Blue Skies

Looking out the window today reminds me of the sky when Ferris Bueller looks out and says "How could you possibly go to school on a day like today." Today's sky doesn't even have that one cloud yet.


It is much better than Friday when I went to the Sonex Fly-In in Crossville, TN. I had a blast. Although my Sonex isn't ready to fly yet (still a long way off), I flew in the Cessna 152 Texas Taildragger. The sky looked ominous although Crossville was clear and about 15 miles west of me was reporting better ceilings. I took off and found a hole in the clouds to go through. There were a total of 5 different layers of clouds. It was pretty amazing, well amazing after the scary moments. I was going to fly direct, but there were build ups of clouds that went through the layers. I was at 4500 feet and had to go around a few of them. One, near Asheville, was particularly large and I ended up in a white out situation. Thinking I'll break through in a second, ok maybe any time now, OK maybe now, Ummm maybe I should turn around, one more second...Ok turning around. I came out where I went in and headed around the other way, and they were everywhere.....so I headed Southwest towards Georgia. It would add a little time, but the mountains I'll have to fly over are lower and they are reporting better weather there too. I found another hole in the coulds and went up to 6500 feet and when it got bad, I went up through another layer to 8500 feet. It was not really bumpy at all, and the little rain I hit washed the bugs off the windshield.


The lower layers stopped at the mountains and I could finally see the ground sometimes. It was a little more relaxing so I could get a picture or two. Coming out of all the weather, I wasn't far from my destination. It was a fun and exciting 2 hours.




I had a blast, and one of my friends had painted part of his plane with Kandy Tangerine. I have a new favorite color now. I think painting the whole plane this color would be too heavy, but it sure looks nice.

It was nice renewing old friendships, having cocktails at the motel with my buddies, and I was a camera plane for the Saturday morning Dawn Patrol. I hope all the pictures of the other planes flying by turned out.

Now back to work on my plane full speed ahead. I'll have to fly less so I can buy some more of the things I need to finish my plane. Might even have to save up for a Kandy Tangerine paint job.

Crappy Weather

Well here I am at work, working...no...really. I looked outside and we are under an ominous cloud cover. What's that? Blue sky! There is a hole in the clouds!
Maybe, just maybe, I'll get to fly to Tennessee tomorrow to the fly-in there. The weather doesn't have to be perfect, but where I'm going is reporting 6000 foot ceiling. As long as I can get a couple thousand feet over the ground without being in the clouds, I'm good to go.

This year there are some workshops that I hope will be very informative for me. Canopy and cowling fitting as well as an electrical workshop are offered. I'm just at the point where I will be fitting my cowling, then the canopy and of course the instrument panel (electrical).

So I hope I don't have to drive there. It's so much more fun to fly and less than half the time.

I just hope when I retire, I have good enough health and enough money to fly.
I need to make a coast to coast trip in an airplane I built with my own hands to honor my father. In high school, we would go from coast to coast in his airplane over the summer just before school started, and I always wanted to fly alongside him in my plane. I couldn't muster up enough money or drive to do that while he was alive so I'll go it alone. I'm sure there will be tears along the way as I fly to and over some of the same places I remember as a kid. All in all we made 7 trips across the USA (no not all of them were when I was in high school).

I have to make at least one more trip.

Triple Tree Aerodrome Fly-In

I flew to the First Annual Triple Tree Aerodrome fly-in last weekend. It was great. I took off Thursday to go, and would have taken off Friday, but had to work. This is an unbelievable place just South of Woodruff, SC. There is a 7,000 ft grass runway that is lighted, a huge hangar with some really nice big model airplanes as well as a couple of antique airplanes. It's a nice facility with a patio and outdoor fireplace, showers for those camping and even has a control tower for the fly-in. Way cool! There were 150-200 planes there on Saturday, and a pretty big crowd.

Next weekend I'm flying to Crossville, TN for the Sonex Fly-In. I went last year and although I'm not flying my Sonex (since it's not finished yet), I will fly there. An hour and 45 minutes in the air is a whole lot better than 5 hours driving.

It'll be nice to see the friends I made last year and catch up on all the new technologies and tips from the other builders. Plus, I only will work 4 days this week too!

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.

I fly to work

Don't read that as I fly for work... I just commute to work in an airplane. Not all the time, but so far this summer about 2-3 times a week.
I live 50 miles away by car, and it takes 55 minutes. When I fly, it takes about an hour and 10 minutes. WTF? That's from door to door.
10 minutes to Gene's, 10 minutes to preflight the plane, 35 min to warm it up, taxi, take off and land (depending on the wind), 5 minutes to tie it down and 10 minutes to work.
Do I mind? How can you mind, no traffic, speeding by the little cars down there, the freedom of flight and of course the "Cool Factor"! The cool factor is slightly diminished by having to bum a ride to work and back, but is somehow also raised by who picks me up and drops me off.

Besides the plane started life as a Cessna 152 Commuter, so even though it is now a Texas Taildragger, it's my commuter. As the days get shorter, my commuting ability will change.

So, since tomorrow is a teacher work day, I might take it off too. The question now becomes, "Where should I fly?"

Texas Taildragger

I'm flying all over the place this summer. I will be getting back to work on the Sonex pretty soon as the 152 will move to another place for a while. Ervin will be using it to finish his training for his private pilot's license.

It's been fun, but expensive at $4.60 + a gallon for avgas. Oh well. I have about 400 hours and over 25% of them are tailwheel hours now. The Sonex will run on car gas and about the same number of gallons per hour although it runs 170 instead of 105 or so.

I feel special even though at work I feel like a big fuckin loser! It seems our district doesn't want old men as school administrators.

"L"

I haven't posted in a while...3 months to be a little more exact. Like many other people, I just enjoy reading other's blogs, and don't feel like trying to be silly or witty or whatever.
Besides. Nobody reads this crap anyway. I just started it so I could post a comment or two on some other blogs.

I feel like a loser. I interviewed for the best job in the whole world (at least my world...and the best job for me) and I didn't get it. I made the final 3, which should make me feel good about it since I didn't even make the second round in the school district where I work now.
Sooooo, I'm bummed. Really bummed.

I should be thankful I have a job, and I am, but it is time for me to move on.

Oil Companies are Crooks!

7 weeks ago, gas was $1.78 a gallon in Spartanburg. Today it is $2.35 a gallon.
The gas is not the winter blend anymore, which should make it cheaper AAAANNNNDDDD the price of crude has gone down! So gas at the pump should be cheaper. IT'S NOT!

When I'm King, things will be different. I'm going to find out why the crooks running the oil companies think they have a license to screw the American public.

They will have to be executed. They are crooks, which make them criminals and criminals have to die.

I'm pissed. I'd be even more pissed if my car didn't get 80 mpg.

I didn't win the 240 Million

I'm somewhat bummed about not winning the lottery. I'm here at work, and I'd much rather be retired. Guess I won't be able to give away any money now.

I took my School Leaders License Assessment a week and a half ago. Guess that means 2-1/2 weeks until I find out how I did.

Not much to blog about, but I thought I should write something....Oh yeah! Some scumbag on ebay suckered me for $400 for Daytona 500 tickets. I spoke with the detective today, and I hope he (the guy, not the detective) gets ass raped in prison. There are about 25-28 of us scam-ees...one guy for $2800.

This shirt is fitting...

The detective said he didn't think the guy was too bright scamming a bunch of NASCAR fans out of race tickets. I wouldn't be surprised if the guy was taken care of before they could arrest him.

I'm not Scrooge anymore!

I used to despise the Cristmas season, because of all the commercialization involved with it. This year, I decided to try to be in the Christmas spirit. I even went to the art store on Black Friday to buy a picture frame. That is something I've never done before...no, not buying a picture frame, but going out of the house on the day after Thanksgiving. My usual Christmas tree is tiny, but has lights and goes up in about 2 seconds. This year I got a white 4' tree to help with the spirit thingy. It even has a couple of presents under it.
This is my usual tree.

I was off work for 5 days in a row. That is a first except when I would go to Tahoe for Christmas or the Reno Air Races. I guess I'm just tired of working. Only 11-1/2 years to go for retirement. Oh Boy!!

I know I haven't posted and I hate it when the blogs I regularly read don't post often enough, but there is a difference... nobody reads mine. This is for my benefit. The other reason I haven't posted, is that a couple of dogs killed Midnight, my cat. She was the nicest cat I've ever had. I feel responsible because I saw the dogs running around across the street and she was peeking out from the door that goes under the house. I coaxed her out so she could have breakfast and I went on to work. I got a call a couple hours later that the two dogs wer tossing her around and she was dead. I'm crying as I type this.
Dogs killed Einstein, the coolest cat ever, and now Midnight. I realize that pets may not have souls, and sometimes I think I may not either, but I seriously hope that they will be in heaven, and I can get there too.

I guess you'd call me a Libertarian

This Story pisses me off!
I'm so glad that Kerry is not our president. Not that I think that George is doing a great job either.
I think anyone in politics has to be somewhat corrupt to be there anyway, but that Frankestein looking S.O.B. and his anti-American wife irritate me all to hell.

Many of my friends went to Vietnam, and a few didn't come back. I was in the last lottery and even had a low number, but wasn't picked. I felt fortunate in that. It was a scary time, just like now, but we are in Iraq, and need to do the best we can and what is right. We need to finish what we started, and I hate it every day when we lose soldiers anywhere, but that is one of the risks taken when signing up.

I'm glad I live here, but I'm afraid that when people like John Kerry do get elected it makes us more vulnerable to terrorist and non-terrorist attacks.

I have never voted "for" anyone for president. Always against. This year for Governor of South Carolina, I will be voting against Mark Sanford He is just a spoiled rich kid who wants to send his kids to private school at the expense of public education. I don't care what you say you've done to improve South Carolina. You are doing your best to destroy public education in the name of "competition". Do your homework, moron, and you'll find that vouchers aren't working.

Mike Bravo

My father wrote a couple of novels, which were never published. One of them probably would be likely now, but he was too conservative to make it steamy. It would be very plausible for a terrorist attack, and at one time I thought about trying to update it and see if it sells. I don't want to be responsible for something like that to actually happen, so it'll probably stay in my attic.
Anyway, like the idiot I am, I forgot to renew my airplane N-Number registration which I reserved in my fathers memory. It was the closest thing I could get to his plane number. So I checked last Monday, and on the Friday before, someone else got it. I've been kicking myself ever since.
I suppose it's time to get my own number, and all the ones I like are taken. I was thinking about different ones, and my friend said it should be something with MB, for Margarita Bob. I thought about it and the Phonetic Alphabet saying of MB is Mike Bravo. It sounded like a name that would be good for the main character in dad's book.
The only number that came up halfway decent is 806, which almost looks like Bob.
The number is going to be...
N806MB
"Experimental Eight Zero Six Mike Bravo. "
I can live with it.

De Plane, De Plane!!

A couple of weekends ago, I cleaned out the garage and cut my 4' x 12' bench down to 4' x 4'. This gave me enough room to put the plane diagonally in the garage to give me a lot more room to work. I have some rugs that came out of the house when I put down the laminate floor in there, so it is a nice comfotable place to be. Over the weekend, I installed the rudder pedals and am now fitting the engine mount. Once that's in place, I'll be installing the landing gear, and then I can push it around. It's actually getting closer to being finished.
I haven't worked on it much since I started my master's degree, and now that I'm getting close to being finished, it is easier to make time to work on the plane.
This weekend, I'm going to the American Sonex Association Fly-In in Crossville, TN to hook up with some other builders and get some ideas, inspiration and hopefully some tips for installing the canopy and drilling the titanium for the landing gear. I suppose the canopy will be the next "expensive" thing I'll need to buy. That completion list is getting shorter, and I'm getting excited about it. If I took a couple of weeks off work, I could probably make a serious dent in the amount of work left in completing the plane. I'll still need money though, and of course, the old "tail wheel" endorsement in the log book.
I feel good about it because I know that this is the plane I will be able to finish. The Kitfox was out of my reach, and my heart just wasn't in it.
Gus Schlegel took a trip from Kansas City to the West Coast and back in his Sonex a couple of years ago, and I love reading it. It is great inspiration. You can see it here.

I Passed My Comprehensive Exam!

That was a painful experience! Hours upon hours of study for a 6 hour exam, and I KICKED ASS!!!
3.73 out of a possible 4.0. I don't know if it's the highest grade ever, but I sure feel that way!
One more exam in January for my license...another 6 hours, only this time you have to write it by hand. Oh joy! At least it only costs $465. It'll all be over in May. I just applied for graduation for this Master of School Administration degree, and it scares me that in a few years, I'll be a principal of a school. That is a scary thought!
I've never done so well in college. I guess I finally figured out how to bullshit more effectively.

John McErlean Jr.

This is a tribute to John McErlean who lost his life at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

Five years later, I still have trouble seeing images of that day without getting tears in my eyes.
It is amazing to me that anyone in the name of any god could, with clear conscience, do such a horrific deed.

I did not know John McErlean, but from what I read about him, makes me very sad for his family. You may read the profile that was printed in the New York Times on December 21, 2001 here.

From these few paragraphs, I am able to discern that he lived his life how we should all strive to live.

To your family, I cannot imagine the loss you feel, although I can feel some of your pain.
Rest in peace John McErlean, God has his hand on your family.
Sincerely,
Robert



Here is a list of all the names and locations of the tributes to the fallen victims.