25 April 2014; Shannon Airport VA--
Today, Uncle Bob took off to fly to Fayetteville SC to visit his friend and sometime boss, Daryush. I playfully cautioned him to "be careful with my airplane".

I felt pangs of loneliness as he flew away; these feelings were to be quickly abated by the exciting things I was to experience subsequently, as the reader will perceive if you continue to follow this BLOG.

My Son Ward and I took the following photos of Bob's departure. The first photo shows his and Ward's goodbye after the push-back from the fueling station.

The next two photos show: 1.) The Mooney accelerating down the runway at the point at which I predicted it would leave the ground, and, 2.) The Mooney lifting off the ground, far down the runway.

Ward is Awarded by Flying with Ward

23 April 2014; Shannon Airport VA --

Today Uncle Bob awarded me with one of the greatest opportunities of my life: Bob insisted that I -- not he -- fly my #1 Son Ward around the area on a windy day here in Virginia! It was one of those historic flights that happen too infrequently in one's life.

The sky was clear and the wind was blowing at about 20 knots out of the North Northwest. A check of the Left wing tank revealed a nearly-full tank; this was considered very adequate because we were planning on a fairly short flight around the area within 5 or ten miles of the Shannon Airport.

A preflight check was performed revealing that the Mooney was "rarin' to go" -- as usual! The runway of choice was number 06 [magnetic heading of 60 degrees]. This meant the wind would be about 60 to 70 degrees into our left wing. As the Mooney accelerated down the field, I remembered the lesson I had learned a few days ago when I took off with an even more severe cross-wind flying out of Billings MT; this time I turned toward the wind when the airplane became light on its wheels as it neared airspeed. The result was a skid sideways down the runway centerline and a normal takeoff when full flight speed was achieved! I got the gear retracted quickly, the flaps stowed and the engine throttled back for our climb to the desired altitude of 2,000-2,500 feet.

I pointed out some landmarks to Ward and we joked about the turbulent air through which we were flying. I flew downwind parallel to the air strip for about five miles, then after calling Shannon airport traffic I began my base leg for a long approach to a landing on the same runway we had taken off from. Another aircraft somewhere in the vicinity announced his position as three miles upwind for landing on "33" [that would be the turf runway approximately perpendicular to the paved one on which I intended to land; I realized that we should have no conflict and that I had priority by reason that I had announced my intention first]. I lowered the gear to slow the airspeed, pushed the propeller speed-control to full speed and the mixture to full-rich. I announced to Ward that I was going to use only two pumps [instead of the normal five] flaps for landing as I intended to land at a higher than normal airspeed since I was anticipating gusts as we approached touchdown.

As we crossed the numbers and threshold for runway 06, I had the Mooney cocked about 20 degrees to the left, into the wind. As we touched down, the tricycle gear steered the aircraft into alignment  with the runway and we were able to depart the runway less than halfway down to park again at our tie-down spot.

I thanked God, my Son Ward and my Brother Bob for this memorable occasion!!

Ward Wanders into Ward's (Son!) Territory

21 April; Virginia Mansion by Maddox Creek --

Monday morning Bob and I took off from Billard Airport in Topeka for "points East". Bob occupied the left (Captains') seat and demonstrated the superiority of his calm confidence in command of the Mooney, honed by years and hours of experience in the cockpit of the Mooney and his previous Piper Pacer airplane.

He piloted the airplane to 15.5k feet where I eventually fell asleep for a short nap as the Mooney hummed along at a ground-speed of 140-150 knots. [The deficiency of Oxygen at this altitude clearly demonstrated to me that I must limit myself -- when I am flying solo -- to more benign altitudes of 12-13 thousand. Remember that, at 18k, half of the Oxygen is below you!]

We stopped in Cole's County airport in western Illinois to refuel before again climbing to 15.5k to cruise on into Shannon airport in Fredericksburg VA. Ward and Peggie arrived 20-30 minutes before we landed, and welcomed us to their State and home. [I admired these Creeping Phlox that were beautifying the landscape near the entrance to this Virginia Country Mansion.]

The next few days will be one interesting thing after another. I hope you enjoy my stories of this visit.

Ward's Wanderings, Chapter 2 -- April 18-19

Out and About Topeka; April 18 & 19---

This morning [Friday], with encouragement via an e-mail from my Great Niece Kristi Bobek, Bob and I took off from Ankeny Airport to fly in a Southwesterly direction to Topeka KS. The weather looked perfect -- a "marginal VFR" icon over Topeka looked out of place -- but we decided to fly anyway and divert to an alternate if it was really that bad. [A later telephone contact with Niece Kathy confirmed that blue skies prevailed over Topeka!]

A one-hour thirty-six minute flight brought us to a smooth landing at old, historic Billard Airport. We were met by Kathy and Great Niece Kristi Bobek! We all found a restaurant open to have lunch together until Kristi had to leave in time to pick up her children and get home.

Adalyn, Karen, Grayson

Kathy invited us to stay in her nearly-empty home [only youngest Jeremy is still at home, finishing up High School]. We gladly accepted, with hopes that tomorrow and Sunday we will get to see almost all of the kids -- and Grandkids! -- of this exemplary family.

As we arrived at Kathy's house, we were met by husband Lou, and then soon by Great Niece Karen's children [Landon, Grayson, Owen and stunningly blue-eyed baby Adalyn], and Karen's husband Lewis.

The next day (Saturday), Niece Joan and her husband dropped over to say hello. I saw Joan when she was about five days old in Hartford City IN, in 1945; at the time I was stationed at Glenview Naval Air Station, just north of Chicago, and another Navy Cadet who lived in Hartford City, offered me a ride down and back as he was going to visit his folks on a "long weekend".

Tomorrow promises to be even more interesting [with many Hurla descendants in attendance!]. See continuing "Wanderings" for what happens next!

Ward's Wanderings; April 14-17

Mid-April; Seattle WA to Des Moines IA ---

Uncle B and I took off from the Mooney Base at about 0830 Monday morning (14 April) for "points East". Flying at 13,500, with a tail-wind sometimes in excess of 50 knots, we arrived in Billing MT about noon-thirty to refuel. We landed on a 5,000 foot runway rather than the "regular" one which was 10,000 feet. This minimized the cross-wind -- and associated gusts -- so that I made a decent landing.

After refueling, I was instructed by Ground Control, to taxi to the long runway for Take-Off. The wind had not subsided -- in fact, if anything, it had grown stronger and more gusty! As the Mooney gained airspeed down this long runway, I suddenly became aware that it was being pushed toward the right turf! A quick sequence of logic, and a glance at the airspeed indicator, led me to instinctively pull back on the yoke and prematurely "lift" the aircraft into the air; the stall warning screamed at me, but the Mooney continued to accelerate as I eased off on the yoke and allowed it to remain airborne.

In retrospect, [and next time!] I should have used the left rudder to steer into the wind, instead of steering toward the skid [automobile tactic!].

With continuing blue skies, we landed in Spearfish at about 1500 that afternoon -- again aided by the tail-wind at 13.5k. We rented a car [A Subaru, Heidi!!] and went to our motel from where we contacted our Cousin, Bitsy. Another Cousin Kay was there, and after a short visit, we all went out to dinner at a casino/restaurant where they served pot roast and delicious Rib-Eye steak -- medium rare!!

Jack, Bob, Bitsy, Jim, Ann, Kay

The next day, Tuesday, Bitsy had arranged for a "Cousin Party" which included Cousins Jim and Ann, and Ann's husband Jack. We all returned to Bitsy's place to have a delicious German-Chocolate style cake with ice cream. More visiting until Jack and Ann had to leave for their home at about 1800 that afternoon/evening.

Wednesday morning at sunup found Uncle Bob and I up for an early breakfast and a study of the weather. It had turned overnight into a gray day, not unlike Seattle. However the clouds were fairly low at about five thousand feet with an obviously sunny day above. After fueling up -- now with a little sunshine coming through the breaks in the clouds -- I took off for Des Moines. Bob vectored me around to remain in sight of I-90 and other identifiable points on the ground below. We topped out at 15.5k to clear the tops of all the clouds below us and giving us a smooth flight. In just over four hours we landed at Ankeny IA; a tail-wind at that altitude helped us along.

Ankeny Airport is NNW of downtown Des Moines. The winds on the ground when I landed were about 25-35 knots, but almost directly from the South -- runway 18, on which I landed, is magnetc South, so there was little cross-wind with which to contend. However, there were eddies of wind as I approached touchdown which moved the airplane left and right making the landing (on the runway!) an interesting challenge. Bob says I am a better pilot than he, but I don't believe it; he has much more experience, both in the Mooney and in the air.. Nevertheless, any landing from which the pilot and co-pilot walk away smiling is a good landing

We rented a car [a 'miniature "baby buggy" of a Chevy -- you would stick out all over, James!] and drove to Aunt Hazel's house where we were welcomed royally -- and with her typical "left-handed" chiding me about not calling when we landed so she could come pick us up.

Today (Thursday), we did some shopping and thought about where we fly tomorrow -- or Saturday. The winds have subsided and this afternoon in Des Moines has blue skies again.

More in coming days!!

I landed at Ankeny IA -- a few miles NNE of downtown Des Moines.

January "Stupidity" Report

28 January 2014; Grumpy's Castle --

It has been awhile since I have posted anything exciting [as if everything I post isn't exciting!], so I thought I ought to try to summarize all of the mischief up to which I have been, [aided and abetted by one kid brother!] since last I whined about other people -- mostly my descendants -- trying to dampen my enthusiasm for doing stupid things. Like driving to Mt Hood for breakfast on New Year's morning.

As previously reported, Uncle Bob [aka, kid brother] has been at the Castle since he and his bride [Adelaide] left the ski slopes in early January. As if I needed help in coming up with crazy -- let's call it like it is -- STUPID things to do, brother Bob is of great help in adding to and enhancing the fun of living "on the edge". That "edge", since last March 2013, now involves the Mooney. I sometimes refer to it as "our" airplane, although you should all know that it belongs to Bob -- except the cost of keeping it in the air with 100 octane low-lead fuel, and miscellaneous small parts and materials, while it is "home-ported" at Crest Airpark.

Typical mid-winter Seattle weather has kept us grounded much of the time. However, we managed a three-day excursion to the South a week or so ago. We flew to a fine airport* at Troutdale OR and rented "the smallest car" available [a four-door Ford F-150 pickup] at the airport, in which we drove up to spend two nights at Fort Bale.

At Fort Bale, besides being fed very generously with "Gourmet Food" ala "the Swede", we were also treated to a sound thrashing by the two Great Grandsons in lively games which they had acquired in recent Christmas and/or birthday celebrations. Restful sleep was afforded by both boys giving up their respective Queen-size beds to comfort we two "elderly" guests.

The third day, we drove from Fort Bale to Estacada OR where Granddaughter Amy, and husband John, lives with her five-boy, one girl flock. The two older boys (Malaki and Amos) were in school, so we missed seeing them. However, I got to hold my youngest Great Grandson Samuel and enjoy his cheerful demeanor.

Another treat was being welcomed by Great Granddaughter Elianna, who liked the fact that I had no beard -- as I had previously promised when I saw her last October near the end of our "Around the USA in the Mooney". Elianna pointed at my mustache as if to say, "How about that flea-infected briar patch?" However, when I questioned her about her opinion as to whether or not I should shave it off as well, she responded with a reassuring grin that "it was OK to remain".

At various times, this Great Grandfather got to hold more than one Great Grandchild at once. Since I enjoy the interplay with small children, I treasure each of these opportunities and look forward to them each time I visit one of my Grandchildrens' families.

The third day, we returned to Troutdale airport and flew back to Crest. Again, the East wind was brisk at Troutdale as we took off; this made for a quick lift into the air and a fast gain in altitude without much movement over the ground before we turned North for our homeport.

* The winds aloft were of no consequence on our flight from Crest to Troutdale. However, as we entered the "Columbia Gorge" area, a 25-35 knot wind [the wind velocity variation was due to gusts!] from the East greeted us and made for a sporty landing! I diminished the effect of the gusty conditions by making my approach and landing with minimal wing flaps and a higher than normal air speed. The head wind as I touched down resulted in a speed over the runway that was slower than normal. Taxiing up wind to the tie-down area involved a judicious control of airspeed during taxi so as not to take to the air again! A great experience!!

Around the USA in a Mooney

10 September thru 10 October 2013; Various daily locations--

As part of this flight around the United States, Grumpy diverted to Turkey with Uncle Bob and his lovely wife, Adelaide. But that story will have to wait; tonight I want to tell you about Bob's and my adventure in the Mooney [his airplane, but with my newly earned "Complex Aircraft Certification", I got to fly it!]. We left the Mooney's home base here in the Northwest early on a foggy morning September 10th. We refueled in Billings MT and stopped for an overnight at Clyde Ice Airfield in Spearfish SD. While in Spearfish, we had dinner out with our cousin Bitsy. "My bad" is that there are no photos from that meeting.

The next morning, we took off for a relatively leisurely flight to Ankeny IA [near Des Moines]. Sister Hazel met us at the airport and we stayed a day or so at her house before catching the "midnight bus" to Chicago for our flight to Istanbul Turkey. The bus ride turned out to be almost an all night affair, as traffic and a blow-out tire on the bus conspired to delay our arrival at O'Hare airport until almost six o'clock the next morning, 12 September. We joined Adelaide at O'Hare where the three of us were to board our plane for Istanbul scheduled to depart about noon that day.

Seven days later, we arrived back at O'Hare after an exciting and eventful six days seeing the sights and experiencing the sounds, foods and smells of Turkey. Again we [Bob and I] took the express bus back to Des Moines where we spent a few days visiting with Sister Hazel. We wanted to convince Hazel to accompany us in the flight around the Eastern parts of the USA. She finally agreed when enticed by the promise of a visit with her daughter-in-law, Siv, and her Grandchildren in Champaign IL; also her younger daughter Kay in Blacksburg VA, as well as getting to visit her Niece Jane in MD, her Nephews David in NC and Ward in VA, and a "Mystery" cousin, Willa, whom none of us had ever met, in Savannah GA.

Uncle Bob visiting with Kari;
Aunt Hazel listening in background

We flew the Mooney on 27 September from Ankeny to the Champaign airport, where we rented a car for the drive into Champaign to meet Siv. [All flights for the remainder of this Post will be in the Mooney, with Grumpy as "Captain" and Bob as "Navigator".] We enjoyed a very pleasant evening dining and visiting with Siv, Kari, Sofie and Olaf. Bob and Kari seemed to have a particularly good interchange. Grumpy's hearing handicap prevented him from overhearing enough to comprehend the context of their discussions. We stayed this night in a motel about 50 miles West of Champaign; some kind of event at the U of Illinois had all of the nearby motels booked solid.

On the 28th of September we flew to Blacksburg (Western Virginia Tech Airport). Kay picked us up and we had dinner together. We also visited Kay's horse ranch where she has a large [larger than she would like, if you ask her!] number of horses. Most are "Pony of Americas" [a registered breed developed from Appaloosa and Welsh pony -- with a little Quarter horse stock thrown in], but several are Norwegian "Fjord" horses.If Grumpy had a larger acreage -- or had a fence around what he has! -- he would sure like to have a pair of the Fjord's! [I could sell the lawn mower, and not have to hire a kid to mow my lawn next Summer!]

The next day, the 29th of September, we flew to Fayetteville SC, where we rented a car for use for the next two or three days. First, we were to meet Bob's friend and sometime boss, Dr Daryush Ila. While waiting for Dr Ila, we toured some of the historic sites in the town of Fayetteville. 

After breakfast the next morning, 30 September, we drove North to Raleigh NC to have dinner with Bob's son David and wife Julie. After dinner, we drove back to our hotel in Fayetteville.

The 1st of October found us flying from Fayetteville to Savannah GA. We rented a Prius this time; Grumpy [the designated driver] was befuddled for several minutes before he figured out how to start this car without a key and how to shift gears with the seemingly unresponsive shift knob. With that confusion settled and after reserving motel rooms for the night, we phoned for directions from our Cousin Willa and ventured forth into the suburban wilderness to find where Willa and her husband Chuck live. 

Grumpy, Cousin Willa, Uncle Bob, Aunt Hazel
 Chuck Baisden

This visit with our "long-lost" Cousin Willa had the most surprises for us of any that we experienced on this entire trip! Her husband, Chuck, is a veteran (one of the last four living!) of the famous Flying Tigers group that flew out of Burma, over "the Hump", prior to our entry into World War II. Willa is a couple of years older than Grumpy, but she is a lot nicer than Grumpy ever was. 

Chuck is a few more years older, but is still able to navigate on his own. He authored a book* about his experiences as a Master Chief Sergeant in the "Flying Tigers" [the American Volunteer Group (AVG)] and its subsequent organizational names and assignments of duty. The artifacts from his affiliation with that group as well as other items he has collected as a hobby since retiring, fill an entire room in their house. It was a great honor and privilege to meet this man and a pleasure to finally meet our cousin, with whom Grumpy has been corresponding via e-mail for the past year or two.

Willa called a local eatery from which we enjoyed some of the foods for which Savannah is famous, including crab cakes. 

After a good visit and receiving an autographed copy of the book that Chuck authored, we drove the Prius back to the motel for our night's rest. The next morning, Grumpy recorded over 60 miles of driving and had to "click off" the gas pump four times in order to get it to take more than one gallon of gasoline.

Aunt Hazel, Neil, Ward, Jane, Uncle Bob

On 2 October, we flew northwesterly from Savannah to Fredericksburg VA where Ward met us and drove around most of the D.C. "going-home" traffic to get us to Frederick MD where we met Bob's daughter Jane, and husband Neil. We enjoyed dinner and a visit with them, and then stopped by their home and Jane's downtown studio for a look at some of her stained-glass artwork. She markets her glass art work under the name of Trilobite Glassworks. [Jane is a Paleontologist and a student of microbiology.] Some of her art features enlarged realistic images  of such things as microbes and malaria germs. [How would you like to eat your dinner on a plate in which were embedded images of typhoid larvae?]

Stratford House; birthplace of Robert E. Lee

After our visit with Jane and Neil, Ward drove us back around D.C. to his and Peggie's home near Colonial Beach VA where we were warmly welcomed, fed and watered. We stayed two nights in Ward and Peggie's home. Ward drove us to some historic sites which were not open due to the government shutdown. One memorable site that was open (owned and operated by a private foundation) was Robert E. Lee's birthplace. Ward also drove us to the site where John Wilkes Booth was captured (and killed); he and Peggie took us to an excellent restaurant in the village of Colonial Beach where we enjoyed crab cakes and other special seafood dishes.

The Mooney at Fredericksburg

On 4 October, Ward drove us back up to the airport at Fredericksburg where we departed for the 300-mile flight down to Huntsville AL, landing on the turf strip at Moontown. Bob had some things he wanted to drop off there, as well as some things that he wanted to pick up from there. Hazel stayed in the home of Bob's friends in Huntsville [which he "house sits" when he is in the U.S. and they are at their home in Brazil]; Bob and Grumpy checked into a motel nearby.

The Mooney at Moontown;
Time for an oil change

After breakfast on 5 October, Grumpy ferried the Mooney over to a paved runway about ten miles from Moontown. This was because Grumpy was uneasy about attempting to take off from the turf strip with the near-limit gross weight we would be carrying in the Mooney for the long flight to Ankeny IA. On the way from Huntsville to Ankeny, we had to dodge through a frontal system that was sweeping across the Mid-continent. With Bob navigating, including monitoring the lightning detector instrument, and directing Grumpy's flight path, we were able to negotiate the front without incident.

Bob and Grumpy spent a couple nights at Hazel's home visiting and helping collect fruit and vegetables for canning before setting out on our flight West to home base. We took advantage of this opportunity for viewing and photographing Hazel's cacti that were blooming in an outside cactus garden.

Grumpy called our Cousin Bitsy, who lives in Spearfish, to check on the local conditions there, as this would be our first stop for an overnight before embarking on the long flight leg over the Rocky Mountains and Cascades.  Bitsy informed me that the Northern Black Hills had suffered a four-foot snowfall with winds which piled up drifts such that I-90 was closed from Chamberlain to Gillette WY! Clyde Ice field in Spearfish would likely not be open and, even if it was, there would be no ground transportation to enable us to get to a motel, and obviously we would not be able to visit our Black Hills cousins. 

Dahl Lungren, Uncle Bob, Cousin Barbara Lungren;
Mooney at Broken Bow

A "southern route", through Nebraska and southern Wyoming, was deemed more appropriate. Hazel informed us of some cousins who live in Broken Bow NE; Grumpy thought of his Granddaughter, Amy and family who live in Oregon! So it was that Bob and I took off on 7 October for the two-hour flight to Broken Bow. We met our heretofore unmet Cousin Barbara and her husband, Dahl Lungren. Cousins Darry and Marvin Weber, with their wives, Dolores and Gaylene, drove up from Arnold to visit with us also.

After our overnight stay in the Arrow Hotel in Broken Bow, Barbara and Dahl met us for breakfast the next morning and then came out to the airport with us. Dahl showed us his crop-spraying aircraft and a beautifully-restored Cessna that belonged to their son. He also used his on-field ATV to tow the Mooney over to the fuel station, thereby taking a strain off of Grumpy's still-healing back if we had had to push the aircraft over to the station.

"Great Grumpy" and newest
Great Grandson Samuel

We flew from Broken Bow to Boise ID for an overnight in a nearby motel. The next day, 9 October, we flew from Boise to Valley View Airfield near Estacada OR. An airfield resident spotted us after we landed and kindly gave us a ride to the Fox Motel in Estacada where we booked our room for the night. Amy's husband, John, picked us up on his way home that afternoon and we had the pleasure of a home-cooked meal in Amy's house, as well as a good, long visit with Grumpy's Great Granddaughter, Elianna and her four brothers, Malachi, Amos, Ezekiel and Daniel -- Grumpy's newest Great Grandson, Samuel, who Grumpy saw for the first time since his birth in early September, was sleeping and didn't have much to say even when he woke up later.

Daniel, Elianna, Ezekiel, Amy, Uncle Bob;
Mooney at Valley View Airport

On 10 October, we left Valley View with our intended destination being the West coast Mooney base. However, as we neared our destination, we could see that low-lying clouds made our approach and landing prohibitive [we are both VFR-rated pilots and in any case the visibility on the ground would have prevented an instrument landing given the equipment in the Mooney].  We turned back to land at the Troutdale airport where we remained overnight,  booking a motel on the other side of the field from where the Mooney was tied down.

On the 11th, after watching the satellite weather picture, hoping for a break in the cloud cover to the North, we finally decided to take off with sufficient reserve fuel to fly all the way to Arlington airport and then return if necessary to Troutdale. As we flew over the Seattle area we saw that the low cloud cover persisted. However, as we approached the areas further north, the cloud cover had been pushed south by the prevailing air currents and we were able to make a clear landing at Arlington. A quick call to daughter Susan got us a ride to her home where we enjoyed her usual hospitality of dinner and a place to sleep overnight.

The 12th of October dawned with the promise of good flying all over, so Bob and I took off for the last leg of our long and divergent flight home from "Around the USA in the Mooney".

*"Flying Tiger to Air Commando", by Chuck Baisden [Schiffer Publishing, Ltd]

The Grass Short-Field Landing and the One Hundred Dollar Lunch

27 July 2013; Landing on Grass --

I invited my #2 Son to fly with me this Saturday to visit the people that live in the Straw House, "Fort Bale". Without hesitation, my Son enthusiastically accepted my invitation. Little did he know what he was to experience!

We had agreed to meet early in the morning; as experienced pilots know, the cool, calm air of the early morning is favorable for aircraft performance as well as beneficial in the ride comfort department. We arrived at the home field (home to the Mooney, that is) a little after o7oo; the code-secured gate was open!

After preflight-checking the aircraft to ensure its airworthiness, and refueling with twenty or so gallons of low-lead aviation gasoline, Grumpy continued with the in-cockpit preflight check list and, after running up the engine to check that both sets of sparkplugs were firing clean, he radioed for take-off clearance and pushed the throttle to the firewall. The 180 horsepower Lycoming pulled the little airplane down the paved runway and we lifted off into a beautiful blue sky towards Rainier.

As we climbed in the cool morning air, Grumpy pointed out the procedures required to maintain proper engine operation (keep cylinder head temperature below 400: add more air speed); lean mixture as density altitude allowed; adjust throttle to maintain intake manifold pressure in inches equal to engine RPM in hundreds. And be sure that the "far hoizon" is rising relative to the "near horizon". That's to be confident that our climb rate is sufficient for us to clear the jagged terrain that comprises the near horizon.

Grumpy's initial course was a little to the left of Rainier. He had flown this route several times before and knew that the view of this snow-enshrouded queen of the Cascades would be spectacular from the East and South sides at this time of day. We were soon at our cruising altitude of 10,500 and on the Southeast side of Rainier. From here we could see Mt Adams, Mt St. Helen's, Mt Hood and Mt Jefferson (both the latter in Oregon).

As we rounded Rainier, staying near the boundary and at a "respectable" altitude so as to not interfere with the wilderness experience of those people on the ground below, Grumpy set his course for the destination field, "Cedar North" in southeast Battle Ground. This course took us on the southeast side of Mt St. Helen's -- close enough to easily detect the topography of the ridges and ash flow paths down this side of the mountain. We could also see Spirit Lake beyond St. Helen's.

As we passed St. Helen's, we could see nothing but a "sea" of clouds covering the landscape to the South and West. Grumpy had been advised of this situation before we left, but he figured that it would either be thin and broken, or be breaking up as the sun's warmth dissipated the clouds. Neither situation greeted Grumpy's eyes as he gazed across this puffy surface of low-lying clouds; however he saw what looked like a "hole" in the cloud cover somewhat to the North and West of his destination. He checked his Aviation Chart to confirm that the land area in the area -- and all the way South and East to his destination -- was at and below 1000 feet msl (mean sea level).

As we neared the "hole", it appeared to be only a depression in the cloud tops; Grumpy opined, "This doesn't look good." He added throttle to stop his descent and considered his #2 alternative: continue southwesterly to the far edge of the cloud cover (roughly at the Columbia River) and then drop down and fly back toward Battle Ground underneath the clouds.

But as we flew over the depression, we both could see terra firma beneath! Grumpy readjusted the throttle for a continuing descent as he made a gentle turn to his left to remain within the hole clear of the surrounding clouds. The bottoms of the cloud cover was at about 2000 feet msl, so once we were below the clouds, Grumpy set his course direct to "North Cedar", the grass strip on which he planned to land.

"Trees are not as far away as they appear to be!"

The field was not easily identified since there were no aircraft or obvious hangars on the site. But Grumpy discerned a mowed strip about 2000 feet long that he realized was what he was supposed to land on. Making the perfunctory radio communications (with non-existing other aircraft!) he lined up his approach to land on "runway 26". As he neared the threshold he beheld a couple of tall trees; a little power to keep from hedge-clipping them and then a 70 knot airspeed to achieve a steep glide path to touchdown. 

"That's not as far down to the end as it may appear!"

As soon as ground contact was made, maximum brakes were applied to stop us at the far end of the runway. [Grumpy later found that over-run provisions included a filled ditch and a continuation into an Alfalfa field on the other side of a narrow, paved driveway.]

Grandson "Stretch" was there to meet us and take us to the newly-developed "town center" where we later met the Swede and Grumpy's two tall, blond Great Grandsons.

We had a delicious lunch in the local "Public House", with Great Grandson J having the "Steak of the Day" [a big -- according to our server; not according to this Porterhouse-eating young man! -- 8 ounce flat-iron steak] and everyone else getting their choice of items on the menu. Grumpy had invited this gathering for lunch, so of course he paid. [The biggest expense, though was the cost of the flight down here! But it was also part of the pleasure.]

Swede, Stretch, GGs A., GGs J. (on wing), #2 Son, Grumpy

Number 2 Son and his Dad are already plotting their next flight adventure.

Up In the Air

22-23 July 2013; At and Above Sealevel --

As I promised earlier -- but have been delayed writing this! -- I have had some more adventures in the Mooney. I don't have suitable photos to show all of my antics in the air, so the reader will have to rely on their imagination to picture the situation based on my verbal descriptions.

On Monday (22 July), I put 20 gallons of fuel in the right tank (capacity 24 gallons), and topped off (i.e., filled to the brim) the left tank. The sky being clear blue, and the horizon being visible as far as one could see, my destination was the little town of Cle Elum, just East of the Cascades. My "ulterior" motive was to check out the airstrip for this town with the hopes of flying my good and long-time friend, Margaret, over there some day to have lunch and a visit with her daughter who lives there.

Wind was light on this, the "Wet" side of the Cascades. However, as I reached 8,500 altitude and was cruising, I notice that my Ground speed (registered on the GPS) was 145 knots, while my True Airspeed (registered on my aircraft airspeed indicator) was just over 140 miles per hour. Now, since a "knot" is 6080 feet per hour, while a "mile per hour" is 5280 feet per hour, that means I had a tail wind of about 27 mph! When I landed on the nicely paved airstrip at Cle Elum, I would say that the wind there was all of that!

Upon landing on runway 26 [approximately 260 degree magnetic] (nice one, by the way), and taxiing over to the center-runway taxi-way, I discovered that the parking area was "paved" with near-fist sized river rocks. I made the decision to abandon my plans to check out the ground accommodations and instead did a 180 right there on the narrow taxi-way and went back to the downwind end of runway 26 for takeoff and returned to my home field.

Anyway, I got in two landings that day and returned without using very much fuel: 31 minutes over, 34 minutes on the return.

Flying Again!

19-20th of July; Western Washington Airspace --

After having not been at the controls of the Mooney since the 31st of May, Grumpy wondered if he had lost his "touch". Venturing out to the air field with all equipment remembered -- this time! -- his flying spirits were already aloft, in anticipation of the exhilarating feeling of defying gravity by movement of the aircraft flight controls.

Upon preflight checking the Mooney, and after having first installed a couple new labels that the Owner of said Mooney and Grumpy had designed, Grumpy began the Engine Start check list. At the third step, 12 volt power is required; alas no -- I mean ZERO!!! -- 12 volt power. A dead battery was his first thought. After checking the Master switch and Avionics switch, Grumpy dismissed that possibility: both switches had been in the "OFF" position when the airplane was last parked.

Not having a voltmeter and other trouble-shooting tools available, Grumpy returned to The Castle, while thinking of other possibilities to cause the seemingly dead battery. A sneak electrical load was a possibility; a low current leak to ground was another.

The more promising possibility: an inadvertent displacement of a ground connection when Grumpy was installing the new labels. A screw had to be loosened in order to remove one of the old labels.

Returning to the airplane with the voltmeter, some extra wiring terminals and other tools, Grumpy first checked the recently-new battery. 12.7 volts!! So, the battery was NOT dead. Moving into the cockpit to check for a displaced ground wire [meanwhile begrudgingly anticipating the need to lay on his still-painful back in order to observe the back/underside of the instrument panel] Grumpy felt back there where the ground wire was supposedly loose. Voila!! 12 volt power was instantly restored [The Master switch apparently provides a 12 volt signal to a relay which actually turns on 12 volt power to the instrument panel and the ignition circuit. The simple matter of tightening the screw by which the grounding terminal was attached was quickly accomplished and the problem was solved without pain.

Now it was too late in the day to take the one to two hour flight that Grumpy had planned. So it was back to the Castle to wait until tomorrow (Saturday, 20 July).

Saturday morning dawned -- or I should say, "dripped" -- with a 1000-2000 foot deep fog under a thermal inversion that took all morning to finally dissipate sufficiently for VFR operations. By that time, Grumpy had accumulated a passenger who was eager to see the countryside from the advantage of a few thousand feet above ground level.

This passenger brought a couple of surprises with him: the nine-year old friend of my brown-eyed Granddaughter and the nine-year old's four year-old little brother. The pleadings of two pairs of big brown eyes were more than Grumpy could withstand. Strapping them securely into the rear seats of the Mooney and with their Papa in the right hand seat, Grumpy took off heading for Mount Rainier.

It being a fairly warm day [Grumpy read 81 degr F while cruising at 10,000 on the South side of Rainier!] and with the added load of the three passengers, the Mooney would not climb fast enough on a direct heading toward the East side of Rainier. So Grumpy zig-zagged gently as we continued to climb to a certain safe altitude above the terrain and outside of the "forbidden" airspace over and around Rainier National Park.

After reaching 10,000 feet, Grumpy reduced power to "Cruise" and maintained that altitude as we slowly turned around the South and West sides of Rainier. We could see Mt Adams nearby to the Southwest and Mt St Helen's further away to the South west. In the distance to the South we also spotted Mt Hood on the other side of the Columbia River East of Portland OR.

After reaching a heading back toward my home field, Grumpy established a low power descent of about 600 feet per minute to be accomplished within the 40 miles of distance back to the home field. Our air speed was now a steady 140 mph, so that distance would be covered in about twenty minutes.

Two eager aviators and one Old Dog

We soon landed after circling the field in pattern while two or three other aircraft were also on the radio requesting landing or take-off clearance; Grumpy spotted two (one, a helicopter taking off) but never saw another. Grumpy's landing was very acceptable, though not an ideal "greased-in" type for which he continually aspires.

When and where next? Check back on Monday or Tuesday to find out!

Flying with a Non-plussed Granddaughter

31 May 2013; Up in the Skies and Into the Wild Blue Yonder --

A Non-Plussed "Veteran" Aviatrix

This day was one to which Grumpy [and hopefully also my "Little Punkin"] has looked forward to for a long time. This was to be her first in a small airplane [she said she had never flown with me before until I reminded her of our flight from Mexico to the U.S. on a commercial flight!], and my first with a person who required a "booster seat" to be able to watch the scenery out of the window.

Since I planned for this flight to be about 2 hours in duration, I filled the right tank to the brim, just as I did for my solo flight the previous day. 

As we were preparing the airplane for this flight (loading the booster seat, the extra headphones, the chart, et al), Punkin looked at me with her big brown eyes and said, "I'm scared!" Grumpy inquired as to what she was afraid of. She grinned and said, "I don't know; I've never been up in a little airplane before."

Grumpy reassured her that her apprehensions were normal and that she would find things OK once we got started. And he was right.

Once again, Grumpy flew North along and to the east side of the 121st meridian to stay out of SeaTac Class B airspace. As Grumpy cruised at 4,500, just below the scattered cloud bottoms at about 5,000, Punkin pointed out the window at these clouds; I think she had never been this close to the bottom of clouds before. [Later, when we were on the ground, she asked me all sorts of good questions about what were clouds made of (tiny water droplets) and why the stuff in the clouds doesn't fall (it does, but when it is very small droplets, it turns back to vapor as it falls into warmer air and rises again -- and sometimes rain) and what gives them their shape (wind among other things).] 

At Granite Falls, we circled and criss-crossed my daughter's company facility, then departed westerly toward the Olympics, climbing to get above NAS Whidbey's airspace and a Military Operations Area ceiling. As we approached the eastern shore of the Olympic peninsula, we found an overcast that obscured the surface below. However, there were some very jagged mountain peaks poking out of the overcast to the southwest, so Grumpy flew in their direction, hoping to impress his little passenger-observer of the majesty of these peaks [Grumpy recognized that he had passed near these peaks on a back-packing trip with #1 and #2 Sons many, many years ago!]. As we neared this intended destination (Mt Olympus was actually what Grumpy had hoped to be able to circle, but its top was not discernible in the general white blanket that obscured the Peninsula), Punkin spoke up that she wanted to "go home!". Upon circling over the jagged peaks and seeing open ridges and snow-packed canyons below, Grumpy took a course for Paine Field, all the while descending to 7,500 to stay above the ceiling imposed over Paine.

As we were crossing Puget Sound, Punkin announced that she "needed to go to the bathroom!" Grumpy, after a brief thought, desperately and somewhat jokingly offered her one of the two portable "male urinals" carried in this normally male-crewed aircraft. She looked at me with those big, brown and trusting eyes -- and shook her head "VETO!!".

Back safely on the ground; Pilot and "Co-pilot".

After clearing Paine field airspace, we descended further toward 4,500 until about over the small airport at Snohomish. Then, as we "cleared" the 121st meridian, we turned South and remained at 4,500 to stay below the 5,000 floor of SeaTac Class B on our way to Crush field. At about Issaquah, we descended further to 2,500 as we neared Crush.

Grumpy entered the pattern for a landing on runway 33 and made a very good landing with a gusty crosswind factor. [Grumpy notes that he can still use some practice perfecting his landings. But his energy management and getting the aircraft during approach to landing is improving!]

In the Meantime: Flying -- Again and Again!

30 May 2013; Over the Skies of Wetter Washington --

Here we go again! This post talks about the first of two (2) flights. This is the one with just Grumpy alone [what? no one wants fly with this Grumpy Old, "Zoomie" Zim?] and the other, to be described in my next post is with my "Little Punkin" [youngest Granddaughter].

First, let me tell you about my solo flight.

After filling both wing tanks to the brim. The right tank seems to have a leak when completely full, so Grumpy planned to fly most of this anticipated 2-plus hour flight using the right tank. My route was to fly North, along the 121st longitudinal meridian -- this would keep me out of the SeaTac Class B airspace -- to about Lake Stevens, then Northeasterly to Granite Falls where I circled my daughter's company facility, hoping they could catch a glimpse. From there, I flew Westerly to Arlington Municipal Airport, then turned to a heading of about 90 degrees magnetic toward Ellensburg, climbing to at least 9,500 to clear the high terrain of the Cascades. After verifying Ellensburg airport (Bowers Field), I flew a direct heading to my home field at Crush.

On my climb, after leaving Arlington, I encountered some clouds; thanks to the encouragement of my younger but more experienced brother, I mastered this "obstacle" without a sweat. Well, sort of a "sweat"; as I emerged into sunshine over the tops of these clouds, I discovered that the windshield (and leading edges) was coated with a thin and translucent layer of ice! Since I had previously  ascertained that the conditions at Ellensburg were CAVU, and since I had six hours (plus an hour reserve) of fuel, I knew that the ice would eventually sublime (melt) in the warm dry air. 

I decided to climb to 12,500 for my return flight to Crush to avoid the possibility of further build-up of ice (the coating on the windshield had disappeared in the meantime, but the layer on the wing leading edges had only thinned). The weather in the Puget Sound area was, I knew, a broken layer at about 10,000 and scattered clouds at about 4,500-5,000. I could find a "hole" down through which I could descend once I was clear of the high stuff in the Cascades. As I predicted, the hole was found and my descent down to ground visibility achieved without a problem. Well, "rain" is not exactly a problem here on the Wet Coast; it's a "given" if you want to fly at all!

At the bottom of my descent within this visibility hole, I found myself in a valley with railroad tracks. My chart revealed this to be part of the Green River drainage system -- the Green River empties out onto the Kent valley floor near my intended landing site. However, the "opening" from the gorge and into the Kent valley was narrow and had a "blind" curve in it (and a rain shower obscuring the details of both sides of the notch), so I opted to climb slightly and go over a pass between mountains toward the clear weather beyond. The clear area on the other side of this pass was the Kent valley, with familiar landmarks all around.

My landing at Crush was not a good one; I bounced [a "Crush" landing!?] and noted that I need more practice to make landings like the one in my previous post. But, they say that "all landings from which you can walk away, are good landings!" And here Grumpy is -- alive and well.

Up in the Air Again

20 May 2013; Over the Rainbow --

Today Grumpy took off in the Mooney for the first time since way back in April. It felt good!

Fearful of becoming rusty [well, Grumpy is rusty in a lot of ways -- being old does that to a guy!]. But here I was meaning, "rusty with my flying skills". I am happy to report that, other than forgetting to bring all the things I needed to the airplane on the first trip from the car, my flight today was one of unparalleled success.

Let me explain about my "necessary things" first. I had to laugh at myself for being so absent-minded*. The first item I noticed that I had forgotten was the screwdriver that is used to open the fuel tank covers [so the quantity of fuel can be visually verified]; this screwdriver is also used to open the oil check/refill door on the cowling [so far, since we changed the oil way back in early February, there has been no noticeable oil consumption -- or leakage]. The next item that I forgot was my headset -- useful for warning other aircraft of my intentions to move my aircraft about the field. This last item was missed when I started the engine to taxi up to the fueling station to add sufficient fuel to ensure that I had plenty for the flight I had planned for today.

Well, the weather this morning [when this all started] didn't look too promising and there were no aircraft on my "Home Base" [that's what we pilots call the place where we regularly keep our airplane -- I will refer to it as "Crush Field" from now on], so I dared to taxi away from my tie-down without radio communication -- I looked up and down the taxiway and behind each hangar to be certain that no other aircraft was even running its engine.

After adding a sufficient quantity [plus a healthy reserve] of fuel in each tank [left wing tank; right wing tank], I went inside the "crew shack" and checked the weather. I had originally planned for a half-hour flight up to where my oldest daughter lives -- for a promised lunch. But the weather report suggested otherwise; I called the daughter who reported even more threatening conditions at her end than here at Crush. So I decided to just go up, fly locally and see if I could still make a decent landing.

Grumpy had invited and old, old friend [the Grand Mother and I have known this person since a year after our marriage -- now it has been 64 years, for me!]. This 90-something year old accepted my invitation, and dared to climb into the passenger-observer seat and let Grumpy, the child-octogenarian, operate this "dangerous flying machine"!

Off we went, into the wild blue yonder ... [wait, wait, it wasn't "blue" -- "wild" and "out yonder" maybe, but blue it wasn't!] The sky was dark with low-hanging clouds, that's why the flight up North was called off. Anyway, we climbed to 1500 altitude [in short hand, it is 1500 msl, meaning above mean sea level] and flew south and west over familiar towns [which Grumpy recognized and pointed out to his passenger]. 

Then to add spice to the scenery, Grumpy thought to see if he could recognize some familiar places that he had spent some time at while on the ground. For this, he delved deeper into the foothills of the Cascades. Alas, the forest kept secret those landmarks; at such low altitudes, it is difficult to see, let alone identify, things that are well-known from ground level.

Turning back toward Crush Field, still concerned about deteriorating weather and not wishing to become a victim of instrument flying conditions for a landing, Grumpy picked out a familiar-looking water tower in the hazy distance. Actually the tower was an oversize one that just looked like the closely paired towers that are an important landmark to locate the easily-missed Crush Field. When I got within a couple of miles of the oversize tower, I realized my mistake, but now the stuff on the ground was very unfamiliar! I was lost!! Well, not really lost; I knew that I was "here" and that I was "up in the air" over "here". I just didn't know where "here" was relative to where I wanted to be. Since I had seen this big tower from a familiar landmark [a town nearby to Crush Field], I simply did a one-eighty and flew back to within a mile or so of the town, then another one-eighty onto the heading of the runway of Crush Field and, within a few short minutes, was in sight of the correct twin towers through the haze and then soon sighted my field.

The most satisfying part of this whole flight was when I executed a near perfect pattern approach to a descent that required only very minor adjustments of power to come in over the tall fir trees that loom over the approach end of this runway to touch down so delicately that there wasn't even a little-bitty bump!! This is called, "greasing it in" -- main gear first, then nose wheel later as speed decreases: a perfect landing. [Maybe old Grumpy is finally getting the "touch" for this slippery old Mooney!]

Then I had to end the whole flight sequence with a gross misalignment of my airplane with the previously arranged wheel chocks when I parked. When I flew with Bob [also with my instructor who signed my bi-annual flight review and complex airplane certification] I had "aced" those chocks each and every time! This time I was almost a whole wing length off. 

Let's just say that the tall, unmown grass where I park hid the chocks from my vision, OK?

My passenger friend, patted me on the back with congratulations, just as if I had done a superb job in every way. I did have to acknowledge that that was one heck of a nice landing though -- maybe the best one of my entire flying career.

______________________________________________________________

* "Absent-minded": adj. 1. Without functioning mental capacities; literally, with no mind. 2. Forgetful  3. Disconnected with the present

Now What is Grumpy up to?

Week of 7-11 May; Up and Around the Pacific N.W.--

Uncle Bob flew his 1963 Mooney into the local airfield on Monday of this week, thus setting up a frenetic pace of unscheduled (and generally uninvited!) visits to the multitudinous descendants of the Great Grumpy. As has become usual when Uncle Bob and Grumpy fly together, I get to do all of the flying -- with careful oversight by the self-declared Captain (and OWNER) of the aircraft. [Grumpy once suggested that he (Grumpy) get to fly in the left-hand seat once in awhile since he is senior -- in years -- to his younger brother. Without hesitation, Bob straightened up to his full height and with stern declaration said, "No; when we were both little, you always took the first choice of toys, food and new clothes. This is my airplane and I shall remain the Captain!!" So that was that.]

Our first visit on Monday was with some of the most-local people, Bopop and Blief, with the latter of whom we enjoyed some Thai food. Although we had hoped -- and expected -- to get together later in the week, with Bopop and his Bride, regrettable other events as will be noted later prevented that.

On Tuesday we drove to the farm to visit with Rachel. While there, the up-coming trip to Brazil was discussed, with a lunch prepared by Rachel, and much-enjoyed music played by Rachel on her prized Steinway. We stayed late to share the evening meal with Susan and Steven.

Wednesday found us flying north to Arlington Airfield to visit Amy & John and the kids. Grumpy had reserved a compact, economy car for the 20-mile drive over to their house. When arrived at Arlington however, the car rental agency gave us a full-size, "Sporty" car (at the compact economy rate!) and we arrived for lunch in high-style. Grumpy, as usual, soon got himself in trouble by "riling up" the Great Grandkids with various mischief, such as running and screaming, inside the home. The kids enjoyed it while it lasted -- and so did Great Grumpy. For dessert after lunch, a delicious Lemon Meringue Pie was judiciously served by John. [I think he likes LMP's almost as much as Grumpy!]

On Thursday we flew south to Pearson Field next to the Columbia for lunch and a too-short visit with Grumpy's favorite Swede, "Stretch", J. and A. Of course "Stretch" had to play "hookey" from work around mid-day in order to join us for a "Mongolian Grill" meal. 

Back at the airfield, Uncle Bob took the Swede and two boys for a short airplane sight-seeing trip in which the challenge included finding where they lived. Since it is difficult -- even for someone as experienced as Grumpy -- to be able to identify ground objects from the air, they were not able to spot Fort Bale. Later, on the flight back to temporary base, Grumpy acted as spotter while Uncle Bob maneuvered the Mooney in steep banks over the supposed location of Fort Bale; Grumpy could not spot it, either!! 

This photo proves that, after all, he did the best he could. [Until Grumpy viewed this photograph, he did not realize that he had captured the proper location after all!]

Later that Thursday, Uncle Bob received a telephone call that summoned him back to the East Coast, so early Friday morning he fueled-up the Mooney for his long solo flight (2400 nautical miles) to his home base.

The two brothers pose together beside this airplane on which they have enjoyed so many good adventures.

Here Bob waves goodbye just before he boards his airplane.

Taking off and flying "over" Mount Rainier, Bob leaves for his duties in the East. As he gently turned toward the east, he waggled his wings as a final goodbye -- until we meet again.