The 2017 Flights

The 2017 Flights

Wow..I'm still violating the law of gravity...successfully.

Flight 645/January 7, 2017-The year opens with a continuation of my quest to stay current. I have a medical procedure scheduled for next week, so I want to get a flight with 3 landings under my belt. I rent N738BS from Northwest Flight School on a chilly Saturday morning. Luckily, it's spent the night in a toasty hangar. I pre-flight it inside then have the guy open the doors and haul her out. I get all my stuff set up and it's time to go outside. She's tucked in behind another airplane so he's got this. I don't want to move somebody else's stuff. Once outside, a quick checklist and start the engine to get the heat going. I takeoff and immediately headfor Spokane International for a couple touch and go landings. After that, I wander up for a few manuevers in the north practice area. Back to Felts. (1.0/611.2)

Flight 646/January 13, 2017- A great flight. Out of the blue, I called the owner of my old airplane and asked if I could fly it a bit. The answer was yes. It was great to get behind the yoke of the Rocket, a 1964 Cessna 172E, N3082U. All I did was fly over to Spokane International for a couple touch and go landings then a few manuevers in the north practice area, but it was a great experience. Like putting on my favorite pair of slippers. (0.9/612.1)

Flight 647/January 20, 2017-Back in the Rocket for a flight with my instructor, Tommy. Just a nice wander on a cool Friday morning. I've noticed the Rocket starts differently than before, like only one set of plugs engages, and it takes a few seconds for the second set. Hmmm. Once it gets going, all is normal. I'll have to ask about that. We fly around in the Palouse for an hour, then return. A reasonable landing with the 40 degree flaps. No complaints from my passenger. (1.1/613.2)

Flight 648/January 28, 2017- Another Rocket flight with just me. Over to Coeur d'Alene, down the lake, to our cabin, and back. A little misty but smooth. I actually have another nice landing. (0.9/614.1)

Flight 649/February 13, 2017- I need to stay current so I took a lunch hour Rocket flight up to Deer Park for a couple of touch and go landings. (0.9/615)

Flight 650/March 19, 2017- My friend Byron and I were sitting in the pub on St. Paddy's Day talking about flying down to look at the Palouse river waterfalls. Spring run off is spectacular. Sunday looks good, so we do it. We lift off in the Rocket around 9 in the morning on a fabulous day. No wind and clear skies. Cruising over the Palouse, Byron enjoys spotting the towns that we cruise over or near. There's a lot of flooded fields and water where it shouldn't be. We wander off our track to check some of them out. Byron, a former train conductor, also points out the railway lines below. It takes about 45 minutes to reach Palouse Falls State Park. The waterfall is screaming. We do a few turns over the park, grab a few snaps, and then move on. Since there are no potty rooms in the plane, I dial in the nearest airport for a comfort break, Walla Walla. I dial in the course on the iPad to figure out where it is and we head south about 35 miles (maybe 20 minutes) to the field. It takes a couple minutes to pick the airport out, but I glide into a greasewr landing on runway 20. The tower guy points out the potty room next to the gas pumps becasue the FBO is closed up tight. We do our business and watch a Horizon Q-400 take off. I hear gun shots off in the distance, but, since the state prison is nearby, perhaps it's just the way things are. We zip down the taxiway, do our run-up, and zip into the sky on runway 20. I do a right downwind and we find the source of the gunshots. There's a trap shooting range on on of the abandoned runways on the airport grounds. I program the iPad to take us home and we do some sightseeing along the way, including Byron's home town of St. John, WA. Back to Spokane and Felts Field. We grab lunch and a brew at the nearby pub to top off the day. (2.9/617.9)

Flight 651/April 16, 2017- I haven't flown with my buddy Mikey for a couple of years. It's a nice Easter afternoon, although a bit breezy. He meets me at the airport and we pre-flight the Rocket for the jaunt. After take-off I head to the east and we encounter a few bumps. As always, I check to make sure he is still having fun. The chop subsides when we get to Coeur d'Alene Lake and it's fairly smooth sailing...er...flying down the lake, over Harrison, and back. We hit a bump or two as we get closer to the airport. The winds are up a bit and I keep some speed to the runway to avoid possible wind shear. After a resonable smack landing we taxi to the hangar and I go get the fuel truck. Miey is the best PAX as he immediately looks for the rag and Pledge to clean the windscreen and leading edges. Off to the pub for a debrief and brew.(1.0/618.9)

Flight 652/May 8, 2017- This was just a typical "all this gravity is giving me a headache" lunchtime flight. I picked up N738BS and just cruised around the practice area to the north of Felts Field. Nothing out of the ordinary. (0.6/619.5)

Flight 653/July 21, 2017- I didn't fly in June. I was too busy cleaning out the shop for the big birthday party. Then it was the holiday week and vacation. It's a nice Friday off and thought I might take my neighbor flying. He doesn't answer his phone. As I thought about taking someone else, I gazed at my logbook...CRAP! for the first time in 18 years...I'm out of currency! New plan! I gather my stuff and pile into N738BS at Felts Field. I take off and make a beeline for Spokane International for a couple touch and go landings. It's no fun if ya can't tangle with the big iron and sneak into their pattern. I make my first landing and come around for another and a United Airbus sneaks into the pattern and I have to extend my downwind a bit, but I keep an eye on him and see his touchdown point. I get clearance to land so I turn baase and final but stay very high to keep out of his wake. It's an 11,000 foot runway so I have plenty of room to land beyond his spot. I make a nice landing then scoot to the south. I make a loop around coeur d'Alene Lake, take a few snapshots and return to home port. (1.3/620.8)

Flight 654/August 25, 2017- Over the last few weeks, it's been really smokey from forest fires but today seems nice and I need to fly around.. N 3082U finally has the renewed registration and is now airworthy. I zip from Felts to Spokane International for a couple of touch and go landings then around Mica Peak. Then. it's out to the lake for some vacation. (1.0/621.8)

Flight 655/August 28, 2017- I'm at the Lake House for some vacation and the smoke let up a bit. I've been meaning to take my neighbor flying. he's never been in a small plane before. Today's the day. We load up and make the 50 minute drive to Felts Field. I go through the pre-flight, explaining what does what and why the plane flies. Button up the plane and up we go. I take off to the east and the visibility is good with smooth air.We head to the east over Post Falls and Coeur d"Alene, down the lake, over Harrison, and our bay. Mark is taking tons of photos and having a great time. I head into the south practice area and turn the yoke over to Mark. He makes a few turns, but can't quite get the hang of centering the yoke to hold the turn. That's OK, it takes practice. Back to Felts. I fill up the tanks and tuck the plane away. We have lunch in Rockford on the way home. (1.2/623.0)

Flight 656/September 15, 2017- In March I bought a light sport ride in Roger's Zenith 601 at the pilot association auction. We finally connect on a Friday morning. It's still a little smokey, but flyable Friday morning. Roger goes through his pre-flight and explains "burping" the oil sump on the Rotax. He has to take the cowling off during the pre-flight to do this. It does provide an opportunity to look everything over before the flight. Roger takes off and we head into the north practice area on this smokey morning. He hands off to me and I handle the plane for the next hour. My first impression is that the stick is very heavy. I have to rest my hand on my knee and use some leg force to keep the stick steady and make my corrections. We have a pleasant flight, catch up on each other a,d head back to the barn. (1.0/624.0)

Flight 657/September 29, 2017- I'm getting into a rut. A Friday morning flight, two touch and go landings, (this time at Deer Park), then wander for awhile. I decide to wander a little farther this time. I fly up to Priest Lake. It's early and was raining overnight, so I elect not to land at Cavanaugh Bay. That grass would be really wet. I take some snapshots and head back to the airport. Nice flight. (1.8/625.8)

Flight 658/October 10, 2017- I'm in Seattle on business, but I need to take a flight on this Tuesday afternoon. It's a typical drizzely Seattle day with ceilings hanging at about 2,000 feet. I pick up my rental car at Sea-tac after an Alaska airlines cattle car flight from Spokane. It takes about 15 minutes to get to Boeing field. I was advised by Alternate air that construction would be underway at the usual gate and to use an alternate entry. I meet my passenger, Eric Hunter at that gate and attempt the code. It doesn't work. I try several more times. No dice. I back up to tell Eric that we're not going to get to go...then I discover the correct gate a few feet away. Gee, the code works. We pull up to the Alternate Air aircraft and find a place to park Eric's Jeep. After a few minutes of weather-watching I decide to launch. I complete a pre-flight, get Eric settiled, and we head for the runway. I have to move slow. I'm not used to flying from here so I have to make sure I don't screw up. Where's the hold short line? aha, there it is. I call ground and ask for a waerfront sightsee and get the OK. We rumble onto runway 14 Left (it was 13 left the last time I was here.) We take off to the south and then turn to the north. I stay close in to downtown and follow the waterfront. the inbound jet traffic comes in over the bay and I don't want to get int the way. No worries. We cruise just over the waterfront and Eric takes a bunch of picutres. Seattle is a cool place to fly around. We fly past downtown, the Space Needle, and oveer the Ballard Locks on the ship canal. of course, we need to fly over the Shilshole Bay marina where Shawn and Eric live (on Titan the Tugboat). after that, I wnader over north seattle, advising Boeing tower that I will stay north of the ship canal. I'm looking at the ceilings and rain, and it looks worse to the east. I turn northwest and fly up to Edmonds. Eric takes some photos of the ferry boat at the terminal. turning back toward Seattle, I decide it's not going to get much better. Time to go back to the barn. I call into Boeing tower at I cross the SR 520 floating bridge and am directed to fly to the stadiums (Century Link Field and Safeco Field). This gives us some cool downtown photos. Over the stadiums on final and we watch the other Cessna on the parallel runway. A super smooth touchdown and taxi to parking. Woo hoo! A great flight! I need to spend some time over here to fly around more often. (0.7/626.5)

Flight 659/October 27, 2017- I'm still able to fly my old airplane, thanks to it's current owner, Morgan. It's a nice, sunny Friday morning and I've got some time. I get to the field about 8:30 or so and putter around getting her ready. It's off to the west with my destination planned as Grand Coulee airport (yep, by the dam of the same name). It's a pleasant flight as I cruise over the dryland wheat fileds. there's still some fog over the river valleys, but I get a clear view of the confluence of the Spokane and Columbia Rivers. I snap a couple of pix of the Seven Bays airport where my instructor has a cabin. I do my usual "over the dam" approach, calling my intentions to land on runway 3. I ewnter the pattern on a left downwind for runway 3, but...something looks different. Why is there a giant 4 painted on the runway? Hey, there's a 22 at the other end. what the heck? I checked the Notams, my Foreflight says 3/21. What's the big deal? After re-announcing runway 4, I make a smooth landing and make the turnoff into the parking area. I use the potty, re-fill my water bottle in the awesome pilot lounge and fire up for the ride home. I do notice that everything is nicely re-paved and sealed. I taxi over to the runway "4" runup area and discover a runway "3" sign. Aha! This is recent news. Off the runway and turn to the east. I get hooked up with flight following and wander toward home. My buddies usually meet for lunch at noon on Fridays, so I text them from the plane and advise I might b a bit late. (No, the plane did not fall out of the sky when I used a cell phone in the cockpit.) It's a nice smooth, enjoyable flight. As always, I talk to myself and I rumble along. I slide to the north of Fairchild Air Force Base and Spokane International, take a photo of the Spokane sewage treatment plant, and plop down nicely on runway 4 left (formerly 3 left. Ahhh, changes). I park in front of the hangar and go get the gas truck. Morgan likes the plane topped off. I squeeze in a few gallons of autogas, take the truck back, and then push the plane into the hangar. This is where the trouble starts. When these hangars were built in 1968, they had a 40 foot long, 20 foot wide driveway from the hangar door to the taxilane with grassy areas between each hangar. For 12 years, I kept the driveway clear of snow and it drained nicely with a slight crown. The airport crew plowed the snow in the taxilanes. It worked great. In their infinite wisdom, the airport management decided that everything around the airport should be paved. They scored some AIP grants and paved everything in sight. Instead of individual driveways to the taxilane, everything was paved. Of course, to ensure that stormwater flowed away from the hangars, they sloped the pavement away from the buildings. Yes, now the airplane must be pushed up a hill to get into the hangar. Since Morgan likes the plane topped off, it now weighs 1,534 lbs. with full fuel. It's really hard to push this plane uphill into the hangar. And, there's a one inch hangar door rail to cross. This does not go well. And, I twist my right ankle on my first attempt. I am not happy. In fact, I think the entire airport can hear that I am not happy. After several attempts, I finally get the airplanes main wheels over the rail! Grrrr. My new opinion: airport engineering consultants do not own or fly airplanes. If they did, they would understand that they have to be pushed into hangars. I may have an adult beverage at lunch. (2.0/628.5)

Flight 660/November 10, 2017-I'm on the Sports in Phoenix Ultimate Tour with my son Chris, my buddy Mikey, and friend Kendall. We're in a nice house with a greenwater pool. We're here for Seahawk football, Suns Basketball, Coyotes hockey, and NASCAR. As we relax on the deck, looking at the green pool, we see a parade of bizjets, twins, and single engine aircraft on final approach to the Glendale, AZ airport a couple of miles south of us. We had arrived on Wednesday, saw the Seahawks win over AZ on Thursday, and were resting up on Friday morning. I look at my son, Chris and say, "let's go to the airport and see if we can rent an airplane!" He's game. We zip to Glendale Municipal Airport and step into Arizona Flight Training Center. After some discussion, and a search for and instructor, we are set up with Jeffrey. Because I don't want to spend a fortune on a rental checkout, I'm having the instructor sit in the right seat. His mission is to keep us out of trouble in this busy Class Bravo airspace. After a pre-flight inspection, (where I find a little spider in the fuel vent), we crawl into N5371K, a 1980 Cessna 172P with a 180 HP engine. It's a perfect no-wind day. After launch we turn to the east toward Camelback Mountain. It's north of downtown and the Phoenix International Airport. Some great views. After some discussions with Jeffrey, we decide to do a transition across Phoenix Intl. I confirm we have a clearance to enter the class Bravo airspace, just in case. (That's why I'm paying Jeffrey.) I'm at about 2,500 feet and need to climb to 4,500. It's a tough climb. At one point PHX tower asks me to expidite my climb. How do you "expedite" a climb in a 172? I finally make it just as we cross the PHX runways and terminals. Whew! Chris keeps the camera going and grabs snaps of downtown Phoenix and Sky Harbor airport as we run this route. Continuing on, we cross South Mountain into the next valley, then turn to the west. Yep, this is a desert. There's a tribal casino and not much else. I then turn to the northwest and the Phoenix International Raceway comes into view. This is our Sunday destination for the Can-Am 500. The parking lot is already full of RV's and we can see a race car out on the track doing testing. Beyond the track is the Goodyear airport. Jeffery asks if I want to do a touch and go. I say no, I'm just our having fun wandering. (In retrospect, I should have done it. It would have been the 60th airport in my lifetime list.) We overfly Goodyear and see the parking areas full of BizJets. These are the ones we've been seeing fly over our rental. It's the NASCAR crowd, no doubt. Jeffrey then contact Luke air Force Base approach as we enter their airspace and overfly that field.. Today is a Federal holiday so the LUF tower is closed. We continue our tour, making a loop around the cities of Sun City, Surprise, and Peoria, then turn back toward Glendale. tower advises me to enter a left downwind for runway 1. I make a nice smooth landing, (just to the left of the centerline, as always), I taxi to parking and shut her down. What a fun flight! (1.2/629.7)

Flight 661/November 24, 2017- It's the Friday after Thanksgiving. Shawn and Eric want to go to Lewiston, Idahoto look at an aluminum boat. Why not fly there? We can have lunch. We head to Felts, pre-flight N3082U and launch to the south. There's some scattered clouds at about 3,500 feet, but it looks clearer ahead. Hmmm. As I continue, so does the cloud layer, and it looks like the clouds are building further south. After cruising past the KGA/KJRB tower array a little to close for comfort, I pull the plug on this increasingly scud-running flight. Back to Felts. Shawn and Eric can drive to Lewiston.(0.6/630.3)

Flight 662/December 23, 2017- 'Twas 2 days before christmas and all through the house, the chore list was all done and signed off by my spouse. It's a perfectly clear, cool, and calm Saturday afternoon. OK, a little cold...about 22F, but the visibility is about 100 miles. I pre-flight N3082U and warm up the cabin and instruments. Then I meet up with ex-plane partner Marc for a quick flight. She's a little cold so the engine doesn't start on the first attempt, but on try number 2 she fires up strong. It snowed overnight and there's about a half inch on runway 4 right that they haven't cleaned but 4 left has been swept. We taxi to the active, finish the run-up, get clearance and zoom into the stratasphere. with no real plan, I look up and see the summit of Mt. Spokane at 6,800 feet and decide that's a good destination. let's go look at the skiers. With the cold air, the Rocket easily climbs to 7,000 feet and we orbit the mountain, grabbing some snapshots along the way. After that, we fly up to Sandpoint, Idaho and look around from the sky. Back south toward Coeur d'Alene. then west toward Felts field. It's kind of busy, Approach dumps my flight following, I get pushed to the northwest to avoid somebody orbiting the field at 3,500, then a right downwing to 4 left. I impress marc with a super-smooth touchdown (thanks to the 40 degree flaps on the Rocket) and tuck the machine back in the hangar. Marc and celebrate with a cold brew at the neighborhood pub. (1.5/631.8)

That's a wrap for 2017 with a total of 21.6 hours. That's the most since I retired from aircraft ownership in late 2014. Now on to the 2018 flights!

16th PIC Logbook (2016 Flights)

15th Pilot In Command Logbook (2015 Flights)

14^th Pilot In Command Logbook (2014 Flights)

13^th Pilot In Command Logbook (2013 Flights)

12^th 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)