Andy and Heather Swanson

We have had a good week getting back into a routine after all the busyness of the last few months.

Heather has been getting back into her groove, keeping us well fed with cakes and home bakes! She has enjoyed having the opportunity to get to know MMS’s latest arrivals, the Maddux family, as they are temporarily staying just up the road from us, and it has been good to have some of the other MMS wives round for a “catch up”. Tuesday night brought something a bit different, when Heather went out to a “Taste So Simple” party; think “Tupperware party”, but with lots of different foods to try!! It was a good opportunity to socialise with some friends from church, as well as a few new faces to get to know. Right now she is practicing away on the piano – she is singing at church tomorrow, so is giving me a sneak preview!

Since we have arrived in Ohio, it has been interesting to experience nature from the slightly different perspective that we have over here. We have been fascinated by hummingbirds, crickets and fire flies, and we’ve been amazed by freezing rain, floods, heat and thunderstorms. This week has brought a few more things to add to the list.

In the last couple of weeks many of the trees around Coshocton have found themselves becoming home to an army of little web worms. The little caterpillars weave a silk tent then spend the next few weeks eating all the leaves inside before graduating to moth status. Some trees seem to be more appealing than others - this one that sits beside the road I travel to the hangar every morning.




This morning saw the temperature a bit more civilised than it has been for the last few weeks, so we took advantage and got stuck into a bit of gardening, or “yard-work” as they say here! We got lots done, and the place is looking good, but even though the temperatures were cooler, it was still humid, so these two Scots are feeling a bit tired tonight after all our efforts!!! (…and there won’t be any pictures of us hard at work appearing on here!!) We did meet a few of the neighbours though, and Abi and Matthew were kept entertained with grasshoppers and frogs for much of the morning. Everyone stopped for a good look when Heather found a Praying Mantis, though! We kept it in a jar for the afternoon (to allow for a proper scientific examination!) then let it go just before the kids bed time. The kids are really loving seeing so many things over here that they could only experience on tv back home!

Abi with the mantis still in it's jar...

Matthew saying his good-byes!

Work goes on at the hangar with the Gabon 207, and this week has seen me working on repairs to the section of the tail cone below the horizontal stabilizer. The work I was doing at the beginning of the week started with me just stripping paint off the old skin. It needed to be prepared for the fuselage being rolled into the paint booth to get it’s final paint job. As we removed layers of paint, and examined the structure in more detail we found a bit of damage that needed attention. Repairs were made to the aft bulkhead and the rest of the structure was inspected.

The skin that covers this section was also badly damaged, so the decision was made to replace it also. That gave me opportunity for another “first” in my time at MMS – my first skin! The old skin was removed and used as a template and after a bit of drilling, cutting, filing and bending the new skin was all ready to be painted then riveted in place.



The aluminium was .040” thick (quite heavy…) and had a couple of tight bends to be put into it, so that gave us the opportunity for another “first” – the new slip roll we have at the hangar (http://mmsaviation.blogspot.com/2011/05/tennsmith-slip-roll.html#links ) has now had it’s first use “in anger” and has proved it’s worth!



Unfortunately I managed one more “first” on Thursday morning – I have been driving now for almost 17 years, and have never run out of petrol before, until now! Needless to say I was late on Thursday morning, and spent most of the day feeling a bit thick!

Thanks for checking in!

A