I need a group hug !

Bruno, I think the hug suddenly looks more appealing than the two beers.

Tom, I think we've all done something like that making individual parts for something. Some of us have found we've gotten weeks-deep into computer code that was going to have to be scrapped.

I think Dennis has the answer!
 
Thank you all for the support

Thank you all for the support

My very first thought was ...... "spacers". My second thought was "I can't sell a part that has spacers".

After I slept on it, the manufacturing problem didn't seem so dreadful.

Today dawned bright and sunny. I decided to take a break and do some flying. Matt (Mr Grey) and Adam had their gyros out and were about to go flying as well.

As fate would have it, I ran into a friend I owed a ride, so off we went. My friend, Billy, is more current in my Sundowner than I am. After the run-up, as I taxied out I told Billy, over the intercom, that I hadn't flown since my BFR 6 months ago, and not to be afraid to call me out on any mistakes or oversights. I then went to announce our departure and realized that I had been pushing the mic button as if it were an intercom button.
A great way to start off a flight, announcing to everyone that you "might be a menace".
Billy and I flew north to the south side of Chicago and over the former US Steel South Works (were we both were employed in the late sixties)

I had to cap off the day with another faux pas. I complained to Billy that "No one is using radios in the pattern" that's when I noticed I was on 127.000 instead of 122.700.

I should probably fly more often.

Thanks again for the support.

1) Chicago from the south side. The Sears tower is poking it's antennae abve the haze layer. Large buildings to the right are the Standard oil building and the John Hancock Center. The new Trump tower is starting to add to the skyline.
2) I managed a semi-smile
3) My Beechcraft Sundowner (photo from a warmer day)
 

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Bruno, I think the hug suddenly looks more appealing than the two beers.

Tom, I think we've all done something like that making individual parts for something. Some of us have found we've gotten weeks-deep into computer code that was going to have to be scrapped.

I think Dennis has the answer!


I wasn't sick over the loss of the parts, it was being so close to shipping these orders and then having to go back to square one.

I'm not much of a beer drinker, but I might start. Thanks Bruno. That made me smile more than today's flying.
 
Nice Pict of the windy city Tom! Thanks!
 
Tom,

I f we were perfect we would all have wings on our backs and no need for aircraft.

We are human and we do make mistakes. I have been inyour very shoes and the feeling is terrible but there is nothing to turn back the clock all we can do is learn from it and try to ensure that we don't step on our dingy again because it hurts when we do.

My Sympathy,

Ken
 
Windy & hazy city

Windy & hazy city

Nice Pict of the windy city Tom! Thanks!

I'll get you some shots on a clear day.

One of my other hobbies is ship spotting (like train spotting, only different) I only have interest in "Lake Boats" from 1900 to the sixties, classic laker designs.

I took these pictures today. 01/27/2008

1) In winter lay-up, the St Marys Challenger is still getting the job done after 100 years of steamin' (she's oil fired now, but still steam powered) It hauls cement for the St Marys Cement company. It was once banned from Chicago as "Cursed". The mayor at the time, was the father of the current knucklehead mayor Daley (he's the one that bulldozed Meigs Field during the night).

2) Is the Algomarine delivering a load of salt from Canada. Most lake shipping is shut down and the locks are closed for the season. A few ships are maing last minute salt and iron ore runs while the big lake is still relatively ice free down here. The 5 tug boats in the upper right are over 100 years old. A friend of mine works aboard them. Fun in the summer, unthinkable in January.
 

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I complained to Billy that "No one is using radios in the pattern" that's when I noticed I was on 127.000 instead of 122.700.
I can see the dog ate your check list again, uh? :D
MInd too busy Tom???
Heron
 
Tom:

I don't think there's a pilot who uses a radio that hasn't dialed up the wrong frequency at least once in his/her flying career. I know I've done it myself.

Regarding all your pictures, they are excellent. One question, when you took the picture of the Chicago skyline were you within the mode C transponder veil? Just wondering.

And regarding the pictures of the ships, I know you used to work at U.S. Steel South Works. Well, I used to work at Gary Works and I always got a kick watching the ore boats some in to dock. I even remember seeing the Edmund Fitzgerald come in many times before it sank. That was a bit erie for me.

Bob
 
Tom: I know you are being modest. Anybody out here that doesnt really know Tom.......this man is a walking encyclopedia of rotorcraft knowledge. I would rather listen than talk when I am around him. He is so full of different stories .....simply an amazing man.


Tom.....I wish all I did was dial in a wrong frequency......:wave:


Stan
 
Tom: I know you are being modest. Anybody out here that doesnt really know Tom.......this man is a walking encyclopedia of rotorcraft knowledge. I would rather listen than talk when I am around him. He is so full of different stories .....simply an amazing man.


Tom.....I wish all I did was dial in a wrong frequency......:wave:


Stan

Stan will say most anything if you buy him lunch. The trouble is, he goes alone and eats without you!

Love you buddy !
 
Hay Tommy I miss all of you old chapter 18 guy's . I wish I was there to help you but it's too cold and I'd realy screw thing up for you . Remember Valentines Day 1980 ? You were there . I got my pilots License on that day . I didn't realize that Dick died on Valentines Day . It all seams like yesterday .
I miss you love you and I'm throwing you out a big hug and a big kiss . I hope that makes you feel better .
 
Mode C and ship chat

Mode C and ship chat

Tom:

I don't think there's a pilot who uses a radio that hasn't dialed up the wrong frequency at least once in his/her flying career. I know I've done it myself.

Regarding all your pictures, they are excellent. One question, when you took the picture of the Chicago skyline were you within the mode C transponder veil? Just wondering.

And regarding the pictures of the ships, I know you used to work at U.S. Steel South Works. Well, I used to work at Gary Works and I always got a kick watching the ore boats some in to dock. I even remember seeing the Edmund Fitzgerald come in many times before it sank. That was a bit erie for me.

Bob

Bob, I was well into the mode c veil. I would have been talking to Meigs, if it was still there. Gary was sending departures our way and I was on the freq with them virtually all the while I was up.

I used to see the Fitz as South Works as well. Many of the USS fleet are still in service today. Arcelor-Mittal steel (formerly Inland, ISPA,etc) still has some art deco ships hauling ore.

My mothers side lived in Sturgeon Bay, WI. Many of my relatives built boats like these in the shipyards. It's in my blood.

I signed on as an able bodied seaman with the union hall and was waiting to ship out for my first sail when I fell in love with the girl next door. Sailing on a laker is like joining the French foreign legion. I never made it to sea as a merchant marine. My union hall was the same one Richard Speck sailed from.

The Fitz was only one of 4 lakers that sank in my lifetime, all took more crew to their deaths than the Fitz. Gordon Lightfoot made the Fitz famous.

The Arthur Anderson was following the Fitz when she went down. The Anderson is still plying the Great Lakes and a frequent visitor to our end of the lake.
 
Hello Tom,

I believe we had a discussion about this very thing.

Think about it as going to school.

The day you stop learning you might as well just roll over and die, in my opinion learning and struggle are what makes one know he is alive.

You have my empathy.

Thank you, Vance
 
Hay Tommy I miss all of you old chapter 18 guy's . I wish I was there to help you but it's too cold and I'd realy screw thing up for you . Remember Valentines Day 1980 ? You were there . I got my pilots License on that day . I didn't realize that Dick died on Valentines Day . It all seams like yesterday .
I miss you love you and I'm throwing you out a big hug and a big kiss . I hope that makes you feel better .

Careful Gary, they might start up that sex change thread again.

I over it. I really hate inconveniencing my customers because I screwed up.
 
Vance, Learning new things and meeting new people has been the reward for making prerotators for the last year.

The most ironic thing that has happened so far is reading a thread here, where Bud O'Neal and Dennis Fetters were having a bit of a feud. I know both these guys and like them a lot. It saddens me.
Within hours Bud called about something, we visited. Minutes later, Dennis called. I wish I could have put the three of us on a conference call.
 
Tom one conciliation.

January 31 is just about here. Hang in there and take some time off for yourself the first of February.
Deadlines are always a pressure cooker waiting to pop and I am sure the customers will realize what you have been going through with the E-LSA deadlines and will be disappointed but understanding.

One side note. A person I worked with at a machine shop was to cut off the raw stock for a small job and the parts kept coming up a 1/8” short. Later found out his new scale was short the first 1/8”. Even Starrett makes mistakes sometimes.
 
Tom,

I think Dennis has the answer.

With spacers or shims, you now have "adjust-ability" built into the part by using different thicknesses. Maybe, your subconscious mind came up with the new improved design but failed to inform you. Brilliant!

Thanks again Tom for your excellent products and services.

I need a prerotator setup for a RFD rotor head and a Rotax 503 w/B box when possible, and a rotor brake for same.

.

.
 
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