Labor Day 2018

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country. We celebrate this by ... taking the day off from work.??.

Sally got a new landing light. It's an upgrade from the original. It should be much brighter in the landing pattern at night. It looks like a nice piece of jewelry. I'm looking forward to becoming night time current again. Now, what is night time?  Is it sunset to sunrise, or end of civil twilight, or...

This year the annual discovered a crack on the right main strut hidden behind the brake line. Evidently, this is not an unusual problem, especially for a plane being used in a flight school. Certus had the expertise and tools to do this in my own hangar.

I replaced all of the original wheel pant fasteners with stainless steel screws. Not only will they last longer in the corrosive Florida weather, but I think they look better too.

It was also time to change out the Dzus fasteners on the wing lockers. Even though I have been using Corrosion X, over the years they have become discolored and looked old. These were also changed to stainless steel.

I took some time to clean the cockpit. I used some expensive leather cleaner but wasn't satisfied with the results. Next, I used a clean rag and some nail polish remover to attack some of the stubborn dirt spots. This worked well! I followed up with a good vacuuming.

Finally, I did the belly wash. Certus had said he didn't criticize me for the grime on the bottom of the plane because it was probably a good form of corrosion control. (Just his kind of humor.) So today I got down on the creeper and started at the nose cowling and worked my way back. Three rags later I was cleaning the tail light. (My arms and shoulders will be hurting tomorrow.)

Normally this would be the perfect time to take her for a test flight, but as I stood outside the hangar there was ill wind in the air. It was only noon and the clouds were churning into dark shades of gray. Tropical Storm Gordon had just been born in the gulf.