I love my plane and my car!

I'm going to paint the plane the same color as my car.
I'm not looking forward to the amount of work to paint it, but it's too nice not to.

As time goes by, the memories fade...

I won't forget that day 8 years ago. It used to be that I would get tears in my eyes when I saw movies or images from the 9-11 attacks. Now, it seems I only get tears when I see videos. Still images don't have the same effect. It does not diminish how I feel, but I'm still very sad as we all lost something that day.
I was going to write more, but I think this says it all.

School's are nice places when nobody is here.

We have just finished our 5th full day of High School. You would think that by the time the kids get here to 9th grade, they would have just a minuscule amount of common sense. Not so. For the most part, I have been dealing with bus issues..."What bus do I ride?". Then I have to ask, "Where do you live?". I have talked to several 9th graders who do not know their own address.
I've talked to parents who want their kid dropped off at work (the kid's job, not the parents) and it happens to be out of the county.

I'm old, and I can get to any classroom from any classroom in less than 5 minutes. Parents call and want the time extended so their little darling can get to class on time. I explain that the class change time is for getting to class on-time and there isn't much time for talking to their friends. "My son goes from class to his locker and on to the next one and simply cannot get there on time. So I walk from the kid's class, to his locker, pretend I'm opening it with a couple mistakes and change out what I need and walk to the next class. The next day the kid makes it on time. It's a freaking miracle!!

I've taken bets (figuratively speaking) from teachers and other administrators to see which kid is most likely to get suspended first. It's amazing that almost everyone picked the same guy. I would hate for every student to be just "another brick in the wall", but it certainly would simplify some of the things I have to do.

Pictures of the trip

Little puffy clouds over Illinois

White Knight II flying demonstration. I was amazed at how quiet it was.

Long EZ planes look like they are grazing when the nose gear is retracted for tie down.

Very nice and very expensive paint job. It probably cost almost as much as my whole airplane.

As far as you can see in most directions are airplanes.


On the way home flying between some of the clouds we aren't allowed to fly over.

Airventure 2009

In April of 2000, my friend Eric and I attended a workshop for hints and skills to build my plane, a Sonex. It was there we decided to fly to Airventure when I finally finished my plane. Airventure is the largest fly-in in the United States and might even be the largest in the world. Having taken the long road to finish my Sonex via a master's degree, a move and trying to save money to buy the things I needed, I finally finished my plane last October. "Finished" is a loose term, as it is unpainted/unpolished and still needs some detail work.
Eric flew out to South Carolina from California a couple of days before we were to leave to meet up with a couple of buddies and fly as a group of 3 planes. My Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS)had taken a dump 2 months earlier and I finally got it back the same day that Eric arrived.
We installed it that night and test flew it after I got off work the next day (Thursday). Everything seemed to be OK.
We left on Friday to fly to Clarksville, Tennessee to meet up with Robert and Frank, but stopped in Crossville to have lunch with another friend John.
The weather was not looking too good on Saturday, so Robert and Frank decided to drive. Eric and I felt that with the speed of the 3300, we could make the narrow window between two weather systems before they closed so we took off at 6am. Weather was not bad, although we did have to fly over some clouds. The ceiling was not too good at Rantoul, IL, but it was scattered enough to be able to land without difficulty. I called another friend Dan, who was planning on meeting us along the way, and he was still stuck in Columbus, Indiana with rain, so we left to face the traffic at Oshkosh alone.
The clouds were all gone as we got about 70 miles North of Rantoul. It was smooth flying to Juneau, WI for fuel in case we needed to hold over one of the lakes. Fortunately there was little traffic and we had become pretty familiar with the arrival procedures over the last few days.
Following a much slower plane, we were told to speed up on final and the plane behind us (a WWII fighter) was asked to slow down if possible. I landed on the dot after getting beat up on a bumpy windy final and got the hell out of the way. In Oshkosh, you can't really tell what the wind is doing as all the wind socks get blown away on a normal day as a blustery day is considered calm there.

We taxiied all over the place and finally arrived at Sonex where Jeremy said we should go over to Sonex Homebuilt parking and we would all taxi over together in the morning for the open house. He was able to lead us in his car which saved about a quarter million miles of taxiing.

We had an absolute blast. Neither of us had been to Airventure before, and we saw less than 1/10 of what was there. We might have seen as much as 1/8 of what was there, but I spent too much time talking about my little rat-rod airplane.

After 4 days there, looking at the weather, we decided to leave a day early. I didn't want to go home yet as there was too much to see and do, but to be able to get home in time to get Eric back on the plane to California was necessary.
We were number 3 to depart Wednesday morning at 6AM and it was absolutely beautiful flying until a bit South of Chicago.

Not too far from Chicago, we ran into more clouds, but the wind was behind us and we were making pretty good time.
Looking for holes in the clouds, made the arrival at Grissom, Indiana a little edgy, but once we got down through the hole, it was business as usual.

I called John to see how things looked at Crossville and in Spartanburg, and of course there was some rain, but it looked like it would be gone by the time we got there.
It had just finished raining when we got to Crossville and had lunch again with John to kill some time while we waited for weather to clear at home.
Heading South over the Blue Ridge mountains, we had to go to about 10,500ft (3200 meters for those of you who don't do feet) to clear the clouds, and when we turned East, and going slightly down hill with a tailwind groundspeed was between 180 and 200mph for the last 90 miles. That was way COOL!
Total time for the trip was 13.1 hours (including taxi time) and I'm still smiling.
It was nice to see old friends and meet some new ones who are all there for the same reason. We like airplanes!

We had the best time on this trip, and I hope we can do it again.

1500 miles round trip to the homebuilt airplane capitol of the world and home!

Well, we made it to Oshkosh and back. It was an absolute blast! With the economy being slow, there weren't as many airplanes as expected, but there were still about 8,000 of them and they were still coming. I got to see some friends, show off my airplane and not have to worry about work.
We came back a day early because the weather in Oshkosh was supposed to be deteriorating over the next couple of days, and it worked out well as far as traveling on the way back. There were a couple of places that required some maneuvering around the clouds to get in to, but 3 stops for fuel and wait out some weather and got home about 5PM.
The trip was too cool for words.
Next summer: Kitty Hawk to California...

24hrs to go

The Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS) came yesterday and I installed it last night. I sent it off 7 weeks ago for repair. It sat at the Post Office for 13 days before they picked it up. It then sat at the company for a couple of weeks before I was notified that it should be able to be sent back in the middle of the following week. 2 weeks later, they said that it was fixed and I needed to pay $280.
I paid it immediately. I kept trying to get them to send it and I finally got an email saying they were out of the office, but would be back in the following Tuesday. I said I was planning on the trip to Oshkosh and needed it as soon as possible.
They sent it Monday, a whole day earlier than they said they would! Does that make me happy? Not really as they have lied about everything up to that point.
Since I'm leaving tomorrow, it would be nice to have more than 1 day to test it, but I'll do that this afternoon.
No wonder they are going out of business.
At Oshkosh I'll be able to talk to the other EFIS manufacturers. I just hope I don't have to get a new one any time soon.

Countdown Has Commenced!

In about 32 hours we will depart the earth for Crossville, Tennessee. Flight time should be about an hour and tem minutes. A friend of mine is not doing very well healthwise, so we will stop by there to say hello and go to lunch. We will top off with gas and head towards Clarksville, TN. Flight time will be approximately 50 minutes.
We will meet up with a couple of friends who have planes similar to mine and depart the next morning (Saturday) at 6:00AM.

The first leg will be to Rantoul, Illinois about 1:50 later for gas, leg stretch and bathroom break. Next stop is Juno, Wisconsin about 1:25 duration for more gas. We could make the trip from Clarksville to Oshkosh on one stop, but we are stopping about 40 miles away for fuel in case we need to be in a holding pattern for landing for an extended period of time (remember 10,000-12,000 airplanes will be showing up for the week).
The last leg will be from Juno to Oshkosh. Flight time is about 20 minutes. We should be there before noon.

This will be exciting! My Electronic Flight Instrument System has been repaired and should be delivered Wednesday. I'll install it and do a test flight. Other than a few minor details, the plane is ready. Calculations of weight with both Eric and I including fuel and luggage (minimal) will allow us 18 lbs shy of the gross weight of the airplane.

2-1/2 Weeks before we fly to Oshkosh

Yep it will be Oshkosh by Gosh!!! The Airventure website says 600,000 people and 12,000 airplanes! Although I'm not a fan of large crowds, when I started building my airplane a buddy and I made a pact to fly it to Oshkosh when it was finished.
This is the year!
The plan is to fly from Spartanburg, SC to Crossville, TN and stop for gas and visit another friend for an hour or so. Then we will make a short hop to Clarksville, TN to meet up with two other buddies who have similar airplanes.
We'll stay overnight and depart Crossville at 6:00 AM. That won't be too bad as they are an hour behind us.
From there it will only take about 4 hours flying time (or so as their airplanes aren't quite as fast as mine. YAY!!) But they can fly longer on a tank of gas....Oh well! (My plane gets about 30mpg)

We will need to make one stop for fuel, but will stop about halfway and then again just before we get there as we may have to fly a holding pattern for a while to get in line to land...remember, 12,000 airplanes?

We won't stay the whole week, but I am looking forward to it. And, I'm dreading it at the same time.
No matter what, it'll be one more lifetime experience I can add to the list.

Summer's are great at school

Schools are great places when teachers and students aren't here. It's quiet, the phone rarely rings and I don't have to deal with discipline problems.
I have enough to do, but I am waiting until the end of July to fly to Oshkosh Wisconsin for the largest homebuilt airplane fly-in in the world.
Airventure!!!
www.airventure.org

What a day

It has been quite a day here today. Started from yesterday with a couple of bus issues, a mad parent and getting cussed out from that parent.
Then I had an altercation between a boy and a girl, but the boy took off. The School Resource Officer finally found him in the woods laying down and realized he was drunk off his a$$.
We got him outside before he started puking, however.
His dad finally showed up and apologized. Even though his exams start tomorrow, I doubt he will feel well enough for an advanced algebra exam.
We had some money stolen out of a couple purses during the theater performance, and I ended up talking with 23 kids about it. Of course nobody knew or saw anything.
We had a senior food fight at lunch.
And a kid who hit another kid who has a broken collarbone and then laughed about it.
I finally got the little heathens on the busses and gone.
I'm ready for school to be out even more than the kids.

Meet Betty

After my dog got killed at Christmas, I felt devastated.
A blogger friend said I should have a grieve and get another one at the shelter as there are millions of them who need somebody.
I did just that. Betty is as sweet a dog as anyone could want, but I think I have incorrectly named her. I should call her Spud.
She is a couch potato.

Buddy would do everything with me. Even go for an airplane ride! I know I can't replace Buddy, but I would hope that Betty can be a "man's best friend".

I certainly hope Betty comes around some. I don't expect her to ride in the plane, but I do expect her to be a companion.

It's funny as she lies on the couch because she does watch TV.

16 Lunches to go

At 4 lunch doodies per day, I have 16 more of them. I certainly won't miss all the little bastards that throw their trash under the tables or leave it as a mess. It's mostly the rich kids, not the poor kids.
I draw a map each day who leaves their table as a mess. Then the next day I go to them and shame them into cleaning up. Funny thing, it's never the kids there, it was someone else.
They have been getting away with that kind of crap for 10 years, and it's better now than ever, but only because I go around and deal with it.
It's unbelievable!
I'll have lunch doody at my new school, but it's a lot more reasonable there...

I quit my job

I am an Assistant Principal at a high school in North Carolina and I turned in my notice today. In 30 days I won't have to come to this job where I dread coming to each morning.
In 32 days, I get to go to a new high school in a different area which will be a much nicer place to work.
I am lucky to be able to do that. I was getting myself physically sick coming to work.

I still miss my dog unbearably sometimes.

Rest in Peace Buddy, you were my best friend.

Buddy was the best little dog I ever knew. He was rescued from the animal shelter a little over 2 years ago. He was a rat terrier / Labrador Retriever mix. He looked like a long legged Lab puppy although he was full grown. He was polite and a great companion.
On Saturday after Christmas, we put him in the back seat of the van and he jumped out to chase after a truck which ran over him. The piece of shit driver didn't even slow down, much less stop.
Buddy was never let outside without a leash on. When walking him at a large field near the house or over at the hangar, he was let loose to run all he wanted.
We are devasted and I can't quit crying over him. He should have had at least 10-12 more years with us.
Mark Twain said the dog is the only creature that will love you more than himself. This was so true with Buddy.
Why he jumped out and why he didn't have his leash on, I can't answer. It was all over in one second, but the pain will linger on for a long time.
I hope I can get to heaven to see him again.
Buddy, I am so very sorry. I love and miss you very much. I feel lost without you.

Back in the Air!!

Jabiru Australia is going to warranty my starter. I don't know if I will get on old style like I had, or the newest Nippon Denso starter, but at this point, I don't care. I get a new one. That will give me a chance to engineer a new style starter myself.

Even though I don't have my new starter, a friend from the American Sonex Association, John Davis has lent me the starter off his engine to use until mine comes. He put a different engine on his plane and his Jabiru was waiting to be installed on another plane. So, I'm back in the air. YAY!!

When it is really cold on the ground outside, it is much colder up in the air. Especially when the plane is somewhat drafty. My new heater just doesn't quite cut the mustard when it is really cold. Above freezing, however, it doesn't do too bad a job.
29 hours and counting.

Grounded!

My beautiful airplane will not start. The starter is toast after 40-50 starts. It is a nightmare to remove, but I finally got it out. Upon disassembling it, I realized there was a spacer that was left out and the front bearing slid back allowing the armature to wobble into the magnets on the case destroying the armature and magnets.
New starter? Close to $500. Which I find ridiculous for a starter that goes on a Toyota.
Of course this happens on a long holiday weekend so I can't get hold of anyone to find out if they will warranty it or even just ship me a new one.

Yesterday and today were perfect flying days. I have 13 hours to go on the test program, and I could have knocked out about 5 or 6 of that.

I am going stir crazy. It'll be raining tomorrow and Sunday. Joy.

15 hours to go

My testing phase has been going very well. I have about 25 hours on the plane completed out of the 40 hours of testing. Not bad for only 5 weeks.

I have a stupid little oil leak that is driving me crazy. It doesn't leak much, but you can spread 1/2 teaspoon of oil a long way....

I have done spins, loops and rolls for my aerobatic tests. Loops and rolls are non-events. Spins on the other hand are quite scary. They are slow to start, but spin like crazy once they get started. It is easy to overspeed (over 200mph) on exit if you aren't careful.

I need to finish making the heater. I had longjohns, wool socks, sweater, sweatshirt, jacket and ski gloves on the other day and I was still cold.

I'm a test pilot!!!

35 years ago in high school, I saw an article in Popular Mechanics . The cover said "Build this airplane for $750". I have been dreaming of that day ever since. To build that plane now, would cost at least $15,000 now, and it is made of plywood and fiberglass and has a VW engine.
I wanted an all metal airplane with an aircraft engine in it. I started on the project almost 8 years ago and put it on hold for 3 years while I got my masters degree, and quit working on it a couple of times because I was disgusted with myself for not making it perfect. It's pretty perfect though. I also needed to save money to buy more stuff. My Sonex is plans built and I should have saved my money and bought a kit. I would have been done years ago.

Saturday October 18th, I was ready!! The wind wasn't.
So at the crack of dawn Sunday I cranked up my plane and headed out to the runway…. I was not as nervous as I thought I'd be.

With the engine warm, I taxied into position on the runway and lowered the flaps to 10 degrees. I pushed the throttle forward and the plane wanted to turn left (It is supposed to, but I was not prepared for how much) I pushed right rudder, and more right rudder and then I was in the air.

It climbs like a rocket! Now I was a bit nervous. There are a lot of things that could go wrong the first time. Even though I have been over every nut, bolt, rivet, washer and cotter pin many times, I thought “What if I forgot something?”
I didn't.

When I got to the point of being able to turn around and land if the engine quit, I relaxed a bit. I turned out from the airport and climbed to 3000' and slowed the plane down. I needed to get the feel of it in slow flight to prepare for landing. I did some turns, accelerated, decelerated and did a stall (you slow the airplane to the point it won't fly anymore) it buffeted and ducked down just a bit. That was it! I could not ask for a better flying airplane.
I only stayed up about 20 minutes and the oil pressure and oil temperature were too high, so I throttled back and headed back down.
I gave it just a touch of throttle before touching down, and greased it on. Probably the best landing I ever made.
All the sweat, tears, cussing and blood are now worth it!
I have flown it nearly 4 hours now with few problems. I put an automotive oil pressure ga and oil temp ga in and taped them to the floor to check the engine monitor values. With my engine monitor, they were reading high, but the other gauges show the temp and pressure is what it should be. I'll get those bugs worked out, but I'm having a blast

Waiting for good weather and time

The FAA representative came and went last Saturday. I would have flown last weekend, but the wind was horrible....not anything you would want to do a first flight in anyway.

So I took the wings off the plane and trailered it to a nearby airport with a 5500 ft paved runway. This will be a much better location for a first flight.

I had a friend help me put the wings on last night, and when I finish hooking up the controls and wires, I'll put in a few more gallons of gas so I can go early Saturday morning providing the weather is good. It has been perfect weather all week so far.