The weather wasn't quite what the forecasters predicted a few days ago, with blustery winds and temperatures only near 50. Despite that, a few hardy souls flew into Wiebe Field at Halstead, Kansas today for the March meeting of MAAG. Many others opted for ground transportation. Nearly 40 folks enjoyed Mark's talent at the grill as they savored the hamburgers and hot dogs he prepared. There were also a lot of good side dishes and deserts brought by fellow members. The brownies were especially good!

John Frisbie flew in from Udall, Kansas in his beautiful 1940 Taylorcraft. It is a model BC-65.

Kevin Pullum, from Goddard, Kansas, flew in to Halstead in his 1943 A75N1 (PT-17). Probably a very chilly flight!

John and Judy Kliewer flew their 1946 Cessna 120 to Wiebe Field. Note the efforts to keep heat in the engine compartment.

Wayne Bormann arrived in his Cessna 150. We also had a 1999 Aviat A-1B in attendance.

Mark Wiebe is in the middle of recovering this Stearman biplane owned by Randy Hardy. The fuselage is parked outside to make room for the tables and chairs in the hangar. The wings are finished and look great.

Sky and I bringing the wings down to strip the fabric this morning. We're at the point where we need to fit the new fuel tank and associated plumbing so it's time to do the wings. The outside is terribly stained by bird-droppings and discolored from the sun. We didn't know how the inside would look unless we took the fabric off. The fabric is 18 years old, so it was about time to do it anyway.

Engine news: Glenn's friend Roger Teagarden has a core A65 sitting in his basement and has graciously allowed us to send the cylinders in to have them checked out before we decide it we want to purchase it. No logbooks, so it's only value is as a core. But we'll have a spare crank and cam too.

I had sent my 4 A-65 cylinders off my Cub in to be inspected. The previous owner had thrown a rocker arm boss in 1996 and had parked the airplane. He had 4 cylinders in boxes in his basement, but never put them on. Good thing.

The shop called yesterday with the results and it was the last thing I wanted to hear. All 4 cylinders had exhaust guides in the intake guide spot. One cylinder was 15-over but otherwise okay. One cylinder has the exhaust valve seat peened into place but was otherwise okay. The last two cylinders were both shot and one of those had deep divots in the head that he didn't think chroming could fix.

I'm going to take the crank and cam shaft in on monday to be magnafluxed and see if they're okay. Then I'll decide what to do about the cylinders.

Anyone have a spare C-85 or O-200 laying around?

Here in Texas we talk about the weather and how fast it can change.  Snowing one day and a few days later sunny and warm.  A little over a week ago we were blessed with one of those sunny days on a Saturday.  Light winds and clear skies are what most pilots hope for.  When shooting pictures, especially air to air pictures, you REALLY hope for those conditions.  A quick email and a phone call and my friend Rex and I were set up to do a photo mission.  I enlisted my friend Lynn to ride and fly right seat for me while Rex had his son, Russell, ride along to handle the cameras.  We briefed our flight, formation and locations before taking off.  Off into the blue skies we went  Rex was first in his Cherokee.  Then we switched lead and is was 170s turn.  As can be seen in the above shot, Russell did a fantastic job shooting the 170.  An added bonus was a few short video clips.  Looking forward to making a short film of the 170 soon.  Thanks again to Rex and Lynn for flying and Russell (of Seed Studios) for taking the fine shots.  Check out more of the 170 pics here.

Sorry, it's been a while, I know. Lots of things going on here. First of all, I had an interview with an airline in Atlanta. They turned me down, which is good because I didn't have to turn them down. My airline days (being on reserve, being junior available, working all holidays, maintenance delays, lying dispatchers) are fortunately behind me. I've also become a house husband, taking care of our 4-year old. My wife has a temp job that may lead to full-time so my time to work on the Cub is limited.

One of my friends has asked me to fill in for two weeks on his Citation V. We're going to go get me somewhat current next week. See if I can fly a Cessna around the patch. The job is in April so we have some time and I'll be riding shotgun anyway so all I have to know is how to close the door and talk on the radio and I'm set.

That leads to the question of "Where are we?" Well, I put the brace wires on the tail today. You'd think it would be easy, but no, it's not. You have to clean the holes for the bolts, find all the fittings, nuts, bolts and wires. Okay, that's about 2 hours. Then you can start to fit the parts together to make it pretty. I'll level it tomorrow and hopefully attach the elevators and connect the control cables.

I sent the engine cylinders off to be checked out yesterday. The were either new or yellow tagged in 1996 but they'd been sitting ever since then. We took out the pistons and hot-tanked them before sending them off. Should be back in 10 days.

Sky has his spring break next week so I'm hoping we can make great progress then.

That's where we are.

The March MAAG meeting will be on Sunday, March 14, 2010. We will gather at Wiebe Field in Halstead at 1:00 PM. Mark will be grilling hamburgers and hotdogs. Please bring a side dish or desert. Guests are always welcome, so bring a friend!

Sorry about the lack of updates recently, I've been looking for and applying for a job with a vengence so I haven't spent much time on the Cub.

Sky is busy building balsa-wood models. We have to run to the Hobby Shop every saturday to get paint or more models. He's foaming at the mouth to cover his models.

Glenn has two of the Standard J1 wings covered with one coat of clear polybrush on them.

In his "spare" time, Glenn painted my tail surfaces for me since when I paint it's "run central." Little Boo and I are headed out to the airport this morning to hook up the tail control cables and the gas shutoff valve cable.