Bring it Home

My airplane came out of the shop the other day. So I had to go and pick it up. Wife could take me of course. And we could have a nice lunch too. But I wanted to go and make a few stops and take my time checking out the plane and paying the bill. And I didn't want wife to have to wait. She was busy anyway. So I took myself in the Subaru. And parked it to pick up in a day or two. It's kind of fun that way. We can still have that nice lunch maybe tomorrow. The CherOHkee had been there almost all winter. It got an annual. And it needed some engine work, a couple of cylinders pulled down, and it was poked and prodded by the mechanics. A couple repairs, a couple AD's. The cost was about twice that off a "normal" annual. But I never get a "normal" annual. Every year I think I have made the final big repair and she should be good to go for several years. But it's tough when the airplane is 42 years old. So you could say I've bought the airplane all over again. At least. Any light plane owner has more invested than he can get back out by selling the plane. But she sure ran well. I did a ridiculously complete preflight and run-up when I picked her up. It's getting easier and easier for me to forget things. Little things. Big things. So I wanted to keep track of the keys, the logbooks, the ships papers. The chocks, the control lock etc. And it was a fair weather Friday afternoon. A few planes were leaving and a few arriving and one in the pattern doing circuits. General Aviation is dying but at least it's still going on. I took my time and let an Arrow take the runway while I sat in the small run-up block by the highway. We just used hand signals like "go ahead" and thumbs up. Even though we both had radios. When I was warmed up and the pattern got quiet, I took off. I wanted to see the engine run smooth and a good static rpm. I held the brakes with full throttle and saw what I wanted. Took off to the west over the bay shoreline. I left in full throttle. 85 mph is best rate on the little CherOHkee. With flaps up. I kept full throttle to 2500 ft. I pitched it back to 80mph. It was cool outside and the airplane was well below gross. It yeilded me about 1000 fpm By the time I got settled into a nice little "run it hard" cruise. I found myself pointing the airplane at Cambridge instead of my place. I had considered Cambridge before as my strip was a little soft. But now I was going there because I didn't want my time with 009 to end in fifteen minutes. The restaurant was open. I sat where I could look at my plane through the large windows. I ate Chili and drank diet coke. I went back to the airplane and looked it over and checked the engine for leaks. All was fine. It would get dark soon. I took off and scooted over the Choptank and the Suicide Bridge. And the Veterans Cemetery. Landed west at my place and tried to skate pretty light over a couple of soft spots. I got a few splots of mud on my stabilator. Parked in front of the shed. Then I spent the next two hours clearing out an airplane shaped space to park in. It was fun actually. It was my own toys and junk that I was moving around. Except for a few things that belong to Grandaddy. I saw a thousand hangar projects that need doing. I got the plane tucked in and put to bed. I closed the hangar doors. It was nice to have the airplane home. Next mission. Have wife drive me back to where I left my car. We will do that tomorrow and eat on the island. GA Informal. :::::+:::::