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Dennis.Kirby(at)kirtland.
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 Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 12:02 pm Post subject: Friendly Airport People |
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(Since the List has been somewhat slow lately … )
Kolb Friends –
Here’s a story (Kolb-related) that restores my faith in the notion that airport folks are good people who are willing to go out of their way to help a fellow aviator.
Recall the recent posts from John Gilpin (“JG”) from Australia, who came to the USA a few months ago with the plan to fly a Kolb all around the country, to see the sights and visit friends for a year. Turns out, he had to go Part-103, as he could not qualify for our Sport Pilot license because he is not a US citizen. So he bought a used Firefly from a fellow in Mississippi (a very nice one, by the way), loaded it into his enclosed trailer, and began driving west from there. His plan was simply to stop at airports along the way and do local flying.
JG arrived in New Mexico a couple of weeks ago, and let me know he was in town. He was camping out in his trailer, and was only gonna stay a day or two before moving on, but he wanted to know if we could go flying together – me in my Mark-3, and JG in his shiny new 447-Firefly. Sadly, the morning I met him at Sandia airfield (my home airport), he had an unloading accident. As he was pulling his folded Firefly out of the trailer, one of the ramps came off the trailer and his Kolb fell over on its side, damaging the nosecone and wing fabric, bent one gear leg, and bent the vertical tailpost. Repairs would require removing the tailring/tailpost structure, tearing off the fabric, metal repair, recover the fin, replace it all, etc. A sad situation for someone on the road and with no shop and only limited tools.
As we were contemplating the extent of damage, several other pilots from the airport began gathering around the broken Firefly to help assess the situation. Long story short: within a few days, all the repairs were made, and JG was on his way again! Various airport folks had volunteered to help this total stranger with repairing his Firefly, and one guy even let John stay in his home (vice camping out in the trailer) until he was ready to hit the road again. Last I heard from him, JG was in eastern Arizona, flying around the red rock country up there (Window Rock, to be exact), and was then headed north toward Las Vegas. Sounds like his repairs worked out!
Am happy to be associated with all you guys, and our crowd of good people!
Dennis Kirby
Mark-3, 912ul, N93DK
Sandia Park, NM
do not archive
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Thom Riddle
Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 1597
Location: Buffalo, NY, USA (9G0)
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