Three generations of Weidner Tri-Pacer pilots:
Gerald, Kevin, and Zac.
A new interior from Airtex imbued the
Tri-Pacer with comfort and eye appeal. It
was tedious work, but Zac drew upon his
seemingly never-ending wellspring of
patience, and it paid off. By April 2009, the
seat covers, carpet, and wool headliner
were installed.
Zac also included a few special
finishing touches to stylize the Tri-Pacer.
He fabricated stainless steel door jams to
protect the fabric in the entryway and
inserted stiff foam inside the fabric-covered gear legs to prevent drumming
and cracking. He also dressed up the
exterior by painting the wings’ leading
edges red and incorporated red windshield
trim to provide a consistent color line
from the wings down to the fuselage.
Then he painted white trim around
the leading edge landing lights and the
wheels. For the interior, he sewed cloth
sleeves that neatly conceal the shoulder
harnesses as they exit the headliner.
CHALLENGES AND FRUSTRATIONS
The most significant challenge Kevin
and Zac encountered seemed nearly
insurmountable for the first year. “It
was learning how to acquire the docu-
mentation for all the alterations and
modifications we did. The Springfield
FSDO gave us a couple of phone numbers
for designated engineering representa-
tives [DERs], and we finally had to hire a
DER to approve 17 of the alterations that
we did,” Kevin said. “He did things that
made the process simpler for me. I tried
to do it without one, and it was almost
impossible. I had to spend a little bit of
extra money, but once I employed him,
he got the data approved. That was my
major challenge; the process of doing
the painting and the rest of the project
was really a piece of cake compared to
the paperwork.”
Additionally, an especially frustrating
moment for Kevin was when the brand new
windshield cracked. “I wasn’t supervising
Zac close enough, and I ended up having to
buy a second windshield,” Kevin said. “The
first one was just about in place, and Zac
just tapped it to get it to move about 1/4
inch—and it cracked. I was just about to tell
him not to hit it so hard—so that was
frustrating, but it was my fault. That was
the worst it got.”
BOUNTIFUL REWARDS
The restored Tri-Pacer’s first flight was on
June 10, 2010, with Kevin at the controls. He
was pleased to discover it was rigged so well
that it flew hands-off. Zac, in the role of
observer for that first flight, was thrilled to see
the wheels lift off the grass. “Watching it take
off and fly by was one of the most satisfying
things I’ve ever experienced. It was just as neat
as flying the plane the first time. Restoration
takes a lot of determination—and sometimes
frustration—but it’s worth it!” he said.
A CFI, Kevin taught his son to fly in the
Tri-Pacer, and Zac successfully completed
his checkride in it as well. “We fly out of our
own farm strip, and it’s just neat to be able to
go up whenever you feel like it and look
around and have a view of everything,” Zac
said. “This is a great airplane for looking at
our corn and soybean crops, and a pretty
decent cross-country airplane. It’s faster
than a C-172, has more useful load, and is
less expensive than a 172 in good flying con-
dition. Plus, it only has 454 hours on it total
time. It’s a lot of fun to fly!”
“It was really a great experience for me to
see that the restoration worked out pretty
much the way I envisioned it,” Kevin said.
“Except the last six months—Zac was really
pushing me to get it ready for Oshkosh, and I
was working all day on the farm and wanted to
rest, but didn’t get a chance to! Really, I’m very
proud of him for the way he took that respon-
sibility on and pushed me. That’s why we had
it done and made it to Oshkosh last summer.”
As it turned out, the judges were glad they
made it to the fly-in convention as well.
N9438D was awarded the Class I Single
Engine (0-160 hp) Bronze Lindy in the
Contemporary (1956-1970) Category during
EAA AirVenture 2010. “When we hauled this
project home, Grandpa (Gerald) said several
times that he would never live to see this air-
plane fly,” Zac said. “Dad and I smiled at each
other at the time, and it was even more fun
when he was there to see it fly.” The
Weidners’ Tri-Pacer has now become a fre-
quent flier, with three generations of the
Weidner family—Gerald, Kevin, and Zac—all
taking turns as pilot in command.
Sparky Barnes Sargent, EAA 499838, holds a
commercial glider certificate with private single en-
gine land and sea ratings, and she personally restored her
1948 Piper Vagabond. For more information on type clubs
visit www.SportAviation.org.
