Oy.

I ended up missing the fall foliage completely. The fuel gauge gave up the ghost, it had to be pulled and sent out for rebuilding. Fortunately, it wasn't either of the sensors in the tanks.

Got a couple of flights in. Not today, the mag check failed on the left magneto for #6 cylinder. The old trick of running it up and leaning the piss out of it didn't work, still bad. #6 is one of the hardest cylinders to get a plug out of, and the bottom plug is the worst one of all.

Here's an economic indicator: There are four airplane on tiedowns at 44N for sale, going by the signs on them. One is a really pretty Cessna 140 that has been owned by a couple for many years. I think it was the wife's airplane. There are a couple of 172s and a Champ. I didn't drive around looking at all of the airplanees to see if there are signs on any others.

It is a bad time to be selling, the used market supposedly is softer than it has been in a very long time.

Fall

KPOU 191853Z 28004KT 10SM CLR 20/08 A3020

Yes, I know, it's not technically Fall yet, not for a few more days.

But the nights are getting cooler, blankets are being used on beds.

And when it is a nice day with a clear blue sky and terrific visibility, with just enough wind to light puff out the windsock, that's a great day to indulge in a little bit of VFR wandering through the sky.

Even if I had to take the wheelpants off in order to add air to the mains (six screws per side). Even if it wound up that the preflight was longer than the flight. Such is life.

What a glorious day to fly!

The Wind Doth Bloweth

TAF for KPOU (Poughkeepsie, NY), the nearest observation station to Sky Acres Airport:

KPOU 281137Z 2812/2912 05015G28KT 3SM RA BR SCT015 OVC035
TEMPO 2812/2814 2SM +RA BR OVC015
FM281400 05020G36KT 2SM +RA BR OVC009
FM281600 30025G40KT 2SM RA BR SCT006 OVC012
FM282200 28020G35KT P6SM VCSH BKN050
FM290200 28012G20KT P6SM SCT050
FM290500 26010KT P6SM SKC

KPOU is in the projected less-dangerous semicircle of Hurricane Irene.

They're Baaack!

The mud daubers.

A little out of focus (so sue me), but that is a fuel sample drain that is completely blocked by a mud dauber's nest.

Or it was.

It's getting pretty soupy up there. In-flight visibility was maybe ten miles or so.

You can see further, but as for seeing recognizable objects on the ground, ten miles, maybe. It often gets worse here in the summer, and VFR flying is not much fun when it seems as though you're flying inside of a milk bottle.

By the way, if you want a classic Champ, this one is for sale at 44N:

Hot

It is early afternoon here and the outside air temp is flirting with 90degF, 50% humidity. Most light airplanes are not air-conditioned and, if you are flying them in such a direction that the sun pours through the windows, it's like riding in an Easy-Bake Oven, with the added joy of solar convective turbulence.

Better to go flying as early in the morning as possible. Which is what I did today. The airplane was refueled, tied down and I was home by 11.

The good news is that the mud daubers have given up trying to build their nest inside one of the fuel quick-drains. Every other preflight this month has involved removing that crap from the drain.

One of the Joys of Ownership

Washing the airplane:

Not seen are the hose and the long-handled brush.

The airplane was filthy, I haven't washed it in awhile. I sprayed Simple Green Aircraft Wash directly on it, then scrubbed with a water-Simple Green mixture.

Washing an airplane is hot, hard work. It's like hand-washing several cars at once. I didn't wax it; the paint is pretty crappy and wax would not help at this point. But it is still a few shades brighter than it was this morning.

I flew it for a bit afterwards to make sure that it was completely dry.

Bugs

Turned out that the problem was a species of bug known as a mud dauber. I knew that they will build nests inside of pitot tubes (which is why aircraft owners should keep them covered if the airplane isn't being used), but I had never heard of them building a nest inside of a fuel quick-drain.

A friend advised me to take a paper clip, unbend one end and poke around in the opening. Sure enough, bits of mud and dirt came out. I stirred the wire around and then the mess just flushed out with the fuel sample.

So I went flying! The winds went from calm when I left to "hold onto your hat, Hannah" in an hour. They weren't too bad of a crosswind, though, so the only real joy was wrestling with the cabin cover to put it back on.

Bummer

I was away for two weeks, so the other day I went to go flying.

At least that was my intention. Hardly any gas dribbled out of the test drain for one tank. My first thought was "gorrammit, somebody stole my gas", but then I "sticked" the tank and saw that the tank was three-quarters full. So either the quick-drain is FUBAR or there is something in the tank. I don't have the capability to remove the drain and then catch 15 gallons of avgas flowing out of the tank like some fratboy shotgunning a beer.

I re-tied the airplane back down, put in a call to the shop and went home.

W00t!

I got to go flying today!

It's fairly warm here. It was MVFR until noon, with broken cirrus at 2,300' after that. Flew around for a bit and then shot three landing for the logbook. I did pretty well, even with a seven week layoff from flying.

Feels good, even with gas at $5.80/gal.

Annual

The airplane still isn't back to me.

That's partially my fault, as I have told the mechanic repeatedly that I won't pay for expedited shipping for parts, unless I specifically approve it. The cost differential for large or heavy stuff isn't worth it to me. Besides the muffler, which I wrote about previously, the gyrocompass shit the bed on my pre-annual test flight. Modern DGs don't seem to be worth a crap. I had an old horizontal card WW2 surplus DG in my plane and it worked up until 2004.

They truly don't make them like that anymore. There were four war-surplus instruments in my airplane when I bought it, now 20 years ago (DG, AI, VSI, altimeter). The altimeter was the last to go. The rebuilding shop wouldn't touch it because it had indicator needles with radium paint on them.

Anyway, I fly for fun. That means that if the mechanic has an airplane come in that somebody uses in a business, it gets priority, and I am cool with that.

But the weather is nice, finally, it's been weeks and I want to go flying.

The Five Words That Strike Terror Into the Heart of an Aircraft Owner

"The annual inspection is due."

This is an event that aircraft owners shorten to "annual". It could also be called an "IRAN" for "inspect and repair as necessary", but it is more than that. Depending on the airframe, engine and propeller, there may be periodic detailed inspections, maintenance or even replacement of components. Virtually every production aircraft and engine has inspection guides as to what needs to be looked at, lubricated, or replaced.

The work is done by an airframe & powerplant mechanic, or "A&P". The inspection is done (or at least signed off) by an A&P who has inspection authorization (A&P-IA).

Experimental aircraft do not receive annuals, they receive "condition inspections". The difference is that there is more latitude on what should be done. Condition inspections can be done not only by an A&P, but also by the person who built the aircraft. (The builder receives a repairman authorization that is good for only that aircraft.)

Annuals can run the gamut from paper-pushing exercises to extremely detailed rebuilds. If you own a piston-engined airplane, a bad thing to do is to take it to a shop that does a lot of work on turbine-powered airplanes, as their view of what is a reasonable cost and your view will differ.

One of the biggest cons in the aircraft dealing racket are the words "fresh annual", for it means nothing. I've seen mechanically sound airplanes that, from the exterior, look like flying bales of scrap. I've seen very pretty looking airplanes that were sold with a "fresh annual" and which needed five figures' worth of repair work soon afterwards. Caveat emptor rules in buying aircraft.

So far, one of the mufflers needed to be rebuilt. That was sent off by surface freight, I'm not in a hurry as to justify shipping big metal parts by second day air.

Narco: Wonderful. Just Frelling Wonderful.

Narco Avionics has gone out of business.

Speaking as the owner of an airplane with all Narco radios, I sure as hell hope that somebody takes over the repair side of their business.

Nine Days Later From My Last Post

Today tt was 60degF and sunny. It was a gorgeous day for flying, and I did.

Almost all of the snow that was there nine days ago is gone, only the remnants of large piles and some stuff on north-facing hills remain. The ground alongside the paved areas at the airport is soft and almost squishy.

There is a layer in the atmosphere of brownish shmutz at the surface that goes up a few thousand feet or so. It seems to me that the brown layer is worse this year than in years past.

Winter Flying

That is ice on the trees. It was sunny out, the ice had melted from my airplane where the sun could shine on it. That meant that the right side of the tail and fuselage were covered with about an eighth of an inch of clear ice.

I was able to taxi to another part of the airport and park the airplane to turn that side of it directly into the sunshine. Less than a half-hour later, I was in the air. Overall, though, I spent more time preparing for the flight than I did flying, which is not terribly unusual in the winter.

Avgas here is now $5.30/gal. I can check fuel prices on AirNav, but some of the reports are over three weeks old and given the volatility in fuel pricing, a three week old report is worthless. Unless the price of local fuel is outrageous, I'll buy at my home airport, as I have an interest in seeing that they stay in business.

Anyway, the airports in southeast NY state may see a bit more airplanes on the tiedowns this year. The governor of CT wants to add a personal property tax for airplanes, which will make it attractive for those who can stomach the extra driving time to move them to other states. That'd be good for my airport, but not so good for airports like 11N and DXR.

Winter Flying

333C is almost ready to go:



Almost. The tailwheel needed to be inflated a bit. The snow berms being what they were, there was no way I could get my car close enough to the tail in order to use my electric tire pump. So I had to move my car to another place on the field and then taxi over there.

Those snow piles are down a good foot from what they were two weeks ago.

I am glad that I had been keeping up with clearing the tiedown and the airplane after each snowfall. Even if I couldn't always get every bit of snow and ice removed, I moved enough so that one warm day was all it took to finish the job. There were pilots out at the airport this time shoveling snow away from their airplanes, while all I had to do was preflight and go flying.

It hit 50degF here today. It was warm enough that I removed my cheapo winterization kit from the oil cooler. The landscape was still covered with snow, though.



There has been enough snow this winter that a day or two of 50 degree temperatures isn't going to change that. But it has been nice that there has been a break from the weekly heavy snow storms that ran through from Christmas to the end of January.

I Love It When a Plan Comes Together

Today was supposed to be sunny with strong and gusty winds. The winds died down early this morning. I went to the airport, got most of the snow and ice off the airplane. The Sun did the rest and, while that was happening, I cleared enough of the tiedown to taxi out. That was fun, including freeing the tailwheel from about half an inch of ice.

Took two hours of work, but I got it done. I went to the cafe to rest, had a couple cups of coffee, glanced over the newspaper and then I went flying! I flew for about 1.5 hours and got in three landings.

No photos, unfortunately, I left my camera home.

First flight in a month, too.

Ugh.

I went to the airport on Sunday, removed 95% of the snow and ice that was on the airplane. I also shoveled out the tiedown (again).



You can see in comparison to the pictures in my earlier post that the snow berms are getting pretty damn high.

Yesterday, we had about a 1/4" of ice in this area. Even with the engine running and heating the windows, it took me 15 minutes to remove enough ice from my car to be able to drive safely.

I hate to think how long it will take to remove that much ice from my airplane. And more is forecast for Saturday.

This winter is kicking my ass.

I Am Getting Too Old For This Mishegoss

It snowed hard here from the evening of the day before yesterday until last morning. This is the scene at Sky Acres:





They do plow the tiedowns, but they don't cut too close to the airplanes, for obvious reasons. I shoveled enough away so when they do plow later today or tomorrow, it will clear the tiedown area. (I also shoveled a path so I could get to it.) Because of drifting, the snow varies from a few inches to well over a foot.



I think I got my exercise in for today.

Sometimes, Sympathy Is Hard to Find (a whining post, you have been warned)

I went to my home airport yesterday in order to brush the snow from my airplane and to shovel out around the tiedown. The wind was pretty strong, which meant that if I was not careful of where I stood, brushing the snow from the wings meant that I got a faceful of it.

So, after I was done doing that, I went to the airport FBO's building in order to get a cup of hot tea at the cafe.

When I passed through the office, another owner was trying to move to a west-facing hangar as he thought it was too rough to have a hangar that faced to the east.

I thought about that as I walked by, chilled half-way to the bone, that I'd love to be able to afford to keep my airplane in a hangar, regardless of the direction it faced. Life is tough for some people.

Peppermint Oil

In an earlier post, I mentioned that a cotton ball soaked with real peppermint oil was a decent mouse deterrent.

It seems to work.

A few weeks ago, I noticed that the roll of paper towels that I keep in the airplane had been nibbled on. So I got some old knee-high stockings, some cotton balls and peppermint oil. I put one in the baggage compartment and one in the cabin.

The roll hasn't been nibbled on since.

So it does seem to work, but I reiterate that you probably have to go to a health food store to find genuine essential peppermint oil. The synthetic stuff won't do the job.

Cold

Cold weather ops are, well, challenging in an older airplane.

First off, the output by the cabin heater is negligible. I have an insulated jumpsuit that I wear for winter-time flying. Since my airplane has toe-brakes, not heel-brakes, I can get away with wearing insulated boots.

You'll need some kind of head covering and gloves. Sometimes you'll see a pilot getting out of a newer Cessna or Piper and he is putting his coat on. Try not to think evil thoughts towards him. Console yourself with the idea that if you both had forced landings, you're already dressed for it and he is not.

My "winterization kit" for the engine consists of duct-tape over the oil cooler inlet. If the air temperature is below 40F, I cover it completely. The oil temps get to where they need to be (180F). It doesn't get cold enough around here to warrant blocking off parts of the cowling inlets.

If I ever have the funds to repaint the airplane, I am going to paint it in a color other than white. Even a white with a little tinge of yellow, a sort of coffee-cream color, would help in using the Sun to shed ice and snow. But you have to get all of the snow and all of the ice off the airplane. Sometimes that means getting most of it off and then repositioning it to take better advantage of the Sun's rays.

Preheating the engine is a must, in my view, whenever the temperature drops below 32F. If you are at a location without electrical power, you either have to use a combustion-type preheater or an electrical preheater with a portable source of power. Whichever you use, if your engine has a remotely-located oil filter (as mine does), be sure that also benefits from preheating.

And cover the cowling with a blanket while preheating the engine! You can get a cheap blanket from a discount place for that. A nice touch is to get a grommet-inserter from a crafts store, for you can then use bungee cords to hold the blanket in place when there is any bit of wind. (If you'd rather spend the money, an insulated engine cover works.)

What it all means, though, is that for an hour's flight in the wintertime, you can easily spend more than that getting the airplane ready to fly. If there has been snow, you may wind up making an extra trip to the airport to brush the snow off and dig out the tiedown a day or two before. (If the snowplow driver who was doing the taxiway plowed you in and you don't have your own snowblower, you might be SOL until the snow melts, so you may want to have a chat with the FBO's owner about that.)

It can be very pretty to fly over a snow-covered landscape in a light plane.

But if you don't have a hangar and you don't want to take the steps necessary to fly, then pickle your engine late in the Fall. That usually involves draining the oil and replacing it with a preservative oil, putting desiccant plugs in the cylinders, exhaust pipes and inlet manifold, and removing the battery. Your engine will thank you for it.

You also may want to add mouse deterrents. Buy a package of women's knee-high stockings, fill a couple with mothballs, tie them off and put them in the baggage compartment and the cabin. You may also want to think about opening an inspection cover and put one in each wing. If you plan to fly it, you may be better off soaking cotton balls with essential peppermint oil (the real stuff, not the synthetic) and using them instead of mothballs. The smell is better for you, the mice hate it as much and your airplane will smell like a candy cane.

The two coldest pilots I've ever seen where two guys who were ferrying an Aerostar whose Janitrol cabin heater had conked out. They looked like pilot-sicles when they got out of that airplane and the first thing they did, after they got warmed up, was borrow a crew car and head for a sporting goods store to buy proper winter gear. They were on a schedule and they couldn't take the downtime to fix the heater.

I'd ague that a prudent pilot should dress for the outside air temperature and control the cabin temperature accordingly. Forced landings can happen and it would be kind of ironic to get frostbite or hypothermia after successfully executing a forced landing. But it is a pain int he ass to wear that many layers and to fly while so dressed, so most pilots don't bother.

Sky Acres Airport (44N)

Sky Acres Airport is an airport in Dutchess County, NY. It is popular because it has a restaurant that is open from Thursdays through Sundays (7:30AM to 3PM). In the summer, there is also an ice cream stand that is open from Noon until 8PM.

The airport has a bit of a reputation for being difficult to land at, which is, to my mind, rather undeserved. The runway is almost 4,000 feet long, 60 feet wide, which seems adequate for almost everything not powered by a jet engine. But the runway has a few tricks to keep in mind.

First off, about 60% of it is sloped. Runway 17 slopes up, so you have to account for that in setting up your landing to ensure that you are not fooled by the visual picture and that you flare properly.

Second, Runway 17 has trees off to the right. If you are dealing with a right-hand crosswind on 17, it will die off as you begin your flare.

Third, Runway 35 begins as a flat runway, then slopes down just after the first turn-off (there is about a 50' difference in the elevation of the two thresholds). The flat area is at least 1,400' long. I cannot stress this enough: If your wheels are not fully on the pavement by the time you reach the first turn-off, go around!

Finally, and this is for those departing on Runway 35, you cannot see to the far end of the runway. If someone has landed and doesn't make the first turnoff, you won't be able to see them to verify that the runway is clear. Hopefully they have a radio and are polite enough to report clear.

Sky Acres is nowhere near as challenging an airport as, say, Marlboro, but if you are used to 6,000' x 150' runways, you may want to step up your game before flying in.

No, I'm Not That Crazy

It's a nice day, temps in the mid forties. Blue sky, no wind to speak of. At my home airport, they've fixed the runway lights.

It occurred to me that this would be a good day to get in a little night VFR.

Then it occurred to me that I have less than three hours of flying time on a repaired oil cooler, one that blew out in flight.

I thought better of going for a little night VFR. I'll stay home and read a book.

The Aftermath

An oil and filter change was done after I brought the airplane back to my home airport. Nothing was found, no metal bits or flakes.

I flew it yesterday. The wind was a little bit brisk and I debated with myself about going flying. Then it came to me that my reluctance to fly was based on the fun of putting the cabin cover back on when the wind is up. The wind was maybe 10 degrees off the runway centerline, so a crosswind wasn't a factor. Not wanting to mess with the cabin cover was a pretty lame excuse not to go flying, so I took 33C up for an hour. I did notice that I scan the oil gauges a lot more frequently than I formerly did.

I'm hoping that they fix the runway lights before it gets too cold. I'd like to get a spot of night flying in.

Depending on the Kindness of Strangers

Following this incident, I was able to hitch a ride from the Kingston Airport (20N) to Sky Acres (44N),my home airport, from some nice man flying a Cherokee 235. The repaired oil cooler is installed.

This morning I begged a ride from a nice gent flying a Cessna 150. So my airplane is back.

The consensus is that no damage was done, but a precautionary oil change and filter inspection will be done nonetheless.

So There I Was, Flying Along, Fat, Dumb and Happy on a Crisp Fall Day...

.... when I noticed that the oil pressure had begun dropping. I immediately turned towards the nearest airport, which was Kingston, NY. Actually there was a private grass strip I would have landed on if I had to, which was the Old Rhinebeck Airport, but they had an airshow going on. Oil pressure kept sliding down and so did the oil temperature, probably because the thermocouple had become uncovered.

I came in on a 45deg right base to Runway 33, nobody was in the pattern (I'd have told them to get the frak out of the way if there was anyone there). I pulled the mixture out when I had the field made and landed. I came in rather hot; for that runway, the risk of running off the far end and maybe ground-looping was preferable to the risk of landing short. I made a turnoff without braking and coasted to a stop on the taxiway clear of the runway.

When I got out of the airplane, the tailwheel was soaked with oil and oil was dripping out of the cowling. Of the seven quarts that were in there when I took off 35 minutes before, a gallon of oil had been lost. Oil pressure never dropped completely to zero and the engine sounded fine. Some nice men helped me push the airplane to a tiedown and an hour later, another nice man gave me a lift back to my home airport in his Cherokee.

The cause was a split seam in the oil cooler, which itself is brand new (installed in May). The oil cooler will go back to the maker and then we shall see. I hope to have a new one back and be flying next week.

I've got over 1,200 hours of time, virtually all of it in single-engined aircraft, and this was my first emergency landing for mechanical reasons.

Momma, Don't Let Strangers Tie Down Your Airplane

This can be the result:



Notice that the tailwheel was not tied down. If a strong wind had come up from astern of the airplane, it would have been flipped up onto its nose. You might get away with just tying down the wings of a nosedragger, but never a tailwheel airplane.

Updates

On the right side of this page, you will see links to pages that have photos of the interior and the exterior.

Circumstances in my life have changed. I might be in a position in awhile where I have to seriously consider selling 33C.

Keeping a Promise

Years ago, when I was getting my private ticket, I paid my CFI to give my kid sister a ride. I took a photograph of that day, which my father framed and is now in my sister's house. Her daughter asked about it when she was very young and, upon being told the story, wanted to know when her Aunt Stephanie would take her for a ride in her airplane. I promised her that I would when she was a little older.

My niece is nearly ten years old. I kept my promise this Summer.



Of course, that also meant that I had to take her kid brother up for a ride.



I kept both flights short, maybe ten or fifteen minutes. I also did them fairly early, before the heat of the day began generating thermals.

Why I Bought 333C

I bought it because of my father.

Dad worked very hard from the time he was nine years old.[1] He had ideas and plans about what he wanted to do after he retired. But when he finally retired, a lot of those ideas were out of the question for medical reasons.

I had wanted my own airplane for a very long time. So, channeling a little bit of Travis McGee, when I could swing buying it, I did.

Was it a good move on a financial basis? Hell, no. Do I regret it? Not for a picosecond.

If you don't know the fun in being able to look outside at a nice day and decide to go for a flight, then I sort of pity you. There is a near absolute freedom in being able to fly.[2] By diving and then pulling up in a climb, I've made the Sun appear to set and then rise in the West. I've seen fireworks burst below my wings like colorful AAA fire. I've flown down over highways in the evening rush hour and seen the white headlights and red taillights turn the roads into rivers of light. I've seen Christmas light displays on houses that I've seen from ten miles off. I've circled a formation of Navy YP boats doing maneuvering exercises in Cape Cod Bay. I've flown in and out of airports with significant jet airline traffic and short grass strips, sometimes on the same day. I've gone on cross-country flights lasting from a couple of hours to ten days or more.

All are easy to do, but only if you have an airplane at your beck and call.

________________________________
[1] He grew up in the Depression. The stories usually began with: "You damn kids don't know how good you have it. Why, when I was your age..."
[2] Or there was until those 9-11 assholes ruined everything.