A Few More Hours...

Ironflight · #1 04-15-2007, 07:08 PM

?Come on Iron?.you?re getting rusty!? the Valkyrie said with a challenge as I opened the hangar door. ?We need to go out and really shake things loose for a change! All this straight and level cross country flying?and leaving me in a hangar away from home with my cowling off for a week ? how embarrassing was that? Now prove to me that you can still fly!?

Hmmm? I guess that maybe I DO need to go shake out the acro cobwebs when I start hearing voices like that?.I have to admit that the past couple of weeks have seen a lot of One-G flying. An airplane Like an -8 does need to stretch a little now and again, so up I went this afternoon for a half hours of loops, rolls, split S?s, and a few things I have yet to name (but that look suspiciously like botched Immelmans?). It was good to go out and throw the earth around in the canopy again after a couple of trips to Dallas and a visit to the hill country. With cool temps, smooth air, bright sunshine and great visibility, it is easy to remember why we are flying RV?s in the first place.

Saturday was yet another example of a great use of the RV?s capability to travel. I was booked through the NASA public affairs group to go and talk with the EAA chapters in the area at Dallas Executive (Redbird), and had been looking forward to it for quite a while. I get to make lots of public presentations, but talking about the Shuttle to pilots, well, that?s hard to beat! With a pretty strong storm front moving through on Friday night and Saturday morning, I got up very early to check the weather and see if I was going to have to leave the airplane and drive?.but at 0430 the bad stuff was through, and it looked like an easy IFR trip, so I grabbed another two hours of sleep ? it?s great to have wings!

The winds at the surface for the northern half of the trip were ripping along from the north at 25 knots, with gusts to 35. However, up at 6,000, they were neutral, and above that, Weathermeister promised tailwinds. The clouds around Houston were right at 6,000, and the Dallas stations were reporting 1500 overcast, so IFR still looked like a good plan. This worked well, because Louise, my GIB (Gal In Back), was looking to observe some ?real world? IFR operations before taking her instrument check ride. I enjoyed having someone along who could help copy frequency changes, and working as a crew always adds a measure of safety to the flight. Sure enough, we were in the clouds at 6,000, and out the top just below 8K, so we had a nice smooth trip up to Forth Worth Center?s airspace. Center had cleared us direct DODJE as soon as we checked in from departure, so all those intermediate points in the flight plan were dumped, which is great about managing the flight with a 430 and EFIS. We started to step down about 40 miles out, and spent those miles bouncing a bit in the tops with a building headwind and temps of 34 degrees. Pitot heat added a little insurance in case the temperature probe was wrong, but we saw no signs of ice. The local bases were actually about 2,000 AGL, and I caught glimpse of the ground as we were vectored for the ILS 31 approach to Redbird. We weren?t in the clear until just inside the marker, but the rest of the way was visual, and it took awhile ? the wind was dead on the nose, gusting to 37 knots. I thought I might need a rotorcraft rating for the landing ? we just kind of hovered to a stop.

Our hosts were gracious and the presentation seemed well received, and many thanks go to all of the EAA folks there that welcomed and invited us to be there. I really appreciated the chance to put the airplane in the hangar where I was talking so that it didn?t cold soak while we were there!

After the talk and a great BBQ lunch, Louise and I mounted up for a trip to my future home site at Kestrel Airpark. I like to drop in every couple of months to make sure that the place is still there. Well that, and to fill up with the cheapest fuel in the area. In truth, it was just too nice of a day not to do some more flying, so we headed done there VFR with a nice tailwind component above a broken/scattered deck. The landing(s) at Kestrel in a strong gusting crosswind that died completely when we were about 15 feet up was not my best?but the airframe appears to be re-usable, so I guess it qualifies as ?good?. After stomping around the property awhile, the final leg back to Houston at 7,500? showed a constant wind on the EFIS of 47 ? 50 knots. Fortunately, about 15 of that was tailwind, so the trip was quick.

Yet another great flying weekend brought to us by the remarkable features of these fine aircraft. Properly equipped, with the right alternatives, they are still hard to beat for quick and efficient transportation?.and a half hour of whoop-de-do?s thrown in for good measure. In the end, I think the Val was satisfied. - I know I was!

Paul

Paul Tuttle · #2 04-15-2007, 07:27 PM

Now!!! am I going to have to do another painting of the Valkyrie?

smoore · #3 04-15-2007, 08:19 PM

He flys the space shuttle, he built his own airplane AND he can write.

Women want to be him and men want to be with him!

wait... do I have that last part right?

Mel · #4 04-15-2007, 08:29 PM

You guys that didn't make the meeting really missed something. You think he can fly, build, and write. You just haven't heard him speak. We've had many great speakers, including astronauts and all fares of aviation people. I don't think that we have ever had a better presentation than last Saturday. It's amazing that Paul flew up from Houston to speak at our meeting, and all our pilots drove in from around Dallas. My airplane was down, or I would have flown in. Yeah, that sounds right, yeah, that's it, that's the reason. We even had one fellow who drove from Burlington, Iowa.
Thanks again, Paul.

idleup · #5 04-15-2007, 08:57 PM

Paul, you fly the space shuttle?

Quote:

Originally Posted by smoore

He flys the space shuttle, he built his own airplane AND he can write.

Women want to be him and men want to be with him!

wait... do I have that last part right?

Ironflight · #6 04-15-2007, 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by idleup

Paul, you fly the space shuttle?

Well, Sorta......I'm a Lead Flight Director for the Space Shuttle....but I know of at least one of our flight crewmembers that flies an RV-4!

Paul

jdmunzell · #7 04-15-2007, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smoore

He flys the space shuttle, he built his own airplane AND he can write.

Women want to be him and men want to be with him!

wait... do I have that last part right?

..well, I guess the sheep are safe...