Chapter 47 Flying and Maintenance

Now that she is really flying the plane, she has some demands. I have already noted that she wants a rear view mirror, but understands that will probably not happen. Heck, I have wished for one on occasion.

The next thing is to replace the old wet compass. I think the installed compass is original equipment. The light doesn’t work. It wobbles even when the plane is sitting still on the ground. The inside of the bezel is so dark that it can only be read in bright light. The correction card has long ago come out of the holder and slipped behind the glareshield (You can still read it by standing on the wing and looking through the windscreen). And we won’t even talk about how far off it has gotten. For the last year, I have been setting the DG by lining up with the centerline on a taxiway.

She who must be obeyed wants a compass that works like the directional gyro. In other words, a vertical card compass. So, I order one. It goes back order. When I call to check the current status, I learn that there is a problem with the manufacturer and there is now no estimated time for delivery. However, they have a slightly more expensive model in stock. So, ship it.

It arrives Wednesday 8/15 and I go out to the airport to install it on Thursday. Remove old compass and remove from the base. This base won’t work on the new one, so get on the phone. Call PAI and get the correct adapter ID, then call Aircraft Spruce and order the part. Close up and go home.

The weather threatens, but does not rain over the weekend, so Sandra can’t get in a lesson, but gets on the schedule for Monday evening. Now, can we get the new compass in? We are sitting on “go” by 3:00. We must make a gas run before the lesson so we must leave here about 4:00. The Bracket arrives USPS Priority mail at 3:15 and we are on the road by 3:20. Fifteen minutes to install it and hook it up, yeah, right. We are in the air by 4:30.

We head for Gainesville because they have a very useable compass rose. I have trouble getting the trim right on approach, but make a good touchdown anyway. Taxi over to the rose and start the setting process. It goes very well and then we taxi over to the pumps. Bring it up to a little over 40 gallons, go inside to attend to nature and back out to fire up. It is now going up to 6:00 and the scheduled lesson is 6:30, so we head straight back. Again, I have trouble with the trim, but make a good landing. Taxi back to the hangar and shut down. Turn the plane around just as Dave arrives.

They head over to McKinney where she does some more solo T&Gs. At this point, she is elated and Dave says the next step is T&Gs at Aero Country until she can solo here. Whoops, that means landing on the “short shoestring”.

On Sunday, she does that. In a little over an hour, she does 8 very nice landings with Dave along for the ride. Then on Wednesday evening, we make a fuel run and she and Dave make a couple more before he gets out and we watch.

The first approach, she comes in high and can’t get it down, necessitating a go-around. “Good decision.” says Dave into the radio as she climbs out. The next approach is good with only a slightly firm touchdown, as is the next and the next.

She turns downwind and announces “… Touch and go.” I look at Dave and ask, “How many is she gonna do?”. He answers, “How much gas has she got? I told her to keep on until she got tired.”

This time, she is a little wobbly as she drops below the tree line. After a couple of skip/bounces, we can see the plane turn slightly left and a cloud of dust and dirt billows as she drops the left main off the pavement. She is back on the pavement as she disappears over the rise.
“Everything ok?” Dave asks.
“Yes, is Bo still breathing?”
“He’s still standing and there is nothing running down his pants legs. Taxi back up here and let us check the plane before you go again.”
“I’m already on my way.” Just as she reappears coming over the hill on the taxiway.

She stops in front of us and we check under the wings and around the gear. No damage found, so she takes off again. This time she announces full stop and makes a respectable landing. Back at the hangar, Dave signs her off for unsupervised solo at Aero Country with landings here and at McKinney.

Sunday, September 2, we go out to let her fly. She goes to the practice area for some steep turns, etc., then back for some T&Gs. Her first approach is high and hot. She crosses the threshold still more than 50 feet in the air and immediately initiates a go around. Then follows 2 successful arrivals. The next one is a carbon copy of her off runway excursion four days earlier. This time, she decides she is done for the day.

The next Saturday, needing fuel and some seat time for me, we go to Mt Pleasant for gas and lunch. By the time we get back, it is sweltering hot and bumpy, so she declines adding some more time to her log.

Monday, the 17th, the weather is nice, so she goes out to try again. Her plan this time is to go to McKinney where she has more room and get her confidence back. I monitor the radio and after what seems to be 4 or 5 T&Gs, she heads back. She does a couple of pretty decent landings here and we go to dinner.

Saturday, we make a fuel run to Sherman and then go up to a smooth altitude to set up the compass corrections for the new compass. It is surprisingly close on each 30 degree heading change. Then back home she does some more practice.

To the Big Bend.

We need a long trip to prepare for the annual BAC Bash in Myrtle Beach next month, so we find a 4 day hole and look for a destination. We settle on a trip to Alpine. Plans made, bags packed and pet sitter lined up, all that remains is weather.

Monday morning, 9/24, the weather is great, so we throw the bags in the Eggplant and head out. She has a Dr appointment at 9:15, and we head for the airport from there. We are airborne about 10:20 to Llano for lunch and gas. Calm, smooth, comfortable flight, arriving shortly after noon. We try the renowned BBQ place for lunch and find it as advertised.

Around 1:30, we are off for the 145 mile leg to Del Rio. At 4500, it is bumpier than it was in the morning and the ground slowly rises under us. Distinguishing features become less numerous as we pass 15 miles southeast of Junction. We make the 10 degree turn at Rocksprings and go downhill from there into Del Rio.

After putting the Mouse to bed, we head for town. We soon learn why the guys at the FBO had only mentioned fast food chains when discussing eating. That is all there is. I think there was a representative of every fast food chain in the world there and virtually no local restaurants. We drove out to the lake, but it was nothing spectacular. Oh, well go back to the motel and rest up for tomorrow.

Tuesday morning, loaded up, preflighted and briefed, the self serve pumps refused my Mastercard. Sandra’s Discover card finally got us gas for today and we are off. This leg will be 165 miles, all pilotage with no nav aids for backup. We climb out to 6500’ passing over Lake Amistead. Comstock (what there is of it) passes under the right wing. We see Shumlo and Langtry to our left as the railroad and US90 separate and come together again and again. Between Pumpville and Dryden, the ground begins to rise significantly beneath us and we see big hills looming out of the distance.

This view is spectacular! Sanderson looks pretty, nestled into a rugged pocket of hills and for a while both the highway and railroad are to our right. And the mean ground level has now risen to nearly 4000’. Past Longfellow, we follow US 90 across a low saddle with ridges on both sides of us rising above 5000’. Ahead is a plain some 20 miles wide with the Glass Mountains at 6500’, less than 10 miles to our right and the Davis Mountains at more than 7000’ directly ahead. Both the highway and railroad bend north to go between the Glass Mountains and Mount Ord, and we follow them even though we can now see Alpine over the ridgeline leading up to Mount Ord.

At 4500’, this will be the highest altitude we have landed at, but the day is cool. We enter the crosswind for 05 and other than our ground speed seeming high, the landing is uneventful. Taxi into a tiedown spot and shut down. Clean up and pile out to gawk. There are hills more than 1000’ high on three sides of us and less than two miles away to the west. Sandra makes pictures and we go into the FBO for the obligatory bio breaks. She checks out the car while I tie the Mouse down. We load up the bags and head for town.

First stop is Sonic for large cups of Iced Tea, then a circuit of town to the visitor center for maps and brochures. Next stop, Marfa for lunch. Now, Marfa is 25 miles by road from Alpine. But it is only 17 miles straight line. This is a good indication of what that road is like. The scenery is as expected, given those circumstances.

Marfa is a sleepy little town, but we finally find a café for lunch. The service is abysmal, but the food is good. Fed, we explore a little. Given the size, that is all that is possible, but the courthouse is very pretty. The drive back to Alpine into rapidly worsening weather is as pretty as the drive there.

Somewhere on the drive back, I realize the battery in my cell phone is going dead. I had intended to put it on the charger during the flight this morning, but the problems with the credit card reader had distracted me. By the time we get back to Alpine, we are in the middle of a vicious thundershower. Since sightseeing is out of the question, we drive over to the airport to retrieve the charger from the plane. We sit in the FBO for 30 minutes waiting for the shower to ease up before I can sprint out to the plane to get it. Our poor Mouse and a beautiful Swift weather the storm side by side.

With the storm heading east and the phone charging in the car, we head back into town for some more exploring. We eventually wind up (as planned) at the Big Bend museum on the Sul Ross University campus. This museum is new (relatively), and well worth a visit.

We have been offered two suggestions for dinner, and tonight, we choose Edelweiss in the Holland Hotel. The cuisine is principally German, I have weinerschnitzel and Sandra has the jagerschnitzel. Both dishes are excellent. It was the best Schnitzel I have had since my 3 years in Germany in the 60s.

Wednesday morning, we are on the road to Fort Davis by 9:30. Again, it is 26 miles of road and 16 miles straightline. Even more scenery than the road to Marfa. We drive through the town of Fort Davis and on to the fort itself. It is now a National Historical Park, and many of the buildings have been partially restored and furnished. Besides that, the foundations from both versions of the fort (pre and post Civil War) are clearly indicated.

By 11:00, we have walked over the grounds and seen most all of what is to be seen, so we head for McDonald Observatory. It is 8 miles away by air, Sandra had seen it, 25 air miles from Alpine, while I was concentrating on pattern entry yesterday. It is 17 rugged road miles from Fort Davis.

There are many good reasons for putting an astronomical observatory in this location; generally clear night skies, no light pollution from nearby towns, high altitude placing it above a large percentage of the earth’s atmosphere. As we turn off the highway at the entrance, we see two javelina rooting around the base of the entrance marker. Quick stop, grab camera and make their pictures. Then on to the visitor center.

We are just in time to join a tour just starting. There is a presentation in the auditorium and then into the bus for the trip up the hill. The observatory consists of a couple of (relatively) small telescopes near the visitors center, two large telescopes on one peak and a new, even larger telescope on an adjacent peak. The tour visits one of the large telescopes for a long presentation on how they are constructed and how they are used. Then over to the other peak for a look at the larger telescope.

By this time, we are in the midst of the afternoon monsoon. By the time we get back to the visitors center, it has passed and the sun is coming out to the west. We go back into the center and grab a soup and sandwich at the Stardate Café. Most excellent, if a bit pricey.

The observatory is 17 miles into a 50 mile scenic drive that will end back up at Fort Davis, so we continue on that. It is indeed scenic, looping around the highest peaks in this part of the Davis Mountains. Back in town, we sample what attractions it has to offer and then head back to Alpine, watching the remnants of the thunderstorm moving off to the northeast.

The other choice for dinner was the Reata, which advertised “Cowboy Cuisine”. That was exactly what it was. Plain fare, well prepared and presented as if it was a fancy French restaurant. After the excellent meal, we drove around the remainder of Alpine in the gathering dusk.

Thursday morning, the weather appears to be excellent. We check out of the motel, and head for the airport. Sandra runs back down the road to fill the rental car while I do the preflight, taxi over to the pumps and feed the Mouse and then back inside for the briefing. With virtually calm winds, we take off straight out on 05, headed for Fort Stockton. As we are climbing out, I can now see Macdonald Observatory over my shoulder, glowing in the morning sun.

The climb to 7500’ doesn’t take long when you start at 4500. The air is cool, clear and smooth as glass. We look at the big automotive test center as we turn slightly to the right over Fort Stockton, headed now for San Angelo. We slowly pass over the wind farms near McKamey, Then over Big Lake (which is only a dry marsh), and with Morton off our right wing, begin our descent to the 2900’ pattern altitude at San Angelo.

“Follow Me” carts from both FBOs meet us on the taxiway, but having previously checked fuel prices, we choose Skyline. The people inside recommend the Baker Café for lunch and we have little trouble finding it. It is good as we were told, and soon we are back in the plane for the last leg home.

We climb out to 5500’ and the air is 70F, with a little movement to it and a few clouds just above us. We soon see Cisco, Eastland and Ranger to our left, and suddenly the OAT drops 5 degrees. There is the tail of a front somewhere around here, but the only effect we can see is that the few clouds are now forming slightly below us.

I am tracking the Millsap VOR and Sandra amuses herself by locking in other stations on Com 2 and plotting intersections along our route. Just past Mineral Wells, Dallas Approach brings us down to 3500 and nearing Denton, down to 2000. We are allowed a more southerly track than usual, and actually go just north of Lake Grapevine and just north of the dam on Lake Lewisville. Across The Colony and Frisco, into the pattern at Aero Country and we are suddenly home. It has been a beautiful and fun trip on our magic carpet.

Bac to Arkansas

Catching up on email and forums Thursday, I learn that Randell Hendricks, a fellow BAC member, has moved from Gainesville to Rogers, AR. He needs to move his Sport to Arkansas and is looking for a ride to Gainesville. Sandra is busy on Monday and Tuesday, so I volunteer. Saturday morning, we go to the airport and make a fuel run to Sherman. Sandra decides that it is getting too hot and muggy for her to fly, so we wind up going to the weekly ABS lunch instead.

Final arrangements are made over the weekend and I am on the road to the airport by 8:30. There are lots of clouds and minimal VFR to IFR conditions just east of my course along a stationary front, but they are expected to remain stationary all day. At 5500’, I pass over a solid finger of clouds between Durant and McAlester. After that, it is clear and smooth the rest of the way.

Rogers Tower takes me directly into a right downwind and at 11:30, I am taxiing into the FBO. We order 15 gallons of gas for the trip back and go in to eat a quick lunch. I call Ginger to tell her that we should be in Gainesville at 3:00 if she and Cody want to meet me. Then we saddle up and head back southwest, climbing to 6500’.

Smooth and level, it is another “hands off” flight. The bank of clouds is still off to the east and getting closer as we pass back into Oklahoma. Over McAlester, we continue straight ahead instead of the 10 degree left turn to Durant. The finger over Atoka has turned into scattered cumulus well below us and another batch of larger cumulus lies ahead. Slaloming through them, I begin a slow descent over Lake Texoma.

As we will have only 10-12 gallons left when we reach Gainesville, I am intending to run the right tank nearly dry. The guage is still indicating 5-10 minutes left when I begin the descent, But I forget about the change in pitch attitude. We are just back into Texas when the engine begins to sputter. Switch tanks and full throttle and it quickly comes back to life. File that away in the lessons learned bank.

Ease into a long left base and pull off a good landing. The fuel island is occupied by a beautiful old Luscombe and a beautiful old Waco, so we shut down next in line and head inside. We come back out as the Luscombe is finishing up. Pull the Mouse up to the pump and fill it up. Ginger and Cody arrive while we are fueling. That done, Ginger, Cody and I go back inside while Randell gets a ride to his hangar to get his bird.

Soon, he taxis up to the pumps and we fill up his Sport. Goodbyes are said and he is on the way back to Rogers before 4:00. Ginger, Cody and I sit around a while, talking and then head to the Feed Lot for dinner. At 6:00, I am back in the air for home. It has been a good day, and a nice flying start for October.

On the 10th, Sandra goes out to fly again. She has a cheat sheet from me on trim practice. She heads off to the practice area to work on it and after 30 minutes or so, comes back to do T&Gs. The first landing is just about as good as it gets. She follows that with one even better. The third pass is about as good as the first but the next one is a little rocky. As she is on downwind, I notice that the flag on the pole near where I am watching is now blowing south. The light and variable has variabled around to the north. I considered warning her, but decided that it wasn’t bad enough to cause a serious problem.

Sure enough, she has a float problem and winds up “plonking” on. As she turns off, she says, “I don’t know what happened on that one.”  “I do. We’ll talk about it when we get the plane put away.”  Now she knows what a tail wind on landing can do to an otherwise good approach. We put the plane back in the hangar and set up an oil change. It was another very good day.

The oil change from Hell.

The next morning, I go out to the hangar to complete the oil change and move the bird over to Dick Ferguson’s hangar, so he can work on the intercom and replace the sticking push to talk switch. The rest of the oil change goes like clockwork and in 30 minutes, I am pulling it out for the leak check.

She fires right up and the oil pressure is coming up nicely when it dies from lack of leaning. I re-start and the oil pressure starts up and then starts back in the wrong direction. Shut down immediately and get out. I can see oil spray on the ramp under the plane as I step down, and when I look under it, there is a large and growing puddle under the nose. Ohmigod, what the heck and some other choice comments.

My mind is racing with the horrible possibilities as I walk around and open the cowling. The source is immediately obvious. The oil has been forced out between the base and the cannister of the oil filter. Other than the mess, this shouldn’t be serious.

Wipe the worst of the oil off the engine, the inside of the cowling and the nose wheel. Push the dirty bird back inside, while I think about what I could have done wrong. I know the gasket is in there, but the holddown bolt had gone ¾ turn further than normal before being tight enough.

When I get the filter assembly out, the nut that holds the base and cannister together is absolutely loose. This nut only serves to keep the assembly together and aligned until the holddown bolt tightens everything down, compressing both the gasket between the base and cannister and the gasket between the filter assembly and the engine bracket. I normally tighten it finger tight and then “dink” it with the wrench, so it being completely loose is another clue.

When I separate the base and cannister, the internal gasket tries to stay inside the cannister. This is the smoking gun. Somehow, tightening the holddown had forced the cannister over the gasket instead of sealing the gasket between the base and cannister. OK. Clean the pieces up and re-assemble. Tighten the nut tighter than usual and put it back on. Again, the holddown bolt goes beyond the normal position. Remove and disassemble, clean and try again. Same thing. Carefully do it again. Same result. Some other problem is at work here. Disassemble and clean the base, cannister and gasket carefully. Lay the gasket carefully in its seat in the base. The outside diameter of the gasket appears to be at least 1/16th of an inch less than the inside diameter of the seat. Hmmm.

Fish the old gasket out of the trash can, wipe it off and try to lay it in the seat. You have to gently force it in, its OD is the same or slightly greater than the ID on the seat. The new gasket, packed with the filter, is undersized. Carefully clean and inspect the old gasket, clean the base and re-assemble using the old gasket. Put it back on the engine and this time, the holddown bolt comes tight in the same place it normally does.

Refill the sump and pull out to try again. No problem. Oil pressure comes quickly to normal and stays there. I run it for several minutes and then shut down and check for leaks. No new oil on the engine. Safety wire the holddown bolt and call Dick to let him know that I am on the way. Close the hangar doors, fire it back up and taxi over to his hangar. We get it inside and he takes me back to our hangar.

Spread the remainder of a 5lb sack of oil dry on the puddle and clean up the tools. Get in the van and go over to Home Depot. They have neither oil dry nor kitty litter. Run over to Wal-Mart. They don’t have oil dry, but I buy a 25lb sack of kitty litter. Back to the hangar and spread kitty litter on the puddles on the ramp and in the hangar. The oil change from hell is done.

Sandra’s next task is her cross countrys. Young Dave had told her to plan a flight to Paris. I have been to Paris twice, once on my long XC and again with Sandra in ’02. We have flown over it several times on our way out or back to other places and I often include it in hamburger flights with my non-pilot passengers. There is always a delicious ambiguity in saying, “we flew to Paris.”.

With encouragement and technical assistance from me, she competes her planning and Sunday the 14th is the day. There is plenty of gas in the plane for the round trip, so it will probably be fly there, T&G and return. Dave checks all of her planning and signs off what needs to be signed off and they break ground about 1:50. If all goes as scheduled, they should be back about 3:20.

I spend an hour talking with Old Dave and at 3:00 take up position in the gallery. At 3:15, I check my watch just as I hear, “Aero Country traffic, Musketeer Five Niner Four Lima Bravo, seven miles northeast, inbound for landing.”. Pretty good approach and an easily handled bounce and they were back. Dave completes the paperwork and clears her for her solo XCs.

Her only comment was there was another big sweat that turned out to be a non event.