Just Needed To Blog

I haven't been in the air since April 7th, I really do need some flight time. The new job has kept me busy.  Since I have no electric to my field office I come home and do my computer work....thus no flying. After going through email and printing out reports and updating the project books it's time for dinner and then I don't feel like heading to the airport. Poor Ziva girl hasn't enjoyed her typical airport runs in a few days and the weather hasn't helped much.

I'm planning to head to the airport in the morning to tug 08Romeo out for some flight time. I'll stay in the pattern or practice area until I shed some rust then maybe file and climb into the cloud cover for a few approaches. We shall see what the day will bring.

I have a few things I want to do to the new to me work truck. I have a few carpet samples to match and then I'll order new carpets.  The previous owner was a smoker and there are a few burn marks, so I want to freshen it up. The smoke smell is noticeable when the truck is sitting closed up in the heat.  The headliner was already replaced by the dealer so I'm doing the carpets. The seats have been cleaned and are in really good shape. I already received my new floor mats and they fit very nice.

We said so long to the VW Cabrio, the airport buggy will be missed. It was fun cruising Ocean City with the top down and it provided transportation to and from the Motor Home when we first spent summers here at the beach. Over the years the dogs also enjoyed the ride.

Maggie, gone but not forgotten...she loved to fly too.

Ziva

 

Breakfast with Bob

Mary and I had a busy Saturday driving around to flea markets and antique shops pickin'.  We came home with a few new prize possessions. Today we wanted to get out and fly, okay, I wanted to get out and fly and my Bride was nice enough to join me.

The plan was to head out for breakfast so with a quick post on Face Book Bob C responded. Jeff D and the Woodbine crew were headed out but no decision was made by the time I launched. Once in the air Woodbine selected Cape May but do to the packed house diverted to Georgetown, Delaware Coastal.

Bob and I swapped text messages and decided on Millville, N.J., just about half way between us.  Sixty-five miles for me and forty-five for Bob.  Of course Bob enjoyed a great tail wind heading south east while Mary and I trudged along at eighty-five knots...Ughhh. We finally made it to MIV and crossed midfield for the left down wind runway ten. I made a super smooth landing so I felt better about the flight. As I taxied in we passed an absolutely gorgeous P51. In case you're wondering...of course I stopped in the middle of the taxiway and took a few shots.

Picture taken by Bob C

Millville was just as busy as cape may. Verna's Flight Line restaurant had a twenty minute wait but we sat and caught up and the time flew by. The eats were very good but due to a full house we waited a bit longer then the typical fast service. Mary and I wanted to see Bob's plane since the recent paint job. The paint scheme was beautiful and they did an awesome job laying down the colors.

With hugs and handshakes we said our goodbyes the walked back to 08Romeo. I taxied out to runway ten and launched for cape may or in the general area. I wanted to cross the Bay at sixty five hundred and enjoy my turn at the tail winds. Sure enough as we climbed the ground speed followed right along. Soon we were cruising along at one hundred forty knots....yes!

I made my position calls as I crossed RT54, ten miles out then RT90 five miles out. I had monitored the jump plane as he booted out his passengers at ten thousand feet, I was looking for silk. I swung out a bit wide and entered on a forty-five for the left down wind runway two and confirmed visual on two chutes. I slowed down and extended the pattern then turned for final as the first jumper landed. By the time I was over the numbers the other jumper had landed near runway three-two approach end, all clear. I made another nice landing, long, since the jump plane was on my heels.

Before

After

I did manage to over fly my work site in Lewes, DE and took a few shots. Here is the before and after to show two weeks of progress.

Family Visit

Since my project is now starting up and I'll be busy weekdays, Mary and I decided we would make the short hop back to Wilmington and visit her Aunt Letty. There was some scheduling to work out but we were in the air around 11:30 and with a bit of a tail wind, we road out the bumps for a quick forty minute hop north.

We met James, Mary's second cousin at the house and Aunt Letty soon arrived from her doctors appointment. Mary and I had use of the FlyAdvanced courtesy car so we were somewhat limited on time, we wanted to be back and not exceed three hours.

The choice was made to have lunch at the BBC Tavern and Grill in Greenville Delaware. The food was excellent and the service just as good. We enjoyed our lunch and great conversation. Time was flying by, no pun intended. We finished up and headed back to the house where we said our goodbyes. We hated to eat and run but out of respect for other pilots and crew we wanted to keep to the suggested car use time limit.

It was a short drive back to Wilmington Airport.  I squared up my twelve gallon fuel bill and walked out to conduct my sump and preflight. With everything checked out we loaded up and pointed 08Rome south. Bumpy tail winds that pushed us north in excellent time now were off the nose keeping speeds to eighty-five knots.  It took us over an hour to get 08Romeo back to Ocean City, but the ride was smooth, go figure.

My Bride woke up, startled by my ten mile position call and exchange with inbound traffic. We were both about the same distance and once within five miles of the airport I did two 360's  so the other traffic could land and taxi clear. I was now turning final maybe two miles and the other plane decided to back taxi instead of roll out and use the taxiway. I dumped all my flaps and nosed up to slow things down until they were clear. Pointing 08Romeos nose back to the runway I made a long landing with a short taxi for the turn off at the end of the runway. Another family mission accomplished thanks to General Aviation.

Bonfire!

Friday April 1st

Ted and Laurie(Cloud Nine Rescue) had posted an event on Face Book for a get-together of friends and Pilots of America (POA) forum members. I had recently accepted a position consulting on a project that was scheduled to start late March early April. Since the timing was now critical, we quickly dispensed with flying 08Romeo and instead scheduled commercial flights via the spam can, mailing tube or whatever you want to call it.

Of course on the day of our departure the project, with an email, gets pushed back to a Tuesday start and we could have flown 08Romeo, well it was a thought. The weather at Ocean City was nothing but fog. It would have taken a better part of the morning to get out with 08Romeo which would have made a long day flying requiring a possible overnight since I am not night current.

Mary and I arranged for the pets to be boarded and took care of that chore then headed for Salisbury KSBY for our 10:45 departure. We would arrive in Philly around 11:30 and sit and wait for our 1:40 flight to Kansas City, KMCI.

The Salisbury flight went smoothly despite the nasty weather that was passing overhead. I think we crossed the Delaware Bay just south of Dover at three thousand and continued to Philly. On very short final the typical set the props for go around sounded different. We were going full power and climbing out followed by securing the gear. The crew made a return after being vectored around for a bit and the second attempt was a nice landing in gusting winds in the Dash 8.

Eventually we boarded the Embraer 175 for the last leg to Kansas City. This was our worst flight. Smooth for all but the last ten minutes but we had no heat. At thirty five thousand we were cold and my Bride was not a happy traveler. She even mumbled how long does it take to drive home.

We made our way to Enterprise and rented a Dodge p/u truck, 4WD no less, wanting to fit in with the surroundings. We should have rented an SUV but we're always a bit different. Ted called while we were working out the rental details and asked if we could pick up his friend that landed about the same time. We arranged to meet at Enterprise and it worked out perfect.

We checked in at our hotel then headed to Ted and Laurie's for some pizza and catching up with early arrivals. Pete did a flyby in the Diamond but I wasn't quick enough to get outside and snap a shot. It was fun to see Robert and his sisters, they seemed to grow like weeds just since we last saw them this past October.

We didn't last very long into the evening since we were up early and flying all day. We eventually headed out and found our way back to the hotel for some much needed sleep time.

Saturday April 2nd



Ted and B

We slept in a bit later than planned then finally got ourselves showered and dressed for some bonfire farm fun. We picked up Pepsi and water along the way and continued to the farm.

hayride

G
 

B

It was a long day filled with great aviation stories, meeting new people and putting faces to names on the flying forum. All the kids had fun, even the big kids. We enjoyed hay rides and tremendous amounts of delicious foods. Laurie had made every type of salad one can imagine. Potato, corn, pasta, even gluten free selections. There was enough BBQ beef and pork to feed an army. If anyone left hungry it was their own fault!

Troy at the controls

gathering wood for the fire

Cris, GG and Robert

So much food!

The sun had set and the bonfire was kicked off. A smaller fire pit was set up for the roasting of the marshmallows for smores. Again, kids of all ages enjoyed the warm fire, tasty treats and camaraderie.
I know I've said it before but it's worth saying again how much our 'flying family' means to us. We have made life long friendships and truly feel welcome in their homes as we welcome them to our home. It's hard to explain and maybe hard for some to understand that bond. Knowing just about anywhere you travel there is 'family' close by.

BONFIRE!!!

Smores

Mary and I finally ran out of gas, we were both tired. We said our goodbyes and I know we missed some people but we were physically beat. You hate to leave but it was time for us to make our way back to the hotel. My torn tendon in my foot really flared up and when we got out of the truck I limped back to our room. Mary's hip wasn't feeling much better so the two of us passed out.

Sunday April 3rd

Rise and shine....Ughh..go away sun!

Our flight is scheduled for 11:50 and we have to return the truck rental. Slowly we got it in gear and managed to squeeze in breakfast at the hotel dining room, Johnny’s Italian Steakhouse. The food was good and the service was quick and friendly. After finishing up we made a last pass through our room then checked out.

It was a thirty minute ride to the airport and we found our way to the rental return without any problems. The rental companies have a shared bus service to shuttle passengers to and from the terminal. The shuttle dropped us off at Americans terminal but we could not find a sky cap anywhere. We went inside and the line was already starting to grow for security checks. Mary and I got in line and decided we would just ask to check our bags at the gate.

KMQS

Philly

This airport has a full body scanner and it made it a bit easier. However, I did get pulled aside and they asked to check my left shoulder and right ankle areas. I looked at the screen and its just a white outline of a body with highlighted yellow squares of areas of concern. Thankfully not MY body outline.
The TSA agent asked if I had any pain in my shoulder or ankle area...strange...I said besides arthritis and a torn tendon what's left. the shoulder was my Italian horn but no clue what triggered the ankle.

After the screening we found our gate, it was a very short walk in an older terminal. Once the attendant showed up I asked if we could check our bags and he said absolutely, it's always tight getting all the carry-ons stored. Hint...no baggage fee if you check them at the gate.

PHL short final

The flight back to Philly was smooth but once again hardly any heat.  My Bride said she doesn't want to fly this way again, she was freezing. Once in Philly we had a three hour layover, I could have driven home but we already had tickets and why pay for the additional one way car rental, so we sat. They finally called our flight and we boarded the mighty Dash 8 once again, this time for home. Captain Bob kept us at three thousand once again as we crossed the Delaware Bay with Dover just off the wing. We crossed RT50 and Mary pointed out Salisbury. A nice flight and approach but a real main gear plant ended the flight.

It was good to climb back in our SUV and motor home. With a quick stop for something to drink we then proceeded nonstop for the house.  As we passed the mail pavilion we looked at each other and simultaneously said tomorrow...we crack ourselves up. After a quick check that all was in order we called it an early night a crawled into our own bed...it's good to be home.