On Saturday, 7/24, Dowling calls Dave to tell him to bring it on Monday. Dave says that he will remove it Sunday and take it to Dowling on his way to PT on Monday morning. Tuesday Morning Dave calls. Dowling has it disassembled and finds no problems other than the ring gear. Finally some good news!
On August 11th, with a pocketful of our money, Dave goes to pick up the engine. After the engine removal. The poor hulk had been parked outside Dave's hangar while he did an annual on another plane. Over the weekend he got the Mouse back in and re hung the engine. Even with everything else still on the bench, it looks a little more like an airplane.
Now another word about the weather this summer. During June, July and August, we have had almost a years normal amount of rain. The temperatures consequently have been a couple degrees below normal, but the humidity has been abnormally high. This makes working outdoors very uncomfortable. Dave has COPD and cannot take the high temperature, humidity, ozone concentration. I am not much better. The reassembly then goes slowly.
On the 21st, I go to Lancaster to pick up the alternator. Dave schedules the Transponder check and on Friday the 27th, I pick up a new ELT battery. When I left the airport, all that remained was finishing the cowling installation, hanging the prop and installing the spinner. Maybe tomorrow!
More bad luck.....
I arrived at the hangar shortly after 10 Saturday morning. Dave and John had finished the cowling and the prop after it cooled down last night. Now to inspect, button up and try it.
It won't fire. Dave isolates the problem to the starting vibrator. It is quickly removed, cleaned and re-installed. Still no luck. The engine will just barely turn over, stopping on nearly every compression stroke. An automotive battery charger is hooked up, but it is no better. The cable to the starter motor is not making good connection and this is discovered to be the result of stripped threads on the copper bolt it attaches to. Remove the starter motor and take the back off. The wires to the brushes are burned and the solder joint has gone cold on straps from the bolt to the field coil. No flying today, the starter will have to be repaired. Now maybe the maintenance gods will be appeased.
Dave knows where to get it done and will drop it off after PT on Monday. August will now quietly pass with no hours in the logbook. On Wednesday, I called Dave around 3 and he had just gotten back from PT and running errands. He had the starter motor and we decided to try for tomorrow.
When I arrived at 10:00AM, the starter was already installed, but the top cowling was off. Dave and John had gone out last evening after it had cooled down some and installed the starter. They had then tried to start it and finally discovered that the mags had been set to fire before TDC on the exhaust stroke rather than the compression stroke. They had fixed that and got it running. The new problem was a funny howl when the alternator was turned on.
Dave realized when he woke up this morning that the timing plug was still out of the engine last night and he was hopefully hearing the normal gear noise coming out of that hole. He had already re-installed the plug and we were ready to try it again.
It started right up. No howling noise when the alternator was turned on. Run it long enough to warm up the oil and learn that the number 2 EGT showed no reading. All else seemed normal. Shut down and check for leaks. None found. Check the EGT lead to two. In the process of tie-wrapping the wires, one of the wires to two had been cut. Splice it. Re-install the top cowling and we are ready to go.
Complete pre-flight and push out. Get in and fire it up. Taxi out to the end of the runway and run the complete pre-take off checks. All good to go. Down the runway and when it was clear that I intended to fly, the mouse leaped off. Up to 2500 and orbit the pattern. Round and round, back and forth. Check and monitor everything. Even do a mag check in flight. More noticeable power drop on L than R, but within tolerance. Radios work well, Transponder works well per a readout check from TKI. CHT and EGT normal. Mixture control does what it is supposed to.
After .6 hours, come back in and do a good landing even after a 6 week layoff. Just before touchdown, Dave said, "Looks like this is gonna be a good'un.". It was. Taxi back to Dave's and put the nose in the shade of the hangar door. Check for leaks and any other contra-indications. None found. Bill and Travis have arrived, so we go to lunch.
Oops!
Due to a heated discussion with one of the neighbors in June, I had been "asked" to vacate the hangar we had called home for 4 years. I had found more suitable space on the north end of Aero Country that would be available after the last week in August. Now it was time to put the Mouse in it's new home.
After lunch, Bill volunteers to follow me down to the hangar and bring me back as my minivan is at Dave's. I climb into the bird and fire it up. Taxi back to the taxiway and turn north. At the turn in, I begin the trip down this narrow lane. I wanted to get the wingtip close to the hangar so I could swing the nose away from the hangar before shutting down.
Open up the hangar and put the bird in. Ride back to Dave's and get my vehicle. Come back and remove the wingtip. Take it to Custom-Aire, the "body shop" next to Dave's. Globe has a new one in stock, but cannot ship until Tuesday. This is Thursday afternoon, why the delay? Globe is in Lakeland Florida, the last shipments have gone out for today, tomorrow is dedicated to preparing for Hurricane Frances and Monday is Labor Day, that's why! If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all.
On Friday morning, Bill Karnes called to invite me to lunch at Ardmore. I had taken him there in May '02 and we had exchanged offers several times since. But other things kept interfering and we had never made the connection. This time, I have nothing else to do except maybe mow the yard or shampoo some carpets. Much better to go flying.
Get on my horse and drive to the McKinney airport. I've flown in there many times, but this is the first time I have driven there. Sit in the FBO and wait for Bill. He comes in and walks past me and I don't recognize him. My facial recognition is set for a face I now think was RW's. Oh. Well, he recognized me. We go out to his Musketeer. It is several years newer than ours and has a new paint job thanks to hail damage from last spring. It also has a larger engine. This is most noticeable in the higher deck angle on climbout.
This is not a good day for a joyride. It is terribly hazy, hot and bumpy. Bill has an AirMap GPS, but we find ADM in spite of it. Bill's approach to landing is even steeper than mine are, but he makes a good landing. After a good lunch at the buffet line, we head back. It is hotter and bumpier. This is the first time I can remember sweating in flight. Good landing at TKI, put the plane away and am back home by 3:00.
Friday, the 10th, the wingtip is delivered at Aero Country. Saturday morning, I go out and round up 34 holes to put in it. It is now ready to paint.
Oh, them airplane people
After drilling the holes and checking the fit, I had taken the tip back to Custom Air. Ray now has it along with the paint numbers. More wait is in store. I have said before that airplane folks are the nicest, most helpful folks in the world, but the only thing they know about time is pages on a calendar.
On the 18th I go out there and learn that Ray has turned it over to Bo Case for painting. Bo had bought out Billy Carter's paint shop when Billy's health forced him to retire. I pick up the Nav light fixture and take it to Bo's. It was undamaged, but most of the paint was scraped off the fairing. Bo isn't there, but his painter took the parts and said that he would probably get to it early next week.
The next Thursday, I go out to check on it. Bo hasn't started yet. He didn't have the paint numbers. Back down to Ray's and get the slip of paper with them on it and take them to Bo.
The next Tuesday, I go out to check on it. Bo has the blue and the white, but no yellow. We are planning to go to San Angelo this weekend, can he just put on the blue and yellow by Thursday? By Thursday, the weekend weather forecast has gone to pot.
I give them another week while the weather remains atrocious. We now start October and any hope of making 100 hours this year has gone to pot.
Our Fall Break trip this year had started out to be our most ambitious trip yet. We planned to go to Savannah, GA. As overnights, we would stop at Fort Payne, AL (we missed it on the Reunion trip due to weather induced plan changes) and Pensacola, FL. Pensacola was erased by a hurricane which is reported to have done extensive damage to the Naval Aviation museum. So the new plan was Natchez, MS (left over from our summer plans) then Ft Payne and across TN to Kentucky and back via Hannibal, MO.
On Friday, Oct 8, I got the wingtip installed and the plane was ready. But.......
The work on the engine would necessitate an oil change at around 10 hours and we now had no way to get that accomplished before the trip. I also was no longer current, having only 1 landing since July 8.
New plan....... On the next good day, get current while going to Gainesville for gas and leave the next day. Go to Natchez, spend the next full day there. On the next day, go up to Tunica, MS where I had a coupon for cheap gas. Take the rental car into Memphis to see Graceland and the next day return via a pass across northern Arkansas. That should return us here with about 10 hours on the engine.
Weather again!! The next good day was Tuesday, the 4th day of the Fall Break. The trip would have to be further shortened. Wednesday was forecast to be good with a fast moving front going through Wed night. If all was well, we could go to Natchez on Wednesday and do the tourist thing there, possibly in the rain, returning on Friday. We couldn't go to Tunica on a Friday as the good motel rate wouldn't be available.
So, on Tuesday, I went out to fly. Winds were 10k or so from somewhere around the northwest. For someone who has only 1 landing in 3 months, this would be interesting. Pre-flight and pull the Mouse out of it's new nest. Do a little "messing around" on the way to Gainesville and enter the pattern for 35. Felt good all the way to the ground. On the centerline, upwind wing low and lined up straight. Only a slight skip on contact. Crosswind landings don't get much better than that.
Put 30 gallons of gas in, go into the FBO and get new DFW and Houston sectionals. Come back out and watch the Outback Blimp paddling up stream on the way from Arlington to Norman, OK. I'll bet he didn't make it before dark. Take off and head over to Grayson county. Execute another good crosswind landing and head for home. Make the third good landing of the day at Aero Country, and taxi back to the hangar. I can't get the door unlocked. I obviously had the correct combination, I had opened it this morning to get the plane out. Try again and again. The guy in the hangar across the taxiway comes over and tries it (Nearly all the old-timers there know everyone's combinations). He can't get it to open either. He calls Earl at work and we verify that the lock hasn't been changed. Try a couple more times and give up. Push the bird as far back beside the hangar as we can to clear the taxiway for vehicle traffic and leave it. Earl will fix or replace the lock when he gets in and put the bird to bed.
On to Natchez!
Wednesday morning has some high looking clouds and apparently good visibility. We finish packing and the FSS briefing says that the weather should remain good the whole way. The fast moving front has passed through Lubbock and is moving this way. All we have to do is stay ahead of it. And we will have a substantial tail wind.
Packed and ready, we leave for the airport about 9:45. We have to hit the ATM in Allen on the way and while there, Sandra determines that she has left her DL and credit cards in her other purse. Back to the house and then to the airport. Turning down the taxiway to the hangar, we cannot see the Mouse. Earl had gotten the door open and put it away. Driving by the door, I note that there is no lock on the door. Guess the old one was totally shot.
Whole new arrangement for unloading the car, loading the plane, preflight, pullout, etc.. We finally get everything ready and start down 35, right at 11:00. Right turnout to the southeast and call McKinney tower. We are cleared for the transition while climbing to 3500' for the short leg to Rusk County. We level off at 3500 just before passing slightly south of the runway at TKI and I trim out for level flight. It is very clear and incredibly smooth. I get the throttle and mixture set and touch the trim for the last time before beginning our descent into Henderson.
This landing places in the top 5 of my best ever. Taxi up to the fuel farm and shut down. Sandra calls Linda while I gas up. With the temp at 70, we can stand the weight of some $2.19 gas, so I run it up to just under 50 gallons. The new facility is open here and it is gorgeous! Western motif and fully equipped (although the computer is not yet functional). Linda arrives and oohs over the new building. Remember the old one looked like a Whataburger.
Fed and with the girls gossip caught up, we launch for Natchez just after two. The updated briefing said that the wind would be 5 knots more than I was told at 9:00AM, so this is good. We clear into the Longview TRSA and pick up Flight Following. Our plan is Sawmill VOR at Winnfield to the Natchez VOR. I have our groundspeed calculated to be 117 for the 113nm, and we should be able to receive the VOR about Williams field at Mansfield, LA. Mansfield passes And we are a little north of the course line and no hint of the VOR. Longview is about to pass us off to Polk and I ask if Sawmill is OTS.
Longview calls back and says that Polk is checking and hands us over to them. A few minutes later, Polk assures us that it is functioning, but by now, we are 35nm away and at 5500'. No signal. While this conversation is going, we continue on over Coushatta, right on the line. The air is smooth except for some slight bumps as I avoid some clouds at our altitude.
I can soon see Winnfield in the distance and this 60 minute leg is going to take about 40 minutes.
"Uh, Polk. Four Lima Bravo."
"Go Ahead"
"Polk, we seem to be making our checkpoints awful early. Could we have a groundspeed readout?"
"Four Lima Bravo, we show 150 knots."
Holy cow! No wonder we are coming up on Winnfield at about 45 minutes. Tune up the Natchez VOR and it comes right up. Turn about 10 degrees to the right and sail on. Around Harrisonburg, over the Ouachita River, we can see Ferriday and Natchez, 15 and 25 miles ahead. My plan is to now turn towards the south side of Natchez and descend to 2000'. Then back up the river so we can take some pictures. I close out Flight Following and begin descending.
Natchez is built (mostly) on high bluffs on the east bank of the river. This is the main reason for wanting some aerial shots of town from across the river. I get level at 2000' over the bend of the river south of town. A right 270 points us back upriver over the west bank. I have already spotted the airport northeast of town, so I fly along the west bank while Sandra shoots several pictures of town and then 2 barges on the river as I turn toward the airport and check in with Unicom.
In the pattern, we remark on the beauty of the airport. I make a good landing and we taxi in. The FBO building, which also serves as a passenger terminal is a pseudo plantation house. We park and the attendants are tying the plane down before I can clean up the cockpit and get out.
We go inside and attend to nature's calls, get the rental paper set up and ask the counterman for directions, recommended eating establishments, etc.. I go back to the plane and unload baggage while Sandra brings the car around. Then we head for town. Check into the motel and clean up some and study all the brochures we have picked up at the FBO and motel lobby.
We head out to the Visitor Center first, but discover that it closes at 5:00 and it is 5:15. Get some more literature from the outside rack and cross the river to Vidalia, LA for dinner at the seafood restaurant the FBO guy told us about. After dinner, walk along the levee and make some pictures of Natchez across the river. Then back across the river and through town in the gathering darkness.
At 8:00 we attend the Natchez Little Theater production of "Mississippi Medicine Show", a musical revue with songs and a lecture from Mark Twain. Miss Arlana stole the show from everyone.
Thursday morning comes completely overcast as predicted. Cool and an occasional mist. The continental breakfast at the motel isn't much, but will hold us until lunch. The central place for tickets to the plantation tours is located in the "Depot" downtown, along with a selection of shops, etc.. There is a balloon festival starting Saturday, and most people are either waiting for that or discouraged by the dismal looking weather. We find a good parking place by the depot and start a "walking tour" of the south side of town. I finish filling a disk with pictures before we get back to the car. The number of early 19th century houses in this town is amazing. There are entire blocks on this side with all the houses more than 100 years old.
We get our tickets for the afternoon tours and drive around some more, ending up at the Carriage House for lunch. The Carriage House is part of the grounds for Stanton Hall. It is now a fine restaurant. The waitstaff wear pleated dress shirts and cummerbunds. The tables are nicely laid and the service is impeccable, but a fine lunch cost us less than $25, tip included.
Stanton Hall is among the places on the afternoon tour, and will open at 1:30. We look over the grounds and the gift shop while waiting. Then we join a small group for the tour. This is one impressive house. Built in1857 for a cotton planter/broker, the main hall is 72 feet long with 17 foot ceilings. Many of the furnishings are the originals from that period, returned to the place by the heirs. The carvings are ornate and the wood and marble are richly beautiful.
The next place we go is The Towers. This house was originally built in the 1790s. It was remodeled in 1826 and added onto in 1831. It was sold in 1858 and the new owner had grand plans for further remodeling and additions, but sold the property in 1861.
During the Civil war, it was used as the Union Army headquarters, but the family continued to live in it and were treated with courtesy by the Union staff until General Grant took over command. The occupants moved to other relatives homes in the area and took many of the furnishings with them. They are still many of them in the other homes.
During one of the remodelings, it had one completed tower and the other side tower was under construction when a fire damaged the new construction. The towers were abandoned and the facade remodeled so that now no trace of them remains except for the name.
The third place we toured was Lansdowne, built in 1853. This property has been owned and occupied by the same family since its construction. It still contains many of the original furnishings. It was originally planned as 2 story's, but the second floor was never built. Consequently, the lower floor rooms intended to be the parlors, etc were used as bedrooms.
There are 2 brick buildings in the back which were the original kitchen, washroom, servant's rooms, schoolroom and billiard room. On either side of the buildings, are large cisterns that originally supplied water for the house.
One note about the choice of places to tour. Each day there is a morning tour and an afternoon tour. The tour consists of tickets for 3 places and the tours run continuously during the time period. None of the other houses are available. There were 24 houses on the tour, each available only 4 hours every 4th day, so these 3 were the only ones available to us.
We were done by 3:30, so we drove around the area some more. We went to Natchez Under the Hill, but could not park, so we just drove through slowly. This area is on the river below the bluffs. It was the port area, and the home of bawdy houses, saloons, etc. It now has a couple of tourist traps, and the riverboat casino. On our way back to the motel, we detour to the Natchez Indian village. Good interpretive center and the remains of a chief's mound.
Back to the room to clean up some for dinner and plan our next move. We then toured the cemetery which is HUGE! After all, it is the city cemetery for a fair sized city which has been there for more than 200 years. Then after much hunting, we found Kings Tavern for dinner. This building was built as a tavern before 1789. It is reported to be haunted, but we saw no ghosts, only good service and excellent food. We both had the baked stuffed flounder and I almost licked the plate.
The weather Friday morning was exactly as forecast, not a cloud to be seen. It had slowly improved all during the day on Thursday and was mostly sunny by dark, that trend had obviously continued overnight. We pack up and hit the "continental breakfast", then head for the airport. We take a short detour to see the Natchez Trace items, a section where the remnants of the trail are still visible and then a large Indian mound.
At the airport, we load the bags and I go in for the briefing. No clouds anywhere along the proposed route, but we will be returning against winds similar to those that helped us 2 days ago.
We launch shortly before 11:00 and go out back over town, headed for Allen Parish airport at Oakdale. The plan is to refuel there and say hello to Joel who was so helpful to us on our trip to New Orleans and then continue on to Nacogdoches for a late lunch. A straight path from Natchez would have been shorter, but due to military restricted areas, we would have to deviate north to Nachitoches or south to remain clear of it. We have seen the ground from Alexandria to Nachitoches to Longview a bunch of times, so the southern route it is.
The only problem with this route is the utter absence of nav aids. I can go outbound from the Natchez VOR until I lose it and then we are on our own. It is 50 miles to Marksville and another 40 to Allen Parish. At 4500', the VOR will maybe last to Marksville. We make Marksville in due course and can see the dry swamp and town of Bunkie. With the swamp off the right wing, we can see the town in the distance, 15 miles away. Now to find the airport some 5 miles south.
When I have the most likely area identified, we close the flight following and begin a descent. There is no traffic in the area and no Unicom, so we are left to figure out the surface wind and proper runway on our own. Best guess from the signs including a fire to the north of town is to use 18, but there will be a large crosswind component. Coming down under 3000', the air begins getting rough. I enter the left downwind and have to fight it all the way in. On short final, we are all over the map, but I can see the windsock standing straight our and slightly towards us. Not a pretty landing, but more than acceptable under these circumstances. As we turn off the runway, the windsock is pointing away from us and completely limp.
We taxi up to the pumps and shut down. Other than a tied down Baron and a limo driver for the casino, the place is deserted. Sandra goes to the facilities while I pump gas. Then I go potty. We sit around for a while and soon a Cessna comes in. The limo driver goes to meet it while we go back to the Mouse. As we taxi out, the sock favors 36. I do the runup before back taxiing to the south end. Then back into the air.
I check back in with Polk Approach as soon as we get to 1500'. After turning west towards De Ridder, Polk comes back:
"Four Lima Bravo, say destination again."
He wants to be sure it is Nacogdoches, not Nachitoches.
"Four Lima Bravo is for Nacogdoches. That is Oscar, Charlie, Hotel."
"Thank you, just wanted to be sure. You are aware that the MOA north of you is active, along with the restricted area?"
"Affirmative, Polk. We intent to pass over De Ridder and then turn towards Nacogdoches."
"That'll work."
Drone on, now more into the teeth of the wind. Over De Ridder, we turn 30 degrees north and now are right into it I ask Polk for our groundspeed and he replies "80, that is eight zero, knots". Quite a comedown after doing 150 going the other way 2 days ago!
By now, we have Sam Rayburn lake in sight. Up the east side of it and Nacogdoches is just past the north side of it. It is a good thing we are not paralleling a major highway. I don't think I could stand seeing the cars going as fast as we are. We are going faster than the boats on the lake.
At Mangham Regional, the wind is 340 at 9 and Unicom recommends 36. We join on the crosswind and fly the full pattern to a respectable landing. As we taxi in, we are told that the courtesy car is not available. One of the employees needs it to pick up his kids from school. We get snacks from the vending machine and eat on the porch while watching a Cherokee do full stop -taxi back landings. On the 5000' runway.
Back in the saddle, we take off on the final leg for home. The air had been smooth at 4500' so far, but we decided to try 3500 for the short leg home. Bumpy as all get out, so back to 4500' Surprise, it is bumpy here also. We had been flying into a slowly rising altimeter setting all day, but Tyler showed a slight drop. Oh well, level at 4500' we bump along. Just past Lake Palestine, the air smoothes out and we continue plodding upstream.
Past the north edge of Terrell, I begin a slow descent towards Rockwall. The altimeter at McKinney is a half point below what we had been seeing and the wind is showing 240. That is why we had been in the bumps. South of the dam on Lavon, I check in with TKI and get the transition approved. A slight adjustment puts us on the 45 for pattern entry from about 5 miles out. A 9 knot 70 degree crosswind with 9 knot gusts makes for a rough (by my current standards) landing, but we are home. Back up the taxiway to the hangar.
I turn in and there is a car parked in front of the second hangar. Suddenly, the plane bumps, slues to the left and stops. A little more power, but it won't move. Looking out my window, I can tell that the left wheel is off the pavement, and I must be against one of the crossties laying next to the pavement. Shut down and get out to look. Sure enough, the left main bumped one of the crossties and is now in the space between it and the next one. Our only choice is to push it back while turning to get it back on the pavement. Then we might as well pull it the rest of the way (30 yards) to the hangar. It is slightly downhill anyway and we can better maneuver it clear of the parked car. When I get it back to the center of the taxiway, I learn that the taxiway is 16' wide and we have a 13' tread. This leaves only a little over a foot on each side.
There is a brand new shiny lock on the hangar door. Same combination as before and it opens right up. Put the bird away, gather up our stuff and head home. The trip to Natchez put 2.9 hours in the log, thanks to the tailwind. The trip home has been 4.6. It was longer, but then we had a headwind most of the way. No problem, it was a lovely flight both ways and a good time in a very fascinating town.
