Lincoln

There was a slight change of plans in that the Flagship did not go to Topeka after all.  This gave the crew a much needed break from the being out in the heat and a nine day home visit. Gene Christian and Zane Lemon returned to Wichita on Tuesday, July 31st and were met by Mike Buffington who took them to Jabara airport to pick up a rental car.  They came early because it was time for the plane's monthly inspection. 
Gene said there was a saying on the wall in his motel room: "Everyday may not be a good day, but there is good in every day." This proved to be true as Wednesday turned out to be overcast and windy, making the day tolerable for assisting a local mechanic in performing the inspection.  Because this was accomplished easily, there was a lot of free time on Wednesday for flight training and as a result, Zane is now a real certified DC-3 pilot.  He did this so well and efficiently (Zane does everything in this manner), they returned to the airport and had the plane cleaned, oiled and fueled by the time Dave Buffington arrived at 2PM. Buff was amazed at all that had been accomplished.
On Thursday, Zane flew the plane to Lincoln with an intermediate stop in Fremont, NE where his in-laws and wife, Deanna were. There was a short layover to allow the in-laws to tour the plane and then on to Lincoln, a charming historic town.
Our hosts in Lincoln were the members of EAA Chapter #569, along with Duncan Aviation. Chapter President, Christi Higgins, was an enthusiastic and tireless worker, especially in selling memberships.  Ed Siudzinski, who is a docent at the SAC museum near Omaha, spent hours in the relentless heat helping our crew clean the airplane for showing. That's Christi and Ed with Gene in the center in the first photo. Dennis Crispin manned out membership table. Don and Yvonne Shoemaker (second photo) put the crew up in their motel and treated them to meals at their restaurant, in addition to helping at the airport. Don owns a twin Navion, which is a rare bird. Many thanks to all of these folks whowent above and beyond and made our visit to Lincoln a success!
Andy Bajc, the director of maintenance at Duncan was instrumental to a successful visit, getting the plane fueled and the tires filled.  Zane's nephew, John Simms, is an employee at Duncan.  He is the one who put everything together for this visit.  He also took our crew on an extensive tour of Duncan's facilities where there are 1200 employees active in overhauling and refurbishing corporate jets. Jets come here from all over the world to get new custom interiors which are state of the art.
The hard work paid off and resulted in a membership flight which was almost full. The crew was startled to walk out of their hotel on Saturday to a temperature of 58 degrees, gotta love those cold fronts sweeping across the plains!  It did warm on up to 90, but that seemed cool after the well above 100's they had been getting. On Sunday Zane went back to Fremont to join his family, while Gene and Buff flew the plane to Tulsa where the plane will be on display at the Tulsa Air and Space Museum next weekend.
After Tulsa, the Flagship will return to Alliance Field in Ft. Worth where she will get her six month check up. Later in the month she will head west, first stop Rocky Mountain Airport just north of Denver for their air show. We were there last summer and really enjoyed it.