On Wednesday, emails were buzzing around indicating that the BEW’s PT17 Stearman would be landing at Lakefront airport around 4:30 pm. And, what a thrill it was for members who were there to see and hear as Pilot Jim Helms, Operation Officer and David Capo, Unit Leader brought the Stearman home to Lakefront Airport on August 22.
The Stearman was escorted from Hammond by Pilot Paul Borgatti and photographer Patrick Quigley. The Big Easy Wing was very fortunate to have Patrick take photographs of the Stearman’s flight from Hammond to Lakefront Airport. After the aircraft was safely parked in the hangar, the members toasted to a successful flight and to having our first flying aircraft.
But then, it was back to business. Sonny Schilleci, Maintenance Officer and Jim Helms discussed the flight and general condition of the aircraft. While Don Clausing, Safety Officer, gathered the members who arrived for the Marshalling training in the office. Jim and Don presented on the CAF Marshaller Training Manual. It was a long day for Jim but an exciting one!
These guys were back at the hangar this past Saturday for another Marshalling training class. Each participant sat in the aircraft to experience the blind spot of a pilot and to provide a better understanding of a marshaller’s position to pilot’s line of sight. They went over hand motions, did a walk around, pulled chocks, moved aircraft out of the hangar, crank engine, and safely positioned themselves from the prop and wing. Ground school has just begun.
On another note, the board decided that the hangar will be open every Saturday from 8am to 1pm. There is lots of hangar work still to do and now aircraft work (we need our A&P to contact Sonny at [email protected]. If you haven’t made it out to the hangar yet, come on by to help with construction, clean-up, work on an aircraft or just check out our airplanes.