Today was pack up and go home day. Whew buddy it was hot out there, too. I took a shower first, then packed up the trailer and all our stuff in it while the boys packed up all the outside stuff and AE's hauling trailer. By the time I was done, I could have used another shower. It was strangely deserted already by 9 a.m., with a lot of the tents, cars, trailers and RVs already gone. It's funny, we all always feel a little strange when the people start leaving, a little sad almost, which is probably crazy, but Kaylee said it, Nathan said it, Steve said it and I felt it too.
It took us a good 7 hours to get home including a couple stops; we went around Chicago this time instead of through it, which increases your distance but actually decreases your time if you don't run into construction or traffic, which we somehow managed to do this time. We made it back to Glenndale and the place was hopping. Chuck had just gotten done flying, the ultralight was out, as was Dale's 150, the Cub was up and so was our 172, and that was just in the few minutes we were there to unload our baggage and such. Nice evening for a flight. :)
Upon arriving at home, we discovered two cats who were happy to see us and happy to come inside off the deck (maybe they were happy to see us because we let them into the house). I unpacked most of my stuff and did three loads of laundry and got all my photos downloaded off my two cameras before heading to bed around 1 a.m.
I think there are a few key ingredients to making Oshkosh fun. I've gone before where I was not having a very good time and neither were the people around me, and it's not really about the air show. First, the golf cart is key. If you have to walk around all day every day and then walk or bus back to your campsite, it's exhausting, which makes you decide not to do things, which leaves you missing out on some of the fun or being hot, tired, sweaty and cranky a lot. So having a golf cart and somebody to ride around and pick up folks and drop them off made life gallons easier, and I don't see ever doing Oshkosh without ground transportation there again. Secondly, it's the company. Going by yourself may be alright for a little while if you don't mind that kind of thing, but having people there to point out things to, go over the days' events with later, hang out with at the end of the day and share the workload of camping also makes a big difference. On this note, it also helps when you have people who pull their share of the load. When they see the trash is full, they take it down to the dumpster, they don't just shove another plate in there and walk away. When the water tank is empty, they take the golf cart down and fill it up instead of just going to another trailer. If supplies run low they offer to make a run to the store. When the winds are whipping up and the rain is coming, they don't just batten down their own hatches, they take care of their neighbors--even if they don't know them. Almost all of our guys are like that, and it makes the camping experience a whole lot more pleasant, let me tell you! Third is a little bit of prep. You do things on the fly (so to speak), but there is so much to do there that you have to do a little prep to know what you for sure want to hit, or you'll likely miss it. The night show, for example, I knew darned well I wanted to go up on the flight line for that one, so unlike last year when we saw it starting while we were at a restaurant and ran home to watch it from the trailer, this year I found out when it started and got out there early to see it from the flight line. All the forums are posted every day in the newspaper so you can see what's coming up that day. Concerts, where they are and when they start, special guest speakers, the big warbird show is Friday, when FiFi comes in and flies, when the Dreamliner was landing, all the special demos. If you care to see any of that from up close, you look it up ahead of time, then play the rest of the day by ear. Feel like shopping? Pick a day it's raining and go through the hangars. Feel like looking at airplanes on the flightline? Pick a cool day. Feel like doing nothing at all? Go for it and bring a book. ;) Fourth is--don't work yourself to death, at the campsite or otherwise. The Riders used to cook every meal every day, until one year Judy didn't go and Chuck went out to eat for every meal, came back and said something like "I have a better way to do this" which made camping much more enjoyable for them. AE said he used to come up for just a couple days and race around to do it all, and this year he relaxed more and ran less and said that made it so much better and he still got to see and do what he wanted. So you have to pick what you want to do, and make plenty of time to remember you're on vacation here, and relax. :)
Oshkosh 2011, Over and Out.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Oshkosh, Day Six
Today was hot again, but not as hot as it is in Indiana, so hey...
We all did the usual Saturday things, going forth and doing some last-minute shopping at the Fly Market and in the hangars, picking up some things, going out and taking photos, and fitting in whatever else we wanted to do on this last day at Oshkosh.
There's a "Justice" store in town here, at an outlet mall with a ton of discount store places. I mean, scores and scores of them. It's huge. So after lunch, Nathan and Steve dropped me and Kaylee off, and I got her some new clothes there, spending about 40% less than you normally would at the store. EAA even provides a bus shuttle service from the outlet mall area to the campgrounds, so after we were done, we happily went to hop on a bus to go home. There was a bucket inside that said $3.00. Well, that's new, none of the other buses charged anything. I hand her a $20 and she said "I am not allowed to carry change." I don't HAVE anything but a $20 and they won't exactly take a credit card, so I ran off the bus and back into a nearby store to get change. They wouldn't give me any change unless I bought something from them. I ran to the next store while the bus waited. They weren't allowed to open the register unless I bought something. Now I'm angry. I run back out to the bus, poor Kaylee trailing behind me, and wave the lady off and tell her I can't get change, so I'll have to keep hitting these stores or find something cheap to buy somewhere. Another lady on the bus said "I have two tens for your twenty honey", which gets me closer. Eventually the folks on the bus helped me get the right change to get me and Kaylee on the bus to get home. Somebody could have warned a person that the outlet mall buses cost money, that you had to have exact change, and that you'd better have it before you get there. :O
Kaylee had a blast shopping though, she picked out several things she likes and will hopefully keep liking.
We were at the campsite when suddenly this wall of dust blew through, and I mean BLEW through. It was like a sandstorm in a desert. And then whoosh, we got hit with some very strong winds. Tents went flying (other people's, not our guys), trash went flying (some of ours too), all sorts of stuff went careening through the air. We put up all our awnings and threw all our stuff into our trailer and battened down the hatches. We didn't get any real rain, but we sure got the wind.
Half the group went to a nearby restaurant to celebrate Doug's completed project and get some signatures, and the other half of us, including our family, stayed back at the trailer, got some Pizza Hut pizza and hung out inside in the air conditioning in our living room. Trey, Carol, the Tummers, Jamie and us all fit in here pretty well and ate and hung out.
Around 7:40 p.m. I headed out to the flight line for the last event of the Oshkosh year for me: the Night Air Show. It was awesome. Put flying together with fire, and I'm all over it. ;) A 14 minute fireworks display, a jet truck shooting flames 75 feet, a wall of fire lit off at night that turned the whole sky orange and almost looked like Hades, and of course the Aeroshell Team and a bunch of other acts with fireworks, sparklers, bright lights/LEDs, and flames shooting out of them. Just cool, man, really cool. I had a view right down the taxiway to the runway, almost completely unobstructed, could hear the music, and was front and center for all the action. It was neat from back at the trailer last year, but it's even more so right up under it. Best thing I've seen in awhile...love it.
We ended the night with our last big Oshkosh fire, piled it up let it burn until everyone fell out for bed...
Friday, July 29, 2011
Oshkosh, Day Five
The kids are changing a bit more each year, and this was the first year that both kids were more interested in the tech stuff at KidVenture than they were the craft stuff. So we didn't create balsa wood airplanes or draw our own t-shirts, instead they worked on electrical wiring for airplanes, created a ram turbine air generator that lit up to show them they did it right, spent some time flying a helicopter in a real seat using actual helicopter controls that would then move an RC helicopter, and Kaylee flew a plane out in the grass controlling it via a large string. KidVenture really is a pretty cool place. You could get a logbook and log the time you spent at each station, which included things like prop shaping, riveting, electrical, fabric work, all sorts of stuff. When you completed all the stations, you could hang on to that logbook and it would actually count towards two hours of required FAA time towards your A&P (maintenance) license for down the road. The stuff they do is full bore and real, and it's pretty cool watching your 10 year old girl wire up and screw down a light and generator to a "turbine" fan and then testing it by spinning it in the fan and watching the light come on. Or hearing the guy explain to Kaylee how circuit breakers work, and grounds, and how to set up the electrical system in an airplane so the switch works, etc. I learned a few things at these booths too. Good stuff.
It was a hot one today, so a lot of the roads had dried out, leaving a lot of dust in the air with some roads still covered in mud. Not as bad as Sloshkosh last year, but still some roads are pretty buried, and the grit has covered all of us with a dirt film that felt very good to wash off tonight.
I stood right by the runway and watched the new Boeing 787 land at Oshkosh for the first time today. Unlike the big Airbus last year, it did not plant the landing on the end of the runway so hard the wings flexed feet, and unlike the F-16 and F4 Fury, he also did not run off the end of the runway. Success! Big ole thing, it was neat to see it come in and land.
The port-o-pot on 41st street is decorated up for women only. There are flowers and pinwheels and glow balls and all sorts of things to make it pretty. Next to it is a port-o-pot with a beer can in front of it. That would be for the guys. ;)
Tonight was steak night, and we had a huge amount of really good food. Steaks medium rare, potatoes on the grill, all the "fixings" and desserts. Greg from Australia helped Steve T on the grill, most of us chipped in on prep and setting up, even Kaylee, and we had more food than even all of us could eat, followed by some folks looking at Oshkosh photos on a laptop and others hanging out by the fire. Good stuff.
Kaylee played with her new friends, who are 14 year old girls and a younger boy, and invited them over for steaks and ice cream too. Another couple of kids ran golf carts up and down the hill, but they weren't our carts or our kids. Lots of playing today, everyone is pretty tired, including me. You do a lot of walking out here, even with a golf cart. Without one is just not pretty.
I was running someone out to the warbirds area today, and on my way back two older gentlemen said "Excuse me miss". I stopped and they were asking me a question about where something was located, and I have no idea, tell them I don't work here. One of them says they needed to go by the main gate to pick up a wheelchair for the oldest gent, but the parking had sent them way to the other side of the field. I mean, it was a mile or better away from where they needed to be. That's pretty sad to have no way to get a wheelchair to you when you park--that's the point of the chair, that you can't walk all that well. So I loaded them up and drove them right to their wheelchair rental place where they had one waiting for them. On the way I found out they are from Quebec and here for their first time ever. So as I dropped them off, I used the tower controller's line to most every pilot that lands at Oshkosh during this week: "Welcome to Oshkosh!"
It was a hot one today, so a lot of the roads had dried out, leaving a lot of dust in the air with some roads still covered in mud. Not as bad as Sloshkosh last year, but still some roads are pretty buried, and the grit has covered all of us with a dirt film that felt very good to wash off tonight.
I stood right by the runway and watched the new Boeing 787 land at Oshkosh for the first time today. Unlike the big Airbus last year, it did not plant the landing on the end of the runway so hard the wings flexed feet, and unlike the F-16 and F4 Fury, he also did not run off the end of the runway. Success! Big ole thing, it was neat to see it come in and land.
The port-o-pot on 41st street is decorated up for women only. There are flowers and pinwheels and glow balls and all sorts of things to make it pretty. Next to it is a port-o-pot with a beer can in front of it. That would be for the guys. ;)
Tonight was steak night, and we had a huge amount of really good food. Steaks medium rare, potatoes on the grill, all the "fixings" and desserts. Greg from Australia helped Steve T on the grill, most of us chipped in on prep and setting up, even Kaylee, and we had more food than even all of us could eat, followed by some folks looking at Oshkosh photos on a laptop and others hanging out by the fire. Good stuff.
Kaylee played with her new friends, who are 14 year old girls and a younger boy, and invited them over for steaks and ice cream too. Another couple of kids ran golf carts up and down the hill, but they weren't our carts or our kids. Lots of playing today, everyone is pretty tired, including me. You do a lot of walking out here, even with a golf cart. Without one is just not pretty.
I was running someone out to the warbirds area today, and on my way back two older gentlemen said "Excuse me miss". I stopped and they were asking me a question about where something was located, and I have no idea, tell them I don't work here. One of them says they needed to go by the main gate to pick up a wheelchair for the oldest gent, but the parking had sent them way to the other side of the field. I mean, it was a mile or better away from where they needed to be. That's pretty sad to have no way to get a wheelchair to you when you park--that's the point of the chair, that you can't walk all that well. So I loaded them up and drove them right to their wheelchair rental place where they had one waiting for them. On the way I found out they are from Quebec and here for their first time ever. So as I dropped them off, I used the tower controller's line to most every pilot that lands at Oshkosh during this week: "Welcome to Oshkosh!"
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Oshkosh, Day Four
This morning I went over to Warbirds to attend a T-6 forum. The one I went to two years ago was all about maintenance issues, and was thus very boring considering I'm neither an owner nor a mechanic but simply an operator who not only didn't need to know most of what they were talking about but didn't have a clue what they were talking about. I pretty much expected this forum to be the same thing, but I was wrong. It was actually a really good forum, lasted an hour and a half (which is long) and had to be cut off due to time even though folks were still engaged and participating. It had to do with safety, proficiency, judgment, all that stuff, but was packaged with humor, anecdotes, and audience participation. I sat in the back and didn't say anything like a good girl, but I did actually learn a couple of things about the Six specifically that I hadn't known, and I did find the safety briefing to be different than the usual, and thus even kind of interesting.
At the barn store here on the field, I bought a package of Wisconsin String Cheese. Oh man. This stuff makes the string cheese I get in Indiana worthless. Every year I say that, but every year it still surprises me how good this stuff is. Wisconsin does a lot of things wrong, but their string cheese is not one of them. ;)
I attended another forum today, one hosted by the WASPS. You know, those women who flew military aircraft during the war to help free up the men pilots. One woman was asked "So what did you fly?" and she responded with "I flew whatever I could get my hands on. Whenever something new arrived, I would beg, borrow, steal, barter, whatever in order to get some time in it." She sounds like my kind of woman. ;) I've always admired the WASPS, and like the Tuskeegee Airmen, I can't help but be bothered by the situation they faced while impressed with how they handled it. The other thing she said that made me smile was that the WASPS flew the same planes as the men "and we did it better than the men" as far as their non-combat safety record. Doesn't really surprise me in either case. Anyone who has to work as hard as they did to get where they were was going to be of a personality type to demand excellence and will certainly have more than a little perserverance going for them.
Tonight is pork chops on the grill and homemade ice cream. I'm watching the air show while the ice cream is churning. Steve and Nathan are out on the flight line watching the warbirds take off after spending the day on the grounds checking everything out, which I did this morning after my T6 forum, the kids are cleaning the golf cart and helping AE make ice cream, and on towards another day.
At the barn store here on the field, I bought a package of Wisconsin String Cheese. Oh man. This stuff makes the string cheese I get in Indiana worthless. Every year I say that, but every year it still surprises me how good this stuff is. Wisconsin does a lot of things wrong, but their string cheese is not one of them. ;)
I attended another forum today, one hosted by the WASPS. You know, those women who flew military aircraft during the war to help free up the men pilots. One woman was asked "So what did you fly?" and she responded with "I flew whatever I could get my hands on. Whenever something new arrived, I would beg, borrow, steal, barter, whatever in order to get some time in it." She sounds like my kind of woman. ;) I've always admired the WASPS, and like the Tuskeegee Airmen, I can't help but be bothered by the situation they faced while impressed with how they handled it. The other thing she said that made me smile was that the WASPS flew the same planes as the men "and we did it better than the men" as far as their non-combat safety record. Doesn't really surprise me in either case. Anyone who has to work as hard as they did to get where they were was going to be of a personality type to demand excellence and will certainly have more than a little perserverance going for them.
Tonight is pork chops on the grill and homemade ice cream. I'm watching the air show while the ice cream is churning. Steve and Nathan are out on the flight line watching the warbirds take off after spending the day on the grounds checking everything out, which I did this morning after my T6 forum, the kids are cleaning the golf cart and helping AE make ice cream, and on towards another day.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Oshkosh, Day Three
I woke up this morning to the sound of rain. The sunshine wasn't pouring through the window, it was really cool in temperature, and you just couldn't ask for a better sleep-in morning. When I finally did get up, there were still four other people sleeping later than I did, so I wasn't that bad after all. Steve T. still fixed me eggs and pancakes for breakfast, and the day was started off right.
Today being rainy was an excellent day to do laundry and go shopping. So Steve hit the store with AE while Nathan and I and Doug hit the laundry mart. Two hours later we were both done, almost simultaneously...
The airshow is going on, rain and all. The ceilings are high enough for a show, and the rain is light enough that the warbirds just finished up and the skydivers just hit the ground. (Under a chute, of course).
Tonight is Kodiak Jack's, party of 17, and I'm already trying to decide whether I should go for the fish, the crab legs or the steak. Decisions decisions decisions...
Today being rainy was an excellent day to do laundry and go shopping. So Steve hit the store with AE while Nathan and I and Doug hit the laundry mart. Two hours later we were both done, almost simultaneously...
The airshow is going on, rain and all. The ceilings are high enough for a show, and the rain is light enough that the warbirds just finished up and the skydivers just hit the ground. (Under a chute, of course).
Tonight is Kodiak Jack's, party of 17, and I'm already trying to decide whether I should go for the fish, the crab legs or the steak. Decisions decisions decisions...
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Oshkosh, Day Two
I stayed up a little too late last night, after waking up before six, so I wasn't feeling quite so perky this morning. I was still up and out for breakfast by 8, but everybody else had already eaten and I was Tail End Charlie. By 8 a.m.! That's just unnatural...
Today was the first day of warbird flying, and they did a really nice show. The organizers kept the various formations coming, and I ended up taking several photos of it. Also, there were 20 T-6s there, more than the last few years.
Nathan flew Tre and Gwenie home in the RG today, and didn't make it back until after 8:30 p.m. Long day for him where more things went wrong than right, but he made it back in time to have some food, birthday ice cream for him and Chuck, and a nice fire.
For dinner tonight we had several new folks, friends of Doug's (from California), and among our guests for tonight was Jimmy Doolittle III.
I kicked my feet up for a couple of hours during the morning and read a book while sitting in a comfy lawn chair and watching airplanes go by with a drink in the arm pocket of the chair and a bag of pretzels to snack on, while everybody was gone doing other things. It was quite nice.
One of the things I like most about Oshkosh is how you can see every type of airplane invented flying overhead. When I'm walking around and have to stop to let a couple fighters go by, or I watch a jet do a tight turn overhead, while the B-17 goes right overhead and a Trimotor is hopping rights by a Zeppelin with helicopters circling over here and ultralights buzzing around like colorful mosquitos in the other direction, it's just sort of...fun.
I also enjoy picking up strangers on the golf cart and giving them rides. I know how tired you can get walking around, and I've been taking that golf cart all the way into the grounds and all the way around places I'm not supposed to be able to take it--but nobody's stopped me. So on my way from dropping any of our guys off at their plane or where they need to go, I'll have 3 empty seats, and if I see someone struggling (like the guy with a bag of tools), or someone who is elderly (like a man I took today who could hardly walk any more), or someone who just looks pooped and grateful, I'll see if they'd like a ride. I've heard some interesting stories and met some interesting folks that way, and hopefully it helps pay it forward a little to make Oshkosh a better experience for a few folks. :)
This afternoon I came inside the air conditioned trailer for a little while and read, and Kaylee came in and fell asleep on a chair. Steve woke her up, she came over and bent down to give me a hug on the couch, and she fell asleep on me. In a hug. On her knees, arms around me, face on my chest, fast asleep. I left her there for a half hour before laying her down on the floor. The girl partied hard and worked herself to exhaustion yesterday. Love it. ;)
You do see some things you shouldn't see at Oshkosh too. Today I'm driving along the main thoroughfare of the campground, where there are busses going by, cars and trucks, golf carts, and a load of pedestrians, and I look over to see a woman walking down the road naked except for a towel. She was coming from the shower house wrapped in nothing but a towel. Not even undergarments. On "Main Street" of a "city" with about 35,000 people. Would she do that in her actual hometown? You'd think not. I know there was little to see most of the time with a towel wrapped, but still, I couldn't believe that. Bring a bag and get dressed in the shower house! I also lost a bit of my appreciation of the "Stick and Rudder" license plate because the gent always walks around a little...unfavorably.
Everyone's in bed but me, so I'd best get to it. I'm still not used to going to bed so early and getting up so early, but the whole campground is quiet around 10 p.m. Unnatural, I say again. Pilots are old. ;)
Today was the first day of warbird flying, and they did a really nice show. The organizers kept the various formations coming, and I ended up taking several photos of it. Also, there were 20 T-6s there, more than the last few years.
Nathan flew Tre and Gwenie home in the RG today, and didn't make it back until after 8:30 p.m. Long day for him where more things went wrong than right, but he made it back in time to have some food, birthday ice cream for him and Chuck, and a nice fire.
For dinner tonight we had several new folks, friends of Doug's (from California), and among our guests for tonight was Jimmy Doolittle III.
I kicked my feet up for a couple of hours during the morning and read a book while sitting in a comfy lawn chair and watching airplanes go by with a drink in the arm pocket of the chair and a bag of pretzels to snack on, while everybody was gone doing other things. It was quite nice.
One of the things I like most about Oshkosh is how you can see every type of airplane invented flying overhead. When I'm walking around and have to stop to let a couple fighters go by, or I watch a jet do a tight turn overhead, while the B-17 goes right overhead and a Trimotor is hopping rights by a Zeppelin with helicopters circling over here and ultralights buzzing around like colorful mosquitos in the other direction, it's just sort of...fun.
I also enjoy picking up strangers on the golf cart and giving them rides. I know how tired you can get walking around, and I've been taking that golf cart all the way into the grounds and all the way around places I'm not supposed to be able to take it--but nobody's stopped me. So on my way from dropping any of our guys off at their plane or where they need to go, I'll have 3 empty seats, and if I see someone struggling (like the guy with a bag of tools), or someone who is elderly (like a man I took today who could hardly walk any more), or someone who just looks pooped and grateful, I'll see if they'd like a ride. I've heard some interesting stories and met some interesting folks that way, and hopefully it helps pay it forward a little to make Oshkosh a better experience for a few folks. :)
This afternoon I came inside the air conditioned trailer for a little while and read, and Kaylee came in and fell asleep on a chair. Steve woke her up, she came over and bent down to give me a hug on the couch, and she fell asleep on me. In a hug. On her knees, arms around me, face on my chest, fast asleep. I left her there for a half hour before laying her down on the floor. The girl partied hard and worked herself to exhaustion yesterday. Love it. ;)
You do see some things you shouldn't see at Oshkosh too. Today I'm driving along the main thoroughfare of the campground, where there are busses going by, cars and trucks, golf carts, and a load of pedestrians, and I look over to see a woman walking down the road naked except for a towel. She was coming from the shower house wrapped in nothing but a towel. Not even undergarments. On "Main Street" of a "city" with about 35,000 people. Would she do that in her actual hometown? You'd think not. I know there was little to see most of the time with a towel wrapped, but still, I couldn't believe that. Bring a bag and get dressed in the shower house! I also lost a bit of my appreciation of the "Stick and Rudder" license plate because the gent always walks around a little...unfavorably.
Everyone's in bed but me, so I'd best get to it. I'm still not used to going to bed so early and getting up so early, but the whole campground is quiet around 10 p.m. Unnatural, I say again. Pilots are old. ;)
Monday, July 25, 2011
Oshkosh, Day One
I'm sitting here watching the airshow at our trailers, under the shade of the pop up tents, with Steve T hauling food and drinks around, getting ready to fix bbq chicken breasts and "fixin's" for dinner. It's the first air show of the Oshkosh week, kicking off the first official day of the show.
We got up early this morning-I was awake by 6, which is just wrong, but that's how it works sometimes. :) Our trailer this year is so big you can fit two people in the bathroom...at the same time. The shower is not a lilly-put shower, it's a normal person shower. With a skylight. I took a shower in there this morning for the first time because I did not feel like going to the public showers. They're spoiling me here; now it'll be not as much fun to go back to the smaller bathrooms where if you sit on the stool you're hard pressed to shut the door too. :) It's really nice-I should take pictures of it for posterity.
I'm sitting across from a pickup truck with the license plate "STK N RDR". I stared at that for a second, knew it was supposed to be something, but after "Steak", I couldn't come up with it. I looked away and then thought "You're at Oshkosh, dummy." It's "Stick and Rudder", of course!
Most of our crew is here-we're just missing Jon & Cusick now, and they should be here within the next half hour or so. We walked around this morning and hit most of the stuff. Walked out to warbirds and checked out the revised setup there, went to Aeroshell Square (renamed this year but that's still what it is to me) where I said hello to a couple of Purple People (an internet forum I participate on), and went over to the Red Tail trailer where I got to say hello to Doug R and watch the 8 minute movie clip they put on about the Tuskegee Airmen. Really nice job, great movie clip, and at the end they put you in the back seat of the P51 behind Doug while he does a loop and a roll, and on that huge of a screen it's literally bigger than life, bigger than what it feels like in real life, and that was fun. Plus it was air conditioned and we enjoyed the break. ;) We stopped and checked out a few tents, bought a couple t-shirts for the year, and wandered around the Fly Market where Kaylee got a pair of sunglasses for $2. There was a t-shirt that says "I don't drive fast, I just fly low." It seems appropriate, but it had a cheesy picture on it, and Steve said "You ARE an adult, you know." ;) The cheesy picture nailed the coffin on it for me, otherwise I'd have thought about it. Kaylee liked one that said "Silly boys, airplanes are for GIRLS", but she didn't end up taking it. The other one she liked said "I may have wings but I'm no angel". Also true, but not quite right for her.
Nathan came and picked us up in the golf cart at the Fly Market gate so we could come home, set up the lawn chairs, break out the drinks, relax and watch the show, while the grill is getting prepped. Tonight is a free REO Speedwagon concert. We may or may not go. It starts in 30 minutes and we haven't decided yet. 'Cause this is how we roll. ;)
We got up early this morning-I was awake by 6, which is just wrong, but that's how it works sometimes. :) Our trailer this year is so big you can fit two people in the bathroom...at the same time. The shower is not a lilly-put shower, it's a normal person shower. With a skylight. I took a shower in there this morning for the first time because I did not feel like going to the public showers. They're spoiling me here; now it'll be not as much fun to go back to the smaller bathrooms where if you sit on the stool you're hard pressed to shut the door too. :) It's really nice-I should take pictures of it for posterity.
I'm sitting across from a pickup truck with the license plate "STK N RDR". I stared at that for a second, knew it was supposed to be something, but after "Steak", I couldn't come up with it. I looked away and then thought "You're at Oshkosh, dummy." It's "Stick and Rudder", of course!
Most of our crew is here-we're just missing Jon & Cusick now, and they should be here within the next half hour or so. We walked around this morning and hit most of the stuff. Walked out to warbirds and checked out the revised setup there, went to Aeroshell Square (renamed this year but that's still what it is to me) where I said hello to a couple of Purple People (an internet forum I participate on), and went over to the Red Tail trailer where I got to say hello to Doug R and watch the 8 minute movie clip they put on about the Tuskegee Airmen. Really nice job, great movie clip, and at the end they put you in the back seat of the P51 behind Doug while he does a loop and a roll, and on that huge of a screen it's literally bigger than life, bigger than what it feels like in real life, and that was fun. Plus it was air conditioned and we enjoyed the break. ;) We stopped and checked out a few tents, bought a couple t-shirts for the year, and wandered around the Fly Market where Kaylee got a pair of sunglasses for $2. There was a t-shirt that says "I don't drive fast, I just fly low." It seems appropriate, but it had a cheesy picture on it, and Steve said "You ARE an adult, you know." ;) The cheesy picture nailed the coffin on it for me, otherwise I'd have thought about it. Kaylee liked one that said "Silly boys, airplanes are for GIRLS", but she didn't end up taking it. The other one she liked said "I may have wings but I'm no angel". Also true, but not quite right for her.
Nathan came and picked us up in the golf cart at the Fly Market gate so we could come home, set up the lawn chairs, break out the drinks, relax and watch the show, while the grill is getting prepped. Tonight is a free REO Speedwagon concert. We may or may not go. It starts in 30 minutes and we haven't decided yet. 'Cause this is how we roll. ;)
Sunday
The T-6 group had their mass arrival today, so I watched them come in a group of 4 at a time, inbound for landing. One of these years I will probably join them. Maybe. If I feel like it. ;)
The Fly Market was opened today, so I ran a lot of people to the flight line and the fly market and back on our golf cart. We got our camping area almost completely set up, and tonight we grilled out brats and philly steak sandwiches with a lot of side items, ate way too much, and enjoyed the cooler day/evening.
Doug and friends from the Chapter 1000 group out in California stopped in for the night, and we had a nice time with them all too. Dale stopped over for awhile, and Greg R., and Wild Bill, and Michelle B, and Trey and Greg the photographer, and that's half the fun-folks stopping by and sharing food and drink and stories and having a good time...
The Fly Market was opened today, so I ran a lot of people to the flight line and the fly market and back on our golf cart. We got our camping area almost completely set up, and tonight we grilled out brats and philly steak sandwiches with a lot of side items, ate way too much, and enjoyed the cooler day/evening.
Doug and friends from the Chapter 1000 group out in California stopped in for the night, and we had a nice time with them all too. Dale stopped over for awhile, and Greg R., and Wild Bill, and Michelle B, and Trey and Greg the photographer, and that's half the fun-folks stopping by and sharing food and drink and stories and having a good time...
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Saturday in Wisconsin
We just got back from the shower house, midnight our time, 11 p.m. Oshkosh time. A lot of the campsite is asleep, and our first full day here is complete. There were a few campsite setting up things to do, a marvelous breakfast of ham, bacon, sausage, hash browns, eggs, pancakes with whipped cream and chocolate chips, OJ and milk. Rough way to start the day, right? ;)
Of course we had to do the man shopping at Fleet Farm, grab batteries and all manner of things that we needed that wasn't food related, hit lunch, drive around and look at stuff, and come back to the campsite for a few hours and visit. We stopped at Ardy & Ed's, a 50's style diner we always hit up where the waitresses come out to you on roller skates to take your order. The restaurant is right under the approach end of Runway 27, so we were hoping to see the 109 Bonanzas that were mass arriving in formation this afternoon. Of course they came in on Runway 36 instead and we never saw them. But we did get to see a few other airplanes come in at least.
Dinner was at Wendtz's on the Lake. By then the temp was coming down and the wind was picking up, making for a much more pleasant evening, keeping us cool. :)
The Zeppelin dirigible is here, the only one in the country, selling rides for $400 a pop for a 45 minute ride. We all want to go, but none of us can stomach $400 for a ride, even if it is a once in a lifetime kind of thing. It won't get any cheaper over the years I know, so it probably won't ever happen, but hey, it looks neat sitting over there.
At the showers tonight, Kaylee was across from me and I heard a woman talking to her, so I peeked my head around. This lady had left her stuff in the shower, and was coming back to get it. The only problem was that she didn't just ask for it outside the shower, she opened the outer shower curtain, then just opened the inner shower curtain while Kaylee's trying to hide behind what's left of the 2nd curtain. Excuse me?? You do not just walk into someone's shower, no matter what you left in there, and I don't care if they are ten or thirty. You ask politely for them to hand it out to you, but you do not push your way into another person's shower. Not cool. When I came out of the shower, there were two women standing there laughing and talking to each other with a foreign accent. One was holding my bag of stuff (shampoo, etc.), and the other was holding my pajama bottoms. I said "Those are mine" in a friendly voice. They continued to hold my stuff and laugh, so I said in a less friendly voice "Those are Mine." They put them down and walked away. Weird, man. What was that, anyway? I think one of them was one that walked in on Kaylee. I know some cultures aren't as worried about privacy as others, but my culture IS. ;)
AE brought his hot spot with us, so I have internet access here for now, at least until the show starts in earnest and the phone lines bog down like molasses. But hey, at midnight two mornings before the show even starts, I've got excellent internet access. ;)
I ate too much, drank too much and got too hot today, but I can't say much as so did everyone else, and the kids spent a lot of time on the hill. We are at 48th and Elm this year...handy for the kids as they're right at the base of the hill with no effort. We've run into a few people we know already, and looking forward to the rest of the week.
Of course we had to do the man shopping at Fleet Farm, grab batteries and all manner of things that we needed that wasn't food related, hit lunch, drive around and look at stuff, and come back to the campsite for a few hours and visit. We stopped at Ardy & Ed's, a 50's style diner we always hit up where the waitresses come out to you on roller skates to take your order. The restaurant is right under the approach end of Runway 27, so we were hoping to see the 109 Bonanzas that were mass arriving in formation this afternoon. Of course they came in on Runway 36 instead and we never saw them. But we did get to see a few other airplanes come in at least.
Dinner was at Wendtz's on the Lake. By then the temp was coming down and the wind was picking up, making for a much more pleasant evening, keeping us cool. :)
The Zeppelin dirigible is here, the only one in the country, selling rides for $400 a pop for a 45 minute ride. We all want to go, but none of us can stomach $400 for a ride, even if it is a once in a lifetime kind of thing. It won't get any cheaper over the years I know, so it probably won't ever happen, but hey, it looks neat sitting over there.
At the showers tonight, Kaylee was across from me and I heard a woman talking to her, so I peeked my head around. This lady had left her stuff in the shower, and was coming back to get it. The only problem was that she didn't just ask for it outside the shower, she opened the outer shower curtain, then just opened the inner shower curtain while Kaylee's trying to hide behind what's left of the 2nd curtain. Excuse me?? You do not just walk into someone's shower, no matter what you left in there, and I don't care if they are ten or thirty. You ask politely for them to hand it out to you, but you do not push your way into another person's shower. Not cool. When I came out of the shower, there were two women standing there laughing and talking to each other with a foreign accent. One was holding my bag of stuff (shampoo, etc.), and the other was holding my pajama bottoms. I said "Those are mine" in a friendly voice. They continued to hold my stuff and laugh, so I said in a less friendly voice "Those are Mine." They put them down and walked away. Weird, man. What was that, anyway? I think one of them was one that walked in on Kaylee. I know some cultures aren't as worried about privacy as others, but my culture IS. ;)
AE brought his hot spot with us, so I have internet access here for now, at least until the show starts in earnest and the phone lines bog down like molasses. But hey, at midnight two mornings before the show even starts, I've got excellent internet access. ;)
I ate too much, drank too much and got too hot today, but I can't say much as so did everyone else, and the kids spent a lot of time on the hill. We are at 48th and Elm this year...handy for the kids as they're right at the base of the hill with no effort. We've run into a few people we know already, and looking forward to the rest of the week.
Friday, July 22, 2011
We are Here!
We left Kokomo around 8:30 this morning and started our pilgrimage to Oshkosh. This was the first year we hadn't taken any planes up there in awhile, so it was a nice little drive. Kaylee and I rode with Nathan, Tre and the kids, and Steve rode up with AE. Jim Z followed along behind us, #3 in trail.
Our crew made it up here around 3 p.m., and Chuck and Sam and everyone were already set up and ready to go, and our trailers were set up and ready to go too. These are nice ones, new, clean, and excellent. Ours is the "party" trailer because it has a big, nice living room area.
It was hot and muggy up here, making camp set up a little sweaty for everyone, particularly the guys unloading, setting up the pop up covers, stakes into the ground, etc. Sweat rolling off of everybody. Fortunately it's supposed to do nothing but get nicer and cooler as the week progresses.
When we first got here, the first thing we saw was a formation of about 12 warbirds going over doing various formations. Welcome to Oshkosh. ;)
Dinner was at Red Robin, the kids are already on the hill in the dark having fun, we've already hit the store and stocked up on Oshkosh necessities, and all is well with the world.
Our crew made it up here around 3 p.m., and Chuck and Sam and everyone were already set up and ready to go, and our trailers were set up and ready to go too. These are nice ones, new, clean, and excellent. Ours is the "party" trailer because it has a big, nice living room area.
It was hot and muggy up here, making camp set up a little sweaty for everyone, particularly the guys unloading, setting up the pop up covers, stakes into the ground, etc. Sweat rolling off of everybody. Fortunately it's supposed to do nothing but get nicer and cooler as the week progresses.
When we first got here, the first thing we saw was a formation of about 12 warbirds going over doing various formations. Welcome to Oshkosh. ;)
Dinner was at Red Robin, the kids are already on the hill in the dark having fun, we've already hit the store and stocked up on Oshkosh necessities, and all is well with the world.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Ramp Up
Today was the hottest day in the state of Indiana in the last 23 years. Yes, indeed. I flew the Citabria down to Sheridan, picked up the Cherokee 180 and flew it to Kokomo so Jon could change a tire out on it. After lunch, you know, when it was GOOD and hot, I flew it back to Sheridan and put it away, then took the Citabria home. The heat index was at 100 by 9 a.m., 106 by noon, and 115 by the peak afternoon. Nuts, just nuts. My C-172 guy canceled on his own, which helped me out for more than one reason. One, I was already dehydrated beef jerky by then, and two, I had waaay too much to do. My new contacts came in so I had to go get those, got two banks and a post office, hit the store for some last minute things we need, got some of the house ready for us to be gone, answered emails, sent out a quote for a flying job coming up that would be trips to St. Louis once a week for over a month, started in on laundry and packing, getting Kaylee ready, all that stuff. It's 10:30 and we're still not fully packed, but I'm working on it. Last load is in the dryer.
I also got my nails painted today for $6. Why is it that the Vietnamese guy in there can make you feel so insecure? ;) I brought him a bottle of red, and he said "Red? Why not black?" I said "I'm too old for black." He laughed. I now have two nails that have broken down to nothing, and he said "What do you want me to do with these?" I said "Leave them?" He raised an eyebrow. I said "Put on two fake nails?" He said "Just two?" I said "What do you think I should do with them?" He said "Not my nails-your nails. What you want?" I DON'T KNOW ANY MORE! I told him to leave them alone, and he raised the eyebrow again, and I felt as though I had disappointed him. I think he wanted me to put fake nails on all of them, but the rest of my nails look very nice, thank you. He finished up painting them, then looked at them and said "Very shiny, but too short." Well, thank you for your opinion buddy.
I then get home and break another nail short and chip yet another. I'm down to six nice ones. Oh well. ;)
Steve and AE spent hours loading up AE's trailer full of stuff we need. Chairs, fans, refrigerator, golf cart, you know, the important camping things. Now we're home doing the last bit of getting ready to do. Getting the cats ready, getting the rest of the house ready, getting the electronics charged and packed, trying to figure out what we forgot...
I also got my nails painted today for $6. Why is it that the Vietnamese guy in there can make you feel so insecure? ;) I brought him a bottle of red, and he said "Red? Why not black?" I said "I'm too old for black." He laughed. I now have two nails that have broken down to nothing, and he said "What do you want me to do with these?" I said "Leave them?" He raised an eyebrow. I said "Put on two fake nails?" He said "Just two?" I said "What do you think I should do with them?" He said "Not my nails-your nails. What you want?" I DON'T KNOW ANY MORE! I told him to leave them alone, and he raised the eyebrow again, and I felt as though I had disappointed him. I think he wanted me to put fake nails on all of them, but the rest of my nails look very nice, thank you. He finished up painting them, then looked at them and said "Very shiny, but too short." Well, thank you for your opinion buddy.
I then get home and break another nail short and chip yet another. I'm down to six nice ones. Oh well. ;)
Steve and AE spent hours loading up AE's trailer full of stuff we need. Chairs, fans, refrigerator, golf cart, you know, the important camping things. Now we're home doing the last bit of getting ready to do. Getting the cats ready, getting the rest of the house ready, getting the electronics charged and packed, trying to figure out what we forgot...
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Night Moves
Wow, you want to read something messed up? Here you go. "Are you home mum? I'm about to drop in." That is just Jack Nicholson "Shining" creepy. That poor mom...
Kaylee wasn't thrilled to run around and do errands with me in the heat today, but she held up okay. A Mango/Pineapple Smoothie helped keep things a little more friendly for her. ;)
I got my new glasses in today, and everything feels like it's in 3D right now, all popping out and stuff. It's going to take a bit to get used to, I guess.
This heat wave is for the birds. I'm supposed to have three flights tomorrow. Tomorrow is supposed to be the hottest day of the year--in fact the hottest day in 17 years. Heat index is supposed to be at 100 by 9 a.m. and 115 by the hottest part of the day. Perfect. I'm going to fly once in the morning, and I MAY take that Cub flight at 5 p.m. (you know, the hottest point of the day) just because it's the Cub and I can fly with the doors open, but that 2-4 p.m. C-172 flight may very well be out of luck. At some point it's just stupid, and I'm pretty sure that point is before 115.
I had a night flight tonight starting at about 10 p.m. She only needed 1/2 an hour and 4 takeoffs and landings, and she lives by Glenndale, and asked if we could do it there. I told her originally we'd have to go over to Kokomo, but doing that would add a half hour extra to her time which was already going to be over .5 to do 4 TOLS. So I had her stay at Glenndale and hope that 4 TOLS wouldn't disturb anybody too badly. Glenndale at night is sort of fun of its own right. The runway lights don't reach from end to end, and of course the winds were down 18 which meant coming in over the wires. This is actually preferable to coming in the other way because the wires give you a lighting system to follow. Red light on top of the wires should always be below the green threshold marker lights, and if they get too close together you're getting too low/close to the wires. Everybody's always way high because you can't see those wires At All in the dark, so you don't want to pull your power until you see the runway under you, because who wants to descend into powerlines, right, and by the time you see anything and feel comfortable pulling power back, you're too high. So it's good practice for folks. I didn't do the no-flap landings because of the short runway, but I did do a "you have no landing light and no interior lights at all" landing, which like most people she did well with. Night flying is pretty, and it's even kind of fun, but it's more fun when it starts a little earlier than 10 p.m. *yawn*
Time to pack and get ready for Oshkosh. :O
Kaylee wasn't thrilled to run around and do errands with me in the heat today, but she held up okay. A Mango/Pineapple Smoothie helped keep things a little more friendly for her. ;)
I got my new glasses in today, and everything feels like it's in 3D right now, all popping out and stuff. It's going to take a bit to get used to, I guess.
This heat wave is for the birds. I'm supposed to have three flights tomorrow. Tomorrow is supposed to be the hottest day of the year--in fact the hottest day in 17 years. Heat index is supposed to be at 100 by 9 a.m. and 115 by the hottest part of the day. Perfect. I'm going to fly once in the morning, and I MAY take that Cub flight at 5 p.m. (you know, the hottest point of the day) just because it's the Cub and I can fly with the doors open, but that 2-4 p.m. C-172 flight may very well be out of luck. At some point it's just stupid, and I'm pretty sure that point is before 115.
I had a night flight tonight starting at about 10 p.m. She only needed 1/2 an hour and 4 takeoffs and landings, and she lives by Glenndale, and asked if we could do it there. I told her originally we'd have to go over to Kokomo, but doing that would add a half hour extra to her time which was already going to be over .5 to do 4 TOLS. So I had her stay at Glenndale and hope that 4 TOLS wouldn't disturb anybody too badly. Glenndale at night is sort of fun of its own right. The runway lights don't reach from end to end, and of course the winds were down 18 which meant coming in over the wires. This is actually preferable to coming in the other way because the wires give you a lighting system to follow. Red light on top of the wires should always be below the green threshold marker lights, and if they get too close together you're getting too low/close to the wires. Everybody's always way high because you can't see those wires At All in the dark, so you don't want to pull your power until you see the runway under you, because who wants to descend into powerlines, right, and by the time you see anything and feel comfortable pulling power back, you're too high. So it's good practice for folks. I didn't do the no-flap landings because of the short runway, but I did do a "you have no landing light and no interior lights at all" landing, which like most people she did well with. Night flying is pretty, and it's even kind of fun, but it's more fun when it starts a little earlier than 10 p.m. *yawn*
Time to pack and get ready for Oshkosh. :O
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Eye Yi Yi
I only got in .4 on a flight this morning, because the clouds were low and kept getting lower, and the visibility started dropping too. When the student lost sight of the runway while we were still in the pattern, we gave up and came on in. (Yes it was still legal VFR.)
After lunch I had an eye appointment--I am almost out of contacts, I don't want to be up at Oshkosh and not have decent vision going on, and according to some new federal law as of Jan. 1st, you have to have an eye appointment every 12 months in order to get more of your prescription contacts given to you. Side bar....WHY? Why does the federal government care if my contact prescription is out of date or not? Why do they care if I want to spend two years wearing the same prescription contacts? I can't stand arbitrary laws protecting me from, what? My own less than perfectly sharp vision? Give me a break. Anyway. During my federally mandated eye exam, I learned today that I have an astigmatism in my right eye now and a small one in my left eye. (I would have gotten to that in my own time next month when I got back from Oshkosh, but hey). I have new contacts on order and a new set of lenses for my glasses on order, all of which they swear will be in before we leave on Friday. Hope so!
Kaylee's been calling and Facebooking her cousins to keep in touch, and has only said about ten times today that she misses everyone. I'm thinking maybe she'll be back to herself in time for us to head out of town. Maybe. :)
After lunch I had an eye appointment--I am almost out of contacts, I don't want to be up at Oshkosh and not have decent vision going on, and according to some new federal law as of Jan. 1st, you have to have an eye appointment every 12 months in order to get more of your prescription contacts given to you. Side bar....WHY? Why does the federal government care if my contact prescription is out of date or not? Why do they care if I want to spend two years wearing the same prescription contacts? I can't stand arbitrary laws protecting me from, what? My own less than perfectly sharp vision? Give me a break. Anyway. During my federally mandated eye exam, I learned today that I have an astigmatism in my right eye now and a small one in my left eye. (I would have gotten to that in my own time next month when I got back from Oshkosh, but hey). I have new contacts on order and a new set of lenses for my glasses on order, all of which they swear will be in before we leave on Friday. Hope so!
Kaylee's been calling and Facebooking her cousins to keep in touch, and has only said about ten times today that she misses everyone. I'm thinking maybe she'll be back to herself in time for us to head out of town. Maybe. :)
Monday, July 18, 2011
Bumpy
Our flight home yesterday was mostly uneventful. We forgot to bring a headset for Kaylee, so Steve slept in the back seat while Kaylee sat up front with me and the other headset. There was a little bit of weather halfway home. It was there a little on the way out, but we were able to deviate around the buildups with a little fancy footwork. On the way home, it had built up more, and I deviated around the majority of it, but then I ran out of room. Couldn't go above it in the RG, couldn't get under it on a IFR altitude, nowhere to go around it, so I ended up having to go through the middle of some good-sized buildups. There was some heavy precip nearby and I went around that, and right then the controllers wanted me to deviate left for traffic. I looked left and saw one big ugly cumulonimbus cloud that I did not want to fly in, so I said "unable", and asked if I could go right. He said no, and told me to descend 1000' for the traffic. I hit the biggest buildups as I was starting the descent. So Steve woke up in the back seat as we got bumped around, and looked around to find us losing altitude rapidly, in some unpleasant clouds and rain, and didn't even have a headset to ask what on earth was going on. Poor guy. Fortunately that didn't last long, we were out of it and had clear skies the rest of the way home.
Kaylee has had a bit of difficulty adjusting to being back home. She misses her cousins, and the constant "something going on". So we've eased her back into home life a bit by keeping her busy. I took the morning off of work and dragged her around to a whole lot of errands with me, took her out to lunch with us, and then when I needed to go to Sheridan and drop something off and pick up time sheets, I took the Citabria and took her with me. It was Bloody Hot, even in a cockpit with open windows. I asked if she wanted to do the takeoff, and she said "No". Okay, that's fine. I took off, and I hadn't even gotten up to altitude when Kaylee said "Hey Mom. Can I fly?" I shook the stick and said "Your plane". She shook it back and said "My plane". And away we went. She did some turns and held us on our course. At one point she asked about her altitude, and when I told her that she was up about 150', she said "Well, I wouldn't get my Private Pilot with THAT, would I." (I'd told her before that for your checkride you have to hold your altitude within 100'). The rest of the time she kept us close on heading and altitude both, mostly by looking outside. Did well. I had her fly around the pattern, and on final she said "I don't want to land." I asked her why not, and she said "Because I don't know the people here." I guess she didn't want to look bad in front of people she didn't know? Anyway, I had her follow along with me on the landing and next takeoff, and she flew us back to Glenndale, too. There was a rain shower off to our left, which I pointed out to her. She looked it over, said, "It's pretty cool seeing rain from the top." I think so. :)
My afternoon flight was canceled, so I came home and did some work. Got a fair amount done, got a fair amount left to do before we're gone. Always lots to do...
Kaylee has had a bit of difficulty adjusting to being back home. She misses her cousins, and the constant "something going on". So we've eased her back into home life a bit by keeping her busy. I took the morning off of work and dragged her around to a whole lot of errands with me, took her out to lunch with us, and then when I needed to go to Sheridan and drop something off and pick up time sheets, I took the Citabria and took her with me. It was Bloody Hot, even in a cockpit with open windows. I asked if she wanted to do the takeoff, and she said "No". Okay, that's fine. I took off, and I hadn't even gotten up to altitude when Kaylee said "Hey Mom. Can I fly?" I shook the stick and said "Your plane". She shook it back and said "My plane". And away we went. She did some turns and held us on our course. At one point she asked about her altitude, and when I told her that she was up about 150', she said "Well, I wouldn't get my Private Pilot with THAT, would I." (I'd told her before that for your checkride you have to hold your altitude within 100'). The rest of the time she kept us close on heading and altitude both, mostly by looking outside. Did well. I had her fly around the pattern, and on final she said "I don't want to land." I asked her why not, and she said "Because I don't know the people here." I guess she didn't want to look bad in front of people she didn't know? Anyway, I had her follow along with me on the landing and next takeoff, and she flew us back to Glenndale, too. There was a rain shower off to our left, which I pointed out to her. She looked it over, said, "It's pretty cool seeing rain from the top." I think so. :)
My afternoon flight was canceled, so I came home and did some work. Got a fair amount done, got a fair amount left to do before we're gone. Always lots to do...
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Sunday
Almost five hours of flight time later, Kaylee is home. She had a wonderful time and is trying to fit back into being home and not surrounded by six people who are all focusing on her. ;)
Thank you Cherry family!
Thank you Cherry family!
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Weekend?
I got up at 7:30 this morning and worked on mid-month billing. Steve ran out to Kokomo to help out at the hangar while Nathan's cranking out work on Gumby (his Aerostar). Around lunchtime I drove out with a bag full of food for everyone, went out and got timesheets for the Kokomo and Glenndale airports for mid-month, hit the store for things we ran out of a long time ago, got gas, went to the eye place (they closed at 1 and I got there at 2...figures), stopped at another store, then came home and finished up the last stuff on billing, which took until four something. Laundry, dishes, trash, housework and pick-up, working on a graphic, paying some bills, and then tonight I have a night flight out of Kokomo from 10 pm on, so I'll be home after midnight.
So that's my Saturday. Thank goodness it's the weekend, so things won't be so busy, huh? ;)
So that's my Saturday. Thank goodness it's the weekend, so things won't be so busy, huh? ;)
Friday, July 15, 2011
Thankful Friday
Things are ramping up pretty fast. Actually, they've BEEN ramped up, but it won't be getting any better until after Oshkosh at least, and probably not until after then. Wow summer is busy. :)
I went to get in the Jeep this morning, and as I opened the door, the sun glinted off of spider web strands that went from the back of my seat to the steering wheel--two of them. I stared at that for quite awhile, but Steve wasn't out and about yet and I was running late and I had to go. I swiped them as best I could with my purse, then after three attempts finally convinced myself to sit down in the seat and try to ignore the fact that there had to be a spider in there somewhere. I was convincing myself it had left, I thought, until I felt something light brush up against my cheek. At this point I start flailing my hands at my head like a mental patient...which is when I found out that it was a piece of my own hair that was brushing up on my face. *sigh* I really hate spiders...
I flew the 172 this morning for a checkride prep flight, drove off and got my paperwork notarized and Fed Ex'd off to get my CFI renewed in time, hit the post office and two banks, and made it back in time for baked potato lunch at Glenndale. They were putting fresh oil on the road in front of the airport and had both ends blocked off, but you can't stop a group of pilots from eating, and most of us found our way in just fine, even if it involved driving onto the grass runway.
Justin flew me over to Kokomo after lunch so I could pick up the Cub and bring it back for a lesson. I was the only one over at Kokomo, so I got to do the ole "chock it, start it up by yourself, pull and toss the chocks and hop in before it goes anywhere by itself" thing. It was a nice flight back over to Glenndale. Still not my favorite airplane in the world, but I keep telling myself that maybe the more I fly it the more it will grow on me. It's worked a little, so far. I still do enjoy the open door. However, I make sure not to have any electronics with me, or to be extra careful with any that I do have, because otherwise I know they'll end up being dropped at some given point in time. As I took these photos, I told myself "Don't drop your phone, Laura. DON'T DROP YOUR PHONE."
Had an hour lesson in the Cub doing go-arounds, ground reference maneuvers and take offs and landings. I will say this much-the Cub is a rugged little airplane. ;)
Yesterday (was it just yesterday?) when we landed in Pennsylvania for fuel, I had fun with the rural courtesy car experience. I had two guys with me on this flight, one a (new) pilot the other not, and neither had ever dealt with courtesy cars before. When we landed, the guy who met us at the airplane was missing more teeth than he had, but he was as friendly as they come. When I asked if he had a way for us to run into town and get some food, he said we could take his car, but just to take the weed eater out of the back seat because it took up the front seat too, and to watch out for all the dog hair because he has a big dog who loves to ride. The car was held together by the rust, the keys were in it, and he wasn't kidding about the dog hair. The guys made a joke or two about it, at which point I reminded them that I was personally highly grateful for the transportation to get some food. ;) When we got to Arby's, one of them asked if we should lock the car, and I suggested that you should never push buttons on a courtesy car like this unless you know for sure they will work and un-work. In other words, leave it alone! I love old courtesy cars with character in out-of-the-way places. When we got back I thanked the man and gave him $5 for gas for the car, and he told us to come back and check out their 150 pound hamburger that they are famous for in town there. I have a brochure to prove it now...
I went to get in the Jeep this morning, and as I opened the door, the sun glinted off of spider web strands that went from the back of my seat to the steering wheel--two of them. I stared at that for quite awhile, but Steve wasn't out and about yet and I was running late and I had to go. I swiped them as best I could with my purse, then after three attempts finally convinced myself to sit down in the seat and try to ignore the fact that there had to be a spider in there somewhere. I was convincing myself it had left, I thought, until I felt something light brush up against my cheek. At this point I start flailing my hands at my head like a mental patient...which is when I found out that it was a piece of my own hair that was brushing up on my face. *sigh* I really hate spiders...
I flew the 172 this morning for a checkride prep flight, drove off and got my paperwork notarized and Fed Ex'd off to get my CFI renewed in time, hit the post office and two banks, and made it back in time for baked potato lunch at Glenndale. They were putting fresh oil on the road in front of the airport and had both ends blocked off, but you can't stop a group of pilots from eating, and most of us found our way in just fine, even if it involved driving onto the grass runway.
Justin flew me over to Kokomo after lunch so I could pick up the Cub and bring it back for a lesson. I was the only one over at Kokomo, so I got to do the ole "chock it, start it up by yourself, pull and toss the chocks and hop in before it goes anywhere by itself" thing. It was a nice flight back over to Glenndale. Still not my favorite airplane in the world, but I keep telling myself that maybe the more I fly it the more it will grow on me. It's worked a little, so far. I still do enjoy the open door. However, I make sure not to have any electronics with me, or to be extra careful with any that I do have, because otherwise I know they'll end up being dropped at some given point in time. As I took these photos, I told myself "Don't drop your phone, Laura. DON'T DROP YOUR PHONE."
Had an hour lesson in the Cub doing go-arounds, ground reference maneuvers and take offs and landings. I will say this much-the Cub is a rugged little airplane. ;)
Yesterday (was it just yesterday?) when we landed in Pennsylvania for fuel, I had fun with the rural courtesy car experience. I had two guys with me on this flight, one a (new) pilot the other not, and neither had ever dealt with courtesy cars before. When we landed, the guy who met us at the airplane was missing more teeth than he had, but he was as friendly as they come. When I asked if he had a way for us to run into town and get some food, he said we could take his car, but just to take the weed eater out of the back seat because it took up the front seat too, and to watch out for all the dog hair because he has a big dog who loves to ride. The car was held together by the rust, the keys were in it, and he wasn't kidding about the dog hair. The guys made a joke or two about it, at which point I reminded them that I was personally highly grateful for the transportation to get some food. ;) When we got to Arby's, one of them asked if we should lock the car, and I suggested that you should never push buttons on a courtesy car like this unless you know for sure they will work and un-work. In other words, leave it alone! I love old courtesy cars with character in out-of-the-way places. When we got back I thanked the man and gave him $5 for gas for the car, and he told us to come back and check out their 150 pound hamburger that they are famous for in town there. I have a brochure to prove it now...
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Tossed
I woke up at 5:50 a.m. to be out at the airport by 6:45 or so. I took off with two folks in the RG and flew VFR over to Cleveland, OH, back to the same place I've been about four times in a row now in the last month when I hadn't been over there in ages prior to this.
The iPad had a map of data plots on it, GPS coordinates to power stations that one of the business owners wanted to have photographed. The photographer was in the back seat, and the plan was for me to slow way down, open the window, and circle the stacks until he got his shots. The first one wasn't very far from Lost Nation, where we spent last weekend. It was under the Cleveland Class B airspace, so we couldn't go above 1900' without busting the airspace, but we couldn't go below 1900' either without being less than 1000' over the city. So we were *at* 1900'. Circling over the power station I started wondering how that looked, and how it was really going to look considering I was going to be spending hours circling over various power plants/stations at low altitudes in very busy airspace. I made the comment that if I don't hear from the TSA or Homeland Security over it, somebody probably wasn't doing their job.
Every one of the first 6 plots we went to were a little challenging. The airspace out there is very cluttered, and I wasn't talking to them because it wouldn't have worked out well at all. So we're going under various layers of several Class B's, under a TRSA, around several Class D's, and sometimes threading a needle between altitudes, airspaces and obstacles. At one point there was a line of very tall towers on one side, a group of downtown buildings in Pittsburgh another direction, and the stacks on the river, with the surface Class B area in which I could Not go, only 5 miles from the main airport, right there on the remaining side. So you take your time and you figure it out. A good airspeed to hold, where to turn, avoiding the towers and their wires, while marking where the airspace is that you can't intrude on, all low to the ground and slow and turning around a power plant with a photographer wanting you to lift a wing and fly here and get to the other side, etc. Another was down in a valley by the foothills out east, and we were circling around below the "mountains" right there on either side, with towers too. A good time to be very careful, especially as the day progressed and it got hot and bumpy. The last two points we hit were clear of airspace at least, and seemed easy after some of those others. I have two things that kind of give me the heebie geebies in flying: large bodies of open water in a single-engine airplane and towers. I got to do both of those today-I don't know how many towers I went around that were higher than I was, but I do know they were around almost every power plant, were prolific in the big cities out there, and that I stared at them malevolently every time I went by.
Unfortunately the photographer did not have an easy day of it. I told him up front that if at any time he didn't feel well to let me know, as I had sick sacks he could use. We were joking about it at that point. About an hour and a half into the 7.2 hour flight he asked for the first sick sack. He got sick maybe four times in the first 4 hours of the flight. He'd be back there heaving, then straighten up and shoot his photos of the next point, then close his eyes until we got close to the next one. Rinse and repeat. We landed for fuel, and he ate a sandwich, which of course just provided more fuel for the next three hour leg we had to do. That poor guy threw up at least seven times that I know of. We had to bomb around low, over the hills, in the heat, in the turbulence, turning around stuff. It was...less than ideal, and I felt so bad for him. He sure hung in there better than I would have if I'd have felt like that. I was so glad I had more than one bag on board, too. Being in a small enclosed space while someone else is repeatedly getting ill while everything is nice and hot and getting bounced around yourself for over 7 hours straight, and, well, I'm all caught up on that.
I landed with those guys at 3:30 after 7.2 hours of flight time, fueled back up, and was back in the air by 3:45 headed to Muncie. I picked up a guy there who was working on Instrument Approaches, cut him a little short and only flew with him for an hour, flew back home, put the plane away, ran home and changed so as to not smell like fuel, airplane and throw-up, and met Steve, Tre and Nathan at a restaurant for a nice birthday dinner. So 9.2 hours total flight time, with not much more than an hour on the ground total from 7:20 a.m. through to 6 p.m. *yawn*
We had a nice time out at dinner. Kaylee's gone visiting cousins of course, Jamie's at camp and Gwenie had a babysitter, so it was a rare adults-only night out. I ate too much, but it was worth it, and by george I earned it today, too.
I also earned the sleep I'm about to get, even though I did not get a thing else done today that I needed to. That's what tomorrows are for...
The iPad had a map of data plots on it, GPS coordinates to power stations that one of the business owners wanted to have photographed. The photographer was in the back seat, and the plan was for me to slow way down, open the window, and circle the stacks until he got his shots. The first one wasn't very far from Lost Nation, where we spent last weekend. It was under the Cleveland Class B airspace, so we couldn't go above 1900' without busting the airspace, but we couldn't go below 1900' either without being less than 1000' over the city. So we were *at* 1900'. Circling over the power station I started wondering how that looked, and how it was really going to look considering I was going to be spending hours circling over various power plants/stations at low altitudes in very busy airspace. I made the comment that if I don't hear from the TSA or Homeland Security over it, somebody probably wasn't doing their job.
Every one of the first 6 plots we went to were a little challenging. The airspace out there is very cluttered, and I wasn't talking to them because it wouldn't have worked out well at all. So we're going under various layers of several Class B's, under a TRSA, around several Class D's, and sometimes threading a needle between altitudes, airspaces and obstacles. At one point there was a line of very tall towers on one side, a group of downtown buildings in Pittsburgh another direction, and the stacks on the river, with the surface Class B area in which I could Not go, only 5 miles from the main airport, right there on the remaining side. So you take your time and you figure it out. A good airspeed to hold, where to turn, avoiding the towers and their wires, while marking where the airspace is that you can't intrude on, all low to the ground and slow and turning around a power plant with a photographer wanting you to lift a wing and fly here and get to the other side, etc. Another was down in a valley by the foothills out east, and we were circling around below the "mountains" right there on either side, with towers too. A good time to be very careful, especially as the day progressed and it got hot and bumpy. The last two points we hit were clear of airspace at least, and seemed easy after some of those others. I have two things that kind of give me the heebie geebies in flying: large bodies of open water in a single-engine airplane and towers. I got to do both of those today-I don't know how many towers I went around that were higher than I was, but I do know they were around almost every power plant, were prolific in the big cities out there, and that I stared at them malevolently every time I went by.
Unfortunately the photographer did not have an easy day of it. I told him up front that if at any time he didn't feel well to let me know, as I had sick sacks he could use. We were joking about it at that point. About an hour and a half into the 7.2 hour flight he asked for the first sick sack. He got sick maybe four times in the first 4 hours of the flight. He'd be back there heaving, then straighten up and shoot his photos of the next point, then close his eyes until we got close to the next one. Rinse and repeat. We landed for fuel, and he ate a sandwich, which of course just provided more fuel for the next three hour leg we had to do. That poor guy threw up at least seven times that I know of. We had to bomb around low, over the hills, in the heat, in the turbulence, turning around stuff. It was...less than ideal, and I felt so bad for him. He sure hung in there better than I would have if I'd have felt like that. I was so glad I had more than one bag on board, too. Being in a small enclosed space while someone else is repeatedly getting ill while everything is nice and hot and getting bounced around yourself for over 7 hours straight, and, well, I'm all caught up on that.
I landed with those guys at 3:30 after 7.2 hours of flight time, fueled back up, and was back in the air by 3:45 headed to Muncie. I picked up a guy there who was working on Instrument Approaches, cut him a little short and only flew with him for an hour, flew back home, put the plane away, ran home and changed so as to not smell like fuel, airplane and throw-up, and met Steve, Tre and Nathan at a restaurant for a nice birthday dinner. So 9.2 hours total flight time, with not much more than an hour on the ground total from 7:20 a.m. through to 6 p.m. *yawn*
We had a nice time out at dinner. Kaylee's gone visiting cousins of course, Jamie's at camp and Gwenie had a babysitter, so it was a rare adults-only night out. I ate too much, but it was worth it, and by george I earned it today, too.
I also earned the sleep I'm about to get, even though I did not get a thing else done today that I needed to. That's what tomorrows are for...
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Waning Wednesday
Today was almost downright cool at 83. It actually felt good, but I've been pretty tired anyway. I flew to Muncie for 2.1 with someone doing tower work in the 172, then took up a Flying Squirrel in the Cub for an hour doing steep turns, slow flight and power off and on stalls and stall recovery and a couple take offs and landings. I was on my way home when another fellow stopped in and asked if we were still on for today. I didn't know what he was talking about-but he'd scheduled me this afternoon while I was up flying and I didn't know about it. No problem, I was able to go up and do an aircraft checkout with him briefly before heading home.
I spent the morning and the evening finishing up my CFI Renewal course. I'm now done, other than having to go to a Notary and get something notarized, then Fed Ex it off to Florida so they get it before I expire (well, before IT expires, not me), the end of this month...before I'm gone for Oshkosh in 8 days, actually. It's always a bit of a pain in the rear, but it's not nearly as big of a pain as letting it lapse would be. And at least I'm good until 2013 now. We'll see how many times I sign a logbook with the wrong date again. Every entry I make in a student's logbook includes my CFI expiration date, so it has ended with 7/11 for 2 years now. It's like when the year changes and you write a check and put the previous year down for the first two months...it's so automatic that you don't think about it sometimes.
Anyway.
I put up Kokomo Air Show photos. I have so many more, but this is a good sampling and I'm just going to go with it. :)
I saw some of the photos of the T-28 that the photographer (Greg M.) got from the back of the T-6 this last weekend, and they turned out really well. Nice lighting, nice coloring, nice shots. That's sort of neat, seeing the results of the 6:15 a.m. photo shoot.
Speaking of, I have to be up by 6 a.m. tomorrow for a trip to Pennsylvania, so I guess I'd better get to bed. Who decided mornings were a good idea again?
I spent the morning and the evening finishing up my CFI Renewal course. I'm now done, other than having to go to a Notary and get something notarized, then Fed Ex it off to Florida so they get it before I expire (well, before IT expires, not me), the end of this month...before I'm gone for Oshkosh in 8 days, actually. It's always a bit of a pain in the rear, but it's not nearly as big of a pain as letting it lapse would be. And at least I'm good until 2013 now. We'll see how many times I sign a logbook with the wrong date again. Every entry I make in a student's logbook includes my CFI expiration date, so it has ended with 7/11 for 2 years now. It's like when the year changes and you write a check and put the previous year down for the first two months...it's so automatic that you don't think about it sometimes.
Anyway.
I put up Kokomo Air Show photos. I have so many more, but this is a good sampling and I'm just going to go with it. :)
I saw some of the photos of the T-28 that the photographer (Greg M.) got from the back of the T-6 this last weekend, and they turned out really well. Nice lighting, nice coloring, nice shots. That's sort of neat, seeing the results of the 6:15 a.m. photo shoot.
Speaking of, I have to be up by 6 a.m. tomorrow for a trip to Pennsylvania, so I guess I'd better get to bed. Who decided mornings were a good idea again?
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Tuesday
I beat the heat today--I wore a skirt. It's surprising how much that helped with cooling. Of course that only works for flying in a 172, and even then not so well, but hey...
I got out the billing, started my flight instructor renewal course (I am currently procrastinating on taking my 4th of 8 quizzes), and did a lot of work at home again today after sending a poor unsuspecting student out on their last solo cross country. I still have a lot more to do, including an application I have to fill out tomorrow and four more quizzes, a notary signature and a bunch of paperwork to send out to the FAA for my CFI, but I'm working on it.
Ann is home from the hospital and recuperating at home, and Richard is doing well from his procedure as well. Kaylee isn't answering my text, so she must be having fun in Tennessee, and Steve is busy flying too.
I did get some photos up. Here are pictures from Lost Nation, OH. There aren't any pictures of me with a walking rope line, or flying around in circles, but no worries, it looks exactly like the other pictures with a rounder engine up front and not as shiny with a bit more hair sticking out of the back. ;) I also put up photos of the flyover we did for the wedding. Some of those turned out pretty well, I think... There are also some random June & July flying shots, nothing spectacular, but there to wander around and look at if you like. I don't have the Kokomo Air Show photos up yet simply because there are so many to look at and go through. I may just put up a few, when I next have time, and not try to figure out anything too complicated. :)
Fine, back to taking Quiz Number Four for the FAA...
I got out the billing, started my flight instructor renewal course (I am currently procrastinating on taking my 4th of 8 quizzes), and did a lot of work at home again today after sending a poor unsuspecting student out on their last solo cross country. I still have a lot more to do, including an application I have to fill out tomorrow and four more quizzes, a notary signature and a bunch of paperwork to send out to the FAA for my CFI, but I'm working on it.
Ann is home from the hospital and recuperating at home, and Richard is doing well from his procedure as well. Kaylee isn't answering my text, so she must be having fun in Tennessee, and Steve is busy flying too.
I did get some photos up. Here are pictures from Lost Nation, OH. There aren't any pictures of me with a walking rope line, or flying around in circles, but no worries, it looks exactly like the other pictures with a rounder engine up front and not as shiny with a bit more hair sticking out of the back. ;) I also put up photos of the flyover we did for the wedding. Some of those turned out pretty well, I think... There are also some random June & July flying shots, nothing spectacular, but there to wander around and look at if you like. I don't have the Kokomo Air Show photos up yet simply because there are so many to look at and go through. I may just put up a few, when I next have time, and not try to figure out anything too complicated. :)
Fine, back to taking Quiz Number Four for the FAA...
Monday, July 11, 2011
I Give
It felt SO good to take a shower this morning. I felt clean, and fresh, and refreshed. Then I got in my Jeep and drove to Glenndale. Within 15 minutes of watching my student preflight the airplane, I was already sweating. After .7 of flying, even the student, who was also drenched in sweat, gave up. It was so miserable that it felt like you couldn't breathe. At 9 a.m. it was this bad.
So we go to lunch, and I have a 2:30 p.m. flight too. I'm looking out the window and hoping for a storm, but it's passing to the north of us. And for the first time this summer, I just couldn't bring myself to get back in the airplane from 2:30-4:30, you know, when it's good and hot. I was seriously considering calling and canceling, for the first time ever, for heat. And then that student texted me and asked if it was too hot to fly. He made the decision not to go so I didn't have to, and man I was grateful. Around 4 p.m. I opened the deck door and it felt like going into a sauna, so I looked it up and saw the heat index was reading 110 F. After the flight this morning was so bad, I just thought to myself, "I give. I can't get back in there this afternoon."
So instead we are working from home. Billing that we're almost half a month behind on, email responses for business stuff, laundry that needed done badly and asap (including one very sweaty helmet liner), a few blog entries to catch up on, and I've got some pictures to do too. Okay, a LOT of photos to do. But the main one is my CFI renewal. I've started in on that as it expires the end of this month and I'll be leaving for Oshkosh soon. Would somebody else like to do the CFI renewal for me? Anyone? It's just 16 hours of your life or so. C'mon...
So we go to lunch, and I have a 2:30 p.m. flight too. I'm looking out the window and hoping for a storm, but it's passing to the north of us. And for the first time this summer, I just couldn't bring myself to get back in the airplane from 2:30-4:30, you know, when it's good and hot. I was seriously considering calling and canceling, for the first time ever, for heat. And then that student texted me and asked if it was too hot to fly. He made the decision not to go so I didn't have to, and man I was grateful. Around 4 p.m. I opened the deck door and it felt like going into a sauna, so I looked it up and saw the heat index was reading 110 F. After the flight this morning was so bad, I just thought to myself, "I give. I can't get back in there this afternoon."
So instead we are working from home. Billing that we're almost half a month behind on, email responses for business stuff, laundry that needed done badly and asap (including one very sweaty helmet liner), a few blog entries to catch up on, and I've got some pictures to do too. Okay, a LOT of photos to do. But the main one is my CFI renewal. I've started in on that as it expires the end of this month and I'll be leaving for Oshkosh soon. Would somebody else like to do the CFI renewal for me? Anyone? It's just 16 hours of your life or so. C'mon...
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Lost Nation
I can't help it, the name of that airport intrigues me, and I may have to Google it just to figure out why it's called that.
Anyway.
I was going to have to wake up at 5:15 again in order to leave the hotel by 6:15 for a photo shoot. Early light and evening light are the best for any photos, let alone air to air photos over water, but most photographers love the early morning light best. Except me. ;) So when I woke up and it was still dark, I sort of figured my internal alarm clock woke me up a little early. I tried to ignore it, but now I was waiting for the alarm to go off, so I picked up the phone to look at it, and saw 1:51 a.m. Ack! It took me a few to get back to sleep, so that when my alarm DID go off at 5:15, I was so far out of it that I never even heard it. The first thing I heard was Steve jumping up out of bed to go get the alarm on MY side of the bed and shut it off. Ugh.
But I was ready on time, met up with the photographer in the lobby, and off we went to get to the airport and take some pictures of a T-28 and a CJ-6. At 6:30 a.m. I have to admit, that was fun anyway. We did a pre-briefing, talked about what we were going to do, and we
launched then headed over the lake. The sun was shimmering on the water and glowing off of the airplanes, and they looked darned good out there to me. I'm betting he got some great shots. We did the CJ-6 first, and he was a former NATA FAST (formation) guy. The T-28 waited awhile to launch, and when it was his turn we found each other (a giant bright yellow airplane should not be hard to spot) and did our circuits as well. He wasn't a formal formation guy but he'd done it. Kind of like me. ;) I'd just do standard rate turns, keep the altitude and wings as steady and still as I could, and relay directions to the other airplane. "Down 20 feet. Left 15 feet. Come up on us tight. Okay, we're going to do right orbits now." etc. We did that for about an hour altogether before Greg got the shots for both planes that he wanted, and then we came on in. It was still really early and only a few golf carts and hardy souls were out wandering around yet.
The T-28 fellow told me I have a very calm and soothing voice on the radio when I'm giving them photo directions. That makes me want to come over the radio like a love station DJ. "This is your Lead, Laura. We'll be doing right orbits today, and I hope all you pilots out there are feeling relaxed and grooooovy. We'll be going down twenty feet now, gents. Verrrrrrry niiiiice..." Heh.
I had just gotten myself set up under the wing of the Mustang when Steve, Chuck and Nathan made it in. Oh, yesterday we were hanging out and doing our thing when the Air Boss came up and asked who the pilot of the T-6 was. Three people pointed at me and I raised my hand. He asked if I'd be willing to fly in the show tomorrow (Sunday), for gas. Why not, right? So at 9:30 today I went to the pilot briefing, where Air Boss told me I was "in" for sure. They needed to fill another 15 minute time slot. I learned what I would be doing (take off, turn right, go fast, turn right again), and we were back to hanging out under the wing in the shade avoiding the heat. It was a hot, hot, hot day, but there was a breeze, and under the wing of the Mustang it was actually pretty comfortable.
My turn was first this time, and I had Nathan's time slot from yesterday of 1:55. For me the trickier part is the ground ops. Timing when to start up, getting out safely, communicating with Air Boss properly, going where you're supposed to go when you're supposed to get there, etc. I got my own walking rope line, because the tow bar they didn't have for the Mustang they also didn't have for the T-6, so I had to taxi out under power too, among the crowd. This place had excellent ground crew. Clear, concise signals, very professional and very top notch. They made it easy. I've said it before, I'll say it again--a good ground crew makes the whole difference on a show and particularly the safety and comfort of it for participants and spectators alike.
I launched after the Citabria act, and then did a pass at the pre-briefed altitude of 100'. Then Air Boss came on the radio and said that the FAA had said to let me know that I could come down to 100' if I was comfortable. I blinked a couple of times...I was AT 100'. Well, that sounds like an invitation to me, wink. So I came down to "100" feet the next few times. After four or five passes, Air Boss said that was good, and I came on in to land.
After the show, I saw the FAA guy walking towards me sitting there under the wing. I felt myself tense up a little bit, hoping I wasn't about to get in trouble. Instead he just shook my hand and thanked me for a good clean safe show. Whew. ;)
Next up was the main photo shoot, the reason Greg had actually had me bring the T-6 out to Ohio. We were to fly with the C-123, known as the "Thunder Pig", from Pennsylvania. Anything called "Thunder Pig" should tell you about what size it
is, but here's a photo. ;) Greg wanted to do it at the Golden Hour, but that's 8 p.m. and these guys were wanting to get back to Pennsylvania much earlier. They were ready to go by 5, Greg held them off until 5:45. We did a briefing, and these guys weren't formation qualified at all, so I found myself with reversed roles. Usually the formation guys are giving me the hairy eyeball because I don't have a FAST card. Now I'm the one hoping that these guys in this giant (to me) airplane don't try to run into me. At 5:45 it was time to start. I see their beacon come on, and I wind up and hit the starter and get...nothing. Aw, perfect. I tried several more times and it was a no-go, at which point Steve whips into Pit Crew Mode. He took my Zeus tool, undid the cowling, and tried to find the magic lever that we need to move in order for the starter to engage. Meanwhile this Thunder Pig is running and sucking gas. Steve can't find the lever, and is pulling on many other levers like my mixture, prop, throttle cables and who knows what else. I call Nathan, he tries to help Steve find it but they aren't having much luck, so he suggests calling Jon. I call Jon, who doesn't answer. Steve pulls a few more levers and then says "Try it now". I can't reach the C-123 on the radio, I know they have to be wondering what the heck is going on. I try it, and it fires. But the cowling is off and I have to shut it back down. Don't wanna shut it back down, but flying around with the cowling off is a bad idea, so I kill it. Steve buttons it back up in record speed, and somehow it all lined up beautifully the first time (that never happens), I hold my breath, hit the starter, and it goes. Thank heavens. Greg got a little later time for better lighting after all and Steve earns his Crew Badge and Hero Awards.
The photo shoot went well. They flew off of us for awhile, then Greg had me fly off of them for awhile for different photo opportunities. I'd never flown off of a large cargo airplane before, so that was pretty neat. Having found myself tossed by Mustang prop wash once, and finding that exciting enough, I made sure to keep a close eye on the big props on that thing. :) We did some circuits over Lake Erie, then made a couple circuits over a nearby forest, and then they headed back to Pennsylvania and we came in to land and fuel up so Steve and I could go home.
I have to shut the canopy completely on the Six in order to keep the air flow down for the photographer back there, so when I got out of the plane, I was drenched. Gross. We got gas, and then we're back to hoping the plane starts again. Neither of us buckled up before I tried to start it, just in case. But start she did, and I put my soaking wet helmet liner back on and picked up my IFR clearance back to Kokomo.
Yes, IFR. While we were doing the photo shoot over the lake, it was so hazy and milky out that at one point I looked up from my instruments and there was no differentiating between the sky and the ground. It looked like you were in a white vacuum. I couldn't see anything until I turned back towards shore, and then you could see the shoreline through the haze. It was sort of creepy. But that experience told me that I'd never see traffic out here, and we were in a very busy area of the country, and I wasn't sure Cleveland Center would be as nice to me about Flight Following as Grissom is, so I just filed us home. Worked out great.
It was a long flight home. I'd been up very early two days in a row, outdoors in the heat for a couple days, and today I actually had several different "missions" that I had to concentrate on. None of them ended up being too difficult in and of themselves, but I'm new enough to official photo shoots (this being my 3rd and 4th time doing it), and new enough to flying at air shows, that you still want to take the time to prepare. It's still mentally and physically tiring to fly formation for an hour at a time, and be as precise and smooth as possible for the people who are flying off of you, while watching for traffic, passing on radio commands, and avoiding all the airspace over there and keeping tabs of where you are and what you're doing and concentrating pretty hard so as to not make a mistake with either the photos or the other airplane right there. It's not terribly hard in and of itself, but it's also no time to let your focus wander, at all. When it's over and done with, it's a pretty good and tiring feeling to come down from a successful, safe and fun flight, and some of those pictures will end up in a magazine story coming up. :)
When we got back to Kokomo, the sun was just going down. Steve made the landing in the Six from the back seat, and I'll let him tell his own story for once. ;) I wiped down the bugs, and when we got home I know I did stuff for a couple of hours, but man, I barely remember falling into bed.
It was a fun experience of a weekend. We had the formula for a good time: good friends, good food and good flying.
Anyway.
I was going to have to wake up at 5:15 again in order to leave the hotel by 6:15 for a photo shoot. Early light and evening light are the best for any photos, let alone air to air photos over water, but most photographers love the early morning light best. Except me. ;) So when I woke up and it was still dark, I sort of figured my internal alarm clock woke me up a little early. I tried to ignore it, but now I was waiting for the alarm to go off, so I picked up the phone to look at it, and saw 1:51 a.m. Ack! It took me a few to get back to sleep, so that when my alarm DID go off at 5:15, I was so far out of it that I never even heard it. The first thing I heard was Steve jumping up out of bed to go get the alarm on MY side of the bed and shut it off. Ugh.
But I was ready on time, met up with the photographer in the lobby, and off we went to get to the airport and take some pictures of a T-28 and a CJ-6. At 6:30 a.m. I have to admit, that was fun anyway. We did a pre-briefing, talked about what we were going to do, and we
launched then headed over the lake. The sun was shimmering on the water and glowing off of the airplanes, and they looked darned good out there to me. I'm betting he got some great shots. We did the CJ-6 first, and he was a former NATA FAST (formation) guy. The T-28 waited awhile to launch, and when it was his turn we found each other (a giant bright yellow airplane should not be hard to spot) and did our circuits as well. He wasn't a formal formation guy but he'd done it. Kind of like me. ;) I'd just do standard rate turns, keep the altitude and wings as steady and still as I could, and relay directions to the other airplane. "Down 20 feet. Left 15 feet. Come up on us tight. Okay, we're going to do right orbits now." etc. We did that for about an hour altogether before Greg got the shots for both planes that he wanted, and then we came on in. It was still really early and only a few golf carts and hardy souls were out wandering around yet.The T-28 fellow told me I have a very calm and soothing voice on the radio when I'm giving them photo directions. That makes me want to come over the radio like a love station DJ. "This is your Lead, Laura. We'll be doing right orbits today, and I hope all you pilots out there are feeling relaxed and grooooovy. We'll be going down twenty feet now, gents. Verrrrrrry niiiiice..." Heh.
I had just gotten myself set up under the wing of the Mustang when Steve, Chuck and Nathan made it in. Oh, yesterday we were hanging out and doing our thing when the Air Boss came up and asked who the pilot of the T-6 was. Three people pointed at me and I raised my hand. He asked if I'd be willing to fly in the show tomorrow (Sunday), for gas. Why not, right? So at 9:30 today I went to the pilot briefing, where Air Boss told me I was "in" for sure. They needed to fill another 15 minute time slot. I learned what I would be doing (take off, turn right, go fast, turn right again), and we were back to hanging out under the wing in the shade avoiding the heat. It was a hot, hot, hot day, but there was a breeze, and under the wing of the Mustang it was actually pretty comfortable.
My turn was first this time, and I had Nathan's time slot from yesterday of 1:55. For me the trickier part is the ground ops. Timing when to start up, getting out safely, communicating with Air Boss properly, going where you're supposed to go when you're supposed to get there, etc. I got my own walking rope line, because the tow bar they didn't have for the Mustang they also didn't have for the T-6, so I had to taxi out under power too, among the crowd. This place had excellent ground crew. Clear, concise signals, very professional and very top notch. They made it easy. I've said it before, I'll say it again--a good ground crew makes the whole difference on a show and particularly the safety and comfort of it for participants and spectators alike.
I launched after the Citabria act, and then did a pass at the pre-briefed altitude of 100'. Then Air Boss came on the radio and said that the FAA had said to let me know that I could come down to 100' if I was comfortable. I blinked a couple of times...I was AT 100'. Well, that sounds like an invitation to me, wink. So I came down to "100" feet the next few times. After four or five passes, Air Boss said that was good, and I came on in to land.
After the show, I saw the FAA guy walking towards me sitting there under the wing. I felt myself tense up a little bit, hoping I wasn't about to get in trouble. Instead he just shook my hand and thanked me for a good clean safe show. Whew. ;)
Next up was the main photo shoot, the reason Greg had actually had me bring the T-6 out to Ohio. We were to fly with the C-123, known as the "Thunder Pig", from Pennsylvania. Anything called "Thunder Pig" should tell you about what size it
is, but here's a photo. ;) Greg wanted to do it at the Golden Hour, but that's 8 p.m. and these guys were wanting to get back to Pennsylvania much earlier. They were ready to go by 5, Greg held them off until 5:45. We did a briefing, and these guys weren't formation qualified at all, so I found myself with reversed roles. Usually the formation guys are giving me the hairy eyeball because I don't have a FAST card. Now I'm the one hoping that these guys in this giant (to me) airplane don't try to run into me. At 5:45 it was time to start. I see their beacon come on, and I wind up and hit the starter and get...nothing. Aw, perfect. I tried several more times and it was a no-go, at which point Steve whips into Pit Crew Mode. He took my Zeus tool, undid the cowling, and tried to find the magic lever that we need to move in order for the starter to engage. Meanwhile this Thunder Pig is running and sucking gas. Steve can't find the lever, and is pulling on many other levers like my mixture, prop, throttle cables and who knows what else. I call Nathan, he tries to help Steve find it but they aren't having much luck, so he suggests calling Jon. I call Jon, who doesn't answer. Steve pulls a few more levers and then says "Try it now". I can't reach the C-123 on the radio, I know they have to be wondering what the heck is going on. I try it, and it fires. But the cowling is off and I have to shut it back down. Don't wanna shut it back down, but flying around with the cowling off is a bad idea, so I kill it. Steve buttons it back up in record speed, and somehow it all lined up beautifully the first time (that never happens), I hold my breath, hit the starter, and it goes. Thank heavens. Greg got a little later time for better lighting after all and Steve earns his Crew Badge and Hero Awards.The photo shoot went well. They flew off of us for awhile, then Greg had me fly off of them for awhile for different photo opportunities. I'd never flown off of a large cargo airplane before, so that was pretty neat. Having found myself tossed by Mustang prop wash once, and finding that exciting enough, I made sure to keep a close eye on the big props on that thing. :) We did some circuits over Lake Erie, then made a couple circuits over a nearby forest, and then they headed back to Pennsylvania and we came in to land and fuel up so Steve and I could go home.
I have to shut the canopy completely on the Six in order to keep the air flow down for the photographer back there, so when I got out of the plane, I was drenched. Gross. We got gas, and then we're back to hoping the plane starts again. Neither of us buckled up before I tried to start it, just in case. But start she did, and I put my soaking wet helmet liner back on and picked up my IFR clearance back to Kokomo.
Yes, IFR. While we were doing the photo shoot over the lake, it was so hazy and milky out that at one point I looked up from my instruments and there was no differentiating between the sky and the ground. It looked like you were in a white vacuum. I couldn't see anything until I turned back towards shore, and then you could see the shoreline through the haze. It was sort of creepy. But that experience told me that I'd never see traffic out here, and we were in a very busy area of the country, and I wasn't sure Cleveland Center would be as nice to me about Flight Following as Grissom is, so I just filed us home. Worked out great.
It was a long flight home. I'd been up very early two days in a row, outdoors in the heat for a couple days, and today I actually had several different "missions" that I had to concentrate on. None of them ended up being too difficult in and of themselves, but I'm new enough to official photo shoots (this being my 3rd and 4th time doing it), and new enough to flying at air shows, that you still want to take the time to prepare. It's still mentally and physically tiring to fly formation for an hour at a time, and be as precise and smooth as possible for the people who are flying off of you, while watching for traffic, passing on radio commands, and avoiding all the airspace over there and keeping tabs of where you are and what you're doing and concentrating pretty hard so as to not make a mistake with either the photos or the other airplane right there. It's not terribly hard in and of itself, but it's also no time to let your focus wander, at all. When it's over and done with, it's a pretty good and tiring feeling to come down from a successful, safe and fun flight, and some of those pictures will end up in a magazine story coming up. :)
When we got back to Kokomo, the sun was just going down. Steve made the landing in the Six from the back seat, and I'll let him tell his own story for once. ;) I wiped down the bugs, and when we got home I know I did stuff for a couple of hours, but man, I barely remember falling into bed.
It was a fun experience of a weekend. We had the formula for a good time: good friends, good food and good flying.
Saturday, July 09, 2011
Ohio HO!
When Steve's alarm went off at five something a.m., I have to admit to being less than thrilled, but I was looking forward to the weekend. We got all our stuff loaded up and made it out to Kokomo by 7:15 a.m., and Nathan and Chuck had beaten us out there already. It took awhile to get the T-6 and P-51 out, loaded up and ready to go, but finally we all had our flight suits donned and we were on our way to Lost Nation, Ohio.
The Mustang took off right in front of us (and beat us there by 40 minutes by the way). Lost Nation is right on the other side of the Cleveland Class B (busy) airspace, so I decided to just get Flight Following from Grissom and have them put us in the system, which treated us like an IFR flight all the way there. This was nice, as 1) I could go direct instead of worrying about various airspaces along the way, 2) they helped keep an eye out for traffic, 3) when I was out over Lake Erie in a single engine airplane, I had somebody who knew where I was that I could call for help if I had a problem (I don't like water), and 4) when I got to Cleveland airspace I didn't have to go under or around, but just got the magic words "Cleared through Class B" with no hassle.
When I was coming in to land at Lost Nation, the winds were calm, so I came in to land on the runway where I wouldn't have to back taxi, but could just taxi up. A Cessna was landing the other direction, so, no problem, I waited until he was clear, turned final and came in to land. As I was getting ready to flare, I saw a biplane touching down on the other end of the runway. He didn't have a radio, and I hadn't seen him, just the Cessna. Now I have a problem. We are two airplanes touching down on the same runway at the same time on opposite ends, and neither of us have forward visibility in our type airplanes. I don't want to just go-around, because I am in mid-flare, can't see in front of me, and don't know what he is doing. If he's going around, or running long, well, it's not good if I go for it too. So I plunk down my airplane rather gracelessly, and immediately swerve so I can see down the runway and find him. Swerving in a bigger tailwheel airplane is trickier than it sounds, so like I said, I wouldn't call this a graceful maneuver, but I could then see that he was down and slow and we were all good. Someone came on the radio and asked if I had the Stearman, and I said "I do now." A less than glamorous arrival into Lost Nation, but at least it wasn't at the highly populated area of the field where folks could see how graceless a landing it was. ;)
We taxiied up and were parked, and after I shut down and pulled off my helmet, a couple of guys were standing there with cameras, and one guy said "I gotta get a picture of this. Give me a thumbs-up!" I posed for them, we got out and tidied things up, pulled off the flight suits, and found Nathan and Chuck reclining under the wing of the Mustang across the ramp. I was briefly harassed about the photo op, but that's to be expected. ;)
Saturday's show started at noon. They had a good venue there. Lots of airplanes, lots of room, but the space wasn't prohibitively bad for walking around. They had a kids' area, a vendor area filled with food and tents, a pilot tent for free food and drink, B-17, B-25 and Stearman rides available, and a fair amount of warbirds, single, twin, jet, etc., on the ramp. And yet the show itself was a little weak. They only put up one airplane at a time and had them do race tracks while the announcer talked about them. That was a little uninteresting, honestly. I did like the Citabria act--he did a dead stick routine down to the ground where he'd coast right up to his wife at show center, who would then climb on the wing and they'd do a powered wing-walking routine next. I like that routine because it lets the general public see that not only do airplanes not fall out of the sky like bricks if their engines quit like people think, but that you have enough energy to do loops and rolls and wingovers and all sorts of things, even without an engine.
Nathan's turn in the P-51 was around 2 p.m., and they didn't have a tow bar that fit the Mustang, so a group of Civil Air Patrol guys took a rope and made a square around the Mustang, he fired it up, and as he taxiied out, they followed him with
the rope, making a walking roped off area to protect the public from getting into the way. We kind of laughed at first, but really, that is a darned good idea, particularly on the tight ramps like at Sheridan where it's harder to keep the public out of the way...
Nathan did his Nascar routine (turn left, go fast, turn left again), and we hung out under the wing, eating a root beer float and waiting for the end of the show so we could go eat dinner, of course.
The show was over by 3:30 or so, but the ramp was closed until 6 p.m. I was going to have a 6:30 a.m. photo shoot in the morning, and I needed gas. They wouldn't be open by 6:00 a.m., so I had to get it tonight. The airport wouldn't let the fuel trucks out there until 6 p.m. because that's when the waiver officially expired. Even though there wasn't hardly another person out there left, we had to sit there until 6 and wait for the fuel. A little irritating, but finally it was mission accomplished.
We'd been told about a place called "Pickle Bill's" out there. It was suggested that it would be the place to try out, with good seafood of all things. So Nathan, Chuck, Steve, myself, the photographer Greg (who was the reason I went to Ohio in the first place) and his wife Donna all went for it. You knew it was definitely a good choice when you get there and find an hour and a half wait time. We were bummed about that until we got to the top of the place and found a bar area where you could sit at round tables outside, right on the water, with music playing. This place has some serious ambiance. I can't even really describe it. Jimmy Buffet meets Sponge Bob meets...I don't know. But it was a type of place where everyone there was dressed up. Dressed up as in most women were in actual dresses. Well, everyone was dressed up except us hot, sweaty, dirty air show folks. ;) The food was great, the atmosphere was fun, and we had a really nice time before heading back to the hotel rooms that the air show paid for.
Life is good. ;)
The Mustang took off right in front of us (and beat us there by 40 minutes by the way). Lost Nation is right on the other side of the Cleveland Class B (busy) airspace, so I decided to just get Flight Following from Grissom and have them put us in the system, which treated us like an IFR flight all the way there. This was nice, as 1) I could go direct instead of worrying about various airspaces along the way, 2) they helped keep an eye out for traffic, 3) when I was out over Lake Erie in a single engine airplane, I had somebody who knew where I was that I could call for help if I had a problem (I don't like water), and 4) when I got to Cleveland airspace I didn't have to go under or around, but just got the magic words "Cleared through Class B" with no hassle.
When I was coming in to land at Lost Nation, the winds were calm, so I came in to land on the runway where I wouldn't have to back taxi, but could just taxi up. A Cessna was landing the other direction, so, no problem, I waited until he was clear, turned final and came in to land. As I was getting ready to flare, I saw a biplane touching down on the other end of the runway. He didn't have a radio, and I hadn't seen him, just the Cessna. Now I have a problem. We are two airplanes touching down on the same runway at the same time on opposite ends, and neither of us have forward visibility in our type airplanes. I don't want to just go-around, because I am in mid-flare, can't see in front of me, and don't know what he is doing. If he's going around, or running long, well, it's not good if I go for it too. So I plunk down my airplane rather gracelessly, and immediately swerve so I can see down the runway and find him. Swerving in a bigger tailwheel airplane is trickier than it sounds, so like I said, I wouldn't call this a graceful maneuver, but I could then see that he was down and slow and we were all good. Someone came on the radio and asked if I had the Stearman, and I said "I do now." A less than glamorous arrival into Lost Nation, but at least it wasn't at the highly populated area of the field where folks could see how graceless a landing it was. ;)
We taxiied up and were parked, and after I shut down and pulled off my helmet, a couple of guys were standing there with cameras, and one guy said "I gotta get a picture of this. Give me a thumbs-up!" I posed for them, we got out and tidied things up, pulled off the flight suits, and found Nathan and Chuck reclining under the wing of the Mustang across the ramp. I was briefly harassed about the photo op, but that's to be expected. ;)
Saturday's show started at noon. They had a good venue there. Lots of airplanes, lots of room, but the space wasn't prohibitively bad for walking around. They had a kids' area, a vendor area filled with food and tents, a pilot tent for free food and drink, B-17, B-25 and Stearman rides available, and a fair amount of warbirds, single, twin, jet, etc., on the ramp. And yet the show itself was a little weak. They only put up one airplane at a time and had them do race tracks while the announcer talked about them. That was a little uninteresting, honestly. I did like the Citabria act--he did a dead stick routine down to the ground where he'd coast right up to his wife at show center, who would then climb on the wing and they'd do a powered wing-walking routine next. I like that routine because it lets the general public see that not only do airplanes not fall out of the sky like bricks if their engines quit like people think, but that you have enough energy to do loops and rolls and wingovers and all sorts of things, even without an engine.
Nathan's turn in the P-51 was around 2 p.m., and they didn't have a tow bar that fit the Mustang, so a group of Civil Air Patrol guys took a rope and made a square around the Mustang, he fired it up, and as he taxiied out, they followed him with
the rope, making a walking roped off area to protect the public from getting into the way. We kind of laughed at first, but really, that is a darned good idea, particularly on the tight ramps like at Sheridan where it's harder to keep the public out of the way...Nathan did his Nascar routine (turn left, go fast, turn left again), and we hung out under the wing, eating a root beer float and waiting for the end of the show so we could go eat dinner, of course.
The show was over by 3:30 or so, but the ramp was closed until 6 p.m. I was going to have a 6:30 a.m. photo shoot in the morning, and I needed gas. They wouldn't be open by 6:00 a.m., so I had to get it tonight. The airport wouldn't let the fuel trucks out there until 6 p.m. because that's when the waiver officially expired. Even though there wasn't hardly another person out there left, we had to sit there until 6 and wait for the fuel. A little irritating, but finally it was mission accomplished.
We'd been told about a place called "Pickle Bill's" out there. It was suggested that it would be the place to try out, with good seafood of all things. So Nathan, Chuck, Steve, myself, the photographer Greg (who was the reason I went to Ohio in the first place) and his wife Donna all went for it. You knew it was definitely a good choice when you get there and find an hour and a half wait time. We were bummed about that until we got to the top of the place and found a bar area where you could sit at round tables outside, right on the water, with music playing. This place has some serious ambiance. I can't even really describe it. Jimmy Buffet meets Sponge Bob meets...I don't know. But it was a type of place where everyone there was dressed up. Dressed up as in most women were in actual dresses. Well, everyone was dressed up except us hot, sweaty, dirty air show folks. ;) The food was great, the atmosphere was fun, and we had a really nice time before heading back to the hotel rooms that the air show paid for.Life is good. ;)
Friday, July 08, 2011
Tennessee
We've been running around trying to get a lot of things done all at once. I've been trying to work on billing, which got put on a back burner due to the Kokomo Air Show, and we have a busy weekend coming too. So I flew with a student this morning, took a break for fried chicken lunch at Glenndale, with Kaylee, then canceled my afternoon guy so that Kaylee and I could fly down to Tennessee while Steve stayed here and worked some more. It ended up working out just fine. I had a couple lines of weather to go through, so I left a little earlier than planned just to give 
myself some space before the afternoon heat blew them up any worse. At one point we were flying through the clouds, in light to moderate rain, getting bumped around a little, and I was looking over at the NEXRAD radar on board at the precip, its movement, etc. I was frowning a little, because I do that when I'm thinking (because it must subconsciously hurt me to think, I guess), and Kaylee was watching me. She said "Mommy, is this safe?" I immediately smiled and said "Yes, it's safe". (It was.) She relaxed and said "Ok, I thought so. I trust you. After all, you're one of the best pilots in the world." She said it so confidently...it just makes you more aware of the responsibility you hold in your hands.
We arrived in Tennessee a bit early, so Kaylee and I hung out for a little while, got a snack, talked, goofed around. I had taken off without any money, so I stole the $20 she brought with her for the week from her so I could get some food. Don't worry, she'll be covered. ;) When we walked into the airport there was a group of 3 older ladies sitting in chairs waiting for one of the jets, and I heard one of them say "Oh Look! Those two girls are flying around by themselves in a little airplane. Isn't that neat?" :)
Kaylee was excited to be going, and my last view of her was walking away with her luggage and Uncle Lon, probably talking his ear off. :)
My trip home had the weather built up a little more than it was the first time. The controller got on and told me that he was showing "Moderate to Extreme Precipitation" in my path. I looked at the Nexrad (which was also showing a lot of ugliness), and looked out the window, and I saw a few areas to avoid, but the rest of it didn't look bad. I got some more rain, but nothing much more than light to moderate and certainly not 'extreme'. Went around a few things, broke out and had a nice rest of the flight home. It was awful quiet in there after Kaylee got out though!
While I was flying I learned that Richard had taken Ann into the hospital, and she was being checked out for a couple of things. The doctors weren't sure what was wrong just yet, but she is being well cared for...
myself some space before the afternoon heat blew them up any worse. At one point we were flying through the clouds, in light to moderate rain, getting bumped around a little, and I was looking over at the NEXRAD radar on board at the precip, its movement, etc. I was frowning a little, because I do that when I'm thinking (because it must subconsciously hurt me to think, I guess), and Kaylee was watching me. She said "Mommy, is this safe?" I immediately smiled and said "Yes, it's safe". (It was.) She relaxed and said "Ok, I thought so. I trust you. After all, you're one of the best pilots in the world." She said it so confidently...it just makes you more aware of the responsibility you hold in your hands.We arrived in Tennessee a bit early, so Kaylee and I hung out for a little while, got a snack, talked, goofed around. I had taken off without any money, so I stole the $20 she brought with her for the week from her so I could get some food. Don't worry, she'll be covered. ;) When we walked into the airport there was a group of 3 older ladies sitting in chairs waiting for one of the jets, and I heard one of them say "Oh Look! Those two girls are flying around by themselves in a little airplane. Isn't that neat?" :)
Kaylee was excited to be going, and my last view of her was walking away with her luggage and Uncle Lon, probably talking his ear off. :)
My trip home had the weather built up a little more than it was the first time. The controller got on and told me that he was showing "Moderate to Extreme Precipitation" in my path. I looked at the Nexrad (which was also showing a lot of ugliness), and looked out the window, and I saw a few areas to avoid, but the rest of it didn't look bad. I got some more rain, but nothing much more than light to moderate and certainly not 'extreme'. Went around a few things, broke out and had a nice rest of the flight home. It was awful quiet in there after Kaylee got out though!While I was flying I learned that Richard had taken Ann into the hospital, and she was being checked out for a couple of things. The doctors weren't sure what was wrong just yet, but she is being well cared for...
Thursday, July 07, 2011
Thirsty Thursday
Ah, another Steamy Day! The nice thing is that the winds have been calm (well, the nice thing for Primary students learning to land, not so nice for anyone having to move or breathe outside). One guy that I flew with today said something about being glad to be done and out of the plane, and that I must be too. I laughed and said sure, but that I'd be doing it three more times today, while he was done and headed for the air conditioning. Ah well. You can't complain if you're busy, and I'm glad to be. The second to last flight of the day I took the 172RG over to Muncie to fly with a gent out there, where he is based. That means I have the flight there and the flight home to myself, which is kind of nice, actually. Finished there around 6 p.m. and picked up Steve C., and we were headed to Sheridan so I could pick up the Chief and bring it back to Kokomo for an oil change. We were only 10 miles out when he said "Did you see that??" I had been yawning at that moment, and hadn't seen anything. Apparently a giant bolt of lightning went down in front of us. Looking out the airplane window you couldn't see anything dark, no visible storms, just haze. I pulled up the weather on the plane, and there was a big red blob sitting right on top of Sheridan Airport, where we were going. I looked out the window and could see the airport 10 miles out there, and it was clear. Looked back at the red blob on the screen. Looked straight ahead. And turned around and came home. So close and yet so far away from Mission Accomplished...but there will be another day where there isn't a giant lightning bolt and a big red blob that I can't see out my window.
We're getting ready for a couple things this weekend. Kaylee going to Tennessee to spend time with her cousins, and us going to Ohio for an airshow over there. The Mustang is going for the show, and the T-6 is going as a photo ship for a warbird magazine photographer who wants to use it to do some photo shoots of at least four of the warbirds that will be there. One of them I hadn't even heard of. A C-123, a Wildcat, a B-25 and a Nanchang, and maybe others. So I should be doing lots of flying, and I don't even have to buy the gas. ;) If all works out, it should be a neat experience, and if it doesn't all work out, well, it theoretically would have been a neat experience. ;) I look forward to a safe, fun weekend. And so does Kaylee!
We're getting ready for a couple things this weekend. Kaylee going to Tennessee to spend time with her cousins, and us going to Ohio for an airshow over there. The Mustang is going for the show, and the T-6 is going as a photo ship for a warbird magazine photographer who wants to use it to do some photo shoots of at least four of the warbirds that will be there. One of them I hadn't even heard of. A C-123, a Wildcat, a B-25 and a Nanchang, and maybe others. So I should be doing lots of flying, and I don't even have to buy the gas. ;) If all works out, it should be a neat experience, and if it doesn't all work out, well, it theoretically would have been a neat experience. ;) I look forward to a safe, fun weekend. And so does Kaylee!
Wednesday, July 06, 2011
Mugging It
My morning guy canceled, so I called up my afternoon gal and asked if she wanted to switch to morning when it was cooler and smoother. That worked out for both of us, so we headed to Sheridan to do takeoffs and landings on a skinny runway, making sure we were back in time for the lunch run.
Nathan needed to take the Cheyenne over to Muncie to have something looked at real quickly, so when my student and I pulled up in the 172, five other people were standing there waiting for us to arrive. The seven of us piled into the Cheyenne and enjoyed a nice quick flight over, a good meal, and a nice flight home, too. On the way home we climbed up to 9200' or so, then just coasted all the way back to Kokomo. Why? Why not? ;)
By the time we got back, the day had seriously heated up. I don't know what the heat index was, but the regular temp was back at 90. I took a towel with me on the last flight of the day, to put on the plastic seat and give me something to sit on besides plastic. It didn't do much good, and I was still drenched when I got out. It was a good training day for everyone with the calmer winds right down the runway, but boy, did I mention it's hot?
So now texting while driving is illegal in the state of Indiana. One more potential moving violation. At the airport the other day, one of our friends/club members who is a police officer came up to me and told me that he'd been following me the other day. He said "I expected to catch you speeding." I said "You mean you didn't??" He said "Well, your speed was averaging about my speed, so it wasn't too bad. But I did see you roll through the stop sign at 300." I flinch. He smiled and said "I've rolled through that one too. I moved the barricades a little out of the road at such and such, and if you're careful you can squeeze through. The road hasn't been torn up yet, it's just blocked off, and it's very unhandy for our path to the airport. Just be careful." And no, I'm not telling which blocked off road I got to drive down all by myself. ;)
Nathan needed to take the Cheyenne over to Muncie to have something looked at real quickly, so when my student and I pulled up in the 172, five other people were standing there waiting for us to arrive. The seven of us piled into the Cheyenne and enjoyed a nice quick flight over, a good meal, and a nice flight home, too. On the way home we climbed up to 9200' or so, then just coasted all the way back to Kokomo. Why? Why not? ;)
By the time we got back, the day had seriously heated up. I don't know what the heat index was, but the regular temp was back at 90. I took a towel with me on the last flight of the day, to put on the plastic seat and give me something to sit on besides plastic. It didn't do much good, and I was still drenched when I got out. It was a good training day for everyone with the calmer winds right down the runway, but boy, did I mention it's hot?So now texting while driving is illegal in the state of Indiana. One more potential moving violation. At the airport the other day, one of our friends/club members who is a police officer came up to me and told me that he'd been following me the other day. He said "I expected to catch you speeding." I said "You mean you didn't??" He said "Well, your speed was averaging about my speed, so it wasn't too bad. But I did see you roll through the stop sign at 300." I flinch. He smiled and said "I've rolled through that one too. I moved the barricades a little out of the road at such and such, and if you're careful you can squeeze through. The road hasn't been torn up yet, it's just blocked off, and it's very unhandy for our path to the airport. Just be careful." And no, I'm not telling which blocked off road I got to drive down all by myself. ;)
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Independent Catch-Up
We had a busy July 4th, and didn't get home until past 11 p.m., after which we pretty much all crawled in bed pleased and exhausted. Later in the afternoon Kaylee spent lots of time swimming in Nathan's pool with the kids. Unfortunately she got a pretty bad sunburn, even where she was well covered with sunscreen, like her face. Poor kid, her face is better, but her shoulders really hurt her. No fun. :( I hate that I didn't catch that she was getting burned. I've managed to keep her from too bad of sun exposure until now, but this also served as a lesson for her on doing a better job of 1) making sure she gets ALL exposed skin covered in sunscreen and 2) monitoring herself and making sure if it's been awhile that she reapplies it. Hopefully it's the only harsh sunburn she gets, considering we know how bad that is for your skin now days. As for us, even the adults sat in the shade by the pool for awhile with our legs dangling in the water and talking and enjoying the afternoon.
Late in the evening we drove down to Noblesville; we made it barely in time to be able to see Chuck and Judy before they left, and just in time to participate in Brad, Ally, Gina, Maggie and Hannah's home fireworks fun and head over for the city's main fireworks display. I'm so glad we didn't miss it. Noblesville did a really nice display, and Brad took us to great seats in a big field right by the school where they were shooting them off. Folks were there selling glow sticks (very entrepreneurial of them!), there were lit glow lanterns scattered across the sky, and it was a really pretty setting. I took quite a few photos of fireworks-tried to take them of the kids too, but my camera doesn't do well in the dark without a flash, so that didn't work out too well. Kaylee loved the fireworks, particularly the giant gold ones that look like they are falling out of the sky right on top of you...those were my favorites too.
As for today, it was another day of flights from 9 a.m. spaced out until 9 p.m. It was a hot one, but we got a lot done. Unfortunately it's hard to get much of anything ELSE done with schedules like this lately. I haven't had milk in the house for 4 days and I have to work on billing but I'm too tired to concentrate, so I'll try it tomorrow. I have lots of pictures to go through, edit, then put up on places, from photos of the air show to photos of the fireworks to photos of the flyover. Some folks on the ground took pictures of us going by in the Mustang and T-6 for the flyover of the wedding on Sunday, and I'd like to get them up too. Here are most of the formation ones for the blog here, anyway...Nathan and Steve are in the "Lead" plane, Kaylee and I are the "Wingman". In other words, I'm on the right of the pictures. ;)
Late in the evening we drove down to Noblesville; we made it barely in time to be able to see Chuck and Judy before they left, and just in time to participate in Brad, Ally, Gina, Maggie and Hannah's home fireworks fun and head over for the city's main fireworks display. I'm so glad we didn't miss it. Noblesville did a really nice display, and Brad took us to great seats in a big field right by the school where they were shooting them off. Folks were there selling glow sticks (very entrepreneurial of them!), there were lit glow lanterns scattered across the sky, and it was a really pretty setting. I took quite a few photos of fireworks-tried to take them of the kids too, but my camera doesn't do well in the dark without a flash, so that didn't work out too well. Kaylee loved the fireworks, particularly the giant gold ones that look like they are falling out of the sky right on top of you...those were my favorites too.
As for today, it was another day of flights from 9 a.m. spaced out until 9 p.m. It was a hot one, but we got a lot done. Unfortunately it's hard to get much of anything ELSE done with schedules like this lately. I haven't had milk in the house for 4 days and I have to work on billing but I'm too tired to concentrate, so I'll try it tomorrow. I have lots of pictures to go through, edit, then put up on places, from photos of the air show to photos of the fireworks to photos of the flyover. Some folks on the ground took pictures of us going by in the Mustang and T-6 for the flyover of the wedding on Sunday, and I'd like to get them up too. Here are most of the formation ones for the blog here, anyway...Nathan and Steve are in the "Lead" plane, Kaylee and I are the "Wingman". In other words, I'm on the right of the pictures. ;)
Sunday, July 03, 2011
Weekend Update III
The only problem with going to bed at 9 something is that when you're used to 7 hours of sleep or so, you wake up after 7 hours. Nine p.m. plus 7 hours of sleep, yes, that means I woke up refreshed at 4 a.m. ;) Oh well...
We had a mission for today, too. I started off by realizing that I was so tired when I got out of the Jeep yesterday that I locked my keys in it. I admit to that reluctantly, as it's now an obvious pattern. I couldn't find the spare key, so I went to take the Corvette instead. This led me to the problem of not having my gate card for Kokomo, because it was in the Jeep. Fortunately the spare key was IN the Corvette, so I got to take the Jeep anyway. Brother.
I went out to Kokomo to take the RG up on a flight west of Monticello to find a location on the ground for a fly-over we had been hired to do for today. I found it no problem, marked the spot, and came back in. The flyover was for 5:35 p.m. Exactly 5:35. Nathan set his watch to atomic time, Steve got himself strapped in the back of the Mustang, I got Kaylee strapped into the back of the T-6, and we took off to go do our mission.
As we were taking off though, we saw the Cub. It wasn't really paying attention to us, and Ty obviously thought we were going to just take off and head out. He was on Runway 32, and we'd taken off on 23. So Nathan cranked around and blew past him to the left. I waited a second and watched him to make sure he wasn't going to get back airborne, and then I blew past him to the right and pulled in front of him. As I went by at full speed, I looked over at him in the cockpit and could see he had someone with him. I could also see his face, and I started laughing. Kaylee pipes up from the back seat "Hey, that was Ty! He was looking at us!" Yes, he was! We then went on our merry way to hit our Target: Wedding. Steve was watching and said that Ty kept it at tree top level and kept lifting up his wings looking for us to come up under him. I'd probably save that one for when he doesn't have anyone with him. ;)
Nathan was Lead today, so I got to practice my formation off of him this time. That was good stuff. While most of it was straight and level, even that isn't as easy as it sounds, and I did get to practice turns and cross unders too. We flew around until Nathan's watch said it was time, and then he warned me we were getting ready to go over the target. We made three passes over the wedding ceremony group as a formation, and then we broke apart and he came by for one final solo pass in the Mustang. I wandered my way home talking to Kaylee, when suddenly the T-6 jolted...felt like we hit a bird, and now I'm wondering. Anyway, she said "What was THAT?" and I said "It felt like we hit a bird", and then I look off to my right, and there goes the Mustang in a beautiful big ole barrel roll right around us. They pulled up on our tail and hung in there in trail for quite awhile, until we got close to Indian Hills.
See, Indian Hills guys were having a cookout tonight and invited us out, so we knew they'd be there. What better time to say hi? Nathan had me join back up on his wing and we did a formation pass down the runway, then he swung around and did a solo hello. I decided to wait a moment and let the air settle, so I swung around the other side and came by to say hi from the other direction. We came in for a landing at Kokomo, put everything away, enjoyed the flights, and Steve, Kaylee and I drove out to Indian Hills for dinner.
We hung out at Indian Hills until 9 pm or so, enjoying the company and the nice evening. Ty was out there, and he let us know that his student was actually an instructor from South Bend who was getting more time in tailwheels, and that he loved it. Apparently after I finished going by and Ty explained what was happening and why, this fellow said "You know, stuff like this just doesn't happen in South Bend." ;) It was still pretty muggy, and I'm kind of all caught up on being hot and sweaty, so after a bit we came on home and I got to work on looking at photos and checking on things that happened while I was "gone".
Busy weekend, a lot of work, a lot of fun, pretty rewarding. But we did tell Kaylee-and ourselves-that today was something pretty special too. How many families do you know who spent their Sunday afternoon with the whole family flying in formation in a P-51 and a T-6? Mother and daughter in one, father and friend in the other? I wonder if ANY mother/father/daughter combo have done anything like that. I kind of doubt it, and that's, well, that's just pretty cool.
What was even better was that when we got home, we had the nicest, most gracious thank you letter from the man who hired us to do the flyover. It was in honor of his daughter who had passed away, at the wedding of her childhood and lifelong best friend who is an Air Force pilot. They'd had a special "thing" with P-51s, and that would have been the gift she'd have gotten him for his wedding if she'd been alive, so her father did it for her. He said everyone was in tears, that it meant the world to him and the groom and their families. How much better does it get than to be able to do something for someone that means a great deal to them, and is not only not "work", but is a great deal of special for you, too?
At home Steve played with Kaylee in the back yard until midnight! Frisbee, lighting a camp fire, hanging out and talking, and then watching an impromptu fireworks display that was happening right in view of our house.
A day well accomplished...
We had a mission for today, too. I started off by realizing that I was so tired when I got out of the Jeep yesterday that I locked my keys in it. I admit to that reluctantly, as it's now an obvious pattern. I couldn't find the spare key, so I went to take the Corvette instead. This led me to the problem of not having my gate card for Kokomo, because it was in the Jeep. Fortunately the spare key was IN the Corvette, so I got to take the Jeep anyway. Brother.
I went out to Kokomo to take the RG up on a flight west of Monticello to find a location on the ground for a fly-over we had been hired to do for today. I found it no problem, marked the spot, and came back in. The flyover was for 5:35 p.m. Exactly 5:35. Nathan set his watch to atomic time, Steve got himself strapped in the back of the Mustang, I got Kaylee strapped into the back of the T-6, and we took off to go do our mission.
As we were taking off though, we saw the Cub. It wasn't really paying attention to us, and Ty obviously thought we were going to just take off and head out. He was on Runway 32, and we'd taken off on 23. So Nathan cranked around and blew past him to the left. I waited a second and watched him to make sure he wasn't going to get back airborne, and then I blew past him to the right and pulled in front of him. As I went by at full speed, I looked over at him in the cockpit and could see he had someone with him. I could also see his face, and I started laughing. Kaylee pipes up from the back seat "Hey, that was Ty! He was looking at us!" Yes, he was! We then went on our merry way to hit our Target: Wedding. Steve was watching and said that Ty kept it at tree top level and kept lifting up his wings looking for us to come up under him. I'd probably save that one for when he doesn't have anyone with him. ;)
Nathan was Lead today, so I got to practice my formation off of him this time. That was good stuff. While most of it was straight and level, even that isn't as easy as it sounds, and I did get to practice turns and cross unders too. We flew around until Nathan's watch said it was time, and then he warned me we were getting ready to go over the target. We made three passes over the wedding ceremony group as a formation, and then we broke apart and he came by for one final solo pass in the Mustang. I wandered my way home talking to Kaylee, when suddenly the T-6 jolted...felt like we hit a bird, and now I'm wondering. Anyway, she said "What was THAT?" and I said "It felt like we hit a bird", and then I look off to my right, and there goes the Mustang in a beautiful big ole barrel roll right around us. They pulled up on our tail and hung in there in trail for quite awhile, until we got close to Indian Hills.
See, Indian Hills guys were having a cookout tonight and invited us out, so we knew they'd be there. What better time to say hi? Nathan had me join back up on his wing and we did a formation pass down the runway, then he swung around and did a solo hello. I decided to wait a moment and let the air settle, so I swung around the other side and came by to say hi from the other direction. We came in for a landing at Kokomo, put everything away, enjoyed the flights, and Steve, Kaylee and I drove out to Indian Hills for dinner.
We hung out at Indian Hills until 9 pm or so, enjoying the company and the nice evening. Ty was out there, and he let us know that his student was actually an instructor from South Bend who was getting more time in tailwheels, and that he loved it. Apparently after I finished going by and Ty explained what was happening and why, this fellow said "You know, stuff like this just doesn't happen in South Bend." ;) It was still pretty muggy, and I'm kind of all caught up on being hot and sweaty, so after a bit we came on home and I got to work on looking at photos and checking on things that happened while I was "gone".
Busy weekend, a lot of work, a lot of fun, pretty rewarding. But we did tell Kaylee-and ourselves-that today was something pretty special too. How many families do you know who spent their Sunday afternoon with the whole family flying in formation in a P-51 and a T-6? Mother and daughter in one, father and friend in the other? I wonder if ANY mother/father/daughter combo have done anything like that. I kind of doubt it, and that's, well, that's just pretty cool.
What was even better was that when we got home, we had the nicest, most gracious thank you letter from the man who hired us to do the flyover. It was in honor of his daughter who had passed away, at the wedding of her childhood and lifelong best friend who is an Air Force pilot. They'd had a special "thing" with P-51s, and that would have been the gift she'd have gotten him for his wedding if she'd been alive, so her father did it for her. He said everyone was in tears, that it meant the world to him and the groom and their families. How much better does it get than to be able to do something for someone that means a great deal to them, and is not only not "work", but is a great deal of special for you, too?
At home Steve played with Kaylee in the back yard until midnight! Frisbee, lighting a camp fire, hanging out and talking, and then watching an impromptu fireworks display that was happening right in view of our house.
A day well accomplished...
Saturday, July 02, 2011
Weekend Update II
Air Show Day.
Steve got up around 5 a.m., dropped something in the room and I woke up. I didn't drag out of bed until 6, but I was well awake before then. Ick. But the hardest part was getting Kaylee up! You'd think I was killing her. She can not make fun of me for not being a morning person any more. I was ready to leave by 6:30. We didn't actually leave until 7:10. Not my fault. ;)
We arrived to Steve T. cooking up a wicked breakfast for all the crew. Pancakes, bacon, eggs, sausage, hash browns, french toast, OJ, milk, coffee, fruit, you name it, it was there, and it was good. Unfortunately, I can't EAT that early in the morning, but I tried. I didn't get much down, but what I did was really tasty.
At 9 a.m. our airshow briefing started up in the main hangar. The briefing is for all the pilots, crew, and folks who will be in the sterile areas or participating in the show. The FAA comes to the show and the briefing, and sits in and makes sure things are legal, by the book, safe, yadda yadda. Steve as Air Boss gets to be in charge of the briefing, and we had more people in there than we had room to seat them. We may need a bigger room next year. Anyway, the briefing was fine, with the slight distraction in the room for the guys in the form of a young lady in a flight suit who wanted to be...noticed. Mission Accomplished. The warbird part of the briefing got a late start, and before he was done I had to raise my hand and ask to be excused, because Nathan and I were supposed to race Vette vs T6, and I could tell by the sound of the Pitts outside that our act was only 2 away, and we still had to run back to the hangar first. We curtailed the briefing, got out there, and then had to wait a couple minutes before we could go after all.
We hadn't practiced, Nathan and I, so we were kind of winging it, so to speak. He suggested I be about 50' up, another pilot suggested 100' up, Steve suggested I be down on the deck. I went with the 50' this time, and no real interesting turns or swooping dives. If we do it next year, I think I'll bring it down a bit lower and make it a more fun/aggressive turn inbound. It looks better... Anyway, the Vette got out in front of me and led most of the way, with me catching him before he hit his brakes at the end. If there was a finish line down there, the race was about a tie. If it was who led the longest, it was him. If it was who is going to win when he runs out of ground, it would be me. ;)
The show went off almost like clockwork. No problems, acts all on time and working, the timing of the other races was even better, they did fantastic. We had skydivers with three flags and a Stearman with smoke circling them, a jet-pack in a minivan, Scott P. in his first ever air show racing a Pitts with a racing motorcycle, lots of aerobatic acts, three jets, a 4-5 ship formation, the warbirds, etc. The only glitch was when it was time for the warbirds, I went to fire up the T-6 and it wouldn't engage. Ziiiiiing! Nuthin'. We tried everything, including letting a couple people try to hand prop it. A few swings on that, and you could just tell that this was not going to happen and if it did, it was making me nervous. Not worth it. So I called up on the radio and said "T6 is out". There was another T-6 there, and the guys who owned it were on the radio, and they offered to let me hop in their T-6 and fly it in the show instead. This is an amazing offer, considering I'd just met most of them for the first time that day. But I felt that it wouldn't be right for a couple reasons. Everyone else was already up and running and getting hot, and I'd have to get out of the Six, run across the ramp, get in and set up in the other Six, fire up and hold up the whole show for it, while also taking on an airplane without knowing how everything in it is set up--radios, what model is it, does it have the hydraulic push or not, etc. Being in a major rush while a group of people wait for you is not a great time to go fly a new-to-you airplane in a show, so I declined with my appreciation for the offer. Instead, I watched the show from the ground. Jon decowled the plane, worked on it and had me try it again, and I got the plane started. I was half tempted to ask if I could take off and join them mid pass, but that would be a bad plan to change the plan halfway through too, so I finished out the show watching below. Everyone did a nice job; the formation guys were sharp, everyone looked good!
At the end of the show, we had one more thing to do: a fly-over of the Haynes/Apperson Festival Parade. They wanted us to come by at 1:58. That wasn't happening. I got the T-6 started this time, and a T-34, 3 Yaks, an RV, me, the other T-6, a C-45 and the P-51 all lined up on the runway together. Nine planes all lined up in a row. I'd love to have a photo of that, but everybody pretty much had gone home by then so I doubt it. We launched and did several circuits of the parade, including a formation pass by the Yaks and T-34 (the FAST-card formation qualified folks) before everyone bugged out for home. But the day wasn't done, yet.
The weather had been miserable hot, with a temp in the mid 90s and a heat index of 111 at its hottest. I had on sunscreen and I was still burned. Everyone was. Kaylee came up to me in the hangar afterwards and her face was the same shade of magenta as her shirt. She said her head was killing her. I immediately sent her to lie down on the couch in the dark hangar with a water bottle, but she came back in 15 minutes or so still saying her head really hurt and she felt terrible, and her face was that same shade of wrong. So Trey and Carol (who is a nurse) put her in their vehicle with the air conditioning going full blast and a paper towel with ice wrapped up in it for her neck, face, head, and a bag of chips to eat for some salt. About 15-20 minutes of sitting in the car, I went to check on her and she was peeking out the window watching airplanes go by, and her face was back to its normal color. Whew. I sent her out again with stern orders to not push it too hard and to keep drinking her water. (She had been, she was about to float away, she said). Later I found out she'd been jumping around in the plastic bouncy houses when she suddenly hit the wall and felt horrid. She asked how it could get hot in a bouncy house. Enclosed space, little air flow, beating down sun, 111 heat index, and exercise. NO idea how you could overheat in those conditions. ;)
And then we ate. And BOY did we eat. Steve and I got steaks, potatoes, corn on the cob, side dishes, several bottles of beverages, cokes and waters and all sorts of stuff and had a cook out as a thank you to the crew who had worked the air show. Some folks brought more desserts and dishes to eat as well, and we had a bountiful feast! Steve Tummers did all the cooking today, breakfast, lunch for all the pilots and crews, and our thank you dinner as well. He did a fantastic job, everything was delicious and VERY much appreciated. It made all the difference. Chuck helped put everything together and run it to all the pilots and crew, and that kept him a little too busy too. He also took a cooler full of cold water bottles out on the line and kept everybody out there from overheating and dehydrating. You don't know how hot it gets out there (particularly in a flight suit) out on a tarmac with the sun beating down...it's fierce, and you can drink water all day and never have enough left over to actually use the restroom. It's unreal. Especially poor Nathan in the Mustang. With that canopy closed, he said he felt like his head got up to 400 degrees. At least in the Six I can get some air!
Unfortunately, the combination of sun, me missing lunch (yes, my own fault), my helmet that's been squeezing my temples lately (I gotta get that fixed) and who knows what else, maybe weather, but my head started pounding after dinner. We were hoping to go fly one more time, go have some fun, but nasty weather was moving in, Nathan got tired, Jim took the Six and a few folks up for rides, and I got sicker and sicker. I even took quite a bit of pain meds to try to kick it, had solid caffeine, plenty of water, good food, but it wouldn't die. I ended up lying down a lot and trying not to get sick until I gave up and came home and went to bed, around 9 something. It was a really good day though. I haven't heard how the Western Band folks did, but Pam did a great job with the advertising and setting up their end of stuff too. Steve worked his butt off and pulled off his end nicely too. The show went off safely and smoothly, and as we said this morning, we're pretty much working up to have ourselves a real live actual air show here. :)
Steve got up around 5 a.m., dropped something in the room and I woke up. I didn't drag out of bed until 6, but I was well awake before then. Ick. But the hardest part was getting Kaylee up! You'd think I was killing her. She can not make fun of me for not being a morning person any more. I was ready to leave by 6:30. We didn't actually leave until 7:10. Not my fault. ;)
We arrived to Steve T. cooking up a wicked breakfast for all the crew. Pancakes, bacon, eggs, sausage, hash browns, french toast, OJ, milk, coffee, fruit, you name it, it was there, and it was good. Unfortunately, I can't EAT that early in the morning, but I tried. I didn't get much down, but what I did was really tasty.
At 9 a.m. our airshow briefing started up in the main hangar. The briefing is for all the pilots, crew, and folks who will be in the sterile areas or participating in the show. The FAA comes to the show and the briefing, and sits in and makes sure things are legal, by the book, safe, yadda yadda. Steve as Air Boss gets to be in charge of the briefing, and we had more people in there than we had room to seat them. We may need a bigger room next year. Anyway, the briefing was fine, with the slight distraction in the room for the guys in the form of a young lady in a flight suit who wanted to be...noticed. Mission Accomplished. The warbird part of the briefing got a late start, and before he was done I had to raise my hand and ask to be excused, because Nathan and I were supposed to race Vette vs T6, and I could tell by the sound of the Pitts outside that our act was only 2 away, and we still had to run back to the hangar first. We curtailed the briefing, got out there, and then had to wait a couple minutes before we could go after all.
We hadn't practiced, Nathan and I, so we were kind of winging it, so to speak. He suggested I be about 50' up, another pilot suggested 100' up, Steve suggested I be down on the deck. I went with the 50' this time, and no real interesting turns or swooping dives. If we do it next year, I think I'll bring it down a bit lower and make it a more fun/aggressive turn inbound. It looks better... Anyway, the Vette got out in front of me and led most of the way, with me catching him before he hit his brakes at the end. If there was a finish line down there, the race was about a tie. If it was who led the longest, it was him. If it was who is going to win when he runs out of ground, it would be me. ;)
The show went off almost like clockwork. No problems, acts all on time and working, the timing of the other races was even better, they did fantastic. We had skydivers with three flags and a Stearman with smoke circling them, a jet-pack in a minivan, Scott P. in his first ever air show racing a Pitts with a racing motorcycle, lots of aerobatic acts, three jets, a 4-5 ship formation, the warbirds, etc. The only glitch was when it was time for the warbirds, I went to fire up the T-6 and it wouldn't engage. Ziiiiiing! Nuthin'. We tried everything, including letting a couple people try to hand prop it. A few swings on that, and you could just tell that this was not going to happen and if it did, it was making me nervous. Not worth it. So I called up on the radio and said "T6 is out". There was another T-6 there, and the guys who owned it were on the radio, and they offered to let me hop in their T-6 and fly it in the show instead. This is an amazing offer, considering I'd just met most of them for the first time that day. But I felt that it wouldn't be right for a couple reasons. Everyone else was already up and running and getting hot, and I'd have to get out of the Six, run across the ramp, get in and set up in the other Six, fire up and hold up the whole show for it, while also taking on an airplane without knowing how everything in it is set up--radios, what model is it, does it have the hydraulic push or not, etc. Being in a major rush while a group of people wait for you is not a great time to go fly a new-to-you airplane in a show, so I declined with my appreciation for the offer. Instead, I watched the show from the ground. Jon decowled the plane, worked on it and had me try it again, and I got the plane started. I was half tempted to ask if I could take off and join them mid pass, but that would be a bad plan to change the plan halfway through too, so I finished out the show watching below. Everyone did a nice job; the formation guys were sharp, everyone looked good!
At the end of the show, we had one more thing to do: a fly-over of the Haynes/Apperson Festival Parade. They wanted us to come by at 1:58. That wasn't happening. I got the T-6 started this time, and a T-34, 3 Yaks, an RV, me, the other T-6, a C-45 and the P-51 all lined up on the runway together. Nine planes all lined up in a row. I'd love to have a photo of that, but everybody pretty much had gone home by then so I doubt it. We launched and did several circuits of the parade, including a formation pass by the Yaks and T-34 (the FAST-card formation qualified folks) before everyone bugged out for home. But the day wasn't done, yet.
The weather had been miserable hot, with a temp in the mid 90s and a heat index of 111 at its hottest. I had on sunscreen and I was still burned. Everyone was. Kaylee came up to me in the hangar afterwards and her face was the same shade of magenta as her shirt. She said her head was killing her. I immediately sent her to lie down on the couch in the dark hangar with a water bottle, but she came back in 15 minutes or so still saying her head really hurt and she felt terrible, and her face was that same shade of wrong. So Trey and Carol (who is a nurse) put her in their vehicle with the air conditioning going full blast and a paper towel with ice wrapped up in it for her neck, face, head, and a bag of chips to eat for some salt. About 15-20 minutes of sitting in the car, I went to check on her and she was peeking out the window watching airplanes go by, and her face was back to its normal color. Whew. I sent her out again with stern orders to not push it too hard and to keep drinking her water. (She had been, she was about to float away, she said). Later I found out she'd been jumping around in the plastic bouncy houses when she suddenly hit the wall and felt horrid. She asked how it could get hot in a bouncy house. Enclosed space, little air flow, beating down sun, 111 heat index, and exercise. NO idea how you could overheat in those conditions. ;)
And then we ate. And BOY did we eat. Steve and I got steaks, potatoes, corn on the cob, side dishes, several bottles of beverages, cokes and waters and all sorts of stuff and had a cook out as a thank you to the crew who had worked the air show. Some folks brought more desserts and dishes to eat as well, and we had a bountiful feast! Steve Tummers did all the cooking today, breakfast, lunch for all the pilots and crews, and our thank you dinner as well. He did a fantastic job, everything was delicious and VERY much appreciated. It made all the difference. Chuck helped put everything together and run it to all the pilots and crew, and that kept him a little too busy too. He also took a cooler full of cold water bottles out on the line and kept everybody out there from overheating and dehydrating. You don't know how hot it gets out there (particularly in a flight suit) out on a tarmac with the sun beating down...it's fierce, and you can drink water all day and never have enough left over to actually use the restroom. It's unreal. Especially poor Nathan in the Mustang. With that canopy closed, he said he felt like his head got up to 400 degrees. At least in the Six I can get some air!
Unfortunately, the combination of sun, me missing lunch (yes, my own fault), my helmet that's been squeezing my temples lately (I gotta get that fixed) and who knows what else, maybe weather, but my head started pounding after dinner. We were hoping to go fly one more time, go have some fun, but nasty weather was moving in, Nathan got tired, Jim took the Six and a few folks up for rides, and I got sicker and sicker. I even took quite a bit of pain meds to try to kick it, had solid caffeine, plenty of water, good food, but it wouldn't die. I ended up lying down a lot and trying not to get sick until I gave up and came home and went to bed, around 9 something. It was a really good day though. I haven't heard how the Western Band folks did, but Pam did a great job with the advertising and setting up their end of stuff too. Steve worked his butt off and pulled off his end nicely too. The show went off safely and smoothly, and as we said this morning, we're pretty much working up to have ourselves a real live actual air show here. :)
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