Hi again! I am in New Mexico and have a couple of days off. This seems a good time to catch up on everything. I finished up doing a series of inspections to a Bell 407 helicopter that took me about 10 days to complete. A welcome surprise Bell 206 dropped in my lap for a series of inspections. Unfortunately, I had to turn it away after reviewing some of the work it needed. Although I have done that work in the past, I am not tooled to perform this particular maintenance where I am working out of. That's okay though, the owner devised a plan to get that work done elsewhere, then bring the helicopter back to me for the inspections needed. I'm good with that.

The 407 I worked on is owned by a private pilot. He uses it to fly around his ranch. This is the nicest ride I have worked on in my career. I was up to the task and did a good job for him. When this machine was finished it was just as nice if not better than when it came through the hangar door. Pretty cool.

I have included some pictures of the helicopter after it was opened up so you could get an idea of what the inner workings are like. It's a lot of work to inspect every inch of a machine like this but worth it. The owner was happy, I was happy, and most important the helicopter was happy. When the owner came to the shop to take his aircraft home we went up for a spin and everything felt great. All of the gauges looked normal and the ride was smooth. That is my goal for any and every project I start.

The little Bell 206B shown here is a piece of history. This machine was made in 1978 and the gentleman that brought it in is the second owner. He bought this helicopter with 200 hours of flight time and has owned and flown it ever since. It's a simple machine to work on as it doesn't have all of the electronic bells and whistles of today's helicopters. That's fine with me, working with older tried and true technology.

The company owns a Bell 412 that is being leased by the government. It showed up today for it's annual maintenance. There is a lot of work to be done and not much time to do it in. We have one month to tear it apart, inspect and fix everything we find, and comply with all of the inspections required. With a big machine like this, there are a lot of inspections that have to happen. I will be spending some more time here helping to get all of this work finished so this bird can fly again!

It's not the optimal situation for Kitty and I, with me having to work so far away from home. At least I am working again and have found a company that really cares about it's people. Kitty is doing better now and we have a very special friend that checks on her and helps her out every day. All I can say is Thank You Brian. I need to get some pictures of him and tell you about this highly respected Alaskan (with his permission of course). But for now, I will say that they do not come any better than this man and I am lucky to be able to call him my friend.

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