Thu, Jan 29, 2004
Mechanical Problems Out Of Way...Hopefully
Dr. Gustavus McLeod has
reached Lima, Peru after overcoming some nagging technical problems
that forced his return to Florida late last week.
January 22 was set to be the first day of a new bone-chilling
adventure for the pioneering aviatior. Unfortunately, he was forced
to return back to Florida after he noticed a series of abnormal
electrical and oil temperature indications on the aircraft's
instrument panel.
Duane Swing, owner of Velocity Inc., told ANN the aircraft was
repaired over the weekend and finally able to depart on Monday
morning.
"It turned out to be a problem associated with several bad
electrical groundings," Swing said. "There were several areas where
the aircraft was not wired properly during assembly in
Korea."
Swing told us the Velocity crew had to rewire quite a bit of the
aircraft's electrical system, as several items -- including a
radio ground -- were literally held in place with masking tape. In
addition, the wrong type of coaxial cable was used to connect the
Garmin system to the electrical bus.
"This is something we wouldn't have noticed until all the
equipment for Gus' trip was installed and tested in flight," Swing
said. "The old equipment wasn't enough to task the system, so the
problems didn't show until Gus was well on his way to Panama."
The modified Velocity kitplane, called the Firefly, was worked
on over the weekend and the decision was made to depart southbound
on Monday. McLeod, 49 will head to Santiago, Chile today before
flying down to Ushuaia, Argentina. From there, McLeod will fly the
Firefly to the South Pole and back when weather conditions
permit.
We wish Gus all the best for this trip and will keep you
informed of his progress towards the record books.
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