Look at this...

Here's some pictures of great progress this week during the last few days. We had so much frustration (and probably still will) in the installation of our new IO-550-N engine onto our 206, N827DG. It is an STC installation...that means that the airplane comes stock with a smaller engine, and the STC allows you to install a bigger, more efficient engine and a new propeller. However, there are all sorts of new things within the installation that we are learning. There are many small things that we are sort of scratching our heads as to why the company that owns the STC (no names) did some of the things they did. More than once I was yelling at the engine (should of had a video of that, bet I looked dumb) because of some crazy piece, part, or widget that was incorrect. I don't know...we're learning on this one, so hopefully the next one, we'll be ready for these sorts of things. At least I'm figuring out some of the spare parts we need to have in the inventory. Oh, well. We finally got the engine hard mounted (after much grunting, groaning, hollering, and fighting on Caleb and my parts), so we're happy about that. New windows are being made and installed. Major control surfaces and other smaller parts and pieces have been painted and many more are waiting for paint. It was a good week. Hopefully we'll have another one coming up where a lot of work can get accomplished. Kudos to my crew.

Roy (L) and Tim (R) installing some windows.

These next two pictures are what we jokingly call our "prayer letter" pictures. These are our "success" pictures after we've mounted the engine...finally.


Caleb and the new engine. He sure fought the thing tooth and nail to get it mounted.

Here it is...guess we need to put some air in the nose strut now.

The week so far

This week has been a busy week and lots of "visual progress" has been accomplished.


Installing the engine control cables...the Kenyans laughed and laughed because they thought my head was going to be stuck between the Radio Rax. I admit, I did have to fold my ears in to get my head back out. Haha!

This is the view fom behind. They laughed about this because they said it looked like I had lost something and was looking for it.

Hey, look, an engine being installed...temporarily.

Tim petting the new engine...so nice...haha!

Painting primer.

Painting white...3 coats. Looks oh, so nice. Thanks Jose, Joseph, and David for their hard work prepping and painting.

More from this week

The IO-550-N with some of the baffles that I have been installing. It is a careful and detailed installation. I still have some to do; it just takes time.

Insulation! The guys installed some insulation in the interior of the fuselage.

David Moroa, Radio Base extraordinare, working on avionics and electrical installation.

Circuit breakers and switch panel in the process of being fitted/installed.

Update...

MAI boys...
Brandon's instrument panel that he made.

Here's me getting the IO-550-N ready for installation. I was taking off the engine mount legs used for shipping and putting on the ones used for the Cessna 206.

This is my setup for getting the engine ready for installation. I have all the stuff out for the STC engine work so that we can get it totally installed in the next week.

Tim and David cleaning some parts as we're getting ready to start painting some things this week. We're really seeing some good progress...even with all the other side tracking that seems to be occurring.

Josh and Wilson. Josh just finished at the hangar, but will still be around in Nairobi and Kenya for another few weeks. Wilson is one of our workers in stores (parts room).

Some pictures of this week...

Here's some pictures from this week. It was a good week and we got a lot done; there's always more to do. Anyway, here's some highlights:








This is David cleaning out the belly of the fuselage. Note the newly painted landing gear with new tires.












Here's Tim, one of our new recruits, cleaning all the door sills so they will be ready for painting, as well as removing some of the light corrosion on the fuselage.













Ryan showing Brandon how to use the hydraulic press to punch holes in the new instrument panel that Brandon made. It was cool; when the punch cut through the .063" metal, it made a loud POP!
(notice Brandon's reaction)













Some of you might not have any clue what this picture is. This is a bucking bar that someone (no names here) left inside a flap while doing a repair. The entire flap was riveted closed and when it was picked up a clunk, clunk was heard. Nice. So un-rivet a portion and I found the culprit hiding inside. Oh, well. Mistakes are human. No worries.

Pictures from around the hangar...

Here's the hangar itself.

Here's me (inside) and Josh (outside) reinstalling the fan motor in the bead blast machine. I itched for the rest of the day.

Weird, I know, having a picture of a girl that's not my wife on my blog. There is a reason, though! This is Amanda Kleist...she's the first female pilot on AIM Air's staff. Sort of like the Amelia Earhart...or something like that.

This is Stephen Kimani, our parts room (or "stores" as they call it here) guy. The first picture I took, his reflective vest was really shiny and all that, and I told him he was all shiny like an angel. So in this picture, he's spreading his wings like an angel so I could get another picture of "the angel that stays in stores."

This week...

Hey, I actually am doing some of the work and not just taking pictures all the time. Here I'm taking some rivets out in the tail section so I can install some avionics trays that I fabricated for the GPS and the HF.

David Akivega, one of my hard workers. He has a wife and two young kids, too, so we have a lot in common.

Stumped. No, just kidding, this is Caleb really getting into the manual for installing the Flint tip tanks. You can carry about 15 more gallons on each wingtip with this mod.

Landing gear parts and pieces drying from paint...the first time. The primer did not adhere to the metal and therefore the paint did not either. We had to strip it all back down to bare metal and do it again. I went in this Saturday morning to get it finished (along with Caleb and Adamson...thanks, guys).

This is the Flint tip tank fuel boost pump. This is a modification that Caleb and Brandon did. The pump is located just aft of where the wing strut attaches to the wing itself.

Some sheetmetal being done this week...

Here's some pictures from this week so far...


The Radio Rax that Ryan finished up...did a great job, too.

The beginning of a sheetmetal project. You cut a big hole in the tunnel under the engine compartment and make a big access panel for the nose gear and fuel filter bowl.

This is Josh Smith, short termer, in the position he spent most of Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday all day. He was the one cutting the big inspection hole, making the new panel, installing the nutplates, etc. He did a nice job. We laughed because he could barely fit his head in the hole with the ear muffs on while he was cutting the hole.

Aahhh, the finished product...nicely done.

A couple non 206 pictures...

How's this for wrecking your airplane in the middle of nowhere. That's a CASA 212 up in Sudan.


This is an old picture of the King Air 200 that SP bought and is bringing over to Nairobi sometime this fall. It used to be owned by Evergreen (duh).

Past week in pictures...

Roy, my main go-to guy on the projects. He's diligent and a good worker.


The new Radio Rax installation, being put in by Ryan Williams. This is his second time installing the system...he's going to do it perfect this time, I know.
Waldo, one of our Radio Base guys, doing some work on the firewall, installing contacters and other electrically related items.

"Stuff" - control surfaces, all sorts of parts back on the yellow shelves...and John Mosby, our Chief Engineer here at AIM Air, in the right of the picture behind the control surfaces

Modifying the wing tips for the installation of the Flint tip tanks. You have to chop a little section out of the leading edge of the wing and the Horton STOL kit and add those green rectangle pieces in as stiffener/doublers on the front and rear spar areas.

Caleb with Chris Kibe doing some sort of African dance behind him. Just kidding, Chris was actually running away from me and was trying to hide behind Caleb so I wouldn't take his picture.