Page 30 - September21T

My granddaughter, Etta.
obviously panicked and backed into the stabilator. He was fired before sunrise. This was early spring of 2009. The United States was in a full- blown recession. We were deep into real estate and our vacancy rate was skyrocketing. It was time to hunker down in order to save our business. The insurance money for the Aztec was a godsend. We sold equipment we could do without and I picked up extra flying at the airline.
We put off replacing the Aztec for over a year. In the spring of 2010, we were slowly on our way out of the great recession and the hunt was on. While looking for another Aztec in Trade-a-Plane and Controller, we decided to also look at Navajos. I found a 1969 Navajo (PA31-310) with the full Colemill Panther conversion. The original (310 hp) engines were replaced with zero time 350 hp engines during the Panther conversion and only had 165 hours on them, with 1,800-hour TBO’s. Winglets, four-bladed Q-tip
props, and heavy-duty brakes were also part of the conversion. As if God was looking out for us, and he was, the airplane had been repossessed from the California owner and ferried to Hanover Airport, just north of Richmond, Virginia – a short distance from our home in Winchester. I was in the maintenance shop seeking the advice of my mechanic about purchasing an older Navajo and told him we were headed down to Hanover on Friday to look at one. He said he was going to be at the Hanover Airport on Friday. The stars were aligning.
We met that Friday – Dixie, me, my mechanic and the broker. The broker said there was someone trying to lowball the bank. Tired of dealing with the other person, he told us matter of fact how low the bank would go. My mechanic looked it over, looked at the logbooks and gave it two thumbs up. I asked him about the price and whether we should buy it. He said, “If you don’t, I am.” He said we were
28 • TWIN & TURBINE / September 2021
Turbines