Hush

It's very quiet around here right now.  Steve and Kaylee have gone to Warsaw with AE and Justin to get things ready for tomorrow's air show, and they're spending the night up there, so I'm here all by my lonesome. I had a 1.2 flight this morning in the 172, followed by a quick lunch and a 4-hour trip to Virginia and back.  All that wasn't done until 5 p.m., which was just in time to say goodbye to the family on their way north.  :)  My trip was uneventful other than I got ice.  I did actually pick up ice, and I even popped the boots once.  In August.  Of course that can happen at 19,000' in juicy clouds when it's -8C up there...

Kaylee is texting me off and on tonight, about when she's checking in to her room, about the chocolate dessert she's eating at 10:30 at night, all sorts of things.  I enjoy hearing from her.  :)

The only thing I'm not looking forward to is having to get up early again tomorrow.  I've had to get up early every day, some days overly early, and I'm ready to sleep in a morning.  Just not tomorrow morning I guess.

Here's a video from the back seat of an Aeroshell Team demo flight from Oshkosh this year.  The acro starts at 4 minutes 30 seconds into it.  I found myself listening to the power during some of the turns/moves, watching the wingtip draw a circle in the loop like Nathan had told me, and trying to figure out what they were flying off of since it wasn't the standard "points".  I've seen the Blue Angels in a cockpit video of their formation, but hadn't seen "the boys" from inside the cockpit before.  I enjoyed it.  Don't worry, I won't be doing formation acro any time soon.  I'd have to get better at both formation and at acro first.  But it sure does look like fun.  ;)

Friday

I basically spent from 10 a.m. through to 6:45 p.m. with one student today, prepping for a checkride, waiting for weather, flying, doing paperwork, checking over stuff, etc.  We flew for 4 hours, and by the end of it, she was exhausted and yawning non-stop, and stumbling, and I said "I think I broke you."  She laughed and agreed.  But this is the only time we've been able to fly for her checkride since about 3 weeks ago.  We were both gone over Oshkosh, and then the weather every day this week hasn't been good enough-until this afternoon finally.  We have one more flight tomorrow to see if she can remember to do it all herself--she can fly it, but she doesn't always remember everything in sequence for all the maneuvers yet.  So that's what she's got to do tomorrow, and then her checkride is Sunday.

There's an aerobatics competition going on this weekend too.  The weather finally let up for them, too, and there was lots of flying going on this afternoon, lots of airplanes out on the ramp.  It should be a beautiful weekend for them.  It kind of messes with students, and I hate to do that particularly on a checkride, but you get what you get in flying.

Speaking of aerobatics, this is Bud Granley doing a T-6 act.  As best I can tell, he squeezes his eyes shut as he is performing a low level what, snap roll (?) after takeoff (?) in a T-6.  Dang.  You can see him checking his airspeed indicator a lot before each move.  I wish I could see this from the outside as well as looking at his face and a little of the canopy behind him.  Pretty impressive.  I need to win the next half a billion dollar lottery so I can afford to learn and stay proficient at all the things I need (need? I suppose 'want' is the more appropriate term, though it doesn't feel like it) to yet learn/do/master.   Let's see.  I 'need' to be able to have Steve and I both go to Florida one cold Indiana winter weekend and do our seaplane ratings. And then go get the multi-engine seaplane rating in a Twin Beech on floats.  I need to go to Alaska, find some crusty old bush pilot, and have him take me/us into and out of places that will make my heart rate go up. I need a lot of hours of gas money to work on...well, I'll just leave it with I need a lot of hours of gas money to work on stuff.  Lots of different stuff.  Including the below video stuff, only I'd do it higher up.  ;)

And speaking of gas, part of tomorrow's plan is for me, Nathan and Steve to take up the 340 and do a little checking on fuel flows at exact power settings and altitudes.  We're supposed to be getting a certain number, the data says it's getting that number, the maintenance shop said it was getting that number, but I saw a lot lower number on the way home.  I'm not crazy, I was looking at it for too long to have imagined it.  I'm not sure if I'm hoping to see the right numbers tomorrow, so I know there's no problem, or if I'm hoping to see the wrong numbers tomorrow, so it won't be one of those crazy things that only I saw happen and will never know why.  Practically, I hope to see the right numbers.  Impractically I'd like somebody else to see the wrong numbers too.  lol

Kaylee was able to get together with Maggie tonight, and tomorrow night she is having a friend, Abby, over for a sleep-over.  School starts the 14th, so it's good to get in some of this stuff now.  She wanted to watch "Planes" again at opening night, but had company instead.  Since she's already seen it once, I told her she'd survive until another night to go watch it.  It IS a cute movie, and I enjoyed it too.

Oh, that reminds me, I heard an advertisement on the radio today, and a guy said he was looking for a clearance to land on "Runway thirty-nine 'Ar'."  If you're gonna use pilot lingo, at least look up a real runway.  I can see how the "r" can be mistaken, if you're just looking at it on a picture, but Runway thirty-nine?  Ugh.

A quote attributed to Andy Rooney:  "I've learned that opportunities are never lost; someone will take the ones you miss."  Yup!

ABS Day One

ABS stands for "American Bonanza Society", and tonight a group of Bonanza and Barons arrived for the formation clinic this weekend. I won't be able to participate in the flying end of it this year because the Baron is still in many pieces being worked on for its Annual, but I am going to sit in on the ground school and ride along on some of the flights and see what I can pick up on the knowledge end of things. The only problem I have is that the first ground school starts at 6:30 a.m. Yikes. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to concentrate that early! :O So I'm going to try to go to bed early here and set my alarm for an inhuman number and go for it. I always enjoy riding along on the flights-I did it last year too, and while I was focusing more on taking photos than on learning anything, it's still good experience. This year I'll pay more attention to everything else going on.

Today was Kaylee's last day of school prior to Spring Break, so she's free and clear for a week. :) When I picked her up from school, I took her home to pack a bag and then drove her out to the airport, where Chuck, Steve, Charlie and I set up tables, rearranged some things, cleaned up some things, and basically got the two hangars ready for the weekend. When we finished up, Judy had brought some chili and peanut butter and jelly and bread and fresh pears and hard boiled eggs and all sorts of stuff to eat, and we sat down and had dinner while we waited for the Bonanza guys to arrive. Kaylee was in hangar heaven with Maggie there to play with, and I didn't see a lot of the girls once they hit the outdoors with scooters and bikes.

Finally this evening the winds calmed down from what they'd been doing all day long to a reasonable level, and Chuck helped me pull out the T-6. The sun was going down, and Steve and I decided to go on a nice sunset flight. The Bonanza guys made it in, the ramp is full of Beechcraft products, they came over to chat and say hi for a few minutes, and then we were on our way. I gave my first instruction in the T-6, but I did it from the front. Steve did the takeoff, flying around, pattern/approach to short final from the back (and did well by the way). The sun had just dropped below the horizon when we taxied in, and we had a really nice time. Chuck and I took some photos that you can see on the bottom half of this page. I plan on trying to get some flying time in tomorrow when the weather is decent; I'm trying to get in a good amount of practice in to get as familiar and comfortable with the plane as I can before seeing if I am going to do a formation clinic in it in May or not...

I finished my logbook today, and I am finally all caught up again, including tonight's flight. It was interesting to me to break down the total T6 time and see how much was back seat, solo, G model, D model, formal training, etc. What an adventure. :)

Kaylee and Steve are spending the night out at the hangar with Maggie, Hannah, Chuck and Judy, and I'm home so I can take a shower in the morning prior to getting in a small airplane up close and personal with other people. I thought we all might appreciate that...and now I need to try to get some sleep so I can be halfway coherent at 5:45 a.m. when my alarm goes off...

Nice

I woke up this morning when one cat climbed up on my hip, another climbed onto my legs, and an icy cold 8 year old who had already had breakfast and now needed warmed up climbed in and huddled up on my back, pinning my hair down. They always get on top of me when it's cool out because I radiate heat, and cats and little kids both seem to get into that. ;)

A look at the weather basically showed that it was doing what it was supposed to be, which was a VFR day with rain coming eventually and a bit of wind that was supposed to get worse as the day progressed. I thought if I got out there in time, I could practice in the T-6 before the high-ish winds and rain hit, so that's what I did. Of course it took longer than normal because I couldn't be pampered today since I was on my own. ;) The Cub was in the way in the front of the hangar, so I pulled it out and chocked it off to the side. There was a battery charger hooked up to the tug, so I took it off and drove the tug out of the way, hooked up the T-6 and s-l-o-w-l-y pulled it out of the hangar so as to not scrape the Cheyenne or the door, unhooked the tug and put it back into the hangar, added the two cases of oil to the baggage compartment for weight and balance, closed up the back, took out Nathan's helmet and got mine, did the preflight, pulled through the prop, and finally I was ready to go.

I took off, and just to get into the swing of things I flew over my house (at several thousand feet above, nothing 'funny' here!), where I knew Steve and Kaylee would hear me. I saw them come out, and Kaylee jumping up and down and some waving, so I did some wing "waving" back, went out to the country and did a few maneuvers, then decided to practice some TOLS (take offs and landings). The winds had picked up by then, gusting around 20 knots, were forecasted to go up to 25, but it was never more than 30 degrees off the runway, so it was a good stepping-stone practice day for me. Putting everything away is harder than taking it out, but fortunately that went really smoothly as well and I got the T-6 backed into its' parking spot safely on the first try, everything else moved back in place, got a late lunch and came on home feeling like I'd accomplished something at least.

I read this on an aviation board and it made me laugh out loud. See, C-152s are one of my least favorite airplanes. They are tiny, you can only fit 1.5 people in there unless they are tiny, it's underpowered and slow and not in a good way like the Citabria. ;) So this guy wrote the below, and it cracked me up. It just goes to show you, everything is a matter of perspective. "As to turbulence issues, here's the deal: the 152 is NOT for wimps who can't handle a bit of buffeting in return for great sensitivity on the controls, roll rate and overall responsiveness. If I want to ride in a slug I'll take a 767. 152s are for real men, and real women. One other thing: they better replicate WW1 combat experience than, say, Warriors or Bo's." Great sensitivity on the controls? C-152s are airplanes for "real men and women"? Replicating WW1 combat experience? Whoa. That still makes me grin. Hey, whatever makes a person happy is fine by me! :)

Kaylee talked on the phone to her grandma for I don't even know how long. I kept asking if Grandma might be done talking yet, but Kaylee would frown at me and run away. She was just in chatty mood apparently. Grandma told her directions on how to make one of those paper thingies where you fold it and ask it questions and pick a color and number and it "answers" you; I have no idea what to call it. So we made one of those tonight, and Kaylee is in heaven. Thanks for the directions Mom, I didn't even know what to call the thing to google directions on how to make it. It worked perfectly and Kaylee is Quite Pleased. :)

Steve and Kaylee played outside for awhile, started up the motorcycle and Corvette to warm them up a bit, played Frisbee, let the cats out to play for awhile, and will be doing the camp-out-under-her-tent-in-the-front-room gig tonight as well. We had homemade steaks, fried potatoes and corn for dinner, and it's been a nice Saturday for all, I'd say!

Saturday's Stuff...

I was up this morning before the sun. I could feel some cobwebs in the ole brain and I was still stuffed up, coughing and congested, but as I drove out to the airport with some music on, watching the sun rise, I could tell it was going to be a good day. I even took a photo of the sunrise just to prove I was out and about at that time of day. ;)

I got the T-6 preflighted, hooked up to the tug and pulled out. Jim arrived, and we taxied up to the terminal, got gas and went over the ground stuff inside there first. We flew two rounds of: short field takeoffs, emergencies, no flap landings, half flap landings, more simulated engine outs and engine fires, wheel landings, crosswind landings, touch and goes, etc. After round one we stopped and Chuck had brought out homemade vegetable beef soup that Judy had made. It had been simmering for 3 days, and it was Delicious and warming and just really hit the spot as far as my system was concerned. I was feeling a little puny by then, and that warm soup was really helpful. After round two of flying, when I climbed out and the adrenaline wore off, I felt pretty cruddy. I kind of melted onto the couch for awhile and actually half slept for a bit while Tre and Nathan cooked burgers and hot dogs on the grill. I was lying back on the couch when the Cheyenne taxied out, and the assault of Jet A fumes blowing into the hangar woke me up just in time to go eat. I was thinking that I might have to call off Round Three of flying for the day, because I just wasn't sure I'd be able to do a good job focusing, but after the food and being up and about for awhile, I decided to get the last lesson of the day in after all.

It was rather shorter than the other flights we did. I did a normal takeoff, and on downwind he told me I had an engine failure, so I did a power off landing. Did another takeoff to a normal landing. He asked how I was feeling physically, and I said I was doing fine again. I taxied back to take off again, when he dropped his checklist. I've done it-anything you drop goes into the belly of the plane way down there. So I held the brakes while he climbed around back there to get it. Then the checklist goes flying outside, he climbed out to go get it, and said while he was doing that I ought to just take the plane around for three takeoffs and landings by myself. So, that's just what I did. :) As I taxi out, I see a golf cart over there with a crew on it, sitting by the runway and watching, with at least one camera out and pointed. Steve, Nathan, Chuck, Jim, and Nathan's friend Roger. I did my first takeoff, and was a bit surprised at how heavy the nose was without someone in the back seat. Jim had thought ahead (I see now) and put two cases of oil in the baggage compartment in the back to help, and even with that I could feel the difference in CG (center of gravity). After the first, I opened the canopy up. I didn't have to worry about the noise or squelch in the intercom now, and I wanted the wind in my face on a beautiful Saturday evening with the sun getting low. It was...peaceful. I made my three full stop landings then taxied on in and parked it. Jim gave me my own red "tool" that you use to open the gas caps and oil door on the T-6 as a tradition he does for his soloing T-6 students, and a round of handshakes and hugs ensued. Oh, and the crew all approved of my three takeoffs and landings. ;)

We relaxed for a little while at the airport before retiring to Applebees. Everybody was really tired-it's been a busy couple of days-but they came out anyway. We made it a bit of a double celebration-"Tall" James (Nathan's son) also did his long cross-country flight today, by himself. An accomplished day. :)

I'm now home, Steve is asleep on the couch and I'm going to bed myself. Tomorrow is one more day of flying; hopefully my sinuses and attention span will let me do the fun stuff we've got planned, which includes a little trip to a fly-in and some aerobatics. We'll see. For now, I've got to get some sleep!

Worked Hard

If you're interested in what Kaylee and Steve did today, or anything other than flying, you are sorely out of luck and might as well skip this one. ;)

I got out to Kokomo around 9:15 a.m., and Chuck pulled the T-6 out of the hangar for me (thank you, Chuck!) I did the preflight, then Jim arrived. To shorten this post up by a large amount, the bottom line is that we did three flights throughout the day of about an hour and a half or so each. Jim called that a "quick turn". We'd do ground school for around 30-45 minutes, go fly for an hour and a half over what we briefed, come down and go over what we had done, take a break for a drink and some food, then brief the next round, go fly it, come down and debrief it, take a break for a bit, then do it again for the third time. We covered an amazing amount of material. In fact, at the end of this, I'll type out some of what we did just in the last two days, and most of it has been done multiple times. I am sitting here at home now with my entire body aching. My wrists are sore, my arms from holding certain things, my shoulders from pulling, my legs, my neck, there is not much on me that couldn't use a massage and a hot tub. And I like it. ;)

Jim and I both had a lot of fun today, that's for sure, and I'm feeling really pleased about the whole thing. I haven't even had to demonstrate my bounce recovery skills yet. ;) (But I'm quite sure that's coming. We had two light wind days.) I'm really glad he was up here for the weekend and could fly this much for two days. I've learned a lot and did I mention I had a blast? I'm wrung out, sweaty, sore, wiped out, worked hard, and...internally I'm the Cheshire Cat. ;)

What we were doing probably looked crazy from the outside. We did aborted takeoffs, go-arounds, no flap landings, emergency procedures, a touch and go, just all sorts of things that will make you go "hmmmm". So here's a list of some of the stuff we did yesterday and today, all multiple times, not including all the ground school items we covered, for you to skip if you're uninterested:

Cockpit familiarization, of course starting, taxiing, run up, takeoffs, climbs, turns, power on and power off wings level stalls, turning stalls, approach to landing stalls, engine failure at cruise altitude, pattern and full flap landings, taxi practice in a confined area, steep turns up to 60 degrees bank, minimum controllable airspeed, aborted takeoff, go-around, low altitude engine failure, simulated fire on start up, half-flap landings, no-flap landings, balked landings, simulated hydraulic failure, engine out on takeoff roll and simulated engine out right after takeoff, simulated fire during flight, and of course checklist usage and familiarization. That doesn't cover all the ground work like performance charts, aerodynamics discussions, yadda yadda. Lots of information, and Lots to go still, too.

What a wonderful, fun, exciting weekend...I guess we'll see if 739KS and 739SC, the two C-172s I am flying in tomorrow, will be enough to bring me back to reality. ;)

Fun Flying

What an excellent day. We all slept in just a little bit, got ready, stopped at Meijer to pick up food and drinks for the airport among other things, stopped to pick up a late breakfast, and went on out to Kokomo. It was a beautiful weather day. Blue skies, light winds, cool temperatures; just one of those lovely fall-ish days that I so enjoy!

Nathan's friend Jim Zazas came up from N. Carolina for the weekend; he's an airline pilot who is also a T-6 (and other birds) instructor. He went up with me for about an hour and a half, for my first time in the front of Nathan's T-6. We started from scratch, from preflight through start-up (don't forget the wobble pump to prime the primer, btw) and taxi practice, on through some turns in the air, power off stalls clean and dirty, yadda yadda. For a nice change of scenery, he demonstrated two barrel rolls and a cloverleaf. Man that plane does such smooth aerobatics. I really enjoy it, actually better than I enjoy the yank and bank zippiness aerobatics of the Pitts. We came in for a landing, realized we were starving and called it for the lunch break.

Chuck was there fixing his Citabria, Nathan and the kids, Charlie & Dawn, Steve & Kaylee, Jim T. and Jim Z., and we fixed up burgers, chips, potato salad, cookies, you know, a normal fun airport group lunch. ;) After we ate, Chuck flew his plane for awhile, and Jim and I did some ground time over things from performance charts to, oh, all sorts of stuff. That ended with a "blind" cockpit check, where he calls out something in the cockpit and you have to put your hand on it right away without looking. We had time for another flight, so went up for round two. Steep turns, minimum controllable airspeed, more stalls and recovery in various configurations and power settings, and landing. It was a lot of fun, and felt pretty good. We stopped when fuel told us we needed to; Max had stayed at the FBO past his closing time just to fuel us and the Mustang up after we all landed, which was so nice of him. We went over a few more things on the ground, and then the group of us put everything away, locked up the hangars and headed to Outback Steakhouse for dinner.

Can't beat that, now can we? :)

While I was flying, Steve and several of the others were working on wiring some things up in between Nathan's hangars, and Nathan took Jonathan for a ride in the Mustang. It was a beautiful evening for it, so calm and smooth, and in the relative quiet of the airport, nothing beats the sound of that thing going overhead...

A marvelous experience, for sure. I am a fortunate lady. Gal? Woman? ... Person. :)

Confessions of a Quiet Saturday

• I stayed in my pajamas today, and I liked it.
  
• I read on my latest Robert Ludlum book today, in my pjs, and I liked that, too.
  
• I have accomplished very little of import today, and I don't mind that. Sometimes you just need a break. I may accomplish more later this evening, but for now, we are relaxing.
  
• Kaylee hid Easter eggs filled with candy around the house just because she felt like it. I think they have all been found. We don't care that it isn't Easter.
  
• I need to work on compassion, because I find myself annoyed at the 1200 people who stayed in Galveston after being told that if they did it would be "certain death" who did it anyway and then called 911 in the middle of the hurricane when it was too late for anyone to do anything about it. *sigh*
  
• I am sure that there are some who had good reasons for staying. I know some SMA families who can't sit in cars for 10 hours straight trying to get out of town in the herd, and stay and do their best. I would also guess that all 1200 people who called 911 in the middle of a hurricane are not all medically fragile people who couldn't leave.
  
• I have managed for the most part to miss what many would call "classic" movies, in particular many old westerns. Today I watched "The Magnificent Seven", and, in true confession form, must admit that I actually liked it. Chiseled chins and high cheekbones and manly men with honor and courage who know when to stand up for themselves and when to walk away. You can come away with dozens of life lessons out of that one movie. The young hotheads who either learn to control themselves or don't make it. The 'soldiers' who know that sometimes you have to fight to defend those who can't defend themselves, but realize that even when they win such a fight, they lose, too. The people who are bullied and bullied until one day they realize they have to stand up and risk being destroyed, or don't stand up and be destroyed. Courage and fear was a frequent theme in the movie as well. That everyone feels fear, including our heroes, but they do what they have to do despite the fear. One man described it as wet hands and dry mouth and wondered if the gunslinger felt the same way before a fight. Gunfighter says "every time". And then he gets it done anyway. Hasn't everybody felt some variation of that feeling? I know I have. There are several things I have done that were a lot tougher for me to do than anyone would know, and I'm sure probably everybody has experienced that at some level. It was kind of nice to watch the movie, I have to admit, even though "old" flicks, let alone Westerns, are not usually my style. "The Magnificent Seven" is a classic for a reason.
  
• My pajama time ended around 3 pm when Nathan asked if we wanted to come out to OKK and do some T-6 flying. Why, yes, in fact, that sounds lovely! The winds today at the time we went flying were 19 gusting to 25 knots. Those are pretty good winds for me in this plane right now. Fortunately they were down the runway, though it was still a little bumpy and gusty.
  
• I lost track of how many takeoffs and landings we did, or how long we flew. I know that when I got out of the plane, my shirt, jeans and hair were all wet, my neck was rubbed raw where the seatbelt scrapes, my left arm was a little weak feeling from me holding it in place and pulling heavy gear/flap levers, and I felt pretty good about it all. Not that I had all beautiful takeoffs and landings, but they are feeling more in control.
  
• I'm still working on taxiing smoothly and properly with that big old heavy tailwheel, and turning around with a gusting wind was a definite exercise. I didn't stop the rate of turn soon enough once, and the wind pushed us almost all the way back around, and by the time I got it corrected and headed the other way, we swung too far that way too, and to a lesser degree I did it again trying to go straight-finally we were both just laughing out loud watching me try to straighten the thing out and go the right way down the runway. Hey, if I can't laugh at myself, I'm sure there will be plenty of others in line waiting to do it for me. ;)
  
• I'm having fun, I'm learning a good amount, and I look forward to it "clicking" in to the point where I can make good landings on purpose more than on accident. ;)
  
• Steve finally got his first flight in the T-6 today. I think he enjoyed himself too.
  
• Kaylee is working on cleaning her room, I cleaned up the kitchen, and I think the rest of the evening will go back to the calm, quiet day, as it started...

Friday Follies and Fun

This was a fun Friday for Kaylee, because when she got to Glenndale for our Friday lunch, she had her friend Maggie to play with. She hasn't seen Maggie in ages, and they had a great time together, for hours.

Shortly after lunch, I went out to Kokomo, and Nathan and I went in the T-6 over to Huntington after a low pass at Glenndale. The weather was still moving through up there by Huntington, so we just flew around and watched the rain and clouds move through, until the airport was clear, and came in to land. Nathan's plane has been run, and they are basically buttoning it up and getting it ready for the FAA to come do their thing, after which it will be legal to fly. I got to relax and ride in the back for the trip over, and there's just very little I find more peaceful and...pleasing...than cruising along looking at the wings over the fields, with the canopy cracked open and the rumble of the radial. I even get a kick out of looking at my own reflection in the back of his red helmet. Of course, I am easy to amuse. ;)

It was my turn next, and I flew us back to Kokomo, from the back. You know, the T-6 has been called "The Pilot Maker" for 70 years now? I find myself a little...aggravated; I've flown it I think six or seven times now, and it's not hard per se. It's not super fast, or overly sensitive. It's a little squirrely on the ground, and it's different from what I'm used to, but it's not like it is alien or anything. And yet... I can get it in the air, fly it around, and get it back on the ground. I can even do so so that it looks fairly decent from the ground the majority of the time. I've only had to have the one landing saved (so far), and only had one embarrassing bouncing-like-a-basketball-down-the-runway landing which I recovered myself (so far), both in the first few flights. But man, consistency and smoothness is evading me. I don't have it, and I should have it after this many flights. At least it's feeling more comfortable, and I can tell that once it clicks in, it'll be fine. I just want to sit out there and do it until I start nailing it. My tally for today is two "okay" landings, one nice takeoff and one truly sloppy landing. The back is a little tougher for me down final as unfortunately I'm not very used to landing planes where I can't see the runway until I'm fairly close to flaring, but that is a definite area of weakness of mine and I need to just get "seat" time and get comfortable with it. Anyway, that's my gripe at myself, but I enjoyed the flight all the way up to that last landing. ;)

When we got down, Charlie Brier drove me over to Glenndale so I could take the 172 out of the wet field there and take it over to Sheridan. The last time I'd looked at the runway, it still had some standing water on it, so I expected it to be a wet and true soft-field takeoff, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. In fact, I was well in the air before I even got to the threshold markers for the runway. I got it put away and tied down at Sheridan, and Nathan came and got me, and we went to Outback for dinner. Steve and Kaylee met us there, and Jamie and Gwenie came along too. I was hungry, and we did the whole ball of wax. I ate most of my salad, I had a slice of warm bread, I had a few "bloomin' onion" peels, I had steak, baked potato, a side of crab legs, and even a "Chocolate Thunder from Down Under". They make those MUCH smaller than they used to, by the way. Best of all, they were out of whipped cream, so they gave three out of four of us who were supposed to have whipped cream our desserts for free. Why, thank you. :) I almost never eat that much there, and I'll probably be full until tomorrow around noon, but hey, it was really very good and it hit the spot.

I came home and printed off some stuff for tomorrow because my laser printer cartridges came in today, and I came home to a freshly cleaned house too. Tomorrow is going to be a busy one with our Meet & Greet, and I'm fading fast for the night...

De-twitch Central

This morning I tried to get Kaylee moving, but she is on summer vacation, capital "V", and she was not going to be moved along. :) It was almost 10 a.m. before she decided she was ready, and then she decided she didn't want to go with me to run errands and go to the airport after all. I told her I'd probably be gone until 3 pm or so, but she wanted to stay with her grandparents. Lucky for her, they were free! She found out last night that her Moon Sand can in fact go in the water, so she wanted to show them that little trick among others.

By the time I got my errands run and got out to Kokomo, it was 11:15 or so. I dropped off something up front, then headed back to Nathan's hangar, and I thought--while I'm here, I'll take up the Citabria. I didn't realize or remember it had been moved back to Glenndale, though I should have known. No go, and it was a beautiful morning, too. Lunch was at Applebees with Steve, Chuck, Ty, Steve C., me and Nathan, after which I went back to Kokomo with Nathan while the others broke for their respective flights/activities for the day.

After he got some springs fixed on a golf cart, Nathan pulled out the T-6, which kind of woke me up from a little dainty post-lunch-doze on the comfy chair out there, and we went to Muncie. I flew from the back this time. It was still quite the bugger to start/keep running. Anyway, I taxiied out to the runway, and since there isn't a working push-to-talk switch in the back seat, he had to make all the radio calls. I said that worked for me, because if I goofed any of these up, it would look like he did it since he's up front and doing the talking. ;) The standard approach doesn't work so well for the back seat person, since I lose sight of the entire runway the moment I turn final. Keeping it in tight and more of an oval shape than a rectangular pattern helped. How'd I do? Let's see. One lousy takeoff (eh, it was a fluke), two okay; one level off too high landing (first one from the back today), two okay. More practice necessary on tight turns with the tailwheel unlocked. No perfect ones, but I did end up with one of the best I've done so far at least. They all probably look fine from the ground (except the one takeoff), I just need to smooth them out-fewer jerky rudder actions on roll out and takeoff. Nathan did one to end on, and for grins on takeoff he was goofing around and putting it on one wheel, then the other, lifting off, touching back down, just a terrible "student pilot" kind of takeoff where the person is trying to "kill" you...

There was a hangar door open and a gentleman watching us while he was waiting for me to finish up and go up and do a flight review with him in his airplane. I got out of the T-6 and drove over to his hangar, and he asked if I was flying from the back or if Nathan was. I said I'd been flying from the back until the last one, and he said "It looked good from here, nice wheel landings." I said thank you, and then that takeoff occurred to me, and I said "That last takeoff was not what it looked like! We were just goofing off." He started laughing-he'd seen it. I wonder how many people enjoyed what they may have thought was one of us really hosing a takeoff. Even my bad one out of Muncie wasn't THAT bad. ;)

I went up next with this gentleman in his Cherokee 180, and we flew for about an hour. At the end, I asked if there was anything specific he wanted to do while he had an instructor on board, and he said he'd like to do spins. I can say I haven't had that request from a flight review before, but the plane is certified for spins (as long as it's loaded properly which it was), so we went up and did that, too. Just a couple, out of respect for his gyros. I really do enjoy spins. Come on, what part of this doesn't look fun?? :)



I came home, and Kaylee wanted to invite a friend over, so she's been playing with "N" for the last two hours, mostly with the sprinkler. A little water has a high entertainment value for kids! Throw in a snack and a towel and a playhouse, and they're good for hours. :)

T-6 Day Two

I woke up this morning and looked outside and it was just another beautiful day. We're supposed to get storms for the next few days, so these warm, sunny days are just perfect. We went out to Kokomo after lunch, and Kaylee got to play with Jamie and Gwenie and the rest of us just enjoyed the breeze and shot the breeze and all that good stuff for awhile. Nathan got the T-6 out again, and I did the take-off from the back and just flew around a little. It felt a little more natural today. There was a decent crosswind, a little gusty, nothing huge, but noticeable, and that was good practice. I took my camera along this time and took some shots from the back of the airplane. He landed, and it was Chuck's turn to go for a ride. I do believe he had a good time too, from what he said and the smile on board. :) We wore Nathan out after that, so we resumed one of our more enjoyable activities-relaxing on the couch or in the chairs, drinking, eating cookies, watching either "The Deadliest Catch" or an aviation show/dvd, talking sometimes, resting sometimes, and enjoying the day.

As the afternoon wound down, Nathan asked if I wanted to go up and work on some takeoffs and landings, which of course I'd be delighted to do. He put me up front this time. It's funny, the first takeoff was reminiscent of yesterday's first takeoff. The instruments are in different places than where I'm used to seeing them, so I would go to check my power and couldn't find it, or my airspeed, and just like any flying, if you focus too long on one thing, something else wanders on you. :) It was also a different sight picture. But it wasn't bad, just not as smooth as I'd like. I was cruising around up there, flying along, and suddenly I really looked around, and I got the ole pitter patter of the heart going. Here I am, in the front seat of a T-6, with the canopy open, the wind blowing on my face, the sun shining, the air warm, the fields, the rumble of the engine muted by the helmet, the smooth feel of the plane...it was just beautiful. Peaceful. Perfect. My version of heaven has *got* to have not only streets of gold, but runways too. It has to have an afternoon or two just like that.

I wish I'd had my camera for that one, but my battery had died at a most inopportune moment-naturally. ;)

The landing part kind of blew the peaceful side of it, but I still thoroughly enjoyed the practice. :) Landing #1 was actually landing numbers 1-3. lol Like yesterday, I bounced the first one, just more than once. I let it drop in. New sight picture again, trying to remember what to do and catch up to the airplane on a different kind of pattern, yadda yadda. Landings #2 and 3 (or 4 and 5 depending on how you look at it) were fine when I touched down, then that last one got my attention. A gust of wind at exactly the wrong time, full rudder in the opposite direction and it's not doing anything, afraid to hit a brake in that configuration with the tail still barely up but too fast to bring it down, pointed at the grass to the side of the runway which is a direction I don't wish to go...Nathan had to rescue it. Oh, the ignominy. ;) I came home and re-looked up the procedures for the overhead approach...power settings, altitudes, when/where, so that instead of trying to hear or think about what to do there, I can already have that down better. And I really am rather eager to get back up there and get the landing configuration to click so I quit bouncing the first one. Usually there IS only one at a time, so it would be nice for it to be good. ;)

Everybody has said that it's tricky on the ground, and it is, particularly since it's a new breed of animal altogether for me, but it's an amazing experience, and quite valuable. You have to focus on what you and your 'dancing' feet and your airplane are doing at all times-no complacency or zoning out in this one. I was feeling pretty good about keeping things fairly well under control until that last one, but I think even that was an excellent experience. Now I've seen it start to "go", I've felt it start to go contrary to my efforts to prevent it. Like I said-got my attention. Chuck's comment from observing from the ground was that I'd never make it into Glenndale like that-which is true, as I was also landing too far down the runway. I told him to let me get the actual landing down, and then I'll shorten it up next. ;)

We had to end on that one as it was time for all of us to go home. What a great day! I'd pinch myself but I think the T-6 did that for me at the end there. ;)

As for the blog stuff, well, originally I was going to use a different blog for the flying stuff so as to not bore to tears the majority of people who read this who are not pilots; but two blogs seems like just too much effort on both my part and anyone who reads this. So, the deal is as the deal always was-nobody has to feel obligated to read or find anything interesting whatsoever in anything I say. ;) But I'm sure enjoying it!

T-6 Day One

Well, what (else) made our anniversary so much fun for me was a little extra special flying. Nathan got to pick up a T-6 yesterday, on loan from a friend, and he and Jamie and myself and Kaylee went to pick it up in the Baron. When we left there, I had the kids in the back of the Baron and he flew the T-6, and we went over to Glenndale in formation. I always love that, it puts a perma-grin on my face every time. I announced that I was coming by at Glenndale, so they knew I was there, but they didn't know Nathan was behind me. So I went by (a little higher than normal because I had the kids kind of distracting me), and then from around the corner on a sneak attack came the T-6 roaring by. It took everybody but Steve by surprise, since he knew we were coming. I circled around and Nathan joined back up on my right side, and we headed back to Kokomo. That was probably the most fun I'd had in ages, just traveling around central Indiana with a T-6 off my wing, coming down Glenndale, etc. It was funny-the kids in the back were playing Jamie's Nintendo DS, until I turned around and said "HEY GUYS! Look Left!" Their jaws just dropped as they had no idea he was out there. Pretty soon though they were back to playing the game and ignoring the airplane off their wingtip. *sigh* Kids-they have no idea. lol

After lunch, Nathan threw me in the back and we took off and just flew it around a little, checking out the sights, saying 'hello' to a couple of areas where family/friends were, and letting me get a feel for it. We came back in and he let me do three takeoffs and landings myself from the back there. The first takeoff was a little wobbly as I was trying to decide between watching my manifold pressure go up to the appropriate number, staying straight on the runway, and figuring out when to bring up the tail and how far; and the first landing I leveled off a little high and bounced once, though not go-aroundinglly bad, but the other two weren't bad once I got the sight picture down from the first one. While there was plenty to work on (consistent pattern, taxi operations, letting the tail down more slowly at the end), nothing needed rescued at least, no more bounces, and man it was a lot of fun. I had a *blast*.

As soon as we landed, that's when I had to run over to Glenndale and go fly the C-172 with a student while they were learning takeoffs and landings. Kind of funny...I went from student of landings to teacher of landings in 20 minutes. ;) It was quite an anniversary day though. I smiled pretty much the entire time. Am still smiling, actually...