Our Day at the Lilac Farm, April 28th

Yesterday Great Grandma and the Great Grumpy awoke with itchy feet. It was a beautiful Spring day and we were in the mood for something besides laundry and lawn mowing. So we decided to go visit the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens located in Woodland WA.

Now, it just so happens that only 16 or 17 miles East of Woodland lives a family of Zimmerman's that we don't often get to see. At least, not nearly as often as we'd like! So before we left Seattle, we called these country folk and informed them of our plans to visit the Lilac Gardens and suggested we get together for lunch. They had previous obligations that would occupy them for most of the morning, but they agreed to meet us after we had toured the Lilac Gardens.

Great Grandma and the grumpy one had a leisurely walk through the Garden with Grumpy stopping to smell each different lilac and vowing to buy "one of these and one of those", except Great Grandma injected her usual commmon sense and logic with a firm "No! We don't have any room for another lilac."

The most inviting of the lilacs to the Great Grumpy was one called "Glory": it had quite large (nickel- or quarter-sized!) deep purple, flowers and a pleasant fragrance. Also seen was an attractive new variety called "Sensation" which had light lavender petals with a dark purple edges on the single petals. I don't recall that Sensation had a notable fragrance.

After our tour of the Garden, a call from the country Zimmerman's revealed that they were free of their morning obligations and would meet us at the Oak Tree restaurant. A corner booth with some food for each hungry mouth and a long visit followed. The accompanying photographs resulted from that pleasant visit. Great Grandma and the Great Grumpy look forward to seeing this gang again toward the end of July when we will be on our homeward leg of our summer's auto tour, if not before.

April 25th Update on Grandma & Grumpy's Doing's

This past weekend, we had the pleasure of having lunch at the Red Robin in Everett with Emileigh Dickinson (photo at right) from Omak. Miss Dickinson was accompanied to the lunch by her custodial parents, Mike and Jessie Dickinson, and by her Uncle Josh and Grandmother Diana.

Emileigh was on her way back to Omak after a week's visit at her birth mother's home in Marysville/Everett area. The mutual affection she shares with her custodial parents was very apparent; we think it obvious in these pictures.

The first photo was with a flash; the second was with the flash disabled. It is obvious that the back-lighting from the window fooled the camera into underexposure. I'll learn!

Two Views of Angel Falls (from the Web)

This view of Angel Falls is the best one I have found, showing it at its greatest flow. This photo, taken by Mr. Alex Dios, is impressive in that it also shows a nearly cloudless day! Rare indeed for this region during the "wet" season. (Another photo, from the top edge by Mr. Ron Mullenax, seen at the same website shows the Falls in flood stage on the near-cloudless day.)

I showed the above photo of Angel Falls and the one following to demonstrate the contrast between the Falls during the wet season and the dry season. Pictured at right below is Angel Falls at another time of year. This latter photo was taken by Reino Almarsund.

Both photos shown, as well as others of the Falls, may be found on the web. At this website, look under the lower set of thumbnails, "Photos nearby", clicking on "previous" or "next" for other photos of the Falls. Note the photographer's name above the thumbnails as you view each photograph. If interested in other photos he has taken, click the upper set of thumbnails.

Adventurous Flying – Flight Home, the Last Four Days

When we left Boa Vista, everything on the airplane was operating normally except the transponder. We had tried several different places in Brazil to get the transponder examined and fixed, but no one had the proper equipment or expertise, so we made the decision to fly back to the U.S. without an operational transponder. It would mean that “Flight Following” (a service provided by air traffic control for VFR flights) would not be available to us. It would be our obligation to contact air traffic control periodically to tell them where we were and, if requested, our altitude.

Leaving Boa Vista also meant we would soon be flying in Venezuelan airspace, a frustrating exercise in the past because the air traffic controllers there either did not know who we were or did not respond to our radio transmissions. (When a flight plan is filed, as we always did when flying over the Caribbean or the jungle, air traffic controllers on the ground are supposed be informed of our intended flight path and contact us as we enter, pass through and leave their respective controlled airspaces.) This time was no different; we didn’t hear from any Venezuelan air traffic controller for the entire time we flew in their airspace, including when we were maneuvering over Angel Falls (see previous post) despite several attempts to contact air traffic control at Canaima, a small jungle town with an airstrip, and at Cuidad Bolivar, a major city nearest the Falls.

Shortly after leaving the Angel Falls area, Bob discovered that our aircraft radio signal was weak – we were losing the aircraft 12-volt system! That meant the loss, not only of our aircraft radio communications system but also the primary aircraft-installed GPS. Fortunately, that morning I had installed a pair of the rechargeable batteries from my camera supply into a handheld Magellan GPS. Also, as was his habit Bob had been plotting our course on an aeronautical map; we knew where we were, where we had been and where we were going!

Other primary instruments, which depended on 12-volt power included the attitude indicator – I used this instrument extensively for maintaining accurate heading and for keeping the wings level when encountering instrument conditions, especially during turbulence. Okay, so we would avoid instrument conditions while power was out. We would be landing soon at Curacao where, hopefully, our power problem could be solved.

In our survival pack we had a handheld transceiver – a special unit that could communicate with all aircraft traffic controllers. We had checked it out and installed the requisite six AA batteries; what we didn’t find out until now, when we needed it, was that rechargeable AA batteries do not have high enough voltage for this old unit! We could receive but we couldn’t transmit. We could hear the ground controllers, but they couldn’t hear us. Alkaline AA batteries had we none. Our landing at Curacao would be a semi-emergency.

Bob took over the controls as we entered the Curacao airport traffic control area. We flew parallel to the runway, observing landing direction and traffic on the field. We waggled our wings at the control tower to try to gain their attention. We circled over the water in front of the control tower but out of the airplane traffic. We heard the transmissions between ground traffic control and the airplanes taxiing on the field and those taking off and leaving the control airspace. No communication was directed at us or about us.

Finally, after noting three airplanes take off and none taxiing, we entered the traffic pattern and made our approach, landing on the short end of the runway, immediately entering the first taxiway and beginning our taxi toward the General Aviation area at the other end of the field, all the while listening to the ground control frequency on the handheld transceiver. Still no one acknowledged our presence until we found ourselves taxiing in opposite directions on a taxiway with an American Airlines 737 taxiing toward us!

When we were at last observed – not by the control tower personnel, but by the pilot of the 737! – we heard him tell the tower that “something is taxiing toward us; should I hold?” The tower responded, “Yes, hold.” We taxied forward past the wings of the 737 and in front of the control tower – still no communication from them toward us – and on to the General Aviation area.

Numerous customs, fire and safety and airport operations personnel met us. We were queried as to why we didn’t announce our arrival, what was our problem, why didn’t we have aircraft power, etc, etc. The investigation concluded that evening after Bob FAX’d a report of the incident to the local Civil Aviation authority in Curacao. Bob was assured that no penalty would be assessed, nor would a complaint be made to the FAA. As far as I was concerned, I felt that the control tower personnel were delinquent in their duty to monitor ALL air traffic, in particular, a certain Mooney single-engine airplane, registration number N6704U that repeatedly circled in plain sight over the water in front of them.

We got a taxi to take us to the Holiday Resort Beach Hotel (formerly a part of the Holiday Inn franchise) that featured a casino!! Whoopee!! – NOT!! However, the room was very nice, quiet and air-conditioned, and the Denny’s restaurant next door was acceptably prompt and reasonably priced.

We had left the battery at a shop on the airport to be slow charged overnight. When I picked it up, there was battery acid on its top, indicating that it had been subjected to a high charge rate and possible overcharging. However, we cleaned the battery and reinstalled it back in the airplane. Later, when we had its condition checked, it was found to be in excellent condition with no harm done.

The planned flight from Curacao to Grand Xuma in the Bahamas was aborted after about two hours into the flight, when Bob’s navigation revealed that we still had over 500 nm to go. We had made a serious error in our distance estimate during our flight plan that morning! Both Bob and I had carefully estimated the distance at about 420 nautical miles and he had loaded only one of the two wing tanks accordingly, intending to empty the reserve tank during this leg so that it could be un-installed and stowed before we reached the mainland.

This realization caused us to revise our flight plan to land on one of the group of Turks/Caicos islands; these are to the east of Grand Xuma and were well within our limited range this day. Besides this would take us over Santo Domingo/Haiti, thus providing us with further alternatives in case of weather or other unseen circumstance.

While over Haiti, we encountered some turbulence and high clouds where the outside temperature dropped to minus 5 degrees Celsius. Bob was sitting on the sunny side so didn’t notice the cold cabin temperature; I think I caught a cold with this exposure! Shortly after coming through the clouds, we noticed that the gyrocompass was not working. No sweat – I reverted to using the attitude indicator to maintain the wings level and used the Magellan GPS (or the aircraft GPS, when available) to maintain the correct heading.

We landed at Providenciale, the capital city of the Turks and Caicos Islands, a group belonging to the United Kingdom. Again, we put the battery in a shop to be slow charged overnight and accepted the recommendations of one of the airport operations personnel for hotel accommodations for the night.

Our accommodations were at the Turtle Cove Resort hotel, a three or four-star hotel in the middle of this long, island. The hotel had a fine restaurant on the grounds, but we were surprised when we were not allowed to sit in a certain area “since we didn’t have reservations”!

After dinner, Bob and I carefully opened the gyrocompass and found a small tension spring whose hook had broken off. This caused the reset knob to be pulled into the gyro-caging position by yet another, even smaller spring. In the caged position, the gyrocompass simply ignored all the airplane motions. I carefully bent the top coil into position to act as a hook and reinstalled the spring in its proper place. We put everything back together and went to bed at about ten or eleven. Tomorrow, weather permitting, we would take off for the Florida coast city of West Palm Beach.

The next morning at 6:15, after breakfast at the restaurant, we boarded a pre-arranged taxi to take us to the airport. At the airport, I found a shop that sold me eight (two four-cell packages) of AA batteries – for US$16! I thought it a bit high-priced, but bought them anyway, knowing that we should have our handheld transceiver operable in case we lost our main communications system. I found out how high when I noted a recent McLendon’s ad for a package of eight for only $4.99.

We reinstalled the gyrocompass in the instrument panel and I set it for the approximate heading we would be using when we took off for West Palm Beach. We also re-installed the re-charged battery into the airplane and filed our VFR flight plan. We were told we couldn’t take off because, under VFR rules, there was insufficient ceiling. I suggested to Bob that we re-file under IFR rules that would allow us to take off, with the assurance that enroute, and at our destination, the weather showed VFR conditions. So, at about 8:20 we took off and turned toward West Palm Beach.

After about an hour flying in instrument conditions (with the newly-repaired gyrocompass working perfectly!), we came out of the rain and clouds at about 12,500 feet and continued on over the azure-blue waters of the Bahama Banks toward Florida. I landed at West Palm Beach on the short runway (9R) at about 1:30 pm, making another good landing. (Except for the landing at Curacao and the landing at Ubatuba, I had made every landing (16) during this visit! Bob was becoming more confident of my ability to judge the altitude and speed so that he said he didn’t have to be nervous about my landings!)

After going through Customs we moved the airplane over to Galaxy Aviation services where we were given the utmost in hospitality, with them driving us to a Holiday Inn motel near the airport and picking us up the next morning.

Being in the USA and, having an inoperative transponder meant we could not enjoy “flight following” services, so a flight plan was not required. We took off at about 8:30 and, after a zig-zag path around restricted control areas – including one around Anniston, Alabama where President Bush was expected to be visiting – I landed on the short grass strip at Moontown airport where Bob keeps his airplane when in Alabama. For me, this was the first landing on grass in about 55 years – since about 1951 or ‘52 when I was flying a Piper Supercub out of Mobridge SD! Misjudging my altitude above ground by a couple of feet, I landed a little hard, but not as hard as some of the “drop-ins” I had made before on pavement. Bob was satisfied.

My latest adventure, flying a single-engine airplane across the Caribbean and the jungles of South America with my brother Bob, was over. Many good memories will remain for years and years.

Epilogue:

The next day, Bob took the transponder to a expert at the Huntsville International airport to be retuned (its only problem!) and checked out. Then Bob and I undertook the complex task of removing enough of the cowling from around the engine so we could remove the generator (determined to be the culprit responsible for our power problems), or at least replace the brushes. After removing more cowling than turned out to be necessary, we discovered that we still couldn’t remove the generator but could, with determination and a bit of skill, remove and replace the brushes.

Both brushes were well worn (Bob said it had been two to three thousand hours – ten years – since they had been replaced) and one had lost contact with its lead wire. Reason for loss of generator verified! A quick trip to the local auto parts store to buy some “1928 Chevy” brushes, a not-so-quick installation of the brushes and reassembly of the cowling, and the Mooney was ready for a test flight. In the meantime, the transponder had been retrieved from the electronics shop and reinstalled in the panel, so this check flight would suffice for both items.

As we climbed to about 10,000 feet, we checked that both the generator and the transponder were working normally. Upon reaching altitude, we did some 360 and 180 degree, constant-altitude turns and suddenly the circuit breaker for the transponder popped out. A familiar smell filled the cabin: smoke had escaped from something, presumably the transponder (verified later). Now every one who has had experience with electronics knows that electronics are filled with smoke and when the smoke escapes, the electronics stops working.

While we were up there, Bob demonstrated his “zero-G” ability, allowing me a couple of attempts to do the same. It was very challenging – more so than I could have imagined (it takes a firm push on the wheel to obtain zero-G). Then I flew back to Moontown and I did my second grass-field landing, better than the one a few days earlier. This time I had to let down over some trees and a slightly raised area just before the beginning of the leveled landing strip. My landing was soft but the Mooney bounced ever so gently, maybe due to a little unevenness in the runway.

Back on the ground, we again removed the transponder from the panel. As I turned it over to lay it on the wing, I heard a little rattle as if there was something loose inside. Could it be a screw, lost or dropped into the guts of the transponder and forgotten? Or could it be the remains of a burned-out resistor or other component set adrift by the overheating that resulted in the smell[1].

A day or so later, Larry Holland (Bob’s friend and host whenever I visit Bob in Alabama), took me up in a 1930’s era Aeronca Champion. The Aeronca Champion is a tandem-seat, high-wing, fabric-covered airplane similar to the Piper Supercub, but with a 65 horsepower engine and fixed-pitch propeller. I wondered if I could adapt to such a low-powered airplane – the Mooney is 180 horsepower, the Stearman 220-230 and even the Supercub was 105 horsepower!

Upon gaining a safe altitude above ground (2500 feet) I made a few sharp turns and a couple of full stalls, I then performed two landings, both in a very satisfactory manner. The lightness of the basic airframe – Larry said it weighed only about 800 pounds – seemed to compensate for the fact that the engine was not so powerful. It felt not too unlike the Supercub or Stearman of my memories!

In fact, because it had a fixed-pitch propeller and a “joystick”, I felt quite at home in the Aeronca with my first three-point landing. I still have difficulty remembering to suppress my instinct to use the wheel in the Mooney to steer when I am on or close to the ground.

Two days later, on the 31^st of March 2007, I boarded the American Airlines flight taking me home to Seattle. Not too surprisingly as we approached Seatac, the Captain of Flight #1587 didn’t invite me to the flight deck to land the MD Super-83 twin-jet. (I am confident that I could have gotten it on the ground!)

Jim met me at the “Departures” level at SeaTac, giving me a ride home. Back home (Sweet Home) at last!

After being given a warm “welcome home” hug and kiss by my wife, I sought to make up for lost time by fixing the leaky faucet in the bathroom. I was informed that Jim had already fixed it! (I thought all the time that it was the HOT water that was leaking, but Jim says he changed the COLD seat and seal. I’ll have to find out how he got the hot water to stop dripping by changing the parts in the cold water faucet.)

THE END

---

[1] On Tuesday April 3, 2007, Bob took the transponder back to Bob Sellers, the expert at HSV; as of April 6 we still don’t know what the problem in the transponder was.

Adventures in Flight; the Last Four Days

Well, I intended to post the story of the final four legs of our flight from Brazil to Alabama. To make sure I had my spelling and grammar correct, I decided to write it up in MS WORD first and then copy it to my BLOG.

Guess what? By the time I finished with all the gory details of this subject, intended for this BLOG, it was over four pages! So I decided to make a suitable summary (give me a day or two) and to disclose the full story -- with pictures -- in some more suitable venue.

Like during a cross-country hike in the wilderness or over a couple of beers -- either place being where everyone wouldn't have to hear everything and those that did wouldn't have to listen. Besides, it is almost unbelievable anyway.

So, if authorized by Mother/Grandma and not censored by Uncle Bob, I will let anyone interested read the full story of the final four days "on the road" from Boa Vista to Moontown, Alabama. Just ask.

Angel Falls, Take II

Bob and I had promised each other that, having "discovered" Angel Falls on the trip down, we would navigate our return route to pass by again and see if we could get another photograph. I carefully changed out the memory and the rechargeable batteries in my camera, replacing them with fresh batteries and an empty 128mb memory card; I wanted to be sure that nothing would interrupt this opportunity to get photographs of Angel Falls!

We left Boa Vista early on this morning (24 March 2007) to improve our chances of seeing the Falls before the typical late-morning and afternoon clouds rolled in. The scattered low cumulus and zero wind gave us hope!

Bob navigated us to the 6th Parallel north of the Equator and to the east of the Wikipedia-posted 62.5 degree west longitude location of the Falls. (Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki actually gives the location as: 5°58′03″N, 62°32′08″W , a location with which we could find no fault.) From this eastern point, we turned straight west following the 6th parallel for a short distance, whereupon Bob took the controls, turning left (south) toward the canyon that contained the Falls (see GPS track in photo at right above, starting on the right; North is up). I was freed to look for the Falls and to operate my camera.

There it was!! Bob banked sharply to the right so I could get a straight shot out of the right side of the airplane. I had turned on my camera, but then discovered that it did not respond! At first I thought the batteries I had put in had discharged from non-use; I dumped them out all over the cabin floor to replace them with the ones I had taken out at the hotel that morning. That's when I discovered that one of the batteries had been installed upside down. No time to fumble around finding them all -- I got Bob's camera and took a couple pictures. One was poorly aimed and missed the Falls but captured the river from the Falls; the other is shown at right -- the Falls is a mere shower of mist in this dry season. It is just to the right of center next to the edge of a cloud.

Bob flipped the airplane on its other wing, gave me the controls, took his camera and captured another picture of the Falls through the little opening in his side of the cockpit -- no plexiglass to spoil the resolution. The Falls is that misty haze showing to the left of the dark green cliff near the center of the photo at right.

None of the pictures is as spectacular as the ones you will find on the Venezuelan tourist website (see photo on right taken from lower altitude, approximately at the level of the Tepui and the one below, taken from the ground). But these are OUR pictures and proof that we were there!

It may be easier to interpret our pictures by noticing the two parts of the Falls in the photo at right, taken from the Venezuelan tourist website. The smaller part to the right is the only one that was active when we flew by in February and March. The bigger part to the left and also visible in the photo through the trees (below) are only active during the wet season -- probably late winter (August-September).









I relish the experience and the opportunity to see this, the tallest waterfall in the world at 3212 feet -- the first 2648 feet uninterrupted!

Dugout Canoes Details

This posting is for the benefit of those wooden boat enthusiasts, including my son Jim, who might be interested in the detail of the dugout canoes I spotted on a beach near Ubatuba (see previous posting, Ubatuba).

The two middle seats were dovetailed into the gunwales, presumably to keep the beam of the canoe fixed at whatever the builder had originally established and wished to maintain. The dovetail section was held in place on these two canoes by means of modern screws, apparent by the indentations in the paint.

A third, rearward seat was cleverly fixed into a longitudinal slot on each side of the canoe. This seat could have provided the function of spreading the canoe, although there was no indication that it had been spread (as was the case with the Makah-style cedar canoe made by Lief's history class). There was no indication that these canoes had a tendency to split, although the dovetailed seats could have helped in preventing this.

The wood that I had opportunity to lift while I was in Brazil was extremely dense and heavy. I would judge that it was about the same density as concrete! Keep in mind that tropical trees do not have growth rings as we are accustomed to seeing; this may be the reason why the lumber does not split along growth lines. I have no idea why it is so dense; I thought all wood was primarily cellulose and therefore should be approximately the same density -- and float. The wood I saw certainly would not float!

The paddles were carved with a vee-shaped profile and a slightly spooned back side; the designation of a back side is based on my observation of one being used by a local native. The length of the paddle poses some question as to the reason, since the beam of the dugouts is only about one meter (40 inches). Interestingly, the paddle end had a sharp point similar to the Greenland and Aleut kayak paddles.

Plants and Animals of Brazil

Some time ago, I promised to show pictures of the plants and animals of Brazil. In particular, I said I would get a picture of the East Indian Zebu cattle that are very commonplace in Brazil. I wanted a close-up, and even went to Wikipedia to see if I could find one, but this is the best I could get -- I was on the bus from Sao Carlos to Ribeirao Preto one afternoon. The cow near the fence on the left of the photo is shown zoomed-in below. Notice the bony characteristic of her body. Yet they produce nice, lean tender beef because they are so calm and docile by nature.

This leafcutter ant showed his formidable jaws which can give the would-be predator a painful reason to let go RIGHT NOW!! Uncle Bob demonstrated this urgency in a previous experience a year or so ago at a big ant hill in the jungle next to his Tennis School.

Spiders are always fascinating, (and elusive as this guy demonstrates, trying to hide in a crack in the tile flooring) but I was able to get several flash pictures of him on the tile floor at a professor's home in Ribeirao Preto.

This blue butterfly appeared to be dead, or sick as I took several flash pictures of it from different angles. However, upon finishing with my investigative photography, it flew smartly away when someone tried to touch it.

I wanted to bring home one of the Iguana we found on Aruba (see earlier post), but I feared neither the Brazilian customs agents (past whom I would have to import it in order to have it on hand when we started home) nor the US customs agents (with whom I had to make peace when I arrived from visiting several foreign countries) would allow it.

I didn't even ask Elynor/Mother/Grandma what she thought about it! I did think that Ramiro would appreciate the thought.

Views From the Air

Last week, Uncle Bob and I began the five-day (or more, depending on weather and who-knows what else!) flight back to the USA. We had prepared the airplane the previous day, re-installing the 20 gallon bladder that serves as our reserve tank in case a flight leg goes over about seven hours, and loading all except our personal baggage.

I had suggested that we experiment with significant aft loading to see if the less-stable configuration would manifest itself in improved cruise speed and fuel economy as theory predicts. To the extent that our crew and baggage weights allowed, we did this. I am awaiting a trip summary from Uncle Bob to see if a difference was noted. Other things, about which another posting may be released to reveal, took precedence over these more mundane calculations.

The first notable view (missing under clouds on previous trips) is of the jungle between Ribeirao Preto and Alta Floresta. This is in the Amazon basin and only in the early morning are such views possible; by afternoon, these little cumulus clouds have reached maturity, many becoming booming, bouncing thunder storms!

The views over the right wingtip and over the nose through the propellor are typical of my view as the c0-pilot and de facto pilot-in-charge as we cruised at an altitude of 12,500 (called "Flight Level twelve-five" in pilot and controller lingo -- FL12.5 for short). At times during this flight from Brazil to USA we flew at higher altitudes -- up to FL15.o during one or two legs.

The reason we were able to fly at these altitudes in Brazil was because our transponder was inoperative (more on that in a later posting!) so our altitude could not be monitored by air traffic control. However, this altitude was safer than the generally-stipulated FL09.5 for VFR flights witin Brazil because this airspace is vacant except for occasional airliners climbing or descending from or to a higher altitude. It is also significantly clearer of clouds (as the pictures show, this is above most cloud tops!) than FL09.5. The air is also much smoother.

One of the most fascinating phenomenon I saw was the cloud "rivers" which appear within the Amazon basin. These formations are the result of the air being cooler over a river than over the land on either side. The warm air rises and carries moist air into higher altitudes where is condenses to form clouds. Thus, when the wind is negligible, the clouds form only over the land -- this changes of course in the early hours before sunup when the land may become cooler than the water in the river. I don't know if that ever happens in the tropical jungles in the Amazon basin -- it always seemed hot to me!!

In fact, within two days' travel, we went from 10 or so degrees south of the Equator (Boa Vista) to 20-some degrees north of the Equator (Providenciale in the Turks and Caicos islands), and cruising at an altitude of 14.5, we encountered some clouds where the outside air temperature was 5 degrees Celsius below zero!! I caught cold -- the only sickness I suffered during this whole trip.