Mechanical Problems Out Of Way...Hopefully

Dr. Gustavus McLeod has reached Lima, Peru after overcoming some nagging technical problems that forced his return to Florida late last week.

January 22 was set to be the first day of a new bone-chilling adventure for the pioneering aviatior. Unfortunately, he was forced to return back to Florida after he noticed a series of abnormal electrical and oil temperature indications on the aircraft's instrument panel.

Duane Swing, owner of Velocity Inc., told ANN the aircraft was repaired over the weekend and finally able to depart on Monday morning.

"It turned out to be a problem associated with several bad electrical groundings," Swing said. "There were several areas where the aircraft was not wired properly during assembly in Korea."

Swing told us the Velocity crew had to rewire quite a bit of the aircraft's electrical system, as several items -- including a radio ground -- were literally held in place with masking tape. In addition, the wrong type of coaxial cable was used to connect the Garmin system to the electrical bus.

"This is something we wouldn't have noticed until all the equipment for Gus' trip was installed and tested in flight," Swing said. "The old equipment wasn't enough to task the system, so the problems didn't show until Gus was well on his way to Panama."

The modified Velocity kitplane, called the Firefly, was worked on over the weekend and the decision was made to depart southbound on Monday. McLeod, 49 will head to Santiago, Chile today before flying down to Ushuaia, Argentina. From there, McLeod will fly the Firefly to the South Pole and back when weather conditions permit.

We wish Gus all the best for this trip and will keep you informed of his progress towards the record books.

FMI:  www.gusmcleod.com