Scary Flight

Well, I wish I could just post about another lazy day of flying. It started out that way, but on the way home, I was really wishing I was on the ground.

I started the day by letting a little air out of my tires to reduce the bouncing I've had on landing. I also cleaned my plane and did my normal, thorough preflight. I took off and headed north. Central Texas is called the Hill Country. As you fly north or west, you can see why. I took some photos of a house up on a plateau. These people are living the life. I also flew over a lake I've never flown over before - Stillhouse Lake. It's a decent size lake and has a nice long bridge over it. I raced boats and everyone waved, what a nice day. I then headed toward my friend Hubert's field. As I neared his field, I saw him flying. He landed and I followed him in. We stood around talking for awhile and as I noticed the wind starting to pick up, I decided head home.

I took off and circled around, waving to everyone and then turned west toward my field. Everything seemed fine at this point except there was a lot of turbulence.

I was bored with straight and level flying, so I turned right and when I went to turn back to the left, something didn't feel right. I tried again and it seemed mushy. I looked over at my left aileron and noticed it didn't move when I moved the stick. I looked back to see my aileron push-tube leaning backward, not connected. At first I thought maybe the bolt had come out, so I reached back to check it. I found it was broke. It was hard to stay composed at this point.

I could still control the plane with the rudder although not very well. The wind wasn't helping either. I decided to land at my friend Wayne's field so he could help if I crashed. As I lined up on his runway, I realized the crosswind was too much here. I flew down his runway hoping he would come to my field.

It got harder and harder to fly with just the rudder. I considered putting it down a couple of times, but decided if I got hurt, I might not be able to get attention. I flew out to line up for a long final approach to my longest runway. Everything seemed fine. It's amazing how many things can go through your mind in a short period of time. I don't want my girls to grow up without their Dad. I knew I could be seriously hurt or killed and I even considered I had better odds of crashing than landing safely. I wasn't scared, but sad. As I got closer, everything was going well, so I made the decision to continue. I also decided there would be no go-around. It was now or never. As the main wheels touched, I knew it was almost over. It was a very nice landing and one of my favorites. I taxied up to the hanger, got out, and sat down. What a flight! The lesson I learned is to lubricate everything well. If this had been my elevator, I would be dead. There is not a doubt in my mind.







King of the World - Can't you just imagine a runway up here?









Washed Out Bridge.



Little Church





Stillhouse Lake







Wounded Bird



This little part almost took me out.

Short Flight

Got to go up this morning for a quick flight. It's been very windy here for about a month, but if you get up early enough you can beat it. I flew for about 30 minutes, nothing too exciting to report. I practiced landing a few times. I think I'm flaring too high and bouncing a little. I'm trying to keep power on a little more, but the runway's awfully short. I believe it's 900 ft. I'm hoping to go out tomorrow and shoot touch-n-goes for awhile. I took a few photos, I will post them later.

Sunday Flight

It's been awhile since I got to go fly two days in a row. I got to the field around 8am and started fueling the plane. I heard a 2-cycle engine off in the distance. As he got closer, I realized that it was my friend Hubert in his Quicksilver. He and his dad were out for a flight and buzzed the field. They would have stopped, but his dad needed to get back home. Once in the air, I headed to his field had found him talking to Wayne and Ben. Wayne has a nice Cub and his son Ben is currently taking lessons. Hubert gave Wayne his first flight in an ultralight. After they got back, Ben jumped in and they were off. I took off shorty after and joined up with them. Got some good air-to-air photos.

Hubert & Wayne

Hubert & Ben

Look just above the horzon, right of center.

Heading Home

R/C Field

I-35 - Flying Low and Waving at Cars

Why We Fly

I was up this morning at 5:00. I had the plane preflighted before the sun was even up. After the preflight, I stood around for awhile waiting for a little more light. As I took off, I realized this was going to be a good day for flying. We've had a lot of wind and heat lately, but both were absent this morning. I was nice and cool and the plane performed accordingly. I started flying North, but then remembered that President Bush was in Crawford and I wasn't sure how close I was getting to the no-fly-zone. Since I didn't want to meet any F-16 pilots this morning, I decided to fly East. I flew by a friend's airstrip, but nobody was stirring so I just circled around for awhile. I did a few power-on stalls and played around in general. It's nice to have no destination. I was able to get a good flight in and get the plane put away before it even got warm. I even made a great landing - with a witness!! The final touch was a friend of mine buzzing the field in his Cub. This is why I fly....

Sunrise

Looking Back at the Sunrise

Home Field

Finally Moved the Plane

I got up this moring and the wind wasn't blowing - first time in a week. I headed out to the plane and started preflighting it - was that a breeze? Started fueling the plane, which takes awhile since I have to take my large gas can and pour it into a smaller can so I don't spill it all over the wing. My windsock started to twitch. As I fired up the plane and taxied out, I noticed the neighbor's flags were standing straight out. Oh well, decided to go for it. After leveling off, my airspeed was showing 80 mph at only 5600 RPM. A small part of me wanted to turn back, but I was in it for the long haul. The clouds were low, but not too bad:

It was a bumpy, but quick flight. The landing was perfect - nobody was there to see it. I got the plane stowed away in it's new hangar and headed out.

Later a friend of mine, Jack, who has a Quicksilver, wanted to see the field. So a few of us headed out there. This is where I made a mistake. I've been flying for a long time and I know better. I decided to demo the plane for him. It was way too windy. I knew better, but there I went anyway. I knew shortly after takeoff that it was going to be rough. It was a lot harder to turn the plane than normal and it was very turbulent. After a fly-by I lined up to land. After a bounce or two, I threw the throttle forward and decided to try again. One good decision. Second time around and I was having trouble lining up. For a plane that doesn't have a lot of surface for wind to affect, it sure found a way too. I again bounced down the runway and was quickly running out. If you look at my Google Earth phot of the airfield, I was landing on the north-south runway and I found the plane turning very quickly to the west. If I hadn't had this long runway (east-west) I would be telling you how I crashed. I had to turn hard right and fly down this runway. I made it, but it was close. I made it on my next landing, though this one wasn't pretty either. Pretty or not, it was over and both the plane and myself are in the same condition we were during the preflight. I know this is long-winded, but there's a moral to this story. If you're not sure if it's too windy, it is. I hate what I did today, but I will learn from it. Hope you do too. Maybe the real moral is don't make decisions when friends are around. Not that there was any peer pressure from them, but I probably felt more comfortable with them around.

After putting the plane down, I broke out the riding mower and found it to handle incredible well no matter what the wind was doing. Amazing machine.

Some more photos from today:

New Airfield

Well, I didn't have to panic for very long. I found a place to keep my plane. It has a T-Hanger that I can shelter the plane in and it even has three runways. Three runways just for me! I need to do a little clean-up on the property, but overall it's nice. There is a guy there that works on wings for Cubs and other wood and fabric planes, so I get a little security - he's always there.

Anyway, it's been too windy to fly, so I haven't moved the plane yet.

Here's a Google Earth shot:

Last Weekend - Things are changing quickly.

Saturday turned out to be a very nice day, so I was up and at the plane by 6:00. Got in the air and decided to fly NorthEast. As I was nearing the town of Georgetown, I remembered the owner of a field where I attended a fly-in. I had just got my Airbike assembled and didn't get a chance to fly that day. He told me to do a fly-by when I had it going. Well, I thought, today's the day. As I turned final, I saw a yellow plane that I thought was the owner's Cub. It turned out to be a Quicksilver. I throttled back and proceeded to perform my worst landing yet. Something about number of people watching... After finally getting it down, we stood around talking a while. The Quicksilver owner asked if I wanted to fly back to his place and off we went. I had to throttle back quite a bit to stay behind him, but it was my first formation flight. What a blast. He also has a nice plane and a very nice hangar. I'm jealous. After visiting for awhile, it was getting warm so I headed back to my field. It was the bumpiest ride yet, a lot of thermals. My camera wasn't charged, so no photos.

Sunday, I decided to mow my runway. The owner of the Cub had flown by and from the air noticed it was getting very long. When someone notices from the air, that's when you know it's too long! Just as I was getting the riding mower ready, a car pulled up. Long story short, this lady told me she had put an offer on the property and wanted me off by August 4th. I asked if I could stay long enough to find another place, as it will take awhile for her to get her house moved in and ready to live in. The answer was no. No matter what I said, she only had rude answers. I always knew the land could sell, but the owner was asking way too much.

A little background: I knew a guy who crashed his Stearman into power lines a couple of years ago. His widow called me and said she'd heard I was looking for a hangar. She offered me the space incredibly cheap and I've been there a few months. It was fun while it lasted, but now I'm in panic mode again. Got to find a new home for my baby. Guess worse case senario I will take the wings off and put it in my garage again. Hope I don't have to do that.

Early Sunday Morning

Made it to the airport early this morning. Around 6:30 I was ready to fly. There was a little fog, but it wasn't too thick. After I took off, I circled toward the lake. It was nice and cool, and the fog was fairly thick over the lake. The photos didn't come out great, but you get the idea.

Here's a shot of a train bridge.


Looks like it's time to mow my field or maybe I'll keep taking it with me on my flights:

All in all, this was a great morning flight. I was a able to go fly, work on my plane all before going to work. If I didn't have to go to work, the day might have been perfect :-)

For those of you who don't know me, this type of flying is new to me. I've always rented planes. I've spent the last 6 years flying a Decathlon and doing aerobatics regularly.

So even though I miss flying upside down, I really don't miss the $92 / hr this plane was costing me. It is nice to only have to worry about the weather. I don't even consider the cost of fuel, I just fill it up and go. Also, I didn't know what I was missing flying in an enclosed cockpit. I love being out in the open. I've flown a Great Lakes biplane before, but it was nothing like the Airbike. Probably the greatest thing however is the fact that this plane is mine. I know exactly what maintenance has been done and it's alway available. Now if I could just stop flying long enough to clean the plane and mow the field!

Rockdale

Took a nice long flight last night. I got to the plane around 6 pm and decided to head out. I took off and headed east. I flew to a little town called Rockdale and did a couple of touch-n-goes there and then circled the town for awhile. They had a carnival and rodeo (This is Texas) going on and I got a few waves. I then learned a valuable lesson - don't fly east a few hours before sunset. My return flight was due west, into the setting sun. I found out how scratched my windshield really is. I then took the Airbike to it's highest flight with me, 4,500 feet. It was nice and cool, but it's always hazy around here. It was nice to have a radio, I like to know where the other planes are. After a nice relaxing flight, I was home. I pulled the power and circled the lake a few times to get down and pulled off a nice wheel-landing. It's always sad to put the plane away, but I was beat. I only managed to put in 1 hour, but that's the farthest I've been from my home base.

Thorndale - First town along my path.

Another shot of Thorndale

This is a power plant outside of Rockdale.

Rockdale

Almost home - looking back.

This is my airfield.

I've drawn a line where my runway is.

More Flying

I've had a few more chances to fly. Still trying to learn the plane. My next step will be to set up a battery so that I can run my radio and GPS. I'm also going to build a console in the front to hold things such as my camera, snacks, etc. Here's some photos I've taken.