Oct. 6 — The Win-A-Twin is back on the road, and in a big way. Let's go over the airplane's movements over the past month or so. First, back in early September, N204WT was at Fessler Aviation in Live Oak, Florida, for some landing gear and other maintenance. Then it was time for me to hurry on back to beat Hurricane Ivan, which at the time was predicted to take aim on Live Oak. On September 12, I climbed back into the Win-A-Twin at Live Oak, ready to launch on a four-and-a-half hour flight back to the Frederick (Maryland) Municipal Airport — AOPA's headquarters and our home airport.

There is no ATC clearance frequency at the towerless Live Oak airport, so I got a void time for my IFR departure, then took off. After climbing up through some large holes in the overcast, I called Jacksonville Center and discovered that the Garmin AT CNX 80's com radio had a stuck microphone. The problem was diagnosed back at Frederick, where Frederick Aviation's Dave Shelton traced the problem to the PS Engineering PMA 8000 audio panel. One pair of buttons (the ones for the number-one com radio) had apparently failed, and this somehow took down the CNX 80's com capability.

Repairs in place, we were back on the road for a September 16 trip to Kansas City, Missouri, to the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport, where the International Comanche Society (ICS) was holding its annual fly-in and convention. There, the Win-A-Twin went on display among other fine examples of well-restored Comanches and Twin Comanches. The Win-A-Twin had many visitors, and all seemed quite impressed.

One evening I gave a presentation on the Win-A-Twin's restoration, complete with before-and-after shots of the airplane as it made its way from beater to beauty. It was held in a hangar bay at Executive Beechcraft, and after my slide show, there was dinner and live country music next to the hangared Comanches and King Airs. You could only wonder what pilots and passengers arriving on corporate flights were thinking as they pulled up. Some convention-goers went for the music, but scads more ambled over to the Win-A-Twin, showcased two hangar bays down. Interesting factoid: The Executive Beech hangars at MKC were once the maintenance facility for Trans World Airlines, back when Downtown Airport was the Kansas City airport, and Kansas City International didn't yet exist.

Many thanks to International Comanche Society's president, Jon Van Bladeren; Convention Planning Chairman Darrell Norris and his wife, Phyllis; and Comanche Flyer Foundation President Pat Wachsman for all their help and hospitality at the ICS convention. It was great to meet and share stories with so many die-hard Comanche and Twin Comanche enthusiasts.

Congressional flight
AOPA President Phil Boyer was the keynote speaker at the ICS convention's banquet dinner, and as part of his responsibilities that day in Kansas City, he also introduced a local congressman — Sam Graves (R-Mo.) — at a press event. Also on hand was New York Governor George Pataki, as well as representatives from a helicopter emergency medical services team based at the Downtown Airport.

The day started with violent, hail-spewing thunderstorms, so Graves drove to the event from his home in Tarkio, Missouri — about 70 nm north-northwest of Kansas City. After the press event was over, he faced the drive back but was easily convinced to take the trip in the Win-A-Twin instead.

My job was to take Graves to his home field at Tarkio and show him the airplane's upgrades in the process. Graves, a pilot and general aviation advocate in the halls of Congress, enjoyed checking out the airplane's autopilot, multifunction display, and the PS Engineering PAV 80 entertainment system, among other systems.

After landing at Tarkio, Graves showed me his hangar. There, he keeps his 1947 Piper Cub ("I take it on visits out here in the country and land on roads," he said. "People love that."). He's also got a Skybolt under construction — the wings and parts of the fuselage are done but not covered with fabric. "I don't have much time to work on it any more, what with my job and all," Graves said. There was also the skeleton and carapace of an MG-B automobile, up on blocks and obviously awaiting its restoration.

After visiting for a while with Graves' family and others who had shown up for Graves' return, I blasted off for Downtown Aiport. It was the first time I'd ever flown a congressman — a red-letter day for the old logbook!

Exhaust cracks
Participants in the Win-A-Twin project kicked in once again to provide valuable service and safety benefits. The most recent example came after I noticed that the right-engine, number-four cylinder temperature indications disappeared on the JP Instruments EDM-760 engine analyzer display. This happened somewhere over Illinois, on my way east after the ICS convention.

I stopped at the Clermont County (Ohio) Airport (I69) to have the situation explored at Cincinnati Avionics. Though known as the home of Sporty's Pilot Shop, Clermont County is really a complex of facilities that complements Sporty's. Cincinnati Avionics is one; Sporty's Academy — a flight school — is another.

Cincinnati Avionics' Scott Cole discovered why that cylinder's temperature indications vaporized: The number-four exhaust stack had cracked and broken off, taking the CHT wire and EGT indications with it. Without the warning issued by the EDM-760, I'd never have suspected any problems.

Select Aircraft Service — another maintenance facility at I69 — sent the broken stack to Kosola and Associates for rewelding. Kosola, of Albany, Georgia, has worked on the Win-A-Twin on two previous occasions. He repaired the engine mounts one time and fixed the nosewheel trunnion on another.

Many thanks to Scott, Select's Kurt Schimpf, and Harold Kosola for their help on the project. And a special thanks to JP Instruments. Without the EDM-760's warning signs, I could have faced an in-flight fire from the uncontained hot exhaust.

Next stop: AOPA Expo
We're coming down the home stretch, folks. My next trip in the Win-A-Twin takes me all the way across the United States — from AOPA headquarters to Long Beach, where this year's Expo is being held from October 21-23. I'll be leaving early to allow for weather delays, probably on Saturday, October 16. With good weather and no delays, I should reach LGB by October 18.

I'll be taking the "southern route," which means possible fuel stops could include Evansville, Indiana; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Albuquerque, New Mexico; or Sedona, Arizona.

It will be another in a long line of long trips I've been so very fortunate to make in my flying career. And like so many other of my mega-mileage trips, this one, too, will end in a delivery. Delivery of the finished airplane to Expo attendees — and I hope you're there to look it over. — Thomas A. Horne