Old Pilots Never Die - They Just Fly Away....
(The times they were Bold - they escaped by the Skin Of The Teeth)
Frigatebird 1
Semi-Retirement (More time on the ground than in times past)
Too Young For A Pension..
The engine was overhauled about 4 years ago, second o'haul, used about 150 hours since - still less than 4,000 hours on engine and airframe. (Only a fraction of what I have - so I win there - and I started a fortnight earlier than the old Frig 1 did too - in that September, way back when..)
So the next project to keep old Frig 1 young, sometime, is to declutter the wires in the cockpit, bush the GPS 95 XL given me by a guy for mentoring him on a Baron (the first time I turned it on it thought it was still in Fiji) for a panel mounted Garmin 430 with an ILS/VOR indicator where the Altimeter is now, and relocate the flight instruments to the Basic T configuration, and plastic weld the holes up on the the instrument surrounds to make it look better (anyone help with a name for a good job there?). Then perhaps (if finances allow) a H.F for the long trip.
Would have liked a 200 h.p. Turbo-diesel and C./S. prop at the overhaul, but the company that will - doesn't make them yet. So I'll just potter along, - but if fortune smiles radiantly sometime - an IFR 182 with a diesel, autopilot, and long range tanks would be nice...... Frigatebird 2 !?