Fri, Jan 23, 2004
Pole Crossing Delayed By Mechanical Problems
Thursday was set to be the first day of a new bone-chilling
adventure for Dr. Gustavus McLeod. Unfortunately, he was forced to
return back to Florida due to some nagging aircraft problems.
McLeod was 30 miles south of Cuba on the way to Panama for the
first leg of a long, challenging attempt to fly solo over both the
North and South Poles in a single-engine plane when the mechanical
gremlins awoke.
McLeod, 49, was flying a modified Velocity SportPlane called the
Firefly, when he noticed a series of abnormal electrical and oil
pressure indications on the aircraft's instrument panel. Right
away, he decided to contact the folks at Velocity for some
technical guidance.
Duane Swing, owner of Velocity Inc., told ANN McLeod was advised
to return back to Fort Pierce (FL). "The other option was to have
Gus land in Panama, but that wasn't going to work from our
standpoint," said Swing.
Once McLeod made his way to Florida, the Velocity support team
went to work troubleshooting the Firefly's problems. The electrical
bugs were taken care of in short order. "We had some bad grounds in
the airplane," Swing reported.
The oil-related issue has much more demanding on the team. As of
this story's deadline, the Velocity team was still hard at work
trying to remedy the Firefly's ailment. "We haven't been able to
figure out what is causing the oil temperature problems," said
Swing. "The oil coolers checked out fine but we can't seem to get
handle on the problem right now."
With no cause of the problem in hand, it's too early to say when
McLeod may fly again. "One thing is certain... he's not flying
today," Swing admitted.
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