The
2015 Flights
I no longer own an airplane, but I’m still flying.
Flight 620/January 1, 2015- This flight started with good intentions. I had arranged to pilot my instructor’s Cessna 172 (the one I learned in-N457BC) to Desert Aire for the annual New Year’s Day lunch fly-out. Weather looked reasonable. Tom is in the right seat keeping an eye on his airplane and our hungry buddy in the back is Byron Henry. A pre-flight on this cool morning and we pile in. Several other airplanes are also headed this way. I taxi to the runway and pour on the coal. Ceilings are marginal, but it looks like it is clearing to the west. As we pass Spokane International, I see snow storms building to the northwest. Ceilings are still marginal. Another plane passes us on the way to lunch. I ponder. Will the weather get better or worse in the next 3 hours? Am I really going to have fun? Is that snow storm going to move to the south and block me from coming home? I decide to turn around. After that fact: Everyone who went to lunch said the weather got better. I got one comment that said I was a “pussy” for turning around. I don’t care. (0.5/582.2)
Flight 621/January 25, 2015- It’s seems to be a nice Sunday. I look on the NW Flight School schedule and see that there is a Cessna 172 open at Felts Field. Wow, on a nice day like this? I book it. When I get to the field, the doors are locked and no one is around. I call their office at Spokane International. “Oh, we don’t staff the office at Felts on Sunday. The plane is locked up.” I say, “Then why does it show available of the scheduling system?” The person says to hold on an they will call “Charlie” the boss. When he comes back on the line he says Charlie is on his way to get the plane out for me. After a short wait, and some entertainment unlocking the hangar doors, the plane is outside and ready to go. Since he came out to save me, I take Charlie along for the ride. I cruise down to the cabin and back. Charlie enjoys the ride. Of course, I take this opportunity to let him know that the windscreen in this airplane is crazed and hard to see through. (0.8/583)
Flight 622//February 8, 2015- Another Sunday adventure. This time I smarten up and reserve the plane that’s at Spokane International. Of course, when I arrive, the counter person has to call Charlie and find out “where the plane was parked last night?” Finally located it in another hangar and, after some wandering around, we finally get the plane out. Son Chris is my passenger on this sunny Sunday. We take a leisurely cruise to St. Maries, Idaho. (1.4/584.4)
Flight
623/February 19, 2015-
Off to Puyallup on a trip to the Washington Aviation convention and
trade show. My plan was
to take my son Shawn on a scenic tour of the big city.
Low ceilings and rain mess up that plan.
We do lunch instead. But,
as I head down the freeway toward Olympia, I see that the weather has
improved slightly. I
swing into Boeing Field and hop into the rental plane I had reserved.
I do three touch and go
landings at BFI. Yay! The best part: The tower
controller thanked me for flying at BFI. (0.4/584.8)
Flight
624/March
8, 2015-
Another aerial adventure with my friend Jim.
We are going to make it to Desert Aire. I had tried on New Year’s
Day and failed. This time we are
really going to make it. It's a fairly routine flight with Jim
and I bantering along the way. Of course, we get lost on the
way. OK, not really lost. We know we are over Washington
State, in an airplane, somewhere over a variety of small towns and
irrigated farm fields. Of course, the GPS knows where we are,
but we try to determine where the GPS is in relation to the paper
chart, correlated with the stuff on the ground. As always, it
generates some entertaining conversation along the way. We do find
some hills near Mattawa and Desert Aire which clues us in
that we are getting close. I spot the field and slide into a
left downwind for runway 10. This is a narrow, 34 foot wide
runway, about 3 feet narrower than the airplane we are in. Of
course, a perfect landing. We taxi to the east end, park the
plane, and set off on a hike to civilization. Jim is interested
in the senior center by the runway, even though he is much too
young. We walk past some vineyards and find the Tumbleweeds bar
and grill. We have a Pepsi and wander back to the airport and the fun
starts. We are in N9552A, a fuel-injected Cessna 172. I
had managed to get it started in Spokane, but here in the middle of
eastern Washington? I go through the checklist, follow every
step, but it won't start. The smarty-pants Jim says, "I bet
there's a puddle of gas on the tarmac." Yep. I flooded it
by running the fuel pump. I should have used the "hot-start"
procedure. Crap! The stupid thing sat for an hour! I
go through the hot start checklist and the engine begins to
purr. I hate fuel injection! Back to Spokane. (2.7/587.5)
Flight 625/April 14, 2015- Another trip to Seattle with the thought of taking a scenic loop around the big city. Again, ceiling were just not good enough for me to start poking around busy, unfamiliar airspace. Lunch with Shawn in Bellevue, then I wander over to Boeing Field to look around. Although ceilings aren't great for flying around town, a few touch and go landings will be just fine. (0.6/588.1)
Flight 626/April 29. 2015- This is it! I'm in Seattle and the weather is great! Shawn joins me at Boeing Field for a long lunch hour. I've pre-flighted N738VJ so she's just about ready top go when Shawn arrives. We climb in, get settled, roll out of the northeast tie-down area, then call ground control. I ask for a downtown waterfront departure for downtown sightseeing, then Shilshole, Bellevue, and back to downtown. OK by them, and we're OK'ed to taxi to the runway. We wander the couple hundred yards past a few bizjects and reach the runup area by the runway. after a couple of minutes, I'm ready, and call tower for clearance to take off. It's not real busy, so we get our clearnce to take off on runway 16 left with a left downwind departure. And away we go! I get up in the air, turn to a left downwind and head toward the Seahawk and Mariner stadiums. Boeing Tower advises me to keep it in tight to the Elliot Bay waterfront to avoid inbound traffic and stay below 1,700 feet. Can do, and I advise we'll be at 1,500. With the Sea-Tac approaches a few hundred feet above us, this area is really tight. Shawn and I skim along the edge of downtown Seattle with the waterfront right below us and the skyscrapers just off our right wing. What a great view! Tower now advises us to watch for TV station helicopter traffic adjacent to the waterfront. We see them below us hovering next to the Alaska Way Viaduct. No problem. We cruise by the Space Needle and continue to the northeast over Magnolia, the Chittenden Locks and the ship canal. Of course we have to fly over Shawn's floating sailboat home in the Shilshole Marina for photos. That done, I turn east across north Seattle and Green Lake, cruising just north of the University of Washington campus. We continue across Lake Washington, just north of the SR 520 floating bridge, reaching Yarrow Point and Medina on our way to downtown Bellevue. Over the north edge of downtown we pass over the buildings that Shawn manages and I do a circle so we can get some pictures. Now we're headed to the west and I have Shawn take a few snaps of the new floating bridge construction as we float over the lake toward downtown Seattle. We reach the UW capus and I turn south to thread between the TV towers on Capital Hill and the downtown buildings. Boeing Tower gives us a call asking if we are still listening and we reply affirmative. They advise us to contact them when we reach the stadiums. We reach the south edge of downtown and tower advises us that we are number 2 for runway 16 left. I can hear a student doing touch and go landings on runway so my radar goes up a little. Hey! What's that? It's raining! There's a little squall putting raindrops on the window. Now tower calls and asks if I can move over to runway 16 right. Sure...no problem. Apparently the student is a little slower than they anticipated. I slide the plane over toward that runway and they clear me to land. But, I've been listening to an inbound B-737 on approach. This might be interesting. I'm now on about a 1/2 mile final for runway 16 right and tower calls me and asks if I can take the left. I just knew this was going to happen. Yep. Victor Juliet moving to one six left. I slide over the other way and line up with the short runway. I plop the plane down on the runway and turn off to the taxiway. Yes! Shawn and I have done it! (0.8/588.9)
Flight 627/June 7, 2015- It's another trip to Desert Aire with Jimmy! This time we are attending the "Flights Above the Pacific Northwest" lunch fly-out. I check out another Cessna 172, N738BS. The plane is located at Felts Field. It's a beautiful Sunday with clear skies and no wind, but getting hot. Jim and I have our usual entertaining banter during the flight and I turn the controls over to him so I can watch the view. We have flight following from air traffic control. As we cruise along ATC gives us a heading with no apparent reason, but we comply. As we get past Davenport, Spokane Approach turns us over to Grant County Approach. I call in...no response. Again, no response. We then hear Grant County asking for us...I reply..no response. I call again....no response. Finally an airline guy that had been listening to this calls Grant County and tells Grant County that we have been responding to him for the last 15 minutes. So...Grant County can finally hear us, what do they do? Chastise us for deviating from our heading. Huh? He says we got too close to the parachute area east of Ritzville. Huh? We're 5 miles away! (Later I look up our recorded track in ForeFlight. The controller is full of BS.) I'm polite and we adjust and continue on our way. As we get closer to Desert Aire, there's a lot of traffic in the area. This is fun because they have a new, wider runway that was just completed a week ago. It's wider, smooth asphalt, but no painted lines or numbers. I cruise into a left downwind for runway 10 and make a nice approach and landing. Ths new runway is 60 feet wide! The old one was only 35 feet. The east parking nearest the restaurant is full so I taxi to the west end. Group member Doug Hoenstein is there to guide us to parking. Airport Manager Karl Gruber has arranged for a shuttle service to get us all to the restaurant. We arrive and there is a crowd! I order the chicken strips and Jim has the fish. The pilot and co-pilot should never have the same thing. A great lunch, followed by a group photo, and we're shuttled back to the plane. By now the air temperature is 97 degrees. I have 150 horsepower and a 3,500 foot runway with a 10 knot headwind. Hmmm. There is a Zenith 701 taking off in front of me. He's off the runway in 500 feet. (Show off.) He climbs out and I take the runway. I stand on the brakes and firewall the throttle. Faster...faster...and we leave the ground. Wow! I'm off the ground in about 1,500 feet! My old plane would still be down there headed toward the fence. Whew. An uneventful flight back. I roll up to 7,500 feet to get out of the heat and it's smooth until we start coming into Spokane. We hit the chop and bounce around to a smooth landing. (2.8/591.7)
Flight 628/July 11, 2015- I'm at the Arlington, WA Fly-In and was hoping to rent an airplane from Northway Aviation at Paine Field in Everett to fly around the San Juan Islands. Unfortunately, this Saturday morning has started with a nice marine layer hanging low over the islands, so that destination is out. But I still want to fly. I join up with instructor Amy Bellesheim at around 8 a.m. and we decide to make a go of it. We'll just adjust our route. After a pre-flight, I slip into the left seat and Amy clues me in on how to get to the runway. There are 3 runways at this airport, but one of them is closed and used as a parking lot for unsold Boeing 787's. There's a bunch of them. After a few turns, I find runway 16 right at the A3 intersection. I do the runup checks and get clearance to take off. We are headed south toward Seattle. Oh sure, I've been around here before, but another run around the busy big city is a good thing. We cruise along the Puget Sound waterfront into the downtown area, contacting Boeing Tower to let them know we're out here. I do a lazy right turn at the Space Needle and point the airplane to the west...destination Bremerton. Why not cross another airport off my bucket list. Across the sound, I start looking for PWT. Where the heck is it? I can see the navy shipyard, the city, but no airport. Finally Amy points it out. OK, let's do a touch and go landing. I do left downwind approach into runway 19, touch the pavement, and zoom back into the sky. Where to next? Amy (the dedicated instructor) suggests we go do some stalls. Blah, I say, I hate stalls, let's go buzz Sea-Tac International instead. Amy's never done a Sea-Tac transition, so she's game. I turn toward Vashon Island and call Sea-Tac tower. They give me a squawk code, permission to enter the Class Bravo airspace, and advise to cross the runway 16 threshold at 1,500 feet. Whee. Look at all those airliners lined up to take off! After we get across the big airport and into the Kent Valley, Sea-Tac tower turns me loose and we turn north over Renton, I call tower for a transition through their space and we fly north along Interstate 405. I snap a few photos of the Seattle Seahawk training facility as we cruise toward downtown Bellevue. The cloud ceiling are still hanging around 2,500 as we continue back toward Everett. Amy teases me about hating slow flight and stalls. As we approach Everett, They advise us to enter a left downwind for runway 16 left. OK. Amy suggests 16 right. OK, I ask for it and tower says sure. But...why do I care? Runway 16 left will be fine. I tell tower we'll take the left. I slide in for a nice, smooth landing and we taxi past all the derilect 787's back to Northway. (1.2/592.9)
Flight 629/August 7, 2015- On Thursday, I went to Rosalia for a work event at the wind turbine farm. it turns out the turbine guy, Shawn Elston, is a pilot and we spend more time talking about airplanes than wind farm electricity. We decide we should take a flight together some day. On the way back to town I check the schedules at the plane rental place, There's an aircraft available and I have the day off. I call Shawn, he's got the day off too. We st a time for a Friday morning flight and meet at NW Flight School at 9 a.m. It turns out he once worked at the aircraft painting company on the field at GEG. I select St. Maries as my destination and we cruise over the lake to get there. I land on runway 28 and taxi back to take off again. Sadly, it's a rental, and there isn't time to hang around. I fly up CDA Lake and turn west toward Spokane. Over Felts Field and into runway 21. (1.7/594.6)
Flight 630/September 3, 2015- I do a couple of touch and go landings in N3021E and then do some maneuvers in the south practice area by myself. (0.8/595.4)
Flight 631/September 9, 2015- A Coeur d'Alene Lake loop flight takes up a long lunch hour from work. (1.2/596.6)
Flight 632/September 30, 2015- I wanted to take my granddaughter for a flight this coming weekend, but forecasts are calling for windy conditions. I settle for a lunch run. Dianne Johnson joins me for my usual Coeur d'Alene run. It is smokey! I settle in at 4,000 feet and as we get further east the visibility drops to 5 or 6 miles. Dianne takes a bunch of pictures and we have a good flight. It's now so smokey, I have trouble finding the airport. A Delta Airbus is on approach ahead of us and Dianne spots it. I stay high to avoid the jet's wake. I tell Dianne to video my landing. Big mistake. I do a nice controlled crash on runway 3. (1.0/597.6)
Flight 633/October 22, 2015- I am itching to fly on this nice Thursday. I boiok a plane and call my old plane partner, Marc. He joins me for two touch and go landings, a short cruise over town and back foir a third landing. (1.0/598.6)
Flight 634/November 20, 2015-A giant windstorm comes through Spokane on Tuesday. The power is out in many areas, trees are down everywhere, and the power is out at my office. Oh...and half of my roof shingles are in the street, on my lawn, and in the neighbors back yard. On WEdnesday, my son Chris and I patch up the roof with cool looking camo tarps. I'm off on Friday, but go into the office since we're in emergnecy mode. It's a really nice day. I book a plane because I want to keep current. I find a volunteer passenger from out IT department. We fly around Mica Peak, up Coeur d'Alene Lake and back to Spokane International. Fun. (1.1/598.7)
That's all for 2015. Just short of 600 hours with 961 landings. Time to move on to the 2016 logbook!
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