I flew Barney today!

Yep, I flew Barney. It’s a 1977 Piper Archer II, and I’ve never flown an airplane so purple.

…and it has a Barney sticker on it!

This airplane is owned by a nice lady who has an adorable dog that flies with her frequently. We just completed an annual on it, and it needed a test flight to calibrate the standby vacuum system after it’s 2 year IFR check. It also had a new cylinder put on.

Doug, the A&P that did most of the work on it, went with me to record the numbers. Everything during the run up was normal, and we taxied on to runway 11 (winds 070 at 6) for a north bound departure. I kept waiting for the airspeed to move…it never did. Not a real big deal, but we would need to punch thru a cloud layer to do our test on the standby vac system. We were able to do the 2,000 and 4,000 foot numbers before getting a clearance, but getting to 6, 8, and 10k, we would need to be IFR to get on top. With a clearance obtained, we were on our way thru the 1,500 foot cloud layer that started at 4,500, and topped at 6,000ft. I used the altimeter as the primary pitch instrument, and the turn coordinator & compass as primary bank/wings level instruments. Reason? Well, we were on and off the primary vacuum pump for the two tests at 2 and 4k. The AI and DG were erect, but I didn’t want to trust them because I didn’t know if they were up to speed or not. I used ground speed and winds aloft info to guesstimate my airspeed.

We wrote down the numbers at 6, 8, and 10k (took FOREVER to get to 10k), then got a clearance to descend back in to Bloomington. With the power pulled back, the standby system works flawlessly, and is what it’s designed for. At full power, it does not work, but with the throttle pulled back, it’s a fantastic system.

At 4,500ft, we broke out of the cloud layer, and I cancelled the IFR clearance to return to Bloomington VFR. I again used my ground speed along with wind info from the tower to guesstimate the airspeed, and when to put in some flaps. We landed with two notches of flaps, with a nice and smooth touchdown and roll out on runway 2, winds were calm.

I really enjoyed this flight since it presented some challenges, and gave me a good chance to use my partial panel skills. Now, if the weather had been low, like 1,000ft or so, I would not have made this test flight, but with a 4,000AGL ceiling, and a 1,500ft layer to get thru, I felt comfortable doing so.

The airspeed problem was diagnosed as soon as we were back at the shop…it was found that the static and pitot lines were hooked up backwards. There’s nothing on a pre-flight that will reveal that problem…ALWAYS test flight your airplane on a VFR day after an annual…you never know what they will miss, or hook up backwards.

1.1 hours logged.

New prop check

Today I had to do a test flight in a 1976 Piper Lance that used to have a two blade prop on it.  It was subject to that Hartzell hub AD last year, and most people opted to buy a new prop under the program from Hartzell, and the owner of this airplane was no exception…though he went for a three blade prop to replace it.

My friend Grant went with me for this half hour jaunt up around the lakes.  I’m not a big fan of the Lance line, mainly because of the wing.  The hershey bar wing on an airplane this heavy just doesn’t like to fly slow…meaning takeoff and landing are a bit more challenging.  This is the same wing that I had on my Cherokee 140 and 180, but those airplanes are much lighter.  On takeoff, we had a bit of a gust from the right, and the wing wasn’t quite ready to fly, but the nose wheel was off.  We sorta lifted in to ground effect, but had to ride it out as the right wing sunk just a bit with the gust.  Winds weren’t bad at all, at only 11 knots right down the runway (R20), but the gust was just enough to scoot us a bit.  Got the airspeed up, and we flew on out of ground effect easily.  Gear tucked, and we were on our way upstairs.

The new prop is very smooth.  This airplane used to have an annoying vibration that I attributed to the prop.  Since that vibration is gone, I assume I was right.  It still has another low frequency rumble that feels like it’s airframe related.  We’re gonna look at it, and see if there’s a gear door out of alignment or something.

Anyway, Grant had fun.  We did a couple turns around the lakes, then headed back to the airport.  I flew a long final, and set it down just past the numbers.

Still not a fan of the Lance, but I’m always thankful for any chance to fly when I don’t have to pay for it!

Check out the late 70’s panel color in this thing!

The airplane from the outside is quite nice looking in 1976 BiCentenial colors…it has all the LoPresti mods on it!

0.5 logged.

Would it quit???

This morning I took a Cessna 152 on a maintenance test flight…EXPECTING an engine failure. It didn’t quit…here’s the story-

This was not a particularly dangerous flight, as the airplane just had an annual, it runs fine, and everything checked out, except one item. After a runup, the prop is hard to turn, not stuck, but it was like it was binding up when the engine was warm. After it cools down, it turns as it should. The main problem with this particular airplane is it’s lack of use. In the last three years, it flew 10 hours. The owners annual it each year, but rarely fly it.

Back to the flight. Taking off in an airplane, expecting the noise to go away is quite different from taking off, expecting all to go well, then be completely surprised if it goes quiet. The mechanic that worked on the airplane went with me, and if he is comfortable with it, I didn’t have a problem with it. I had an exact plan in my head ahead of time to assure landing on a runway with no power. There should be a plan on every flight to take planned action in the event of a failure. But because it’s not all that common, we are surprised if it does happen. This time, I knew it MIGHT happen, so I was readily prepared to deal with it.

I preflighted the airplane normally, but gave an extra look at the prop, and moved it more than I typically would. I HATE moving propellers, even though I know for sure the keys are out of the mag switch and everything is off. Props scare the crap out of me. It moves freely, as expected. We jumped in, straped in, and fired it up. After a call to ground telling them what we expected to do, which was climb to 2,000ft, and circle the airport in a close right hand traffic pattern, we were given clearance to taxi to runway 11. Winds were 100 at 14. Off we went. As I said in the second sentence above, it did not quit, and it actually ran perfectly. The oil temp and pressure never fluctuated, and the RPM’s stayed as constant as a fixed pitch prop will allow. If we were to have a problem, indications on the oil temp and pressure gauges would give us a clue. It was not a situation where the engine would suddenly stop. The oil temp would rise, the pressure would drop, and we would have a steady decrease in RPM. Nothing happened.

Doug was satisfied with what he observed after the second circuit, so we called the tower to let them know we were done. They asked if we could bring it in tight for a short approach to get in before the RJ traffic turned final. No problem! I love those approaches! I had a Saab 340 on short final in front of me, and I turned in close behind him (aware of wake turbulence…stay above the path of the Saab), and S-turned down final to allow him to exit the runway. I touched down just past the numbers, and made the first taxiway. Got a nice “Thanks” from the tower, and we taxied to the hanger. As I shut the engine down, that RJ was just touching down. Guess I didn’t have to expedite as quickly as I thought, but it was good practice, and fun.

So, the engine didn’t quit, but after we shut it down, the prop was very stiff. It would turn, but not like one would expect. It needs to be flown more is the diagnosis. I’ll volunteer…

0.5 logged

VFR on top in the Comanche

I had no plan to fly today, but work took care of that for me when our General Manager walked in my office at about 9:30am to ask if I could run to Casey, IL to meet with one of our clients. Yup! I can do that!

The plan was to take the older Diamond DA20-C1 (2000) down there around 11am. The trip is about an hour in that airplane. I asked my dad if he wanted to go for a ride, and I got the response I expected, and hoped for…YES! At about 10:50am, we went out to the airplane to pre-flight…the wind was FREEZING!! My dad sat in the airplane while I walked around, and soon I was belted in, ready to taxi.

This airplane has a bit of a reputation for being “rattly” on the ground, but I guess our guys in the shop took care of it. The winds favored runway 2, so that meant we had to taxi for almost two miles. I always lean the mixture back on long taxis so I don’t load up the plugs…I expected a normal runup, but didn’t get one. The mag check was awful. The left mag check was fine with about a 25rpm drop. The right mag…I’m surprised the thing ran! It shook so bad that I couldn’t read the instruments! The drop was between 220 and 250 rpm, and is well beyond the 150rpm limit, and even farther beyond a 50rpm difference between left and right. I tried “burning it off” by running up the rpms and leaning the mixture. No dice. We taxied all the way back to the ramp, and got further instructions to take the Comanche. I suggested this in the first place, but was told to take the Diamond. You can bet I was pleased with this! I LOVE flying that Comanche!

At about 11:45am, we lined up on runway 11 for a crosswind takeoff to save some time by not making the two mile trip to 2. It was nice and cool today, and the Comanche LOVES that cool air! Soon were climbing out of Bloomington and heading for a large hole in the broken clouds at 1900′.

VFR on top. One of my favorite things to do! We cruised on up to 5500′ heading southeast. In the Comanche, this trip is about 40 minutes with no wind. We had a decent push going down there with a 175kt groundspeed, and made it in 30. Of course, that meant the trip home would be slower…

About 18 miles out of Casey, I began noticing the broken layer was becoming more and more overcast-like, which I had expected. We found a good sized hole, and made our way back down below in to the haze at 2500′. Boy it got bumpy. Not terrible, but it was so smooth on top, that it felt worse than it was. We landed at Casey on a nicely resurfaced runway 4 with not even a chirp to the tires. This airplane is really a joy to fly and land.

My dad took this cool shot of the Comanche on the ramp from the FBO…

We took care of business, and about 45 minutes later, we were headed back out to the airplane. The one bad thing about the Comanche 260B, is that it has been tough to hot start lately. I wasn’t looking forward to spending the afternoon in Casey if we had to wait, but as luck would have it (just like the fact that I got to take the Comanche over the DA20), it started on the first hot start attempt! We back-taxied runway 4, and we were off again! This time, we drudged through the bumps to start since it was still overcast, and I didn’t feel like filing an IFR flight plan. So, we bumped though it at 2500′ until the clouds began to break again. When we got to the “legal” sized holes in the clouds, we climbed up on top to the smooth air again. 6500′ this time, heading northwest back to Bloomington with 145kts over the ground.   Here we are coming back down thru the broken/scattered clouds at Bloomington-

I doctored this photo a bit to get the deep blue’s in the sky, and dark greens on the ground…on final to BMI-

When we taxied up to the ramp, I was somewhat pleased to see that they were still working on the DA20 outside with the cowl off. We had been gone for a little over two hours, so it wasn’t just “operator error”. After we shut down, I walked over to talk to Doug about the mag problem. He said it was a weak mag, and it had fouled the plugs on two cylinders, and the roughness was because it was only firing the other two. The mag will be changed next week, and I feel good that I made the decision to say “No go” to that airplane today. It would’ve been very easy to say “Ah, it’ll burn off in flight, and we’ll be fine”, and I’ll admit that it crossed my mind because I wanted to fly! Glad my noggin prevailed, and I was rewarded with a great flight in the Comanche with my dad.

1.4 logged.

1st Instrument Currency of ‘08

With the general lack of flying lately, I’ve come to my personal 4 month IFR currency limit. I haven’t flown an approach in five months actually, so it was time to get in the sim. To tell you the truth, I’ve only flown 2 approaches in the last 8 months, and the last sim time I had was back in July ‘07.

Since the King Air is gone, my 135 checkride was not required, and I can’t let my IFR currency slip in to an Instrument Proficiency Check stage. It’s amazing how fast time goes by, and IFR currency slips right by if you’re not careful to think about it!

So today, I had one of our instructors (same one that did my instrument and commercial several years ago) give me six approaches, a hold, and course interception in our Piper Malibu simulator. I’ve written about this sim before, but it’s a 170 degree wrap around sim with a full Malibu cockpit. It really makes you feel like you are flying, even with no motion.

We started with a takeoff in to 300ft ceilings with 1 mile of visibility off of runway 29. From there it was immediately in to a course reversal for a non-precision GPS 11 approach. Off of that, I flew to the published miss fix, then loaded the ILS 29 in to the Garmin 530. I flew that down to 100′ above minimums when I broke out, and flew the miss to the “missed” intersection. Then it was a non-precision backcourse approach to 11. Following that break out at the runway, I was instructed to fly the published hold at “Cooks” intersection. Once around that, and I had vectors to the ILS 20 approach course. My missed approach instructions after that approach were a climbing turn to a heading of 150, up to 3,500 feet. Once established on that heading, and altitude, I turned the autopilot on to get some approach practice while monitoring the autopilot. I loaded the GPS 29 approach in, and flew that on AP down to about 500′ AGL, then clicked it off to continue the decent to the breakout at 350′ AGL. The last approach was another on AP, but an ILS 29 to a full stop landing.

I never really look forward to doing these sim sessions, but I’m always glad I do them afterward.

Here are the screens showing my radar tracks. The one on the left is an overview, sort of like what a controller would see on his screen…but nicer. The screen on the right shows profile and plan views of the approach corridor.

A close up of the radar screen…

And a close up of the approach corridor. Each approach is laid one over the other, so it becomes a bit cluttered. You can see the wide swooping turns made by the autopilot as it sort of hunts around and hones in on the course. It’s not the best autopilot sim out there, but it does a good job of allowing you to get familiar with how to set things up, and monitor its progress…or lack thereof.

The sim is so sensitive in pitch, that it’s extremely hard to keep it straight and level for any amount of time, but being sensitive in the sim, makes it easier in the airplane.

Anyway, it was good sim time, and I’m glad to be good for another 4 months or so!

1.5 hours-simulator