It's Sunday the thirteenth of December. I dread Christmas and look forward to it. I learned last Sunday that General Aviation is not dead! One week ago today I had the pleasure of attending a "winter hangar party" at Massey.
This is a grass strip in the northern Eastern Shore that is a quiet little place until there is an event! Sunday December 6th was forecast to be perfect weather. A lot of pent up energy among GA pilots deciding when to put their airplanes away for the winter. It was a perfect storm of activity. My friend Brian flew in to my strip to pick me up on his way to Massey. He has a beautiful Cessna 195. An antique well suited for Massey. As I watched him circle and land I had my hand- held Icom transceiver tuned to 122.9. I could hear a constant chatter from aircraft at Massey 40 miles north of me. It was a beehive of traffic and the fly-in was not due to start for another hour! Brian let me steer the 195 all the way up and that was fun. It was so crowded we just couldn't slot into the pattern. After three go arounds we finally got in. Brian did a great job and kept his cool, and I and the other two passengers felt safe, and Brian really rolled it on. I heard later that there were 170 airplanes at this "little" fly-in. The four hours just flew by. (pun intended). There were so many airplanes, they were parking them on the sides of the runway, on the cross wind runway, and the infield was packed. The famous Lindbergh 1930 Bird Winkle was there. Bush planes, RV 8's 12's 4's and more, Stearmans, Great Lakes, short wing pipers, 3 195's, Lances, Saratogas, Bonanzas, Cubs of all variations, all the usual stuff and more. So many folks I knew I could not greet them all.
The food is always great at Massey. The buffet line went all the way around the hangar. As folks waited in line they were all chatting and catching up on all the projects. It seemed as if everybody knew everybody. My wife and her dog came up by car and we sat at the "grassy knoll" and just watched airplanes come and go. The 195 had to get going and I hung around until all was quiet and rode home with wife in the Subaru. There is a Maryland state road, Rt. 313 that runs right by Massey and right by our farm. So instead of taking 301, the big highway, we followed 313 south all the way home. Through farm country. A big sunset.
all the way.
Is my Luscombe done for the winter? Apparently not. Yesterday, Saturday, another Indian Summer day, I flew up to Cheswald, Deleware Airpark It was a hangar party. Small and friendly and a wonderful group. Thanks Trey and Janice!
Cheswald is being remade into a larger airport. I have mixed emotions about that. Flight planning for me to Cheswald is made easy: bearing= 33 degrees, distance= 33 nautical miles, identifier= 33N.
I'm not going to put my plane away yet. It's 67 degrees today.
GAI :::::+:::::
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Friday, October 30, 2015
they still make McGuire's mirror glaze
I guess I haven't posted here in ten months! I still have the Luscombe. I'm still the pathetic poster boy for the "full circle" pilots. I let my 3rd class expire years ago. Ironically I can't fly all the models of the Luscome 8. The later models weigh a little over 1320 lbs. Ironically, the later models are safer, and better. Things like wing tanks, electric starters, a little more horsepower, a little newer, these things would make me safer in the same airframe, but I would need the third class medical.
I won a prize with the 8a this year at w-29. And another at Ocean City. My fly-in was cancelled and so was GED.
I blew off a big fly-in, I don't remember which one it was. But later that big day I did fly the little 8a to GED. I got fuel and ate at the restaurant, It was great. Quiet and laid back. As I climbed out over the town of Georgetown,
I saw the B25 "Ponchito" descending into the pattern. He was returning from Andrews. There were a half dozen other fly-ins that day. But I made my own little fly out. As I've gotten older, and forgetfullyer, and less tech, and less patient, I need to keep it simple. I can be nice and even charming for about 30 minutes, then need to hide.
OK time for a little friendly geezer rant:
Over my fifty years of flying I've cleaned a lot of windscreens. We all have. And I'd like to comment on what I call the "Pledge" phenomena.
I first heard about "Lemon Pledge" for airplanes about 30 years ago. It was a trade secret and apparently if you knew about it, you were sort of an old salt experienced pilot passing on this great wisdom to the rookies. It was described as the best and the only way to go when cleaning an airplane's glass. And what was really cool was that you could buy it in the grocery store, or K Mart. And it cost less than plexi cleaners at "Sporty's". But the way coolest thing about Pledge was that you, the user, were cool. You were helping the ignorant rookie and saw yourself as in on the secret. I've been told about pledge now for 30 years. If a pilot sees you cleaning your windscreen or waxing your leading edges, to this day, he will likely tell you about it. Pilots almost never assume you probably already know about pledge. I don't use Pledge on my airplane, but I have used it over the years, when it was handy. I never recommended it to anyone else, so I didn't get to be in the secret, (not so secret), cult.
One of the least important factors in cleaning a plastic window is the polish you use for the finishing touch. I'm not going to describe how I clean plexiglass. Everyone has their techniques. But no one should use a polish to "clean" a window. Including the sacred Pledge.
A year or so, maybe two, ago, I was using pledge and noticed that it was not "lemon". I was using it on wood, and my wife told me she hadn't seen "lemon" in the stores in a long time. Also she said it wasn't as "waxy"
anymore. I looked at the can. The can was the same, but different. Now there are lot's of Pledge choices in the stores. There is a "multi surface" Pledge. An "Antibacterial" Pledge, etc. I called the 888 number on the can. I asked the man if I could use the "new" pledge products on plexi. He said if it doesn't say it on the can, he can not guarantee it is safe on plexi.
If you stop using Pledge you can still be an old pro. You can continue to warn airmen and machinists about the dreaded Windex and the dreaded paper towels!
GAI :::::+:::::
I won a prize with the 8a this year at w-29. And another at Ocean City. My fly-in was cancelled and so was GED.
I blew off a big fly-in, I don't remember which one it was. But later that big day I did fly the little 8a to GED. I got fuel and ate at the restaurant, It was great. Quiet and laid back. As I climbed out over the town of Georgetown,
I saw the B25 "Ponchito" descending into the pattern. He was returning from Andrews. There were a half dozen other fly-ins that day. But I made my own little fly out. As I've gotten older, and forgetfullyer, and less tech, and less patient, I need to keep it simple. I can be nice and even charming for about 30 minutes, then need to hide.
OK time for a little friendly geezer rant:
Over my fifty years of flying I've cleaned a lot of windscreens. We all have. And I'd like to comment on what I call the "Pledge" phenomena.
I first heard about "Lemon Pledge" for airplanes about 30 years ago. It was a trade secret and apparently if you knew about it, you were sort of an old salt experienced pilot passing on this great wisdom to the rookies. It was described as the best and the only way to go when cleaning an airplane's glass. And what was really cool was that you could buy it in the grocery store, or K Mart. And it cost less than plexi cleaners at "Sporty's". But the way coolest thing about Pledge was that you, the user, were cool. You were helping the ignorant rookie and saw yourself as in on the secret. I've been told about pledge now for 30 years. If a pilot sees you cleaning your windscreen or waxing your leading edges, to this day, he will likely tell you about it. Pilots almost never assume you probably already know about pledge. I don't use Pledge on my airplane, but I have used it over the years, when it was handy. I never recommended it to anyone else, so I didn't get to be in the secret, (not so secret), cult.
One of the least important factors in cleaning a plastic window is the polish you use for the finishing touch. I'm not going to describe how I clean plexiglass. Everyone has their techniques. But no one should use a polish to "clean" a window. Including the sacred Pledge.
A year or so, maybe two, ago, I was using pledge and noticed that it was not "lemon". I was using it on wood, and my wife told me she hadn't seen "lemon" in the stores in a long time. Also she said it wasn't as "waxy"
anymore. I looked at the can. The can was the same, but different. Now there are lot's of Pledge choices in the stores. There is a "multi surface" Pledge. An "Antibacterial" Pledge, etc. I called the 888 number on the can. I asked the man if I could use the "new" pledge products on plexi. He said if it doesn't say it on the can, he can not guarantee it is safe on plexi.
If you stop using Pledge you can still be an old pro. You can continue to warn airmen and machinists about the dreaded Windex and the dreaded paper towels!
GAI :::::+:::::
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