Among the responses are two offers to go with me so that the Mouse can get some exercise. By this time, I have already been a month without flying and the poor bird is sitting in the hangar with a fresh oil change and nowhere to go.
Lunch with Spike and Tommy
After several false starts, I finally arrange to go up with Spike Cutler from the AOPA and POA forums. He will put his bride on a Southwest bird on Saturday morning and be free the rest of the day as long as his son Tommy can stow away. You betcha!
I give him detailed directions to the hangar and he will call as he is leaving Love Field. This gives me plenty of time to get to the hangar and get ready. All works out as planned and I have given the dusty bird a very thorough pre-flight and am closing up the hangar when they drive up. His first comment is, "As many pictures of that plane as I have seen on your journal, it looks even better in real life.". What a way to start a friendship on a good note!
After some introductory chit chat, we load up. I give Spike the a quick briefing on the necessary data for flying it if I take a nap and hand him the "Nag list". It has been 11 weeks since I have flown and I know I am going to forget something. Fire up and taxi out. Run-up is good and we take to the runway. The Mouse seems to be glad to be flying again, even if the temperature is mid 90s already.
Up to 3500 and out over the practice area. I do some turns and then set up for slow flight. Spike took a picture of the panel with the Airspeed Indicator showing half a needle over 60mph. I guess I still have the touch. I let Spike fly her for a few minutes and then we head for Sherman and gas.
And my first landing after a long layoff will be on the dreaded 16 at Sherman. It settles on just past the bars on the centerline with just a slight skip. Not bad! Bring the tanks up to just past 45 gallons, visit the facilities and off we go again, straight out to the south. Across Lavon and Ray Hubbard then turn slightly west towards Lancaster. Again, a slight drop and skip, but very decent landing. A little more float, but the temperature is now in the upper 90s.
Taxi in, shut down and head for the diner. Leisurely lunch and much swapping of lies and we go back out to head for home. A nice C140 takes off, announcing northeast departure as we are running up. We catch up with him as we are crossing US175. He contacts us and asks if we would like an aerial picture of our plane.
We arrange a 360 to put him back ahead of us and we creep back up below and to the right of him. After the pass, he asks if we want to land at Mesquite (now just behind us) and swap info so he can send them to us.
We are at 3000' and make an anvil descent to get into the downwind. Turning base, I can see that we are still too high and too fast. Spike says, "But you can make it anyway, can't you?". Quick mental calculation, dump second notch of flaps and pull all the power. No slip needed, the mouse drops like a stone. Turn final almost back in the right position and add a little power to arrest the descent. Land only a little long with a slight skip and taxi to parking as the 140 lands.
Exchange emails and admire each other's planes. Then back in to head for home again. 2.4 hours total time on a very hot day with some very nice people. I really needed that!
Local with AD
By September 26, I still had no hours in September. Finding someone to fly with me isn't easy when I have to limit it to licensed pilots. At the weekly ABS luncheon, we were joined by a guy I had seen a number of times around Dave's. His name was (as far as I knew) simply AD. Some comment was made about wanting to go fly and I said that all I needed was a pilot to sit left seat. AD said he was willing and I said "Let's go.". When I went to get my teaglass refilled, he asked Dave if I was serious.
Outside, loading back up for the trip back we made arrangements and after dropping off Dave and Travis, I headed for the hangar. Pre-flight and load up. It was good to be flying again. We went out over the practice area and goofed around some and AD took the controls for a while. He said it definitely felt heavier than a 152, but nice. So ended my flying for September.
Lunch with Spike
Sandra and her siblings left on Saturday, 9/30, for 2 weeks in Hawaii. This had been in the schedule for a year and I had planned to work off some more of the constant list of teachers wanting a plane ride. My current status wouldn't allow that, so all I could do was hang around the airport every chance I got and hope. If I could get someone to go for lunch with me, I wouldn't have to cook for my self, and after several false starts, Spike and I set it up to go somewhere for lunch on Sunday 10/16.
By the time he got loose, we couldn't have made it to Sulphur Springs, so we went to Hicks instead. Uneventful flight over, taxi up to the fuel pumps and fill the tanks. Pull the bird over to a parking place and go inside to eat. Tummies full, we go back out and admire a nice Bonanza at the fuel pumps. As he leaves, a Lance pulls up that Spike knows. We talk to them for a minute and then saddle up.
To stretch the time, we take the long route back. Climb to just under 3000 and head north until almost due west of Denton. Just east of Ponder, call Denton tower. We have been monitoring them and I finally step into a break in the chatter.
"Denton Tower, Musketeer Five Niner Four Lima Bravo. 7 miles west, eastbound VFR to Tango 31."
"VFR Aircraft calling Denton, you stepped on traffic, remain clear of the Class D and stand by."
I start a turn to the north and then realize that at 2900', I am above their 2500' roof. So I turn back on course. Just west of the runway, he gets back to us.
"VFR traffic, say again."
"Denton Tower, Musketeer Five Niner Four Lima Bravo. 2 miles west, eastbound VFR to Tango 31 at 2800."
"And where is Tango Three One?"
"Tango Three One is 20 miles due east."
"And why are you calling."
"Denton, Tower, Four Lima Bravo is merely advising that we are transitioning your airport above your airspace."
"Roger, say current position."
"Nearly overhead at midfield."
"Roger, departing Cessna is eastbound over downtown climbing through 2000."
Spike locates him and I reply, "Traffic in sight and heading north of our course."
Just past downtown Denton, DFW traffic passes in front of us just as I begin the descent to 2000'. We are at 2000 before we get to the lake and make the rest of the return trip uneventfully.
The new CFI
We started looking for a CFI for Sandra in August. Dave's best recommendation was the guy at Four Winds Aviation. I talk to him and like him immediately. He has a lot of experience in Mice as an instructor, but not in the Continental powered species. When one of the POA Forum pilots was in town, we met her at Aero Country and introduced her to Dave Honaker. Sandra also got to meet him and they worked it out that they would start lessons as soon as she got back from her trip to Hawaii. Well and good. But I opined that he needed to take a ride in the Mouse to get familiar with it's habits.
We set it up for Monday Oct 16, around 4:30. I get there and open the hangar and wait. He arrives shortly and I hand him the checklists and walk slowly through the pre-flight giving him a chance to see and feel what normal is like on this bird. Then pile in and go slowly through startup and pre-taxi. Quick warning about the taxiway width and wide track wheels and we head for the runway.
Takeoff on 35 and climb out to the north explaining normal indications on everything I normally look at. Over Celina, I turn it over to him and he puts it through the paces; Turns, steep turns, slow flight and stalls. Then over to McKinney for some landings.
McKinney puts us on a right downwind for 35 with a Cessna on left downwind. When we turn base, we are way long, but I make a good approach and decent landing. On climbout, I give it back to Dave and he executes a landing that puts mine to shame. Back around and he does it again. It was bad enough to be sitting in MY plane watching someone else land it, but to have him make landings equal to my best ones?
Back to Aero Country and I do a decent landing on 35. I turned it back over to him to negotiate the turn onto our taxiway and to the hangar. He did it well, but not as easily as I do. He even had one main in the grass once. Smirk, I needed something to feel good about.
Dave is a good sized boy, so I asked him about his weight so I could calculate weight and balance for he and Sandra in the front seat. He weighs 70+ lbs. more than I and Sandra is also somewhat heavier than I. A quick check of the W&B spreadsheet determines that without some additional weight in the rear, they couldn't carry enough gas to get out of sight and still be in balance. After some trial and error, I determined that with an additional (to the towbar, spare oil, etc normally back there) 30lbs in the baggage compartment, the mouse would still be in the balance envelope with anything less than 40-45 gallons of fuel. And still about 100lbs under gross.
I went out to the airport to see what I could find. A full case of oil would be close, but I don't currently have a full case. As I am looking around the hangar, Travis drives up. After I describe the problem, he volunteers a block of steel he has in his hangar. It is slightly larger than a brick and weighs exactly 30lbs. Perfect.
Sandra's first lesson.
Finally, schedules coincide on Oct 29 and Sandra will go fly about 5:00. We arrive early and pull the plane out enough to get around it. I give her the checklist and follow her around the preflight. She justifies my faith that she could do pre-flight without my help. All I am doing is explaining the reasons we are checking this or that.
4Winds Dave arrives and does the briefing. It is going to be a little windy and bumpy, but OK for a familiarization flight. They get in and after seat and belt adjustments, go through the prestart and start up. This is the first time I can recall being outside the plane with the engine running.
They start taxiing out and I hop into the car to run around the back way and get to the peanut gallery spot. After what seemed to me an eternity, they pull onto the runway and take off. It was bad enough sitting in the plane while someone else landed it, but watching it take off without me?
Over to Dave's to sit on his patio with the handheld waiting for them to return. Why did I give up smoking? They come back in and I beat them back to the hangar. Sandra's first comment was "I think I can do this." Everybody seems pleased and Sandra and Dave discuss scheduling the next lesson. Put the plane away and stop by Dave's to give him the report, then to dinner and home.
I can see right now that this narrative is going to be confusing with two Daves playing big parts in it. I'll figure out something. Maybe Old Dave, my CFI, A&P and mentor and Young Dave the Redhead's CFI.
And another lesson for the Redhead
The next weekend is stormy, so no flying. The weekend of Nov 11-12 is glorious and Sandra is on the schedule for 12:00. The mouse is down to less than 20 gallons of gas and I spend Saturday replacing the ELT battery and looking unsuccessfully for someone to fly with me to get gas. Oh well, give Sandra all the options for getting the Mouse to 40gals total and they can get some on their flight.
After nearly an hour talking with Old Dave, I go back to the peanut gallery and watch them land. I know Young Dave is doing the landing in the gusty wind, but am still amazed at how well he brings it down final and plants it gently on the runway. Wish I could do that every time.
Sandra's smile is even bigger than the last time. She flew it from the upwind at Sherman to the downwind here. She and Young Dave go through the post flight discussion and we put the bird away. She is a little concerned about having done the fueling process correctly to have had no more than 40 gallons on board, so we check the tanks. There is just enough less than 40 gallons to have made it from Sherman home. She done good! Over to Old Dave's for the flight report and home for the football game.
Hello, is this Bo Boggs?
Monday, shortly after noon, I am cleaning up the kitchen as step 2 on a list of chores for today when the phone rings. Turn off the water, reach for the towel and realize that it only rang once. Not uncommon, but annoying. Turn the water back on and get back to work when it rings again. Turn off water, grab towel, dry hands and pick it up. No one there. Hang it up and turn the water back on and start scrubbing another pot when it rings again. Turn off water, dry hands and pick it up.
"Hello"
"Hello, is this Bo?"
Can't be a salesman, they never call me Bo.
"Yeah."
"Hey, this is Randell Hendricks. Remember me?"
"Hey, Randell, sure I remember. What's goin' on?"
"Just wondering if you might want to go flying?"
Time out!
The list I am on will take until 3:30 or later to complete. I would gladly risk the wrath of the Redhead to go fly. But by the time I could shower and put on clean clothes and get to the airport, it would be 2:00 or later. Quick glance out the window shows only weak sunlight and the forecast is for increasing clouds this afternoon.
Time in.
Randell interprets the long pause as indecision. We decide that this short notice is not a good thing and I shouldn't risk the wrath of the Redhead by skipping out. He goes on to say that he usually has Monday off this time of year, and maybe we can go next Monday. That is more than agreeable.
We confirm the plan on Thursday and by Sunday afternoon, all looks good. I give driving directions and set the time as 10:30. I am out of the house at 9:45 and on the way. I turn into the taxiway and the Mouse is down at the end looking back at me. What is this? As I get further down the hangars, I can see the nose of another plane peeking out from beyond Earl's hangar (where we use to be).
Randell had decided that it would be just as easy to go over to Gainesville and fly his Sport to Aero Country as it would be to drive. He had just shut down when Little John arrived with a friend and started to get the 140 out for a flight. So all I had to do was preflight and go (after removing the 30# brick from the baggage compartment).
A lot of get acquainted talk and fire up. The Mouse seems eager to fly and we leap off the runway. Left turn out and call up McKinney for transition. We reach 3500' just as we cross US75 and level off. The air is smooth and the visibility is good. Not excellent, but good.
Randell was born in McKinney and still has some relatives there. He is currently living south of Gainesville, but most of his flying has been in Wisconsin. This is new territory for him.
We are in the midst of a severe drought. Over the north end of Lake Lavon, we can see better than any news report how far down the water level is. It is now beyond disheartening and approaching tragic. Lavon is a Corps of Engineers lake, originally built in the fifties. In the late 70s, it was becoming the principal water source for most of the north Dallas suburbs which were growing rapidly. So it's level was raised 15 feet. It is now down 17 feet and all the creeks on the north end that I fished then are creeks again.
We fly on over the "lakes" north of Greenville. These are really the waste water treatment plant, so are "full". But we can now see what is left of Cooper Lake. This is also a water supply for many growing communities and is now 18 feet low. It is a much smaller lake than Lavon and is now not much more than a mudhole.
Sulphur Springs Unicom reports that the winds are favoring 36, so I ease into the pattern just outside the grass strip used by Legend Cub for their planes. I am a little apprehensive about landing as I haven't had much practice lately. The approach is smooth and the touchdown is in my top five. I tell Randell not to expect that type of performance every time as we taxi in.
Over to the Red Barn for lunch, Chicken fried steak. Saddle up again and head for Mesquite and gas. Make a detour over Lake Tawakoni to check out the Christmas Tree farm. Again, thanks to the dry weather, it looks like they don't have a very large selection. Probably not worth the drive to Quinlan. Tawakoni is also a water supply lake for the Metroplex and is seriously down. We had noticed early last summer that many boathouses and docks were on dry ground, but now there are entire inlets that have no water in them.
Enter the pattern for 35 and I point out the house with the guitar shaped swimming pool on base. When I return to flying, I realize than I am very high. Pull the plug and drop like a rock then let the speed bleed off on final. Landing long is not a problem today as the gas pumps are on the north end. She finally gives up flying and makes a firm touchdown and we taxi on down to the gas pumps. My intent is to hangar the mouse with 40 gallons remaining for Sandra's lessons on Friday and Sunday, so fill to a little over 45 gallons.
Taxi back to the south end and take off straight out. We climb to 2000' and bear off to the east to stay over Lake Ray Hubbard. Ray Hubbard is a "constant level" lake owned by the five adjacent municipalities. Other than cooling water for a power plant, the lake is recreational only, but the lease payments for lakeshore property are tied to lake level. Consequently, this lake is only down about 3 feet. And its principal drainage source is Lake Lavon. I guess the people in the north Dallas suburbs will die of thirst when Lavon is finally drained to keep the level of Ray Hubbard up.
We go west of Aero country and out into the practice area to goof around a bit. I let Randell fly it a bit and he can feel that this plane is slightly heavier than his Sport, but still very light on the controls. Next, back into the pattern for 35 at Aero Country. On final, a large tractor trailer goes by on Rock Hill Road. The displaced threshold markings are just above the top of the trailer from our view point. That's why they displaced the threshold on 35!
Just before we get to Rock Hill, a TXU cherry picker truck passes under us and I suddenly get ground shy. We touch down long, hard and way too slow. The bounces have no energy and I easily keep the direction under control, but it ain't pretty. Oh well, nothing broken, it has been a good day!
Getting ready for landing lessons.
We drive to Marie's in Canton for Thanksgiving dinner. What a drag! But the Cowboys do very, very well, so the day is a good one. Friday 11/24, Sandra has a lesson. We get to the airport 20 minutes early and have just finished the preflight when Young Dave drives up. His preflight briefing says S-Turns, steep turns and turns around a point. Young Dave explains why these are necessary. They prepare the pilot for making the turns in the pattern come out where you want them to. Today is ideal, cold and with a little wind. They fire up and taxi out.
When they come back, Young Dave is pleased and Sandra has a big grin. She is not happy with her performance, but Young Dave keeps telling her that she has done very well. Her grin indicates clearly that she enjoyed it in spite of not thinking she had done well.
Sunday 11/26, the lesson is to include stalls, and Sandra is understandably apprehensive on the way to the airport. Off they go and I sit and wait. After the usual time they reappear and I rush back to the hangar. Sandra is happy and Dave is pleased. They have done some stalls and slower flight. Dave has also had her fly "patterns" at 3000' to get her accustomed to slowing down and descending with turns.
Oops!
John-John (Hangar owner's son) is changing the oil in his wife's SUV in the hangar, so we can't put the Mouse away. He says he will do it after he gets done with the oil change, so we head for somewhere to eat, stopping by Old Dave's to give him the update.
Just as we pull into the lot at Mimi's, my cell rings. It is John-John and from the tone of his voice, I know something is wrong.
"Bo, I'm so sorry to tell you this. I pushed your wing into the door and broke the wingtip."
"No problem, John, I'll come out and look at it Monday and decide what we need to do."
We eat dinner and talk flying. The talk continues into the evening. Then Sandra asks, "Just how much trouble would I have getting a medical?"
I almost fell out of my chair. We get on the net and check out the AOPA medical site. None of the medications she is taking are disqualifying and her diabetes is well controlled with oral medications. It won't be simple, but it won't be like pulling teeth either.
Monday I go out and look at the broken bird. The trailing edge of the fiberglass tip is broken about 2" from the back. The break only goes across the top, and the bottom is still solid. No real airworthiness problem, I've got some 200mph duct tape to hold it until Annual in January. Bo Case, who painted the other one when I mashed it up, comes down and opines that he can repair it easily. I will also order a new tail cone and change that at annual. He can paint that along with the wingtip in January.
Now, land this thing!
After two lessons since my flight with Randell, the bird is thirsty. There is about 20 gallons on board and Saturday 12/2 is decent except for about 10 knots of northwest wind. Sandra and Young Dave decide that they will go to Gainesville, practice landings on 31 or 35 whichever is closest to the wind and get gas for the Mouse. So off they go while I sit at Old Dave's and stew.
After about 2 hours, I hear Sandra announce inbound to Aero Country. She sounds good on the radio! When they get shut down, Sandra can only say "Landing is HARD!" with a big smile. She did enjoy flying the plane all the way to Gainesville and back. She now feels comfortable with her ability to fly straight and level. She even had some time to look around this time.
Saturday, 12/9 they go to do landings at McKinney. This time, Young Dave says that she nearly made a couple of them without any help from him. She says that landings are hard but doable. I had felt all along that she would grasp it much quicker than I did. I am too detail oriented where she is more visual.
That evening in the normal conversations while she is coming down from her high, she finally admits aloud that she will go for the full license. My only comment is that we will have none of her getting in the left seat while I am still opening the hangar doors.
Sunday morning as we are getting ready to go to the airport, she talks about it being easier to maintain at least one of us with flying status longer than we probably could if it was just me.
Off they go to McKinney again and I sit at Old Dave's. I hear them announce their return and hurry out to watch them land. Sure enough, I can tell that it was her until just after the roundout (a little high). Then the bird settles down, straightens out and settles gently onto the asphalt.
Back over to Old Dave's for post flight and he suggests that we order the Sporty's DVD training set for her. That is the first thing we do after we get home.
Go get gas. Then change a tire.
Now we need gas again. Being limited to 40 gallons for balance considerations, only allows 2 lessons between fillups. (A third lesson would leave less than 10 gallons in the tanks) This time, I talk AD into lunch on Thursday, weather permitting.
The weather cooperates and we launch shortly after 10:30 for Sherman and gas. Another "Beechcraft" is landing as I make my initial announcement. I make a decent landing on 16 and we taxi up behind a nice looking Sport at the pumps. Before we get out, AD asks "Now, is there some kind of secret handshake or password before I can talk to another Beech owner?" I assure him there is no such brotherhood, and we pile out.
The Sport is out of Bonham and the father and son owners use it for flight and instrument training. We talk for a while and they depart. We pull the Mouse up to the pumps and bring it up to 50 gallons. Then we fire up and head for Sulphur Springs and the Red Barn.
The landing is decent, the food is good as usual and after much of it along with talk, we stroll back to the FBO to discover a Sierra parked across the ramp from us. The people in it are not around, so we head back to the plane to saddle up. AD says, "What is this?" and I am looking at a spot on the right main with the threads showing. This is not good!
We fire up and take off for home. Nice relaxing flight in smooth air. We fly most of the way with my hands in my lap and AD following along on the sectional. Decent landing at Aero Country, put the bird to bed and head for home.
Friday morning, I go to Tex-Air to get a tire and tube. Back to the hangar to put it on. Jack up the right side with the mini-van jack and remove the wheel. Let the air out and remove the bolts holding the wheel halves together. Now to get the tire off the wheel halves.
Dust the inside of the new tire with baby powder, stuff the tube in and line the valve up. Force it over one wheel half and drop the other on top. Carefully line the halves up and insert the bolts. Tighten them up and put in the air, then pull my pants leg up to look at my left knee. I have a knot the size of a robin's egg on top of my knee and the pain is nearly making me sick. But Sandra needs the plane tomorrow and the hard part is done.
Back down to the hangar with the assembled wheel. Re-hang it and let the plane back down. Clean up and head for home to lick my wounds.
What's that noise?
Sandra's next lesson is Saturday, 12/16. It's cold but clear and tomorrow is forecast to be worse. So today's lesson is a go. Off they go for more landings at McKinney. I sit at Old Dave's until I hear them coming back, then go out and watch the landing. It looks just like the last time with the plane settling down and touching down after being slightly wobbly on final.
As they pile out, Dave asks me about a whine in the intercom. They can give me no reading as to whether it is steady or RPM dependent nor, comparatively, how loud. But the alternator is still charging. I say that I will check it out and determine what I can tomorrow.
Sunday, there obviously will be no flying, but we go out to check the whine. Pull it out and I get in. It starts easily and no noise until I turn the alternator on. The charging rate is slightly lower than usual, but more than the systems require. The frequency is definitely RPM dependent.
After consultation with numerous authorities on the subject, we conclude the suppression diode on the alternator has died. It won't hurt to fly a couple more lessons like that and fix it during annual.
Next lesson is 12/22. Beautiful day if a little cold. The, by now normal, routine. But this time, I can see no change in the plane as the landing is completed. And it is a little harder than Dave does it. When we all get to the hangar, I ask who made the landing, and Dave says "It was all her.". Good job!
There is no time during the holidays when she and Dave can both get clear, so the next lesson is January 7. It is a blustery day and the bird needs gas. There is also some catch-up work to be done because of the change in objective from "landings only" to full license. So they head off to the practice area and then to Sherman for gas and touch and goes.
Two hours later, they come back. They are landing on 35 and I am sitting on the midfield ramp watching. They turn final and seem to sink awfully low then balloon awfully high then sink then balloon and are still not on the ground as they go by me. By the time I can get my head turned around to see, they are on the ground and rolling out.
The recap is that Dave took over after the first balloon and fought it the rest of the way. We did have double digit winds 30-40 degrees off the runway.
