Roger's Tri-Pacer

Not to be outdone,  after reading the post about Jeff's Grizzly Cub, another friend of mine sent a ton of pictures of a Piper Tri-Pacer he's rebuilding.  I used to own one of these Pipers, and can tell you it's a kick in the tail to fly.  They're not as fast as some folks might like, but they can be made to drop from the sky like a rock, only to land without even noticing you've touched the ground.  An experienced Tri-Pacer pilot can make it dance. 

Los Alamos experienced a hail storm during the summer of 2009 that put gaping holes in every fabric covered airplane that was out of it's hanger.  Roger's Tri-Pacer was one of those unfortunate birds, and Roger was even more unfortunate than the other aircraft owners who went to the airport that day and found their precious magic carpets full of holes.  You see, he had finished a complete restoration of the wings on his plane only two months earlier.  He had labored an entire winter and spring and had made them as good as the day they left the Piper factory 50 years earlier.  Now, the job would have to be redone. 

The insurance company totaled the airplane, and wrote Roger a check.  He used a portion of the check to buy it back from the insurance company as salvage, and started the long process of unbolting everything, sandblasting, and then rebuilding the entire airframe.  The photo on the left still sort of looks like an airplane, but he was only half way through the strip down portion of the project when it was taken, soon after he started in February of 2010.  He's worked for over one and a half years so far, and although it's still in a couple of hundred pieces, he's well on the way to getting it back in the air. 

 Here's what the fuselage looks like now, after he has cut out and rewelded corroded portions of the frame, sandblasted and repainted the tubing, replaced all the electrical wiring and control cables, and installed a new interior.  He has also installed all new flight instruments and is ready to install new navigation and communication radios.   After that, he recovered and painted the new fabric that covers the frame.

The wings have again been recovered and painted, and this time it was a lot easier for him than the last time.  He had refurbished the spars and ribs just last winter, so they were already in factory new condition.  And, having done it so recently, he had all the jigs and was familiar with the techniques of stitching the fabric to the ribs.  Every now and again something goes right.  

There's still a ton of work to do - complete the interior, attach the wings, hook up controls and fit the cowling.  I've asked him for a date he expects to have it back in the air, but he's built other aircraft before and knows not to get in a hurry.  "It'll fly when it's ready"  is about all he'll say for now.  

I have some amazing friends; what they are capable of doing with their hands and minds is astonishing.  And, yes, I've also built an airplane with my own two hands.  I did not complete it, the designer killed himself in his and afterward my wife at the time gave me a choice - her or the plane.   She could not be made to understand it was not the airplane, but pilot error that caused the crash.  I made the wrong choice and sold four years of hard work.  She was gone anyway about two years after the guy who bought it from me flew it for the first time.  

As soon as Roger gets a web page detailing the complete construction, I'll revisit this project and pass along information about where it can be found.  I expect it'll take awhile.  Right now, Roger's busy building an airplane.  The first flight will probably come before the chronicle.