322MX prep

Lots of final prep to do for 322MX so the Flying Fish has been spending a lot of time in the hangar checking things off the list.

Cargo nets, chart rack, quick-access life jacket storage camera holster, rod & reel rack, sound proofing (this was a Huge job, well done Luv!), fix the headset, update the GPS databanks, and so many more maintenance and tuning points too numerous to describe, oh, and of course, need to weigh the plane again to create a new weight & balance calc...

Five days to go.

Planning for a northbound adventure

We're starting to plan a trip north to Alaska in 322MX. There's a lot to consider. We'll be flying over sparsely populated areas for long distances. We'll be travelling through Canada which has a similar-but-different set of rules for VFR flight. The terrain up north is bigger and more rugged than anywhere in the lower 48. And we'll be camping in moose and bear country.

I've collected the necessary charts for planning. The Flying Fish has ordered up the off-road tires for 322MX. We're talking to folks who have made the trip and we're assembling our gear.

The trip will depend largely on the weather, of course, but we're aiming for a June/July trip lasting about 3 weeks. It feels good to be planning another adventure.

10,000 miles across the country

In October I packed up my newly earned private pilot’s license, along with my climbing gear, camping gear, and my survival vest and caught a flight East to meet up with the Flying Fish. He was starting the third leg of his cross-country shakedown cruise with 322MX.

322MX on the ground in Indiana

He’d already flown solo from Seattle to Boston via Boulder, Grand Rapids and Niagara Falls on his first leg. The second leg took him down the coast over NYC, the Outer Banks and Myrtle Beach. The third leg would take us both from the Appalachians to Arizona. I met up with him in Kentucky where we spent a weekend climbing in the Red River Gorge before heading west.

Fall colors in Eastern Kentucky

The Red River Gorge is where I'd learned to climb and I'd been wanting to take the Flying Fish there for ages. It's still as gorgeous as ever - the landscape hasn't changed, the rock is still soft and delightfully overhanging. We spent the night at Miguels, the day in the forest and just enough time hanging on the rock to fall in love with the Red all over again...

the kindest rock you'd ever hope to climb

After waiting out a couple of days of weather, we turned west and headed out across the plains. We stopped in Tulsa to visit my ancient and frail grandma (not nearly so frail in mind and spirit as she is in her bones). It was a delight to see her and spend a little time with family in Tulsa. After that we headed south and another stop in East Texas to visit some old friends. From there we took off west across the vast empty scrub of Texas, and kicked up north to drop in on Santa Fe. We were making up time lost to the weather and moved pretty quickly until we got to Arizona, where all of a sudden the landscape started getting really interesting.

the Painted Desert

For the next couple days, we flew over some of the most mind-blowing terrain in the country. Our route took us up and over the Grand Canyon where we flew out over the rim and watched the earth fall away below us.

a confluence of canyons and a fire on the north rim

We flew through giant stacks of red rock to land at Sedona where the airport is perched on a mesa just a hair larger than the airstrip - like landing on an aircraft carrier except thankfully it doesn't move.

if you blow the landing, just keep flying off the end of the runway

We spent the night camped in a cactus forest next to a red-gravel strip surrounded by 30+foot high saguaro.

cactus camp in the back country

We flew over Lake Roosevelt and followed the river as it cascaded through canyons to the flatland and passed over Scottsdale and Tempe before landing at Sky Harbor in Phoenix. My adventure ended there, while the Flying Fish continued on over the course of the next week to southern California and up through San Francisco.

a little bit of sun on the Golden Gate

He kept flying north over the Siskyus and into Oregon, across the Columbia River and arriving finally back in good ol' Puget Sound, home to Seattle.

after 10,000 miles Seattle still looks pretty darn good

A first run of photos can be found at this linky. They're the postcard shots.
The next run of photos will be up sooner or later, and when they are I'll post a link here too.

First Flight

and now a special report from the Flying Fish:

With a stroke of a pen on Tuesday, the FAA blessed Sportsman N322MX and transformed if from an “assemblage of parts” to a legally certificated aircraft after an in-depth final inspection. Yesterday morning at 8:25 we took to the sky for the first time from runway 34 at Arlington Airport in Arlington WA. The flight lasted 39 minutes and confirmed a straight and true airframe and an engine that runs smooth as a sewing machine. The plane is truly a joy to fly, beautifully balanced and amazingly controllable at low speeds. Received some flattering commentary from the inspector on the quality of construction and I’m thrilled it came out so well.

My heartfelt thanks go to the huge group of talented friends old and new who offered their brains, brawn, and moral support to this at-times overwhelming project; there’s no way I could have done it alone. Special thanks go to my longtime partners in crime, Steve and Scobie, who spent long days and nights in the shop running wire, grinding glass, and brainstorming the coolest possible ways to solve a thousand problems along the way. And of course to my wife, who propped me up with unconditional support and enthusiasm through the most difficult times. Building an airplane in 14 months is not a recipe for a balanced lifestyle and I feel lucky to be surrounded by such an understanding circle of friends willing to forgive countless unanswered calls and emails, not to mention constant rejection of their invitations to come out and play.

Most people don’t have the luxury of a job flexible enough to shoehorn a 1600-hour side project into a year of “fulltime” work. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have such a competent management team running day-to-day operations of the business and allowing me to obsess over this dream in the back of the warehouse. Sandy and Justin have blossomed in their skills and responsibilities at the company, and while it may reflect poorly on my management skills, the business is in a better place than it’s ever been since I stepped sideways and let them make things happen. Thanks and congrats to both of them.

Thanks also to the dedicated and incredibly helpful people who supplied equipment and expertise on the business side of the project. People passionate enough about building airplanes to create businesses around them are a special breed, and I was amazed by the enthusiasm, support and integrity of just about every vendor we worked with. Perhaps we were lucky, but I would choose every one of them again without a moment’s hesitation and recommend them to anyone considering their own build project. In particular, Jason and the gang at Aerotronics, Sue and Bart at Aerosport Power, Bob Archer, Zach at Fibertech Composites, Lou and Brian at Kitplanes Northwest, Jim at North County Bank, and of course Ted Setzer and all the folks at NewGlasair provided a level of service and support that went far beyond what you’d expect from any normal business.

With the big milestone behind us, I’ll be flying off my required 40 hours of flight testing while tweaking and calibrating all the systems. After that, drop me a line and let’s go flying!







for complete coverage of the construction of N322MX, click on the "airplane build" link in the Labels section to the right, or just clicky this linky