poadeleted3
Pattern Altitude
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2005
- Messages
- 2,055
This past Sunday was male bonding day with Sean. He's acutely aware of his duties as co-pilot, and equally aware of the fact that he can't do his duties from the back seat when that mean, nasty navigator (otherwise known as Mom) usurps his proper place in the right front seat. Now, Sean is a problem solver, not a whiner, so he developed a solution to this problem. "Daddy, I think it would be fun for me and you to have some Daddy/Sean time in a plane. We should take a 152 flying, Mommy can find something else to do, since there are only two seats." LOL... the peasants have revolted. Actually, one of the things I was hoping to be able to use flying for is to help develope a strong bond for the teen years. He's only just coming up on 7, but if there's one thing I've learned being a parent it's that children apparently come with a built in time warp. Time just disappears around them. So, Cathy has said she will surrender one flight a month to the two of us, and Sean get's his place in the REAL co-pilot's seat.
Our first such flight was scheduled for this past Sunday. Gary Shelby was going to fly down and meet us at Perk Valley (N10) with a couple passengers, then we were all going to head for York (THV) and breakfast. Sean and I show up to the airport early, pre-flight the plane we have scheduled about the same time Gary arrives, get headsets, gps, etc. all established in the plane, and all we have to do is wait for Abe the manager to arrive and give up the keys. Abe arrives, and informs me the vacuum pump on that plane is broke. Rats... yes you can fly without it, but in the thick haze we had, it seems an unnecessary risk, especially when there are five other planes available for me to take. So, we begin the task of carting all the crap from one plane to the other (a bag drag, we called it when such things happened in the Air Force) and preflighting the new plane. It needed gas, so I didn't check the sumps.
Finish pre-flighting, Abe tows the plane to the pumps, Sean and I hit the bathroom, and I fire up my pre-flight cigarette while the gas is being pumped. It's early, but really hot, and really really humid. Downright unpleasant on the ramp. Tried calling FSS to check TFRs, for only the second time since the LM switchover didn't get through (used to be routine), and decided to hope the President didn't decide to come to Central PA for his own breakfast. By this time, we are WAY later than we'd planned. While I was on the phone, Gary had started loading his passengers, and when I came out he was starting up. I started feeling like maybe I should quit lolligagging around. Buckled Sean in, and then remembered that I hadn't sumped the tanks. And a dirty, dirty thought entered my mind.... in six years of flying I've only found water in the fuel once, and it was just a tiny bit... I'm making us all late.... what are the odds that I really need to check the fuel? I almost went ahead and climbed in without sumping the tanks. Would have been the first time in six years I did that, at least for the first flight of the day or after refueling. Thankfully, I retained a shred of self discipline and did the deed.
It took me 6 or 7 tries to get a clean sample from the gascolator.
Our first such flight was scheduled for this past Sunday. Gary Shelby was going to fly down and meet us at Perk Valley (N10) with a couple passengers, then we were all going to head for York (THV) and breakfast. Sean and I show up to the airport early, pre-flight the plane we have scheduled about the same time Gary arrives, get headsets, gps, etc. all established in the plane, and all we have to do is wait for Abe the manager to arrive and give up the keys. Abe arrives, and informs me the vacuum pump on that plane is broke. Rats... yes you can fly without it, but in the thick haze we had, it seems an unnecessary risk, especially when there are five other planes available for me to take. So, we begin the task of carting all the crap from one plane to the other (a bag drag, we called it when such things happened in the Air Force) and preflighting the new plane. It needed gas, so I didn't check the sumps.
Finish pre-flighting, Abe tows the plane to the pumps, Sean and I hit the bathroom, and I fire up my pre-flight cigarette while the gas is being pumped. It's early, but really hot, and really really humid. Downright unpleasant on the ramp. Tried calling FSS to check TFRs, for only the second time since the LM switchover didn't get through (used to be routine), and decided to hope the President didn't decide to come to Central PA for his own breakfast. By this time, we are WAY later than we'd planned. While I was on the phone, Gary had started loading his passengers, and when I came out he was starting up. I started feeling like maybe I should quit lolligagging around. Buckled Sean in, and then remembered that I hadn't sumped the tanks. And a dirty, dirty thought entered my mind.... in six years of flying I've only found water in the fuel once, and it was just a tiny bit... I'm making us all late.... what are the odds that I really need to check the fuel? I almost went ahead and climbed in without sumping the tanks. Would have been the first time in six years I did that, at least for the first flight of the day or after refueling. Thankfully, I retained a shred of self discipline and did the deed.
It took me 6 or 7 tries to get a clean sample from the gascolator.
