A aviation & planes forum. AviationBanter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » AviationBanter forum » rec.aviation newsgroups » Piloting
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

The Most Expensive Ironing Boards in the World...



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old October 6th 06, 03:30 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting,rec.aviation.owning
Jay Honeck
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,573
Default The Most Expensive Ironing Boards in the World...

We received notification of a Ramada Inn that was selling everything to
the bare walls, in preparation for demolition. Although our hotel is
unique in many ways, we *all* use blow dryers, lamps, end tables --
and, yes, ironing boards -- so this seemed like a great opportunity to
find some real bargains.

Problem: This Ramada Inn happened to be located in Columbia, Missouri,
some 245 miles -- and almost 5 hours -- away.

Solution: General Aviation! Atlas, our Cherokee Pathfinder, with his
1460 pound useful load and 140 knot speed, was the perfect tool to
shrink this awful drive into an 80-minute flight.

The weather couldn't have been better today in Iowa, but a few pesky
1500-foot ceilings awaited us in Missouri. However, with a gigantic
Canadian high pressure system sagging to the south, conditions were
predicted to improve throughout the day -- so off we went.

The flight was utterly uneventful. The fall colors were lovely to
behold, and my landing on Columbia's gigantic Runway 2 was a piece of
cake. We taxied to where all the "little planes" were parked, and were
met by a very friendly line guy, who uttered those most horrible of all
words:

"Is all that oil normal?"

With a sinking feeling, I hopped off the wing to behold a mess of epic
proportions. Oil was EVERYWHERE on Atlas' right flank, dripping
steadily out the lower cowling. This obviously wasn't anything to be
ignored, so we de-cowled the engine, and stared numbly at the God-awful
mess that was our beautiful, low-time O-540.

Interestingly, we were only 1/2 quart down on the dipstick.
Nevertheless, we were unable to see where ANYTHING was coming from
(although it was clearly confined to the right firewall, near our
Airwolf remote mounted oil filter). Joe, the head of maintenance,
offered to pull it in the shop, and within minutes, Cliff -- his senior
A&P -- was meticulously spraying the engine down with degreasing
solvent. All of the mechanics were suspecting the hoses and fittings
going to the Airwolf, but I had my doubts. Those things were stainless
steel-wrapped and extremely high quality; it *had* to be something
else.

Standing a safe distance away, Mary and I pondered our sorry fate. The
kids were out of school in five hours (but, luckily, my son had one of
our cars), and my daughter had a volleyball game that we were supposed
to attend. AND it was parent-teacher conference night. In short, this
was a really BAD day to be stuck in the wrong state, with a broken
airplane. My thoughts turned darker as the mechanics started up the
newly cleaned engine...

Cliff stood in the howling propwash, poking around with a mirror and a
flashlight. Within seconds, he had found what he was looking for, and
signaled to his cohort to cut the engine. The news was not good -- our
oil cooler was leaking at a seam in the metal (not at a fitting), and
would need to be replaced.

Dejected, I asked about parts availability, and Joe, the head of
maintenance, just shrugged. He'd have to make some calls, and who
knows if anyone had one of them available? Rebuilding ours might be an
option, too. Either way, we weren't going anywhere today...

So, what to do? How to get home? We had talked about renting a truck
and hauling all the stuff back to Iowa that we might find at the hotel
sale -- but that was a plan to be executed AFTER we looked at the
stuff. If everything there was junk, there was no need for a truck.

Who did we know that could come rescue us?

After a few minutes of thought, our friend, Doug, came to mind. He had
recently gone from sole ownership of a Cherokee 180, into a 3-way
partnership on a nice, older Mooney. Being a loan officer, business
had been relatively slow lately, due to the housing slump -- and I knew
he had been looking for any excuse to fly that new hot-rod Mooney -- so
I gave him a call. Did he feel like flying for free today?

The answer was "Hell, yes!", and we soon had it arranged for Doug to
zip down from Iowa to rescue us. In his plane, it would take something
like 70 minutes, and his only limitation was that he had to be back for
a 5:30 meeting. We realized that we had plenty of time in the interim
to go to the sale -- so we borrowed the FBO's courtesy car and headed
off in search of that old Ramada Inn...

As I drove out of the lot, feeling crappy about leaving our plane at a
strange FBO far from home, I thought to call Keith, our A&P and good
friend -- mostly for a shoulder to cry on. (But also to see what he
thought about the local shop's diagnosis.) So I gave him a jingle and
we chatted for a bit, when he dropped the bomb shell: "You know, I
think I may have one of those coolers here in the shop."

Dumbfounded, I couldn't help but ask incredulously, "Why?" Keith runs
a very small, part-time shop, and he rarely keeps parts in stock. He
CERTAINLY doesn't keep major stuff like oil coolers laying around --
especially not ones made specifically for a Lycoming O-540 B4B5 model
engine. Yet, inexplicably, miraculously, he had the perfect match
laying on a shelf? I simply couldn't believe it.

He promised he would call Joe, the head of maintenance at the Columbia
FBO, just to make sure the part numbers matched -- and we hung up. I
couldn't stop laughing, and Mary and I enjoyed a much happier lunch
than we had thought possible just minutes earlier.

When I hadn't heard from either Keith or Joe after lunch, I called
Keith back. It seemed that their lunch hours were over-lapping, and
they couldn't find the other -- so I relayed the part numbers and
messages between them. The oil cooler *was* an exact match -- this was
going to work!

So, I made a quick call to Doug, and his plan was no longer a rescue
mission -- but a parts delivery mission! On his way to his plane he
would simply stop at Keith's shop, grab the new oil cooler (and the
all-important yellow tag), and fly off to Missouri. Bada-bing --
problem solved.

Meanwhile, we found the Ramada, and spent over an hour wandering the
eerily silent halls of this once proud hotel. With hundreds of rooms,
gigantic banquet halls, and a kitchen that could easily handle ANY
wedding crowd, it was like wandering the set of "The Shining". We
could easily have spent thousands there, but we simply couldn't figure
out an economical way to ship large stuff (like end-tables and desks)
back to Iowa -- so we resolved to only purchase stuff that would fit
inside Atlas.

Thus, we ended up with a dozen absolutely brand-new wall-mount blow
dryers, and four new hanging ironing boards and irons. We packed the
stuff into the courtesy car, and hustled back to the airport, pulling
in the parking lot literally as Doug's Mooney taxied in.

Carefully carrying the oil cooler like the precious cargo it was, Doug
handed it to me -- and I handed it to Joe. He, in turn, handed it to
Cliff, who instantly set about installing it in the hole left where our
old, cracked cooler once lived.

A few tense minutes passed, as we uncomfortably shifted our weight from
one foot to the other. In my experience, there is ALWAYS the chance
that some holes won't line up, or the fittings won't be the same, or
some other such nonsense -- and I simply still could not believe our
good fortune that the part had been available AND delivered in such a
short span of time. I just EXPECTED it not to fit, and glumly waited
for confirmation of my fears.

It never came. Within minutes, Cliff and his helper were test-running
the plane, once again braving the slip-stream with his trusty mirror.
After a nice, long run at various power settings, he pronounced it
oil-tight and airworthy -- we were saved!

Doug quickly departed for his meeting (there's simply not enough beer
in the world to pay for what he did for us today), and we set about
loading Atlas with irons, ironing boards, and blow dryers. From stem
to stern, his whole underside was dripping with oil, but it was nothing
a few rolls of paper towels (and my son's elbow grease) wouldn't cure
-- and we sure wouldn't have to worry about any corrosion for a while!

After settling up the bill -- and profusely thanking Joe, Cliff, and
all the guys at Central Missouri Aviation -- we climbed into the cool,
crystal-clear sky, amazed at our good fortune. A potentially
disastrous oil leak (possibly the minor one that has bedeviled us for
the past year, gone bad?) turned into nothing but a cosmetic problem,
the parts we needed to fix it turned out to be readily available (from
a friend, no less!), and we happened to be at an FBO with the mechanics
and the time to do the job right when the part broke.

Of course, there *were* a few downsides. I'm not fond of launching on
90-minute cross-country flights with untested new engine parts on board
(the engine was totally dry when we arrived back in Iowa City), and we
REALLY don't want to think about how much those ironing boards cost us
in real terms -- but if things must break (and we know they will) --
*THIS* is the way you want things to go down when they do.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

  #2  
Old October 6th 06, 04:34 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting,rec.aviation.owning
No Spam
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 17
Default The Most Expensive Ironing Boards in the World...

On 10/5/06 21:30, "Jay Honeck" wrote:

We received notification of a Ramada Inn that was selling everything to
the bare walls, in preparation for demolition. Although our hotel is
unique in many ways, we *all* use blow dryers, lamps, end tables --
and, yes, ironing boards -- so this seemed like a great opportunity to
find some real bargains.

Problem: This Ramada Inn happened to be located in Columbia, Missouri,
some 245 miles -- and almost 5 hours -- away.

Solution: General Aviation! Atlas, our Cherokee Pathfinder, with his
1460 pound useful load and 140 knot speed, was the perfect tool to
shrink this awful drive into an 80-minute flight.

The weather couldn't have been better today in Iowa, but a few pesky
1500-foot ceilings awaited us in Missouri. However, with a gigantic
Canadian high pressure system sagging to the south, conditions were
predicted to improve throughout the day -- so off we went.

The flight was utterly uneventful. The fall colors were lovely to
behold, and my landing on Columbia's gigantic Runway 2 was a piece of
cake. We taxied to where all the "little planes" were parked, and were
met by a very friendly line guy, who uttered those most horrible of all
words:

"Is all that oil normal?"

With a sinking feeling, I hopped off the wing to behold a mess of epic
proportions. Oil was EVERYWHERE on Atlas' right flank, dripping
steadily out the lower cowling. This obviously wasn't anything to be
ignored, so we de-cowled the engine, and stared numbly at the God-awful
mess that was our beautiful, low-time O-540.

Interestingly, we were only 1/2 quart down on the dipstick.
Nevertheless, we were unable to see where ANYTHING was coming from
(although it was clearly confined to the right firewall, near our
Airwolf remote mounted oil filter). Joe, the head of maintenance,
offered to pull it in the shop, and within minutes, Cliff -- his senior
A&P -- was meticulously spraying the engine down with degreasing
solvent. All of the mechanics were suspecting the hoses and fittings
going to the Airwolf, but I had my doubts. Those things were stainless
steel-wrapped and extremely high quality; it *had* to be something
else.

Standing a safe distance away, Mary and I pondered our sorry fate. The
kids were out of school in five hours (but, luckily, my son had one of
our cars), and my daughter had a volleyball game that we were supposed
to attend. AND it was parent-teacher conference night. In short, this
was a really BAD day to be stuck in the wrong state, with a broken
airplane. My thoughts turned darker as the mechanics started up the
newly cleaned engine...

Cliff stood in the howling propwash, poking around with a mirror and a
flashlight. Within seconds, he had found what he was looking for, and
signaled to his cohort to cut the engine. The news was not good -- our
oil cooler was leaking at a seam in the metal (not at a fitting), and
would need to be replaced.

Dejected, I asked about parts availability, and Joe, the head of
maintenance, just shrugged. He'd have to make some calls, and who
knows if anyone had one of them available? Rebuilding ours might be an
option, too. Either way, we weren't going anywhere today...

So, what to do? How to get home? We had talked about renting a truck
and hauling all the stuff back to Iowa that we might find at the hotel
sale -- but that was a plan to be executed AFTER we looked at the
stuff. If everything there was junk, there was no need for a truck.

Who did we know that could come rescue us?

After a few minutes of thought, our friend, Doug, came to mind. He had
recently gone from sole ownership of a Cherokee 180, into a 3-way
partnership on a nice, older Mooney. Being a loan officer, business
had been relatively slow lately, due to the housing slump -- and I knew
he had been looking for any excuse to fly that new hot-rod Mooney -- so
I gave him a call. Did he feel like flying for free today?

The answer was "Hell, yes!", and we soon had it arranged for Doug to
zip down from Iowa to rescue us. In his plane, it would take something
like 70 minutes, and his only limitation was that he had to be back for
a 5:30 meeting. We realized that we had plenty of time in the interim
to go to the sale -- so we borrowed the FBO's courtesy car and headed
off in search of that old Ramada Inn...

As I drove out of the lot, feeling crappy about leaving our plane at a
strange FBO far from home, I thought to call Keith, our A&P and good
friend -- mostly for a shoulder to cry on. (But also to see what he
thought about the local shop's diagnosis.) So I gave him a jingle and
we chatted for a bit, when he dropped the bomb shell: "You know, I
think I may have one of those coolers here in the shop."

Dumbfounded, I couldn't help but ask incredulously, "Why?" Keith runs
a very small, part-time shop, and he rarely keeps parts in stock. He
CERTAINLY doesn't keep major stuff like oil coolers laying around --
especially not ones made specifically for a Lycoming O-540 B4B5 model
engine. Yet, inexplicably, miraculously, he had the perfect match
laying on a shelf? I simply couldn't believe it.

He promised he would call Joe, the head of maintenance at the Columbia
FBO, just to make sure the part numbers matched -- and we hung up. I
couldn't stop laughing, and Mary and I enjoyed a much happier lunch
than we had thought possible just minutes earlier.

When I hadn't heard from either Keith or Joe after lunch, I called
Keith back. It seemed that their lunch hours were over-lapping, and
they couldn't find the other -- so I relayed the part numbers and
messages between them. The oil cooler *was* an exact match -- this was
going to work!

So, I made a quick call to Doug, and his plan was no longer a rescue
mission -- but a parts delivery mission! On his way to his plane he
would simply stop at Keith's shop, grab the new oil cooler (and the
all-important yellow tag), and fly off to Missouri. Bada-bing --
problem solved.

Meanwhile, we found the Ramada, and spent over an hour wandering the
eerily silent halls of this once proud hotel. With hundreds of rooms,
gigantic banquet halls, and a kitchen that could easily handle ANY
wedding crowd, it was like wandering the set of "The Shining". We
could easily have spent thousands there, but we simply couldn't figure
out an economical way to ship large stuff (like end-tables and desks)
back to Iowa -- so we resolved to only purchase stuff that would fit
inside Atlas.

Thus, we ended up with a dozen absolutely brand-new wall-mount blow
dryers, and four new hanging ironing boards and irons. We packed the
stuff into the courtesy car, and hustled back to the airport, pulling
in the parking lot literally as Doug's Mooney taxied in.

Carefully carrying the oil cooler like the precious cargo it was, Doug
handed it to me -- and I handed it to Joe. He, in turn, handed it to
Cliff, who instantly set about installing it in the hole left where our
old, cracked cooler once lived.

A few tense minutes passed, as we uncomfortably shifted our weight from
one foot to the other. In my experience, there is ALWAYS the chance
that some holes won't line up, or the fittings won't be the same, or
some other such nonsense -- and I simply still could not believe our
good fortune that the part had been available AND delivered in such a
short span of time. I just EXPECTED it not to fit, and glumly waited
for confirmation of my fears.

It never came. Within minutes, Cliff and his helper were test-running
the plane, once again braving the slip-stream with his trusty mirror.
After a nice, long run at various power settings, he pronounced it
oil-tight and airworthy -- we were saved!

Doug quickly departed for his meeting (there's simply not enough beer
in the world to pay for what he did for us today), and we set about
loading Atlas with irons, ironing boards, and blow dryers. From stem
to stern, his whole underside was dripping with oil, but it was nothing
a few rolls of paper towels (and my son's elbow grease) wouldn't cure
-- and we sure wouldn't have to worry about any corrosion for a while!

After settling up the bill -- and profusely thanking Joe, Cliff, and
all the guys at Central Missouri Aviation -- we climbed into the cool,
crystal-clear sky, amazed at our good fortune. A potentially
disastrous oil leak (possibly the minor one that has bedeviled us for
the past year, gone bad?) turned into nothing but a cosmetic problem,
the parts we needed to fix it turned out to be readily available (from
a friend, no less!), and we happened to be at an FBO with the mechanics
and the time to do the job right when the part broke.

Of course, there *were* a few downsides. I'm not fond of launching on
90-minute cross-country flights with untested new engine parts on board
(the engine was totally dry when we arrived back in Iowa City), and we
REALLY don't want to think about how much those ironing boards cost us
in real terms -- but if things must break (and we know they will) --
*THIS* is the way you want things to go down when they do.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"


Great story, Jay. It's nice to hear ones that turn out like that.

- Don
Any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life
worthwhile... Can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction,
"I served in the United States Navy." - President John F. Kennedy

  #3  
Old October 6th 06, 04:34 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting,rec.aviation.owning
Gene Seibel
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 223
Default The Most Expensive Ironing Boards in the World...

More than once we've flown 2 hours to "save" $15 shipping on an Ebay
purchase and thought it made perfect sense.
--
Gene Seibel
Tales of Flight - http://pad39a.com/gene/tales.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.





Jay Honeck wrote:
Of course, there *were* a few downsides. I'm not fond of launching on
90-minute cross-country flights with untested new engine parts on board
(the engine was totally dry when we arrived back in Iowa City), and we
REALLY don't want to think about how much those ironing boards cost us
in real terms -- but if things must break (and we know they will) --
*THIS* is the way you want things to go down when they do.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"


  #4  
Old October 6th 06, 04:35 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting,rec.aviation.owning
NW_Pilot
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 436
Default The Most Expensive Ironing Boards in the World...


"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...
We received notification of a Ramada Inn that was selling everything to
the bare walls, in preparation for demolition. Although our hotel is
unique in many ways, we *all* use blow dryers, lamps, end tables --
and, yes, ironing boards -- so this seemed like a great opportunity to
find some real bargains.

Problem: This Ramada Inn happened to be located in Columbia, Missouri,
some 245 miles -- and almost 5 hours -- away.

Solution: General Aviation! Atlas, our Cherokee Pathfinder, with his
1460 pound useful load and 140 knot speed, was the perfect tool to
shrink this awful drive into an 80-minute flight.

The weather couldn't have been better today in Iowa, but a few pesky
1500-foot ceilings awaited us in Missouri. However, with a gigantic
Canadian high pressure system sagging to the south, conditions were
predicted to improve throughout the day -- so off we went.

The flight was utterly uneventful. The fall colors were lovely to
behold, and my landing on Columbia's gigantic Runway 2 was a piece of
cake. We taxied to where all the "little planes" were parked, and were
met by a very friendly line guy, who uttered those most horrible of all
words:

"Is all that oil normal?"

With a sinking feeling, I hopped off the wing to behold a mess of epic
proportions. Oil was EVERYWHERE on Atlas' right flank, dripping
steadily out the lower cowling. This obviously wasn't anything to be
ignored, so we de-cowled the engine, and stared numbly at the God-awful
mess that was our beautiful, low-time O-540.

Interestingly, we were only 1/2 quart down on the dipstick.
Nevertheless, we were unable to see where ANYTHING was coming from
(although it was clearly confined to the right firewall, near our
Airwolf remote mounted oil filter). Joe, the head of maintenance,
offered to pull it in the shop, and within minutes, Cliff -- his senior
A&P -- was meticulously spraying the engine down with degreasing
solvent. All of the mechanics were suspecting the hoses and fittings
going to the Airwolf, but I had my doubts. Those things were stainless
steel-wrapped and extremely high quality; it *had* to be something
else.

Standing a safe distance away, Mary and I pondered our sorry fate. The
kids were out of school in five hours (but, luckily, my son had one of
our cars), and my daughter had a volleyball game that we were supposed
to attend. AND it was parent-teacher conference night. In short, this
was a really BAD day to be stuck in the wrong state, with a broken
airplane. My thoughts turned darker as the mechanics started up the
newly cleaned engine...

Cliff stood in the howling propwash, poking around with a mirror and a
flashlight. Within seconds, he had found what he was looking for, and
signaled to his cohort to cut the engine. The news was not good -- our
oil cooler was leaking at a seam in the metal (not at a fitting), and
would need to be replaced.

Dejected, I asked about parts availability, and Joe, the head of
maintenance, just shrugged. He'd have to make some calls, and who
knows if anyone had one of them available? Rebuilding ours might be an
option, too. Either way, we weren't going anywhere today...

So, what to do? How to get home? We had talked about renting a truck
and hauling all the stuff back to Iowa that we might find at the hotel
sale -- but that was a plan to be executed AFTER we looked at the
stuff. If everything there was junk, there was no need for a truck.

Who did we know that could come rescue us?

After a few minutes of thought, our friend, Doug, came to mind. He had
recently gone from sole ownership of a Cherokee 180, into a 3-way
partnership on a nice, older Mooney. Being a loan officer, business
had been relatively slow lately, due to the housing slump -- and I knew
he had been looking for any excuse to fly that new hot-rod Mooney -- so
I gave him a call. Did he feel like flying for free today?

The answer was "Hell, yes!", and we soon had it arranged for Doug to
zip down from Iowa to rescue us. In his plane, it would take something
like 70 minutes, and his only limitation was that he had to be back for
a 5:30 meeting. We realized that we had plenty of time in the interim
to go to the sale -- so we borrowed the FBO's courtesy car and headed
off in search of that old Ramada Inn...

As I drove out of the lot, feeling crappy about leaving our plane at a
strange FBO far from home, I thought to call Keith, our A&P and good
friend -- mostly for a shoulder to cry on. (But also to see what he
thought about the local shop's diagnosis.) So I gave him a jingle and
we chatted for a bit, when he dropped the bomb shell: "You know, I
think I may have one of those coolers here in the shop."

Dumbfounded, I couldn't help but ask incredulously, "Why?" Keith runs
a very small, part-time shop, and he rarely keeps parts in stock. He
CERTAINLY doesn't keep major stuff like oil coolers laying around --
especially not ones made specifically for a Lycoming O-540 B4B5 model
engine. Yet, inexplicably, miraculously, he had the perfect match
laying on a shelf? I simply couldn't believe it.

He promised he would call Joe, the head of maintenance at the Columbia
FBO, just to make sure the part numbers matched -- and we hung up. I
couldn't stop laughing, and Mary and I enjoyed a much happier lunch
than we had thought possible just minutes earlier.

When I hadn't heard from either Keith or Joe after lunch, I called
Keith back. It seemed that their lunch hours were over-lapping, and
they couldn't find the other -- so I relayed the part numbers and
messages between them. The oil cooler *was* an exact match -- this was
going to work!

So, I made a quick call to Doug, and his plan was no longer a rescue
mission -- but a parts delivery mission! On his way to his plane he
would simply stop at Keith's shop, grab the new oil cooler (and the
all-important yellow tag), and fly off to Missouri. Bada-bing --
problem solved.

Meanwhile, we found the Ramada, and spent over an hour wandering the
eerily silent halls of this once proud hotel. With hundreds of rooms,
gigantic banquet halls, and a kitchen that could easily handle ANY
wedding crowd, it was like wandering the set of "The Shining". We
could easily have spent thousands there, but we simply couldn't figure
out an economical way to ship large stuff (like end-tables and desks)
back to Iowa -- so we resolved to only purchase stuff that would fit
inside Atlas.

Thus, we ended up with a dozen absolutely brand-new wall-mount blow
dryers, and four new hanging ironing boards and irons. We packed the
stuff into the courtesy car, and hustled back to the airport, pulling
in the parking lot literally as Doug's Mooney taxied in.

Carefully carrying the oil cooler like the precious cargo it was, Doug
handed it to me -- and I handed it to Joe. He, in turn, handed it to
Cliff, who instantly set about installing it in the hole left where our
old, cracked cooler once lived.

A few tense minutes passed, as we uncomfortably shifted our weight from
one foot to the other. In my experience, there is ALWAYS the chance
that some holes won't line up, or the fittings won't be the same, or
some other such nonsense -- and I simply still could not believe our
good fortune that the part had been available AND delivered in such a
short span of time. I just EXPECTED it not to fit, and glumly waited
for confirmation of my fears.

It never came. Within minutes, Cliff and his helper were test-running
the plane, once again braving the slip-stream with his trusty mirror.
After a nice, long run at various power settings, he pronounced it
oil-tight and airworthy -- we were saved!

Doug quickly departed for his meeting (there's simply not enough beer
in the world to pay for what he did for us today), and we set about
loading Atlas with irons, ironing boards, and blow dryers. From stem
to stern, his whole underside was dripping with oil, but it was nothing
a few rolls of paper towels (and my son's elbow grease) wouldn't cure
-- and we sure wouldn't have to worry about any corrosion for a while!

After settling up the bill -- and profusely thanking Joe, Cliff, and
all the guys at Central Missouri Aviation -- we climbed into the cool,
crystal-clear sky, amazed at our good fortune. A potentially
disastrous oil leak (possibly the minor one that has bedeviled us for
the past year, gone bad?) turned into nothing but a cosmetic problem,
the parts we needed to fix it turned out to be readily available (from
a friend, no less!), and we happened to be at an FBO with the mechanics
and the time to do the job right when the part broke.

Of course, there *were* a few downsides. I'm not fond of launching on
90-minute cross-country flights with untested new engine parts on board
(the engine was totally dry when we arrived back in Iowa City), and we
REALLY don't want to think about how much those ironing boards cost us
in real terms -- but if things must break (and we know they will) --
*THIS* is the way you want things to go down when they do.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"


Hey, Jay go talk to your tax man see if the expenses of getting the stuff
including the repairs can be used as a business expense?


  #5  
Old October 6th 06, 06:18 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting,rec.aviation.owning
Greg B
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 46
Default The Most Expensive Ironing Boards in the World...

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...

Of course, there *were* a few downsides. I'm not fond of launching on
90-minute cross-country flights with untested new engine parts on board
(the engine was totally dry when we arrived back in Iowa City), and we
REALLY don't want to think about how much those ironing boards cost us
in real terms -- but if things must break (and we know they will) --
*THIS* is the way you want things to go down when they do.
--


Hope your oil leak problem is finally resolved! Sounds like you're living
right, everything worked out well.

Quarter of an AMU per ironing board? ;-)

-Greg B.


  #6  
Old October 6th 06, 09:14 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
Larry Dighera
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,953
Default The Most Expensive Ironing Boards in the World...

On 5 Oct 2006 19:30:40 -0700, "Jay Honeck" wrote
in .com:

Did he feel like flying for free today?


Not that I wouldn't have done something similar in your predicament,
but do you think it's wise to invite your friend to violate FAR, and
then publish on a public forum what a FSDO inspector might construe as
a violation of FAR?


§ 61.113 Private pilot privileges and limitations: Pilot in
command.

(a) Except as provided in paragraphs (b) through (g) of this
section, no person who holds a private pilot certificate may act
as pilot in command of an aircraft that is carrying passengers or
property for compensation or hire; nor may that person, for
compensation or hire, act as pilot in command of an aircraft.

(b) A private pilot may, for compensation or hire, act as pilot in
command of an aircraft in connection with any business or
employment if:

(1) The flight is only incidental to that business or employment;
and

(2) The aircraft does not carry passengers or property for
compensation or hire.

(c) A private pilot may not pay less than the pro rata share of
the operating expenses of a flight with passengers, provided the
expenses involve only fuel, oil, airport expenditures, or rental
fees.

  #7  
Old October 6th 06, 09:29 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
Mortimer Schnerd, RN[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 597
Default The Most Expensive Ironing Boards in the World...

Larry Dighera wrote:
Did he feel like flying for free today?


Not that I wouldn't have done something similar in your predicament,
but do you think it's wise to invite your friend to violate FAR, and
then publish on a public forum what a FSDO inspector might construe as
a violation of FAR?



Since when is it a violation of FAR to come pick up a stranded friend? Or
deliver a needed part for a friend? For that matter, how do you even know
whether the pilot is a private pilot or not? And if he is or isn't, what
difference does that make?

What makes you think the FAA gives a rat's ass what anybody posts here?


--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com




  #8  
Old October 6th 06, 11:18 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting,rec.aviation.owning
Quilljar
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 31
Default The Most Expensive Ironing Boards in the World...

Jay,
Do you write for Reader's Digest? Because I have read worse titles and worse
stories in that mag. I wd think they would be grateful to publish -
brilliant! Thanks

Quilljar

Never trust anybody who is too sophisticated to own a rubber chicken.


  #9  
Old October 6th 06, 11:29 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting,rec.aviation.owning
cjcampbell
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 191
Default The Most Expensive Ironing Boards in the World...


Jay Honeck wrote:


With a sinking feeling, I hopped off the wing to behold a mess of epic
proportions. Oil was EVERYWHERE on Atlas' right flank, dripping
steadily out the lower cowling. This obviously wasn't anything to be
ignored, so we de-cowled the engine, and stared numbly at the God-awful
mess that was our beautiful, low-time O-540.

Interestingly, we were only 1/2 quart down on the dipstick.


A very little oil sure goes a long way, eh? Amazing, isn't it?

  #10  
Old October 6th 06, 11:40 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting,rec.aviation.owning
Bob Noel
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,374
Default The Most Expensive Ironing Boards in the World...

In article .com,
"Jay Honeck" wrote:

[snip]
we
REALLY don't want to think about how much those ironing boards cost us
in real terms


Those ironing boards cost almost nothing. You found and fixed a problem
with your airplane. And what better way to find out about a failed
oil cooler than on a SHORT trip?

btw - instead of launching back to IOW, you could have orbited the field
for 30-45 minutes as an extra test, landed, rechecked everything,
and then RTB.

And, of course, I'm glad Atlas is fixed.

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate

 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Film Features Newsmen on World War II Combat Gliders Pete Brown Soaring 0 June 6th 06 03:04 AM
American nazi pond scum, version two bushite kills bushite Naval Aviation 0 December 21st 04 11:46 PM
Hey! What fun!! Let's let them kill ourselves!!! [email protected] Naval Aviation 2 December 17th 04 10:45 PM
World Class: Recent Great News Charles Yeates Soaring 58 March 19th 04 07:58 PM
PW-5 NewLetter from Francois Pin Soaring 0 December 21st 03 01:03 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 03:45 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 AviationBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.