Summer's Here!

School's out for Summer ... and has been for a month and a half already (see Abigail with her friend and teachers below, taken at the end of term on May 17th)!! The temperature's definitely reflecting the summer months though ... today's forecast 100 degrees!! Phew!

One thing we LOVE about life out here are all the fun days that you can enjoy with your family over the summer months ... without spending a penny if you don't want to, or very little if you do! We have already had fun at the Zemba Bros family field day. Abigail loved the pony rides and bounce houses, had fun on the diggers and running through tubes and mazes with a friend we bumped into there and we all enjoyed the hay ride! Last year Naomi slept through the whole experience at only 5 weeks old, this year she enjoyed it so much more!

On the evening of the first Friday of every month from May to September, Main Street in Coshocton gets shut off and there are all kinds of fun things to enjoy. A community evening where the shops stay open late, there are sometimes little crafts or games for the kids, free candy & ice-cream, dancing or skateboarding in the street, raffles to enter and lots more. It changes each month too, so you never know quite what to expect. We went to 'First Friday' in June and there was the chance to sit in a fire engine, which Abigail enjoyed along with a couple of her friends. Then we had a ride on the wobbly 'Magic Train' before enjoying free ice-cream, offered by a local political candidate looking for a vote ... we enjoyed the ice-cream without letting on that we're British and won't get a say anyway!!!!

Probably our favourite weekend of the year here is in June with the Hot Air Balloon Festival at the County Fairground and the Corvette Car Rally in Roscoe Village (again all Free!). The previous two years, the weather hasn't been all that good for hot air balloon flying, so the launches have been hit and miss but this, our final year, we weren't disappointed. We went to the Fairground on the Saturday afternoon and enjoyed the fair rides ... either waving down from them or up at them!! Naomi LOVED the stromboli and chomped her way through quite a lot of one!

The highlight of the evening and the only year that we've actually been at the Fairground to see it, was the launch of 22 different balloons right before our eyes! We live close enough that they usually fly over our house but this year we got to see it all from the stands ... and all four of us got really excited about it!

Having taken loads of photos of the Corvettes in Roscoe the last two years, this year we decided to just go and enjoy the atmosphere. We spotted new licence plate variations that we hadn't seen before that made us laugh. We always ask Abigail to decide which car she like the most when we go. This year it was an easy decision ... the one with the Treasure Chest in the boot (trunk!) ... so nothing to do with the car itself at all!

This will be the last summer we get to enjoy all of these things. Third time round, we still can't quite get our heads round the fact that most of it is free. Apart from the rides at the fair and the stromboli, we paid nothing for all that fun! It is certainly one aspect of small town American living that we will miss but know that life in Tanzania will have new adventures of it's own!

NEWSFLASH!

It is official ... we now know which MAF project we will moving to at the beginning of 2013 ... does this flag help?!

OK ... for those of you who don't recognise the flag, the image below shows exactly where we will be based ... Dodoma, Tanzania.

It is exciting times for us right now. Mark has less than 300 hours left in the hangar and exams later on this summer. We will then have a few months for Mark to get a bit more experience in the hangar at MMS, to say our goodbyes  to all the friends we have made here in Coshocton, Ohio and pack up our belongings again before our visas expire in December.

We hope to be back in the UK for Christmas. Then in the New Year of 2013 we will have the chance to catch up with as many people as possible, before a last week of training with MAF at the beginning of February. Finally, we will fly out and settle into our new home which we now know is with MAF in Dodoma, Tanzania.

We are really excited about all that is to come over the next 6 months or so (especially Jenny as she lived and taught in Dodoma from 1999-2001 ... so will be returning to somewhere that is already very special to her!) Thank you so much for all your prayers as we have been going through this process, they have meant a lot to us! Continue to remember us as we really begin this transition process ... now with a goal to aim for!

Cessna 185 Wing Repair

I've been back in the hangar now for a while after our trip to Florida and have been working on a 1961 Cessna 185 that belongs to Amazon Salt & Light (ASL). This aircraft suffered damage after performing a ground loop and the repairs to it were started by New Tribes Mission but due to lack of time and man-power, the aircraft was shipped to us to complete the work. This included a new roof, a replacement window and a new cowling for the upgraded engine. During the accident, both wings were so badly damaged, the financial costs deemed them unrepairable. Therefore, ASL managed to get a pair of used wings from Skywagon City. These wings came with some slight damage and they had nothing inside. So we had to do a little work repairing them and then transfer everything from the damaged wings.

The leading edge of the right wing was repaired by other some of the other guys whilst I was in Florida. When I returned I was given the task of finishing off the rest of the repair work and then had to install everything back into the the wing. This aircraft had additional kits installed, as well as all the usual equipment. Here is a snapshot of the jobs I have been responsible for ...

Flap & Aileron Bellcranks, Pulleys and Control Cables: 

After inspecting all the parts, I found corrosion on one of the needle bearings and a bushing on the bellcranks, so these parts were replaced. The bellcranks also had some corrosion which was removed and then the bellcranks were primed to prevent it corroding further. The bellcranks and pulleys were re-greased before being installed and the control cables routed through the wing ready for rigging.

Fuel Tank, Fuel Cell, Fuel Quantity Sender and Fuel Vent Valve: 

The Cessna 185 has what is called a 'Dry Wing', which means that it has a bladder instead of pouring the fuel directly into a sealed wing section. When you use a fuel cell, all the rivet heads and edges in the fuel tank have to be taped over with a special tape. The replacement wing had some very old tape, so all this had to be removed, the tank cleaned out and new tape applied. As I was about to install the fuel cell into the wing, I noticed a crack around one of the vent nipples. Therefore, we had to send it away to be repaired by Eagle Fuel Cells. But upon further inspection, they found that the seams were also leaking and beyond repair. So, we had to purchase a new cell. I also found the fuel vent valve, that needs a by-pass vent hole drilled into the side, had the hole drilled way too large. We had to replace it and then drill the correct size hole. Lastly, when removing the fuel screens, we found one screen was missing and was later found inside the fuel cell, whilst the other had a cracked sleeve. One was repaired and the other was replaced.

Horton STOL Kit: 

STOL stands for Short Take-Off and Landing. A STOL kit is designed the improve the stall characteristics of an airplanes wing so that it can fly slower safely and therefore land and take-off at a slower speed. There are numerous kits available for general aircraft including the Horton STOL, Robertson STOL, Sportsman STOL and the Crosswinds STOL. The Horton STOL Kit consists of two leading edge cuffs, a stall fence, aileron gap seals and a new wing tip for each wing. One of the cuffs was damaged, along with the wingtip and aileron gap seals, and two form blocks had been installed incorrectly so these all had to be replaced. The rest was removed from the damaged wing. This was the first time I had installed a STOL Kit, but by following the drawings I managed to do a fair job of riveting the cuffs on, placing the fence in the correct position, fabricating new aileron gap seals and install the wingtip.

A.R.T. Wing-X Wing Extension: 

Air Research Technologies Inc have developed a wing extension kit which will increase the gross takeoff weight of the aircraft which means that you can carry that extra load or additional passenger. This is very useful for when you are out on the mission field and don't know when you have to carry that extra load. Because of the extra stress on the wing by adding the extension, the kit also includes a packer and doubler to strengthen the top of the main spar and a stainless steel strap for the bottom of the spar. The top ones were done during the leading edge repair, but I installed the lower strap. The wing extension for the right wing had some damage, so I had to repair the extension before it could be installed. Once the repair was completed, it was time to add on the extension, making sure the dihedral, leading edge and trailing edge all line up.

Bushton Cuff: 

The aircraft wing is now about 2 foot longer with the extension but it also has a new leading edge profile from the Horton kit. Therefore, the wing extension also needs a new profile to match that on the wing and the wing-tip. That is where the Bushton Cuff comes in. A.R.T. have developed that cuff to match the profile of most STOL kits. It sits under the STOL cuff and the the wing-tip and it forms the profile. Then the bushton cuff is riveted onto the wing extension.

Well, that is what I've been doing to get the wing ready for intallation to the fuselage. Once it's done, I will be going over to the left wing to help the guys there, using all the knowledge that I've gained by installing all these kits and  repairs.

The Completed Wing (Just needs painting)