Hey ladies and gentleman, here is a few quick pics of what I do in the "real world", so to speak. This is a Beechcraft Debonair B33 that came into our shop a couple of weeks ago requesting an autopilot, and a couple of new radios. This plane and I have a bit of an interesting history, so I'll try to keep it short. The story is that a gentleman owned it, and the landing gear were stuck in the up position, so he had to belly it in. He pretty much lost a few $$ repairing the damage done to the belly, and gears, so over the following 15-20 years he kind of just let it go maintenance wise. He finally sold it about 6 years ago to another person who felt he could restore it to Cherry condition. Unfortunately the original owner passed on. His son, feeling the loss painfully, pursued this plane vigorously to try and get it back to kind of have a momento of his father. The then owner was a bit reluctant for a few years, but after 9-11 decided to go ahead and sell it to the original owners son. So here she is now, pretty much getting money poured on her on a regular basis. That is a new paint job on her, and she has new painted panels, and avionics...the interior and engine is next.
Where do I fit in??? I have worked on this plane for at least 2 of the owners!! When she came in earlier this month, I didn't even realize it was the same bird...I mean of course it looked familiar 'cause every plane has a certain entity, but I really couldn't place it. Turns out the son took the plane to a competitor of ours to get a new avionics package, and instrument panels......let's just say after 6 months, lots of $$$, and a lot of problems, he decided to bring it to us to fix......what a compliment, eh?! Yeah right, you come play with these wire harnesses!!! LOL
Enjoy
This is after I have torn her to shreds to get to the inards.....
Look at those letters and numbers....those are all PAINTED on, no stickers!!!!!
The Engine
Look at these crisp painted words....man these guys could teach me a thing or two!!! Anyone who owns a plane take it to these guys to get painted, trust me, I've never seen better!!!!
Here she is after I have all cleaned her up.....She's fixed and ready to fly...This pic was taken this morning.