Two Pilots & an LSW: Beat

Thursday, September 09, 2021

Beat

I didn't sleep well at all last night, woke up from 2-3 am, then went back to sleep for a couple hours, then woke back up around 5 and just was awake from then on. No reason, just happens sometimes. It sucks though.

I drove to Frankfort and was supposed to go to Ohio to pick up a 340 from the avionics shop. I thought we were taking a Cherokee Six over. Instead, an Eclipse Jet pulled up, and that was our ride. The pilot (M) said "I'd shake your hand good morning but I have a cold." I'm like...you can keep that to yourself. Then he wanted someone to sit up front to do the radios because his voice is sketchy, so E had me up front. The Eclipse is a very small jet, and we were right in each other's space while he's coughing. I'm like...eek. It takes him a very long time to figure out how to enter a flight plan and get going, and then as we taxi out, he says he forgot something and asked me to taxi and take the controls. I didn't want to touch the throttles he just had his hands on but I didn't have much choice as he let go. So I grabbed on and said "Don't touch your face, Laura, don't touch your face". Eye yi yi. As soon as we got to Ohio I went to the bathroom and washed my hands, but...we spend 45 minutes basically sitting on top of each other. He also said two days ago his throat felt like an alligator was clamped onto it. That's not a cold, that's a virus. It might not be THE virus, but it's A virus. Colds don't have terrible sore throats like that. He said yesterday he'd have been too sick to fly but he was much better today. Urgh. The thing is, today I've had a scratchy throat and watery eyes, and tired. I'm assuming it's allergies, and lack of sleep, but I didn't need extra exposure to anything. I kept a little distance from Ann the two times I was over there today too, just in case.

The pilot was pretty far behind the plane. He hadn't prepared for how short the runway was, he got slow on final, as in below Vref and I'm looking at the red stall line on the airspeed indicator not too far away, in a jet, and he had trouble with all the buttons on all the TV screens. I helped out and I wasn't even familiar with most of what was in there. I will say I wasn't very comfortable a couple of times, and I wouldn't put my family in the back seat of his airplane. It was an interesting experience, but if I was going to be in there regularly, somebody would show me how to work a few things. I think I figured a lot of it out, but a few more things I'd want to know.

It did have cool auto-everything features. You hit the buttons and it does it all itself. Pressurization, speed, throttle, all of it. Pretty cool how it works, and it took off and climbed out perfectly smooth and stable. It's quick, and easy...if you know how to use technology.

When we got to Ohio, E and I picked up his 340. The guy who did the panel revamp work wanted to go on a test flight and make sure it all worked. He would sit in the back, E and I up front. I said "That's a brave guy, to ride in the back of a plane when he hasn't flown with the pilots". Well, not too brave. He was a little nervous, but said he knew I flew about everything, so he was okay. I've taken over all sorts of planes for him to work on, several of Nathan's, John's, and now Ethan's. He also said he's been taken off the end of the runway twice by pilots who came in too high and fast for the shorter runway with the downslope. Nobody hurt, but yikes. Everything tested out fine, so E and I took off and headed home. And got the #5 CHT shot through the roof on the left engine. Probably a bad probe based on everything else. I'm taking it back over to Ohio in the morning for these guys to work on and fix.

I got back to Frankfort at 1, got in the car, hit McDonald's, ran home, got the cat, and took her to a vet appointment just in time. She got a clean bill of health, no more ear infections, and her weird eye problem, they say is an inflamed nerve, to leave it alone and it should slowly get better, and ti's not impacting her vision. So...Roadie's okay.

Kaylee is having trouble sleeping in a dorm full of people, and was complaining about the noise. Welcome to college life. ;) She likes her job in the professor's office as a temp/assistant. Her classes feel like a lot. And she wants a dang dog. She asked if we'd go to dinner with her tomorrow, so I'll try to do that if I get back in time.

And that is the day, wrapped up because I'm tired.