A Marvelous Day to Fly

After many consecutive days of crappy weather, with the plane down for
annual, today dawned inauspiciously enough, with more rain.

This seemed like a good excuse to go back to bed, so in a fit of decadence
we did. We were enjoying a rare "true" day off from the inn, and neither
of us could remember the last time we had been able to such a thing...

When we awakened, the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, the winds
were light -- the sky was calling!

A short drive to the hangar was followed by an extra careful pre-flight --
post-annual flights demand extra-careful ones. You don't know what you
might discover, so each screw, bolt, hinge and rivet receives extra
attention.

Determining that everything was kosher, it was off to Clinton, Iowa, to pay
a visit to the guy who re-did our interior last fall. It seems he never
actually signed my logbooks, and the A&P doing my annual took a dim view of
having an entirely new interior installed without SOME sort of sign-off --
so it was off to see Frank Goodenow, upholstery guru.

The flight over was grand, with 100 mile visibility, light chop down low,
and crisp, clean, calm air above. We could see to the ends of the earth,
and smoke from power plants was rising stick-straight up to infinity.

We were there in no time, making 159 knots all the way. (Removing that old
Loran antenna at the annual must have really cleaned up the airframe! :-)
Old Frank seemingly hadn't moved in the five intervening months since I'd
last seen him -- he was still at his sewing machine, hammering out interior
sidewalls as fast as he could make 'em. (We saw Dave Butler's gorgeous
Pathfinder -- the only other one I've seen -- getting a new interior. Wow,
it's going to be great looking!)

After wrapping up our business with Frank (he gave Mary a bunch of extra
side-wall material so that she could make her booster pillow match the
plane -- what a guy!), it was off for a short leg to Muscatine for lunch.

Mary flew this leg, and the air just couldn't have been smoother. We
marveled at the flooded landscape -- a week of solid rain will do that in
Iowa -- as we cruised to a terrific meal at the "Good Earth" right across
the street from the airport... Great food, good prices, and usually ugly
waitresses (although today, for some strange reason, we had a knock-out
blond waiting on us. She won't last. ;-) are what the Good Earth is all
about -- if you're ever in the vicinity, give 'em a try.

Then it was my turn again, back to Iowa City. Again, conditions were
perfect, and Atlas was running like a champ. It was just one of those
perfect days to fly, and everything was just right -- the plane, the
weather, and the timing -- all were perfect!

After tucking Atlas away in his hangar, Mary had to go fetch the kids from
school, leaving me to touch up the paint, and goof around with re-routing
our maze of wiring for our yoke mount GPSs. After spending all afternoon
tinkering with the plane, she returned with the kids, who skate-boarded and
rode their bikes around the airport while I finished standing on my head,
zip tying wired every which way...

Soon the kids were mowling about dinner -- what to do? Well, shoot, the sky
was still a pretty shade of blue, the winds were non-existent, and we had
full tanks -- let's take 'er up again! This time it was to Amana for
dinner, at one of the great German restaurants, located just a block or two
from the little grass strip in Amana.

Coming into land, we were very aware that we were landing on a grass strip
after six or seven consecutive days of rain. Ready at any moment to do a
"go-round", Mary flew Atlas in to a perfect soft-field touch down on runway
08. The grass was longer than normal, but otherwise not bad at all.

After a marvelous dinner (served family style, as always, followed by
homemade pie ala mode), we waddled our way back to the airport . Before
starting up I had the kids scare five good-sized deer off the runway...

It took a fair amount of power to taxi in the long, wet grass, but I
executed a text-book soft-field departure, and we enjoyed a gorgeous sunset
flight back to Iowa City. With my 13-year old son flying all the way into
the pattern, we ended the night with a perfect chirper of a landing...

Four airports and two "hundred dollar hamburgers" in one day -- what a great
day! I hope you are also enjoying the same (long over-due) wonderful flying
weather we're having here in the Midwest!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:

After many consecutive days of crappy weather, with the plane down for
annual, today dawned inauspiciously enough, with more rain.

This seemed like a good excuse to go back to bed, so in a fit of decadence
we did. We were enjoying a rare "true" day off from the inn, and neither
of us could remember the last time we had been able to such a thing...

When we awakened, the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, the winds
were light -- the sky was calling!

A short drive to the hangar was followed by an extra careful pre-flight --
post-annual flights demand extra-careful ones. You don't know what you
might discover, so each screw, bolt, hinge and rivet receives extra
attention.

Determining that everything was kosher, it was off to Clinton, Iowa, to pay
a visit to the guy who re-did our interior last fall. It seems he never
actually signed my logbooks, and the A&P doing my annual took a dim view of
having an entirely new interior installed without SOME sort of sign-off --
so it was off to see Frank Goodenow, upholstery guru.

The flight over was grand, with 100 mile visibility, light chop down low,
and crisp, clean, calm air above. We could see to the ends of the earth,
and smoke from power plants was rising stick-straight up to infinity.

We were there in no time, making 159 knots all the way. (Removing that old
Loran antenna at the annual must have really cleaned up the airframe! :-)
Old Frank seemingly hadn't moved in the five intervening months since I'd
last seen him -- he was still at his sewing machine, hammering out interior
sidewalls as fast as he could make 'em. (We saw Dave Butler's gorgeous
Pathfinder -- the only other one I've seen -- getting a new interior. Wow,
it's going to be great looking!)

After wrapping up our business with Frank (he gave Mary a bunch of extra
side-wall material so that she could make her booster pillow match the
plane -- what a guy!), it was off for a short leg to Muscatine for lunch.

Mary flew this leg, and the air just couldn't have been smoother. We
marveled at the flooded landscape -- a week of solid rain will do that in
Iowa -- as we cruised to a terrific meal at the "Good Earth" right across
the street from the airport... Great food, good prices, and usually ugly
waitresses (although today, for some strange reason, we had a knock-out
blond waiting on us. She won't last. ;-) are what the Good Earth is all
about -- if you're ever in the vicinity, give 'em a try.

Then it was my turn again, back to Iowa City. Again, conditions were
perfect, and Atlas was running like a champ. It was just one of those
perfect days to fly, and everything was just right -- the plane, the
weather, and the timing -- all were perfect!

After tucking Atlas away in his hangar, Mary had to go fetch the kids from
school, leaving me to touch up the paint, and goof around with re-routing
our maze of wiring for our yoke mount GPSs. After spending all afternoon
tinkering with the plane, she returned with the kids, who skate-boarded and
rode their bikes around the airport while I finished standing on my head,
zip tying wired every which way...

Soon the kids were mowling about dinner -- what to do? Well, shoot, the sky
was still a pretty shade of blue, the winds were non-existent, and we had
full tanks -- let's take 'er up again! This time it was to Amana for
dinner, at one of the great German restaurants, located just a block or two
from the little grass strip in Amana.

Coming into land, we were very aware that we were landing on a grass strip
after six or seven consecutive days of rain. Ready at any moment to do a
"go-round", Mary flew Atlas in to a perfect soft-field touch down on runway
08. The grass was longer than normal, but otherwise not bad at all.

After a marvelous dinner (served family style, as always, followed by
homemade pie ala mode), we waddled our way back to the airport . Before
starting up I had the kids scare five good-sized deer off the runway...

It took a fair amount of power to taxi in the long, wet grass, but I
executed a text-book soft-field departure, and we enjoyed a gorgeous sunset
flight back to Iowa City. With my 13-year old son flying all the way into
the pattern, we ended the night with a perfect chirper of a landing...

Four airports and two "hundred dollar hamburgers" in one day -- what a great
day! I hope you are also enjoying the same (long over-due) wonderful flying
weather we're having here in the Midwest!


Great story, Jay. Thanks for sharing. Makes me jealous though.....some
of us have to actually work today. But, alas, that beautiful weather is
headed east and will be directly over me on Saturday (hooray) just in
time for a flight from central PA to Ocean City Maryland for some sun,
sea, and crabs. Eat your hearts out, midwesterners! ;-)

Great story, Jay. Thanks for sharing. Makes me jealous though.....some
of us have to actually work today. But, alas, that beautiful weather is
headed east and will be directly over me on Saturday (hooray) just in
time for a flight from central PA to Ocean City Maryland for some sun,
sea, and crabs. Eat your hearts out, midwesterners! ;-)

Sounds great!

But remember: When you are heading off to a fly-in breakfast somewhere this
weekend, Mary and I will be working. It goes with the territory...

I've never yet owned a business where Sat/Sun weren't the critical days.
I'm gonna have to find one someday!

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Well, I didn't fly yesterday...but...I *did* schedule my B-day present of an
introductory acrobatic flight and I booked a plane for the trip. Hopefully,
I'll get some of that nice weather the first weekend of June.

Glad to hear you got a chance to enjoy a day off Jay.

--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

In article , Jack Allison
wrote:

Well, I didn't fly yesterday...but...I *did* schedule my B-day present of an
introductory acrobatic flight and I booked a plane for the trip.

Where are you going?
Who is doing the instructing?
What aircraft will you be flying?
(Inquiring minds want to know...)

Going to Attitude Aviation at LVK: http://www.attitudeaviation.com/, flying
in their Super Decathlon (no picture of it on the website), can't recall the
name of the instructor. LVK is about a 45 minute flight for me and, of
course, I *must* fly there. I'll be sure to post after the flight.

--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:AYctc.12292$eT4.11209@attbi_s54...
After many consecutive days of crappy weather, with the plane down for
annual, today dawned inauspiciously enough, with more rain.

[snip]

Four airports and two "hundred dollar hamburgers" in one day -- what a
great
day! I hope you are also enjoying the same (long over-due) wonderful
flying
weather we're having here in the Midwest!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

We finally got back up to KIOW to retrieve our Cherokee yesterday. We were
getting ready to head out in the morning, but ended up waiting out a band of
showers that passed through in the morning down here, too. Beautiful trip up
& back (I flew one of my partners up in our club's 182). Once I trimmed it
up, I hardly had to touch the yoke for an hour. Wonderful!

We finally got back up to KIOW to retrieve our Cherokee yesterday. We
were
getting ready to head out in the morning, but ended up waiting out a band
of
showers that passed through in the morning down here, too. Beautiful trip
up
& back (I flew one of my partners up in our club's 182). Once I trimmed it
up, I hardly had to touch the yoke for an hour. Wonderful!

Hey Steven -- I was just going to ask if you needed us to fly your Cherokee
back to SPI for you. I didn't realize you guys had already come and gone.

Mary could have flown the Pathfinder, and I could have flown the 180... It
would have been fun!

I hope your partner (and his wife) had fun with us -- even though the plane
got stranded by the cruddy weather.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:fkutc.8623$n_6.1960@attbi_s53...
We finally got back up to KIOW to retrieve our Cherokee yesterday.
We
were
getting ready to head out in the morning, but ended up waiting out a
band
of
showers that passed through in the morning down here, too. Beautiful
trip
up
& back (I flew one of my partners up in our club's 182). Once I
trimmed it
up, I hardly had to touch the yoke for an hour. Wonderful!

Hey Steven -- I was just going to ask if you needed us to fly your
Cherokee
back to SPI for you. I didn't realize you guys had already come and
gone.

Mary could have flown the Pathfinder, and I could have flown the 180...
It
would have been fun!

I hope your partner (and his wife) had fun with us -- even though the
plane
got stranded by the cruddy weather.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Heh, I may have taken you up on that, but Randy took the keys with him.
(unless you're willing to admit you know how to hot-wire an airplane...)
Thanks though.

I think he had fun. That was his first (& most likely not last) stranding
due to weather. He's getting ready to start on his IFR training. I'm about
3/4 way done.

I'll have to get up there & try the grass strip at Amana. I haven't used a
grass strip since my primary training 2 years ago. Hmmmm. Maybe I'll use a
club plane for that...

I'll have to get up there & try the grass strip at Amana. I haven't used
a
grass strip since my primary training 2 years ago. Hmmmm. Maybe I'll use a
club plane for that...

Landed there yesterday -- there's nothing to it.

Heck, grass is actually *easier* on your airframe than concrete or
asphalt...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"