Thinking Out Loud …. Good news, engine news, bad news

This old dog is still going to be hunting

The Good News

If you’ve been following Thinking Out Loud for any length of time, you know I’ve been dancing with the Sword of Damocles over me for months in the form of Will-I-or-Won’t-I-get-Airplane Insurance. It’s an age thing. If I don’t get it, I’m done flying because no airport will let me base my airplane on their airport without making them named insured on my airplane policy. This is especially true because I’m looked at as being sort of a nutzo commercial operator (I’m told banging around the pattern with newbies in a semi-hot rod biplane is questionable behavior).

Well, screw ‘em! I just got insurance!!! Yeehah! This is a yearly thing with me and I’m super relieved. Onward and upward (literally!)

So, anyone out there whom I’ve told to hold off for Pitts training, come and get it!

There are friends and then there are friends.

I’m sitting here trying to come up with words that accurately describe how wildly lucky I’ve been in so many ways, but I’m failing. This is especially true when it comes to the incredible friends who have chosen to go through life with me. I’m truly blessed and know it. An excellent example of that is how the Pitts Special has brought so many outstanding people into my life. So, many!

So, right now I want to tell the story about how N8PB is getting a new rubber band. It’s a friendship thing.

Her current engine is running great but is getting a little long in the tooth. I don’t like going into my high season (October through May) with a motor that might let me down. So, I try to overhaul my engines in August. In April I started to order a set of new cylinders to have on the shelf because they can take ridiculously long times to be delivered. I budgeted $12K for them. But then there was the insurance thing. Would I actually need the cylinders? After June 1, when my insurance runs out, would I ever need anything aeronautical again? This was frustrating!

I was talking with my semi-brother, Pete Diaz, he of the Pitts Flying Museum here in Phoenix, about the problem and he said, “Go ahead and buy ‘em. If you don’t need ‘em I can always use ‘em.”

Having a friend with an airplane museum can be a good thing!

The next morning (we start texting around 0500 most days) he says, “You know, I have the engine that was on the number one Pitts S-2A sitting here on my floor.”

That was the very first factory-built Pitts Special and he sent the airplane back to Aviat with a dictum to “Make it new again.” This included hanging a new engine on it. So, Pete had the original as a spare.

“This engine looks good”, he continued, “but I don’t know the time on it. However, it was pickled when it was put in storage. If you think you can use it, it’s yours.”

This engine took its lengthy snooze in AZ where we consider anything over 20% is too damn humid. This engine had possibilities.

So, I broke a cardinal rule and accepted the gift. I’m not big on big freebies. In fact, this was the first.

Then we finally found the logs: THIS SUCKER HAD 10 HOURS ON IT WHEN PICKLED!!!  Damn! My buddy and mechanical savior, IA Pike Kelly, pulled a cylinder and found it to be flawless, totally new-looking, inside. Double damn!

So, the same day I found I’d have insurance and wasn’t being put out to pasture, we kicked the engine-project into gear. This would see all the pickled accessories (governor, fuel system, etc) put in for IRAN (freshening up) with the objective of hanging the shiny new IO-360 Lycoming on 8PB (after spiffing up the engine’s new home.) this summer.

Wow is all I can say!

I repeat, “There are friends and then there are friends!”

Now for the bad news: We lost Kent White this week and Dick Rutan before that!

Those who don’t know Kent White or have never met him, you’ve missed out on knowing one of this generation’s masters of everything. He could take a sheet of aluminum or a stack of steel and make anything, and I mean anything, out of it. Plus, he was a flat-out wizard when it came to passing his skills along to others via forums or the many videos he produced. He was as big in the hyper rare, expensive automotive restoration world as he was in aviation. Maybe bigger!

More important, he was a helluva good guy! A friend to us all.

His little company, Tinmantech.com, was the go-to for everything having to do with welding or forming metal. And I mean everything! I have no information about what’s going to happen to the company. His videos are good for generations of learning so someone could retail those. His welding supplies I don’t know about. As soon as I have any information, I’ll send it along to you.

Everyone is going to ask what happened: Reportedly, he was pulling a manzanita plant, fell and hit his head on the pavement. This is more than a little…I don’t know…interesting. This because the only other free form metal worker whose skill was close to Kent’s was Jim Younkin in Springdale, AR. He died some years ago when he slipped on the ice and hit his head! Again, I don’t know what to say.

At some point in the future, when I can get more details on his many projects I’m going to do an over length article on the man and his accomplishments.

In Memorium: Dick Rutan

I can’t do a better remembrance of Dick Rutan (he checked me out in the Long EZ) than what was done by former canard owner Bill Whittle for Facebook. I haven’t been able to get ahold of Bill to get his permission, so I hope I don’t irritate him by running this.

“My friend Dick Rutan passed away earlier this evening. I was greatly honored to write the following press release:

“Lt. Col (Ret.), Richard Glenn Rutan flew west on Friday, May 3, 2024 at 7:08 PM PDT.

“The last time Dick Rutan flew towards the western horizon was on December 14, 1986 when he and copilot Jeana Yeager set the last great aviation record by flying around the world nonstop and unrefueled in nine days, three minutes and 44 seconds in an aircraft called ‘Voyager’, which was designed by his younger brother, legendary aircraft designer Burt Rutan.

“A highly decorated Vietnam veteran, Dick Rutan flew 325 combat missions and was awarded the Silver Star, the Purple Heart, the Air Medal with three silver oak leave clusters, the Collier Trophy and was also awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross…twice!

“During his time in the skies of Vietnam, Dick was a member of an elite group of Fast Forward Air Controllers, often loitering over enemy anti-aircraft positions for six hours or more in a single sortie. These extremely hazardous missions had the call sign ‘Misty”. Dick Rutan was, and will forever be, Misty Four-Zero.

“He spent his last day in the company of friends and family, including his brother, Burt, and passed away peacefully at Kooenai Health Hospital in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho in the company of his loving wife of 25 years, Kris Rutan. He is survived by daughters Holly Hogan and Jill Hoffman, and his four grandchildren, Jack, Sean, Noelle and Haley.”

Thinking Out Loud can add absolutely nothing to this other than saying that Dick set the standard for what it meant to be a man, an aviator and a worthwhile human being. We can do no better. bd