An RV Saturday in SW Montana

[nucleus]

The local Montana Pilots Association put on a poker run today at KBZN. You were allowed one card each from up to seven out of the following ten airports:

-Bozeman (BZN)
-Three Forks (9S5)
-Townsend (8U8)
-White Sulphur Springs (7S6)
-Ennis (EKS)
-West Yellowstone (WYS)
-Dillon (DLN)
-Livingston (LVM)
-Twin Bridges (7S1)
-Big Timber (6S0)

Our planned route was BZN-9S5-EKS-DLN-WYS-LVM-6S0-BZN, but the water clouds were pretty close to the granite clouds heading towards West Yellowstone, so we rerouted direct to Livingston. Nice 18 gusting to 22 direct crosswind there, then we routed around the back of the Bridger mountains to White Sulpher Springs, then over to Townsend, and back to Gallatin Field (Bozeman) for lunch. Makes me appreciate Montana more when I fly around and look at it. It was a warm day, probably sixties. One thing I don't like about the warmer weather is how the plane slows down. Normal cruise slows down to closer to 165 knots true vs 172-175 when it is cooler. I started to do a speed run, but realized I didn't have a pen. Soon. I want to compare my bird's speed to Bob Awesome's, no way I could get down to a 6000 Density Altitude today though. When I gave it a bunch more fuel and some more RPM, the TAS was showing 196 knots. Won't really know until I plug the groundspeeds into the spreadsheet. All the quick turnarounds today have motivated me to get the aux battery installed so that I can get the EFII booting before and during start-up.

We came out very well on the poker game. They had ten prizes, so the top ten hands got to choose what they wanted by hand rank. My copilot ended up with a nut flush, and came in fourth. Surprisingly, no one had picked the 30 minute R44 helicopter ride, so he jumped on that. All smiles, he said "This is the best day I have had in a long time Dad". My two pair (9th best hand) netted me a 30 minute ride in a DA20. I'm grateful to the MPA as well as the local aviation businesses that donated the prizes.

All in all, just a great RV Saturday, I got to practice more landings than I usually do, and it was fun to zip around the local area and sightsee as well as break bread with some local pilots.

Hans

[hydroguy2]

first nice day we've had in a while, glad it worked out for all the poker players.

BTW-pics are usually required for a post of this nature

[nucleus]

You are right Brian, when we pulled the camera out the battery was dead. Did you make it to Cabin Creek or were you busy with dam problems?

Hans

[hydroguy2]

Didn't make it to Cabin Creek breakfast My dam job is getting in the way of my personal life.

We had a 4 day shutdown to repair a hydraulic leak on the turbine runner. Restarted the plant last evening, now fighting the high debris load that comes with peak of spring runoff.
The good news is I got enough overtime last week to pay for painting my plane, if I could get back in the shop.