No-Go Markings

KFAM 161155Z AUTO 17004KT 10SM CLR 22/18

KFAM 161635Z AUTO 23012G17KT 10SM CLR 32/18 A3012

After reading On a Wing and a Whim's post about hangar rash, I thought it a good idea to paint guide lines and warning lines on the asphalt just outside my hangar.

I went flying this morning. When I finished and I was pulling the airplane back into the hangar, I stopped as the wingtips were even with the vertical I-beams that support the roof. I used a piece of rope to measure the distance from the I-beams to the wingtips, then took off about four inches for a buffer zone. I scratched a mark on the asphalt with a rock.

Then it was off to the hardware store for red paint, white paint and masking tape. I measured to the center and outlined a guide stripe for the tailwheel, then I measured for guide stripes for the mains. I measured the scratched-in markings for the wingtip warning stripes, they were pretty damn close to where the arithmetic said they should be. I laid out the stripes with masking tape and painted them.

As you can see, I was slightly off-center when I pulled the airplane in after my flight. As long as I keep the mains inside the red warning stripes, I'm not going to smack an I-beam with a wingtip.

Flying around here is a morning affair. It gets hot by mid-day. Even at 0700 local, it was 72 degrees this morning, it's now 90. It gets uncomfortable flying when it is that hot, at least down around a few thousand feet above ground. Better to be done flying by mid-morning. Fortunately, I have a four-legged furry alarm clock that'll get me up for a "dawn patrol" flight.

There has to be a decent restaurant at KDXE, which is about 72 miles south-southeast of here. I heard a number of airplanes calling in position reports on Unicom for that field. One morning I'll have to get up a little earlier and go check it out.