Fifteen Minutes

[Ironflight]

?There,? I said to myself as I rinsed out my roller and brush ?Another room fully painted!? Moving can be a lot of work - but it was 30 minutes to sunset, the airplane was in the hangar behind the house, the wind was calm, and the sky clear?.

It took just a minute to roll open the hangar doors and another minute to check the oil, make sure all the big parts were still attached, and push the Val out onto the pad. Aux Bat ?ON? to boot the panel, harness and a cockpit check ? ready for engine start! Three minutes after opening the hangar doors, ?Polly Ranch Traffic, RV Eight Papa Delta back-taxiing runway One One for departure?; a little power and a quick taxi into the setting sun while I sweep the cockpit one last time. As I reached the end of the runway, a quick stab at the rudder pedal brought the tail around for a mag and prop check, then it was full power with a calm wind ? tail up, accelerate for another couple hundred feet then up and away, racing past the neighboring houses and hangars, so close you can almost touch them!

Five minutes after opening the hangar, a turn south, level at 1,000, charging out from under the Class B. The step up to 4,000 comes quickly, and less than three minutes after take-off, I am free, rolling right and left to clear traffic, good visibility, and the fun is on! A loop with a roll on the vertical down line, then back up to a 45 degree line, a half roll, keeping a little ?G? on as the nose floats to 45 low and another half roll to upright. A barrel roll left, another to the right, then a wingover back towards the sun. Up into another loop ? oh heck, do two in a row?.why not? The sun is low enough to take off the dark shades and the coming night sky is unusually clear. Lights are coming on the ball-field off the end of the runway as I finish with a couple of aileron rolls and point the nose towards home.

?Polly Ranch traffic, RV Eight Papa Delta is five miles south, inbound for One One.? I look to the field and a friend is taxiing out in his Vagabond while a Super Cub calls in over the freeway to the east. Neither will be a factor if I time it right, and I do - the Cub is entering downwind as I slide over the run-up pad where Stevie Ray in the older Piper is waiting for his own turn in this wonderful evening sky. A touch of power as the mains squeak on the pavement, forward stick to paste it, and we coast to turning speed just as I come up on our taxiway??Fifteen minutes shows on the clock as I pull the mixture and slide the canopy back. Tomorrow I have to paint another room ? but when I have a reward like this waiting?.show me the brushes!!

Paul

[Geico266]

It is nice to have an "afternoon delight".

After getting my prop balanced in my -3a I had to take it up for a spin "to test it out". Much smoother, and even a tad faster.

Life is good when you have time for a "quickie".

[mannanj]

Paul:

Sometimes these little perks make a day of work somehow worth the effort!

Life is good.

Laus Deo.

[Flyrod]

Congratulations Paul on your new location! I truly envy you guys who can step out your door and go flying. You will have to look at it in one year to see how much your flight time increases.

[deene]

Paul, didn't realize that you were located at Polly Ranch...I lived there from '76 to '80. I built a house down on Oak drive and taxi'd my BD4 down the street to the strip.

I got transferred to Austin in '79 with TI and it was with sad heart that we moved a few months later.

Although we had some great times with good friends at PR, we love the Austin area and sure don't miss the humidity and Houston traffic...

[Ironflight]

Originally Posted by deene

Paul, didn't realize that you were located at Polly Ranch...I lived there from '76 to '80. I built a house down on Oak drive and taxi'd my BD4 down the street to the strip.

I got transferred to Austin in '79 with TI and it was with sad heart that we moved a few months later.

Although we had some great times with good friends at PR, we love the Austin area and sure don't miss the humidity and Houston traffic...

Wow, that was a ways back Deene! Our "new" house was built in '83 (and needs a lot of updating), and you pre-date that. Very nice community still - I am looking forward to living there full-time once we have finished the move - I have to commute a few more miles to work, but it's nothing to complain about compared to what most people do - and it's only until I decide I've had enough of rocket ships, and Louise and I decide to move west....

Paul

[STINGRAY]

Paul, you write as well as you fly!