Well - This Year Went By In A Flash!!

 WOW!

I cannot believe that it is Dec 2024 and I haven't published a SINGLE blog update this year - yet!!

It has been a busy year, and I have gotten a lot accomplished.  I have taken (and collected) a bunch of pictures to share with you - I just haven't yet taken the time to sit down and bang out any blog updates.  I find it really hard to sit in front of a computer on a nice weather day and write and create these blog updates, when I could be out in the shop working on something!  Historically, I have done most of the blog updates when I'm on the road working the day job - mostly while sitting in airports or hotel rooms when I don't have much else to do.  If I am home, I would much rather be in the shop getting something accomplished.  So, that's mostly why I have let the blog updates fall behind.  But, now, it's close to the end of the year and I would like to document some of my Prowler Aviation accomplishments this year (and some personal stuff, too!).

I do have the backlog of pictures on my laptop sorted into folders and ready to share with you.  So, over the remainder of 15-something days in Dec, I will endeavor to punch out several "Catch-up" blog updates.  It will probably work best to do this in [somewhat] chronological order.  So, look for updates to come out soon that cover a month, or groups of months from this past year.

In the last blog update, I mentioned that I lost my FAA Medical.  I have a familial history of Afib.  In summer of 2023 I had a few episodes of pretty debilitating tachycardia.

Working with my cardiologist, I found treatment and found an excellent electrophysiologist.  I had ablation surgery in Jan 2024 with a subsequent 3 month recovery period.  In April, I wore a 2 week monitor and then had a final follow-up appointment with my cardiologist in late May.  The surgery was successful and I am off all meds and feeling great!  It took until early August to collect all the reports and data that the FAA required and submit my package to them to request a special issuance 1st class medical (so that I can go back to work).  At the end of Aug they sent a registered letter requesting more tests (Sleep Study) and, now, that have mostly been completed.  The complete results of this follow-on test will get submitted to FAA in Jan 2025 and I will hopefully get cleared to return to work by Mar-Apr 2025.

In the meantime, I have been on a LTD (Long-Term Disability) and using my time to get lots of projects done.  The most important project that I focused on (and worked really hard on) was dies (form blocks) for the Prowler - in particular, the dies to make the parts of the main center section wing and the outboard wings.  I made A LOT of chips this year:

I am happy to report that before I left the shop this year (to head to AirVenture), I managed to get all (but 5) of the dies fabricated that will make all of the parts of the center section and outboard wings!  That will be the topic of the next blog update and I will have more details on this.

To continue with Prowler related news, I have builder updates to share from several builders.  Vaughn has been sending me pics all summer of his engine compartment work:

I also just got several pics from Francis with progress updates from him:

And, Bryan has also recently sent several updates on the status of his Prowler project:

In March I also used the CNC mill to make an adapter plate for Bryan's FWF project (used to match his throttle body flange to his intake flange).  It is the part that is missing from this pic:

I will cover each of these more in an my upcoming updates.

Last year, Bryce & Cabi each loaned me a form block that they that is used to make the horse collar (forward bulkhead) for the Prowler forward engine compartment.  I used it to make a few of these parts (one for Vaughn and one to have in inventory):

To return the favor(s), I also fabricated a horse collar for Cabi and then returned them to him.  Bryce ended up giving me the formers that he had.  I promised to make him any part he needs in the future to get the RW&B Prowler back together.  I'll cover this a little more in a coming update.

On the Non-Prowler related items, I have gotten quite a few personal/shop projects accomplished this year.  Here's the list:
    1.  Local EAA Chapter helo sim trailer work;
    2.  Rebuilding a Bridgeport Mill 2J Head Rebuild;
    3.  Fabricating a shade frame in front of the shop;
    4.  Rebuilding an 81 year old lathe;
    5.  Oldest daughter's truck work (almost beat me);
    6.  EAA AirVenture 2024;
    7.  New RV storage building.

I will probably group some of these and cover them in some additional future updates (where I can provide a lot more details).  For the balance of this update, however, I would like to do an overview of my year from a "FL350 perspective".  It really has been a busy year!

This year started out with me facing this ablation surgery in the first week of Jan.  The outward recovery from this surgery was very short - just a few days really.  The surgery is all arthroscopic and the incision points heal pretty quickly.  So, I was up and back out in the shop in just a few days.  The longer recovery is for the heart lining that literally gets burned (via either heat or cold) during the ablation.  This damage takes a minimum of 3 months to heal.  In fact, they don't even bother to monitor the heart and check your rhythm for at least 90 days after the procedure, because during this time the heart has a lot of weird stuff going on (palpitations, weird beats, extra beats, etc.).

Anyway, the point of it all is that this recovery time (technically referred to as a "blanking period") made a lot of time available to me that I would normally not have had.  I vowed to myself that I would use this time effectively and not waste a single day of it.  And, I think that I kept my promise to myself, but you can be the judge as you review the forthcoming blog updates.

So, by mid-Jan I was in the shop every day making dies and working to get as many projects moved along as I could.  My folks came out to visit for most of the month of Feb, so, I also had "Pop in the shop" for that month - and he always keeps things moving along!!!  Whenever I know that he will be around, I always try to have some projects teed up to keep us busy.  This year, it was the helo trailer project and the 2J mill head rebuild.

As the calendar flipped over to March, I was almost totally focused on cranking out part dies and painting parts of the LeBlond lathe that I am rebuilding.  You'll see all this in the coming updates.  April brought me a project that nearly beat me into submission.  I tried to help out the oldest daughter by working on her diesel pickup truck that needed repairs (she had gotten $13K estimates for injectors, turbocharger, water pump, fuel pump and other stuff).  This became my world for weeks:

Now, I've done all my own car/truck repairs all my life.  But, these big diesel pickups are something quite different.  That truck hated me, and fought me to the bitter end - for nearly 5 weeks!  But, I can now say that I have successfully replaced that list of stuff above on a 2011-2016 Duramax 6.6L LML diesel.  What a fight!  I got the truck back together and running good just in time to move the middle daughter out of Arcata, CA and up to Kirkland, WA (Seattle).

She graduated from Cal Poly - Humboldt with a BS in Physics (Magna Cum Laude!) and got offered a paid PhD program at the Univ of Wash studying Planetary Science.  Then, I returned the truck to the oldest daughter in Portland (and picked up my truck that I'd loaned to her) on the way home in early June:

Back in the shop in June I was pressing hard to get all the remaining wing dies made before heading out to Wisc for AirVenture in July.  I almost made my goal, but held off on 5 part dies that needed a fair amount of CAD work to make sure that they were the correct size, etc.  I didn't want to rush to get these done, only to find out that I made them the wrong size and would have to re-make them.  In the end, I made about 40 part dies between Jan and early July this year - one of them I had to make twice after I made and unrecoverable goof on it.  So, call it 41 dies!

On July 9th, I loaded up an old 1999 Ford Windstar van I have and headed out to WI.

Normally I can make the drive to WI in 3 days and 2 nights.  This time, a had an extra stop in Billings, MT to spend a night with my sister and brother-in-law. So, this trip was 4 days and 3 nights.  I got to the property in WI and spent just a few short days getting things ready for AirVenture.  Then, I loaded up and moved everything to Camp Scholler on Tuesday prior to the start of the show (and to meet up with Bryan):

AirVenture 2024 was great!  It was generally excellent weather.  My crew was a little thin this year - only 2 of the girls were able to make it for just a couple days.  But, Bryan had nearly his whole family there including grand-kids - so, we still had a large showing this year!  Just look at this guy:

I was the last to leave Camp Scholler this year on the Wed after the show:

August was dedicated to helping my folks around their home.  My mom was planning on a visit from a former foreign exchange student from Denmark.  My parents hosted her many years ago and they have also gone to Denmark several times to visit her and her family.  Bodil was bringing her whole family and mom began planning a get-together that ended up turning into a large party.  Then, the ended up turning into an "almost" family reunion when it also became my mother's 80th birthday party.  I helped out during the first half of Aug by cleaning, power washing, painting and prepping around their house.  Then, we all spent the last two weeks of Aug enjoying their company and having the party.

After a few days of recovering from a busy August, I decided in early Sep that this was the year to build a new building on my property in WI.  I wanted/needed an addition to my current pole barn to store my 5th wheel RV in.  My RV has been sitting out in the weather for many years now, and I decided that it was time to change that.  The short story here is that I (with the help of a few friends) poured the slab on Sep 20th and on Nov 20th I put up the last of the interior insulation and sheathing.  I put the RV inside of the new building on Nov 22nd, then spent two days cleaning, organizing and winterizing.  On Nov 24th I drove out of WI headed to Seattle to meet the girls for Thanksgiving:

We had T-day together in Seattle this year:

I finally got back home on Dec 1st.  I've been home about a week now, and I think that I am already overwhelmed by all the unfinished projects that I left here when I drove away in July!  Ugh!!  But, I've already started cranking again!  The truck is unloaded and most everything put away.  I've downloaded and sorted a couple hundred pics of this summer's activities and started this blog update.  I've finished a few welding projects and I've started stripping down the headstock on the LeBlond Regal lathe that I am rebuilding so that I can get it repainted ASAP:

I have to get that lathe rebuilding project done!  Oh, and of course, we got the Xmas tree today!

So, yeah, it's been a busy year.  But, I have also gotten a lot of projects accomplished.  I will highlight a lot of it in the coming blog updates.  Come back and read about them, soon!  Thanks!