For those who might be looking for a stocking stuffer book idea, try Russell Hitt's book "Jungle Pilot" (available from Amazon.com, among others). Corvair/KR builder-pilot Bill Clapp would certainly know what this book is about; the life of missionary pilot Nate Saint, a pilot with Missionary Aviation Fellowship who died in Ecuador. If you've looked at Glenda McElwee's website, she mentions a trip that she and Bill are planning to fly, down to Ecuador. Bill is familiar with that part of the world!
Nate Saint developed an ingenious backup fuel system for use in small, single-engine aircraft that are flown over inhospitable terrain. Missionary Aviation Fellowship used this system on aircraft that they operated, and for all I know they may still be using it. Nate felt that there were enough incidents and accidents caused by fuel system problems that a backup system was justified, so he developed a scheme that uses a small auxiliary fuel tank piped directly to the engine intake, bypassing the fuel selector valve, gascolator, and everything else that can get crudded up along the way. It's controlled by a manual valve, similar to mixture control. He also developed an ingenious way to lower things from a circling airplane to the ground below, using a line and bucket, but that would be giving away the details in the book... ;o) Oscar Zuniga San Antonio, TX mailto: taildr...@hotmail.com website at http://www.flysquirrel.net
