2016 today's flight

[Yooper Rocketman]

10 hours ago, DonMuncy said:

I understand that they have garbage trucks too, but they don't let them get seen during daylight. I also have some doubts that they built all their structures hauling materials in on horse drawn wagons.

I don't know about that, as I saw several horse drawn service wagons made for picking up garbage that were actually picking up garbage while we were there.

Tom

[DonMuncy]

27 minutes ago, Yooper Rocketman said:

I don't know about that, as I saw several horse drawn service wagons made for picking up garbage that were actually picking up garbage while we were there.

Tom

I only repeated what I had heard, (and surmised). If I remember where I heard about the garbage trucks, I would post it. (Like this is really mportant ) I will quickly yield to  anyone having superior knowledge.

[Yooper Rocketman]

I always wondered if the "non-motorized" policy changed in the off season when the island get's no real tourism.  There is a year round residency population, although a lot smaller number than during the summer.  Still, it's pretty neat to be walking around on the island an only see horses, bikes, and horse drawn wagons.  It's kind of a trip back on the time machine.

Tom

[Joe Zuffoletto]

On 8/14/2016 at 2:07 PM, bonal said:

Well today was a WLW for breakfast and some shopping before the temps get too much. Nice little trip but very hazy from the smoking fire burning just south of home. We have had more fires in Lake county the past two years than the previous 19 years I have lived here combined.  I am getting really sick of it definitely not normal.  At least the TFR is clear of 1o2 

Well, now we know why: arson. I hope they hang the bastard. So far they've linked him to 17 fires up there in the past year. Unbelievable.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/More-than-100-structures-destroyed-in-Lake-County-9143174.php

[kmyfm20s]

This weekend I went to Aspen KASE and had a nice time. Flew a direct flight from KMYF to KASE over the Rockies. I was expecting to land runway 33 but they had me land 15 which took a lot of effort to loose altitude and control my speed. Speed brake out and gear down from 17,500. Having my glide range circle on Garmin pilot was a very nice feature while flying over the mountains.

[Joe Zuffoletto]

Aspen is challenging but fun. The surrounding terrain necessitates steep approaches. BTW, they almost never land 33, even if the wind favors it, due to terrain and noise abatement.

Beautiful photos!

[kmyfm20s]

28 minutes ago, Joe Zuffoletto said:

Aspen is challenging but fun. The surrounding terrain necessitates steep approaches. BTW, they almost never land 33, even if the wind favors it, due to terrain and noise abatement.

Beautiful photos!

Sorry I meant to say I was expecting 15 but they switched me to 33 at the last minute necessitating my steep approach.

[Joe Zuffoletto]

7 minutes ago, kmyfm20s said:

Sorry I meant to say I was expecting 15 but they switched me to 33 at the last minute necessitating my steep approach.

Now that's something! All the years I've been flying into KASE I have never been assigned 33, and I've landed with some 5kt tailwinds or so on 15.

[bonal]

7 hours ago, Joe Zuffoletto said:

Well, now we know why: arson. I hope they hang the bastard. So far they've linked him to 17 fires up there in the past year. Unbelievable.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/More-than-100-structures-destroyed-in-Lake-County-9143174.php

I agree hang him from the charred remains of one of the heritage oak trees he destroyed and let all the victims take a shot while he suffocates.  I am especially angry because for the last 11 months my co workers and I have been scrambling like mad trying to engineer and coordinate the power restoration to the 1300 to 1400 customers destroyed in the Valley fire and now we are at square 1 again with this newest fire that destroyed close to 200 residences and businesses.  I would love to take those terrible storms hitting TX and LA and move them here and soak the shit out of this area.

OH and real nice pic's  fm20s

[Hank]

Too bad it would be considered "cruel and unusual" to chain him to the stump of a heritage oak and relight it. Conquistador mercy could be shown if he truly repented, and strangle him with a rope just before lighting the fire.

Wonder if he'll do like the NYC muggers, and get off by saying he did it because he was bored? Talk about stupid juries! "It's not group assault and gang rape, it's just a few teenage boys out on a wilding . . ." Shoulda made an example of them, too.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, bonal said:

I agree hang him from the charred remains of one of the heritage oak trees he destroyed and let all the victims take a shot while he suffocates.  I am especially angry because for the last 11 months my co workers and I have been scrambling like mad trying to engineer and coordinate the power restoration to the 1300 to 1400 customers destroyed in the Valley fire and now we are at square 1 again with this newest fire that destroyed close to 200 residences and businesses.  I would love to take those terrible storms hitting TX and LA and move them here and soak the shit out of this area.

OH and real nice pic's  fm20s

Isn't it a little premature for this?  There hasn't even been a trial yet.

Clarence

[bonal]

36 minutes ago, M20Doc said:

Isn't it a little premature for this?  There hasn't even been a trial yet.

Clarence

 Of course, If found Guilty.  You would understand if you had spent the past year in our shoes.  Floods  Tornadoes hurricanes earthquakes, nothing destroys more completely than fire.  Obviously I wont get selected for that jury

sorry for the rant, it's hot 101 smoky and I'm worn out from all of it.  lets get back on point I really enjoy the posts of flights on this thread

[Andy95W]

2 hours ago, M20Doc said:

Isn't it a little premature for this?  There hasn't even been a trial yet.

Clarence

1 hour ago, bonal said:

 Of course, If found Guilty.  You would understand if you had spent the past year in our shoes.  Floods  Tornadoes hurricanes earthquakes, nothing destroys more completely than fire.  Obviously I wont get selected for that jury

sorry for the rant, it's hot 101 smoky and I'm worn out from all of it.  lets get back on point I really enjoy the posts of flights on this thread

Dang, I agree with both of y'all.

[bradp]

Fun weekend with family at a campsite in western Virginia.  Flew KFWQ to KLYH with good examples of markedly unstable atmospheres and thunderstorm avoidance planning.  We were still able to make our trip with relatively minimal delays in general aviation terms (couldn't make it Sunday night so came back Monday morning). 

This was the first family flight since:

- New control surfaces

- New paint

- Annual

- New windows

- Mostly refurbished interior (leather and trim pieces need to be finished, but plastic and carpet is done). 

It was really hot and humid in the Mid Atlantic this weekend.  Convinced wife that DIY cooler air conditioner is a good idea for the sake of the puppy- that will be the next project.  On the way down we left at 1pm instead of my plan for 10am.  If the flight was any more than 1:17, I would probably have bagged it as we started seeing increasing buildups to the west and had one giant thunderstorm that was considering crossing our flight plan route.  There was a scattered layer at about 7k, so I got up above at 9.5k so I could see buildups a bit better.  Usually I stay lower with the kid in the back.  I used the cloud top tool in the flightplan Go app to measure tops in the 50k range for one particular isolated cell.  Fortunately, it was big enough to rain itself out and started dissipating by the time we arrive and stayed far enough west that it was no factor.  Otherwise, we'd have needed to head out east and go around or divert to another favorite destination, Charlotesville. 

Had a great time at a campsite in natural bridge Virginia with the family.  Piled 8 adults and 5 kids into my in-laws RV.  I got put on campfire cooking duty in 95+ degree heat - the only cure for my ailment was cold beer.  There was a small lake, a pool, a water slide and a spash area for the kids.  Lots of hokie family activities that were tons of fun.  Good eats (cooked our own stuff outdoors or in the RV).  This is my second trip with our family in our in-laws RV and I can really get used to AC at night :-). 

Coming back home was more thunderstorm avoidance.  I was waiting for a break in between two areas of convection associated with a trough during the morning hours.  Then we were getting toward the afternoon hours, TAFs calling for VCTS along the entire route of flight starting at about 2pm.  I wanted to be on the ground by about then.  Made the decision that weather was plenty VFR and I had enough diversion pionts and outs that we'd go up and take a peak and departed around noon time.  East of the Blue Ridge was clear and without buildups.  Really angry stuff developing to the west.  First time I've seen so much water content and heat that there were discrete areas of 'extreme' precip as called out by ATC with tops ~20k.  Did zigging and zagging around buildups, importantly remaining in VMC, and keeping many options for landing with a swath of clear air to the east at all times.  Got to the greater Pittsburgh area and was unsure if we'd make our destination before another line of cells arrived.  Initially we were thinking MGW would be an option for diversion, but the coast ahead towards Latrobe was clear and is about a 8 min flight from my home base of FWQ.   We flew to Latrobe and headed west towards the dark stuff.  Could easily see the line of precip still to the west  and the field was VMC, so proceeded with the plan to turn around if we couldn't make the home base with margins.  Uneventful landing. Hangar door motor tripped when I tried to open it.  Got soaked, had to ask the airport manager to come out to reset it.   The foreflight screen shot below was after we landed - just to show how the afternoon was progressing but isn't reflective of what we encountered.  It does go to show how fast build ups can mature, however.  

Great trip and good flying overall.  This was a lesson in how to proceed in an unstable atmosphere with caution and making sure that there are Plans A, B, C and out A, B, C. 

The value of IMC avoidance during these summer days can't be underestimated.  Mark 1 eyeballs cannot be overestimated. 

Take care,

-B

 

[MB65E]

Cool Cloud app, haven't seen that one yet. 

I like it, "for the sake of the puppy" Lol, not the kid or the wife. 

Fly safe,

-Matt

[211º]

Post vacation flight...

I quite like being able to take the Mooney up to a simple 2,500 feet and dial it back to 21"/2350 and 8.5 gph.

Oh I like the E's speed, but sometimes, up is all that is needed. .

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[amillet]

Last weekend we flew to Coeur d'Alene, ID to watch sons # 1 & 2 complete Iron Man Triathalon (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, then full marathon). Forest fire started nearby with smoke plume providing some welcome shade. 

[bonal]

A 2 for 1 last weekend was a trip to STS and we were put into a right orbit for almost ten minutes which was fine as I got to slow it down to a nice 90mph and a easy 15 degree bank they were real busy and were trying to get things sorted out when along comes mr Cirrus making his report in that he was north of Healdsburg request straight in for 14. That puts him 10 miles out while I'm circling 3 miles N/W well I guess the tower figures to have me break orbit and line up on the short final to get in front of the Cirrus and when we are lined up At 1000AGL I look down and there about 100 feet above the trees is mr Cirrus my first thought is this guy must have thought Santa Rosa was Healdsburg. I let the tower know of the real position on the Cirrus as I thought drop the left wing 90 degrees stomp on the ball roll out and I'm in perfect firering position. Or how about Mooney 14u can you extend out to a right downwind and will advise when we can turn you back for 14.  

Today we go STS again as there is just no shopping here at home. Line guy parks us and we tell him to top it off as we enter the FBO the receptionist is just holding out the keys and we don't even break stride as we head for the courtesy car. Hate to be predictable but what can one do. Snoopy only took 7 gallons that with 4 nice landings one can only smile.

[N5756v]

Just some cloud pictures back and forth from KLBL to KHSD in Oklahoma City . Give a huge shout out to sundance FBO at KHSD . Land rovers for crew cars and cheep cheep gas

Most modern FBO that I have been in . The sim is only 40$ an hour without an instructor

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[211º]

Yesterday, I did 6.5 hours in the Mooney in a round trip from Cincinnati to Tuscaloosa - beats the heck out of I-65 and 17 hours in the car's potential round trip.

Mooney's are time machines! 

[Joe Zuffoletto]

3.5 hours in the Acclaim yesterday from KSNA to KABQ, then 1.5 more this morning from KABQ to KAPA. Overall I flew 13 hours on the nose during my trip to the West Coast. Will post writeups soon!

[Hank]

5 hours ago, Joe Zuffoletto said:

3.5 hours in the Acclaim yesterday from KSNA to KABQ, then 1.5 more this morning from KABQ to KAPA. Overall I flew 13 hours on the nose during my trip to the West Coast. Will post writeups soon!

Dang! You went a lot further than Santa Barbara? Monica? One of 'em. My little C went from WV to central WY in that amount of time (13 hours, not 3.5) with a couple of extra stops for weather/friends. But I bet your trip was nicer . . . Looking forward to the write up and nice pictures!

[Joe Zuffoletto]

Thanks, Hank. I don't post to boast. I've been flying Mooneys for 30 years. I cut my teeth with C, F, J and K models before I got my TN. And I loved them all. They are all solid, well-engineered, fast, efficient and reliable airplanes. I've stuck with the M20s for very good reasons.

The M20TN is a beast. It's the ultimate expression of Al Mooney's airframe. It's hand-built in Texas. Al Mooney grew up in my hometown of Denver. I wish I could take him for a ride. He would be amazed, but probably not surprised.

[Jerry 5TJ]

Dodged the Hurricane departing Baltimore, stopped in Pekin IL for some fuel and to eat our bag lunch, then on to Torrington WY.  A few Cb to dodge in the plains.  Nice to fly low enough to watch America roll by.  

[Hank]

Jerry--

Nice trip! I dodged Hermine the easy way, postponing departure from yesterday until,this morning. Beautiful flying from Alabama into the Carolinas, once away from south Atlanta.