Today's flight for 2018

[xcrmckenna]

It was a dark and windy night... ok, it was a sunny and windy day on the coast. So I decided to go inland to a few new(to me) airports I had wanted to check out. I even brought along my video camera, which didn't get any useful audio, and stopped recording several times and needed to be restarted.
I headed from Newport(KONP) to Sisters Eagle Airport(6K5) which has a camping area I wanted to see. Then I headed to Lake Billy Chinook State(5S5) which is really more of an airpark, but I did manage to get the camera working:

Then I headed to Prineville(S39) where every plane in the area was apparently flying and breaking off the 45 a couple times for traffic I couldn't spot and realizing that there were 2 similar sounding red and white skywagons on frequency(at least I think there were, we have proper callsigns for a reason folks). I said screw it and continued to Bend(KBDN) where I had planned to get fuel. After I had worked out my whole 'left vs right' and 'east vs west' problem someone ended up on the runway with a flat. So I headed over to Albany(S12) to get fuel, and managed to actually land there.
Then I headed back to Newport where the winds were favoring runway 02 at a sporting 060 18G24 or so(peak gusts were 26 I think)

 If you look carefully in the video you can see my house, you can also see why I live where I do.
Oh well, 3 hours, 2 new airports at least(and really the more interesting ones).

You should have came on over to KGCD when Bend was closed:) glad you enjoyed your flight it looked like good times.


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[211º]

A nice 20° sunny day and afternoon. I missed sneaker to ground traction while pushing the plane back in the hangar though. Hangar doors frozen open also gave me pause... but the crazy dense air made it worth it.


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[Marauder]

Good day as well. Just cold...




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[EricJ]

Went to Sedona for lunch on Sunday and just as we were getting ready to leave this showed up:

I'd seen it in the pattern at Deer Valley before, but got to talk to the guy quite a bit.   It's a Stemme S10.   It has a 115hp Rotax that lets it cruise at 130kts or the prop blades fold up into the slot when the motor is off and the nose retracts flush.   The wings fold up to fit in a hangar.  It has solar cells on the back to help keep the batts charged while the motor is off.   Basically a very, very cool piece of kit.   The guy likes it a lot and said he flew it to Wyoming for the eclipse.

And I thought the Mooney had long wings!

Edited January 16, 2018 by EricJ

[MIm20c]

Warmer temperatures put some planes back into the air over SW MI. Nice to see some other GA pilots with open hangers showing some life at the local airports. Did three approaches and a couple holds on my way to the lakeshore. I always enjoy watching the ice pile into the shoreline and around the local lighthouse. Hopefully I’ll do a perimeter flight this summer and take pictures of all the lighthouses around the mitten. 

[KLRDMD]

Just south of Las Vegas today, from 9,500 ft.

[KLRDMD]

Just before takeoff and right after landing this morning (KAVQ-P13) Tucson to San Carlos, AZ.

[Skates97]

After almost three weeks without flying I just went out Saturday evening to burn some Avgas and make some holes in the sky. Not much of a story to tell but some nice pictures.

http://intothesky.us/2018/01/20/boring-holes-in-the-sky-at-sunset/

Here's a couple pics, more on my blog.

[Hank]

Had a great flight today to the edge of Birmingham airspace, KPLR Pell City, AL. Took off whjle it was still cold, a d my C had 1200-1300 fpm climb ar 105 mph! Held 1000 fpm or more from 326'msl to my cruise at 6500 msl. As I landed, a bright yellow Staggerwing was taxiing to the other end for takeoff (winds were calm). Beautiful morning to fly, great performance, too.

Lunch was good at a local barbecue joint, too.

Edited January 27, 2018 by Hank

[bradp]

Got the cobwebs out and did an IFR proficiency flight as a giant cold front moved through.  Lots of IMC and a little bit of wind shear here and there.  I was driving up from work listening to RDU approach on what sounded for one or two of the controllers as perhaps not the best day (lots of re vectoring etc).  I thought they probably don’t want me in there and sure enough the departure controller said he couldn’t get me in with Approach and suggested flying approaches at some other airports and was helpful and professional in every way.  I worked out going to IGX Chapel Hill for a GPS followed by SCR Siler City for a VOR and then a couple at my home base.  My plan to pre brief approaches went totally out the door and it ended up being one of those potpourri High workload round robins that I used to dread during instrument training.  Goody. 

All that and it wasn’t exactly one of those butter smooth flying days.  Continuous light turbulence everywhere and gusts with some moderate turbulence and up and down drafts that made holding an altitude an additional challenge.  I was planning to stay down at 3-4K with the freezing level reported at 6 ... however when I headed a bit west towards Greensboro the temps at 4K definitely started dropping from 5 to 0-1 as I headed a bit further west behind the frontal system, making looking for ice and having a plan to exit if encountered made for an additional mental task.  In addition there was a little shear layer +/-10 and +/-5 down to final.  Of course the bright side is in Pittsburgh I wouldn’t see a single minute of IMC from November to April and there seem to be plenty of these winter days available in the south.  So I got that going for me... which is nice.  

Challenges and fun flying.    It did feel good to get back in the saddle and fly some weather. 

The only downside besides my self criticism and nit picking was there were three of us in line for the same approach into TTA and I haven’t even rolled out before some jerk is on the CTAF asking me why I haven’t cancelled yet and I should know that planes are holding because of me.   Thanks.  That’s how it’s supposed to work and no I’m not cancelling in the air when the field is IMC.  Some people....

 

 

I’m still fiddling with settings on the new to me Aera 660... I turned down the terrain alerting sensitivity to medium so it’s not yelling at me on climb out.  It’s also hooked up via MapMx so that it depicts a curved path anticipating turns and shows the hold entry in fantastic detail.  I like it a lot.  

[Steve W]

In my it's always windy in Oregon theme...

I headed out to Aurora to Pacific Coast Avionics today to get my IFR Cert done and my Garmin 430W/530W units upgraded to software more recent than 5 years ago. So, Chris and his guys helped me out, even when I got there and handed them an Autopilot Disconnect switch and said "hey, can you install this too". 

The flight out was a nice boring VFR flight with rain... The flight back I had managed to pick up a 54kt breeze with 43kts on the nose... But at least I was still able to keep the ground speed of a 172. Got a nice ILS into Newport and while I'm glad my King Autopilot works again, I can't wait for the Garmins...

[chrisk]

1000 foot ceilings makes for a good day of IFR practice.   Sort of fun when you are between layers.

 

[Guitarmaster]

Just out for some Chili. That's us in the Mooney.

 

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[warren.huisman]

Warmer temperatures put some planes back into the air over SW MI. Nice to see some other GA pilots with open hangers showing some life at the local airports. Did three approaches and a couple holds on my way to the lakeshore. I always enjoy watching the ice pile into the shoreline and around the local lighthouse. Hopefully I’ll do a perimeter flight this summer and take pictures of all the lighthouses around the mitten. 

That’s a lot of light houses! I believe there are more than 100


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[MIm20c]

16 minutes ago, warren.huisman said:

That’s a lot of light houses! I believe there are more than 100


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Good thing I have a fast camera to keep up with the Mooney.  It would actually take a lot of time to do it right and get the best light at each location.  Probably less unique with all the drones buzzing around to grab the good angles. 

[lamont337]

On 1/20/2018 at 4:55 PM, MIm20c said:

Warmer temperatures put some planes back into the air over SW MI. Nice to see some other GA pilots with open hangers showing some life at the local airports. Did three approaches and a couple holds on my way to the lakeshore. I always enjoy watching the ice pile into the shoreline and around the local lighthouse. Hopefully I’ll do a perimeter flight this summer and take pictures of all the lighthouses around the mitten.

My wife and I want to do a lighthouse tour also. Over 3K miles of shoreline though, it'll take awhile!

[Skates97]

This was a week ago, we flew to AZ and then brought a Pilots n Paws dog back with us. I also took my dad flying in the Mooney for the first time. I have some video to edit of that flight and then will post that up separately. It was a fun flight back with ground speeds of 175-190 mph. Some bumps over Palm Springs as ATC routed us over KPSP for traffic pushing us closer to the mountains than if we had just stayed in the middle of the pass. The landing was probably my most challenging to date with the winds 050 12G28 on runway 07, at night, with no PAPI/VASI coming in over the trees, but I put it almost on the center line without a side load and felt really good about it.

Jenny – PilotsnPaws – AZ to SoCal along with some bumpy air

Here's a couple of pics, more on my blog.

[carusoam]

190mph GS?

Go M20C/D!

Was the dog’s name TailWind? 

He’s a keeper!

-a-

 

[Skates97]

15 minutes ago, carusoam said:

190mph GS?

Go M20C/D!

Was the dog’s name TailWind? 

He’s a keeper!

-a-

 

I was glad we were heading West and not East! 

[bonal]

Been a while since posting on today's flight and actually we have taken a few flights over the past weeks but in truth they were just our usual milk runs but regardless still great to be flying. Today we flew to LVK to meet my mom and sister for lunch at the golf course restaurant which is right off the end of the west ramp. The flight down we were getting 180 mph GS unlimited visibility 50 degrees at 5500 feet. But paid it back with 136 GS for our return. As usual Snoopy ran beautiful and as we were approaching home I started to think we were on a perfect oops put the hex on it and with 15 knot gusts at 45 degrees kind of forgot about the Lampson crosswind rollers that hit you as you cross the numbers causing a stiff but not hard landing ah me. Still all in all was a great day with family and plane. Looks like Calif is in another drought year but on the plus side makes for great winter flying.

[Yetti]

Post annual RTS flight

Good to be in the air.  

 

[EricJ]

Waiting to take off at the country's busiest general aviation airport (KDVT, Deer Valley, my home field).   Typical Tuesday morning.
 

This was a rescue mission to retrieve a friend's Cherokee after it got stranded in the CA desert due to high winds.   

Edited February 21, 2018 by EricJ

[Skates97]

10 minutes ago, EricJ said:

Waiting to take off at the country's busiest general aviation airport (KDVT, Deer Valley, my home field).   Typical Tuesday morning.
 

This was a rescue mission to retrieve a friend's Cherokee after it got stranded in the CA desert due to high winds.   

What airport is that in CA?

[EricJ]

1 minute ago, Skates97 said:

What airport is that in CA?

Desert Center, aka Chuckwalla Valley Raceway.   We were there for a race weekend but the wind picked up a LOT on Sunday and the airplane had to be left behind.   I wouldn't recommend the field, the runway is not in the greatest shape.   Good for an emergency if needed, but I've no plans to take the Mooney back unless I really have to.

Awesome race track, though.

[Skates97]

1 hour ago, EricJ said:

Desert Center, aka Chuckwalla Valley Raceway.   We were there for a race weekend but the wind picked up a LOT on Sunday and the airplane had to be left behind.   I wouldn't recommend the field, the runway is not in the greatest shape.   Good for an emergency if needed, but I've no plans to take the Mooney back unless I really have to.

Awesome race track, though.

Ah, I've seen it while flying between Corona and Chandler. Runway looked good from 9,500' up...