Great job on day one, Dave! Wonderful hospitality from Raytheon-Beech, good transportation set-up (much appreciated in the heat!), cold water and cookies, etc. Then you wrap it up with getting pix loaded right away! Great family, with everyone pitching in.
The Power Flow Sundowner has the exhaust and pants. Plus some cute decals Robin had made, of an obviously happy mouse flying his plane. The wheel pants also come with a new custom tow bar, made to fit small lugs on the nose pant (about the size of Bonanza lugs). The exhaust looks great, the way that is exits the cowling further aft. Sort of reminds me of a Bonanza, with the greater 'rake' and the larger tube diameter.
The pants cover the entire front knuckle, and have seals at the joint with the main housing. There is a clever linkage rod behind the housing, which acts as a parallel arm, to keep the pant aligned with the centerline of the plane, on the ground and in flight, while the trailing arm and tire swing. The top of the rod is connected to the back of a band, which clamps around the housing using the same screws that attach the upper fairing. There is another clever mechanism that rotates up to fill the gap at the front of the housing, when the plane is in flight. That gap has to be there on the ground, so that when the gear drops in flight, the front of the pant doesn't rotate up into the housing.
It is pretty difficult to describe this well, in text. We'll see whether Robin can allow close-up pix yet. Since they are still making refinements (there are still wool tufts on the left main!), they may not yet have their patent filed. Robin told us that the video he will play will illustrate the tuft testing, etc.
The Raytheon Flying Club here has several Sundowners, Bonanzas, and a Duchess. Plus one of the big Beech Aero Club 'bullseye logo' neon signs, on the outside of the hangar, a remnant of the days of the Beech Aero Centers.
Great group dinner at the Marriott last night; a bit less ground clutter and we could have been looking at our planes. The BAC SE Banner flies proudly right next to Sunny Beech, as usual! It will be the last time Sunny B flies that particular banner, as he now belongs to the Mid-Atlantic Region (Dr. Bill's bunch). Now Sunny will be helping Dr. Bill fly the MA banner, at events that Dr. Bill can't make.
Wish you could all be here! Many more arrivals expected today and tomorrow! It's not too late; plenty of hotels right here by the field, with reasonable rates.
