Well, the ride in the tow plane turned out to be a ride in a power club plane on the other side of the airfield, and turned out to be no ride at all.
We did the prefilight checks, pulled it out of the hangar, started it up.
Seemed a little rough to me for a six-cylinder, but what do I know.
Jan kept fiddling with the throttle and mixture.
Stuck valve on one of the cylinders, so it (whichever one it is) has to be pulled and repairs effected.
A mechanic (also a member of the glider club) in the next hanger, restoring an old Beechcraft Baron Twin will do the work when he gets around to it.
He's also rebuilding a Jantar glider (his) in another hangar, it's as stripped down as they get right now, parts everywhere.
So I'm a jinx when it comes to power planes.
Yesterday, my time to go up in the glider, helped refuel the Cessna towplane, no start.
It's been not charging the battery reliably - doesn't make much of a safety hazard as the engine is not dependent on the battery to run.
They'd found little problems, loose crimp, cracked mount, too long belt, etc. while trying to figure it out before.
Finally decided it's an alternator or voltage regulator problem. It's a Ford alternator. So no fly today, and tomorrow is bad weather. Maybe back online for Wednesday if the parts can be tested, repaired, or procured.
It's kinda cramped in the engine bay. Red line points to the alternator location. Engine mounts have to be loosened to get it out, hence, the crane.
Two gliders were trailered to Tennessee.
They come apart easily enough, if you have a few extra hands to manhandle the wings. This a Grob Twin Astir two-seater, and it is quite heavy.
More modern solo gliders can be broken and assembled and trailered single-handedly, lightweight carbon fiber and rigging supports and all that.
This one below, there were all kinds of home-made wooden jigs to hold it in the trailer that somebody made 50 years ago.
It was a real puzzle to figure out what goes where and why and in what sequence to do it.
The guy in the middle is holding the last piece of rigging, still trying to figure out where it goes. It went in the front, between the wings, up top, slipped over the partially extended flaps.
The rebuild of the other tow plane is coming along very nicely.
All the big work is done, the wings are reattached now, this is an earlier picture, but shows the nice paint scheme.
Last Sunday was good flying for me, looks like April is a particularly good weather month. Highest altitude over 6700 feet, over two and a half hours in the air.
Doing much better on the takeoff and tow, don't feel the instructor in the back seat overriding my control inputs now. So, progress is being made.
Still get yelled at, though from time to time.
Anyway, having fun with all that.