Mike Armstrong, a pilot that I helped in 2020 ( I believe) called me and wanted to get an idea of the weather on the Alvord. He had a friend with a T Bird ( Lite sport) plane that he wanted to learn to fly. Well the weather was miserable for the next three weeks after that. He called again last Wenesday and upon checking the forecasts, he decided to come this weekend for their attempt.
I have not flown since September due to my need to fly Bud. While he didn't manage to kill anything, he was at least sticking around, in fact on one of his trips he flew a big circle around the outside of the Ranch for about 30 minutes, then went home. Leaving me out in the field like a spurned lover.
Starting a Falcon is not at all like starting a Hawk. A Hawk will be hitting on all cylinders within a month or it will never be worth anything. A Falcon takes at least three years to reach its full potiential. I was content that Bud had stuck around for his first year. Actually a long time out would be beneficial for both of us.
By then I had burned all the nonethynol gas that I spockpiled when Biden was installed in office, so my incentive to fly was almost non-existant. In Sept all the junk in my left eye had broken loose and my vision was miserable. I couldn't see a falcon anything over 400 feet in the air. There was no question that I wasn't fit to fly.The plane gathered dust all winter. I had a gas leak somewhere and it was dripping off my tail boom. At the last fly-in, Roger helped me take the tanks out and inspect them. They seemed to be ok, so we re-installed them. I still had the leak! The only thing left was a "gascolater" that was supposed to seperate the water from the gas. I had built it from PVC fittings, and glued it together with standard PVC glue. I assumed that it was seeping gas through the seams. Well, it did not. It appears that one of the tanks have a small crack somewhere. So in essence I really didn't care if I flew or not. I find that a unsettling thought.
Mike, I was sure, needed some support. I needed to go to the Alvord! I of course had two choices, I could either fly the 80 mile trip, or I could drive, take three times longer and put in 160 mile trip. I chose the plane as I wanted to paint the pool while the weather was good. I could also see again, so a flight was the only thing that made sense.
Toby Parker had dropped by after spending the weekend at a Hot Springs about 40 miles south of me. He decided that he would stop by the Alvord as well before going home.
I forgot to charge the batteries on my Virb camera, so it quit on the return trip. I noticed when I edited the video, the Garmin program that I use for the main cut of the raw video has developed a twitch in its programming. I questioned as to whether or not to attach it to the blog, but even though you may have seen the same scenery many times before, some of you may be as forgetful as I, and enjoy it anyway.
https://vimeo.com/710548610 I don't think that it requires a password but if it does its - owyheeflyer
After remembering to switch the gas selector to an actual tank, the plane roared to life, I warmed it up and departed for the Alvord.
In the early years I had entertained the idea of buying a T Bird for my first plane, but decided that it wasn't sturdy enough or have the performance that I required. I am very glad that I did so. It was very flimsy and almost impossible to put together. The owner asked me if I was interested in flying it. I had no problem in telling him that I would decline.
He had been taxxiing it but had never lifted off. This time he did manage to take it off the ground, much to our surprise and dismay. Mike's as well my heart rate went up quicker than the plane. He flew around for about 10 minutes, then, as he made a right turn the wing dropped, touched, which slammed the body of the plane down breaking off a wheel. Ending up with bent tail supports. He was unhurt, at least physically. However its tough to crash your dream. Mike had no problem at all with his Mark 3. I saw him safely in the air, and headed on home.
A departing shot of the Steens
I got all my stuff together and started spraying on the new pool paint. Imanaged to spray one coat on and after a bit roll a coat on the bottom of the pool. Of course thunder heads were building all afternoon. It did not rain however. I will let it dry for a couple of days then begin filling it for the summer.
Yesterday morning after an early morning walk, Josie was panting up a storm. I decided that it was time for her haircut. It looked like I had been shearing Sheep when I finished. I was thinking of quitting for the day as she was getting pretty tired of holding still, and while I was considering it, she had decided that I was finished, and left me standing there with the clippers.
Today, (tuesday) I took Nikki to Burns to the vet to get her spayed. I left her at the Vets at 8 am, went shopping, had lunch with my dear friend, Pat and her mother. Gathered up Conie's three cats, then Nikki and made our way back home. I may never get all the cat hair out of my car. One cat on my shoulder another at my right arm on the center console, the other under my feet, and Nikki in a cat kennel.
This particular post is a hodgepodge of a bit of every thing. Months of nothing at all, and with a little sunshine things go to overdrive in one heart beat. I dithered for a couple of days trying to decide if I wanted to bother you with all this. Still not sure its worth while at all.
