Conquest

It was a little warmer today than the weekend, at least. AND I didn't have to get up until 9 am. I woke up at 6 of course, got up for a few minutes, then went to bed and actually went back to sleep until 8 something, and got up then. That was kind of nice. :)

I went to Frankfort to go with Clay and the guy who is wanting to buy the Conquest in Gary's Conquest. Gary brought his granddaughter, so I ended up in the back with Clay and Other Guy. The winds were gusting to 40 knots with wind shear and a bunch of low level turbulence, and it was *rough* below 10,000', and the landing was scary sitting in the back seat with a guy I don't know well in bad wind conditions. Clay and I side-eyed each other, and then I texted him "I like being up front" and he said "I LIKE you being up front" and I laughed. It was a wild one, and I was puckered up until we quit swerving on the runway and were down and stopped. Poor Gary went the wrong way and had to be told to turn around to get to the FBO after that, but I don't really blame him for that, we've all gotten turned around at unfamiliar places before. But whew doggies that was an approach. You know if I'm making note of it, it was bad. lol

We dropped Clay off, and then fired back up and he took the rest of us to Iron Mountain. Again, rough down low, but climbed out of it, and it was windy at Iron Mountain, but not 40 knots windy. That one was less exciting.

Other guy and I then preflighted and I had him fly us home in it. He's looking to buy it, so he can fly it. Plus I could tell he was highly opinionated and was God's Gift to Conquests, so he can do it his way. I did the radios and he did the flying. He asked me if I wanted to be a back up pilot for them in the plane, and I gave him my number and email. We'll see if he actually calls. I don't know how I feel about it. Partly I don't mind having another set up where I can be a back up pilot in an airplane I know and like anyway. But also, his personality is...strong. Smirky. We got along okay, but I can definitely see where we could butt heads, and I don't need a difficult relationship with clients. We'll see, he may feel the same way about me, and may never call anyway.

We get back to Frankfort with another gusty crosswind landing, and I took off and sat at Culver's and had a mushroom swiss burger, first food I'd eaten all day. And it was good. Made it back home, and I spent hours. Two? Three? Working on the schedule for this week, because it's allll up in the air. So to speak. ;)

I had trips today, tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday. But then the guys tried to combine their trips for Thursday, and we thought we had it figured out combining two and leaving a third with Morgan. But then THAT trip wasn't far from MY trips, so now we're trying to figure out if we're all going in the 421 and making all the trips in one, or if Morgan and I will split and conquer. Meanwhile, Morgan was supposed to take Aerostar to Alabama tomorrow while I left at 6:15 am to Minnesota. And she had a trip Thursday, but Thursday if we all go in the 421, she won't have any trips this week. So we swapped, and now tomorrow she's taking the 340 to Minnesota, paid, and I'm taking the Aerostar to Alabama, unpaid. But then I've got a trip Wednesday, and Thursday too, and she may have one Thursday too. So it's divided up okay. 

I was supposed to do a formation clinic Thursday and Friday, but Thursday became impossible, and I got a text from Loren today on Friday, and he said we've lost too many of our participants and there aren't enough people for another flight, so there's no need for me to go. That's okay, I don't mind having Friday off after a big week anyway. 

I'm going to Alabama tomorrow with Jon and Ethan (mechanic Ethan) in order to see how bad BOB the Beech is. We're taking down oil and filters and mechanics, and we're going to see if we can see any metal in the oil or filters. The builders of the engines got back to us and said if we don't see any metal, we likely caught it and shut it down in time to prevent engine damage. So our fingers, toes, and everything else possible are all crossed right now, praying for the best. I don't feel a lot of hope. The engine shut down on roll-out. How can there not be damage? But until we find the metal, there's a glimmer of hope that this might not be the end of it. We should know more by the end of tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I just got a text that the buyer (Jim is his name) said he liked the plane and they're going to close on Friday, and the Conquest will be gone gone. Steve, Kaylee and I are going out to dinner with Ethan and his family Friday, so if the sale closes we may have to have a drink and a toast. Even though I wish he wasn't selling the plane, he had $350,000 in maintenance costs not associated with the $300,000 new panel he put in, and he's just done. Can't blame him. And it was going anyway, so now that it's gone, he'll be able to start looking into what plane he wants next. And I hope it's not a Cirrus or a Diamond. I hope he gets a turboprop or a jet. Fingers crossed again.