flying

15Jan, 2018

TIME TO SCRAP HER! To BEECH or Not to BEECH – That is the BONANZA!

Well, it came down to this inspection.

We spent some extensive time looking her over, researching and reading logbooks, AD’s, etc. to *almost* making a decision. We found 5 MAJOR issues with the Bonanza and these squawks will make or break the decision to part it out or rebuild it.

What would YOU DO?

Music featured: “Roam” B-52’s

Special thanks for Propellerhead Aviation for providing their facility and expertise in this adventure. If you need work done on your plane, there’s no better place to look than Winter Haven, Florida. They are a full service maintenance facility that provides not just your typical work, but also specializes in fuel tank rebuild/resealing, pre-purchase inspections, ground up restorations, aircraft rental, AND flight training.

For more information, www.propellerheadaviation.com

Looking for airplane parts? Got parts to sell? www.hangarswap.com

Afraid we’re going to part her out? Interested in this 1966 V35TC Bonanza? Contact Rachel at Rachel@hangarswap.com or contact Bill at Bill@propellerheadaviation.com

5Jun, 2017

June 5th 2017 Press Release: New Version of HangarSwap is LIVE!

JUNE 5, 2017

ORLANDO, FL – The new version of HangarSwap is LIVE! The past 9 months HangarSwap has been breaking ground in traffic with over 10,000 unique visitors each month. The timing is perfect for the endless growth on the newest online marketplace in the industry. “We’re fully prepared to take on this corner of the market.” explains Rachel Lietzke Payne, creator of HangarSwap.com. For just little over two years that HangarSwap has been around, it has taught Payne what she needed to know to implement her ultimate goal: the launch of the new HangarSwap platform.

HangarSwap debuted the new platform at Sun N Fun in Lakeland, FL back in April. The team demonstrated how the site will perform after the migration. With over 2,000 customers and reaching 300 sellers, Payne has learned a plethora of knowledge to add to her endless notebook of goals for HangarSwap. Not only has HangarSwap took a major face lift, but this new systems gives the sellers and buyers exactly what they’ve been asking for.

Mobility

HangarSwap is now completely mobile friendly. You can buy, sell, and work on your inventory from your phone or tablet.

Excel Doc Upload

Sellers can now upload their entire inventory from excel documents. All parts stay “inactive” until the seller chooses to make them “active.” Potential buyers can still search the inactive items in the HangarSwap search and contact the seller through the Parts Radar System. Once uploaded, you can edit your inventory from anywhere.

Parts Radar System

The Parts Radar system allows the seller to sell their “inactive” items to anyone searching for that particular part on HangarSwap. Potential buyers can also put in a parts request that will go to a database for all sellers who participate in the Parts Radar system. This function establishes an easier search for schools, FBO’s, and other large industry leaders all in one place for a fraction of the cost compared to other parts locator systems.

Services & Wanted Section

Utilizing a classifieds approach, HangarSwap has made it easy to advertise for your services or find someone in the industry for your specific task.
When a potential buyer can’t find what they need, they can post a wanted ad.

Ebay Sync (Available mid summer)

The number one request from sellers was the ability to integrate their Ebay store. Anyone who sells on Ebay can have their store synced to HangarSwap. The system also ensures that you won’t sell a part on HangarSwap twice with their integrated system.

Other Features

“Previously sold” research: Seller’s can research how much past items have sold for and determine the best price for their item. (available mid summer)
Communication between buyers and sellers has been improved with a whole new in-system mail and the ability to have comments on item listings.
Seller dashboard: The dashboard shows more features to help aid the seller with orders, communication, shipping, statistics, and research.

HangarSwap provides the industry with over 7,000 parts (and growing) from over 300 different sellers from around the world. Sellers can list easily, communicate openly, and search in a clean environment. At 5%, HangarSwap is half the commission cost of other online marketplaces, with a cap for larger priced items. “It’s important to me that we provide a lower commission fee so that fellow aviator’s have extra cash to go flying,” says Payne. HangarSwap is also free to list as many items as you want, never having a time limit.

When HangarSwap was launched, not many people knew it existed. But because of Payne’s relentless marketing and drive to make HangarSwap known, it has grown at an astronomical speed. The online marketplace made its official debut at SUN ‘n FUN in 2016. Since it’s debut, daily numbers have doubled and officially tripled in November of 2016, making it’s growth rate over 100% in less than a year. The online marketplace projected to double it’s hits before Sun N Fun this year, but now has exceeded that expectation with reaching 1 million hits each month after the new year.

To learn more:

www.hangarswap.com

Rachel Lietzke Payne

2775 Perch Rd.

Geneva, FL 32732

C: 407-496-7706

O: 407-349-9790

E: Rachel@hangarswap.com

24Feb, 2017

You Have No Excuses Now! Third Class Medical Reform

When someone tells me they can’t get a medical or don’t try to get one because they believe they won’t get it, I call them on it. Now, this is not the case with everyone but a lot of pilot’s are timid to try to get a medical after a health issue arises because once the FAA denies you, it becomes difficult to obtain it again.

I am the pilot that had open heart surgery and has a third class medical. Now, the road to this wasn’t easy, but it was accomplished. With the new third class medical reform, BasicMed, so many aviator’s will get the privilege to fly an aircraft without a third class medical. I was on a special issuance for about 4 years before CAMI contacted me about the CACI program. (It probably helped that I bugged them every year about how I had a clean bill of health by my cardiologist.) My mitral valve repair fell under one of the 16 conditions in the CACI program that allowed me to obtain a third class medical.

My friends at MzeroA have hit the nail on the head with everything you need to know about the medical reform. Knowledge is power!

Now is an exciting time for aviation with the medical reform, light sports, and other options to fly. I believe that the FAA has every intention to help us fly with BasicMed. But if you’re still hesitant that you won’t be able to meet the requirements for BasicMed, ask your AME about the CACI program. If you can show that your issue can be controlled and you are taking necessary steps to be safe, you might be surprised what can be accomplished. It was a long process for me, but I promise you, it was worth it.

For more awesome videos from Jason and his team at MzeroA.com, check out his youtube channel:

MzeroA’s YouTube Channel

2Feb, 2017

Beyond the Girlboss Moment: Turning Aluminum into Gold

I am beyond humbled and honored to be featured in Girlboss. For those of you who don’t know who Girlboss is, it was started by Sophia Amoruso, who has a clothing company called Nasty Gal, which derived from being kicked off eBay. She was an inspiration to me when we got kicked off eBay less than 2 years ago. It was what pushed me to start Hangar Swap so my fellow aviators had an amazing place to buy and sell their airplane parts. I am SO excited for this year with Hangar Swap, it’s going to be crazy. I hope you find this article inspiring and share it for the rest of the world to feel it’s worth. Viva la aviation!

Rachel Lietzke Finds a Gap in the Aviation Industry, Turns It into Gold

11Jan, 2017

Celebrating the Day My Mother Brought This Ball of Fire into the World

Today is my birthday and I can’t tell you how excited I am to be here! I put together a video that has some clips of my favorite activities, especially flying and riding dirt bikes.

To turn another year old is very exciting in my book because if this was before 1990, I probably wouldn’t be here. I love the career I have and the people around me. This year is an exciting year for me because I some great things on my list to accomplish! I will be recording the journey of these goals, so stay tuned!
Hope you enjoy my video and maybe it will inspire you to go out there and have some fun! You only have one life to live, so live it!

27Aug, 2016

I Am The Product of Blood, Sweat, and 5606.

When I was a little girl, my father brought me to the airport on a daily basis. I can’t recall a time that I wasn’t at the airport (other than ballet lessons.) Before I was 12 or 13 I didn’t mind it much, in fact, I really enjoyed being at the airport. But after I hit the teenage years, my interest faded because all my friends were going to the beach while I was performing annuals and 100 hours at the airport. I never thought that I would choose aviation as my career path, so I didn’t seem too interested like I did as a child. It was enjoyable to go flying and I was very good at wrenching but something was missing. Was I burnt out? Could a child get burned out on airplanes?

LittleRachel

Let’s fast forward years later. I was using my entrepreneurial spirit to make money in aviation at a young age. I was selling airplane parts on the internet to pay for my truck/dirt bike fetish and saving money for college. I then would hire a friend to help wash and wax airplanes at the airport. [I’m not going to say the bikini’s didn’t have anything to do with our success!] But, I was so familiar with airplanes and aviation that it was hard to stay away from it. There was a point in my life that I moved to North Carolina and suddenly realized the impact that aviation had on my life. I lasted 6 months and ran back to Florida.

Now that I have an aviation business of my own, I never thought that my childhood of blood, sweat, and 5606 would come in handy. I never realized the impact that my father, grandfather, and the friends at the airport had on my life. My father always pushed me to be the best I could possibly be (and still does it to this day.) As an adult, I see how important it is to have the young spirits of aviation around. Yes, this younger generation is different. Yes, they can come off as annoying or under foot because of their lack of experience. You can’t expect them to know everything coming into the gate. This youth is going to be the SOLE reason why aviation will stay alive for our grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

My point is, you don’t have to be born into aviation like I was. In fact,

as an aviator, it is our DUTY to nurture those who show interest.

Feed their interest and drag them to the airport. Tell them it’s not as scary as it looks. Tell them it’s okay to get dirty. They will achieve a sense of accomplishment. This accomplishment is the same psychological feeling (the release of dopamine) they get when they find that Pokemon or win that next level on their video game. The best part about all this? They will be outside and involved in something bigger than they could ever imagine. This is why I can’t tell a kid he can’t come hang out at Fast Aviation. This is why my father dragged me to the airport instead of allowing me to go to the beach during spring break (which I can promise you I would be up to no good.) I always wondered why the Cessna 182’s annual fell on this week. This is why you should bring your friend’s kid out flying. Grab your nephew or niece. Show up to one of those early pancake breakfast’s that fly kids around on a Saturday. You will be glad you did because there won’t be a need for all these mechanics, fbo’s, or airports if we don’t have people who want to fly airplanes.

10Jul, 2015

Have You Followed Fast Aviation’s Youtube Channel?

31Jul, 2014

New Hats

25Aug, 2013

Recovering a Piper Arrow from the Florida Keys

Our friend Tony from Antique Air down in the Keys gave a call and said he had an airplane we needed to move and sell. So, like any good salvage company we loaded everything up, hooked up the trailer, and headed to the beautiful keys. Usually when people go to the Keys they are on vacation…seems like everytime we go we are working!

Just when you think this is going to be a somewhat easy job…as in “not too bad,” reality hits. We were in the Keys…WORKING…and it was 102 in the shade with NO wind.

First job: Tear down the Piper Arrow

I always get stuck with taking control surfaces off.

Here’s Matt helping me take the wing bolts out.

Matt and David taking out more wing bolts

These are a couple of “supervisors”

Ripping wings off!

Wheelbarrow!

Now after this photo it was hard to take more pictures because I was on top of an office, again sweating my butt off, bringing down two comanche fuselages. We had to use a pulley system and 5 people. It was crazy! Then it took all of us to load everything..so again-no pictures. But, here’s the end result!