Bought an airplane

I'm thrilled that Jesse got my plane. He's the perfect pilot and owner for it. It is an amazing machine. I enjoyed every minute of orienting Jesse to all it's characteristics and features. I put a lot into that plane over the last 6 years and I feel like Jesse and I are blood brothers now! As fun as it is to share all that I gotta admit that when they departed I cried like a baby. All the great flights, adventures, and challenges came flooding back to me. It was sweet. Probably my favorite flights were night cross countries where I'd click on the runway lights and drop out of the black into distant deserted airports for self serve fuel. Total independence and freedom in my own personal space ship! One cold blustery night I climbed to 11K and "parked" head in to the high altitude gale, cozy in my little space capsule surrounded by stars above and the lights of towns for over a hundred miles in every direction below. Ground control to Major Tom... Jesse has the discipline AND adventuring spirit to really get the most out of that incredible little bird and I look forward to hearing about every voyage.

check out this cockpit! This is where we get some serious flying done!
 
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cockpit pics
 

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bartmc said:
Dual slip indicators, nice. No fun meter?
Click to expand...


One of those is a gyro turn coordinator "in case" you run into a cloud. It can happen and no sir I don't like it without a gyro.

Can help on night VFR too
 
The last couple days I've been busy with work and students and other life commitments. It's drove me crazy as taking the fly baby for another flight is constantly in the back of my mind.

I made it to the airport at about 6PM and parked outside my hangar. Kind of a weird feeling to just go fly your airplane without thinking about scheduling and whether or not the line guys are going to be too busy to give you gas.

I battled the hangar doors that don't open so well, which is probably a good thing, as I don't think they'd blow off very easily either. Even though they can be a hassle it doesn't bother me at all. I consider myself extremely fortunate right now to even have the opportunity to cuss at the door :)

I pulled the Flybaby out of the hangar and carefully preflighted it, paying special attention to the flying wires and their various brackets. After that I moved onto the flight controls and then lastly the engine, oil, and fuel.

Now it was time to start the engine which is a more intimate experience when you don't have a starter. I positioned the airplane next to a large pole, chocked both tires, and tied the tail down.

Fuel on
Mags off
Throttle full
Pulled a few blades through

Throttle fully closed, then three turns in
Mags on
Two flicks of the prop and the engine started to a nice smooth idle
Engine gauges good

There was nobody around - but if there were - people always compliment how smooth it sounds. A testiment to Matt's careful work when he overhauled the engine a few years ago.

I then put my parachute on, removed the chocks, and carefully climbed into the airplane. After securing the canopy and my four point harness I reached down and pulled the tail hook release. The tail swung around smoothly from the grass onto the pavement.

I taxied to the runway and did a run-up. There really isn't much to check on this airplane compared to many of the other aircraft I fly.

"Crete traffic, Experimental eight mike lima, departing runway 17 to the south"

I taxied out onto the runway and noticed how much more comfortable I'm feeling taxing it compared to a couple days ago.

Throttle up, tail up, and next thing I know I'm in the air and the ground is getting smaller. The visibility out of the Flybaby with Matt's custom canopy is pretty amazing. Some people may say the midwest is boring but to my eyes it's absolutely beautiful. The sharp deep greens of the soybeans next to the corn fields under the perfect light is a sight to behold.

I worked my way to the southeast and landed at Beatrice. I was feeling thirsty and wasn't in a hurry so I decided to shut down and hit up the pop machine.

I looked around and noticed there were no ropes available to tie the tail down. No big deal really, I'll used use one of my own ropes and leave it. The safety of keeping it secured is worth the cost of a rope to me.

After departing I decided to heat southwest towards Fairbury. I wasn't completely sure where it was at but wasn't too worried. I started the timer on the stopwatch and figured I'd either run into it or I wouldn't. Fate was on my side and after a bit the airport came into sight. I landed and decided to just exit and taxi back because I was in no hurry...there was no Hobbs meter ticking.

I departed Fairbury and headed north east. I've been kind of curious as to what the true airspeed is at higher altitudes. So I climbed up to 5,500 feet and let things stabilize then did some TAS calculations. I came up with 84 knots TAS at 2500 RPM - not bad for 75 HP and 4-5 GPH. The throttle was out quite a bit and there was more power that could be had. I suspect if I climbed up to 7,000 or so I might gain a few more knots TAS. I made note to try that next time.

After some time Crete came into sight and I worked my way down to the pattern altitude. Made an acceptable landing but not my best and taxied it to my hangar. I opened the canopy and let the air rush over my head for a bit before shtuting it off. Why? Because I felt like it.

Shortly after shutdown Geico (from PoA) walked up and I showed him the Flybaby. He mentioned the unique sound the airplane makes in flight (it's the air rushing over all the flying wires). He helped me push the Flybaby back into the hangar and I stood there for a few minutes admiring it and cleaning things up.

I've noticed that whenever someone sees the airplane they:
1.) Tell me how unique it sounds from the ground
2.) Admire the canopy (Matt is a genius, I'm afraid of something happening to it because I don't think I'm capable of building such a thing again)
3.) Compliment how smooth it sounds

I haven't got sick of hearing the above, and suspect I never will :)
 
It is SO sweet not worrying about time or cost when you go flying. Priceless!

That canopy design might be ingenious but if it gets damaged it will be easy to fix. Trust me, nothing to it. Just wood, glue, screws, and lexan.
 
First let me say congrats to you Jesse on your bird. I love the Fly Babby and still look at evryone I get close to. I almost bought one for my first plane, some were a bit small for me and I eventually wound up with a Corben Baby Ace with the C-85 engine. Although mine was tube and rag instead of wood the high wing made some things a little easier. I carried a small set of chocks made from angle iron with a small rope attached and would prop the plane, then while holding the wing spar pull the chocks place in bag behind the seat, jump in and get on the brakes. The plane might roll 2-3 feet while doing this and not at all if it was in grass.

Sometimes I would start the engine then climb in and pull the chocks as I used my weight to rock the plane rearward. I enjoyed flying that plane a lot more than the Cherokee I have now and hated to see it go. One of these days I'll have another plane that I can enjoy while burning holes in the sky. Right now leaning toward a RV, I have only had more than 1 passenger once in the last 2yrs.

There's nothing like the type of flying you now can enjoy.
 
Flight to Paris

one of my favorite Fly Baby flights... Fall of 2011

Flight to Paris

I had an especially long day in 48ML yesterday. The mission was a non stop
flight to Paris! Paris Illinois that is, and return.

Paris is in east central Illinois and Ames is in the center of Iowa. The
distance between the two is 355 statute miles as the Fly Baby flies. There are
two Class C airports directly on route that require a slight dog-leg which adds
a few miles.

The purpose of the trip was to examine an airplane that I'm considering
purchasing. No, I'm not planning to giving up the Fly Baby but I did discuss a
trade. When my girlfriend found out she threw a fit insisting that under no
circumstances am I allowed to sell the Fly Baby because, "it's so cute and I
want to fly it someday". To ensure her absolute rule she transferred a
substantial sum to my bank account and now holds a signed bill of sale for 48ML.
I know when to quit arguing.

The weather looked fairly good along the route with mainly strong southerly
winds to contend with as well as some potential for lower ceilings and
visibilities morning and evening. I took off about 7:30am and pointed the nose
east-southeast.

I navigate mainly by looking at the chart and looking out the window. After
passing a few checkpoints I get an idea of the wind correction and start using
the compass. It's pretty old school, but it works and it's fun too. I
encountered some low clouds about 30 minutes out and had to descend from 3500 to
get under them. After an hour it was clearing ahead so I went back up.
According to winds aloft forecast there was a better chance that the strong
southerly flow might have a slight westerly component at this level and it
appeared to be working. My ground speed was working out to around 110 mph which
was surprising since my drift correction angle was substantial. I was looking
through the left side windshield at my route and it took a while to get used to
the landscape sliding by sideways.

About 2 hours into the flight I crossed the Mississippi just north of
Burlington. Half an hour later I got a text from the guy selling the airplane
in Paris saying that the wind there was pushing 20 knots from the south and that
I might not want to try to land there. Flight service had reminded me that the
north-south runway at Paris was closed so I started looking at the chart for
alternatives. There really weren't any close enough to work. Another text
message offered a private grass strip about 10 west of Paris but it wasn't on
the chart. He said he could meet me over the airport and lead me there. Hmmmm,
lots to consider as I closely watched my fuel burn and progress. It was going
to be close.

Another text said that I could land on a north-south taxiway if I wanted so I
continued on. I reminded myself that there were endless recently harvested farm
fields in every direction that would provide multiple landing options if I got
there low on fuel and didn't like what I saw.

When I spotted Paris and began to descend from cruise altitude the turbulence
started tossing me around pretty good. AWOS was saying 21 gusting to 25. The
taxiway looked pretty short and ended in buildings and a very expensive looking
helicopter. I was talking on the radio with my host by this time and he said it
was easily 500 ft and that I might want to make a pass into the wind to check my
ground speed. I told him it looked fine and as I turned final he said good
luck, "we're all watching and let me know if there was anything else I needed".
I replied that I needed them to all look the other way.

I only used about a third of the available length and taxied up to the tie
downs. 3 guys came out to grab 48ML and tie her down. I shut down pointed into
the wind and when I let off the brakes I started rolling backwards! When I
opened the canopy I suddenly realized how windy it was. Everything on the ramp
was shaking and rocking and tie down straps howling and buzzing. I had 3
gallons or just over half an hour left in the tank.

I enjoyed a fun and fascinating introduction to the Nesmith Cougar, a variant of
the Whittman Tailwind, which included a demonstrated cross wind landing that
impressed the hell out of me, (really, coming down final I thought there was no
way he was going to pull it off and he made it look easy, WOW). It was fun to
fly and interesting being involved pulling the oil screen and checking out some
of the other projects in their large hanger. But I was looking at the clock and
thinking about the flight home.

After fueling up, the "gang" taxied 48ML down the taxiway backwards with me in
the cockpit for ballast. The wind was still howling. The engine started on the
first blade and I rolled about 30 feet before lifting off and climbing easily
over the ramp and hangers. Time 1:30 (central time, Paris is in the eastern
time zone).

I climbed to about 3000 to get above the worst of the turbulence but after about
30 miles was really depressed by my ground speed. I was barely making 65 between
checkpoints and faced the prospect of over 5 hours before making it home. Add
to that a fuel stop and it was going to be really late, perhaps beyond the
capacity of my battery powered lights and strobes. I reasoned that the wind,
regardless of direction, was probably weaker lower down so down I went, to just
a thousand above the ground. It was a rocking ride but by ground speed began to
climb into the 80s.

The weather was fair as the sun slid lower in the southwestern sky. Soon I was
back across the Mississippi and winging into southeast Iowa but was noticing
increased haze and clouds ahead. One thing nice about flying low is that you
can get a better cell phone signal. I was able to load one METAR map of Iowa
and didn't like what I saw. Everything in the middle of the state had gone down
to marginal VFR. Great, I thought, classic aviators trap. Low on fuel,
darkness approaching, weather closing in, headed home... I was able to get the
AWOS at Ames on my cell phone and it was saying visibility 7 miles, ceiling
1800. Looking out my window I'd say the visibility was more like 3. Combined
with the low gray overcast, especially in contrast with the bright sunny world
I'd spent the last few hours in, I experience a dismal, almost dreadful feeling.

But facts are facts in flying, and the facts were that my ground speed was up to
96 mph, the conditions were fine, and I had plenty of alternatives. I continued
on, checking AWOS stations and watching my fuel burn. All along I'd been certain
I'd have to stop for fuel but now it was looking like maybe I wouldn't have to.
Or was that just the beginning of the final thoughts of the hapless aviator?

I turned the GPS in my phone on to help make sure I stayed on course. It was
getting pretty tough to see checkpoints. Grinnell was ahead on course near the
interstate and was the perfect place to stop for fuel. My ground speed put Ames
just 25 minutes beyond Grinell so I vowed to stop there if I didn't have at
least 5 gallons left.

It seemed like I was really scooting along which I figured was due to the low
altitude and low visibility. But when I timed between a couple checkpoints the
whiz wheel said I was doing 110! When Grinnell appeared I had over 5 gallons
left so I kept going. It was still a little light out and I could see the
ground well enough to land if the engine quit. And every minute put me deeper
into very familiar territory where I regularly fly. I flew right over my rural
home and two minutes later was calling downwind. Soon 48ML was rolling right
between those beautiful runway lights.

760 miles in about 7 hours on a late November day. Half the drive time! I was
very tired but boy was I feeling satisfied as I shut the engine down and opened
the canopy in the cool damp evening.
 
Bwing96 said:
First let me say congrats to you Jesse on your bird. I love the Fly Babby and still look at evryone I get close to. I almost bought one for my first plane, some were a bit small for me and I eventually wound up with a Corben Baby Ace with the C-85 engine. Although mine was tube and rag instead of wood the high wing made some things a little easier. I carried a small set of chocks made from angle iron with a small rope attached and would prop the plane, then while holding the wing spar pull the chocks place in bag behind the seat, jump in and get on the brakes. The plane might roll 2-3 feet while doing this and not at all if it was in grass.

Sometimes I would start the engine then climb in and pull the chocks as I used my weight to rock the plane rearward. I enjoyed flying that plane a lot more than the Cherokee I have now and hated to see it go. One of these days I'll have another plane that I can enjoy while burning holes in the sky. Right now leaning toward a RV, I have only had more than 1 passenger once in the last 2yrs.

There's nothing like the type of flying you now can enjoy.
Click to expand...

I've got the long rope on the aluminum angle chocks thing so I can pull them in after I get in the airplane. But it's a lot easier with a high wing.

I don't have the tail hook, so what I usually do is run the rope through a handle welded on near the tail and tie it on the strut. It's long enough that I could tie both ends to the airplane and still flip it over a post so I don't need to leave it behind.
 
jesse said:
Because I realize there are elevated risks, it's a 41 year old amateur built wooden airplane, therefore if I can sit in there comfortably with a parachute I might as well wear one since it's an airplane you have a chance of getting out of.

This accident nudged me towards that decision:
http://www.bowersflybaby.com/safety/hinton.htm
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If you really have that little confidence in the ship, perhaps you should be flying a different aircraft.

I'm not worried about the wings coming off mine, they're bolted on pretty good. I fly by myself all the time, and have never once thought about wearing a parachute.

That said, if you want one, good luck in getting one. Free country and all that.
 
steingar said:
If you really have that little confidence in the ship, perhaps you should be flying a different aircraft.
Click to expand...

He said there is no real loss for doing it, yet doing so makes him safer.

I will take that trade off every time, regardless of how I feel about the aircraft (or anything for that matter).
 
Mafoo said:
He said there is no real loss for doing it, yet doing so makes him safer.
Click to expand...

Of course there's a loss! He has to pay for the parachute and it's upkeep. That's money that could be buying gas, or jewelry for his girlfriend, or a faster bike or whatever.

I doubt there's anyone here who wouldn't be safer with a parachute, and lots of folks who fly by themselves at least some of the time. But I think we all realize that the chances of the wings falling off a certificated aircraft make the safety gain negligible at best. Shoulder harnesses would make the better investment for most airplanes.

Again, free country and all that. If Jesse thinks it will give him a reasonable increase in safety, more power to him and good luck finding the right silk.
 
steingar said:
If you really have that little confidence in the ship, perhaps you should be flying a different aircraft.
Click to expand...
The Fly Baby has a high rate of wing failures. However, almost all of them are traceable to judgment errors during construction, poor storage environments, or improper maintenance.

One problem with the Fly Baby is that it *is* a cheap airplane. People buy them who don't have much money, and tend to skimp on stuff. About two wing-failure cases are traceable to this. In one case, the plane was left outside in Florida for three years (couldn't afford a hangar) and a person bought it and didn't inspect it before flying. Moisture had settled in, and the spar carry-through had rotted away.

Sometime builders decide to splurge, but this can cause problems as well. Jesse posted my write-up about a wing-failure case back in the '90s, where the original builder had replaced the standard cable/turnbuckle wing bracing with solid tie rods (quite expensive). The solid tie rods transmitted vibration directly into the steel plates that hold the bracing wires to the wings, and the plates fatigued until one broke. I don't believe there's been a plate failure in any Fly Baby built to plans.

Another Fly Baby with solid tie rods had a wing failure a couple of years back. In this case, the owner was magnafluxing the plates and the plates didn't fail. In this case, the owner was flying aerobatics. The attachment bolts failed in overload.

Another case was strange. The airplane was recently purchased and reassembled. A friend of the owner died in the accident, but somehow after the accident, no one seemed to be able to locate any maintenance records on the plane. I met the NTSB investigator in this case a few years back, and he said that things were real weird. It is believe it wasn't assembled properly; that the cable tension wasn't set properly.

The Fly Baby's advantage, compared to airplanes with "bolt on" wings, is that most of the structural components for the wings are right out in the open and can be inspected during preflight. You can examine the cables, you can look closely at the attachment plates. You can look directly on the forward carry-through, and if you lift the seat out (just 8 pounds or so) you can examine the aft spar carry-through.

Jesse bought a well-cared for example, with a recent restoration and great documentation of what was done. Pretty low risk. But...hey, there's little down-side to wearing a parachute, and there's no one else to worry about if you have to jettison the airplane.

Ron Wanttaja
 
steingar said:
I fly by myself all the time, and have never once thought about wearing a parachute.
Click to expand...

I would prefer a whole-airframe parachute. For Fly Baby such option is impractical, that's all it is. And wings can fall off anything. Cherokee, too. Well, in case of a Cherokee the stabilator is probably a bigger concern. See the little one in my forum avatar? What do you think is the historic damage on that bird? It fell off jacks in the shop at least once and flown sideways ever since. Its sister ship hit a ranch fencepost with her stabilator once. And really it only takes one snapped cable before chute becomes necessary.

P.S. Don't forget mid-air collisions.

P.P.S. Jesse does the reasonable thing by flying with the chute. I'm wondering though if he's made sure that he can open canopy in flight.
 
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zaitcev said:
I would prefer a whole-airframe parachute. For Fly Baby such option is impractical, that's all it is. And wings can fall off anything. Cherokee, too. Well, in case of a Cherokee the stabilator is probably a bigger concern. See the little one in my forum avatar? What do you think is the historic damage on that bird? It fell off jacks in the shop at least once and flown sideways ever since. Its sister ship hit a ranch fencepost with her stabilator once. And really it only takes one snapped cable before chute becomes necessary.

P.S. Don't forget mid-air collisions.
Click to expand...

You can land without a stabilator, one of the denizens of POA actually landed a taildragger with an inoperative elevator. I never said a chute would make one safer. What I said was the safety gain was negligible at best. That's why you don't see a lot of aviators using them outside of acrobatic aircraft.

Most airplane accidents result in lapses of judgement, and no parachute can fix that.
 
steingar said:
You can land without a stabilator, one of the denizens of POA actually landed a taildragger with an inoperative elevator. I never said a chute would make one safer. What I said was the safety gain was negligible at best. That's why you don't see a lot of aviators using them outside of acrobatic aircraft.

Most airplane accidents result in lapses of judgement, and no parachute can fix that.
Click to expand...

How about if you don't worry about Jesse's choices and just let him and others talk about his new airplane?

Nothing that he's doing makes him LESS safe. There is no point in calling somebody out for being more safe than is necessary in a thread dedicated to them talking about their new airplane.
 
steingar said:
If you really have that little confidence in the ship, perhaps you should be flying a different aircraft.

I'm not worried about the wings coming off mine, they're bolted on pretty good. I fly by myself all the time, and have never once thought about wearing a parachute.

That said, if you want one, good luck in getting one. Free country and all that.
Click to expand...

Wings fall off of Cherokees better worry a little....


NTSB Identification: FTW87FA088.
The docket is stored on NTSB microfiche number 36654.
Accident occurred Monday, March 30, 1987 in MARLIN, TX
Probable Cause Approval Date: 06/07/1989
Aircraft: PIPER PA-28-181, registration: N8191V
Injuries: 1 Fatal.
THE ACFT HAD BEEN INVOLVED IN PIPELINE PATROL THROUGHOUT ITS HISTORY OF 7490 FLT HRS. JUST BEFORE THE ACDNT, THE ACFT WAS OBSERVED IN STRAIGHT & LVL FLT ALONG A PIPELINE RIGHT-OF-WAY. ACCORDING TO WITNESSES, THE ACFT WAS AT LOW ALT WHEN A WING SEPARATED & THE ACFT PLUNGED TO THE GROUND. THE LEFT WING WAS FND 588' FROM THE MAIN WRECKAGE. AN INVESTIGATION REVEALED IT HAD SEPD AT THE WING ROOT FROM FATIGUE FAILURE. THE FATIGUE HAD ORIGINATED NEAR ONE OF THE OUTBOARD CARRY-THROUGH ATTACHMENT BOLT HOLES.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:

WING,SPAR..FATIGUE
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There are other cases too.

Like this one http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief.aspx?ev_id=20070316X00301&key=1
 
He's spending money on a parachute that he's not spending on the additional costs of a certified airplane.

If flying w/o parachute falls just outside his tolerance for risk, but wearing one puts him inside his acceptable tolerance for risk, good on him. We all draw our own lines in the sand, and everyone's is different.

The important thing is that he recognized that the risk was outside of what he'd like to accept on a regular basis, and did something to mitigate it.

GA flying is not the safest form of transportation. We all accept additional and unnecessary risk when we fly. A pilot criticizing Jesse's accepted level of risk is no different than a non-pilot criticizing ours. Pointless.
 
Anyway. Less about the parachute. More about Jesse's new airplane...
 
jason said:
Anyway. Less about the parachute. More about Jesse's new airplane...
Click to expand...

THis. ^^^^^

I'd rather hear about the plane and Jesse's adventures than carping about whether or not he wants a chute.

Can't we have a thread that stays POSITIVE for once? This is not the TV news.
 
I have liked that plane since I saw it for the first time (in parts) in Matt's hangar. He spent a lot of time working on that little yellow plane and it shows. Since Matt decided to get rid of it, I'm glad it went to someone like Jesse that will appreciate all the work that went into it and embrace the 'free bird' mentality that Matt has had with the plane.

I'm looking forward to reading about the places Jesse will go with that thing.
 
steingar said:
You can land without a stabilator
Click to expand...

a6895817-929e-dcd7.jpg
 
At 85 mph he should have plenty of time to compose his posts. ;)

(As the owner of a T-Craft L-2, ask me how I know.)

CJones said:
I have liked that plane since I saw it for the first time (in parts) in Matt's hangar. He spent a lot of time working on that little yellow plane and it shows. Since Matt decided to get rid of it, I'm glad it went to someone like Jesse that will appreciate all the work that went into it and embrace the 'free bird' mentality that Matt has had with the plane.

I'm looking forward to reading about the places Jesse will go with that thing.
Click to expand...
 
wabower said:
At 85 mph he should have plenty of time to compose his posts. ;)

(As the owner of a T-Craft L-2, ask me how I know.)
Click to expand...
I was truing 82 knots yesterday. Way faster than 85 mph ;)
 
Loved reading the story. I still remember the first time I rolled up to 79M's hangar by myself and slowly went through opening the door, pre-flight, all that stuff, knowing that departure time was whenever I felt like closing the door and turning the key...it's a unique feeling after the world of FBOs and rentals and schedule books and websites. Sounds like a great time for Jesse too.
 
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