I woke up this morning to fog. I was supposed to fly at 9, but I didn't even get up or take a shower at first, because the forecast said it would be 1-2 pm before it burned off, and that's exactly how long it took to be not IFR yesterday. She said she was driving up anyway, from 1.5 hours away. I sat on my couch and drank coffee. Then I looked outside and saw blue. Hmmm. I checked and the visibility was up to 4, even though it was still 200' overcast, so I hopped in the shower, and by the time I got out there, and she got there, it was clear enough to fly, just an hour later than we were supposed to go. I would have bet it wouldn't burn off that fast, and I'd have lost. But that was good, because it meant I got to finish her tailwheel endorsement today. So that was one thing marked off the list of things to do! She got home, and later that afternoon texted me that she had just been diagnosed with shingles. It was on her back and sides, and had been hurting awhile, but she thought it was from a dog attack from before, as it was on the same side. Ow!
I met Steve, Nathan, Dale and Chuck for lunch, dropped off SMA Support receipts in the mail, then went back out to Kokomo. The winds were picking up, and Runway 23 was closed for painting, and I needed to get that other T-6 back to Huntington. The later in the day, the worse the winds were going to be at Huntington, and that place isn't a joke on gusty days in a tailwheel. So I took off at Kokomo with a direct crosswind up to around 20 knots, and I was tense all the way to Huntington. My first time in the plane was the hydraulic line bursting and a life-threatening ride at the end of it. My second time was ferrying it back from annual, and about 10 miles out having a "chip detector" light come on, meaning potential impending engine failure at any moment. Fortunately, that didn't happen, but I had my seatbelt tightened, my canopy open, and I was scouting landing sites to put it down in all the way back to the nearest airport, home. That was not relaxing. Then we had some training flights that went all right, typical. Then the flight before this one, I didn't have any brakes. I had a little bit on taxi, if I'd pump them up, and I just wanted to get it to Huntington. But after I took off, my feet kept going to the floor, couldn't pump them up any more. I'm not landing there with no brakes, so I came back to Kokomo and made a delicate landing that ate up a fair amount of runway because...no brakes. There wasn't any brake fluid left. Air bubble most likely, as they'd just put some in over the BBQ Bash. So at this point, I've had some excitement in this airplane. Next stop was going into Huntington on a gusty crosswind day. Winds 220, Runway 27 over the stupid trees that cause swirling. So you can see why I was tense. Sure enough, got bounced around over the trees, got down close to the runway and the currents swirled around enough, touched down, a gust blew me back up, touched down again, it wanted to scoot around, I ignored the ditch, and rolled to the end, with a decent heart rate going.
I parked it, and the line guy needed help towing it into the hangar, as he was alone, and wanted a "spotter". I helped for awhile, but he couldn't maneuver the tug to get it into the right spot, and my ride back to Kokomo was waiting for me on the ramp. Finally I had to leave, sorry, and he gave me a Gator to drive back up to the ramp. Pretty cool little thing, actually. Jerry and I flew back in the 172, and then I had a cross country flight with a student in the other 172. That was a little rough of a flight for him, but it was a pretty view. The sun going down earlier is definitely beautiful, even if it is depressing.
I'm supposed to fly with the Legend Cub tomorrow morning, but based on tomorrow's forecast, I'm guessing it's going to be laundry day instead. That's okay. As long as it gets better this weekend, as I have two guys coming for T-6 stuff. One for just a 40 minute ride, one for a 2-3 day training scenario. Pretty please give me a non-traumatizing person in non-traumatizing conditions. Thanks.
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