Wish I could be there too, Joe...weather has remained challenging here in the Pacific NW, and I doubt my Luscombe could get me there in time even in CAVU skies with nothing but tailwinds.
For those listening in, Joe Sills is a fine mechanic at 77T in Leander, Texas: three grass strips, no pavement of any sort, and hangars of all sorts, many now of that silvery wood you get when paint has long ago vanished and the finish is the wood's character alone.
When Joe annuals your airplane, it always comes out better than when it went on - not simply up to airworthiness standards. Sometimes it's little things, like a patch of velcro keeping an ANR headset battery box from dangling all over the cockpit. Sometimes it's a custom metal panel piece to cover up a yawning, ugly space in your panel where an ancient radio was removed ages ago. Just don't bother him while he works or phone him too often, and everything will turn out better than just fine
The pack I had in there at the time had been rebuilt for over three thousand dollars, and nearly drove the old fella who wrestled with it crazy. You could raise or lower the gear but it would pop out of over-center constantly on he ground. Kept you busy shoving that gear switch down as you taxied around. Joe's temporary solution was to keep one foot mashed on the switch - not one that would work for me, exactly.
There were four 14-19s on the field, most undergoing restoration of sorts. Joe borrowed a pack from one and it worked great. Seeing no point in further work on my pack, I hunted one down from a 'Master Al Pontius was parting out. It too worked wonderfully except for that single day. It doesn't matter that you installed it, Joe.
To my mind the whole things was the fault of no one. All mechanical things fail. They attach time to some of these to lessen the risk of failure - TBO, for example - but the risk is always there. There was no way the impending failure of my pack could have been revealed during the annual. The gear went up and down just fine.
"Stuff" happens all the time. When it happens in the air it can be distinctly more "memorable." You sign this unwritten contract every time you climb into the cockpit. That's that.
Hey Randy, and the other Texans within flying distance of Leander (near Austin): you'd do well to fly to 77T for the BBQ. Joe keeps his smoker going outside his hangar for a nice, long time prior to these events. The food is EXCELLENT, to understate things
Jonathan
