Let's go Flying!

Treasure is in the Eye of the Beholder

2012-01-27T12:44:00.001-05:00

When diving in strange Troves, you occasionally find yourself in the domain of The Creature From the Black Lagoon, but more often than not there’s treasure waiting to be discovered. All it takes is a bit of patience, an appreciation for good conversation, and these things just surface.

First on the wish list that just happened to be available, although it had to be brought in from the Trove in Canada (2 Troves! What good fortune!). It’s a 3 1/2 inch, bubble-faced, Airpath compass, probably made in the 1930s. What a beauty! After speaking with the Airpath guru at Keystone Instruments in Lock Haven PA (home of the Cub), I sent it off for a complete refurbishment.

The next step was to tackle the layers of rust, corrosion and paint on the Cub window and door frames. I did some homework (always a pleasure these days with the internet at my fingertips). There are a number of ways one can remove the crust of ages, from wire brushing to medieval sand blasting (Jeff’s term – hang on, you’ll meet him in a minute). I chose soda blasting and am glad I did. The medium, to paraphrase one of the videos from an Aussie bloke, doesn’t “hammer” the crud off, it cuts it off. The edges of the soda are softer than sand or glass beads or pecan shells but those edges are somewhat sharp so you get very effective cutting with little to no damage to the surface of the piece you’re working. There were videos of soda blasting the printing off flimsy aluminum soft drink cans without damaging the cans, so I decided that was for me.

Enter Jeff Bender of Bender Aviation Services. Now Jeff is a friend of mine and all that, but he also happens to be a very fine airplane mechanic and enjoys the thrill of business ownership, the plusses and the minuses. No matter what day it is or how it happens to be going, Jeff is the same guy every day, super helpful and a great guy to have on your A-list.

Ok, enough of the commercial. Jeff happened to have access to a soda blasting tank (boy, is this a simple setup), so a trip to pick up some soda, protective gloves, eye protection, and so on and we’re off to the races. One note, first: *they* say you can just go to the store and buy boxes of Arm and Hammer or whatever and go to town … I learned there is soda and there is soda. The stuff just soaks up water all by itself. Soda blasting tanks should have a water separator attached or you use nitrogen to keep the compressed stuff dry. The soda that is meant for blasting isn’t quite so hygroscopic (here, from Wikipedia, is what that means: soda is … “so hygroscopic that [it] readily dissolves in the water [it] absorbs: This property is called deliquescence. [beer question – pilots love beer questions]. A hygroscopic material will tend to become damp and "cake" when exposed to moist air (such as salt in salt shakers during humid weather).”) … or soda in soda blasters.

Herewith, a before and after. The excitement of the moment plus foggy goggles, sweat filling my rubber gloves and a general enthusiasm for getting on with the project produced only one B&A picture. The difference, though should give you an idea of how effective the soda blaster was in removing 40+ years’ accumulation of grunge. This isn’t a final product – oh no – but it gives a hint as to how the frame projects will move along.

A few more quickie pictures and I have to retreat from the computer to do meaningful work around the hacienda and replace the deficit in my “going to the airport” jar.

The Trove

2012-01-24T15:03:00.001-05:00

The best way to begin is, I suppose, at the beginning.

My best old friend, David, once took the vow of poverty and taught school for a living (or almost a living) where he ran into a fellow who could draw pretty well and they hit it off. As things happen the other fellow caught the eye of a fairly good sized company who liked the way he drew space shuttles and hired him away from teaching to do just that. Years went by and they ran into each other again after David managed to convince Uncle Sam’s Army that he was a valuable resource or, at least, wouldn’t be in the way. It came to pass that this other guy, whose name is Rick, met up with David and me at an air show/fly in and I came away with a poster/print of one of his paintings. Let a few more years pass and word comes that Rick has been restoring a 1934 Fairchild so David and I went to visit. Now you’re up to date … for more on the Fairchild, take a look at my post from June 2010 entitled “Alex in Wonderland”. I’ll update that post eventually.

OK. So last week I took another trip over to see Rick and the Fairchild and lo and behold the lads from Canada were there … they occupy a fair chunk of the warehouse where Rick soldiers away on his project. It’s time to let the cat out of the bag.

Just like your friendly Home Depot or Lowe’s … only for antique airplane nuts like me.

The first thing that struck me was “how in the world did all this stuff get here?” Turns out it took 6 tractor-trailer loads to clean out an old hanger that was full of airframes, engines, parts, bits, pieces and some reasonably complete projects. In addition, there were frequent trips when the lads’ van was piled high with smaller parts. All of it made its way to this one place where it is still in the process of being separated, cataloged and evaluated. A lot of the airframe parts are probably good for patterns, but a fair amount is restorable and reusable.

I managed to find some parts for my Piper Cub that are good for restoration and will go a long way toward making my 1941 airplane more original. There is probably a Gormley-Bulsch in there, too.

Unusual hardware like the silver cadmium plated pieces that were used on military airplanes before and during World War II – a favorite with the warbird crowd and hard to find today.

The lists go on and on and can only be appreciated by those who love and restore old airplanes.

To learn more about the lads, go to www.tigerboys.com – there’s a link to their email address on the website.

I think I might have picked up a bonus gift from my trip in the form of a really nasty bug – obviously Canadian – so my initial work on the parts has been delayed until my lungs are up to another dose of rusty dust and toxic chemicals.

The last flight of 2011 – with Stan and Kathy

2012-01-01T22:10:00.002-05:00

After a couple of false starts, the great quest for the $100 hamburger brought Stan (the Grizzly Bear) and Kathy (patient chronicler of flights and motorcycle trips) to Rutherford County Airport NC … we had tried a couple of times to meet up there but for various reasons couldn’t make it happen until nearly the last moment of 2011 …

Thanks to Kathy for all the nifty pictures … Griz and I were kept busy navigating and aviating.

Looking east for the first time, the Blue Ridge Parkway with some snow in NC, Houses east of Asheville NC

Griz said the flight down from Tennessee was really nice. They had time to do a little sightseeing on the way, enjoying December scenery that is usually of the white-ish variety, but very little snow so far this year … only a dusting here and there.

Getting down toward the flatlands, that’s Hickory Nut Gorge on the left, Kathy’s reflection on the side window taking a picture of Chimney Rock and Lake Lure. My Dad said he grew up in the bottom of what is now Lake Lure. Directly below the airplane is Lake Lure Inn where a lot of the movie “Dirty Dancing” was made.

So anyway, here are Griz and Kathy just cruising along enjoying the countryside and I’m pulling the Cub out of my hangar to join them. They had further to go, across the Blue Ridge Mountains … I just had to hop over a ridge at World’s Edge and set up a gradual descent to Rutherford County, which is 1,000 feet below my home field.

Final approach for Rutherford County, Kathy in her John Deere hat and Grizzly Stan posing with their Cub.

S&K arrived early - I managed to drag in at about 11:30. The 57A Cafe was just a short walk from the ramp.

I got my picher took, there are the 2 Cubs side by side on the ramp and the 57A Cafe through the Jeep frame.

The burgers and Stan’s taco salad went down just fine but we were mindful that the weather was due to change later in the day so we decided to skedaddle while the skedaddling was good. Outside, the windsock began doing a dance and the winds were already picking up in advance of the weather front. We went through our preflight inspections and performed “armstrong” starts and were off in pretty short order.

I’m first out of the chocks … the weather toward my route looked ok-ish, S&K’s outlook is to the right. What the picture of my route doesn’t show is the rush of southerly wind accelerating on the south face of the mountains.

By the time I taxiied into position on the runway, the windsock was pretty much straight out from the pole. The Cub and I were off the ground before I had pushed the power all the way up. I was hoping the wind would hold because if I had been riding a gust and the wind had gone away, I’d run out of airspeed, altitude and imagination at about the same time. As it was, we kept flying (thank goodness for 85 horsepower)and I set course to cross the ridge at World’s Edge again – you definitely do NOT want to fly Hickory Nut Gorge in windy conditions.

Meanwhile, Stan and Kathy were enjoying a leisurely ride up the long, delirious, burning blue … topping the windswept heights with easy grace … but I’ll let Griz tell his tale:

Oh yeah! once we got past I-40 things started to settle down and even more so once we got across that ridge west of Mt Mitchell where the Blue Ridge Parkway goes along. We had just scattered clouds, tops around 7,000 (LOL) and we actually got to an altitude of 8,500 (it was cold up there), didn't really want to but with those high winds I just felt safer the higher up we were able to go since every now and then we were getting an elevator ride. We almost kept going as I have always been curious if both Kathy and I could get to 10,000' with the 65hp engine, but the numbness in my toes got in the way of holding the stick back. After the last ridge, the NC/TN border, we descended back to 2600' for pattern altitude and it got choppy again. Winds on the runway were only about 5 knots though pretty much in line with the runway. Flight time was 1.5 going down and 1.4 coming back.

Notice the cool, detached “it got choppy” comment? Pilots do that. A pilot can go through the seven tortures of hell and if someone on the ground asks he might say “yeah, it was a little bumpy”.

Climbing through 8,000 feet, Crossing the NC mountains, Last ridge in sight I-26 below. (Whenever I think of “the last ridge” I think of an old movie “The Bridges of Toko-Ri” … the last ridge proved to be too much in that movie but the Gallavanting Grizzly and his Kathy-belle made it just fine).

I’ll spare you the details, but it got “a little bumpy” on the way to World’s Edge. Once over the ridge, though, we are in a little piece of heaven where winds are civilized for the most part and my ride was pretty good for the last few miles to Runway 15 at Johnson Field.

Johnson Field (the grass runway to the right) on a summer day, and the Cub back at home in its hangar.

It just doesn’t get any better than meeting up with friends with Piper Cubs. Maybe the weather could be better next time, maybe a little warmer, maybe we could talk some other Cub people into joining us. So long, 2011. Hello, 2012.

Stan’s trip to Kentucky

2011-11-22T20:34:00.001-05:00

Some guys have more fun than others. Stan and Kathy bundled up last week for a day trip from Greeneville TN to Big Sandy airport in Kentucky and filed this report. The Grizzly Bear (Stan) managed to pack in a BFR while he was there and ended up making it home before nightfall. That’s quite a day in a Cub. As usual, you can mouse over the pictures to get a description and click on them for a larger version.

It all started with a 4:00am wake up and drive to the airport to plug in the GPS, refuel and reconfigure the airplane. As we drove in we saw a temperature off a local bank showing 29 F. After getting the airplane ready for flight we go to eat breakfast at a local favorite restaurant in Greeneville, TN. During breakfast I get my quickest weather briefing for our proposed flight direct to Big Sandy Regional Airport, KY (K22). Clear below 12,000, no TFRs, no notams that pertain to us, and winds aloft. No tailwind on this trip except when were on downwind in the pattern.

Well as usual during cold weather the engine remains running after the 3rd start. Takes awhile to get the oil close to 100 F so we can takeoff. After takeoff the oil temperature runs around 120 F all day during flight, but it sure cools off fast requiring us to go through the 3 start phase again at K22. We see our first snow for the season and visibility is limited only by the curvature of the earth. We can see Big Sandy 30 nautical miles out according to the GPS cruising at 5500'. As I said going up to Oshkosh were over the Sherwood Forest and it is not friendly down there. Not a lot of options for emergency landings as usual when flying over Kentucky, our best bet is one of the strip mines.

We arrive after 1.8 hours of flight and enough fuel for another hour of flight to complete Bob's Flight Review. We fill up after the flight with 9.8 gallons, yielding a 3.5 GPH burn rate for the trip so far. Just after arriving we take a tour of his hanger and compare differences between our J3's. Bob treats us to lunch and pays for the hour flight. More people want flights in the Cub, but we don't have any daylight left and we have to head home.

The winds are much higher returning home and we have to stay low and fly almost max continuous power to overcome the headwinds. We got to 4500' for a short time but descended back down to about 3,000' after seeing a 34 knot ground speed, which would have yielded a dark landing with low fuel if any. At the lower altitude we are able to stay above 50 knots ground speed. We do eventually climb to 4500' again further south to cross higher terrain.

We have beaten the sunset again and have time to fly over Chimney top to show Kathy what I have found on one of my local solo flights when she is working. The reason they call it Chimney Top for all the little stones that look like Chimneys, small compared to Chimney Rock in NC. It was a 2 hour flight back for 4.8 hours total of flying. That is half the time we took to fly to Oshkosh earlier this year. Great day of flying, even though I'll spend the next 24 hours with thigh and knee pains from using the rudders and maybe the cold weather, time to medicate.

Griz and Cubby

More Armchair Flying – Oct/Nov 2011

2011-11-06T13:07:00.001-05:00

As luck would have it, the most beautiful weather in Western North Carolina found me on the ground with a bucketful of parts for the fuel system in the Cub, waiting for replacement parts and a measure of gumption to finish re-doing my fuel plumbing.

I depend on pals like Richard and Stan to do my flying for me in times like these and after flying over from Tennessee to give me a hand draining fuel out of my tank (I don’t have long enough arms), the two of them (and Cliff, who I’ve not met yet) launched on a trip through Hickory Nut Gorge to Shelby NC for a visit to Jerry’s private strip. Stan sent some notes to rub it in a little … no matter, I went back to working on my airplane and enjoy the flying even if it is virtual.

Here’s Stan:

Well I made it back to Greeneville, TN right at sunset. I really got to stop cutting it so close, I think that is the third/ fourth time I have done that. It is usually an hour and a half flight from Shelby, NC with no headwind. Which would have made me several minutes after sunset. But I just kept climbing looking for those higher tailwinds and also had to cross right over Mt. Mitchell again. I'm losing count of how many times I have crossed that mountain, I think it is 5 or 6 times. So since I feel better crossing it at 1000' AGL (Mt. Mitchell is 6684' high) and I'm VFR flying west I decide for my friend who is always surprised that I get so high in the J3 to go to 8500'. The tailwinds give me the boost I was looking for and I'm able to get to my destination as the Sun is setting.

Stan’s pictures of crossing Mount Mitchell from east to west – the shadows are beginning to get a little long – and the sun going down on Greeneville airport.

Great flight today flying around NC seeing other Cub Drivers and flying by Chimney Rock. And first time I had a tailwind coming and going as the high moved through during the day. It was a 12 hour day from the time I left to the time I returned home. The most dangerous part today was the return motorcycle ride this evening. And the public thinks flying airplanes is dangerous. I use to enjoy riding on the roads, but I feel safer in the air these days flying over the traffic. One day Kathy and I hope to have our log cabin on our own airstrip where maybe I won't have to get on the roads to go fly.

Stan’s pictures above: L-R: Hickory Nut Gorge, Chimney Rock perched on the NE slope of Sugarloaf Mountain, and the Rock framed in the struts. I don’t know how Stan finds the time to take pictures!

My reply to Stan: Great! Terrific pictures. Glad y'all had a good time. Thanks again for your help draining my fuel tank. I had to order parts to put my fuel system back together and expect them after the weekend. No flying until then, but the next three days look like no-fly days anyway. (Today, however, is magnificent and I'm on the ground).

Stan again: … here are some more pictures you might want to use ... Thanks for the gas and I would have loved to have help you put the Steve’s gascolator on, but I'm sure you got plenty of help there, did you ever take that valve apart to see if it was just a bad o-ring inside?... (partly … I just decided to get a new one). Flight back from Shelby ended up to be 1:20 beating the original plan by ten minutes and keeping me legal. Next time I come down when the winds are calm I'll have to fly that route with Kathy during the morning so the sun shines on Chimney Rock. Noticed the leaves are still green there, so there might be time for more colors there.

Stan got pictures of Richard and Cliff flying in company and the two Cubs together on Jerry’s airport.

Stan: Its a lot of fun flying to 0A7 except for the Class C airspace (Asheville). I just about got all the landmarks figured out to stay out of it even if I don't have a GPS. After I cross the mountains at the TN/NC border at 5500' aim straight for Sugar Loaf until I pass the city and turn round the big golf course and fly direct to airport through the saddle.
Wow, I've learned a lot hanging out with you guys and looking at the differences in all the J3 in that area. Now I have some modifications to make to our airplane.

There’s always something you want to do to make your airplane either better or more original. With 4 other Cubs on our airport, each has a little something different or better. Mine is a “50 foot” airplane because it looks OK from 50’ away.

Stan’s a Flight Instructor, too, and had a fellow approach him about instruction in “conventional landing gear” airplanes. That means the main wheels are in front and there’s a little wheel under the tail, thus the more commonly used “taildragger” nickname. Taildragger pilots walk proudly, but are always a little paranoid … the airplanes they fly have evil intent and will swap ends in a heartbeat. To get an idea of how this works, the next time you have a little room in grocery store parking lot stand in front of your (empty) cart and give it a healthy push backwards. It won’t go far before the front end of the cart swings around and eventually runs amok, smashing into cars. In airplanes, it’s called a ground loop, in grocery cart terms it’s called, at best, “instructive”. Either could result in an insurance claim but having to endure the embarrassment of ground looping in front of other pilots is cruel and unusual punishment.

Stan: Well I signed him off, but cautioned him on the differences on his Der Jeger experimental one seater (if I had the other computer working I'd send ya a picture). Made another friend and someday we'll fly down there together and show him Hendersonville or whenever you guys make it up this way we'll go to his airport in Johnson City. It was kinda a neat day, I drove over to Johnson City airport and we flew to Greeneville in his C-150. Then we transitioned to the J3, gosh I had to re-learn how to get into the front seat. Everybody was laughin at me being turned into a pretzel. Fun, Fun day!

I filled my days last week with stuff around the house and finally got all the parts together to finish hooking up all the pipes in my fuel system. Of course, the weather turned nasty on the day I wanted to fill the tank and do a little test flying, but I have something to look forward to … We’re in the first week of November now and Stan decides to take to the air before a cold front reaches him:

Finally, Stan: Just couldn't resist a solo flight yesterday around the Johnson City area. The weather was moving in from Knoxville and I figured I would just fly in the pattern today. After a very exciting takeoff with wind shear and turbulence I made one landing before heading out towards Buffalo Mountain. First I wanted to find where Decker field was and I found it right next to the Corn Maze off highway 107. Then that fire burning near one of our houses in Carter/ Unicoi County, in fact the smoke was blowing right into the neighborhood, got my attention so I flew over Buffalo Mtn. to investigate. Interesting how it was burning as I was getting bounced around all those little mountains in the area. I flew around the north east side and dove from 4500' down to about 2500' under the smoke layer. Flying around the neighborhood once, before making a quick stop and go at Johnson City Airport as I was racing the weather approaching my home airport now. Oh, how I hated looking to the west as it was getting darker, but the wind seemed to be in my favor and I was closing in on Greeneville faster than the weather. Was wondering how the winds would be down there? I'm 10 miles out and I can see the rain shafts starting on either side of my flight path as I'm letting other traffic know of my approach to Runway 23. There is no other traffic in the area so I maneuver for a long final approach to get me down quicker before the rain starts. Good stiff crosswind on final but little if any turbulence, so this ought to be a fun landing. I prefer landing on one wheel to improve my skill and see how long I can roll on it before the others eventually touchdown.
Oh, while flying around the neighborhood I did see the bright orange jack-o-lanterns on the front porch. Kathy said a funny last night, I had previously bought some Halloween M&Ms for her and she said, "Since it is no longer Halloween, they are now Harley-Davidson M&Ms".

With guys like Stan and Richard around, even virtual flying is fun.

Ahhhh, flying is best in the fall of the year

2011-10-12T11:08:00.002-04:00

I’m just crazy about leaves changing color, the first crisp temperatures after summer, wood smoke from chimneys (yeah, I know, raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens). Pardon me for getting all sappy on you but I love the fall of the year, and especially flying in haze-free skies when you can see clear from here to there.

Fly-ins are fun in the fall. Normally I’m all over them but with my travel schedule this year I had to attend through the eyes of friends. Here, with all his comments and a few notes from me in blue, is my friend, Stan’s, outing to Camden SC and the Vintage Aircraft Association fly-in, held on October 6-9, 2011.

This fly-in was put on by the VAA 3 (Vintage Aircraft Association) in Camden, SC. We had beautiful weather except for some gusty winds out of the east on our return trip home. When we left on Friday, we were in a hurry to get there due to the lack of sunlight left. We took off at 1400 and had until about 1900 before we would turn into a pumpkin. Light Sport rules do not allow us to fly at night, which is what I currently fly under with no medical. So our direct flight route to our first refueling spot (Shelby, NC) took us right over Mt Mitchell, NC which normally I/we avoid due to the dangerous turbulence. On Friday the winds were very calm, we were at 7500' clearing the ridge by 900', so we flew direct to Shelby which took 1.6 hours and 6 gallons of fuel. We refueled quickly, in 20 minutes we were back in the air and flew another 1.6 hours to Camden, SC arriving with an hour to spare and set our campsite up and eat barbecue prior to darkness.

[left to right, above: Fall in the Mountains crossing from TN to NC; Crossing Mount Mitchell, highest point in NC and also highest point east of the Mississippi; The new terminal at Shelby NC]

One side note, I entered the USAF 30 years ago on this day October 7, 1981. So I have completed my 10 years of inactive reserve and no longer can be recalled...at least under the current rules. We'd be in pretty bad shape if the government needed me anyhow.

[Sunset at Woodward Field]

[Pictures above: Sunrise in the campground; Dawn Patrol Fly-by.]

Woodward Field at Camden SC trained a lot of American and British pilots during the years 1941-1944. Bob Morgan, aircraft commander of the Memphis Belle did his primary training here. For more information on the Southern Aviation School, go to: http://www.kershawcountyhistoricalsociety.org/PDFs/WoodwardFieldandtheSAS.pdf

Airplane pictures! Gotta put in some airplane pictures! Run your cursor over the pictures to get a description or click to enlarge:

They were really impressed with how much we packed in the little J3 Cub. We got the Best of Show award for that reason I believe and that we attended the banquet and flew the farthest, another award. Saturday is when all the other airplanes came in for the day. We had 2 Champs, a Taylorcraft, a Citabria, and a Cessna camp out with us the first night.

[Kathy waiting for her date and Stan (also called Griz) in front of the historical society building – the old Kershaw County courthouse - where the VAA banquet was held. They won Best in Show!]

[Packed and ready to go!]

It was cool in the morning and the next night we were the only ones left camping. Did not really realize how cold it was until we left. After starting and taxing to the run-up area I was surprised to see the oil temperature only slightly above 60F, we want it normally above 90F for run up and takeoff. So it must have been cold, but we didn't notice it as we slept warm. It really doesn't get my attention until I see frost or ice.

The flight back we were rewarded with a tailwind component seeing 80 knots avg. on the ground-speed. When I turned to divert over Gaffney, SC to show Kathy the Peach Water Tower off of I-85 we saw over 93 knots on the ground-speed. We then landed in some gusty winds at our friends airport (29NC) for lunch. After recovering from a really bad headache we took off downhill with a tailwind (yuck) and flew over to Shelby for fuel for the last time.

[Horse track just north of Woodward Field – there are a lot of horsey things at Camden; The Peach at Gaffney SC – a landmark on I-85; an old railroad bridge in SC. This is what Cubs are best at: Sightseeing. Jerry’s home strip at 29N; Cubs waiting for pilots and So Long ‘til next time.]

We then flew over to Hendersonville, NC and had about an hour to look at their museum there (Very Nice, plan on coming back). Looking at buying a new motorcycle there also, if I get it it will be a radical one, only drawback is I may look big on it. I'm still shrinking with age so maybe I'll grow into it. LOL

[Kathy showing off her new jacket – a VAA door prize – at Hendersonville NC; Inside the WNC Air Museum; and a couple of kids just having fun!]

Here’s a shameless plug for the Museum – Come on in! http://www.wncairmuseum.com

As always we were pushing sunset and had a bouncy takeoff from the grass strip there and gusty winds again which didn't go away until we got to 6500'. We had a little time left so I showed Kathy a landing on the grass field in Chucky, TN before landing back at our home airport. Nothing is easy, even after a long day, another crosswind landing. Kathy thinks all my landings are nice, but she doesn't realize how much I have to work back there to keep it straight and right side up.

Griz & Cubby

Stan titles this one “God’s Artwork” – a fitting end to a wonderful trip.

Thanks, Griz.

Checking Airspeed

2011-09-30T16:11:00.004-04:00

There's a great article in the September 2011 issue of Sport Aviation about how to rig up a homemade manometer for checking your airspeed indicator. Since I was a budding scientist (and haunted science fairs and other geeky events) before I became a theatre major , such things interest me and I had to make one of my own for my own amusement as much as anything.

Note the intriguing tangle of tubing, the symphony of scales, all the neat lines and squiggles and numbers. Ah, 'tis a veritable work of art.

Then come the usual caveats. Nothing can be accomplished in the world of science without caveats.

First and foremost, the scientist has to have a point of beginning for the experiment and rules to give him a stable platform on which to build his argument. No experiment can merit serious consideration without these essential ingredients.

Next, a convenient means of measurement must be provided in order for the scientist to gauge the success of his experiment. This is done by reference to convenient numbers placed in very scientific fashion here and there so as to lend credence to the scientist's work. In this case, those numbers refer to air pressures converted to airspeeds and begin to mean something when the scientist adds colored water to the tubing (paying careful attention to the amount) and applies pressure to an open end by carefully blowing into the tubing. When enough pressure is applied, the open end of the tubing is sealed by either crimping the tubing or, more often, by plugging the end with the scientist's tongue. This hurts like blue blazes after awhile and leads to verbal exchanges with the second member of the scientific team that are right comical at times.

Every self-respecting scientist has an alternate means of compiling his data, so in the event a level, stable platform cannot be achieved in the beginning this blue scale shows the total difference between fluid levels in each tube and converts this differential to an airspeed. Since we are dealing with arguably the most commited scientists, to wit: pilots, every opportunity to achieve a result must be explored. Newton, Bernoulli, Boyle ... none of these guys could fly and we still remember their names. Go figure.

All in all, the manometer experiment was a success. My airspeed indicator is fairly accurate and the system leak rate is acceptable. For a much better explanation of how to build and use a simple manometer, you'd be smart to check Sport Aviation for September. Maybe this link will work:

http://www.sportaviationonline.org/sportaviation/201109#pg98

What I missed: The Antique Airplane Club of Greater New York annual Fly-In (2011)

2011-08-24T09:52:00.001-04:00

You want to tell God a joke? Make a plan.

I had every intention of flying the Cub north from NC to NY for the Fly-In at Bayport Aerodrome, then life got in the way. Gino called me from the Sheep Shagger Baaa, where the airplane and hangar keys are locked away for the night and merriment abounds. I talked to Bill and Bill and heard many serious discussions of aviation engineering, aerodynamics, and physics in the background, mostly pertaining to the results of bomb drops and spot landings, punctuated by laughter. Oh, how I miss these great people. I missed the Plane Janes, too, but you don’t have to.

Order a calendar!

There were great airplanes:

Ace’s N3N is always a big hit. The big Wright engine, the collection of leftover blimp parts…..

Bill’s Brunner-Winkle Bird was joined by two others – a rarity in itself, you seldom see three in one place (The pic of the red airplane is from the Cradle of Aviation web site, but it was there).

And what would a fly-in be without Stearmans?

…Or the iconic Piper Cub?

Feeling their way to the stripe in the spot landing contest …

And always a committee to grade the landings ….

Stu in the Auster and Steve in the Fleet … you don’t see these every day except at Bayport.

Airplanes snugged down for the night …

Thanks (& a tip of the hat) to Annemarie and Stuart for the great pictures.

See you next year!

The Walter Mitty Cub, or Armchair Flying

2011-08-22T15:26:00.001-04:00

Oh, how I love an adventure! Last summer I looked at a Piper Cub trip from Washington State to North Carolina and thought it would be the flight of a lifetime (which it would have been) but timing, that fickle quash, overrode my plans. The Bonanza had to go first and on the other end the Cub had to go so it became a race to the sale and the Cub won. Dang it. The Bonanza eventually sold (see February’s post) but it was too late for this participant. I found another Cub near my own backyard but the allure of flying through the high mountains of the west still strikes a chord in me.

Enter the internet and a website for Cub enthusiasts and wishful thinkers at www.j3-cub.com . There is a forum thereon called “Cub Talk”, which is open to general discussion of all things Cub-related and where a younger-than-me United Airlines captain opened up a thread that became one of the longer ones on the site. The “New Boy Buying J3” led not only to his finding a fine airplane but to his embarkation upon a four-day trip from Lincoln NE to Southern California.

This doesn’t give all the zigs and zags of his route, but you get the general idea. His destination wasn’t Palm Springs, either, but it’s close. The straight line flight would have been just over 1,000 miles; the route he had to take to wind through the mountains and to stay near highways across the desert ended up nearly 1,400 miles. Lucky guy (obviously the beneficiary of airline luck), he had tailwinds a lot of the way! I never have tailwinds.

With today’s satellite technology and a nifty little hand-held device sending sparks to space and back, we were able to track the progress of the flight all the way from Lincoln to his home field. The gadget sent his position every 10 minutes and with a little interpretation you can tell he stopped for fuel between position 38 and position 44, at Buckeye AZ, just west of Phoenix. To add a little more realism, I pulled up Google Earth and traced the route over satellite pictures of the terrain. I can’t wait to see his pictures.

My wife tells me I’m nuts for watching NASCAR races but I haven’t seen a race yet that has captured my imagination like this flight in a little yellow airplane.

Maybe next year.

The Future

2011-07-30T16:47:00.002-04:00

When it’s a beautiful day, there’s just nothing better than an Airplane Ride! Cousin Charlie’s wife, Marian’s, nephew and family spent a few days in North Carolina recently and after all the swimming and freezing in mountain streams, after all the hiking and climbing and doing stuff, there was this Big Secret High Adventure thing left to do … the boys played all their cards to find out what it was, but no telling. By the time they got to the airport and the Secret was out, they were wired … and boy, was it fun!

Daemion (age 12) was first and climbed right in … we spent about 15 minutes in the air, first circling over the airport so we could wave to everybody, then departed the pattern from the crosswind to do a little hands-on flying! He picked it right up.

Charlie and Papa and Ty (age 8) and Lisa were the cheering section …

Then it was Lisa’s turn

…and she learned why the control stick is called a “joy stick” … we had a great ride, just like Daemion’s.

Then it was Ty’s turn …

That open door was a little too open, so we closed it before launch … that was better … a lot more comfortable for a first time Cub flyer … (the door was open again by the time we were taxiing in after our flight).

The only trouble was …. it was over too soon.

What’s so great about today?

And the best of all, a self portrait:

There is nothing, simply nothing, that is half so much worth doing as messing around in a Cub.

Why I like country airports

2011-06-18T16:18:00.007-04:00

I guess I like country airports because:

I remember the Father's Day Fly-Ins at Talmage's on Long Island ... and the Cub I left behind when I retired from my day job.

I like my hometown airport in North Carolina because I can look up at the sound of a radial engine and watch a Stearman land right in front of me ...

Then another one lands right behind him ...

What a beautiful sight ... owned by a couple of guys just out for a good time on a good day ...

John throws a hot dog shindig with all the fixins a couple of times a year ...

John and his sister make you feel at home ... and Carleton tries to look innocent with that second hot dog ...

Life at country airports takes on a whole new meaning. I've spent a fair amount of time at airports over the last 40 years, some of them friendly, some of them not so much ... and I've decided that if all that time I spent at the not-sos made it possible to be here, then it wasn't time wasted at all.

The Latest Great Adventure

2011-06-04T17:10:00.002-04:00

Max (the Cub – a baby bear, as in Max Baer … I guess you had to be in on that naming ceremony) & I flew from Zephyrhills to Hendersonville NC ... 6.9 hours total flying time with stops at Lake City, Swainsboro GA, and Anderson SC. All is well. I had to tweak a couple of things along the way (the gascolator set screw decided to back off a little and spring a fuel leak but I snugged it down and the leak stopped - I'm going to order a "Steve's" gascolator from Oregon and that will be a permanent fix) ... one of the planned fuel stops turned out to be deserted and no fuel at all so I had to stretch the second leg a bit but all turned out OK by the grace of God. Thank heaven the gascolator leak started on the next leg!

One thing in particular struck me as I motored along my very familiar route … the air was decidedly free of airplanes, and it a beautiful Sunday afternoon! The economy, I suppose. That’s what they all say. Time was, you had to wait in line at a gas pump or you’d hear four or five airplanes at a time on the radio in a local airport traffic pattern … sadly, not now. Maybe somebody who knows a little something about economics will wake up some day with an AHA! moment or an attack of good sense and realize that the aviation community is down to its seed corn … that’s country folks’ language, meaning that further attrition of our general aviation pilots, mechanics, support facilities and suppliers will plunge our nation into an aviation depression from which we will have a very hard time recovering. No seed corn eventually means no corn at all and the handwriting’s on the wall.

The airplane is in its hangar at the Western North Carolina Air Museum at Hendersonville and I believe I’ll go out and clean up some oil drips ... don't know yet where they are coming from but that's pretty typical of a newly rebuilt engine as you know ... all the parts have to wiggle around a little before you can finally tighten everything up where they'll stay in place.

There are some airframe parts to check out ... the oil pressure gauge and the oil temp gauge seem to be accurate and they are the most important ones anyway ... all the rest bounce around quite a bit and need to be looked at. Again, pretty typical of parts that sat in storage for almost 60 years and no way of knowing for sure just what effect all that time may have had. Could be they just need to be exercised a few times ... that's happened before.

I have a good airplane. Now it's at home on a grass runway with 4 other Cubs and 3 others within a few minutes' flying time so it's in good company. I wrote in a notebook many years ago that I had a dream of a grass runway full of little yellow airplanes and people having fun. I guess dreams really do come true.

Back in the Saddle again!

2011-04-09T08:52:00.004-04:00

There are some itches that just have to be scratched.

We know this from staying in third world hotels and watching baseball. Aside from those annoying skin irritations, there are itches that go deep and result in either eventual treatment (thankfully without penicillin or rabies shots) or the pain of unrequited love ...

Piper Cubs are an itch like that.

After almost five years, with other airplanes in between, I'm back in a Cub. This time, in company with the best company a man could have, my son, John.

We made our first formation flight last week from Leesburg FL to Zephyrhills, where my airplane will undergo some beauty treatments before heading for the mountains and the Western North Carolina Air Museum. The air was clear and cool and smooth, the world laid out before us. He was rock-steady, holding heading and altitude perfectly. I was all over the place. His landings were better, too. I can't stand it.

For now, Max (my wife likes to name airplanes – this one is Max Baer) is in his hangar at Zephyrhills awaiting the expert hands of my friend and ace steel-tube, dope and fabric guru to work his magic.

Max, the bear.

Ralph

2011-03-12T16:44:00.005-05:00

I met Ralph Bishop over 30 years ago at the little airport in my home town of Hendersonville NC. Ralph is an A&P, IA, and knows more about steel tube, wood and fabric airplanes and old engines than just about anybody I know. He got a special award in December, The Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award for 50 years of violation-free service as an airplane mechanic.

Ralph and a copy of his award

He got to thinking about it and December 9, 2010, was 60 years to the day that he joined the Air Force, so it has a double significance for him. Ralph is a pilot and flight instructor, too, but his heart is in the innards of flying machines.

If you happen to have an old airplane and need some help as you pass by western North Carolina, give Ralph a call. He's in the book.

Congratulations, old friend.

Bye Bye Birdie

2011-02-12T07:52:00.004-05:00

She's gone. Sold to a young fellow from Florida who has the talent (ATP, A&P, IA) and the time to finish the restoration of this magnificent airplane. I just wasn't flying her enough and there's something about my Scottish heritage that deplores waste ... (then, there's the Irish side that loves a good time - the two are constantly at war).

The Next Good Thing is out there - maybe another Cub, maybe an amphib, definitely a Light-Sport Airplane. I learned after more than a few years that flying is my thing, not Anina's. To Go Up and Look Down - maybe the title of my next book. Of course I have to finish the first one, first.

So long, Harry.

2011-01-13T13:30:00.003-05:00

The problem with old friends - We joked that the emphasis was on the "old" - is that they eventually head west.

I liked Harry Gunther. He was always nice to me and an affable sort. He could engage in spirited debate at times. Harry was a retired machinist and flew as a crewmember in the Navy version of the B-24 during the unpleasantness of the 1940s. Shown here with his beloved Aeronca Champ at a Father's Day fly-out to Talmage Farm on Long Island.

Looking for ... what?

2010-11-17T08:39:00.008-05:00

I decided it was time to pull myself out of the quagmire of the landbound and drove (!) over to the east coast of Fla to look at a Light-Sport airplane to replace the Bonanza (which isn't sold yet, but don't tell HER). These pictures are from Trade-a-Plane, a thrice-monthly paper that has been THE source for dreamers since the 1930s:

Long story short, I like it. Short story long, there are a couple of things about it that I'd like to change: There is a console that runs between the seats and flares out to meet the instrument panel. I wish the designers (who obviously were trying to make it more car-like) hadn't done that because it rubs against the outside of my knee to an uncomfortable extent.

The other thing is easily adjustable - when the heels of my size 12s are resting on the floorboard the balls of my feet are in contact with the brakes (rudder pedals these days are hinged so that the top part of the pedal is the brake pedal - each foot controls its respective brake. In the old days the brakes were heel pedals, making for an interesting ballet when landing). Maybe I'm just picky. This from a guy who used to drive English cars. Go figure.

So longer story than intended, shorter, I didn't buy it. Not that I wouldn't, I just didn't. Maybe the right airplane for me hasn't come along yet.

Tick tock, tick tock

2010-10-15T13:18:00.000-04:00

Time flies when you're having fun ... when you're not having fun, time goes by in ticks and tocks, and especially when you are waiting for the FAA medico to review your special issuance medical status. This is the fourth time I've had to rally forth with wings in hand to seek a release to take an FAA medical exam and it's not fun.

This week I had had enough.

Much as I hate to do it, the Bonanza is up for sale.

I moved the airplane to Ft Myers for my son to fly until it's either gone or he buys it.

The Clearwater hanger will be vacated at the end of the month (after all that waiting to finally get a good hangar!)

From now on, I'm flying as a Sport Pilot. No more of these unnecessary hassles with the FAA. I am the first to ground myself if the least little thing comes up - a cold, even - but the bureaucracy grinds on and must be fed.

The day will come - and quickly - when Mom and Dad want to fly to Grandma's for Christmas and there will be no pilots to fly them. The government has seen to that with their manipulation of circumstances that have jacked up the cost of flying to a point where civilian student starts are in the dumper and established pilots are hanging up their wings - and dreams. The military will fill pilot seats for awhile, but then what? These cycles have come and gone over the years, I know, but I really don't want it to come down to a robot flying an airplane with me in it ... even if they do say that nothing can possibly go wrong ... go wrong ... go wro

The Full Monty - Pilots bare all for the love of their airplanes

2010-10-13T07:44:00.004-04:00

It started as simple fun. The Antique Airplane Club of Greater New York and their fair ladies get together on Wednesday evenings for wine and cheese and somebody said something about "Let's take our clothes off and sell calendars" and that got the ball rolling. Sort of. I actually made that up but it's not outside the realm of possibility.

www.aacgny.org/store.asp

And for the video of "The Making of..." go to:

www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=437396224857&ref=mf

There I was, flat on my back at 20,000 feet, Messerschmitts all around ….

2010-06-21T22:37:00.008-04:00

… or at least that’s the way the stories begin. This is a Kinner story. Same drum roll, same breathless anticipation. One of my Bayport Aerodrome friends has a shirt that reads something like: “Living on the edge; Flying Kinner, Driving Jaguar”. You may get my drift.

Kinner engines were great engines in their day. Early versions – we call them “Beta Versions” today - began flying on Kinner airplanes in the early 1920s (Amelia Earhart’s first airplane was a Kinner). The company folded in the 1930s but the engines enjoyed a rebirth and served well during World War II, primarily on training airplanes. Alas, age is catching up with them. Parts and mechanics who work on Kinners are dwindling. The relative few still flying inspire an increasingly exclusive cadre of aficionados, much like Edsel owners. The main difference between Kinner and Edsel is the size of the story in the papers when one of them stops running.

The subject line in one of Bill’s emails caught my eye:

“first a vibration, then an explosion, then a forced landing, and then a big smile when i saw my cylinder head and exhaust pipe hanging from my shielded ignition wire”

Having pulled this particular prop through a few times during an “Armstrong” start, I was somewhat interested in what might follow in the email.

That’s the #5 (I think) cylinder hanging below the engine in the middle of a farmer’s field somewhere in eastern Pennsylvania.

Bill again: “This is the third time I had to bring this aeroplane home in a truck....this makes forced landing # 7 mAYBE i SHOULD TAKE UP A NEW HOBBY LIKE WATCHING TELEVISION.....Then when they find me dead they'll say at least he was bored to death.” Bill got a little excited there and started shouting … after a few of these I’d shout too.

Oh my. Should I snitch on Bill about the time his prop caught on fire or the time he landed on the only reasonable clearing to be had (a golf course)?? I dare not. When the Bird is back in the air, I want to be in it with him. I expect there will be some engine work on the calendar before that happens. Hopefully, it'll look more like this:

There are other Kinner stories to be told by those who fret behind them as they go across the clear blue with the distinctive sound of their exhaust. The engine turns relatively slowly in comparison to today’s piston aircraft engines … This video link is of a Kinner mounted on a test stand ... I just like the sound of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6--ofsKe7Y&feature=related

I have my preferences when starting the engine on Bill’s Bird … set the prop at the desired position (about the 8 o’clock position when facing toward the engine from the front), call for brakes and “contact” (switches on), then steadily pull the prop through while walking away and to the right from the engine … the magneto ignition is equipped with an “impulse” coupling that produces a snap of spark that starts the engine and the ignition will take the prop right out of your hand. I read that from a Richard Bach book and it works for me every time. Of course it helps to have an experienced hand like Bill at the throttle – he likes to keep his idle speed slow. Too fast an idle can get really exciting for the fellow who is hand-propping the engine.

I miss being around Bayport. Old airplanes and old engines fascinate me but those things can be bought and sold. What I really miss is the people who fly them and work on them and bring smiles to passengers and passers-by, young and old. That can’t be bought for any money.

Fly safe ….

For more about Bert Kinner, his airplanes and engines, take a look at:

http://www.amtonline.com/publication/article.jsp?id=4600&pubId=1

Alex

Alex in Treasure Land

2010-06-01T17:58:00.003-04:00

Imagine that you have been given a gift so wonderful and so magical that you could spend all your days in the pure enjoyment of it … then imagine that your gift brings enjoyment to other people, makes a difference in their lives, gives purpose and pleasure and (in some cases) direction. You love to share your gift and, in sharing, your gift becomes a gift to others.

Now let’s say that your gift is partly a talent – a talent for creating pictures on canvas or paper in oil paints or acrylics or pencil and you spent six years teaching art to high school students at Oak Ridge High School in Orlando, Florida. Your students loved you and when a local defense contractor ran a contest, you entered a rendering of the Space Shuttle that blew away all competition. The company thought so much of your work that they offered you a job doing something you really love to do – creating pictures on canvas or paper with oils or acrylics or pencil.

Now let’s say your gift is also partly a gift of flight which developed into a lifelong love of airplanes and especially antique airplanes and let’s say your name is Richard E. Thompson and you channeled some of your artistic skill into the mysteries of metalwork and woodwork that brought life to eight old airplanes and helped bring to life more than that. On top of an impressive resume of tangible accomplishment in the worlds of art and airplanes, Rick Thompson has a love of history and the love of a patriot for his Country.

This brings me to Rick’s discovery of a 1934 Fairchild Model 24 C8C in Soldotna, Alaska, where it had been stored as a project since 1995. Alaska is a good place to restore an airplane because it gets real dark and real cold during the long winter months, an ideal environment for a long-term airplane restoration (preferably indoors). There are also a lot of resourceful airplane people in Alaska who know how to make parts and put things back in working order. The Fairchild eventually became an impractical idea as a bush restoration and so in 2008 Rick was able to buy it after 21 years of service, then 53 years as a derelict.

The airplane didn’t look anything like the picture above (of a restored C8C at the Hiller Museum in San Carlos CA) when Rick found it. It was, in that coded parlance of optimists, a “basket case” … bits and pieces collected for the purpose of reassembly but, for Rick and his historian’s sensitivity, the airplane has a story; once owned by a timber company in Idaho and used to keep tabs on the many and various lumber camps that were its domain. One of the airplane’s duties involved the transportation of the payroll to the camps. The workers were paid in gold, so a special compartment was built into the floor of the airplane to carry the payroll – more about this later. A freak windstorm caught the airplane on the ground and flipped it on it back, crushing the rudder, rudder post and doing significant damage to the right wing. It hasn’t flown since 1955. Its journey to Alaska was via one Ed “Skeeter” Carlson of Spokane, WA, who had once flown the airplane and who bought the wreck from the timber company in 1960. Skeeter and the man from Alaska, Frank Hinrikson ... Both very well known and highly skilled in aircraft restoration ... got busy on other projects and did not have time to begin restoration on the C8C. Rick found an opportunity to exercise his talents and skills and so a deal was struck, the parts catalogued, containerized and shipped by sea and train and land to Zellwood, Florida, where it was unloaded, re-catalogued and laid out for further evaluation in preparation for restoration.

Rick doesn’t live all that close to Zellwood and the 60+ mile, hour + drive each way became a drag on the project. Enter friends – always welcome but especially so when it comes to a multi-year commitment to bring life back to an old airplane. Some space was found closer to home, so the Fairchild was loaded on a flatbed truck, parts were gathered and moved to the neighborhood of dreams – Orlando (home of Disney World, Universal Studios, swampland salesmen and alligators, reptilian and human). Dreams are made and discarded minute by minute in this environment but as a Floridian Rick has seen enough of schemes to know which are real and which aren’t. The Fairchild is real and taking shape piece by restored or rebuilt piece.

If you are going to rebuild a 1934 Fairchild 24 C8C, you find very quickly there is a LOT of woodwork to be done. It probably helps to meet someone at a family funeral who turns out to be a cousin who also happens to make violins in his spare time! Enter Tim Bandy – cousin, new friend and violinmaker – and you now have a couple of artisans at play.

Oh, and while you’re at it, it REALLY HELPS A LOT if you have a wonderful wife and partner - Rose - who happens to have an artist’s hands and skills with needle and thread and fabrics (and who is interested – really interested – in her husband’s aviation affliction). She also makes a great lunch. From left to right, Tim, Rose and Rick take a minute’s break to pose for history. Rick’s sons, Scott and John, were also there when I visited. This is truly a family affair. Adding to the picture, Tim and Rick had heard the same story from their respective sides of the family – that they are distant cousins of none other than Amelia Earhart. Yes friends, this is a real story.

Enter my best friend of over 50 years, David Tooker, shown above inspecting the woodwork, who met Rick when they were teaching at Oak Ridge. David’s father owned the Silver Springs (Fla) Air Park from the fifties to the seventies. I pedaled my ’57 Schwinn six miles to hang around there in the low-raftered building, listening to pilots talk about their wartime and peacetime flying experiences. Every now and then if I hung around long enough, they’d let me get them a beer from the refrigerator or wash their airplanes. David introduced Rick and me at the Sun-n-Fun Fly-In at Lakeland several years ago but it was a glancing blow and it wasn’t until yesterday’s visit that I knew much about Rick. David had been telling me about the Fairchild project but hadn’t seen it for himself. We thought the airplane was still at Zellwood (a PERFECT reason to fly the Bonanza) but as it turned out, the airplane had been moved last year to Orlando, an easy drive for both of us.

There is a lot of new wood in Rick’s airplane and a fair amount of old wood, considering the age and itinerary of the parts and pieces. Rick strives to keep the airplane as original as possible, so if a part can be reconditioned, it is. The steel tube frame (which Rose glass bead blasted) is finished with 2-part epoxy. Only one small section of lower tubing had to be replaced due to having burst from water freezing – overall, the metal is in remarkably good shape.

The spruce stringers are finished with 4 coats of 2-part epoxy varnish and provide aerodynamic and aesthetic contour to the slab-sided steel tube frame.

Each stringer was produced in one piece from 1”X 7” X 22’ spruce boards, routed to shape matching the 1934 samples found in the airframe. Each was then catalogued and notes were made about the position of knots or other imperfections so that when a stringer was selected for installation, its eventual position on the airplane was predetermined. Such is the level of intense planning and preparation that goes into Rick’s restoration.

There are a lot of brass nails and straight slotted screws that go into an antique airplane that is largely made of wood!

The fore and aft stringer bulkheads are faced with oak to provide additional strength.

Entertainment is provided by a vintage Philco AM-Shortwave radio. The clock hands didn’t move while I was there – time stood still.

… Rick relies on his quite workable iMac for pictures and handwritten notes on kraft paper.

Remember the “gold box” that the timber company built into the floor of the airplane for the payroll? Skeeter asked Rick if he was going to keep the gold box under the 3^rd seat and, of course, he did. The early F-24s were originally 3-place airplanes; as is this model. Later models with larger engines were 4-place airplanes.

While cleaning the oil tank, Rick found this cap and cleaned it up … all ready for 3 gallons of Gargoyle Mobil Oil to keep the 145 horsepower Warner Super Scarab purring along.

I didn’t want to leave Rick’s corner of the world but David and I had eaten their food and distracted him, Rose, Tim, Scott and John long enough. It was a pleasure to meet them all and to be introduced to “Amelia”, as the Fairchild is to be named.

A few notes of interest:

The first owner of the Fairchild was the father of astronaut and U.S. Senator from Utah, Jake Garn. Jake’s first airplane ride could have easily been in this airplane!

Rick’s other restoration projects included a Ryan PT-22 (winner of “Best Primary Trainer” trophy at the first Sun-n-Fun Fly-In … a North American AT-6 (winner of “Best Trainer” at Sun-n-Fun) , Aeronca Champ and Chief … a DeHavilland Tiger Moth (“Best Primary Trainer” at Sun-n-Fun), a DH 100 Vampire jet, and a highly polished 1946 Cessna 140!

Some of Rick’s paintings can be seen at http://therichardethompsongallery.com/

More on the Fairchild 24 can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_24

Fly safe …

Alex

Flying on a different scale ...

2010-05-13T08:04:00.007-04:00

What better thing to do on a beautiful spring day than take a ride to Triple Tree Aerodrome at Woodruff, South Carolina, for the Joe Nall model airplane meet? Campers, motor homes, airplane trailers of all description, size and length make this journey every year - it's truly the premier meet for model enthusiasts from all over the world.

Once you drive down the tree-lined serpentine driveway and reach the parking areas, it's a short walk to the first of (on my day there) four flight lines: Show Central where most of the really giant scale models show their stuff, The floatplane lake just down the hill, the 3-D area where the really radical dudes and dudettes make airplanes do things that airplanes can't do, and the all-electric area.

The runways are all grass. By grass, I mean like a huge putting green grass. You can see in the picture above where the good stuff starts and it just goes and goes. Come fall when the full-size airplanes arrive for the Triple Tree Fly-In, there had better be some really good landings to keep this beautiful surface intact!

Looking north from Show Central, the lines of airplanes consisted of aerobatic machines for the most part ...

...Looking South from Show Central, there were airplanes as far as the eye could see, all beside that immaculately manicured runway ...

Even Harry was there with his Champ!

This FlyBaby pilot is catching up on some rest after a very long cross-country ...

Further down the line you can catch a glimpse of the floatplane lake and more and more airplanes. By the time we got there over 800 pilots had signed up to fly at the event!

I really like some of the paint schemes - these builders and finishers use a variety of methods, the most popular being actual paint and vinyl appliques.

Both of the above are painted ... the quality of finish work is just remarkable.

Take this L-4 for example ... from the miniature AN cowling clips ...

... to the ribstitching, this airplane was very nicely done and the attention to detail astonishing.

Stu was there in the Cub, of course ... though I can't say I'm all that fond of the trim paint he's put on the tail. Makes it go faster, I guess ... the radical elevator throw is just perfect for practicing his English Bunts.

Son John took this picture of me behind a B-36 just like my cousin-uncle Claude used to fly. Colonel Claude just flew west and it was almost like having him there. This model flew during the midday show and sounded just great.

The featured attraction at the midday show was this 20' wingspan B-29, complete with a Bell X-1 ... and, yes, they drop the X-1 and, yes, it does have a rocket motor which they fire off and, yes, it does climb like a bat out of hell ... The B-29 is a magnificent piece of work.

Cory even showed up with his Spacewalker (although he's made it into a Spacewalker I)

This "razorback" P-47 was a real performer!

Colonel cousin-uncle Claude taxis by on his way for takeoff ...

There is a night show as well ... this airplane is outlined in tiny LED lights - pretty visible even in the bright midday sun.

When Fritts decided to call it a day, so did I ... what a fantastic day at the Joe Nall. For a lot more info and a lot more pictures, videos, etc. try googling Joe Nall model airplane or:

www.joenall.com

The next event is the Western North Carolina Air Fair, June 5-6, 2010. Be there or be square.

Fly safe!

The Towbar Rig

2010-04-13T13:52:00.003-04:00

This "invention" is born of necessity. Actually it's not much of an invention at all, since there are many towbars out there that could do the job. It's just that they are either part, or some or none of the things I wanted. All the thing had to do was make it easier for me to push the Bonanza slightly uphill and over a door track to get it back in the hangar.

The little units that have a gas or electric motor mounted on a single wheel with forks that clamp onto the front axle are really nice but they are expensive! The reason they are expensive is that they're for moving AIRPLANES. Any thing that has AIRPLANE attached to it is expensive. What I did was scrounge up a riding lawnmower ($325 on Craig's List) some adapters from a friend for my axle ($60), a hitch socket from Harbor Freight ($12.95), and thin-wall steel square tubing ($180, including welding). It comes out to about 1/3 the cost of a purpose-built AIRPLANE towmotor AND I can always earn a couple of extra bucks for flying by mowing grass!

Taking the "ail" out of "aileron" and other good stuff

2010-03-10T07:01:00.007-05:00

First, let's take a look at a little airport that can, and does.

Williston, Florida, is a little town located southwest of Gainesville and northwest of Ocala. They have lots of nice, rolling land there which is great for growing crops, cattle, horses and families. They also have an airport, left over from World War II when the government paved a lot of Florida for training bases and antisubmarine patrols. X60 is the identifier.

The city fathers and mothers decided that the airport would be great for growing pine trees and today the renewable pine tree stands pay a handsome dividend for the city. Fortunately, the city Fs and Ms also decided to keep the runways and have improved upon the airport mightily over the past year. New hangars, a new FBO building with all the bells and whistles, a good maintenance shop and a terrific interior shop are all located on the property. I had the interior of my Bonanza done there last year and also had new windows installed by the maintenance shop.

All the improvements will be showcased on March 27, 2010, at the Williston Airport Fly Festival. Click on the picture to get a larger, more readable copy.

I had an opportunity to stop in on my way from home base to North Carolina last week and lo and behold the new airport restaurant is open! While the city owned FBO pumped some fairly priced fuel (3.89 on March 19th), I had some breakfast ....

Carol Bibby (picture below) has a real gem of a place ... they're open for breakfast and lunch every day from 6am-4pm and Friday night they stay open for dinner until 9pm. It's about 200 feet from the FBO, so it's an easy stroll and if the weather is right and you're so inclined you can eat under the outside cover and watch airplanes or spin yarns or whatever.

Here's that picture of Carol. I told her my vast readership would make her famous.

Onward:

When I bought the Bonanza, the right aileron was warped. I knew it at the time ... the airplane flew well enough with it like that but it was a condition I wanted to fix down the road. I began looking around for a replacement last year and finally settled on a rebuilt part through a company I had done business with in the past - Select Airparts of Weyers Cave VA. Select is proof positive of the notion that if you do good work and treat people fairly you can succeed in business even from the boondocks. Long story short, Jay shipped my replacement and Jeff painted and installed it and now I have an airplane that is more stable and a tick or three faster due to drag elimination.

One thing fixed, a few more to go ...

I'm finally in a hangar at my home base of Clearwater Airpark (FL). The hangar is one of the "old ones" that the city relocated from the other side of the field when they found out that golf courses are more popular with politicians than airports. We have golf balls bouncing on the runway all the time (grrrr), but God bless rust - that's the glue that binds these tin boxes together. Long story short - the maintenance on these hangers is nonexistent so the hangar tenants do what we can to try to keep all the parts in alignment. Any attempt to refurbish is promptly rebuffed but we soldier on, fixing here, patching there. On the plus side, it's a great place for hanging out with other dispossessed souls, tinkering with flying machines, etc, and as a side benefit it keeps the airplane out of the Florida sun and wind, which we get a lot of here by the Gulf coast.

One bugaboo I have is that the interior walls of these "T" hangars don't go all the way to the roof, leaving quite a space at the top open for carrying paint overspray, dust, motes of rust, etc from one neighbor to another. A lot of the tenants have closed off these openings in years gone by - mine hasn't been updated, so I'm in the process of doing that, painting the metal walls and eventually will seal the old asphalt floor. The city actually gave me 10 gallons of sealer but a neighbor who has refurbed three of these hangars says that won't go far. (So that's my first rant in a long time and I feel better now.)

Furthermore:

The apron to my new/old hangar slopes a little so that I have to enlist help when pushing the airplane in by hand. There had to be a better way, so I channeled my farmer friend Leland from North Carolina and began cogitating upon the problem and possible solutions thereto. I knew I wanted a towmotor of some kind but the pretty ones cost about 1500 smackers by the time they arrive in Florida with shipping and all. One of the fellows at the Table of Knowledge in Clearwater suggested a riding lawnmower for propulsion and a listing on Craigslist filled that bill ... then I began looking around at towbars. The kind I decided on goes for about $260 from two companies so another suggestion took me over to a steel fabrication shop a couple of blocks from my hangar and I had them weld up my towbar for me. My neighbor, Ron, precision-drilled for the adjusting pins and retaining bolts and we hooked everything up last week -- worked like a charm. My total investment is about a third the cost of the high-priced rig. Pictures may follow.

So that's the story of a great little airport, ailing ailerons, hungover hangars and airplane pushers and pullers so I'm signing off for this month. It's time to dust off the airplane and do a little FLYING!!!

Dope(s) and Fabric

2010-02-28T19:09:00.005-05:00

First on this month's list is Bill's new-old Comanche! Hot diggety! We flew together one day last week and enjoyed it a lot. This is a great machine! Bill has plans for paint and some other goodies which will make it even better. Congratulations!

Bill and Stu picked the best day in a couple of weeks to fly from Fla to New York. At 7,500 feet most of the way the air was smooth as glass.

Bill, Stu and Gino ready to launch the Comanche for the trip to New York.

Next, I signed up for a refresher course in fabric covering at Orlando (where all the snowbirds like to go in February) and it was COLD and WET the first day - like to have frozen in that unheated hangar on Saturday ... it was a little warmer on Sunday. The turnout was good (16 for the fabric workshop) and we got some very good hands-on instruction. Bob's hangar was a great place to learn too, but my last and only lesson was several years ago and I forget stuff like ribstitching and tapes and things like that.

The workshops are put on by EAA through http://sportair.com ... the courses are varied and many and taught by excellent instructors.

I finally got the Bonanza in a hangar at CLW and will have some fun fixing the space up the way I want it.

Fly safe!

..

-Alex-

Gino's Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award

2010-01-18T15:54:00.010-05:00

It was really nice to get a call from Bill to come out to the Clearwater Airpark and have a piece of cake to celebrate Gino's award from the FAA ... Bill drove down from New York especially for the event! (He helped his daughter move, too)

Ed and Bill flew over from Wellington for the festivities and we attended a catered luncheon at Big Fred's House of Boeuf right up the street.

Of course the first comment went along the lines of "who put the Monkey in 'Monkey Wrench'"

All kidding aside, there aren't too many of these given out. The award is named, of course, for the Wright Brothers' mechanic. Gino says he (Gino) taught him (Taylor) everything he knew. I can vouch for his workmanship after he wrought a miracle in Butyrate on my Cub. Rumor has it he knows how to fly, too.

Fortunately, somebody took a picture of the cake before I got there ... there wasn't much left.

The price of annual inspections just went up.

New Year's Day 2010

2010-01-16T11:11:00.003-05:00

What could be better on a New Year's Day than to go flying with a friend?
Craig and Stu launch the Cub for a spin about the patch, so to speak.

Then, what to their wondering eyes should appear but Bill and the Bird! The same Bill who complains that the downwash from the upper wing goes right down the back of his neck in 80 degree weather, goes flying with ICE on the Great South Bay! Note: the front cockpit is EMPTY.

Steve and the Fleet were flying too but I don't have a picture as evidence.

The outer shoreline - no sun worshippers today.

There are stories of intrepid airmen who have landed on ice that forms in the bay but it didn't happen in the 14 years I was there. Global warming, I guess.

My hat's off to these guys who celebrate the fun of flying as often as possible, even when it's a bit chilly.

Mountain Flying

2009-11-18T20:48:00.003-05:00

The finest moments spent are those in the company of good people, or in a good place. There are few places that can compare with the company of my family in the mountains I love, in a good airplane and on a perfect day.

I have a lot to be thankful for.

-Alex-

Triple Tree Fly-In 2009

2009-09-29T19:05:00.002-04:00

This was my first trip to Triple Tree. What a place!

I didn't know if this was a travel trailer and motorhome park ...

A fishing hole ... (they were biting - catch and release)

An airport ....

A manicured golf course ...

... or a family park (kids and pets welcome if they're managed).

The answer is, it's all these things (well, maybe not the golf part) and quite an accomplishment for the owners.

Take a look at their web site: www.tripletreeflyin.com

Now, if the weather would only cooperate. The fly-in runs from Wednesday through Sunday; I was there on Friday and that turned out to be the only decent day - it rained cats and dogs all the rest of the time. Same thing happened last year.

This is a must-do next year.

Fly safely ...

One door closes - Another door opens

2009-09-10T14:42:00.006-04:00

First off ... farewell to Champ! I really enjoyed the airplane during this past year. When I bought Champ (see May 2008 post) I was going through an awful case of taildragger withdrawal, having sold the Cub to friends at Bayport Aerodrome on Long Island. It would have been along way to commute to fly a share of the Cub so I bought Champ to retire to the NC mountains. Then I got bitten by an open cockpit bug. Dadgum bugs, they just seem to keep biting!

Champ Taxis out on one of its last flights at Hendersonville NC ...

There was a fellow at Hendersonville back in the day named Jesse Anglin who, it turned out, designed some really nifty airplanes. He was in good company. A couple of other Hendersonville residents were well known airplane people in their own right - Matty Laird, Leighton Collins, Oscar Meyer (not the hot dog guy) ... Anyway, the story goes, Jesse took a ride with my friend Chet in his PT-19, enjoyed it immensely, and set out to design a homebuilt airplane with the same wind-in-your-hair feeling he had in the PT-19. The result was the Spacewalker. It was a single seat airplane that was built with toughness in mind. A friend in the model airplane business - again, it is said - asked Jesse about a 2-seat version and the Spacewalker II was born

Voila! The Spacewalker II !

Cory and I talked back and forth for several months - he had to quell a family insurrection ... the kids didn't want to see the Spacewalker go! I can imagine. This is an airplane designed for fun .

Unfortunately, it wasn't designed for my long legs. The airplane is just terrific but when I went to get inside I was all squnched up ... by wiggling around I could get in - barely - but couldn't get my feet to work the rudder pedals properly and heels far enough back to use the brakes. I sat in that airplane and was so disappointed. (Cory said he wasn't heartbroken and wrote later that he'd put over an hour on the airplane a couple of days after I left.)

So I keep looking. There is another airplane out there with my name on it.

P.S. If you're ever in south Louisiana near Lake Charles, go to D.I.'s Cajun Restaurant. The food and family are just wonderful.

www.discajunrestaurant.biz

Bayport NY Antique Fly-In !!

2009-08-17T16:02:00.013-04:00

This month we take you back to Bayport, Long Island, NY for the annual Antique Airplane Club of Greater New York Fly-In.

Bayport Aerodrome has been designated a National Historic Site

This sign is a really attractive billboard at the entrance to the Aerodrome.

A prize display is the actual "St. Louis" Curtiss Model 50 "Robin". This airplane set a remarkable record for time aloft. In July 1929, Dale Jackson and Forest O'Brine set an endurance record of 420 hours, 17 minutes in the air, using in-flight refueling. Later, they set a new mark of 647 hours, 28 minutes using the same plane, named St Louis.

Once the flying got underway, airplanes of all descriptions were going aloft. The AACGNY member airplanes are flyers! There are a few that are on museum display only (such as the Robin above) but most are actively flown all year round.

Mario "Yogi" Barra spent his professional life with the airlines and we found him very happy in his retirement, getting his Aeronca Champ ready for some fun flying ...

John and Max had a great time watching the airplanes. John is an instructor who has been bitten by the antique airplane bug.

Oh boy ... now here's a collection. Gene and Ed and President Stu and Dave ...

Kaitlin and Stu on their way to the wild blue yonder ... Stu just loves the Cub, which was pried away from an unsuspecting owner who was about to retire ... (me)

Some of these pictures look eerily like others from earlier posts ... "Ace" had his N3N and Ryerstahl out in the sunshine ...

The Ryerstahl - top of the line fighter in the Royal Vulgarian Flying Corps - is actually a tweaked EAA Biplane, complete with machine gun and - somewhere to be installed - a bayonet.

The south flight line on Saturday afternoon ...

This gorgeous PT-22 just begs for pictures ...

Our Russian colleagues, Vladimir and Andre, found this YaK-18 on the west coast and flew it back to NY ... many hours and 4-5 days. The engine is a Russian version of a Kinner. Brave men. Note the rotation of the engine is clockwise as viewed from the cockpit ... just like the American Kinner. Most engines of Russian manufacture turn the opposite way.

Steve's Fleet 16 with a new engine from Al Ball, exhaust collector and - gasp - a starter!

Here's another picture of the YaK-18 ....

... and the instrument panel from the YaK ...

Boy, was it hot in New York for this fly-in! Temps in the 90s had to be cooled at the Sheep Shagger Baaa ... doesn't this remind you of the bar scene from Star Wars?

Sunday morning was "Pancake Day" and Mike was on hand to cook 'em up ... Dick has a plate full and one of our guests is chowing down ... sorry mate - I didn't get your name.

The north flight line on Sunday morning with Tom and Eileen's pink L-16 right in the middle ...

What a treat to fly with this guy ... Jack is back in Cubs after flying them when they were new and graduating to Air Force transports and TWA ... at TeeWee he flew most of their inventory from Convair 220s to Constellations to the Boeing 747 ... and I got to give him his Biennial Flight Review in the Cub! Welcome back to the low and slow club, Jack, and Happy Landings!

Bayport Aerodrome is located just south of the Sunrise Highway at Bayport NY. For maps and more information about the aerodrome and the Antique Airplane Club of Greater New York, look them up at www.aacgny.org

The Ugly Duckling

2009-07-10T19:01:00.020-04:00

Once upon a time there was a really good Bonanza that had what was left of a dated interior. The seats looked in pretty good shape for the shape they were in and Captain John said he could live with them but I know both of us well enough that a new interior was just around the corner.

The back seats were not too bad ... the front seats were pretty tired ... and the overall yellow and rust and brown just screamed 1970s.

We looked high and low for an interior shop. One shop wanted to re-use our old foam and promised an outstanding result (how?) and a reputable vendor said they'd make up the covers and we could install them ourselves (I know how those things go).

Finally, we settled on Enrique's Custom Upholstery at the Levy County Airport (X60) in Williston FL. Henry (Enrique) and his family came to the US years ago and eventually found their way to a horse farm near Williston. They had been in the upholstery business in Mexico before coming to the United States and after trying to make ends meet for a long time, returned to what they knew best. The transition to aircraft interiors took some time but they have created some beautiful work and have an impressive portfolio. Henry, his wife and son work together in the family business and the work is coming in!

Henry and Dave (Fisher) worked together for a helicopter operator and went out on their own later. They've been in the service hangar for several years and are now leaseholders. The dream is alive for these guys and they work hard - even harder in these historic economic times. Dave installed a new windshield, new front side windows and new door seals while Henry and his family did the interior

The old front seats were not in all that bad of shape. Maybe some slipcovers would have been OK but we'd still be stuck with the sidewall panels and all that yellow.

SHE took one look and decided not to fly in the airplane. It smelled old. The carpet had a lot of old oil in it from who knows when.

Where I saw classic, SHE saw dated.

Son John's bride to be has been tactful enough but I saw something similar there.

There was only one way out.

Henry and Dave to the rescue!

The old interior was removed completely. The old insulation was removed and with that all the "old airplane" odor was effectively gone.

Dave took out the old front side windows and windshield and replaced them with new ones, tinted light grey.

The old insulation was replaced with a new product that is not only a temperature insulator, it also is a noise attenuator. Super soundproofing, he calls it, and it WORKS!

The difference is just astounding.

The new side windows are made without the metal frame that came with the original windows. The difference in the size of the window is really apparent.

I think Henry did a great job of re-shaping the rear seats to bring them into the 21st centuryThe overall effect brightens the airplane considerably and gives it a much more pleasant first impression.

SHE says she likes it.

And I like that.

Air Fair Weekend at 0A7 (Hendersonville NC)

2009-06-07T18:18:00.006-04:00

What Fun! The Air Fair was a great time for everybody. The project is a fund raiser for the Western North Carolina Air Museum - tours of the museum, airplane and helicopter rides, hot dogs and burgers and belly washers of several descriptions ... it's a weekend blast.

The lemonade and ice cream stands are up early - on a warm day those rake in good money for the cause. On Saturday we had 18-20 airplanes fly in before noon ...

It wasn't possible to catch a picture of the airplanes that were flying rides because they weren't on the ground together ... there was a 182, a 172, a Tiger and (of course) Champ ... all together I suspect a couple of hundred rides may have been given to paying passengers at $25 each. The helicopter was busy constantly - a Robinson R44 - no way to know how many he flew because I was busy with Champ ...

The local newspaper photographer snapped this one of Bill and me getting ready for our "Dawn Patrol" flight (OK, it was a little after dawn - we called it an "advertising" flight)

This was my view of the Air Fair most of the weekend. Different hairdos, of course, but you get the idea.

The trees at the south end of the field make for interesting departures when flying rides, so we generally takeoff to the north and make our approach over those trees. With 3000 feet of runway (half paved, half grass) we have plenty of room as long as the pilot minds his airspeed. I like using the grass for landing with Champ, of course.

Sunday was a little quieter but was still a terrific day ... a Bell JetRanger from one of the local racing celebrities dropped by for awhile ...

The kids love riding the museum's ornithopter ... powered by an old farm engine that pops and clatters its way along a taxiway behind the hangars ...

The Air Fair for 2009 is history ... Champ flew 23 paying passengers and gave gratis rides to some of the volunteers ... we won a lot of friends for a friendly little airplane. Talk was heard from some people about learning to fly and from others who were finding possible ways to put together partnerships for some affordable flying fun ... that's what it's all about ...

Fly safe, Y'all.

Springtime is for flying (or ditching made easy)!

2009-05-13T19:18:00.007-04:00

I don't know what's better - flying in springtime or just hanging around the airport watching other people fly ...

Son John (on the left) spends a fair amount of his spring getting ready for the Joe Nall giant scale RC meet at Pat Hartness' place near Woodruff SC ... it's the Oshkosh of giant scale flying. The meet started on a Wednesday this year and the field began filling up on the Sunday before. By Tuesday afternoon, there were over 600 RC pilots registered and a LOT of airplanes.

The rare air John breathes when he's flying a Citation X corporate jet must get to his imagination ... he has an airbrush artist friend who creates some far-out cowling cartoons:

As for dear old Dad, I finally dragged Champ out of the Hendersonville hangar and flew a few takeoffs and landings to get back into the swing of things. There were appreciative scores from the hangar rats as landings equalled takeoffs in reasonably short order. Back in Florida the Bonanza had some work done on it so I gave it a good wash and dried it off in the accepted fashion .....

After so many years flying corporate jets and going to regular recurrent training, I realized with a start that I would be due for a Biennial Flight Review this summer! The recurrent training sessions and new type ratings took care of the requirement for many years and I also realized that I had never taken a stand-alone BFR since the rule was created! I've conducted reviews many times but never took one of my own! Being of healthy attitude and all that, I decided that a good review would be a good thing and also decided it might help if I added a seaplane rating to my ticket ... so it was off to Jack Brown's Seaplane Base at Winter Haven FL for some training, some learning and a dash of positive reinforcement from the great people there.....

Note the birds perched on the wings and tail of my assigned J3C-65S (the 'S' is for Seaplane). I think they took a look at me and decided to add some supplemental lift.

A flip of the prop (performed gracefully from the deck of the float) and we're off and floating.

The course is given at Winter Haven FL year-round. Jon Brown carries on his father's work with well-maintained Cubs - every few years they are hauled out and completely refurbished.

The old guy got some great instruction from Lauren. I haven't had that many takeoffs and landings in a short period of time in many years! The Seaplane Rating is mine at last!

Fly safe, Y'all!

Forward ...... MARCH!

2009-03-21T17:43:00.008-04:00

Well, if it's March 09, it must be 6 months after hanging up the jet keys and letting the kids have all the fun.

Here I am, recruiting a new pilot to the fold. Note the technique of enticement, a small bit of cheese-stuffed hotdog in hand. Typical recruit ... the bugger gave my fingers a nasty rasp with his beak which quickly got ugly but finally healed.

Since March comes only one month before April (I counted), I have to practice for my checkride in the Wright Flyer if the simulator comes to Sun-n-Fun again ...

Even after applying all the skills of a theatre major (apologies to Dave Barry) the results of my last checkride were humbling ....

Son John, Citation X Captain and hot stick, did better ....

No dings at all ... the old man must have done something right ... (when your student turns out OK the instructor always takes the credit) ...

Last January was pretty cool ... the Light Sport Expo was held at Sebring FL and was a huge success. My favorite was this nifty Sport Cruiser from the Czech Aircraft Works. It has all the goodies in the panel and room for the puppy in the back. Maybe I'll get a stimulus check so I can run out and buy one or two (or three).

February was also a neat month ... Old schoolmate Ed flew over for lunch in his Glasair TD. Ed raced at Reno and Lakeland and was recently seen in a Yak-52 ... the Glasair is a tweaking project - a little glass here, a little more horsepower there ... Ed is an inveterate tweaker and will eventually get it Right (and faster) ...

Stu and Bill C. came all the way from Bayport NY to Florida for a little R&R this weekend ... spent Saturday and Sunday glider flying at Zephyrhills with Gino. It was great to see these guys again and we spent some time looking over some beautifully restored antique and classic cars.

Champ is biding its time in the Hendersonville hangar while the Bonanza gets a workout with John (and, occasionally, me) ... I did manage to get a color match for a small paint repair job for Champ so dabbed a little color on before rotating back to Florida for awhile. Next trip to NC, Champ will launch its summer flying season.

Fly safely! Fly often! Spring has sprung!

January 2009 - Time do fly!

2009-01-25T12:58:00.004-05:00

It doesn't seem like a year since I found the Bonanza out in Arizona, but that's exactly how long it's been ... Since, we've flown to New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, New York, Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky and fuel stops in between. What a great bird! I've added a few goodies to the panel (Garmin 430 WAAS, a new PS Engineering audio panel and intercom) and there may be a new interior on the horizon. The main reason I bought her was to run back and forth between Florida and North Carolina after I retired ....

Which happened on September 1, 2008. After 28 years of flying on someone else's schedule, I'm on my own time. Maybe it sounds funny but I'm turning out to be a day/VFR pilot at heart. I sure did love the jets (Cessna CitationJet, Falcons 20 and 50, Gulfstreams 2-3-4 and 5), but the Bonanza and the Champ are just what I wanted at this stage of life.

Above are the flags of the countries I visited over my career.

When I was a kid growing up on the family farm, I listened to short wave radio quite a bit, heard a lot of foreign languages and music, and pored over my books to find where these faraway places were. I got to see more than I ever dreamed I'd see. Nowadays, whether it's low and slow in the Champ or a little higher and faster in the Bonanza, the landscape of the United States has all the magic I thought I'd have to travel the world to see.

I hope we cross paths one of these days.

Fly safely

Alex

2008-11-10T16:14:00.002-05:00

November 10 - Marine Corps Birthday
November 11 - Veterans' Day / Armistice Day

This year, on November 11, I remember James Lundin, who we lost in Iraq, and ask you to pause and give thanks for the men and women who serve our Country at home and abroad on this day. Another James, our son-in-law, James Coughlin, is set to return to the Middle East next month. Last time it was Iraq, this time it is Afghanistan. Save a place for him in your prayers, too.

Thanks.

Alex.

October in the Mountains

2008-10-13T18:50:00.011-04:00

I missed the mountains more than I knew

This is a view of my home field, looking down runways 15 (there are three!).

The paved runway on the left is, in reality, the left side of the airport runway. Half is paved, half is nice, smooth sod. Further to the right is Johnson field, privately owned, and used by the members of the Western North Carolina Air Museum. It's an interesting arrangement. I've been in the pattern with skydivers (not many of those around here anymore), ultralights, business twins and antiques, all using the runways more or less simultaneously.

Flying around the mountains reveal lots of beautiful scenery, especially this time of year ... and a few sights that are decidedly seasonal. This is a hillbilly corn maze next to a pumpkin patch and petting zoo ... the lot looks pretty full - I guess they're doing OK.

This is my corner of the museum's long hangar at Hendersonville ... I like it here.

The company is pretty good ... all ragwings and all but one a taildragger - the Ercoupe down the way is the only exception. All the guys are great and we take turns closing up at the end of a day of flying ...

More pictures to come ...

A September to Remember

2008-09-20T16:29:00.014-04:00

It was the best of times ...

The guys at work arranged for my last trip in the Global Express to be a special one and the fellows at Farmingdale Airport operations went along with it ... the crash trucks positioned themselves on either side of the taxiway and hosed us down as we left the ramp for the last time ...

So off we went to Sint Maarten

There again the guys at Arrindell Aviation were just terrific ... they set us up with some really nice hotel rooms right on the Caribbean ... Frank Arrindell flew in especially for the occasion and they gave me a nice plaque to hang on the wall (and a nice bottle of brandy, too)! I'm going to miss Frank and Henke and Roy and all the great guys at Arrindell.

And just like that, my jet career was history. My only regret: I couldn't buy a decent landing.

So I packed up my kit bag and said goodbye to the gang at Bayport Aerodrome ... that's a picture of my old Cub that belongs now to 7 of the guys and Bob's Stearman ... Bayport will always be a fondly held memory.

The Big Day came and Champ was ready to go ... Stu took me to the airport and we hung around together while a sea fog dissipated along the south shore of Long Island ... when it cleared enough to take a look, Stu and the Cub flew with me as far as the Captree Lighthouse and left Champ and me to go the rest of the way on our own.

This is the route that I chose using AOPA/Jeppesen. I decided to use 1.5 hours as my leg lengths for my own comfort and to get to know the airplane on a long trip.

We just missed being able to do the whole trip in one day. The sea fog delay made us run out of daylight 30 miles from the new home base.

And here it is: The Western North Carolina Air Museum at Hendersonville NC (0A7)

More to come.

August with Gusto!

2008-08-24T18:41:00.008-04:00

Pictures by our talented member, Fred Miller, from the great Bayport Aerodrome neighborhood picnic held on August 10th. What a terrific month! First, the picnic, then the Antique Airplane Club of Greater New York fly-in, from the 22nd to the 24th! The weather even cooperated! If you missed these, you missed some serious aviation fun.

Here with his permission is a link to Fred's picnic pictures:

http://www.longislandwallpapers.com/gallery/5671845_uj7T5#349259149_iLLpR

The report from the AACGNY fly-in is in and it was a rousing success! A highlight for everyone is this incomparable OX powered Pheasant:

...And this pink L-type Aeronca, owned by a visiting lady pilot, as viewed by Fred through the flying and landing wires of Bill's 1930 Bird Model A:

The incomparable view of Bayport Aerodrome while on final approach ... Bill did a nice, slight forward slip to the left to give Fred this next great shot:

And, finally, a wonderful air-to-air picture of Stuart and Tim in Tim's Tiger Moth ... Stu and friends are in the process of restoring and assembling Tiger Moth parts and will hopefully have Bayport's third Tiger Moth in the air one of these days:

For more of Fred's pictures, including his terrific work with the American Airpower Museum and the Cradle of Aviation Museum, select his albums from his web site:

http://www.longislandwallpapers.com/Aviation

Fred's photographs are available for purchase and we encourage you to buy from him to support his work as he continues to record Long Island's exceptional aviation history.

Happy Landings!

www.bayportaerodrome.org

www.aacgny.org

July's When We Flies!

2008-07-14T20:33:00.005-04:00

July at Bayport!

The first look our visitors (by car) get is the flag. We're a proud bunch and our flag tells everybody just where we stand.

Every now and then we have visitors who love to just walk around and touch the airplanes ... there's always somebody who says "I helped build those during the war" or "I worked on or flew those during the war". It's great to have these men and women stop by for their visits ...
...and there's a car buff or two who'd like to have pictures of themselves or their cars with the classic biplanes ...
Pretty soon the wind died down enough to go flying and Bob and I cruised the Great South Bay in the Champ looking for aggressor forces ....
...and there they were! Lurking above the boaters and ferries ... a couple of Cubs!
We decided to take them from the sun, but they turned tail and made for the safety of Bayport Aerodrome where they were met by ...

The Green Baron von Clifford and his 1930 Bird Model A!

Vladimir and Andre even got into the act, firing up the mighty Ranger and killing the mosquitos in a cloud of blue smoke ...

I wish I had pictures of the feast Bill and Bill brought to us....the Striped Bass and crabs were tasty and appreciated by all ... culinary arts honed by years of practice over a roaring barbecue grill ...

In the end it's about friends and airplanes and good fun on a weekend afternoon .... and there's nothing that can compare.

www.bayportaerodrome.org

June and I like to go fly

2008-06-17T20:39:00.004-04:00

.... And so we did ... the Bonanza hauled me from New York to Kentucky to North Carolina to Florida and did it in very good time - better than driving and just about the same cost when you consider stopping for meals and a couple of nights in a hotel. I can prove it with the fuel slips and with the help of AAA and their driving maps. Even with avgas costs just absurd, the numbers compare very favorably (seeing as how the price of car gas is absurd too, these days).

More about June as soon as I figure out how to load a video on the blog ... this antique pilot still has a few tricks to learn. In the meantime, try clicking on the link below or cut and paste into your browser to see the ornithopter ride at the Western North Carolina Air Museum ... it's a big hit with the kids, especially during the Air Fair, held the first weekend in June each year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6wT3qf0eas

May, Dismay and Maybe

2008-05-27T08:27:00.007-04:00

Well, my friends, May has been blustery, gustery and when it's not blustering and gustering it's been wet. But there have been days like the day below, even when we had to go out of town to find them!

This is Horn Point and this is the annual fly-in of the PAAS (Potomac Antique Airplane Society) near Cambridge MD ... We happened to catch them on a dry day between wet days but the main thing is it was a grand day ... Stu took a bunch of pictures and sent me a few so here is an actual airplane that was actually there ....

A gen-u-wine Mooney M-10 basking in the sunshine ...

May was also the month when the Cub changed hands ... A gallant group of 7 intrepid aviators, members of the Bayport Aerodrome Society and/or the Antique Airplane Club of Greater New York, banded together to buy the Cub and leave me semi-Cubless (semi because they give me rides every now and then and because some of the guys need their tailwheel endorsements.

So the little yellow airplane flew away without having to fly away and will ply the skies over Bayport and Fire Island for years to come ... meanwhile ...

I still have my "other" Cub ... at Area 52 north of Tampa FL ... and will be flying it as soon as my son teaches me how not to create a kit out of all it's parts.

Then to round out the month, Stu and Bob and I launched the Banana and flew up to New Hampshire where we met a wonderful family and took a look at a possible Cub replacement for me ... more on that to come as soon as we can work out details ...

But it might look like ....

A Champ!

Come visit us at www.bayportaerodrome.org or www.aacgny.org .... bring a picnic and enjoy the airplanes at the last publicly owned, grass runway on Long Island!

Bayport Members in China

2008-04-04T11:05:00.008-04:00

The Bayport Boys go to China ... and the China Aviation museum, located just north and west of Beijing. Next time you find yourself wandering around Beijing with nothing to do, make a side trip to the museum - it will definitely be worth your time. The admission price is low - just a couple of American dollars - and for about 75 cents you can see inside Chairman Mao's airplane (which he used only once or twice).

Alex and Mike in front of the entrance to the mountain hangar ... yep, the Chinese Air Force stationed their last line of defense inside a mountain. If the invaders came a'calling and if they got past the Great Wall, the airplanes would fire up, taxi out of the mountain and meet the foe.

Craig in front of the ceremonial entrance. Note the Whitewall tires on the ack-ack guns - they spent most of their time in parades.

Here is the inside of the mountain hangar. Mike and Craig are checking out the jet engines on display and you can see one of the wall displays on the left. The hangar is really nicely done and immaculate. I had to brighten the picture a little - they could use a little more light inside - but everything is right out in the open - lines of airplanes (including a few American Air Force and Navy aircraft and a Huey.....wonder where that came from?) ...

Walk through the mountain and you come to a line of MiGs ... Mike and I couldn't resist a picture in front of these simple, amazing airplanes.

And to document that this is unofficially Bayport-China ....

Craig and Mike man the guns ....

There's really too much to show in one post ... we spent about 4 hours and didn't see everything, but this line of AN-2s was pretty interesting.

...And on the fringes, you find airframes and engines in various stages of disrepair, just waiting for knowledgeable hand to bring them back to life. This old Yak trainer's engine still turns and there is not a speck of corrosion on it. The fiberglass skin is pretty ratty and there's bent metal, but it is very restorable. Craig couldn't resist getting a little cockpit time in this interesting hulk ... the prop might need a little work, but he's calling for "contact" anyway ... by the way, the skin metal really is rusty ... it's 1/4" steel from behind the cockpit to the spinner!

The first couple of clues that this is not a DC-3/C-47 are the cowl flaps and the 4-bladed props. These are IL-2s, made in Russia from plans given to them by Douglas during the Lend-Lease program.

We gave away the B-29, too ... this and the drones under each wing were made by Tupelov ... note the turbine engines that replaced the original radials

....and it comes in a variety of flavors ... this AWACS model is quite fetching ...

On the way out, we stopped to take a look at this fantastic seaplane ...

Way back in the back of the museum, there's the beginning of a general aviation operation. The owner/manager is a Lifetime EAA member and got a grant from the govt to build this facility, buy a couple of Tecnam LSAs and build a runway. In true Air Force fashion, he built the building, bought the airplanes and is now waiting for the runway (old Navy joke).

One final look back at the jet at the entrance to the museum and you've had yourself an interesting day.

More pictures to follow.

Come see us at Bayport Aerodrome (23N) ... we're just south of the Islip-MacArthur Airport and will be opening our public season later this month (April 2008). Bring a picnic and enjoy the airplanes!

Bum-Biddy-Bum-Biddy-Bum-Biddy-Bum-BONANZA!

2008-02-28T09:57:00.005-05:00

I did it. After 30+ years of agonizing over the ads in Trade-a-Plane, agonizing over money I didn't have to buy the Airplane Of My Dreams, then agonizing over the realization that the money I had saved to buy the AOMD wasn't enough or was a few years lagging the market, I found myself face to face with The Airplane ... at the right time ... at the right price ... and, amazing to me, the decision was hard in coming. Finally, faced with the prospect of losing it to another buyer, I took the plunge.

I'm still in semi-shock. The airplane belonged to a former Naval Aviator, a World War II ace in the Pacific. What a wonderful guy. He and his wife and sons flew the airplane all over the Southwest for 19 years and took beautiful care of it. The Southwest is VFR territory and the airplane is a VFR airplane, but it is a Bonanza! and now it's mine!

Willie Loman said it best: "A man's gotta dream; it comes with the territory." Sometimes, I can tell you, dreams do come true.

Sweet Dreams

2008-02-09T18:52:00.002-05:00

This is once upon a time ... there is a little grass airport, nestled in the shadow of Islip's Long Island MacArthur Class C airspace. It is a happy place, where antique airplanes and antique pilots engage in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ....

They meet, they enjoy the Wednesday afternoon gatherings,

they enjoy working on projects together,

And sometimes they work long hours alone.

To keep the action going, there are field trips ...

And memories of fly-ins ...

and lines of little airplanes ...

and sweet dreams of flying.

Spring will come. The cold wind will turn warm and the runway will be ready. We practice, we read, we talk, we dream.

And eventually it will be time to fly again!

Deep in December, it's nice to remember ....

2007-12-25T08:51:00.001-05:00

What's a day at Bayport without a few distractions from the roar of airplanes and having to flap arms to get extra lift? Bill's sterling engine with its huge flywheel and distinctive poppawhappakpopkpop is a suitable attraction for pilots with inquiring minds. Look at these guys - they're like cocker spaniels watching TV.

And who is right in the middle of most of the mischief but Bill himself ... antique car/engine/airplane nut and ambassador extraordinaire for the sport of flying. He claims to be working on an instrument rating so he can fly in clouds, but when your airplane was built in 1929 when IFR meant "I Follow Roads", the instrument flying will have to be done in his Cessna 152.

A day out with the boys ... Steve and Bill and Harry and Stu and Bob and Andre on their way for a day trip to the Windsor Locks CT air museum ...

Stu and I log a little time in the Auster over Long Island's Great South Bay. Happy times at the old Aerodrome ... we like flying together just about any time.

The variety of airplanes that happen by is always fun to watch. This beautiful L-bird (I never can remember just which is which) pops in from time to time from West Hampton Airport.

The Cub and the PT-26 from my hangar just seem to go together and make a nice picture on a summer day...

This was taken in the spring - it's the club's Yak-12, engine starting for the first time in many years. The project creeps along slowly - a lot of parts, hardware, fittings, etc have to be scrounged or made and it takes time. Fortunately our resident Russian members, Vladimir and Andre, can read the prints!

At the end of the day, it's about flying. On some days when the conditions are just right I like to take the Cub along the beach and just cruise for awhile, going nowhere and going everywhere I want to go. On those days, by myself, the sky is so big and I am so small.

This isn't exactly a year in review - it's just a way for me to keep you posted on the doings at our little airport. The big news is that the Town of Islip has just approved the lease for the Bayport Aerodrome Society, which means our little corner of heaven will remain an airport for as long as I'll be around and maybe as long as some of the younger guys will be around, too. It's an important part of the history of the area, where once upon a time there were around 20 airports striking the sparks of imagination and where the wonder of flying was introduced to so many people. That tradition made the wartime industrial miracle of airplane production on a large scale possible. Grumman, Seversky, Fairchild, Ranger, Republic; these were the giants that built the machines that helped save the world during World War II and took us to the moon. All are gone now.

Bayport Aerodrome is where the magic still lives. The best part is you don't have to buy a ticket; it's open to the public for free. The Bayport Aerodrome Society has the north end of the field and maintains a living, flying museum. From April through October (or when the weather turns) you're welcome to bring a picnic and enjoy the sights and sounds and company of antique airplanes and the people who fly and maintain them.

A November to Remember

2007-11-30T09:14:00.000-05:00

First of all, November is a month filled with change - the weather turns crisp and cool, leaves fall, winds blow, all that stuff. After a very late Indian Summer, November fulfilled all it's job descriptions and the hangar doors at Bayport Aerodrome are mostly closed for the winter.

The Cub came out, took a peek, and flew, but I noticed a little roughness (again) that felt very similar to the out-of-balance prop thing I had last year at this same time. Stu took it out last weekend and said he felt the same thing, decided not to fly it until we have a chance to do some investigation. Mike and I will pull the prop this weekend and see if re-mounting it 180 degrees from where the blades are now will do the trick. If not, I think it might be moisture somehow getting into the wood when the weather changes. The next trick will be to pull the prop and lay it out at the house and see if the dry heat in the house will dry the prop and restore it to balance. This is puzzling to say the least - not to mention annoying because I like to fly the Cub in the winter when I can see a million miles and the air is fat with lift.

Thanksgiving is for giving thanks, and I did that this year in Honolulu - the double rainbow on our arrival was a good sign. Jets are neat, but they have the tailwheel on the wrong end. On top of that, they even have toe brakes. I wish I had taken the camera to Dillingham Field, on the northwest shore of Oahu. There, a fellow was giving rides in a weight-shift LSA across from the glider line and at the other end of the field from the sky divers. In the Fightertown hangar, there's a C-45 undergoing a long and detailed restoration. If you get to Hawaii, or more specifically Honolulu , rent a car and take the drive to Dillingham.

When the calendar ticks over to December I'll be over the Pacific, on my way back to home and hearth and to Bayport Aerodrome.

Fly Safely!

An uber October

2007-10-21T20:51:00.000-04:00

Only one picture this time around but that's because I was having too much participatory fun (flying can be a spectator sport, but it's much more satisfying when you're actually doing it, if you know what I mean). Mike is getting the hang of flying the Cub and will be a taildragger before long ...

I was at Bayport yesterday and there was no one else there! I couldn't believe it. It was the first day after a cold front moved through and it was a bit breezy, but the temps were in the 70s and it was a fabulous day! I hauled the Cub out in the sunshine and decided to wash it before the weather turns ....

Now it's Sunday and if you weren't at Bayport today, you missed a beautiful day of flying. Stu and I went up after I washed the Cub (the Auster couldn’t fly – broken tail brace bracket - and I HAD to dry off my airplane), John Bianco and Bill J flew John’s Champ (we gave them 2’s and 3’s for their first landing [Bill gave us one back], turned our backs on them after the second) , Bob and Andre in the 152, Ed flew his Bird, Timmy came out in the Tiger Moth, Vladimir taxied out and ran up the Fairchild, then as I was leaving Stu and Bill S were taking off in Bill’s Cub. All in all a very good day. Bill C had to work, a concept not particularly foreign but at times inconvenient to him. Temps in the mid 70s – probably the last day this year that I’ll be able to hang out at the airport in shorts.

I wrote to Rick that I'd heard about his Cub but hadn't seen it yet (he just got it and keeps it at an airport with those nasty paved runways). Bob F says that there are three things a tailwheel airplane - meaning his Stearman, mostly - doesn't like: Paved runways, crosswinds and student pilots. Maybe when I get back from my monthly visit home to Florida we'll have a chance to test the meteorological conditions ... and I'd like to have a wingman. The Cub likes to fly with other yellow airplanes on its wing.

'Til next time. Fly safe.

Try to remember to fly in September

2007-09-13T17:39:00.000-04:00

Oh boy! An excuse to go flying! (Since when do we need an excuse !?)

Before I get started on the great flying weather on Long Island these past couple of days, I was standing around watching the world go by last week when Ed and Tim taxiied in with another acquisition - these guys are airplane nuts, I wanna tell ya. One look led to a quick double-take and there on the grass at Bayport Aerodrome was an airplane I had flown about 20 years ago - the very one, since there's only one that I know of in the USofA.

Feast your eyes on a Zlin 1-26 ... Ed and Tim found it in Trade-a-Plane and brought it to our little corner of heaven. This Zlin is the predecessor to the 5-26, a model that won an awful lot of aerobatic competitions in Europe in the 1960s. This one has a 104hp inverted Walter Minor engine and is probably the most beautifully balanced airplane I ever flew. It also draws quite a crowd:
The panel is the same as I remember it from 1986 or 1987 ...
Ed and Tim will have many happy hours flying this little gem. I love the long wings, as you can see on the flyover picture.

Well, so much for nifty airplanes for today ... Labor Day weekend I was in St Maarten, where the runway begins right at the beach. There are always a bunch of nut cases who want to try to hang onto the fence while a 747 runs up for takeoff, but they must have been in the hospital or something because I didn't see but a few souls who were walking on the beach and got blasted into the water. Landings are always a thrill for the imbibers at the Sunset Beach Bar as the big airplanes zoom right past them. I caught this Air France A340 from the roof of my hotel:

Note the wall of weather in the background. He made it in just in time. It's a good thing they built jetways at TNCM because in the olden days the pax and servicing personnel would have been walking through rain and a lot of it to get to the terminal.

Oh, yeah. The flying weather on Long Island was great these past few days.

Bellanca Airfield, August 2007

2007-08-22T17:15:00.000-04:00

You'd think at some point I'd get enough of airplanes and history but I haven't found that point yet. This month has been spent training up for the Global Express, a really incredible corporate jet, at the FlightSafety Training Center at Wilmington DE.

In the 1980s, we lived across the street in Norcross GA from John and Betty Bellanca. John was a former Naval Aviator who spent summers in high school laying up wings at his uncle's airplane factory. I didn't know until this week that the factory was less than a mile from the New Castle County Airport, where FlightSafety is located. John and Betty were great people and I ended up teaching their son, Paul, how to fly.

This is the building where John built wings for the Cruisaire and Cruisemaster airplanes:

Here's a view from what was formerly rampside:

The State of Delaware provided a plaque along the highway:

Finally, there appears to be a group trying to restore the old hangar to mark Bellanca's place in history:

and.....

Go visit these guys online. Here, I'll make it easy:

http://www.friendsofbellanca.org/

Ace at Bayport had (I think) a Cruisemaster ...

...one of my early real trips in a private airplane was in a Cruisaire .... my best friend's father was going to take us from Silver Springs FL to Fontana NC to dive for airplane wrecks (having just dived on a few wrecks in fairly shallow Florida lakes) but we had to cut the trip short due to engine trouble. We landed at Valdosta GA where his Dad cleaned a bunch of stuff out of the carb bowl and got the engine running halfway good again. Instead of proceeding on to the mountains of North Carolina, we went to a fireworks store and bought a bunch of "real" Cherry Bombs - not the namby pamby stuff they sell today - and "real" M-80s. Before we got back to Silver Springs, we stopped at Ocala's old Taylor Field and dug a few of the goodies out of the baggage compartment, then took off again and dropped them over Silver Springs Airport ... what a racket that must have been. The phone rang off the hook. John was the airport manager and he thought it was pretty cool ... his wife, Pat, did not. Now, think about this: teenagers lighting fuses - with fire, mind you - inside a highly flammable dope and fabric and wood airplane and throwing them out the window. That was about 50 years ago and it gives me chills to remember it but at the time the thing that made the biggest impression on me was that they let me sit up front in the right seat and hold the control yoke. That was probably the most vivid imprint in my early flying experience, and it must have had a great effect because that's what I'm lucky enough to do for a living today.

People at Bayport Aerodrome

2007-08-21T20:03:00.000-04:00

It occurred to me in a flash of insight that all the time I've been writing these notes, I've been putting a lot more pictures of airplanes in the blog than pictures of people. To me, the people at the aerodrome make it ... the airplanes make it just that much more fun .....

So I decided to start with Bill Taylor ... Bill started flying a long time ago and got out of it for many years ... then he retired from the New York City Police Department, retired from fishing, and got back into flying. What a nice guy ... his first day at the Aerodrome was spent helping after a Stearman lost power and reshaped some trees at the end of the runway. Bad for the Stearman, but the pilot and his son made it out with just a few scratches. Bill pitches in when nobody is looking. His 85 horsepower Piper Vagabond is a real performer and he just made it better with the addition of two 8.5 gallon wing tanks!

Stu Bain is President of the Antique Airplane club of Greater New York, based at Bayport Aerodrome. He's a native New Zealander, former NZ Air Force guy who jumped out of airplanes and other strange things before settling in New York in the technology business. He somehow found himself on the big screen at Times Square in the front of Bob's Stearman, promoting his company, e-media of New York. We kid Stu about his English Auster, but it gets him out to the airport and that's the important thing.

I have to get a closeup picture of Bob Fritts. A guy that good looking just deserves better, but somehow I think he'd rather be pictured in the cockpit of his beloved Stearman. He's owned it for over 30 years, rebuilt it piece by piece, and it shows all the care it's been given. You could eat off any part of it. Bob's been flying a long time and has owned at one time or another a Commanche and shares of other airplanes ... he's a Navy man, served aboard the same ship as former President Ford and is a retired executive with Ford Motor Company and Purolator. Bob is one of the original members of the Bayport Aerodrome Society and a former president and board member of the club. He and a group of pilots developed the north end of the Aerodrome and built the hangars that house the antique and classic airplanes that are kept there. Wednesday afternoons around five o'clock, members drift toward hangar 6 and find a table laid with cheese and crackers and chairs aplenty for good conversation ... I can't imagine Bayport without guys like Bob.

All the fellows at Bayport are good guys ... I'll get some more profiles together pretty soon and introduce more of the pilots and airplanes that make this a truly special place - the last, publicly owned, grass runways on Long Island NY, a place that is truly the cradle of modern aviation. More on that, too, in a future post.

www.bayportaerodrome.org

www.aacgny.org

Antique Airplane Club Fly-In 8/17-19/2007

2007-08-19T18:29:00.000-04:00

The third annual Antique Airplane Club of Greater New York Fly-In is in the record books! Thanks to Bob Mott for providing some of the (better) pictures for this report ...

Nick and Dick find parking spots for our visitors ....

Mike Strieter, our faithful attendee from Horn Point VA, finally brought his fabulous Fairchild 24 all the way to Long Island. This was the very same F-24 that would have been here last year but for some unforeseen engine trouble. The Ranger Wizard of New Garden, Joe DeNest, put it in good order and it purrs like a kitten today.

Now here's an airplane that's good for a few Yaks .... Craig Sampson and son Cory pass in review ...

Saturday, we got off to a great start when this magnificent Bamboo Bomber flew in! I don't know how Tom did it, but the engines stopped at the 1100/0500 positions, perfectly aligned, first time. Friday afternoon was rainy and breezy ... then on Saturday we had fabulously blue skies but were still stuck with the gusty winds. Everyone who came said they'd be back, and that's a good thing. More friends = more airplanes every year.

This 195 gets one of many once-over inspections in front of Billy Sindell's hangar and Cub

This line of inverted engines wasn't just sitting still ... the airplanes were flying all day, especially President Stuart in his indefatigable Auster who tested the atmospherics a number of times

Around noon, I noticed the tide was turning toward the south end of the hangars and then I discovered why ....

Somebody brought a pig to the dance!

There's nothing that warms a pilot's heart more than roast pig, fresh Pennsylvania corn on the cob, potato salad, cole slaw, dressing (called stuffing by yankees) and other goodies on a plate ...

Eating under the shade of the trees is just the ticket ....

And our faithful CAP cadets were on hand to help out ...

Sunday saw this beautiful Fairchild 24 taxiing in for the day ...

The front row seats for the bomb drop contest were rewarded with an exhibition of skill and teamwork by pilots and bombardiers. The 100' minimum altitude was only rarely infringed upon. (The safest place on earth that day was the target ...)

The end to a perfect day with good friends, good airplanes, and movies on the hangar wall. I wish I could have stayed later ...

Some of our new friends:

Tom and Eileen from Connecticut and the Bamboo Bomber

John and daughter Amelia from Kalamazoo, Michigan!

(Winners of the tired tush award - a couple of club shirts)

Happy Landings!

The Bayport Aerodrome Picnic

2007-08-10T21:08:00.000-04:00

If you're going to have a picnic, you first have to have a place to take the burger and dog money and keep the sun off, so you build a shelter. Bob seems to have the right idea.

And when you finish, you have this really nifty place to anchor the doings of the day...

If you're going to have people around, especially kids, you have to have an airplane for them to have their picture taken in ... the SE-5 replica fills the bill nicely.

Vladimir and George discuss the finer points of reattaching struts on the Fairchildski after a little bit of rework and we're all looking forward to the next first flight of this beautiful airplane.

What's an airport picnic without airplanes ... I had to leave early and didn't get pictures of all the club planes that were out and on display, but Steve's Fleet was in position to taxi around to the runway side before we got too crowded.

I didn't get an audited count, but I'd estimate there were a couple of hundred people at the Aerodrome when I left at 1:30 ... children of all ages watching the airplanes takeoff and land, dropping flour bombs (the target was safe) and participating in the spot landing contest. Most important, about 50 children and adults took airplane rides - many of them in the Young Eagles program sponsored by EAA.

The next big event is the Antique Airplane Club of Greater New York fly-in and pig roast on the weekend of August 17, 18 and 19. Come one, come all, fly in and camp or wangle a sleeping spot, baste the pig, tell lies and enjoy yourself. Lots of good airplanes invited and we hope more will show up just for the fun of it.

Son-in-law Jay arrived in the Middle East last week. He rejoined the Army National Guard after 15 years away from the Service - couldn't stand by and watch. We're so proud of him.

Summertime is flying time!

2007-07-25T19:38:00.000-04:00

A Summer's Sunday at the Aerodrome .... Bob F's Stearman and Bill C's Bird watch as my Cub makes a feathery-soft approach and landing before their very cowlings ....

Pretty soon everybody gets into the act ... Russ has the Legend out in the sunshine, Ace has the N3N ticking over and Bill J adds to the Stearman lineup. What an incredible day to go flying!

There are actually more airplanes in the air ... I just didn't take pictures of them ... Steve had the Fleet and the Aeronca Chief flying, Bill T hauled the Vagabond out for a spin around the Great South Bay and Bob M flew just about everything there was to fly. Stu coaxed the Auster in the air and thrilled the folks along the beaches. All in all, there were about 11 of us out flying one thing or another.

Finally, Bob F and Bill J cranked up the Stearmans with a couple of excited passengers and gave rides they will always remember. There's just nothing like a turn out over the Bay in a biplane.

The last flight of the day was Bill C and me, repositioning the Bird from the north end of the hangars to the south end, maybe 300 feet, by way of a circuit around the patch. If it gets better, I don't know how. In all, we put 1.4 hours on the Cub with 4 of us flying it and I got a chance to try out Russ' Legend ... a great treat.

The Frittsburgers and brats were pretty good, too.

There's no such thing as "just another day at the aerodrome". Not at Bayport. Come see us.

We Fly in July!

2007-07-03T08:22:00.000-04:00

Bob and Shirley pose with the Red, White and Blue cake that has become her signature dish for the first Sunday in July ...

I had an ear problem that started last December and this was the week for the fixup job. So far I can report that the healing is going just as expected and I'll be ready to fly later this month. For my fellow pilots, I had a middle ear infection that was caused by a cyst of sorts that formed behind my eardrum. Look up "cholesteatoma" on Google. It's not all that common and not all that uncommon, caused by the failure of the eustacian tubes to adequately ventilate the middle ear. The resulting infections could be treated with antibiotics, but they'd return. The fix is to go in and clean the goop out of the middle ear, remove the cyst and fix what damage the cyst might have caused (bone tissue is eroded by the enzymes from these cysts and can result is loss of the little bones in the middle ear and a loss of hearing. It gets more gruesome if left untreated, but you should read more authoritative sources about that). Very good news: no disequilibrium, no bone damage, none of that stuff. The condition requires a review by the Medicos at FAA, but I foresee no problems.

Bill T and Bob are rib stitching the new cover over Bill's wing tank installation. It's already painted and Bill should be in the air in a few days with his Super Vagabond ER (85hp, extended range). When he goes away on flights now he can stay gone longer, though I suspect the average flight will remain an hour or less. It's just that when he goes to places like Lock Haven from Long Island he can make it nonstop. I know the agony of multiple fuel stops, but I don't mind since just about everywhere I go in the Cub people welcome me (or at least the airplane).

It's July 4th week and since the 4th falls on a Wednesday this year not much is going on at work. That's a good thing - gives me time to enjoy the company of the great people at Bayport Aerodrome and time to reflect on the blessings that our freedoms make possible. The men and women who are serving us overseas, far away from home in circumstances that are unimaginably difficult both physically and mentally are the best of our best. I thank God for them every day and I hope you do, too.

Father's Day '07 (weekend)

2007-06-18T12:21:00.000-04:00

Ahhhh ... the sound of Wrights and Continentals and Kinners ... the blue oil smoke ... the smiles on the faces of pilots and passengers and bystanders ... this is the stuff that makes for a memorable Father's Day weekend at Bayport Aerodrome.

Ace's N3N is the first picture and the first below, with Steve's Fleet framed in the struts. Walter and Ace are just about ready to hop in for a flight to John's farm strip where the barbecue is held every year.

Next, Bob and Nick mount up in Bob's Stearman for the flight out to John's. Bob has owned this airplane over 30 years and knows every nut and bolt by its given name.

Bill's 1930 Bird is framed in the struts. You might gather that I like these kinds of pictures and you'd be right.

What a fabulous day! Look at that blue sky !

Next, Bill gives the Kinner a spin on Steve's Fleet.

These old engines are so easy to start (when they start). Richard Bach wrote about the old ones in his classic cross-country book "Biplane". The way he described hand-propping one of these was you just pull the blade through and let the impulse coupling take it out of your hand. Most people think they have to give it a mighty whirl; not so.

The next airplane in line is Bill C's Bird. The Bird holds 2 people in the front seat. It was a popular airplane back in the late '20s and '30s for that reason. That extra seat meant an extra few bucks for pilots who made their meager living hopping rides. It also helps those of us who have had one or two too many Big Macs.

If I were ready and/or willing to part with my Cub, I'd love to have a Bird.

Finally, Stu and Bill T. clatter off in the Auster. We give Stu a lot of grief about his airplane (?) but it's a neat flying machine and not one commonly seen in the U.S. Our cross-pond cousins like to build 'em strong and this airplane is no exception. The sound of the Gypsy engine is distinctive - sort of like a Merlin with a real bad cold.

That's the menagerie for Father's Day ... we hosted a benefit for St. Jude's hospital on Saturday that netted a nice sum for the cause. I don't think there were any kids left out who wanted rides and a few more "Young Eagles" were born.

The Cub is purring like the kitten it is, but I am reminded of an observation in a magazine some years ago that it's wise to remember that a Cub is still a baby bear.

We're Flying! We're Flying!

2007-05-06T18:01:00.000-04:00

Just me and Bill and the Cub, doing our thing.

There is nothing, simply nothing that is quite as much worth doing as messing around in a Cub.

...and on a nice spring day on Long Island, there is no place worth doing it more than off our little grass runways at Bayport. The gang was out in force today, it was meeting day for the Bayport Aerodrome Society, and everyone was in a fine frame of mind.

It's at this time of year that the phone starts ringing, people asking about tours of the hangars and airplane rides, picnic spots by the runways and so on. We have a great bunch that take the visitors around and show off the airplanes ... 24 hangars filled with treasure. One of these days I'll post pictures of what we have there ... or you can go to the official web site to dig around for yourself ... www.bayportaerodrome.org

Tiz time to fly and time's a wastin' ...

Happy Landings!

If this is April, give me Florida

2007-04-13T16:01:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it. I flew back to New York so I could enjoy the blossoming of spring, but so far the only spring I've seen is on TV. This is nuts.

For all the really moderate weather we had during the early winter, April has given us all the nasty stuff in spades. It's cold, it's windy, it's wet, it's this, it's that. I'm glad I made reservations early to fly back to Florida for the 33rd annual Sun-n-Fun fly-in.

No need to finish the annual on the Cub (although it's mostly done) ... there's certainly no hurry. Maybe in 10 days or so we'll do the last of it and launch the flying season on Long Island.

One bright spot in early April: I was at the home base (Clearwater Air Park) and got a look-see at Chip's new CTsw Light Sport Aircraft (S-LSA) ... and what a beauty!

That little bugger has a full glass cockpit, autopilot, bells and whistles you wouldn't believe. www.flightdesignusa.com is the place to learn about them. I'd get one for myself if the Boss would let me (but she's made noises about my having to sell the Cub first and that isn't going to happen).

Patience, then fly when the weather is right.

Spring will come, Granny said. It always has.

Forwarrrrrd .... March

2007-03-27T09:56:00.000-04:00

In case you're wondering, March is a good time to look out the window for any apparent (or wishful) sign of decent flying weather if you live or work anywhere north of the Mason-Dixon line. People Down South have no need for such ... they (we, when I'm There) simply open the hangar doors and let the sweet air of an impending spring freshen the airplane(s) and workbenches ... lawn chairs are best aired out when placed in the open doors, preferably occupied.

Up yonder (north), the yankees are still grumbling about the lousy weather, snow, slush, ice, and so on. They make excuses for going to the airport and the best excuse I know of is covering a Stearman wing. Bob is the master, usually gets things pretty well along before anybody notices and offers to help. One of Bob's pet peeves is all the "help" he gets, but he also likes it that we want to learn from him.

Learning rib-stitching is a big part of the process of covering a wing. Once you get the knots down, it goes pretty well. I'm all thumbs ... Bob watches over Bob2's shoulder and somehow restrains himself from jumping in to do it right ...

... but eventually, he has a whole group stitching and threading and tying knots (correctly) and he can throttle us on from a supervisory position ...

The Cub, meanwhile, has the new prop in place and since the cowlings are off Mike and I decided to go ahead and get the inspections items out of the way for the annual which is due next month. The engine runs smooth as can be with the new prop and without the coke buildup on the valve seats (thanks to Russ for cleaning that off) ...

April is a month made for flying and I'm ready ...

Why there is a February.

2007-03-04T19:36:00.000-05:00

February starts with an "F", and that stands for Florida ... which is where I spent the month, away from the snow and cold that seems to be what everybody on Long Island looks forward to and loves to complain about when it finally happens. "Oh, I love the seasons" is what I hear a lot. That's a load of crap. If they had said "Oh, I love summer" or even spring or fall, I'd understand, but they can have winter, even if they do love it in, say, August.

February is when the hanger is coldest and when I feel really guilty about pirating heat from my neighbor, Bob, even though he offers so I tend to stay on his side of the wall and soak up his heat along with him.

February is when we spend an awful lot of time hangar flying and very little time actually commiting lift, assuming the hangar is warm. If the hangar isn't warm, we spend very little time hangar flying and a disporportionate amount of time at lunch.

February is a time for making lists of things to do in March or April before the annual is due. Woe be he or her who has an annual due in June, July, August or September because it takes about forever to have the work done and signed off. There's flying going on then.

February isn't very good for cooking on the grills. The fire freezes before it gets to the grillee and makes for lousy eating.

Not that I completely disown February. February I don't have to mow the lawn. February the hedges don't need cutting. February the spider mites don't eat my dwarf Alberta Spruces that line the back yard. Other than that, February is pretty much a write-off.

February gets an "F", and that stands for Florida.

Why there is a January

2007-01-21T15:36:00.000-05:00

Number one reason there is a January is that Fred and Bill had to have a month for the Cub rebuild project. Not that they'll be finished by the end of the month, but it gives them time to get so deep into the thing that they have to finish it. No backing out now.

Number two reason for having a January is so Bob can protest that he is NOT going to Florida this year. I saw him today, and he denied emphatically that he would be going to Florida this year. Too many old people there. They don't know how to drive. (Most of them came from New York).

Bill and Stuart don't care about January. They have closed cabin airplanes. Bill even has toe brakes. Steve says he doesn't care. He has a closed cabin airplane, too, but he has heel brakes and they work.

I have a good reason for January - it's for doing all the stuff you don't want to do when the weather is good enough for flying. Now, if I could only get past the temperature in the hangar. It's cold.

More prop stuff ... and an eye toward 2007

2006-12-30T20:48:00.000-05:00

I hope you and yours had a Merry Christmas and will have a safe New Year's ... and a safe New Year, too. For my part I've been doing my bit to promote aviation safety by not flying.

I took the wood prop to Sensenich at Plant City yesterday and couldn't have been met by nicer people. Their business manager, Don something, was just great - he's been there for 30 years and knows his prop stuff pretty well. He's also the last guy who signs off the props before they go out the door. He listened to my description (it'll balance with 4 quarters and a penny) and then went right back to the balancing rack - couldn't believe his eyes. He said he was shocked and I believe him. Then we went over to the edge alignment table where they check how straight the prop is and it was out quite a bit beyond tolerance. Again, he was shocked - and I believe him. They're making a new prop for me and I'll deal directly with the shop, thereby taking any middlemen and any possible storage issues out of the equation. No charge.

This is a first for me - and Don said it was a first for him, too. The prop was really out of whack. Good news is I'm on the A list and will get my new one in 3 or 4 weeks.

This is a good time to look ahead ... in 2007, I resolve:

To fly a little more and fix a little less,
To take as many kids of all ages for rides in the Cub,
To encourage aspiring pilots along their way toward their licenses,
To help people without being asked,
To be the kind of friend my friends have been to me,
To spend some quiet time with someone who really needs it,
To write those letters I've been meaning to write,
To let a few of my teachers know that I remember them and their encouragement,
To teach my grandsons to shoot,
To teach my granddaughters to shoot,
To get another dog,
To finish renovating the old family place,
To find the spring,
To clean the cemetery and straighten the stones,
To build a barn,
To make new friends,
To lose the weight I put back on,
To keep my eye on the place I would make for myself,
and
To let you know how it's going.

Thanks for stopping by ...

Alex

On friends, old airplanes, and #3 exhaust valves

2006-12-10T15:55:00.000-05:00

The verdict is in on the rough running engine in my J-3 Cub - the exhaust valve on the #3 cylinder fails to seat properly. Just why is a mystery for Lee to divine, but after a week of head scratching and hypothesizing, Russ and Stu and Bill and Bob and Bill and Mike and Steve all pitched in and we found the problem. I wrote George, who flew with me when I brought the Cub to NY:

Hi George ..Well, I went out to the airport and fired up the Cub last weekend … engine ran rough. I couldn’t believe it. It felt like the motor was running on three cylinders, it was shaking so badly … There was a lot of muttering and mumbling on my part … the cylinders all felt the same compression-wise … It really felt like there was a miss, but at the same time it could have been an out-of-balance prop (although I store it horizontally) or some other goofy thing. It was the same on each magneto … On Monday I went out and pulled the lower plugs and cleaned them and that seemed to help a little, but only marginally. I’m going to pull the upper plugs over the weekend. The airplane has been sitting for about 3 months while I decide What To Do With The Rest Of My Life and I can see now that letting it sit is probably not a good thing to do. The engine rebuilder guy is all for the plugs – I am completely mystified. Cold up in New York today ... blah blah blah ...

George wrote back:

I believe that airplanes are capable of sulking when they are given insufficient attention by their owners. In this case, though, I’d look at plugs. You did exactly what I’d have done. The other malady that comes to mind, regardless of the apparent compression, is a stuck valve. Can you pull the rocker covers and have somebody prop it while you observe? ... Cheers, G

After glossing over that crack about insufficient attention we scratched our heads and after Russ waved the magic wand I wrote again:

The problem has been diagnosed – partly. At least we know which cylinder it is and maybe part of the cause. You got it – stuck valve. The telephone diagnosis was coke in the valve guide but then my ol’ buddy mechanician took a closer look and it might be more than that – even to a cracked cylinder. So tomorrow off comes the jug and it’ll be shipped maybe to Superior for a closer look. We worked through it all, and without any contesting and everybody finally agreed that the way to do it is the right way. We’ll all end up feeling good about it (if the engine proves good when all’s said and done). What was really strange was that the cylinder held pressure when we checked it the first 2 times … then when we ran it for about 2 minutes with the rocker covers off (what a mess) – just enough to put a little heat in the cylinder – we hand propped it through all 4 and the prop swung right through what turned out to be #3. Pushback into the hangar and tried the pressure gauge again and it held pressure again … backed off the prop a little to unseat the valve and WHOOSH that was that – the valve never re-seated. I can’t tell you what a relief it was to find a specific problem that made sense. Let’s hope the problem turns out to be the cylinder – if it’s tappets, we’re going to have to split the case again. Newly rebuilt engines are new to me – I prefer airplane engines with a couple of hundred hours on them if they’ve been treated well. … Our trip to Hville is going to be another quickie – enough time to be struck dumb by the mess and then back before the Christmas traffic gets ghastly. On the way back, we’re thinking of overnighting at Broxton Bridge Plantation near Ehrhardt … the owners have a little over 7500 acres with an airstrip, meeting house, B&B, fishing hole, shooting, and horseback riding … a real find, if what I read on their website is anywhere close to accurate. I always wanted a plantation. You and I could sit on the veranda, listen to the crickets and the bullfrogs and make friends with a condensation-beaded glass of something cold.

>>>>TODAY WAS THE DAY<<<<

... and here's what I tacked on to my last note to George:

Well, Geo … it was partly the valve (fixed today) and partly an out of balance prop. So we were both on the money. I couldn’t believe it – after pulling the cylinder and cleaning the valve seat and guide, the engine still was a little shaky – not running rough, just shaky. AT LEAST PART OF THE EQUATION WAS SOLVED. (CAPS LOCK off). So Russ pulled a metal prop out of his hangar and bolted it on – the engine is smooth as glass. Just in case the problem was really fixed and the prop change was an illusion, we re-mounted the wood prop and it shook again … remounted the metal prop and it was smooth. Pretty solid evidence. So the wood prop that looked so nice and felt so comfortable in my hand when pulling it through is in the back of the car and will go with us to Florida – by car now instead of Southwest Airlines. More on that. Last week when we flew back up to NY, I had a little ear blockage in my right ear – no biggie, this has happened before and resolved in a few days. This time it didn’t resolve and I’ve had a middle ear full of gunk for a week. No real hurt, but uncomfortable, if you know what I mean. So I went to my local ENT guy who couldn’t see me but another doc in one of the other offices could so I saw him – we didn’t speak the same language but he supplied me with the meds I already knew I needed from my research (on the internet, natch) and I finally got in to see my real doc today – he said no fly, flyboy, so that’s the best excuse I could have gotten – a gift, actually – to drive and take my prop and a couple of rifles and whatnot at the same time. Life just keeps on happening no matter what plans you make … ain’t it a kick?

And that's how my week has been.

It's December ... Where did November go???

2006-12-04T09:52:00.000-05:00

OK, I admit it, I'm guilty of goofing off.

But in the middle of it all, I retired and then signed on with an old friend to set up his flight department, so I guess I un-retired. The Cub sat, patiently, through all of this until yesterday, when I finally made it back to the airport after too long an absence and asked Bill to help me get 'er started for a drive around the patch. First blade, it started, then commenced to shake like the dickens ... I thought I was running on three cylinders. This kept up, so I shut it down and asked opinions (which are free at Bayport) and then we tried it again. Same deal. Ran it up and down the rpm scale, same thing. Let it warm up good, taxiied out and did a couple of full power runs. Same thing. Brought it back, took off the cowlings and checked all the intake hoses, plug wires, etc etc ... let everybody get a good look ... and then started it up again after a good pre-heat (it was a bit chilly outside - mid 40s) ... same thing.

Grrr.

Lee wasn't answering the phone this morning at the engine shop - probably busy rebuilding engines since that's what he does - so it'll be later today when I find out what to look for next.

Maybe the wood prop somehow went out of balance?? Maybe. My next step if Lee doesn't have anything particular in mind is to put a metal prop on and see if the vibration goes away. If it does, then I have my culprit. More on this saga later.

Fly safely ...

It's October ... Where did September go??

2006-10-23T21:19:00.000-04:00

Simple story. September I sort of changed jobs. Actually, there was this big reorganization (which I helped engineer to a degree) and instead of retiring next summer, I 'got' retired a little early. Then the phone rang and I un-retired about 25 hours later. So, the old dog is back in the saddle, only I don't have a saddle yet. I celebrated by taking some time off.

The time off was originally planned to find and buy land for an airport where I would spend some time in the sun, sweating and grading a runway, sculpting the grounds around the runway for a park (an air-park, get it?) and plan for the hoards of enthusiastic sport pilots, antique pilots, light-sport airplanes, antique airplanes, campers, parachutists, lunch fixers and eaters and tellers of tall tales. I also hoped to sit around composing long sentences and maybe build a house, a bunk house, and some hangars. It all looked really good on paper but then when I found my 302 acre dream spot, the reality of $$$ set in. Whew! I never thought retirement could be so expensive. It's a good thing I have a job!

SO that's what I did during September and this far into October ... If the muse strikes again pretty soon (I owe the little bugger big time) I'll be back. In the meantime, fly safe and fly often.

August 06, fair August ... ?

2006-08-28T16:10:00.000-04:00

You talk about rain ... you talk about wind ... August 2006 had both in spades, at least on Long Island. But ... there were those idyllic August days when the breezes were light, the grass was freshly mown and flying was happening all around. The best news was when Bob and Ace got their medicals back and Bill T's Vagabond was finally signed off for flight with the mighty C-85 in the nose. Talk about a rocket! He pushes up the power and it's off to the races, climbing like a scalded ape. Those short wing Pipers are fun when they have the juice. Bill hasn't stopped smiling.

I'm a little ahead of myself...

The month actually started at the tail end of July on a trip to Brazil in the Big G ... Mike and I made a side trip to San Jose dos Campos where they build the Embraer jets and got a tour of the factory ... this is a picture of a new Legacy corporate jet, which is based on the EMB-135 airframe. We came away with a handful of little jet pins which we parlayed into points with the girls in the office back home and an idea of things to come ... the Embraer people build a nice airplane and apparently a pretty durable one since they're in service as commuter (and larger) airliners all over the world.

There were a bunch of little trips all through August, but the Big Day was the 26th: the day of the Antique Airplane Club of Greater New York Fly-In, pig roast, camping trip and flying/lying fest. The weather stunk! Friday had a tornado touchdown on Long Island (fortunately Bayport Aerodrome is disguised as a long, straight and smooth stretch of grass and the tornado gods don't even notice it - they look for paved runways where numerous all-aluminum Cessnas, Pipers and such are tied down outside so as to make a bigger splash on the evening news). The picture is of a few of the airplanes that turned out ... we actually sold enough wristbands (all you can eat pig and potato salad and slaw; all you can drink belly washers of all sorts) to pay for the pig and fixins so I guess it turned out pretty well. Yours truly and noted bomb-aimer Harry captured the glory for coming closest to the flour-bomb target. Bill T. won the spot landing contest in his hotrod Vagabond. There were some really nice airplanes there - some from as far away as Connecticut! Next year maybe the weather will cooperate.

The first oil change is coming up on the Cub's engine and I'm looking forward to some good news when we crack the filter open ... Oil temps are coming down a little and so far it looks like we have a good engine. I called my engine man - Lee - and he said it sounded like everything is just as it should be.

More later. Fly safe.

July we Fly

2006-07-31T18:26:00.000-04:00

What a great month - July ! Although it started off with a lot of lousy weather interspersed with 2 1/2 weeks of jet trips, we (the Cub and me) managed a reasonably respectable 6 hours in the air and made 12 folks happy with Cub rides. That's so much fun ... flying along with the door open, looking down on boaters/golfers/drivers/sunbathers who think they're happy ...

That's the home field - Bayport Aerodrome, on Long Island. There are 2 north-south runways and we're using the one to the west this summer - (the town swaps runways every year to keep from wearing out the grass surface and it works really well - the grass is like a pool table this year).

Bob and I managed a little flying in the Stearman (oops - his B75N-1 - sorry) and had a great day touring the north and south shores. What a nice airplane ... it's older than I am and you could eat off any part of it, it's that clean.

This past weekend, the last in July, we hopped out to Lou's grass strip out east of here for an EAA gathering ... more fun ... I was on downwind with a Tiger Moth, an English Auster, a motorglider, a couple of skydivers and a jump plane ... if it sounds complicated it wasn't, really ... just a great time and everybody looking out for each other. Nobody doing anything stupid at all, except I ate maybe one too many hot dogs ..

So that was July and next comes August and I just can't wait.

Fly safe ....

Having too much fun to write

2006-06-29T21:11:00.000-04:00

The Cub is back in the air!!

With a lot of help from Glenn and Mike and Russ and Bill and Bill and Bob and Bob the old bugger is flying again! That's me. The Cub helps. First time we started the rebuilt engine, it started on the second pull of the prop. What an exciting moment! After checking for leaks, off we went. The airplane flew flawlessly ... and I have to admit my landing was very good. Bob the younger flew the first flight with me, followed by George, then Stu and even Vladimir risked life and limb ... V and I flew over to John's private strip for the Fathers' Day fly-in and had a great time with about 40 other antique airplane nuts ...

More on the ups and downs from Cubland when the muse strikes ... for now, I'm having too much fun to write!

The Western North Carolina Air Museum

2006-06-15T18:19:00.000-04:00

What a nice surprise! I took a few days and happened to end up in Hendersonville NC on the weekend of the WNCAM's annual Air Fair ... what a great event!

The picture above is a little "ornithopter" that is powered by an antique "hit and miss" engine and used to take small kids for rides around the airfield ... the wings flap, there's a train whistle ... its a lot of fun just to watch ...

The airport is one where I used to teach, long before I became a steely-eyed jet god.

The parking was getting pretty crowded so I hooked around to the museum where a guy at the gate asked me if I was there to volunteer ... OF COURSE!! Got a fantastic parking spot away from the great unwashed and was put to work right away selling tickets for airplane rides. They even gave me a T-shirt for volunteering. The rides were interesting - 4 people could go at once in a helicopter (Bell Jet Ranger) for about 6-7 minutes, 3 could go at once for 12-15 minutes in either a Cessna 172 or 182, and there was a fellow taking people up one at a time in an antique Piper PA-12. Tickets were $25 no matter what aircraft, and the line stretched sometimes for 15 or 20 deep. It was an old fashioned barnstorming weekend!

So I guess this has gotten me inspired to get back on the Cub project and that's where I plan to be come next week. More then ...

Overnight to distant cities

2006-05-27T08:42:00.000-04:00

Occasionally I get to fly the jet. Well, more than occasionally since that's my job, but it does tend to get in the way of the Cub project ...

Cris-crossing the country, north to south, east to west, and vice-versa is a pretty good way to make a living but I really like the overseas stuff better. For awhile, about 80% of my flying was international; Europe, South America, Asia ... it was all good but some was better than others. The end of May we were off to Lisbon for a few days - now that was something new for me ... I'd never been there. It's a beautiful city, dating way, way back and I loved the narrow, cobblestone or quarried block streets ... I took a few side trips while we were there - Cascais, the old city, a castle or two. Pretty amazing stuff.

Now back in the U.S. of A. and many channels of cable TV ...

I guess no matter where you live, there's no place like home.

It occurred to me that I haven't written about my travails with the new prop. I ordered a new wood prop from a Sensenich dealer in Ft Lauderdale and when it came, the diameter of the hub bore (the hole in the middle of the middle of the prop) was too small. Try as we might, it wasn't going to fit. So I called the dealer and Sensenich, thinking I was doing something wrong (but no, too small is just too small - nothing in question there) and hoping they'd help me out. The warranty had run out calendar-wise and I was prepared to do heated battle.

They could not have been nicer - both the dealer and Sensenich. To make a long story even longer, I sent the prop back to the factory in Plant City FL, the dealer sent me a replacement prop, and Sensenich sent my old prop to the dealer after fixing the problem. Now to install it ... but after another trip and a few days off to regenerate.

One small step at a time, but it's getting close

2006-05-05T22:25:00.000-04:00

I thought we were going to hear the throaty roar of the Continental last week, but noooooo. A few problems cropped up while we were installing the exhaust system. A little rework here and there to get clearances for the muffler and tailpipe and that was the week's work assignment. Then I went out to the airport today.

Bob took a look at the magneto leads and said we'd better get cracking on those connections before we even think about mounting the prop ... reason being that without a ground, the mags are HOT! Move the prop, catch the impulse coupling, and you've got a running engine (or at least that's what's supposed to happen). So I rang out the wires and marked them, then had a problem with the switch, so I disassembled it, cleaned the contacts, and put it all back together - works fine now. Seems like there's something else always waiting in the wings (oh Lord, I hope not in the wings) ...

So this weekend, with any luck at all, we'll finally have sweet 85hp music in our ears after 9 long months. Honestly it didn't have to take that long ... I just wasn't in any hurry what with winter coming on and all ..