Andy and Heather Swanson

The 207 finally takes to the skies!

Today has been an exciting day in the hangar. After 7 months of hard work, the Gabon 207 was finally able to make it’s return to service flight! Steve Straw ( http://gabonpilot.blogspot.com/ ) arrived back in the States the day before we left for Glasgow, and I thought that by the time we got back to Ohio, he would have completed the RTS flight, packed up, and headed off back to Gabon. A couple of hiccups with parts not doing what they were meant to do after such a long time out of service, meant that the re-commissioning of all the systems couldn’t go past the ground runs while we were back in Scotland. But the delays that came about from waiting for new parts to arrive gave another opportunity to improve the plane for the work it will be doing in Gabon.

The air traffic control network in Gabon is not as developed as it is here in the States, so the distance between people that can hear you on the radio is much greater. To make for a safer operation, and to open up more opportunities and resources from other people on the ground, a radio system with a greater range was needed. The radios that are installed on most light aircraft are VHF radio, and have a limited range because of the frequency they transmit on. HF radios use a longer wavelength, which gives them a much greater range.









When it comes to aircraft, you can’t just kit your plane out with “go-faster” spoilers and alloy wheels. Every modification that changes a plane from the way it was when it rolled off the production line, needs to be approved by the FAA. The application for the HF radio upgrade went in quite some time ago, but these things take time. Returning the plane to service was more urgent than waiting for this approval to come through, so the plans looked like they might have to be shelved. A little delay in getting off the ground was just enough time for the FAA approval to go through at the 11th hour, so Steve will now be able to return to Gabon with an aircraft that is much better equipped for the work it is meant for.

Having spent so much time working on this plane over the year, it was a bit sad to see it fly off, but knowing it will be back at work in Africa soon is a good compensation… and it free’s up quite a bit of hangar space for the next project… I wonder what that will be???

Off into the next chapter...