Yes, I remember growing up flying in the dead of winter in Minnesota – draining the oil out of the Cub-on-skis at night and warming it before putting it back in before going flying. So don’t think that I have become a wimp after living on the Gulf Coast for three decades….but flying when the temps are below freezing for several consecutive days is just problematic, if not uncomfortable! We have no real provisions for pre-heat (it just isn’t cost effective), and our hangars are generally unheated as well – so you have to plan far ahead with a blanket and some drop lights if you’re going to go out on a week like last – and then you have to ask if the wear and tear is going to be worth it, or can you just skip a couple of days of flying? Let’s not talk about the snow/sleet/ice that moved in Thursday….
Bottom line – Saturday was the first (real world) flying I got in since the previous Sunday (very unusual lapse for me), and that was mostly in the right seat of the -6 when we went for lunch, and the back seat of the neighbor’s F-1 on the way back (the ladies decided to do a little shopping, and the guys decided that the F-1 was going to be the way to get home quick with 25 knot headwinds….). I popped up for some Acro in the Valkyrie when we got back, but really wanted to get some build time in on the -3 so kept that short.
Sunday dawned with the promise of getting into the 60’s for the first time in over a week, and again, we wanted to get some building in before going to a Super Bowl party in the late afternoon….but gee….how could you resist a morning where it warmed the hangar to open the doors and let the chill air out? Louise had a few things to attend to around the the house before she was ready to do some building, so I said I’d go out and let the Val stretch her legs a bit. I was off in a flash – no need to wait around for any new honey-do’s – and quickly headed down to our local ILS practice field to do my usual monthly checks of all the fancy sparkly stuff in the cockpit. I like to check things out under visual conditions, make sure the receivers are receiving, and that the guy punching the buttons remembers the sequences for loading and executing approaches.
Equipment checks can be done just as easily at 170 knots as at 90, so it doesn’t take long to load and fly the ILS to KLBX from our place about 18 miles away – you need to make the join angle a bit more gentle, but climbing in to the miss is like getting launched from a sling shot! With the autopilot taking us to the missed approach holding point (DELVE), I called the avionics checks complete and continued the climb to top a broken/overcast deck that started just a little inland from the Gulf. It was only a few hundred feet thick, and clear below – a nice white field to serve as a floor for some Acro work up high. The usual maneuvers and mayhem ensued, with a little emphasis on making the loops nice and round.
With 35 minutes on the clock and half tanks, I figured it was time to head home before I felt I should go for gas and add another hour to my time away from the shop. A high speed descent to duck under the Class B set me up for our normal call-in point a few miles from the field. “Polly Ranch traffic, RV Eight Papa Delta five south of the blue water tower, inbound for the downwind to one-one” I called. “Polly Ranch traffic, RV Four Mike Sierra is rolling for take-off, one-one” I heard Louise’s voice call. Ahh…she couldn’t stand to stay on the ground either! “Hey Paul, do you want to join up for some follow the leader?” She called. Hey, I had two hours of fuel – no problem!
I asked her altitude, ducked a touch below it, and saw her silhouetted above the horizon at my nine o’clock position, off her nine. Racking it around in a tight turn, I pulled into a pursuit curve and pushed the levers forward to close in. “Joining on the left, Mikey, you have the lead” I called (I should mention that Louise and I have standing protocols for formation flying, and a pre-agreement through marriage to fly formation anytime. Either can call a “knock it off” if there is a reason). “How about taking us out over the deck to the south, and we can have some fun!“ Two clicks on the radio, and we were climbing away at RV speeds. I followed her through a few gentle clearing turns as we reached our play area and altitude, then dropped back in trail a safe distance. “OK Mikey, maneuver at will!”
Louise proceeded through a series of turns, tightening them up as she went, then adding a third dimension in wingovers and Chandelles. I stayed on her tail. That’s the game of “follow the leader”. Since Louise hasn’t had formal Acro instruction beyond wingovers, we limit our maneuvering to (more or less) upright stuff, but it is a lot of fun, and very good practice, to follow along and stay smooth. It brings out a little of the inner fighter pilot, of course – watching the clouds rip past the background behind the other plane as you fight the wake to stay on the tail. A little bit of sailplane aero tow training helps of course - knowing when to start your turn if you want to carve a nice line behind the lead ship. With a good safe distance, it is easy to abort a maneuver and turn away if things don’t turn out right, but with gentle stuff, that doesn’t happen often – only when the reversals come a little aggressively and the lead plane starts to lose speed.
After about ten minutes, I figured I’d had my fun, and called that if she’d slow down, I’d take the lead and give her a turn on the tail. The exchange took a couple of minutes as she found her distance and position, then it was on again! Steep left, steep right, throw in some vertical and watch for her in the mirrors. Again, it’s fun to see the other plane glued out there behind the canopy in the distance. Lead watching for traffic, we trended north and east, headed for cheap fuel at Baytown, and when we had had our fill, we knocked it off and dove in for gas together. Big grins at the pump, it was a “slow race” home to see who got there last…..because that meant their airplane would be in front!
Ahh…the RV life! Surely, the grin becomes permanent after awhile – ours have, that’s for certain. A couple of hours well-spent. Not having to drive to the airport makes a huge difference of course, as does keeping the airplanes pre-flighted and ready to go whenever we are. (The trick is to post-flight and take care of anything that is needed before putting them to bed – that way, you know that unless there is a puddle of oil on the floor, you can check the tanks, and be ready to go with little delay). It sure beats heating that oil on an old stove and pouring it in a cold engine out on a frozen, snowy flight line….But even that is flying, reward enough for the effort it takes to launch into a flawless sky….
Paul
Bottom line – Saturday was the first (real world) flying I got in since the previous Sunday (very unusual lapse for me), and that was mostly in the right seat of the -6 when we went for lunch, and the back seat of the neighbor’s F-1 on the way back (the ladies decided to do a little shopping, and the guys decided that the F-1 was going to be the way to get home quick with 25 knot headwinds….). I popped up for some Acro in the Valkyrie when we got back, but really wanted to get some build time in on the -3 so kept that short.
Sunday dawned with the promise of getting into the 60’s for the first time in over a week, and again, we wanted to get some building in before going to a Super Bowl party in the late afternoon….but gee….how could you resist a morning where it warmed the hangar to open the doors and let the chill air out? Louise had a few things to attend to around the the house before she was ready to do some building, so I said I’d go out and let the Val stretch her legs a bit. I was off in a flash – no need to wait around for any new honey-do’s – and quickly headed down to our local ILS practice field to do my usual monthly checks of all the fancy sparkly stuff in the cockpit. I like to check things out under visual conditions, make sure the receivers are receiving, and that the guy punching the buttons remembers the sequences for loading and executing approaches.
Equipment checks can be done just as easily at 170 knots as at 90, so it doesn’t take long to load and fly the ILS to KLBX from our place about 18 miles away – you need to make the join angle a bit more gentle, but climbing in to the miss is like getting launched from a sling shot! With the autopilot taking us to the missed approach holding point (DELVE), I called the avionics checks complete and continued the climb to top a broken/overcast deck that started just a little inland from the Gulf. It was only a few hundred feet thick, and clear below – a nice white field to serve as a floor for some Acro work up high. The usual maneuvers and mayhem ensued, with a little emphasis on making the loops nice and round.
With 35 minutes on the clock and half tanks, I figured it was time to head home before I felt I should go for gas and add another hour to my time away from the shop. A high speed descent to duck under the Class B set me up for our normal call-in point a few miles from the field. “Polly Ranch traffic, RV Eight Papa Delta five south of the blue water tower, inbound for the downwind to one-one” I called. “Polly Ranch traffic, RV Four Mike Sierra is rolling for take-off, one-one” I heard Louise’s voice call. Ahh…she couldn’t stand to stay on the ground either! “Hey Paul, do you want to join up for some follow the leader?” She called. Hey, I had two hours of fuel – no problem!
I asked her altitude, ducked a touch below it, and saw her silhouetted above the horizon at my nine o’clock position, off her nine. Racking it around in a tight turn, I pulled into a pursuit curve and pushed the levers forward to close in. “Joining on the left, Mikey, you have the lead” I called (I should mention that Louise and I have standing protocols for formation flying, and a pre-agreement through marriage to fly formation anytime. Either can call a “knock it off” if there is a reason). “How about taking us out over the deck to the south, and we can have some fun!“ Two clicks on the radio, and we were climbing away at RV speeds. I followed her through a few gentle clearing turns as we reached our play area and altitude, then dropped back in trail a safe distance. “OK Mikey, maneuver at will!”
Louise proceeded through a series of turns, tightening them up as she went, then adding a third dimension in wingovers and Chandelles. I stayed on her tail. That’s the game of “follow the leader”. Since Louise hasn’t had formal Acro instruction beyond wingovers, we limit our maneuvering to (more or less) upright stuff, but it is a lot of fun, and very good practice, to follow along and stay smooth. It brings out a little of the inner fighter pilot, of course – watching the clouds rip past the background behind the other plane as you fight the wake to stay on the tail. A little bit of sailplane aero tow training helps of course - knowing when to start your turn if you want to carve a nice line behind the lead ship. With a good safe distance, it is easy to abort a maneuver and turn away if things don’t turn out right, but with gentle stuff, that doesn’t happen often – only when the reversals come a little aggressively and the lead plane starts to lose speed.
After about ten minutes, I figured I’d had my fun, and called that if she’d slow down, I’d take the lead and give her a turn on the tail. The exchange took a couple of minutes as she found her distance and position, then it was on again! Steep left, steep right, throw in some vertical and watch for her in the mirrors. Again, it’s fun to see the other plane glued out there behind the canopy in the distance. Lead watching for traffic, we trended north and east, headed for cheap fuel at Baytown, and when we had had our fill, we knocked it off and dove in for gas together. Big grins at the pump, it was a “slow race” home to see who got there last…..because that meant their airplane would be in front!
Ahh…the RV life! Surely, the grin becomes permanent after awhile – ours have, that’s for certain. A couple of hours well-spent. Not having to drive to the airport makes a huge difference of course, as does keeping the airplanes pre-flighted and ready to go whenever we are. (The trick is to post-flight and take care of anything that is needed before putting them to bed – that way, you know that unless there is a puddle of oil on the floor, you can check the tanks, and be ready to go with little delay). It sure beats heating that oil on an old stove and pouring it in a cold engine out on a frozen, snowy flight line….But even that is flying, reward enough for the effort it takes to launch into a flawless sky….
Paul
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