Weird One

It was an odd morning/day.

I was supposed to do a T-6 checkout but the weather wasn't going to be good enough this afternoon or tomorrow, so we rescheduled.

Instead I was to take our Cherokee 180 to Muncie for an IFR transponder/static check. I take off and get about 50-75' in the air and lose partial power. Enough that I'm juuust holding altitude at the appropriate speed and looking at the fields in case it quits all the way, watching where I start my turn back to the airport so I don't end up in trees, etc. I'm then slowly able to climb to a couple hundred feet so I gently swing around to land on the closest runway. I get back on final and have the field made, do an in-air mag check and it is normal. About 7-10 seconds into it, power comes back fully. I can't replicate the problem on another ground run-up afterwards, either. So I put it in front of the maintenance hangar and take the 172 out to switch places and have them do a VFR/transponder check on it instead.

I add power to take off, and my oil door flies open. It was closed! I abort the takeoff, pull off, shut down, go up to it, and it's closed again.  I push on it, bump it, it's closed.  *sigh*  Fire back up, taxi to the end of the runway, check weather one last time, and Muncie is now calling for IFR, 500' broken. I figure it's a fluke because that was neither the forecast nor the present conditions at the time, but I call nearby airports and one halfway in between is also 500' broken. Damn it. Scrub everything? We lose our slots that took awhile to get. Scud run? I don't like that idea.  File IFR?  Let's assess.  I'm IFR current, haven't done it in the 172 for real in years, but do in the 172RG and that's close enough. No GPS, no autopilot...don't need those.  They have a VOR and an ILS at Muncie, and I can do those. No NOTAMs that are a problem. Visibility is 5 miles or so, so good enough.  Fine, I'll go IFR.  I don't have this 172 in ForeFlight so I have to call 1800wxbrief like old school and file an IFR flight plan. Unlike old school, the flight plan comes through in about 60 seconds instead of 30 minutes, and I'm off.  Winds are down Runway 14, so they tell me to expect the RNAV 14, I say "Unable RNAV, I'll need the VOR 14", and I end up having to actually shoot the VOR approach into the field, minimums are 500', which is what the ceilings are at. Like I said, I hadn't done that in a 172 for years, let alone for real, but it's actually easier--Nice and slow and uncomplicated. Lol

I land, they start working on the plane, and ten minutes later it was VFR again. Of course it was. 

Getting home was uneventful. It was VFR, no sweat.

Later I go up in the Aerostar with Cameron and we do single engine MEI stuff. Vmc Demo, Drag Demo, engine out on takeoff, engine out on roll-out, engine out at altitude, yadda yadda.

At 5 pm, Morgan went up in the 172 with a student, and they flew, did a bunch of maneuvers, came in to land, did a go-around, and lost a couple hundred RPMs for a couple seconds.  Morgan calls me afterwards, and runs through what happened and what she did. Steve thinks that one is a fouled plug with a chunk that blocked it for a bit. Mine may be mags. But what are the odds?  I did tell Morgan that one nice thing to come from this is that this is the first time anything like that has happened to her, and she took over from the student, flew the plane, assessed, landed, etc. That you never really know how you're going to react to something abnormal happening until it happens, and that there's a little peace and confidence in knowing that you don't just panic, or freeze, or throw your hands up, but you work the problem and keep flying. It's a good thing to know. 

Steve and I went to dinner with Chuck, who has lost 30 pounds or more, and not in a good way. He says things don't taste right, he has tremors so bad he can't hold onto things, he's full after eating just a little, and he's afraid there's more wrong than just the tremor thing. He has an appointment with a neurologist coming up soon here. I'm worried about him.

Tomorrow wheels-up at 6 am for Birmingham, AL, with plenty of unpleasant weather coming that afternoon to get back through.  We'll see what we get...