Things are moving forward...

...but still a little slower than I had hoped. I have finished the EDM-930 installation in 5Y-LMB and am back working with the guys on the project 206. N4790U is looking better everyday, and things are really coming together. Hopefully in the next few weeks, we will be able to finalize some major systems and get the plane ready to do operational checks. Keep your eyes open!


Jose and some of the guys did some paint touch-up on the tail feathers.

David Marwa has been working diligently on the instrument panel area...it does look pretty good, even looking at it in this picture. He has all the instruments mounted in the pilot side panel and all the radios have been fitted in their trays. We're going to put a few things behind the panel and then it's all going to come together for good.

Ryan installed our new stainless steel door sill in the cargo door. Its a nice addition, and helps keep the door frame from getting banged up too bad.

This is just a generic front shot...nothing too special. If you look really closely, you'll notice that there is no fancy engine monitoring system installed yet...they still have not decided what they're going to install. So for now...I wait.

Sitting comfy in the paint booth. We did put sealant on the window frames, so that is another thing done that you really can't see except up close. We also put on the new wheels and brakes this week. We install the heavy duty nose fork and a bigger nose wheel and tire, as well as bigger main gear tires. This helps on the rough strips that we fly into regularly.

JPI EDM-930

Here are some pictures of the installation of the JP Instruments EDM-930 that I have been doing on 5Y-LMB, one of our Cessna U206Gs. We started a little over a week ago and have everything done now and are waiting approval to perform the test flight. We've done some maintenance ground runs and the instrument performs fantastic. It is definitely an upgrade for our fleet and everyone will have to get used to reading a digital box instead of all the round gauges. Enjoy the pictures...sorry about not posting in so long.


Here is what the original panel looked like. I had already taken out the original Cessna engine cluster (rectangle hole on top) and the EGT gauge (round hole above the yoke support) before I thought to take some pictures.

So here's a very empty panel, with all old gauges out, the right side panel and glovebox out for extra room, and the lines marked with Sharpie where I'm going to cut.

Here I am starting to cut a big hole into the instrument panel.

I mean, who gets to do that?! That's cool that I got to cut a hole in the panel! Who can say they cut a 206 panel apart?! We had to cut the hole to allow the installation of the EDM-930, which is about twice as high as the old engine cluster.

The next thing was to fabricate a new panel that will attach to the original (what's left of it anyway). This panel will hold the EDM-930 and cover all the old holes.

Sometimes you just have to stop and read the instructions a little bit more.

Here's what the engine looks like now. We also installed the LEES exhaust system, so it looks pretty neat. The EGT and CHT probe wire bundles are what are going over the top of the cylinders and back to the firewall. We also put the volt/amps shunt just below the battery box.

And the right side of the engine. That's the fuel and oil pressure transducers on the firewall behind the right bank of cylinders.

And this is the new panel. I had Steve Moffit powder coat it and the yoke mount bracket and all the hardware so the right side of the panel would match nicely.

Here's the final product.

Computer woes

Sorry for not having a post in so long. We have had computer woes here at the Roberts house. Our personal computer's power cord broke, so my wife has been using my work computer at home. I finally got the cord fixed today, so we'll have some new pictures up and showing soon.

I have been working on a different project this past week, while Jerry and the guys have been pressing on with N4790U. Pictures of both will come.

Thanks for the hits, even during the slump of no posts.

Nathan

A step in the right direction

For those of you who follow my blog on a regular basis, I want to make you aware of a step that our family has taken. We have recently entered into the journey of international adoption. We have come to the realization that now is the time for us to begin this journey, not because we choose to ourselves, but because God has continued to burden our hearts for this.

We are seeking to adopt a baby boy from Ethiopia. My wife has put a post on our family blog, which you can find at http://www.americanafricans.blogspot.com/.

Please take note that she is accepting recipes to formulate a cookbook so that we can sell them to help with the cost of the adoption. I know that most of you who read this blog are more interested in aviation and such, but surely you know someone (wife, mother, girlfriend, etc) who cooks things for you. Please get them to type them up and send them to us, either through email (in the profile page) or just as a comment here on the blog or on the family blog. I also know that there are a lot of international hits on this blog...feel free to send us your favorite recipes from your country.

Thanks to all for your interest in my blog and the ministry of AIM AIR and Samaritan's Purse here in Nairobi, Kenya. Blessings to you all...

Frustrations and flaps...

This week has been slower in the shop than recent weeks. There was not much fleet maintenance going on, and some of the Kenyan guys were taking some much deserved leave time. Jerry and Paul continued the work on 90U, putting pulleys and bellcranks in the wings and then installing the flaps themselves. There can always be lots of frustrations when doing things like that because inspection holes in the wings are never quite big enough to get your hand through. Plus, there is always a lack of good pictures in the IPC to see what its really supposed to look like. In spite of all that, Jerry and Paul did a great job installing the flaps and are working on getting them rigged.

In the meantime, David Marwa has been putting radio stacks in and doing lots of other wiring. The plane is really coming together and hopefully will be a more solid piece soon and not so many loose parts!

Here's the pictures for this 90U this week. Sorry it's not too many.


Jerry, cursing the engineers at Cessna for making inspection holes way too small. Hahaha, he used to be an engineer at Cessna!

David working with the radio stacks.

Jerry and Paul getting the LH flap installed.

Frustration revealed...Jerry did a great job this week. It really is a hard task installing and completely rigging the flaps from zero (a job I haven't had to do myself, thank goodness). He has the patience to do the work, all the while teaching Paul about doing it. Thanks for your hard work, JH!

Not too much...but not nothing!

As I have mentioned, I have been continuing with King Air 200 training this past week. We have completed the course and I will once again be working in the shop this week...however, on a different aircraft than 90U. I will be installing the new LEES exhaust on 5Y-LMB along with the new JPI engine moniter system.

Jerry Hurd and Paul Omuro will continue working on 90U, and I will help as I can. Pray for the team that we will keep working hard to get this project to completion soon. Also pray for Nate Killoren as he is studying for his pilot license conversion test. It is a very difficult test and he hopes to pass on this try. You can keep up with his progress here.

Most of the work done this past week was internal to the wings, so you would never see it except from 6 inches away. There was progress and continues to be, so keep us in your prayers and keep watching for updates!

Two wings, a quiet hangar, and a holiday...

Today (June 1) is a holiday here in Kenya; called Madaraka Day, it is somehow linked to their independence from Great Britain. Anyhow, there was no one here at the hangar for work today, other than those of us in the King Air 200 maintenance course. It was a very quiet day, so I did a little bit of work in our project space (which right now is the paint booth) and some work to 90U itself. We installed the other wing on Friday afternoon and now the plane is really turning heads because it's really coming together quickly. I will still be in KA200 school until this Friday, so the guys will be plugging along without a whole lot of input from me. I did move the plane (well, the front half) out of the paint booth so that we can put the Flint tip tanks on without worrying if we could get the plane out of the booth. That would be awkward...

The plane is really coming together...keep updated for more pictures and info.