Comanche+VFR+no GPS=FUN!!

6/5/2009

Sometimes I really like to fly with no GPS.  This trip happened to be one that I forgot to bring it, but it worked out great.  I had to go to Moline, IL (KMLI) to pick up one of our pilots who was delivering a TBM 700 for a customer of ours.  First I had to find the Comanche…I thought it was in one of three hangars, and it was in the third one I looked in…of course.  I thought I’d be late after I had found it, but the guy taking the TBM was still getting fuel, so I was doing fine.  After we pulled the airplane out of the hangar, I preflighted, and jumped in to head on to Moline.  The winds were out of the west, so runway 29 was in use.  After I took off, I flew over my friend Larry’s house…he had his little girl outside waiting to watch me fly over, and she LOVES airplanes.  Cool!

I made my way on to Moline with the sectional chart out, but I never looked at it.  It was clear VFR, and I could see the Illinois River, and the Kewanee airport, which is about halfway.  I flew straight to Kewanee, and by then I could see Moline.  I grabbed the ATIS, contacted approach, and got in line.  I had a Gulfstream behind me, so they had me keep my speed up until about 3/4 mile out.  I had been cleared to land from the tower by then, and the winds were straight down runway 27 at 10 gusting to 15.  After a nice landing, and I taxied in to Elliot (FBO).  I only waited 15 minutes or so when the TBM showed up.  We made a quick swap of airplanes, I grabbed a clearance from clearance delivery, and made my way to 27 for departure.  The take off was a bit gusty, and the Comanche hopped in the air a bit earlier than I had anticipated, but it wasn’t a big deal.  We made a left turn on course, on up to cruise at 5500′.

Back in the Bloomington area, winds were reported as calm, so I asked for a straight in to 11, and got it.  At about 2 miles out, the tower told me the wind was now 260 at 8 knots, and that an airliner was 9 miles out for 29.  I decided to stick with 11, and made a tailwind landing.  I like to practice those every once in a while anyway, so it was good to do.  I floated a bit longer than I had anticipated, and flared a bit high, making for a nice carrier style landing.  Not my best, but I didn’t break the airplane.

I have a trip in this airplane next week down to the Lake of the Ozarks to spend the weekend with some friends, so I’ll be sure to take some pics on that flight.

1.6 hours

BFR and Tail Wheel current!!

5/23/2009

Today was one of those RARE days in Central Illinois when the temperature was up in the 80’s, and the wind was almost no where to be found!  I was in need of a BFR, and wanted to get tail wheel current again, and as luck would have it, a friend of mine had recently purchased a PA-18-150 Super Cub and told me to come down and fly it!  No problem WHATSOEVER!!  Another friend of mine, Tom, is a CFI, and is a tail wheel instructor, and we’ve been waiting several weeks for schedules and weather to coincide so we could do this, and today was that day!

As I said, the winds were almost non-existant.  If there was any, it was less than 5 knots out of the Northwest.  I picked up Tom at about 10am for a quick drive down to Jack’s house where the Cub is currently being kept.  We spent a bit over an hour doing some ground review on the FAR’s, charts, and all that jazz, as well as a thorough ground check/intro to the Super Cub.

After that was accomplished, I pre-flighted the airplane, and we strapped in and fired it up!  I was the flying pilot in front, and with no more seats other than behind me, Tom sat there.  Jack has two grass runways, 11/29 and 18/36.  His north/south is undergoing a facelift, so I taxied out to 29.  The Super Cub is a MUCH improved version over the J3.  No need to S-turn, it’s comfortable, and most important, it has 150hp!!  Because I hadn’t flown a taildragger in two years (when I got my endorsement!), I wanted Tom to do the first take off and landing, with me shadowing his control inputs.  With 150hp growling away up front, the Super Cub was tail up and off in no time!  As soon as we were at a safe altitude to switch controls, Tom handed the airplane to me for some airwork.  I climbed up to 2500′ to demonstrate steep turns, slow flight, power off stalls with and without flaps, and power on stalls.  I was satisfied with my performance, making Commercial standards with all except slow flight where I sank a bit too much the first time.  I did it a second time, and held altitude better, but still sank a bit.  After that, we headed back to Jack’s for take off and landing practice.  We were still quite high, and never got more than about a mile from the strip, so I slipped it from 2500′ down to a fairly high pattern altitude of 1400′.  Once on a downwind, I handed the controls back to Tom for a landing demo.  Tom did a great job with a three pointer, and then handed the controls back to me for the taxi back and take off.

This was it!  My first shot at a Super Cub take off!  It was exhilerating!!  I was very pleased with myself (pat, pat) with keeping the airplane tracking nice and straight all the way down the runway to liftoff.  I made a turn to a left downwind at 1200′ MSL, and got the airplane all set up for landing.  First notch of flaps on downwind, carb heat on, full flaps on base, and 60mph on the airspeed.  I flew that all the way down final, and brought the power to idle in the flare for a near perfect (tail touched about a half second before the mains) three point landing, with a perfectly straight rollout.  WOOHOO!!  That’s the ticket to good Saturday morning fun!!  We did this four more times to get me five take offs and landings, with a few approaches to landing from simulated engine outs from downwind.  The first I overshot, the second I had the runway, but a gust of wind forced a go-around, the third I undershot and went around, and the fourth one I nailed.

After I had my five in, Tom and I switched seats so he could do two more to get three total to stay current.  We had the windows and door open the whole time, and what a GREAT time that was!!  I can’t believe I forgot to bring my camera, but I did.  I WILL remember it next time!

Here’s a few pics of the airplane once we were back at the hangar…

It’s MUCH nicer than the J3, though the J3 IS a much more nostalgic airplane, and for that I’ll always LOVE that airplane too!

Here’s my friend/CFI/drinkin’ buddy Tom…

I hope to be able to use that airplane to stay current with flights at least once a month…we’ll see, but it was SO much fun today that I CAN’T WAIT to fly it again!

1.1 hours logged

Still flying…from time to time…

4/1/2009

…not very often on my dime though.  This was another work related trip in the Comanche to take a Malibu owner home after dropping his airplane off at Image for some work.  I had said owner, and my friend Rich with me again.  We took off runway 20 in to some gusty winds, 240 at 13G18, and made a turn to the east for the quick trip over to Rantoul, IL (KTIP).  It was a bit bumpy at 3500′, so I went on up to 5500′.  Probably a bit overkill for a 35nm trip, but I didn’t feel like riding the bumps all the way.  It was still a bit choppy up there, but tolerable.

We had a good visit for a few minutes…a few minutes too long as it turned out, as I was still quite high for the visual approach in to Rantoul.  I decided to head on past the airport west to east, just about five miles north of the airport, and S-turn down final to lose the altitude.  Winds at Rantoul were a bit stronger than Bloomington, blowing 230 at 16G20.  Runway 27 was closed, so I had to use R18.  There are BIG hangars off to the west of that runway, so the wind coming off those hangars made my arrival fun…not my best landing, but I didn’t bend anything.  After a long taxi due to the closed runway and taxiways, we dropped off our Malibu owner, and taxiied back out for a departure off of R18.  After a hop/skip/jump off the runway, Rich and I headed back to Bloomington at 3500′…we braved the bumps, which had subsided some, and did some sightseeing on the way home.  Rich grabbed a picture of me in a turn, which is now one of my favorites…

The winds had died down since we left Bloomington an hour ago, 260 at 8 or so, so the tower gave me R29 straight in.  This landing was quite nice, and another Comanche flight was in the books.  I still LOVE this airplane…

1.1 hours

Cessna 182 test flight

2/20/2009

Just as the title says, I took a Cessna 182 on a quick test flight this morning.  It’s an airplane that we maintain, and have done so for a LONG time…pretty much since it was new in about 1978.  I didn’t take any pics, but it’s one nice airplane, and every time I fly a 182, I have a renewed appreciation for them.  I’m no fan of Cessna’s, but I’ve said it before…I see why people like these airplanes.   Anyway, it was fresh out of it’s annual inspection, and the owner always has me do a test flight for him before it goes home.  One of the mechanics that did the annual went with me (I always have the mechanic that did the work go for the first flight after inspection), as did two other employees that wanted to go for a ride.

The wind was pretty much calm, but what winds there were, were out of the northwest, so we taxied to runway 29 for departure.  With the run up complete, and everything set, we were cleared for takeoff with a left turn to the southwest.  My usual test flight route takes me 14nm to the southwest to my buddy Jack’s house/farm strip.  After a couple of “hello passes”, we headed back to BMI.  Everything on the flight was normal, and back in the pattern at Bloomington, we were cleared to land on 29.  I made somewhat of a short approach to a nice soft touchdown.  As is usual practice for me, I kept the nosewheel off as long as feasible, but when the nose wheel did come down, it shimmy’d…bad.  I lifted it back up with what little speed I had left to keep it from shaking, but it inevitably comes down and we had to ride it out.  Nothing wrong with the airplane doing that, but this was a bit excessive, and I think it’s gonna get a new dampener.  Maybe I’ll get to fly it again!

0.5 hours logged

Delivering Dad to Des Moines

1/4/2009

The weather cleared just in time to make the trip to Des Moines with my mom and dad.  My dad is beginning a two week facilities and SOP training program with TMC Trucking in Des Moines.  The company reimburses travel costs to get to their facility up to the cost of a bus ticket.  Well, flying is a little more expensive, but it’s a lot quicker, and made cheaper by the reimbursal, so flying it is!

I was a bit concerned over the weather a few days prior as it appeared to be holding on a little tighter than forecast.  This morning we awoke to a thick overcast, but the revised forecast said that by our departure time of 12:30pm, it would improve to VFR conditions.  Though I’m instrument rated, flying a non-deiced airplane in winter clouds is just silly, and something I won’t even consider doing.  It has to be VMC before departure, and continued all the way to the destination.  And so it was.  We arrived at the airport at 12:20pm, I did one last check of the weather, we loaded the Comanche up with all my dad’s stuff, and started up a little late at 12:50pm.  The wind had really picked up after the cold front passed, and I was a bit concerned about my mom’s motion sickness.  It was blowing from 340 at 17, but it turned out to be a non-issue once off the ground.  Off of runway 29, we climbed past a scattered layer at 1500′, then on up to 6500′ for cruise in clear skies.  I got the airplane all configured for the two hour trip to Des Moines…direct 40 knot headwind made the trip a bit long in that airplane.  About 40 miles out of Bloomington my mom’s bladder said it wouldn’t make it to Des Moines, so we made a pit stop in Galesburg, IL for a potty break.  Winds there were 320 at 11, so runway 28 was used.  It’s a short-ish runway at 3500′, but since I’ve really come to understand the Comanche in the last couple of years, short runways are nothing to worry about.  A quick taxi to the FBO, and we piled out of the airplane.  On the ground no more than about 10 minutes, we were once again on our way to Des Moines.  The departure from 28 put us right on course for Des Moines.  The handheld GPS said one hour and twenty-five minutes.  Time for a couple pictures…

My dad concentrating on figuring out where we are…

He does a great job with the maps/approach plates, setting up radios, yada yada yada…

About 50 miles out of Des Moines, Chicago Center (VFR flight following all the way) handed us off to approach control, and we were immediately cleared for a straight in to 31.  Winds were 350 at 12.  I was pretty proud of that landing…probably my best ever in the Comanche.  It’s my blog, and I’ll brag if I want!  ;o)

We taxied on in to Elliot Aviation, unloaded the airplane, got some gas, and waited for the shuttle to come pick up my dad.  I can’t say enough good things about Elliot in Des Moines.  The front desk girl was great help, and the facility is fantastic!!  The shuttle on the other hand…we waited a while for that, but it finally showed up.  After a tearful hug between mom and dad, my mom and I walked back out to the airplane with our arms around each other.  I don’t think she expected it to hit her like that, but it’s understandable.  They are still very much in love, and two weeks is two weeks away from each other.  Okay, back to flying…if only we had keys!!  My mom and I were in the airplane, strapped in…looking for the keys that my dad had in his pocket from when he unloaded the airplane.  I quickly called him, and had him turn around.  My mom didn’t want to go thru the goodbye again, so I jumped out to go back in to wait for him.

Finally, with keys in hand, we had the clearance to taxi, and made our way back out to runway 31.  Not much going on at Des Moines at this point, so we were cleared for takeoff just before the end of the taxi.  The Comanche just loves the cold air, and we were quickly on our way to our initial assigned 5000′ altitude.  This would be the first time in almost ten years of flying that my mom sat up front with me.  She LOVED it, and we had a great flight home.  It was MUCH quicker going home with a 202kt groundspeed.  She had a blast pointing stuff out, asking questions about the airplane, and just generally enjoying the smooth air at 7500′.

Back at Bloomington, the winds had subsided a bit to 340 @ 11, and we made a short approach to runway 29, and a nice touchdown.  My mom always enjoys a good landing.  I have to make sure to keep that up!

It was a fun trip, but a bit sad to leave my dad behind.  We’ll all be looking forward to seeing him again soon…before he goes out on the road for more training…

3.3 hours logged