The end is near!!!

I can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel!!! But hopefully it's not the train- as my instructor says. We officially have 1 month left and I think the last count was 23 school days. Those days are going to be jam packed with studying for the Powerplant test. It's the same type of test as the Airframe but it will certify me to work on the engine part of the aircraft. Right now we are deep in the oil galleys of tearing apart our engines but we're starting to put it back together and hopefully get it running by the end of the year. The engine I have been working on is a Continental IO-520. This engine is used on C310 as well as other engines http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_O-520.

IO-520 Engine (beginning of taking it apart)

Crankshaft with connecting rods attached (this was actually taken when were tearing it apart, but now we are at the same stage but putting it back together)

Crankcase halves

Camshaft

 Another really cool and actually applicable project we worked on was balancing a propeller for one of the flight school airplanes. This plane had a lot of vibration and things were breaking/ wearing out earlier than they should have. It turned out to be that the prop was very unbalanced. We used a fancy machine to tell us how much out of balance the prop was and it was almost off the chart! Ideally you want .1 on the scale but our first and subsequent 4-5 readings were around .7- NOT good! We experimented with adding washers/ weight to different places on the spinner and flywheel and finally got it to .05 (under .1)! It only took 3 hours! but it was a good 3 hours of solid learning.

Balancing the prop

The sensor just above the prop with the orange wire going to it tells the machine (below) how much vibration there is at certain revolutions per minute (rpms).

This machine acts like a seismograph- it measures the vibration of the propeller and draws it out.

Lately, I am seeing more an more of God's abundant blessing and provision. He has provided me with a job both now and after school ends. I am working at Grand Ledge airport (just outside of Lansing, MI) as a line guy gal. Which basically means I fuel airplanes that come in and also do office work- helping people pay bills, etc. I will be working there full time after school and will most likely be in charge of the flight school (business side, not teaching) to relieve the other guys of some of the duties so they can fly.

Pete and I in the C310

Another blessing is that I have had the opportunity to fly and get some multi-engine hours in a C310 with my friend/ boss, Pete. Once school is over I will finish up the requirements for my Commercial license, get my multi-engine and then I can get paid to fly as co-pilot in a multi-engine. I may do CFI training (CFI= instructor) as well later in the year.

I know I have complete dropped the ball on the Catechism study and even updating my blog, but I hope you kept going with it! I haven't had much time and honestly haven't used my time all too well either. But here's a quick update/ prayer list-
- The adoption process is almost complete. It could be any week now that my parents go to pick up my little brother and sister. :) So pray for that to come soon and for traveling mercies.
- It's the end of the year and we are all starting to get our rear's in gear to finish. So pray for diligence and studiousness.

I'll try and update more. This week I'm going to Oshkosh, WI for the EAA Airventure! You will hear all about that in the next blog.

Fly with Christ,
Helen