Today's flight in 2019

[kpaul]

1 hour ago, Skates97 said:

Going through pictures as I'm writing up our trip and noticed that one of these is a MS member at the Mid-Atlantic clinic, @kpaul, look familiar?

I believe the ones here on the tablet are the two of you, as I departed right after.

Yep that me on the outside, leading for a first time formation pilot.  Funny you should have only been able to see one of us on ADSB however, my wingman missed the ground ops checklist item to pull his transponder CB.  We fixed that, must have been shortly after you captured this screen shot.  My ADSB was not happy with another target 3' from my wing tip.

Next year I expect to see you in Madison, joining the Caravan into Oshkosh.  After all there is are Caravan groups in California, Washington and Arizona. Or better yet come back to Hickory and train with MAG!

[Skates97]

10 minutes ago, kpaul said:

Yep that me on the outside, leading for a first time formation pilot.  Funny you should have only been able to see one of us on ADSB however, my wingman missed the ground ops checklist item to pull his transponder CB.  We fixed that, must have been shortly after you captured this screen shot.  My ADSB was not happy with another target 3' from my wing tip.

Next year I expect to see you in Madison, joining the Caravan into Oshkosh.  After all there is are Caravan groups in California, Washington and Arizona. Or better yet come back to Hickory and train with MAG!

Hope so, the trip to NC this summer ate up a good chunk of my vacation but was completely worth it. Next year I should be able to fit in Oshkosh. I am planning an Alaska trip but I think that one will be in 2021.

[Oldguy]

On 7/4/2019 at 10:29 AM, Hank said:

That's quite a missed at Talladega and Gadsden! How do you turn around so sharp that there's only a single line shown?

For comparison, this was my return from Cole's to my new base, admittedly rusty due to excessive downtime . . . .

Had to stop at Talladega to swap pilots. Was going to get breakfast at Gadsden, but forgot the FBO was closed, so no crew car.

[gsxrpilot]

Today... well this weekend anyway... I was able to take my 252 flying in it's natural habitat, the Colorado Rockies. I don't have any pictures as I was a little focused on the flying. But hopefully this will be the first of many trips into the mountains.

On the 4th, my wife, our dog and I loaded up the Mooney and flew from Denver (KBJC) to Gunnison (KGUC). We departed about 8:45am to beat the winds that whip up in the afternoon. The winds were still 30 knots on the nose as we crossed just north of Cottonwood pass and over some 14,000+ foot peaks. At 15,500 ourselves, we just had some light chop. The flight was just 50 minutes instead of what would have been a 4 hour drive.

Today we made the return trip. We loaded up and departed runway 06 out of Gunnison which is our direction of flight but also points directly at rising terrain immediately off the runway. The runway sits at 7680 ft MSL with terrain rising to over 9000 ft within 5 miles. And within 20 miles we were crossing 14,000 ft terrain. For the 252 it was as if asking, "what mountains?" We topped out at 15,000 and stayed on course direct Denver. BJC was reporting IFR and 800 OVC, and with a 45 minute flight, we were "METAR Controlled". So I filed IFR at 15,000 for the short flight. On contacting Denver Center, they told me the minimum IFR altitude would be 17,000. I declined and said we'd rather stay at 15 and VFR. Center said "no problem, we can open your IFR flight plan after you get across the Collegiate range. BJC started clearing up as we got closer so we stayed VFR all the way in. I really appreciated the speed brakes trying to lose 10K ft of altitude in just a few miles coming into Denver. Flight time was only 40 minutes, and we were home in time for brunch.

The M20K 252 is such an amazing airplane to have in this part of the country. I'm excited to get to do this type of flying.

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N252AD/history/20190704/1446Z/KBJC/L 38.60240 -106.89600

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N252AD

[HXG]

Here’s a few pics from flights over the past several days- Telluride, Rockies, Moab, Sierras, Yosemite, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, &  Lake Powell. 

[MinneMooney]

Flew my Mooney to St. Paul Downtown airport yesterday. The EAA had their B17 and B25 here for the weekend giving rides and ground tours. The terminal building was built by the WPA in the mid-1930’s and was used by Northwest Airlines. The large Quonset hangar behind the B25 was built in WWII and used to modify aircraft, including Doolittle’s B25’s. Lot’s of great history.

[HXG]

12 hours ago, gsxrpilot said:

Today... well this weekend anyway... I was able to take my 252 flying in it's natural habitat, the Colorado Rockies. I don't have any pictures as I was a little focused on the flying. But hopefully this will be the first of many trips into the mountains.

gsxrpilot, 

Welcome to the front range! I’m  based at KLMO.  It’s been unusually stormy here (earlier in day and season and more frequent for the past several weeks). I’m sure you heard this already, but I highly recommend the Colorado Pilots Association (CPA) Mountain Flying course in June and August (8/17). It’s a great course on mountain flying anywhere and especially in Colorado. You’ll gain a ton of local knowledge and tips for mountain flying just about anywhere in the Colorado area. 

Here are a few pics from my quick  20 minute sightseeing flight from Longmont- Boulder- Rollins pass- Lake Granby- Milner Pass- Trail Ridge Road- Fort Collins on May 31 and a last pic of me this 4th of July at KSJC:

[gsxrpilot]

8 minutes ago, HXG said:

gsxrpilot, 

Welcome to the front range! I’m  based at KLMO.  It’s been unusually stormy here (earlier in day and season and more frequent for the past several weeks). I’m sure you heard this already, but I highly recommend the Colorado Pilots Association (CPA) Mountain Flying course in June and August (8/17). It’s a great course on mountain flying anywhere and especially in Colorado. You’ll gain a ton of local knowledge and tips for mountain flying just about anywhere in the Colorado area. 

Hi, and thanks for the warm welcome!  I did take the CPA Mountain Flying course when it was offered in June. Well, the ground school portion anyway. Because of weather, we had to scrap the flying part. I hope to get that in soon. Even though several people, including one of the instructors asked when they heard I fly a turbo Mooney, "why are you taking this course?" it was full of very useful information and local knowledge.

I'd love to meet up and fly together sometime.

[HXG]

A meet up sometime this summer sounds good.      Glad you got to take the mountain course, which is a little more focused on flying below 14,000 feet, but still useful. Most of my mountain flying before purchasing my turbo mooney a little over 2 years ago has been in non-turbo aircraft including taildraggers.

 

[bonal]

Yesterday we made a short flight to the coast as I needed some areal photos for reference to use on my paintings. Winds and thermals were really screwy as soon as we were on the upwind we were getting 12 to 13 hundred fpm and had a pretty bouncy flight to the sea. The marine layer was deep but fore flight showed a gap open along about 20 to 30 miles close to home. When we hit the area it looked just like what the satellite was showing and would be good for pictures. But the ride was so bumpy at 2000 agl made it near impossible to get any good pics. Head for home. AWOS was stating variable 10 knots with a 90 degree swing. Was getting pushed and pulled in the pattern and just before TD got the stall horn and dropped onto the runway from maybe a foot or two. We were at 75mph at that moment so must have picked up one of the infamous Lampson rollers. 

Also had to move out of the hangar I was renting. forth move at our little airport. I think I may have lucked out as we were able to find this one and for the first time it's not shared with others. Owner says we can stay as long as we like. 

 

[ilovecornfields]

Departing HWD today going southbound they had me fly at 2000’ right under the final approach for SFO. They would point me right at a heavy then say “caution wake turbulence.” After they did this a few times I had to say “if you’re really worried about wake turbulence you wouldn’t give me that heading.” They seemed to get the point and the rest of the flight went smoothly.

My son say my hangar neighbor’s RV-8 and is now grilling me on why I didn’t buy a “real plane.” Mine doesn’t even have a stick!

 

[jaylw314]

18 minutes ago, ilovecornfields said:

Departing HWD today going southbound they had me fly at 2000’ right under the final approach for SFO. They would point me right at a heavy then say “caution wake turbulence.” After they did this a few times I had to say “if you’re really worried about wake turbulence you wouldn’t give me that heading.” They seemed to get the point and the rest of the flight went smoothly.

You rule 

[0TreeLemur]

Ok, not in a Mooney- but pretty high altitude for a Toyota Hilux.   Last week in northern Chile.

 

[Yooper Rocketman]

I did a mercy flight yesterday, bringing back a cancer patient from Ann Arbor to the U.P.  As usual I got the full route STAR, with a couple altitude crossing restrictions and a speed restriction of 250 knots at the first one, the RNAV 24 approach, and another full route SID.  Probably because of my climb rate, I never made it to my first SID way point before being cleared Direct to home.

Anyway, when I taxied in, there was a nice looking M20J sitting on the ramp.  As I got out of the plane, the guy that ground handled me (an older gentleman) asked what kind of plane I had.  He said it was the first Lancair propjet he had ever seen.  I told him I had been to ARB quite a few times with it recently.  He then introduced himself as John Solo (Solo Aviation was the FBO).  I commented how great his operation was to our pilots coming out of the U.P. frequently for med flights.  The fuel guy came right up and asked if I wanted fuel and I gave him my fuel order, with John reminding the guy very firmly "JET A"!   I could tell he was a business owner.

SO I met my passenger and saw the Jet A fuel truck pull to my plane right away, so a few minutes later when he was no longer parked by my plane, I tried paying my fuel bill.  The desk girl apologized and said I HAD NOT been fueled yet, the Mooney was first in line, going to depart soon, so he had to fuel him first.  I said no problem, I wasn't in a hurry.  I looked out and saw the Mooney owner pre-flighting, so decided to meet him and make sure he didn't think I was trying to jump him on getting fuel.  

I asked if he was on Mooney Space, to which he replied he had just joined.  Apparently he just bought the plane.  I wish I would have taken a picture of it.  It was a very nice blue plane (clearly I don't like blue, sarcasm alert).  I mentioned I had been flying Mooney's since 1996 and just moved out of my Rocket.  He said "looks like a pretty significant move up", to which I replied "not many planes are a move up from Mooney's"!!  Sounds like this is his first "owned" plane, having done rentals previously.  I said that's a pretty big jump to which he mentioned he flies for a living.  Anyway, he said his name is Brian (Bryon?) so hoping he becomes an active member.

Tom

[amillet]

25 minute flight to Paine Field (KPAE) to pick up my grandson Xavien who will be my co-pilot in the Mooney Caravan. He flew in from Phoenix. Much more convenient than KSEA

[bdash]

Took my wife and daughter down to Nut Tree (KVCB, Vacaville, CA) for brunch at Fenton's Creamery this morning. The little one rode up front for the first time, and had SO MANY questions about the airplane once we were home (What was that black knob for? What does the orange button do (CO alarm)? What are all the other buttons for? On and on and on until bedtime). She's been telling us she's going to be a pilot when she grows up since before I took my discovery flight.

The only downside at all about our flight today was that it was 95º out. That made for a sweaty time on the ground while we got loaded in and through the run-up. It might be time to look into one of those ice-chest-based coolers I've seen mentioned.

Edited July 14, 2019 by bdash

[Skates97]

I took a good friend and his 18 yo son flying last Thursday. Here's the "public post" I put on my blog and FB.

https://intothesky.us/2019/07/14/thursday-night-flight/

It was very rewarding to be able to help a young man overcome his fear of flying and find out that it is actually fun. The rest of this post is kind of a long, but I didn't want to post more details on my blog because I didn't want his son to be embarrassed about being so scared. I wrote that he was nervous, but that would be the understatement of the year. Here is the Paul Harvey "Rest of the Story" where none of his friends will see.

As I said in my post, his son had flown once on a commercial flight when he was 4 yo. As I was going through my pre-flight with them and answering questions his son was shaking, as in his whole body shaking because he was so nervous. I did my best to calm him down as I continued telling them about how the plane flies, what keeps it in the air, the safety features, etc... We got through that, got him calmed down enough that at least you couldn't see him shaking anymore, and pulled the plane out of the hangar.

I wanted him in the front seat so hopefully I could get him to take the yoke for a minute later in the flight.

"Ok, Greg you're going to be in the right seat and your dad in back."
"I don't want to be in the front."
"But if you aren't in front you won't be able to fly it at all if you decide you want to."
"I won't want to."
"Well, if we have any problems and have to land on a golf course, in a field, or on a road, the person in the right seat gets out first."
"Ok, I'll sit in the front."

Perfect.

We got in and everyone bucked up, at which point he started breathing a little faster and said "I can't do this."

I didn't want to see him just give up. As I told his dad later in the evening, even if he decided that he didn't want to fly ever again, I wanted to see him face his fear and overcome it because that would benefit him in other aspects of his life. So, I put on my best negotiator hat.

"Ok, so let's do this. I'm going to start the engine to get a little cool air going. Then we're going to taxi down over there and do a run-up to make sure everything is working right, and if it is we'll just fly around the pattern once and land. We'll take off, start climbing up, make a turn to the right, make another turn and level off at 1,000'..."

He cut me off, I did not know that not only was he afraid of flying, he was terrified of heights.

"1,000 feet!!!???"
"It's ok, it won't feel like you are very high."
"But 1,000 feet!!!???"
"I promise, it won't feel like it. It's only going to take about 3 minutes (ok, I know it is a little longer than 3 minutes around the pattern but figured he wouldn't notice) and then we'll be landing. All you have to do is hold on for 3 minutes. When we land you can tell me, 'I never want to do that again," and we'll just come right back to the hangar. You can say 'I want to do that again, but I can't handle it right now,' and that's ok, we'll come back here and go a different time. Or, you might say 'That wasn't so bad, I want to fly a little more,' and we'll go fly around some more and see things. Deal?"
"Ok"

With that we taxied down and after the run-up flew around the pattern once and I thankfully made a beautiful landing at which point he said he wanted to fly some more. On the subsequent flight we just did some flight-seeing he loved it. Over his High School, past their house, down to the coast, and the air was so smooth. At 3,000' I told him how high we were, but that it just doesn't feel like it and he agreed. I told him I'm afraid of heights too, but in the plane it isn't the same because you don't feel like you're going to fall off the edge of something.

Over and over he kept saying how cool it was and he is looking forward to the next time we fly. 

[Awful_Charlie]

Well, we're on the way! Saturday got me from Switzerland to France and then to the UK to pick up Iceman and the blobby suits, and then onto Orkney for the night. Yesterday was a very boring flight on top or an overcast to Reykjavík when we got Visual at 2000'

Today is expected to be a long day - Narsarsuaq next and then Goose for the night

[aviatoreb]

4 hours ago, Awful_Charlie said:

Well, we're on the way! Saturday got me from Switzerland to France and then to the UK to pick up Iceman and the blobby suits, and then onto Orkney for the night. Yesterday was a very boring flight on top or an overcast to Reykjavík when we got Visual at 2000'

Today is expected to be a long day - Narsarsuaq next and then Goose for the night

Lookin' goof boys!  But are you going to fly the whole way upside down or just for the pictures?

Hey - don't forget to stop KPTD as you fly past if you have time!  I still owe you a ride.
E

Edited July 15, 2019 by aviatoreb

[Yooper Rocketman]

Had to take a patient getting back surgery tomorrow from Houghton, MI ( KCMX) to Milwaukee (KMKE).  Had some weather to navigate between Green Bay and Milwaukee, going both ways.  Here's some photos from the trip down.  We were at FL230 until just before the picture.  We were descending through FL200 when I snapped the picture of the G3X screen, more to show how altitude sure helps navigating around weather.  

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N994PT/history/20190715/1515Z/KCMX/KMKE

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N994PT/history/20190715/1645Z/KMKE/KIMT

Tom

[aviatoreb]

Check out this baby.  I happened across it at KHNZ (Oxford, NC) yesterday on the way home.  I was quite enchanted!  Despite 95F and humid - I stayed and just marveled at it.

A modern built tri plane, from drawings, not a kit, using modern materials (e.g. Nomex covering, modern radial engine, etc) (what if the Kaiser had Nomex for his Air Force fleet?). I cannot tell if the air foil is modern?  It seems to use modern aircraft grade Al in certain critical places - for strength.  That tail - true to historical WWI style - is miniature - can you imagine the rudder authority on the ground for that tail dragger, or cross wind landings?  Someone made a real beauty - But it is an actively flying beauty.  I wish I coulda seen it fly!

Looks dangerous... but wow!  I bet it is slow slow slow and gorgeous in flight.

I like the paint scheme - but I woulda painted it red - with a snoopy on the little tail.

And by chance or wardrobe selection yesterday - my shirt matches.

Edited July 16, 2019 by aviatoreb

[carusoam]

My friend has fear of driving over bridges... similar to fear of heights...  no problem flying in an Ovation... until IMC and really bumpy...

He is tough deep inside...  

Gravity sorted...

-a-

[carusoam]

Interesting end plates on the fourth wing of the tri-Fokker... they double as wheels!

Best regards,

-a-

[bradp]

The aluminum mistress got a spa treatment before her trip to Oshkosh.  A petrochemical mask and an isopropyl cleanse. 

(And I did find the loose and missing screws). 

[Rwsavory]

In good company at Nashville Int’l