Did I mention I LOVE flying???

[SoCal RV Flyer]

I finished the annual on the RV-9A, so this morning I thought I'd treat myself to a favorite breakfast run, from Cable to Hemet-Ryan. Bambi's Hangar One Cafe is exceptional...I highly recommend it.

So there I was at about 4500', into my descent toward Hemet, when I pick up some traffic on the EFIS. At my 5 o'clock, closing pretty rapidly, at my altitude. No N-number displayed.

So I crane my neck to see him while expediting my descent for some clearance. I spot him...a black blob at this point, but I barely make out twin splayed vertical stabs. I'm thinking military jet. I start rocking my wings furiously, my own little salute to the armed services.

He passes behind me, and then pulls alongside. Not super close, but maybe 1000-1500 feet away, and returns the wing rock! He then gasses it and quickly becomes a speck.

The plane? An effin' Blue Angels F/A-18!!

I know, I know, pics or it didn't happen. It all took place so fast that I couldn't get the iPhone out. The pilot no doubt flew out of March, and was likely headed toward El Centro.

I did NOT attempt to race him for pinks.

It absolutely made my day.

 

[Salty]

Nice. I live north of Tampa and we got a nice flyby yesterday at our little airport.

 

[Daleandee]

He passes behind me, and then pulls alongside. Not super close, but maybe 1000-1500 feet away, and returns the wing rock! He then gasses it and quickly becomes a speck.

The plane? An effin' Blue Angels F/A-18!!

Great story! Thanks for sharing! BTW ... when he pulled along side did he have the flaps and gear down with the engine at idle and the nose way up?

 

[eman1200]

Pretty cool! And it beats my flying today where absolutely nothing happened.

 

[Bill]

At least y’all flew. Still in annual

 

[GRG55]

...beats my flying today where absolutely nothing happened.

We've had some threads started based entirely on this same premise, , so you'll probably be okay.

 

[Skywalker]

Cool!

 

[Deelee]

Awesome! I'm jelly. Aeroplane is in le shoppe des maintenance so no flying this weekend. Hoping beyond hope it is ready for next weekend.

 

[SoCal RV Flyer]

It was a strange and wonderful day. When I took off from Cable and went to reduce full takeoff power to climb power, the throttle was stuck!! Fortunately, there was a good recent thread here about using mixture to control rpm, so in my mind I was ready to use that technique, and I was right over the airport with plenty of altitude. But after several tugs of the throttle it freed up (phew!) and I continued on.

Best I can surmise, when I was wiping down and lubricating the telescoping parts of the cable near the throttle arm, I must've forced a little crud between the sections of the cable, enough to jam it temporarily. What's the name for the effect of routine maintenance introducing other problems?

When I got to Hemet, I just happened to be on the tail end of a flight of seven RVs (and yes, they were doing an overhead break ). I knew a couple of the guys, and it was great to check out their machines and talk planes with them after breakfast.

 

[hindsight2020]

What's the name for the effect of routine maintenance introducing other problems?

maintenance-induced failure. It's real. They're flaming me over on the piper forum over making said point (aka speaking the quiet parts out loud) wrt spar attachment bolt-pulling AD. I've even had one ricardo say he'll pay to etch snark on my gravestone when my wings fail in flight. With friends like these...

Reason why I prefer the diversity of forums like this one, we're more of an equal opportunity playa hata club. Type-centric forums are the worst.

 

[GRG55]

...When I got to Hemet, I just happened to be on the tail end of a flight of seven RVs (and yes, they were doing an overhead break ). I knew a couple of the guys, and it was great to check out their machines and talk planes with them after breakfast.

^^^This is what I like about flying. You just never know what interesting conversations you'll get into next, or where.

 

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

maintenance-induced failure. It's real.

Yea. Had a water pump seal go bad (Rotax 912). The pump is built into the ignition housing which is on the rear of the engine. Had to pull the engine, oil lines between the oil tank / cooler / engine, starter, flywheel, and all of the ignition coils so I could send the housing off to get a new seal installed. Put it all back together. First flight? No water leak. Yay. But now I have an oil leak. Boo. (I think I found / fixed yesterday but it was cold and I decided to knock it off for the day. Need to put the cowl back on and re-mount the radiator and oil cooler. )