Thursday, March 22, 2018

Chapter 13 The Rest of Summer

Shawnee, OK


The third week in August is typical Texas August, Hot, Hot and more hot. Upper nineties, flirting with 100. The last week starts with a little rain on Monday, and a lot of rain on Tuesday. Wednesday, the high is in the upper 80s and the warmup is forecast to be slow. By Thursday, the forecast for Saturday is 70-93 which is better than you have any right to hope for in August. I start looking for a place to go on Saturday and/or Sunday. It is Labor Day weekend and we already have plans for Monday.
Shawnee, OK pops up in my search. It has these attractions listed:
  • Citizen Potawatomi Nation Museum
  • Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art
  • Santa Fe Depot Museum
  • St Gregory's Abbey
  • Townsend's Classic & Antique Auto Museum.
Sounds like enough to do and it is only a 1.5 hour flight. I call the FBO Friday and they will have a courtesy car we can use. Saturday morning dawns clear but hazy and after my briefing and filing flight plans, we head for the airport. It looks very hazy on the ride there but the sunshine is bright, so we launch at 9:15. McKinney is reporting 4-6 mile visibility in the haze and that is about what we see. Four miles to the east (into the sun) and 6 in the other directions. Oh, well, if I fly due north long enough, I can pick up the Ada VOR. At 3500', Nav1 has ADH before we get to Lake Texoma (>55nm). In any event, I am hitting every landmark on the sectional.
Follow the VOR into ADA, turn 25 degrees west and fly outbound 35 miles and we will be there. The visibility improves only marginally, but we still hit every recognizable feature on the sectional and finally Shawnee looms out of the haze.

The pattern to 17 at Shawnee is a Right Pattern which means that you make right turns from downwind to base to final. Most (95%+) patterns are left, so this is not familiar feeling. We see this large gothic brick building on the downwind leg and I thought that is probably one of the places we will be seeing. I make a good approach and touchdown past a Cessna waiting at the hold short line.

As we turn off on the taxiway, I look back over my shoulder to see him take off and realize that we have landed over a hill. I cannot see the north end of the runway from here. In any event, we are onto the ramp before he appears over the hill.
Sandra takes most of our stuff and heads for the FBO while I clean up the bird and make the picture. As I am walking back around to get the water bottle, a car drives up with a couple in it. The guy says that his first plane was a Musketeer and he just had to look at ours.

When I get into the FBO, I go potty, close my flight plan and get the key for the courtesy car. But there is no local literature and the counter man (boy) doesn't have a map. The car is the obligatory ex police car, but in better shape than the last few we have had. As Sandra says, "Typical, 0-60 in 3 seconds and 5 miles per gallon.". But at least the AC works and there isn't 4 inches of play in the steering wheel.

We use our outstanding navigational skills to find the center of town (follow descending street numbers). It is pretty dead for a Saturday morning, even the Visitors Bureau is closed. How are going to find our way around? There isn't any help in the Post Office (Across the street from the VB. The newspaper office is closed. I suggest we try the Fire Station. The good ol' boys in there are friendly, they have a "tourist" style map, but they have no recommendations of places to see. The only place they know is that the building we saw on downwind is St Gregory's.
We drive out south of town and find the Indian complex, but it is all administrative stuff except for a couple of very old buildings. No sign of anything resembling a museum. The map indicates the Santa Fe railroad tracks, and we find the Museum right where they cross Main Street. But it doesn't open until 2:00 and it is only a little after 11:00.

Back up Main street which is populated by numerous Antique and Gift shops, most of which are closed. We stumble past the place where the Auto Museum was (some of the signage remains), so there goes place number 2 of our list of 5. At this time, I am beginning to wonder why none of the places listed have their own web sites. We find a sandwich shop for lunch while we decide what to do next. After lunch, we drive around town a little more and head for St Gregory's. It is also the location of the Mabee-Gerrer Museum.

The Abbey is a beautiful building, but the landscaping prevents getting a good picture of it (The reference link has 2 aerial photos of it, one from 1927 and one from about 1950). Then we go into the Art Museum. What a surprise! Whodathunk there would be a World Class Art Museum out here in the Oklahoma Prairie?

The museum is on the campus of St. Gregory's Abbey and is largely stocked from the collection of Father Gregory Gerrer who was an artist and musician and traveled the world painting and restoring the paintings of others. It was primarily in the restoration and appraisal of these works that his personal collection came to be. Read his complete story in the Art Museum link, it is fascinating. The museum is not large, and a good tour of it took us a little over an hour.

We arrived back at the Santa Fe Depot just as it opened. The building itself is worth a look, styled as a Scots lighthouse. Inside is a good collection of railroad memorabilia as well as much representing the history of Shawnee.

Finishing there, we put some gas in the car and headed for the airport. After gassing up the plane, we departed "Straight out to the south". While planning my navigation, I had noticed a major road on the sectional which leads south from Shawnee. If you look on your trusty Rand McNalley, it is US177. It has a couple of doglegs, but those (from the air) are a matter of which side of the airplane it will be on. It leads straight on to Ardmore, OK. From there, we just turn to 165 degrees and soon the familiar landmarks of the area between Dallas and Lake Texoma appear.

The end of summer


We spent Labor Day laying around our niece's pool. Well, some of us lounged, I dozed on the couch inside where it was cool.
I intended to fly on September 11, just as a remembrance. The 10th (my 61st birthday) was very hazy and the 11th was worse. A big slug of haze had blown down from the Midwest behind a cool front. There was no visible horizon and most stations were reporting less than 5 miles visibility. I called Bill Karnes anyway, but he had scheduled a BFR (Biennial Flight Review) and couldn't go. He later reported that the examiner also concurred that although the McKinney ASOS reported legal VFR, from the air it was marginal to below minimums. I went to the airport anyway and Brailled the plane. Checked the control lock for compliance with a Service Bulletin and changed the air in the tires.

The haze continued through the weekend. On Saturday, the visibility was 3 miles at 10:00AM. By Wednesday, the 17th, the situation was not appreciably better, but a new front was scheduled for Wed night and Thursday. It was supposed to bring rain and cooler temperatures. I went down to Tex-Air and bought oil and filters for the next oil change and back out to the airport and wiped most of the accumulated bugs off the nose and wings in preparation for the airshow and fly-in at Sulphur Springs on Saturday.

Friday dawned cool (<70) and the air seemed sparkling clear. Not a cloud in the sky and a light north wind. I hadn't flown since Aug 31 and was having withdrawal symptoms. I made up my mind that I would fly even if I had to go by myself. I called Bill, but he wasn't available. I called Jason and left a message, No return. I went to the airport at 10:30 anyway. Went out northwest over that old WWII field that is now pasture (reference the Guthrie, OK chapter). Tried to get some pix of it, but in only one of them can I see the old runway outlines.

Then flew east across US75 and down to McKinney. I checked in with them for touch and gos and was instructed to proceed south and enter a left downwind for 35. About 10 miles out, McKinney warned me of a target at my 11 o'clock and apparently at my altitude. I saw the flash on his wings and he appeared well above me and I was descending anyway. Then I was told that he was at my 10 o'clock and again seemed to be at my altitude. The plane was not talking to McKinney and did not have their transponder on. This is legal as TKI's airspace only extends 5 miles, but it just ain't safe to play around that close to an airport without being in contact with the tower. Especially since the ILS approach to TKI is from the north. Even if the normal pattern for 35 is right traffic (putting the pattern aircraft east of the runway), messing around there is foolhardy.


I locate him just above my altitude and headed across my path. He turned south and was flying about 500 feet to my left and just in front of me. I told the tower that that was too close for my taste and I was breaking off. They thought that was a good idea just as I began a right turn. I had completed 270 degrees when the tower suggested that I continue east and turn onto the right downwind. Just as I turn south again on the right downwind, I hear a Mooney call that he was breaking off his ILS approach and would enter a right downwind for 35. I asked the tower where the Mooney was as I was almost to the north end of the runway. "Musketeer Four Lima Bravo, he is midfield and below you. I don't think you will catch him. Mooney XXX, cleared to land "(chuckle) cleared to land. Mooney XXX"

Sure enough, he was touching down as I got even with the south end of 35. I continued in and did 3 T&Gs. Not bad for a 10 knot wind 40 degrees off the runway. I then departed straight out to the north until I was over Melissa before turning west. I passed Dave and a student headed east for a XC to Sulphur Springs.

Now comes the dreaded 35 jinx at Aero Country. I have aborted 7 landings since I got my license. Four of them on 35. I have said much about the wild wind currents on 17 with the trees along the east side. 35 has a different problem. There is a 10 foot rise on the runway from the high to low points. 35 starts out lower than the taxiway and the crest of the rise is above the taxiway at about 900'. The ground on the left side slopes away from the runway so you do not see it. Since you do see the taxiway to the left in your peripheral vision, the illusion of height and "level with the runway" is off. It is far from the worst landing I have made, but it still ain't purty. The hangar hangers-on say that only experience will cure the perception problem.

The ramp into the hangar is slightly uphill. The Mouse weighs 1400 pounds empty. Add equipment and (today) 25 gallons of gas and you see the problem for a 61 year old computer jock who weighs 165. I wind up wedging the towbar in my hips and pushing with both hands on the prop. This makes steering problematic until I have all 3 wheels in the hangar and can use one hand on the towbar again. But I'm still smiling.


The airshow at Sulphur Springs


This is the event where it all started. Remember that the Redhead was trying to buy me a ride on the CAF B17 at this show in 1999. When the B17 was cancelled, she allowed flying lessons as a substitute. We had planned to go last year, but it was the week after 9/11. Talking to some of the people at the August fly in, we learned that the attendance in 2001 had been less than a dozen planes. The VFR restrictions had almost stopped the show.

But, they are expecting 200 planes (including the Warbirds) on the 21st this year. We take off about 9:15, clear over McKinney and head East. About 20 miles out, I tune the SLR Unicom and they are advising traffic that:
  • They have a special frequency assigned for this event (Nice, as the amount of traffic on 122.8 from other fields within radio range using this frequency is already high).
  • All traffic arriving from the west (that's us) should approach south of I20 (3 miles south of the runway) and turn onto the left downwind at the water tower. Standard approach is cross midfield at >500ft above pattern altitude and do a descending right 270 to the left downwind.
  • All the exit ramps are closed except the last 2, please land long. (plan your touchdown so that your rollout slows down just before the open exits) This is so that all ground traffic will be going in the same direction on the taxiway.

We switch to the new frequency and the chatter is unbelievable. But the temp traffic rules make it much more orderly than the August fly in. Since all traffic now has a common entry point to the downwind (the water tower), there is no "jockeying" for position. Once you pass the water tower, you can see who is in front of you and plan your base leg accordingly. We make a good touchdown about 1500' long and I only have to "touch" the gas to turn off at the first open exit.

We are directed to the field north of the ramp area and park in the grass. We then have to hike back past the Bonanza Bunch and the old hangar complex to get to the registration desk. We are standing in line for the portajohns when the B17 does a flyby and lands. After potty and getting a cup of coffee, we wander south towards the Warbirds on the new ramp. Everywhere you look are airplanes. The organizers have planned this so that some specific types have a common parking area (Warbirds, Bonanzas, RVs (the most common type of homebuilt), etc).

There is no current access to the Warbirds ramp. They are still arriving and they are to put on a show for the official opening at 10:00 (it is now 10:15). They finally get it going. The B17 fires up and 3 T6's taxi out behind it. They all take off and do a formation flyby while the Star Spangled Banner is playing. They do several more passes and when they return, the Warbirds ramp is opened up.

The Redhead finds a table in the food hangar where she can watch the flying and I wander looking at the airplanes. I wander. I sit with Rick Caldwell's bunch of airport bums. I wander. I sit with Sandra. I get a Barbecue sandwich for lunch. I sit with Sandra. I wander. In all this, I realize about 2:00 I am getting sunburned! And I don't have a hat!
When we parked, the flagman gave us a card to slip over the prop which describes the plane, etc. He also wrote refueling instructions on it saying that the fuel truck would be making the rounds and we could pay at the registration desk when we were ready to leave. When we checked at the desk, the rest of the story comes out. The fuel truck broke down and took 2 hours to fix. Refueling the Warbirds (one whole truckfull for the B17) put them further behind. Both of the self serve pumps at the old ramp were running and had the airshow price. Did we want to wait on the truck or come over to the self serve pump?

We amble out to the north forty, fire up and taxi back to the ramp. An attendant gets us parked and assures us that when the truck now being filled is done, we will be first at the pump behind the Bonanza next to us. I put the card back on the prop and walk over to the Caldwell hangar (30 yards) and sit down in the shade. When the truck is filled, they have to bring another truck over to jump start the fuel truck. While this is happening, 3 attendants pull the Bonanza over and when the truck leaves, up to the pump. Then a Cessna comes taxiing up behind the Bonanza. So much for me being next. I and another guy pull the Mouse up beside the Cessna. Back to the shade of the hangar to wait. Another Cessna taxis up behind the first one. This may get ugly.

If this were a line of New York Cabbies, it would. As the Bonanza is being pulled away, I walk past the second Cessna and tell them that I think I am next. They answer, "Yep, and we're behind you.". One of them helps me pull the mouse into the line between the 2 Cessna's.

Filled up, we are ready to depart. The wind which has been variable all day is now favoring the north. We taxi down to 36, do our run up and depart with a left turnout to the west and home. By the time we get to the house, my face is burning up. I am burned from my hairline down to my cheekbones. Cool shower to wash away the grime and oil it up. We go to the Lion King on Sunday with my face all red and puffy, and by Tuesday, I am peeling.

The Corn Maze


At this point, I have 2.7 hours in the log for September. Sandra will be out of town for the weekend, so we aren't going anywhere. Monday night there is a report of a Maze in a cornfield east of Rockwall. The aerial shot of it from a helicopter is interesting, but the Redhead won't get to see it unless they leave it up for several weeks. Towards the end of the week, I set it up to fly with RW Godwin, who I had taken up in the spring on Saturday and Lisa (Louis' wife) wanted her turn and was to call me on Saturday night. I should get another 3 hours out of that.
Saturday Morning, RW and I take off to find the maze and have a hamburger in Sulphur Springs. The news had said 15 miles east of Rockwall and right on I 30. I turn southeast on climbout and switch to the McKinney tower frequency as we will pass close to their airspace. I hear:
"Cessna xxx cleared for takeoff, right turnout and departure southwest. I have traffic at 1700 at the 7 mile tower heading southeast."
"McKinney tower, Musketeer Five Niner Four Lima Bravo. You talking 'bout me?"
"Probably, Four Lima Bravo. Ident please."
I Press the Ident button.
"Four Lima Bravo is headed for Rockwall, climbing to 2500."
"Roger, Four Lima Bravo. That's you. The traffic will pass well behind you."

We continued out across Lake Ray Hubbard and over Rockwall and I30. I placed I 30 off the right side to let RW do most of the looking. 15 miles east of Rockwall is the other side of Royse City, so I wasn't expecting anything until them. RW thought he saw it and I circled, but no joy. Then He thought he saw it for the second time. A banked left to get some room and discovered we were just south of Caddo Mills airport. I banked back to the right and headed south across I30 and there it was! I tried to make pictures, but could not get close enough to directly above it to see the maze clearly. (the pictures do not see the ground in the cornfield, only the corn.

Oh, well. At least we found it. I turned back to the northeast for Sulphur Springs. RW and I walked across the parking lot to the Red Barn. He had chicken fried steak and I had a bacon hamburger. Mine was very good!. Then back to the plane and back to Aero Country.

Changing the oil!


Didja ever have one of those days? Thursday October 3, 2002 was one for me. It's time to change the oil again. Over several days prior, I rehearse in my mind the steps involved. I have a new case of oil and filters in the box in the hangar. All I have to do is:
  • Have a place to do it. Dave has all the equipment I will need, but the apron in front of his hangar is normally crowded.
  • Warm up the engine a little so the old oil will drain out. Taxiing over to Dave's will do it nicely.
  • Take a filter and enough oil in the plane to complete the change. There are 4 qts in the box in the luggage compartment, so the filter and 4 more from the box will do it.
  • Hook up a drain hose to a container, open the drain valve, etc.. You get the picture.
But, Murphy has other ideas.
I arrive at the airport about 1:00PM and drive straight to Dave's. The Cherokee has it's nose in the hangar, but the 310 is parked on the grass beside the Hangar. This is good. He has someone from Medical Supply in the house. Their van is parked such that I could not get the Mouse to the hangar (and off the ramp) so I wait in the hangar with his 1:30 student. This will be just fine. If the Med. Supply van and the Cherokee both leave, I can pull the Mouse up with it's nose in the shade of the hangar, change the oil and probably be gone before Dave gets back from the lesson.

The Med. lady leaves and Dave grabs a quick sandwich while briefing the student. (pilot, training for his instrument rating) From the briefing, it is apparent that it will be a long lesson. More time for me. Finally all is ready. They start pushing the Cherokee back and I get in my van and head for my hangar.
I go in the hangar and open the doors. I walk into the shop side and give Mike the October rent check. I pull the mouse out (no preflight required, I'm just going to taxi down to Dave's.). I fire up and away I go. Dave and student are taking off as I go down the taxiway. I pull the nose into the hangar and shut down, get out and chock the nose wheel. I get the oil bucket and hose, positioning the bucket just behind the nose wheel and snaking the hose up into the engine compartment. I open the cowling and attach the hose to the drain fitting and open the drain.

Murphy number ONE! There are 4 quarts of oil in the baggage compartment and no filter. One of the steps I mentally rehearsed was to get 6 quarts of oil and the filter from our box in the hangar and put them in the plane before I pulled it out of the hangar. Now what? The oil is merrily draining out of the engine, the van is at my hangar and there is no one to give me a lift down there (over half a mile). I get on shank's mare and hoof it. I get back to the van (on the road beside the hangar and drive it around and into the hangar. I get the oil and filter from the box locker and drive the van back to Dave's.
I cut the safety wire and remove the filter. I get it out without spilling more than a tablespoon of oil. Good job!. I only spill another tablespoon or so disassembling the filter. I get it reassembled with the new element and notice that there is a loose wire dangling in the way. Murphy number TWO!
The place for the wire is quickly obvious. The oil pressure sender has 2 wires on lugs which stick up into the place where you swing the wrench removing the oil filter. I must have hit this one with the wrench and snapped the wire off at the crimp lug. I re-install the filter and get it tightened down just as Dave comes back. I open the first quart of new oil and start it into the oil filler and go ask Dave about a new lug. He shows me where they are and I get one and the stripper/crimper and go put it on.

The student is looking over our bird very carefully. As I come back, he asks if it is for sale. I quickly tell him no, but I am more than glad to talk about the airplane all he wants. Parenthetically, here is my ride back from the hangar, maybe.

The wire (High temp insulation) is stiff, and trying to line it back up, I drop the screw. Looking down through the engine compartment, I see the ripples on the bucket of dirty oil as it rolls in. Murphy number THREE.
I start the second quart of new oil into the engine and go to look for a screw. After searching through many drawers of mixed screws, I find one. I put it on and open the third quart of oil. Murphy number FOUR!
The hose is still attached to the drain and the drain is open! The engine holds 8 quarts, I have 10 and I have probably poured somewhere near 2 quarts through the engine. Close the drain! Remove the hose. Start quart number 3. Safety wire the filter, start cleaning up and putting tools away. Pour in quarts 4 through 8 and check the dip stick. It shows 6 1/2. Add one more and finish closing up.

The student has hung around all this time, asking questions, etc. I offer him a ride and he jumps at it. We push it back and saddle up. Out over the practice area, I let him take the controls. He trims it out and does some turns. He is impressed with how stable the plane is and how smooth the controls are. "It is like driving a Cadillac compared to the Cherokee" Come back and let him out at Dave's, Taxi back to the hangar. He arrives and helps me push it back in and takes me back to Dave's. Nothing else goes wrong.