Chiefly

Steve had a couple of flights today and I've got one, although mine is just me going up by myself in the new (to us) Aeronca Chief that we've just put online and that I'm giving a checkout flight in tomorrow morning. Decided it might be good for me to see it and fly it before checking someone else out in it.

I've got a situation where a person, who has been a problem in the past, has done one of two things. Either they made up an entire fundraiser, including stories about press releases, problems encountered setting it up, weather problems the day of, the exact amount of money raised to the penny, I mean every single detail, all along the way, frequently posting publicly about it...either they made the whole thing up, or they did a fundraiser in my organization's name and then kept all the proceeds. From their history, I am guessing it was Choice A, but I don't know for sure. I've known about it for awhile, and I've attempted to act in good faith, providing information and time for the proceeds to be sent in, but at some point good faith has been broken and you've got a course of action to follow when someone is misusing a charity organization either for their own financial gain or because of their own mental instability. I dislike being put into this position, I dislike people abusing the trust of others, and I'm...disappointed.

So I went on out this afternoon to fly the Chief. Steve mostly liked that I didn't have Chuck or Ty around to hand prop it for me, I think. ;) I still prefer sitting in my plane and pushing a button/turning a key to start an airplane as opposed to swinging the prop around from the outside until it starts running and then hopping in asap, because it's much more ladylike. Well, less effort anyway. Actually, this one starts pretty easily, and the plane is so lightweight that I can push/pull it around to wherever I want very easily, so that part's nice. The climb rate...not so sweet, which is why it's at 5200' long runway Kokomo and not 2500' long runway Glenndale. :) The police had closed down the main taxiway and were practicing a driving course with cones and their cars. I enjoyed the show from the air-after I went up and did some stalls, (what are incorrectly known as) dutch rolls, slow flight, steep turns, all that good stuff, I came in and just did several take offs and landings and watched those guys from the pattern. It's always different going from something like the Baron or the T-6 with switches and levers and prop levers and cowl flaps and gear and mixtures and radios and GPSs and flaps and everything you could need to something like this. No radio, no headset, no mixture, no flaps, no gear to move, nothing but two mag switches, a throttle, and a few basic instruments. Coming down to land, my mind still does a GUMPS check, but unlike even a C-172, there's NOTHING to do. You just...land. No wonder people could solo in 4-8 hours in the old days. :) It was a little lumpy and bumpy out, but it was a good flight, and the plane is ready for tomorrow.