An old project, contributed to, by a much younger guy

[Bob Weber]

This is a project I was a part of nearly 30 years ago. The most vivid memory of the several copies we made, was the one they brought in from Gabon, West Africa. The African Queen.. I have no before pics of it, but I think N687AE was the bird, you will see this written on a radome in one of the pictures. This was the project that developed multiple STC's by multiple entities. I accompanied the pilot, not only on the first flight with the hotrod engines, but also to present the avionics modifications to the FAA inspector at Yingling Aviation in Wichita. We were presenting a two tube, with an MFD, Collins Proline 2 modification to an already modified 441 Cessna.

We were out of there by lunch..

Weststar developed the -10 conversion to the engines, and we were working just as hard as Garrett, on the other mods. We began with a nice big pair of wire cutters!

This is a shot of the nose mods, I designed it to where we could swap any redundant equipment quickly, with minimal tools. Serviceability I called it. Here you see the inverters, the harnesses were easily swapped. This project was the beginning of a bevy of medivac aircraft for Samaritan Hospitals in the Phoenix area if memory serves. To the right you see the provisions for the forward air conditioner, that mod prompted a pretty good inspection of the nosegear after the first flight test!

 

[Bob Weber]

Me with hair, I always tell people I was troubleshooting a bad light bulb!

 

[Bob Weber]

This was the first copy I believe

Look at the vents for the forward AC..

 

[Bob Weber]

I designed it to be able to access the LRU's from the baggage door, and access the wiring by removing the the clamshell panel. You can see the AC system coming together there on the left.

 

[Bob Weber]

A shot that exemplified the mechanics on the job! I cut and built the pedestal, the mechanics did not like me using their PPNV

 

[Bob Weber]

A shot of the african queen, due to the smell, and weird bugs we encountered, it remained outside for much of the stripping process.

 

[Bob Weber]

I can't find the copy of the finished panel on this computer so here's the first 441 I did engine shutdowns on the initial testflight.

My Mothers ashes are spread on that mountain off to the right. The first and only time she flew in my airplane.

 

[Bob Weber]

Still away from home, here's a shot that will you make you think,

two feathered engines, or a well aligned syncrophaser.

I have this one blown up to a poster.

 

[Bob Weber]

Another shot of the project.

Use CPC connectors they said, I did.

You would not believe the size of the eyes of the IA overseeing me when I made the first cut to make this happen..

The FAA loved it, I was contacted many years later by a technician tasked with maintaining the fleet, He couldn't stop about the way the nose was set up, but they sure complained about these connectors.