The
2016 Flights
Renting airplanes to defy gravity..
Flight 636/January 2, 2016-Baby, it's cold outside. Yep, about 12 degrees. But it's clear and no wind. It's a perfect day to fly! I reconnect with my old plane partner Marc for another touch and go landings then fly around flight. We pre-flight the plane in the hangar and, of course, it only has 12 gallons of fuel and needs gas (don't these people check the planes every morning to see what they have?) Marc finds a couple loose screws on the cowling and we marvel at a $15,000 propellor sitting by another airplane, supported by a $2 bucket. (Please don't bump into it.) I finsih the preflight and we get out stuff all organized. Open the door and pull her out to wait for the gas guy. Landmark Aviation pumps 25+ gallons into the tanks and we climb in. After getting organized with Clearance Delivery and Spokane Ground Control, I taxi to runway 3. I notice an airliner across the airport so we expidite the run-up and get cleared to take off before he gets to the runway. A call for a couple touch and go landings, but my plan is thwarted. Yep, there are several airliners lined up. I'm told top do a 360 degree turn on my downwind leg. Then, the tower tells me to do another 360 degree turn. OK, that's enough, we're outta here. I advise tower, we'll come back later after the crowd leaves. We proceed to the east over downtown and Felts Field. I turn to the north and hit the throttle to climb so we can cruise over the Mt. Spokane Ski Area. I cruise over the ski resort and snap a few shots as we enjoy the super smooth air. When we're done with that I point the bird toward home. Now we're heading directly into the low afternoon sun and it's tough to see. The windscreen on this airplane has not seen a lot of love. Obviously, when it gets cleaned, the people wipe it in a circular pattern. There's a million little scratches diffusing the sunlight making it nearly impossible to see. I can see the steam plume from the incinerator by the airport so point to in. Marc pulls up the airport on the GPS and we're headed in the right direction. I call Spokane Approach and advise them we are inbound to Spokane International and get an acknowledgement. A couple minutes later she tells me to contact Spokane Tower. I acknowledge, then look at Marc, "we're still 15 miles from GEG." I contact Spokane Tower and advise I am inbound and get an acknoledgement, then I say, "um we're kind of far out but she told us to call you." The tower controller replies, "ahhh....yes," with an interseting inflection. Marc and I decide that we have a trainee in Spokane TRACON today. As I approach the Airport I call in for clearance to do 3 landings. The first is a "smack and go," the second is a nice one. As I climb out, I see three airliners on the taxiway headed for the runway. If those guys get to the threshold we'll be out here doing 360's all afternoon. I say to Marc, "do you think I can beat them?" He nods, and I turn crosswind as I climb, then turn downwind. The first airliner hasn't reached the runway yet. Tower calls and asks if I can make a short approach. Yep, can do. I pull the power, crank the yoke to the left, slow down, hit the flaps, and plop the airplane onto the runway with a nice squeaker about a third the way down and turn off at taxiway Golf 3. The tower controller commends me for the nice landing and thank me for the help. A great ending to a nice flight. I taxi back, shut down, and open my wallet. Oh, and I hit the 600 hour mark. Happy New Year!! (1.2/600.9)
Flight 637/April 26, 2016-I've been away for a couple of months due to a secret mission. Oh...OK...no, I'm not a spy. I had shoulder surgery and couldn't reach the flap handle. But, I'm back! A week ago, I just sat in one of the club planes at Boeing Field just to see how my reach was. Today, I'm getting back in the air. Nothing fancy, just three touch and go landings at Spokane International Airport. Yep, I still got it. (0.7/601.6)
Flight 638/May 16, 2016-As noted above, I think I still got it. Today, I hit the skies with my instructor to prove that I still got it. Tommy is gracious enough to provide the "SuperPlane" for today's exercise. This is the airplane I learned in, although now powered up with a 180 HP Penn-Yann conversion. We hit the runway and Tom asks for a sof field takeoff right away...as expected. We head to the north and I do a variety of maneuvers. I do some stalls and slow flight to his satisfaction, then jump into turns around a point (where I circle the aircraft over a landmark, attempting to keep a fixed distance and make a perfect circle). OK...it takes a couple oif tries before he likes my work. On to the Deer Park airport (DEW) for my short field takeoffs, short field landings, and soft field landings.. I handle those tasks and Tommy seems to be satisfied with my work. Back to Felts Field with the next challenge: trying to slow the SuperPlane down before I get to the airport. All in all, this is a good flight review. We went through all the requirements for the Wings Program and I wasn't so nervous as I usually am. (1.3/602.9)
Flight 639/June 17, 2016-Northwest Flight School has moved their rental planes to Felts Field. I need to get current, so I plop into N3021E for three splendid touch and go landings. (0.7/603.6)
Flight 640/August 1, 2016-I'm on vacation and there's nothing better than taking a flight. I get my buddy Byron to come along and we head for Lewiston, Idaho. It's a pretty nice day with just a little smoke from the recent fires to cut down the visibility. It's a nice flight to Lewiston. As usual, I slide a little bit to the west and drop over the ridge into the Snake River canyon to give me enough room to lose altitude to the airport. The tower gives me a straight-in approach to runway 12. As always, with a non-pilot passenger, I make a perfect landing. We are able to make arrangements for a courtesy car at Stout Aviation (by purchasing a few gallons of AvGas) and Byron and I head for town. Byron wants to go the the 4-wheeler dealership to scout out some good deals. We chat with those folks for awhile and get a good reccommendation for a lunch. It's KC's Burgers and Brews on Thain Rd. for a tasty burger and (no) brews. Yummy! We pile back into the courtesy car and fliup on the A/C. Yep, it's pushing into the 90's in the LC Valley. We drop off the car, pay for the gas, and zip into the skies. It's hot and the climb out of the valley is slow. Once out of the canyon, I get flight following from Seattle Center and we zoom on home. (2.3/605.9)
Flight 641/August 26, 2016-I need a flight and I have the day off. I grab N738BS, do a couple of touch and go landings, and head north. My original plan was to fly over our friends cabin on Pend Oreille Lake, where we are going later this afternoon, but it is a little too smokey. I just do a big circle around Mt. Spokane, take some poictures, and head for the barn. (1.1/607.0)
Flight 642/September 16, 2016-I had promised a flight to a co-worker and we finally connect. Eric S. and his daughter Gen meet me at Felts Field at 9 a.m. on a sunny Friday. This is the first flight in a little airplane for both of them so I go through my "why do airplanes fly" procedure. Gen takes that back with Eric in the front and we taxi to the runway. It's an extremely busy day at SFF so we waqit for several landing aircraft before being allowed to depart on runway 22R. I had done an extensive weight and balance calculation for this trip and we are at full gross weight for this Cessna 172. As a result, when we finally get permission to take off, we claw our way into the sky. I level off at 4,000 feet and we zoom east to Coeur d'Alene and tour the entire lake. At the south end of the lake, I head even further south, and wew cruise down toward Tekoa. I then turn north, contact Spokane Aprroach and head for Felts. I get a left base entry for runway 22 Left and make a perfect squeaker landing--getting a great compliment from my passengers! (1.2/608.2)
Flight 643/October 3, 2016-A Monday lunch break flight by myself. I did a couple of touch and go landings then flew up around Diamond Lake. The landing were OK. (1.1/609.3)
Flight 644/November 4, 2016-I have this Friday off and the sun is out. What a great reason to go flying. I reserved N3021E for today. I don';t fly it alot but it's a good airplane. It takes about 30 minutes to get it out of the hangar, check the fuel and get the pre-flight done. A few more minutes to set up my iPad and GPS receiver and I'm ready. I taxi to Felts Field runway 4 Left and fire her up. It's a cool day so I get a quick climb. My goal today was to land at the Mead airport (70S), about 10 miles north of Felts. I've been flying over it for 16 years and never stopped. Once I get over the ridge, I see fog laying in the valleys to the north so I advise Spokane Departure of my intention, but I'm gonna get a closer look. Once I get a few miles away, I can see that there's no fog at Mead, so I advise Tracon, that I'm going there for a stop and go. I ruise over to chaeck the wind sock and it's calm, so I circle around to enter a left downwind for runway 16. Calm wind is a good thing since this runway is only 30 feet wide. I'm high so I put out all the flaps. As usual, I'm a little fast, but get down to the runway and slither into a so-so landing. I taxi to the end and turn around. There's not much room but I manage to get the plane lined up on runway 34 (the other end of 16). Standing on the brakes, I firewall the throttle and roar down the 2,400 foot runway, lifting off about 2/3rds that way down. I turn to the northeast and ponder my next move. I'm listening to Spokane Approach and, other than a Navy fighter jet making multiple instrument approaches to Fairchild Air Force Base, it's kind of quiet. I decide that a touch and go at Spokjane International would be fun. I let Tracon know what I'm up to and turn to the southwest. I line up for a left downwind for runway 3 and see two airliners on the taxiway headed for the threshold. Thinking fast, I advise tower than I can turn base and land anytime to get out of the way of those guys. Tower let's me know that that the Alaska Q-400 at the hold short line is stuck with a flow-control wait for Sea-Tac and I can take my time. Tee-hee. I turn anyway and plop onto the runway about half way down and rocket out quickly. I cruise over the Spokane south hill, look for a helicopter heading for a downtown hospital, and slide into Felts runway 4 Left. A nice smooth landing. Two out of three ain't bad. (0.9/610.2)
Now...on to the 2017 logbook!
15th Pilot In Command Logbook (2015 Flights)
14th Pilot In Command Logbook (2014 Flights)
13th Pilot In Command Logbook (2013 Flights)
12th Pilot In Command Logbook (2012 Flights)
11th Pilot In Command Logbook (2011 Flights)
Tenth Pilot In Command Logbook (2010 Flights)
Ninth Pilot In Command Logbook (2009 Flights)
Eighth Pilot In
Command Logbook (2008 Flights)
Seventh Pilot In Command Logbook (2007 Flights)
Sixth Pilot In Command Logbook (2006 Flights)
Fifth Pilot In Command Logbook (2005 Flights)
Fourth Pilot In Command Logbook (2004 Flights)
Third Pilot In Command Logbook (2003 Flights)
Second Pilot In Command Logbook (2002 Flights)
First Pilot In Command Logbook (October 2000 to February 2002)
Student Pilot Logbook (June 1999 to October 15, 2000)