With the FAA paper finally in hand, the shout came out from Charlie 'Move that plane NOW!'. 

The Thunderbirds (you know the F16s that display really well), were ready to do their display to close the whole weeks events... but they couldn't.    The crowds were on the line, and the planes had their jet engines running, but they were not being given the 'GO!' until after the One Week Wonder did its first ever 'under its own power' taxi.   

There…

Arriving on the Sunday morning, nobody felt 'not tired', but everybody felt 'totally exhilarated'.  The One Week Wonder sat out front, like a toddler about to go out in it's push chair for the first time, full of anticipation, ready for an adventure - but looking so innocent and unprepared.

It was 99% ready, and with just 50% left to go!  But that 50% was going to be a challenge... Then, they came with a black plastic bag and a remote control unit for the countdown clock.  It…

Saturday morning was a blur.  Nobody could remember their own names any more - let alone whether they were coming or going...  It was as if those 'patience pills' were affecting memory too!  Thankfully, between everybody, everything was being accounted for, but the team were visibly slowing down.  Caution was being applied, because everybody knew that it was better to miss the deadline than make a mistake that could jeopardise the long term benefits from…

Friday... less than two days to go... 

everybody finally realized that somebody had been lying to the team - that clock was not right.  This was not anything like a seven day challenge.  Seven days would have given the team until 08:00 on Monday morning... BUT the organizers had this hidden agenda... the plane would be INSPECTED on the SUNDAY by the FAA... and needed full FAA certification before 15:00 on that very Sunday... so that a public taxi test could take…

With all the 'smaller surfaces' completed, day four was a day of looking for jobs for the core team not involved in the fuselage or left wing - there was no shortage of tasks - event the clearing up and sorting out the tools that had managed to have a party and get muddled up! 

For those who had built Zenith Aircraft before, this seemed like an easy build - until they all realized that this was a CH750 Cruzer - so it was different.  With less than a handful of Cruzers flying…