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Harteveld, Chinook Plus 2
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Date: 7-6-2016
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Number of Hours: 1.00
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: Factory Tour
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Before deciding to purchase the Chinook Plus 2 kit, I travelled to the factory of the new owners, in Sealy Texas. John and Kim Couch are incredible people with a fascinating background. Among the attributes of that background is the fact that they have chosen to retire early to a gorgeous airfield of their own making. Gloster Aerodrome [1XA7] is a pristine little airfield in the 1930's English countryside style. Three turf runways, a few dozen hangars [many quonset hut-style], and all sorts of amazing airplanes in the pattern. The Couches had been running Gloster successfully for about ten years before the decision to expand the operation by purchasing all rights and tooling for the Chinook and Beaver kit planes from Aircraft Sales and Parts [ASAP], in Canada. The AM manufacturing facility occupies a huge [no idea the square footage] hangar near the entrance of the airport. Gloster's FBO is in the same building.
My visit to Gloster occurred over a rushed weekend in December of 2015. The agenda consisted of:
- A few hours of quiet conversation about who we were, our backgrounds in aviation, and how we came to be in this dialogue about the Chinook Plus 2 aircraft.
- An extensive tour of the facility, including all of the customized jigs and tooling that help AM [and ASAP, before them] to manufacture parts and sub-assemblies swiftly and to such exacting tolerances.
- An intensive session reviewing the components of the kit I was considering purchasing.
- A hands-on 'workshopping' session focused on necessary construction techniques.
By the time I departed for George W. Bush Int'l Airport to fly home to Jersey, I had learned all I needed to know about the design, facility, and character of the owners in order to make a final decision. Within a few weeks, we had the paperwork squared and AM was putting the finishing touches on my kit.
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The manufacturing facility blew me away
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Craftsmanship of parts and sub-assemblies was impressive
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![They have goats! [I love goats]](http://www.kitlog.com/photos/project_2578/full/FP21082016A00010.jpg)
They have goats! [I love goats]
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