Today's flight for 2017

[bonal]

Some of my favorite reading on Mooney Space. Lots of great tales from last year. Looking forward to this years adventures and hoping all have great flying to share with others.

Bonal

[Hank]

I was hoping someone would do this! Weather here is not conducive for flightseeing here today . . .

[carusoam]

Way to go Bonal! 

Let's start the year off right.

Best regards,

-a-

[carusoam]

Alright, PV!

First inflight photo of the year has been Posted!

Best regards,

-a-

[Cyril Gibb]

First flight of the year for me ended in Chattanooga tonight with an approach breaking out at 250' in mist and moderate rain.  Hopefully the rest of the year will be more boring. Love seeing those approach lights after 4 hours in the air fighting headwinds.

[Raptor05121]

Here is my first flight of the year. 14kt headwind, I was crawling along at 105kts ground speed



I went down to Williston with the group from Cannon Creek. A bunch of the guys have been following the progress of my plane for a while so I got a bunch of back-slapping now that I've finally starting making fly-outs. 

[Flip]

On 1/1/2017 at 5:08 PM, peevee said:

first flight of the year

14k peak in the clouds and a nice clip in the descent.

Do you know which peak it was?  My Dad and I climbed several of them back when I was in high school.

[peevee]

10 minutes ago, Flip said:

Do you know which peak it was?  My Dad and I climbed several of them back when I was in high school.

That's longs peak. 

[Raptor05121]

 

The girlfriend and I tried to go to DeLand for dinner but there was a line of clouds over Gainesville going to Tampa. I went under, but Jacksonville kept spewing out AIRMETs around the panhandle and I didn't want to get stuck down there if it came speeding this way so we turned around.

[Raptor05121]

This morning canceled our plans for breakfast at Keystone. Woke up at 7am, solid layer of clouds at 2,000 feet and moving rapidly. I went back to sleep. I woke up at 2pm (I work nightshift) and broken at 6,000- winds still kicking. I went out and pounded the pattern to get more x-wind practice. Winds 350@14G21. Took off runway 25 and maxed out at 1,500fpm with myself and full tanks. I was 500 feet above pattern altitude by the time I turned crosswind.

Winds changed to 360@9G11, went over to Cannon Creek and hit Runway (sidewalk) 36 a couple times. First one I dropped it from 3 feet, it hurt. Stall warning never went off. Next two were go arounds, the wind would just balloon me when I flare and start climbing again, and the airspeed was bleeding quick. Winds still the same, went and hit Runway 28 at Lake City and practiced drift control with a good crosswind. Tower was closed so I didn't feel so bad about missing the centerline.

All in all, 1.2 and 6 landings helped out a bit.

Tomorrow morning, pre-heating the plane and heading over to St. Augustine for breakfast with a Cherokee pilot. Then turning around and heading to Cedar Key with more Cherokee pilots for lunch. I'll have a tailwind going east, and headwind going west.

44 hrs so far, getting close to having to change the oil.

[carusoam]

Alex,  

What's the plan for checking the stall warning?

Nice Climb rate...  benefit of cold air temp.

Best regard,

-a-

[Raptor05121]

Stall warning is checked on pre-flight and works well. I'm getting decent at having it blare when flaring on no-wind days.

But that only happens when flying solo and no one is watching

[Hector]

Is there food at 42J? Or do you have to drive out into town?


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[XXX]

Alex and Hector, are either of you going to the Mooney lunch at KLEE Saturday?

[N6758N]

On 1/7/2017 at 11:38 PM, Raptor05121 said:

This morning canceled our plans for breakfast at Keystone. Woke up at 7am, solid layer of clouds at 2,000 feet and moving rapidly. I went back to sleep. I woke up at 2pm (I work nightshift) and broken at 6,000- winds still kicking. I went out and pounded the pattern to get more x-wind practice. Winds 350@14G21. Took off runway 25 and maxed out at 1,500fpm with myself and full tanks. I was 500 feet above pattern altitude by the time I turned crosswind.

Winds changed to 360@9G11, went over to Cannon Creek and hit Runway (sidewalk) 36 a couple times. First one I dropped it from 3 feet, it hurt. Stall warning never went off. Next two were go arounds, the wind would just balloon me when I flare and start climbing again, and the airspeed was bleeding quick. Winds still the same, went and hit Runway 28 at Lake City and practiced drift control with a good crosswind. Tower was closed so I didn't feel so bad about missing the centerline.

All in all, 1.2 and 6 landings helped out a bit.

Tomorrow morning, pre-heating the plane and heading over to St. Augustine for breakfast with a Cherokee pilot. Then turning around and heading to Cedar Key with more Cherokee pilots for lunch. I'll have a tailwind going east, and headwind going west.

44 hrs so far, getting close to having to change the oil.

Alex,

Have you tried using partial or zero flaps for gusty xwind landings? I'll probably get flamed for saying it, but I find it really helps with smooth approaches and landings during crappy windy days. Just add a couple knots to your approach speed, leave the flaps up, and I bet you will be surprised how much easier it is to control the aircraft. I am jealous of how many times you've flown in 2017 compared to my 0!

[Raptor05121]

On 1/8/2017 at 0:46 AM, Hector said:

Is there food at 42J? Or do you have to drive out into town?


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The EAA Chapter was having their monthly breakfast. They canceled and moved it to the 14th, which is the same day as:

20 hours ago, Chupacabra said:

Alex and Hector, are either of you going to the Mooney lunch at KLEE Saturday?

Yes! I will be getting off work and heading down there meaning NO sleep for me. But to see other Mooneys is worth it.

7 hours ago, N6758N said:

Alex,

Have you tried using partial or zero flaps for gusty xwind landings? I'll probably get flamed for saying it, but I find it really helps with smooth approaches and landings during crappy windy days. Just add a couple knots to your approach speed, leave the flaps up, and I bet you will be surprised how much easier it is to control the aircraft. I am jealous of how many times you've flown in 2017 compared to my 0!

 

 

I have tried a no-flap landing once and it was atrocious. I will need to get back out there and try some more, thanks!

[Raptor05121]

Yesterday was a full-event. My friend Matt and I planned on going to St. Augustine for breakfast, but his plane (parked out on the ramp at KLEE) would not start. It took him an hour to get it running and it did not leave us time to get to KSGJ and back, so we elected for closer. We detoured to Williston. The winds were 14 from the north, so I was doing about 165kts over the ground, and him coming from the south had a ground speed in his Cherokee at about 95kts. I met up with him somewhere over Ocala and we did a few minutes of formation flying before descending for breakfast.

After Williston, I went home and then I had another Cherokee friend tell me they were going to Cedar Key for lunch. So the plane gets gassed up and back in the air we go. This time I was about 100lbs under gross with myself, my friend, his wife and child. The plane felt nice and steady when heavy and again, tailwinds had us booking to almost 200mph over the ground. It was COLD but nice and smooth until you got down to the turbulent winds <1,000'. I'm at work so I managed to use the faster bandwidth to upload my GoPro. The unit on my vertical stabilizer would not record for unknown reasons so apologies for not having an outside view.

 

 

3.6 hours in the logbook for that day.

[Hector]

I have tried a no-flap landing once and it was atrocious. I will need to get back out there and try some more, thanks!

Alex, unfortunately something came up and I have to fly back down to Miami this weekend. I will not make the Leesburg Mooney fly in. I'll be picking up my son in Tampa Friday and heading down to Miami returning Sunday. Hope to catch up with you guys sometime. Let's meet somewhere sometime.


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[Raptor05121]

thanks.

[bonal]

I don't know a 152 aerobat can be fun if you don't mind slow but like rolls loops and fully developed spins 

[Skates97]

Got up in the air for my first flight of the new year on Saturday. We were going to try to knock out the rest of my dual required for the insurance company but that was cut short by a MP gauge that decided it was done working. We did have a nice flight down to San Diego area before realizing that it had gone wonky somewhere along the way. If you're up for a fun story about the flight and the adventure that fixing the gauge was then here's the full write up.

http://intothesky.us/2017/01/08/cross-country-repairs-airport-introductions/

[Raptor05121]

5 hours ago, Hyett6420 said:

As i had not  flown ANYTHING since AL went into her makeover, and the bi annual was due, i spent two hours in a C152 this week..  So points to note.

1. a 152 has as much power as a wet fart!
2. instructor has decades less age than you
3. instructor has hundreds, thousands less hours than you. 
4. Instructor sits there and smiles, takes pictures and i show him the local area. (Oh and turns off the carb heat as required, cause mines fuel injected mate!). 

Good fun trips (two of). Last one had fog in the valleys and low cloud everywhere with lots of holes, great fun and as smooth as a babys bottom. I love the weather in the uk whens its like that.  

instruction for you all, when you stall your 152, just let go, it then recovers.  How is that damn aircraft a trainer! (Yep i am not sure i like it after being spoiled on a mooney). And lets not mention speed or lack thereof!  

I did enjoy being airbourne again, even if i am old enough to have spawned the instructor, boy that made me feel old!

Andrew

 

 

I liked the 152. Stalls are more violent than other planes, so you learn to respect them. I even did some spin training.

Great airplane to throw around. Last time I flew one, I did a XC of 160 miles. I took off with a full cup and empty bladder and landed with an empty cup and a bladder so full I did a 90kt straight-in approach it hurt so damn bad. Stopped and pissed on the side of the taxiway. I'm sure the urine coming out could've put some hydrants to shame.

The aerobics to get in one got me ready for my Mooney

[Raptor05121]

Today we had a local school come on a field trip to the airport. Myself and a few others showed the kids the airplanes and the basics. We even had LifeFlight stop in to show the helicopter, a local RC pilot did a little airshow, and a powered paraglider did a few passes at 10mph. What a great day, I think my smile was bigger than theirs

[Skates97]

No pictures, and maybe a short write-up later, but went out last night with my CFI and just did pattern work. Last time I flew at night was over 5 months ago in my PPL training. It was good practice, and I'm one hour closer to finishing up the dual requirements for insurance. Another 3.8 to go and I can venture out on my own. 

[APTUS Pilot]

Putting in some safety pilot time in our M20J the other evening gave me an unusual opportunity to snap a few pics. Sunset over Knoxville TN, with "Downtown Island" airport KDKX in the foreground lower left. Looking west down runway 26 with the Tennessee River bending around the airfield. East TN is a great place to fly.