Mississippi Burning

flyingcheesehead

flyingcheesehead

Touchdown! Greaser!
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iMooniac
Well, a very small part of it is. I swear it's not my fault! :D :no:

So, I got a few free hours in Mississippi tonight and linked up with Steve, who flew the IAR into McComb, MS where I was. He also let me fly the IAR the entire time I was with him... Wow! :goofy:

It's an interesting bird. The tach is two needles and functions kind of like an altimeter. The ASI has one needle, but two scales and it actually turns around twice when you get going fast enough (Inner scale has the speeds for the second time around). The turn coordinator is actually part of the AI, and the AI has some Russian-looking characters on it.

There are two gear levers (Instructor can override pilot) and the pilot has throttle and prop controls on both sides. I chose to fly with the stick in my right hand, it's got an ergonomic-type handle that seems to be more conducive to right-hand flying. Electric-only trim is on top of the stick.

We started out by taking off from MCB and following I-55 northward:

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(I-55 is very close in, MCB's runway is just a bit further away)

Steve says that most of Mississippi looks like this:

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It's quite easy to see all the sights, with all the windows:

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Those of you who listened to the Gaston's episode of The Pilotcast may remember that Steve threatened to arm the hard points on his IAR. Well, this is what it looks like right after you fire a missile: :D

DSCN3278.jpg


Oh, OK, there weren't any missiles. :no: But, Mississippi really was burning:

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Luckily, there were no fires in the area of the See compound, which consists of a pair of unusual-looking but very storm-proof domes:

DSCN3282.jpg


When Steve says he lives in the woods, he ain't kiddin'! 23 miles to the nearest gas station. I bet it's peaceful and quiet though.

Finally, we pointed eastbound to land at M11, Steve's home drome:

DSCN3289.jpg


And, I did my part for the ConUS Challenge:

DSCN3291.jpg


Then, we went and had an excellent dinner before Steve dropped us back at the truck in McComb.

Steve, thank you VERY much for the flying, dinner, and visit! You take the famous Southern Hospitality to a whole new level. :yes:
 
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You are right about most of MS looking like that. I used to live in Biloxi and I flew to Vicksburg not too long ago. I like the state. Lot of history and cool stuff plus it is not too crowded as other parts of the south (Georgia, Florida, Carolinas).
Very cool on the flying too. Where are you headed next? I am not too far from there, ok a few hundred miles to the SE, tomorrow as I have some training at Pensacola NAS to attend.
 
very cool kent. Most gliders have similar "two spin" airspeed indicators.
 
oh that probably wasnt smoke from fires. Likely just the clouds of mosquitos getting organized for the summer.
 
tonycondon said:
oh that probably wasnt smoke from fires. Likely just the clouds of mosquitos getting organized for the summer.
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LOL! :rofl::rofl::rofl:

Let's get MS skeeters pitted against AK skeeters. Hopefully, they'll decimate one another!
 
gprellwitz said:
LOL! :rofl::rofl::rofl:

Let's get MS skeeters pitted against AK skeeters. Hopefully, they'll decimate one another!
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Alaska skeeters? It doesn't get warm enough there. :rofl:

I take it you meant Arkansas (AR) skeeters. ;)

Just call in the Minnesota skeeters, they can take both the MS and AR skeeters in a heartbeat! :eek:
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Alaska skeeters? It doesn't get warm enough there. :rofl:

I take it you meant Arkansas (AR) skeeters. ;)

Just call in the Minnesota skeeters, they can take both the MS and AR skeeters in a heartbeat! :eek:
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No, I meant Alaska skeeters. It gets plenty warm there. I've heard they are helacious in summer.
:yes:
 
gprellwitz said:
No, I meant Alaska skeeters. It gets plenty warm there. I've heard they are helacious in summer.
:yes:
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From what I've heard, you don't have to worry about them 'biting' you, as they are more likely to snatch you up and haul you back to their lair for an evening meal.
 
It was fun to finally have you down for a visit, Kent. We got lucky with the weather. After midnight we had thunderstorms and tornados near McComb.

In the photo taken on short final, it's hard to see, but Kent has the recommended approach speed nailed. He's a good "stick" as they say.

Might want to check the uploaded photos, though, that woods fire was many miles from the house. From the looks of it it might have been a controlled burn in the Homochitto National Forest.

It was 70 F today, but supposed to be in the low 20's tomorrow night. We hope that might stem the proliferation of the state bird this spring. One more reason to use Tabasco on your pizza....:)
 
Steve said:
In the photo taken on short final, it's hard to see, but Kent has the recommended approach speed nailed. He's a good "stick" as they say.
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Thanks Steve. I sure didn't feel that way, your plane is a handful. Maybe I should post the picture of the first approach where I had to go around. :redface:

BTW, you really would make a great instructor. You have the nerves of steel and the excellent talk-through-things voice that it takes to let someone else fly your baby with 0 time in type and not touch the controls! If I hadn't known better, I'd have thought you WERE a CFI.

Might want to check the uploaded photos, though, that woods fire was many miles from the house.
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Yep, as I noted... "Luckily, there were no fires in the area of the See compound..."

I'm waiting for the PNW folks to jump in and say "THAT??? That's not a fire..."

It was 70 F today, but supposed to be in the low 20's tomorrow night. We hope that might stem the proliferation of the state bird this spring. One more reason to use Tabasco on your pizza....:)
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Tabasco on pizza kills skeeters? :dunno:
 
flyingcheesehead said:
BTW, you really would make a great instructor. You have the nerves of steel and the excellent talk-through-things voice that it takes to let someone else fly your baby with 0 time in type and not touch the controls! If I hadn't known better, I'd have thought you WERE a CFI.
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Don't forget Steve, if you are interested in getting CFI, you've got friends here who will help :yes:
 
Well, it looks like one of the photos of the fire was duplicated in lieu of the over head shot of the "dome-icile", that's all.

I'm sure the rain last night put that fire out anway.

The Tabasco reference was alluding to this....

http://www.tabasco.com/arts_pavilion/tv_ads/tabasco_mosquito_ad.cfm

:rofl:

flyingcheesehead said:
Yep, as I noted... "Luckily, there were no fires in the area of the See compound..."

I'm waiting for the PNW folks to jump in and say "THAT??? That's not a fire..."

Tabasco on pizza kills skeeters? :dunno:
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Well, that's might neighborly of you, Tony, but I'm afraid I'd be throwing more students out of the plane than signing off for a checkride. Not a very savvy business plan for an instructor. Maybe when the domestic budget is more amenable to a high saturation CFI course I might consider it.

Kent did just fine on his own, I gave him a few aircraft specific cues for landing.

M11 is not the ideal airport for a high performance intro flight. The runway slopes asymmetrically towards both ends, giving a misleading sight cue for landing. Then we throw in some tree induced turbulence at threshold crossing height just to get your attention whenever there's even the slightest crosswind. The instructors up in the Jackson area bring their students to M11 for a dose of humility when necessary. Makes for some interesting plane watching occasionally. (btw, the Baron pilot that ran over the threshold light sent us payment for replacement after he saw the video:rolleyes: ).


tonycondon said:
Don't forget Steve, if you are interested in getting CFI, you've got friends here who will help :yes:
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Having spent some time on Avery Island in the summer, I can assure you that you are willing to try anything for (on) the mosquitoes there. So it should work elsewhere too, right? :dunno:
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Alaska skeeters? It doesn't get warm enough there. :rofl:

I take it you meant Arkansas (AR) skeeters. ;)

Just call in the Minnesota skeeters, they can take both the MS and AR skeeters in a heartbeat! :eek:
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They've got skeeters in Alaska. They grow them big, too. Got N numbers on the side. :D :D :D
 
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