Dr. O
Pattern Altitude
Sunday morning just at dawn I started the new year out correctly... Ceilings were OK, 4500, with some ragged bases down around 1000 here and there... Favored runway was 23 with wind from 18, 10mph gusting 14... Viz was 8 miles. Some spitting rain... Temp 42 on the ground...
The part time, assistant manager of the airport was there (even though he was not being paid that day) so I suggested we go around the perimeter of the airport to check for intruders or hostile activity (TSA/HSA and their like) He doesn't get to fly much anymore due to retired from the factory and no money so he jumped at the offer... Dragged the bird out... Got in... Spent a few minutes getting the overhauled LightSpeed 3G head sets just back from LS, out of the plastic bags, unhooking the non noise cancelling DC's I was using in the interim, hooking up, etc... By then it was past spitting and settled down to raining... 4 pumps of primer on each engine and even cold they fired up on the second blade...
On take off the 108 gallons of gas and two full sized guys put us near gross weight and I could feel it but it was otherwise uneventful... Pattern altitude had us clear of the raggedy streamers, with some wind shear - there was a a 45 degree difference from the wind on the ground and the flow of the cloud bases at 4500... Rain streaming across the windshield as we made a few circuits around the perimeter of the airport, a sashay out to the interstate (almost deserted) and a pass across what remains of the GM Grey Iron Foundry at Saginaw where he worked......
Landing was a non event, carried aileron into the wind with some differential power to keep us straight, over the fence right at blue line, chopped the throttles, raised the nose, counted patiently (one potato, two potato, what's for lunch today) and we oozed onto the tarmac... SO, day one of 2012 was going OK...
denny-o
The part time, assistant manager of the airport was there (even though he was not being paid that day) so I suggested we go around the perimeter of the airport to check for intruders or hostile activity (TSA/HSA and their like) He doesn't get to fly much anymore due to retired from the factory and no money so he jumped at the offer... Dragged the bird out... Got in... Spent a few minutes getting the overhauled LightSpeed 3G head sets just back from LS, out of the plastic bags, unhooking the non noise cancelling DC's I was using in the interim, hooking up, etc... By then it was past spitting and settled down to raining... 4 pumps of primer on each engine and even cold they fired up on the second blade...
On take off the 108 gallons of gas and two full sized guys put us near gross weight and I could feel it but it was otherwise uneventful... Pattern altitude had us clear of the raggedy streamers, with some wind shear - there was a a 45 degree difference from the wind on the ground and the flow of the cloud bases at 4500... Rain streaming across the windshield as we made a few circuits around the perimeter of the airport, a sashay out to the interstate (almost deserted) and a pass across what remains of the GM Grey Iron Foundry at Saginaw where he worked......
Landing was a non event, carried aileron into the wind with some differential power to keep us straight, over the fence right at blue line, chopped the throttles, raised the nose, counted patiently (one potato, two potato, what's for lunch today) and we oozed onto the tarmac... SO, day one of 2012 was going OK...
denny-o