The 2011 Flights
It's
a new year, a new decade, 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 510/January 1, 2011-The first flight of 2011. I was supposed to travel to Prosser, WA for lunch with a bunch of other pilots today. There was fog at Felts Field, which just barely lifted by about 10:45 a.m. I looked at the weather, the one degree spread in the dew point, and the 3-hour round trip and decided against the mission. I went home then got a call from my plane partner. He had a prospecitive buyer and could I take him for a ride? Yep. Back to the field, warmed up the gyros, then met Rob Bass at the terminal. I showed him the plane, then we went for a run out east and to the north practice area. Outside temp was about 9F and the taxiways were solid ice. Runway 21 Left was bare and dry. As we climbed out on downwind, however, I noticed that runway 21 Right was solid ice. The difference? Runway 21 Left is asphalt. We cruised around for about 45 minutes then I did a perfect landing on 21L. (0.7/469.5)
Flight 511/February 20, 2011- My plane partner Marc and I are off to Prosser, Washington down by the Tri-Cities. It's a really nice day with sun and smooth air. I'm in the left seat on the way down. We fly over Hanford and follow the Yakima River to Prosser. After a few minutes trying to spot the airport, we finally see it between the freeway and the river. There's another plane in the pattern so I do a right downwind into runway 25 with a smooth landing. We look around for a courtesy car so Marc can check out some grape vines, but no such luck. Marc takes the controls for the ride home. (1.8/471.3)
Flight 512/February 21, 2011- I take the plane up on a Monday holiday to warm up the oil before it's changed. A very sloppy cross-wind landing. (0.6/471.9)
Flight 513/March 11, 2011- I'm back in the air on a Friday afternoon for a quick flight with just me. A couple of turns in the practice area and another crappy ballooning cross-wind landing. (0.6/472.5)
Flight 514/March 13, 2011- Long-time friend, Dean Carriveau joins me for a Sunday morning flight. This is his first small aircraft flight in 45 years. We lift off at about 11 a.m. with some light winds and I turn to the east with the thought of cruising around Coeur d'Alene Lake. By the time I cross the Idaho border, the game had changed a little bit. We found some gusty winds at 4,500 feet. By the time I got 20 miles to the east, the plane was rocking and rolling. My non-pilot passenger was still doing OK, but I elected to turn to the northwest in a quest for smoother air. (We found it). But wait...there's more. I knew this would get fun when I heard the tower calling new winds to landing pilot with now direct crosswinds at 12. Time to go home. By the time I got there, the direct crosswind was a gusty 14 knots. Needless to say, I used the rudder and full ailerons to put the Rocket smoothly on the runway with one main. Dean was impressed. My plane partner flew later in the afternoon. He called to tell me the tower guys reported that, "we've seen some pretty interesting landings today." All in all, a good flight. (0.9/473.4)
Flight 515/March 20, 2011- My son Shawn and his friend Nick joined me on another Sunday morning jaunt. We lifted off around 11:00 a.m. with winds at 3 knots. As I flew to the east, it started getting a little bumpy around the Idaho border. No problem....we'll go find some shooth air to the west...and we did. Over north Spokane, avoid the Boeing 787 Dreamliner in the Spokane International pattern, follow the Spokane River into Lincoln County, do a couple of turn around the family farm in Reardan, and head back to Felts Field. OK, time to tune in the weather. "Winds at 090@16 knots, gusting to 20 knots," said the report. This could be interesting. My son in the back seat knew what that meant. His friend in the right seat probably did not. I advised my passengers that this could be a little bumpy as we got close to the airport. It did. We were given a two mile final approach to runway 3 right (the wide one) and I entered a long final approach over downtown. I crabbed my way toward the airport, slowed the plane down a bit, stayed fairly high, then leaned the plane into the wind with the ailerons and stepped on the left rudder to follow the runway centerline. After a long float to slow down, I gingerly set the plane down on the right main wheel, then the left, then the nose with a full right aileron. Whew! Nice landing with no damage and no grass stains! My son was impressed. The passenger loved the flight. I've been doing a lot of major cross wind landings lately. (1.2/474.6)
Flight 516/April 12, 2011-I do a lunch flight with Jim Leighty. A quick run up to Deer Park with another cross-wind landing! (0.5/475.1)
Flight 517/May 1, 2011- The plane goes in for it's annual inspection so plane-partner Marc and I split a flight to St. Maries. Marc flies the first leg over, and I fly back...after we splash in a few gallons of (relatively) cheap AvGas (0.7/475.8)
Flight 518/June5, 2011 -The inspection is done. We have another overhauled cylinder and a few other items, but the plane is ready. Jim Leighty and I lift off for St. Maries on a shakedown cruise. It's a pleasant Sunday afternoon with smooth skies. It takes about a half hour to get there. I'm cruising fairly slow and varying the rpm as part of the cylinder break-in process, There's a lot of planes in and out of St. Maries due to their lower fuel prices and the pattern is fairly busy. Jim and I land and taxi over to the pump. He opens his door and.....there's oil on the strut. Upon further review...there's oil all over the inside of the cowling! Grrrrrr! We pull off the cowling to look for the source. After a couple of wipe-downs and engine run-ups, we decide it's a loose front crankcase drain. The oil pressure is good, and the dipstick level did not drop significantly, so I pour in a quart of oil, fill up the fuel tanks, and fly her home. There's a mess on our return, but the oil level only drops a bit. Back to the shop! (1.4/477.2)
Flight 519/June 17, 2011-We had the oil leak fixed (I hope). Tommy, my ever trusting flight instructor joins me for a break-in flight. (1.0/478.2)
Flight 520/July 1, 2011-An old radio co-worker and friend, Bob Blum joins me for a flight. He's an Air Force vet who's spent a zillion hours loading cargo heavies. I take him for a spin around Coeur d'Alene Lake. (1.1/479.3)
Flight 521/July 7, 2011-I'm at the Arlington Fly-In with a group of pilots gathered around the motorhome. I make the seeminly innocent statement, "I've never flown a plane with a 'stick' before." Scott Stewart says, "OK....Let's go." And we did, in his Vans RV-7. We wander out to the west from Arlington and I take over the controls. I'm impressed by the smoothness of the aircraft and the responsiveness of the control inputs. I do a few turns and wander through the sky. Scott remarks, "Well, since we're out here, it would be a waste if we didn't go upside down." Since I'm no fool, I turn the controls back to Scott. He finds a hole in the cloud deck and azooms up at over 1,000 feet per minute. We're on top and Scott takes me through a loop and a roll. Nice. Time to get back. He finds a hole in the clouds, rockets back under, and we're on the ground in Arlington shortly. (0.3/479.6)
Flight 522/July 9, 2011-Another adventure. I meet Dave Wheeler from Northwest Aviation Center, based at the Arlington airport. My mission: fly a new generation airplane...with a low wing at that! Dave picks me up at my campsite and we buzz over to his hangar. We're going to fly a Cirrus SR 20. Hey, if Angelina Jolie can fly one of these, so can I. Dave does the walk-around and shows me the ropes. I climb into the left seat and we go through the checklist on the computer readout screen in the cockpit. Taxi to the active runway and I push in the throttle. Dave advises me, "this isn't a Cessna, just relax and let it takeoff by itself, just pull back a tiny bit at 60 knots and the airplane will do the rest." He's right. The plane zips off the ground and we're on our way. We wander aimlessly to the eat of Arlington, but I need to make some landings, so Dave points out Mt. Vernon's Skagit Regional Airport off to the northwest. I enter the pattern and get some step-by-step instruction on power and flap settings, line up on final approach and do my standard 'left of the center line' landings. ("Um...Al...the centerline is over there," says Dave.) Power on, first notch of flaps, and we're airborne again. Next Stop: Paine Field, Everett, WA. It's a pleasant flight along Puget Sound south to Everett. We are directed to enter a left downwind entry to runway 34L. I look to the left and see the aircraft carrier in it's downtown Everett dock and the approach brings us over the Mukilteo Ferry Terminal. As we cruise on the downwind leg, Dave says, "Look at all the Dreamliners!" Yep, There are dozens of Boeing 787 Dreamliners parked everywhere-including one of the runways! Runway 11/29 plus a bunch of the taxiways have been turned into airliner parking lots, filled with airplanes waiting to be delivered. A quick touch and go landing on runway 34L ("Um...Al...the centerline is over there," says Dave.) and we're up and enroute back to Arlington. There are spcial approach procedures during the fly-in so I need to be vigilant. I'm on the lookout for a little private airport called Green Valley. It's marked by a couple of large balloons. We fall into line and follow a couple of other planes. Air traffic control only refers to us by airplane type and color. I fall into line on a downwind approach to runway 34 and land at the midway point ("Um...Al...the centerline is over there," says Dave.) and we taxi over to the fuel pump. We splash in a few gallons and taxi back to Dave's hangar. Good flying! (1.5/481.1)
Flight 523/July 28, 2011- Brother in law Bob, wife Joy and son Hunter plop into N3082U for a run. We cruise down the lake for a spin around the cabin. Joy takes that yoke for a few minutes. There's a grass field fire near our place that we have to fly around. (0.9/482)
Flight 524/July 31, 2011- Nancy's Sunnyside buddies, Edna Morris and Terry leonard spend a weekend at the Lake House then swing into Spokane for a Sunday flight. At first I thought it was too windy, but it calms down for a couple of hours. We head over our house, through Mica Gap with the idea that we'll fly over the lake place. it's a bit breezy and I can see that Edna is not as comfortable in the air as I like. I cut the trip off just short of Windy Bay and head back. A nice, smooth 40 degree flap landing. (0.7/482.7)
Flight 525/August 6, 2011- My 40th high school reunion weekend. We get together at a local pub on Friday night and I persuade an old school mate to go flying on Saturday morning. I take Van Cooper on the Coeur d'Alene Lake loop, then down to the south practice area where I let him handle the controls. Nice and smooth. (1.3/484)
Flight 526/September 23, 2011- The plane's been in the shop getting the cracked oil sump replaced. Time for a test flight. I launch solo for Deer Park. Runway 16/34 is closed so I land on 4 then turn around and take off on 22. Back to the barn and still have a drip. (1.1/485.1)
Flight 527/September 30, 2011- Jim Leighty joins me for a lunch time run. We zip up toward the Mead Airport. Jim flies while I take a few photos of the new freeway. (0.8/485.9)
Flight 528/October 1, 2011- Always the nice guy. A few months ago I promised a buddy that I'd take his neighbor up for a surprise birthday flight and today's the day. I prep the plane and taxi over to the terminal and drop into the restaurant. Bob is there with Mike. Mike has no clue. He only starts to come around when I hand him the pre-flight briefing card. We fly up to Sacheen Lake and fly over his house, over to Blanchard, Coeur d'Alene, then back to Felts. (1.5/487.4)
Flight 529/October 14, 2011- A quick flight on my own to Deer Park for a couple of touch and go landings. Only the short runway was open so these were quick. I did OK. I usually do T&G's on the 4,500 foot runway at Felts so the 3,200 feet seemed short. (0.8/488.2)
Flight 530/October 18, 2011- A lunch run with Terie from work. We flew over by Coeur d'Alene and back. I caught up to a student helicopter pilot on final approach and had to do a go-around. (0.7/488.9)
Flight 531/October 23, 2011- Jim Leighty and I took a Sunday morning trip to Lewiston, Idaho...but we never arrived. The weather was OK, but there were a number of pesky cloud layers that we had to dance around. At about Steptoe I pulled the plug and changed course to Davenport. After finding the identifier for Seattle Center, we had a nice smooth flight in the clear. I had to move around to get by someone doing touch and go's at Davenport but we had a nice landing on runway 23. We spent a few minutes chatting with a co-worker who hangars his plane and ultralight there. We head back to Felts and we listen on the radio as Spokane Approach moves traffic around to accommodate a Delta Airbus coming with a cracked windshield. (1.9/490.8)
Flight 532/October 26, 2011- I take a lunch break flight in my quest to reach 500 hours. A run up to the north practice area and back. Upon my return, there's a bazillion seagulls hanging out on the runway. I extend my landing and fly over them then touch down. A few minutes later I heard the shotgun noise from the runway as the maintenance gut was scaring them away. (0.4/491.2)
Flight 533/October 31, 2011- I take up a potential plane partner, Don Monroe on a short demo flight. (0.5/491.7)
Flight 534/November 6, 2011- Plane partner Marc and I head off for an aerial adventure. Destination: Omak, WA. Why?: Becausee I've never landed there. It's a nice calm Sunday afternoon. I'm at the controls following the GPS and the scenery and turn north at Grand Coulee Dam. Luckily, this is not major mountainous terrain because I picked the wrong canyon and ended up slightly east of Omak. I followed the highway below and ended up on a left base for runway 17. A perfect landing at a very quiet place. Not much action. Marc found his name in the guest book from 10 years earlier. Marc flies back with a quick landing in Okanagan, then home. (1.3/493)
Flight 535/November 25, 2011- I need a flight before my latest surgery entertainment because it'll be awhile before I can get back into the plane. Airplane partner Roger comes along for today's adventure...Grant County Airport, Moses Lake, WA. It's a perfect winter afternoon with 6,500 foot ceilings and smooth air. We lift off at 12:15 p.m. and cruise across the city, skirting the freeway to the south. Approach directs me across the runway three threshold at Spokane International, over Fairchild Air force Base, and direct to Moses Lake. Super smooth at 4,500 feet and we can see the sunny skies 150 miles ahead, but we're not going that far. Grant County Approach come on the radio and tells me to plan for a runway 22 landing. It's a 10,000 foot runway so I think I'll be OK. I punch in the weather and listen to the wind info. After a few calculations, I see that they are planning for me to land with a quatering tial cross wind. OK...the runway is 10,000 feet long but I fly for fun , why would I want to do that? I call the tower and ask for runway 14 Left. That will giv me a nice headwind with a small cross wind component. Much better. Plus, this runway is 14,000 feet long. Just in case I need some extra space. They do advise me several time that I have permission to land long. I turn onto final approach and I'm really high. It doesn't matter, I've got nearly 3 miles to land. I keep the power up and touch down about 7,000 feet beyond the threshold. Of course, after I slow down, I still have about a mile to go. I do a high-speed taxi down the runway to the end and head over for parking. We shut down at the FBO near three Fokker F-28 regional jets parked on the tarmac. The line guy says they've been sitting there for about 10 years. I wonder if they would trade me straight across? After a quick break, Roger flies us back to Spokane. Wow....that's probably all the flying I'll get to do this year. Only 25.4 hours...the lowest I got my certificate. (1.2/494.2)
Flight 536/December 4, 2011- I manage to squeeze in one more flight before the hospital people tie me down. Instructor Tommy joins me one a pleasant Sunday for a short jaunt. WE fly to the east, then south along Coeur d'Alene Lake. Over the casino then down toward Tekoa and back to Felts Field. (1.0/495.2)
Now it's off to the 2012 logbook and flights!!
Back to the Tenth Pilot In
Command Logbook (2010 Flights)
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Command Logbook (2009 Flights)
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Command Logbook (2008 Flights)
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