Glasair Aviation

[glasair]

WASPA 2015 Priest Lake Splash-In

WASPA 2015 Priest Lake Splash-In

Last weekend the Washington State Seaplane Pilots Association held their Priest Lake Splash-In. Many Glastar and Sportsman pilots flying machines on both floats and wheels were there to take in the sun and enjoy the scenery! A beautiful shot of Alan Negrin’s Sportsman cruising over the Cascades on the way to Priest Lake Everett Mellish steps out of his Sportsman, ready to get his feet wet. What a…

View On WordPress

[glasair]

AirVenture Oshkosh 2015

The Merlin SLSA on display at AirVenture. All of Glasair’s employees who were able to be apart of the great pilgrimage to AirVenture Oshkosh 2015 have returned safely! We had an incredible show this year with far too many events to recount in a single blog entry, but I would like to share a few of our highlights with you. This was the first public showing of our new Merlin SLSA, which was flown…

View On WordPress

[glasair]

Sunset Flight to Friday Harbor A local couple, Curt and Karen, recently won a flight in our factory Sportsman Diesel. Test pilot, Grant Smith, acted as their tour guide for a trip to Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands.  

[glasair]

GAMA / Build A Plane Aviation Design Contest Build: Day 12 – Inspection and First Flight!

Yesterday or taxi aspirations were realized, but we still had two important events left on the agenda before we would be ready to call this build complete. The first of the two was the airworthiness inspection. We had a designee of the FAA come to the factory to determine that the aircraft is truly readly to fly. We have already done our own inspection, but the DAR (Designated Airworthiness…

View On WordPress

[glasair]

GAMA / Build A Plane Aviation Design Contest Build: Day 11 - Taxi Day

Taxi Day: It’s here! The morning was a flurry of action as the last (and also some of the most important) items were installed onto our almost taxi-ready airplane. The prop was installed and secured, engine pre-oiled, spark plugs torqued, seats installed, air filter installed and every detail attended to. One by one, the last elements fell into place. A deep breath and then the Glasair…

View On WordPress

[glasair]

GAMA / Build A Plane Aviation Design Contest Build: Day 11 - Taxi Day

Taxi Day: It’s here! The morning was a flurry of action as the last (and also some of the most important) items were installed onto our almost taxi-ready airplane. The prop was installed and secured, engine pre-oiled, spark plugs torqued, seats installed, air filter installed and every detail attended to. One by one, the last elements fell into place. A deep breath and then the Glasair…

View On WordPress

[glasair]

GAMA / Build A Plane Aviation Design Contest Build: Day 10

A local reporter snaps some pictures for an article after interviewing the students Today was the last day of preparation before the taxi. As the last few assembly details are being squared away, the focus changes from building to inspecting. Over the next two days every nut, bolt, wire, and cotter pin are going to have many sets of eyes scanning them for any sign of defect of error that could…

View On WordPress

[glasair]

GAMA / Build A Plane Aviation Design Contest Build: Day 9

Day 9 of the build here at the Glasair factory and our projects continue to draw in tighter to one another. The last few days of the build will consist of a good deal of wiring, installing and hooking up engine sensors, and finishing up some of the fairings and covers. Wiring is a process which requires special attention. While in the last stretch of the build, everyone starts to feel the…

View On WordPress

[glasair]

GAMA / Build A Plane Aviation Design Contest Build: Day 8

It’s Monday, the team has had a day off (sort of), and everyone is back to swarming around the plane like wrench-turning ants. This phase of the build is particularly challenging; everyone has a job to do, but every job is in the same place! This dynamic takes the need for teamwork and situational awareness to a new level as students, helpers, and technicians are back-to-back, above and below…

View On WordPress

[glasair]

GAMA / Build A Plane Aviation Design Contest Build: Day 6/7

The students and volunteers are now more than halfway through with their time with us at Glasair Aviation… Fortunately the airplane is more than halfway complete as well! Saturday the students were able to get a good handle on getting all of the control cables routed and set to the correct tensions. Another milestone was also met: the instrument panel is now installed! The team was so effective…

View On WordPress

[glasair]

GAMA / Build A Plane Aviation Design Contest Build: Day 5

Today we reached a great point in any build; one can start to glimpse the almost magical point at which sub assemblies start to meld into an aircraft greater than the sum of its parts. The engine has been bolted in place, the wings and tail feathers gleaming their mirroring shine while fastened securely to the fuselage. It is incredible to think that only a few days ago all of these components…

View On WordPress

[glasair]

GAMA / Build A Plane Aviation Design Contest Build: Day 4

The students are now more than halfway through the first week of the build! Today also came with a remarkable visitor: Jeppesen CEO, Mark Van Tine. Mark is an incredible leader who is passionate about flying and inspiring youth to find their own place in aviation. Mark built his own Sportsman, with the first Build A Plane program at Glasair, two years ago. He keeps his aircraft at his house, a…

View On WordPress

[glasair]

GAMA / Build A Plane Aviation Design Contest Build: Day 3

Teamwork would be the best word to describe the atmosphere in the hangar today. The day’s largest focus was getting the landing gear on the plane. At a glance, this looks like a simple effort… Three gear legs? check. Three tires? check. Left and right brakes? Check and check. What is simple to miss though, is the sheer number of components and steps that go into the landing gear assemblies. The…

View On WordPress

[glasair]

GAMA / Build A Plane Aviation Design Contest Build Day 2

GAMA / Build A Plane Day 2

Today the CHEF Homeschoolers are really getting into the groove. All day the shop has been ringing out with the percussive music of riveters. Each student is getting a chance to pound a portion of the thousands of rivets that mount the top wing skins. Ben instructs on the methods of properly securing hardware Casey and Colton fabricate an essential control cable A class on the art of riveting is…

View On WordPress

[glasair]

GAMA/Build A Plane Aviation Design Challenge 2015 Winners Build a Sportsman

The winning team and Jeppesen employees prepare to start their first day The winning team,  CHEF Homeschoolers from Cuba City, WI arrived at the Glasair Aviation factory this morning. The team includes students Abri Badger, Colton Koester, Nathan Koester, and Jonathan Smythe, teacher Tom Smythe, and chaperone Steve Badger.  The students will be working closely with Glasair’s expert technicians,…

View On WordPress

[glasair]

Mike Dowler's TWTT Sportsman Flies Home

Mike Dowler’s TWTT Sportsman Flies Home

Two Weeks to Taxi builder Mike Dowler recently picked up his Sportsman and flew it home to California. Below he remarks on the build process and overall experience with the TWTT program.

Mike on his unique paint scheme: “It was really my wife Connie’s idea; I like yellow and she likes purple so we had been trying to figure out a way to make those two colors work; and she came up with a black…

View On WordPress

[glasair]

First Diesel Sportsman TWTT completed

First Diesel Sportsman TWTT completed

Last week Martin Pedersen completed his TWTT Sportsman — the first Diesel Sportsman to be built in the two-week program. The build went smoothly  and Martin was able to rev up his CD-155 diesel engine and taxi his Sportsman.

Martin and Glasair staff stand back and look at the first completed TWTT Diesel Sportsman.

Martin and Glasair’s Ben Rauk rev up the engine for the first time.

 View On WordPress