Over Pyramid Lake at 9500'
Globe with the words Around the Pattern cured around the top half.

To Say that 2020 has been an Unusual Year is a Gross Understatement

by

Here’s hoping that 2021 erases at least some of the hardships we have all experienced this year. It has to be better, right?

Over Pyramid Lake at 9500'
Over the SW corner of Pyramid lake at 9500′

Let’s see, I flew on February 28, 2020 and then didn’t get back into the air until November 3rd. I may have been out to the hangar a few times during the Spring and Summer months but in general I tried to stay away from everyone and everything. [I am in the high risk group with respect to Covid-19 and have no desire to test what type of reaction that I would have to catching it.]

The annual inspection on the Swift ran out at the end of April so even if I had wanted to venture out, the airplane was not legal to fly.

I finally started driving out to the airport again in mid-September when my schedule would allow and started working on the annual. . By the first of November I had completed the annual inspection and its requisite paperwork and again had a flyable airplane. But not for long….

Reno from 10,500' MSL
Reno from 10,500′ MSL

I logged 3.5 hours of flying over November 3-5 and after the last flight topped off the tanks in preparation for a few days of non-flying while a winter storm blew through the area. [ For the calendar year 2020 I managed to log 10.5 hours in the air – not what I was hoping for at the start of the year. ]

Swift Right Wing Root with Fuel Stain
Swift right wing root area with fuel stain on the floor.

The next time I went to the hangar to fly I found a fuel stain, still wet, under the right wing root. After the expletives stopped reverberating in the hangar I started my search for the source of the leak.

Oh the joys of aircraft ownership – especially an antique/classic aircraft. At least as an A&P/IA I have the ability, training and certification to fix it myself.