Preflight Inspections, worth their weight in gold...

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Today I went out to the airport to fly for the first time in over 6 weeks. Might as well been a life time. That's what it felt like. Anyway, when I got up this morning, the weather looked decent. Low clouds and fog where the order of the day west even though looking out my window here at the house was clear and sunny. It was forcast to burn off pretty quick and was supposed to be light west winds. 

After the weather started to come up I headed out to the airport. Arrived at about 11am an started my preflight. It wasn't to long and I noticed a slight issue. On the bottom of the right horizontal stabilizer there was a panel missing.  

IMG_0769

Not really a huge deal but still nothing you would want to fly with. I'm pretty sure that it is the result of the annual inspection. Either it was not installed after the inspection, or wasn't installed correctly and lost sometimes after the inspection. The biggest thing I was unhappy with was that the airplane was flown 4 times since annual. 

I went down to Gary's hangar. Gary is the guy that did the annual. I asked him if we had left a panel with him? Amazingly enough, he did have a panel. He said that he had found it out on the taxiway. I'm unsure if he really did or was just protecting himself if he didn't reinstall it. Either way, we had people miss it on preflight and fly without it. Anyway, I reinstalled the panel after inspecting all the components behind that panel. And all was well. 

The rest of the flight went pretty good. The winds were forcast out of the west at 8-10 knots as of last night. Well they ended up WSW 15kts gust to 21kts. Good for crosswind landing practice but right at my personal limits for crosswinds. Good for confidence building. 

I flew to 0F2, Bowie Municiple. On the way I did some air work. I did slow flight both with flaps and without. I did power on and power off stalls. Proved once again that you really have to try to get this airplane to stall. I did one engine out practice. It worked out well. I did two very pretty landings at Bowie. Made even better since I was way high on both and still managed to get it down nicely on that relativly small runway. I did have 1 go around. It was my first in real world flying. The approach was good. I got a little to slow and had a pretty high sink rate too close to the ground. I'm sure I could have safely landed but no need in pushing it. Plus it was a perfect go around. Probably about 1 second from the time I though about the go around until I had made a decision and applied power. I was probably about 20 feet when I stopped the decent and began to climp out. 

The flight back was pretty nice. A dry line hanging out west of Decature made for a bumpy ride for a few minutes. Landing back at Denton was smooth. Drifted a little with the winds, but other than that, nice landing. 

Here is a link to the rest of the pics. http://www.flickr.com/photos/iflyjet/sets/72157626401764204/

 

Interesting find...

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This past week I was driving down US82 and as I looked off to my left I saw something. A Martin 404 (N255S). Sitting out in the sun with the weather and all of natures elements doing there best to return her to the earth. After returning home and doing a little google-ing I found that I wasn't the first to discover this airplane. They have done a much better job telling the story of this aircraft than I could, so I'll let them...  

One Martins Fate

Propliners Off Airport N. America

AOPA Airport Info

Notice the 5 Cessna 150's and the Bonanza in the foreground.

   

My first view from the highway. Sorry for the quality.

 

Pictures from others.

    

 Google Maps. This isn't in the same location I saw it, but close. 


View Larger Map

One last thing I noticed. After looking around for "how did it get here", I notice a grass/weeds runway. What I didn't know until later was that this wan't a grass/weeds runway, it was 2380 ft of asphalt. Just badly overgrown. 

Just for fun...

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So this is the kind of thing I do just for fun. Tonight I got a bit bored and decided to brush up on my E6B skills. A E6B is sort of like an aviation silde rule of sorts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E6B  I found some practice problems such as this one.  You are flying a course of 050 at 90kts. The winds are 070 at 15kts. What is your heading, ground speed, and wind correction angle?  So I'd figure out these problems on my IOS E6B. Then with my FAA approved electronic E6B. And finally with the good ole fashion manual E6B. When you don't understand how this thing works it's not fun at all, but when you do, it's kinda fun. 

FAA Official Email...

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Just got a great email from the FAA (You don't hear that very often).  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: December 20, 2010
Contact: FAA Press Office
Phone: 202-267-3883

FAA Certifies Santa’s NextGen-Equipped Sleigh for Christmas Eve WASHINGTON – Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) safety inspectors at the North Pole certified Santa One, the reindeer-powered sleigh piloted by Santa Claus, for its Christmas Eve round-the-world delivery mission.

Santa One, led by Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, is outfitted with new satellite-based NextGen technology, which will allow Santa to deliver more toys to more children with improved safety and efficiency.

“Children around the world will get their gifts on time, regardless of the weather, thanks to NextGen,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “We’re proud to say NextGen is bringing Santa Claus to town.”

Rudolph’s red nose has been outfitted with avionics that will broadcast Santa One’s position via satellites to air traffic controllers around the world with improved accuracy, integrity and reliability.

“Santa’s cockpit display will help improve his situational awareness by showing him and his reindeer flight crew their precise location in relation to other aircraft, bad weather and terrain,” said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. “NextGen will help make this an extra-safe Christmas Eve.”

The sleigh’s onboard systems have been upgraded with state-of-the-art, NextGen technology that will allow Santa One to maintain cruising altitude for as long as possible before making a continuous descent into cities and towns around the world. While maneuvering on rooftops, an advanced, onboard runway safety system will help reduce the risk of incursions between the sleigh and chimneys.

Santa’s reindeer-powered sleigh is already energy-efficient, but the NextGen technologies will further reduce Santa One’s carbon hoofprint. The shorter, faster routings means that Rudolph and the other reindeer will consume less hay, resulting in fewer greenhouse gases.

Unlike any other pilot, Santa has special permission from the FAA to fly thousands of domestic and international short-haul and long-range flights in one night. In keeping with the FAA's science-based proposal to give pilots more rest, Santa will arrange his flight plan based on his circadian rhythm. Mrs. Claus also assured FAA safety inspectors that she’ll make sure he gets plenty of rest before the flight on Christmas Eve.

Follow Santa’s progress on Christmas Eve at the NORAD Tracks Santa website: www.noradsanta.org

See how NextGen is going to improve the safety and efficiency of Santa’s rooftop descents: http://www.faa.gov/go/santa

You can view or update your subscriptions, password or email address at any time on your User Profile Page. All you will need are your email address and your password (if you have selected one). This service is provided to you at no charge by the Federal Aviation Administration. Visit us on the web at www.faa.gov. If you have any questions or problems with the subscription service email support@govdelivery.com for assistance.