Steve Kaminsen and his son Spencer have been disassembling and evaluating the projects entire inventory of landing gear parts (including those that were in the airplane) so that we can begin building up a set with best components we have.  At this point they have disassembled, cleaned and inspected all of the components. There were no big surprises and in general, with the exception of the parts damaged in the crash most everything we have is in pretty good shape.  With some new seals, oil and paint, we should have a fresh set of gear ready when we need them.

Work has slowed in the cockpit area including the windscreen and canopy repairs/fitting in order to yield some working space for Tony Pena to work in that space.  He has been building and installing the wiring harness through the fuselage.  He's put a pretty good dent in it but his progress has slowed a bit now that he has begun to get into sections that are not as well documented.  In order to cipher through the mess, he's been referencing many of the original NAA electrical schematics as well as some of the notes made during the last rebuild.  Apparently the original NAA drawings are not as straight forward as one would think.  In addition to that many of the systems have been upgraded for safety reasons to accommodate modern instruments. The time he is now spending on documentation will be a great value to us maintenance and repairs issue arise in the future.  The radios have been inspected and IRAN'ed and are ready for installation

In addition to the flaps, ailerons, wing stress doors that were sent to Odegaards shop last October, our engine mount has been disassembled in February and sent there for repairs as well.  At this point the stress doors are finished and the flaps are in progress.  Casey has already begun on the engine mount.

All of the hydraulic lines and components through the aft fuselage have been installed.  With that finished we were then able to mount the flap torque tube and radiator.

Much work has already been completed and we continue to push forward with the project.  With the recent addition of a large cash donation, we now have enough money to send the wing to Odegaards for rebuild which has been one of our biggest stumbling blocks.  I am currently in the process coordinating this however getting the wing completed may take a little more time than usual.  Reason being is that it is different from the "Normal" D model wing and many of the ribs are different and tooling needs to be created before the ribs can be made.  We are hoping that the wing can be completed in 12 calendar months from the day we drop it off.

Having the wing finished will be a major hurdle.  After we take delivery of the finished assembly, if funding is available we should be able to fly the airplane within 6 months from that day.  At this point it is impossible to put a date on when that will actually be since it all hinges on getting into the wing jig and there are other customers ahead of us right now.  If funding is available for the rest of the rebuild when the wing is finished, total time between when the wing enters the jig to when we turn and burn will be about 15 to 18 months.  I'm hoping we will have some of the ribs created and will get in the jig by late June or early July.  I will keep you posted as to our progress on this very important date.