2.3 hours of heaven...

Sunshine!

We had not flown since December 23rd -- a new downtime record for Mary and
me -- so flying today felt really, REALLY good.

1.0 hours up to Janesville, WI in crystal clear, absolutely silky
smooth, -20 degree air at 5500 feet, followed by an outstanding (if
cholesterol deadly) breakfast at the CAVU Cafe.

After leisurely spending an hour reading the Sunday paper, whilst watching
the exclusively Piper crowd flying in and out (you just can't beat Mr.
Piper's blast furnace heaters!), our 1.3 hour flight home was just as
gorgeous, even with the -10 degree air at 4500 feet.

With the bright sunshine and light winds, preflighting wasn't too bad, and
the plane ran great, if stiffly. (At those temperatures, the elevator trim
feels like it's imbedded in concrete, the tires feel square for the first
100 yards, and everything sounds very metallic and different...) Nothing
like 1400 fpm climb with full tanks and four people!

God, it felt good to get airborne. Let's hope we're done with freezing rain
and low clag!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Glad to hear the weather allowed some flying time Jay. I was able to
fly as safety pilot for a friend today and it was absolutely crystal
clear after some morning fog. Temp. at 4000 MSL was a toasty 52 degrees
*above* zero. :-) Yesterday the fog didn't burn off and was too low to
start working on VOR approaches (was OVC003, and 1 mile visibility
(would have been great for ILS approaches but I'm not there yet in the
instrument program). So...I had to settle for a couple hours of ground
instruction. But, it got better a few hours later when I went to
another airport (conveniently above the fog) to look at and take a quick
flight in a gorgeous '67 Arrow. Stay tuned, I just may be a low wing
convert as we're planning to make an offer sometime this week.


--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL, IA Student, Piper Arrow purchasing student

"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)

and take a quick flight in a gorgeous '67 Arrow. Stay tuned, I just may
be a low wing convert as we're planning to make an offer sometime this
week.

Good luck, Jack!

Be careful, don't fall in love with a plane, and use your head instead of
your heart when you're negotiating.

Easier said than done, I know.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:
Good luck, Jack!

Be careful, don't fall in love with a plane, and use your head instead of
your heart when you're negotiating.

Yep. I think we're doing a pretty good job of running numbers,
comparing against other Arrows, and just generally doing our homework.
So far, I haven't woken up thinking "Oh no, what have I done?"...though
I know that will happen whenever I wind up plunking down my cash for a
plane.

--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL, IA Student, airplane partnership student

"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)

"I know that will happen whenever I wind up plunking down my cash for a
plane."

No Jack... that will happen with your first sizable unexpected repair
bill.. :-) Go ahead and jump in the waters fine!! :-)

Jon Kraus
PP-ASEL-IA
'79 Mooney 201 Triple43Hotel

Jack Allison wrote:
Jay Honeck wrote:

Good luck, Jack!

Be careful, don't fall in love with a plane, and use your head instead
of your heart when you're negotiating.


Yep. I think we're doing a pretty good job of running numbers,
comparing against other Arrows, and just generally doing our homework.
So far, I haven't woken up thinking "Oh no, what have I done?"...though
I know that will happen whenever I wind up plunking down my cash for a
plane.

Jon Kraus wrote:

"I know that will happen whenever I wind up plunking down my cash for a
plane."

No Jack... that will happen with your first sizable unexpected repair
bill.. :-) Go ahead and jump in the waters fine!! :-)

Hmmm, spoken like a truly delusional aircraft owner. Don't worry man,
I'm already very close to the same point. If I've made the decision to
buy a plane, I'm already a lost cause...but...I know I'm not alone :-)
Should I start checking into 12-step programs?

--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL, IA Student, airplane partnership student

"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:

The new restaurant in Madison is open (again) and is part of the brand new
FBO. The food is typical cholesterol, but a notch better than Janesville.
The approach and tower controllers in Madison are also very nice.

I was going to go fly the Baron somewhere today, but walking around on the
ramp for a few minutes changed my mind- talk about a wimpy fair weather
flyer. It was only 2 degrees out with a 15 knot wind, so the appeal of a
nice flight dropped dramatically when I opened the car door!

Jim N

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:avHGd.11119$eT5.10550@attbi_s51...
and take a quick flight in a gorgeous '67 Arrow. Stay tuned, I just may
be a low wing convert as we're planning to make an offer sometime this
week.

Good luck, Jack!

Be careful, don't fall in love with a plane, and use your head instead of
your heart when you're negotiating.

Easier said than done, I know.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

I was going to go fly the Baron somewhere today, but walking around on the
ramp for a few minutes changed my mind- talk about a wimpy fair weather
flyer. It was only 2 degrees out with a 15 knot wind, so the appeal of a
nice flight dropped dramatically when I opened the car door!

I was serious when I said there were ONLY Pipers on the ramp in JVL.

I've just about died in Cessna singles and twins in the winter, but Pipers
are just toastly.

I'll bet your Extra is pretty danged cold at this time of year -- but, wow
what a climb rate! I've only flown in Barons in summer -- but I'll bet they
have one of those stupid "ultra-reliable" (not!) Janitrol heaters, right?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay,

I know exactly how you feel. It's been 4 months and a week since the
alternator blew on my Pitts and I haven't flown anything since then. This
weekend my and formation partner and I got together with our formation coach
(a former Red Arrow) and went up for a 40 minute flight including some basic
stationkeeping and a fantastic 10 minutes of tailchase. I haven't had so
much fun in 4 months and a week and it reminded me, yet again, of why I do
this!

Glad to hear you're back in the air!

Shawn

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:9JGGd.10692$OF5.1321@attbi_s52...
Sunshine!

We had not flown since December 23rd -- a new downtime record for Mary and
me -- so flying today felt really, REALLY good.

1.0 hours up to Janesville, WI in crystal clear, absolutely silky
smooth, -20 degree air at 5500 feet, followed by an outstanding (if
cholesterol deadly) breakfast at the CAVU Cafe.

After leisurely spending an hour reading the Sunday paper, whilst watching
the exclusively Piper crowd flying in and out (you just can't beat Mr.
Piper's blast furnace heaters!), our 1.3 hour flight home was just as
gorgeous, even with the -10 degree air at 4500 feet.

With the bright sunshine and light winds, preflighting wasn't too bad, and
the plane ran great, if stiffly. (At those temperatures, the elevator
trim feels like it's imbedded in concrete, the tires feel square for the
first 100 yards, and everything sounds very metallic and different...)
Nothing like 1400 fpm climb with full tanks and four people!

God, it felt good to get airborne. Let's hope we're done with freezing
rain and low clag!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"