Hi all, I just thought I would share a few pics from my new part-time job. I'm a mechanic in a small, formerly one-man shop called Rankin Aircraft.

This is a Porterfield that I assisted in doing the annual for. It still needs a windshield, but other than that it is ready to go.


It's the boss's airplane, so we can afford to wait. You can't just buy a windshield for one of these anyone, so we we will have to heat and bend some plexiglass and make our own. That is after we get the customer airplanes taken care of.

I spent this week (my work week is 2 days usually) fixing the airbox on a 172.

The rivets holding that flange had vibrated loose, and the overlapping parts had worn a lot due to the vibration, so I replaced the whole top part of the box. Also, this has sort of become my work area. Anytime I need to take something off and work on it, this is where I go. My next step is to organize it and put a tool box on the bench.


Here it is installed on the airplane.


This is an interesting airplane. It's a Cessna 172 with a 185 HP engine and constant speed prop. I wish I had thought to take a pic when we had the spinner off.

Well, that's what I have to look forward to every week. I do this two days a week and work another (crappier) job three days a week. But, the boss knows that I'm willing to come in on my days off if he needs the extra help. I don't do this for money, I do it for the experience. Both in the sense that I can claim on my resume that I have experience, and in the sense that I am learning a lot from someone who has a great deal of experience himself.