2016 today's flight

[bonal]

Hank, sorry about your trials but you never no sometimes bad things happen so worse things don't. Thanks for the tale. Mine is down for repairs but we have real stormy weather so no flights for a while.

[Hank]

52 minutes ago, Mooneymite said:

Hank, there's a nice runway lot still available at Mallards.  

(Sorry for all your troubles.)

That would be quite the commute! To say nothing if the drive back to the lake afterwards . . .   

[TWinter]

It was a very pretty weekend in Tennessee. My neighbor's child is fascinated with airplanes so I took them out for a discovery flight. I enjoyed it as much as they did. I think we have a future pilot in the making.

[Yetti]

One wheel landings.  Not just for C172 anymore.  Some wacky winds just seem to lead to keeping the upwind wing down.   Not as pretty as it could be.  Plane kept weather vaning so one wheel it was.

[Marauder]

One wheel landings.  Not just for C172 anymore.  Some wacky winds just seem to lead to keeping the upwind wing down.   Not as pretty as it could be.  Plane kept weather vaning so one wheel it was.

Have you had a chance to see how much crosswind your F can handle?

Was playing around late this afternoon to see if I could squeeze my iPad Air in the plane.

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[Yetti]

With all the gizmos in the panel it is interesting that we like the $100.00 pads better. :-)  I see that your strip that covers the alum for the warning lights has come off.   I was thinking of redoing the glare shield in leather. Can't decide if I want to make a new one out of alum or recover the plastic one. 

The winds were 90 deg 10 gusting to 16 runway is at 160. With half flaps in.   I have landed in stronger cross winds that gave me that little "oh no" feeling inside and the plane handled them like a champ.  This was more gustier I think and that is why the tail was trying to come around. It was one of those annoying things like "oh got it all set up" bam now you are not. did that twice.  "fine I will just put a wing down and show you"

[MyNameIsNobody]

On March 8, 2016 at 10:46 AM, TWinter said:

It was a very pretty weekend in Tennessee. My neighbor's child is fascinated with airplanes so I took them out for a discovery flight. I enjoyed it as much as they did. I think we have a future pilot in the making.

Who did your paint?  Love the scheme!  Looks fantastic, but NOT as good as your co-pilot

 

[Marauder]

With all the gizmos in the panel it is interesting that we like the $100.00 pads better. :-)  I see that your strip that covers the alum for the warning lights has come off.   I was thinking of redoing the glare shield in leather. Can't decide if I want to make a new one out of alum or recover the plastic one. 

The winds were 90 deg 10 gusting to 16 runway is at 160. With half flaps in.   I have landed in stronger cross winds that gave me that little "oh no" feeling inside and the plane handled them like a champ.  This was more gustier I think and that is why the tail was trying to come around. It was one of those annoying things like "oh got it all set up" bam now you are not. did that twice.  "fine I will just put a wing down and show you"

Yeah, the covering came off in the 1990s. I will get it dealt with when I have the interior done.

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[TWinter]

2 hours ago, MyNameIsNobody said:

Who did your paint?  Love the scheme!  Looks fantastic, but NOT as good as your co-pilot

 

Had the paint done at Mena Aircraft Painting (Mena, Arkansas). I guess it's about 3 yrs old. Has held up well.

The little boy and his dad were really excited. First time in a small plane for both of them. The little boy had seen me fly over the house many times over the years. Finally got to take them up.

[MyNameIsNobody]

33 minutes ago, TWinter said:

Had the paint done at Mena Aircraft Painting (Mena, Arkansas). I guess it's about 3 yrs old. Has held up well.

The little boy and his dad were really excited. First time in a small plane for both of them. The little boy had seen me fly over the house many times over the years. Finally got to take them up.

Glad to hear!  That shop would be reasonable for travel.  Good for you getting them up.  Maybe a new/future pilot has been born?!  That is when I fell in love with GA.

[cnoe]

Today's flight was yesterday. With a narrow window in my Saturday schedule, and feeling the need to burn off some 100LL I departed Texas Gulf Coast Regional looking for 8,500 msl to do a couple of mixture sweeps to check the injectors for GAMI spread. I was also testing the new GoPro mount I'd gotten earlier in the week. It was scattered below but 8,500 put me in a wispy thin overcast so I climbed for 10,500 knowing there were clear areas all around. I was already headed down the coast so I decided to make a quick stop somewhere new and Mustang Island sounded like a fun place to check out. The flight down the coast was uneventful though the airfield (KRAS) was a bit difficult to spot heading into the sun, particularly with mix of sand and water below. As I dropped the gear turning downwind I could see that the beaches were crowded with Spring-breakers below. The base leg had me descending over the Intercoastal Waterway. Then the final approach takes you low over the salt-grass marshes with the runway starting right at the edge. (See pics from GoPro time-lapse)

I only had about 15 minutes to chat with the mom-and-pop FBO attendants before I had to bug out but they were super nice. Apparently there's a new aviation-themed motel that's recently opened too. Once I've confirmed they're dog friendly I plan to head that way again with the Mrs. and pooch Eli. That's it!

[Hank]

Jay owns the hotel, you'll find him on Pilots of America. Let us know how the hotel is! I think he has courtesy cars for pilots who stay at his hotel. Look for his red RV, too (plane, not a motor home . . .), I just don't remember which model.

[Bob_Belville]

Wide Open Throttle - aka Balls to the Wall

[chrisk]

^{Austin Tx to Santa Fe NM, then to Durango CO.  Brutal headwinds made it feel like I was in a Cessna.  Super slow until 200 miles from Santa Fe.  Then the turbulence started. Going lower wouldn't work.  Going higher was even worse.  160 TAS, turned in to 120 KTS ground speed}

 

Yes, the slow ground speeds were worth it!

[bradp]

Today's flight also didn't happen.  It would have been one of those everything lines up just right type of moments for it to go.  I bagged a flight from BDR to PHL yesterday with today's crappy forecast ... Specifically the possibility of icing with an inversion layer.  Sure enough today there were temps of +4 or so on the ground, +1 at 3k and a DA40 reported mod clear ice at 3.5k over Oxford.  Ah ha observation confirmed the forecast.   But this warm front was moving through and by the time we would be ready to depart, warm air would predominate and no more icing predictions (btw not impressed with Lockheed Martin).  Anyhow now there's this stationary front moving through with a solid line of TS that look just nasty.  Based on the speed of the line moving SW to NE it would have been pushing it to try to get in just before the line arrived in the Pittsburgh area.  Almost but not quite.  Well see how things look for tomorrow.  Will definitely be areas of IFR but hopefully no convection.    

[Marauder]

Today's flight also didn't happen.  It would have been one of those everything lines up just right type of moments for it to go.  I bagged a flight from BDR to PHL yesterday with today's crappy forecast ... Specifically the possibility of icing with an inversion layer.  Sure enough today there were temps of +4 or so on the ground, +1 at 3k and a DA40 reported mod clear ice at 3.5k over Oxford.  Ah ha observation confirmed the forecast.   But this warm front was moving through and by the time we would be ready to depart, warm air would predominate and no more icing predictions (btw not impressed with Lockheed Martin).  Anyhow now there's this stationary front moving through with a solid line of TS that look just nasty.  Based on the speed of the line moving SW to NE it would have been pushing it to try to get in just before the line arrived in the Pittsburgh area.  Almost but not quite.  Well see how things look for tomorrow.  Will definitely be areas of IFR but hopefully no convection.    

It was nasty through the mid-Atlantic. Good call.

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[Deb]

This past weekend was another nice weekend for flying. We practiced some approaches, and took the opportunity to get gas at Ft Myers (KFMY).

 

On Saturday, we flew up to Ocala, FL (KOCF) for the Florida Mooney group lunch. There were close to 30 at lunch, and at least 12 Mooneys. Aaron (CaptainAB) posted some pictures, including his delightful daughters checking out a Mooney! 

 

CarolAnn Garratt was running a program for young girls as part of Women in Aviation at the airport; there were tower tours, airplane rides and a military helicopter with an all female crew.

We had the opportunity to fly CarolAnn to her home airport Flying Tiger (FL54). Interesting runway, with tall trees at both ends making for an unmarked displaced threshold. There is also a pesky 700 ft cell tower in the pattern. Fortunately CarolAnn fully briefed us.

We got home in time to enjoy a beautiful sunset.

[1524J]

I didn't get to go so not sure if it counts but 5824Q got to go to Gaston, AR for some fishing.

[1524J]

2 hours ago, Hyett6420 said:

that looks like a lovely place.  Why cant we have places like that in the UK, oh I know too many NIMBYs (Not in my back yard!)

Do you have the lower gear doors on your mooney, we do and i am always worried about taking her into grass strips with those lower doors.

I didn't get to go. I let my CFI use the plane to take his family fishing, No, we removed the inner gear doors because we were concerned about the turf field. 

 

[Yetti]

Lunch landing winds 020 15G21  Arriving on runway 34

Return home Winds 360 14G20 Arriving on runway 34

High school spring breaker "What did you do on spring break?"   "Preflighted and flew a plane"     bit of an upset stomach but she handled it like a trooper.

 

Edited March 20, 2016 by Yetti

[Hank]

Yetti, my landings today looked a lot like that. I hit three airports (two here in Alabama, one just north of Atlanta). Amazingly enough, I used Runway 31 at all of them. Two don't report weather, but I listened to nearby AWOS/ASOS (I don't know the difference, both continuously updated computer voices). The best winds I heard were 340@9G20. I used a lot of runway at PUJ due to a gust in the flare, probably an additional 500-600 feet, but returning to 41A, a whopping 3200' but with wide open approaches, I made the turn to the hangars not much more than 2000' from the threshold with no braking at all; in fact, I had to add power to finish the turn.

But we were well shaken, not stirred. First time I've had to pull power to descend from 8500 msl all the way down. I generally just push for 500 fpm and trim to hold, but not today! Bump, thump, wheee! Rattle, shake, drop, swerve . . . Had to go below 18" to get below 4000, she wouldn't descend and speed wouldn't go below 150 mph. 

Cruising up at 7500 and back down at 8500 was very smooth. Sure was nice to be back in the air again. But I'm gonna sleep well tonight! Only logged 2.1 hours and 3 landings, but I'm not used to the constant bumping and lurching. Need to fly more this year!

Anybody up for lunch in E AL / W GA next weekend if the weather improves?

[Yetti]

Always fun to be up there.  The return home with the sun on the way down behind me was magical.  We have had 3 days of gusty winds with about 20 degree off the runway . I think this is the first time to fly 3 days in a row.  Tonight was a cheap gas run. still $2.95  Friday was the most smooth.   Saturday and Sunday pretty bumpy.  First time my head being close to the top of the cabin became an issue.  As icing on the cake when the plane was all put away the and the sun was setting hopped in the car and Danger Zone was on the radio, so had to make some fast passes on the taxiway.  It's on video, but too cliche to post.

[MyNameIsNobody]

Come on Yetti...Say it with me "I feel the need....The need for SPEEEEEED!"

Taxiway to the Dangerzone...Ba Ba Ba Bom Bom....

[Yetti]

If I had taken the motorcycle to the airport it would have been ideallic

 

[Yooper Rocketman]

Treated a good customer to ride home when he dropped his truck off today for a weeks worth the work.  He is always asking me about flying so, as expected, he was pretty excited about the ride home.  Landed at a small airport about 50 miles by car, 14 minutes by Mooney, west of my home drone.  Haven't been in this little airport in a while, so had to be on my game with the Rocket.  2,000' by 40', know locally as the "aircraft carrier".  It has a 60' drop off the south end, and 80' drop off the north end.  Nice for taking off, but you DON'T want to be too slow and catch a down draft just before the threshold or you will get dirt in your eyes.  http://www.airnav.com/airport/Y73

Snow is gone but the lakes are still frozen.

Tom