Blah Blah Flying Stuff

Today I was supposed to do some formation flying, a flight or two, starting at 9 a.m., figured I'd be done by early afternoon.  Fog this morning pushed us back to 10, and even then while they straggled into Kokomo, it was still not really good enough to go anywhere until noon. Flight #1 was a 4-ship, and I was #2 off of a Yak.  That went smoothly for the most part, and we ended up at Greencastle for their chili fly-in.  They were also doing a bunch of Young Eagle rides, so it was really busy down there.  We were given homemade cookies and free chili for flying in, and then people started coming up to me and wanted photos. The Young Eagles rides all seemed to be girls, and the lady in charge had them come over to me in groups and ask me questions about flying, about myself, etc.  Then someone from the city counsel wanted pictures to put up on their community website, and then I had maybe a dozen or more folks who wanted photos taken with me in front of the T-6, including a couple of older gents.  I can't say that I've gotten that much of a reaction anywhere before. One young lady was asking about logbooks and flight times and said her grandpa had been a pilot and she was going to be one too.  She was the first one who wanted a picture with me at the plane, and that started an avalanche.  :)  The funniest part of it was we were leaving that airport as a five-ship, as we picked up another Yak, and the guys were in the planes, ready to go, and here I am in front of the Six with a group of people, there's even a photographer climbing up on my wing (she asked first) to keep taking pictures of me as I was finally strapping into the airplane!  I halfway expected to get some grief for that later, but nobody said anything.  :)  That was different.

Flight two was out of Greencastle and down to Clark Regional down by Kentucky.  This time I was #3 in the five-ship, and I was flying off of the RV.  That one was a little trickier, and didn't go quite as smoothly.  It was a bit windy and bumpy and the RV is a little and easily tossed around airplane, so it's harder work to do a good job on it, which makes it good practice.  At one point we did the "extended trail" again, where everybody sets their power and starts maneuvering using angles to stay within a certain distance and position.  Unfortunately, the two in front of me took it full aerobatic, and the ceilings weren't high enough, so neither were we, for me to want to do that.  The RV could go vertical, gain instant altitude, go inverted quite tightly, etc., and I couldn't do as much, so I'd just watch and wait to see which way he was coming down and I'd cut him off then.  That wasn't very popular with the boss.  We landed at JVY, debriefed that one, had a drink and a break, and then we launched for Flight #3.  Still a five-ship, and this time I was #5.  This flight went well, and I think we had fun.  We did a low pass over Bowman Field (Kentucky), then our Lead peeled off to land there and we became a 4-ship.  Sometime around Columbus, another Yak peeled off, and we became a 3-ship.  The sun was going down by now, and it was a beautiful sky.  I wished I had a camera and the ability to use it without getting in trouble.  It was a truly gorgeous view, looking out at the airplanes with the sun going down.  Finally it was my turn to peel off, and I headed for Kokomo.

I put the gear down a little early while I could still see the pins, as I wasn't planning on being out after dark so hadn't packed a flashlight.  I did have a flashlight app on my phone though.  Gotta love smart phones. ;)   It was nice and dark by the time I landed, with just a hint of light in the sky, a beautiful sight...

I left the house around 9 a.m. and didn't get home until after 8 p.m.  I didn't expect to be gone all day, but that was good experience, good flights.  I got to work in positions  #2, #3, #4, and #5, and we did it all except element takeoffs because the crosswinds were too high early on and the last flight was off of too skinny of a runway.  But other than that, we did every maneuver, including telling me to "overshoot" a rejoin on purpose so we could practice one of those.  I'm glad I had to botch one on purpose at least--I'm starting to buy into the "I'd rather be lucky than good" philosophy. ;)

Here are some photos from tonight...

Four of us on the way back from Kentucky, spread out for a few minutes to do an "ops check".

 

 Just the view out the front.

 

 Kokomo's lights as the last of the light fades

 

 Turning down final, coming in to land, finally home.