Stearman

The Turkey had been roasted, carved and consumed Thursday but the main event was Friday.  Dad and I headed South for more flying fun.  A while back I read about flying a Stearman on Beechtalk.  I knew my Dad had never flown one and had always wanted to get a ride.

Luckily the school that taught in this classic plane was a quick one hour flight away at Winter Haven Airport (KGIF).  A few months back I made reservations to fly the plane but when the day dawned the weather was terrible low clouds and rain.  We cancelled and started looking for another day.

With Dad up here for the Holidays I figured we had another chance.  I booked the flights a few months back and then hoped for better weather.  Going to sleep Thursday night I figured we were sunk.  There were heavy rains and forecast was for more of the same until late afternoon.

Thankfully the forecast has been terrible the last week or so.  We awoke to clearing weather and headed off to the airport.  I prepped the plane in the hangar and just as I was ready to pull out, a rain shower passed over the field.  We hung out inside for 5 minutes while it passed and waited for the sunshine to return.

On the way down, we departed and flew our route, we got near one cloud but otherwise stayed in the bright sunshine.  Landing at Winter Haven I could see the Blue and Yellow Stearman on the ramp.  We were in the right place.  The operation is called Preston Aviation and is run by Peggy and Tim Preston.  Peggy was wonderful to work with on the scheduling and Tim was a great pilot for our rides.

Even if you are not a pilot, you might want to head down there and enjoy their hospitality and experience flight like the early pioneers did.  The Stearman, is a biplane introduced in 1934 as a military trainer.  This particular one was made in 1945.  The plane was younger than Dad but only by a few years. 

Arriving at KGIF, we headed in to meet Peggy and Tim.  We chatted a bit and then headed for the flightline.  I sent Dad first.  I figured he had been waiting 89 years, no need to make him wait longer.  Tim and Dad did the preflight while Peggy and I chatted.  Dad then hopped into the plane.  They had a step stool to get onto the wing but after that you need to grab a handhold on the wing, swing your right leg over the cockpit side and step on the seat.  Then you shift handholds and while grabbing the upper wing with both hands, swing the other leg in and slide down into the seat.

Dad was quite agile and Peggy was soon fastening his harness and getting his headsets set.  Then we backed up, Tim yelled "CLEAR" and the radial engine puffed a bit of smoke and started its low rumble.  They taxied out and Peggy had me hop onto a golf cart so we could get a good vantage point for the takeoff.

They flew for about 30 minutes and then returned.  Dad hopped out, ok, maybe slowly extricated himself is more accurate.  Now it was my turn.  I completed the needed gymnastics to enter the front cockpit and was soon briefed and belted in place.  The plane is fully instrumented with both airspeed and altimeter.    You don't need much to fly this plane.  Tim told me that some people claim they flew without airspeed.  You can sense your speed quite easily by the level of rushing air.

We taxied out and with the stiff breeze down the runway were off in a few hundred feet.  At 200 feet or so Time gave me the controls and I was off.  We climbed and I followed various highways as we worked out way North.  I could See Orlando in the distance and Lakeland off to my left.  It was a bit hazy, on a clear day you can see Tampa too.

Droning along in the cool winter air with the blue skies I was glad we had waited for the good weather.  Once we had reached out cruise altitude of 2000 feet, Tim started having me get a feel for the plane.  360 turns were first, left and right.  There are only 220 ponies up front but it has a good bit of torque.  As a Bonanza pilot that is used to the rudder aileron interconnect, I had to wake up my feet and make them work the pedals.  One I started keeping the ball centered, things were much better.

After turns it was power off stalls, they were much gentler than expected.  Then it was power on stalls, each was an easy recovery.  Then Tim had me do a power on stall but told me to keep it stalled.  It was a pussycat, the plane stalled and I kept the stick back,  A little work on the rudders kept the wings level as we mushed ahead.  Recovery only required releasing back pressure.

He also had me watch the ailerons as I approached a power off stall.  As you feel the controls buffet, you can actually see the fabric burbling as the airflow begins to detach.  Then it was some more sightseeing.  He took me over an elephant retirement home, it is Florida, everyone retires here.  Pretty cool to see the giant animals roaming about from 1500 feet.

Heading back, we did one more maneuver.  When we got to I-4, we did Lazy Eights.  At first I was a bit timid but with coaching, got more aggressive on the pitch angle.  I was rewarded as the plane basically flew the maneuver itself after the first 30 degrees of turn.  The nose gracefully dropped through the apogee and settled down ready to head the other direction.  Much more fun than when I had to do it on my commercial check ride.

Sadly the fun was nearly over, it was time to head back.  Now in my plane I have many GPS moving maps to guide me.  In the Stearman I had not even brought a map.  It was up to me to find my way home based on where I had been.  To complicate matters, the wind was about 30 knots at altitude and pushing me West.

I quickly picked out the lakes around the airport and headed that way.  I did have a trusty compass and when it showed South I knew I was at least heading mostly the right way.  A short time later I oriented myself and picked out the runway among the lakes and fields.  I joined a left downwind for 11 and was going to give the controls back but Tim told me to keep going.  I brought her around and established on short final.  At about 200 feet, Tim took the controls and we gently returned to earth.

The flight home was done with modern technology.  The weather had turned a bit back at home and we had to make our way through some bouncy clouds, some light rain and shoot the instrument approach.  In the span of a few hours we experienced the full spectrum of flying from the early days to high tech.

Tradition

Flying on Thanksgiving day is a tradition.  My Dad and I head off bright and early and enjoy a flight before heading home to begin preparing the bird.  Yesterday was no exception.  Luckily we fly much better than a Turkey.

We started our sightseeing journey heading South but there were some lower clouds so I decided to go North.  I remembered there was an Rice plantation up on the St. Mary's river.  A friend had shown it to me about 20 years ago and periodically I have dropped by to take a look.

The route there took us over Jacksonville International where we had a great view.

We continued up to the plantation.  According to a UNF website it is, "... a former rice field located on the south shore of the St. Marys River at its juncture with the Little St. Marys River. Constructed by enslaved Africans in 1768 and farmed until the American Civil War, the rice field is now part of White Oak Plantation."

You can clearly see the channels dug for irrigation.  After the rice field, we headed back to JAX for a landing and then back to our home base.  Why stop? Why not, they weren't busy and it was on the way. 

Returning home we had a great view of the Dames Point Bridge (really named the Napoleon Bonaparte Broward Bridge).  Then it was back in the hangar as we had an adventure planned for Friday.

Thanksgiving means flying

Yes it is not officially turkey day yet but Rachel arrived last night so the festivities began.  Thanksgiving is usually a day without a lot of things to do other than cook and eat.  Two things I enjoy a great deal but, the day is long and my stomach only stretches so much. 

It has been a tradition for my Dad and I to go flying Thanksgiving morning and then move on to the eating activities.  Today I got a head start, yes he won't be here for a few hours and we are two days out but the plane was ready, the weather was clearing and Rachel was ready to go.

We headed out for some fun flying.  Mostly sightseeing.  Our first sight was unscheduled.  There were P8s doing pattern work at Navy JAX.  We were up at 3500 and they were below us at 2000 so we were well clear.  Still we enjoyed watching the big planes slide below us.  P8s replaced the P3 Orions on for Sub hunting and are basically tricked out 737s.  The military pilots like them because when they finish their service they are trained in a Boeing Airliner.

Once clear of the traffic, Rachel took a turn flying and headed us over towards Saint Augustine.  We did a few loops around downtown to get some pictures and recon the fort.  The Castillo De San Marco was still where we left it last time.

We headed South to get a look at Fort Matanzas.  For a while the National Parks water taxi was down but today we saw it docking at the fort.  May be time for another visit.

We then continued down to Marineland and were surprised that we could see the dolphins in the tanks from 1500 feet.  Then it was back to Saint Augustine to top the tanks to prep for the weekend.  Weather is a concern but we have more flying planned.  We shall see if we can work around any bad stuff.  Right now I am not confident in the forecasts.  They have been wrong since Saturday.

Grass

When the Wright Brothers got started, there were no airports.  This was not like the chicken and the egg.  Airplanes came first, then airports.  Early airports did not have miles of concrete.  They were mostly pastures that had been hijacked for other uses.

Slowly people started creating purpose built airports but grass was the preferred surface.  Now I have landed on grass before but it has been over 20 years.  When I owned Mooneys, they had poor prop clearance so I avoided grass.  Also with so many nice concrete strips, who need grass but sometimes the location does not have an alternative.

Today there was a Young Eagles event over at a nearby strip.  It is private but I had permission to land so I headed over.  Now grass can be smooth or rough.  It is not so much the grass but the dirt underneath.  Also if the grass is too tall it makes takeoff harder as it creates drag.

This was Haller airpark and it has a really nice strip.  Very smooth.  It is sort of short, 2600 feet with 660 feet at each end then big trees.  Getting in was easy,  fly on airspeed, watch the trees, once clear, reduce power and gently flare.  On touchdown I was pleasantly surprise at the smoothness during the roll out.  They had a mess of planes and the Coast Guard had stopped by to do PR.  Easier when they are based a few minutes away.

After parking I went over to register to fly Young Eagles.  When they put the word out, they thought they needed more planes.  When I arrived they were so busy launching planes, that I waited an hour and they still did not have me in the rotation.  The guy in charge thought it would be a few more hours so I decided to give up.  It was a great event regardless.  I soon reversed the process and was headed home.  I used the extra time to change my oil, which went smoothly and I was happy with the very clean filter.  I am ready for another 50 hours of flying now.

Getting behind Michael

Like all good things, vacations must come to an end.  Last year we had to skirt a Tropical Storm Cindy to go on vacation and this year Hurricane Micheal to get home.  Hopefully this will not be a continuing vacation pattern.

Michael made Landfall Wednesday as a strong Hurricane.  By Thursday morning the remnants were still pretty impressive.  This obviously meant we weren't flying through.  Now the weather picture was a bit more complicated than the hurricane.  We had a front moving through from the West as well, this is what was helping Move Michael along.

This was the same front that we raced against at the start of our trip.  It had eventually caught us and passed.  This left us on the back side but also brought low clouds and rain Thursday morning.  Our plan was patience.  Every minute we delayed the front and Michael would move further past us bringing better weather.

I had been concerned that we would need to wait until 2PM but late Wednesday I guessed we could go at 11 AM.  We awoke to gray, rainy weather and our only real rush was to return our rental car by 10:30 so as to avoid an extra day charge.

With the car returned,  I did an especially slow pre flight and loaded the luggage.  We settled our bill and then dallied a bit watching the news coverage of the storm.  By then the sky was starting to show cracks of blue and the en route reports were looking good.  I had decided earlier in the morning to forgo the straight line home.  It would have taken us East of Atlanta and through the tail end of the rain.

By going around the West Side of Atlanta we added a few miles and 15 minutes but it kept us in the clear.  The ride home was surprisingly good given a very unstable atmosphere.  The jets above were all reporting terrible rides from the low 20s to mid 30s.  More than one captain asked for a better altitude only to be told by the controllers that they could have what they like but that none were good.

We were down at 7 and 8 thousand which was a sweet spot.  The weather was clear above us and just a thin layer below.  Off to our left we could see the storm in the distance.  Down below by the surface it was bumpy with wind shear again which we experience while doing a quick fuel stop around Atlanta.

In the end it took us 3:16 minutes of engine time to get home plus 15 minutes to pump gas.  Theoretically we could have done it in 2:45 direct line but we lost 15 minutes waiting to get our IFR release from Kentucky.  This would have impacted the direct line time as well.  We were out in the less traveled area which means that Center does not has as good radar down low.

When you depart, they need to protect a large area of airspace so that you can join the system without bumping int anyone else.  Right as we called to go another plane had just departed nearby and there was a medivac departure that takes priority.  We sat idling for quite a while waiting our turn.

All was well as we had a smooth ride home and even enjoyed some good tailwinds on the back side of the low.  Yup 206 knots was not too shabby, even if we only had it for a short time.

Hurricanes and caves

We had been watching the hurricane coverage closely. While we were safe in Kentucky, Michael was heading near our part of the state and I was figuring out when it was safe to head home.  One of the premier attractions for Kentucky is Mammoth cave.  It is called Mammoth because it is the largest know cave complex with over 412 miles mapped and no end in site.

We  headed over in the morning and bought tour tickets. I had tried to buy them the night before but the website would not sell. I asked and was told that recent web changes were causing problems for many.  In the end it did not matter as we got the tour and time we wanted.

They bus you a few miles to a cave entrance and then you walk about .75 miles including 500 steps. It is done over 2 hours.  They rate it as strenuous but we found it quite easy.  The cave is cool at about 55 degrees F year round.  We had done some caves in Australia and we both walked away thinking the Australian caves were more interesting and better looking.  The tour groups have up to 110 people so the sheer size makes the tour a bit unwieldy.  Our guide was very good though so it was still a fun experience.

There is a bat disease in the caves so on the way out you need to shampoo your shoes by walking over a squishy mat.  We then took a walk and went down to the historic entrance which was first used in 1816.  Strange to think that this has been a tourist attraction for over 200 years.

Once we were suitably caved out, we headed out making a quick stop for pizza and a sub.  Returning to our hotel we watched some Hurricane coverage.  We have made several day trips to Apalachicola  and it was sad to see the flooded downtown.  We had enjoyed strolling the waterfront and now it was under several feet of water.

On the bright side the plans I had been making were looking good for a late morning departure. I was still not sure how far West we would need to divert, when it would clear enough to depart and what airports would not be available for fuel stops due to storm damage. 

Hurricane Michael Relief

We use the plane for fun most of the time but I also like to do some public benefit flying as well.  This can take several forms but this weekend it was Hurricane relief.  A few weeks back I did some work for Florence and now Michael had come roaring through our back yard.

Yesterday we gathered some supplies and headed to Gainesville to fly supplies.  Unfortunately there were more planes than supplies so we dropped our load and headed back home to regroup.  They thought they would have more work Sunday but  donations were slow.

We decided to just grab stuff here and take it out Sunday morning.  Aircraft seem small and cramped when you have to sit still for hours but can hold a good amount.  We filled the car trunk and most of the back seat and headed off to the airport.

We had about 300 pounds of cargo, which I had carefully weighed.  We  loaded it so it would not shift and distributed the weight to keep us withing the weight and balance limits of the plane.

Arriving in Apalachicola, we found quite a production.  Lots of equipment, lots of buses, ambulances and trucks.  Once clear of the runway we were directed where to park to unload.  They dropped a pallet by the plane and we handed stuff out.  We were surprised, in a good way, when the Sheriff and a State Representative came out to great us.

We chatted a minute and promised to return when they were back up making Oyster Po-Boys.   As we were firing up a big tractor/fork lift came to haul away the supplies and get ready for the next plane.  A few minutes later we were back in the air headed home. 

The town did not look too bad from above but you can's see flood damage.  What was different was that normally on a nice Autumn Day the town is full of tourists enjoying the waterfront, eating and shopping.  It looked pretty much like a ghost town.

This Hurricane has gotten some press but not as much as others.  It has hit an area that was already struggling economically so while the buildings are still standing in this area, they still need lots of help.  There will be other groups collecting and sending supplies, now is your chance to help.