Fun weekend buying an Arrow (long)

A few more details on my Arrow buying adventure this weekend. Sorry, no
pictures posted yet but I did send a couple to Jay H. for an appropriate
update (as in "Jay, could you do me a favor and replace the picture of
the rental C-172 with pictures of much nicer airplane").

Saturday: Flew commercially from Sacramento to Denver and had my first
chance to lay eyes on N2104T, located at Front Range airport. It was
everything the TAP pictures had shown, and then some (especially after
reviewing the logs). I had a chance to meet the A&P that has been doing
the maintenance and the instructor that would provide my first hour of
dual in the Arrow. Flew for 1.2 hours doing some basic maneuvers
followed by three landings. It was great. N2104T flies straight and
performed nicely given the density altitude of the Denver area. By this
time, I'm well pleased and really thinking we've scored the nicest '71
Arrow on the planet.

Sunday: Early start, I meet with the A&P to review the logs. Logs are
very clean. The plane just came out of annual last week and has a new
fuel pump and forward spinner bracket. Reviewed the logs which answered
most of the questions I'd been wondering about. Had a chance to poke
around the plane a bit more as we pulled the cowl and some inspection
panels. Everything is nice and clean. No leaks anywhere, Tail cone
area looks immaculate, the A&P answers all my questions and fills in a
lot of information from his own history with the plane. After a few
hours of this, we're finished and I have a chance to sit down with the
logs and crawl around the plane by myself as I'm waiting for one partner
and our CFII to fly in from Sacramento. They show up and we review
everything I've gone over with the A&P. More questions are
asked/answered, we meet with the owner for more questions/answers then
close the deal. Time to start the journey West...after a few more hours
of returning rental cars, checking weather, running W&B numbers, etc.

Sunday afternoon, approx. 4:00 pm. We're off and pretty much heading
South as there are reports of severe turbulence over the Rockies. The
Northern route home would have been much shorter but a front is moving
through the Salt Lake City area where we'd planned to spend the night
so, southward it was. Stopped for the night at Farmington, NM and had a
big steak dinner to celebrate. Life is good.

Monday Morning: We launch from Farmington, my first chance to fly a leg
of the return journey. Weather was pretty good as we headed towards AZ.
We encountered some moderate turbulence along the way and it was
pretty much clear below 12000 until we were closer to Kingman, AZ, the
first fuel stop. Ceilings lowered a bit such that we had to fly around a
certain ridge line between us and the airport and the winds were pretty
strong but pretty much right down the runway. After fueling, we
discover that the restaurant is closed. Ah, time for the first of what
would be two vending machine meals for the day.

By the time we launch from Kingman, the sun was out and the wind wasn't
quite as bad. Off towards Bakersfield, CA where we hope to actually
eat a decent meal. I almost took a nap in the back seat during part of
this leg.

Monday afternoon: We landed at Bakersfield and gassed up. We're
looking at the time and since we wanted to make it home before dark, we
opt for the 2nd vending machine meal of the day and I flew the last leg
to MCC (former McClellan AFB) where we have a hanger, at least for this
month. The hanger was an unknown until the return trip as we have
several irons in the fire and took what first came open.

As we're descending into the Sacramento area, our CFII asks if we know
about how the gear indicator bulbs come out and how to quickly test for
a burned out bulb. He demonstrates and I think nothing much of
it...until I drop the gear and only get two in the green. We quickly
swap the left/right main bulbs and see get a green on the left main.
All this happens as I'm flying the pattern (a good experience in
"Aviate, Navigate, Communicate"). So, two green plus one green equals
three in the green. Good, I can continue turning base to final and
don't have to do a go around to troubleshoot. Phew. Landed, parked,
unloaded the plane and headed home. I was one tired puppy.

I'm still tired...but grinning just like after the first solo whenever I
think "Hey, I own an airplane".

If anyone wants to see a picture, drop me an e-mail. I'll post them
somewhere but have a few other things going on right now.

This weekend, I get to fly with our instructor and, hopefully, finish
off the insurance mandated dual time then see how comfortable I feel
flying solo. I'll probably log the required dual and solo time in the
next month then I can look forward to carrying passengers. Oh ya, that
and continue with my instrument rating.


--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL-IA Student-Student Arrow Owner

"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

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