Baby's first flight today (still lodged firmly in the womb) was also moms first TW flight with me. Nice jaunt up the coast to Carpenteria, down to Malibu and home to SZP on a whale spotting trip. Luckily we saw one whale near Sycamore canyon so it was a whale spotting rather than whale hunting trip. In all the excitement, somehow there was no picture taken of the whale. I know I know fish tale right?
SD

SD

Wow exciting times for you and your wife......enjoy every day .....that o.k. a whale is a whale

Thanks Bighorn! I feel quite fortunate to have a wife who is also a very willing co-pilot. This kid doesn't have a chance. As was discussed elsewhere on BCP recently about whether to get the kids flying at a tiny age or do their first flight later so that they will have the memory, I'm firmly in the camp of get 'em in the air as soon as possible so it's just normal. Worked for me
SD

Took some visiting family for a little tour yesterday. Here are a few screen grabs from my video camera.

I obey all traffic laws:


Enjoying the dunes:


I liked the light in this one:



Angus 1-2-3, holding short for 18:



Back at the home strip:

Here's another strip near caveman. You can taxi to the gas pumps in a pinch.

Friday was one of those clear and calm spring days when the plane just needs to be taken for a ride. I was under the MOA's when Cowboy told me there would be dog fighting soon. A stop to take it all in was in order. They were too high for me to see anything but contrails. The sonic booms however were impressive to say the least. At one point, there were four just split seconds apart. Way cool.

The brush here was high in some places. I have to be ready for a moderate forward pitching on landing when the wheels hit the brush.




This one was littered with rocks up to about 12-inchs in diameter. More than several low passes before touch down raised my comfort level. It definitely had to be walked before take off to pick a clear line. A side-slope takeoff with 15kt cross wind blowing down-hill was the only way out.



The Steven's-Crosby Airstrip is a little used strip at the foot of the Independence Range. It was just too early in the day to arrive home so another stop was in order to just to make the day last a little longer.

Sunday morning's weather was perfect for flying; forecast the night before was gloom and doom for clouds and wind. Tucked away in the Snowstorm Mountains of North central Nevada is the town of Midas.

How are those T/O distances coming on Mike?
Any hard figures you can share at this stage?
Nice photos by the way.

Saturday I flew over to Willow Springs Missouri...nothing fancy, but the excitement was there because my friend finally let me land his tailwheel! its a 2005 Citabria and we were going to an EAA fly-in. I am at 10 hours now in my Dual instruction. After leaving the EAA, we flew over to a grass strip. I didnt land there but I was on the controls...getting instruction

I wrote about it here.

http://wildernesspilotdreams.blog.com/2 ... -10-hours/

Battson wrote:How are those T/O distances coming on Mike?
Any hard figures you can share at this stage?
Nice photos by the way.

Our weather has been hit and miss lately which is typical for springtime here. I went to make short measured landings and takeoffs the other day at Cowdog's and Mavericks ranch. The wind was really snarly whipping different directions at random. On my first approach a gust caught me from the side just before touchdown and I had to make a go-around; I rarely make go-arounds!

I called off the short field practice for the day. The one measured takeoff was about 270 feet if I'm remembering correctly. Maybe Maverick can verify that number?

With big tires, there are a lot of variables besides just a relative indicator of performance; the takeoff and landings are more about the site conditions for each takeoff or landing. Low tire pressure and lots of rolling drag from brush, tall grass, rough/soft ground, etc is good for short landings with the obvious penalty of longer takeoff runs so there are trade offs. I've still got a long way to go before I become really familiar with the larger tires and off-field conditions so for now those are my early observations. On hard surfaces with the greater angle of attack, I'm getting off at slower airspeeds when my technique is perfect so I'm assuming shorter distances, too. Somewhere in the mid 40's mph IAS.

xcalibursword wrote:Saturday I flew over to Willow Springs Missouri...nothing fancy, but the excitement was there because my friend finally let me land his tailwheel! its a 2005 Citabria and we were going to an EAA fly-in. I am at 10 hours now in my Dual instruction. After leaving the EAA, we flew over to a grass strip. I didnt land there but I was on the controls...getting instruction

I wrote about it here.

http://wildernesspilotdreams.blog.com/2 ... -10-hours/

That sounds like fun. I remember my first Citabria landing; it was pretty exciting, too! Enjoy the adventure it just keeps getting better and better...

Chuckar Flat on Sunday. Cold and Windy. Had lunch and headed for home



Better day for driving

After a grueling 5 hour oral and a 1.6 hour checkride I got my certificate on Sunday! I was a wreck mentally after the oral so I thought for sure that the flight was going to be rough, but somehow it was some of the best flying I have done. The weather was absolutely perfect! I got back pretty late Sunday so after work yesterday I got to do my first real flight by taking my wife up for some exploring in the Chugach range near our house. She loved the plane and the flight so that was a huge relief. I wasnt sure how she would take it sitting behind me since she tends to get carsick riding in the back of a vehicle, but no problem at all!

blackrock wrote:Sunday morning's weather was perfect for flying; forecast the night before was gloom and doom for clouds and wind. Tucked away in the Snowstorm Mountains of North central Nevada is the town of Midas.

Awesome pics Mike - that last one is a AVPOTW contender for sure!

Congrats Hunt'n'photos!
God I hope my Oral wont be 5 hours

S-12Flyer wrote:Here's another strip near caveman. You can taxi to the gas pumps in a pinch.

Don't you just love an airport with a radio station antennae on the property?

Awesome pics Mike - that last one is a AVPOTW contender for sure!

Thanks for the kind words Em. That is a good idea, I hadn't thought about POTW. It was just submitted so we'll see what happens...

Hunt'n'Photos wrote:
After a grueling 5 hour oral and a 1.6 hour checkride I got my certificate on Sunday

Congrats, that's awesome. I envy where you fly.

Have a blast!

Marty

Hunt'n'photos wrote:After a grueling 5 hour oral and a 1.6 hour checkride I got my certificate on Sunday! I was a wreck mentally after the oral so I thought for sure that the flight was going to be rough, but somehow it was some of the best flying I have done. The weather was absolutely perfect! I got back pretty late Sunday so after work yesterday I got to do my first real flight by taking my wife up for some exploring in the Chugach range near our house. She loved the plane and the flight so that was a huge relief. I wasnt sure how she would take it sitting behind me since she tends to get carsick riding in the back of a vehicle, but no problem at all!

Way to go passing the check ride! Way cool that wife enjoys it to. My wife fly's with me quite a bit and I'm always grateful when she comes along, too.

porterjet wrote:Don't you just love an airport with a radio station antennae on the property?

There's another larger tower about a 1/4 mile south and power lines just west of the runway. None really come into play but they sure are visually stimulating.
It's an old strip that was unused and overgrown for years. Just recently someone has done a fair amount of work getting it back into shape.
Don't know who or why yet.