Chapter 26 Now, Winter

The rest of the year


Now, the weather turns really bad. The only good day in the next week is Christmas Eve. Sandra is busy cooking for the Family get together so can't go anywhere. I call one of her cousins who wants a ride, but he can't get away from the grandkids. The Redhead finally tells me to get out of the house so she can get some things done (like wrapping my Christmas presents).

I go to the airport to see if anyone wants to go somewhere, anywhere. No takers. Oh well. Sometime in 2001, I had lost the left wheel cover on the Mouse. It is only an aluminum disk, but it does make for a better appearance. Dave had found one on a trip to a local salvage auction right after the annual. It was apparently homemade and just a little too big to fit into the recess on the wheel hub. This looks like a good opportunity to fix that!

Back down to the hangar. Take off the other cover to serve as a sample. Check the screw holes on the left wheel. One of them is slightly stripped (common on an aluminum hub), but appears able to hold with a slightly longer screw. Back to Dave's and clamp the two covers together and start filing. Back to the hangar to discover that I still hadn't gnawed off enough to allow it to fit. By this time, Mike is out and about, so I borrow use of his power grinder and gnaw some more off. This time, it fits. But the stripped hole won't hold even the longer screw. Back down to Dave's and scrounge around his junk boxes for an oversize screw. Now the mouse has covers on all three wheels again.

To Dean's for the Crocker Christmas on Christmas Day. Ginger and Tim come to our house on Friday for Christmas. We go to The Swearingen's on Saturday. None of these days were really good weather, but it gets worse anyway.

New Year's Day comes with 110.6 hours in the log for 2003. The weather just gets continues to get worse. Temperatures down in the teens and low 20s rising to the 30s during the day. Clouds, fog and wind. And more wind. My need to fly gets worse and worse.

The cousin buys lunch


After trying again on New Year's Eve, Jimmy and I tentatively schedule a date for Jan 6. The forecast high is 45 and cloudy. We reset for Thursday. Wednesday Evening, the wind is forecast 20-30 and high of 45. We reset for Friday.

Friday, the winds are some better (300-340@10-14) and the temperature will be mid 50s. We decide to go. Jimmy lives in Mesquite, so I volunteered to pick him up there and go to Sulphur Springs for a hamburger. I get the bird out and head south.

After buying gas at Mesquite, we set out for SLR. Although the day is bright sunny, it is very hazy. At 3000', the ground visibility is less than 10 miles. No problem, my SOP (Seat of pants) navigation puts me directly approaching the lake on the north end of the airport. There is another plane approaching from the NW as I enter the downwind. He says he has me in sight and will follow me in.
"Uh, Four Lima Bravo flies a slow pattern."
"No problem, I can fly slow too."

The wind on 36 is gusty and has a strong crosswind component, so this is not one of my best landings. We turn back to the south on the taxiway just as the other plane is on short final. He also makes am impressive ricochet with his left wing down into the crosswind.

Coming back, I am not paying too much attention to exact navigation, and hit US80/I20 at Terrell. Not a serious problem, HQZ is only 12 miles west of TRL. I make a good landing (for the circumstances and Jimmy heads home while I relax for a few minutes in the FBO. Then back to my home drome. I discover that If I maintain runway heading from Mesquite, I could almost land at McKinney without using the rudders.
This day reaches another milestone. I had 37.5 hours in Dave's Cherokee when the Mouse arrived in May of 2000. I now have 336.9 in my logbook. This makes 299.4 hours in the Musketeer.

Weather, sigh....


Now, the weather really gets bad. The flight with Jimmy was January 9. The rest of January passes with wind, rain, cold, low ceilings, low visibility, and sometimes all of the above. I can feel the rust gathering on my skill.

On February 2, I go to the airport with the hangar rent check. It is clear and sunny, but the temperature is in the mid 40s with a 15 knot wind 30 degrees off the runway. Not good conditions for flying, especially when you are feeling rusty. So, I just change the air in the tires and pat the Mouse on the nose, then go back home.

Finally, Tuesday, February 17 is decent. High 50s, northerly winds around 10 and only slightly off the runways. Out to the hangar and preflight. My right main loses air when it sits, so blow it back up. All else is normal until I go to start. After sitting for 6 weeks (almost) and cycling from 20-70 numerous times, the battery is very low. It manages to turn the prop over and the engine catches on the second revolution. It is a little rough, but soon smoothes out. After doing one of the most thorough pre-taxi checks I have ever done and doing it twice, I taxi out to 35. Long warm-up while I do and redo the pre-takeoff checks.

Pull onto the runway and the Mouse literally leaps into the air! It wants to go flying as bad as I do. Climb out to 3000' at 7-800fpm. Out over Celina, I announce that I will be maneuvering between 2500 and 3000', then set up for slow flight. Slow down to 70 with full flaps. The mouse complains a little but it flies. Some gentle turns then back to normal flight.

The reason for the slow flight practice is simple. I haven't flown for nearly 6 weeks. Slow flight is used to get familiar with the airplane in the normal landing configuration and I will definitely be rusty on landings. So landings are next. I continue over to Grayson County, which used to be Perrin AFB. Runway 17-35 is 9000x150, lots of room for correcting mistakes.

There follows 5 approaches that stink. The landings aren't too bad, but the approaches are lousy. I am too high, to fast, too slow or some combination of them. After 5, the plane still wants to fly, but I am wore out. So I head for home.

It is very hazy and I cannot identify Aero Country until I am 5 miles out. I enter the downwind straight in and go slightly long before turning base to allow a plane on final a little time. This time, the approach is on slope, but a little slow over the golf course. The landing is smooth, but a little long. But no problem here as the only turnoff can't be made normally on 35, so you have to go to the north end anyway.

Mount Pleasant, Texas


Saturday is forecast to be pretty, but Sandra has some Special Olympics basketball games to go to in the morning. We decide that she will try to be home by noon and then we will go to Mount Pleasant for dinner. I already have the van loaded when she comes in at 12:15. After a pit stop, we head for the airport.

Preflight is normal and we head for Sherman for gas. I come into the downwind as a Cessna in front turns base. I announce and advise that I have the Cessna on final. If he makes the last turnoff, we are fine. If he has to back taxi to the turnoff, we may have to go around. Just before I turn base, Sandra who is watching him says, "no problem, he is touch and go."

I turn final as he announces turning crosswind. As I reach short final, I realize that I am too high to make any hope of a good landing. I apply power and announce go around. On downwind, he is again over the threshold as we come abeam the numbers. Sandra watches him while I set up the approach. He missed the turnoff, but not by much. He is turning onto the turnoff as we turn final. Not too bad a landing and we make the turnoff. A Bonanza is firing up at the pump as we taxi in. We wait for him to clear, then we taxi up to the pumps and shut down.

After putting 26 gallons in, I go in to the restroom. I come back out and a beautiful Bonanza is taxiing up behind us. I get out the towbar and we move the Mouse out of the way. The battery is still weak, so I don't want to try starting it hot. Sandra goes over and lusts after the Bonanza while I go talk to the FBO crew. After waiting for 20 minutes from shutdown, we saddle up.

We take off from 34 with a right turnout to the east. Set to the Paris VOR and climb to 3500'. The air is a little rough, but not bad and the visibility is excellent in weak sun through some high, thin clouds. I am letting Sandra set the radios and the VORs. She sets the OBS to the desired radial to Paris and using the AOPA yellow ruler, she figures the outbound radial from Paris to Mount Pleasant. As we pass over PRX, she resets the OBS to the outbound course for the 40 mile leg to Mt Pleasant.

With the visibility as good as it is, we can soon make out the lake just west of our destination. Our current heading will take us just east of it. Now we can see the change in terrain color that indicates a town and a spot south which has all the earmarks of an airport. A clear area that is large enough in the proper orientation (north south in this case) with some buildings on the northwest side. Sandra dials up their weather as I start the descent to their pattern altitude of 1200'. Unicom advises that the wind (what there is) seems to favor 35. We are perfectly positioned for entering the left downwind on a 45. We pass over I30 descending through 2000, ogle the open pit lignite mine that fuels the power plant on the lakeshore and the restored land around it. Sandra points out a C47 sitting in a field on her side as I identify the old, now closed airport on the mine.

Enter the pattern and make a good landing. Taxi up to the ramp and shut down. Sandra goes in the FBO as I make the "Where's Waldo" picture. A guy drives up to the plane in an airport truck. It is Paul, the guy I had talked to on the phone this morning. We are only a few minutes late from the time block I had given him.

The entire place is magnificent! We learn that the entire airport is only 2 years old. New runway, clear markings on it and all the taxiways. Beautiful well appointed building for the FBO, T-Hangars to the north of it and large hangars to the south. The first large hangar has a Pilgrim's Pride logo on it. Wonder if that was the motivation and some of the money for such a nice airport?

Inside, Paul and I talk while Sandra signs out the courtesy car. She asks him for recommendations on a place to eat and we decide on the way out to try Luigi's. The leaflet with the map and restaurant list doesn't show the street, so we pull over in the town square and Sandra calls for directions. We find it on the I30 service road and go in. Nice place, but somewhat empty at 4:00PM on a Saturday afternoon. The prices are good, and the service is excellent. I jokingly gave our drink order as a pitcher of iced tea. That's what she brought. Something about flying that will dehydrate you in a hurry. I always have a water bottle close at hand in the cockpit, but we are still thirsty.

We order and the food is excellent. Lots of garlic, but this is Italian food. Well stuffed, we get back to the airport and by the time we have gotten fuel and are ready for takeoff, it is nearly 6:00. It seems that a construction crew last week cut the telephone lines and they have no credit card access. They had just gotten a voice line back in this morning.

The wind sock is hanging flat as we taxi by. It does indicate that the last puff that came by was from the south, so we head for 17. Take off with a right turnout to the west. The scattered high clouds still hide the sun, so we are not looking at it, and the visibility is still good although there is beginning to be some haze to the south. We climb easily to 4500' and find the air incredibly smooth and the sky incredibly beautiful. We pass south of Sulphur Springs just as lights are becoming visible. We can easily see Lake Tawakoni ahead to the left and Lake Lavon dead ahead, just below the horizon. The sun is now just above the horizon and although still behind the thin clouds, it paints the lake pale magenta. We pass just south of Majors field at Greenville and just north of Caddo Mills airport.

Approaching Lake Lavon, the sun has now gone completely below the horizon and the only remainder of it is a semi circle of purple glow through the thin clouds at the horizon. We tune the McKinney ASOS and tower and as we cross the east shore, I call them and advise our intentions to continue directly west descending to 2000'. The winds reported are 330 at 3, so we will land on 35. It is just dark enough that the entire lights of Dallas are now glowing to our left and the glow in the western sky is darkening to a deep purple. We slowly curve around to the north and turn back for the downwind over the 380-Preston road intersection. Into the pattern and a little slow on final. Correcting that leaves us a little fast over Rock Hill Road. I cut power and as we flare, add a little back. The Mouse settles gently onto the runway and we are home.

Nice ending for a spectacularly beautiful day.

Sunday was forecast to be cloudy and raining, but arrived clear with a little southerly wind. Too pretty not to fly, but Sandra had to go to school to write a report due on Monday. I started looking for someone, anyone to go fly with. Paul Landry already had tickets to the Hockey game at 3:00, so he was out. Sandra suggested Tamara Cuellar, who had been her aide when she had the life skills class several years ago. We had seen them at the auction, and she had mentioned going up to Sandra several times. I called and she jumped on it. I gave directions and said that I would be there at 1:00.

As I am driving past the end of the runway, I can see her van parking by the end of the hangar. She must have been eager! She has brought her teen age daughter, Kelly with her. We go into the hangar, open the doors and pull the plane to the front. Kelly starts cleaning the windshield while I do the pre-flight and Tamara takes pictures. After the pre-flight, the plane is pulled onto the ramp and the hangar closed up, Kelly and Tamara choose who will sit up front. Kelly wins.

We get in and I go through pre-start, start and after start. Headsets on, intercom check and we begin to taxi out. Taxi to 17, control checks, more telling what I am doing while the oil warms up and then the pre-takeoff check.

Climbing out and turning onto the downwind, I ask if everybody is OK. Based on the tone of the answers, I ask Kelly and she replies that she is a little scared. But she smiles when she says it.

After checking in with McKinney Tower, we head north east to pass over Anna where they live. We coordinate easily with a Bonanza practicing instrument approaches and turn north over Anna. After doing a slow 90 degree turn over their house so Kelly can take pictures, we head on north. Across the Red River, we turn west and fly the length (almost) of Lake Texoma. We turn back south towards Whitesboro and over my daughters house.

From there, we go over and circle around the old abandoned airfield. I think that is more visible in the winter than summer. The brush outlines the old surfaces better against the brown ground that when all is green.
Back in and in spite of some problems with altitude in the pattern, a good landing. Tamara really enjoyed it even from the back seat. The back seat is rough in bumpy air, but that didn't diminish her enjoyment.