The aircraft maintenance professional's source for technological advancements, maintenance alerts, news, articles, events, and careers
Issue link: http://amt.epubxp.com/i/942786
www.AviationPros.com 41 AviationPros.com/company/10018066 RESTORATION And then there was the maintenance side. Dusenbury loved building aircraft, and started with experimental aircraft and then moved to antiques. She won an award at Oshkosh for her efforts on a Culver Cadet. Aircraft she has owned or restored include an Aeronca 7AC Champ, a Luscombe 8A, an Island Sport, and a Culver Cadet. She currently owns and flies a 1953 Cessna 180 and a 1937 Taylor J-2 Cub, and is restoring a 1935 Stinson SR-6 Reliant. She was inducted into the Vintage Aircraft Association Hall of Fame in 2013. Susan decided to get her Inspection Authorization, and later received a phone call from FAA Headquarters telling her she was the first licensed female in the United States to do so. The FAA published an article in its monthly magazine on the milestone. She worked with the Experimental Aircraft Association as a volunteer director for 20 years and currently she is president of the Vintage Aircraft Association (VAA). ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT Dusenbury has been president of the VAA since February of 2017. Before her presidency she and fellow VAA board member Ron Alexander (now deceased) were composing a five-year plan for VAA. At this time, Dusenbury is working to finish the plan while implementing some of its components. She along with the VAA board and other VAA volunteers are busy updating policy documents, expanding the programs in VAA's Vintage Village and working on landscaping plans to enhance the areas surrounding the VAA gounds at Oshkosh. In 2017 VAA completed a much-needed structural restoration as well as an addition to VAA's flagship building, the Red Barn, which resulted in a re-dedication ceremony at EAA AirVenture in 2017. To encourage future pilots and mechanics, forums at VAA have been developed after consulting with EAA's head of KidVenture, Dan Mitka. One forum teaches children how to use small basic hand tools. VAA also has programs involving older students where the students have the opportunity to meet and greet pilots as they arrive at AirVenture in their air- planes. VAA also holds a Youth Day every year where young pilots are the featured attraction in VAA's Vintage in Review at Interview Circle. Dusenbury lives on an 80-acre farm in Walnut Cove, NC, that includes her aircraft, work shop, and a 2,700–foot runway. "All pilots (and mechanics) have one thing in common," Dusenbury says. "They have a passion for flying and can not imagine doing anything else for a living or as a hobby." SUSAN DUSENBURY with friend, Walt Weaver, drilling the rear spar on her Stinson Reliant — Model SR-6. Weaver is also an A&P; mechanic. They flew together at ABXAir and retired on the same day. He lives in Concord, NC. The new spar to be drilled is under the original one. COURTESY OF SUSAN DUSENBURY