Thursday I flew with a student in the morning, had lunch, flew with John in his 421 at 1 pm, and it was HOT. I mean, hot, muggy, sweaty, nasty, miserable hot. It's been that way ever since, and I am way past tired of sweating, for what it's worth. After John and I finished up, I ran home, grabbed my bag, went back to Kokomo, loaded up Gumby, and flew off to Fargo, ND.
I was flying along when I noticed that my GPS/VOR head was off track. I looked down at Nav 2 and saw that it wasn't going to Fargo, it was going somewhere else. No big deal, it just didn't cross feed from Nav 1. So I plug it into Nav 2 too. And instantly Nav 1 goes wonky. I'm going to short cut this story because nobody cares but some pilots, but it took me a solid 5 minutes to figure out I wasn't crazy and something was wrong with the avionics. Whatever I picked in one, the other one would show up something closely mirroring it but not quite right. If I said OKK, it said OJM. When I had to go to KELSI, the other one was KEMTP. FAR became FLJ. It really messed with me for a minute, but finally you come to the conclusion you really only have one radio/gps to use, and FINE. lol
The weather was fine except for one line of storms that blew up and filled in around Minneapolis. I couldn't get above them, and I couldn't get around the whole line because it was too stretched out, so I went in between a couple cells. Not usually my favorite thing to do, but so be it. One area ended up rough enough that I powered back to maneuvering speed to be cautious, even though I was in the clear. When I shot out the other side, I had a tailwind and it was smooth sailing from then on. It took over 3 hours to get there.
I arrived at a reasonable hour, and they gave me a tour of the facilities. Lots of neat hangars, planes, stories. I hadn't slept the night before, so I was super tired, and when I went to the hotel to crash, I wasn't awake long enough to turn on a TV or do anything but fall in bed.
The dad says he gets up at 4-5 am and is ready to go. I said no way, man. They offered to meet for breakfast at 7 am. I am not even able to eat at 7 am, so I said how about I take care of my own breakfast and you just pick me up at the hotel at 7 and we'll go to the airport and get going. So that's what we did. That is still Extra early to me, but it ended up being wise because it was super hot and muggy in Fargo, too. It rained, and the humidity was through the roof. Just like here.
I got in first with the dad. He had more T-6 time and had been flying with a rather famous pilot in the area. Still, you never know what you're going to get. Well, he did great. He'd never done a 3-point landing, so I taught him those, and he liked them better than wheel landings. As a CFI, so do I, for the record, because you can FEEL the people doing fast wheel landings on the verge of losing them. The 3-point may not always touch down super soft, but it's stable and it's down and done. These two were taught super fast drive it on with power wheel landings. The one learned to slow it down and do better. The younger fellow (my age) liked it the way he'd been doing it and had no interest in changing. It's his airplane and his potential maintenance bill some day, but he did fine controlling it for now. That's one of those things where you know one of four things is going to happen. He'll scare himself and change. He'll scare himself and quit. He'll flat out wreck it. He'll just get lucky.
But they were both adept enough at it that I didn't need to spend a bunch of time with either one. We went up and did a couple stalls, steep turns, takeoffs, landings, 3 point for the one and wheel for both, go-arounds, and engine-outs, and they were fine. So I checked out of my hotel, topped off Gumby, and flew back home Friday afternoon.
Again a line of storms in the exact same area. This time my onboard weather was showing a nasty cell to my left, and to the right was light green rain. So what do you aim for, right? I aim to the right. But as I'm traveling along, I am using my eyeballs, and the left looks a lot better than the right. The right looks dark and sketchy. I stare at the weather onboard, and even if it's delayed, and even if the storm is moving backwards from normal, it's hard to see how it can be this wrong. But after another 10 seconds of staring, I turn and aim left, directly for what looks like the worst weather, on screen. It wasn't. I flew through completely in the clear. It gave me the creeps for people who don't know what they're looking at, who just blindly trust their computers, and who wouldn't dare go in a direction that their computer said was bad. As I passed by the weather on the right, I saw lightning all over, and it was deep blue, almost black inside. It was *not* the place to be. And on my screen that area looked light green still. Use your eyeballs too, fellow pilots. Look out the window and avoid the void. :o
I got back to Kokomo Friday evening, and the Bonanza clinic guys were there and having ground school. So we were out there until pretty late, and back out there early the next morning.
Saturday was freaky hot. I drove to Glenndale and brought the Cub over, because we were having an airshow practice of the "antique review". A group of Cubs, Champs, Chiefs, Taylorcraft, Luscombes, Stinson, all flying around in the air while cars go by on the ground. So I brought the Cub over to participate. The day was SO hot that I did not feel well, at all, and we were all just covered in sweat just by sitting there, let alone by moving or doing anything. I flew in the 421 with John, and about died from heat stroke. Flew two practices in the Cub, and then flew a lady on a joy ride. That evening I flew AE down to Westfield to feed a fish, and then flew him back to Kokomo. I was a sticky hot mess, and when I got home I shed my clothes all the way to the restroom where I took a shower before falling into bed and passing out.
Sunday morning we had to get up fairly early again, and back out there. I stayed a little drier today, thankfully, but it was just as hot. I flew two practices again in the Cub, then flew it back to Glenndale to put away for awhile. The practices are fun. We had I think 10 airplanes up today, and they're mostly all new to this kind of thing, and they're working hard at it and taking it seriously. There's always that one guy, though. He doesn't know what's going on, he doesn't understand basic English, and I am pretty sure he used to do drugs, because something is fried. That's not nice, and he is nice, but it's still true. We get on the ground and I find out he PASSED people in the air and didn't know it. Didn't realize he came super close to two other airplanes, didn't know he'd passed anyone. That's just downright dangerous. He had to be moved to the head of the pack so he'd follow the leader in a white plane and nobody else. I didn't mind the move because now he's in front of me instead of behind me and I can keep an eye on him.
The Bonanza formation clinic went really well. They got tons of flying in, and Nathan was safety pilot for the two days. They asked me to fly a couple times, and I didn't. I didn't feel well most of the mornings. The heat, the something. The Cub is easy to fly, no systems, nothing important to forget, just turn it on and go. And fresh air in the face the whole time helps too. But formation didn't seem like a wise plan, so I had to pass.
A couple of photographers came out today to go flying with the Bonanza guys, too. They'd have been better off coming Saturday, it was super busy then, but they each got a little something in, anyway. Better than nothin'. :)
As of tonight, the Bonanza guys have gone home, the airshow antique guys have practiced and are feeling good, and I have a guy coming from Ohio to start another T-6 checkout by 10 am tomorrow morning. I haven't even unpacked from Fargo yet, actually.
Kaylee is off at a swim party at a friend's house. It's dark out, and late, but it's also still 84 degrees outside at 10 pm, and it was miserable earlier. So I don't blame them for waiting to swim.
Her first day of work was Friday. She texted me "I am in a room full of sleeping toddlers." Next text "What if they all wake up and kill me." She said it went fine, that she had trouble getting them to go to sleep, and one mom suggested rubbing her daughter's face until she slept. Kaylee said that felt super weird (I would think so too!) so she just rubbed her arm and then she fell asleep. One little boy drank out of her cup and she couldn't bring herself to drink the rest of her tea because of so many slobbers and buggers. She got to have a small conversation with one boy, whose favorite color is dark green, and she was excited to have an actual interaction with one, even if it was brief. Her main concern was "Mom. So Many Fluids." Snot and spit and pee and poop and drool. I snorted. It's true. So many fluids. So she survived her first day, and is feeling more well prepared for next time. ;)
Steve is cramming in air show stuff, now that the whole show is on his shoulders.
I'm hoping to get my tooth fixed soon, as it crumbled in Fargo. It hurts a little. It didn't hurt before the root canal. Then that night in Fargo I felt something, and found little pieces of my tooth on my tongue. It's now sharp and has parts missing, and my temporary cap to protect it isn't for another ten days. I've already been chewing out of one side of my mouth for a week and a half, and my tongue is sore from the jagged part back there. Now I'm just complaining. But I've got a guy driving 6 hours round trip to fly all day tomorrow when I'm trying to get into a dentist or the root canal place either one to help with this. *sigh*
Now, I have things to do still before bed. We're still alive, though. Just so ya know!
Looks like BOB "kissed" me instead of bit me. lol
On the way to Fargo
Cool looking cell--as long as it stayed over there.
On top
Blurry and yet still kind of neat.
The SNJ-5 I flew in Fargo. Restored by the same people who did Checkertail. :)
Standing on a T-6, looking at a 340, Cheyenne, PT-26 and Cub, and feeling giggly and lucky that I can fly all of them.
The lady I took for a ride in a Cub. She's hooked now, for the record, and wants her own.
Westfield Airport, old school.
AE in the front of the Cub after feeding Justin P's fish. lol
Thundercloud over Indy as it was starting to dissipate.
Couldn't get the whole line up of airplanes, but there were like 10-11 of them in a row.
We had two handproppers who would go around and get everyone started. It really was fun, and it was fun to watch. The folks would sit back at the hangars and watch the show. :)
One pretty Cub being put away for a few days...
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