Just what I needed, another airplane!

I just couldn't resist this. I've been in the low and slow tailwheel airplane fram of mind recently. So, when this little Starduster became available, I flew the RV-7 with my son, Alex all the way to Hartford, Wisconsin to check it out.  After a very brief inspection and taxiing around the airport, I bought it. No fuss, no muss, just give it to me.  Well, I actually have to go back and get it next week, since I can't fly two airplanes home.

Murky conditions along the route.

I almost didn't make the trip after checking the weather this morning at 4 a.m.  Lots of color on the radar with a convective sigmet over my route just west of Chicago. But there was a pretty good window which just required about a 30 mile deviation over to Davenport, Iowa. I filed an IFR flight plan, leaving Dewitt Spain at about 0530.  So, with the help of my trusty Garmin 696 with its XM weather radar (and some very helpful air traffic controllers who allowed me to deviate as I needed), Alex and I launched and made it to Hartford in a little over 3 hours.

Convective sigmet means deviation.

I enjoy this type of flying, too. That's the thing about aviation, whether it's speeding along cross country playing cat and mouse with thunderstorms, flying the pipeline in the helicopter, or just poking along in a little open cockpit biplane, it's all just so much fun!

The previous owner of this aircraft recently passed away. I promised his wife that this little plane has found a good home with me, and I mean it. I feel like I've adopted someone's pet. I can't wait to get it home!

Time Machine

It wasn't flying this baby that made me sweat.

I think of this airplane as an airborne version of Dorian Gray. Somewhere there must be a painting of N96710 in its real state, aged, wrinkled and faded from the years. It sits now in its hangar across the taxiway from my own hangar seemingly frozen in the condition in which it was shipped from the factory in 1946.  Well, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it's a real nice specimen nonetheless!  Anyway, the current owner, my friend, Glen, is kind enough to let me fly his airplane so that I can practice my stick and rudder skills.

This is your basic day VFR airplane!

There are no bells and whistles here. In fact there is not even a battery, so the aircraft must be hand propped to start it as they did in the old days.  Tie the tail down (or have someone sitting in the left seat to apply the heel brakes), pull the prop through about four times, make the mags hot, and she cranks with a quarter turn of the prop. The 65 horse Continental purrs.

I owned a Cessna 140 of similar vintage for a few years, and I must say that this airplane is much more pleasant to fly.  The landing gear is a bit firm compared to the Cessna, but the pitch forces on the control wheel are much less, making it easier to land.  So that's what I did - a bunch of takeoffs and landings. I prefer the wheel landing rather than the three-point landing preferred by others, but this plane will do either easily.  I am a lucky person to have friends that, for some reason, want me to fly their airplanes!

Flying to Cedar Key

The Garmin 696 shows a little weather.

The nasty (39 degrees and raining) mid December weather in Memphis depresses me enough to load up the RV-7 and, accompanied by my wife, fly south until we can find some warm air. So, after checking the weather, I filed IFR direct to Cross City Florida.  We stopped there for fuel, because our destination, about 30 miles southwest of Cross City, has no fuel.
Cedar Key is one of a number of islands located off the west coast of Florida.  The city has an area of about 2 square miles. Fortunately, there is a small airstrip located on the island.

Leaving Memphis, we were on top of the clouds at about 5,000 feet. Early winter flying in the south is some of my favorite. The air is still relatively warm, with freezing levels up over 10,000 feet, making IFR trips safe and comfortable. This is a lot different from summertime flying, where large cumulous clouds are to be avoided.  At 9,000 feet, the outside air temp was about 35 degrees, rising to the mid forties as we traveled south.  For the most part, we enjoyed a very smooth ride.

Short final to KCDK

After refueling at Cross City, we made the short jump to Cedar Key in about twelve minutes.  The 2,300 foot strip is in pretty good shape, and it's plenty long for the RV.  How nice of them to have this landing strip just so we can come down and eat clams and hang out!  As I mentioned above, there is no FBO or fuel services here, but there is a tidy little ramp to tie the plane down on.

Romeo Victor tied down

The island looks as tiny as it is. It's home to a little over 900 residents. The "aquaculture" here is primarily clam farming

Raoul ferries us to our motel in a golf cart.

We had made reservations for lodging, and the managers there are a nice couple named Raoul and Teresa.  Raoul came to the airport in a golf cart to transport us and our few bags the two miles to our destination.




Our motel turned out to be a delightful change from the standard Hampton or Holiday Inn type accommodation.  It reminded me of the little motels we stayed in when I was a child. The room was small but clean and comfortable.  And Teresa and Raoul went out of their way to make us feel at home.

Although the skies were a bit overcast when we arrived, the warm temperature of Florida lifted our spirits.  We stretched our legs and took a walk, covering the whole town in about twenty minutes.

Dinner was at the Island Hotel and Restaurant, a well known bed and breakfast and restaurant.  The  Grouper Piccata was excellent. 

The next morning was sunny and warm. So we took advantage of the beautiful weather to take a more extended tour of the island on our bicycles. For lunch we stopped at Tony's to sample the world championship clam chowder. Definitely the best I've ever had.

That evening we were able to see the annual Christmas boat parade with "Santa Clams" on his own float. Finally, dinner at The Island Room, where I finally had my fill of clams. Stuffed again!

All too soon, Sunday morning came, and we winged our way back toward Memphis.  A steady headwind of about 15 knots prompted a fuel stop halfway at Prattville, AL to stretch our legs.

All in all, it was a great way to escape the cold and spend a day and a half.  We will keep Cedar Key on or list of favorite destinations.

For more pictures:  Cedar Key Photos

Another Boston Terrier saved

My daughter, Rachel, picked up this little guy from the Memphis animal shelter on Tuesday. On Thursday, I flew him to Tullahoma, TN to meet his foster, Sue Hall.

Mr Boston finds a home.

This was a pretty short trip. I left Memphis and landed in Paragould, AR to pick up Mr Boston, a little Boston terrier bound for a new home.

Terry was the lady who delivered Mr Boston to the airport.

Mr B and I flew to Corinth, MS, where he was picked up by Tanya. He then continued on to his new home in Alabama.

Mr Bingley moves to Florida

Mr. Bingley is a nine year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.  He got the old heave-ho after the arrival of a new grandchild in the house.  Fortunately for him, there was a nice lady in Merritt Island, Florida who wanted him. So, we loaded up the RV-7 and Mr. Bingley was off to his new home.

I love small dogs like this.  He made the long flight very well, even weathering a bit of turbulence on the descent through the Orlando airspace. As you can see, he's very happy to be home.

Ten Gallons Per Pound

That's about what it took to fly Audrey, a whopping two-pound yorkie,  from her rescuer in Greenville, MS to Corinth, MS where she will get all fixed up and ready to ultimately be adopted.  She sure is a cute little thing...and very friendly!   Here are some pics of the participants.

Louise Burnside, of Burnside Kennels in Greenville, MS

Tanya, daughter of Janet Seago in Corinth.

Yours truly and Audrey

Sevier County Choppers

There is a guy the same age as my daughter sitting beside me wearing a baseball cap telling me what to do. Hunter Robinson is my instructor, and I'm now at Sevier County Choppers in Gatlinburg, TN working on my helicopter skills.  If things go OK, I'll get my commercial helicopter add-on rating some time in the next few months. It's an add-on rating for me since I already have a commercial pilot certificate (required when one gets a flight instructor certificate).  The countryside around Gatlinburg is beautiful, especially this time of year with the leaves changing color.  So, Mary came along with me to do some hiking while I'm busy hovering.

One of our off-airport landings was to a hilly pasteur with a few cows milling about.  I think one of them had a sign around his neck that said "eat more chikin."

Time For Choppers

I've always been fascinated by helicopters.  I just never found the time to devote to actually learning to fly them.  That changed this month when I cashed in some Delta Sky Miles for a ticket to Vancouver, then caught a bus to Whistler in British Columbia where I was met by Eric Ridington.  I spent the next five days immersed in helicopter training.   Eric hosted me and two other people at his home in Pemberton.  He then spent his days giving us lessons in his leased Robinson R-22 helicopter. He is doing this, in part, to build time. In fact, he is not allowed to charge for his time, as he only holds a U.S. flight instructor certificate.  So, we paid the cost of the helicopter lease plus expenses, and we were able to train at a substantial discount.  Eric turned out to be an excellent instructor.  He obviously loves flying, and that makes him my kind of guy.   This was one of the most enjoyable experiences I have had in aviation.  Being able to fly around the Canadian mountains while training was almost indescribable.

The Pemberton airfield is situated in a valley just east of the mountains where the Whistler ski resort is located. This makes for a spectacular background for flying. It was worth the trip just for the view. For some video of my week, check out the link to my Mobile Me website.

Big Dog, Little Airplane

Sassy is an 81 pound Bull Mastiff/Boxer mix who has found a new home in Antlers, Oklahoma.  The mission I had today was to get her there from Pulaski, TN. To tell you the truth, I wasn't absolutely certain that I could coax an 81 pound dog into position in Romeo Victor's available space. So, I decided to fly to Pulaski rather than have Jerry of Jerry's Rescues drive the four hours to Memphis and risk not being able to fit the dog in the airplane. I figured if Sassy wouldn't fit, I wouldn't have to feel too bad about leaving her with Jerry since he would not have to drive eight hours for nothing. This added two hours to my trip but gave me peace of mind.

Thankfully, it worked out just fine.  Sassy is a very well-mannered, lovable dog.  Here she is with Jerry of Jerry's Rescues.  Jerry said that a lot of people shied away from Sassy because they thought she had pit bull in her, but this is not the case. She may look a bit intimidating, but she has a marshmallow personality. So, Sassy gets a first-class ticket in N323RV to her new home in Oklahoma.










The day was good for flying, although it did require my instrument skills, and I had to file IFR for all three legs of the trip.  I made it to Pulaski in an hour, including shooting the GPS approach to runway 16 at Pulanski.  Jerry showed up with Sassy right on time, and Randy Jones, the airport manager, came in on his only day off just to fuel my airplane for the trip to Oklahoma.

One airborn, Sassy settled down nicely, occasionally sitting up to check out the scenery.

I used the harness that Jerry supplied me to secure Sassy to the baggage bulkhead.  This limited her forward movement so that she couldn't interfere with the flight controls.

If I had this dog, I wouldn't be afraid to take her along with me in the plane.

My trusty Garmin 696 depicts some nasty weather south of us, but we never hit a bump. It took almost three hours to cover the distance from Pulaski to Hugo, Oklahoma.  I chose Hugo because the runway at Antlers is listed as in "poor condition" on the airnav.com website. Also, the winds which were showing as 19 knots gusting to 27 knots, were directly out of the north, favoring the north facing runway at Hugo.

Rie is Sassy's new mom. Sassy jumped right into the back seat of her car, and off they went. I think she's found a new home.

I fueled Romeo Victor, filed a flight plan, grabbed a diet coke and winged off back to Memphis, arriving at about 2:45 in the afternoon.  It's been a busy week of flying, since I made the trip from Memphis to Goshen, Indiana two days prior to this trip to retrieve my friend, Wayne Breeden, who delivered a helicopter to its new owner there. And I still have a trip to Columbus, Georgia coming up this week!

Escape from the Memphis heat.

Heat indexes exceeding 100 degrees are not uncommon this time of year in Memphis. So the Missus and I decided to fly north about 685 nautical miles to the tip of Michigan to cool off at Mackinac Island.   That's pronounced "mack in aw." This was a great trip, and we will return there when it's stinkin' hot in Memphis.  For the pictures check out my Picasa link.

This was the longest single leg I have flown in the RV-7.  I generally like to keep flights to two and a half hour legs, but with all the deviating around weather, it was just over four hours to our fuel stop just short of Mackinac.  If you fly into Mackinac, I would suggest a late morning or afternoon arrival in order to avoid the fog which sometimes enshrouds the area.  Since there is no fuel at the airport, we landed at Pellston, 18 miles to the south, for fuel before continuing to Mackinac. Once there, we were directed over the radio to a parking place, although we had to steal tiedown ropes from the adjacent space.  There was no tiedown available for the tail, so I screwed my own tiedown into the rocky earth to secure the tail. The tiedown/landing fee was $42 for three days.

I had called the airport from Pellston so that we wouldn't have to wait so long for the carriage which would take us to our hotel. Turns out this was a good idea. The carriage driver was sort of surly, but I might act the same way if I had to stare at two horse butts all day.





I'm too cheap to drop the cash to stay at a place like The Grand Hotel - you could expect that from a guy who built his own airplane, I guess.  Our hotel was called Harbor View.  It was very nice at about $200 per night, including a pretty good continental breakfast. Kind of a weird room though, with sloping  angles in the ceiling, a great big jacuzzi right in the middle of the room and two bathrooms with showers at either end of the room. Mary loved the two bathrooms.




There are no motorized vehicles of any kind on the island.  Bicycle is king here, and there are literally thousands of them. Our hotel rents the basic single speed bikes with coaster brakes. You could elect to rent from one of the local bike shops if you need a fancier bike with multiple gears.  I'm accustomed to a carbon frame bike with clipless pedals which I speed around Memphis on, but it would be wasted here as there are few hills, and speed is limited by the large amount of bike traffic dawdling along on the roads. We managed to get some good excercise pedaling along on the hotel bikes.
We biked over to The Grand one morning, but we were not allowed to enter or approach the hotel. They have plenty of security to keep the riff-raff away.  I understand they will give you a guided tour of the hotel for $10.  Fat chance! I guess if I were paying to stay there, I wouldn't care for gawkers enjoying all that atmosphere for nothing!  I actually thought the sign outside was a joke.  It ain't no joke, Bub. After 6, you need a coat and tie, and no slacks for the ladies. And I thought I was prepared by bringing a shirt with a collar!

We were thinking of going to The Grand just for dinner, but, needless to say,  I did not have the appropriate attire. Having said all this, I may have to sneak back up to Mackinac during the off-season when rates are more reasonable just to stay at The Grand.

Oshkosh 2010

My friend, Tom and I made it to Oshkosh, Wisconsin for the annual aviation fly-in. The crowds were down a little bit this year, presumably due to all the wet weather this year. Still, we had a good time, and I saw a lot of old friends.

I'm not in the market for much stuff this year since I'm not building an airplane, but I still enjoyed seeing all the airplanes of all types.

For a bunch of pictures, check out the link.

AJ (AKA "Chester") goes to Hattiesburg

Condemned to death, AJ, a one year old Lhasa Apso was rescued by Roberta Harding of the Bluegrass Shih-tzu Rescue organization in Lexington, Kentucky, transported to Memphis by ground by a lady named Glenda (sorry I don't know her last name),  fostered (and renamed) by my daughter, Rachel for three days, then airlifted by me in my RV-7 from Memphis to Hattiesburg today. I was met by Linda Chance in Hattiesburg who will teach AJ some manners before he is put up for adoption in about thirty days. The picture shows Linda and the lucky dog.  There sure are a lot of nice people who care about these animals!

Ladybug Fly Away Home

I picked up a nice little kitty from Athens, GA and brought her back to Memphis. We had to divert to the Tunica airport because of some horrendous mid-day thunderstorms.










Next morning it was off to Mesquite, Texas on the outskirts of Dallas to ferry Ladybug to her new home and pick up a little sight-impaired dachshund named Harvey.  He's bound for a new home in Virginia, but he will spend a few days with my daughter's boyfriend, Jonathan, who is kind enough to foster him until his next plane ride





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Harvey seems to like people, and it appears that he forgot how to bark.  That's my kind of dog.
















It's time for summertime flying again.  In Memphis, that means playing cat-and-mouse with thunderstorms. Fortunately, the handy Garmin 696 makes avoiding these monsters much easier.

Buddy Moves to Chicago

After a week of skiing with my kids, I had a bit of a flying jones. Another doggie rescue flight was just the right fix.

This little pup ended up in a bad situation when he was no longer welcome in his home. So, off to the animal shelter he goes. Once again, an amazing network of people came together to find a new home for Buddy. Jacolyn Dadles contacted me via the Pilots N Paws website to get the ball rolling.

I left Memphis at about 0730 this morning, arriving about an hour and a half later at the airport in Wetumpka, Alabama. Mary Bray brought Buddy to me having rescued him from his uncertain fate. Buddy seemed a bit frightened at first, but settled down during the flight. He was a pretty good co-pilot, accepting treats and letting me pet him through the bars of his cage.

Enroute to Bowman Field in Louisville, I passed right over my birthplace of Gadsden, Alabama, "Queen City of the Coosa Valley."

Being from Alabama, I doubt that Buddy has seen much snow. This nice man at the Louisville airport FBO walked Buddy around for a bathroom break before his continuing journey to Chicago.

Elizabeth O'Connell had volunteered to foster Buddy if necessary, but Paul Berliner was able to make the trip from Chicago to Louisville in his Cherokee to meet me so that Buddy made it all the way to his new home in one day.

After refueling, I took off for Memphis. It was nice VFR weather the whole trip - not a ripple in the air the whole way. I got back a little before 3 in the afternoon. Tomorrow, it's back to work for six nights in the E.R.

Lab Puppies to Nashville

I made another animal rescue flight, ferrying 4 little lab puppies from Memphis to Nashville. Ferocious winds aloft made the trip from Dewitt Spain to John Tune airport a quick event with groundspeeds in excess of 230 kts (about 275 mph). The return trip, of course, was correspondingly slow.

Thanks to Linda Merideth and her "Arrf" rescue group in Mississippi for saving the pups and to Betty Mancini for driving them from Greenville, MS to my airport.

Romeo Victor To The Rescue!

Once upon a time, there were some very bad people who managed to make a living by selling puppies at a Mississippi flea market. These animals were not well cared for, to say the least. They also managed to abuse a few children along the way, resulting in the death of one. This atrocity was exposed and arrests were made. A popular television program, "America's Most Wanted" has recently shot a story about this because the culprits, Janet and Ramon Barreto, are now fugitives. During the filming of the story, a number of animals were borrowed from the Tupelo animal shelter to play the parts of some of the puppy mill dogs. One of the program's producers is Cindy Miller, who decided to find homes for all of the "actors" rather than return them to an uncertain fate at the animal shelter. One particular dog, a six year old shih tzu named Benjamin, was destined for a home with Cindy's friend, Andrea, in Columbia, South Carolina. The problem was how to get Benjamin there. I think you know where this is going.

When I was in Tampa last week, I met an administrator for the internet-based group, "Pilots NPaws." They have a forum where those needing to transport rescued animals can list the locations and desired destinations of the animals. Pilots on the forum can peruse the forum and volunteer their services to transport these critters. Experimental aircraft such as mine are no problem, unlike the other charitable aviation groups, which will not even let us carry a donor kidney. Since Pilots N Paws is a registered 501c3 corportion, all expenses incurred are tax deductible.

So, Cindy put a post about Benjamin on the web site. I read it and volunteered to take the lucky pup for a ride in my magic carpet to his new home.

I left on Saturday morning and arrived at Tupelo around 8:30. Becky Paul from the Tupelo animal shelter arrived at 9:00 with Benjamin. After a brief introduction, we packed Benjamin into my carrier and loaded him into the baggage compartment of Romeo Victor. I removed the passenger seat to make loading and unloading the carrier easier.

By the way, a Petco 300 carrier is the largest size carrier that will easily fit in the RV-7. Benjamin could actually have fit into a smaller carrier, but this is what I had, and it worked very well.

As soon as we lifted off, Benjamin turned his back to me and appeared to go to sleep. There were no accidents involving doggie excrement or other bodily fluids. He was the perfect passenger.

The weather was perfect, with a nice 15 knot tailwind going eastbound. I decided to fly to Aiken, S.C. rather than Columbia in order to avoid all the air traffic going into Columbia for the football game between the Gamecocks and the Florida Gators.

Andrea and her daughter arrived shortly after I did, bringing my lunch with them. Benjamin emerged from his carrier and took right up with his new family. He likes to be petted and obviously enjoys human company.

So, Benjamin became my first non-human passenger. It was a nice feeling knowing that I had a part in delivering him to his new home with a loving family. However, the real hero here is Cindy Miller, who found homes for Benjamin and fifteen other residents of the Tupelo animal shelter. Thanks, Cindy.