Flynlow

Flying Over Friends

2012-01-23T10:38:00.003-06:00

Saturday I drove out to KH. Phil was still there after a test flight. Joe had replaced the intake rubbers and this seems to have stopped all of the roughness with the exception of a minor amount around idle. Nothing like the hiccups it was having before.

Since the engine was still warm, I didn't prime it, which is our normal procedure. It still took forever to start and I eventually got the attention of Howard, a local Luscombe pilot. He said it was flooded and to turn the prop backwards twelve times with the throttle halfway open. This worked and within a few swings I had it running.

We took off and headed North to Wayne Janousek's place. I would have landed if I'd seen him outside, but buzzing his runway didn't bring him out though. He's rebuilding a Chief and I wanted to check it out.

We then headed East to Hubert's parent's place. We flew down their runway once then headed further East to fly by Hubert's house. Finally we got some attention! Hubert's sons came out and waved at us.

I had Travis do a few stalls, power-on, and power-off. I then demonstrated a power-on stall where I pulled up sharply. The nose gently dropped as I expected and then the left wing rapidly dropped! I didn't expect this, but picked it back up with the right rudder and told Travis he almost got to see his first spin! Yee-haw!

We then flew into Taylor to get some fuel and use their restroom (no not because of the near spin!). After fueling, I again found the engine flooded and used the procedure Howard had mentioned. It took a few pulls and she was running smoothly.

We were off again and flew by Travis' house. His family looked out of the window but stayed inside. We flew by a friend Paul's house and sent him an aerial shot of his house.

We headed back West and flew over Chris, then headed further West for a low pass over Breakaway Park! A Bonanza was landing 15, so we followed him in. I told him I was only making a low pass. He landed and waited at the other end for us to fly by. He then took off on runway 33, made another circuit and landed in about the time it took us to get North of the airport! I stayed West of the airport and headed North to Kittie Hill.

Soon we were back at KH, crossing over mid-field for entry into a right-downwind for 35. We taxied back to the hanger and I shut it down by pulling the fuel this time to avoid flooding it.

This day is a good example of the fun you can have flying a small plane and not really having anywhere to go! I had so much fun I never even pulled out my camera.

So now we think the plane is almost dialed in. Phil called Howard and he thinks it's flooding since the new needle in the carb is steel with no Delrin tip. This allows some fuel to weep. Hopefully this solves all of the problems. One more tweek of the idle to increase it slightly and I think we'll have some good worry-free flying ahead!

Jack "No Engine Problems" Fleetwood

Saturday at Kittie Hill

2012-01-15T08:19:00.006-06:00

I went to Kittie Hill Saturday morning with the expectation of finding a muddy airport. I was wrong. It was dry and the winds were calm... hmmm, maybe time to fly? I had planned to hook up my new RAM Mount for my iPad so I did that and after a few tries, I was happy with the location.

While I was in the hangar, I heard the guy in the hangar behind me pull out his Super Cub. I planned to go take some photos of him. He had trouble starting it though and ran his battery down. I walked over to find him trying to prop it and not having much luck. I went over to help. Lee, his hangar neighbor came over with some starting fluid and with that and a lot of swinging the prop, I got him on his way.

While he was taxiing out, I walked over to the runway to take photos of him. I saw a plane coming in. It turned out to be a very nice Bearhawk. I snapped a few shots of them. It was a couple coming in to see their daughter. I drove them out to the highway since she couldn't find the airport, then went back to the hangar.

The Chief had around a quarter of a tank and I knew Phil planned to fly later, so I headed up a for a quick local flight. The iPad location worked well except when the sun hit it, then I couldn't see the display. I flew around for awhile, then back into the pattern for a couple of landings. A 172 came over from Georgetown and landed. I saw the passengers taking photos of me! It was a fairly short flight, but I got off the ground and met a couple of new pilots.... I'll call it a successful day!

Cooper's

2012-01-09T08:21:00.014-06:00

Saturday was a long, but fun day. Travis and I had planned to fly out and get some BBQ. I arrived at the airport before he did and when I opened the hanger door, the first thing I noticed was the oil access door was missing from the plane. It had been coming open during flight and my first thought was maybe Phil had taken it off to work on it. I looked around the hanger, then called Phil to see if he took it home… nope. He was disappointed and figured it had fallen off on his last flight.

I started walking the runways looking for it. Phil told me which runways he had used and I checked them from end-to-end. Travis showed up and we walked them again, even going across the highway to see if it had fallen off when Phil was on final. We didn’t find it.

Phil and I figured it would be okay to fly with it off, so I checked all of the cowling screws to make sure they were tight and we took off for a test flight. We flew for about 20 minutes, then returned to the field to get fuel and check the cowling again. Everything was fine.

After fueling, we headed out West. I took off and handed the controls over to Travis. We were flying West when I decided we should go back to the original plan of flying for BBQ! I checked Foreflight on my iPad and we were pretty close to being on course.

As we neared Llano, two Blackhawk helicopters called that they were flying over Llano and asked if there was any other traffic. I told them where I was and they said they had me in sight. I used the very nice turf runway and Travis commented on how nice it would be for powered parachutes. It was so wide we could have taken off across it in a PPC!

After tying the Chief down, we went into the terminal to get the courtesy car for the drive into town. I was impressed with their terminal. The last time I’d been there it was a dump, but this time it was very nice. They gave me the keys to an old church van that had seen better days, and we were off. After a very good $50 lunch at Coopers, we had to sit around at the airport for awhile before jumping back in the plane!

On the way back I showed Travis where the bald eagles nest. We stayed high so we wouldn’t disturb them as required by law.

When we arrived back at Kittie Hill, Charlie was out rolling the runway I normally use, so we used one I’d never been on before. Then we taxied back to put her away and reflect on the day. It was just a perfect day for flying. As I’m typing this, I hear the thunder rolling and know that the field will be too wet to fly off of for awhile, so I’m glad we got over 2 hours in!

Nice house.

Underground house.

Dome home.

Man cave?

Controlled fire.

Arriving at Llano

The Blackhawk helicopters flying over us.

The Chief in Llano

A very nice Husky. Look at the size of those flaps!

The Chief ready to go.

The Husky flying over the Chief.

People watching the eagles. http://www.llanonews.com/news/article/49257

I actually got a photo of an eagle. I was up pretty high.

Lake Buchanan Dam

The Falkenstein Castle
http://www.dupontcastle.com/castles/falkenst.htm

A Luscombe slipping in on final as the sun was setting.

Jack

Fainting Goat Airport

2012-01-01T14:07:00.011-06:00

With the Chief being down, then the runway being too wet, I've had little flying in the last few months. That changed this week! Travis and I both had off the week of Christmas and wanted to get some flying in. The field was still pretty wet the first few days, but I checked it daily and finally declared it was time to fly.

Thursday morning I arrived at the airport and pulled the Chief out into the sun for a preflight. Two flights ago the engine quit, then on the last flight it was running rough. This would be the first flight on the newly cleaned carburetor. To say I was apprehensive would be an understatement!

We taxied down to the end of 35 for the runup, and when I firewalled it she was ready to go. We were off and headed to Brenham for a lunch at their 50's Diner, the Southern Flyer. Too bad this happened to be one of those days I forgot my camera. I could have had some of the girls in their poodle skirts pose with the 1946 Chief. That would be a neat photo! Oh well, there's always next time.

After a great lunch, we took off and I decided mid-flight that I didn't want to go home yet, so we flew over to Smithville and landed to stretch our legs. We took off and flew over Bastrop to see the horrible fire damage. I flew just outside of Austin Bergstram airspace and they repaid me by putting a 737 within 2 miles of us! Another great opportunity missed for a photo...

When we landed at Kittie Hill, we'd flown 3.54 hours! I was ready to be back on the ground.

The next morning we headed off to fly to Craig's Fainting Goat Airport. It would normally be around 1.5 hours to fly there. I knew that wouldn't be the case shortly after we took off. My iPad was showing 47kts at best. I decided I needed a full tank in these winds, so we dropped in to Georgetown to fill up. The controller asked me if I was the same Chief that came in without an engine a few weeks back!

It took forever to get to Craig's, the better part of 3 hours! His runway turned out to be way more than I needed in the Chief. It could use a little clean-up though... the cows left some mines out there!

Travis jumped in the back of Craig's gyro for a flight and we stood around talking after that. Then, it was time to go home. We flew over to Hillsboro for fuel and then headed back. Travis noticed the little door on the side of the cowling had come open, so we made an unscheduled stop to close it. I chose the little strip at Lake Whitney and on short final I realized there were some people there with radio-controlled planes. Luckily they had them on the ground. I figure they thought we were nuts. I landed, had Travis jump out and close the door, we taxied back to the other end of the runway and took off.

I watched the sun getting low on our flight back, but we were getting 87kts, so we made it in plenty of time. It was a great weekend for flying. This time we'd put over 5 hours in!

Saturday would be a different kind of story. It's a story of me on my back, scrubbing cow manure off the bottom of the plane! Not much fun, the the Chief is sparkling!

Crawford Texas

George W. Bush's ranch.

A very nice private airport.

The Chief parked off of Craig's runway. (photo by Travis)

Craig and Travis ready to go.

Look Ma, no hands!

The Chief at Hillsboro.

Not sure what these are. I have a feeling the military made them though.

I wasn't happy with the aerial photos from the Chief. I think I'll need to take my lens hood off. It must be catching air and vibrating the camera.

Till next time,

Jack "Tons 'O Flyin" Fleetwood

Gyro Flying in Taylor

2011-12-22T07:31:00.005-06:00

Craig told me he was coming out to Taylor to get his final instructor sign-off on Sunday. I drove out there to meet him. Dayton also came out with his girlfriend Peggy and borrowed Craig's gyro to give her a ride. I think you can tell by her smile that she liked it! First flights are always exciting.

Flying the Gyro

2011-12-22T06:54:00.004-06:00

My powered parachute sold last week. As always happens, I forgot to put a few things in the trailer and needed to run them up to Blum so Craig would have them. I was hoping to fly up there. A flight in the Chief would probably be around an hour, which is much better than the 2.5 hour drive. The Chief is still down though and even if it wasn’t both my field and Craig’s were too wet anyway.

So, Saturday I had to drop a friend off in McGregor anyway and decided to just continue on to Craig’s place. Craig offered to take me up in the gyro and I accepted! It was time to fly. It was a different experience than my first flight. He put me in the front seat, which gave me a lot more visibility and it was a lot more fun.

He had me taxi since he couldn’t see the cow patties around me! Texas-style runway! It’s pretty simple, the throttle looks like two little handles. You roll the whole assembly forward to advance the throttle and squeeze the two handles together for brakes. I actually liked that system for braking a lot. Once lined up on the runway he had me push pre-rotor button and hold it until the rotor reached a certain speed, I’m thinking it was 2500 RPM, then we released the brakes and he took over. Once off the ground, you have to keep the nose down to gain airspeed, similar to keeping a plane in ground effect. Once we saw 60mph (or knots?), we pulled up and he gave it back to me.

I was surprised that flying it was a lot like flying an airplane, except you don’t use the rudders much for normal flight. I had to use them twice, basically when you feel a breeze on one shoulder, you push that rudder. Otherwise it’s all done with the stick. Like a plane, to dive, you pull the power back and push the stick forward. To climb you pull back and add power. When you get to 90, it starts to vibrate more and by 120 he says it will vibrate so much you’ll know you need to slow down. I never exceeded 90 and it shook enough I knew I’d gained speed and pulled back on the stick to slow it down.

Landing was like landing a plane. Use the rudders to line up, dive at the runway, and flare.

So now I will say I liked it. The only thing I really didn’t like was the stick shaking. It shakes a lot and I got tired of holding it in a very short time. Apparently this is common, but I could see it getting old on a long trip. Maybe it will just take some getting used to.

After we landed, I jumped into his Airwolf and took some air-to-air shots of the gyro. I wasn’t happy with most of them, so I’ll only share a few. I know what I need to do with the camera next time to get good shots though, so I’m looking forward to another chance!

Taking aerial shots from the gyro is as easy, if not a little easier than it is from a PPC. The leaves are starting to change colors. The only thing this photo is missing is a PPC!

Jack "Spinning Wing" Fleetwood

Taylor Air Race

2011-12-01T07:04:00.011-06:00

I was driving to Wharton for our BARF meeting, but never made it. I looked over at the Taylor Airport as I drove by and realized it was the weekend of the Taylor Air Race. I decided watching the race would be better than a 2 hour drive!

I called Travis and he came out to watch too. We went to Mark Frederick's airport which was the start/finish line. The planes took off from Taylor, then made a dramatic dive down Mark's runway to start the race. We couldn't have had better seats!

The End

Kingsbury Aerodrome - Fall Fly-In

2011-11-14T16:11:00.005-06:00

With winds predicted to gust to near 30mph Phil and I decided to leave the Chief in the hanger! It's just not a plane that can handle that much wind safely unless it's right down the runway.

Chris, Travis, & I did decide to go though in Chris' Cessna 172. When I got to the airport, I saw the EAA's B-17 Aluminum Overcast sitting on the ramp. Such a beautiful plane.

I didn't expect much of a turnout since the winds were predicted to be so high. I was surprised to hear a Tiger Moth calling into the airport, and I had seen a Pietenpol take off from Georgetown heading this way, so that was at least two cool airplanes!

It turned out to be a very nice event with quite a variety of planes. We stayed for awhile, walking around checking out the old cars and planes and had a great time.

We then loaded up and Travis flew us most of the way to Fredericksburg for lunch at the Airport Diner. It's a nice 50's themed diner.

I then flew us back to Georgtown where I landed like a helicopter and we walked over to watch the B-17 take up some passengers. Not a bad day of flying!

Jack

11-13-11 Engine Out in the Chief

2011-11-14T16:01:00.003-06:00

I got to prove how well a Chief can glide on Sunday.

After Phil had the engine quit on Saturday, we thought we had the problem solved and it was only carb ice. We would just be more careful when flying. He took off later and flew back to Kittie Hill, then flew another hour later with no issues at all.

I fueled up Sunday morning to take a friend flying. We flew over to Burnet to check out their CAF Museum. We landed, got out for about 30 minutes, then we took off and headed over to a lake a few miles away. Just as I reached the lake, I made a comment about how well the engine was running (not kidding!) and how well the Chief flew. At that moment the engine coughed. I immediately pulled carb heat and it smoothed out. I turned back toward Burnet. I tried pushing in the carb heat a few times and each time it was instantly rough. I told my passenger, Mark, that we would probably land at Burnet and call someone to come get us.

My big mistake was when I decided not to land there. I chose instead to fly back to Kittie Hill with the carb heat on the whole way. I climbed to 6,000 feet for insurance and used the GPS to find the nearest private airports I knew were enroute.

When we arrived over Kittie Hill, I explained how slips worked to Mark and told him I was going to spiral down over the field, then slip hard over the trees and put her in. The active runway at Kittie Hill is about 3,000 foot with tall trees on the approach end. It was a good plan, but when I pulled the power back just barely off of full throttle she sputtered and almost died. I think I uttered a word I wouldn’t want my Mother to hear!

I quickly made a decision to fly over to Georgetown where they have a tower and a 5,000+ foot runway. I told Mark there was nothing to worry about, I would descend at full power over a long distance and chop the power and use as much runway as a I needed.

As I crossed the edge of Lake Georgetown, the engine started to sputter again, this time at full throttle and carb heat on. I called the tower and after a few attempts, they finally heard me. I immediately declared an emergency and told them I thought I had carb ice and couldn’t clear it. He immediately cleared me for any runway I wanted and suggested 11 was the closest. I told him I was on a right base for 11 and would try to make it. A few minutes (maybe seconds!) later I told I wasn’t going to make it as I had just lost my engine. It sure gets quiet…

I would later tell Mark the next decision was very tough for me. I could turn away from the airport now and make some fields where we wouldn’t hurt anyone else, but we would probably tear up the plane and ourselves. Heading on toward Georgetown I would have emergency services close by, but if I was wrong about making the runway; I would hit houses and risk other people’s lives. I watched the runway closely and it was staying in the same place, low on the windshield. I decided I could make it after all. I don’t know how far out I was, but when I first made the call I was 5.8 miles out at under 6,000 feet.

Soon, the tower asked me how many souls onboard and how much fuel. I sure hated that question. After what seemed like a long time in silence, I was on short final. I pulled the fuel of and turned off the key since I didn’t want it to start then, and had to slip really hard for what seemed like a long time to get down. I had a perfect landing and then all was quiet. The tower told me I could leave her right there since I wasn’t on the active. I climbed out and sat on the ground. Wow.

What happened? We had a few theories and one turned out to be right. The loose fuel guage was letting air into the tank. The fuel cap was clogged and not letting air in. When we replaced the gauge with new seals, it created an airtight tank, starving the fuel.

Phil had an A&P confirm this. He pulled the fuel line from the carb and fuel ran for awhile, then turned into a trickle. He put on the cap from the auxiliary tank and it ran and didn’t stop. Phil flew her home this morning.

I’ve been a pilot for a long time and around planes my entire life. We all make mistakes, but learn from mine. I passed up a perfect airport and tried to diagnose the problem in the air. I hate that I did that. Things I did right were adding altitude and declaring an emergency. Better to ask for help and not need it than the other way around.

Click here for the audio from the tower.

Jack "No New Holes" Fleetwood

11-12-11 Craig's New Auto-Gyro

2011-11-14T15:58:00.001-06:00

To anyone who still reads my blog, sorry I've been behind! Life seems to get in the way of writing about life sometimes!

As I’m sure a lot of you are aware, Powrachute’s sister company, Soaring Concepts is now importing the Auto-Gyro brand gyroplanes. My friend Craig McPherson has purchased the MTO Sport and is in the process of being trained to become an instructor.

Craig called me to tell me he was heading my way for some training. I had to help Phil change out the glass in the fuel gauges on the Aeronca Chief (another story!), but I had time to get that done, then drive over to Taylor to meet Craig. I ended up spending most of the day at airports. I had a family friend who I owed a birthday ride in the PPC, so I loaded up the trailer and took it with me.

I drove to Taylor, and Phil flew the Chief over as well. When Phil landed, he was rolling out and turned off the carb heat. The engine promptly died. I asked him if he ran out of fuel since we’d just changed out the gauges. He said there was no way. We ended up pushing the plane over to the fuel pumps and he put in 9.5 gallons, which topped it off. Since it’s a 15 gallon tank, fuel wasn’t the issue. We would end up assuming it was carb ice and resolved to use carb heat more often – not a good assumption, but again, that’s the next story!

Craig arrived and everyone pitched in to help him get the rotor blades assembled and attached for his lesson. It took awhile, but eventually he was ready. I think he gave me a few dirty looks since I’d recommended this airport and it was very busy! It’s not usually! I was happy taking photos of planes and trying to get that elusive prop blur.

Soon Craig and his instructor Ira were off and flying. When Craig took off, the nose of the gyro turned hard to the left. He landed and they adjusted the rudder trim tab and on the next flight, they were happy with the results.

I watched as Craig practiced emergency landings and was really impressed with the performance. I sure wouldn’t mind owning a gyro, just a little out of my price range at $75K!

Old Planes at the Old Fort

2011-10-03T08:21:00.001-05:00

Sadly I have to admit that my PPC days may be numbered. I’m now flying my friend Phil’s Aeronca Chief. With the winds we've had this year, it just makes more sense for me.

The Chief is like that girl I never meant to fall in love with! I was just going to take her for a spin... okay, I'd better stop now!

This weekend I took her to Groesbeck, Texas for the "Old Planes at the Old Fort" fly-in. While I had the only Aeronca there, there were many nice planes, including a beautiful Waco. It was an interesting runway! 2,000' with 70' trees right on the end of the runway! I had a lot of people come up to me after I landed saying I had a beautiful slip and landing. That's always nice! Surprisingly I didn't see anyone else slip and many guys had to try two or three times to get down.
Of course the Chief first!

Flying the River

2011-10-03T08:06:00.001-05:00

Travis, Bruce, and I met Bill at his place for a Saturday flight. Last time we flew from there, I stumbled across a river and wanted to go check it out this time. The water was low, but it was beautiful. Hope you enjoy!

It’s so dry here.

Didn’t think you needed curtains, huh?

I spooked up a few deer.

Second Annual Middle Finger Fly-In

2011-09-20T10:18:00.002-05:00

We had a good time. I showed up on Friday and left on Saturday since the winds weren't looking good for Sunday, but we got in a good flight Saturday morning.

Some forum members were there, including of course Walt (Waltm), Jeff (Carwasher), Kelly (Riceman), Corrie (Mrs. Riceman), Craig (Sharpcf) & Mike (mikermudd). Hopefully I'm not missing anyone!

A few guys flew Friday afternoon, but it was bumpy. You can tell by the way Bobby is holding on in the back seat when flying with Walt! I'm sure Walt has made a few people do that in smooth air, but this time it wasn't his doing!

A few planes showed up, including my friends Chris and Bill in their 172. There was a nice Luscombe, an A-36 Bonanza, another 172, and a Commander.

The Trestle Board Lodge of Boles Home fed us Friday night and the Boy Scout Troop 392 was there Saturday morning to provide breakfast.

All in all, great turnout, great friends, and great food. Thank you Walt and Rachel!!

This was about the only thing flying in the heat of the day! It's controlled by an iPhone and has two cameras.

Walt's Comanche.

Hang on!!

Just a good ol' boy... never meaning no harm.

Ummm... this will forever be known as Pecker Hill.

Bastrop Fires

2011-09-20T10:00:00.000-05:00

Here are some of the photos I shot from my Chris's Cessna.

Here is the full set.

Weekend Flying Without the PPC

2011-09-20T09:53:00.001-05:00

Well, I had some fun flying adventures this weekend, but never touched the PPC. I headed out to take some photos on Saturday morning and when I got to the airport I ran into my friend Bill. We headed off in his 172 for awhile.

Sunday, it was perfect flying weather for PPCs, but I’ve had a long-standing offer from my friend Phil to go fly in his Aeronca Chief. Travis said his eye was hurting and he wouldn’t make it out to fly PPCs, so it was an easy decision. I didn’t know what to expect from the Chief. I’ve flown similar airplanes, but this one was really comfortable and very pretty. We flew with the windows open, which made if very comfortable. Not only that, but it stalls at 40mph! We flew along between 55 & 85 mph most of the time, slow and low! It’s like a PPC on steroids! I’m hooked!

Then, after flying the Chief, I went with Chris to take some photos of Lake Travis for the marina he uses. The lake is lower than they’ve seen it since the 50’s and there are a lot of “sometimes” islands.

Anyway, I know it’s non-PPC, but thought I’d share a little. This weekend is Walt’s Middle Finger Fly-In, so I should come back with a couple of photos!

Would you guess I didn’t take this from a PPC?

Phil’s house.

Back at Kittie Hill Airport.

Up with Chris now. It was 104 on the ground…

At the bottom of this photo, about the middle, to the right of the five blue covers, you’ll see a black spot in the water. This is actually 3 & 4 foot catfish! This restaurant throws their scraps into the water.

BARF Meeting - Wharton, TX August 2011

2011-08-22T09:26:00.005-05:00

The BARF Club meeting was in Wharton, TX this month. I’ve been there a few times for meetings, but never got a chance to fly there. I love flying in a new location.

Saturday morning was predicted to be perfect flying weather and the predictions were true.

I took off and headed East toward town. There’s a nice river there and a neat looking bridge across it. It was a little hazy when I got there, but soon the sun was up and burning off the haze.

After flying for awhile, I spotted Frank in his “Red Baron” Predator and headed his way. While I was chasing him around I spooked up some deer. I kept chasing them until they crossed some water! I’m always happy to get photos of something I’ve never seen before and this was great!

To end the day, these guys came out to launch a weather balloon! It took way too much patience for me, but they seemed to be having fun.

Hope you enjoy the photos. I can’t wait until the next meeting.

The End.

Travis Flies Again!

2011-08-17T08:26:00.002-05:00

We got to the airport around 6:30. Soon after that we were taking off. I decided to fly to 5,280 feet and shut off the engine. When I got up there, I saw Lake Pflugerville and told Travis we should head that way. We had a pretty strong headwind, so we knew we’d have no issue getting back to the airport.

I was flying ahead of Travis, so he got plenty of reports of what I was seeing! Wow, that’s a buffalo. Wow, it’s one brown buffalo and two white buffalo. That’s a rare site! After circling them until the brown one started pawing at the ground and snorting, I heading to an open field and dropped down low. I was then chasing jack rabbits!

When I got to the lake, I saw joggers, swimmers, and fishermen. It’s funny watching someone run while looking straight up!

I flew around the lake a few times waiting on Travis and then decided to fly to the new Austin Executive Airport. By then it was getting pretty windy, so no touch-n-go, but we flew by and took some photos.

It was a quick, bumpy flight back and Travis even passed me up! He flew higher than me and found a strong tailwind. When we got back to the airport, a Mooney was taking off and asked me if he could fly by us and take a look.

It turned out to be a great day for flying!

City of Hutto from a mile up.

City of Pflugerville

Buffalo!

Rabbits

Bikes

This King Air took off while we were on left base at Executive.

You know we’re flying slow when I’m on base and have time to take a photo of an old truck!

A guy bought an old airport called Bird’s Nest and then put in a new 6,000 foot runway, new hangers, and this terminal building. It’s incredible.

And a quick 180 and we’re away from the modern building and heading back to Taylor.

Travis with a hazy city of Austin in the background.

Sometimes you just have to cut your buddy off to get that photo!

The preacher came out to wave at me! You can see him by the column.

Firefighter training facility.

Ducks! There was no shortage of wildlife on this flight!

I was surprised to see this small cemetery way off the road, in the middle of the field.

You can see my shadow above the trees.

Back in Taylor.

Back at the airport, the Mooney flies by.

Travis does a tight turn with the Mooney behind him.

On short final.

That’s all for now. Hopefully we get to fly at the BARF meeting next weekend.

July BARF Meeting - Lake Whitney Texas

2011-08-02T16:41:00.004-05:00

The BARF Club decided to have our July meeting at Lake Whitney. Since this is very near to my friend Craig McPherson’s place, my plan was to arrive there Friday afternoon and spend the night. My job had other ideas though and instead of heading out Friday afternoon, I got up Saturday morning around 3AM and headed that way.

I arrived when it was almost dawn and after driving past the airport a couple of times I finally found it! There were some guys who came out to watch, so I loaded one of them up in my back seat and headed off.

It was pretty bumpy down low so we climbed to around 1500 feet and found smooth air. We got a good view of how low the lake was. We need some rain!

As usual, I tried to chase a few of the guys down for photos, but between the light being low and everyone else flying the opposite direction, I didn’t get nearly as many shots as I usually do.

Hope you enjoy them!

Jim Brewer in his new Predator.

Ol’ Shorty

I could make a pretty nice hanger out of that railroad car…

Jim Brewer flying with the jets.

Ron flying low.

Short Final

Lake Whitney Airport

Bill Alcorn tree-top flying.

Air Force One

Bruce in formation with me (whether he knew it or not!).

Why do I always feel like saluting when Bill lands?

Hey here comes Jim Howard!

Hmmm… looks like he’s coming right at me. I have faith he’ll miss me.

Looks like I might be the only one that has faith in him!

He missed me, but after all of that stress he needed a nap!

Ken and Carolyn landing in their award-winning Predator.

It’s a good thing Ken installed that autopilot! Top of the line model too!

Mike Singletary flying by in his Predator.

Wayne Powell landing in his Pegasus

Hey Danal even showed up! He did touch-n-goes for about three hours after the rest of us landed!

Hour number two…

Okay, if I’m being honest, maybe it was 15 minutes. Three hours makes a better story though!

Something was wrong with my wide-angle lens. Everything was blurry on the right side, but here are some group shots anyway.

I’m even in this shot. I’m the blurry guy, next to the white PPC, fourth from the right in khaki shorts and my PPC Forums shirt!

The end. Hopefully more to come from our August meeting!

Friday Morning Flight

2011-08-02T16:39:00.012-05:00

Since Friday was supposed to be a holiday at work, I decided to fly before I went in. I took off from Taylor and headed toward the building I work in. We have a large field in front, so it was easy to make some low passes. As I was getting close, I saw a hot air balloon. I thought it would be neat if it flew over the building so I could get some photos.... then it did just that! It was a nice morning for a flight.

I was sharing the air with Charlie Papa, but only saw him when he was taking off.

Finding Beauty

2011-08-01T20:42:00.002-05:00

Sunday was one of those perfect days. I got up early, as I normally do, and Bruce joined me at Taylor. He said it’s not a normal thing to see him out there that early, but I may have converted him! It was so calm and cool out. It’s the time of year where it’s over 100 degrees every day and that means it’s still 95 when we would normally try to get in an afternoon flight.

By 6:30 I was up. Bruce was still setting up so I circled the airport, did a few touch-n-goes on the runway, and waved at a family that stopped to watch. I knew this would be a great day for flying, it was perfectly smooth.

Soon Bruce took off and we headed to the lake. I flew along the shore waving at boaters and campers as they came running out to see what the noise was! The water was so calm you could follow a boat’s trail all the way across the lake. We flew over the dam, then behind it, then on the other side! Bruce even disappeared below it! As we flew away from the dam, I started a climb to 2500 feet and shut the engine off. I took my headset off and wished I could just stay up there. Nothing but the sound of the wind (and the creaking of my PPC!).

We headed back toward Taylor, flying low over fields and taking a bunch of photos. As we were getting close I heard two airplanes entering the pattern and one of them said he had the balloon in sight. I could see it from 3 miles away, but by the time we got there it was put away. We circled them a few times to show them what it’s like to turn and to land in the same place we took off from!

After that, we landed and reflected on how great the flight was. What a day!

Circling over the airport.

Going down?

Stealth mode.

Almost at 2500 feet.

Bruce is way down there!

Granger in the background. This is where they filmed the new True Grit movie.

Leaving the lake.

Hello Bruce!

I was expecting my ride to get pretty rough about now, but it never did.

Shadows

Looking back at Bruce.

I like this one!

Very cool shot. Looks like shag carpet!

Bruce with two shadows! Hard to sneak up on a guy with the sun behind you!

Beautiful trestle… notice the power lines.

This is a memorial for a friend of mine, [URL="http://aircrashed.com/cause/cDFW05LA138.shtml"]Clayton Young[/URL]. I was out for a drive with my wife when I saw the road blocked by state troopers. I looked over and saw what was left of the plane. The trooper motioned me to go by, but I stopped. He walked over and I asked him if it was Clayton. He said yes and asked if I knew how to contact his wife… I did. Please, watch out for power lines. Clayton left behind 5 children.

Dock reflections.

Even rusty culverts can be pretty!

Bruce coming in for a landing.

Saturday Flight

2011-08-01T20:26:00.005-05:00

I've now flown three days this week. This one was the second flight and I took my youngest daughter with me.

We got to the field early and it was perfect. Every day here it's breaking 100 degrees, so I like to get up early and enjoy some time outside.

We took off to the South as the wind was predicted to come from that direction when they picked up. We flew low over some ponds with her pointing out rabbits, dogs, cows, and horses.

We also flew over to two different private strips where I know the owners and did some touch-n-goes. The first one belongs to Mark who owns a Beech 18 which always poses for great photos!

After awhile we headed back to the airport to see if Travis had shown up. He had, but was still setting up his PPC, so we climbed to 2500 feet and shut off the engine. My daughter really loves this and wanted to do it even though she was really ready to land and go eat! After we came down and started the engine again, she wanted to do it again, so back up we went.

We then headed back to the airport to land. We watched Travis do some touch-n-goes and packed up... well, to be honest I did. She headed back to the truck to play Angry Birds on my iPod.

All in all, another great flight and the best flight is still to come. Sunday was the best flight and the best photos, so standby! I'll try to write that story today.

You can see how low this tank is. We're in the worst drought I can remember.

Redneck Fly-In 2011

2011-06-15T10:48:00.023-05:00

Another great fly-in put on by Wayne Spring. We flew every morning and afternoon, the weather couldn't have been better! We also had a great turnout. I think it was around 40 PPCs and a helicopter!

Hope you enjoy!

Time to Fly!!

2011-06-05T20:41:00.011-05:00

Finally the winds cooperated and we decided to go fly at Bill’s place. Bill, Chip & I went out there Friday evening, then Bruce showed up Saturday morning. I think after a windy year, we all needed to fly!

After a night of tossing and turning, at 6AM I woke Bill and Chip. The sun was coming up and there was no wind… TIME TO FLY GENTLEMEN!!

I got off the ground, shortly followed by Chip and Bill. I have this brand new camera that I really needed to try out and they didn’t seem to mind posing! I chased them around for about an hour. As we were flying, I saw Bruce driving toward the field, so we all went back to greet him.

After a quick coffee break, we were all back in the air for another hour. What a weekend!

After our traditional breakfast at Cracker Barrel, I headed home for a nap. When I got up, I started editing photos. I forgot it had been a little cloudy when we started off and I was a little panicked when I saw the quality of the photos. Had I made a bad decision selling my trusty camera to Bruce??? Then I got to about the 10th photo, when the sun came out, and I relaxed. That would have been bad!!

Smithville - Kelly's Perspective

2011-06-05T20:15:00.006-05:00

Here are some rare photos of me. My friend Kelly took them.

BARF Meeting - Smithville Texas

2011-06-05T19:12:00.017-05:00

BARF Meeting - Columbus Texas

2011-04-14T08:56:00.009-05:00

From 3-20 Travis and I got back today from our BARF Club Meeting/Fly-In. Here are some of the photos. The light was low, so I'm not thrilled with the photos, but they're okay. Hope you enjoy.

Jack "Flying In The Dark" Fleetwood

Back In The Air Again

2011-04-14T08:21:00.005-05:00

Still catching up - this one is from 3-7. I took my youngest daughter up for a flight yesterday. We arrived at the airport to find Bruce and his nephew Austin already there. It was a pleasant surprise. It was the first time I had seen Bruce with his new Pegasus since we had picked it up. It was a little breezy and bumpy, but not too bad. We took off and headed East into the wind. We flew around Granger Lake and the surrounding farm land. We got a few waves from the boaters and farmers plowing their fields much to my daughter's delight. It was good to be in the air, but it was a little cold and bumpy for the little one. After an hour we were headed back to the airport. The pattern was busy, but we were able to safely fly under them and get on the ground. So, to summarize, it was windy, bumpy, cold, and I was smiling the whole time.

See ya... Jack

No Color Flight

2011-04-14T07:45:00.003-05:00

I'm catching up on my Blog. I also post on a Powered Parachute Forum and the format there is much easier, so sometimes I get behind on my Blog.... sorry! These photos are from a winter flight where you can see there weren't many leaves and nothing was green. Still fun to fly though!

Jack

First $100 Hamburger!

2011-01-22T21:23:00.006-06:00

Chris and I headed out in his Cessna today for our first $100 hamburger. We chose Brenham as our destination. They have a 50's diner complete with girls in poodle skirts! It was a lot of fun, and to be honest, I guess it was an $80 hamburger! I can't wait for the next one.

As we did our run-up at Georgetown an Ercoupe was ahead of us.

There's Travis' house!

'57 Chevy golfcart!

This Cessna reminds me of the one I grew up flying in. Many good memories there.

Beautiful Cessna 195

Chris and Bill's plane in front of the diner.

The diner.

It was like an airshow. There were many nice planes there.

This is a Yak 18T

Very shiny Cessna! It had reflective paint.

A Scout with tundra tires. You could land this just about anywhere.

And we're heading home. Lined up on one-six.

Here's a shot where you can see how many planes were there. You can also see the screened in deck on the back of the diner.

See you next time... Jack

A Different Kind of Flying

2011-01-18T19:13:00.007-06:00

My friend Chris got me into PPCs back in 2007. He's now had enough of watching the wind and wishing he was in the air, so he's going back to fixed-wing. I've been helping him check out planes and I have to admit the alure is strong... today we test flew a beautiful Cessna in winds that were 25 gusting to 30 and this plane had no issues. It's going on six weeks since I've been able to fly my PPC and the longer I go, the harder it is to justify having it sitting in my driveway.

After seeing this plane, he decided to buy it with another of our PPCs friends, Bill. For now, I'll ride along with them and enjoy a different kind of flying, but I have to admit I'm hearing the call of the fixed-wing bird...

I'm excited about flying into controlled airports again, being able to go somewhere, and just smelling that airplane smell again. I have to admit though that I'm a little sad to see Chris leaving powered parachutes and the reality that sooner or later I'll follow him... okay, maybe more than a little.

There she was, sitting in the hanger!

Jim (seller) and Chris pushing it out.

Taxiing out, looking at the carcass of an old airliner.

Lined up and ready to go.

Looking at the San Marcos skyline. I think I was a child the last time I was in the back of a Cessna. Amazingly comfortable!

And we have liftoff!

Looking back at the runway.

Aerial photography is a little harder inside of a plane!

Looking over San Marcos.

I-35 Traffic

Heading back to the airport on a 45 for left downwind for runway 35.

Down safely.

San Marcos tower.

An old tower from WWII days.

And we're back at the hanger.

Putting the plane away for the day.

It has a very nice interior.

And very nice paint.

See you next time,

Jack "PPC Pilot For Now" Fleetwood

Saturday at Blue Skies

2010-11-29T08:34:00.002-06:00

Saturday morning was the coldest day of the year so far. I know this because the news reporter was taunting me as I was second guessing my decision to fly! I had to scrape my windshield before I could leave the hotel and head to Craig’s place.

It was worth it though. We had a little cross-country and Craig pointed out some nice cliffs. Jeff (Carwasher), Paul, Craig, Bobby and I headed out. About 45 minutes later, Travis decided he couldn’t stand being on the ground anymore and he joined us.

Danal - all I can say is we stayed too close to Craig’s place on Friday. Next time we’ll head toward the lake! It was beautiful.

Craig flying next to me.

Bobby and Craig

There was no wind, so Bobby and Craig decided to play touch-n-go chicken. At least that’s how I saw it!

Jeff flying by Craig’s cow ports. Kind of like car ports, but this is where Craig parks his cows!

Here comes Jeff in his Destiny.

Flying by Blum.

Paul flying low.

Paul coming over a cliff.

This is the edge of a cliff. As soon as we cleared the trees, it was a long way down!

Traffic Jam!!

Two Pauls.

Travis really did fly with us!

Bobby say hello!

Jeff touches down. It was time to put them away and warm up.

Check out this photo of my photos!

That’s all for now. Time to get some sleep. Hope you enjoyed going along for the flight.

Jack

Friday at Blue Skies

2010-11-29T08:03:00.000-06:00

First, let me say that this weekend was what powered parachuting is all about. We got some old friends together, met some new ones, and a good time was had by all! I mentioned to Craig that I wanted to come out to his place soon and he said, “Why not this weekend?” Next thing you know, we had a fly-in!

Travis and I left Austin for Blum around noon and arrived about 3PM. It was perfect timing as it would soon be time to fly. Not only were there several PPCs, there were two PPGs and even a trike! Ryan showed up with his John Deere PPC, Randy was there in his Airwolf, Bobby and his Dad Stan were there with Stan’s Airwolf, and Paul had his newly purchased Pegasus there too.

Danal and John (John Boy) came out Friday and Saturday, Jeff (Carwasher) showed up, so I got to meet three guys from the forum. It’s always nice to put a face with a name and I have to say all three were great guys.

Soon we were all in the air and I got almost 2 hours of flying in. I spent most of my time chasing guys trying to get photos. What else would you expect from me? I tried to talk Danal out of his chute, but I think he’s going to keep it! It sure lights up in the sun.

All in all, it was a great time. It got a little cool, but it would be much colder in the morning…. I’ll post that story in another thread.

Hope you enjoy the pics!

Danal wasn’t in the air long before I was chasing him.

Danal following Ryan. Ryan always says I don’t get photos of him. I only got a few before he hid from me! I didn’t see him again until he was packing up!

I didn’t get a chance to meet Randy. He was setting up when I got there and he was gone when I landed! I did get some shots of him though.

Craig was in the air soon. I usually have trouble getting photos of his dark chute, but this weekend I got plenty.

Stan and Bobby

There are plenty of places to land around here…. It’s all farm land!

Craig doing a little tree trimming!

Every now and then I would see something moving quickly out of the corner of my eye, then this trike would come tearing by!

Here’s John in his nice looking Dragonfly.

Hey look, there’s Ryan… ON THE GROUND!

There’s Paul. Can’t miss him!

Paul’s shadow is getting long on this touch-n-go.

There’s Ryan on the ground again!

John and Danal again.

Sure is a pretty chute!

Flying with the cows!

John catching the last rays of sun.

And that was the last photo for Friday. I’m working on Saturday photos, hope to post them soon!

Banner Towing

2010-11-22T11:16:00.000-06:00

You guys have seen a lot of photos of my friend Chris. He has the green Pegasus. We love flying PPCs, but every now and then we start missing our first love, fixed-wing planes.

Chris decided recently to try banner towing. This way he gets his fixed-wing fix and it's free! It's quite a bit of work setting up and putting the banners, but other than that, he says it's fun.

Too Windy For Me!

2010-11-22T11:01:00.002-06:00

Some of my PPG buddies fly in conditions I could fly in, but choose not to. I would much rather stay on the ground and watch.

Here are some pics I took the other day:

Tim setting up for a flight.

Another Test Flight

2010-11-22T10:50:00.000-06:00

This post is out of order... not sure how I missed it!

Travis and I met at the airport around 4PM. I wanted to get there early so I could add a degree of pitch to my prop. I took photos of the windsock showing the wind coming from the North, South, and West, but it was very low. After standing around a little while, we decided that we could live with the thermals, so we took off around 5PM. It was a little bumpy, but it would only get better as we flew. By the time the sun was getting low neither of us wanted to land!

As for my plane, I was watching it closely and managing my throttle the entire first half of the flight. My coolant gets a little too high for my comfort at 175 if I’m climbing. I will add a little distilled water to see if that will help. My EGTs would get to 1160 and continue to climb if I didn’t watch them. I know that’s in the safe zone, but I like a little more room for error. My max RPM was 6550, so I’ll add another degree or two to the prop and all should be well. I found at 5020 all of my temps were fine and at a 6300 they were as well. So I would climb at 6300, then pull back to 5020 and slowly descend. It was worth the extra management for the great flight.

Travis is one of only two pilots I trust to fly close to me. I was doing a lot of S-turns to stay back with him, but I was able to get the shots I wanted. I was directing him on the radio a lot though! Hope you guy enjoy the photos.

San Marcos Flying

2010-11-22T10:07:00.001-06:00

Chris and I headed out to Bill's place in Buda early Saturday morning. It was COLD! Well maybe not to you Northerners, but it was around 35deg here!

We each had passengers who had never flown before, so that made it fun. I took off first and circled waiting for Chris and Bill to get in the air. We headed for San Marcos and flew over a few areas I've never seen from a PPC. Other than getting back with a little less fuel than I prefer, it was a great flight.

Beeville Chute Out 2010

2010-11-22T08:54:00.000-06:00

Sorry it's been so long since I posted. I'm not sure what they did to the format here, but it's really a lot harder for me to post. I'm seriously thinking of finding another place to Blog. Too bad, because I really used to enjoy it.

Anyway, here's a story and some photos:

I'm exhausted. Travis and I drove to Beeville Friday morning to join the BARF club for their annual fly-in. The weather couldn't have been better. I got in five flights included a cross-country flight to the lake where the owners of an RV park served us breakfast. It took 1hr 15min to fly there, 33 to fly back!

Jim Howard flying under me.

2010-10-19T11:00:00.002-05:00

Since I had my engine back together and the winds were predicted to be between 0 & 2 mph, it was time to fly. Of course the winds were actually 6 mph, but that was okay too!

After one more thorough check, I was off. Takeoff went fine and other than the RPMs going over 6500, I didn't have any issues. During the flight, my EGTs were climbing higher than I wanted them to, but I didn't let them get too high. A slight adjustment and I'll be heading off for my next test flight!

Even while keeping a close eye on the guages I still had time for a few photos.

Fog!

2010-10-10T20:51:00.008-05:00

Well, it’s been awhile since I’ve flown, so here’s a big story with a lot of photos!

Travis and I headed out to Bill’s place. We were hoping others could join us, but it turned out that everyone was busy. No worries, we needed to fly and both needed a break from work. Bill said I could fly his PPC and since mine was still down, I couldn’t pass that up!

By the time the winds died down Friday afternoon, we only got in a 30 minute flight, but it was nice and smooth.

We got up Saturday morning and headed out. It would be a calm day with an almost tragic ending. Got your attention didn’t I? Don’t skip to the end!

This was what I really needed. It was peaceful and there was ground fog everywhere, so it was beautiful. This was some of the most relaxing flying I’ve done in a long time. The funny thing is, I knew we had a headwind as we’d planned our flight that way, but I didn’t know how much since I didn’t have my GPS. Travis said we only got about 3 miles from the field. I would have sworn it was more. I knew I was moving when I got close to I-35 and I was passing some cars! I decided to put it way. The flying was still nice, but I didn’t want to risk anything in Bill’s plane.

When we landed, we discussed whether or not to go home. It was looking like we might not get to fly that evening. We ended up going to a local airport to their Commemorative Air Force museum to kill some time. We also went to eat, then headed back to Bill’s place with only a couple of hours until it would be time to fly. We decided to wait. This turned out to be a good decision…

Bill’s brother-in-law, David, came up in a big excavator. He said he was heading down to the pond to remove some trees. He told us to jump in the Polaris Ranger and come down to watch. We decided to go check it out. We had some time to kill and what man doesn’t like to see big trees tossed around like toys?! We found a shady spot and watched. Shortly after he started, he came screaming out of the excavator. He was yelling, “Help me”, “They’re attacking me.” and “Get them off.” We quickly figured out that it was bees. They were all over him and especially around his head. He was screaming and batting at them running around in circles. He ran over to us in the Ranger and told us to get him out of there. I was in the driver’s seat with Travis next to me. I pushed Travis out and told David to take the Ranger and drive fast. I ran one way, Travis ran the other.

Travis ended up getting stung once in the head, I didn’t get any stings, but David had many stings to his face, neck and head. He finally go them all off of him and we got him to drink some Benedryl. He would be fine. Then he realized he’d left his bird, Harley, in the excavator!! He had to go back. He took his van this time. She had hidden under the excavator. When he got down there we heard him yelling, “Harley” over and over. Apparently every time he says her name she whistles back to him. He was being swarmed again, but finally found her and she was okay. If we hadn’t been down there with the Ranger, David would have been hurt a lot worse. It was good for him that we decided to stay.

It’s was a fun weekend with a rough ending! We were so tired from running that we didn’t even feel like flying. We missed out on some nice weather, but at least we got to fly twice.

Now for lots of photos!

Travis flying ahead of me taking video.

You can see the new toll road in the background of this one.

Say cheese!!

Gear down and locked!

Saturday morning we got up early. As we were warming up, we could actually seeing the fog rolling in!

Travis planned to go fly first, rob a bank second. He dressed for both.

Not a great photo, but it will give you an idea of how the sun was reflecting off of the fog.

This will give you an idea of how steep Travis can climb.

Such a serene pond. No chance of killer bees being down there right?

I always hope to get that one shot per flight. And Travis turned toward the sun and there it was!

And another one…

And another one!

Travis flying over the fog.

The ponds looked like volcanoes with the steam coming off of them.

I’m gaining on him.

The hospital in the background. We almost had to take a trip there!

Another steaming pond.

This photo doesn’t do justice to the beauty of the sun coming through the fog.

Where ya gonna land? Where ya gonna land when your engine stops? (Sung to the tune of the COPS theme.)

This is where nature ends and man takes over!

I believe these fellers were having a discussion about me.

I’m not sure if I like this photo… sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t!

Why is it some cows just look at us and wonder how a man can fly, while others scream, “It’s a big giant cow eating bird” and run away? Any bovine experts here?

It’s my shadow. Of course that’s not an elliptical because I’m not qualified to fly one.

I’m glad you could come out to watch me. I really like your dirt swimming pool.

These school busses really glowed in the morning sun. Also notice how the shadow of the Texas flag stretches across the entire freeway!

Hey it’s hay shadows.

Where’d my chute go? (I’m not making that up. I actually heard him say it.)

All done. Time to pack up.

On another note, I got my cylinders back Saturday, got them on today. I now have to do the break-in. If all goes well, I should be flying more. I need to catch up!

See you soon - Jack

Frustrated...

2010-09-15T07:43:00.000-05:00

Since my engine out, I've been trying to get back into the air. It's frustrating because I've done everything I was told I needed to do. I bought a new piston and had a certified Rotax mechanic install it. He honed the cylinder and put it back together and it ran great. Then, during the hour long break-in, it started running rough. Now we tore into the engine again, only to find that the cylinder wall is scuffed!! mailto:!@#$ This simply means enough wasn't taken off of the surface of the cylinder the first time. It would have helped if he'd checked the diameter after honing it!

Not only that, but I found out a red-dot piston was used where it was originally a green-dot piston. Both service centers I spoke with said that was a bad idea. Now I have to have my cylinder sleeved for around $250 and buy another $200 piston. If I can find a green-dot piston that is easy. If not, I will have to replace the other piston with a red-dot, then probably have that cylinder honed as well....

This is getting old for two reasons. One, I need to fly!! I'm not a nice person to be around when I'm grounded. The second reason is that I bought a 2-seater so I could take up passengers. Even after I get it running right, it will be a long time before I'm comfortable taking up passengers again.

What a crock of mailto:!@#$ this has turned into!

Jack "Ground Bound" Fleetwood