It ran! Well not exactly. It spun, coughed, lurched, whirled ... yeah, that was about it. But we are undeterred. Instead of the bright sunshine we enjoyed yesterday, we faced a blizzard and spent the day troubleshooting indoors. We determined that it was not getting enough fuel. We have an IO-470 that is carbureted instead of injected and was lacking in the fuel delivery and priming department. We will give it another shot when it is not snowing so hard and I will post a truly spinning propeller.

The final adjustments and a happy shot of the team just prior to "running" the engine.

Another day at the office. Well not yet, but some day soon. We are cruising along through powerplant and have just wrapped up our section on reciprocating engines and started Turbines today. Turbines are rapidly replacing recips around the world as fuel is more readily available and less expensive. The neat thing about aircraft like the Kodiak is that we will still be able to land at the same strips serviced by 206's and helio's (pictured above).

Arial perspective of a typical airstrip in Papua New Guinea. Stay clear of the giant Broccoli.

Bloomsday

Bloomsday is coming!! We have paid our fee and are in training now. It will be a blast. For a preview video, click Here.

End of the Spear

End of the Spear is now playing. I encourage you to go see this film. To find out more information, visit the website or click on the picture.

In the shop we are learning how to take apart engines. Hopefully, we will also learn how to put them back together, which I understand may also be of some importance in our chosen field. Nevertheless, while half of the class masters the fine art of disassembly, the other half is learning about accessories. Part of their class is to run an engine and see what the accessories do behind that big fan. That is...if they can get it to run. Some of the students seem to demonstrate more focus, attention and an overall awareness of the lab than others :)

Eventually, they did get it running, with Fran on the far left ever ready with the fire extinguisher in case things heat up. Unfortunately, there where some fuel feed problems and it would only run as long as someone kept pumping the primer. Back to the shop with that one.

Meanwhile, back at school...my lab partner Chris spends a moment pondering the finer points of cylinder number 3 in full protective gear. Always, one for fashion, he is sporting the new winter line of mechanic garb for engine overhaul. (In reality, it is off to work in just a few minutes)

The mountian was beautiful and you could see all the way into the valley. We had a wonderful time skiing and spending time with family.

Leslie and I took a mini vacation to Salt Lake City to spend some time with her grandparents and cousins. We spent one day in the mountains at Snowbird where leslie turned to the darkside and took up snowboarding. She did very well and was flying down the bunny slopes by lunch time.

This is a view of our Christmas Hangar party. Each table was decorated by a different family and it was a wonderful Potluck.

Hangar Dedication

Recently we celebrated our Hangar dedication and the official opening of the Moody Aviation program here at Felts Field in Spokane. It was some party. We hosted the president of Moody, local officials, supporters and Church leaders from our community. There was lots of food and even the Kodiak showed up for us to gawk at.

So many people showed up that some of us had to enjoy the show from the rafters. It was worth it though because Kelly, the test pilot for the Kodiak, joined us and brought us up to speed on how the certification is coming. We also had a nice view through all of our flags which represent all of the countries graduates from Moody Aviation are currently working in.

Here we are gawking at the Kodiak, what will hopefully be our office in a few more years.