Engines can be Pickled?

Before our "wounded bird" can be put on a ship and sent to the US for repairs, we need have a couple of items to get it prepped:

First is to send preservative oil pulsing through the engine. Well, the battery had been sitting too long without activity and only had about 5 volts left in it- not enough to crank the engine. Thanks to the nice Russian mechanics at the DHL outpost at the Libreville Int'l airport, I was able to get a charge... FOR FREE!!!




This all required a couple of trips across the city... not a good idea during the country's HUGE celebration of the 50th year of independence. There were parades, concerts, and dignitaries coming and going from, you guessed it, the airport! Each arriving big-wig was treated to singing and dancing from about 500 women waving flags and handkerchiefs!!! (actually, 500 may be a conservative estimate).



After slapping the battery into place, the airplane cranked right up! No problems!




There's a happy pilot! We ran the preservative oil through the engine for about 10 minutes. The process suggests that you actually run the airplane a little more aggressively, but since the airplane is not able to be secured too well at the right gear, we kept it at about 1200 rpm.