The seat back supports on the co-pilot seat had been out of kilter for some time. They kept the seat in a semi reclining position and the Redhead had begun to complain that it was uncomfortable. So on Friday (3/14), I went out to pull the seat and see what I could do about it.
Dave was flying with a solid string of students, so could offer neither help nor advice. I laid it on one of his work tables and examined the mechanism and it's current condition thoroughly. After hammering the bent pieces back into place, I went back to the hangar and re-installed it.
Joe was getting his Piper Cub out (That's the yellow wing in the first 2 pictures of Chapter 15). He was having some problem with the oil pressure gauge, so I helped him out. When we got it working, he asked if I wanted to go along on a joyride. I had thought he was never going to ask!
A flight in a Cub is the epitome of the aviation experience. This one was built in 1946 and been beautifully restored with most of the original panel. It is a tailwheel airplane. You can leave the doors open in flight. It has a stick instead of a yoke. It has been said that the Cub is the safest airplane ever built, it can just barely kill you.
We got in, me in front, him in back and taxied out. He took off in the grass between the runway and taxiway and we were flying! Tearing along at 65mph, we headed over to McKinney for gas. In the Mouse, going to McKinney means getting up to pattern altitude and immediately entering the pattern there. In the Cub, it takes about 10 minutes and you only get up to 5-600'. While Joe was hooking the handheld radio into his headset so he could talk to the tower, I got to fly the plane. For a plane half the weight of the Mouse, it is very heavy on the controls, but still very stable.
After getting gas and a Sprite, we take off again. Joe owns the remaining empty lot at Kitty Hawk, an airpark north of Allen. He hasn't started his house/hangar there yet, but owning the lot gives him runway rights on the 2100' grass strip. We head over there. The winds are light and variable and we had taken off from 17 at Aero Country and McKinney. He lines up and makes a low pass down the runway, north to south. A low pass in a Cub flown by a good pilot is a LOW pass. We flew the entire strip at less than 6'. The windsock is on a 10' pole at the south end. I looked up at it as we went past and it was indicating that what wind there was from the north. Joe climbed out at the south end and made a teardrop turn and set it down ever so gently on the runway. Then he said, "You take off and fly a pattern."
Tail draggers on the ground are a handful. The center of gravity is behind the main wheels and it wants to be in front. I manage a reasonably straight run to takeoff (considering that you can't see where you are going until the tail comes off the ground.) and climbed out in a left hand pattern. On downwind, I didn't try to lower the flaps (Ain't got none). A smooth turn to base and final. Good descent and approach and gentle (reasonably) touch down. It only pulled to the right as we came to a stop.
Joe straightened it back out and we took off again. Flying down 121 at 600' is a hoot. The cars down there were going faster than we were. Out over Frisco, he gave it back to me. I flew straight and level, made some gentle turns and we flew around until almost an hour had gone by before he said we should go back in. What an experience!
I gave him a short ride in the Mouse and let him fly it a little. He was complimentary of how smoothly it handled and flew. But the seat back gave way again. It took until late that night to get the smile off my face.
All I needed were some new sectionals
Monday, I called Jim to ask if he had some time to look at the seat. He said Tuesday morning would be fine, so I drove out, pulled the seat and took it to him. We cussed and discussed the problem. We tried to fix it the obvious way and that didn't work. He then applied some "engineering" to it and within an hour, I was putting the seat back in the Mouse.
A sectional is only good for 6 months. The expiration dates for the 30 some odd ConUS sectionals are staggered out, but both the DFW and the Houston expired the same date, Mar 20. We were planning to fly to Palestine Mar 29, so we need both of them as well as a full tank of gas.
On the 26th, The weather looked good, so I headed out to run those errands. Quick flight to Sherman and fill the tanks. Then, I see that the new pilot shop there is out of business. No sectionals to be had here. Oh well, Grayson County is just on the other side of town.
Wind is from the north, so I land on 35 at Grayson County. The runway is 9000' long (This used to be Perrin AFB) and Fightertown is at the north end. Coast as far as I can and take the next taxiway. Taxi in to Fightertown and learn that they have no sectionals (they are just getting the Pilot Shop started up). The other FBO, Voyager Air is at the south end. The guy at Fightertown checks with Voyager and they do have them, so I take their truck, drive to Voyager, buy the sectionals and drive back to Fightertown. Then I get in the Mouse and taxi back to the south end to take off.
And all I wanted was a tank of gas and 2 sectionals!
Another Angel Flight
Well, as usual, the weather did not cooperate, so there was no trip to Palestine. I closed out March with 15.7 hours, the busiest month ever.
My "plan" was to do 8-10 Angel flights in 2003. I did one the last of January, so mid-March would be next. The problem with the seat occupied some of it, and weather or the absence of suitable missions got the rest of it. I signed up for a mission on April 4th to do the final leg returning an elderly couple to Brady TX.
The gas on board the Mouse will make Brady with ease, so all I need is good weather. I talk to the pilot doing the first leg on Tuesday and again on Thursday evening. We are having bad weather and there are thunderstorms forecast for Friday early morning with clearing by 10:00.
Sure enough, we wake up to thunderstorms before daylight. A quick check of the weather shows them ending west of Fort Worth and moving east. I call Lynch and it is IFR only in Siloam Springs where he lives as well as Tulsa where he is to pick up the couple. He is instrument rated, so it is no problem to him (rain and low ceilings only, no thunderstorms). He concurs that the transfer point, Sherman, should be clear by noon when he arrives. We arrange for him to call me from Tulsa at 10:00 to finalize.
I finish up my planning and shower and eat. At 9:50, I call Flight Service for my weather briefing. They say it should be good VFR by noon over the entire route. When Lynch calls, I tell him it looks like a go. As I am going to the bathroom I look out the west facing window and the sky to the west is perfectly clear.
I go to the airport, run down to Dave's and borrow a headset (we only have 2) and get the plane out. Uneventful 15 minute flight to Sherman. As there is to be a strong (20-30k) headwind, I top off the tanks just as they arrive. After visiting the facilities and transferring bags, we saddle up. I take off into a gusty headwind which trips the stall horn several times on climb out.
Using Sherman as the transfer point rather than closer to Dallas allows me to take a more direct line to the southwest while skirting the Dallas Class B. We fly over Denton and to the Mineral Wells VOR. Outbound from there to the Brownwood VOR and then to Brady. By Mineral Wells, I am aware that the headwinds are not as strong as forecast, and the flight takes only a little longer than 2 hours instead of the nearly 3 I had calculated. But the AIRMET for "moderate turbulence, along and south of a line from Lubbock to Waco" did materialize. At 4500' just south of Mineral Wells, we began to experience some bumpiness.
Twenty miles north of Brady, I begin our descent. Contacting Unicom at 15 miles, I am told that winds are light and variable, favoring 35. I advise that we will enter a left downwind to 35. Switching to Flight Service, I close our flight plan and back on the Brady CTAF, advise that I am entering a downwind for 35 straight in. Unicom advises that there is a Cessna in the pattern. I am frantically looking for him when he announces right base for 35. Right base?
Oh, well, maybe I missed the right traffic indicator on the airport data. I announce that I am moving over to a right pattern and will follow the Cessna. As I turn base, I see him turning off the runway. I make a reasonably smooth approach and a good touchdown just as the stall horn chirps. But the first hop becomes a bounce. Even with no power, we continue rising. At about 10', I add a little power to soften the descent. We keep going up. I add full power and initiate a go-around. When I announce the abort, the Cessna advises that there is a big chop over the end of the runway, it blew him over 'til he had one wheel in the grass.
In the meantime, there is now a Citation on downwind. He thanks us for determining that the landing will be anything but routine as I clean up and climb out. There is only one runway exit, about centerfield. The Citation rolls out way past it and goes to the north end to turn around. As I turn base, he advises that he will remain in the turnaround until I am off the runway and that he experienced no problems over the numbers.
This time, I am ready. It is almost a greaser, with no problems. I easily make the turnoff and taxi in. The daughter of my passengers is waiting at the fence and we get the luggage out as the Citation comes in and shuts down. We exchange handshakes and hugs and I go in to the bathroom.
I had checked the airport sheet on my clipboard and there was no indication of right traffic, so I asked the airport manager about it while I was drinking a Coke. He told me that both ends are left traffic, the Cessna had come from San Antonio and apparently didn't feel like going over the airport to enter left traffic.
After a little rest and some hangar flying in the office, I taxi the Mouse to the fuel dock and fill it up. Gas here is only .06/gal more than at Sherman. One more visit to the bathroom and I saddle up for the trip home. As I am taxing out, the windsock is indicating a more southerly wind, so I taxi to the north end and take off from there.
I climb to 5500' and open my flight plan. The mild turbulence is still with us, but begins to diminish as I approach Mineral Wells. After passing Mineral Wells, I descend to 3500' to duck under the northwest corner of the DFW Class B shelf. On across Denton and descend to 2500. Into the pattern at Aero Country, close the flight plan and put the bird to bed. Home in time for supper.
Another old friend
That evening, we get a phone call. Old friends who now live in Chicago are in town for a few days. These are the parents of the Candace I took for a ride last year. We meet them for breakfast on Sunday and the girls, Betty, Candace and Sandra go shopping while the guys Harlan, Michael and I sit around and talk. Then we all go out to Baby Doe's for dinner. Monday night, Betty, Harlan and we meet some other friends for dinner.
Sandra arranges to have Wednesday off so she and Betty can hang out while Harlan and I go flying. After watching Sadam's statue being pulled down in Baghdad, Harlan and I head for the airport. The day is cool and breezy. Winds are NW with gusts into the high teens, but they are going back to Chicago tomorrow.
My plan is to go to Sulphur Springs for lunch, back across to Sherman for gas and then home. Or to Ardmore for lunch and gas at Gainesville on the way back. The weather makes the decision for us. Flying to Ardmore would be into the teeth of that wind, making the 40 minute flight into a 60 minute flight and leaving little fuel to get to Gainesville even with the tailwind. Eastbound to Sulphur Springs would have a quartering tailwind, leaving enough fuel on board to easily get to Sherman.
Preflight shows a little more fuel than I thought, but not enough more to ease my mind about Ardmore. So we takeoff on 35 and turn east. I clear across McKinney and we head out over open country over Lake Lavon and the farmland between there and Greenville. As we were entering the pattern, Harlan commented on something that is not normally apparent to pilots.
"I'm noticing how empty the ground is. There aren't many people living down there."
We (flyers) see this all the time and never register it. On the ground, we mostly live in cities. When we drive on trips, we are on the highway and all business and habitation is concentrated there. When you look down on it from above, away from the urban centers, there is a lot more ground than buildings. In fact, the buildings are the exception. This is another of the wonders of flight. We can see how sparsely populated this country really is. I have heard it said that if all the people in the world were packed in as densely as a normal western city, they would only live in New York state.
In spite of the wind, the trip was fairly smooth and the landing was uneventful. Not perfect, but uneventful. We parked and went into the FBO to wash up. They had discount coupons for the Red Barn on the counter. Well, we were planning to eat there anyway. Its just across the highway from the airport entrance, less than 1/4 mile. We ate and talked and I learned that Harlan, like me, had harbored the desire to fly all his life.
The leg from Sulphur Springs to Sherman would be into the wind, but as smooth as the air was, I could let him hold the yoke for a while. After climbing to 3500' and leveling out, I trimmed the plane and adjusted the throttle and mixture and let him drive.
In spite of my emphasizing the sensitivity of the yoke, it was:
"Harlan, we're climbing."
Pointing out his window, "We're supposed to be going that way."
"Harlan, we're still climbing."
Pointing out my window, "We're supposed to be going that way."
"Harlan, we're still climbing."
Finally, realizing that if we were going to get to Sherman before we ran out of gas, I took over. It was still smooth when I got back down to 3500' and we flew by the north side of Sherman to enter a left downwind. I filled the tanks and we took off for home. With the wind behind us, it didn't take long.
A pilot's license is good for life. It never expires. Once issued, the pilot may fly any rated plane at any time under his/her rated conditions. That being said, there is a big rule that modifies that. A pilot can only carry non-pilot passengers if the pilot is certified as current for the conditions. Most of these are self-certifications, verified by log entries. Three landings in the last 90 days to carry passengers VFR. Three landings to a full stop in the last 90 days at night to carry passengers at night. And so forth.
But the biggie is the Biennial Flight Review. This is required for all pilots. Even those flying the fire breathing dragons. One hour of discussion of rules, airspace and flight theory and one hour flight demonstration. I am due in May, any time during the month is OK. This review can be signed off by any CFI, and the first thought is that Dave will do it. He and I had talked about it at various times over the last year. But several other ideas arose. I had only flown with another CFI one time (during preparation for my check ride) and it might be a good idea to get another perspective on my flying. Several Angel flight pilots give BFRs free for other Angel Flight pilots.
But in any event, I should do some practice of basic maneuvers, etc before hand. Many of these items are things that you do in normal flying, but not to specific standards. For example, the landing approach is an application of "slow flight", but does not follow the outline in the Practical Test Standards. In the PTS, it is done at a safe altitude and measures your ability to control the airplane at speeds only slightly above stall.
On April 17, I went out to practice. Take off, go out to the practice area. Do steep turns and stalls. Do slow flight. Down to pattern altitude and do S turns across a country road. All done neatly and with little struggle. Then over to McKinney and do some touch and go's. 1.6 hours on the clock, and I feel good about the practice.
Making a video
On May 16, I have volunteered to do a presentation on aviation for Anderson Elementary School Career Day. I have already acquired all the handouts supplied by AOPA, but we want a video of flying to show. First, the Redhead tells me that the camera will only run for a couple of minutes and then shut off. When I check it, I find that the battery (and the spare) are dead. I mean dead, they will only hold about 2 minutes of juice on "full charge". So, off to the local discount doodads store for new ones.
On April 29, the weather is bright, but with increasing winds forecast. Sandra tapes the preflight, taxi, run up and takeoff. She continues taping during climb out as we head north. It seems a little bumpy, but not bad. We fly over Lake Texoma and back to the dam. Then down over Denison and into the pattern at Sherman. My approach is so good that I comment on it while on short final. The speed is stable and the picture looks good. Just as I pull the power, we hit a downdraft. I can feel it sinking even though I am pulling back. We hit just as I am adding a little power. It is hard, but not bad enough to cause a big bounce. Just definitely not up to the standards I hold myself to.
As we are taxing back to the ramp, we watch a Cessna on final. He has the same problem, but he does stop the descent. But stopping the descent runs him out of airspeed and he drops the last two feet and enjoys the same bounce I got.
After re-fueling, we took off heading south. We swung around the east side of Lake Lavon and back in across Allen so Sandra could shoot Anderson Elementary for the video. At this time, McKinney was reporting winds at 12 gusting to 20 (that is knots, not MPH. 14g23 in mph) and about 30 degrees off the runway. Sandra shot this approach also, but it was a terrible landing.
After reviewing the tape, we made several conclusions:
- A bumpy day makes for a jittery video. We almost got seasick watching it. Image stabilization helps, but won't cure all the problems.
- If you have a big zoom (ours goes to 24x), don't use it. High zooms magnify any vibration or bumpiness. Don't come in any closer than you need to get the shot.
- If you have autofocus, be careful of letting the panel get too high in the picture. It will change the focus. Either shoot the panel or shoot outside. Also, certain prop speed changes may be seen by the autofocus.
- Using the cabin speaker position on your audio panel allows the camera mic to pick up the radio traffic.
Back to the BFR
I easily found an Angel Flight pilot CFI who would do the BFR. We made an appointment for 5:15PM May 5, weather permitting. Let's get it over with!
At 4:00 The weather looks OK and I am ready. I confirm with Wayne and head for the airport. I do a thorough preflight and leave the plane just inside the Hangar so it won't bake in the sun. I take all the logs (mine and the Mouse's), the POH and sit at the picnic table on the east end of the hangar.
After he has been approved by the airport cats, we set in. I don't know as much detail information as I ought to, but timidity and common sense have so far kept me out of trouble. For example, the minimums for VFR flight vary with the classes of airspace, but all the variations allowed are below my personal minimums. In other words, if the weather is near those minimums, I wouldn't be taking off anyway.
Apparently, Wayne is satisfied and we go fly. He gives the plane a once over (he owns a Sundowner, the later version of the Musketeer) and we saddle up. He is very critical of much of my flying, but that is what this is for. As usual, I don't do well under the hood, but my unusual attitude recovery is good. He asks for spot landings, and I have never done them. I land long from the spot each time, but otherwise, the landings are good. After a little over an hour, we go back in. He helps me push the bird back in the hangar and then goes back to the picnic table while I wipe the new bugs off the bird.
When I get back to the table, he has signed the logbooks off and I am now legal to fly for 2 more years (subject to a medical this November).
Making more video
Considering what we learned from the video we made on April 27, we needed some more for the school project. Sunday May 11 was nice, light wind from the north behind a frontal passage which had left the sky clear and nearly haze free. So we decided to go to Athens. This would give us a shot of the Dallas skyline, another chance at a good landing sequence and another shot of the school where the event was to take place.
We took off for Athens with Palestine as a further destination. Sandra made a long sequence as we flew south along the east side of the Dallas Class B. We learn that the Athens airport is difficult to find and when we do identify it, the only reasonable pattern entry is from the crosswind. The pattern for 35 is Right which put the runway on her side. Sandra starts the sequence just before we cross the runway centerline at 2000'. She maintains a nearly (except for bumps) constant camera angle with the right wing leading edge framing the picture until we begin the turn to final. The whole approach is textbook right down to the runway.
After parking, we find out that there is no one home. No car so we can go for lunch. No fuel. We have plenty of gas to either get home or go on to Palestine. We try all the numbers listed on the bulletin board and the ones in the Flight Guide. Numbers out of service, or not answered. We take off for Palestine.
We can see the clearing that proves to be the airport from 15 miles out at 2500'. I fly straight into the downwind and make a very good landing. We can't quite make the first turnoff, and the next one is 3/4 of a mile down. Oh well, let it roll. Taxi back to the FBO and shut down. I know there is someone here, I got an answer on the Unicom.
The lineboy looks 14 years old, but he loans us his car to go for lunch. We literally drive around Palestine before we find a place to eat that is not packed full (it is Mother's Day). When we return, the lineboy helps me pull the bird over to the pump and we add 20 gallons of high price gas then take off for home.
Sandra shoots some footage as we pass over Cedar Creek Lake and some more of Anderson Elementary as we come in. I make another good landing at Aero Country and we are home by 5:00.
A day in school
I spent most of the day Monday editing the video. First, learning the procedures needed to edit/transfer the footage from the camera tape to a VHS tape. Then I set up a spreadsheet listing all the sequences I wished to include with their start and end locations. This gave me the unedited time and I could then see how much I could use and stay within the 8-9 minutes I wanted the video to run. The finished video ran 8:23.
Sandra and I set up an outline of the things to cover in the 15-20 minutes each class would run. On Wednesday, I went out to the airport to get a headset, fuel tester and pick Dave's brain. Thursday, I got all the handouts collated, bagged and ready to go, and bagged up all the items for show and tell. I was ready to go.
After checking in, we set up the room. I checked out the video equipment and pre-positioned the tape. We arranged the show and tell items on the table and taped a sectional over the wall. After looking at it, we decided that from the old sectionals I had, we could do more. We wound up with the DFW, Memphis, Houston and San Antonio sectionals all together. Made a huge but nice display!
We were scheduled for 8 sessions with one of them a double. This would make 70-90 kids. The weather was atrocious, and the outside sessions had to be moved indoors and this ran into the start time. Consequently, the first session gave us barely enough time for the introductions and the video. But by the third session, Sandra and I were settling into a routine. The kids were quiet and attentive and seemed to be enjoying it. During Lunch we began receiving feedback that we were a hit! The first group after lunch was the scheduled double and the third session became a double when another group blew off their scheduled session and came to ours. After the last session, another group came in asking if they could see our presentation. I guess we were a hit!
