Factory School

I attended the Brantly factory April 21-25 for a basic maintenance class of the B2b.

We had 5 students; myself, Fred, Charlie, Jerry and Anders. We were all A&P's, Anders and myself are actively employed as such while the others are using them mainly for their own aircraft. It was a great group of guys and I really enjoyed the course. Chris, our instructor, did a terrrific job and set up the course with a great mix of theory and practical sessions. Overall I'd say it was one of my favorite maintenence classes I've attended. The factory was even brave enough to let us work on two of their own ships. We were able to watch Anders get checked out in one of the ships a student of his had bought. While he was getting the checkout from Gary, a local instructor, the rest of us got a lesson in running up a Brantly sans outboard blades using Fred's machine. Thanks Fred!!

On Friday the guys at the factory provided lunch with some fantastic BBQ'd brisket cooked by Doyle. We then we had a little informal presentation of certificates and the transfer of ownership of the new helicopter to Gary and said goodbye as he and Anders departed for home.

It was great to see things picking up at the factory with all the lights on and people working making parts for inventory and getting things geared up to begin producing ships again. I'm looking forward to returning to Vernon to attend the level 2 class sometime soon.