Hello Bob,

Marry Christmas and happy new year!

For those that don't know, I learned to fly at Bob's flight school, Dragonfly Aviation. Bob was one of my instructors. He has 2 601XLs in his fleet of planes.

Steve

Thanks Dad,

Must run in the family!

Nice looking plane you have, too. I'll forward the pictures of you and Mom flying into and leaving Santa Paula Airport - that was a fun visit. I just got an information about some live-in residence/hangars they are putting in there: Sky Lofts, a nice modern 2 bed/2bath loft over medium-sized hangars.

Ian

Ian

HI Bob,

It seems to be an upbeat and positive site. I'm just glad to have a reason to renew some enjoyable contacts. Please stay in touch,

Ed

Hi Bob,

Thanks for accepting my friend request. I have worked my final assembly through some fix-ups of screw-ups... basically wiring mistakes that surfaced as I reassembled and tested various systems. It's embarrassing and humbling to realize that I can make such obvious bonehead mistakes and not catch them until much later. Better now than in the air though.

The really good news is that my "punch list" is down to less than two dozen lines on a legal pad. I'm about to install the harnesses and a safety strap for the canopy. With a few stories of canopies opening inflight, I decided it would be worth the minimal expense trouble and weight to add a 1.5" wide seatbelt that anchors at the outboard harness bracket. From there, it will extend upward to a normal seatbelt buckle/release and the other end will be rivetted to the canopy frame. If/when the canopy pops loose inflight, it won't be able to rise more than an inch or two at the most. That should allow me to get back down for a change of trousers etc.

Anyway, everytime I work now, the plane gets more complete looking. That's gratifying after all the hours spent doing stuff that didn't show much at the time.

Ed

I wish I was close enough to get to you for transition training. I'm beating the bushes to find an XL close enough to be convenient.

Ed

Hi, Bob...glad to see you on here. I'm getting ready to take my CFI-SP checkride in a few weeks. Quite a long way from dropping N601BA in from a few feet up, eh?

For other folks reading this, Bob gave me a flight review and a Zodiac checkout in February 2008. He was great to fly with, especially since I was very, very rusty, and it showed. If you're looking for flight instruction before flying your Zodiac, you won't go wrong with Bob.

I can vouch for Bob's instructors and 601XL. If it wasn't for them, I don't know where I would have got a check out. Bob, thanks for your help.
Mack
The poh-oh-unemployed Idaho farm boy