{"id":4379,"date":"2017-05-05T07:14:19","date_gmt":"2017-05-05T14:14:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.mechadigital.net\/?p=4379"},"modified":"2021-08-26T20:37:54","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T20:37:54","slug":"180-tiedowns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/180-tiedowns\/","title":{"rendered":"#180 Tiedowns"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

Written October, 2016<\/p>\n

By the title, you\u2019d think that this was a story having to do with tying an airplane down.\u00a0 It\u2019s not.\u00a0 Of course, if the airplane in question HAD been tied down, there would be no story! \u00a0Parts of this story were featured in the Tailwheeler\u2019s Journal article, \u201cThe World\u2019s Smartest Aviator\u201d.\u00a0 But this, as they say, is \u201cthe REST of the story\u201d.<\/h3>\n
\"\"
My Cub, in one of its many paint schemes over Fernandina Beach, Florida.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I was doing an airshow in Prescott, Arizona.\u00a0 The Cub was temporarily hangared in a paint shop and I went to the local bar to visit with my air show colleagues.\u00a0 It was while hoisting a few that I got a phone call.\u00a0 It was from the guys at the paint shop.\u00a0 Seems they\u2019d pushed my Cub out of the hangar to do a little painting.\u00a0 Nice of them to avoid some overspray on my plane.\u00a0 Now I wish they had allowed it to be oversprayed!<\/h3>\n

While they were busy painting, a desert dust devil came along, picked up the Cub and did a bunch of damage to it, actually splintering one of its wooden spars.<\/h3>\n

I did what airshow comedy pilots have done for years.\u00a0 I borrowed a Cub and did my act.\u00a0 When the airshow was over, I headed for the next show in Oklahoma City with the Cub in its trailer.\u00a0 I\u2019d called ahead to my pal, Tom Jones, and explained my dilemma.\u00a0 Good old Tom.\u00a0 He fixed me right up.\u00a0 Tom knew everyone.\u00a0 One of those he knew was a brilliant woodworker who could also do dope and fabric.\u00a0 The guy had a cabinet shop in Oklahoma and could handle the repairs to the Cub.\u00a0 \u201cIs he an A and P?\u201d I asked.\u00a0 The answer was no.\u00a0 He was a cabinet maker.\u00a0 So on I went and when I arrived at Oklahoma City, Tom took me to see the guy.\u00a0 I can\u2019t even remember his name now, but he was everything Tom said he was.\u00a0 He showed me the project he was presently working on for a local politician.\u00a0 It was a bed.<\/h3>\n

But it was not just any bed.\u00a0 This particular bed spoke volumes about its owner.\u00a0 A massive four poster, those four posts contained a feature you don\u2019t often see in a bed.\u00a0 Each corner post had a stout ring attached.\u00a0 Some of my readers will probably know right away what those rings were for.\u00a0 For the rest of you, I will explain:<\/h3>\n

Seems that the bed\u2019s owner liked, how should I put this\u2026 \u201cRough sex\u201d.\u00a0 How\u2019s that?\u00a0 He could use silken ropes to tie his partner to the bed, a particular form of tethering that she evidently liked (gee, maybe she didn\u2019t.\u00a0 Maybe it was only HE who liked this particular act.\u00a0 Or maybe it was SHE, who tied HIM to the rings! I guess we\u2019ll never know.)<\/h3>\n

So I left my poor, battered Cub in the hands of the \u201cRough Sex Bed Builder\u201d and agreed to come back a couple of days later.<\/h3>\n

When I came back I was very pleasantly impressed.\u00a0 My Cub\u2019s spars had been beautifully repaired with scarfed joints and reinforcing plates that any aircraft workman would be proud of.\u00a0 And just as impressive, the fabric that had been removed to enable the repairs to the spar had been replaced and finished so that one hardly knew it was new.<\/h3>\n

That was a long time ago, but the lesson learned stays with me to this day.\u00a0 Since then I have added ratings to my federally issued license.\u00a0 I\u2019ve also added knowledge and experience.\u00a0 But way back then I was learning that the ratings often have little to do with the skill or ability of the workman.\u00a0 The lesson is best explained by one of \u201cDrake\u2019s\u201d colleagues in the wonderful short story, \u201cFound at Pharisee\u201d by Richard Bach:<\/h3>\n

\u201c\u2026.we left a zero-since-major engine at Pharisee\u2026 tolerance to a ten-thousandth all the way through, all our own best work.\u00a0 Drake\u2019s personal guarantee for three thousand hours flying\u2026(but) it hasn\u2019t been signed off.\u00a0 We have left them the best overhauled engine in the world today, and it isn\u2019t legal.\u00a0 They\u2019ll have to tear it down, won\u2019t they? \u2026change the tolerances, break the guarantee.\u00a0 When they get it back together, it will be just another engine, with a fifty hour warranty.\u00a0 But legal, friend, legal!\u201d<\/em><\/h3>\n

Lesson learned.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Written October, 2016 By the title, you\u2019d think that this was a story having to do with tying an airplane down.\u00a0 It\u2019s not.\u00a0 Of course, if the airplane in question HAD been tied down, there would be no story! \u00a0Parts of this story were featured in the Tailwheeler\u2019s Journal article, \u201cThe World\u2019s Smartest Aviator\u201d.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[35,67,100,173,174],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4379"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}