Flying above a carpet of cotton

This morning I checked the weather because it was supposed to be clear, and it said few clouds at 1 thousand three hundred (above the ground).

I looked out the window and it looked relatively clear (even though it was still dark). So I decided to fly. On the way to my friends house to get the plane, I noticed some thin fog in the valleys. Not really a problem, so I called a bud to get a ride from the airport to work and got the plane ready to fly.

It was just getting light and the sky was just gray. Again, not really a problem. About 500 feet above ground, I was in the clouds (the plane is equipped for visual flight, not Instruments only flight). Snap decision...do I continue or turn around and land? I'll be out of them in just a second and the destination is pretty clear. I focused on the instruments and kept climbing. Sure enough a minute or two later I was above the clouds. Still can't see much as the sun hasn't officially risen. I climbed higher than normal and followed the GPS track towards work. 20 minutes into the flight, I still haven't seen the ground. I was beginning to think I'll be flying around a while... Once again, not a problem as I have 4 hrs of fuel before I run out.

I see a little bump in this beautiful but boring layer of a cotton 'carpet' which must be the mountain about 10 miles from where I'm going. On the other side, there is a big hole in the clouds so I know I can at least come back there and go under the clouds if I need to. I know where the airport is, but still can't see it. I can eventually see parts of the ground and find another hole and circle down through it. I'm running late and haul ass towards the airport. Dump all the flaps and get slowed down for a nice touchdown and turn off.

A little excitement to start the day.

That was FUN!!!!

CAVU

This is the kind of day we are having here. It's not my picture, but I didn't have a camera with me this morning.

I got the new starter installed in the plane on Saturday. It was a royal pain. Of course it just didn't bolt in like the old one. It's finally in and it ROCKS!! I also installed the new igntion switch and door lock so all the keys match now. Out of all of it, the door lock was the worst, but it's done.

I flew to work today and it was CAVU. Ceiling And Visibility Unlimited. When I took off, the sun was just starting to rise, and you could see that the cars still had their lights on, a little fog in the valleys, and I could see the tall buildings in Charlotte as the sun rose. That's over 60 miles away!

There was a little wind, but not too bad. Not a cloud in the sky, and I had to turn off all the vents as it was a little cool. It is a perfect day to fly, and a perfect description of why I fly.

Friday

It's Friday! The best news, is that the airplane starter should be here today! I wasn't expecting it to be shipped until next Thursday at the earliest. Soooo I can put it in tonight and go flying tomorrow cause it's supposed to be nice all weekend.

I've made some friends on Blogger, and I read them every day, so it has inspired me to post some more. I'm not very expressive, and am not a very good writer, but I made this blog so I could post a response to a couple of others. Sometimes it's good to vent though.

Since I started posting comments on other sites, I've had over 130 views of my profile in the last few weeks (up from 5 for the last year)

I would link to other blogs, but I don't know how, and I would like to get a counter, but don't know how to do that either. I looked, but I haven't spent much time or figured it out. If it's simple, please let me know. If it's complicated, never mind. ;-)

October 4-6 is the Sonex gathering in Crossville, TN. I'll be flying the Cessna to this one since I have not finished my Sonex yet. Maybe next year.

I like the paint job (second one), but I've been struggling with ideas for my paint. I want something colorful, and I was going to primarily be yellow, but all the factory planes are now being painted yellow and I think there are too many. So I'll probably go with white, but I want some stripes and such, but am not artistic enough to come up with something cool. Since Dad was in the Flying Tigers (not as a pilot though), I thought about having shark teeth on the front, but don't want it too lame. The one at the top is not toooo lame, but borderline.

I Remember

I still have trouble seeing images of the World Trade Center without getting tears in my eyes.

A relative of mine was on Flight 175 and my heart goes out to her family and the rest of the families who have to deal with this on a daily basis, not just once a year like most of us.

I borrowed (stole) the image from Indian Chris at Right Wing & right Minded

Starters are out of stock!

It'll be at least the 18th before the new airplane starter comes. I'm pained about that. Still, I flew to work today in the Cessna 150 Taildragger. It's older, and doesn't fly quite as nice, but it has a whole lot more horsepower and moves right along. The disadvantage is that it uses a whole lot more gas. Oh well, that's the price you pay for commuting via the air.

What? Not everyone has 2 planes to fly? You probably have a spare car. Why not an airplane? It really isn't mine, my partner in the 152 owns this one and it doesn't get flown a whole lot. So I can fly it just about any time I want. Besides it was low on gas and somebody had to fill it up.

Bad Day

Well, as both of you know (those that might stumble upon this blog every so often), I've been flying to work most of the summer. I've flown every day this week, except for today. On Wednesday I thought I'd put on a show for the guys that are there drinking coffee every morning. I was going to land on the very end of the runway and turn off at the first turn off (which is not impossible, but almost). I was coming in very slow and sinking pretty fast, but hit my mark exactly where I wanted to. That's where the problem came in. My main wheels touched down where I wanted them to, but the tailwheel was still in the grass. When it hit the edge of the pavement, it launched the nose of the plane and it looked like I was playing hopscotch with the plane.... I'm sure it didn't look as bad to them as it did me as I was dancing all over the rudder pedals to get 'er calmed down.

They rated the landing at a 6, but they were way too kind, I rated it as a 4. Murphy must have a law that the quality of the landing is inversely proportional to the number of people watching!

So yesterday I hit right at the spot where I wanted to turn off yesterday and turned off at the second spot (same distance, but not as cool). Landing was an 8.8.
Got to the airport at about 5 to go home and the starter took a big dump. NOW WHAT!!??
I got someone to hold the brakes while I tried to hand prop it. I couldn't believe that what I see in the movies is NOT TRUE!!! I struggled for a while and got someone to help me push it to the maintenace hangar. Fortunately the guy who works there was still there. We did some troubleshooting and I decided to get a new starter relay and that would fix it. Went and got one, but it didn't work.

Tried a few more things and decided to try propping it again. After about a half hour of straining in 95 degree heat, it actually started. I'm ordering a new high power starter today. ($450, ouch!!) Still, it was an adventure!! At least I know it'll prop start now, and with some of the info I learned, it won't take as long if I ever need to do it again.