This morning the phone rang early…. Robert (no, not THAT one, the Everts one….) had received an urgent call for a pick-up in Juneau. Apparently, one of the EMS’ emergency generators had gone u/s and needed to be transported to Fairbanks for repair. As we were in Bowerman, with a load of beer (11,000lbs) for Juneau, guess who got the run? Instead of a leisurely 11am local departure (after a big breakfast at Lana’s Café- great hotcakes btw) we had to push off at 8:30 with some coffee and paper wrapped sandwiches… still… we get to fly 451CE so we can’t really complain…..
Here we are just getting ready to taxi off the line…. (thanks Alex- brilliant repaint)…..
Pausing for a minute before taking the runway, we did our mag checks just a little more carefully than usual… Bowerman had a 5000’ runway and we were planning on 50” WET for departure…. Normally allowed up to 58.5” WET and 53 DRY, Everts had established a much more maintenance friendly 50” WET or DRY as max… so we would use that.
As we rolled onto the piano keys, we selected pumps on twice…..we would use fuel and water today….
Here we are with one last look… the controls were free and clear (locks removed once lined up to prevent those nasty knee knockers)… Power is set to 50” MAP, props were allowed to 2800 (don’t tell the Everts’ that I used those extra 100RPM). Cowls are at 4, water is flowing, and what you can’t see is the dancing panel and needles as this old girl tells me she wants to claw for the sky……
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