Hi Steinar,

You will be glad to know that #15 did not sink to the bottom of Eagle's Nest Lake... The water trials / handling went very well in near perfect conditions with a light breeze straight down the lake. Just as Tom taxied out of the water and shut down for a debrief we heard the noise of an aircraft overhead and to our surprise it was Per Aanonsen in #1. A quick walkaround was carried out on #15 then a fast land taxi back to Tom's to see Per. As you can see it is a rare sight to see 2 Teals together on the same day! Pure magic..

We had a very busy week preparing # 15 for flight including final rigging of the control surfaces, installation of soundproofing and all the little jobs that you just keep on putting of till later. Easter Sunday dawned and what a day it was going to turn into. I had the pleasure of going for a flight in a Citabria on floats. On my return I heard the noise of an aircraft at the opposite end of the field and I knew it could be only one aircraft, #15. With Tom at the controls he taxied down the slip into the water. One orbit of the lake, then straight down the lake at full power and airborne in a 1/3 of length of the lake. Difficult to describe how I felt at the moment, nervous, delighted, anxious and proud all at once!  After a few minutes Tom made his approach back in to the lake for a near perfect landing. Like a formula 1 racing driver, Tom 'cruised' the lake shoreline to the acknowledgement of the fellow residents of Eagles Nest.

In the evening over a number of beers Tom realized that after 18 month of hard work we had taken a near scraped aircraft through the repair shop, then put it in a container and assembled her and made her fly. Bloody Magic..... (Pardon my French)

Tom made three more flights off the hard a couple of days later to confirm the performance / handling figures before our departure back to the UK. Sorry we did not make Sun & Fun this year but we will be back next year..

Regards

Marc
[e-mails dated 13 May 2004]

Hi Steinar,

Unfortunately I was unable to get to Florida in January when Tom was there but he has asked me to update you with the progress on #15.

#15 has know been allocated an American registration, N897TB

The wings have now been fitted with some help from his friends and neighbours at Eagles Nest. Fast 'land' handling checks were carried out but due to the high cross winds at Eagles Nest Tom decided enough had been achieved on this visit and #15 was returned to the hangar in one piece to await his next visit...

Tom is planning to return to Eagles Nest in the beginning of April for more work on his house, hangar and #15...The next major task is to carry out water handling checks and hull leak checks before installing the soundproofing and soft furnishings to the cockpit. Hopefully during this time the FAA inspections will carried out and who knows # 15 may take to the air?

Regards

Marc