Welcome to a work in progress

This blog is dedicated to the restoration and modification of a Glasflügel Standard Libelle H201B, and a tribute to those who have dared to do the same, and to those who are helping with seeing this dream take flight.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

From 42 Charlie to Naughty Nixie!

A little history during the early stages of the restoration

As soon as we started the process of new ownership registration of 7742C with the FAA, I moved to change the N number from 7742C to 623NX. It's funny, that during the time I spent looking up the history on 42 Charlie, (an not finding any history with the NTSB),  it wasn't until I looked at the aircraft records first hand to discover that the original registration was 41R.

They say when you are looking to buy an airplane, it's best to contract a broker to run a history on the plane you are interested in. The problem there is timing. It's a Catch 22, while you are in the works on running history and title report, someone can jump in an grab the plane you are interested before you hear back from your broker.

The NTSB did have at least one record of a hard landing with 41R. So, I knew that she had a sordid history, and since 41R already had a register change once, I felt that there was no bad luck in changing it again, like renaming a ship.

Just before I picked the glider up, Louise and I discussed possible new registration numbers. I was also looking at the contest registration at the SSA. Since our balloon was 623KL "Kolibri", we settled on the same number, but it was the last letters that jumped at me, "NX". It reminded me of all of the early aircraft that pioneered advances in aviation, Their prefix registration always began with "NX". Also, the SSA had the NX opened in the registry. So we reserved the N number 623NX with the FAA.

Later we pondered on a pet name for the bird. A few days after we received the new registration papers and the confirmation of the N number change, I sang out "Nixie is ours"... The strange thing is, the name Nixie , or Nixe in German, are river or stream Nymphs (river mermaids) from old German Folk Lore. Libelle in German means Dragonfly, and a juvenile dragonfly is known as a nymph. How fitting!
So, say hello to Nixie!


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