I'm WHAT!!!!

Yes, that is what I was thinking when I received a phone call from my work. Friday, May 28th at 4:30pm, the end of the company bi-weekly pay period, I received a call from my supervisor informing me that I was being let go. Seven and a half years with the company, and that was it! I have just joined the ranks of the twenty percent of this country!

Now I had to put my project on hold. There is no way one could justify spending anytime or money on a frivolous project when you now had a bigger worry, how you are going to afford keeping a roof over your head!

The company gave me a stay of execution by letting me stay on for one month to allow them the time to break the news to the clients of other companies I was working with. There were all sorts of conditions that I had to keep secret, or they would terminate me on the spot. You've got to love that upper management and the value they have toward their employees! (which of course is based on their bottom line, and I'm sure they're not skimping on their bonus either). So, I played by their rules, in order for me to get a jump on finding new employment.

For the next four weeks, I concentrated on keeping the clients unaware of what our company was doing. I was keeping them happy, and looking for work (averaging ten to twenty applications a week), and worked on my school assignments.

Any donations sent to my paypal address axflyer@aol.com to help me finish this project will be gratefully accepted!   ;-)

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Any way , all kidding aside, .... on the following weekend, I vented my frustration by starting the sanding off of the gelcoat on the fuselage, and the removing of the last of the linkages in the rear area of the cockpit.

Let's look at those parts.

When you first look inside the fuselage through that access hatch, you realize you need to have small children around to help with removing parts. It is a tight squeeze.

As you can see, there is a great deal of surface corrosion that will need to be addressed.

Here is a detail photo showing the copper tubing used for the original oxygen system, and also the black COAX used for the antennae. This COAX was a heavy, non aviation grade wire. This appears to have been a replacement since it was not pulled thru the original holes in the ribbing . To add insult to injury, they left the old COAX still in the ribbing. Note the white wire in the top left side of the photo. It's the one in the middle of those three wires fished thru the rib. Who ever did this mod needed to be shot!. If you look at the center red circle, the Black COAX was held in place by a single plastic zip-tie. They also drilled a hole straight thru the rib and out thru the bottom of the fuselage.

I thought this hole was from a BB shot by someone on the ground. No, just some drill happy person doing a hack job while mounting the antenna cable. And then not taking the responsibility to repair the damage. 

Continuing the examination and removal....

This is a shot of the left side with left aileron linkage and airbrake actuator.




And below is a shot of the right side, with the elevator control rod , airbrake actuator.

Before removing the push rods, linkages and actuators, I had to remove the old copper tubing and electrical wiring.

Then starting with the airbrake actuator rod, I began removing the nuts and bolts and parts, one by one, only leaving the landing for another day.


As the parts starting seeing the light of day, the extent of the corrosion and what would be needed to clean them could now be appreciated.



Next, the extent of the corrosion.