"Dave Stadt" wrote:

Would you fly?
Absolutely without a doubt. What the heck does a radio have to do with a
crosswind?


OK, no one said "No," and in fact, that's what I did - I
flew. The answer to the question of "What the heck does a
radio have to do with a crosswind?" is that I was concerned
about traffic switching ends. I couldn't monitor AWOS or
hear traffic announcements. That didn't actually bother me
at all - I'm a "see and avoid" guy who is quite happy NORDO,
but I'm at a new airport and didn't want to get a reputation
for recklessness and turning on final for runway 27 as some
other aircraft taxis onto runway 9 for departure - which is
of course exactly what happened.

Another question was why I didn't just buy batteries. The
handheld radio was wired into a portable intercom/radio
power system that used a lead acid rechargeable. The
handheld part worked, but it's impossible to hear outside of
the intercom. I actually carried a spare lead acid battery.
I thought they were both dead, but it later turned out to be
a damaged wire inside the portable system.

We've looked at my decision to fly - let's work on other
decisions I made and see how they hold up under the
withering r.a.p spotlight (criticism? analysis?).

1) This aircraft has not been in the air in a a month, and
it's 60 years old, with a tiny (low climb rate, but
relatively quiet) engine. I'm going to do one pattern just
to check things out. My personal preference is to stay well
within gliding range of the airport at all times on this
first pattern. To completely achieve that desired safety
goal, given my limited climb rate, means I would have to
cheat on the noise abatement (fly rwy hdng 'til 1000' AGL)
and the pattern altitude (1000'AGL). What would you do on
this first flight?
a) Fly well beyond glide range and comply exactly
with noise abatement/pattern altitude, or
b) Fudge altitudes to stay closer.

2)I departed in the direction the last aircraft used, which
seemed a reasonable direction in the variable wind. As I
turned final I saw an aircraft rising into the air at the
opposite end of the runway. Initially I thought it was
moving away from me, but then realized it was coming towards
me. It's moving to my left, his right, and will be well to
one side of the runway and above my altitude if I continue
my descent to land. There is no other visible traffic. What
would you do ...
a) maneuver and reenter the pattern. If you
maneuver, how would you maneuver?
b) land anyway.

Thanks for your comments.







It's moving off runway centerline to my left and , but
then