Good thing about cool spring flying...

[EdFred]

...no people out.

Yesterday morning, I got up and saw low scuzzy overcast, so I flipped on the TV and was watching some Food Network. Then I heard it raining, but through the blinds it looked like blue sky. Sure enough, clear skies, and the rain was just the snow melting from Saturday's snow off my upper roof and dripping onto my lower roof. Well, time to throw on some jeans and mosey on down to the airport and put some go juice in the tanks. Great, jeans are not dry yet. Oh well, pajama pants will do just fine - how can you go wrong with navy blue plaid pants?

So I get to the airport and find a few people down there sitting around talking, but not doing any flying. After a few minutes of BS, I drive the vette around to the hangar, pull out 7DS, coax a start out of it, and head on over to the compass rose, to recheck/recalibrate my compass which does not want to indicate correctly at all. Still is being stubborn, even with the compensation spheres attached. But I got it within a reasonable plus-minus, and then headed back over to the pumps to fuel up. One bad thing about tip tanks, I can have an hour and a half of fuel in the plane, and still put in nearly 70 gallons - and that's not a pretty fuel reciept to look at.

I depart on 12, ride out a couple little bumps as I turned back to the west, and the bumps subsided at about 4,000 which is right where the haze layer got rather thick. Legal VFR, but not so great. I head out towards Lake Michigan, and was able to find a couple extra knots out of 7DS, rudder trim had been cranked all the way to the left for the past couple flights, so I centered that, and seemed to get to about 131-2kias at 8500. I reached the shoreline, pulled power back to about 18", cranked the trim a bit forward, went into a nice smooth descent at about 155kias until I was about a mile and half off the shore, and made a turn to the south.

At about 2000' AWL (not a typo), I resumed the turn, kept the descent going until I was about 200AWL, and just cruised along the shoreline until I was about 8 miles from South Haven. Then decided it was time to head back up north, so I made the turn, and descended to about 650' MSL - about 70 feet off the water. Set the power to 20" and 2100 RPM, and just cruised it nice and smooth at 120kts about 500' away from the shore. Saw a few people out walking their dogs, and as I'd get about ready to pass them they would stop and look until I flew by and then continue walking again.

I contoured the shoreline, bouncing out further over the lake when I would approach the piers, then swoop back into shore after I passed them. It will be one of the last times this year I'll be able to fly low enough to be below the tops of the dunes and that close to the shoreline. Soon, everyone will be out with their powerboats, sailboats, cats, and fishing boats, and I'll be pushed up five hundred feet, when they begin to dot the water like stars in the sky.

I passed abeam Holland Park Township, turned up the RPMs, opened the throttle, and made a climbing left, two hundred seventy degree turn up to about 1750' and made a phone call to my buddy that lives in Holland.

"Hey, you know how you're always wondering if I flew over your house?"
"Yeah."
"Go outside, I'll be west to east in about two minutes."

So I pick out what I think is the right street, no that's not it, that has to be...32nd, there's the hospital, that's 24th-ish, ok, a little more to the north, ok, that's Menards and Meijer, one street south, perfect. So at 25" and 2300, I put myself right over the house, then made another climbing left turn, circled back over the intersection he's at and then cruised on back home at 3500'. I followed a Skyhawk on base, and logged 1-1/2 landings because I was thinking about the hold the nosewheel off thread, and had about 3kts too much on touchdown.

It was only about an hour of flight, but the best hour this year, because I wasn't going anywhere, and I was in one of the few places in the Midwest were I could legally fly below the surrounding terrain without worrying about hitting anything immovable.

 

[dmccormack]

Sounds like a fun flighT!

I logged an hour of "Where should I go next?" flying Saturday am. It was chilly, but mostly clear. By the time I returned winds were 200@10 (runway is 27) which is near my current limit in the Chief.

I'm starting to lean towards the "3 pt all the time" side of the wheelie argument -- I touch down at such a low speed any swerve is easily controlled.

Anyway, the bad part of nice spring flying is what your hear on the radio and see at airports.

At VVS I watched a C177 land 2/3rds down the runway and then power up for a touch and go.

I waited for the accident, but he rolled over the new pavement (300' extension put in this fall) and yanked it up before he hit the dirt.

The airplane wallowed a bit then stablized. he didn't come back.

 

[EdFred]

Well, you know how those Cardinal guys are!

 

[steingar]

Killjoy here. Flying 70 feet over the lake 500 feet out sounds genuinely dangerous. No outs. Something happens to the mill you could be in the water 500 feet from shore. Really cold water. Maybe I'm raising a rukus about nothing, since I don't know its depth that far out. But if you had to swim, forget it. You'd get about 30 seconds before you experienced hypothermia and drowned. People have perished in much smaller bodies of water. I know, if you want to be safe don't get out of the bed in the morning. Sometimes to do the mission we take on some risk, and I'm totally cool with that. But this was for pleasant sight seeing.

 

[Ted]

Seeing as Ed flies his Comanche over Lake Michigan in the winter, I'm pretty sure he's perfectly aware of the potential dangers and has done the risk assessment to determine whether or not it's something that he's comfortable doing.

There are a lot of places where you could go down over land and be just as dead, and people fly their singles there without thinking much of it. People make a big deal of water, it seems to me that if you do so then you should make a similarly big deal over other things that are probably more likely to kill you.

 

[steingar]

Seeing as Ed flies his Comanche over Lake Michigan in the winter, I'm pretty sure he's perfectly aware of the potential dangers and has done the risk assessment to determine whether or not it's something that he's comfortable doing.

There are a lot of places where you could go down over land and be just as dead, and people fly their singles there without thinking much of it. People make a big deal of water, it seems to me that if you do so then you should make a similarly big deal over other things that are probably more likely to kill you.

I wouldn't give anyone a hard time about flying over the lake even in the dead of winter. It is part of the mission, and part of the risk. I said that already. And yes, you can get dead lots of ways if lots of things go south. However, flying 70 feet off the surface of a really cold body of water for the fun of it did hit my unnecessary risk indicator. Obviously it hits neither yours nor Ed's, which is fine. But seeing how this is a public forum to discuss aspects of aviation, I thought I would bring this one up.

 

[dmccormack]

I wouldn't give anyone a hard time about flying over the lake even in the dead of winter. It is part of the mission, and part of the risk. I said that already. And yes, you can get dead lots of ways if lots of things go south. However, flying 70 feet off the surface of a really cold body of water for the fun of it did hit my unnecessary risk indicator. Obviously it hits neither yours nor Ed's, which is fine. But seeing how this is a public forum to discuss aspects of aviation, I thought I would bring this one up.

I put this in the SEL at Night over mountains category.

Not "unsafe." Won't say I've never done it.

But would avoid, if at all possible.

I've flown over Lake Ontario in summertime and didn't like it. I've been on the lakes in small craft and enforced swimming just isn't my idea of fun.

 

[AdamZ]

enforced swimming just isn't my idea of fun.

LOL I Love that term " enforced swimming"

I guess Michael its like riding your motorcycle on some highways or city streets. Some would say why others why not.

Risk is all a gray scale.

 

[Ted]

I guess Michael its like riding your motorcycle on some highways or city streets. Some would say why others why not.

That's an excellent analogy, Adam. Then again, I also ride my motorcycle in New York City.

What I didn't say was that I would happily fly a single over water at night in the winter. I will admit that, when flying over Lake Michigan on a cold winter's night when the OAT is indicating 0F, I am happy to have a spare. Probably a bit odd, since in NYC I generally don't think much about riding my motorcycle.

 

[steingar]

LOL I Love that term " enforced swimming"

I guess Michael its like riding your motorcycle on some highways or city streets. Some would say why others why not.

Risk is all a gray scale.

Agreed, but for example I don't ride in snowy icy conditions. Elevates the risk. If you are going at night and there are mountains between you and your destination, that's how it is. I've flown over Lake Michigan in summer but doubt I would do so again. The time savings were tremendous, but I'd rather spend the extra time for the added safety. We went around the lake for 6Y9, and I'm glad we did. Not that I wouldn't fly over water, but will only do so if I gotta.

70 feet over a cold lake for jollies trips my meter. Certainly perfectly legal, you wouldn't hear a peep out of my on that score. Again, maybe its just me.

 

[EdFred]

Ten to one glide ratio at one hundred mph, and I was at one hundred twenty knots, so I'm carrying an extra thirty five percent in required speed. Pitching for best glide, I am actually going to climb slightly, or will be holding altitude for a few seconds until my speed bleeds to one hundred. I was more than close enough to the shore if the engine quit.

 

[OffCenter]

Sounds like a fun flighT!

I logged an hour of "Where should I go next?" flying Saturday am. It was chilly, but mostly clear. By the time I returned winds were 200@10 (runway is 27) which is near my current limit in the Chief.

I'm starting to lean towards the "3 pt all the time" side of the wheelie argument -- I touch down at such a low speed any swerve is easily controlled.

Anyway, the bad part of nice spring flying is what your hear on the radio and see at airports.

At VVS I watched a C177 land 2/3rds down the runway and then power up for a touch and go.

I waited for the accident, but he rolled over the new pavement (300' extension put in this fall) and yanked it up before he hit the dirt.

The airplane wallowed a bit then stablized. he didn't come back.

I flew into Butter Valley Pa for breakfast. The runway there is rather steeply uphill to the north. I've always been taught that downhill trumps uphill anyday. We watched a guy in an old Champ with what sounded like the original 65hp engine do repeated takeoffs UPHILL with a slight TAILWIND. On every takeoff he wallowed into the air in ground effect and looked like he wasn't going to make it. All the bad things, underpowered, uphill, tailwind. Some people!

 

[dmccormack]

I flew into Butter Valley Pa for breakfast. The runway there is rather steeply uphill to the north. I've always been taught that downhill trumps uphill anyday. We watched a guy in an old Champ with what sounded like the original 65hp engine do repeated takeoffs UPHILL with a slight TAILWIND. On every takeoff he wallowed into the air in ground effect and looked like he wasn't going to make it. All the bad things, underpowered, uphill, tailwind. Some people!

Wow.

Just wow.

 

[EdFred]

Wow.

Just wow.

You didn't think anyone saw you, did you?