The 2008 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 421/January 16, 2008-My first flight of the year. Jim Leighty is my pax on this lunchtime flight. He brings his video camera and audio recorder to prove that we flew. We do a jaunt over the valley and downtown Coeur d'Alene. On the way back there was possibly some directional dyslexia on my part in the communications with Felts Tower...but I'll never admit it. It was a super smooth landing with all 40 degrees of flaps hanging out to stave off one of my abrupt arrivals. The video should be in stores soon. The audio didn't turn out. (0.6/375.8)
Flight 422/January 21, 2008-The annual "take the plane to Pullman" flight. Once again, it's a cold morning with temps at 7F. I try to warm up the cabin but the heater won't start. The engine is already warm from the light bulb. I put in another 5 gallons of fuel so I won't get caught buying any in Pullman like last year. I lift off at about 9:00 a.m. and catch some bumps on the climb-out over town. I get up to 5,500 and it smoothes out. I do see that I have an east wind blowing me sideways. Some nice scenery and I take a few snaps. I'm a little nervous about the wind. The PUW runway is probably snow-covered and a high crosswind could be entertaining. I flip the radio to the Pullman weather and can breath a sigh of relief...no wind. I line up for a base leg to runway 5, come over the WSU campus and, as usual, I'm high. The runway is solid snow and ice. More flaps. Still high. OK...40 degrees of flaps. Settle in and.....another pillow landing! I let it roll to a stop without the brakes and pull off onto the icy taxiway. I run all the way to Aerocraft at the west end of the field and Crap! There are 12 inch snowdrifts across his entrance. Back to the FBO, call Terry, and decide to leave it tied at Interstate Aviation. Terry can get the keys after his area is cleared. Mikey picks me up and we head back to Spokane (after a short detour to Moscow for Idaho lottery tickets). (0.8/376.6)
Flight 423/February 14, 2008-Time to bring the little bird back. Gary White is gracious enough to fly me down in his AeroCommander Darter (a kind of Cessna 172 clone). It's a nice day and a smooth flight. We land and taxi over to AeroCraft and the Rocket is sitting outside ready to go. I chat with Terry for awhile, do a long pre-flight (where I notice he only attaches one screw to the inspection plates under the flap gap seals), and off I go. I smooth flight with a controlled crash landing at Felts. I'm out of practice. (0.8/377.4)
Flight 424/February 15, 2008-Mikey and I go out to play and I have him shoot some aerial videos for me. A dreary day, but smooth air. See the video by clicking here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my6lGp-Msiw It's boring, but we had fun. (0.5/377.9)
Flight 425/February 18, 2008-Nothing to do on a holiday Monday so I grab Mikey and we do a short hop over CDA and back. (0.6/378.5)
Flight 426/February 29 & March 9, 2008-On Friday morning I grab Bob Lutz for a flight. We get to the runway but the generator light won't go out during the run-up. Something is broken on the Rocket! Back to the hanger. Fast forward to Sunday March 9th. After no luck at finding someone at Felts to work on the plane, I take it to Pullman with no generator operating. I had charged the battery up and had my handheld comm radio and backup GPS ready for action. A non-eventful flight other than the pilot was on edge just a bit. (0.8/379.3)
Flight 427/March 22, 2008-The plane is back (Marc and Art retrieved her last Sunday). New partner Roe takes his buddy (ex B-52 driver) out for a quick flight. Upon their return, I lift off with my brother Bill. We cruise around the south practice area on a reasonably nice spring day. (0.7/380)
Flight 428/March 28, 2008-A Friday off so I do a short flight by myself. A few turns around the north practice area. It's a little breezy and bumpy with a sloppy cross wind landing. Luckily...there are no witnesses. 0.4/380.4)
Flight 429/April 13, 2008-Mikey and I had this great plan: Fly the Rocket to the Tri-Cities for a Spokane Shock arena football game. The game is at 3pm, the Tri-Cities coliseum is right next door to an airport. There was only one glitch: Thunderstorms in the forecast just at the time we would be flying home. Oh well, the game is on TV. We go cruising in the morning before the weather goes downhill. A run over to Coeur d'Alene, down the lake, then up the CDA River toward Kellogg. I climb up to 7,500 feet and Mikey remarks that he's never been that high before. Hmmmm. (1.0/381.4)
Flight 430/April 27, 2008-A Young Eagle flight with 14 year-old Chris Hulsizer and his mom Denise. We cruise out over the Valley toward Coeur d'Alene, overfly the city, then head south along the east shore of the lake. Pop over Harrison, then Worley, then into the south practice area. Now it's Chris' turn to fly. He takes the controls and I have him do a series of shallow left and right turns. He performs well. Another potential pilot! (1.1/382.5)
Flight 431/May 9, 2008-A short trip to the north practice area to bounce around for a few minutes. (0.5/383)
Flight 432/May 31, 2008-Mikey and I zoom to Pullman to test out the MoGas pump. A nice smooth ride down south and we arrive, park the plane, then head inside. I make arrangements to fillerup with the golden, uncontaminated 87UL car gas. Yummmmmmmy. When I start testing the stuff for ethanol, the lady at the FBO looked on curiously. She had never seen anyone test her gas! It looked good. We buy 9.1 gallons of the stuff. The last airport in Washington State to offer auto gas. Mikey and I happily fly off with our treasure in the tank. Of course, there is no sense to this madness. The round trip takes 12 gallons to buy 9 gallons. But we had to check it out. With the dwindling supplies of gasoline without ethanol, I was curious if they were still selling it in Pullman. Hey...No one said this was a logical hobby. (1.6/384.6)
Flight 433/June 8, 2008-Another solo trip to the north practice area just to see how bumpy the skies were on this Sunday morning. They were. (0.5/385.1)
Flight 434/June 16, 2008-A quick lunch flight with two of the ladies from work in the cabin. Gina and Amanda were along for the ride. Gina has been in the plane before, but this was a first for Amanda, so she got the right seat. We wandered into the north practice area for a few minutes. It was a little bumpier than I like for a first-time passenger, so I cut the ride a little short. Better to have 'em happy and willing to fly again than messing up the carpet. (0.4/385.5)
Flight 435/June 20, 2008-My first international adventure! I had been threatening to visit my flying buddy, Tony on his home turf of Kelowna, British Columbia. After several weeks of planning, researching the logistics of cross-border flight, and acquiring the proper US Customs sticker...I'm finally ready. It's a perfect Friday morning. I've planned for a Friday departure and a Sunday return. For the first time since I was a student, I file an official flight plan with the Flight Service Station. It's required for international flights. Usually I just use flight following. All fueled up and I launch at 8:20 a.m. with a targeted 10:30 a.m. appointment with Canada Customs in Kelowna. My plan is to fly to the west toward Grand Coulee Dam then north through Omak, cross the border at Osoyoos, over Penticton, and along Okanagan Lake to Kelowna. The weather is perfect, the air is smooth, and the view is terrific. I lose radio and radar contact with Seattle Center around Omak and I'm on my own. I switch to my cross-border transponder code and cross the international frontier. I can see the US 97 border station off to my left and I'm in Canada! OK...this is weird....as I cross the border, my Garmin 92 GPS flashes "No Coverage" and becomes useless. That's OK....I have my backup Magellan 310. I've programmed my route into both of them. I pick it up off the seat and....you guessed it...."No Coverage!" On top of that, there are few VOR's in this mountainous part of Canada and my ADF is on the fritz. Luckily, I've got charts and can see the lakes, roads, and towns. I'll be fine. (This would have been a different story had I decided to fly direct between Spokane and Kelowna over the mountains.) Plus, we had driven up here a few years ago and the terrain was familiar. I had gotten some insight from Tony on the protocols so as I cross over the various small airports I announce my location. At Penticton, I contact Penticton "Radio" and advise that I'm crossing their airspace. It's a little different than the States as there is no "tower" at Pentiction. After Penticton I just have to follow Okanagan Lake to Kelowna. Since Omak, I've been following this mountain valley and the sides are getting steep with forest on the right shore of the lake and a highway on the left. I reach "Squally Point" and Tony was right...it gets bumpy....hence the name. Now, Kelowna is in sight! I call the tower and advise I'm at Peachland and "unfamiliar" with their VFR approach points. No problem. They direct me to the bridge, then follow the four-lane highway to a left base for Runway 34. Easy. I follow a Horizon Air Q400 in and I'm on the ground. The polite tower guys direct me to "Apron 2" for Customs and advise that the officers would be by shortly. This is where the problem starts. I wait. And I wait. No Customs. I call CANPASS and advise that I'm waiting. They say that the officers are busy with the incoming Horizon flight and will be by shortly. I wait. And I wait. I call again. "They'll be over in a couple of minutes," she says. And I wait. After nearly an hour, I see a couple of Canada Customs officers strolling toward me. Apparently, my buddy Tony told them where I was. No problem, they say. I did everything right. After a couple of questions and a peek at my passport, I'm officially admitted into the Commonwealth. I call the Kelowna Ground and get permission to taxi to the Kelowna Flying Club ramp and meet Tony. Ahhhh...a bathroom! That was a long wait for Customs. Tony and a friend meet me, I hit the facilities, and Tony hops in to direct me to a tie down near his plane. I tie her up in the "grass parking area," buy 50 litres of fuel (at $1.80 CAN per litre or $6.84 USD per gallon) and we head for lunch. (2.6/388.1)
Flight 436/June 22, 2008-The return from the Great White North. After a delightful visit with Tony, Robbin, and John. A Saturday side trip to Kamloops in Tony's plane to visit Kip and Patti. A trip to the BC Liquor store for Kokanee Light, and a big $10 win at the casino. I'm ready for my return. I do my planning, call Kamloops Flight Service for weather and to file a flight plan, plus call Vancouver Centre for my cross-border transponder code, and I'm set. We drop John off at work and zip to the airport. I do a pre-flight, say my good-byes, and rocket into the skies-destination: Oroville, Washington and US Customs. I have a 10:30 a.m. appointment. I can't be early and no more than 15 minutes late. Being the tacky American pilot, I plead "unfamiliarity" and con the kelowna Tower guys into letting make a right turn out and departure over downtown, I snap a few photos and climb up to about 4,500 feet. As I reach Squally Point, it again lives up to its name. Yep...bumpy and bouncy. Back over Pentiction and Oliver and the USA border. Amazingly, the air smoothes out for my arrival. But, uh oh...I'm a little early. I do a fly over and get the winds, listen to the locals and their preferred runway, then make a very leisurely approach over the lake to the south, then back to the right downwind over the lake and a right base to runway 15. That killed a few minutes. I touch down about a minute early and taxi to the Customs shack. Yep...it's really a shack. The two officers are polite, ask for my passport and I give them the entry form that I already filled out. They even remind me to call Flight Service and close my flight plan. I declare my 4 six-packs of Kokanee Beer and the officer does his paperwork. One guy goes over the plane with his radioactive detector (do they still call them "Geiger Counter?), and I'm cleared back into the States. After a few minutes of chatting with the airport manager (who tells me their gas is $4.25 per gallon), I light the fires and zoom toward home. I take the same route over Omak and Grand Coulee Dam. It's a rock and roll flight with the cumulous clouds pointing to the thermals. One bummer: Seattle Center refuses to give me flight following...how tacky! Still, ithe flight is OK and the bumps are not really a problem. Spokane appears in the distance. I call Spokane Approach Control, and after a wobbly descent into Felts Field I touch down around 12:30 p.m. I'm back! The international adventure is a success! (2.6/390.7)
Flight 437/July 18, 2008-Need an oil change. Art and I take to the air to warm the bird up. Big mistake! Major bumps and bounces. So much for that idea. After 20 minutes, I decide that enough is enough! (0.4/391.1)
Flight 438/July 24, 2008-Gotta fly again to forget the last crappy flight. Mikey joins me for a 'before work' sky cruise. We lift off at 5:55 a.m., before the tower opens. A quick flight to Coeur d'Alene and back in smooth air. A perfect landing and off to work I go. (0.7/391.8)
Flight 439/August 1, 2008-Did a quick lunchtime run around Coeur d'Alene with Tommy. A bumpy ride. (0.8/392.6)
Flight 440/August 3, 2008-After I mentioned that I was going flying and had conned a friend into the ride, Nancy surprised me with the desire to take a flight. My buddy understood and I gave Nancy a smooth morning run down Coeur d'Alene Lake with a couple of turns over our property. We then went over Tekoa and back home. That was her 4th ride. (1.2/393.8)
Flight 441/August 13, 2008-Mikey joined me for a Friday morning excursion into the skies. We fly up to the Chewelah area. The first 1,500 feet were BuMpY, but super smooth above that. (1.2/395.0)
Flight 442/August 22, 2008- I needed some time in the air. I'm trying to get up to 30 hours in a 12 month period to keep my POV certification at work before my surgery break. Tommy and his Argo partner Gary join me. Three heavy guys in an underpowered Cessna on a warm day with only the short runway open for service. It can be done! How? Well I've only got about 12 gallons of gas in the tank. (0.5/395.5)
Flight 443/August 29, 2008-I grab my buddy Mikey for a morning flight. I pick Deer Park as our destination. We lift off on a nice looking day with only a slight breeze. It's nicer than our last excursion with just some haze in the sky. I line up for a straight-in arrival to runway 34...then I read the flight guide and note the calm runway is 16 and straight-in approaches are frowned on. A quick adjustment and I make a smooth landing. After a view of the fire tankers and a taxi back, we lift off for the flight home. (0.9/396.4)
Flight 444/September 2, 2008-A short, bumpy lunch flight with just me. (0.4/396.8)
Flight 445/September 11, 2008-I need to check the balky Garmin GPS in the air after I upgraded it's firmware. It worked great in the truck and tracked along with my Magellan. A few bumps here and there but the Garmin was up to it's old "Poor Coverage" or "Please select an Init method" error messages. I guess I'll have to use the old eyeballs to get to Yakima on Saturday (plus the backup, bare-bones, Magellan GPS). After I land, I realized that today was the 7th anniversary of the terrorist attacks and the grounding of all aircraft. A grim reminder of the freedom of flight. (0.5/397.3)
Flight 446/September 13, 2008- One location in Eastern Washington that I have neglected in Yakima. Today is the YKM 80th birthday celebration, so there's a reason to go there. Mentoree Jim Leighty is my passenger on a perfect Saturday morning. We lift off from Felts at around 8:00 a.m., cruise across the south hill up to our final altitude of 6,500 feet. There's a little haze in the sky but just a few bumps. Over Cheney, Sprague Lake, and Ritzville on our way to the first checkpoint....Othello. We need to watch out on the way back as they now do parachute jumping at a small private strip just east of Ritzville next to I-90. Both GPS units are working well. During my briefing this morning the FSS specialist told me that two GPS satellites were out of service. This may be why I have been having reception problems. Mt. Rainer finally becomes visible as we pass to the south of Moses Lake. We find the town of Lind, then Othello. Both GPS units trip to the next leg at Othello. We are now headed for a VOR intersection: MARRK. Now the adventure-and the need for the GPS units. We are going to fly over the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, ("For national security reasons pilots are requested to fly at least 1,800 feet MSL over this area.") The big target to miss, however, is the Yakima Firing Range. This is an active Restricted Area that we cannot violate. Unfortunately, they do not paint the boundary lines on the ground so we need to be careful. Every controller asks if we are aware of the restriction and we respond with "affirmative." It's cool going over the Hanford site with the variety of old reactors. We see a cleanup area with a zillion barrels of 'something' that is apparently the repository of radioactive goo. We hit the MARRK, turn toward Yakima, and follow Rattlesnake Ridge toward the runway, being careful to stay south of the highway to ensure we don't cross the invisible line. We can see our destination 20 miles out and the approach controller passes us to the Yakima Tower with a "there's a lot of traffic out there" remark. I advise him that it's their birthday celebration, and that's why we're here. We contact the Yakima tower and are given a straight-in approach to runway 27. Still a lot of little airplanes around. It's also their "Young Eagles Day, so a lot of planes are taking short flights. I call in two miles out and am cleared to land. Then he clears a plane to take off in front of me with "no delay." The guy does squeak out ahead of me as I am about a mile out. That's a little tight, but no problem. A good touchdown and we taxi to parking by the tower. Jim and I secure the plane and stroll over to the exhibit area. There's a few old planes and cars on display that we check out, then we wander across the closed runway to the McCallister Museum, Cub Crafters, and the Young Eagles area. There's a lineup of new "Cubs" in front of Cub Crafters and a lineup of kids waiting for rides in the Young Eagles area. We wander through the small museum. There's some cool aviation memorabilia in here. They have some soft drinks to buy, so we grab a Pepsi and Coke. After a few minutes watching the kids, we wander past the Cubs again and back toward the plane. Jim buys me a hot dog for lunch and we plop under the canopy for a leisurely lunch, the decide to hit the skies. Back at the plane, I check the fuel. We started with 38 gallons and now the tanks show about 20. After some pondering, I call the FBO and order up a few gallons of go-juice. The guy finally pulls up and puts 2 gallons in each side. Not much, but a little insurance. Running out of gas is not a good thing. Jim and I climb in, fire her up, call for clearance, and taxi to runway 27. After about a 10 minute wait, we are finally cleared for takeoff. I step on the gas and scream down the runway, climb a few hundred feet, and turn toward the east. There's a lot of planes circling around waiting to get in. We watch for traffic in the Union Gap area and in our path. I keep trying to climb up to 7,500 feet, but there are weird winds and the climb rate is not steady. At one point, the staff horn beeps. I finally get the plane up to altitude on a reverse course of our morning flight. We get into smooth air and I can relax a little. We cross MARRK and turn over Hanford toward Othello. Jim and I spend some time trying to spot the Othello airport from afar. It's a tough one to find. We see Warden, Lind, Connell, the SR 17/SR 26 interchange, and Moses Lake. Then it happens: the Garmin 92 GPS message reads: "Poor GPS Coverage." That's OK. The Magellan is still working so I pull the Garmin out of it's mount and plop the Magellan in it's place. I'm cruising along happy toward Ritzville when Grant County calls me and asks my track. I look at the GPS and respond. Then I look again. Darn! The Magellan has lost it's signal too! Drat! Now we have to navigate. Grant County routes us north around the Ritzville parachute area and we work our way towards Spokane. I'm not in a hurry, so I'm cruising at 2,500 rpm and 100 knots. There's a FlightStar Light Sport aircraft behind us, and he's thrilled that he's catching a Skyhawk. I start my descent near Cheney and slowly drop to 4,500 feet where I'm held by Approach. I then get permission to 4,000, then into Felts. It's a bumpy ride into town and I have two hands on the yoke to keep the plane straight. I'm a little high as I approach so drop to 40 degrees of flaps. I touch down and think, "all is well." Jim even compliments my landing. NOT! I still have 40 degrees of flaps hanging out and a wind gust gives me a push on the runway and the plane flops around the runway a bit.. Yikes! A quick recovery, pull the flaps up, and clean things up. and we taxi to parking. Whew! It's a big day....I cross the threshold! (3.9/401.2)
Flight 447/November 1, 2008-It's been a long 45 days without flying. I had my thumb surgery, then a cast, so no flying. Special thanks are in order for Terry and Dana Newcomb. They took me on a tour in their Piper a couple weeks after my surgery to calm my nerves. I even got to fly the thing. No landings for the single-handed pilot, though. Probably a good idea. Anyway, the Rocket was in Pullman for some electrical work and was fit to fly. A weather window opened up so I persuaded Tommy to run me down there. The fog barely cleared and rains were on their way, so we to Pullman in his "SuperPlane." It was raining with 15 knot winds when we arrived. I did a pre-flight and fired up the Rocket. I followed Tommy down the taxiway but he graciously allowed me to depart first. I climbed to 4,300...he stayed at 3,700 and we did a parallel trip back. A 30-knot tailwind sped up the trip. I showed a 136 knot ground speed (157 mph) that turned it into a quick trip. I hit a couple of rain showers on the trip and the plane got a quick bath. Good landing after a long dry spell. (0.8/402)
Flight 448/November 16, 2008-I do a quick flight with Mikey to the south practice area...just to stay in practice. It's a little windy and bumpy. (0.8/402.8)
Flight 449/December 5, 2008-I head out with Shawn for a short flight. We get about 5 miles north of the airport and run into rain. That's not usually a bad thing...except it's only 26 degrees outside. Back to the barn! (0.4/403.2)
Flight 450/December 20, 2008-There's 24 inches of snow in front of the hanger. It's got to go. My home snowblower lost a bolt yesterday trying to clear it and the hanger snowblower won't start. Time to bring out the big guns. My friend Bob has a blade on the front of his truck. Will he clear it. YES! After he is done, there's only one thing to do....fly the plane. Temps were -18C/OF with clear skies and no winds. I put the little ceramic heater on the floor in the cabin to warm the gyros and windscreen while I pre-flighted, then removed the arctic cowling cover and removed the high-tech engine heating system (a 75 watt light bulb). Oil dripped off the dipstick, and the engine started within a couple of blades. Just like summer, I gave it the usual 2 shots of prime and the oil pressure was up in just a few seconds. The Rocket leaped off the compact snow and ice-covered runway after a short roll. We tooled around the area for 45 minutes enjoying the view and snapping a few pix. I got over 140mph at 2,550 rpm at 4,000 feet. Not bad for 145 ponies in a 44 yr old 172. The cabin heat kept us toasty, until.......it was time to pull the power for landing. I did a super smooth landing (we barely knew we arrived) then let the plane roll until it was hardly moving before I touched the brakes. (0.6/403.8)
Alas...that was my last flight for 2008. I only logged 28.6 hours this year. I need to fly more in 2009, so on to the 2009 Logbook!
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