Jump to content
Check your account email address ×

Bhent Airways , first flight


Recommended Posts

2 minutes ago, AKIQPilot said:

Yep.  Flying and owning a 185 just got too expensive for me.  I began regretting all the money I was spending for the little amount of fun I was having.  Add to that all the fun I typically have outside the plane with other toys made the decision pretty easy.  I may get back into a cheap homebuilt or Tcraft or Champ or something after I'm finished seeing the world but for now I'm glad I don't spend over $7000 to fly 50 hrs per year.  

I didnt know that you owned and flew ....what year was your plane?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, f7ben said:

I didnt know that you owned and flew ....what year was your plane?

1973.  180J  300HP I0-520. McCauley BlackMac 86" 3 blade prop, Wing X extensions, Robertson STOL, VG's, PPonk Gross weight increase, PPonk gear, Aqua 3300 floats, Federal 3500 straight skis, Carbon fiber interior and dash panels, etc, etc. Weighed 1770lbs on wheels.  3300 Gross.  Cruised at 150mph on tires, 135 on floats. 

It was a bad ass plane, a workhorse like few others.  You could pile 1000lbs of shit inside and go just about anywhere.  

I don't have many good pictures of it on this computer.  Sitting in it's spot in front of the house.  I will try to find some more.  

25933_330091204137_8071797_n.jpg?oh=db9b

25933_330108789137_117969_n.jpg?oh=06434

25933_330104764137_6677128_n.jpg?oh=f7e2

25933_330108779137_4105233_n.jpg?oh=6458

25933_330091154137_798850_n.jpg?oh=569eb

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you go here you can click on the Airplanes Tab and see the plane through it's restoration.  

http://adrenalinfactory.net/

My best friend and I bought the plane wrecked July of 2001.  It was our second 180 and 3rd plane together.  We threw every spare dollar we had at the plane for 3 years.  Did virtually every bit of the work ourselves with the oversight of and A&P. 

I can't access any of the pictures from this computer but there are some decent pics or the restration and the motor and the finished product.  Check out the ultra light seats and the carbon fiber interior panels.  The panels were only offered in gray resin when we bought them.  The entire interior panel kit with headliner weighed 9 lbs instead of around 50lbs for the stock panels.  All 6 seats together weighted 60lbs instead of over 150 for the stock 6 seats.  The magnesium pedals cost $1800 with the hardware.  

There is a link to our Piper PA12 project in there too.  

Let me know if you can access that page.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, AKIQPilot said:

If you go here you can click on the Airplanes Tab and see the plane through it's restoration.  

http://adrenalinfactory.net/

My best friend and I bought the plane wrecked July of 2001.  It was our second 180 and 3rd plane together.  We threw every spare dollar we had at the plane for 3 years.  Did virtually every bit of the work ourselves with the oversight of and A&P. 

I can't access any of the pictures from this computer but there are some decent pics or the restration and the motor and the finished product.  Check out the ultra light seats and the carbon fiber interior panels.  The panels were only offered in gray resin when we bought them.  The entire interior panel kit with headliner weighed 9 lbs instead of around 50lbs for the stock panels.  All 6 seats together weighted 60lbs instead of over 150 for the stock 6 seats.  The magnesium pedals cost $1800 with the hardware.  

There is a link to our Piper PA12 project in there too.  

Let me know if you can access that page.  

damn that turned out really nice. Did you guys do the paint yourselves? Did you alodine while it was apart?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, 01mxz800 said:

vegas odds have bennytomany 10-1 pulling a John Denver

Denver died because he took off on an almost empty tank and then tried to reach the ill placed selector valve while flying and piled himself into a mountain

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, f7ben said:

damn that turned out really nice. Did you guys do the paint yourselves? Did you alodine while it was apart?

Yes, we painted it ourselves.  Basecoat clearcoat imron.  The plane has a factory float kit so it was zink chromated from the factory.  We resprayed the it with zink chromate as we reassembled parts and bucked rivets.  It was a long long process.  If flew for the first time in June of 2005.  

We hung the wings and motor and did all the plumbing  and then took the plane to our A&P and he rigged everything and wired it.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, AKIQPilot said:

Yes, we painted it ourselves.  Basecoat clearcoat imron.  The plane has a factory float kit so it was zink chromated from the factory.  We resprayed the it with zink chromate as we reassembled parts and bucked rivets.  It was a long long process.  If flew for the first time in June of 2005.  

We hung the wings and motor and did all the plumbing  and then took the plane to our A&P and he rigged everything and wired it.  

awesome.....was the motor stock io-520? Sounds like the pponk conti is a bad ass engine 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, f7ben said:

awesome.....was the motor stock io-520? Sounds like the pponk conti is a bad ass engine 

It was the PPonk 0-470+50 motor.  It started life as a big case 470 and we put a brand new big crank and 520 cyls on it as part of the PPonk kit.  We had the motor built at a local airplane engine builder.  We added the all stainless, big tube, cross pipe exhaust.  The only original part of the motor was the case, the oil pan and the push rod tubes.  Every other part was brand new.  Brand new mags, brand new wires, brand new ultra light oil cooler, ultra light starter, ultra light alternator. Every piece was brand new state of the art for 2002-2005.  We spared absolutely no expense with this plane.  It weighed almost 250 less than a stock late model 180/185. We used one of the very first Earth X style batteries that was released for GA.  Weighed like 4 lbs.  Cost $600.  A little bit bigger than a snowmobile battery.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, AKIQPilot said:

It was the PPonk 0-470+50 motor.  It started life as a big case 470 and we put a brand new big crank and 520 cyls on it as part of the PPonk kit.  We had the motor built at a local airplane engine builder.  We added the all stainless, big tube, cross pipe exhaust.  The only original part of the motor was the case, the oil pan and the push rod tubes.  Every other part was brand new.  Brand new mags, brand new wires, brand new ultra light oil cooler, ultra light starter, ultra light alternator. Every piece was brand new state of the art for 2002-2005.  We spared absolutely no expense with this plane.  It weighed almost 250 less than a stock late model 180/185. We used one of the very first Earth X style batteries that was released for GA.  Weighed like 4 lbs.  Cost $600.  A little bit bigger than a snowmobile battery.  

awesome ...were you partners the whole time?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, f7ben said:

awesome ...were you partners the whole time?

Yes.  My partner wrecked it in October 2009.  Coming back from the mine he came in a little hot on our strip.  Went off the end, prop strike and dinged up one wing tip.  About $20k worth of damage so no big deal.  I was a little upset.   My partner and best friend died of a massive heart attack 5 weeks later.  He was 43.  All of the sudden the plane being wrecked meant almost nothing.  

His wife wanted to buy me out of my half.  I put a good price on my half.  It sat in the hanger for a 5 years disassembled. 2 years ago Arlene got remarried and she told me she didn't want to buy the plane any more and that I should just take it.  My name is on the title but Harry and I had an agreement.  I decided to put the plane for sale and split whatever we could get for it.  Then Arlene decided she wanted the plane so she wrote me a check for my half.  She then sold it for less than she gave me.  It's still registered in my name.  .   I've contacted the new owner a couple of times about a title transfer and he hasn't followed up.  

 

Edited by AKIQPilot
Link to comment
Share on other sites

50 minutes ago, AKIQPilot said:

Yes.  My partner wrecked it in October 2009.  Coming back from the mine he came in a little hot on our strip.  Went off the end, prop strike and dinged up one wing tip.  About $20k worth of damage so no big deal.  I was a little upset.   My partner and best friend died of a massive heart attack 5 weeks later.  He was 43.  All of the sudden the plane being wrecked meant almost nothing.  

His wife wanted to buy me out of my half.  I put a good price on my half.  It sat in the hanger for a 5 years disassembled. 2 years ago Arlene got remarried and she told me she didn't want to buy the plane any more and that I should just take it.  My name is on the title but Harry and I had an agreement.  I decided to put the plane for sale and split whatever we could get for it.  Then Arlene decided she wanted the plane so she wrote me a check for my half.  She then sold it for less than she gave me.  It's still registered in my name. .   I've contacted the new owner a couple of times about a title transfer and he hasn't followed up.  

 

I remember when your buddy died.....for the life of me I cant recall any plane talk though. That is an odd story....is she loaded or what?

Edited by f7ben
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Th coolest part about owning a plane is having a $150k toy sitting in front of your house all summer.  It stayed in Harrys hanger all winter.  It was super fun to fly and we had a blast with it but every time I would get in it at the dock my wife would always look at me and say "just please come home, that's all I ask".  It weighs on you when you realize that your entire family is counting on you to come home, alive, every day.  It wasn't a money thing as we were fairly set and I had a good insurance policy.  

There are thousands of pilots in Alaska.  Lots of them die every year.  Flying is serious business.  

Edited by AKIQPilot
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, f7ben said:

I'd edit out that tail number too .....too many whacked out assfucks on the net and that is an easy way to track a ton of your info 

Ok I will edit the original you edit the quote.  hahahaha.  

Almost every picture on my website has the tail number showing but you never know with all the crazy people out there. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

43 minutes ago, AKIQPilot said:

Ok I will edit the original you edit the quote.  hahahaha.  

Almost every picture on my website has the tail number showing but you never know with all the crazy people out there. 

agreed and done

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You will love flying Ben.  It's addictive for sure.  

I started out in 1983 with a 1941 Aeronca Chief 75hp no electric. Sold that and got a Aeronca Champ 115 with electric start. Went in partners on a 1988 C180 on floats.  Sold that for a cub project that I never finished.  Went in halfs on a 1946 PA12 that we did a complete ground up restoration with no expense spared.  Sold that and bought the '83 180J and threw nearly 140K (my half was $70) into it.   If Harry was still around we would own a Beaver right now.  

It's hard to not want to keep getting bigger and better.  Anything else doesn't seem to scratch the itch.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, AKIQPilot said:

You will love flying Ben.  It's addictive for sure.  

I started out in 1983 with a 1941 Aeronca Chief 75hp no electric. Sold that and got a Aeronca Champ 115 with electric start. Went in partners on a 1988 C180 on floats.  Sold that for a cub project that I never finished.  Went in halfs on a 1946 PA12 that we did a complete ground up restoration with no expense spared.  Sold that and bought the '83 180J and threw nearly 140K (my half was $70) into it.   If Harry was still around we would own a Beaver right now.  

It's hard to not want to keep getting bigger and better.  Anything else doesn't seem to scratch the itch.  

I know I'm gonna love it. I just want to be good at it and proficient and safe. Did you get your instrument rating???

When I move home I'd love to have a muphy moose with an m-14p radial up front ....poor mans dehaviland 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Biggie Smails said:

You need a hot little Beech Bonanza...they are known as doctor killers but since you aren't one you should be good. Funny but my old man had a buddy that was an Ortho Surgeon who had a Bonanza...didn't kill him though. :lol:

IMG_2031.thumb.JPG.df5361973d36cf6fb20bdbfb05707356.JPG

Most guys get a plane because they are always in a hurry and want to get somewhere fast, where they fuck up in there rush is to check the fuel level before taking off, or they fall asleep with the autopilot on and crash into a mountain.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, AKIQPilot said:

1973.  180J  300HP I0-520. McCauley BlackMac 86" 3 blade prop, Wing X extensions, Robertson STOL, VG's, PPonk Gross weight increase, PPonk gear, Aqua 3300 floats, Federal 3500 straight skis, Carbon fiber interior and dash panels, etc, etc. Weighed 1770lbs on wheels.  3300 Gross.  Cruised at 150mph on tires, 135 on floats. 

It was a bad ass plane, a workhorse like few others.  You could pile 1000lbs of shit inside and go just about anywhere.  

I don't have many good pictures of it on this computer.  Sitting in it's spot in front of the house.  I will try to find some more.  

25933_330091204137_8071797_n.jpg?oh=db9b

25933_330108789137_117969_n.jpg?oh=06434

25933_330104764137_6677128_n.jpg?oh=f7e2

25933_330108779137_4105233_n.jpg?oh=6458

25933_330091154137_798850_n.jpg?oh=569eb

 

Nice having that in your front yard, one of my good friends lived at Aero Naper and had a hangar on his property which was nice but not as nice as what you have :bc: 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/naperville-sun/news/ct-nvs-naperville-aero-club-anniversary-st-0709-20170715-story.html

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, SVT Renegade XRS said:

With his outstanding track record of destroying everything thing he touches, It's gonna happen sooner than later :lol::lmao:

I wouldnt expect you to wreck anything riding girl sleds and with a car that has never left the cold storage :lol: look at my super fast 440 !!!!111111111

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Trying to pay the bills, lol

×
×
  • Create New...