fiebichpvApril 29, 2018, 3:58pm
I sure missed flying!
Having just returned home following a 1-1/2 hour local flight I realized how much I missed flying during the last 6 months. This was my first pleasure flight after the 1/2 hour test flight yesterday to verify the carburetor problem solution. Today I flew to 4 different local grass strips and made 7 practice landings and takeoffs with about an 8 MPH direct crosswind. I was a bit rusty. First landing was terrible, the last three were very nice. Just like riding a bicycle eh? Well, not quite but close.
I have been out of flying commission since November 2017 when I had my second knee replacement surgery. After that there was recovery, physical therapy, then waiting until the pain meds. cleared my system so I could consider flying. Then I spent almost four months periodically trying to adjust one of the carburetor floats to stop it from overflowing at 4000 RPM and waiting for the cold winter weather to break. Finally I realized that the floats were bad and replaced them with new floats. Problem solved!
The photos show what the farming community in south central Kansas is like in late spring. The air was hazy and smelled of burning grass smoke. Yesterday the two photos of burned fields were fully ablaze. In two weeks they will be covered with lush new grass. Yes, that is my right brake shoe in the photo.
The feed lot represents another farm economy in our region. As the year progresses this lot will house about 1000 cattle being finished for market. The long photo is my runway at Pilot Pointe (SN52). Over its 2000' length, it slopes about 75'. I am the only one on this runway and soon I will be gone as the owner wants to use the machine shed in which my AirBike is hangared, to store a couple of vintage tractors. I will now have moved 5 times in 20 years!
The final photo is my very trusty and thoroughly enjoyable AirBike Single. This plane has taken me to places I never dreamed of going to and exposed me to many experiences with the environment and people. What a fantastic hobby! 1100 hrs. TT; it is my magic carpet! An AirBike pilot from Missouri once wrote me and said "Once a person learns to fly, to be the sole manipulator of the controls, I believe your life is forever changed." How true is that?
Paul D. Fiebich
a.k.a. AirBike Ace
Having just returned home following a 1-1/2 hour local flight I realized how much I missed flying during the last 6 months. This was my first pleasure flight after the 1/2 hour test flight yesterday to verify the carburetor problem solution. Today I flew to 4 different local grass strips and made 7 practice landings and takeoffs with about an 8 MPH direct crosswind. I was a bit rusty. First landing was terrible, the last three were very nice. Just like riding a bicycle eh? Well, not quite but close.
I have been out of flying commission since November 2017 when I had my second knee replacement surgery. After that there was recovery, physical therapy, then waiting until the pain meds. cleared my system so I could consider flying. Then I spent almost four months periodically trying to adjust one of the carburetor floats to stop it from overflowing at 4000 RPM and waiting for the cold winter weather to break. Finally I realized that the floats were bad and replaced them with new floats. Problem solved!
The photos show what the farming community in south central Kansas is like in late spring. The air was hazy and smelled of burning grass smoke. Yesterday the two photos of burned fields were fully ablaze. In two weeks they will be covered with lush new grass. Yes, that is my right brake shoe in the photo.
The feed lot represents another farm economy in our region. As the year progresses this lot will house about 1000 cattle being finished for market. The long photo is my runway at Pilot Pointe (SN52). Over its 2000' length, it slopes about 75'. I am the only one on this runway and soon I will be gone as the owner wants to use the machine shed in which my AirBike is hangared, to store a couple of vintage tractors. I will now have moved 5 times in 20 years!
The final photo is my very trusty and thoroughly enjoyable AirBike Single. This plane has taken me to places I never dreamed of going to and exposed me to many experiences with the environment and people. What a fantastic hobby! 1100 hrs. TT; it is my magic carpet! An AirBike pilot from Missouri once wrote me and said "Once a person learns to fly, to be the sole manipulator of the controls, I believe your life is forever changed." How true is that?
Paul D. Fiebich
a.k.a. AirBike Ace
