A mile of runway will take you anywhere.

Heading to Tampa

2009-11-03T21:08:00.008-05:00

Sorry for the recent lack of updates on here - I haven't flown in a couple weeks for a multitude of reasons. The weather hasn't been great, I've been out of town on the weekends, and now this past week and a half I've been working obscene hours due to a critical project. Needless to say, it's been a perfect storm that's kept me on the ground. I do at least have a 150 reserved this coming Sunday so I hope the weather cooperates!

Anyway, I just wanted to give a quick update since I'm headed down to Tampa tomorrow for the AOPA Summit. I've really been looking forward to it for months now, mainly to attend a bunch of the seminars and meet up with fellow pilots. For those of you I know through the blog or the AOPA Forums, let me know if you'll be at the Summit! Send me an email (steve [dot] dilullo [at] gmail [dot] com) or call me on my cell and hopefully we're able to meet up at some point. I'll be in town for the whole event, Thursday thru Saturday.

I also should mention that the Indianapolis ARTCC Town Hall I attended a couple weeks ago was a great session. Not only did I pick up some useful tidbits of information, I also had a great discussion with a controller after the formal program ended. You all should take advantage of the opportunity to meet and interact with ATC folks if there are sessions in your area. Check out FAASafety.gov for event listings near you.

One last thing and that's a comment and question to you readers about the state of the blog in general. First I want to mention that I've got some posts in mind for the upcoming months when I'll likely be on the ground more often. My plan is to write about books/courses/materials I've used and recommend, review some more items I've picked up over the past year, and create a section for new readers. Second is an open call to all of you who read the blog... is there anything you want me to write about? Do you have any general comments, questions, or concerns? Please send in everything and anything that comes to mind - either as a comment to this post or via email. Thanks in advance for the feedback, I appreciate every bit of it!

Fall colors and knocking the rust off

2009-10-21T22:39:00.014-04:00

Plane: Cessna 150
Route: 40I, Local
Weather: High overcast, 62 degrees, wind 190 degrees at 4 knots

Wednesdays are bowling league at work, but when I woke up to blue skies and a forecast of light winds and 70 degree temperatures in the middle of October I knew I needed to find a sub. By the time I squared that away and called Stewart I realized most other pilots had the same idea. Neither Cub was available after work (I was hoping to get in some J-3 time) so I ended up reserving the 150. Better in the sky in a Cessna than on the ground wanting to be piloting a Cub!

Gina met me enroute to the airport and we arrived just before 5:30. The sky wasn't blue anymore - a high overcast had blanketed the region - but it was still warm and surface winds were light. I took the runway and made a normal takeoff with a straight-out departure to the West. Gina wanted to see the field with the corn art I last flew over back in August so I took us over that way. I circled overhead while she took a few photos then moved on to the next order of business. It's been a month since I really went up and practiced, as my last two logbook entries were cross-countries with a 'get there and get back' mission, so that was the plan for the rest of the flight.

Crop art from the North side of the farm...

...aaand now from the South

Anyway, I climbed up to 3,000 and made two steep turns. I held altitude spot on both times and hit my wake exiting the second, so that was a good start. Then I wanted to descend quickly to work on some ground reference maneuvers (it had been forever since I practiced these) so carb heat in, throttle to idle, and into a forward slip to quickly lose 1,000 feet. With a relatively strong wind aloft (about 15-20 knots even at 1,000 feet above the ground) the conditions were perfect to knock my rust off S-Turns and Turns Around a Point. I can't say I was satisfied with my S-Turns; they weren't very smooth and I didn't hold altitude that well. On the other hand, my Turns Around a Point (a water tower, if you're curious) were great and my GPS track sure confirmed that feeling.

What rust? Red is the slowest ground speed and blue is the fastest.

I then headed off to the airport for some takeoff and landing practice. Each lap around the pattern I used a different configuration - normal, soft field, and short field. My soft field takeoff wasn't the best at first, as the full back elevator lowered the tail right into the grass when enough airflow started moving over the control surfaces. I instantly relaxed the pressure and made an otherwise smooth soft field departure. I'd rate all my landings good, although I did come down a tad bit hard on the short field. The mains touched smoothly but I let the nose wheel drop way too fast and it hit hard. On my final lap, I pulled the power abeam the numbers to simulate an engine out. I turned back towards the runway a little too soon as I sometimes do and ended up dumping in all 40 degrees of flaps to touch down about 600 feet past the threshold. Not that it affected the landing, as my flare was perfect and the landing the smoothest of the day.

It's too bad the camera batteries ran out shortly after takeoff since the colors were quite vivid in many locations down below. Gina was kind of tired from a long day at school (they started a new quarter today, which means three classes full of new students) so she wasn't able to enjoy things as much as usual. Then again, given all the ground reference maneuvers and pattern work I did, all she really had to do was stare out the window anyway. Good practice all around as far as I'm concerned and it was nice to get up and spend some time on the basics. Tomorrow night I'm headed to Indianapolis for a town hall with Indy Center - hopefully it's a great session with ATC. Let me know if you're going to be attending!

Flight Track: Google Earth KMZ File
Today's Flight: 1.1 hours
Total Time: 138.3 hours

Visiting family and friends near Akron for the day

2009-10-11T21:55:00.032-04:00

Plane: Cessna 172
Route: 40I-1G3-15G-40I
Weather: Scattered to high clouds, 48 degrees, wind 010 degrees at 5 knots

Sure it's expensive sometimes, but flying is nearly always better than driving (yes, I admit I may be biased...) and today was no exception. Gina and I had been planning to take a day trip up to Akron to visit my grandma and other relatives. Unfortunately, my grandma fell and broke her hip last week so it turned into a trip to visit her into the hospital. She's doing just fine, though, just waiting to start on physical therapy. Anyway, I've driven the route enough to know it would require at least 7-8 hours by car. Hop in a 172 and flight plan to take advantage of the winds, however, and we were able to make the trip (plus a stop to visit fellow blogging pilot Dave) in 3.9 total on the Hobbs. And we got a waaay better view of all the fall foliage down below!

I had originally scheduled 60338 for the whole day a couple weeks back but it was still in for annual. I got a phone call from Stewart on Thursday informing me of that fact and they helped out by getting the person that had 2814L reserved at noon move his slot so we could have the plane for most of the day. Of course, we still left a good two hours later than I would have liked but at least the extra speed of the 172 helped make up for some of the lost time. It's been quite cold here lately (in the 30s at night) so, once all the pre-takeoff checks were complete and we rolled onto the runway, we climbed out at a nice clip on our way to 7,500 feet to take advantage of 15-20 knot tailwinds.

Fall colors down below just after departing Stewart

Emerson was up in the Citabria with a student as we climbed away from Stewart

I tried to contact Dayton Approach to get flight following, but it was clear they were understaffed on this Sunday morning. There was way more traffic than usual on 118.85 so I assume they had combined sectors. Needless to say, I never got a reply to my three calls and ended up contacting Columbus Approach a couple minutes later in their airspace. They sounded just as busy but I did get a response and a squawk code. While it my altitude read correct on the transponder readout (it was indicating 7,400 feet) apparently my Mode C was off about 500 feet and they had me turn it off. The only traffic we saw was a Northwest CRJ that passed a couple miles behind us. I heard ATC vector him around us - nice to know I'm getting even with Delta (sorry but I hate the NW/DL merger) one small step at a time! :-P

Flying over top of the Columbus Zoo

Northwest jet (in Delta colors) that passed behind us North of CMH

Somewhere around this point I noticed I still had the fuel selector on Both even though I should have switched it to Left or Right once we climbed above 5,000 feet. It had only been 10-15 minutes since we had done so, but that was a stupid oversight on my part... especially since I had reminded myself about the switching tanks numerous times while planning and briefing for the flight. This is where the only real negative I feel about my training at Stewart pops up, which is the use of checklists in flight.

Don't get me wrong, I was trained on the use of checklists and religiously use them on the ground for all pre-flight and pre-takeoff checks. Yet - and maybe it's partially because they just don't really exist for some of the older planes like the Cub and Champ - we never used them much in flight itself. I purchased a Checkmate Checklist for the 150 last year (and intend to get one for thw 172 now that I'm flying it more) but have trouble remembering to actually use it once airborne. It's a personal sticking point that I'm constantly striving to improve upon. As far as today's flight is concerned, I certainly would have caught the fuel selector oversight sooner had I been using a checklist.

Thankfully there were no adverse affects from not changing the selector. I believe the reason it's required above 5,000 feet is because there is a slight imbalance in fuel tank pressure that can cause vapor lock if left on Both for extended periods. When I caught my oversight I saw the right tank was slightly fuller so I noted the time (to be able to switch Left/Right every 30 minutes) and flipped the selector to Left. It was less than a half hour later that we went below 5,000 during our descent so I switched back to Both without ever having to switch to Right.

Scattered clouds and fall foliage around Williams Lake

Passing by some scattered clouds enroute

The Goodyear Blimp was flying near Akron - about 15 miles away

We passed over top of a scattered cloud layer between Columbus and Akron that appeared to be at about 6,000 feet. The prevailing winds were pushing it Eastward and the skies were mostly clear with high cirrus by the time I was ready to begin our descent. We went from Columbus to Mansfield to Akron/Canton Approach and I had to call fresh each time since they never provided a hand-off. Not a major hassle and certainly never a reason to avoid picking up flight following. I also recycled the Mode C and left it on after leaving Columbus' airspace never heard a peep from ATC about it again.

The ride had been incredibly smooth up to this point as we enjoyed the beautiful fall foliage down below. Yet as soon as I began descending, things started to get bumpier. Hard to tell if it was due to windshear or thermals, but we definitely had a couple solid jolts on the way down. The kind where you're reminded just why you wear a seatbelt... that's so you don't hit your head on the ceiling, in case you're wondering. I throttled back to slow down below maneuvering speed to try and reduce the bumpiness while descending but we pretty much got tossed around all the way down.

No traffic was in the pattern at Kent State (1G3) and when I dialed in the AWOS at Akron Fulton (the closest to Kent) the winds were reporting light and variable. I was pretty sure I remembered reading Runway 19 was the preferred runway (although I can't find that in the A/FD as I write this after the fact) so I made a crosswind entry into a left downwind for 19. Just as I did so, someone starting up on the ground called Unicom for an airport advisory and they said Runway 01 was in use.

D'oh - another thing I need to remember to take advantage of is Unicom. We don't have it at Stewart and I've honestly just never used it much so I didn't think to ask for an advisory. It would have been the logical thing to do considering they don't have an AWOS/ASOS on the field. Either way, I was still PIC and I had my choice of runway with no other planes in the pattern but I figured there was no reason to buck the trend and turned crosswind over the end of the runway to enter a left downwind for 01. Turns out my aunts and cousins on the ground who were waiting to pick us up thought I was circling for them. Sure, that's what we were doing... ;-)

As I went around the pattern there were thermals all over and we were still getting tossed around a bit. On to short final, everything looked pretty good but the winds were a little shifty and I ended up in a crab right as we touched down. I was trying to correct with rudder and straighten things out but the wheels hit the runway firmly with a slight side load when I thought we were still a foot or two above the surface. Not good and definitely far from my best, but we got down safely. Chalk it up to me still needing more landing practice in general in the 172 as well as not being proactive enough on the controls. In hindsight, a go-around would have been a wise choice once we were about 5 feet up and I hadn't really stabilized with the nose pointing down the centerline. There's nothing wrong with going around!

In the pattern at Kent State

Short final into Kent State

This would be me just before shutting down at Kent State

After I taxied into a tiedown and shut down, I walked over to the fence to say hi to my two aunts and two cousins that came to pick us up. I stopped in the airport office to register as a transient aircraft and asked them to top off the tanks while we were on the ground. Very handy! My cousins wanted to see the airplane so I carefully walked everyone over to the plane and pointed things out for 5-10 minutes. They got in the seat and took a few photos, etc. I'll add a few of the photos to the blog once they email them to me.

My one aunt took Gina and me to the hospital where we got to spend a half hour or so with my grandma. For just having had screws put into her hip, she looked remarkably good for her 89 years. Her usual wit and stubbornness were in full display (she definitely wanted her Polydent and hated whatever the hell the hospital gave her) so we could tell she's going to be just fine after some physical therapy. I'm glad we got to stop in and say hi and it sounded like she was quite excited we flew in to see her.

After the hospital we had some delicious home-cooked Italian food (got to love the relatives - you certainly never leave hungry) and visited with everyone. Then we met up with two of Gina's family friends over coffee at Panera for about 45 minutes before going back to the airport. Some more cousins of mine met us back at Kent State and I showed them the airplane and they also took some photos.

We would have loved to spend more time with everyone but the clock was ticking and we needed to head over to Wadsworth to visit Dave and get on home before dark. I pre-flighted, checked the fuel tanks to be sure they were full, and we launched into the air off Runway 01. As soon as we were climbing you could see the Cleveland skyline against Lake Erie off in the distance. Having visited the Akron area who-knows-how-many times in my lifetime and seen many places from the ground, it was really cool to see some of them from the air as we departed.

Westbound departure from Kent State - downtown Cleveland's out on the horizon

Zoomed-in view of downtown Cleveland from about 25 miles away

Cuyahoga Falls and the never-completed Humbard Tower

Weltzien Skypark (15G) is about 20 miles from Kent State so I only climbed up to 2,500 feet for the quick hop. They were having their (annual?) Fall Foliage tour, with dozens of pilots taking people on short flights around the area and then landing back at the airport. Accordingly, the CTAF was abuzz with pilots making calls. I knew where the airport was thanks to the Sectional and my GPS but I'll be darned if I could find the place. I did see planes departing so I was able to circle around from the North, descend to pattern altitude, and head in the approximate direction on an extended 45.

Finally, I spotted the airport about 3-4 miles out and made it around the pattern to short final for the (very narrow!) runway. I've got to say that I was quite proud of my short field landing. Set her down just past the numbers and turned off onto the taxiway in under 1,000 feet. Now, it might not be as awesome as Dave said it was (thanks for the kind review, tho!) but I was quite satisfied. Especially after the horrendous landing back at Kent. He was even kind enough to take a short video and email it to me, which I didn't know about until we got back home - thanks, Dave!

Dave shot video of our landing and takeoff at 15G

I finally got the chance to meet with fellow blogging pilot Dave!

Gina and me in front of 2814L before heading home

Dave was there on the ramp to help me get parked and we quickly shut down and hopped out to say hello. Most readers of the blog know how much I enjoy meeting folks through it so I was excited to finally shake Dave's hand and say hi. He took me and Gina on a short tour of the place and I've got to say it's downright awesome. Whether you read articles or watch videos about the Skypark, there's no way to avoid the love people have for the place. One stop and I'd already call it my second-favorite place after Stewart. Everyone there lives and breathes aviation and, hey, come on - how many other airports have two hot tubs, a movie theater, and a tiki bar? 'Nuff said.

Dave took a photo of us waiting in line for departure

Weltzien Skypark (15G) just after departing and turning on course

We talked with Dave and his girlfriend Toni for about 15 minutes but had to launch again quickly to head back home. I really hate how short the days are growing! Luckily we'll get to spend more time together next month as he's joining me on a tour of the Cleveland ARTCC. Looking at the flight plan and nav log, I estimated we would get back to Stewart a little past sunset. Unfortunately we were stuck on the ground at the Skypark for about 5 minutes while people getting rides loaded and unloaded and I didn't figure this into the time needed to get back. Shortly after takeoff, I contacted Akron/Canton Approach and they told me I was leaving their airspace and to contact Mansfield Approach. I did just that and we remained on flight following (with hand-offs this time) all the way through to Dayton Approach until we were within 10 miles of Stewart.

Rolling hills near Loudonville about 30 minutes before sunset

Clear Fork Gorge and Mohican State Park

Some beautiful clouds on our way home shortly before sunset

Sunset and more pretty clouds - I love flying!

It was getting dark quickly and I realized we'd be landing a few minutes later than I had planned. I figured it would still be light out enough to land at Stewart - remember, it's an unlit grass strip - but already was planning to divert to Wright Brothers if needed. Thankfully I made up a little time in our descent from 4,500 to pattern altitude and was able to use the sky reflecting off Caesar Creek Lake as a nice waypoint from over 20 miles out until I had the lights of Waynesville in sight. By now it was quite dark but I could still see the field and the cones as I entered the pattern at Stewart.

On short final, I was a little high so I went to idle and dropped in all 40 degrees of flaps as the landing light became increasingly visible on the grass. We landed just past the hump on Runway 8 and I've got to say it was a real nice one - smooth and stable and only a hair more forceful than I desired due to the runway sloping down on the far side of the hump. I taxied over to the tiedowns and was glad I double-checked my flight bag for my two flashlights before we left this morning as they were needed to grab all our stuff from the back seat! From being able to visit so many people in one day to the continued learning experiences I'm having as a pilot flying long cross-country flights, today was great. I was far from perfect in some of the piloting aspects but the important thing is we made it safely home and I've got a few more things to think about next time.

Flight Track: Google Earth KMZ File
Today's Flight: 3.9 hours
Total Time: 137.2 hours

Meeting Marty for some grub on a rainy Fall day

2009-10-01T21:34:00.018-04:00

Plane: Cessna 150
Route: 40I-AXV-40I
Weather: Overcast, light rain showers, 59 degrees, wind 200 degrees at 5 knots

I'll be honest up front - this was one of those flights where I really had to use my judgement in evaluating the weather throughout the day before making the go/no-go decision. As recent as yesterday, I looked at today's forecast and saw clear skies. Mother Nature clearly had other plans and the front moved a lot faster, bringing overcast skies and light rain showers. I was checking AWOS reports all afternoon and visibilities were still reporting 10+ miles with ceilings no lower than 8,000 feet. But I held off making the final decision until I called Flight Service on the way to the airport. The briefer confirmed that even though there were light rain showers, visibility remained good and there should be VFR weather during the time I'd be in the sky.

Not only was the decision-making process a good bit of experience to file away in my head, but the weather itself made this a really rewarding flight. I do recall bad visibility and haze on my first solo cross-country as well as some serious haze when we came back from Put-In-Bay last month, but I don't think I've ever flown in rain for an entire flight. Sure it was VFR the whole way and a lot of folks have flown in much worse weather, but - at least at this point in my aviating life - today was a good balance between challenging myself and keeping a margin of safety.

Pretty straight lines from following a Sectional if I do say so myself!

So where was I headed in the first place, you ask? Up to Neil Armstrong Airport in Wapakoneta. Actually it's 8 miles Southwest in New Knoxville but the Man Who First Walked on the Moon is from Wapakoneta so I suppose politics may have been involved during the naming, but I digress. Why the heck would I want to fly up there, you ask? To meet a friend and CFII that I know from the AOPA Forums (seems I meet a lot of folks on there, eh?) who has a flight training business on the field. And, most importantly, he and a bunch of other pilots at the airport have a little barbecue every Thurday night. Free burgers and brats? I'm in!

Visibility off to the East on the way up

Weather-wise, the flight up to Neil Armstrong was better than the return. Upon departing Stewart I turned on course, just a couple degrees left of due North. As I was climbing up to 4,500 I contacted Dayton Approach for flight following. The radio on 18J is a bit of a pain (I've mentioned this on here before) because it blows your eardrums out every time you hit the Push-to-Talk (PTT) switch. So the workaround is to quickly push the volume sliders on my headset all the way down when I hit the PTT, say what I need to say, then quickly push the volume back up so I can hear ATC's response. At the same time, I try to write down the frequency, squawk code, or whatever else it is they want me to do.

Long story short, between doing all that and flying the plane (aviate, navigate, communicate!) I jumbled up a few of my calls and definitely wouldn't call it my best day on the radio. I had to ask them to repeat my squawk code once because I forgot to write it down and instead went right into the above 'slide-talk-slide' sequence to make my callback. Now you see why it's smart to write everything down when you hear it. The radio behavior is more of a pain than anything (and they're supposed to be fixing it when the plane goes in for annual in a couple weeks - but it's hard to diagnose because it only occurs in the air; everything always seems fine when you test it on the ground) but that's not much of an excuse. Quite simply, I wasn't thinking before I spoke every time.

Dayton had me climb to 5,500 - presumably for traffic - and I passed right over top of the airport, which allowed me a great view and the chance to take some photos. Sure beats the usual view out a 6-inch window on a cramped airliner. The clouds were at least 2,500 feet above me the remainder of the short trip and I flew in and out of some very light rain showers. Visibility never dropped below 10 miles and I spotted the airport from 10-15 miles out, cancelled flight following, and made my approach.

Passing right over top of Dayton International on my way North

Raindrops on the windshield as I cruise at 5,500 feet

Passing by Lake Loramie while inbound and descending to pattern altitude

Neil Armstrong Airport from about 7 miles out

As I made my first radio call while inbound, Marty came back on Unicom with an airport advisory and a "hi Steve!" so I was already feeling welcome before I even touched down. I made an easy lap around the pattern and set down on the left main first for a nice and soft crosswind landing. Taxiing over towards the ramp, Marty appeared and marshalled me into a parking spot on the concrete.

It was great to spend time with him and some other pilots, even if I only was on the ground for about an hour. Marty introduced me to a bunch of pilot friends from the area and we all talked about... well, do I even need to tell you what we talked about? One guy has a beautiful biplane that he spent something like 13 years building in his basement - it was impeccable. I had a burger, some scalloped potatoes, and pumpkin spice cookies and all were delicious. About an hour had passed since I landed when I started the engine back up after a quick preflight just as it was starting to rain on the field. Daylight hours are quickly fading so I had to be wheels-up by 6:30 at the latest to get home before sunset. As I left the ground and started to climb, I saw Marty waving down below and rocked my wings in return.

Visibility to the West on the flight back home - slightly lower than earlier

The rain came down with a bit more intensity throughout the flight home. However, I was easily able to navigate from town to town with the help of the Sectional as I made my way Southbound. Visibility was still more than adequate, but I'd estimate it got down to around 7 miles at times. As I passed by Dayton International the rain picked up slightly more and remained that way until I was a few miles beyond downtown. I spotted a C-5 off to the East in the pattern at Wright-Patt and heard him talking to Dayton Approach on the same frequency I was on for flight following. Other than that, the radio was pretty quiet.

Rain picking up and visibility lowering slightly as I approached DAY

...aaaand passing by Dayton once again

The high school where Gina teaches is in the middle of the photo

Passing over downtown Dayton - the fountains at Riverscape were on

USAF Museum in the foreground with Wright-Patt AFB off in the distance

About 10 miles from Stewart the rain lightened up and I could see the clouds were lifting to the West. ATC canceled flight following with me just about the time I was going to call them and do the same, as I had the airport in sight. I descended down from 3,500 feet to pattern altitude and heard someone else in the pattern make a radio call on the CTAF so I announced my position as well. It's quite rare to hear anyone on the radio at Stewart since at least half the traffic is NORDO so it was quite random to hear someone else talking on a day when very few folks were flying. Anyway, I continued on all the way to final where I intentionally landed long to be closer to parking. For whatever reason, however, I really ballooned at first and even though I eventually set 18J down softly it definitely wasn't a great landing by any means.

I'm really glad I had the chance to finally meet another pilot friend. And, you know what? Come to think of it, this may have been my first actual $100 hamburger if you want to be really technical. Either way, the food was tasty and the company was nice. Add to that everything I said earlier about getting experience flying in less-than-ideal weather conditions and I'll write this evening off as one heck of a successful flight in my logbook.

One last thing... if anyone's in the area, I'll probably be at Sporty's this Saturday from 12-1 or so for their usual grill out!

Flight Track: Google Earth KMZ File
Today's Flight: 1.8 hours
Total Time: 133.3 hours

AOPA Summit, seminars, and the like

2009-09-29T23:53:00.020-04:00

In lieu of actual flying tales, this is a quick post with some information I've been meaning to share for a while. As I've mentioned many times before on here, one of the greatest things about the blog is all the people and pilots it's enabled me to meet from across the world. Sometimes our only correspondence is via email or Facebook but I've also been fortunate to meet some of you in person - from as far away as Australia! So it should be without any surprise that I wanted to share some upcoming plans and extend my hand in hopes I'll be able to say hello to a few more of you over the next couple of months.

AOPA Summit (Tampa, FL)

What used to be known as the annual AOPA Expo has been badged the AOPA Summit this year. This will be a first-time trip for me; in fact, it will be my first trip to any large-scale aviation gathering not counting airshows. Yes, I know I really need to get to Oshkosh still - planning on next summer, but I digress.

Anyway, I'll be in town from November 4th all the way through the end of the Summit on November 7th. Personally, it's all the seminars that I'm looking forward to - they're honestly the main reason I'm headed down to Tampa. There's quite a few folks from the AOPA Forums that I know are attending and I'm really excited not only to meet them, but also for all the things the Summit has to offer.

Operation Rain Check (ARTCC Tours)

What appears to be a nationwide education program hosted by our Air Route Traffic Control Centers is, at the very least, up and running around this area. I'm planning on attending events at both Indianapolis Center (ZID) and Cleveland Center (ZOB) in October and November. The events in Cleveland include a tour, simulation lab, and live monitoring session. Indy's is a different approach, more of a town-hall (not at the actual ARTCC facility) discussion with controllers and experts.

One of the things I've wanted to do since I first started ground school back in 2007 was visit an Air Traffic Control facility. Needless to say, I'm really excited about the opportunity to tour Cleveland. Similarly, any time you can learn from controllers helps build confidence in radio use and procedures so I expect the Indy event to be just as educational. I'll be in Cleveland on November 19th and over at Indy on October 22nd. By clicking the links in that last sentence, you can access the registration pages for each event.

ASF "What Went Wrong?" Seminar

The AOPA Air Safety Foundation hosts countless seminars throughout the country every year. Looking at my events page on the FAASafety site, there's probably five of these seminars in various locations between now and December. They're all set up to discuss accidents with investigators so that we can all learn from past mistakes. Sure sounds like a smart thing to learn more about to me. The closest event from my house is in Columbus on October 7th so that's where you'll find me. If you'd like more information (no registration is required) click either here or here.

Update 10/7 - I'm not going to be able to make it this evening. Thankfully the ASF schedules these fairly regularly, so I hope to make it to another one nearby soon.

If you'd like any more information on the WINGS Program, check out the end of my last blog entry. There's a bunch of useful links if you want to join or learn more about it. Both the ARTCC events and the ASF seminar are eligible for WINGS credit so be sure you are enrolled in the program if you'll be attending.

As far as actual flying goes, a few things are in the pipeline. This coming Thursday I'm planning on making the short hop up to Wapakoneta to visit Marty, who I happen to know from the aforementioned AOPA Forums, and enjoy a BBQ dinner. Then there's a decent chance Gina and I will fly up to the Akron area to visit family and/or to Kalamazoo for some WMU football (Go Broncos!) during what I hope to be beautiful October weekends. It's a wonderful time of year to be flying!

This is what it's all about

2009-09-19T23:40:00.010-04:00

Plane: Cub, 85 hp
Instructor: Dave
Route: 40I, Local
Weather: Clear, 74 degrees, wind 040 degrees at 5 knots

Honestly, I think that this is one of those flights where I'll let the video speak for itself. Watch and enjoy...

A fun way to view spins - the orange/red indicates a -2,500 fpm descent

Well, I wish I could be that brief but a couple disclaimers are in order. I must add that, in practicing spins and wingovers, both were of the non-aerobatic variety and that's why they are permissible maneuvers per FARs 91.303 and 91.307. Spin training is required for the CFI rating and that's something I hope to achieve in the future, and the wingovers were really just a demonstration of the effect of engine torque in a power-on stall configuration.

I also want to note that most of today's flight involved me practicing maneuvers with Dave as set forth by the FAA Wings Program. Specifically, I needed credit in two flight areas today (FCA and FEA) to complete my Advanced Phase. For those who aren't familiar, it's a program designed to improve safety by providing opportunities for pilots to attend seminars, take knowledge courses, and build skills in the air. I would strongly encourage every pilot to visit the website and sign up if you have not already. There are many online courses available through the FAA as well as the great online courses provided by the AOPA Air Safety Foundation - and all can count towards your Wings credits. Again, I think it's a great program and, especially for the flight areas, it provides a nice incentive to work on specific maneuvers and tasks whenever you fly with a CFI.

Flight Track: Google Earth KMZ File
Today's Flight: 1.5 hours
Total Time: 131.5 hours

Low and slow with the door hanging open

2009-09-18T23:08:00.006-04:00

Plane: Cub, 85 hp
Route: 40I, Local
Weather: Clear, 76 degrees, wind variable at 6 knots

I hadn't planned on flying today but I found myself already tempted to head to Stewart before I even arrived at the office this morning. By the time 4:00 rolled around and it was still one of those "why am I on the ground?" days, I packed up, called the airport to snag the plane, and headed down for some time in the Cub.

It was also a great excuse to try out the RAM Mount that I just purchased, which screws into the tripod threads on a camera. The mount then attaches to the yoke adapter that came with my Lowrance 600c GPS and I'm able secure it to the Cub's metal tube frame. A picture would probably make a lot more sense than what I just wrote - I'll work on that.

A short clip with highlights from this evening's flight

Since I didn't have tons of time (we play volleyball with some friends on Fridays and I had to be home by 6:30 or so) I elected to remain in the pattern. It's never a bad thing to spend time practicing takeoffs and landings, after all. The winds were quite shifty, generally almost straight out of the North but occasionally coming out of the Northeast. However, traffic at Stewart was using Runway 26 the whole time so that's what I used. That meant there was occasionally a slight tailwind component on landings, which isn't a big deal when you're flying a Cub that stalls at 35 mph and you have 3,000 feet of grass in front of you. Nonetheless, it resulted in a slightly higher groundspeed than I'm used to and I think that may have thrown me off on a couple landings.

I discovered that Stewart had installed a new airspeed indicator in the plane. Again, it's a Cub, so most of the time I'm flying by feel anyway and therefore was surprised when I looked up and saw 60 mph on climbout. The wings were in the right place in relation to the horizon and everything felt right, but that was too fast. I quickly realized it was a new instrument and it must be accurate, as the old one always read 10 mph slow. Once I made that mental note everything else fell into place as far as making sense of what the airspeed indicator was - uh, well - indicating.

After one takeoff I flew a couple miles to the North and descended to about 500 feet above the ground while overflying some empty fields and a riverbed. You can't beat low and slow in a Cub with the door hanging wide open - good times. Aside from that, it was just basic pattern work for the evening. I made one really good landing and the rest were so-so. My main issue was in the flare; things just weren't as smooth and fluent as I aim for. They also need to tighten a piece on the tailwheel assembly as it's a tad loose and that resulted in a good deal of shimmy upon landing. What I'm really looking forward to is going up with Dave tomorrow... the plan is to knock out a bunch of maneuvers for practice along with some good old-fashioned fun in the J-3.

Flight Track: Google Earth KMZ File
Today's Flight: 0.9 hours
Total Time: 130.0 hours

MERFI 2009 x 2

2009-09-12T23:16:00.016-04:00

Plane: Cessna 150
Route: 40I-EDJ-I74-40I / 40I-I74-40I
Weather: Few clouds, 73 degrees, wind 050 degrees at 4 knots

These are the kind of days where you simply must fly. Fortunately, I'd already been planning on it since I've been looking forward to landing in Urbana for the annual Mid-East Regional Fly-In for a couple months now. Between the weather and all the great stuff going on, I see a bunch of other pilots felt the same, as the place was packed.

I elected to make two trips up to Grimes today, one in the morning and then a return in the afternoon. Gina had a meet (she coaches cross-country for the high school where she teaches) in the morning so I went up with my friend Mike to attend a seminar. Then, after flying back to drop him off since he had a lesson at 4:00 with Dave, I went back with Gina for dinner and a guest speaker. It worked out perfectly and I was able to log plenty of time in the clear blue skies.

Videos and a slideshow of photos from today

Mike and I took to the air around 9:15 after I was satisfied the morning fog was starting to burn off. While it was clear down our way, the AWOS up at Urbana was reporting 1/2 mile visibility when I was driving down to Stewart. By the time I called back before departing, it was already up to 5 miles so I knew things would be clear when we arrived. I first flew us to Bellefontaine (EDJ) since it's about 54 miles from Waynesville (and about 10 miles North of Urbana) and would allow me to log the entire trip as cross-country time.

Departing with the morning haze still covering the ground in spots

A few scattered clouds enroute

Holy crap that's a big house down below!

The flight was perfect... clear skies, the sun rising higher and higher, and incredibly smooth air. I've never landed up at Bellefontaine before but the visibility made it easy to spot a good 15 miles out. No traffic was in the pattern except some ultralights we spotted a couple miles away, so I made a midfield crosswind entry for Runway 7. The landing was smooth and I glanced around enough to notice it looked like a real nice airport as we taxied back and took off again with a right turn on course to the South.

I was at about 2,500 feet and didn't spot Grimes until we were about 5 miles away. Hard to say why I didn't see it sooner since I've been there plenty of times, but that's why I remained high. There was a boatload of traffic (I was listening to the CTAF since shortly after we departed Bellefontaine) and I remained about 500 above pattern altitude to be safe. Once I spotted the airport, I turned West to descend and enter on a 45 per the instructions posted on the MERFI website.

At this point, it started to feel like we were landing at JFK. Turning downwind, we suddenly spotted a T-6 off our right wing about 1/4 mile away with a Cessna about another 1/4 mile in trail. One aircraft was landing and another was on base. Although the MERFI website said no air boss would be present, it appeared the traffic had prompted them to re-think as some folks were on the radio 'clearing' aircraft to land and depart. I knew the T-6 would be moving at a respectable clip so I turned base as soon as possible and kept my speed up. I was turning final as the plane in front of me touched down and descending quickly, and dropped in the last 10 degrees of flaps about 10 feet off the ground to bring us down softly but quickly. Then I kept my speed up in the taxi so I could get off the runway at the first turnoff. By far the most traffic I've ever had to deal with but it was a ton of fun and definitely a great experience-builder! Folks on the ground then directed us to parking and once we'd shut down, a golf cart whisked us away to the pilot registration tent.

There's the T-6 off our right wing

Turning off the runway with all the parked planes in front of us

You don't see many Long EZs around - neat little airplane

Lots and lots of planes on the ground

Mike and I spent some time wandering around the field, looking at all the gorgeous airplanes that had flown in. I'd estimate that there were easily 100 different aircraft on the ground when we landed. We walked over to where the B-17, Yankee Lady, from the Yankee Air Museum up in Michigan was parked and enjoyed the sight of the beautiful bird. Then we were able to listen to Corky Furnhof talk about all his experience flying. He flew to Urbana in the LoPresti Fury, which sure looks like an incredible plane. We spent a short time looking inside it since it was parked just outside the hangar where he spoke. For those who don't know him by name, he has flown for a ton of movies - including the well-known opening sequence in Jame Bond flick Octopussy, where he flew a BD-5J through a hangar. It was an incredibly interesting seminar to hear him talk about his experiences filming and flying throughout the world. And yes, he did fly through the hangar for that famous shot. Six times.

Corky's LoPresti Fury on the ground in Urbana

The Grimes Flying Laboratory at home in its' hangar

We grabbed a bite to eat and then spent some more time strolling around the grass to look at all the planes. Walking back to towards the grass 'ramp' I spotted John, another member of EAA 284 that I know from Stewart. He's got a very nice Luscombe and flew up with a friend. Turns out he needed a prop, so I was able to hand-prop him and set them on their way back to Waynesville. After they departed, while we were looking at the line of gorgeous RVs parked alongside the taxiway, we ran into Lenny - if you recall, that's who I met up with when Gina and I flew to Put-In-Bay last month. I spent a few minutes talking with him and his friends. That's one of the things I love about aviation... you meet so many great people and it's nice to see them from time to time at events like this.

John's Luscombe - affectionately named 'Buster'

Before we knew it, the clock was nearing 2:00 and it was time to head back. A quick preflight ensured all systems were go and I started up the engine. Once again, the folks on the ground directed us back to the taxiway where I was number three in line for takeoff. There was still a pseudo air boss directing traffic, and we launched as soon as he gave us the go. I made a climbing right turn once we had gained some altitude and pointed the nose back towards Stewart. I spotted a reflection way off in the distance and, knowing it was almost exactly the heading we needed to fly, followed it all the way home. Turns out it was the oil storage facility just West of the field. I was able to fly straight to it over 40 miles from takeoff to touchdown - talk about great visibility!

After about an hour on the ground, Gina and I launched back into the air so we could attend the lasagna dinner. They had David Scheff as guest speaker - he used to be in charge of maintenance for the VC-25s in the USAF, known to most of us as Air Force Once. The flight was again smooth and beautiful and we quickly made it up to Grimes and quickly taxied off the runway and shut down. Nearly all the planes were gone at this point and we were the only plane in the pattern - quite a difference from earlier in the day. Dinner was delicious and it was a privledge to hear David speak about his experience working with the Presidential Airlift Group along with some fun stories thrown in for good measure.

By the time we'd finished eating and David had finished speaking, it was already after 7:00. While I'd hoped to fly to Marysville on the way home to also be able to log this flight as cross-country time, sunset was fast approaching and I elected to head straight back to Stewart. We launched into the air after a quick preflight and were on our way home as the sun was getting lower on the horizon. The sky was now completely clear and as I leveled off at 4,500 feet the view was again spectacular. Gina wanted to get in some time at the controls so I let her try some gentle turns to get a feel for coordinated flying. I'm no instructor so I know my teaching technique can use much improvement, but she definitely got better as I had her try some Dutch Rolls and other turns.

Gina doing her best to hold us straight and level

With a slight tailwind and a short distance to cover, it wasn't long before I had Stewart in sight. I pushed the nose over and made a quick descent at cruise power so we were zooming right along with a groundspeed of around 130 mph. We flew over Waynesville at about 1,800 feet and that resulted in a nice sense of our speed as the building quickly zoomed past underneath the wings. As I entered the pattern, the sun was just reaching the horizon. Gina asked me to talk her through what I do when landing, so I did just that as we moved from downwind to base to final. On short final, I wanted to land long to shorten our taxi so if you watch the video above you'll notice me kind of hang in the air for a while. No worries, it was intentional - although I didn't set us down as smoothly as I would have liked.

Sun setting just as we're about to enter the pattern at Stewart

Hopefully you all enjoy some of the photos and video from my trip to MERFI this weekend. If you want to see even more photos, click here to see a slideshow from the local newspaper. All told, I logged 3.4 hours on the day and 2.0 of them go in the logbook as cross-country time. I'm quickly becoming addicted to fly-ins for a multitude of reasons. Meeting fellow pilots, listening to great speakers, and gaining experience flying in a busy environment, to name just a few of the things I love. Needless to say, I'm on track to start spending way too much money renting airplanes!

Flight Tracks: Morning Flight / Afternoon Flight
Today's Flights: 2.0 hours / 1.4 hours
Total Time: 129.1 hours

Around the pattern in the Cub

2009-09-11T23:04:00.007-04:00

Plane: Cub, 65 hp
Route: 40I, Local
Weather: Clear, 70 degrees, wind 050 degrees at 8 knots

After a week filled with clouds, wind, and thunderstorms the weather gods rewarded us with a weekend full of beautiful skies. I also spent much of the week working very long hours at the office so I was glad to take off around 4:30 and head down to Stewart. I called this morning and reserved a Cub at 5:30 but was hoping it would be finished early. Sure enough, I was in luck and found it ready and waiting for me when I arrived around 5:00. I do have to note that I was hoping luck remained on my side, as things felt slightly ominous considering it's 9/11 and the Hobbs meter read 66.6 hours when I entered the start time in the book.

Someone else was on the fuel pad for a while (like 20 minutes...) so I waited around patiently and watched my friend Mike practice his takeoffs and landings with Dave in the other Cub. He's nearly ready to solo so I was closely watching after each landing to see if anyone hopped out of the plane. It wasn't his day apparently, although I caught a glimpse of some takeoffs and landings that looked real smooth from my vantage point. Once the guy in the 150 finally pulled away from the fuel pumps, I quickly filled my tank and got someone out to give me a prop.

Going in circles around Stewart

Since I had waited nearly a half-hour and had to be home by 7:00 or so, I elected to just stay in the pattern. There was a crosswind from the left that varied in direction and intensity throughout my short time at the controls. Takeoffs were smooth and, even with the smaller 65 hp engine, I climbed quickly to pattern altitude. A few other planes were in the pattern so I ended up extending my downwind a couple times and got to practice some forward slips to quickly lose altitude on final. Two of my landings were total greasers and the other three were respectable, if not with a slight bounce here or there.

Tomorrow is the Mid-Eastern Regional Fly-In up at Urbana-Grimes so I intend to spend much of the day up there. I've got the 150 reserved all day and am planning on making two flights there and back. First I'm going to go up with Mike for the morning and then I'll hopefully fly up with Gina later in the afternoon. There's some interesting seminars I want to check out in the afternoon and then there's a dinner with a guest speaker who used to work on Air Force One in the USAF. Hopefully it's a great day of flying and I have the chance to meet up with some other pilot friends!

Flight Track: Google Earth KMZ File
Today's Flight: 0.7 hours
Total Time: 125.7 hours

Red Stewart Airshow & EAA Fly-In

2009-09-02T21:55:00.014-04:00

Update - I've posted a video below that someone who attended the airshow put together.

What are you doing this coming Labor Day weekend? If you're free, you should fly or drive to Waynesville for the annual airshow at Stewart on Saturday and/or pancake breakfast and fly-in on Sunday!

Yup, there's no way around the fact that I love the place and would enjoy the chance to meet any of you fine folks that read the blog. I'll be at the airport both days helping out EAA Chapter 284 with the pancake breakfast and fly-in so be sure to let me know if you're coming.

Don't forget to send me a message or leave a comment on here if you're coming so we can meet up!

Solo in the re-engined Cub

2009-09-01T22:57:00.006-04:00

Plane: Cub, 85 hp
Route: 40I, Local
Weather: Clear, 67 degrees, wind 040 degrees at 6 knots

My friend Mike sent me a text message on Saturday morning that said he and Dave had been flying in the 85 hp Cub and then engine went out on them. In the days since, he's told me the story which essentially is that they were just turning downwind in the pattern, the plane started to shake as the engine lost power, there was a little smoke coming from leaking oil hitting the exhaust pipes, and Dave took the controls and dropped a lot of altitude very quickly and landed the plane safely. I saw the old engine in the hangar at Stewart last night before we went up in the 172 and you could clearly see where some of the bolts on a cylinder had sheared off. Parts wear out, even in airplane engines, and this simply appeared to be one that had reached the end of its life.

Obviously the most important thing is that they landed safely and even managed to bring the plane back to Earth in perfect flying condition. But another thing that resulted from the whole event was a new engine going into the Cub. It already had very respectable climb performance, especially when flying solo, but let me tell you that with the new motor up front that plane wants to climb, climb, climb. I was literally turning crosswind before I hit US-42, which is right at the end of the runway. Take a look at the GPS track if you don't believe me!

Another slow jaunt around the immediate local area - I love the Cub

Given what I said last night about the spectacular weather we're having, I want to be up as much as I can to take advantage of it. I didn't leave the office until about 6:30 tonight so I headed straight to Stewart. The wind was somewhat variable but, on average, was indicating a left crosswind of about five knots for Runway 8. After taxiing down the grass to the end and waiting for a landing plane to clear the runway, I pushed the throttle in and was off the turf in about 200 feet. No matter which way I looked - front, back, or to either side - it was clear I was climbing very quickly to pattern altitude. I'll be honest, on all but one trip around the pattern I ended up high by the time I turned downwind because the climb was so fast.

Going back to the first takeoff, I climbed out to the East and up to 3,000 feet for some steep turns. One to the left followed by one to the right, and I hit my wake as I transitioned from one to the other. Then I pulled the carb heat and pressed down for full right rudder as I held the stick to the left for a speedy descent in a forward slip. I switched to the other direction partway down. Looking at the GPS track (which isn't the most accurate thing ever, so these numbers are only ballpark) I registered a descent of around 2,600 feet per minute. Throwing those flat sides of the Cub against the air is a sure-fire way to drop like a rock.

Now down at 2,000 feet I flew around for a few minutes, enjoying the crystal-clear skies. Visibility was superb although the lowering sun did provide plenty of glare so I couldn't see all that well to the West. After a few minutes I flew back into the pattern and set up for a normal landing. It was good, just a slight bounce as I touched down in a three-point configuration. Back at the end of the runway, I held the brakes while applying full power for a short field takeoff. This time I think I was off the ground in 100 feet and after a speedy climb I was on downwind - and way too high.

I decided it would be a good time to practice an engine-out landing (my tribute to Mike and Dave) so I pulled the carb heat and then brought the throttle to idle about 5 seconds before I was abeam the numbers. As I banked the plane into a left turn towards the runway I simultaneously applied right rudder and additional left aileron to go into a left-turning forward slip. This brought me down very quickly while holding my speed low enough that I was able to transition out of the slip on short final. All that fun flying was rewarded with a perfect three-point greaser onto the soft grass.

One final lap around the pattern resulted in a decent landing, but it wasn't the best of the night. I intentionally added a little power as I crossed the threshold so I could land further down the runway to shorten my taxi. As I was flaring the plane started to sink too fast and I added in about 100 rpm. Just enough to lessen the descent and allow the plane to touch down with only a gentle thump on to the grass. The sun was already below the horizon when I landed so that's all the flying I was able to get in tonight. If this weather keeps it up, though, I'll likely be down in Waynesville at least one more time this week.

Flight Track: Google Earth KMZ File
Today's Flight: 0.8 hours
Total Time: 125.0 hours

Finally flying a 172 all on my own

2009-08-31T22:57:00.006-04:00

Plane: Cessna 172
Route: 40I-I66-40I
Weather: Clear, 65 degrees, wind 020 degrees at 5 knots

Although I've been up in the 172 three times with Dave now, those being a checkout, re-checkout, and re-re-checkout, I've never flown one solo. That's the goal of course, but between all the time I spend in the Cubs and 150s there just hasn't been enough time for me to stay current in the 172. But it is something I intend to do, especially since it's a great bird for longer cross-country flights. The weather in these parts has been fall-like (i.e. the best flying weather of the year) for the last week and promises to continue until at least Labor Day so I took advantage and went flying with Gina tonight.

Heading East across Caesar Creek Lake

I was extra thorough during my preflight due to my unfamiliarity with the 172 and all checked out well. Fuel measured out around 23 gallons, which is about 2 1/2 hours including reserves. Since it would be dark within an hour and a half I decided this was more than enough, especially since we were just staying in the area. So I started the smooth six-cylinder O-300 and taxied down to the end of Runway 8. Winds were generally light and out of the East all day but I noticed the windsock at Stewart was being a bit shifty when we arrived. As we accelerated down the runway, I kept in a little left aileron to counter a slight crosswind. We were quickly climbing straight out at around 700 fpm as I held in a fair amount of right rudder. Just like when I last flew the 172 a month ago, it's very noticeable how much more right rudder you need to counter the torque of that engine up front than in the 150 or Cub.

The reflection of the panel on the window's kinda neat

Thanks to the horsepower and our light weight, we were at 3,500 feet in no time. After some clearing turns, I set up and did two sets of steep turns. I felt that I did pretty good as my altitude and airspeed remained steady. We even blasted through our own wake when transitioning from a left turn to a right turn the second time around. Then I transitioned into slow flight and made some gentle turns with 20 degrees of flaps hanging out. I had to throttle pretty far back (around 1,800 rpm if I recall) to hold altitude as our light weight made 2814L want to keep climbing.

Next I pulled the throttle to idle and did a couple very smooth power-off stalls. After this, I cleaned the airplane up, pulled the carb heat back out, and reduced power to slow down to about 65 knots. Once slowed down, I pushed in the carb heat and throttled up to full power for some power-on stalls. Again, with us being so light that airplane did not want to stall. I gained about 500 feet and we were still climbing on the edge of stall at around 45 knots. Finally, I really yanked on the yoke and got the nose to drop gently. Compared to the 150, the 172 is sooo much more docile.

Just some random Ohio scenery

More random Ohioey-ness

By this point we were up around 4,500 feet so I pulled the carb heat out and throttled back to idle. We were headed to Clinton County Airport, which was only about 5 miles South of us. What better way to fall out of the sky fast than a forward slip? Well, yes, I know there are steep spirals and whatnot, but I digress. I pushed in full right rudder while adding in a significant amount of left aileron and we were soon descending at around 2,000 fpm. Partway down, I switched over to a right forward slip (that's just using the opposite control inputs for the non-pilot readers) before leveling out around 2,500 feet. Then I turned towards the airport while descending the final 500 feet to pattern altitude.

Forward slips are fun - look at us drop!

A plane we saw while maneuvering - it's over the silos

Even though it's only 12 nautical miles from Stewart, I'd never landed at Clinton County (I66) before. I love to add new airports to my ever-growing map over there on the right side of the blog so that's enough of an excuse for me to go somewhere new. Plus, the winds meant we'd be using Runway 3 and our location set us up for an easy 45 degree entry to the pattern. So that's what I did, entering on to the left downwind and bringing us in for a normal landing. Everything went smooth as silk until that last foot above the ground, where I promptly showed Gina what a nice "thud" feels like.

I had figured that, since there's rarely much traffic at I66, it would be a good place to get in a bunch of takeoffs and landings. As you can imagine, Mr. Murphy must have known I was thinking that and stuck another three airplanes in the pattern. Not that I have a problem with traffic, mind you, but since you have to back-taxi about 500 feet to reach the departure end of Runway 3 that tends to force you to sit longer when others are in the pattern. Anyway, I was able to get in two more takeoffs and landings before it was time to leave. The takeoffs were super-smooth but neither landing was anything to write home about.

On the ground at Clinton County Airport

After all my time in the 150, the heavier control forces in the 172 definitely take some getting used to. I had the same issue last time I flew, although I figured it was at least in part due to the fact I was flying at night. Long story short - nope, it was just my crummy piloting and needing to carry a little more energy into the flare. On my second or third landing, I added a touch of throttle on short final to try and smooth things out. While it did help, I'm still not satisfied with any of my landings in the bigger bird... I think an afternoon in the pattern might be in order.

Climbing away from Clinton County after our third takeoff, the sun was sitting near the horizon as I turned to the West and pointed the nose towards Caesar Creek Lake. Visibility was excellent and even with the low sun I was able to spot Stewart almost immediately after takeoff. As we approached, I could see the Stearman over top of the airport practicing an aerobatic routine for their annual airshow this coming Saturday. With my landing light and strobes on, they saw me and broke off as I entered on a 45 to the downwind. Again, my pattern was smooth and the plane felt real stable but my landing wouldn't have won any awards. It was the best of the evening since I made corrections based on the earlier ones, but still not great in my book.

Sunset as we headed back to Stewart across Caesar Creek Lake

Seeing as how you can't pass up great flying weather, I'm glad we were able to head up tonight and take in the scenery along with me having time to practice maneuvers. Continuing on the 'take advantage of the weather' theme, I scheduled the 85 hp Cub for tomorrow evening. That's actually what I wanted to fly tonight but it was booked and I'm glad I was able to go up and spend some time in the 172 as the only pilot on board. Nonetheless, there's nothing better than a Cub down low with the door wide open and that's exactly what I'll be partaking in mañana.

Flight Track: Google Earth KMZ File
Today's Flight: 1.3 hours
Total Time: 124.2 hours

Flying with Shaun from Australia

2009-08-25T22:33:00.005-04:00

You may remember that I flew with Shaun, a friend I met through this blog who lives in Australia, when he came to Stewart for some tailwheel training last month. He took some photos and video during our flight and I promised that I'd share it on here. It might take a little while for him to edit the video and get it from his computer to me, half way around the world, but I'll post that in the future as well.

Happily putzing along with Shaun in the cozy 150

He's safely back Down Under now after an awesome experience up at Oshkosh. I am still so happy that we were able to meet up and spend some time in the air together. There's nothing better than meeting fellow pilots - it's such a wonderful community of folks worldwide. As he comes to the US every so often, I'm already looking forward to the next time I get to see Shaun and embark on another flying adventure.

Flying with my dad

2009-08-23T20:00:00.010-04:00

Plane: Cessna 150
Route: 40I-MGY-40I
Weather: Overcast, 65 degrees, wind 320 degrees at 6 knots

My dad came down from Michigan for the weekend to go with me and Gina to a Dayton Dragons game sponsored through my work. If you recall, he and my sister came down to visit back in June for a similar game. That last time they visited I was able to take my sister flying but he didn't want to go up. Now I'm never one to force flying upon anyone but I casually asked him if he wanted to fly this morning and he said yes. I called Stewart and they said 3718J was available, so we quickly hopped in the car and headed to the airport.

My dad took video of the flight and I edited it together - enjoy!

I went through the entire preflight with my dad, explaining exactly what I was looking at and what things were for. We pushed the 150 down to the fuel pump, filled up, and then I showed him how to get in. No way around it, climbing into the tiny two-seater is a squeeze for most people the first time they try. But he managed to get in and I showed him the seatbelt, how to open the window and door, and then walked around and got in the left seat. Engine started (well, after I remembered to turn the key on - this plane has a pull starter instead of the key starter I usually use in 60338) and preflight checks complete, I taxied on to Runway 26 and off we went.

Anyone who has read this blog for some time is well-aware of my usual sightseeing route right now. If you're new, just click on the 'Passengers' tag at the bottom of this post or under 'Categories' over in the right-side navigation to find similar flights. After we were out of the pattern we flew over the lake, down the valley to the bridge, and then headed direct MGY at 3,000 feet. My dad asked to land there and to fly over my house so I passed by the airport and circled over the house before flying towards Moraine Air Park and beginning a descent to 2,000 feet. We entered the pattern at Wright Brothers behind a Cessna that flew a pattern a Boeing Captain would be proud of, so I ended up extending my downwind much more than usual. It did at least make for good video as you could see the runway for a long time on final. The landing was relatively smooth but I've done better.

After a quick taxi and takeoff I turned back towards Stewart and asked if he wanted to do a few steep turns. He said yeah (since he likes rollercoasters, in his words) so I climbed back up to 3,000 and made one to the left followed immediately by another 360 back to the right. Honestly I thought they sucked so I did another one to the left that felt a good deal better. Note to self - time to go up and practice the basics again! We were over the lake and I went into a forward slip to bring us down to 2,500 feet in a heartbeat and show him how to make a quick descent. Then I flew us back to Stewart, setting us up for a short field landing. The winds were shifty the last ten feet above the ground so my feet were all over the pedals right before touchdown to keep 18J straight. I set us down firmly but I'd still call it smooth given the conditions.

Today's flight - Google Earth style

So what did my dad think of the experience? He had a great time and even said my landings were good, so I must have done something right! Back in college he and some friends went up and it was real bumpy so he was hesitant about going up at first. Thankfully today's conditions were good and even though there were some light bumps as we passed beneath the clouds he thought it was really smooth - especially given the size of the plane. While it was overcast the visibility was still great; we could see the Columbus skyline at the edge of the horizon, over 50 miles away. I'm really glad we had the chance to fly together and that he had a fun time taking in the sights and using my camera to record the great video that's included in this post.

Flight Track: Google Earth KMZ File
Today's Flight: 1.3 hours
Total Time: 122.9 hours

Put In Bay and fun with flaps

2009-08-15T23:40:00.029-04:00

Plane: Cessna 150
Route: Y47-3W2-PCW-16G-40I
Weather: Partly cloudy, 84 degrees, wind 060 degrees at 5 knots

This post is about the second leg of our overnight journey. To read about Friday's trip from Stewart to Michigan, click here.

After a nice evening spent with some of Gina's old friends, we rested up and headed to the airport around 9:30 this morning. We loaded up our stuff and she helped by removing the tiedowns while I went thru my preflight. Then I started the plane up and taxied over to the fuel pump to fill the tanks. Let's just say I'm still a novice with self-serve fuel pumps since 98% of my fueling experience is with the very familiar pump at Stewart. Note to any other inexperienced renters out there - not all fuel pumps automatically shut off when the tank is full. Anyway, other than a slight overflow of 100LL that quickly evaporated off the left wing, the plane was ready to go and we said our goodbyes.

Gina and her parents on the ground in New Hudson with 60338

We buckled in and taxied down to the runup area at the end of Runway 26. I didn't get a drop as expected when I switched mags so I leaned out the mixture and went to full throttle to try and clean off the plugs in case they were fouled. That seemed to do the trick, as the RPM drop was normal when I re-checked both mags. As I pointed out last night, the runway at Oakland Southwest is hemmed in by trees on all sides. Accordingly, a short field takeoff was the only option in my book. I positioned on the end of the runway, went to full throttle, and released the brakes. Once we were at about 50 knots, I yanked back and pulled us sharply off the ground. Climbing away at about 55 knots it still took a couple seconds until I was getting enough of a climb rate that I felt better about the approaching trees.

Video highlights from all today's flying

Given that we were experiencing the famously anemic climb rate of a 150, I made a gentle climbing right turn and crossed over top of the airport at 2,500 feet before proceeding on course towards Ann Arbor. Gina spotted about three different planes within a minute of crossing over top of Y47 so I wasted no time in contacting Detroit Approach for Flight Following. I've heard before from some pilots that Detroit can be a bit cranky and isn't very keen about letting us VFR folks stray near the Bravo. So I was quite surprised when a controller came on, asked how I was going to proceed to Put In Bay (I said we were going to go to Toledo and then follow the coastline), and cleared me into the Bravo to cut a few minutes off the flight. It was also my first time ever in Class Bravo airspace, so that was kind of neat. All without me even asking!

Our route from the Detroit area to Put In Bay

Downtown Toledo and the Maumee River

Looking out the back while flying over the edge of Lake Erie

Houses on the lake near Toledo

A large oil refinery on the lake just outside the city

I turned about 10 degrees left to fly direct to where Lake Erie meets Toledo, which was barely visible in the distance through the haze. Approach called out one aircraft at 12 o'clock about 700 feet above us and 3 miles that we never saw. There were honestly lots of aircraft all the way and I was more than glad to have ATC watching over us with an extra set of eyeballs. We were handed off to Toledo Approach around Monroe and they kept up with the advisories all the way until we were told to Squawk VFR with Put In Bay in sight. Since I'm on a 'say nice things about ATC' kick today, let me just say that the folks at Toledo are top-notch. They're always friendly and super helpful in pointing out things like the big tower farm and even a NOTAM for balloon activity (which I did read when flight planning!) on the way up yesterday. Sure, I've only talked to them like four times now, but it's still worth noting.

Passing over the campground at Maumee Bay State Park

Cedar Point National Wildlife Refuge

Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station

Back to the flying, I followed the coastline from Toledo just inland to avoid some hot Restricted areas. Something about live artillery goes on in there so I'm pretty sure that's best worth staying clear of. We also passed by the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant on the way... sooo I did my darndest to hold the plane straight and level for a few miles there. Sure I was talking to ATC but I'd rather not do anything to upset the TSA or USAF or whoever keeps suspiscous planes away from such objects "in the interest of national security" as it says on the Sectional. Once clear of all the Restricted airspace and with a couple nearby planes in sight, I proceeded over the lake towards South Bass Island. It's only about four or five miles across at the narrowest point, but it's still interesting to look down and see nothing but water.

Traffic landing Put In Bay was using Runway 3 per the radio calls, so I flew East and then made a smooth turn to align myself on a 45 degree entry into a right downwind. I spotted one plane in front of me on downwind so I just followed them in. As I turned final I lowered the flaps all the way to 40 degrees to set up a short field landing. The runway here isn't as short as it was up in Michigan but there are still trees on both ends and displaced thresholds. I set us down pretty softly with plenty of room to spare.

I flipped the switch to raise the flaps as I always do when we were rolling out. As I turned off the runway, however, I looked over and saw that the flaps were still partially down. "Hmm, did I bump the switch accidentally?" I pushed it back down and they lowered all the way and then flipped it back up. Nothing. "Well this isn't good." I parked and shut the plane down and then took a closer look. The switch was still running the motor when you flipped it to down and the fuse looked good, so my only guess was that we had a bad switch. Thinking back on it after the fact, it's a good thing I didn't have to go around on my approach... hmm, yeah that would not have been good.

Of course there's no FBO on the island (there's not even any fuel available) so there wasn't much we could do about it right then. I thought maybe the electric flap motor could have overheated or something and decided to leave it while we went into town to grab a bite to eat since we were starving. Lenny from Great Lakes Pilots and his friend Andrew pulled up in a golf cart and we all headed into town together.

Looking out over the harbor towards Perry's Monument

Old fish hatchery - there's actually some interesting info. in there

We had lunch at the Chicken Patio. I've eaten there every time I've been to the island. You get 1/2 a grilled bbq chicken, an ear of corn on the cob, potato salad, and a roll for about $11. They've got an outdoor grill that's like 6 feet wide by 20 feet long where they're grilling all day. It's certainly not gourmet but it's still tasty and I was keeping up tradition if nothing else.

After filling up, we just drove around the island for a few on the golf cart. We stopped in at the old fish hatchery where they have some displays talking about the history of the island with commercial fishing on Lake Erie. Then we went to the South end of the island to visit the lighthouse as well as stopping at a cafe for some cool drinks and ice cream. It wasn't unbearably hot out but the humidity was up and even with a breeze off the lake I needed plenty of water to stay hydrated. We also spent a little time in the visitor center at Perry's Monument. Officially, it's Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial and it was built in 1912 to commemorate the greatest naval victory during the War of 1812 on Lake Erie. We didn't go to the top since it's not as cool when you fly in over top of the thing - the view was definitely a better attraction when coming to the island by boat.

No trip to the island is complete without a photo of the monument

There's a neat (tho very small) vintage car museum

Requisiste photos of us on Put In Bay (like my new sunglasses?)

All told, we spent a little time on the island eating and relaxing before heading back to the airport. Gina had an alright time although she was somewhat dissapointed overall. I think too many people have hyped it up for her when, in reality, it's essentially a giant spring break sort of party island most of the time. Not that you can do any of that when you've got a plane to fly home. Still, it was a great excuse to fly to a new place and meet up with another pilot friend.

It was around 4:30 when we got back to the airport to sort out the flap situation. Unfortunately, the problem was exactly the same as when I tried the switch after landing. Lenny looked things over and called a few pilot friends of his to try and help out while I put a call into Stewart and they got someone to call me back. There's no manual retract for the electric Cessna flaps so we were going to have to find some way reverse the motor and raise them. After talking with the friendly folks at Stewart (specifically, an A&P-IA there) they had me remove a couple access panels (the Leatherman I keep in my flight bag sure saved the day...) and try and twist the motor coupling to bring the flaps up. I tried for about five minutes but only succeeded at covering my right hand and arm in lots of airplane grease. My fingers were on the coupling and I could spin it, but it wasn't moving anything in the linkage to the flaps.

Coming to the conclusion that this wasn't going anywhere, we discussed over the phone trying to reverse the polarity of the wires so we could use the working 'down' position on the switch to spin the motor and raise the flaps. The wires leading to the flap motor, along with a quick connector, were hanging from the same access panel I had pulled off so it would be easy. Lenny quickly helped me switch the two wires and reverse the polarity. We'd reached the moment of truth as I flipped the Master on and pushed down on the flap switch... and the motor started turning as the flaps retracted completely! I definitely didn't expect to become a temporary airplane mechanic over the weekend, but man was I glad we figured out a way to solve the problem.

I dug up some electrical tape in a hangar down by the office and covered the connection just to be safe. Then I pulled the fuse for the flaps from the panel and stored it in the glove box. That would make sure there was no chance any electricity could accidentally flow through the connector and short out against the skin of the plane. I called Stewart back and informed them we were able to raise the flaps (they were happy - and relieved - that it worked) and thanked Lenny again for hanging around to help me out. As I told everyone while I was screwing the access panels back in place, that's officially the most thorough preflight I've ever done!

Gina and I secured everything, made a quick stop in the restroom, and then hopped in to get on our way. It was now about 6:00 and I wanted to get going so we would be home before sunset. Should we get behind schedule I planned to stop somewhere while it was still light out, but obviously that's not the first choice if it can be avoided. I performed a short field takeoff, making a right turn at about 200' agl to steer well clear of the monument since it's straight off the extended centerline.

Put In Bay to Port Clinton with my teardrop entry

My planned fuel stop was Port Clinton, just about 10 miles across the lake. I had looked in advance and AirNav said they were open until 6pm but my A/FD said they were open until 2300 Zulu - which is 7pm local this time of year. Nobody answered on Unicom so I flew 500' over pattern altitude and made a teardrop entry to a 45 to downwind for Runway 27. This was a no flap landing, so I approached at 70 knots and held the plane off to bleed airspeed before touching down. Turns out AirNav was right as nobody was around and there was no self-service fuel pump. In hindsight, I should have just continued on to an alternate fuel stop instead of losing 10-15 minutes on the ground when you factor in taxi time and such. But chalk that up as a lesson learned. I pulled out my A/FD again and saw the next airport along our route with 24-hr fuel was Seneca County Airport, only 30 miles South. We departed Port Clinton behind a Champ on Runway 9 and turned on course.

Passing over a Service Plaza on the Ohio Turnpike

A helicopter flying under us (it's over the highway - click to zoom)

The runway at Seneca County Airport was perfectly aligned for a quick fuel stop. I could see the pumps were on the East end of the field as we got close, so I entered a left downwind for Runway 6. I was too fast on short final without flaps so I used a mild forward slip to knock about 10 knots off and set the plane down softly as we rolled out to the opposite end. A quick refueling (you can bet I didn't expect the pump to shut itself off when full this time...) and I was back in the plane ready to depart. Since the winds were calm, I departed on Runway 6 and turned left shortly after takeoff to resume on course while climbing up to 4,500. We were able to get Flight Following from Toledo Approach as well, a huge help since the haze was pretty bad at this point (at least when looking West) with the sun lowering in the sky.

On the other hand, there was barely any traffic still flying if you can base it on what I heard over the very quiet radio. I think we got maybe one call for traffic all the way home, whereas we got at least ten on the way to Put In Bay earlier in the day. The route home took us over top of Elliots Landing (O74), a grass strip that supposedly has an awesome restaurant (the Plaza Inn) on the field. It's on my list of airports I need to check out still. Continuing towards home, we passed directly over top of Urbana Grimes - a favorite destination of mine, as any regular reader of the blog knows. From this point, I felt pretty comfortable since I am very familiar with the route and area.

Our route home took us right past Urbana Grimes

The sun was nearing the horizon and the haze wasn't making it too easy to see. Don't get me wrong, it was still VFR and I knew where I was but had I been headed to a new destination I would likely have landed at that point. But we were now only 10 miles from Stewart as I began descending from 4,500 to 2,000. Dayton Approach also canceled our Flight Following at this point. I could see Waynesville off in the distance - there was a baseball game going on at the local park and the lights made it easy to spot. My head was on a swivel as we approached Stewart but I didn't see any traffic as I entered the pattern to land on Runway 8.

Again, this would be without any flaps so I kept my speed up around 70 as I turned base to final and found myself in a slight crab to counter a light crosswind. About 50 feet up I transitioned from the crab to a sideslip and held the plane off until I set down softly on the upwind wheel. I've got to tell you, I was quite proud of that last landing. You can see it all on the video - right up to the point where my camera mount came loose and you get a nice shot of me reaching up to grab it!

So there you have my first-ever overnight trip in an airplane as well as my longest cross-country flight to date. And then there's the whole flap situation. Clearly it was a learning experience in more way than one and I'm quite thankful for that, as crazy as some of it probably sounds. We flew over 500 miles in a little over 24 hours and returned home safely so what else can you ask for? The only negative (for my bank account, at least) is that more travel like this will REALLY get me thinking about ownership/partnership in the future...

And if you actually read this whole entry, well wow and congrats and thanks! :)

Flight Track: Detroit to Put In Bay / Put in Bay to Stewart
Today's Flight: 3.6 hours
Total Time: 121.6 hours

An overnight trip to Michigan

2009-08-14T23:41:00.009-04:00

Plane: Cessna 150
Route: 40I-Y47
Weather: Scattered clouds, 82 degrees, wind 170 degrees at 7 knots

This post is about the first leg of our overnight journey. To read about Saturday's trip from Michigan to Put In Bay and back to Stewart, click here.

Gina and I had been planning to take a day trip via airplane to Put In Bay to meet up with some other members of the Great Lakes Pilots group. Then she found out some old friends of hers were having an engagement party on Friday night. Since she had to work until about 4:30 there was no way we could have made it (and then flown to Put In Bay the next morning) had we driven. A perfect opportunity to showcase the utility of General Aviation, I say!

Our route, just about due North up to the Detroit area

I arrived at the airport around 4:30 in time to load the plane (all 55 pounds of luggage and gear I can carry with both of us and full fuel in the 150) and complete all my preflight checks. The right brake didn't feel right so I had someone come out and look at it. He just added a little brake fluid and all was well. Once Gina had arrived and we both strapped in, I went over my last checks. Then I taxied down to the very end of Runway 26, pushed in the throttle, and held the brakes so the engine could spool up before I began my takeoff roll. We were off about halfway down the 3,000 foot runway and slowly climbed away. Between the density altitude and being just under gross, it took that little 150 a few minutes to show a respectable climb rate.

After turning on course North of Stewart, I continued my climb to 5,500 and contacted Dayton Approach for Flight Following. It's been too long since I talked to ATC (which I blame on a lack of really going anywhere) and I did a decent job with my first few calls. This trip was definitely worth it if for no other reason than I spent a lot of time on the radio and felt much more on my game by the time all was said and done. As we approached Dayton International, I spotted an AirTran jet climbing quickly away just before ATC called the traffic. They told me to turn 90 degrees right but then immediately gave me a "cleared to resume on course" once I said I had the traffic in sight.

Video of our departure from Stewart and arrival at New Hudson

The route we took was quite similar to the route I took for my long solo cross-country flight last fall. My first destination that day was Bowling Green, just south of Toledo. Tonight we flew slightly West of that course and passed right over top of Toledo Express Airport (TOL). From there I went direct Ann Arbor (ARB) before turning towards Oakland Southwest (Y47) to remain clear of Detroit's Class Bravo airspace.

While there was still a fair amount of haze obstructing visibility, it did subside a bit as we flew into Michigan. I'm not sure if it was due to different weather or the air cooling as sunset approached - probably a little bit of both. As we flew over Ann Arbor, I began my descent. Having grown up in the area (I lived about 15 miles north of Ann Arbor from age four until I moved to Ohio two years ago) I could tell exactly where we were, even though it was my first time flying in that specific location. Detroit Approach pointed out one final plane before they told me to Squawk VFR and I went over to the CTAF. I made one 360 while descending to get all the way down to pattern altitude before getting any closer to the field. It was funny how low 2,000 feet felt to me after being at 5,500 for two hours.

Even though I knew exactly where the airport should be, it took me a while to find it. The runway is buried in amongst trees that line all four sides so it's not the most visible thing from the air. I ended up seeing all the hangars first and then made a smooth 45 degree entry to a left downwind for Runway 26. The wind was calm and we had the pattern to ourselves, so I opted for the quickest way in. Since the runway is a tad short (when you factor in a 900' displaced threshold for Runway 26 - it's 1,300' when landing on 8) and narrow, I set up for a short field landing.

Once I turned from base to final, I brought in all 40 degrees of flaps and slowed to about 50 knots. Then I managed the throttle to stay on my glide path and aimed right for the numbers. I was able to set us down smoothly just a few feet from the threshold and applied light brakes to hit the next turnoff. From there, it was a quick taxi up to the tiedowns where we met Gina's parents. The airport is only about 10 minutes from their house so they drove over to pick us up. Gina's mom, upon sight of the plane, somewhat unnervingly yelled out "it looks like a mosquito!" which I'm sure Cessna will take note of and use in future marketing campaigns.

Spaciousness of the trusty 150 aside, the flight was great. I got in some much-needed time talking to ATC and brushed up on my navigation skills. It was also the first trip where I really put my Lowrance 600c GPS to use. I even discovered a neat Vertical Navigation feature that pops up a message when you need to begin descending to be at pattern altitude before reaching the airport. And it was awesome to realize the utility of GA while racking up some cross-country hours. What would have been a 4 hour drive (from Stewart up to New Hudson) took about 2:15 from engine start to securing the tiedowns. Not bad... especially for a mosquito.

Flight Track: Google Earth KMZ File
Today's Flight: 2.3 hours
Total Time: 118.0 hours

We're gonna party like it's 1945

2009-08-09T00:49:00.015-04:00

Plane: Cub, 65 hp
Route: 40I, Local
Weather: Clear, 68 degrees, wind 070 degrees at 3 knots

Today was just too cool, and I'll get to that shortly. Gina's parents came down to visit for a couple days so I got the chance to take her dad flying this morning. He's been up in small planes before (Cessnas mainly) but never in a taildragger. Given the gorgeous summer morning the only option in my mind was a Cub with the door wide open. So we headed down to Stewart and I was able to get into the 65 hp yellow beauty for an hour.

The grass was still wet with dew as we rolled down the turf and softly launched into the sky. He didn't have any preferences as far as where to fly, so I first went down the valley on my usual sightseeing route. Flying about 1,000 feet above the trees as we paralleled the valley in the early morning air provided some spectacular views. I pointed out Cincinnati off in the haze as well as Kings Island, where he and Gina spent all day yesterday.

As I turned back to the North, I saw what appeared to be a plane of decent size out over the lake. Now I knew that the Collings Foundation had brought their Wings of Freedom Tour to Wright Brothers Airport this week, so I had a feeling that's what I was seeing in the distance. After a minute, I was all but certain that I was looking at a beautiful B-17 bomber circling around Caesar Creek Lake. Knowing they were likely on one of their flying tours (which run a tidy $425 per person that would be worth every penny, in my opinion - it's on my bucket list) I flew us over towards Wright Brothers in hopes of catching another glimpse.

This morning's route over the Ohio countryside

On the way we flew over a farm that I first passed by last summer on my second solo flight in the Champ. They've got an awesome piece of art carved into their crops. You can see the photo I took last year by clicking here. This time, I was able to circle around for a better view and there's actually a waypoint marked in the GPS track (link at the bottom of the post) if you open it in Google Earth. In case you're wondering, it's a french horn with 'Music the Universal Language' written around the design. Pretty cool.

So here's where it just gets plain awesome. I'd been keeping my eyes peeled for traffic and suddenly saw a P-51 climbing and nearly at my altitude (I was flying 1,000 over pattern altitude since I was so close to MGY) at my 2 o'clock. He was headed away and apparently staying in the pattern, as he made a big circle around to join downwind. But the best thing was when I turned my head, looked down, and saw the B-17 crossing midfield to enter downwind ahead of the Mustang. So there we were, cruising along on a clear blue summer morning in a 1946 Cub with the door off, as a Flying Fortress and P-51 were flying 1,000 to 1,500 feet below us.

I kept the runway just off our right wing to keep the best view out the open door. While my head was on a crazy swivel at this point, I couldn't help but follow along as Nine O Nine turned base to final right beneath us. For those of you who have seen the documentary One Six Right (and if you haven't seen it, go buy it - it's incredible) I was treated to a sight that reminded me of the closing sequence of the DC-3 landing on 16R at VNY. Right as we were flying 2,000 feet over the airport the B-17 crossed the threshold of Runway 20 and softly settled back down on the concrete. It was an incredible sight and I wish we'd have brought the camera to capture it on video. Then again, maybe it's one of those moments just meant to be relished in the mind for years to come.

Nothing could top that, but the Mustang did follow shortly behind and I caught a quick view as it landed as well. Over top of Wright Brothers, I rocked my wings back and forth to wave at all the folks below. A few seconds later we were over our house, which I pointed out and Gina's dad quickly spotted. Then I turned back towards Waynesville, descending along the way and passing just outside of town as I turned onto a 45 for my downwind. At pattern altitude, only 800 feet of air separated us from the trees as the lush greenery passed below us. Turning final I was a little high but pulled the power and the Cub quickly sank down as I held her off for a very soft landing on the still-wet blades of grass.

First solos, checkrides, and other milestones certainly stand out in any pilot's mind - and it's not hard to understand why. But I've got to tell you that this morning's has to rank up there in my Top 5 flights, if not higher. Just to be in the air in a plane from the WWII era, with some of the most important aircraft from that war in the skies below, felt so incredibly... right. And, most importantly, Gina's dad had a great time up there with me. Always gotta keep the passengers happy. ;-)

Flight Track: Google Earth KMZ File
Today's Flight: 0.7 hours
Total Time: 115.7 hours

Soloversary!

2009-08-03T21:45:00.006-04:00

Plane: Cub, 85 hp
Route: 40I, Local
Weather: Clear, 77 degrees, wind 190 degrees at 8 knots

Hard to believe but it's been exactly one year since my first solo in the Champ. I'll never forget that night, just as I suspect no other pilot will forget his or her own. Luckily the weather tonight was quite conducive for a commemorative flight so up I went.

As you might recall from my last post, there's a 90-day currency rule and it's been much longer than three months since I last flew the Champ. That meant it wasn't a true one-year-later flight as I had to take the Cub up instead. Not that I'm complaining, as the 85 hp Cub has to be the most fun you can have solo for $61 per hour.

Driving to the airport I was thinking about what I should do in honor of my first complete year of solo aviating and I decided some good ol' fun was what the doctor ordered. I climbed out of the pattern and up to about 3,000 feet and did a bunch of steep turns, steep descents, and pushed the nose over a bit for some weightlessness. Then I climbed up to 3,500 and flew over the pattern at Wright Brothers and circled above our house.

It was more of the same on the way back as I did some more steep turns, both of the 360-degree variety and some other random ones where I just yanked over and turned the plane on a dime. I even hit my wake a couple times when flying a complete circle. Basically I spent a good portion of the evening doing all the fun stuff you don't usually do when there's a passenger on board.

Once back in the pattern at Stewart, the Stearman was flying around and overhead as they were practicing wing walking. Cub, one of the Stewarts - not a plane, is doing the flying and a couple different girls are standing out on the wires. I first saw some photos a few weeks ago - I believe the plan is to eventually perform at air shows. Definitely fun to watch even if it still looks a bit crazy.

I made three landings, getting progressively better each time. The first two I rounded out about two feet too high and set the plane down a little hard. I didn't bounce at all but they still weren't nice greasers. The final time around the pattern I pulled the power abeam the numbers and circled around for a simulated engine out landing. A bit high and fast on short final, I transitioned in and out of a forward slip and touched down very gently about 1/4 of the way down the runway.

Again, it's amazing that a whole year has passed since my first solo. I've certainly had many awesome flights and milestones since then, but this one's definitely special to me. Even better is the upcoming trip I have planned - a flight to Put-In-Bay, a small island in Lake Erie just off the Ohio coast - on Saturday the 15th. It's going to be my first real cross-country 'destination' flight and I'll get to meet some fellow pilots who belong to the Great Lakes Pilots group. If you're in flying range, come join us!

Today's Flight: 1.0 hours
Total Time: 115.0 hours

Up in the night sky

2009-07-31T23:58:00.003-04:00

Plane: Cessna 172
Instructor: Dave
Route: 40I-MWO-OXD-I19-MGY-40I
Weather: Clear, 66 degrees, wind calm

Stewart has a 90-day rule on aircraft currency, basically meaning if you haven't flown an aircraft in the past three months you have to go up again with an instructor before you can fly solo. I was past that mark in the 172 and I also wanted some experience flying it near gross before I try flying it full of myself and three pax. Seeing as I had to go up with a CFI and you can't fly out of Stewart solo at night I figured what the heck, why not do both?

Night flight is one of my favorite things about General Aviation, especially when the moon's half full and the sky is completely clear as it was tonight. Air that's smooth as glass and the lights twinkling below make for a spectacular time aloft. Gina also hadn't ever flown at night so I was excited for her to come up with me and Dave. Add in a backpack I filled with 30 pounds of paper and some extra flight gear in the back seat and we had a mostly-full 172.

I ended up at work until around 7:00 so I was glad to still make it down to the airportin time to do my preflight before the sun went down. Everything checked out as Dave drove the golf cart alongside the runway to put out the lanterns. Once the sun had set, we all hopped in and I taxied over to the fuel pump to top off the tanks. He told me we'd use most of the runway so I took us to the very end of the grass before beginning my takeoff roll. I quickly noticed the most pronounced difference of flying near gross, which was the significant amount of back force I needed on the yoke to get the nose off the ground.

Soon we were climbing into the dark night sky (with me holding in a considerable amount of right rudder - another definite difference from the 150) headed West. I first took us over to Middletown, circling around to enter a right downwind for Runway 23. My landing was about as smooth as you could ever ask for, so I knew it was all downhill from there. Sure enough, it was the best landing of the night. Anyway, I taxied us back and went around the pattern again to set up for a short field landing. This time I really planted us down good, which - while acceptable in a short field situation - was more a result of me succumbing to the illusion of being lower than I realized due to the runway lights.

Turning near Middletown with the moon in full view

Then it was off to Oxford, an airport I flew past while on a solo cross-country flight last year but never had touched down at. We couldn't spot it for the longest time so I keyed the lights on the CTAF and it appeared out of thin air a few miles in front of us. Due to the complete lack of traffic and calm winds, I landed on Runway 23 and then made a 180 and departed on Runway 5. The landing was decent but my favorite thing at OXD were the houses next door with red obstruction lights on their roofs. I want that! We quickly climbed away and headed back East towards Dayton, as I used the tall television towers (they're about 1,200 feet AGL) for some easy visual navigation.

We were about 5 miles south of downtown but got a great view of the skyline and streets all lit up below. Staying just South of the radio towers kept us out of Dayton's Class Charlie airspace and I headed further East so we could land at Greene County Airport. There was some high traffic about 5 miles Northeast of us and descending so we kept an eye out until it was clear they had turned away. As I turned base for Runway 25 we could see they were racing at Kil Kare Speedway that's a mile or so from the airport and Gina and Dave got a nice view of the action below. Again, the landing was decent if not super smooth and we taxied down and I departed Runway 7 for another view of the race on the way out. Turns out someone hit someone or something, as all we saw were flashing yellow lights.

I climbed back up to 2,500 and flew off towards Wright Brothers. Gina wanted to fly over our house at night and an approach to Runway 20 provides exactly that. Headed towards the airport, I knew exactly where it should be from all the landmarks on the ground. Nonetheless, I couldn't find the damn airport for the life of me and didn't even see the beacon. I didn't let Dave tell me for a while until he finally pointed right where I was looking and somehow this time I caught the beacon. Maybe it was the old 'use your perhipheral vision at night' trick we all learned about back in our primary training.

Another plane was in the pattern and I had heard him on the radio making calls as he approached from the West. Since I wanted to use Runway 20 and he was in the pattern for Runway 2, I made a couple 360s a few miles out to give us some spacing before entering the pattern. My first landing actually had us turning base to final before the house and it was again somewhat firm. I taxied back and elected to stay in the pattern and set up for a short field this time as that would result in a longer final. We went right over the house (Gina reports our landscape lighting shining up into the trees looks very cool from above) and I set it down just past the threshold and got on the brakes for a very short landing.

A nice view of the lights shimmering underneath the wing

While it did not feel like that long since the first takeoff, we'd already been up over two hours so I took off and turned towards Stewart. I asked Dave if there were any other things I should practice before flying a full airplane and he simply pointed out the increased control forces (elevator on takeoff and right rudder when climbing) that I noted earlier and said I was doing a good job flying. I'm definitely glad I elected to first fly a full plane with an instructor on board but at this point I think I just need to get out there and fly and gain some experience.

Contrary to my experience at Wright Brothers minutes earlier, I managed to spot the lanterns lining the runway at Stewart at least five miles out. I miss the high-intensity instrument landing lights but spot the oil lanterns, go figure. I turned base perhaps a hair too early and was quickly reminded of the illusions of Stewart at night as I ended up far too high on final. Luckily our 172 is of the older variety, so idle power and all 40 degrees of flaps gave me plenty of sink and I touched down a few hundred feet past the threshold.

Forgive the lengthy post, but even what was essentially a flight in a big circle left me with a lot of thoughts after 2 1/2 hours aloft. Gina took a few photos that I included in the post - they came out alright considering the lack of light. I'm so glad I was able to finally get in some more night hours, as it's such a wonderful time to be in the air. I know they'll let me go park a 150 at Wright Brothers overnight and fly it back to Stewart in the morning, so I really need to take advantage of that to keep up my currency. All told, tonight was one of those low-key flights that reminds you how special this whole flying thing can be.

Flight Track: Google Earth KMZ File
Today's Flight: 2.5 hours
Total Time: 114.0 hours

A quick flight before heading to the campground

2009-07-24T21:24:00.003-04:00

Plane: Cub, 85 hp
Route: 40I, Local
Weather: Partly cloudy, 80 degrees, wind 280 degrees at 6 knots

Quick post, as I'm writing about this a week later at this point. The weather last Friday made for one of those days when you feel guilty if you don't make it up in an airplane. We were headed down towards Portsmouth, Ohio to spend the weekend camping at Shawnee State Park and drove right past Stewart on the way. Sure, we only spent a half hour in the air but I'm not one to complain.

It was a simple flight, just rolling off the turf in the Cub with the doors hanging wide open. I took us out over the tip of the lake and over the beach, rocking the wings to wave to all below. Part of me likes to think there's always at least one kid looking up and waving - not that I could ever tell from the cockpit at 1,000 feet. Then it was a quick descent back into the pattern at Stewart, where I set us down for possibly my best landing ever - definitely the best in a Cub. Total three point greaser where you just suddenly find yourself back on the grass.

Unfortunately, some severe storms rolled through on Saturday so we had to cut the camping trip short by a night. There's not much fun in being trapped inside a wet tent when you can't even go outside and start a campfire. It was a great park in some beautiful, hilly terrain though so we'll be headed back down sometime for a second go at it. On the bright side, at least we were able to make some S'mores in our fire pit back at home on Sunday!

Flight Track: Google Earth KMZ File
Today's Flight: 0.5 hours
Total Time: 111.5 hours

Meeting a friend of the blog from Down Under

2009-07-21T23:59:00.009-04:00

Plane: Cessna 150
Route: 40I-SGH-40I
Weather: Hazy, 75 degrees, wind calm

Update - I've posted a photo from our flight here.

I'm always amazed by the people I meet and emails I receive completely as a result of this blog. While it all began as a way to chronicle my flying lessons and share the experience with friends and other students, it's become a wonderful window into the camaraderie and general goodness that define the pilot community worldwide. I truly appreciate all the emails you readers send me, questions you ask me, thoughts and experiences you share with me, and comments you contribute to every discussion and post. Keep it up!

So on that note, I had a wonderful opportunity today to meet a friend I came to know through this blog. His name is Shaun and he's a certificated pilot from Australia. The short story is that he's read the blog for a while, was coming to the U.S. this summer, and wanted to do some flying since it's ridiculously more affordable than back home. Apparently my words about Stewart were a solid recommendation, as he decided to come here for his tailwheel endorsement and other additional training. Over the past couple months, we've talked via email and I actually mailed him training manuals and aeronautical charts to help him prepare. That the internet made such a thing possible is just plain awesome to me and I'm so glad we were able to meet up today.

After returning from my short flight in the Cub, I was hand-propping the same Cub for a student when Shaun walked over. We ended up talking with CFI Joe about the usual random flying nonsense for about a half hour. Differences between some things here compared to Australia, as well as some more general non-flying stuff. He's amazed at the plethora of Wal-Marts over here, by the way. Apparently they don't exist down there in the Southern Hemisphere. Who knew? Anyway, Shaun has been training and flying his tail off over the past week - heck, he even went up in the Stearman and did some wing-overs. I've still gotta get up in that gorgeous plane...

Great discussion aside, we decided to hop in the 150 and take a short flight together. He's been bouncing around many of the local airports so I wanted to go somewhere new. Turns out he'd driven over to Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport this afternoon to watch planes and take some photos. They've got an Air National Guard base there with F-16s so it's definitely a good choice when it comes to airplane-watching. But what's the fun of driving to an airport when you can land a plane at that airport? Plus, I'd never actually landed there yet myself so we'd both get to add it to our airport list.

The air was smooth as glass, one of those nights where you can just about fly without ever touching the yoke. I took us up to 3,000 and we headed straight there without ever seeing any other traffic aside from a C-5 that was in the pattern over at Wright Patterson AFB. Our heading allowed for a very smooth entry into the pattern for Runway 24 on a 45 degree entry to downwind. Seeing as they have military fighters based there, the runway is quite long - the longest I've ever landed on, in fact, at 9,000 feet.

With more than enough runway and no traffic, I simply stopped after landing to reconfigure and then pushed in the throttle and rotated back off the concrete. Shaun was up for a little fun so I made CFI Dave's famous F-150 takeoff by holding us about 20 feet off the runway as we accelerated to 90 knots then pulled up sharply. Of course, it's still a 150 so we only gained about 200 feet before I pushed over to continue the climb at 65 knots.

On the way home, we saw some more traffic. A plane called 10 miles South of Greene County when we were about 3 miles South headed in the opposite direction so I asked their altitude over the radio to check for a conflict. Shaun spotted them when they were a couple miles away and below us to the right. Another plane came closer and appeared pretty quickly off to my side of the plane, about a half mile away and a couple hundred feet below us. Neither was too close, but they were still close enough to warrant extra attention.

Approaching the pattern at Stewart, I saw the Stearman a few thousand feet above us. Not where you usually expect to see it, especially with the sun quickly setting. Let's just say I had a feeling they were about to do something fun. Sure enough, the next thing I knew they were in a spin directly above the field and I was about to turn downwind. I had no idea if they spotted me so I started to make a 360 as Shaun looked for them and spotted the plane level and still above us. I quickly turned across the field onto downwind as he helped keep the Stearman in sight. I dumped in all 40 degrees of flaps to get on the ground quickly just to clear the airspace and managed a decently smooth landing on the grass.

Back at the tiedown and safely shut down, we hopped out and watched the Stearman put on a bit more of a show. Loops, rolls, and generally cool aerobatic fun for about five minutes before they turned final and touched down. Then it was time to pack 60338 up as Shaun had scheduled a night flight with Joe. Over in Australia, you don't receive a night certification with your Private - it's separate training.

It really was great to go fly with another pilot, let alone one from halfway around the world. He took some photos and video tonight as well - I'll update the post when he can send them to me. We had a great discussion while enroute from Stewart to Springfield and back in addition to all the airplane talk on the ground. He's headed up to Oshkosh on Friday (yes, I'm jealous) but the plan is to fly over to Bolton Field in Columbus for some yummy BBQ on Thursday evening. At least for now, the weather looks like it will cooperate so hopefully we're able to make the trip. Even if we have to cancel, I'll definitely go down to Stewart to wish Shaun safe travels before he leaves Dayton and heads back home.

One last completely random thing that caught my attention tonight... this flight gives me exactly 111 total hours and the bill for the day (Cub + 150) was $111.03. Interesting, eh?

Flight Track: Google Earth KMZ File
Today's Flight: 0.8 hours
Total Time: 111.0 hours

Quite the climbing Cub

2009-07-21T23:41:00.005-04:00

Plane: Cub, 85 hp
Route: 40I, Local
Weather: Haze, 79 degrees, wind 120 degrees at 4 knots

You have no idea how much I needed to get in the air tonight. Sure I was looking forward to it as I drove towards Waynesville, but the peace once I took off and flew around the pattern was exactly what the doctor ordered. Work's been completely insane for the past week since I returned from vacation/furlough and I've all but lived there. Add in another 21 hours in the office over the weekend and I was certainly ready to get the heck out and go fly.

I hadn't scheduled a plane and just drove down to Stewart, figuring there's always at least one plane open. Sure enough, the 85 hp Cub was available for an hour and I got the keys and went out to preflight. Winds were light out of the East as I took the end of Runway 8 and added in full power. All that horsepower (hey, 85 is a lot when the plane weighs like 900 pounds) had me off the ground within a couple hundred feet and climbing away like a rocked. I nearly turned crosswind a couple times before crossing US-42, which sits at the end of the aforementioned runway.

Other than my first landing attempt, where I bounced and immediately added full power to go around, the flying was quite smooth. That big engine had me climbing quickly to pattern altitude and I saw from my watch that it was only taking me about 5-6 minutes between each takeoff. It had been too long since I flew a taildragger and it was great to hop back in and brush up on my currency. Plus, there's still nothing better than flying a Cub on a warm summer day with the door hanging wide open.

Flight Track: Google Earth KMZ File
Today's Flight: 0.8 hours
Total Time: 110.2 hours

About that carb heat

2009-07-21T23:25:00.007-04:00

I told you I'd update about the suspicious carburetor heat that caused me to cut my last flight short once I knew more. Today I made it down to Waynesville for some flying, so I asked them and here's the update as promised...

Turns out my suspicions were correct. Something had come loose in the connection between the carb heat knob inside the cockpit and the carburetor itself. In layman's terms, the carb heat was indeed not working. It was a quick fix and 60338's back in service (in fact I flew her tonight) but I was glad to confirm my diagnosis from that last flight.

So my takeaway from this to the many fellow pilots who read this is simple - if anything doesn't seem normal or feels unusual, get the plane on the ground and don't take any unnecessary chances!

Finally back flying, but not for long

2009-07-12T21:47:00.005-04:00

Plane: Cessna 150
Route: 40I-I19-40I
Weather: Clear, 79 degrees, wind 330 degrees at 6 knots

This will be quick since tonight's flight was so quick. I had intended to go up and visit a few nearby airports while working on takeoffs and landings to keep myself current. Tonight's the last night of 2+ weeks off work and I hadn't yet made it into the sky, which I'm quite ashamed to admit. Needless to say I couldn't have such a long break and never even hop into an airplane. Plus, it had been over 3 weeks since my last flight and that's nearing the limit of my self-imposed comfortable margin of time between flights.

Background nonsense aside, the weather was great tonight with some very high clouds to go with the comfortable temperature and light winds. I called Stewart to reserve my favorite bird, 60338, this afternoon and got to the airport around 18:00. Today was also the first time Gina was able to go up since she got out of the hospital so it was great to have her in the right seat. Anyway, I ran through my pre-takeoff checks and the carb heat seemed slightly slow to respond but I figured there was a chance a little ice had formed while idling on the ground. After a second thorough check, it appeared to be working properly so we departed 40I and headed directly to Greene County Airport for my first planned stop of the night.

I brought us in for a slightly shaky (the winds at the end of Runway 25 at I19 can be fun and, along with the slight crosswind, I had to make a real fast correction right as we touched down to straighten the nose out) but otherwise safe and effective landing. Wanting to check the carb heat again just to be sure, I pulled into the runup area and had to pull it out twice before I got an RPM drop. However, it did work so I took off and said I would check it once more in the air before I decided whether or not to land at Greene County again. Up at pattern altitude, I tried the carb heat and couldn't get any drop in the RPMs after fiddling with it a few times.

I'm certainly not going to take any chances and end up with a carb full of ice, so I immediately left the pattern and headed directly to Stewart. At this point, I couldn't even tell if the carb heat was on or off even though I had it pulled full on - and I left it in the full on position all the way home. My mostly uneducated guess is that the the wire running from the carb may have come loose from the control knob.

We circled in over the lake and I entered on a 45 from the South to land on Runway 26. We were in front of a Cub and this time I set us down for a really smooth crosswind landing. Unfortunately the flight wasn't too exciting, but given the circumstances that's probably for the better. Safety first, indeed. They're going to check the plane out so I'll have to ask if they found anything wrong with the carb heat next time I'm down there. Other than tooling around in the pattern, I've been itching to take a real (i.e. spending at least 3 hours in the air) cross-country flight so I'm going to try and do so here in the next couple of weeks.

Today's Flight: 0.8 hours
Total Time: 109.4 hours

Taking my sister up for her first flight

2009-06-21T22:27:00.006-04:00

Plane: Cessna 150
Route: 40I-MGY-40I
Weather: Clear, 80 degrees, wind light and variable

My dad and sister came down to visit this weekend for Father's Day and to check out the new house. The three of us and Gina went to the Dayton Dragons (baseball) game last night for our annual Kodak Night there, and otherwise had a pretty relaxing weekend. I'd hoped to take my dad up today being the holiday and all, but he wasn't all that interested in going. Seems he had a bad experience with a bumpy flight in a small plane a long time ago. I'm certainly never going to pressure anyone to go flying so we'll see if he wants to go up again in the future. My sister, on the other hand, was quite gung-ho about getting airborne so we did just that this morning.

Hard at work preflighting my second-favorite 150

Quite the complicated mess of instruments, eh?

It's definitely felt like summer here these past few days so I suppose it was only fitting that today is the first official day of the season. Even at 9:00 in the morning the sun was beating down and it felt plenty muggy - one of those days you can't wait to get in the plane and turn the fan on. After adding a quart of oil and fueling her all the way up, I ran through my last checks and headed down the runway with a departure to the East.

Flying us over Caesar Creek Lake

We took somewhat of my standard sightseeing route, going out over the lake and up North towards where my old apartment was. I flew a circle around The Greene (a giant outdoor mall complex) and Lauren snapped some photos. She was having a good time enjoying all the scenery.

I've also got to note that she had a hell of a good eye for someone in their first trip in a small plane. Usually when I point things out in the distance (airports, water towers, etc.) to new passengers it takes a while for them to figure out how to judge distance and find them. But today Lauren was right there, seeing every airport I pointed out almost immediately. Must run in the family or something... ;-)

Hey there, it's Dayton!

Looking down on the water tower next to The Greene

You don't take photos like this if you hate the experience

I flew us over top of our house at about 3,000 feet - always got to be extra careful in staying clear of the traffic headed in and out of Wright Brothers. Come to find out when we got home that my dad was actually out in the back yard when we flew over. He said that he actually figured that was us when he saw me make the 360 before flying away. Pretty cool. Since the only way to get a close-up of the house is from the traffic pattern, I brought us down for a landing at Wright Brothers. Runway 2 was in use, so on takeoff we flew right over top of the casa at about 400 feet.

Waiting in line for takeoff at Wright Brothers

Between a somewhat small breakfast and the incredible climate control afforded to us by Cessna in the mighty 150, Lauren was starting to feel a tiny bit queasy. She said it wasn't too bad and I told her it's not unusual for your first flight in a small plane, plus it was getting slightly bumpy as the ground warmed beneath us. At this point I was already headed for the pattern at Stewart, so I just continued along. Someone was in the Champ and heading in the wrong direction (pseudo-right-traffic, if you will) so I steered clear and wide as they made a 180 on downwind. I definitely didn't have a clue that they were doing at that point. Once I could see they were turning base and planning on landing, I was extended so far on downwind that I just set up for a short field landing. Touchdown was smooth and it's always neat to come to a stop in a few hundred feet.

If you've read this blog enough, you know I always fly folks over this bridge...

Who says you can't have fun in a 150?

I'd definitely rate today as a successful first flight. The cramped confines of the 150 are enough to make most sane people a little unsettled, and Lauren still managed to have a ton of fun. I was equally warm and sticky by the time we hopped out and were walking across the grass, anyway. Chalk up another passenger for me and another wonderful day of summer flying at a grass strip.

Flight Track: Google Earth KMZ File
Today's Flight: 1.2 hours
Total Time: 108.6 hours