Nancy and I just joined an organization called Angel Flight which provides free air transportation in private aircraft for people needing medical treatment or other humanitarian needs. Our first Angel Flight mission was to take a little girl with leukemia from Baker City, Oregon to get follow-up care in Portland, Oregon. Continue reading Angel Flight to Portland
Airshow pilot Sean Tucker recently had a serious in-flight emergency. At about 100 feet off the ground, he heard a snap as his control stick broke free. Without elevator or aileron control, Sean managed to use just his trim and rudder to get the airplane climbed up to a safe altitude where he could try to troubleshoot the problem. Continue reading Now That Takes Guts
If you read Part 1 of this journal, you know that we didn’t actually make this flight. One of the things we generally gloss over in our other trip journals is the amount of work we do in planning a long flying trip. This is a good chance for us to share a bit more about our planning process. Continue reading San Antonio: Part 2
In hindsight canceling this flight should have been a no-brainer. Although the weather was beautiful and the airplane was in perfect mechanical condition to make the trip, cancelling was still the right thing to do. On the day of the planned flight it took both of us a lot longer than it should have to come to that conclusion, which is what prompted us to write up the events of Christmas morning 2005. Continue reading San Antonio: Part 1
Although I am more of a morning person than Nancy, it really was nice to sleep in and just wander around a bit in the city before heading to the airport. Many of our flying trips are in the summer, so we are in the habit of departing as early as we can to take advantage of the cool air before the afternoon turbulence and thunderstorms kick in. On this October day, there wasn’t any significant weather to worry about, which was a nice change. Continue reading San Francisco Airshow: Part 3
Saturday’s weather was perfect for an air show. No fog, no clouds, just clear blue skies with a little wind. We enjoyed fresh seafood for lunch before strolling west towards Municipal Pier. I had purchased reserved seats to make sure we had a good view for the show. The $20 tickets turned out to be a bargain considering that we had reserved seats right on the water. The reserved area provided plenty of room for us to walk around and enjoy the show without being trampled by the crowds behind the gate. Continue reading San Francisco Airshow: Part 2
While initially planning this trip, we thought we’d fly from our home airport of Nampa, ID to Oakland, CA which would take us 3.0 hours with no wind. When I checked the weather on Wednesday night prior to our Friday morning departure, the forecast winds aloft showed a significant headwind for the whole route. Continue reading San Francisco Airshow: Part 1
Here’s a quick tip to make your flying a lot smoother: lighten your grip on the controls. I find a lot of pilots I fly with have a death grip on the yoke, and that has a couple of negative effects. The most noticeable thing is that their control of the airplane tends to be pretty abrupt and jerky. They even sometimes move the ailerons and elevator when they turn their head or shift in their seat. Another side effect of having a tight grip on the controls is that it tends to make the pilot a bit more tense. I’ve seen the tension from the hand on the controls transfer up to the shoulders, neck and sometimes it seems even to the brain. Continue reading Lighten Up!
From watching airplanes land on a typical Saturday at the airport it’s clear that some pilots are able to land on a predetermined spot consistently, while others are not quite up to that standard. I think we all strive to make our landings better and one way to do that is working on being consistent as to where you touch down. Not only does this help you fly more precisely, but it’s something that could really save your bacon in the event you are forced to make a landing somewhere other than a hard-surface runway. You might not have an obstruction-free mile of asphalt to land on in an emergency, or when flying to some of the back country airports. Continue reading Hitting the Spot
I took Monday and Tuesday off work, but I really wanted to be back by Wednesday morning. In fact, when we left on Sunday we were somewhat committed to staying until at least Tuesday evening since our home airport, Nampa, was closed for construction from 8:00 am on Monday until 5:00 pm on Tuesday. Of course we could have landed at nearby Boise or Caldwell and gotten a ride to Nampa, but that didn’t seem worth the hassle, plus it was good to spend a few days just relaxing with my brother and his family in Sunriver.
The plan was to leave Sunriver around 5:30 pm Pacific time, which would get us home by around 8:00 pm Mountain time. The airport would be open, and we’d still be landing well before sunset. Continue reading Sunriver, Oregon: Part 2