Who says you can't have fun in Febuary?

First things first.... take a look at this site and tell me who you think is being sung to?????


O.K., a little well-deserved update on the flying caper. We did meet with Carl Greene, from Crivitz, on Sunday the 12th. Carl showed up at about 9:00 and I went up with him right away as the engine was warm and why wait anyway????? He let me take the controls right from the start and we took off O.K. There were about 15mph winds, or maybe a bit more, with a little gusting, so it was interesting. We flew out
a ways and I did a couple of turns to get the feel of it. Carl said "It handles pretty nice, here, I'll take the controls for a minute..." and he launched it into a 60°+ bank turn to the left for 180°, then immediately rolled it into the same type turn to the right. By this time I was experiencing the same kind of motion sickness that ended my carnival ride career.


One more of those turns would have had me talking to ralph over the intercom, if you catch my drift....... All I wanted to do then was return to the ground and lie down, but I stuck with it and we did 4 approach to landings. Went pretty well.


When we got back to the hangar, we talked quite a while about the plane in general, the engine, some things that need attention (Carl is graciously supplying a few new items!) and flying in general. Then we all piled in the cars and headed for McDonalds, bathrooms, coffee and filling out bill of sale!


These pics, obviously, are of our new-to-us plane, resting in Steve's hangar and just waiting for someone to get airborne with it... So now I am on the quest to figure out what I have to do to make it airworthy in the eyes of the FAA. I just got my kit of stuff and such from the EAA that will supposedly walk me though the steps necessary to achieve the goal.


Today, 2-15, I left a work a little early and got things ready to head to Merrill. Got a section of vinyl hose for a gas can nozzle extension for fueling the plane and clamped it on the nozzle. Took another can along and stopped and filled them both in Ogema. Also took along a turkey baster bulb, an empty milk jug and some rags. The engine had been overfilled a little and we suctioned a little oil out of the resevoir tank.


We wheeled the plane outside, filled the gas tank and fired her up. We ran the engine for about 5 minutes and then shut it down to check oil level. According to the engine manual, this is when you read the dipstick. Looked good, so we got in and got ready for take-off. Yee-haaaaaa!!!!! Off we went! We headed north and did a few turns, some about 45° banks, goofed a little bit with the trim control. I asked what we were going to do next


and Steve said "How about going to Wausau and trying a few landings at a different airport?" Carlo says "Sure!" Off we went, flying toward the smokestacks at the Weston powerplant. Steve asked how I liked the plane, I said 'great'. Steve says "Yeah, this is a real airplane!!" He's a good flying partner.


So we get to the vacinity of the airport and, of course, I need to do all the radio communications necessary around airports, and there were a couple of other planes in the area, so it was kind of nerve racking doing the maneuvers, but I managed 4 landings there that were all pretty good. Then we headed Northeast out of the Wausau area, then north to Merrill.


Can you say "Happy Camper"???? You're looking at one right now...
Onlyhow, we got back to the Merrill airport and there was another plane in the pattern, looking like they were going to land, then did a go-around, another approach and a landing. We came in for a touch and go between one of their attempts, and on another approach to land, we found them back-taxiing after landing on the runway we were approaching. That gave the opportunity for a go-around for us. We ended the session at 5:30. The runway lights were on and the lighted windsock looked wicked cool out there. We flew for 2.1 hours and used only 5 gallons of gas, even with all the take-offs. These four stroke HKS engines are nice. The plane is quite quiet inside with the engine a ways ahead of the cab, and the muffler is way up top. The motor runs pretty quiet compared to some, so it's an enjoyable flight. Kind of strange not having all the wind you get in the Quicksilver!

Oh, yeah, Lucy.... here is the item that you would be most interested in. It's the BRS (Ballistic Recovery Systems) whole plane parachute that can be deployed in an emergency. Actually, I guess you could deploy it even if you weren't having an emergency, but the results would not desirable.... Actually, I'm quite fond of that unit myself.


So I'm having a great time, the winter is whizzing by, snow in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow, windy the next day and then high of 9° on Saturday. Oh, well, looks like we had the last nice day for awhile to go flying.

Have a wonderful Valentines Day season (if there is such a thing) and remember, don't do anything I wouldn't do!

Carlo