Monday May 09, 2006

UltraFlight Radio Show and more prep

This morning I was a guest on Roy Beisswenger's UltraFlight Radio Show, which is web broadcast to thousands of listeners world-wide. A link to the broadcast will be posted in a day or two.

After finishing the broadcast the whole crew (Michael, I and Rusty) went onto the Midway, uncovered the Voyager and gave her a thorough pre-flight. Then we ran-up the engine, checked the read-outs and RPM, and shut her down.

I then called Lindburgh tower and gave them a heads-up for a radio check, which I completed successfully a few minutes later. Voyager was then fully fueled, and except for putting the GPS back on tomorrow morning, she's set to go.

In the interest of assuring the take-off goes without a hitch, an E2-Hawkeye, the largest plane on display on the deck of the Midway, is being moved. This will lengthen the available runway from 350 feet to about 500 feet. During testing the Voyager usually left the ground after 200 feet, so we now have more than enough space to easily lift off and clear the railing on the end of the deck.