I have had a good bit of time off from work for the Christmas/New Year holidays. I recently soloed after waiting almost a year for my medical. On this little break from work I have been able to get my short CC (KPKB to KAFJ) and my long CC (KPKB W22 KSXL KPKB) out of the way. More on that another time.

I added up my hours to see how much time I needed for my check ride and realized that I didn't do as much flying as I had thought last year. (Mainly because it was pointless without a medical certificate). So, in order to get the hours needed, I figured that I would fly as much as I could with what was left in the break for me. I've logged about 7 hours in the past 10 days. Not too bad considering I only logged 19hrs in the past 300 days. I'm a pretty happy camper right now.

I decided on Friday afternoon that I would fly over to harass my ol buddy Greg and see if he was even still alive. Last time I saw him was in some random video where he was running laps and eating pizza........ Anyway, I took off from Parkersburg and headed towards the two power plants to the Northwest. They are both on the Muskingum river which flows to Marietta, OH from Greg's Zanesville locale, aka Philo.

After a little figuring, I found the bridge at Gaysport and followed the road right to the Swingle homestead. I flew some turns about a point (The old Dairy Silo) and Greg ran out of the farmhouse. I made a couple trips around the pattern on the Swingle Strip with the second being a little lower than the first and that apparently got Greg motivated to get Brownie aka The USS Tatums (see Where Did you Fly Today Thread for explanation) warmed up for a flight of his own. I unfortunately did not have too much time to waste as the 140 Cherokee was booked for another renter back at Parkersburg. After I landed and shut the blue bomber down, nobody came out of the FBO, I checked the schedule and the guy had cancelled. That's cool, so I just scheduled myself for another hour and went back up again!

Saturday the 140 was booked up solid so I decided to see if Greg was up for a visit. I emailed my non texting friend to see if he was accepting visitors and he told me to let myself in and eat food and drink at my discretion. (I just waited in the driveway) I then got an email demanding that I go inside and turn on the espresso machine. So I did. Greg showed up shortly thereafter and we bullshitted the afternoon away.

Then, it donned on us. We should be enjoying the frigid well flying air and make tracks in the two man bobsled known as the rans s7 (Tatums) which I am very fond of. A Winter Aerocross shredding session soon followed. I was glad to be along for the ride. IT WAS SICK!!!
That guy knows his airplane. I feel privileged to be able to fly with "The Swingle." (I assume all risk, and realize I am putting my life in the hands of a madman. I have done things that are way "Dumber", believe me.)




So after a sweet session of Aerocross and a little more bullshit, literally, I was out. Headed for home. Date night with ma lady...... Well, as it turns out, I forgot my damn iPad at gregs humble abode. After another iPhone email, Greg confirmed. We planned to figure it out in the AM.


This video sums up Friday and Saturday pretty good:





I convinced him to come to Parkersburg (lunch and swag on me) to return my beloved Ipad back to me. I feel that it is an extension of myself. I gave him the grand tour of my town (Marietta), and then ate some mexican lunch. The girlfriend needed some help at the farm and we went to help/introduce. I'm convinced that if it were not for gregs videos, she wouldn't believe that Greg was real. Well, I provide proof of life. After that, I took the Greg back to his bird, and I had the 140 scheduled for another rental session, and we were both off again.

I stayed in the pattern for a few touch n go's, and then off to the JPU VOR to do some work, and then back to the pattern for some rare east crosswinds.


I got home after that and my buddy from Buckhannon, WV sent me this pic:


This is about 2000 ft short of the runway at Buckhannon, my home away from home (Upshur County W22). He wanted his engine serviced at the ford dealer.

Apperently, the pilot "heard a loud bang" and the fan quit running. He figured he couldn't make the Airport and pulled the Chute. Anyone's guess. Lucky fella. He hit a pickup truck on his way down too.

News story here:
http://www.wboy.com/story/24378346/plane-equipped?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=9701216

Kinda cool the local news took it a step further and actually did a little research on what they were looking at.
http://www.wboy.com/story/24378346/plane-equipped


Pretty bad ass start to the new year for me, anyway. I'm a lucky fellow.

Great trip report and video Evan, happy 2014!

Thanks Matt!

Very fun. Keep an eye on Swingle for us. We worry about him...

I can give you coordinates for a place to stay and or and aerocross session. For rough planning use KZZV. My strip is Maule friendly but there are cows on the main strip right now if you looking for extended parking. The tower strip and my home strip are intimidating but will not have cows. I can probably go into non transponder areas. If I have time to fix my radio.

Very cool story and vid.