Sunday, May 07, 2017

The Tug Arrived

Dave sent me a text last night and advised he would be arriving around 8:30 this morning to deliver the tug I purchased from him and Adam.  I was up around 5am to feed the zoo and then went back to bed. I woke up around 7:45 and figured I best get my butt moving.  I still have to uncover and unplug the ranger pick-up and get that out of the way then open up the hangar for Dave's arrival.

When I arrived, I noticed the Ranger's cab cover was blown all out of whack.  I guess between the howling winds and torrential downpours I should be glad it's still hanging on the truck. I heard the jump plane call in 3 minutes to jumpers and figured I would take a look on flight aware to check on Dave's progress.

I managed a few frames of the meat bombs coming into OXB and heard the jump plane circling to land. 519Pappa-Hotel showed up in the pattern, entering on the cross wind for runway three-two. The jump plane fell in line number two for the field. Dave taxied into the hangar F complex and made a U-turn in front of my hangar.
Dave unloaded the tug and we put it together. I had purchased two new batteries for the unit and the cost was deducted from the total. With the hook up complete we gave it a try, it worked perfect.  It's a bit quick at one single speed but if one is careful it should work just fine.  We rearranged the wheel chocks so that 08Romeo could move a bit deeper into the hangar and allow me to keep the tug hooked up to the plane. I guess I had about 18" to spare when the hangar door was closed.
I need to make a run to Tractor Supply to purchase an enclosed battery box and a few terminal connectors. I want to secure and protect the batteries and mount the charger permanently on the unit. I'm working up my parts list and will get some pictures to document the process.
I had planned to fly today and knock out a few approaches with Charles from N57. By the time Dave and I finished up my foot was starting to hurt. Doc says when it talks to me pay attention and get off of it, so I bagged flying and headed home instead. I swapped text messages with Charles and he said we should try for during the week, that sounded great.

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