Fly Me Friendly

Spent some time on Saturday with Darren from TroubleChute Rigging learning how to make repairs to parachute/balloon material. Basically, it involves using an industrial strength sewing machine, strong materials, lots of measuring/marking/cutting and some funky ways of folding bits of material around other bits. The end result is a strong patch that covers the area where rips/burns/etc were made in the fabric.

To say that my first one was a dog’s breakfast is being kinda nasty to dog food. The second one, though, was pretty good and, although not up to Darren’s high standards, would have passed inspection if done as a real balloon repair. It’s a good start but there’s still so much more to learn.

This is all part of my studies towards my Maintenance Authority for balloons, an official certification from CASA that will allow me to make, and sign-off on, repairs to balloons. More on that in another posting.

Murray (Kitt’s grandfather) invited us out to Murwillumbah airstrip (YMUR) to visit the folks at Mothcair, an organisation specialising in the restoration of early British aircraft (plus a few early US designs). It was great to visit and chat with everyone there – they’ve done a number of projects and really do enjoy their work. I managed to get a few photos while there, including some of an old Beach 18 that was parked out front.

NOTE: 2008-10-23: During our time at Mothcair, I was talking to one of the guys about flying and aircraft and so on. He said that based on the passion I was showing, if I didn’t get myself into aviation and go flying, I’d go mad. He said it was clear I was hooked and what the hell was I doing not getting my butt off the ground? It was a significant moment for me, perhaps more in hindsite than at the time, as not long after this I wound up working as crew (and then crew chief) with the hot air balloons back in Melbourne.