Original Posted By: "Oscar Zuniga"
I was looking at the map of Mexico again (dreaming). To my eye, it should be entirely possible to fly a Pietenpol from a customs crossing at Laredo, TX to Guadalajara, Mexico in one day. Mind you, I'm talking about long summer days with good VFR weather. Now more realistically, what with the usual issues of getting started in the morning and clearing customs, it makes more sense to do it in two days and that's the more likely way to do it. In my case, I would stay overnight in Zapata or Laredo for a thorough briefing from my instructor Charlie Avaritt, since he's flown extensively in Mexico and flies there regularly. He also is familiar with the Piet and knows how best a TACO should fold its way through those mountains on the way. It sure looks like it would be an interesting journey in a Piet or a gaggle of Piets.Anyway, I did get in a nice day of working on the airplane on Saturday. Everything forward of the firewall is completely ready to roll and has been for the past few weeks... still just waiting for one spark plug wire and I will try to light the fire. Meanwhile, I fitted the fuel tank support straps back into the (new) support framing and tried out the fuel tank. It needs some tweaking because now the forward top cowling won't quite line up correctly on the firewall bulkhead top without the tank neck rubbing. It sure looks nice to get the top cowling back in place after more than a year, and to sit in the front cockpit with its windscreen in place. I'll tell you what... it is a VERY short distance from the passenger's face up to where the propeller is! This is not a large, nor a long, airplane! Working the rudders from the front cockpit, my shoes nudge the bottom of the fuel tank occasionally when doing a rudder dance.Other flights I'm planning/dreaming of (besides Brodhead, of course)- the SWRFI fly-in in coming up in May at Hondo, TX. And folks tell me that there is an excellent, grass-roots fly-in at Reklaw, TX at the end of the summer. I may just try that one if the airplane is flying OK by then... and Reklaw is only about 100 SM from Shreveport so it would be an easy hop to the land of crawfish jambalaya and Corky's shop. Then there's Sterling's always-windy "Knot-2-Shabby" field and we can sneak a few cold Negro Modelos while we shoot .44s and .45s and make lots of noise. (Hey, Sterling- I handload for a .45LC Taurus revolver that I have, shooting "flying ashcan" hollowpoints. Get some overripe watermelons!) I also have a Contender with a short .30-30 barrel and I'll bet I can pulverize an empty beer can at, oh, at least 30 paces ;o)Oscar ZunigaSan Antonio, TXmailto: taildrags(at)hotmail.comwebsite at http://www.flysquirrel.net________________________________________________________________________________
Pietenpol-List: TACOs head south of the border?
Re: Pietenpol-List: TACOs head south of the border?
Original Posted By: Kip and Beth Gardner