Well, it happened. N194SP has served for a year at Trade Winds Aviation, but it’s now time to say goodbye to San Jose and hello to Palo Alto. West Valley Flight Club will take over management of the aircraft and it will soon be available for rent there.
The aircraft is currently conducting its annual inspection in the West Valley hangar. Once everything is up to standards, it will start flying renters. I expect that it will be available soon after Thanksgiving.
Oh, the irony. October will be N194SP’s last full month on the line at Trade Winds Aviation. It was also the best month the aircraft has had yet. For the first time in the eleven months on the line, it turned a profit for the month. Not a lot: about $600. And it’s a long way from digging the plane out of the hole. But I’ll take it!
The hours on the craft were good. 45 Hobbs hours were flown, though about 3 were not charged out of that due to maintenance and flight school use. Very little went wrong, either. The only maintenance to the aircraft was one hour of labor, split between readjusting the engine for the winter and connecting a plug that had fallen out the back of the CDI.
Even I got to fly N194SP! A couple coworkers and I took a great flight out to Columbia Airport (O22) and enjoyed lunch in the town. A hefty 5.3 hours of flying was a great way to spend the day. We even got a chance to see a Ford Tri-Motor fly out of San Carlos.
N194SP 