This week I had a couple of guys in my class who had never flown in a small plane.  So, of course, I had to give them a ride around the Marshalltown area.

This young man is an electrical/instrumentation engineer for an oil company in Nigeria.  He enjoyed my explanation about how the controls work on an airplane... "When you push here the houses get bigger, and when you pull the houses get smaller..."  He understood pretty well.  When we were climbing out from the airport I let him have the controls and he did a pretty good job of keeping the sunny side up.  LOL

Even though it was this guys first time in a small plane, he was completely uneffected.  I'm sure he is ready to go again.

The weather didn't cooperate as much as I wish it would have...  It was pretty hazy, and within about 15 minutes, we had to beat it back to the airport to beat the evening fog, as it rolled in.

They never told me about the WIND!!!!

When we moved to Iowa in August, I never expected to be able to take my plane for a joy ride on Christmas Day.  I fully expected to have the hanger door blocked by at least four feet of snow by Christmas.  But, according to everyone around here this is a very unusual winter thus far.

December 25th, 2011, Beth and I rolled N1537J out of the hanger and took off into beautiful blue skies.  As you can tell from the picture, the wind was blowing pretty good.  Fourteen knots, gusting to eighteen, from 310 degrees.  Lucky for us Marshalltown has a runway 31 !!!

One good thing about the wind...  You can use it to make electricity!  I guess I should have known that when you move somewhere with wind farms, there is going to be a lot of wind...  Duh!

The wind farm south of Marshalltown was really working on Christmas. 

We have had a few "calm" days since then, but most every day is at the very least "breezy" here.  Last weekend we had winds of twentyfive knots gusting to forty!!!  Needless to say, N1537J stayed in the hanger.

We look forward to a lot more flying this winter.

Home in Iowa at long last...

I've really been missing "Miss Juliet" since we relocated to the middle of Iowa in August.

Last week I taught a class in the Atlanta area (Suwanee) and took the opportunity to drive down to Savannah at the end of the week and fly the girl home.

Scott Williamson picked me up early Saturday morning in Savannah, and drove me out to his hanger in Hinesville. We looked the plane over and he showed me all the things that he had done to make her better than ever. (Thanks Scott, you are great!)

At about 9:00 am EST, with 50 gallons of fuel, and all my bags and boxes of airplane stuff I left Mid-Coastal Regional airport (KLHW) and headed for Ownesboro, KY for my first fuel stop. Wright tower advisory told me that the restricted areas over Ft. Stewart was "cold" so I could proceed on course but that the Bulldog MOA (Military Operations Area) just to the north of Ft. Steward was pretty active and I should consider diverting a little to the west and over fly Dublin, GA (KDBN) then head more northerly. I contacted Savannah Approach, and they gave me a squawk code, and started VFR flight following for me. So, after a little jog to the left, we were on our way. However, the head winds at 4500 feet were killing my progress!

Soon after I left the low country, Savannah handed me off to Jacksonville Center, and just south of Dublin JAX handed me off to Atlanta Center. Just north of the Atlanta Class Bravo airspace I let ATL know that I was going to try 6500 for awhile looking for kinder winds. The extra altitude didn't help, but it didn't hurt either and since I was approaching the high ground between Atlanta and Chattanooga I decided to just cruise up there. There was a pretty solid cloud layer in the higher country, and above is always better than below, at least in my book. It doesn't take a razor sharp brain to figure out that when the ground speed hovers in the high 70's and the low 80's the next fuel stop is going to come sooner than anticipated.

After passing just east of Chattanooga, I pushed the NRST button on my trusty Garmin GPS and started looking for suitable places to buy fuel. KRNC (Warren County Airport, at McMinnville, TN) was on my route of flight and only 50 miles ahead so I used the AOPA app on my iPhone to make sure they had 100LL and get a view of the airport layout.

Isn't technology a wonderful thing?

Everything was cool so I landed drained the main vein and took on 39 gallons of fuel. With 48 gallons usable, I don't think I would have come close to Owensboro, KY like I originally intended to. While on the ground, I used another iPhone app, ForeFlight, to plot a course from KRNC to Marshalltown, IA (KMIW). I then picked a point about half way along that route and found a likely place for a fuel stop, better safe than sorry. That place ended up being Litchfield, IL (3LF). I arrived there just at dusk, took on just over 30 gallons, dropped off what seemed like a quart, and was back on my way in about 15 minutes.

The rest of the flight was beautiful. After dark the sky was coverd with stars and the ground was covered with thousands of lights twinkling like diamonds. At about 50 nm out, I could see the lights of Marshalltown and identify the rotating beacon at the airport beyond. It was a nice sight to see after such a long flight. My wife was there to meet me, and show me the way to our new hanger.

We got the girl put away and were on our way home by about 8:30 pm CST. N1537J racked up exatly 12 hours on the tach. Between the two fuel stops my total ground time was no more then 30 minutes, so tach time and actual time are pretty close.

I do want to say a special thanks to all the controllers who keep me company, kept me alert and kept me safe on this long trip. As best I remember they were as follows:

Savannah Approach

Jacksonville Center

Atlanta Center

Chattanooga Approach

Ft. Campbell Approach

Springfield Approach

St. Louis Center

Kansas Center

Chicago Center

She is ready to go again...

N1537J is ready for the air once again. I finally found an A&P mechanic that loves her as much as I do.

The instrument panel has had a slight upgrade since the last time I posted pictures. (Notice the new GPS...)

Scott Williamson has taken the time to fix up some of the interior pieces and parts that needed some TLC.

A little wash and wax has made a tremendous difference.

Little things like cleaning up and painting the wheels and landing gear parts makes it look like someone cares.

New hubcaps and some paint on the under younder makes a world of difference.

Aerobatics over Tybee Island

The weather was crappy... But the beach was packed. As you can tell from the video the horizon was pretty hard to pick out, but Denis is a pro and made the whole routine look...Well... routine!

I was just the "guy in the back" on this trip, but it was great!

The only thing that was a little weird was during the Split "S" maneuver, we pulled just over 5 "G"s on the pull out, and I experienced a partial "gray-out" for a couple of seconds. It wasn't a violent maneuver, and it was surprising how it can slip up on you. I'll remember that when I start my aerobatics training.

To Arkansas for the weekend...

This weekend Beth and I flew N1537J 18.4 hours!  We flew from Savannah, Georgia to Stuttgart, Arkansas.  Then to Heber Springs, Arkansas, back to Stuttgart, then back to Heber Springs.  Then to Manila, Arkansas and Jonesboro, Arkansas.  Then from Jonesboro, Arkansas to Columbus, Mississippi.  And finally, from Columbus back to Savannah.  We averaged just over 9 gallons of fuel per hour at prices ranging from $3.85 to $5.02 per gallon!  Not cheap, but well worth it.  One high school graduation, one baby shower and one wedding shower plus a business trip thrown in to boot!

Piper Cherokee: 50-Year History of a Classic Aircraft (HD)