Aerospace - Defense

“The Brakes needed an adjustment, very normal, just another airplane thing. Then, an oil leak ... again normal, none-the-less annoying ... but I can isolate and fix it,” said Adventurer/Aviator Gus McLeod in today’s interview.

McLeod was planning a quick test flight to have Kevin Murry, the genius who designed and built his customer turbo charger, check out the plane for the last time. According to McLeod, “He's the best in the business. All the air show performers use his exhaust systems.” A flight to his house on Smith Mountain Lake would be a chance to let him check the repairs on the engine. “More than anyone else, I respect what Kevin has to say about an airplane,” added McLeod.

Thirty miles out from Gaithersburg, the fuel flow read 11 gallons per hour. It should have read 15 gallons per hour. No problem ... McLeod pushed the mixture lever and gave it more gas. But the mixture level was already full rich. In an aircraft you can vary the mixture to maximize performance and economy at various altitudes. As the engine is starved for fuel (leaned out) it will get hotter. The Firefly’s engine temperatures was climbing. Gus reduced power to cool it down, but it had no effect.

What made matters worse was that he had his photographer with him

McLeod notified Air Traffic control he was returning to Gaithersburg. Along for the ride was Team Firefly’s official photographer. He was to get some pictures of Kevin and Gus together. He asked, "Why are we turning around?" No time for a lecture on fuel flow, there’s a problem. Thirty miles seems like a thousand when there is a problem. The photographer asked to go a little to the left to get a shot of something interesting on the ground. McLeod ignored him as some idle chatter come over his headset. Then the photographer repeated the request. Gus, who has flown the Firefly for over 20,000 miles with no one in the right seat needed to tell his passenger that there was a problem. It has always been just Firefly and Gus to work out the problems.

“We are different aspects of the same entity,” said McLeod. “Firefly is the body, I am the brain. There is no plane, there is no me, there is just one and we are. I found myself at a loss as to what to say to the photographer. So I said, there is a problem, we're going back to Gaithersburg." Something in the way he said it stopped all conversation and he was content to take pictures out of the window.

Firefly made it back to Gaithersburg using only 30% power. “I knew as we were landing what the problem was. It's a blocked fuel injector” said McLeod. “The Korean engineers have gone home. It will take me at least two days to fix it by myself. Maybe Firefly is trying to tell me something. We need a longer test flight. My North Pole section of this trip is 2,200 nautical miles. From Gaithersburg to Seattle it's 2,100 nautical miles. On my North Pole section on this trip there is no town, no airport or any human over the entire 2,200 mile course. From Gaithersburg to Seattle there are lots of people and lots of places to land. The entire flight from Gaithersburg to Seattle can be made without being more than 50 miles from an airport. If I can take a series of flights out to Seattle, it will give me time to work out all these small annoying problems. I can fuel up and do a direct flight back as a long range test. If I can do that, I feel we can make the North Pole anytime.”

According to publicist, Steve Rosenberg, “the plan is to clean the fuel injectors Saturday or Sunday. Then Gus will take off for the coast on a long test flight - Team Firefly will then decide whether to proceed with the big trip, or hold off until there's both light and better weather at the North Pole.”

The year 2000 flight to the North Pole was chronicled in both a National Geographic “Explorer” television special and “Solo to the top of the world,” from Smithsonian Books, written by McLeod.

For further updates or to schedule an interview with Gus McLeod, contact Steve Rosenberg at (703) 658.1302.