In the summer, when the average daily high temperatures tend towards the 80s and 90s, 40 degrees would be considered downright frigid. We'd be cowering in our houses, bedecked in thick blankets and poking fun at Al Gore and his Chicken Little get-richer-quick speeches about the imminent doomsday we all face from Global Warming unless we all go back to living in stick-and-leaf lean-tos and foraging for our food. But in December, when we've all had an empirical reminder of just how COLD 10 degrees is, 40 degrees is considered balmy. 40 degrees in December, combined with cloud ceilings that are actually higher than Danny DeVito's chin, is considered positively flyable!
I've been stewing for awhile about only having a few gallons of gas left in each tank of the plane, still concerned about getting condensation in the tanks from the exposed interior aluminum sides despite having been told by a fella at the A&P school that this is just a pilot myth. He won't be there in the plane with me should he ever be proven wrong, though, so I decided to hedge my bets and take a quick hop over to MadCo to tank up. MadCo managed to avoid replenishing their fuel inventory during the recent price hike, so they still have a somewhat reasonable price. I was afraid they'd get stuck with a few thousand gallons at a $5-plus rate, but they're still at the $4.42 level they were at last time I filled up. Good news, that.
I was in a bit of a rush, knowing that a 5:08pm sunset didn't leave me a lot of time to get out there and back before dark, but I forced myself to take my time on the pre-flight. This would be the first flight in 18 days, which is three full weeks if you don't count the Sundays, and that's getting to the point where I start to get nervous. I drained a bit more fuel from the sumps than normal to make sure there was no water in it, and I spent a little more time than usual peering, poking, and prodding at the pieces-parts that make a plane fly controllably.
The engine popped to life after just two blades, exhibiting an enthusiasm for flight that I always find contagious. A strong running engine calms the nerves and focuses the attention significantly, so by the time I keyed the mike to request taxi permission from Bolton Ground I was more or less back in the saddle. That's not to say that the events of the ensuing takeoff didn't seem to occur at a faster pace than they do when I've been flying regularly, of course, because they did. Before I knew it, we were off of runway 4 and headed west towards MadCo. Even the short trip out there seemed shorted than usual, but that might have been due to the tailwind that had us clipping along at 172 knots.
That tailwind became a headwind as we turned final for runway 9 at MadCo, and that suited me just fine. It had the effect of slowing things down to the pace of a Robert Redford directed movie, and with the rustiness of 18 days without flying to consider, that was a good thing. I made a greaser of a landing, marred only by a last minute swerve to the right as I diverted my attention to looking for the flap switch, a switch that falls readily to hand without even a sideways glance when I've been more regular in my flying schedule.
As I was standing on the ramp having the plane fueled, I was forced to acknowledge that while 40 degrees is not 10 degrees, it ain't 75 either. 40 degrees is cold when you're standing around in a light jacket on an open airport ramp, and that's all there is to it. Once the tanks were topped up and Visa had its say, it was nice to get back into the confines of the cockpit and get the heat generator hanging on the front of the plane back into operation.
The ride back to Bolton took a little longer than the trip out without the help from a tailwind, but by this time it was clear that I'd make it back before dark so I was able to relax and enjoy it. The only traffic in the pattern was a Cessna doing touch & goes, with another Cessna at the end of the runway just about ready for takeoff. The tower controller, just as I knew he would, had tasked me with reporting a two mile left base to runway 4. At the three mile point, my internal clock told me that the Cessna on downwind was only moments away from reporting midfield and getting cleared to land. Rather than get stuck behind him, I juiced up the throttle a tad and reported the two mile left base just a wee bit before a more honest and ethical guy would have. The tower controller couldn't see me, of course, because I had fibbed a titch about my position, but a couple of steep wing rocks got his attention and he cleared me to land. Because I had bumped up the power a bit and I deliberately land long on 4 anyway, I was positioned to get down and off the runway without any undue negative influence on the T&G Cessna. No harm no foul, one could say.
And I would have gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for those meddling kids. The Cessna waiting to take off on runway 4 was the airborne traffic guy, and the tower guy is fully aware that he has a schedule to keep. In order to fit him into the flow without delay, the T&G Cessna would have to extend his downwind for a mile to let the traffic bird takeoff behind me but in front of the T&G Cessna. Technically, I don't think the extra $1.25 on the T&G guy's rental bill for his slightly extended flight is completely my fault, but I suppose an argument could be made that I owe him 65 cents or so. I'm good for it, and the check is in the mail.
With all of that going on around me, and with a bit of a crosswind thrown in besides, I could be forgiven for having a less-than-stellar landing, but that absolution won't be necessary. I greased it. As I was rolling out towards taxiway Alpha 4, the tower asked if I'd be able to make that turnoff, almost as if he had some doubts.
"Of course, my good man," I wanted to say, but didn't. "That was my plan all along."
And it was.
And I did.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Sunday, December 09, 2007
I (used to) crack me up
Towards the end of the annual Happy Holidays card signing marathon, I was handed one addressed to our family optometrist. That was an opportunity that I just couldn't resist. She will be receiving a card signed:
20/20 D A V E
20/15 G A M B L E
Heh!
Update: Pointed out in the comments is that they've probably seen this little joke many, many times before, which now that I think about it, is probably true. That got me to wondering if any of my other little bon mots are cliched and overworked.
For example, it is my habit when asked for a phone number at a retail establishment by a female employee to give her the number (I've long since gotten over my rebellious refusal to give it to them) but tell her "not to call after 9:30 because my wife is home by then." So, is the reason that they never laugh at that 1) it's not funny, 2) they don't get it, or 3) they've heard it so many times before that I'm lucky not to get punched in the nose?
To my credit, at least I've stopped responding to the server at a restaurant asking me "if I want a box for that" with "no, but I'll wrestle you for it," albeit not because it's trite, but because one of them actually took me up on the offer once.
I think I'm still safely unique in referring to Sams Club as IBC (Impulse Buy Central) and/or WFPWJ (Wal-Mart For People With Jobs), but those too are wearing thin with friends and family.
I think I need new banter!
20/20 D A V E
20/15 G A M B L E
Heh!
Update: Pointed out in the comments is that they've probably seen this little joke many, many times before, which now that I think about it, is probably true. That got me to wondering if any of my other little bon mots are cliched and overworked.
For example, it is my habit when asked for a phone number at a retail establishment by a female employee to give her the number (I've long since gotten over my rebellious refusal to give it to them) but tell her "not to call after 9:30 because my wife is home by then." So, is the reason that they never laugh at that 1) it's not funny, 2) they don't get it, or 3) they've heard it so many times before that I'm lucky not to get punched in the nose?
To my credit, at least I've stopped responding to the server at a restaurant asking me "if I want a box for that" with "no, but I'll wrestle you for it," albeit not because it's trite, but because one of them actually took me up on the offer once.
I think I'm still safely unique in referring to Sams Club as IBC (Impulse Buy Central) and/or WFPWJ (Wal-Mart For People With Jobs), but those too are wearing thin with friends and family.
I think I need new banter!
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Google pulls head out, pictures fixed. Women and children least affected.
Blogger has lived up to its reputation of often being worth exactly what you pay for it (to be fair, it's skads better than it was a couple of years ago) by stating the the picture problem is "fixed." Of course, by "fixed" they mean that you have to go back to all of the affected posts and manually edit the machine generated photo link tags. I look at computer code all day, every day, so it's not that big of a deal to me, but I can't help but feel sorry for the Muggles.
Anyway, you can click on the pictures to see larger versions again, and rest assured that Google is heartrendingly sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. Me? I absolve myself of all responsibility, as usual.
Anyway, you can click on the pictures to see larger versions again, and rest assured that Google is heartrendingly sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. Me? I absolve myself of all responsibility, as usual.
Monday, December 03, 2007
Build a sailboat? Support for the idea from an unexpected source
If you've been following along, you will know that I'm just about finished with the kayak build project. As excited as I am about having it done and getting it out on the water, I'm a little sad about finishing it. If you've been following along for quite awhile, you'll remember that the whole project came about from my desire to build something that I could use, but something more viable than an airplane. I already have one of those, thank you very much, and the time and dollars required to build a new one are things that won't be available for a number of years yet.
I've really enjoyed building the kayak. The satisfaction of seeing it come together, the solving of myriad small problems during the build, and the relaxing effect of working on something tangible (idle hands, Devil's workshop, you know the drill) are things that I'm going to miss when it's done. I briefly considered trying to sell it when it's done, but I'm actually more interested in using it. We have good rivers for it nearby, and it seems like it will be a nice, relaxing couple of hours out on the river paddling it downstream in peaceful solitude on the occasions that I can arrange for drop-off and pick-up.
Now, let's dissect that last sentence, in the hope of justifying the expense of acquiring a new project, namely a sailboat, to build.
First: "out on the river." We have lakes, too.
Second: "paddling." Well, good exercise or not, that's work, eh?
Third: "peaceful solitude." There's a difference between that and forced solitude. It's a one-hole boat, and just as with an RV-3, there are sure to be days when I'd prefer to have company.
Fourth: "arrange for drop-off and pick-up." Hmmm. There will be days when I want to boat, but can't arrange for the appropriate transport.
It seems to me that the solution to all of these comes from the same place:
That boat comes from the same manufacturer as the kayak did. It's call a Passagemaker Dinghy. It can be built as a rowboat, power boat (4 hp or less), or a sailboat. In fact, it's all three! I doubt that I'd ever want to buy a motor for it, though. Motors that small are fussy and noisy:
("I think it's out of gas. Send Lassie there for help!")
And, of course, the whole point is to sail. Besides which, there's no need for the motor since the oars would be there for the days when I'm becalmed and need alternative means for getting back to shore. Our local lakes aren't very big.
For even longer than I've been fascinated with airplanes, I'm been interested in sail boats. I read all of the Horatio Hornblower novels as a kid, and knew the theory behind how sailboats work long before I knew jack about airplanes. I even owned a sailboat once, but it was a complex racing catamaran, and I was never able to use it much. I want something simple that can be rigged in just a few minutes and doesn't require a trailer or a place to store it.
When you think about my interest in both flying and sailing, they really both involve manipulating a wing to achieve a desired result. The only difference is the orientation of the wing.
While the simplicity of this little boat is nice, it's also very beneficial that it can be built such that it can be taken apart and the halves nested together for easy transport and storage:
It's pricier than the kayak, though, especially when it comes time to buy the sails and rigging. Those aren't needed until it's done, of course, but at some point I'd need them.
In any event, it's the cost that's the issue. Support for a new project at home may be questionable. I did run it past Co-pilot Egg, though, just to see if she'd be interested in learning to sail. Here's where I got some support that I wasn't really expecting:
"Sure! That's how the girls in the movies get all the guys!"
Wow, was that ever an unexpected (and somewhat frightening) answer! That said, buy-in from the co-pilot is necessary, but not sufficient. I'm going to have to think about it some more.
I've really enjoyed building the kayak. The satisfaction of seeing it come together, the solving of myriad small problems during the build, and the relaxing effect of working on something tangible (idle hands, Devil's workshop, you know the drill) are things that I'm going to miss when it's done. I briefly considered trying to sell it when it's done, but I'm actually more interested in using it. We have good rivers for it nearby, and it seems like it will be a nice, relaxing couple of hours out on the river paddling it downstream in peaceful solitude on the occasions that I can arrange for drop-off and pick-up.
Now, let's dissect that last sentence, in the hope of justifying the expense of acquiring a new project, namely a sailboat, to build.
First: "out on the river." We have lakes, too.
Second: "paddling." Well, good exercise or not, that's work, eh?
Third: "peaceful solitude." There's a difference between that and forced solitude. It's a one-hole boat, and just as with an RV-3, there are sure to be days when I'd prefer to have company.
Fourth: "arrange for drop-off and pick-up." Hmmm. There will be days when I want to boat, but can't arrange for the appropriate transport.
It seems to me that the solution to all of these comes from the same place:
That boat comes from the same manufacturer as the kayak did. It's call a Passagemaker Dinghy. It can be built as a rowboat, power boat (4 hp or less), or a sailboat. In fact, it's all three! I doubt that I'd ever want to buy a motor for it, though. Motors that small are fussy and noisy:
("I think it's out of gas. Send Lassie there for help!")
And, of course, the whole point is to sail. Besides which, there's no need for the motor since the oars would be there for the days when I'm becalmed and need alternative means for getting back to shore. Our local lakes aren't very big.
For even longer than I've been fascinated with airplanes, I'm been interested in sail boats. I read all of the Horatio Hornblower novels as a kid, and knew the theory behind how sailboats work long before I knew jack about airplanes. I even owned a sailboat once, but it was a complex racing catamaran, and I was never able to use it much. I want something simple that can be rigged in just a few minutes and doesn't require a trailer or a place to store it.
When you think about my interest in both flying and sailing, they really both involve manipulating a wing to achieve a desired result. The only difference is the orientation of the wing.
While the simplicity of this little boat is nice, it's also very beneficial that it can be built such that it can be taken apart and the halves nested together for easy transport and storage:
It's pricier than the kayak, though, especially when it comes time to buy the sails and rigging. Those aren't needed until it's done, of course, but at some point I'd need them.
In any event, it's the cost that's the issue. Support for a new project at home may be questionable. I did run it past Co-pilot Egg, though, just to see if she'd be interested in learning to sail. Here's where I got some support that I wasn't really expecting:
"Sure! That's how the girls in the movies get all the guys!"
Wow, was that ever an unexpected (and somewhat frightening) answer! That said, buy-in from the co-pilot is necessary, but not sufficient. I'm going to have to think about it some more.
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Google knows all
I brought the Garmin 295 back from the hangar today to charge up the batteries that I keep in it for backup in case I lose power from the airplane tonight. I spent a little time fiddling around with it, learning how to extract the track files and map them onto Google Earth.
To understand the results, re-familiarize yourself with this trip to Lima earlier this month that I made with Co-pilot Egg:
http://n466pg.blogspot.com/2007/11/saturday-with-co-pilot-egg.html
In this first screen shot of the trip, you can see where we stopped for gas at Madco, and you can see the leg where Egg was doing the flying:
The fine ground-to-air shots that Brandon took and sent to me were the result of a low pass down the runway, from which we flew a full left traffic pattern around again to landing. You can see that in the next two:
Back at Bolton, you can see how precise the alignment is between the GPS and Google Earth by the way it shows us right down the center of the runway:
Simply. Amazing.
Blogger, on the other hand, is still refusing to just open the larger image when you click on the smaller picture. Inconvenient, that.
Update: Blogger released a method for fixing the pictures, but it's a bit of a bother to do. Blogger: worth exactly what you pay for it sometimes.
To understand the results, re-familiarize yourself with this trip to Lima earlier this month that I made with Co-pilot Egg:
http://n466pg.blogspot.com/2007/11/saturday-with-co-pilot-egg.html
In this first screen shot of the trip, you can see where we stopped for gas at Madco, and you can see the leg where Egg was doing the flying:
The fine ground-to-air shots that Brandon took and sent to me were the result of a low pass down the runway, from which we flew a full left traffic pattern around again to landing. You can see that in the next two:
Back at Bolton, you can see how precise the alignment is between the GPS and Google Earth by the way it shows us right down the center of the runway:
Simply. Amazing.
Blogger, on the other hand, is still refusing to just open the larger image when you click on the smaller picture. Inconvenient, that.
Update: Blogger released a method for fixing the pictures, but it's a bit of a bother to do. Blogger: worth exactly what you pay for it sometimes.
Brace yourselves!
I'm going to mount the foot braces in the kayak today:
(Blogger is acting the fool today, and has seemingly unilaterally decided that "click on the picture" no longer means "show me the bigger version here in the browser," but now means "download the photo and open it into some application that you must choose." Sorry for any inconvenience, blah, blah, blah.)
I had to sit in it to test fit the location for them. The Shearwater is long enough for people over 6' 3" tall, and I'm nowhere near that. The braces have a 12" range, so I don't have to be overly precise, but it seemed a good idea to at least get them in the general range of where I want them. Ok, you're not buying that, are you? We all know I just wanted to sit in the thing and pretend to be paddling down the Big Darby. Hey, at least I didn't make engine noises like some people I can think of!
Co-pilot Egg's response to these pictures:
was "Pretty boat, funny face."
Sad news awaits her when she learns that funny faces are genetic!
Note the rolled up carpet "training wheels." I don't know how I'm going to get in and out of this thing when it's supported only by water!
(Blogger is acting the fool today, and has seemingly unilaterally decided that "click on the picture" no longer means "show me the bigger version here in the browser," but now means "download the photo and open it into some application that you must choose." Sorry for any inconvenience, blah, blah, blah.)
I had to sit in it to test fit the location for them. The Shearwater is long enough for people over 6' 3" tall, and I'm nowhere near that. The braces have a 12" range, so I don't have to be overly precise, but it seemed a good idea to at least get them in the general range of where I want them. Ok, you're not buying that, are you? We all know I just wanted to sit in the thing and pretend to be paddling down the Big Darby. Hey, at least I didn't make engine noises like some people I can think of!
Co-pilot Egg's response to these pictures:
was "Pretty boat, funny face."
Sad news awaits her when she learns that funny faces are genetic!
Note the rolled up carpet "training wheels." I don't know how I'm going to get in and out of this thing when it's supported only by water!
This Baby's going Viral!
Watch for this YouTube to hit the million view mark over night, assuming it hasn't already:
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