JNE Aircraft is a small, one-man, aircraft restoration shop owned and operated by an FAA certified A&P mechanic who also maintains his IA certification; located in the Pacific Northwest.
Though many different projects have made their way through the shop over the years, probably the most interesting has been the definitive reproduction Spirit of St. Louis.
Despite the many challenges encountered along the way, the Phase One Flight Testing (as required by the FAA) was completed during the summer of 2021.
With THAT hurdle accomplished, the airplane is now the subject of a documentary film about building and flying the most authentically accurate replica of the iconic aircraft that has ever been built ... to date!
A Dream Takes Flight
Our documentary film finally has a name!
After months of "trying on" all sorts of names that included "The Spirit" in them ... we finally came to the conclusion THAT was what was holding us back on finding a title we could live with!
Although the film is about building and flying this replica OF the "SPIRIT" ... it's also about the "DREAM" John had to accomplish the feat ... and the exhilaration we all experienced when she finally did "Take Flight".
The FIRST TRAILER was released when we thought we would start flying in March 2022 so it ends with,
"Coming Summer 2022"
... but Mother Nature had a different plan.
We were not actually able to begin filming the flight sequences until June 2022 which did not leave enough time for the production crew to get the film edited in time for the 2023 Sundance Festival as we had hoped.
We now have our sites set on submitting the film for consideration in the 2024 festival.
As we await a new, updated TRAILER to preview the content of the film, we still have the "PRACTICE RUN"
we shot using the Cessna 206 to represent the Spirit of St. Louis by JNE as we were getting cameras set
for the 'real deal' flying which took place last June.
Keep checking back.
When we have more information available, we will post it here!