With tense trepidation, I watched the path of Hurricane Ernesto. For days prior to my son’s wedding in New England the storm lingered over Cuba. It was projected to get loose in the Gulf of Mexico, threatening our home in Tampa. Then the computer model shifted course eastward, away from home but towards the Atlantic coast and, ultimately, the Northeast. The guys and girls on The Weather Channel were whooping it up in anticipation.
Meanwhile, in Bartow, Florida, another potential hurricane was on the loose. I had taken our Cheyenne to Bill Turley of Aircraft Engineering for a hot section inspection on the right engine. The cost of the inspection was as unpredictable as the hurricane and potentially, for me at least, just as dangerous. Naturally, the right engine was the one that had traditionally started cooler, ran cooler, burned less fuel and was the epitome of a good running, mature PT-6. But it was time.
