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Dave Higdon |
In
just a split second, the lift of an unexpected gust ended 47 unbroken years of
damage-free flying for Bill Weiss — and simultaneously shattered the prop of
his vintage de Havilland 82A Tiger Moth. "Hard to believe," Weiss said
a few minutes after the incident Tuesday morning. "All the way from New
Jersey, eight landings — and then this," he lamented, waving his hand at
the wrinkled cowling. And on the Moth's first visit to AirVenture.
Making the cowling airworthy, even replacing a broken bracket, could be
relatively simple compared to finding a suitable wood prop for the antique Gypsy
engine, with its left-hand rotation. Getting back to Paramus by Tiger Moth faces
some barriers.
Enter AirVenture's own airplane ER: EAA Chapter 75's Emergency Aircraft
Repair shop. The make and model may be rare, even at a show the size and scope
of AirVenture '99; the situation, however, is not. With more than 10,000
aircraft traversing Wittman Regional each year during the EAA convention, it's
inevitable that a few will break.
Each year, on average, the 40 or so chapter volunteers help about 200
stricken airplane owners, pilots whose prize birds suffered some
flight-threatening problem, something that could make the trip home something
less than a warm, post-Oshkosh memory.
The most common problem the repair crew faced in its 36 years of service:
"What we see most here is pilots with a problem," said Cy Galley,
chairman of the shop, which is open each year during the EAA's AirVenture
fly-in.
"It's what we do: help pilots with a problem so they can safely fly home
again," said Galley, a member of EAA Chapter 75, based in the Quad Cities
area of Illinois and Iowa.
A
glance outside the shop already made Galley point: In one corner, the crew of a
T-8F liaison Luscombe worked to pull the cylinder from a 90 hp Continental; in
another, the owner got a spark out of a faltering mag in his short-wing Piper;
planes came, got fixed, and went. Well, several of them, at least. We can't
forget our friend, Bill Weiss, and his wounded Tiger Moth.
And Opening Day for AirVenture '99 was still a day away.
The air-repair volunteers hail from all around the country; all are
dues-paying members of Chapter 75. Skill levels vary from unskilled-but-eager
hands, to veteran A&Ps, AIs, DERs, and specialists skilled in a particular
type or model airplane.
Chapter 75 started the emergency-repair service in 1963, when the EAA
convention was still in Rockford, Ill. A tent served as the shop facility and
storage space for the few tools available. Thirty-six years later, the repair
barn is a spanking-new building erected in the past few months to help house a
growing collection of tools. And the EAA Museum holds in trust a growing
collection of repair manuals and technical publications for use by the repair
crew.
But despite its "get-em-flying" mission, Chapter 75's Emergency
Aircraft Repair service isn't your typical maintenance shop. Insurance
restrictions often banish owners to the lounge of many shops, but at the EAA
convention air-repair facility, the owner is the chief mechanic and final
decisionmaker.
"We work with the owners, who do or supervise the repairs," Galley
said, nodding his head toward the duo pulling a cylinder off the Luscombe's
ailing Continental. "If they can't do the work themselves, we work with
them to get the job done."
With the variety
of aircraft that attends the EAA convention each year, it would be impractical
for Chapter 75 to stock much in the way of spare parts. But that doesn't mean an
owner is stuck with traveling home by human mailing tube.
Galley's garrison of veterans knows where to go, who to call, for as wide a
variety of parts as there are planes on the field — if it's available locally,
they can find it. For harder-to-find hardware, they can grease the skids to get
parts to the needy owner.
The services of the Chapter 75 volunteers are free to those in need, but it's
the donations of the needy that stocks the tool boxes, replenishes the small
cache of machinery, and helps defray the expense of equipping the new shop.
If AirVenture '99 is typical of past EAA conventions, Chapter 75 will serve
about 200 clients and their aircraft before the show sunsets Tuesday evening.
Most of them will fly home as comfortably as they flew in.
A few may need to
make other arrangements, sending their plane to one of the licensed repair
stations on Wittman Regional ?- or back home on a trailer. "We've had to
break down and crate up a few over the years," Galley said.
"But for the most part, we get most of the people homeward bound safely
by the end of the show. We've never lost one going back after they came through
here."
The attitude of Galley and the other Chapter 75 volunteers is typical of
thousands of other volunteers up and down the field, whether they're parking
planes, doling out sunscreen or helping a forlorn flyer through a wrenching
experience. But it's something that must be seen to be appreciated.
And with a little luck and a few spare parts, Bill Weiss will have a new
hangar tale to tell when he lands his Moth back in Paramus.
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