The 2009 Flights
It's
a new year and yet another on-line logbook.
Been flying since 1999.
As always, each entry shows the duration for the flight and my total
accumulated hours in the air.
Flight 451/January 4, 2009-My first flight of the year. The sun was out when we were in Reardan. I checked the weather and son Chris thought it would be a good day to take a flight. Alas, the sun disappeared behind the high clouds, but the air was smooth. Just a short hop over CDA and back. (0.9/404.7)
Flight 452/January 18, 2009-I found a new GPS on E-Bay...a Lowrance AirMap 2000c. I need to install it and test it. Not a good idea if I'm flying solo. Luckily, my partner Marc has some time. We fiddle with it a bit and get it in. Marc takes the yoke for the flight over to Coeur d'Alene while I sit in the right seat and play with the new gizmo. We switch seats at COE and I fly while he plays. We agree it's a good unit. I make a super soft, greaser landing with 40 degrees of flaps hanging out. (0.4/405.1)
Flight 453/January 26, 2009-A lunchtime flight by myself for a few minutes in the north practice area. Did a few turns. Sunny and smooth. (0.5/405.6)
Flight 454/January 30, 2009- Out again by myself on a Friday morning. A little foggy here and there. The front wheel strut was a little low. I had the guys at Western Aviation put some nitrogen in it. (0.5/406.1)
Flight 456/February 1, 2009- Mikey and I do a cruise to the south end of Coeur d'Alene Lake and back. (1.0/407.1)
Flight 456/February 13, 2009- A short trip to the north practice area. Lou Sherry is my passenger. I needed to fly before I went on my Las Vegas vacatiion(0.6/408.3)
Flight 457/March 11, 2009- I played hookey from work and Mikey joins me for a flight to Deer Park and back. Sunny and super smooth. I needed to fly after getting the plane back from its annual inspection. I found one of the battery box cover pins only through one of the holes. I fixed it. I made a couple of great landings. There were cars zooming down the taxiway at Deer Park and we chased a helicopter down the taxiway at Felts Field.(0.9/409.2
Flight 458/March 13, 2009-Shawn expressed a desire to take a flight. Yay! We do the usual Coeur d'Alene Lake cruise. but this time, I wander over to St. Maries and land on runway 28. There is slush on the right half of the runway so I land on the left side. There's nowhere to park so I turn around at the end and take off on runway 10. Back to Felts. A good flight and we got pictures with our new camera. (0.9/410.1)
Flight 459/March 27, 2009-A friend from the Pacific Northwest Flying dot Com group joins me for a flight. Janice (Tweety) Olsen hops in and we lift off around 7:30 a.m. I cruise toward Coeur d'Alene but it gets bumpy so I turn to the northwest and head for DeerPark, Loon Lake, and Chewelah. Not enough time to land and grab a bite (I'm meeting Shawn to go to the lake at 10) so we just wander through the mountains and head back to Felts. (1.5/411.6)
Flight 460/April 5, 2009-I need a small adventure. Today's destination: Vista Field-Kennewick, WA. My passenger: Mikey, of course. After splashing in some 100LL gas, we launch about 10:30 a.m. OK...it was our second attempt. I aborted our first takeoff after I lifted off with the stall horn blaring. I think about what we have: We are at full gross weight at 50 degrees and I was a little quick on rotation. I'm glad I asked for the long runway in anticipation of a longer takeoff roll, but I was not right on my game. OK, back to the runway and let's pay attention! The next takeoff is corected and perfect. Smooth air and reasonable visibility. There's some haze so we have to look hard to see Mt. Rainer and Mt. Adams. I'm experimenting with the new GPS and trying to set in a route. I can't get it to use intersection waypoints on a route. I need to study the manual! I dial in the Pasco weather and they are calling 6 knots at 300. OK, maybe runway 20 would be good at Vista, 5 miles away. They don't have a weather station, so I guess that will be about right. We spot the field on the other side of the river, I line up for landing. Looks good. Plop! Hmmm. Wind is favoring the other runway and I run out of lift and perform a controlled crash. Drat! Lesson learned. Don't assume the wind at one airport is the same at another a few miles away. Mikey and I wander around the adjacent shopping center and get back to the plane. After a pre-flight, I taxi to runway 2. There's a little sign advising pilots that they can contact the Tri-Cities airport prior to take-off for permission to cross their airspace. Sounds good. We do so and cross over KPSC on our way home. An uneventful, smooth ride with only one traffic report from Chinook Approach Departure. Mikey is getting good at spotting traffic and sees a target above us and to the left. The rest of the trip is great. We slide into runway 3 right and button her up. (3.1/414.7)
Flight 461/April 10, 2009-I zoom up to Deer Park for a quick flight. I mess up the winds and am approaching for runway 16. Unicom advises me of my poor choice. Since there is another aircraft heading in the right direction, I decide to scrap the landing and mosey on back home. Another lesson learned. Good landing at Felts. (0.8/415.5)
Flight 462/April 16, 2009-Went out for a quick lunchtime flight. Sunny day. Bumpy skies. Got depressed after 20 minutes and landed. (0.4/415.9)
Flight 463/April 17, 2009- Biennial Flight Review. It's raining. It's windy. It sucks. Time for my biennial flight review. Tommy hops in the right seat and is ready to put me through my paces. After a spirited discussion with ATC (I asked for their "read back correct" of my clearance and was advised that, "If they didn't respond, they heard my acknowledgement and it was OK." That's the first time in 10 years I've ever heard that. I say, "OK....works for me," and move on. We take off, I head for Mica Gap. He suggests going over the south hill. OK, and aI crank over to the right .It's raining, the ceilings are getting lower and I advise Tommy that if it had been my decision, I'd be on the ground. As we cruise across the hill, I pull out the carb heat to check for ice. When the engine burbles as a result, that gets his attention! Tommy says, "you should advise your passenger before you do that!" Scared the crap out of him! Tee hee! He takes me through some steep turns, stalls (I hate them-he agrees that I hate them), then he decides that the ceilings really do suck and back to the field we go for some touch and go landings in the 15 knot crosswinds. Regular landing, soft-field landing, short field landing. I do OK and we are done. (1.1/417.0)
Flight 464/April 21, 2009-A lunch flight with another office 'volunteer.' Terie Wright joins me for a short hop on a sunny day. During pre-flight I cut my finger on something. Ouch...bleeding. Into the survival kit for a band-aid. We hit the skies and do a short flight over the north practice area. Terie was one of the engineering inspectors on the freeway construction, so she sees her work form the air. It's a little bumpy, but she's flown before and does not mind. A good landing, but I touch the brakes too soon and get some nosewheel shimmy. (0.6/417.6)
Flight 465/May 15, 2009- We had a new propeller installed on N3082U and I decided to be the test pilot. I took the Rocket up for a short flight. Seems OK, but I notice that the old balance weights are still on the hub. I'll have the fixit guy pull those. A new prop should be balanced...right? (0.5/418.1)
Flight 466/May 22, 2009- Wrong! There is now more vibration with the old weights removed. During a short run up to the north Practice area with Mikey, I come to the conclusion that the plane needs a trip to the prop balance people at Spokane Airways. (0.6/418.7)
Flight 467/June 5, 2009- A run up to Deer Park with Mikey after the prop balance. Ahhhhh. Much better. (0.8/419.5)
Flight 468/June 27, 2009- The new prop is balanced and it's time for an adventure flight. I slop a few gallons into the tank to top her off and stuff Jim Leighty into the right seat and off we go on an early Saturday morning. Destination: Richland, WA for breakfast and Hood River, OR for lunch. The plane has been a little finicky on the mag check so I spend about 5 minutes on the ground running up the engine at a lean power setting to clear the carbon/lead off the plugs. Finally get them to drop evenly so I green light the flight and scream down runway 21. We're meeting a few other pilots from the Pacific Northwest Flying group. Smooth flight with clear skies to Richland. This is a new destination for me. We fly over familiar territory as Jim and I did a run to Yakima a while back. I just follow the GPS (which, for some reason, I can't figure out how to make it follow a "route")while Jim keeps an eye on the chart as we tick off the landmarks. We're using flight following so the air traffic control guys are helping us along. Chinook Approach drops our radar service as I fly to the north of the city of Richland. We spot the airport just west of town, get the weather, chat with unicom, and make a reasonable landing on Runway 1. There's no real direction on the ground for parking so Jim and I just pull into a nice spot next to a bizjet and shut 'er down. They're having an aviation day with breakfast and we meet up with Lee Bergman, Les Flue, Gary and Carolyn White, Tomas, and a couple other folks and chow down a few pancakes. After breakfast we take a few minutes strolling around the planes and taking a few snapshots, then it's time to fly. I fire her up, tune the radios, set up the GPS, and taxi to the active runway. I'm in line with a few other planes but we're off the ground in a couple of minutes. There's a lot of traffic and I'm curious why I don't hear a lot of chatter on the radio as we climb out of the pattern. Doh! I'm on the wrong frequency. I've been doing all of my announcing on 121.7 instead of 122.7. My stupid brain just automatically set up 121.7, the Felts Ground freq. Drat! After I slap myself a few dozen times for being so stupid, I focus on our next destination: Hood River, Oregon. We cruise over at around 4,500 feet and follow the mountains and Columbia River. Hood River is about 40 miles east of the Portland metro area so the view below is getting a little greener and the mountains are getting bigger. Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, Mt. Rainer, and Mt. St Helens are all within view. As we get closer, I figure that Hood River is just over the next ridge so I start to lose a little altitude. My original theory was to pop over the ridge and drop down to the pattern. As I cross into the little valley, I quickly decide that the little valley is really "a little valley" and I've got a lot of altitude to get rid of. So I decide to take the scenic route around the south end of the valley and work my way over to a left downwind to runway 25. My plan works and I plop the Rocket on the pavement and taxi to parking. Les and Gary are already on the ground and meet us. Our goal is to visit the Western Antique Aviation and Automobile Museum on the field. After a brief search for the door we get into the facility. Wow! Lots of planes, cars, trucks, military vehicles, and more. Well worth it. We also meet up with Terry and Dana Newcomb from Spokane. They flew down ahead of us this morning. After the museum we wander over to the local restaurant for a bite. Darn! They closed early today. Maybe we'll go to the Dalles. We call-the restaurant there is also closed. Oh well, let's just buy some gas and go home. I fill up the plane and Jim buys me a Waco hat for a souvenir. Into the skies we go. It's warmed up a bit and it seems like forever to climb out of the valley. Remember, it's a little valley with climbing terrain at both ends of the runway. I gain enough altitude over the hills to finally turn to the east and the Columbia River. It's a beautiful flight with all of the afore-mentioned mountains appearing in reverse order. I route a bit further to the north and we fly south of Yakima over Prosser and I have to be careful to miss the restricted area over the Yakima Firing Range. I would also like to avoid a glimpse of a Stinger missile just before it meets my exhaust pipes. Over the hills we start getting some bumps so I climb up to 7,500 feet. We cruise over the Hanford Nuclear Reservation and check out the interesting collection of buildings and other attractions. The ride seems fairly smooth for a summer afternoon...NOT! As soon as I think that, about Ritzville, the chop starts up and we bounce our way into the Spokane metro area. I do a moderately successful landing on runway 21 left and we call it a day.(5.5/425.0)
Flight 469/July 14, 2009- Terie Wright from work joins me for a lunch flight over the Spokane Valley. (0.5/425.5)
Flight 470/July 22, 2009- Fellow pilot and WPA guy, Geoff Scott hops in the Rocket. We zoom around the north practice area. Geoff likes to take aerial photos so I hand him the Canon and he snaps about a hundred frames...some of which capture the north Spokane freeway construction. (0.8/426.3)
Flight 471/September 15, 2009-It's been a couple months since I've been in the captain's chair. Hip issues, surgery, and recovery took a a bit longer than I anticipated. I gotta fly! Jim Leighty is my safety pilot today for my first effort. I rocket over to Spokane International Airport for a couple touch and go landings. I'm a little rusty on the controls and my communications needs work but I was successful. (0.6/426.9)
Flight 472/September 22, 2009-Took a run to the north practice area for a few turns. (0.4/427.3)
Flight 473/October 18, 2009-Byron Henry joins me on a Sunday for a flight to Ione, Wa. We lift off in the morning and turn north. All I see in the mountains ahead are clouds covering the peaks and flowing into the valleys. Not a good day to cruise up a narrow valley. We turn south at Deer Park with a new destination: Pullman. A non-eventful direct flight with an approach to runway 5 over the Inflate-O-Dome. We park and I notice that they have 87 unleaded MoGas in their fuel selection. The Rocket likes that. I buy 12 gallons. We take off and wander over the Palouse toward St. John. Byron, a St. John native, is like a human GPS. He knows exactly where he is, and who lives in each farmhouse. (2.0/429.3)
Flight 474/October 28, 2009-A fairly nice day and I need a flight before the snow and rain flies. Geoff Scot joins me for some aerial adventures. I had originally thought about St. Maries, but the clouds were building in the mountains so we wandered out to the Palouse toward Rosalia, dancing around some small puffy clouds. A rather uneventful flight with a medium grade one bounce landing. (1.0/430.3)
Flight 475/November 11, 2009-I'm out on the road doing errands. The skies look OK for aviating. I pull out my trusty handheld to check the ATIS. Good ceilings and acceptable winds. To the airport! The plane has 18 gallons in the tank. Yes! I do a short flight just for grins over the north practice area. (0.4/430.7)
Flight 476/November 25, 2009-A quick lunchtime run with a co-worker in the pax chair. Vicki Frucci joins me for her first-ever small aircraft flight. It's just a circle around the valley, but she thinks it was awesome. Smooth air. (0.5/431.2)
Flight 477/November 29, 2009- Another lunch run by myself. To the north practice area for some quick turns. (0.4/431.6)
Flight 478/December 2, 2009- I cruised over to Coeur d'Alene Lake for this afternoon flight. Geoff Scott joins me as we fly over our property. We were going to run over to St. Maries but there were a couple of planes in the pattern over there and the sun was setting. Maybe next time.(0.8/432.4)
Flight 479/December 5, 2009- Son Chris joined me for a flight. Similar to the one above, but it's always nice to have one of my kids aboard. A little father/son bonding. Smooth air, clear skies and a great day. He zips out after the flight to take delivery of his new couch. (0.8/433.2)
Flight 480/December 8, 2009- I take a new potential plane partner up for a short run. Up to the north practice and back. I think he likes the plane. (0.3/433.5)
Flight 481/December 23, 2009- Me again. North practice area after we got the front strut seal fixed. Smooth. Looks like the tires need some air, tho. I'll fill them tomorrow on my day off. (0.5/434.0)
Flight 482/December 24, 2009-Mikey joins me for a flight up around Deer Park. I add air to the tires and gas to the tanks before we fly off. A smooth flight and a so-so landing. I was a tad fast and tapped the brakes sending the nosewheel into a mean shimmy. (0.6/434.6) That's it for 2009. I flew a total of 30.8 hours during the year. Now it's on to the 2010 Flights and Logbook.
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