Two Pilots & an LSW: Activity

Yesterday I slept in, and then ran busy from there. Nathan and I flew over to Ohio to pick up the Aerostar. When we left it was forecasting VFR here and marginal VFR but still VFR there. I filed a flight plan but didn't open it when I first took off. A few minutes into it I pulled up new weather, and it was calling for 1200 overcast there. Hm. So I just opened my flight plan and away we went. Forty-five minutes later, we get there, and have to shoot the RNAV approach to get in, and broke out about 200' above minimums. I'd say it was a little scuzzier than expected.

There have been several articles, accidents, online posts, etc. regarding icing issues in twin Cessnas...icing up at altitude when moisture in the water freezes, causing the engines to stumble or even fail. This is potentially a pretty bad deal as some people lost both engines to it. The answer to that is supposed to be simple. You add Prist, an additive that removes the moisture. Well, the execution of that was not quite as simple as I hoped. When I got back from Ohio, I did my test run with it. It is very damaging to the lining or fuel tanks if you just dump it in, so you have to mix it in with the fuel as they are fueling the plane. I have these cans that Nathan gave us to use (thank you) and you squirt fuel in from the can as they are putting fuel in the tank. This means that you and the fueler have to share the same fuel hole at the same time, and you have to stand out there the whole 20-30 minutes it's taking them to top you off. Each can does less than one tank, so you have to stop and get another can quite frequently on four tanks. The nozzle at the top, once you plug in, starts spraying on its own, and it made a mess dripping down my arms, on my coat, on the plane, etc. This was not a fun exercise. Right now, unless there's a better way to go about this, I may only add it on fuel-ups where I know I'll be taking a trip up into the flight levels on an extra cold day. What a pain. lol

Monday evening I spent working on a presentation that I gave tonight, which I'll talk about later. I was up pretty late trying to get it together. Kaylee had an e-learning day, so she was still home, but she had work assignments to complete and turn in. Steve and Kaylee practiced together on the saxophone, which I enjoy hearing. :)

This morning we woke up to weather that was relatively reasonable for going to Tennessee to pick up Ann from Lon and Cathy's house. :) It wasn't ideal, but it was good enough, and tomorrow had the word "snow" and "rain" at the same time, which is a whole lot of pilot red flag potential, so today it was. We had a nice flight--Steve did the radios, I did the flying, we shot an RNAV approach into the field and an ILS back into Kokomo, and that makes three actual approaches in 2 days, which was good. They all felt good.

Ann rode in the back of the 340 on the King's Seat, hopefully nice and comfortable. :) I'm sure it's difficult for her right now, so please keep her in your prayers with us.

When we landed at Kokomo, I had a student in the pattern in a 172 for over an hour, and then it was time for me to drive over to Purdue University, where I met with a group of about 35-40 pilots who were interested in getting their tailwheel endorsement. I had my little powerpoint presentation on a USB stick, plugged it into their computer and had a big screen at the front of the class room. I spoke for about 20-25 minutes, showed some photos and slides, gave my contact info, answered questions, and drove back home. First, it was nuts that I started at an airport to meet a group of pilots near another airport, and had to drive. They were meeting at a building on campus, not the airport, and there was no car, so...so it goes, a 40 minute round trip flight at most becomes a 3 hour round trip drive. Bah. lol I also don't remember anything about maneuvering around that university. I went there, graduated from there, but I don't remember much of it. I did recognize the place where I had to stop and throw up when I was pregnant and a banana didn't sit well with me. ;) They just told me to come to a certain room number in a certain building, and if it wouldn't have been for Google and Google Driving directions, I would have been in so much trouble. It was weird being back there on campus. I also find parking garages creepy. Too many movies I guess. Anyway. The presentation went well, I got a few laughs and a round of applause at the end. Seemed to be a pretty good group, actually. A few of them may be coming over to do their tailwheel endorsement.

Side note. It's funny that public speaking doesn't bother me in that kind of setting, considering how little I like the public or socializing at all. ;) The only time I feel a little antsy is walking into a room full of people I don't know, initially, but getting up and actually talking doesn't bother me hardly at all. Go figure. I do need to be prepared ahead of time though. When surprise interviews are sprung on me, I don't do nearly as well, either in how I feel or in content that I put out. This was originally supposed to be a sit down with a few guys and talk about tailwheel stuff. The night before it became "powerpoint presentation for 40 people". Mmm. At least I had time to mentally go over what I wanted to cover. Anyway, it worked out.

Practice practice practice!

Waves of clouds below us going into Ohio before it all socked in.

A handy piece of information to have BEFORE you get there so you know where the one spot on field is to be capable of closing and opening your IFR flight plan. Now I know!