Joe's email about the magnetic compass spoke in the past tense about his
N357CJ. I was talking to Larry Howell the other day about working on
Joe Horton’s plane, and he asked if I had bought Joe’s plane. As Joe
mentioned, he's nearing completion of the “Dr. Dean” plane, and hadn’t
been flying N357CJ much anyway, so he sold it to me. He didn’t NEED to
sell it to me, he sold it to me because I kept whining about how
squirrelly N891JF is on our 40’ wide runway here, compared to N56ML
(especially in a stiff crosswind), so he sold it to me either out of
compassion, or so he wouldn’t have to listen to me whine anymore! And
he’s going to need the hangar space soon anyway. Dr. Dean’s plane has
been in the hands of several folks since Dr. Dean lost interest and went
on to other things, but Joe is going to finish this thing, and soon!
Although I only have three landings with it so far, I can tell you that
I have a whole new appreciation for nose wheels! After leaving his
airport in PA, on my final landing at M38 I was racing a thundershower
to the airport in some windy weather, was a bit fast, landing a bit
long, and not even lined up properly with the runway, and I managed an
uneventful landing with absolutely no drama on roll-out, and stopped
with runway left over! What a dream. And I can actually see where I’m
going when taxiing!
I’ve been making some fairly minor changes to it for the last few
months, swapping the iFly 740 for a tablet running iFly, checking things
over and learning more about it, tweaking the EIS, doing some routine
maintenance, and moving some controls around a bit. I’ll be flying it
again shortly, certainly in time for Oshkosh, and have laid out an
awesome paint job for it…. flamingo pink with the same purple lightning
bolts. Unlike N891JF (which is “sky blue”), this plane will really show
up in the sky!
For more info on the Dr. Dean plane, take a look at Eduardo Barros’
Argentine plane at http://www.krnet.org/krs/ebarros/, which was inspired
by Dr. Dean’s “sexy” lines. Dean used eighth inch spruce strips that he
heated in a home-made steamer, bent into curved sections, and glued them
together to "freeze" the curve, , and joining them with foam and
fiberglass. Eduardo’s plane has been flying for years, and he has a
large web presence. Search for Eduardo Barros KR2-egb “Zondo” for
photos and construction info. When Joe finishes up, we’ll have more
photos of that process, and we'll put them on KRnet, along with the
finished plane photos.
--
Mark Langford
m...@n56ml.com
http://www.n56ml.com
Huntsville, AL
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