To get my Tail Wheel endorsement! It's official.

Made some of my best landings today. The Savage gets off short with one guy!






Was rewarded with one of those beautiful sunsets that you never get sick of. What an awesome feeling to be able to fly my own taildragger, and by myself no less!!

Congrats! All I would add is, don't be too proud to take advantage of the short landings that thing can make. The first time you have to deal with a real world bad ass x-wind that is making you antsy, use that capability to land on a taxi way or wherever, sure it's "cheating" but who cares! It kills me to see someone all obsessed with keeping it on the center line while fighting a big x wind, I'll cheat every time, that line is a suggestion not a gotta have. Screw the guys in the tower also, when push comes to shove they won't be there in the shop helping you do a repair, and you can always apologize to them later. Just because they don't give you clearance to do something, ( they have to cover their butt and the tape is running), you, as the newly rated tail wheel PIC, have the final say. "Unable to comply" is the magic phrase, then just land the damn thing as you see best. Oh yeah, stay out of the way of other aircraft

Flew from Elko Nv to S. Ca. Next to Area 51 then across Bigbear Ca

BRD,

Did you fly into Argyle, NY (1C3) last summer? There were 3 Seabees there for about a week. Gorgeous airplanes and nice people.

Congrats Crzyivan!!! Takin off in ur own plane for the first time is a helluva good feeling, freedom

Thanks Luke and Tom. And thanks for the advice!

Had to go exercise the plane this morning.



Now I have to wash it.

Not the same, but flew in the back to Newark earlier today, layover now, Ireland next!

I took my check ride on Monday and passed! Today I took my first flight as a licensed Pilot and flew to Harris Ranch (3O8) and picked up some steaks to bring home.

Corefile - Congratulation on obtaining your PPL!

Crazyivan - you must be on top of the world now soloing in your awesome tail dragger!

finally, after several months of work trips, family vacations, a surgery, poorly timed bad weather, and maintenance woes I was able to get the airplane out for some exercise.

Friday was defined by six hour of work for 14 minutes to flight time in the pattern. I spent the better part of two hours clearing snow and pulling the plane out of the hangar. After another hour of tinkering, servicing, and preparing, I got it cranked for the long awaited... taxi to the fuel pump. Wouldn't you know, but the left wheel locked up on the way down East Ramp. I wasn't able to keep it straight with the wheel dragging in the snow and pulled into someone's hangar lot. No matter what I did, I couldn't get the brake to come unlocked. Enter Jon from Northland to the rescue. He was able to get it partially unstuck and I taxied down to his hangar. Knowing I was deploying next weekend, he stayed late to help me get the wheel working right. With a little troubleshooting he figured out that a small amount of water in the brake line had frozen solid and locked the brakes. A little heat and a flush got me back in business.

With 30-minutes to sunset we pulled it out and I cranked her up. My nerves were a little on edge with the long absence from flying and the efforts to get the airplane up. Everything worked itself out and I was able to put it down perfectly where I wanted on three patterns. Wow, I had forgotten how fast things happen in pattern work.

Fast forward to Sunday. With a total bluebird of a day I couldn't find an excuse not to fly. In fact, my wife gave me a mission. Seems her work with the Alaska Fire Service is taking her to Melozi Hot Springs for a hazardous waste clean project. Though she has all the information she needs, she requested some photos. I’m lucky to have someone considerate enough to encourage me to go fly without feeling guilty for being away from home.

Sigh. First problem is a drip of fuel coming from the right hand wing root. I've had three shops spend umpteen hours resealing the inside of my integral bay fuel tank with no positive results. The puddle with fuel dripping gave evidence that the last shop to work on it was unsuccessful as well. Oh well. I'd rather burn the fuel off than drain it or let it drip.

After Fridays flight, I was feeling much more in rhythm with the airplane. I blasted off of runway 2R (seriously, the -5F dense air was incredibly accepting to an eager 300 horsepower climb). Sigh #2. The vacuum pump gauge was reading extremely high. I've had this problem off and on. The last trip to the shop they ensured the only problem could have been the gauge. The standby vac showed the same indication. Screw it, I'm goin with it.

I turned left off runway 02R to head for Manley Hot Springs. Sigh #3. Even with rudder trim full nose left I was forced to keep left pedal in to keep the ball centered. Seemed very odd, but I was under control and didn't see a need to turn back. Winds were calm at Fairbanks, but continued to pick up after passing the Minto Flats going westbound.

Manley Hot Springs Pick


Wind-blown frozen section of the Tanana River between Manley Hot Springs and Tanana


Temperatures enroute were -7F at 2,500


Getting into the Kokrines Hills northeast of Ruby didn’t make my Garmins happy.


The Lodge at Melozi Hot Springs were built by a gentleman and his family in 1966 on land leased from BLM. He ran the lodge until passing in 1976, when various other owners attempted to operate it. The lease was terminated in 1996. My wife is charged with separating and transporting hazardous materials from the site throughout the upcoming fire season. The following two pictures are looking generally south across Hot Springs Creek. The spring itself is on the east side (left in the pics). The main lodge is the larger rectangle in the middle with several other out buildings.





I was able to outclimb the hills easily, but they still presented a dramatic look with steep walls and the snow coverage.


Looking north along the Yukon River where it meets the Tanana.


The haze made it difficult to see the big one clearly from 117 NM


The Cosna River running South off the Tanana.


Kantishna River running South from the Tanana. I like the visual of tributaries meandering off into the frozen flats.


By the time I made it back into the Fairbanks area I was out of battery in my camera, phone, and iPad. I’m glad the airspace wasn’t that busy when I came in, because I had to do an orbit on long final to bleed off speed and altitude. I had forgotten how far out you have to start scrubbing power and speed to prepare for the approach.

All said, I enjoyed a little over three hours touring the Tanana River 2/3 of the way to Norton Sound. If I didn’t need to get back to the family, it would’ve been a great day to fly toward Nome trolling the Iditarod course.

Brett

Cool flight, Brett! Great pictures!

A morning flight yesterday to the Columbia River above the Wanapum Dam. A couple weeks ago someone noticed a bulge in the Spillway. They inspected and found a 2 inch by 65 foot long crack in one of the pillars. The water level was lowered 26 feet and the crack closed up. Now they are doing more inspecting and trying to figure out how to fix it.

Construction started in 1959 and finished and water backed up in 1964. This is the first time in 50 years much of the shore line has been exposed. The officials have closed the entire shore line between Wanapum and Rock Island dams to protect archaeology sites. And for safety. At least one person sank in the mud up to their waste and had to be rescued.

As a kid I spent quite a bit of time along the shore of the river there so was quite interested in seeing what I could see. Kitfox is a fantastic observation and photo platform.

For reference here is a 1954 aerial photo of the old vantage town site and bridge. The dam was built just off the bottom of the picture.



The spillway


Vantage Boat launch. See the stranded sail boat just left of center.


Old vantage town site. See the basement foundation out in the water lower left center.


Close up of the old vantage highway leading to the old bridge. Note the foundations. They have scooped the mud off the old highway and are using it to launch boats for the divers that are inspecting the dam. All other boat launches are high and dry.




The Gorge at George (Washington). This is the natural amphitheater where rock concerts are held. The stage roof is in the center of the picture.


This town is called Sunland estates. It was not there last time I went by this spot about 1959 in my Uncle's boat. I didn't know it existed and is not on any highway maps or other maps I can find. On google maps it just says Wanapum.



Crescent Bar.


West Bar. It was created by sediment from the ice age floods. See the ripple marks created from the waves when the fllood water was estimated to be 200 feet deep and flowing 70 mph. The wave crests are about 100 yards apart.


Turned back down stream now. Another view of the mystery town.



Cliffs on the west side of the river.The light colored line at water level is
the 26 foot drop in the lake level.


One last photo This one is for Currier Guy. A heavy equipment school east of Ellensburg. This is the Crane group.

Thanks tcj! Training "hoisting engineers" is big business, as increasing guvment regulations keep upping the anti in keeping a picker upper legal. But, we all know the folks in Washington know best, right? Hey it looks like plenty of room for me to land right at that site, I'll keep it in mind when the next onerous regulations come down the pike and I need more certs.

Nice landings Sophis !

After giving my potential customer the usual spiel, "I better check out the job site, to make sure a solar system will work there", I landed this bench area above the river. Lots of tall brush and rolling terrain made it a little more tricky then it looks here, (sitting on my ass in front of the computer, at home, versus out the windshield of the plane). I ended up making about 12 passes before committing. I'd also been warned about gopher holes, and as this was only a day after taking the skis off I was extra cautious.
The take off, was right towards the bluff, slightly downhill and into the wind. This place reminded me of Soldier Bar a little. Once back in the air, I didn't land the bars below the site, I didn't like the wind direction down there in that canyon. But a few miles upstream spotted this absolutely perfect bar directly into the wind and upstream both Plus it had the unusual situation of snow of an unknown depth, no problem as I was stopped well before it. On takeoff, just because I could (and after eyeballing it from the bar showed the snow depth to be no problem) I blasted through the snow and then washed it off shortly there after in the river. This first of the year bushwheel excursion made me quit whining about having to take the wheel skis off!

Great sound track sophis. Who's the artist?

Bighorn wrote:Nice landings Sophis !

Thanks!!

Sidewinder wrote:Great sound track sophis. Who's the artist?

Sorry, I should have included that in the video; it's Moby and the song is "Everloving"

Wasn't today, but I've been so damn busy haven't had time to post!!

Tuesday night got a ride down about 70 mi south to pick up my plane and bring'er home. Easily the most exciting flight of my life. Flying my own airplane to my hangar at my new home airport, I10.



Was windy and rough on the way down but later in the evening, the air was smooth as glass.


Swingle provided the transportation, I provided dinner from Wendy's. Best wingman in the biz.


It was dark when I got there but the ol iPhone gathered enough light for a pic. Videos will follow......


Tucked away, finally. What a great feeling!