thunder669July 11, 2011, 3:36am
Well today was my first cross country (a whopping 16 miles each way, lol) to another chapters pancake breakfast. i check DUATS before heading out to the hangar and they were calling for 12k ceiling and 6+ visibility and only 5 knots of wind. sounds perfect, but when i walk outside and look up i see that they are very wrong it looks like low ceiling and visibility from the ground. well i decide maybe it will clear up quick so i go ahead and walk over to the hangar and do a good preflight. sky still not looking to promising. luckily several other fliers from our airport flying cessnas and cherokees and such are all already in route or preparing for take off. so i decide to let them be the guinea pigs and ask them on the radio how it is looking from up there. i here back that it is much lower visibilty then predicted but more then enough for a low level VFR flight to our destination. so i decide to try it. i strap in and use my electric fuel pump to prime all the lines, give her a shot of primer and i barely even get the starter button pushed and that rotax is running. i guess i am not the only one looking to fly and show off a bit.
I taxi out to a good runup area and throttle up, check my mags and temps and can tell this girl is ready to go. i taxi onto runway 27 and pour on the throttle, and had my shortest takeoff roll so far, man that was quick. i climb op to about 2100 MSL or 1400 AGL and throttle back to 5800 for cruise. i really don't seem to be moving to quick, i am getting about 70mph indicated but the cars that are doing 55mph under me are actually keeping up or even passing me. so much for a 5 knot headwind. the other thing i notice is that 12k ceiling is probably only about 1000 feet overhead, sure hope no huns try to ambush from above. my only nice part is the air is very smooth the low level visibilty is pretty good. after about 30 min in what have should of only been a 15-20 min flight i have my destination in sight chesaning airport with long wide grass fields. after listening in on the CTAF i here that they are using 18 as the active (probably because it right in front of the flight line and the crowd.) well this should get interesting
I announce my position and begin to descend down to the 1600' pattern altitude. as i drop past 2000' it like someone threw a switch and all that smooth air disappeared. so here i am bouncing around pretty good and have nearly a 45 degree crab angle on downwind and about to do my first landing at this location and have probably 300 people watching me. i decide to really keep my speed up and am doing about 60-65 on final. i was told people were wondering if i was actually going to make it down on first try or if i were going around. well i basically flew here all the way to ground effect bouncing the whole way. once i got down to about 5 feet AGL those droop tips really trapped the air under the wings and she tracked like she was on rails and there was no crosswind or anything. i cut the throttle and she just floated so smooth to the ground and made the prettiest landing you could ever imagine. after taxing over and parking i realized i never had to worry about no huns. with the show of force out there they would not come within 50 miles
we had a PT17, 2 BT13s, a tiger moth, an AT6, and 3 aeronca's done in navy and army colors. also had a grumman seaplane (can't remember what model but he did say they are only 4 left in existance). this one had been retrofitted with turbo prop engines and is the only on of it's kind. also had many other factory planes out there and a few other experimentals. well i grabbed a quick bite of breakfast but it was hard because there was a constant crowd and questions around my plane.
I decided to wait untill the majority of the other aircraft had left and a few others had same thought as me and we departed using 27 for less crosswind. again she was ready to go flying. after a proper preflight and runup i taxied out to 27. if my takeoff at home was short this one could have been a record, i bet my ground roll wasn't 50 feet when she lept off the ground. the sky was clearer but the wind was even stronger. i was over 1300' AGL before i finally cleared the other end of their 2700' strip, as i turned back to the east i now had a major tailwind and was really moving. this time even at 2500' feet the air was quite turbulent and i had to get back down below 2000' fairly quick anyway to stay below Flint's Class C so it was a fast but very bumpy ride home. of course the max handled it like the amazing bird she is and just flew me on home. i entered a crosswind for 27 at home and realized the winds weren't any calmer here, after a very fast downwind i turned final and again decided to fly it all the way down and keep my speed up around 65mph. after clearing the house and large trees at the end of the runway i pushed her right down to 10 feet AGl and started to cut the throttle. again once i got down to about 5 feet she just smoothed right out and seemed to land herself making me look like a lot better pilot then i really am. i had a couple guys who flew their aeronca champs out tell me they could not believe how much smoother i was able to land then they were. (little do they know it was all the plane). i taxied her back to the hangar and let her get some well deserved rest after really struting her stuff all morning. Untill the next sortie .........
I taxi out to a good runup area and throttle up, check my mags and temps and can tell this girl is ready to go. i taxi onto runway 27 and pour on the throttle, and had my shortest takeoff roll so far, man that was quick. i climb op to about 2100 MSL or 1400 AGL and throttle back to 5800 for cruise. i really don't seem to be moving to quick, i am getting about 70mph indicated but the cars that are doing 55mph under me are actually keeping up or even passing me. so much for a 5 knot headwind. the other thing i notice is that 12k ceiling is probably only about 1000 feet overhead, sure hope no huns try to ambush from above. my only nice part is the air is very smooth the low level visibilty is pretty good. after about 30 min in what have should of only been a 15-20 min flight i have my destination in sight chesaning airport with long wide grass fields. after listening in on the CTAF i here that they are using 18 as the active (probably because it right in front of the flight line and the crowd.) well this should get interesting
I announce my position and begin to descend down to the 1600' pattern altitude. as i drop past 2000' it like someone threw a switch and all that smooth air disappeared. so here i am bouncing around pretty good and have nearly a 45 degree crab angle on downwind and about to do my first landing at this location and have probably 300 people watching me. i decide to really keep my speed up and am doing about 60-65 on final. i was told people were wondering if i was actually going to make it down on first try or if i were going around. well i basically flew here all the way to ground effect bouncing the whole way. once i got down to about 5 feet AGL those droop tips really trapped the air under the wings and she tracked like she was on rails and there was no crosswind or anything. i cut the throttle and she just floated so smooth to the ground and made the prettiest landing you could ever imagine. after taxing over and parking i realized i never had to worry about no huns. with the show of force out there they would not come within 50 miles
we had a PT17, 2 BT13s, a tiger moth, an AT6, and 3 aeronca's done in navy and army colors. also had a grumman seaplane (can't remember what model but he did say they are only 4 left in existance). this one had been retrofitted with turbo prop engines and is the only on of it's kind. also had many other factory planes out there and a few other experimentals. well i grabbed a quick bite of breakfast but it was hard because there was a constant crowd and questions around my plane.
I decided to wait untill the majority of the other aircraft had left and a few others had same thought as me and we departed using 27 for less crosswind. again she was ready to go flying. after a proper preflight and runup i taxied out to 27. if my takeoff at home was short this one could have been a record, i bet my ground roll wasn't 50 feet when she lept off the ground. the sky was clearer but the wind was even stronger. i was over 1300' AGL before i finally cleared the other end of their 2700' strip, as i turned back to the east i now had a major tailwind and was really moving. this time even at 2500' feet the air was quite turbulent and i had to get back down below 2000' fairly quick anyway to stay below Flint's Class C so it was a fast but very bumpy ride home. of course the max handled it like the amazing bird she is and just flew me on home. i entered a crosswind for 27 at home and realized the winds weren't any calmer here, after a very fast downwind i turned final and again decided to fly it all the way down and keep my speed up around 65mph. after clearing the house and large trees at the end of the runway i pushed her right down to 10 feet AGl and started to cut the throttle. again once i got down to about 5 feet she just smoothed right out and seemed to land herself making me look like a lot better pilot then i really am. i had a couple guys who flew their aeronca champs out tell me they could not believe how much smoother i was able to land then they were. (little do they know it was all the plane). i taxied her back to the hangar and let her get some well deserved rest after really struting her stuff all morning. Untill the next sortie .........
Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return