City of Renton

Air Classics, Feb 2001 by O'Leary, Michael

After the successful event, work remained to be done to enable correct retraction of the landing gear. During earlier attempts, the left gear would bind up and not fully retract. After adjustments, the left gear was successfully retracted on 21 September. The next day, both gear legs were retracted simultaneously and lowered again manually - Ken Freece being the lucky volunteer to crank the gear down.

On 27 January 1995, the 247-D was flown to demonstrate the retraction and extension of the landing gear for final FAA acceptance. The event was successful and witnessed by the personnel in the Paine Field control tower. A Standard Airworthiness Certificate was issued for NC13347 on 1 February and the next morning the volunteers had a brief celebration to remove the "Experimental" sign on the entry door. The job was done and the 247-D had been returned to a fully certified commercial carrier!

Since then, the Museum of Flight's 247-D has toured selected airshows and tens of thousands of visitors have been able to walk through the plane to get an idea of what it was like to "fly" in the world's first modern airliner. We were able to catch up with NC13347 at Reno 2000 this past September and go for a photo flight. Jack Fox took us aloft in his hot-rod T-6 Frostbite and we had a great time flying with this wonderful piece of aviation history. All aviation enthusiasts owe a big vote of thanks to the volunteers of the Museum of Flight and we would like to extend our thanks to Jack Frost, Tom Cathcart, Frank Leathley, and the flight crew of the 247-D. AC