It's October. My favorite month.

Around here, that is to say the mountains of Western North Carolina, the fall of the year is generally considered to be the finest of all the seasons ... our trees' leaves begin to change colors from brilliant yellows to fiery reds, the days are cooler and the nights with bedroom windows open might cause a sleeper to draw a light blanket from storage. 

We Fairweather Flyers sip our morning coffee and wait for the ground fog to clear before enjoying flights where we behold all that nature has laid before us in the folds of these old mountains. Low and slow is the best way to see it all, something I enjoyed in the CallAir Cadet, but a little higher and faster is fine, too. 

Saturday mornings aren't too chilly for the hangar breakfast gatherings during the early days of October; Wednesday lunchtimes are just right for opening the doors and pulling our chairs out on the apron to catch a little of the sun before it heads South into November.

My friends have an opportunity to buy a unique airplane, the Marquart Charger built by the founder of our EAA chapter. The airplane is in need of some work to make it flyable and even more work to make it presentable, but it's available at a good price. I was interested until I learned to my dismay that the insurance companies have clamped down on ownership by groups of more than a very few partners, charging high premiums and imposing medical testing and training requirements over and above the FAA standards for older pilots, something I'm unwilling to do. While insurance isn't a legal requirement to operate an airplane, it is for me. 

Reflecting, I remember when Red finished the Charger and how I wished for an airplane like it. Now I wish I'd known he was going to sell it in 2016 - it may have saved me some pain. Oh well.

Our EAA Chapter has some great meetings at the WNC Air Museum and October was one of the best and most informative with member Ricky Brown explaining the virtues of the ATC facility at KAVL as best he could. They're a very good shop in a not-too-busy Class C airspace environment - from a pilot's perspective we get excellent handling from those folks.

EAA Chapter VP, Jacob, and I spent an invigorating couple of hours together dusting off his flying skills and re-familiarizing myself in his Cessna 182. Another flight or two and he'll be full up on his motor skills .. this with less than 100 hours logged and nearly 10 years since his last aviating. That's what happens when you're born into an aviation family and you've been flying (including early experience) all your life.

All in all, a great month here in the mountains ...

Fly safe ..

Alex