Where did you fly today?

Flew to Grand Strand CRE from RDU on Friday. Was planning to come back, but the winds had other ideas - 18kt crosswinds at CRE, 18G28 at RDU. So I stayed another day!

It was beautiful today - had to wait a bit for the frost to go 'way, but it was smooooth ... until I got close to Raleigh. Bumpy again coming into RDU. Honestly, I swear it's the politicians doing it - all that hot air.

Not my best flight, was about half a dot off of everything ... not enough sleep, I reckon. And still green as grass, though I have over 90 hours now! :)

Did my BEST crosswind landing today! Came in on a slip, landed on the left wheel, then the right, then the nose came down - thought "whoa, I'm down!" :D :D
 
Having been without my 430 for about a month getting the WAAS upgrade I needed some approach work. Infotango (aka Rob) was in Atlanta on Saturday and kindly volunteered to act as safety pilot. Did a real workout in strong and gusty wind conditions (if you watched the Masters on Saturday, you know what it was like around here.) Did 5 approaches with 2 holds. I knocked the rust off, nailed the highest crosswind landing I've had to do in the Mooney and generally had a good time getting bounced around. Thanks Rob for helping out.
 
I didn't fly today, but there are those who did. How's it said, "Birds of a feather......."? Rockland, Maine waterfront.

HR
 

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This weekend did my normal round trip from home to Talkeetna. On Friday I was chasing sunlight and so went direct, only interesting thing was the UH-60 Blackhawk that passed me in Windy Pass (sigh, stoopid climb prop.) Unfortunately they gave me as wide a berth as the pass would allow, just far enough that I couldn't get them on camera. Today I had time to do some sightseeing on the way home. Over the toe of the Ruth Glacier, then the Dunkle Hills, up to to the headwaters of Cantwell Creek, over Foggy Pass then home. Below is the Cantwell glacier, known as a "hanging" glacier. Unfortunately due to the low hanging clouds you can only see the bottom half poking out, in the center of the photo.

The black lines were my prop. I took it on a rather tight left turnout in the terminus cirque to head back down the creek. Fun.

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When I arrived home I was facing a very bumpy and gusty 15 knot quartering crosswind roiling over the trees alongside the strip. My landing sucked. Had to go around once too. But any landing in a taildragger where you are still facing the departure end of the runway when you stop is a good landing in my book. On my next flight I'll have to grab a photo on short final, landing to the south. It is interesting.



Also for you Googleheads here is my track attached for Google Earth. The track should be hovering in the air to reflect my altitude.
 

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richard - how'd you do that? gps track record converted somehow? id love to have that kind of readout for my soaring flights. see where i circled and how often, what altitudes etc.
 
tonycondon said:
richard - how'd you do that? gps track record converted somehow? id love to have that kind of readout for my soaring flights. see where i circled and how often, what altitudes etc.
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Tony-

You have to upgrade to Google Earth Plus, which IMHO is pretty inexpensive. Once you do that you can download your tracks, waypoints, and routes directly into GE for a variety of uses.

Here's the help page.

Supposedly the track will "play" somehow so you can fly the route, I'm still working on having that part work :redface:

Make sure your GPS is recording a track. If you never messed with the settings, for Garmin it is on by default.
 
Lance F said:
Having been without my 430 for about a month getting the WAAS upgrade I needed some approach work.
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How d'ya like the 430W so far Lance? We finally got everything ironed out on ours. I just stopped by the airport a week ago to turn it on and make sure. :) At first you might think "I don't plan on flying a bunch of WAAS approaches, what's in it for me?" But the capabilities have been increased immensely. I'm really glad we got in line for the upgrade early! :yes:
 
Flew home from my usual weekend in Talkeetna tonight. Lots of daylight up here now, didn't depart until 8:35pm and landed at 9:45 with plenty of daylight left.

Made a side trip up the Eldridge Glacier at about 200 agl. After turning around to head back, instead of flying back down the length I pushed in the throttle and got about 1250fpm at 85 mph! Climbed up, over and out then headed north for home.



 

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Nothing quite so spectacular for me today.

Preflighted the Warrior, found the remains of a bird splattered all over the left wing and landing gear. The FBO dispatcher hadn't heard about anyone reporting a bird strike so he had their maintenance guys check it out.

I switched over to the 172 - slow flight/stalls/steep turns/1 go around/4 landings and just enough x-wind to make it all worth the effort.

We've had such crappy weather for VFR the last 4-6 weeks, and my schedule has really kept me too busy to fly when the weather DID cooperate. Finally, today, clear, warm, dry. The perfect day to call in late for work and get 1.2 hrs in.

Yep, I do like it.
 
Very nice trip today. Picked up a friend at Akron/Fulton Intl. (AKR), then got dinner at New Philidelphia (PHD). Then we went to what is one of the best airports I've been to so far in my flying career. Noble County (I10) is an airport inside of a state park. It has hiking trails and fly-in camping. My thought is that I can't afford a cabin in the middle of nowhere with an airstrip, but this is close enough for me. I can't wait to get back to this one.

On the way home Canton Approach couldn't read my transponder, and made me fly in circles before I could get into their class C. Got beyond them, and Cuyahoga County (CGF) tower could read it just fine. Whatever.

So, in total: 3.1 hours, 5 landings, 2 at night. This flight also finished off a page in the logbook, so I can tell you that I now have a total of 108.8 hours, and 252 landings, for a ratio of about 2.3 landings per hour. I'll need a flight review before the end of the month, and it's not scheduled until May 4th, so this flight will have to keep me satisfied until then. ConUS Challenge reports have been submitted for the two unclaimed airports.
 
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bluesky74656 said:
On the way home Canton Approach couldn't read my transponder, and made me fly in circles before I could get into their class C. Got beyond them, and Cuyahoga County (CGF) tower could read it just fine. Whatever.
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Wow.. Is Canton a really busy Class 'C' or something? I've never been told to stay clear of Class C b/c of inop transponder. Basically once I give them my position and altitude, they'll figure out which primary blip is mine and they'll mark me or whatever they do and allow me to continue inbound.
 
CJones said:
Wow.. Is Canton a really busy Class 'C' or something? I've never been told to stay clear of Class C b/c of inop transponder. Basically once I give them my position and altitude, they'll figure out which primary blip is mine and they'll mark me or whatever they do and allow me to continue inbound.
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i have been. but im not sure if it was because our transponder was actually not working, or my students mumbling stumbling radio calls were a turn off to DSM approach when they were dealing with their evening rush.
 
Originally he told me to remain clear. Five minutes later, as I was frantically trying to re-route myself around his airspace, he had me make some turns for identification, then let me in. He made sure to tell me that in the future I'd need a working transponder to get in. I don't use Canton Approach much, but from what I can tell they're moderately busy, but not so much at 9:30 at night. I wish I knew what was up, though; that's the second time something like that has happened to me with Canton.
 
tonycondon said:
i have been. but im not sure if it was because our transponder was actually not working, or my students mumbling stumbling radio calls were a turn off to DSM approach when they were dealing with their evening rush.
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bluesky74656 said:
Originally he told me to remain clear. Five minutes later, as I was frantically trying to re-route myself around his airspace, he had me make some turns for identification, then let me in. He made sure to tell me that in the future I'd need a working transponder to get in. I don't use Canton Approach much, but from what I can tell they're moderately busy, but not so much at 9:30 at night. I wish I knew what was up, though; that's the second time something like that has happened to me with Canton.
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Huh.. Weird.. I guess I've just been lucky so far. :) Oh well.. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. :D
 
Logged one hour yesterday in my club President's C340A. Brand new Ram Air conversion engines that he wanted to shake out. I thought 90 knot approach speeds into a 2400 foot strip looked fast. 110 in that Twin Cessna was breathtaking:hairraise: Other than trying hard to take out a runway light with gear on landing, it went pretty well. Pressurized, very complex aircraft. Makes the Saratoga look pretty simple.

On Friday, we go from LNS to RUT to visit my dad, who fell off a roof and broke his wrist. First opportunity to fly with the weather enabled in the New G496. Looking forward to scoping that out...

Jim G
 
grattonja said:
First opportunity to fly with the weather enabled in the New G496. Looking forward to scoping that out...
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You're going to love it, just don't keep you head down too long. A real wealth of weather info on the 496.
 
Des Moines let me into their class C with a dead transponder. It was just a matter of doing a bunch of altitude reports as I descended.
 
Saturday we took a quick flight down to MSL (Muscle Shoals) for a visit with an old business contact.
The ride was rough as a cob on the way down at ALL altitudes but the return was much better.
 
Fly? Today? Nowhere. It's raining all over Maine; and my flap motor is beyond repair. Wouldn't one think it should have lasted longer than from November, 1970? So in the rain I went to look at a house to purchase. It would put me nearer my hangar.

HR
 
Took a buddy out Saturday morning - clear and a million. He's got tons of hours, but all on MSFS. I gave him a chance to see the 'real thing'. I think he wore out his camera.
 
Matthew said:
Took a buddy out Saturday morning - clear and a million. He's got tons of hours, but all on MSFS. I gave him a chance to see the 'real thing'. I think he wore out his camera.
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Cool, did you hook 'im? Maybe a new student?
 
Bill Jennings said:
Cool, did you hook 'im? Maybe a new student?
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I've been working on him for a while. I think I had a chance until he saw the bill. I think he and his wife are in the student-loan-payback/car-payment rut right now.

I never tried to hide or gloss over the cost. He's hooked, but not enough yet to jump in on his own. I think as long as he has a way to get in the air (me), he'll be happy. Not a bad way for me to go, I may finally have found somebody who WANTS to tag along!

I've been thinking I should look around for a nearby soaring club, both for me and for him as well.
 
kevin47881 said:
Saturday we took a quick flight down to MSL (Muscle Shoals) for a visit with an old business contact.
The ride was rough as a cob on the way down at ALL altitudes but the return was much better.
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WOOHOO!! MSL is my old stomping grounds. I grew up about 20nm NE of KMSL. Oddly enough, I never set foot on MSL property until I earned my PPL in Iowa and flew down there to visit family.
 
Only went to the airport 5NM South of Clow, but it was to get checked out in the Turbo 182T. Leslie got checked out yesterday. We'll be bringing it to Wings. Unfortunately, the owner doesn't keep the GPS current! :(
 
Bill Jennings said:
You're going to love it, just don't keep you head down too long. A real wealth of weather info on the 496.
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I've checked it out on the ground already. It's pretty impressive, even with the basic subscription that we have so far.

Jim G
 
Dude, that's pretty sweet. I'd love to have my own taildragger someday. The first plane I ever flew was an 80hp Piper Cub. However, there is the rule of thumb: if it flies, f###s, or floats, it's cheaper to rent. :)
 
Bill Jennings said:
Next time you're down in that neck of the woods, pop over to Decatur (DCU), grab a crew car, and drive about 3mi south into Decatur. Big Bob Gibsons, oh lordy, what a place!

http://www.bigbobgibsonbbq.com/main.htm
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Bill, I've at at Big Bob's so many times...let's just say I'm not as trim as I once was :eek: I use to call on a contact just around the corner on the Beltway.
Appreciate the heads up however.
 
Haven't flown since Thursday (and boy was that a cluster!). Freakin' rain. It was gorgeous Saturday and Sunday, but it's been nasty since.
 
Got an hour of solo time after work today... It was really like my "second first solo." Last solo was 12/11/05. After more than a year, it felt great! Though I wish I could say my landings were as great as the overall feeling... of 10, I'd say only 3 were really decent. Just kept getting too fast on final, and floating and floating... But, Rwy 9 at IGQ is plenty long, so it wasn't too worrying. Just gotta tweak things up a bit, and I'll be back in my '05 form.

But things are looking up: At this rate, I think I'll probably be ready for the checkride come August or maybe September. Gonna study up and try to crank out the written by the end of the month, then it's just time building and solo XCs and I'm on my way! :D:D:D
 
kevin47881 said:
Bill, I've at at Big Bob's so many times...let's just say I'm not as trim as I once was :eek: I use to call on a contact just around the corner on the Beltway.
Appreciate the heads up however.
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Had dinner at Big Bob's a few weeks ago. Got the Baked Potatoe BBQ - Was able to finish about 1/2 and was miserable all night.
 
The flight home from the FlyBQ was probably the roughest I've had. That being said, it was also a great learning experience.

To start it all off, I couldn't get my mag to clear when I ran up. Thanks to Adam (I think it was) who helped me to get it running. Lesson; if you know the method should work, keep at it.

This was the first time I've ever had the opportunity to fly in rain. Normally if it's raining, I just don't go. There was nothing to it.

I learned that one should think very carefully about trying to cross the Appalachian mountains on a windy day. I got pretty beat up for about an hour as I crossed at 4500. I remember at one point looking down at my chart, feeling my ears pop, looking back up and seeing that I had lost 300 feet.

After that hour or so, It just got long. I think I was in the air on that leg for 4+ hours. Ground speed probably averaged around 72kts.

It cleared up about midway through the mountains, but as I crossed into Ohio it started raining again. CGF is generally has a pretty bleak outlook, so I called up Flight watch for the first time to make sure I'd be able to get in. It's hard to believe that it can be raining and still >6 visibility.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure i experienced the Mountain Wave. Big updraft, big downdraft. Eventually I learned to just let the updraft take me up, knowing that the other shoe would fall soon enough.

Anyway, after a 4 hour flight, i'm beat. Sleep sounds good for me.............zzzz
 
Well, went up with a young CFI (they're all young, nowadays:rolleyes: , kinda like doctors), on a de-rust dual X-C from M17 to JEF, then FTT, then back to M17. Got to visit with my granddaughter at FTT (but missed the pancake breakfast), and got to see a YAK and Stearman. Andy was a great help in scraping some of the rust off. Now to go get my two solo X-Cs, then get a local legend to run me through the wringer in prep for the checkride...

Great time. Ran out of time (wanted to go to COU and SGF too--but had a graduation party to attend, and 410 was booked for the afternoon).

Have a great wknd!

Jim
 
Yesterday I flew what I believe to be my longest series of flights in a single day (6 flights in all). The purpose of the trip was to take a look at some disassembled helicopters that were for sale in western Idaho. The trip stated and ended with a short hop from my home base KFCM to nearby KHCD to pick up a mechanic friend. Then on to Lewiston ID (KLWS) with a fuel stop at Laurel Montana (6S8) near Billings. The return involved the same stops in reverse order and the total distance was very close to 2000 nm. Other than a few areas of turbulence the weather on the outbound legs was pretty benign, but we had plenty of interesting wx on the return. There were lots of TRW and rainshowers in the mountains, but we didn't need too much detouring there. There was one stretch near the last significant ridge heading east where it wasn't raining but the air was quite turbulent under what must have been a developing cell or two. But the biggest ws issue was a line of storms runing from Colorado to Canada. I had originally filed a route that aimed at a 30 mile gap about 80 nm south of the direct route but another, smaller gap showed up that looked passable that would have allowed a more direct shot. Unfortunately as we got closer it started to close so we switched back to plan A, even though it required a more significant deviation from that point. There was also a long line of active TRW south of our route from SD to WI that was migrating north slowly but I made it home before it arrived there. In total it was about 6 hours on the way out and a little less on the return plus four to five hours in Lewiston which made for a long day. I had gotten up at 6am and made it back in bed around 1 am.
 
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East side. My friend Drew who flew up with me is IR so we filed an instrument flight plan both ways. Made it easier being so close to the ADIZ. On the way back we had some IMC conditions with light turbulence. Needless to say...I am still feeling the bumps Sunday afternoon. After we were south of Patuxent the weather cleared up and it was smooth. We landed probably midnight 30 last night. What a GREAT day/trip.
 
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