John B
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2013
- Messages
- 222
So I've got it in the barn, parts ordered and have started working on getting my Sonerai IIL, N109JB, back in the air.
She first flew in 1992 and I flew it pretty often for several years. Then kids, career, moving here, moving there, etc. I did get it flying again in 2002 but there were a lot of things I wanted to change. I brought it home about 2005 but still had a PA-30 to fly so didn't ever get really serious about it. Before I knew it 2016 rolled around. I had sold the PA-30 and worked hard over there summer of 2016 to get her ready. Just about had her ready to go when it got cold so I planned to wait until spring 2017 to fly. Well, on 12-30-2016 my mom passed away and my father was not in good health. On top of that they had their house plus 6 other properties so all of 2017-2018 was taken up by dealing with selling properties, moving my dad, etc. I just couldn't get motivated to get 109JB ready even though she didn't need a ton. Well in August last year I decided I just needed to buy a ready to fly airplane and i jumped on the Kitfox craze and now have a flying Kitfox IV. I guess I just had to get into the seat again because I now have the Sonerai at home and am well on the way to getting her flying. I'm sure it will be ready before the end of the June. I also bought a salvage Kitfox IV Speedster for cheap that I'll be rebuilding after the Sonerai is flying.
Over time she has undergone a lot of mods. She started out pretty stock but has since been converted to single seat, had the fuselage shortened to accommodate a "standard" engineer mount, the fin and rudder were enlarged a little, she has gone from tailwheel to nose wheel and back to tailwheel. Fuselage recovered once along the way. Wings got repainted in 2016. Reshaped the turtledeck. And I'm sure more I've forgotten. Here are some pictures from about 2004. Looks pretty much the same now. I'll have more pics as the work progresses.
She first flew in 1992 and I flew it pretty often for several years. Then kids, career, moving here, moving there, etc. I did get it flying again in 2002 but there were a lot of things I wanted to change. I brought it home about 2005 but still had a PA-30 to fly so didn't ever get really serious about it. Before I knew it 2016 rolled around. I had sold the PA-30 and worked hard over there summer of 2016 to get her ready. Just about had her ready to go when it got cold so I planned to wait until spring 2017 to fly. Well, on 12-30-2016 my mom passed away and my father was not in good health. On top of that they had their house plus 6 other properties so all of 2017-2018 was taken up by dealing with selling properties, moving my dad, etc. I just couldn't get motivated to get 109JB ready even though she didn't need a ton. Well in August last year I decided I just needed to buy a ready to fly airplane and i jumped on the Kitfox craze and now have a flying Kitfox IV. I guess I just had to get into the seat again because I now have the Sonerai at home and am well on the way to getting her flying. I'm sure it will be ready before the end of the June. I also bought a salvage Kitfox IV Speedster for cheap that I'll be rebuilding after the Sonerai is flying.
Over time she has undergone a lot of mods. She started out pretty stock but has since been converted to single seat, had the fuselage shortened to accommodate a "standard" engineer mount, the fin and rudder were enlarged a little, she has gone from tailwheel to nose wheel and back to tailwheel. Fuselage recovered once along the way. Wings got repainted in 2016. Reshaped the turtledeck. And I'm sure more I've forgotten. Here are some pictures from about 2004. Looks pretty much the same now. I'll have more pics as the work progresses.