks) or a major overhaul (ETA 4 weeks) to ensue. We have placed 630's motor in the care of the gurus to decipher. More as I know it, but right now, expect the C150 to be out of comission for part of June.
Cessna 68U completed her 100hr. There is mention of sidetone in the intercom being intermittent, but other pilots have not mentioned it. Some have gone flying with the volume down all the way, and wondered why nobody answered their Radio Checks. All 7 of them. (hint: they did). Check the volume on the radio, the intercom, AND your headset if so equipped, to prevent stomping the frequency with your radio checks. :)
Cessna 20U hums along.
Cessna 1ES is cruising.
Cessna 17J rocks the house.
Cessna 25R is having HER engine torn into as well, to determine why our constant-speed propeller doesn't want to fly at a constant speed anymore. Our engine guru sniffed and said "well that's likely to be something really funky", which is not a promising thing to hear. We are anticipating a major overhaul, which will carry a 3-4 week downtime penalty as well. Doh!
If you are currently in training for your commercial or CFI Initial ratings, and are affected by 25R's downtime, please get in touch with the office for some creative solutions we may have to offer.
Piper 85Y is having her fuel bladder replaced, a crack in her engine nacelle patched, and then she's out the door. Consider her 80% complete at this point.
woof.
Since we've laid up half of our fleet into the intensive care unit, we figured it would be a neat time to add a plane.
We lost a lot of time on negotiations with some other planes, and wouldn't you know it, the right plane just appeared today. Right when we were ready to throw in the towel, and open a boating school called Float Corona! too.
Please meet Cessna 739, a Cessna 172N model, which features a 160HP engine (just like 04H), a classy paint scheme with pearlized white with blue and gray stripes (stylish!), stitched leather interior (ooh la la), and, best of all, 2 KX-155 digital navcoms backed by a KN63 Digital DME receiver, and an ADF into the mix (hot diggity!). A traditional IFR powerhouse!
We are placing her through a 100 hour inspection currently, to get her "up to scratch". We have some minor paint and plastics touch-up to do, as well as some door fitment issues to work out, and typical new-to-us plane funkiness. We're getting her into shape now, and we hope to release her into the wild this weekend!
We may do some of the cosmetic work "on the gallop" so to speak, and order parts for later installation so she can fly now.
Cessna 739 will slot exactly between the F models and the R/S models, which means $94/hr block, and $109 retail. We think you'll like her, have a peek:
Never a dull moment around the ranch, that's for sure.
We are still pursuing another 172SP at the moment. Stay tuned!
Blue Skies!
- Mike
