March 29, 2013 - Spring Cleaning

For most people, today was a regular working Friday.  But it was a company holiday where I work so I headed to the airport.  The weather was OK, not bad, not good.  A little cool; spring hasn't arrived yet. 

Rather than fly, today's objective was to do some spring cleaning on the RV and hangar.    I started with the RV, cleaning all the oil off the bottom.  I use WD-40 as the solvent which works well.  It's still a messy, uncomfortable job, laying on your back on the filthy hangar floor, wiping the plane's underside. 

 
Next I swept out the hangar and generally organized it.   It may not look like much below, but this is the cleanest and most organized it has ever been!
 

Time to wash the plane.  I taxiied over to the FBO building where the water hose is.  Of course, I had to do a quick five minute flight around the patch first.

My airplane washing materials can be seen at the bottom.  I have a squeegee tool, great for getting most of the water off the plane.  Then I hafe a Super Soaker to get the remaining drops off.  If I don't get the water off the plane immediately, it will leave spots on the bare aluminum. 

 
All nice and clean.  Now, I really have to fly the plane, to blow dry any water than has seeped into the interior. 
 
Mean machine.
 
The business end. 
 
I only flew for 30 minutes.  I climbed high over the eastern shore and am now heading west back home. 
 
Highway 301 meandering southwest towards Kent Island and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. 
 

The house with a pool on my wingtip belongs to a friend from work. 

Back at the airport, there was still work to be done.  I broke out my buffers and spent an hour polishing the right wing.  The plan is to do a section of the plane at a time.   

 
 
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