Pickin' Up a Seabee
by Lee Hunphreys
by Lee Hunphreys
Subject:
N6382K
From: AdrianStil@aol.com
Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2003 21:49:33 EDT
To: smestler@pbtcomm.net, HJPoel@aol.com
I couldn’t stop thinking how
amazing it felt being in my own plane and a Seabee at that. We were
soon at 6500 feet and that plane was running great. A few hours later
and we
were touching down at Barstow airport. Tim was happy which made me even
happier. The next morning we headed to Kingman airport before we knew
it we were
touching down. Tim said we should change the plugs, as we were messing
around
the plane I soon realized we had a crowd gathering. I got to talking to
one
old fellas who informed me about the bee he had many years ago. The
fella
Tim was talking to had offered his shop so we could clean up the plugs.
It
turned out that Tim buys oil filters from this guy. What a small world.
We
got the plugs cleaned up and we were soon taxing on the runway, we got
50
feet off the ground when Tim said we were coming back down. At least we
got
to check the shocks out.
Three weeks later I’m back with a trailer ready to
dismantle her and load
her up. It’s now at Tim’s
hangar where we are in the process of getting her back in shape. I look back and realize that the
Seabee clique is outstanding. Tim Bastian, Ben Coleman, Jim Poel, those fellas at
Kingman airport; my hat goes off to all. All the e-mails I’ve had from
other bee owners I thank you for your kind support and I look forward
to meeting all those at the fly-ins very soon.
Lee Hunphreys
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Updated January 22, 2004
From: AdrianStil@aol.com
Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2003 21:49:33 EDT
To: smestler@pbtcomm.net, HJPoel@aol.com
First
off, I would like to thank Tim Bastian of Hangar-A-Aero Services for
helping me make all this possible. For a long time I was
pondering on what I
wanted to do with some savings I had. Coming from a small town
called Peckham in London it was always a long way out of my reach to
even consider where to put a plane, let alone own one. Having been in
the states for nearly 14 years, I was getting close to having my dream
come true. I was already on my glider course and was recommended to Tim
Bastian for my private pilot’s license. I live in Atlanta, Georgia, and
there are an abundance of flight schools, but after talking with Tim on
the phone I got a good vibe and 3 hrs later I was in Dayton, Tenn. Tim
was with a student, so he told me to feel free to wander around the
hangar.
As I
walked through the door I was welcomed with what I thought was a
Volkswagen beetle with wings. It was absolutely amazing. I walked over,
opened the door and was welcomed with another surprise, The amount of
room inside was amazing. This is it, I thought, I want to own a Seabee.
I talked with Tim and then I headed back to Atlanta. After several
months of looking at various ads and talking with different people, I
found one that caught my eye. After talking
with the owners we struck a verbal agreement. I called Tim and he
agreed
to head out west and check it out for me. We arrived at Sacramento and
were
greeted by one of the owners. It was only a 45-minute flight to their
flight
school, where the other owner greeted us. Tim got stuck straight into
checking
the plane out. After an hour or so Tim agreed that the plane was in
pretty
good condition, but was uneasy about the old Franklin in her. Never the
less
we struck the deal and before we knew it we were taxing out to the
landing
strip.
I couldn’t stop thinking how
amazing it felt being in my own plane and a Seabee at that. We were
soon at 6500 feet and that plane was running great. A few hours later
and we
were touching down at Barstow airport. Tim was happy which made me even
happier. The next morning we headed to Kingman airport before we knew
it we were
touching down. Tim said we should change the plugs, as we were messing
around
the plane I soon realized we had a crowd gathering. I got to talking to
one
old fellas who informed me about the bee he had many years ago. The
fella
Tim was talking to had offered his shop so we could clean up the plugs.
It
turned out that Tim buys oil filters from this guy. What a small world.
We
got the plugs cleaned up and we were soon taxing on the runway, we got
50
feet off the ground when Tim said we were coming back down. At least we
got
to check the shocks out. We came
down with a bit of a bump. We taxied back to our spot where Tim got to
working on what was wrong. Turned out that two of the plugs had totally
failed and one of the heli-coils was stripped out. After making a
couple of calls Ben Coleman put me in touch with Jim Poel who informed
me that Napa had what we needed to get us back in the air. It was
getting late so we decided to stay the night and get off to an early
start tomorrow.
We got
to the
bee as the sun was coming up. Tim changed out the heli-coil, changed
the
fouled plugs and we were soon in the air heading for Flagstaff. We were
only
15 minutes from Flagstaff when Tim said he felt uneasy with the way the
engine
was performing, so we made a decision to land at Sedona airport. We
found
a spot and Tim got to working on the problem, turned out one plug shot
out
the mags. So it was back to Napa for another set of heli-coil inserts.
After
installing those we fired her up but it still didn’t sound right. It
turned
out the plug cables were in bad shape. More phone calls later and the
only
people around who could help us were the fellas in Kingman. So we had
to
get a rental car and drive all the bloody way back to where we came
from.
Next
morning we installed the leads and are taxing down the runway no
problem. We take off and Tim is unhappy we could only make 100 feet in
10 minutes we flew around in circles, which seemed like forever, but
couldn’t gain any altitude. Tim decides we need to land. I looked to my
left there was a landing strip. It was Cottonwood. We land and Tim gets
to doing what he does best, yes you guessed it, more plugs shot out the
other mag. Tim works on the plane all day but there is other electrical
problems we cant seem to resolve. We make a decision to leave the plane
there and fly back home.
Three weeks later I’m back with a trailer ready to
dismantle her and load
her up. It’s now at Tim’s
hangar where we are in the process of getting her back in shape. I look back and realize that the
Seabee clique is outstanding. Tim Bastian, Ben Coleman, Jim Poel, those fellas at
Kingman airport; my hat goes off to all. All the e-mails I’ve had from
other bee owners I thank you for your kind support and I look forward
to meeting all those at the fly-ins very soon.Lee Hunphreys
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Seabee Home
Updated January 22, 2004