The Joy of Flying III

[toddrf]

LAST EDITED ON Sep-20-01 AT 08:43PM (EDT)[p]I just finished a long, poetic tome about today. About how my thoughts were elsewhere as I did the PKB-OSU-ROA-OSU-PKB and two NDB one LDA and one quasi-VOR/visual approaches. Unfortunately, I dumped it all when I tried to upload the photo.

Today was a great day. I was finally allowed to take the first landing in the 690C with VIPs on board so B must be feeling better about my abilities to control the airplane. I did have plenty of screw ups, so rusty am I in the Shrike that I can safely say that Bob Hoover's reputation is far from threatened. Little things like pulling condition levers priot to throttles and near overtemping engines. Minor oversight but since my mind is actually on Afghanistan and New York, well...

But be that as it may, when I snapped this, all of you were on my mind. I am at once profoundly privileged to have this forum to vent my spleen and wax on about flying and honored to share it with all of you, young and old; all of you searching for the perfect flight, the best landing and unified in the same, fraternal purpose, regardless of faith, politics or nationality. Thanks.

After today and am once again a few weeks further away from that Prozac prescription. ;-)

So to that end, and to save you all from some Hemingway-esque tome that cannot capture what I really mean to say properly; these "thousand words" are for all of you, my friends at FS.com

Enjoy.


Todd :-wave

http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3baa8a8e3220e527.jpg

Somewhere over and south of KPKB about to enter a front between us and Roanoke KROA. The LDA was a challenge and a true, "Do you see the rabbit? Whats the DH? Where's the DME at? 1.3? Isn't that the MAP? Yes, yes, I do have the lights. Good do you see those ridges?" approach to minimums.

[JarJarBlinks]

VFR on top has to be my favorite way to go! Its so nice, watching all the cloud features and forgetting about your worries for a minute. Hope you had a good time, tho.

BTW, what FL was that?
--------------------
Steve
[font size=1][link:64.224.111.217/files/734patch2.zip|DOWNLOAD PATCH 2 - CLICK HERE]

[link:www.dreamfleet2000.com/Downloads/737_downloads.html|DOWNLOAD DREAMFLEET LIVERIES, MANUALS]

[font color=black] UPDATED IMPORTANT INFORMATION: -

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: - Speed restrictions in the FMC and the DIR/INTC button will be implemented shortly. The 737 FMC is different than the 777 FMC, 747 FMC, and 767 FMC - they're different planes. Always be sure to execute your flight plan. Autopilot can not be engaged until 400' AGL. Bank angle selector will not be implemented until FS2002. The real 737 does not have wheel well covers when the gear is retracted. Reinstall your drivers(Latest) and DirectX(Latest). Remove PageFlip=1 from your FS2000.cfg file. Make sure your generators are on to display EADI/EHSI. If you don't see the livery that you want, paint it and share with others. FSNavigator will not fly the Greatest Airliners 737, fly the plane yourself. Once you can fly it yourself, you are now allowed to use the FMC. The CD will be out soon - no set date, so try downloading it, as you do not purchase it until after you download it. Finally, read the fabulous manuals (RTFM).

And remember, it was never their intent to make a PS1!

[Bagman]

Todd,

Glad to see that your back in the air again. I was wondering, do you have the Abacus Corporate Pilot collection? It has a Commander turboprop. I'm not quite sure if its a similar model to the one you fly but its probably close. Anyway keep the blue side up.

Brian

[CanuckInUSA]

I hate you!!! Just kidding ...

I'm glad to see that someone was able to get up into the air. For some reason, the FAA considers me (and others like me) a national security risk and is still preventing may of us from flying.

I can tell you the FBI already knows who I am (after all they already got my info from my FBO last week), and I've got nothing to hide. But for some reason, the Feds think VFR trainers like myself are a national security risk and will start killing people as if we were terrorists?

[joea]

Thanks...
Joe Apostolidis
Supporter of FS, quality add-ons, and real aviation
FMCs are GOOD-for those who can fly without them

[toddrf]

FL 190 on that leg and yes, being up there over solid and watching the clarity of the sky against the changing face of the clouds below at once convinces me that God does indeed exist and I am truly one of the luckiest people in the world.

Todd :-wave

[toddrf]

I did and I gave it to:

Mikko Maliniemi who is forever begging me for other goodies. J/K

Mikko knows that I am messing with him.

The TC in that package is a nice airplane. What is hard to comprehand is that the TC is a VERY responsive airplane. When it is coordinated adn properly trimmed it is a true hotrod. The 690D with the -10 Garrets is only more so. Untrimmed it is a bear. AS much as I bash it, it is a great plane to fly.

Now I'll be in the King Air and Conquest next week and I can tell you that they are more HEAVY in tehir flying feel, but for IFR work, the King Air and the 425 are the "BEANS". Extremely stable and responsive but with a predictable roll that remains very steady and constant. The TC on the other hand will "accelerate" in the roll and can really get you in over your head fast unless you pay attention.

Todd :-wave

PS: If there is a silver lining to this whole mess, it is that Part 135 Charter is now booming and the fractionals will soon be doubling volumes I would think.

[toddrf]

The AOPA is working on this. I would expect that you can go back to flight training very soon. Really.

Did you notice what they did around the cities? 25 NM ring? What did I tell you? Someone is starting to think sanely. Although the height goes to infinity for VFR traffic, that will have to change and soon.

Now, be of good cheer and go talk to your flight instructor. There is nothing that say that you can't ride with a licensed pilot and nothing that says you can't "learn" while you are riding with them. ;-) It just can't be formal flight training. He needs the hours too, especially now that the majors are laying off in droves.

Todd :-wave

[alastairmonk]

Glad to see you flying again ! Hopefully The Joy of Flying IV, V, VI etc will follow in due course. Of course, if they do, I'll have to allocate an hour or two each day to keep up with your adventures !

Thanks for everything,

Alastair

[toddrf]

Alastair;

I'll do my best to keep it short, informative and sweet to save you time. :-)

Todd :-wave

[dil52]

Thanks Todd,
I too am glad you're flying again. I've been patiently waiting for my house sitter to vacate my house so I can get back in it.
I'm on my sister's computer which has a 28.8 modem, and won't even load up MSFS5.1. I must say, no real air time, and no MSFS flying. You talk about withdraw symptoms.
I wake up in the middle of the night with an insatiable urge to sim-fly then suddenly realize my computer is still sitting unpacked in my truck. I start to shake and get short of breath. I get up and go to the refrigerator and get some iced tea. I go out on the patio and watch for UPS and FEDX planes to come over the VOR. Slowly the pain eases a bit when I see the moving lights of a heavy far overhead. There is still an emptiness. I feel like I'm missing something. The yoke and pedals are somewhere in a storage unit, I can't even get them out and even "fake it" like I'm flying. My only solace is to come in the forum and read about flying. Your picture was very rewarding to see even after it took about 10 minutes to download with the slow modem.
After traveling and working in the south for so long it's nice to touch the green green grass of home, but it will be nicer to get the computer hooked up and load up the OLE FS. I just may do a solid weekender. I'll tell everyone I'm going away for the weekend and just take off Friday night and fly for two days and nights without stopping. I'll probably fly Carlene's Amelia Earhart commemorative flight and catch up to her in New Mexico or where ever she has gotten delayed. Then I'll start another around the world flight. This one in the DF737. Oh how a yearn for the touch of the flight controls and pedals under my feet. And the sound of the DC3 and the hight pitched roar of the 73.
I'll probably have to do some touch and goes at first, just to get back in practice.
:-wave
Fred

[flyinggriffin]

Looks like you are going to get into the air real soon. Most flight training will be allowed as of Friday night. If the weather holds out I will probably be going for my instrument checkride this Tuesday. Had to cancel one tuneup flight already because the controllers in the area were jumpy and wouldn't allow multiple approaches even under IFR.

[flyinggriffin]

LAST EDITED ON Sep-21-01 AT 10:47PM (EDT)[p] You think they will ever put back in the VFR corridor down the Hudson to the Statue of Liberty? A local CFI from Pittsfield MA. put together a video of landmarks and how to fly the corridor....wow. Between getting hammered by turburlence and low level skimming over the tops of bridges, the sight of copters and twins buzzing up and down and cross the river, I think I will pass on the experience and try something safer, like flying a single engine plane across the Atlantic.
Staying away from class B airspace isn't a concern for me. I am not too anxious to mix it up with all that big fast moving aluminum at low altitudes.

[CanuckInUSA]

Griff ...

I just read the good news and it looks like I'll be able to resume my flying on Sunday morning (weather permitting of course). I feel sorry for one of my peers who still needs to get in some solo cross-country time (as the latest notam still prohibits this sort of flight training activity), but I'm at my checkride preparation stage and won't need to worry about doing any more solo flights (in the enhanced class B airspace which I am in) until after I'm certified. And even with that, all I'll need to do is to drive up north a little to an airport outside of Denver's airspace.

Woo-hoo!!!

Good luck with your checkride.

[Erick_Cantu]

"the high pitched roar of the 73"

High pitched? I assume you mean the -200? The -300 through -900 create a relatively low pitched whine/extreme bass roar...

But man, they sound nice.

-E

[font size=1]"You have Clearance, Clarence"

"Roger, Roger. What's our vector, Victor?"[/font size]

http://flightsimmers.net/airport/nwva0670/ERICK_BANNER.jpg

[Erick_Cantu]

What I like about flying is the sky color at high altitude, the curvature of the earth...I feel great in the air.

Terrorsits, they do nothing to my affinity for flying. Offer to fly me on an airliner now, I'll take the offer...schedule permitting...:-lol

-E

[font size=1]"You have Clearance, Clarence"

"Roger, Roger. What's our vector, Victor?"[/font size]

http://flightsimmers.net/airport/nwva0670/ERICK_BANNER.jpg

[alastairmonk]

Don't you dare ! Perhaps I should have said that I actually LIKE spending 10 minutes reading one of your detailed postings, especialy those describing your real flights. The "short hops" that you describe I find fascinating !

Maybe one of these days Nels will compile them and produce a book - sure to be a bestseller here !

Cheers,

Alastair

[dil52]

I agree Erick. The sound of the 737-400 is pleasant to the ears as is the soft moaning sound of the DC3.
See it's been so long I forgot what they sound like.:-)
Fred

[toddrf]

Fred:

I have not forgotten about my 717 parked in Bali on its way to Hartsfield. As soon as the new system arrives, the next leg will be first or nearly first on the agenda. The fact that is will be parked in my office and not in my home, where I have to compete for time on the computer with my 4 year old (who loves the "shooting eject" game (CFS2) and can start the Zero from mouse clicks!?! and prefers to fly at night) and fight off the assaults from my wife who thinks I love the computer more than her, will make completing such adventures a lot easier.

I hop eyou get your system unpacked soon. As I said, I was on the verge of going nuts not being able to fly for three weeks and 3 hours spent minding altitudes and headings or being able to bang away at ATC in a surprisingly clear (for most of the trip) and empty (no contrails or traffic along the entire route) sky was a serious remedy for my malady. So I do indeed sympathize.

I am going to try and do a few approach tutorials into the airports that I frequent. Not to compete with Andrew Herd who I would lable as the defacto expert on such things in the sim world, but rather to connect simming more closely with what I get to do for real. Any suggestions or thoughts on that?

Todd :-wave

[toddrf]

LAST EDITED ON Sep-22-01 AT 09:54AM (EDT)[p]I would say that unless the aircraft is a helicopter it would be unwise from the perspective of national security to allow close flights like that. The corridor is notorious anyway for all of the reasons you cite.

Now understand that I would fly around pretty confidently in a Jet Ranger in and around New York City, but then, if BAD happens, I can always drop collective, haul back on the cyclic and reconsider my options. As it is, one of the things that you will find occuring amongst those of us who get to fly crew served aircraft is that we tend to get spoiled on duplicate hands and eyes and strictly controlled airspace. Mind you I am an ardent supporter of GA as I think it really is the foundation of all aviation in the country and needs to be advocated and supported on a national level.

As far as flying in Class B, you have to know your limitations, but remember, you are in highly monitored airpace. All you have to do is remember to be mindful of wake, be comfortable flying faster approach speeds and confident in landings. Really, flying in and amongst larger traffic is actually a nicety versus taking your chances at Podunk uncontrolled field with every "Hi I am a pilot because my ticket says so" VFR wonk who took the test 30 years ago and gets his BFR freebied by his ol' buddy CFI down the road. In Class B you are, theoretically, flying with pilots who take this stuff seriously. Sure the 757 crew behind you will curse you if you persist in the "I pay taxes, I own this approach so I'll fly it at 70 knots if I darn well please" mode of thinking, but since your 172 will fly at 110-120 knots quite nicely and you know that you have 10,000 feet of runway to bleed energy, heck fly the descent at 110, feel confident knowing that everyone is watching you and then level off, power off and land short. Use the wonderful 500 foot full flap landing that the 172 can give and quickly turn off. Practice this and you'll soon find that it really is no big deal.

If we are to really be serious about such matters, we need to really reconsider the use of the major inner city airports like Logan or LAAAA GOOOARDIA or NEWARK or Reagan, etc etc etc as hubs for large aircraft. Ideally I would love to see these airports become the focus of regional jet traffic and Caravan taxis. Then we need to secure outlying airports for the larger traffic. True security around large cities, at least security designed to minimize potential damage of the type we saw in NYC necessitates decreasing the size of aircraft allowed into the airspace and the amount of VFR traffic, but that only for the sake of reducing congestion. Had an EMB 145 smacked into the WTC, would the damage have been as catastrophic? How about a C-208? Remember the word is that the thing was designed to take a 707 hit. And keep in mind that a 25 mile buffer in an airplane that travels 10 miles a minute isn't much. Unless we are willing to continue to fly CAPs forever over the urban areas of the nation, there are going to have to be some substantial rule changes at least if we want to be reasonably secure.

But this is all moot because, as I predicted a long time ago, large commercial airliners are going bye bye, at least in the numbers presently flown. It is a simple matter of economics. The regional jet is changing the face of air travel due to reduced costs, longer ranges and the idea that airlines cannot afford to subsidize aircrews to the tune that they have been.

We need to utilize the RJs point to point, we need to really push the development of part 135 scheduled service around the country using airplanes like the Caravan and we need to develop the "Regional Hub" concept as the embarkation point for international flights.

Truly, aviation is changing rapidly due to last week's events, but not in any ways that wouldn't have occurred eventually anyway.

Todd :-wave

[helo_av8or]

Canuck,
Once again, we are in the same boat. The FAA has grounded ALL VFR flight training. I'm working on my instrument rating, but the syllabus for OSU says that I am now in "secondary" This essentially means that I have to build 50 hours of Pilot In Command Time. The best way to do this is to take a bunch of solo cross countries. I was looking forward to it, and then terrible weather, a sick flight instructor, and a shortage of planes hindered my earlier flights this semester. Finally, I was able to go for the second time. Monday evening, September 10. I flew a brand new Cessna 172, (Yes, They're NICE) The 3.4 hour flight stretched into the evening. I was flying over Oklahoma City just as it turned dark. We were above everything, and so they didn't talk to us much. We just watched the traffic below. A 747 headed into Will Rogers, A Citation of some sort took off from Wiley Post, and an E3 Sentry AWACS was shooting approaches into Tinker AFB. Add to these the myriad of Cessna's, Piper's and Beechcraft's... It was a beautiful sunset. Then I realized that THIS was why I got into flying... I woke up the next morning... and the world had changed... forever.
Jeff

[helo_av8or]

I'll buy it... So long as it's a signed copy.

[Bagman]

LAST EDITED ON Sep-22-01 AT 03:29PM (EDT)[p]Ahhhhh, The sound of normalcy...Today life got a little closer to the way its supposed to be. as I sat in front of my computer this morning, I could hear something that I took for granted up to last week..... The buzzing sound of a small prop plane. What a beautiful sound. This was quickly followed over my scanner by, "Cessna 956 turning left downwind for 23, touch and go, Montpelier traffic.." Thats just what I needed to hear to get myself out of the slump I've been in since the 11th. The start of this return was last week when I could hear chatter starting back up on 135.70 (Boston Center)with words like Speedbird, KLM and Virgin. I even knew NYC was getting back to normal when I could hear Jet Blue 54 (Flying from JFK) calling Burlington Approach to land.

Its getting there, I'm not sure if it will fully return to "normal" but its a huge start. Flight sim 2000 is fun again and that's the best that any of us can hope for.

Sorry for my rambling but I guess I just needed to talk about all of this.


Brian :-wave

http://greenmtnflightsim.homestead.com/Home.html

[toddrf]

I for some reason couldn't upload it here so I posted a pix of the TC 690 C at Screenshots for any of you interested.

Todd :-wave

[toddrf]

Trust me, that is the primary reason why I ever write any of this stuff; I have no idea why, I just "need" to...

Todd :-wave

[dil52]

Todd wrote:
>I hop eyou get your system unpacked soon. As I said, I was on the verge of going nuts not being able to fly for three weeks and 3 hours spent minding altitudes and headings or being able to bang away at ATC in a surprisingly clear (for most of the trip) and empty (no contrails or traffic along the entire route) sky was a serious remedy for my malady. So I do indeed sympathize.
I am going to try and do a few approach tutorials into the airports that I frequent. Not to compete with Andrew Herd who I would lable as the defacto expert on such things in the sim world, but rather to connect simming more closely with what I get to do for real. Any suggestions or thoughts on that?
>

The approach tutorials sounds great. I believe the flight sim community could gain much from your writings on approaches. I enjoy Andrew’s explanations as well, however like DF’s Carlos’ tutorial a step by step description of approaches would be fantastic. The one thing that struck me the most was when describing his typical approach was that he was not completely dirty until about 5 miles from touch down. I was accustomed to having full flaps, and gear down and 140 +/- knots about 20 miles out as the MSFS lessons implied and even the long vectors that RC ATC gives for catching the ILS. This is of course with the 73. I’ve flown his approach many times, however I’d like to hear others descriptions as well.
You’re one of the best writers I’ve read when it comes to that and I’d love have some step by step tutorials of, not only your approach, but in detail ie your eye scans, what instruments you’re watching at what point etc, etc. For instance, at what flap degree setting and speed do you decide to gear down? Then as you hit the landing gear, what do you scan first? The IAS, or AI or the VSI? And why of course.
I’ve read many descriptions of hand flying a landing, however no one seems to say they use the FD (flight director).
I find it’s very easy to use with the default 73, however any of the other planes that don’t have the cross bars, I find the FD to be difficult or useless. I got into the habit of using the FD with the military Fxx’s in the Jane’s series, but it seems no one uses it.

I’ve written some tutorials myself (for beginners), and as time has passed I seem to have to add a detail or two that I’ve skipped, just because it’s 2nd nature to do so after years of flight simming. Those lack of details are what leave the beginners scratching their heads.
On the other side of the scale I wrote a very detailed description of catching the localizer, and the glide slope, setting up the aircraft for flaps, gear, speed and approach and once on auto pilot, setting everything up for a possible missed approach, like the VSI, and heading then back to hand flying. One beginner accused me of grand standing, saying all that couldn’t be accomplished by one person, because that was just too much to do and it just wasn’t possible. I’m leaving some of the other, more apparent items out but you get picture.:-)


>Trust me, that is the primary reason why I ever write any of this stuff; I have no idea why, I just "need" to...

The reason why is that you have gained an audience that likes to hear what you have to say as it adds to the dreams of many of us pilots in here young and old, real and sim. Since you’re so modest someone has to explain that. I just did. We that are optimists enjoy hearing your optimistic and honest descriptions and obeisance views.

I’ve added some quips from you prior posts as a response as my computer time is limited. It consists of off regular hours time since my sister only has one phone line and a 28.8 modem. It’s like stepping out of the Concord and running a steam driven locomotive. J
Having explained myself, I will be back in operation in a week or so and will be over the distress of the lack of flying time in a month or so. :-lol

Fred
http://www.flight-sim.net

[toddrf]

Thanks Fred:

I have the Monitor, 19" and no system as of yet, should be here today. Weather is seriously skosh here so no ferry flight of MPP back to CKB for redo of maintenance, so we can only hope that I have a flight on the box today...

AS far as cockpit management, well there are a lot of ways to skin a cat. And there are different ways for each pilot from airplane to airplane.

In MPP I only have one COM and a handheld GPS. I do have a glideslope and a second NAV but no back up attitude reference. So in terms of doing IFR work, well, there is IFR and then ther is IFR. MOst of my IFR is done with a sectional ready at hand. and approach plates on the seat and I infrequently look at an enroute chart because distances are short and enroute times are long, so there is plenty of room to beathe.

In the TC or 425 or even King Air, my ground speed can be as much as 3.5 time faster than in MPP depending upon winds, etc, so I spend a lot more time with an enroute chart, AND because there are separate systems and backups, IFR is more IFR. I don't reference the plates as much because I am flying in a highly controlled environment where frequencies are handed out as you go and most of the time I am vectored onto the Final Approach Course which leads to an ILS so I don't have as much orientation to be concerned with as I do with MPP when I shoot a NP approach into a field where I have to circle to land.

Gear goes down sometimes as short as a mile out in the TC, especially when speed is critical, Usually the OM is the reference for gear, but into an uncontrolled field, about 5 out you drop the gear. MPP doesn't have a gear lever and I can just about guarantee you that ANY airplane that I actually own will never have retractable gear. Depending upon how well you streamline the wheels in a fixed gear airplane, retracts add only a few knots to speed, a lot of complexity to maintenance and an order of magnitude increase in the workload of the approach, especially single pilot. Plus, I don't trust lights and I can't visually observe the underside of most GA aircraft if I am flying them.

A lot more to this topic.

Thanks Fred.

Todd :-wave

[flyinggriffin]

The checkride got put off untill early October. With the grounding of the GA fleet and some unusually bad September weather up here, I haven't flown an approach in almost two weeks. Will give me more time to work on the partial panel approach and holding.

Last year I decided to go for the instrument rating because of the totally lousy weather. This year of course, while doing most of my flying staring at the panel has been some of the finest flying weather we have had.

I find it almost surreal to lower the foggles right after liftoff and fly for a couple of hours, get told to lift them up and lo and behold there is a runway in front of you. Almost like flying FS2K except for two things, it costs a whole lot more, and you can't get up to go to the bathroom 1-1/2 hours into a two hour flight. Is an overloaded bladder justification enough to holler PAN-PAN over the mic and try to get a landing priority?

[dil52]

I'd like to read and use your full tutorial. Realizing that there is no set of rules when it comes to instrument scanning and I'm sure that applies to you as well. I'd say you should do two tutorials. One for VFR or at least hand flying after you would tell approach you have the field in sight, and one for all instrument IFR to minimums type CATIIIa,b,or c tutorial. At this point you are probably not rated for b's or c's as few are, but at least you know the procedures. That's the beauty of the sim. We can all fly as though we have every rating that could ever be required. :-)
If you look at the approach the Atlanta, Hartsfield on the main page of my site you'll see that it was done in actual downloaded real weather in December of last year. I wish I would have saved that flight, because the weather saves with it.

Like real world flying or anything else, some days everything seems to go like clock work and it just seems simple. Then there are those days when everything seems like a struggle. I guess experience gives you the advantage of making a near perfect approach and landing even on those particularly difficult days.

Some of the greatest flights I've made come from real downloaded weather. I remember one morning in particular landing in KSLC just after day break. There's a description of that approach on my site as well. It was an approach through heavy scud down to about 1000' AGL and 3 miles when the runway appeared. Just as I though it was going to be a routine landing we hit ground fog. Not being ready for that I experienced what can only be compared to spatial disorientation. I got behind the plane and, as the 90% in the real world who experience it, wasn’t ready to land and decorated the runway with small parts of aircraft.:-eek
:-wave
Fred
http://www.flight-sim.net

[toddrf]

Now it is no big secret that I am the chicken little of flying. I really do anticipate all sorts of problems that in practice never occur and to that end, will not be the problem that I will eventually encounter; such is Mr. Murphy in his resourcefulness.

So it is with that train of thought that I decided to try for the third time to get my airplane fixed. And I awoke expecting to find high clouds and sunshine that would continue from PKB to CKB. I did not find that. I found drizzle, scud and a general atmospheric mess caused by a currently dominating low pressure system over the Great Lakes and just southerly extending enough to cause minor conflicts with my best laid plans.

Being a pilot demands that you also be a meterologist. That is if you want to be a pilot for more than 15 days a year in Southeastern Ohio, which happens to be the grand total of truly CAVU no wind no bumps see the International Space Station from the ground days. I am not an expert meteorologist but I am in my "senior year" of the course work with grad school looming.

There is no substitute for power. Power and more power. When looking at the drizzle behind say, a Conquest I, and knowing that the tops are at 12,000 feet, you have a dramatically different view of the prospect of flight than you do when you look at the drizzle with MPP in the foreground. Her total weather package includes a heated pitot tube and carb heat. That's it. Temperatures and freezing levels and cloud moisture forecasts become extremely important in such cirumstances.

Now the trip is not very long, only about 47NM and CKB even has it's runway going in the same direction as the primary at PKB which is 21. You can follow Rt. 50 all the way there and get there just fine, but there is a certain reservation that creeps into your mind when you know that your Continental is on its second rebuild and the transponder isn't working. Should you launch and run into clouds, your choice is only one, turn around and go home.

Now that proposition isn't very daunting, I have done it many times in Southern West Virginia in a Jet Ranger, but in the Jet Ranger you can stop in mid air, swing it around and if you can't pick your way out of the hollar at 20 knots, you can find the nearest ball field and take a rest, a potty break and eat a Payday until the weather decides to get seriously in favor of VFR flying. MPP could only stop once in mid air and I am not ready to cash that chip in yet.

So in such circumstances you have a mental heart to heart talk with yourself and in that conversation you review Go and no Go plans. WE launch with full power, as soon as the roll starts pitot heat comes on, after we clear 1000 feet agl and establish a good climb with a power reserve we add carb heat and keep it on till we land. We continually assess the path ahead and if visibility drops below 5 miles, we turn around and we head for home. The GPS nearest button is reviewed and the sectional is reviewed. All appropriate approach plates for the route of flight are studied and a flight plan is filed. As soon as possible, contact is made with the approach controllers at CKB to let them know that I am not squawking and give them a position report so as to avoid mating with the odd Bonanza that might have selected 4000 or 3000 as a cruising altitude against my 3500. We follow the major roads since they are the only viable safe landing area in an emergency and we keep talking the entire route. Whew! a lot of thought for such a little plane.

But that is the deal. Compounding matters, my best friend O had agreed to pick me up at the other end and give me a ride home. She would be out of cell range for part of the trip so if I have to abort, well, she could end up at an empty parking space. So I confirmed where the dead spots would be and when to call her if I turned back to save her the distance.

Off we go. NOw understand that I had briefed weather twice this AM and I explained exactly what I was doing, "A ferry flight to maintenance, I am Instrument rated and I have a faulty transponder." So my briefing included much of what I would have been fed had I actually filed IFR, in fact had I not logged on to DUATs and looked at the radar and precip I would have asked for all of it. So the story goes.

Once airborne, MPP handles herself very well. Six cylinder engines are very smooth and I think more than anything MPP just likes to be in her place doing her thing. I watch as the drops start to splatter across the windscreen and I look for light above and steer toward it and away from the dark above which indicates greater moisture. I look at the wing leading edge just to make certain and back and forth we go from Flight Watch to approach and back again.

The GPS remains at goto direct enter constantly as I update myself and my position. It might seem a bit redundant since from about 15 miles East of PKB youc an pick up the unmistakeable stacks of the power plant at CKB, but if I have a problem I need to be able to say exactly where I am. GPS is just for that. Mind you I tune in the Bellaire VOR and cross check with the CKB VOR for redundancy. Then there is the sectional.

In due time I have taken a 45 minute straight line flight and made it 1.1 hours due to rain showers that must be steered around. But that is the deal. The air is actually very smooth and fun to fly in, but I would feel safer in a Cub; knowing that I can get down into 500 feet or less. MPP had been tested to 500 feet with smoking brakes and a backside of the powercurve approach, but it isn't her chosen environment.

In due time the VNAV bar appears on the GPS as I have selected it to terminate at 0 feet AGL on the approach and given it the command to fly me to the FAF. This is a very nice backup to my glideslope. In due course I am on an extended right base to 21 and the Tower has cleared me to land. Given this tremendous amount of liberty I choose a typical high approach in which a stay about 2000 feet above the pattern slowely reducing power into the white arc and then set initial flaps. The power comes back steadily and I continue to add flaps until I have 30 degrees am short final at 1000 feet agl. To someone on the ground it would seem to be a diving approach, but with the flaps on MPP I can come down at 1200 feet/minute and never exceed 80 knots. I am visual of course and the GS needle is on the floor, but the localizer is centered. This is not, by the way, how I would fly an actual approach to minimums, but since I have the luxury of visual conditions, I allow myself the commodity of altitude for as long as I can keep it. If you ever want to freak youself out, fly the VOR21 appraoch into KPKB and look at how high you are off the trees. Trust me the best way to fly that approach is in solid IFR because to do it in visual conditions in practice really messes with your mind. Altitude is your friend and on the VOR 21 you are a very lonely pilot to the MAP.

It is understood that most power failures in airplanes occur when power settings are changed so I prefer to have a bank of altitude knowing that I can dump it quickly. MPP is very good at this and a testimony to what was technology at its peak that has since been discarded due to lack of attention and subsequent damage incurred by people who have a lot of money, don't regard limiting airspeeds, screw themselves up and then sue airplane manufacturers. We all suff and the first thing to suffer was 40 degrees of flaps on the Skyhawk, which is added at the threshold at the same time that I roundout into level flight, still 50 feet in the air and now adding a slight amount of power to control descent. This is not the way you fly the TC by the way. Assuredly, it would only put you in a very bad position, but Mr. Cessna understood values in a light airplane and gave us the resource to use.

Smartly MPP settles into ground effect and her flaps pull her down, a little power and she settles onto the mains and then drops the nose wheel. Off come the flaps and in the roll out I start shutting down everything from pitot heat to nav radios. I taxi to the line and the folks park the plane. A quick, hey, it aint working, please fix it and I am off to the terminal to await the arrival of O and the ride home. Still the cops and other security are crawling over the place. Two officers freezing under a shelter drinking Hardy's coffee. Gate guards, what times we live in. I speak briefly with a US Air FA dead heading to his next three day trip in PIT. His concerns over US Air folding voiced very loudly. 1100 pilots are getting laid off. "The company has told us they want us to be all regional jets and a few heavies for the overseas routes.".

I look at him and smile slightly. Inside knowing that this was going to happen for a long time. The RJ is the future, the airlines know it, Bombardier and Embraer know it, it is the pilots and crews that seem to be having trouble dealing with the idea.

"Are you military? I can always tell with the map case and stickers."

"Yes, I am, but today I am flying my own plane.". I don't mention that despite the planning, despite the maintenance, despite the uncertainty of MPPs future in the face of a 182 or Cherokee 6, at this point I wouldn't trade places with his colleagues preflighting the 1900 outside for the world.

Todd :-wave

http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3bb373e10bdf77cc.jpg

[JarJarBlinks]

I see that you have a digital camera, and youve learned to post pics. Now, get MPP shot and pasted for us all ;)
--------------------
Steve

[toddrf]

Steve:

go over to screenshots forum and scan the threads for A Different Point of View and you can see MPP.

I am also learning HTML since the price quoted to me from a website designer to create my site was just too high, so I decided to teach myself. It's amazing what you can do with Windows Notepad. ;-)

I have had the camera for some time, now it is time to create a snazzy logo for FFS and then use it without Nels getting wise.

Todd :-wave

[Bagman]

Todd,

if you want to do a nice looking site with no HTML required look into Homestead.com, thats where my site is and I program HTML about as good as Homer Simpson :-lol. Homestead has a built in Drag and drop site builder thats pretty easy to use. there is a fee now but its negligable.

Brian

http://greenmtnflightsim.homestead.com/Home.html

[dil52]

For an alternative to HTML you can simply purchase MS Front Page
and do your site with drop down menus.
The things they've done with java scripts and using the cut and paste method will save hours of editing time as well.
Just a thought Todd.
BTW, the MPP is sweet.
Fred
http://www.flight-sim.net

[alastairmonk]

I concur with Fred. I have no HTML-coding experience, but was able to create my Division's website with little problem. If you want to see the results, go to the link below:

http://www.stjohnambulance-greenford.org.uk

Cheers,

http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3bae67d85138992a.jpg

[toddrf]

Guys, I do have Front Page, but I decided on this trip that I was going to be the master. There is an excellent book called Dave's Quick and Easy Web Pages that allows you to learn the basics of HTML.

I decided to do it because it is "there" and because if I can master this HTML business then I feel that much further along the path to true Jedi Master level. ;-)

If all else fails then I'll go to a dedicated editor.

Todd :-wave

[JarJarBlinks]

www.thewho.org

Recognise the name?

My dad works on the page all the time with frontpage, if you ever have a question or two, just "call" ;)
--------------------
Steve

[alastairmonk]

Fine, best of luck ! Just let us know the web address when its out there.

Best wishes,

http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3bae67d85138992a.jpg

[toddrf]

Yeah, right, like I am going to expose myself to that kind of scrutiny. ;-)

Todd :-wave

[alastairmonk]

No offence meant. Its just that I sort of naturally assumed that if you were creating a website, it would be for public consumption.

Cheers,

http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3bae67d85138992a.jpg

[toddrf]

I took it no other way, but since you designed such a nice one, I need to float for a while before I would feel comfortable profering my work for general scrutiny.

Besides, my site is pretty specialized for consultations and had nothing to do with flying.

Todd :-wave

PS I'll get up the courage to reveal the URL eventually.

[dil52]

Todd and friends,
Good luck with your website.
Hey all I'm back.:-)
Good grief charley Brown. :-lol
I have a new email and will have to change a gazillion address.
Not only that, but set up the web site email etc.
Like I said, I created my website using Front Page and it's
quite obvious. :-)
Back when I went to school all they had were slide rules.
All the telcos had stepper switches and the only computers
we had were toasters that popped up automatically when two
disimular metals expanded to close the circuit.:-)
Oh yes, and we had to walk 5 miles to school and it was up
hill both ways. :-lol
Of course there was always 3' of snow!!
:-wave
Fred
http://www.flight-sim.net

[toddrf]

:-)

Todd :-wave

[alastairmonk]

"And kids today don't believe you"

Someone's obviously been checking out the Monty Python archives !

Cheers,

http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3bae67d85138992a.jpg

[dil52]

I hope you took is as humor
I guess with all the seriousness in here I should clarify
the fact that I have a sense of humor.:-lol

Laughter is the best medicine and I believe the good doctor
Todd will agree with that.

:-wave
Fred
http://www.flight-sim.net

[toddrf]

Most assuredly and who would be up for a TWENTY MILE MARCH?

No?

Right then, off you go!

Todd :-wave

PS: It was the Salmon Mousse...

[dil52]

How about 5 miles, at 120 paces a minute for the
proper aerobics for over 50s, doc?.

I been there and done the twenty mile ones.:-eek
Fred
http://www.flight-sim.net

[toddrf]

LAST EDITED ON Oct-11-01 AT 08:03AM (EDT)[p]"Do you see the blimp?"

"No B, I do not see the blimp." My thoughts rushing quickly as I called for half flaps and pushed the condition levers full forward. Just what I needed, my first approach with THE BOSS and his wife and their friends in the back and I get to come up close and personal with MR. Budwieser or Fuji Film or Met Life (That would be a hoot, Hey Snoopy, how's flying?) or whatever gas bag was flying. "Where is the blimp? Three green, one visually confirmed, I got the nose in the spinner. I am on speed and glideslope."

"Right over there, two oclock."

I glance up, no blimp. Who flies a blimp anyway? People that smash Watermellons for a living and get to hang around girls who have seen my colleagues who only take payments in cash. "B I do not see a blimp. Full flaps. I have the VASI, Power. You know with your eyesight you might be looking into Tennessee for all I know.".

I was reminded at this point of the crash of the Trijet a few years back where everyone got distracted by the faulty landing light and everyone forgot to fly the airplane, nosewheel be damned. Not I. I was also thinking about the fact that I had really wanted to take a picture of KLEX 22 on short final. As it was we were direct and visual the entire trip and B must have been feeling rather content because he never touched the controls after rotation.

So here I am at the beginning of the day, which means the boss hadn't had his beer ration for the day and was therefor very fresh and very alert as to what was happening to his airplane and who was flying it, AND I had no way to operate my digital camera since I was very occupied with the TC and trying to scan for a big helium sack somewhere nearby AND maintain a two white and two red picture through the windshield.

I finally let the camera drop back down into the fanny pack that I keep placed in front of the seat.

I leveled out about the point where I would have been buying a new firewall in the 172 and called "Power idle."

At that moment, I caught out of my peripheral vision, the blimp. It was securely moored and serving as a very nice weathervane. Which just goes to show that when told to look without a specific location there is a lot of sky for something as big as a blimp moored to the ground to get lost in.

"B, that blimp is on the ground."

"I know."

"Well, it would have been helpful for you to point that out, your airplane."

"My airplane."

"Your airplane, since I spent the approach waiting to get T-boned by a militant balloon."

LAUGHTER

It is the case that I finally understand the Garret engine and so I could look semi-professional going through the after landing checklist and flicking overhead switches, looking like a real airplane pilot. Remember, as with medicine, it is not so much how much you know, but making sure that in what you know and do you look cool doing. Pilots look cool flicking switches, even if the switch is the door unlock or taxi-lights. The pax in back don't know what they are, they just assume that you have some mystical and arcane knowledge that they do not and are happy to have you there. You must also, MUST, wear sunglasses in all but absolute dark conditions. It is essential, AND it is completely acceptable to wear them on a string around your neck when you are indoors.

We shut down and per protocol B as the chief pilot got out of his seat and opened the door and helped the VIPs out. The boss asked if we were coming over later to watch the races and B remarked that we would. B is big into horses as well as the boss. B owns a few horses, but lets just say that his horses didn't cost as many commas and zeros as the boss'.

I was at this time interested in two things: Out my window was the most rediculous Twin Commander I had ever seen. It had an international orange nose and tail in in due course revealed itself to be a dedicated photo-ship. It in and of itself was worthy of a photo. The second thing was a large hangar labeled the Aviation Museum of Kentucky. Now you can watch your race horses, I will entertain myself thankyou.

B was by this time gone and I resumed my duties. Those duties involved making certain my hair looked good, I had my leather jacket on and I was turning props. The Garett turbine has extremely close tolerances and as such can bind if you don't help it cool after shutdown. The hot metal parts inside can actually sag and catch inside the turbine. Yeah I know the thought disturbed me at first too, but 9SC has taken care of me so far, so she must be doing something right. I guess the least I can do is turn her props.

So back and forth, left to right I run, spinning the blades and pulling air through the grenades' guts to cool them. That the day was absolutelyn pristine made it all the better. That and the fact that I got to watch as Challenger and Lear and Astra pulled up, all to disgorge their VIPs who also own horses with many commas and zeros in their cost.

KLEX is your average midwest airport. Average I suppose if you think the odd Saudi 747 on the ramp is a normal thing. That an a completely unmarked, white 727 with a cargo door, which I later learned is owned by an on demand freight company and used to hauol prize race horses. Very strange place. The Saudi jet was there for the same thing. Arabs like their horses. Unmarked jets usually mean something else to me, but in Kentucky, the land of expensive horses and fast women, it means you haul your pony in style.

Presently B was working the desk girl for a free car and I was eager to go look in that hangar. B had to be satisfied with waiting for the shuttle van which, get this, takes you across the field to a gate in the fence (curiously right next to where the blimp was moored, we meet again you big mutha') where you are allowed to exit the airfield; risk your life against 6 lanes of traffic and then enter the palatial grounds of Keeneland Race Track. B says that in the old days, before the dark times, they used to just taxi right up to the gate and let people off. Now we stop at TAC Air, put the VIPs on limos and rental cars for a five minute trip around the field and the crews take the shuttle van across the ramp.

Have you ever been number two for the runway behind a Hawker 800 while sitting in a Chevy Astro van? I have now.

Since the shuttle wasn't going for another two hours, I politely asked the presumably "fast" Kentucky woman behind the counter for a crew car. She smiled and promptly handed me the keys to a Dodge Intrepid and told me to drive the 1/2 mile to the Museum. Another by product of heavies slamming into large office buildings is that instead of walking 100 yards across a ramp to a museum, I now must drive, albeit, I wasn't paying the bill, 1/2 a mile around the airport.

The Aviation Museum of Kentucky is a very nice, small place. They have a Phantom and an A-4 Skyhawk. They also have an OH-58C that you can sit in, but since I do enough sitting in those, I begged off.

The curator seemed very impressed with their Phantom, but I kept trying to get a closer look at the Piper L-4 that they had displayed. I think he must have though I was a bit off because presently he saw me lying on my back on the floor looking at the tail post and lower rudder. "You really like airplanes, do you need a disposeable camera for pictures?"

"Got a digital, no I hope you don't mind me on the floor, but I am building one of these in my garage and I happen to be working on the tail and I need to see how Mr. Piper did it since the WAG plans are not that detailed and it isn't like a J-3."

He looked puzzled, as if to say, you mean you are really more interested in a tube and fabric hoopy, over an EFFF-FOUR FRIGGING FANTOM JET!?! My look indicted that, yes, in fact I am a lot more interested in this little hoopy since it was liason pilots, who were responsible for more damage during WW II than any other group of pilots. They called artillery in and saved a lot of lives at the first FACs. They have not been treated well by history and I aim to help keep their memory alive.

I asked him if he wanted me to get up and leave and he said, "No you are sort of the exceptional patron, touch and look as much as you like.".

Thanks :-)

During the war, since the L-4 was never meant to be flown for more than 2-6 months, certain "exceptions" were made. Like if you didn't have enough tube for a complete longeron, you just spliced together enough from scraps. This L-4 was no different. Just in the greenhouse alone I counted no less than three splices. There have been Taylorcraft Austers found with cardboard used for gusset material. Nobody though that people would be flying these things 6 months after they were made, let alone fifty years later. That is a testimony to the boys at Lockhaven.

It was nearing time and so I gave my thanks, looked over the Electra with its shiny twin radials and made my way back to the FBO.

Across the field and through the fence and then into Keeneland.

For $2.50 you can buy yourself a cheap seat and watch horse racing. Along with the horses comes hot dogs and chips and Diet Coke all for $8.00. Then there are the well heeled women and their escorts and the parasols. I had never been to a horse race, let alone seen the kind of structure that Keeneland is. Overwhelming really. The place must have cost hundreds of millions to put together. It is really beautiful and to be honest, if you like horses, you can go and see some beautiful animals and eat some ball park type food, spend an afternoon and do it all for $10.00. Which is really quite a deal.

Kentucky also has this law which says essentially, if you stick you face behind the south end of a northbound horse and he kicks the snot out of you, you cannot sue the owner. Those signs are posted everywhere since you are allowed to mingle around the horses and get very close. I was amazed at the common sense of this. You would think that horses being such business in Kentucky would have prompted Kansas to create a similar law: If you climb into an airplane not designed to fly in a thunderstorm and you fly into a thunderstorm and get killed when the plane comes apart, well you are a moron and cannot sue Cessna. I guess we can only hope...

As such things go, after about 5 hours we headed back to the FBO to await our charge, who had been, unseen by us , some three stories above us in the clubhouse, presumably watching horses and making deals that would eventually mean that there was enough money in the TC fund to allow me to fly the thing to some more interesting places.

Two hours later, welcome to corporate flying, the VIPs arrived, tired and ready for home. That was good since my landings are always better from the perspective of the folks in back if they are adequately laced. That and the fact that I really like the boss. He is a truly nice man and very gracious, so it makes it all the more important to me to do my best, which I am thankfully able to say that I did.

40 minutes later we were on the visual, in the dark, to runway 3 and home. I made my best landing ever in the TC and that was the best way to end the day. The VIPs climbed out and gathered their things and made their way to their car whilst I helped B empty ice chests and secure the airplane.

It is always interesting to me how much of a contrast there is from the front to the rear of the airplane. Here I am a physician, in a comfortable income level and yet the cost of just one of their horses far exceeds my annual income by many times over. They spend more on lunch than I make in a week. It is amazing and yet as a crew member I am allowed access to much of what they do. Admittedly my primary responsibility is to be seen without being seen, but that I do not mind since I am not a particularly high profile type of guy. The biggest difference is that for all their wealth, they miss out on what I think is the best thing that privilege can purchase and that is;

The view from the front office.

I am convinced that if they fully understood that, they would be fighting me for the seat.

The question is, would they see the blimp?

http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3bc58a580fc1e9f9.jpg
Todd :-wave

PS: I did see the blimp ;-)

[alastairmonk]

Hi Todd !

Great story, especially about the museum. I can relate to your comments about being "invisible". As a first aider in London we are frequently allowed into "sterile" areas that "normal" members of the public are barred from, usually for free. Admittedly we are actually there to attend in case anyone requires aid, and often we get casualties just before it gets interesting. Amazing how we can be present, in numbers, in full, reflective gear, and still, somehow be overlooked ! At least, until someone needs help, then its:

"Where's St. John ???"

It reminds me of an incident a few years ago. We were out in force in Hyde Park for the D-Day celebrations (I think it must have been 50 years, ie 1994) and the Queen Mother was due to take the salute for the Royal British Legion and other Veterans. As happens, the survivors were practicing their marching and forming up (yes, even they had to practice, even though they were all of advanced age !) most of the morning, and 5 minutes before the Queen Mother was due, the sun came out and the Veterans started dropping like flies. The four members of our party spent the next 45 minutes dealing with the casualties, and after it was all over we realised that we had missed all the dignitaries on stage. Not that we really minded. Helping those that had stormed the beaches back in 1944 somehow seemed more important ......

Cheers,

http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3bae67d85138992a.jpg

[toddrf]

LAST EDITED ON Oct-12-01 AT 09:15AM (EDT)[p]LAST EDITED ON Oct-12-01 AT 09:13*AM (EDT)

Normally it takes me a few days before I have enough stuff to toss a Joy of Flying together. Not this time.

Some 3 months and $1,000.00 later, and a circuit breaker, Miss Pretty Pretty once again has a functioning transponder. Something seems strange in that to me, but I guess if we are willing to burn $80.00 looking for a hamburger with our airplanes, something as sophisticated as a circuit breaker ought to cost at least a grand.

I made the excuse to go over to the maintenance hangar and pick her up under the idea that I could also knock out a flight physical or two over at the Army Fixed wing site. I had contacted O to give me a lift back across West Virginia to my car and she and I were able to spend some time venting our perspective frustrations at life on the trip, but that is another story. Lest it come out otherwise, O is my best friend, which if you happen to be a male and married and with kids and your best friend is a woman not your wife, well, it creates a lot of strange ideas in people that for the most part have no basis in reality.

I showed up at the ramp and asked about MPP. The mechanic told me she was finished, no charge and that I needed to find a better way of talking to her since she seemed to be upset and manifested this in popping breakers. But the new breaker was in and she was good to go. No charge.

Thanks.

I walked out to her. "I am sorry if I gave you the impression that I am wanting a 182 more than you. Right now you are all I need. Truce?", her wings rocked in the building winds, which I took to be more of an acknowledgement of peace between us than an atmospheric phenomenon. I pulled the locks and pitot cover and climbed in.

Presently, after starting the oil leaking but incredibly smooth Continental O-300 D I called ground and asked to reposition at the Guard Ramp. Permission given I did just that and after 10 minutes of run time, MPP was once again silent. I unloaded all of my stuff and then gazed out across the field at perhaps 20 Midway CRJs now stored and being prepared for new lives with new and presumably, more alive, carriers. I watched as yet another landed and taxied in. A pristine airplane.

After the formalities of examining two Army pilots was completed and the obligatory remark about the Whale of a plane that is the C-23 Sherpa (How do such small props pull that thing through the air?), I walked back out to MPP across the ramp. One of the Warrants, who wants and Piper Pacer followed, asking me questions about what to look for.

If you want a basic nuts and bolts airplane. A good fair weather IFR machine, a plane that costs dirt to run and is cheap to fix and will get you off grass or hard surface with four people and a load, get a 160hp Tri-Pacer. Period. It is tight for big people, It is a bear to get into through its little doors, but for a flying machine, the Piper Tri-/Pacer is the best. There is a reason why I keep posting my Cubby on the web for sale and then continue to change my mind about selling it. Piper built good airplanes and I want a Cub/by. Someday, I am getting ready for a big push this winter...

The forcast called for light to moderate turbulence along the route of flight, which means that instead of some really nice pictures taken, I only got a couple and they were shaky. Light to moderate in a 172 means that you will continuously have 1-200 foot deviations of altitude, regular power changes and strange unseen hands on the ends of your wings that like to lift and drop them without warning. It is not an entirely fun way to fly.

It is especially a problem when less than 15 hours before you were above the clouds above you now, cruising at 250 knots and breathing squeezed air in an airplane that doesn't notice such bumps. The Garmin 295 indicated 55 minutes and I planned for 1.5 hours. I always use flight following, especially over the mountains.

Bump and toss we went. At one time such things unnerved me and even today the thought of some of the pilot reports over history from people who found themselves upside down over the Rockies after some Clear Air Turbulence, cross my mind. I think it might be time to go back to Alabama and Flight Safety for a refresher in unusual attitude flying.

The reason why Iwas adamant about going yesterday was because of today, it is raining toasters and fall leaves do not well survive the first heavy rains. I am indebted to O in fact, to the tune of a couple of airplane rides for her taxi service getting me to and from MPP over the last couple of months. I really wanted her to see the leaves from the sky. It is the best part of West Virginia. Unfortunately her work and my schedule prevented that but I did my best to capture the idea.

In due course I saw the distant field that is MPPs home. The ironic thing about bump weather is that it is usually uncommonly clear as well. The bumps actually clear the air by moving the haze and junk around and out. It is in the hazy still air days that you find the smoothest flying. That and the early morning and late evening before the bumps show up. Unfortunately, my schedule no longer permits such selectivity in my flying.

I predicted a no flaps landing, the winds 10 degrees off runway heading at 10 with gusts to 18. I carried about 110 knots to 1/4 mile final and then high, I chopped power, nosed over and maintained airspeed at 80-90 til I rounded out, aileron into the wind and allowed MPP to find her feet on plenty of asphalt. Not even a chirp, which surprised me, but a fast stop due to some underinflated tires.

The sky continued to clear and by late evening MPP was tucked in, O and I had spent 3 hours driving and talking about circumstances, I had my car back and I was once again headed for my barn and dinner with my family. In the distance the clouds were forming and the last leaves prepping to fall from the trees in the face of the deluge. Soon the flying will be over barren hills with golden brown earth below them. Tomorrow I will spend some time in the OH-58, a lot closer to the trees than I care to be in MPP and in another couple of weeks I will launch my friends J-3 for the first time.

Fall has come and gone too quickly and I wonder what winter has in store.

But with that, I share my prefered photo of yesterday with you, the one that illustrates my Joy of Flying, so much of which is illustratiove of life in general: bumpy days with clear skies, and smooth days that are kind of blah yet we fly them all. Here in this picture lies another gem that makes it all, like life itself, worth living.

Take Care,

Todd :-wave

http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3bc6ecca401a3079.jpg

[toddrf]

It is really amazing what you can discover when you find yourself in the position of not being noticed. Without disclosing too many details, I have found my self in some very sensitve areas by simply looking average, normal, uninspired and possessing a sense of purpose. People just do not notice anything that "looks" normal, which is why people are often at great risk.

Fortunately, for medical people, we are often also given certain privilege to make us more comfortable in our "unseen" state, yet it is universally true; when the you know what hits the fan it is all "Where's the medic?".

Do you get to ride one of those cool motorcycles that they use in the UK for their paramedics? The story on that that I saw had the Paramedic first responder with defibrillator and a cardiac med box and all sorts of other goodies packaged nicely on his motorcycle.

We need that here.

Todd :-wave

[Bagman]

Todd
If you want to see a nice paramedic first responder motorcycle, theres one running around Cape Cod. I can't remember who runs it but its a fire Department. It's an absoultly gorgeous candy apple red Harley Davidson Police Special set up as a first responder unit with all the goodies. I saw it briefly at the memorial service for the 6 firefighters killed last december in Worecter Mass.

Brian

[alastairmonk]

Todd,

No, afraid not. If I'm in a vehicle, I tend to be in the back of an ambulance as the attendant.

I will, no doubt, horrify/stagger most of you Americans, with your cheap petrol (gas) and cars, but, in fact, I don't run a car ! I do hold a clean licence, but, living in London, I haven't yet been able to justify the cost. A real pain at times, haveing to use public transport the whole time, but with just one income paying the mortgage etc, it comes down to money !

Thus, I am not really qualified to drive the emergency vehicles anyway. This doesn't bother me too much, as my advanced first aid skills are better used in the back anyway !

As for the bikes; the London Ambulance Service has a few, and I believe St. John Ambulance has two motorbike riders qualified at present, but I think they're both LAS Paramedics anyway.

http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3bae67d85138992a.jpg

[toddrf]

It is still a very cool triage system and since the AED is the secret to saving cardiac victims, getting there with an AED and paramedic is the real key.

Hey, I spend time in the back of air ambulances, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't rather be flying it. ;-)

If I lived in London, I wouldn't own a car either. Bicycle, yes, but not a car.

Todd :-wave

[dil52]

Yes I missed you Todd,
That's because I left Kentucky about a month ago.

Well, as you don't know I have moved back to PA to my real house.
I moved in just this week. Just after getting the washer and dryer
hooked up I received a call about a mouths work in VT. Sounds OK
if the weather holds out because 40% of my work is outside and 60%
is on the drawing board.

I agree entirely with you about the F4. I was supposed to be on the
reclamation team, but just couldn't get excited about it. I wanted
to work on the flight simulator that you may have seen over in the
corner, but just couldn't get anyone excited about it. Not only that
the person in charge of the detail was maintenance on those in
the Air Force and seemed to treat us like we were anything other
than volunteers. Two nights of that was enough for me. I had to
chuckle when reading your comment. I wished he could have read
it. :-)

The L-4 is great and my favorite exhibit. Like you, when we had the
grand opening there was a 16-year-old boy from Alabama there with
his folks and he was all over that thing. He was taking pictures and
was going to do a miniature of the plane. I'd like to see the results.
He had some pictures of other planes he had done and
they were good.

Since my digital camera is still awaiting a computer cord to replace
the faulty one that came with it, Im posting a pic of one I found on
the net so all will know what we're talking about.
http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3bc8db372564e961.jpg
The view from the air must be great with all those windows.
:-wave
Fred
http://www.flight-sim.net

[Bagman]

Fred,

where are you going to be in Vermont??? maybe we can do lunch since you'll be in my neck of the woods

Brian

[dil52]

Brian,
I'm going to the village of Northfield,VT located just south east of Montpelier on HW12. It's a bit scary, because I have no idea where I'm staying yet. Every place I've called has told me they are booked up until the spring. Do you know of any bridges that offer shelter I might be able to stay under? :-lol
I'd relish a coffee and lunch with a fellow simmer. It gets lonely in a world of friends who look at you kind of strange when you tell em how you pass your time. :-)
It looks like Tuesday now since I didn't get my over night FED-X delivery today. It's pretty much 7/10s, but I can always make time to meet for lunch and a simmmer's chat.
Thanks for the offer.
Hope you're close.
I'll email you my cell # if you'd like.
Fred (The troll)
http://www.flight-sim.net

[alastairmonk]

Todd,

I would just LOVE to fly in an air ambulance, be it as medic or pilot !

In London we have just the one air ambulance at present, namely HEMS (Helecopter Emergency Medical Service) run by the LAS with sponsership (currently Virgin), although outside of London I know that many Health Authorities use them as well, and several Police Authorities' choppers (like the AS350/AS355 Squirrel) are used in the duel role.

HEMS is usually piloted by ex-Royal Navy pilots, and their abilites to get into small spaces is very impressive ! I guess the ability to land on the back of a pitching Destroyer has its uses !

I've only seen it up close on a couple of occasions - once when it intercepted a call I made to summon an ambulance when on duty covering a Rugby match, when it "dropped out of the sky" after having its last call cancelled when it was in my vicinity ! The Rugby Club were VERY impressed when an ambulance, police car, motorbike Paramedic and HEMS all arrived in short order ! AS it turned out, the HEMS' advanced skills weren't needed in this instance, and the guy was transported on a backboard by the ambulance.

The other time was to provide a doctor for a house-fire burns victim. I was (again) on duty at the time at one of our bigger local duties, and we were roped in to secure the area to provide a clear area for landing. The poor guy in question was reported to have 85% burns, and most of us, both LAS and St. John assessed that the doctor was being used to make the guy comfortable with pain relief, rather than any realistic life-saving measure. The doctor dealt with him in the back of the ambulance, which then departed, and, as usual, we had no feedback as to what happened to him.

http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3bae67d85138992a.jpg

[toddrf]

Yeah Fred, I figured you would pop up soon. I saw the Ailon Simulator that they were trying to assemble. An ambitious project. They are also supposed to add an AH-1 presumably when the KY Guard finally gets rid of one. The OH-58 is from the KY Guard.

Yeah, the Phantom, is, well, a Phantom. :-yawn.

I get the same feeling when I go to Sun and Fun and walk warbird row, big Yawn. The Skyraiders are semi interesting, but the mystique of fighter airplanes is really unjustified. The fighter gets vectored by an E-2 or JSTARS and then his weapon system locks on to the target and when he is cleared he pushes a button.
YAWN.

Now in an L-4 you don't quite get that opportunity. In the case of Alfred Shultz (Janie) he was chased by a very persistent Me-109 over France and had to resort to all kinds of tricks using the L-4s superior low speed ability to win that duel. Which he did by tricking the -109 pilot into flying into a hillside. He was never credited with a kill. Miss Me had the last air to air kill of WW II when its crew "shot" down a fleeing Fi-156 Storch using only sidearms. This was truly the last of an age of aerial combat... ...until Vietnam when the FACs took over and once again the fight was up close and personal.

In the Gulf the A-10 and OV-10 pilots were in the dirt as well. They know what it means to use a rudder and fly in support of the grunts. I recommend the book A Lonely Kind of War if you want to get an idea of what a FAC was all about.

I am very passionate about liason and FAC planes and pilots. They get next to 0 credit for their efforts because of YAWN Phantoms etc, and yet they were very much in the fight and saving lives.

Hope PA is agreeing with you. When I go up on Cleveland Center I'll say Hi or KPIT approach.

Todd :-wave

[toddrf]

LAST EDITED ON Oct-14-01 AT 07:36AM (EDT)[p]Flying in an air ambulance is flying in an air ambulance, but the difference is that you go a lot faster and you cannot hear for beans or start IVs very easily, but within six months I will be operating out of the machine below which is the fastest air ambulance in the world (with the exception of the CH-47 set up for medicvac) and has capabilities that would blow you mind. Like how about being called out in 1/4 visibility to find a hunter injured, lost, dressed in white snow camoflauge in the winter under the canopy of a forrest and being able to locate him a couple of miles out with some very cool gizmos and then load him into an environmentally controlled cabin with full oxygen generation capabilities and ATLS/ACLS support?

Oh did I mention that we can then fly him at close to 170 mph to the nearest hospital? What about being able to fly to Europe from the USA via the Azores or Greenland with all weather capability AND if we lose an engine we have redundant power so we can continue to destination?

Are you drooling yet Alastair? Did I mention the hoist? The APU is the same engine that powers my little Jet Ranger if that puts the power in perspective.

Trust me, I need a bib myself. ;-) I am very eager to fly it in the sim and for real. I promise I will load some pix when I get them cleared and find some really good ones.

http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3bc9785624b0d678.jpg

Todd :-wave

[alastairmonk]

Todd,

Excuse me whilst I wade out of the drool ! That is one fine Air Ambulance - I guess you could say its the next generation military successor to the S-61/SH-3 Sea Kings the RAF SAR use around our coasts and mountains, rescuing genuine casualties of circumstance as well as the terminally stupid - cut off by the tide or "surprised" by bad weather rolling in when they're half way up Ben Nevis in a T-shirt !

Best wishes for the near future.

http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3bae67d85138992a.jpg

[Bagman]

Sheesh Fred, if its THAT bad to get a room, I've got a futon you can use......Especialy since I live 4 MILES from Northfield :-lol . Anyway drop me an E-mail at Briglad@aol.com and we can set up lunch

Brian

[Bagman]

Todd,

I also heard of a similar story about a German Fiesler Storch running from a Mustang over Paris, the mustang ran out of ammo trying to shoot it down because the Fisler kept ducking into side streets between buildings :-lol


Brian

[toddrf]

LAST EDITED ON Oct-14-01 AT 05:20PM (EDT)[p]In truth, had I been able to find plans for a Storch, I would have built that instead of the Cub. For what it can do there is no finer STOL airplane in the world than the Storch. Kermit Weeks has a very nice one at his Air Zoo in Florida, I am going to have to go talk to him sometime and barter a ride. I love the Fi-156. Very cool airplane.

Todd :-wave

Sorry, Heliostallion, but it cannot land as short but it will haul a bigger load. My aerobatics instructor used to fly Helios in Vietnam and they used to use the highspeed taxiways for runways in crosswinds if that tells you how short is short.

[Bagman]

Med-Evac helo's are fairly common here in the states. the one that serves my area is one of the prettiest paint scemes I've seen on one anywhere. the Helo is operated by the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center which is the hospital of Dartmouth College of Hanover New Hampshire. Called DHART 1 (silent "H", pronounced Dart) it covers all of New Hampshire and Vermont and a small piece of Maine.

Here's the old Chopper an Agusta 109 Max
http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3bca00dc6ee6de66.jpg

Heres the new one, a Eurocopter EC-135. this baby is sweet.
http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3bca017471ce8bdc.jpg

Photos from the DHART website

Brian :-wave

[JarJarBlinks]

OK, quiz time. This time Todd and Lou can participate.

1. What is the Air Shark?

2. What made the Air Shark significant?

3. What happened to the Air Shark after one of its significant points happened?

4. After the significant incident, why did the Air Shark lose airworthiness?

Extra Credit. Where is the Air Shark now?
--------------------
Steve

"Ladies and Gentelmen, we just discovered an exception to the rule that what goes up must come down, the landing gear"

[toddrf]

The Air Shark was an airplane built by a guy named Ron Lueck who now has a line of kit planes. The Compair 6 is one of them. They are all composite and very fast.

The Air Shark was a single hulled amphibian. It flew in excess of 200 knots and I think held the record for single engine amphibs. Lueck got scared that such performance in an amphib might become a liability, especially if someone tried to land it at high speed so he voluntarily withdrew it from further development. I saw pictures of it at Sun and Fun. Very high performance.

The plane was fine, once again it was pilots who were the potential problem.

Todd :-wave

[JarJarBlinks]

OK, close but no cigar.

The Air Shark is the first CAD amphibian plane. It is a waterhull, top mounted pusher. The plane broke the speed record for waterplanes, and it was very fast. When the owner died, the rights went to his rich sons, and what happened is that the plane was stripped of parts, and later it was cut into 3 seperate parts and seperated. A museaum in Flordia(Oskosh, I believe) was going to take the plane, but they couldn't display it because the paperwork was missing. My EAA chapter has recently become aware of this, and we are going to restore it and mount it on a poll infront of our airport.

Todd, one more reason for you to come up here ;-)
--------------------
Steve

"Ladies and Gentelmen, we just discovered an exception to the rule that what goes up must come down, the landing gear"

[toddrf]

LAST EDITED ON Oct-23-01 AT 05:21PM (EDT)[p]LAST EDITED ON Oct-23-01 AT 05:20*PM (EDT)

Today I was supposed to fly an overnight into Dulles which would have been a blast had it not been for the fact that I returned home this morning at 1 am and was completely comatose and certainly no good for Washington type flying this morning at 8 am. I called B and he told me that it was any problem since the pax had decided that they didn't need a co-pilot and would prefer to carry an additional passenger on the way home instead.

Now there is a thought for anyone that thinks I am full of myself; I am all to easily replaced by a non-rated business executive returning home from a sales meeting. Trust me, I realize that fact and I silently chuckle to myself that B had to fly in scud weather today and could have used my help. B is a super-pilot, and will have NO problem single piloting the TC home but I suspect from his tone this morning he was really hoping to have me along especially givent he recent changes that have occurred in DC airspace.

I got home so late because I spent the last five days in Memphis, which is not, contrary to many people's opinions, the cultural center of the universe; at least the Rock and Roll universe. Cleveland holds that distinction. In fact, Memphis is a sort of sorry little place. It seems the whole city in in a reverse time warp, which might seem like a slam until I point out that in the urban decay of the city of Memphis are some unparalleled gems of things to see.

The piece de la resistance is at the end, but to build up to that, Memphis offers Mud Island, which is not muddy and in fact is probably one of the nicest parks that I have every been to. Youc actually walk the length of the Mississippi River in scale model form, 30 inches to the mile, topographically correct and complete with running water. It is an amazing and actually marvelous exhibit and I would say that it alone makes going to Memphis, well, worth going to Memphis. My son had a blast drenching himself in the model which is fully interactive as it forms the path down Mud Island. Beautiful. It even ends in a model Gulf of Mexico.

Mud Island also has the original Memphis Belle on display. The display comes complete with some aging B-17 veterans who will discuss anything and everything concerning the B-17 and the war for as long as you like. If you have a young child and can correctly point out the ball turret you might be able to get one of them to let your kid sit in the thing, which is a distinction my four year old now has. They are moving the airplane soon because the weather, even under the immense canopy they have erected, is still corroding the innards out of the B-17 and it needs a more sedate environment. As with all such displays I happily purchased a T-shirt to do my part in preserving this part of US aviation heritage. The exhibit itself is FREE.

Memphis also has the very oppulent hotel called the Peabody which has a sort of duck theme around it. Like clockwork, everyday a lot of hooplah and fanfare is made as a red carpet is rolled out and five ducks are led from their palatial quarters on the roof of the hotel, down the elevator and out into the lobby where they parade, single file, down the carpet and into the fountain in the center of the hotel. This happens with a large crowd in attendance and a lot of clapping. Why this has become a tradition, I do not know, nor do I want to speculate, but the ducks are entertaining, the people watching are even more fun to watch and the fountain is amazingly free of any remnants of duck involvement which will take little imagination on your part to figure out what I mean by that. The Peabody has turned their parading ducks into a marketing vehicle and you cna buy just about anything with ducks as a theme; save for one cooked on a platter with orange sauce. I suggested that as a possibility and I was looked at rather harshly.

It's a joke! A joke for crying out loud.

The Memphis Redbirds have one of the nicest baseball stadiums that I have ever seen and were it not for an overzealous security guard I would be able to comment on the view of the field from homeplate. I won't go into details about that, but suffice it to say I was happy not to have to speak to any Memphis police officers. It was a sunny day, a few clouds and an empty field. Who wouldn't want to stand at home plate and look out at the 400' wall and imagine a perfect swing...?

Memphis is also geographically situated such that it allows you to access both Arkansas and Mississippi within a few minutes. A fact that I took advantage of and in doing so reduced the total number of states that I have not been to, to 6.

There is also Graceland, which happenes to have a Convair 880 named Lisa Marie and was used at times to fly friends to Denver to get peanut butter and banana sandwiches. I wish I had that kind of money. And Sun recording studios where Elvis cut three of his many albums and where the legacy of the king started.

I am certain that Memphis has a lot of other little gems, but time and lack of knowledge kept me from finding them. However, the biggest gem in the world happens to be located south of town. There are constant hints of it as you look skyward from downtown and see large white airplanes with blue tails being vectored above, but you have to actually drive south to get to the payoff.

Other than flying I have this peculiar hobby; I collect diecast airliners. I have a growing collection and in my old office I actually had a small airport on the top of one of my bookshelves complete with ground equipment and gates all in 1:500 scale. I have liveries from all over the world, although African carriers are a bit sparse, but my prize jets in the collection are those with the letters FED EX stamped on the side of them.

FedEx is my favorite commercial carrier. I love FedEx. I love them because they fly Caravans and they fly MD-11s. I lvoe them because of the success story that is behind that company. I love the idea that I can send a parcel from my home in the east at 10 am and by 11 am the next day it will be sitting in Northern California. A magnificent thing.

In Southern Ohio, there is Airborne Express. Airborne occupies a retired Air Force Base in Willmington, OH and at certain times of the day you can fly over and see a hundred white and red airplanes on the ramp. It is an amazing site and at night when the place is sortiing out flights to all over the USA and the world, the radio is a mass of communication and the sky is filled with lights, very cool.

Then there is Memphis.

When you drive to Memphis International Airport, you do see the terminal and it is a very pretty building indeed. However, what your attention is really drawn toward is the buildings that stretch for 2 miles along the Northern edge of the field. That and the line of perhaps 100 airplanes from MD-11s to 727s all in FedEx colors and all awaiting their containers. It defies words to try and describe.

FedEx is so big that in the center of their complex is a Tennessee Air Guard C-141 unit that if you didn't know it was there, you might miss it completely. C-141s are big airplanes, but FedEx is so large that it has grown around the base. I tried to capture a photograph that might do justice to the place's size. Thousands of containers and trucks and tugs and lights and stands and other arroted pieces of ground equipment and it goes on and on and on and on and on...

I sat and watched as MD-11 freighters landed and 727s departed. Their movements were interrupted only by the odd NW Airlink SAAB 340 or MD-80 that departed. A continuous stream of arriving and departing traffic all with parcels filling their holds and not a single piece of frieght complaining. I could have stayed for hours. They actually close the airport when the big push occurs late at night to allow the hundreds of movements that must occur to do so without interuption. Unfortunately my two boys couldn't adjust their clocks to allow for us to hang out at the airport til midnight. But I was able to watch a large number of airplanes arrive and depart even in daylight hours. What a sight. There are many places around the perimeter of the airport to watch traffic and for even more fun you can time your travel down the road to cooincide with the passge of taxiing aircraft across the bridges that pass over the road running through the middle of the field. Nothing like driving under an MD-10 Freighter to give you a sense of perspective.

Of course, arriving home this morning I had but one thing on my mind and that was getting a copy of FS 2002. The first thing that I did was load up the Caravan and depart from Meigs. As a real Caravan guy, at least on with a few hours in the real thing, it flies like the real thing. The virtual cockpit is amazing and I was finally able to look to the left on the 9L approach into O Hare. Despite some ney saying the ATC worked pretty well, though someone needs to figure out how you can do a pop-up IFR. You really ought to be able to file in the air.

There is a lot more to explore with the program, but it is pretty amazing.

I will try for a flight into Memphis tonight in the Caravan or an A310. Nothing like visiting virtually, places where you have been for real. I don't suppose it will be the same however, regardless of the fidelty of Microsoft's efforts. Some things you just cannot replicate.

Todd :-wave

http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3bd5de8c476476b0.jpg

This is the opposite of large. Tucked in a very small corner of the operation was a line of 72s and MD-10s. After searching in vain for a vantage point to capture the operation, I finally decided to just get a photo of this MD Freighter taxiing for departure. The clutter you see defies the actual efficiency by which things are moved that must absolutely positively be there overnight.

[toddrf]

One of the particularly rewarding things about being immersed in flying is that the more you network the more you have access to airplanes that you may have never flown.

Case in point; I had to get my Army Flight Physical done so I had an Air Force flight surgeon friend of mine meet me at the airport to finish my physical. He made the mistake of going to the FBO when I actually meant the Terminal and when I finally found him he was speaking with the owner of a 210 Centurion, a fellow that has his annual exam done by yours truly.

To make a long story short I made it clear that the time had come to fly his 210. The fellow is an eccentric genius and keeps "forgetting" my request to fly his Centurion so I made certain that he couldn't forget.

It is very funny that the less an airplane costs, the more accessible the owner makes it to people. I know folks that drive Mercedes that would never loan their car to another person, even a friend, and yet I know people who drive 10 year old Nissans and they practically beg you to take it and drive it. That's a lesson for those of you who dream of unfettered wealth, be very careful of that because it makes you a different person.

Centurions are not cheap airplanes. The one I flew, actually the only one that I have ever flown, two days ago, is valued at $250,000. The lesson holds, the owner is jealous of the machine and very touchy about people who fly it. So out it came and in we hopped and I flew the Centurion. It doesn't land flat, it lands nose down like a 182 and you have to use aft trim to keep it from nailing the nose gear. I actually made three landings on one approach I am proud to say; so good is the Springy Cessna gear and my lack of good technique in the 210. I did fly the Centurion and in doing so added another type to my log book. The Centurion is a serious traveling machine. Richard Collins can attest to that.

But, you know what?

I had more fun flying MPP around Ohio today. MPP isn't pretty. MPP isn't terribly fast. We had the 210 up to 180 knots indicated in a shallow dive. Garmin 430/530 stack, back up gyros, autopilot, stormscope, endless... ...but no fun in the flying because the thing is not a working airplane, it is a trophy and a toy.

MPP is a working airplane. She is clean but not pristine. She has mismatched parts and fuel caps, her attitude gyro needs work and her transponder problems are legendary. She has one com radio, an old, but clear KX-155 and a Narco GS. No autopilot and her landing gear will never be the cause of a gear up landing. But MPP is fun. She is fun precisely because she is not a trophy and not a toy. I had to think long and hard about dropping the money I spent on her, but curiously, unlike my friend who paid cash for his 210, I want to share MPP with anyone who wants to fly in her.

Today she saved me 3 hours of driving as I traveled from East to West and then to Northern Ohio. I noticed her parked on the ramp at Fayette Co I23 in the mid day sun, the dihedral in her wings giving the impression that she was flying even on the ground. I kid you not, the airplane looked like she was ready to go without me. A beautiful picture really and one I regret that I didn't capture digitally.

She crossed Ohio and sailed through Columbus airspace trimmed and holding altitude just fine. She flies very well with just feet and rudder alone. She handled a 14 knot crosswind on landing and transported me through light turbulence and found the Tiverton VOR just fine thankyou. I don't have a 430/530 stack, I have a Garmin 295 which isn't approved for anything other than making pretty color pictures to look at, but in practice is the primary navigation instrument of MPP. The nice thing is that when I parked her for the night at 10G I popped the 295 out and put in my bag, left MPP unlocked and tied her down and came to work. My friend, I suspect, would still be trying to adequately lock up the 210 because his avionics alone cost more than MPP in total.

All of which is to say that in my quest to fly every contemporary high wing Cessna I discovered another thing, flying that particular 210 was more an exercise in adding an entry to a logbook than it was a new and exciting experience. I didn't walk away from it with a warm fuzzy feeling and the idea that I had had a great time. In fact I found myself asking the owner if I could touch things before I did so, despite the fact that I was the PIC and I have ratings he doesn't. For instance, I have an instrument ticket and he cannot seem to get one. He has an IFR dream machine and is forced to fly around clouds. I actually wish that he hadn't been in the airplane because then I could give you a better review of the trip. I finally decided to just fly the airplane and do what I thought was necessary. His comment to me was that I talked too much on the radio; this occurred after I told the tower I was breaking off the approach because we had an overtaking King Air and I felt it prudent on my first approach in the airplane to have plenty of time to manage it.

My comment to him was that Dulles Approach doesn't complain about my verbiage when I am shooting an ILS to minimums. Point made? I might talk to much but at least I have a piece of paper that says that I CAN talk too much. So much for the fun of flying a new airplane. I walked away wishing I wasn't pressed for time just so I could go "cleanse" myself in MPP and remind her that she is still number 1.

I have a few high wing Cessnas left, the 206, the 207, 182 RG, fixed gear 177, 172RG, 172 XP. I consider the starting point the 150B, which I have flown, and being a working airplane it was a lot of fun. I also flew it's largest cousin the 208 the next day, and being a working airplane, it too was fun.

So tomorrow, or actually later today when I finish this shift and head back to the airport for the trip back to PKB I will again be thankful that I have MPP. She wants to fly. She likes a few bugs on her leading edge and feels safe even in medium bumps. She is my friend and even though I talk about a 182 and will likely get one someday, or a Cherokee 6, she will continue to fly, leaks, smashed bugs and strange transponder notwithstanding. And I suspect she will never feel at home stuck in a hangar waiting to be spit polished and shown off as a trophy in a perpetual wealth comparison contest among the elites.

Her 6000+ hours attest to that. MPP is meant to fly and be shared and that is just the way I like it. You can keep the Centurion, unless of course it is flown by a person who uses it, abuses it, works along side of it and then gives it a silly name and tells it how much he loves her. That, much like one's best friend, is the mark of a working airplane.

Todd :-wave