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  #1  
Old 02-09-2009, 12:22 PM
bryanflood's Avatar
bryanflood bryanflood is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 114
Default Flat tire at the Cosmosphere

This is less a trip report and more a story of the goodwill of that still exists in the aviation community.

A week or two ago I saw a post on these forums about a museum in a town in Kansas that I had never heard of; the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, KS. I thought it might be worth a weekend trip as Minnesota was still below freezing and anyplace south had to be better. When I checked the weather, Hutchinson Kansas was predicting 70 degrees plus for the weekend. I was going for sure.

The flight from Minneapolis to Hutchinson was fairly easy. Took off dressed like a Eskimo, landed at Hutchinson in a T-Shirt with the vents wide open with the OAT in the high sixties. On roll-out, after holding the nose off as long as possible, I noticed that the runway seemed really bumpy and the crafts handling didn?t seem correct. I rolled to a stop on the runway straight ahead without incident. However, when I attempted to taxi my fears were confirmed, I had a flat tire, ****. On a side note this is the third nose wheel flat that I have had. The first two flats where in the first hundred hours. I increased the tire pressure as suggested by others and then had no problems for 100 plus hours.

The airport was not too busy, the tower was very helpful and we were able to pull the plane onto the ramp. Over time my in-plane tool kit has dwindled in an effort to reduce weight; so I needed help to change the tire. Luckily, I had a spare tube with me and met Don Rogers who I later found out was the owner/president of Wells aircraft. Wells aircraft is probably one of the most helpful FBOs I have had the opportunity to Visit.

Don went straight to work on the tire. Don found a sidewall tear in the tube, installed the new tube and bolted the wheel back on. Don even offered us use of a car to go to the Museum and lunch while he fixed our airplane. Within an hour Don not only had the tire fixed but the plane fueled. I was so glad we could go home later that day and amazed by Don Rogers service that I was willing to pay about any rate for his services. Here is where the story gets good, after I paid for the gas on my credit card I noticed Don had not charged us anything for his services.
Don would not accept any money for his help with the tire and the use of his shop! I even tried to give him the twenty I had in my pocket, but Don wouldn?t accept any money. Don just said ?Welcome to Kansas?, I think I considered moving to Kansas at that point.

Finally Don drove us the Museum (which was really nice) and picked us up later. Another side note: Hutchinson also is the home of large salt mines, which you can tour, and sound very interesting; in fact I think there is even a show on the history channel about these mines being used for government storage of documents. The flight home was as easy as the flight down. I am definitely glad to have met Don Rogers from Wells aircraft. He really saved our weekend.

Bryan
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  #2  
Old 02-09-2009, 02:23 PM
frankh's Avatar
frankh frankh is offline
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Corvallis Oregon
Posts: 3,547
Default Niice

Thats definately now on my place to visit list!

Frank
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  #3  
Old 02-09-2009, 03:58 PM
fehdxl fehdxl is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Bellevue, NE
Posts: 686
Default let us know your coming... :-)

You guys just need to let us know when you are coming to our neck of the woods...a few of us RV types in the Wichita area would probably meet you up there. :-) I've been to the Cosmosphere a couple times already, but would do it again. BTW, the steakhouse at HUT isn't too bad either. Best, -Jim
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  #4  
Old 02-09-2009, 06:26 PM
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Ron Lee Ron Lee is offline
 
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Posts: 3,275
Default

This would make for a good FBO of the week on AvWebFlash

http://www.avweb.com/fbo/rules.html
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  #5  
Old 02-10-2009, 09:09 AM
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bhassel bhassel is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 963
Default

You should check out the salt mine tour as well. When I lived in Wichita as a kid our class did the tour and it was something I'll always remember...

Bob
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