There is a saying that I am sure you all are familiar with: “The last 10% takes 90% of the time.” This is true with almost everything in life. The finishing touches take the longest, but they are what makes or brakes the project. When building an airplane you work diligently on the airframe and you see progress, real progress, every time you work on it. Then you get to the point where it is time to hang the engine, do the wiring and finishing touches and it takes FOREVER to work through all of that. The difference is you aren’t seeing all the big progress you were before and it is easy to get discouraged. This is when details are very important, and 100% concentration is required, but you just want to FLY IT ALREADY! It is easy to get fed up at this point, but it is also encouraging to see the light at the end of the tunnel and know that your dream is just about to become a reality. That all of your hard work is going to pay off.
This is where we, at SPA, are with the Panther project. We are close to closing in, almost there…. and we do see the light at the end of the tunnel. And soon we will get to rejoice with builders as they take their maiden flights in their Panthers. Builders across the US are making leaps and bound of progress on their Panther builds. These upcoming months will be a great emotional payoff for all of us @ SPA and Panther builders. Bob Woolley (Panther Sport with Lycoming O-320) will be scheduling his DAR inspection right after Oshkosh and first flight should be early August. Tony Spicer is working on finishing touches, like paint and wiring, now. Builders Will Mensink, Buddy Henson and Eric Muehlberg all have their projects on the gear with a handful more right behind them. Builders Bill Soares, Rick Holland, Allen Pixley and Brent Mayo have all finished riveting their spars this month. We continue to get good, constructive feedback from our builders regarding parts and documentation. Keep them coming Panther builders!
We designed our own control box bearing for the Panther. We have the aluminum CNC machined, then we drill mounting holes, install the bearing and swage it in place. Then we test resistance and oil each one. One of the wonderful flight characteristics of the Panther is the light and fluid controls. We need a strong bearing, but no drag. This requires just the right amount of swage on the bearing.
A few weeks ago we took the Panther to a local elementary school for career day. Normally we wouldn’t have taken away shop time but I am glad we did. It was a reminder for what this is all about, and what EAA is all about. It is important to give back, and to inspire young adults to follow their dreams. Dan, Patrick and I trailered the Panther to the school, rolled it out and talked to the students about entrepreneurship, aerodynamics, pilot licenses and what experimental aviation is about. These kids ranged from 3rd grade to 6th grade and some of them were truly amazed. It was great to see!
We are making progress with landing gear legs this week. We have one of our CNC shops route out the blank, but we machine the airfoil shape and brake line slot in house on our mill. Dan has really honed in the process and each gear leg takes less than 30 minutes total to machine finish. The setup time is the longest, so once he starts he has to keep at it until they are all done. Last night it looked like a blizzard of aluminum snow had come through the shop 
This week will be filled with continued machining of landing gear legs, documentation, shipping backordered parts to customers and continued prep of over seas shipments. Vendors are running more parts and a canopy skirt comes out of the mold every 2-3 days. Our first production shipment of canopy skirts is scheduled to arrive mid-next week. Look for Oshkosh cookout info by the end of this week! We will be in Booth N615 in homebuilders row, as always. Come see us!
