Boy 5:30 came early this morning. I did not want to get up, and I wasn't alone. When Dustin showed up, he didn't speak more than 10 words the entire flight to New York, and I kept seeing his head dropping over there in the left seat. Fortunately I'm awake while flying, so I kept an eye on him. ;)
It was a nice sunrise--as I was driving past the end of Runway 5 on my way to the airport, the runway lights were lit up and the sky was pink behind it, and I smiled. This is still what makes me smile, even that early. I love sunrises-I just wish they came a little later in the day!
Half an hour into the flight when we got to our cruising altitude, the JPI was showing a hot EGT on one cylinder, and when we went to lean it out, well, the ole girl didn't much care for that idea at all, and like any cranky airplane, barked at us to tell us so. I ended up having to run it pretty rich all the way to New York, which worked out fine because we had plenty of gas, thankfully. Even coming in to land, that one cylinder then became pegged, which does not make me warm and fuzzy.
Since we arrived before 9 a.m. and there is no courtesy car, no wifi, no tv, no computer, no human being, no restaurant, nothing but a chair, a table and some snacks on a table, I had time to kill. I tried to take a nap, but a guy came in. Then Steve suggested I see if there was a mechanic on field, which I originally pooh-pooed considering the desolation here. But I had nothing better to do, so I went walking around, and found an old building with a faded sign that said something about maintenance, and the name "Don McCann", which made me smile (he's an old Kokomo CFI who passed away several years ago, who was a real character.) When I walked in there was a gent in a chair who was very surprised to see me, and was more surprised to hear me say "The #5 cylinder on the left engine is running 1600 on the EGT, up to 400 hotter than any of the others at times, but the CHTs are fine. Trying to lean it out just makes it backfire and stumble. Wonder if it's a plugged fuel injector nozzle, and wonder if you could check that out, and the two spark plugs as well." You never know who you'll run into at small airports. Apparently he used to build engines for some big factory, and was quite familiar with 340 engines too, and was more than happy to do that. Sure enough, that fixed the problem, and it was done while the guys were at a meeting and I'm just on the ground anyway. They don't take credit cards, just cash or check, so he just gave me a bill to take home so I could send him a check. I love small town airports.
Another guy wandered in, asked where I was coming from and who I was waiting on, and when I said I flew in and was waiting on my passengers, he said "Hey, were you in here a couple weeks ago?" I said yes, and he said that a friend of his had stopped out here and talked to some girl in a pressurized twin and he was telling folks about it and about how much I knew about Foreflight. Apparently I'm odd enough to be memorable to people who hadn't even met me. ;) Cracked me up.
In the meantime, I was very tired and hungry and bored. There's a rental car agreement and a set of "keys" sitting on it, so I go up and look at it. Some guy named Gilbert, and it's a Mercedes 350E. Hmm. I poke my head out the back door, and sure enough, there sits a pretty little black Mercedes. Four hours later, I wonder how long it would take me to get into town in a Mercedes to get some food. I look up this airport on FlightAware, and there are no IFR flights coming in yet, and anyone who would rent a car for $500 would surely not arrive here VFR in a 172 or something. His contract said "unlimited mileage". So how bad will it be if I take his car, I wonder? An hour later I decided to find out. I left my name and phone number on his paperwork just in case he came in, and I took the Mercedes for a drive. That's a zippy little thing with an excellent sound system, once you figure out how to use it. Heck, it took me a second to figure out how to shift into gear. ;) Seneca Falls, NY is a very nice little town, actually. I didn't dare stay long enough to sit down in a restaurant, which is a bummer, but I found a little local way place that I could get stuff to go, including homemade cheesecake blackberry custard (and OH man was that good), re-topped off the tank, and I beat feet back home, put the keys back, and enjoyed the fruits of my ill-gotten gains.
When the guys got back, they were filthy dirty. Whatever they had been working on covered them in something I will assume was dirt, even though their business is often poop. ;) They tried to clean up some, but one guy was really uncomfortable. So as we were loading up, he hesitated, and finally said "Would it bother you if I rode home in my boxers? I don't want to sit in these pants and put them on the seat." So, for a first, I had a passenger ride home in his undies and a t-shirt. You never do know what a day will bring. lol
I landed back home at 8:30 or so, then had to wait for the after-hours fuel truck, and the avionics were due so Justin came out and did that for me, and I had to stop for some food, and by the time I got home it was 10:something p.m. Kind of a long day, and tomorrow starts bright and early too. Steve said I was bringing home the bacon, and I said "What, you mean after I ate it all last weekend in the T-6s?" ;)
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