Jan 2014
So today was a good day…
For several months I’ve been working on a client’s 1959 Cessna 310 at Fox Field, the nearby airport. It’s a long story, but basically he bought the plane after it had been sitting outside, mostly abandoned, for the last 7 years. The plane had no radios, no engines, no propellers. But the rest of the airplane was absolutely new. It had new wires, control cables, pulleys, instruments, every system on the plane had been gone thru and made new. As sad as it looked, sitting in the sun with flat tires, it was actually a new plane. I know this because I’m the guy that did all that work, 7 years ago.
So the original owner abandoned the plane, it passed hands a few times until a doctor in Bakersfield bought it and hired me to make it airworthy again. The first order of business was to find engines and props. I told him what to look for, and after several months he discovered that it was far cheaper to buy an entire flying airplane than to buy just the engines and props. So that’s what he did. He bought a very nice 1962 model from somewhere in northern California and had it flown to my house. My job was to remove the engines and props, truck them over to the airport 12 miles away, install them in his older plane, and then inspect the plane and fix whatever needed fixing.
Now, I know you are wondering why the good doctor bought a perfectly good newer plane to fix his old plane. Why not just fly the new plane? Well, I would agree with you, but he had his heart set on this particular old bird, with its classic square tail and polished aluminum exterior. And since logic sometimes takes a back seat to romance, out came the engines and props.
Working away from my shop, even just 12 miles, was utter frustration. Not having every tool at my fingertip, not having access to my vast assortment of aircraft hardware, simply drove me nuts. Many times I would be working on some part, only to discover that I needed a screw, or a length of wire. Or maybe a simple tool that I hadn’t thought to bring. It was frustrating, but slowly, very slowly, the airplane was taking shape. It started out as “2 steps forward, 3 steps back,” but soon turned into “3 steps forward and 1 step back.” Hmmm, we’re making progress here…
So Thursday I was at the airport, working on the plane. I adjusted the door latch, installed the engine cowls and then finally, installed the spinners. I stepped back and was shocked to see a completely assembled airplane in front of me. I couldn’t think of anything else to fix. It was time for a little test…
So I called the doctor, and we agreed to meet at the airport this morning. Of course, nothing gets done without breakfast, so first we’re off to the airport café. After a platter of chicken-fried steak, eggs, potatoes, toast and coffee, we headed for the hangar and the waiting 310. We pulled the plane out of the hangar. I climbed in first, then the doctor after me in the right seat. I started the engines, then called Ground on the radio, requesting a high-speed taxi test. Ground approved the request and cleared us to taxi to the runway.
So this test involves taxiing out to the runway, lining up, then pushing up the throttles to max power, as if we were going to take off. Then just as the airplane gets to take-off speed, I would pull the throttles back to idle and brake to a stop. This gives me a good chance to stress the various systems and see if there might be any problems before a real flight. Far better to discover a problem now, or break something, while on the ground at home, instead of being stuck in East Muleshoe, Wyoming on a holiday weekend.
So we taxied. The doctor, having never before flown anything bigger than his Cessna 172, was surprised at how high we sat. In fact, he had never even flown in a 310; he just decided one day that he wanted one. Can’t blame him, really. They’re pretty awesome looking…
We got to the runway and I pulled over into the runup area. Then engines were warm, so I pushed the throttles up a little, just a fast idle and did a quick check of the four magnetos. Everything looked and sounded good so…
“Tower, 88Bravo is ready for taxi test. No flight.”
“88Bravo, cleared for taxi test.”
“88Bravo is rolling.”
I pushed up the throttles just a touch and released the brakes. We rolled out onto the runway; I lined us up on the centerline and stopped. “Ready?” I asked my passenger. He nodded his head.
I pushed both throttles up to max and released the brakes. The props bit into the air and we surged forward. The airplane was really light; it was just the two of us and we were almost out of gas, so the acceleration literally pushed us back into our seats. One prop lagged slightly behind the other, causing the plane to yaw sideways. I corrected this by working the rudder pedals, keeping us going straight. Both engines were really howling now, smoothly pulling us forward with ever-increasing urgency. A quick scan of the gauges showed oil pressure was good, and the tach needles were now lined up at the redline mark. I didn’t know how fast we were going because the airspeed indicator broke at the 100mph mark. In about 3 seconds, we had covered about 2000 feet and the nose was trying to come up. I shoved forward hard on the yoke to keep us on the ground. A second later and I had no choice except to pull the throttles back to idle. Any longer and we would have been airborne. I braked hard to test the brakes, bringing us to a stop. Then I did it again…
The second acceleration and braking took us to about 5000 feet down the runway, so I pulled off, onto the taxiway.
“Tower, 88Bravo would like to do that again.” There was no other traffic in the area, so I was being pretty informal on the radio.
“88Bravo, taxi to runway Six, stay on this frequency.”
So I taxied us back to the start of the runway. The tower controller must have been watching because before I could ask, he cleared us onto the runway…
“88Bravo, cleared for taxi test. The runway is yours.”
So I rolled out onto the runway but this time I didn’t stop. As we lined up on the centerline I just pushed the throttles all the way forward. It was the same as the previous tests; the engines roared and we blasted down the runway. The plane was getting very light on its feet. It was soooo tempting to just ease back on the yoke and take it around the pattern. But good sense prevailed…
It seemed as soon as I had firewalled the throttles, I was pulling them back to idle. This time I let the airplane roll out, slowing itself without using the brakes. Once we were down to a reasonable speed, I turned off at the next intersection and headed back to the hangar.
“Tower, 88Bravo taxi to west hangars. Thanks for your help.”
Everything had worked great. Well, except for the airspeed indicator. I had been pretty busy, controlling the plane, monitoring the gauges and talking to tower, and I didn’t notice how quiet my passenger had been. Come to think of it, he hadn’t made a sound. I looked over and his eyes were the size of saucers. I just grinned at him and said, “Told you this thing was fast.”
He was speechless. His mouth opened and closed, but nothing came out. The plane was soooo much faster than anything else he had flown, and we were just taxiing. Finally he just said, “Wow.” But once we climbed out, he was jumping up and down like a kid at Christmas. He is so excited to see that his airplane really will fly.
I pulled the plane in front of his hangar and spun it 90 degrees with just a touch of inside brake and outside throttle. Shut the engines down. We got out and pushed the plane back inside the hangar. No leaks, no drips, nothing hanging off. All in all, a pretty good day.
And that’s the news from Flying Dog Ranch…