Awesome!


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aktahoe1 wrote:Way way up high today. No landing was the same. All above 9000' today. DA was really high

That is a killer spot. Damn.

MN lakes area. Made it to Alexandria for the weekend and gave a lot of flights to family. Made it back to Fargo this morning, early before it got hot, humid and T-Stormish


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watching Debbie shoot landings in the 150

Took the 182 up to Bozeman over the long holiday weekend. This is the first trip since I brought it home from Idaho, and was a bit of a homecoming for this plane as it still has the old MT registration tag on the tail. My route in took me towards Cody for fuel, however I had to divert to South Big Horn towards the end of that leg due to thunderstorm buildup and a 20+ mile wide line of virga in my way. Where I ended up is a lonely place when nobody is around, but they have some sort of C119 Flying Boxcar boneyard out there. Some cool stuff sitting in the dirt. I think the then-closed large hangar does some sort of restoration or whatever.




From Big Horn I made my way between storms up towards Billings, before finding sunshine over the MT border and curving back to Bozeman. Fortunately the storms were very slow moving and mostly raining themselves out, so my gap remained and I didn't have to get stuck in Wyoming. ADS-B weather was helpful for determining cell breadth and motion, though the resolution difference between ADS-B and what I got from a cellular connection was significant.



From Bozeman we explored southwest Montana over some previously Google-Earth'ed waypoints for future hunting purposes, which turned out to be a quite effective way to cover what would have involved weeks of driving and hiking otherwise.



(^ Potential hunting area. No I'm not telling where it is. Yes we spotted about 100 elk in the vicinity.)

Coming back to Denver, I went south over Yellowstone and Teton. I managed to catch Old Faithful right as it popped, and had some amazing scenery otherwise. I stopped in Laramie for fuel and a pit stop, and had a civilian CH-47 take off behind me to go fight a fire somewhere. The rest of the short trip from LAR to FTG involved constant light and occasional moderate turbulence, so I was glad to get on the ground at home by that point. DEN approach was having a very slow day, so they let me slowly descend across most of their northern and eastern Class B and save some time.








The plane did fantastic. The new engine mounts we put in cut down the vibration a good bit, though it does still need a prop balance. The new BAS harnesses made me feel a lot better about my well-being should anything unplanned happen. My radios and audio panel sucked (a lot), so I may be redoing that part sooner than expected. Oil use was a touch higher than I'd have liked, however fuel burn and airspeed were right where they should be, and these old 182's are at home playing in higher altitudes. The takeoff and initial climb performance continue to make me grin every time, though my climb out of BZN took some circling, and the oil temp rose a bit more than I thought it would during that. It settled back down once in cruise however, and CHT/EGT were never a concern (for what they're worth on the ancient single-cylinder Cessna gauges).

I have no complaints with this plane that can't be resolved, she flies smooth and true and performs as good or better than I expected. I'll upgrade some things to modernize and equip to my liking, but I am looking forward to all the new places we'll explore.

Great photos Colo... looks like excellent weather for a cross country.

First flight to the cottage

Flew much of the Katmai coast today, surveying bear activity in coastal meadows.

Took the Pacer into Chukar Flat early this morning to beat the Central Oregon summer heat. Another beautiful day to fly!

Took the Pacer into Chukar Flat early this morning to beat the Central Oregon summer heat. Another beautiful day to fly!

I was leaving in the Husky just when you arrived. I'm at the other end of the same block of T-hangars. Great Picture.

Re: Where did you fly today?

Took the Pacer into Chukar Flat early this morning to beat the Central Oregon summer heat. Another beautiful day to fly!


I was leaving in the Husky just when you arrived. I'm at the other end of the same block of T-hangars. Great Picture.

I saw you pulling out! Next time I see the plane out or hangar open, I'll come down and introduce myself. I hope you had a great day flying!

Ben

Bunch of rides for newby floatplane fliers. All seemed to enjoy it!

Took the 182 a short hop to Akron, CO to get the prop balanced at Redline Propeller this morning. Instant smoothness, money well spent. My 'autopilot' thought highly enough of it that he fell asleep at the controls! I think he was out for a couple minutes before I noticed it, but he needs very little coaching once I get him set up, so it took me a bit to realize he wasn't talking.

I love that pic. I will show it to my assistant, she'll laugh I'm sure.

colopilot wrote:....My 'autopilot' thought highly enough of it that he fell asleep at the controls! ....

Practicing to be an airline pilot.....

Finally did something noteworthy today. Dropped into Port Townsend to pick up a 180 Supercub (early Topcub) fresh out of new cover and paint by the Port Townsend Aero Museum. First time I've ever flown one of theses things on wheels, now I see what the all the hype is about! Super fun machine with a ton of performance.

She'll be going back on floats this week so I'm glad I got a chance to play a little bit before that happens.

Couldn't resist a little detour by my favorite grass strip on the way to Seattle.

I thought that might have been you, I heard your comment about "first time on wheels" comment to the Otter pilot that was going by. I took off shortly after you in my 180. Too bad we didn't have a chance to meet.
What grass strip is that?

EDIT...looks like Vaughans.
Went in there for the first time this week (twice).
Nice, fun approach.

Man, I love landing in new (to me) places.

hotrod180 wrote:I thought that might have been you, I heard your comment about "first time on wheels" comment to the Otter pilot that was going by. I took off shortly after you in my 180. Too bad we didn't have a chance to meet.
What grass strip is that?

Vaughan Ranch


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Another .org guy stopping by to talk. Fortunately he left before I threw my oil dipstick in the lake and had to go diving for it...
(I usually use Aeroshell and Avblend only, was a little low here and found some Phillips in the garage.)



see ya Dad