Cessna 188A- Alabeo

[jcj78]

Yesterday i spent the afternoon helping wash my Pop's airplane. Today I took a digital copy out and got bugs all over the leading edges again. These were shot at my Sky Ranch, UT53 scenery, part of a Moab scenery I may yet turn loose of. I wish I'd had time to go take the thermals out for the screens, but I didn't.

First I rolled her out of the shed.


Then I cranked her up (startup sounds on this model are fantastic) and eased over to the load pit and fuel tank.


After I had about a half of a load, I moved out to the threshold, and did my runups.


Then I swung her onto the runway and powered up.


Climbed out, turned around.


Lined up for first field entry on a racetrack pattern.



The spray and votices effects look good.





Climbing out of field after initial pass


Just a shot for y'all to see the plane.



What I did yesterday. Ain't she shiny and pretty? Hopefully she'll look the same when she comes out next spring!!

[Hawkeye07]

jcj78 I don't believe I've ever seen a duster that looked so clean and shiny. Great job! The ones I worked on had enough bug guts smeared on them
to make one of Fozzer's stews and stink! My sinuses would be cleared for days after we did an annual insp on one.


Hawkeye

[jcj78]

thanks Hawkeye! They haven't always looked this good. Daddy got a new airplane (new to him, its a '69) with new paint, so we try to keep her sharp. Last August, he came in to a farm strip about 30 miles south of his home base (home is a 13' wide 1100' long strip of asphalt, you see it pointed off the right wing in the new plane photo) and had some trouble. Apparently the puck had cocked over on his right brake, and all the fluid leaked out while he was out on his load. When he landed he had no right brake, and there was a PT-6 AT-402 parked off the end of the runway where he was headed, so he got on his only brake, walked her off the runway at about 30, but she went thru a cow fence with metal posts, and they wore out the underside of the wing. Then the right main centered up on the only wooden corner post for 1/4 mile, and sheared the right gear out from under the '70 C188A Ag Wagon my dad had flown since 1985, and had about 15,000 t/o and landings in.


So we pulled the wings off. See? The Boll Weevil Iradication Program in the 90's got all this plane's paint washed off by Malathion. I was surprised the FAA inspector said ok the last three or four years because the "J" in 5969J was scrubbed off the tail. Maybe he never noticed. Maybe he was just a nice guy.



HAHA! Check out those leading edges.


And took her home


Where the insurance company later totaled her out.

So pops got a new plane.

[Flying Trucker]

Wonderful shots and story "jcj78"...

[Sprocket]

Wonderful shots and story "jcj78"...

I agree..very cool story.

A number of times now I've stopped just short of buying the Alabeo PA36 Pawnee:

http://www.alabeo.com/index.php?accion= ... &correl=82

Not knowing the Alabeo "brand", I wonder, from your experience, if there are any reasons I shouldn't buy it ?

Jan