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Fly_boy_bc (Gary B) Fisher 101 rebuild.

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fly_boy_bc

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2008
Messages
236
Location
Agssiz BC
Hello all,

I have a plane. I have planned for this day all of my life like many young girls planned for their weddings. I have studied and prepaired. I have read all the homebuilder magazines until the pages fell out. I have scoured the Internet so much that I am actually suprised when I find something on-topic that I have not already seen. I have collected plans and posted them online on my CFAIR series of Yahoo Groups and I have training in both Canadian ultralights and Cessnas. All of that reading and training and prepairing has brought me to this day. The day I brought my airplane home.

About five months ago I saw the ad on Barnstormers for a Fisher Flying Products FP-202 Koala which was being restored. It turned out to be an FP-101 rather than a 102 but that is ok. The 101 is well proven with no issues of any kind to cause any concern. I was pretty broke at that time so I only inquired about the plane out of curiosity and was sent pictures of the project which looked like it was being done in a professional manner. Finally I asked the owner who owns a small resort north of Powell River BC if he would be interested in taking payments over time on the purchase. He was happy to help me out in this way so I sent him a small "non refundable deposit" and started making plans for the 6 hour drive up the sunshine coast of BC.

I had recently been in a single vehicle accident which left me driving an old clunker of a car that did not have any towing package and I had no trailer to put the plane on if it did! So naturally I had to buy a boat....so I could use it's trailer to carry my new plane home. I found a bargain on a 14 foot mid fiftys home built runabout with a trailer on craigslist for only $100. The boat needs a motor and paint and the trailer needed to have the wiring re-done and the tires replaced. I got two new wheels at Princess Auto for $112 and painted them yellow to match the trailer (and my planned color for the plane) and installed them at the boat owners place of business and paid for the boat and trailer and delivery. I then went to the local scrap yard and ripped a tow hitch off of a minivan that was just the right size to mount to pre-existing brackets under my car. I used steel slotted angle and bolts to attatch the hitch and if I say so myself it held on like a champ for the whole trip and still looks fine. I tied a rope around my backyard storage shed to the back of the boat and pulled the trailer out from under the boat and let the boat settle on padded cinder blocks with an old microwave at the bow. (you may be a redneck if...) I was running short of time before the big day so I had to use the recieved that I had on hand which did not have enough lift to level the trailer which had a goose neck for use with a truck. It sits quite low but high enough that I felt safe to use it the way it was.

When the weekend of the trip finally arrived I was excited and a little nervous. I was about to drive hundreds of miles from home in a 1986 Civic with a homebrew hitch towing a trailer that it was never desinged to pull. Frankly I was not sure I was going to make it. I left home early but I had to stop for bungie cords and some 2x6's that I could bolt to the trailer to support the wings during the trip. By the time I got gas in Abbotsford it was 11:00 am. The trip across the lower mainland was uneventful but when I reached the ferry terminal in Horseshoe Bay I saw that one of the trailers tail light lenses had fallen off. I checked the other one and resolved to get some red "Tuck tape" in Seshelt. I topped up the Civics radiator and drove onto the ferry. It took some time to find Tuck tape in the small town but finally found some at a building supply place for 11$. I was just glad to be legal and on my way again. I drove to Earles Cove and called the seller before getting on the second ferry so he would know I was two hours away and worried about the smattering of rain we had been getting for the last couple of hours. The pane is uncovered and could not be towed on my open trailer if it was raining. Oh well, press on and hope for the best. I got off the second ferry and drove up the Sunshine Coast Highway which changes names to regular street names while still remaining THE highway. I had to ask several people if I was still on the right road before finding someone who actually knew where I was going and that I was indeed on the right road. About the time I reached Lund I blew a hole in a radiator hose. I was prepaired with extra coolant but no spare hoses so out came the electrical tape. The hose was oily so I wrapped the tape tightly and concentrated on getting the tape to stick to itself and not worry about the fact that it did not want to stick to the hose. It held for the remainder of the trip but I had to rewrap it with the Tuck tape and more electrical tape before the trip was over. When I was near my destination I began to notice some softness in the brakes. I pressed on because I knew I was close. By the time I arrived the brakes were basically GONE and the front disks were SMOKING. Great! I did not have enough money to fix my cars brakes and purchase the plane. I had to hope it was just heat fade and would not need repair. It was about 8PM and I was at the sellers pretty little cabin resort! It is really beautiful here and qute wild. The owner of the resort who is the 101s seller came out to meet me and gave me the "grand tour" of the resort and showed me his amphibious trike. He lives at the resort year round and flys just about every day. He uses a little garden tractor to pull it out of it's parking spot and about 30 feet down to the water and then takes off right in front of his own property. When all of this sunk in I looked him in the eyes and said "Some people have life ALL figured out" which broke the ice between us and we started to natter o. About flying as he took me up to the shop where the 101 was stored. He has gone over the whole plane and pulled and twisted on all of the glue joints and re glued any he could get apart. Any glue joint that did not come apart got a little thin CA applied to strengthen the bond. He is justifiably pleased with the stiffness of the fusealage. He had me gab the tail end and try to twist it. It was as solid as a rock! The wings have also had all of the glue joints examined closely and any that were not perfect were addressed appropriately. I would say his restoration and repair work were excellent. I was very tired after my long trip and it was pitch black out in the wilderness so we broke up the gab session and went off to email my wife and get a good nights sleep.

The seller graciously offered me breakfast tge next morning at 8:30 but I was up at 6 so I checked my radiator hose repair, topped up my brake fluid and checked the brakes. Fortunately they were working just fine. I resolved to gear down and use compression to slow down on the mountain roads on the way home. I bolted the 2x6's to the trailer and headed over to the house for breakfast. The owner and his wife treated me to a great breakfast with lots of hot coffee and tales about all of the bears that he had to shoot that were on the resort property. (I had slept in my car the night before and was glad he had not told me these stories last night). Then we headed to the shop to load the plane on the trailer.

In the light of day the plane looks even better than it did last night! The wood is all nice and light colored with no signs of rot. No missing pieces or separated glue joints anywhere. The empanage is definitely not in great shape but the wings and fusalage are both perfect and practically ready to recover. We bungied the tail end to the winch post with a towel for padding and lashed the wings to the side of the fuse. The leading edges rested on foam pads which were sitting on the 2x6's I had bolted to the trailer frame. The tail and other odd pieces were lashed on in a similar manner and the struts we taped to the top of the fuse. Once everything seemed solid I said goodbye to the seller and his wonderful resort and took to the road.

I was nervous about the brakes at first but after a few miles I could tell the brakes were fine and it was easy to just gear down go slow and tap lightly on the brakes to keep the speed down on the back side of the winding mountain roads. About half way between Earls Cove and Seshelt the rad hose sprung a leak again but having more time available now I was able to tape it up really well, top up the coolant and continue with no more cooling issues. I had to go no faster than 70 KMH on the 100 KMH one lane highway so I was pulling over quite often to let rows of cars get past me. Everyone was very understanding and gave little horn toots of thanks for pulling over. That is until I got back to Horseshoe Bay on the Vancouver side of the last ferry run! The road all the way from the ferry terminal to the bridge to Surrey was AWFUL it was "under construction" and bumpy and grooved. I was scared to go 50 KMH on this 100 KMH three lane highway and yet I felt obligated to go as fas as I could so I would not hold up traffic. I was doing 70 KMH most of the time SWEARING at the condition of the road and having unthinking driver honking at me because I was not doing the speed limit! On a SUPER rough road! While in the right (slow) lane of a three and four lane highway! While towing an uncovered wooden airplane on an open trailer! What is WRONG with people?

I made it home by 1am to find my darling wife up and waiting for me. The weather was supposed to be good for the next few days so I waited until the next day to unload the trailer. Unloading was a treat. A lot like unwrapping Christmas presents when you were only six! I managed to pop one glue joint on one wing during the unload but that was the only damage incurred on the whole trip! The sellers repairs and regluing held up to the shaking and rough handling just fine! I put the tail pieces into my shed, put the wings under cover on my porch and wheeled the fuse into the back yard. I spent a little while examining glue joints and shaking the structure but we all know why I am out here right now! I climbed into the cockpit of my very own airplane for the very first time and went all "Walter Mitty" for a while....It was glorious...

I still can't believe I finally have my very own airplane. It needs lots of work, lots of money and lots of time before I can slip the surly bonds but it has finally happened! I have a plane! I am not just a pilot I am a pilot/owner! Soon I will be a pilot/owner/builder/restorer! I can not wait to get started!

Pictures coming soon. Wish me luck and contact me if you have any questions or notice that I am doing something stupid.

Thanks to all of you who have ever posted any information that could be of use to educating a noob. I have probably read what you have had to say and it is part of what go tme to this point.

Gary B in BC rebuilding FFP FP-101
 
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