Monday, February 17

The Snowbird Flies

Take off from Covington
On Saturday, February 8th, Captain Blake Butler drove down to Covington, GA where the Flagship resided from his hilltop home in Shelbyville, TN. He and Captain Gene Christian then prepared the Flagship for a flight. She had not been off the ground in almost three mon
On Sunday morning, off they went. She was a little slow to start to taxi and I had to wonder if she had grown roots into the tarmac after so long in one place. But no, once she began to roll, it was no time at all until she was in the air, such a lovely sight.
Captain Bob Gross
The men were met in Fort Pierce, FL by Captains John Thatcher and Bob Gross. That is Bob at the controls with the big grin as he worked to renew his currency after having heart surgery last June. He is glad to also be back at the helm at American Airlines. Bob offered his spacious home in a fly in community in Jupiter as a bunkhouse for the men.
Bill Brooks washing engine cowlings.
The plane is in Fort Pierce to undergo its rigorous six month inspection being preformed by Missionary Flight International.This company operates DC3s in support of missionaries in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas. Since all of their pilots are also certified mechanics, they are the perfect fit to do out inspection.
On Monday the men were joined by Bill Brooks one of our most dedicated non-pilot members to clean and prepare the airplane for the inspection. The more our volunteers do, the less the cost of the inspection.
Several other members plan to travel to Ft. Pierce in the coming days to continue the work of spiffing the plane to ready it for the 2014 air show season.

No comments:

Post a Comment