The Airplane Doctor

This is the third President's Day that Grover has spend at the airplane doctor (Dash Air in Troutdale, OR). Airplanes must have an annual inspection and ours is due before the end of February of each year. This year Grover had to ferry the plane down to Troutdale from the new hanger in Kelso. Goni picked Grover up on Sunday afternoon and Bridget helped when it was time to go get it on Thursday.

We go to Dash Air because this is where my old mountain climbing buddy, Gary Sparks, works. While they may be a little more expensive than some shops, Daryl and his crew know how to do a really good job. And the good part is they let owners help out to keep the costs down. This year we got the job done in two days.

Goni sent one of her breakfast casseroles the first day and cinnamon rolls the next. The guys wanted to extend the length of the work so they would keep getting good food. One of the guys said she was "da bomb" which I hope is a good thing.

One of the jobs this year was to replace the oil seals in the nose gear cylinder. Grover did most of the work himself under Daryl's watchful eye. We placed several cases of oil on the tail to raise up the nose up so we could work on the cylinder. Looks kind of funny but it worked as all the other airplane jacks in the shop were in use.

Another airplane owner, Portland TV channel 8 weatherman Dave Salesky, was in working on his airplane. I met Dave last year when he was in the shop checking on his airplane. In spite of being a television celebrity he seems like a really nice guy. I took this picture of Dave and Gary working on Dave's plane in the other corner of the shop.

Now all we need is good weather so we can get out and do some flying!