Kaden and I - First "UFO"

No, we aren't claiming that we saw something silver and shiny flying around the sky. However, Kaden and I did take the Arrow on 2.6 Hobbs hours of fun to Carroll County Airport (TSO) in eastern OH for an Ohio Valley RVators UFO (Ultimate Fly Out).

About sixteen pilots and passengers flew in to chat about flying and eat some of the food at the Carrollton County Airport Restaurant. They are famous for their great pie and great prices. I would have to agree with both of the sentiments.

Kaden and I took off from Bluffton and he started watching his DVD player. That kept him busy the entire trip to TSO while I monitored the engine and the autopilot. We had a great tailwind, so I throttled it back to 22"/2400RPM at 5500' MSL. We were still hitting 140 knots GS. Not bad for 8GPH or so.

After landing at TSO, Kaden and I watched all the airplanes come in. He played in the snow and ice and I took pictures. Nothing new there. Once everyone was gathered up, we shook hands and headed into the restaurant. We numbered 14 and before we ordered, two others showed up to bring out head count up.

My burger and onion rings were great and Kaden polished off his chicken fingers and curly fries. I figured a better try a piece of the famous pie, so I ordered that "a la mode" and then took another piece home for Laura. (Hey, I want to be able to go flying again. I've learned.)

As everyone headed out, I tried to take some more pictures until I really needed to go. Kaden and I loaded up and had a quick departure and tooled along at 24/24 towards the Allen County Airport for fuel and then back up to Bluffton. Kaden started watching his movie and then turned to me and said, "I want to sleep." He did...the entire way home.

Check out all the photos by CLICKING HERE.

Back to Flying

I loaded up my pilot bag, camera and some snow removal tools in the back of my car and headed north for the fourth time in the past four days. This time it was going to happen. After cutting, digging and throwing snow and ice for about twenty minutes, the hangar doors were free and I was pulling out the Arrow (on the ice) for a stretch. I haven't flown an airplane since 29 Nov 08 and haven't flown the Arrow since 28 May 08. I figured it would be interesting.

Sitting back in the seat in front of the new Garmin 496 with XM WX with the trusty checklist in hand, it all came back pretty quickly. The airplane fired right up on the second blade and I was carefully taxiing, making sure the wings didn't hit the high piled snow on either side of the taxiways.

After a runway, I was taking off from runway 23 and I flew over Sam W's house and then headed south to Ada. I flew around a few times taking a picture of this and that and then headed west towards Lima. I snapped a few more pictures and then did a couple touch-and-go's at Lima (AOH) and then a full-stop for $3.81/gal 100LL.

After some coffee and small talk with the owner about CCTV systems, I fired up the Arrow and headed back, low and fast, to Bluffton for a smooth landing and taxi back to the hangar. Unfortunately I wan't able to get the hangar doors to budge due to the ice/water/freeze combination that must've taken place. Great.

It was fun to get back in the air and well worth the two metric tons (give or take) of snow and ice I had to move to make it happen. The worst part was all the ice on the door tracks. Yuck.

Check out all the photos by CLICKING HERE.

Update: 10:07PM
One of the members called and said he'd meet me at the hangar and help me get the doors shut. Apparently if you stick a shovel under the door and pry it up, it'll break the ice free allowing you to close them. I showed up first and managed to get one and a half closed by myself (well, with Kaden's help, of course). He showed up a few minutes later and helped me pull the second one closed. It's now secure. Crisis averted.

This gentleman (Bill K.) is also very active in the ham radio community and brought me the Technician Class study book. I may go take the test on Saturday at 9am if I am able to get away. We'll see.

Foiled Again - No Flying

Kaden and I loaded up this afternoon to head to the airport and take the club Arrow to Columbus for a little TZR JP's BBQ. Upon arriving at the airport, the snow was finally cleared from the taxiways pretty well. I was a little nervous about how high and close it was and the danger of the wings hitting it, but I was willing to creep through slowly and turn around if all was unsafe.

Upon arriving to the hangar, I found a pretty sizeable amount of snow in front and beside the door. When I called TWICE this morning, I was told it was being cleared and then it was cleared. Apparently that doesn't mean it's gone, but it's approachable for you to finish up with a shovel. Unfortunately I didn't have the shovel, time or desire to shovel three metric tons of snow to possibly find an iced up door track, so Kaden and I loaded back up and headed out. Here's what it was like today.


This past Saturday, we headed over to turn on the engine heater and make sure it was cleared only to find this. I couldn't even get within 200' of the hangar.

Lunch in Mansfield

Kaden and I flew the Cheetah to Mansfield today for some grub at the Flyboys Cafe. The weather was clear and cold which made for a quiet flight east. We landed and parked in front of the cafe with about six other airplanes. We weren't the only ones who needed some theraputic Hobbs time.

After we threw the food down our gullets, we loaded up and tried to start the airplane. No dice. After a few goes and then the silence that followed, I knew the battery died. I called the FBO and they sent a charge-cart over to try and charge it there. Again, no dice. I took the battery out to get recharged properly at the FBO (Richland Aviation) and a few hours and $10 later, Kaden and I were starting up and heading out for home.

Kaden fell asleep at about 100' AGL and didn't wake up until we arrived home. And I mean HOME. He slept through the whole flight, the landing, me packing up, carrying him from airplane to car and the drive home. I think I wore him out.

It was a fun day, for sure. I love going up with him.

Check out all the photos by CLICKING HERE.

IFR Current... Again

It seems like a common theme. I do my six approaches and a hold one month and then six months and a few days later, I find myself getting the LogShare reminder email that my IFR currency has lapsed. Why does that happen so much?

I'll tell you why. I don't fly much anymore; especially in IMC. Looking at my logbook, I've only logged about 25 hours this year with half of those being in March when I was leaving the flying club, meaning I had some pre-paid flight hours to burn up so I wouldn't lose them.

Anyway, Bob S and I went up this morning in some crisp, cold morning air in the Cheetah and I knocked out my six approaches and one hold in 2.0 flat on the Hobbs. Burning $6.50 with a blindfold on isn't my idea of fun, but it keeps me current to fly in the IFR system and if I ever need to get through a layer of clouds or simplifies some flying somewhere, it's well worth it.

Flight to Columbus

I headed to OSU Airport in the Cheetah today to meet up with Justin and Kaison to check out their new apartment nearby and grab some dinner. After a quick stop at the apartment, we headed to Walmart to pick up some stuff for Crystal and then headed to a place I'd picked out ahead of time based off some good reviews.

Unfortuately, Cuco's Taqueria wasn't open and we ended up at Taste of Bali after some searching around. The food was OK and the prices were good, but I probably won't be back. It would make a good place to eat something "different" if you lived nearby.


J dropped me back off at the airport and I headed back to Bluffton at 6,000'. The cloud bottoms were around 5800' which put me right through the bottoms of them. Nice and smooth. I never get tired of flying through clouds. Beautiful.

I flew over my house and then flew over Sam and Heidi's on the way back to the airport. My family was outside when I went over. I waved with the wings.

Check out all the photos by CLICKING HERE.

Photo Flight Around the Area

So I haven't flown in almost two months and I was getting the itch. I made sure the Cheetah was available (Thanks again, Bob!!) and headed up to Bluffton with just my headset, sectional map and camera. As I was taxiing to the runway, I remembered why I like flying so much.

I took off to the NE and turned NW towards Ottawa. I pulled out my sectional and decided to do all navigation with the map and the ground. I did a touch-and-go at Bluffton and then headed south to fly over the Ohio Dusting Company airport. (My grandfather flew there in the 40's and 50's before he passed away. One day I'll land there and say "hi".)

I then followed 224 out of the Pandora where it met up with 30. I followed that to a spot between Delphos and Van Wert and decided to get some pictures of a buddy's house in Delphos. After two go's at that, I flew back to Lima and saw Kaden at my parents' house. I took some photos and then headed towards the Lima Airport.



After doing a touch-and-go and then a little loop around to get a picture of where they're extending the runway, I flew over my house a couple times and got some shots of it and the Ottawa Metro Park. I finally took some pictures of the "secret house" at the corner of SR 81 and Thayer Rd and then headed back to Bluffton to clock 1.1 on the Hobbs while burning only 6 gallons of gas. Not bad.





After landing, I popped over to check out the Air Tractor that was in town from Louisiana. They were spraying and had all their gear -- support truck, liquids truck and an RV for everyone to sleep in on-site. Very cool and wish I could have gotten a good "flying" shot of him.

Dayton Air Show 2008 - Day Two

I was up at 5am and out the door by 0520 to be at the "press" parking lot at 0630. I purchased the "photo pit" pass this year which entitles you to a tour of the the aircraft for two hours before the the doors open at 9am. It was pretty neat to see all the aircraft in the early morning light with no one around them.


After a couple hours, I headed to the photo pit on the front line just NE of the pavilion seating and staked out my place by the fence. Other than chatting it up with the Youngstown guys (CK, mostly), I spent the whole day at the photo pit taking, well, photos.


By 4pm I had taken 475 photos and the rain had just started. We saw a whole slew of aircraft from small, custom built acro machines to the biggest US aircraft around (C-5 Galaxy). It was a great show with the F-22 being the main attraction, but it felt like the "finisher" was missing with not having one of the "big acts", i.e. Blue Angles, Thunderbirds, etc.


Either way, it was a fun time and I really enjoyed the photo pit passes and hope they continue it for next year!

Check out all the photos by CLICKING HERE.

Dayton Air Show 2008 - Day One

Kaden and I headed to the air show this morning and arrived a little bit after 11am. We took drinks, snacks and the wagon with a canopy over it. Very nice. Right after getting there, I noticed a C-130 sitting on the south side of the ramp and noticed the tail flash - Youngstown! SWEET!! We walked over there and went through it and sat in the cockpit. Kaden said, "Whoa! This has lots of buttons!" and "Whoa! This has lots of windows!"

I can't wait...





After that, we walked by the Springfield Vipers looking for Dan S, but he wasn't around until Sunday. Kaden played on the inflatable stuff for awhile and then we staked out a spot in the grass to watch some of the show. After the Viper demo, we hit the toilets and then grabbed some Nathan's Hot Dogs and reclaimed our spot for some F-104's, Sean Tucker and the F/A-18 demo.





We headed out and did some swimming in Vandalia before heading home and Kaden was beat...


Until tomorrow with press passes... prepare for photo overload.

Me, Kaden and the Herk

Lenny just sent me this photo that he took of us standing in front of the Mansfield C-130 at the Wings Over Akron on Sunday.

Wings Over Akron

Kaden and I flew the Cheetah over to Medina this morning and met up with Lenny, his dad and his dad's wife to head over to Wings Over Akron for a couple hours to enjoy some old war birds and one of Mansfield's C-130's. We walked around all the aircraft and then watched some of the flying acts including an Extra 300, B-25, some T-6's and what looked like a Corsair.

It didn't take Kaden to become more interested in lemonade and French fries, so we cut it short after a couple hours and headed back and he was asleep in the airplane before we made it to Mansfield. It was a good trip and I'm extending his "travel legs" with longer and longer trips sitting in the the plane. Today was about one hour each way.

Check out all the photos by CLICKING HERE.

Red Bull Air Race 2008 - Detroit

Laura, Kaden and I headed up to Windsor, Ontario, Canada today for our Race Club tickets at the Red Bull Air Race 2008 on the Detroit River. After lots of road construction and traffic delays, we finally made it to the parking garage in Windsor and found our shuttle over to the race entrance. Unfortunately our tickets required a pick-up about 1/2 mile away so I ran over and got those. We headed into the Race Club and it was NICE. They had small bars setup along with tables and couches with a great view just inside the start/finish line of the race. Sweet.

We headed to the food tent for some lunch and they had burgers, chicken, sausages and a ton of other stuff which, of course, included all you can drink Red Bull. (It's pretty tasty actually.) We finally found a table with some friends of one of the pilots, Mike Mangold. They had some good stories.

Once the race started we moved closer to the fence by the water with some chairs and I did my duty with the cameras (still and video) and Laura and Kaden watched too. Interspersed with the show was a B-25 fly-by, F/A-18 and F4U fly-bys, a demo by the Red Bull acro helo and a Canadian Harvard Aerobatic Team show.


The show was awesome and I am really looking forward to the next one. I wasn't sure how I'd like it since I'm not a huge fan of going to live sports. It never seems like the cost/reward ratio is ever in my favor. This time it was and I'll be back.

The drive home was a nightmare getting over the Ambassador Bridge from Canada to the USA. Ugh. We were in the car for at least 90 minutes sitting in the streets of Windsor. Next time we'll be having dinner there and then leaving.

Check out ALL the photos by CLICKING HERE.

Last Club Arrow Flight - Erie, PA for Breakfast

I'm quitting the flying club for money saving reasons and to try some new and different things. I'll still be flying, but it won't be in a Piper product anymore. I had some pre-pay money still on account that I needed to use up and was able to schedule a breakfast visit with a buddy. Conveniently Greg M is going to school in Erie, PA which is the perfect distance away to "burn up" the remainder of my money.


I woke up at 6am and was out the door by 6:30. I took off around 7:15 and was in Erie, PA by 8:45. What a time machine! The weather was beautiful and I cruised over at 7,000' with only a small head wind. I popped in and out of a few puffies in PA (to log the elusive IMC) and landed at ERI where Greg was there to head out for some Panera breakfast treats. After the nickel tour of Erie, he dropped me back off at the airport to go study.


The flight home was a little bumpy down at 4000, but I had a great tailwind pushing me to 145-150 knots. Sweet. I was rerouted from the DJB VOR to the SKY VOR which put me over the water more than I wanted, but I was never more than 8 miles or so from land.

It was a great 3.2 in the Arrow and I'll miss that airplane. As I was shutting the hangar doors, I felt a little sad to know it was my last flight in it. Maybe sometime in the future. I was home before 1pm.

Check out all the photos by CLICKING HERE.

Flight Aware track going to Erie, PA
Flight Aware track coming back from Erie, PA

Flying With Chris

Chris L and I flew the Arrow to Urbana for some lunch and pie at the Airport Cafe. It was busy, busy but we reserved some pie and by the time we ate it, it was gone. Good thing. Getting back to the airplane, I hit the fuel pump and mixture and I think I flooded it. It took a good 15 minutes and a few attempts to get it going, but luckily I got it before the battery went dead.

Coming back to Bluffton, there was a tree trimming helicopter (another, longer video here) parked there at the edge of the ramp. We got an up-close look at it and those blades are pretty impressive.

Check out all the photos by CLICKING HERE.

Kaden's First "$100 Hamburger"

While the usually "$100 Hamburger" normally costs more than a hundred dollars and neither of us ordered a hamburger, we did take our first flight for lunch. He's been to Urbana's Airport Cafe more than once, this was the first time sitting up front and it being just him and I. Pretty fun.

You can see that he was pretty excited and intent on getting there (note the fancy map reading). The Airport Cafe was super busy and didn't have ANY pie leftover of any flavor. Bummer. After filling up on a club sandwich and chicken fingers, we headed back for home under clear skies and 60F+ weather.






Indian Lake was pretty busy today with the nice weather. You can see all the boats cruising around.


Here is a shot of "Rexville, OH" with another shot of some friends' house.

6.6 Logged In the Cheetah

Today was a good day of flying. Bob S got me back on his insurance with no extra payments and with a 430, STec20 and other goodies, I much preferred flying it over the Archer with it's questionable NAV heads, flaky autopilot and wandering DG.

I flew with Matt W via IFR to Finger Lakes Regional Airport with nice tailwind at 9,000'. We were crusing, but we paid for it on the way home. We had clouds in the middle portion there and back and logged a little IMC. However, I was seeing a little frost on the leading edge, so I decided to climb well over it.

Winds in NY were kicking pretty good, but I had a decent landing there and a great soft field landing back in Bluffton (i.e. nose wheel off for about 1,500'). It's always good to practice.

Anyway, here are a few pictures from the adventure.

cruising at 9,000' above a solid layer

ducking clouds in NY

parked at FLRA

westbound somewhere over western NY

the Allegheny Reservoir in SW NY/NW PA

Ohio sunset west of Mansfield at 4,000'