I stared at the new casting for days, realizing this meant there is progress toward my sister and me flying again.
For the next workday, we met at the Bonanza’s hangar to get the tachometer time and confirm the size of the attach points in the bulkhead. After finishing, we would pick up the stabilators from my house and take them to the aircraft restorer’s hangar for inspection.
Rosie and her husband arrived soon after the aircraft restorer. Opening the hangar, we were getting quick at removing the moving blanket surrounding the tail section.
The aircraft restorer and Rosie used drill bits to confirm the hole sizes. No play using the
No movement meant using the holes as is was possible. The two aircraft restorers had discussed the possibility of oversizing the attach points and using close tolerance bolts if necessary.
I grabbed the hours log from the cabin, and we tucked my sister back in.
We made the way over to my house to pick up the stabilators, castings, assorted parts, aircraft books, and reference manuals before heading up to the aircraft restorer’s hangar.
After working through lunch when we removed the ruddervators and stabilators, we had all decided that would never happen again and ensured lunch would happen before jumping into anything.
The aircraft restorer’s hangar is based at Andy Barnhart Memorial Field in New Carlisle, OH. (3OH0). About a half-hour drive from Moraine, yet another moment of expanding my mental map of the area. The field has two runways, a 2000’x30’ paved and 2000’x150’’ turf.
Complete with heat, an orderly workshop, and a comfortable seating area, the hangar was more than a home for the restorer’s well-maintained clip-winged Cub.
After bringing in the stabilators and everything else, I opened the hours log dad had kept in the glovebox for as long as I can remember. Looking for tach time, I leafed to the last page. 5557.9 hours. At Rosie’s suggestion, I went to the beginning of the book.
Seeing names long forgotten, and notes of flights from nearly before my time in dad’s staccato type seemed normal but finding my mom’s handwriting brought tears and sobs. The aircraft restorer and Rosie were hugging me before I even knew I was crying. After more tears than I thought possible, we jumped into the investigation of parts.
Comparing the castings side by side, from the front they were nearly identical aside from the different shades of epoxy chromate primer that protected the parts. Comparing the back of the old casting had dirt from where the part had been moving in conjunction with the bulkhead.
Rosie and the aircraft restorer began to go through the nuts and bolts that came off of the tail. Some of it was weather-worn and other bits looked almost new.
Some of the bolts attached to the bottom of the casting appeared to only be finger-tight at the time of removal. There was concern the length of bolts that had been used were too long for the application.
I pulled out my hard copy of the Illustrated Parts Catalog for the Bonanza as the discussion went into the length of bolts used to attach the casting to the bulkhead as there were multiple washers used.
Rosie explained the amount of thread showing at the end of the bolt when attached should be between one and three threads. The aircraft restorer mentioned washers are used to add strength and allow for proper torquing with no more than three washers used normally.
The Illustrated Parts Catalog showed the aft assembly process but did not discuss the sizes of bolts used. As there was a newer revision of the publication was available, I searched for and found it as we were wondering if the newer one would indicate anything about the bolt sizes. After downloading onto and opening my iPad, we were looking at the same page from the previous revision. Oh well, happy to have reference material on the go as well.
The aircraft restorer pulled out a bolt gauge to confirm the sizes. The length of the AN-6 bolts was indeed long but within tolerances and the correct fitting for the location.
Attention then turned to the stabilators with the removal of bolts and rudimentary inspection of the surfaces.
Kroil and a breaker bar were on standby if needed, this time!
Rosie and her husband took turns removing bolts from immediately inside the stabilator under the aircraft restorer’s oversight. Most were removed without issue but there a couple were stubborn, requiring saturation with Kroil. I was surprised at how little foul language was used during the entire process, didn’t learn anything new!
Beginning to put together a parts list for purchase felt like a turning point. There is still work to be done but things would be going back on after this.
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