Oh, from his stories it gets off the ground mighty fine. If you have digital access or back issues, it’s the cover story of EAA Sport Air April 2021.
Yesterday morning brought a trip around cape cod (no pictures) with a buddy who started training and stopped. So I’m trying to get him back in the groove to start up again. Yesterday afternoon a quick trip up to LCI and back with my wife. Today I got the opportunity to take 2 of my cousins kids up for a quick ride before the family shindig.
Imma just leave this here for theisen’s benefit. Not exactly a plane pic but I did fly there and also the hurricanes lost in case anyone needs a reminder.
Funny, don't remember cratering the taxiways last year doing landings. Could be I'm just repressing those memories.
Ha! All that space and they still can't figure out how to build more hangars and get rid of a 3+ year wait for $600 a month hangars.
Needed some parts for my NH3 bar. Probably could've gotten them in town, but they were cheaper from a place up in Kankakee. IKK has a nice crew car, so the mission was born. Burn $75 worth of avgas to save $10 in shipping. Added a couple new airports, including DTG, which at 21x2364 is the smallest paved public runway in the state. You feel every bit of that 85mph on a 21' wide runway. Hit 10 hours on the engine since "the incident". My mechanic is going to change the filter tomorrow and check it for metal. Fingers crossed. She's running great and I'm (obviously) starting to get confident in the plane again.
I rather like having my place of business located at the end of a taxiway. Even if there is a stupid fence in the way. For now.
A little Friday flying. Chattanooga (KCHA) back to DuPage (KDPA) in just under 4 hours at 8500'. Somehow mastered the art of getting a headwind on my way there and one on my way back. Got to climb and cruise above a fairly solid layer of clouds down in TN, which is my favorite VFR activity . The moderate turbulence experienced all over northern IL was less fun. Then was greeted with, what I think is a C17 at DPA? Can anyone identify that plane? Never seen it before, but god is it big. Taxi's at like 1mph. No clue what it could be doing there!
Went up to DKB this afternoon and kept @kaiser from hitting anything in his rented saratoga. C-U later CMI Stateville Prison just south of LOT @Radar Contact 's stomping ground I found all the Shorts. They're at Dekalb. Except the one at Rochelle and the one at Danville. The rest are in Dekalb. 20 years apart Almost ran over a Cub (as you do in a Lance). Got a free hour of retract time, put 2.4 on my bird. Fun afternoon.
Little trip up the Sierra Nevadas this past weekend for camping Mountain High Ski Resort: Threading the needle setting up for 17 at L05: Made it in an hour or two before sunset: It's no Aztec or Bonanza, but Beech builds a nice comfortable "basic" twin with respectable UL #twinlife
ha! The new Android phones have some modes that find "unnatural" photo elements and remove them. The Duchess is great. Easy to fly, respectable performance, at least compared to singles, and the trailing link gear makes for forgiving landings. Also enjoy the two doors and the third door in the back. It's an actual door, not just a cargo flap. The Duchess is kind of a "one off" as far as obeying their usual design-theme.. it's not reminiscent of any other Beech product, which is sort of cool. I flew a Seminole once and hated it. Beech put effort into the design, even subjecting it to some rigorous spin testing
Most planes can be spun, and recovery is not a big deal. I think that for liability reasons, many are given a no spin rating. In Canada spin recovery training is a required element to get a private license. Spins are nothing at all, but if someone has never done them, I can then see why it would seem like an uh oh moment, and recovery may seem difficult. Spin recovery should be taught, and an annual review requirement in my humble opinion. Once a pilot can quickly recognize a spin, they can quickly recover from that spin also.
The Duchess was the first twin certified with flight tests that were modeled in software before the airplane flew. It went through a unique flight test plan that included spin recovery. The FAA actually had real engineers back then, I guess. Not like the Boeing debacle... The NASA involvement explains that, I guess...
After work shenanigans. All pics taken from about 6nm NE of 3CK (Lake in the Hills, IL) at about 1400 AGL.
Took another tour of Northern Illinois this afternoon. Added C09 and C77. Only 4 paved runways left in IL along with a short dozen grass strips. Played with the panorama setting. Nice shot of DKB
It's a combination of factors to be honest.. holistically I appreciate the added complexity, challenge, and capability. Not immediately looking for a flying job, but down the line if I buy a plane it'll probably be a twin so I figure if I'm going to fly might as well build time and experience towards that ..however the siren song of commercial operations are always just small life decision away it seems and I'm not getting any younger!
Interesting that they used RC models for part of their testing. Spin characteristics is something I always check out for a new-to-me model (after in-flight stall checks).
I cry a little inside everytime I pass a plane like this on the ramp. Flat tires, bird's nest, p*ss poor tie down job, no prop, generally sad looking plane. I wish people unloaded them when they weren't using them! Keep em running in the fleet longer!
Whenever I see planes like that I often wonder what that last flight was like or if the person flying it in knew that would be the last time the plane would be airborne.. it's sad. While just machines I like to think of these craft as having a soul of sorts.. tied to the ground is not how they're meant to exist
I'm 100% the same way. I actually feel bad for the machines. Like.. they were built to fly, not sit and rot. I know financial, medical, etc concerns and stuff come up, and that's OK... But I feel like you have to be a good steward of your machine and recognize it still has useful life left to live! Treat it accordingly.
Well now I'm sad. How do you know if any flight is not the last one you'll ever take? I mean health problems can sneak up on you. You might not immediately sell the plane, thinking that some problem might be temporary and you'll soon be back in the saddle again. As time passes, both you and the plane start to see your bodies deteriorate. I don't know how I'd react in that situation. I'd like to think that I'd be rational and sell the plane so both it and someone else could enjoy the skies. But I also know that selling it would be like admitting that I wasn't going to get better.
Man this thread took a dark turn but I see what you mean @elvisAteMySandwich . I'd be reluctant to sell. But... At some point.. I'd like to think I'd concede, sell, and just get back into later if conditions permitted. Who knows? Easy to be an armchair quarterback until it happens to me. Nonetheless I did enjoy the picture and quote!
