AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2015 - 74

THE SCENERY, flight conditions, and aircraft give each ferry flight its own flavor.
The "before" and "after" trainers were so different it was hard to believe they
are the same model. The flight from Arizona to Afton to home base in Frederick,
Maryland (above).

One of my first assignments this year
was taking a well-worn 152-N6327M-
from its former home in Show Low,
Arizona, on a 600-nm winter flight to
Afton. I arrived in Arizona on a cloudless
afternoon, and my first impression of the
airplane was decidedly mixed.
Pulling the prop through by hand, I felt
almost no resistance. There was some compression in the cylinders, but it had been
more than 2,000 hours since the Lycoming
O-235's last overhaul, and it felt weak. The
engine oil was honey yellow, an indication
the airplane had flown little, if at all, since
its last oil change at the annual inspection
five months earlier.
Smashed bugs were caked on the windshield. The battery needed to be recharged
because it was dead from disuse. A tie-down
ring on the tail was badly scraped from what
I can only assume was a tail strike. And the
glareshield was warped and deformed from
years of exposure.
The airplane's appearance wasn't all
bad, though. The airframe looked straight
despite its having logged something like
14,000 flight hours; the tires were new and
properly inflated; the Bendix/King KX-155
radio was a reliable unit; and it had that
all-important cigarette-lighter adapter so
I could plug in an iPad. Of course, the old
Northstar Loran was worthless, but that
didn't come as a surprise.
Dean Rozeboom, an Arizona pilot and
mechanic familiar with N6327M, said he
was glad it was going to be restored at Aviat.
"I feel like the airplane just won the lottery,"
he said. "It deserves a great future, and I'm
sure that it'll have one."
74 | AOPA PILOT April 2015

I planned a visually stunning, 230-nm
hop over the Grand Canyon SFRA to St.
George, Utah, on the first leg. From there,
I could follow Interstate 15 to Salt Lake
City and cross the Wasatch Mountains.
After that, I'd be within striking distance
of Afton and dash in as soon as conditions
allowed. "All I need from you is six good flying hours," I told N6327M. "Have you got
three takeoffs and landings left in you?"
When I turned the key to start the
engine, the prop spun absurdly fast because
of the lack of internal resistance. When I
plugged in my iPad, the cigarette-lighter
adapter threw sparks and I could smell
burning insulation. I'd have to find my way
without it.
Lined up with the 7,200-foot Runway
24, I leaned for the elevation (6,415 feet) and
added full throttle. Acceleration was glacial,
but the engine sounded right and the prop
was turning a full 2,400 rpm. After a ground
roll of 1,000 feet, the airplane hadn't quite
reached its 50-knot rotation speed. At 1,500
feet, the airplane was barely ready to fly, and
it climbed at about 300 feet per minute as I
gingerly turned northwest.
I tried calling Albuquerque Center for
flight following but couldn't reach anyone at my altitude of 8,500 feet. N6327M
flew relatively fast at 95 KIAS at 2,450 rpm,
a pleasant surprise since the airplane
lacked wheel fairings. I dialed in the Tuba
City VOR and planned to cross Marble
Canyon on the northeast side of the Grand
Canyon SFRA.
Higher terrain beyond the canyon-and
during the Wyoming leg of this ferry flight-
would require climbing above 10,000 feet,

and I wanted to find out if this airplane
could reach those altitudes sooner rather
than later. I nursed it all the way up to 11,000
feet and was relieved to discover it seemed
willing to stay there.
The canyon overflight was exhilarating,
and I snapped iPhone pictures and listened
as tour pilots reported their positions in
places I didn't recognize (on 120.05 MHz).
Sunset was still an hour away when
N6327M touched down at St. George, and
I was pleased to discover fuel and oil consumption had been normal for the 2.5-hour
trip. N6327M was showing itself to be a solid
airframe, and the craftsmen at Aviat could
make it great once I got it to them.
STEALING SECOND

At dawn, I flew north in clear skies over
Interstate 15 to Heber City, Utah, just 90
minutes from Afton. There, like a baseball
player trying to steal second, I was ready to
sprint to Afton if conditions allowed. After a
night of freezing fog there, a text from photographer Cameron Lawson at the Aviat
factory gave me the steal sign.
"Clear skies and calm winds at AFO,"
Lawson wrote.
I followed a two-lane highway into
western Wyoming's Star Valley (the name
was shortened from that of the original settlers, who called it "Starvation Valley"), and
the Afton Airport came into view straight
ahead-a black runway surrounded by snow.
Earl Polenz, an Aviat pilot, was making calls
on the Unicom frequency as he tested the
newly remanufactured 152 I would be taking home to the East Coast. N6327M had
provided exactly what I had hoped for:
AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2015

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