John & Anne Wiley

2010/07/28

Wheee!

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Inner World,NxNW Adventure,Tripp — John @ 02:03

We landed half an hour ago in Sault Ste Marie (but not the Canadian one), and now we’re getting organized. Coming out of Fond du Lac (FDL), there were scattered clouds at various levels and weather reports (and radar) showed 2″ hail along our intended route here. Needless to say, we diverted around it. After poking around in the big gaps between clouds and cloud layers, we settled on 10,500 feet as having the best view. We plugged along for half an hour, then as we reached the edge of where the storm should have been it looked passable. So at that point we finally made radio contact. We’d love to have done that earlier, but ATC didn’t want to hear from Oshkosh people like us so we’d waited until well away from the air show. First we checked with Flight Service to get the latest weather, and learned the storm had indeed abated but the vastly larger one predicted to follow it was bearing down on us as predicted. Good time to turn right as planned! Now we set course direct for Sault Ste Marie (pronounced Soo of course) and contacted Center for Flight Following. This is when Anne began to fully relax (she likes having extra eyes helping us watch out for other planes – even more than I like it).

Anyway, we’re now looking into transportation, hotel (ah to Shower!), and options for a hangar in case the hail reaches here (though it’s not expected to). I’m hoping to post again later with a few pix from our Oshkosh adventure. Today in particular was thrilling, because we left the show at 1pm to pack up for departure back at FDL and a P-51 has been parked there for two nights (did I already mention that?). Well this afternoon as we packed Tripp where she’s been parked on grass next to the taxiway, the P-51 was selling rides. It turns out the active runway today was a few yards from us, and the P-51 was doing low passes at high speed – sometimes over our taxiway. It’s pretty rare for one of those magnificent planes going that fast to be close enough that you could hit it with a whiffle ball! Ah the Glory!! As you’ve guessed, our packing took much longer than planned. And yes, I got photos.

As for this post’s title, flying in front of the storm we had smooth air and great ground speed. Flying relatively fast for Tripp, we were burning 8-9 gallons per hour, and covering 160 miles per hour. Wheee! 🙂

2010/07/27

Happy Tired

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Inner World,NxNW Adventure,People,Random,Relationships,Tripp — John @ 01:49

There are at least as many kinds of tired for me as there are types of snow for Eskimos. You have hard work tired, stifling heat tired, boredom tired, lack of sleep tired, and on. Today I’m happy tired. I just saw a P-51 flying fast and low, and doing stunts. We had started walking toward the gate to get an early lead on the mobs still watching the stunning stunt plane routines, when that sound snapped my head around. The sound of the P-51 engine is both riveting and enchanting for me. Even when they’re idling, the crackling rumble is distinctive. Mid-stride, I was walking back toward the field to watch. Anne asked if an airplane was in trouble or something, not having my romantic attachment to that sound.

Alas, after a few steps it had already dwindled into the distance so I thought maybe it was leaving the area. Then I remembered the hand-held nav/comm radio I’d just bought.  Finding a seat in the shade I unpacked it and scanned for the “Air Boss” channel (133.85 as I recall). I heard the P-51 pilot report ready for his routine, so we found a better vantage point in the shade and waited. Watching the bone-crushing maneuvers of the stunt pilots was more fun, as we listened to their calm radio calls. How can someone snapping plus and minus 5-10 times the force of gravity sound as if they’ve been sipping beer watching football?

So even after walking several thousand miles today in the muggy sun, I’m happy tired. Again though, I didn’t bring along the stuff needed for sharing photos! 😦

We talked with several experts about valve failure potential in 0360 engines, and got some new ideas for what to look for in assuring our engine will be solid for another thousand hours of flying. Most notably pulling the exhaust manifold open and inspecting the exhaust valve shaft near the head for signs of rust or pitting. Another suggestion was to get the much more expensive “valve wobble” test, though experts are quite divided on whether it’s definitive or even better than much cheaper tests like the “bore scope” exam Tripp had just before our departure. We’ll think about it all, and then talk to our mechanic when we get back home.

Even with all the things to see and do though, the most fun part of AirVenture (I still think of it as Oshkosh), is people. The people you hear talking about all things aviation as they stroll past gives me the feeling of being in my flock. If I say bore scope to my psychologist friends, they wonder if it’s a new objective boredom quantification tool. (Actually, it’s just a little tv camera and light on the end of a flex shaft that mechanics stick into the guts of an engine to have a look inside without all the work of taking it apart)

People we talk with are always fun and interesting. Aviators and the people who love them are just birds of a feather I guess. We know what it’s like to skim between white fluffy clouds, or avoid scary thunderstorm cells. We’ve tasted the joy of watching the world unfold in dream time. We share the pride and affection toward a complex anti-gravity machine. Each of us has felt the tug to take flight when a plane passes overhead.

Speaking of which, I’m getting really twitchy to fly! Watching all these planes coming and going, the display and stunt flights, and all the planes and flying gear, well … I’m ready for some air in my hair!

Tomorrow our tentative plan is to go for a couple of hours and then fly out in the afternoon or early Wednesday depending on weather. Kinda adds to the happy in our tired, knowing we’re still pretty early in this big North by Northwest adventure. 🙂

2010/07/26

No Time!

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Has Photos,NxNW Adventure,Tripp — John @ 01:57

I have 20 minutes to post something before this building closes, so tonite I’ll focus on some photos. Here’s a shot I like of the capitol in Pierre:

8511 Pierre SD

8511 Pierre SD

Ellendale, ND next to the runup area:

8538 Ellendale ND

8538 Ellendale ND

Minneapolis from 2 miles up:

8554 Minneapolis

8554 Minneapolis

A slice of Wisconsin life, approaching Fond du Lac:

8571 Wisconsin Farm

8571 Wisconsin Farm

An idea:

1304 Tail Brace

1304 Tail Brace

I brought an old heavy duty (but lightweight) camcorder tripod on a hunch, and it worked. Sort of. I set it up under the tail tiedown, pushed up on the tail to load it, pulled down on the tail to set it into the soft grass, and repeated that until it would hold perhaps 10# of down pressure. My theory is that it would help keep the tail from dropping if the winds persisted. Since we had to park on a fairly steep slope beside the runway, I was afraid a strong gust would rock the plane back and increase the wings’ angle of attack to possibly pull out our tiedown stakes. It could also help prevent the elevator digging into the ground, since the gust lock was of course in place.

OK, they’re flashing the lights so that’s it for today…

Oshkosh sure was fun today, and it hasn’t even officially opened!

2010/07/25

Pierre & Dry Oshkosh

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Has Photos,Inner World,NxNW Adventure,Random,Tripp — John @ 02:00

We’re tied down and the tent is set up at Oshkosh. Sort of, as I’ll describe. But first let me tell you about Pierre. The capital of South Dakota seemed like a good choice when weather indicated that the prudent pilot would let go of flying to Minnesota last evening. This was after an absolutely magnificent flight along the Grand Tetons and over some of Yellowstone. I didn’t bring my camera chip to this wifi hotspot, nor did Anne bring her camera, so the photos will have to wait. Too bad, because we really like some of them and would love to share. What I can do is show you our route from Jackson Hole.

07/23-24 map

07/23-24 map

Gasping our way along the breathtaking Tetons we toured part of Yellowstone on our way to the lake. After leaving Yellowstone Lake, we crossed the high plaindotted with RVs and tents, for a stretch and some fuel in Sheridan. We decided to head up into MT, but realizing how far we hoped to go in the day we made a jaunt up to the closest airport (Red Lodge) to have a look. It was of course the doorway to entirely new vistas, so we decided to go back on another trip. We headed direct to Mt. Rushmore not knowing exact location, so it was fascinating to see detailed human faces appear on the rock face above a large parking area with tourist facilities. I’ve wanted to see it for years, and am glad we finally did – without the driving. 🙂

We hoped to reach or at least get close to Oshkosh, so we headed direct. When we realized I’d forgotten about crossing a time zone and figured out the local time and sunset, it became clear we’d stop at the Eastern border of SD. The weather had other ideas, as thunderstorms had recently moved across our path. Again we decided to err on the side of caution and diverted to the state capital of SD: Pierre. After finding out how quickly we could get the tent set up (3 hours), we slept. At the crack of dawn we were up, and decided to accept the kind offer of a loaner car to tour the lovely little city. Back at the airport we got the gear all sorted back into Tripp (whom Anne said in the morning looked “confused”), checked weather and got an early start on the long flight to Oshkosh. Well, early in that we took off at 10am! We started encountering other pilots going to Oshkosh, and that did a lot to enhance our excitement.

After some discussion we decided to go take a peek at ND, having already diverted a bit North due to the storms. We found it looked quite a bit like SD, so after a stretch in the small Ellendale airport plunk in the middle of glorious wildflowers we at last headed direct for Oshkosh. This route took us directly over Minneapolis, which had been a factor in our choice of glimpsing ND. We’d both been there by car years ago, so we already knew that more vistas await our return on another trip. The tops of the broken clouds kept inching up until we were at 11,500 for half an hour keeping clear of them (thank you Tripp!), and even then it involved some detours among the tallest towers of fluff. At least it was a welcome change from bouncing along in the turbulence lower, and we booked along at 150mph or so getting about 20mpg. So after a beautiful view of Minneapolis we stayed high until about 40 miles from Oshkosh.

Now, approaching the mother of all fly-in aviation events involves a 30-something page set of procedures, and the controllers are (to put it mildly) stressed so you want to have a clue. At the 30 mile mark you check the ATIS (weather and info), and that’s when we found out Oshkosh is closed. What?! Well, you may have seen the news about airport flooding in WI, and the grass areas of Oshkosh are especially muddy today. So before we got there, they’d closed the airport to all off-pavement activity (parking airplanes and camping). We heard stories of people sinking up to their ankles, so the thought of parking Tripp in that has zero appeal anyway. So we again diverted – this time to a friendly airport named Fond du Lac. One of the airport volunteers said they’re calling this the “Dry Oshkosh.” Tripp is tied down, the tent is filled up with stuff we probably don’t need, and we’re off to sleep. Tomorrow we’re sharing a cab with some other aviators, for a fun drive over to look at the Fly Market (flea market for aviators). The actual show starts Monday, and our current plan is to leave Tuesday or Wednesday before the next set of storms approaches. Busy times ahead, and some say it’s as much fun as pilots can have without flying 🙂

2010/07/23

Jackson to Jackson

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,NxNW Adventure,Random,Tripp — John @ 05:09

First some catch-up: Tripp’s cover didn’t last. I tore it this evening trying to pull it tightly closed. The faulty instrument turned out to be the auxiliary fuel pump (working fine, but noisy and seldom used so I didn’t think to check if the switch was on!). The fog didn’t lift until 10am, and we heard on the radio it was clearing at SBA then too (oh well). We didn’t actually take off until 11am.

Because we had full fuel, Tripp flew more like Flash used to with a lighter load. Well, not that sluggish. But we did need to divert North a bit to climb over the Sierra Madre before turning direct to Kernville. On that detour we passed close to the Jackson estate so I snapped this.

8034 Michael Jackson's Neverland

8034 Michael Jackson's Neverland

So just after takeoff, our trip began with a Jackson moment.

Since things were going well,  just past Bakersfield we turned slightly more North heading toward Tonopah and crossed the Sierras not far South of Mt. Whitney. Tripp faithfully hauled us up to 10,000′ or so, and Flash couldn’t have done that even without the baggage and 64 gallons of fuel aboard. Go Tripp!

8047 High Sierras

8047 High Sierras

I think one of the peaks is Mt. Whitney, but I haven’t figured it out and of course it looks different on every flight due to the different angles we see.

The valley presented the unusual as usual. This time the colors, textures and shapes were different not just due to our different route further North and flying higher, but also the rainy spring. I like this snap on its side, because my eye is less trapped by knowing what it is so I can more fully enjoy the Art of it.

8056 Geo Art

8056 Geo Art

I love so many of the photos from today, but I’ll skip ahead so this doesn’t get too long. Wish you could fly along with us and see how much more magnificent our planet is, than words or photos can begin to describe.

8074 Tonopah

8074 Tonopah

We stopped at Tonopah to check weather and stretch our legs. There are some fascinating decrepit old WWII hangars there, and this new building at the other end. Turned out it was too hot for a real walk and their internet wasn’t working. So back aboard our magic for more enchanted memories.

After a full day of glorious flying and geographic art, we arrived at today’s other Jackson: Jackson Hole, WY. We’d only been here once, as part of a long driving trip decades ago. So fun to see it from the air coming in, and tomorrow we’ll probably go for a closer look before continuing on toward WI. For now, we sleep, and dream about this unbelievable day.

8163 Jackson Hole WY

8163 Jackson Hole WY

Smoke clinging to the peaks appears to be from a wildfire. Hope it’s clear tomorrow.

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