July 4th at 6Y9.

azure said:
Dry is good. :) I did a T/O in a Cardinal RG on a hard turf surface about 8 years ago and yes you do bounce a little. You just keep lots of back pressure on the rollout and if it's real bad, you do a soft field takeoff and accelerate in ground effect. As long as it's not so rough that I'd worry about a prop strike or a wheel falling in a hole (I hear ya Ed, no holes!), it should be fine.
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The DA40 was not designed for short field turf runways. It has a fairly small nosewheel tire. I made it out just fine even though I did not use optimum T/O technique. I was very nervous and should have paid more attention to the checklist.
 
Gary F said:
The DA40 was not designed for short field turf runways. It has a fairly small nosewheel tire. I made it out just fine even though I did not use optimum T/O technique. I was very nervous and should have paid more attention to the checklist.
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Yep, ditto the Cardinal RG... I've never landed mine on anything but pavement so far. But I know they can handle firm turf just fine, and a friend reported taking hers into a 2000 foot grass strip soon after she bought it. That's a little more nerve than I have... even on pavement, I would be very nervous with only 2000 feet.

Well they are forecasting a SCT CU deck today over much of the state at 5-6 kft. Of course it's good VFR but I'm not going the long way around to get to 6Y9, so it all depends on whether I can get above it to go over the lake. The Cardinal is not an agile climber and at those altitudes, it might be impossible to maneuver through the layer while maintaining legal cloud clearances.

I probably won't finalize my plans until just before I leave.
 
azure said:
Yep, ditto the Cardinal RG... I've never landed mine on anything but pavement so far. But I know they can handle firm turf just fine, and a friend reported taking hers into a 2000 foot grass strip soon after she bought it. That's a little more nerve than I have... even on pavement, I would be very nervous with only 2000 feet.

Well they are forecasting a SCT CU deck today over much of the state at 5-6 kft. Of course it's good VFR but I'm not going the long way around to get to 6Y9, so it all depends on whether I can get above it to go over the lake. The Cardinal is not an agile climber and at those altitudes, it might be impossible to maneuver through the layer while maintaining legal cloud clearances.

I probably won't finalize my plans until just before I leave.
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You have to be real high to glide to land over Lake Michigan if you do not cross over Beaver or Fox Islands. The current satellite looks good for Lake Michigan north of Traverse City but I understand your apprehension about flying under low clouds over water.
 
Gary F said:
You have to be real high to glide to land over Lake Michigan if you do not cross over Beaver or Fox Islands. The current satellite looks good for Lake Michigan north of Traverse City but I understand your apprehension about flying under low clouds over water.
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Gliding all the way to land is not necessarily what I aim for -- if I'm out of range for 10 minutes or so that's acceptable. It's the low crossings that I don't like -- even 4500 is too low over LM. I'm hoping for 10,500 today. The SCT deck is forecast for later, in the afternoon.

Well I'm already late for the hike so I'm out of here... fly safe y'all!
 
azure said:
Gliding all the way to land is not necessarily what I aim for -- if I'm out of range for 10 minutes or so that's acceptable. It's the low crossings that I don't like -- even 4500 is too low over LM.
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I guess that's possible. It is about 56 nm from Ludington Michigan straight across Lake Michigan to Manitowoc Wisconsin. If you fly an oblique course across the lake then you might have more than a 10 minutes out of gliding range. Hope you get a chance to fly to 6Y9. Have fun on your hike.
 
Gary F said:
I guess that's possible. It is about 56 nm from Ludington Michigan straight across Lake Michigan to Manitowoc Wisconsin. If you fly an oblique course across the lake then you might have more than a 10 minutes out of gliding range. Hope you get a chance to fly to 6Y9. Have fun on your hike.
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Thanks, but the hike didn't happen -- for the first time in 2 years, I was the only one who showed up. Probably not a good idea to schedule on 4th of July weekend. :(

But the upside to that was, I had an opportunity to leave for 6Y9 earlier than I expected. So right about 1300 I went wheels up... and immediately found that my gear retraction mechanism wasn't working. The green gear down indicator light never went out, and I never heard the motor. I landed and spent about two hours on the phone with my A&P trying to troubleshoot the problem. The hydraulic reservoir was nearly full, there were no broken or disconnected wires on the pump in the tailcone. Finally with my A&P's reassurance that as long as there was fluid, there was no failure mode where I would be unable to pump the gear down by hand, I took the Branded Bird up again in the pattern. This time the gear worked like a charm. I did a bunch of circuits, took it up to altitude, cycled the gear again a couple of times, did some stalls and steep turns, then went over to 57D for fuel and did some circuits over there before returning home. All in all I cycled the gear 10-11 times. Not a single glitch.

Tomorrow my mechanic will be back to look at it in person. We'll figure out what to do then. Even if that turns out to be nothing, because everything checks out.

Gack. I'm starting to hate airplanes... :(
 
azure said:
So what's the runway like? Any bad bumps or mole holes? I am seriously thinking about flying up there tomorrow afternoon since the wx is so smashingly gorgeous (and who knows what Labor Day weekend will be like?)... and I fly a small wheeled retract (Cardinal RG).

I suppose I should give the "contact number" for 6Y9 a call. Especially since I somehow lost Ed's cell number. :(
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I've been in there with a 182RG (small-wheel retract) and RV-7A (small-wheel) without any problems. The Fred's really do a great job of maintaining the runway - they fly off of it themselves, so if there are problems, they want it fixed as much as any other pilot.
 
Gary F said:
I guess that's possible. It is about 56 nm from Ludington Michigan straight across Lake Michigan to Manitowoc Wisconsin. If you fly an oblique course across the lake then you might have more than a 10 minutes out of gliding range.
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My route across the lake was going to be Y87 - 2P2 (Washington Island). I calculated that I would be out of glide range of some island or other for less than 5 minutes, if at all (at 10,500). The Manitou Islands and the islands that stick out from the Door Peninsula cut your exposure there significantly. I've done the LDM - MTW crossing before and I'm fine with that too. After a Pilots 'n' Paws run this winter, I've sworn off oblique lake crossings.
 
CJones said:
I've been in there with a 182RG (small-wheel retract) and RV-7A (small-wheel) without any problems. The Fred's really do a great job of maintaining the runway - they fly off of it themselves, so if there are problems, they want it fixed as much as any other pilot.
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I didn't mention it before, but in the process of giving my gear a workout today I tried a local grass strip, rwy 36 @ 57D. I asked some local pilots first and they said it was in good condition so I went for it. It was actually not bad at all -- I was worried at first about the shortness (2187 feet) and the density altitude, but even with soft field technique it was easy. There is a short gravel gradation where the turf part meets the 900 foot paved section, but I was already lifting into ground effect by then, so no harm no foul. I'm sure 6Y9 will be fine... I hope I can make it there over Labor Day.
 
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Gary F said:
I get to add 6Y9 to my logbook. This was the first time I have landed my DA40 on a turf strip. EdFred and his mom heard me fly overhead and rode their ATVs in to greet me. Ed's mom looks way to young to be his mom. The temp today was in the 80s which is very hot for the UP. I was only able to hang out for a few minutes. My departure was a little scary as I am not used to flying on a grass strip with trees on the far end but obviously I made it out OK. I am disappointed that I will not be able to attend labor day fly-in unless I can get one of my partners to swap call which is very unlikely. Maybe next time.
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Good deal Gary. Its beautiful out there isn't it. Shame you didn't get to stay longer.

ScottM said:
I thought Ed was 7?


BTW I am not making it up north. My friends got an emergency call and are actually driving to Chicago to catch a plane. There daughter in AZ was found this morning to have metastasized cancer in her lungs, liver, pancreas and brain. :-(
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Ugh that sucks Scott!!
 
AdamZ said:
Good deal Gary. Its beautiful out there isn't it. Shame you didn't get to stay longer.
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Even though I am "off" still need to go in to work every day for several hours. It was fun just to fly there and meet EdFred.
 
It was a beautiful day for flying yesterday, so I flew up to 6Y9. I ended up visiting with the Frederick family for a couple hours (and Reuben and his wife). The runway is in great shape, I forgot my salsa bowl again, and the hospitality was top notch.

I'm definitely going to try and get up there for the Labor Day flyin/camp-in.

Tim
 
On my first trip to 6Y9 I thought Ed's mother was is sister, and I am not kidding.
 
steingar said:
On my first trip to 6Y9 I thought Ed's mother was is sister, and I am not kidding.
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HA I have you beat! First time to 6Y9 I flew with Ed in an Arrow. As we roll out there is Brad ( Ed's dad) and this blond woman standing next to him waving at us I immedialty said to Ed hey whos the babe or whos the chick something like that. Ed says thats my mom. Adam Promptly shuts up and changes the subject:D:yikes:
 
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