Holiday at Englewood Beach, Florida

Deep sea fishing was one of those things that are like going to a NASCAR race at Talledega...I'm happy I did it and I see no need in doing it again. It was fun. We caught about 12 small fish yeilding about a pound and a half of fillets. The most amazing part of the trip were these dolphins that were following the boat on the way out of the harbor. Beautiful....

I'm back at it again

Well, after being lazy for months, I'm starting to work on the house again. My good friend Frank is coming over once a week to help me. He'll be over tonight to continue closet framing upstairs.

This weekend I installed a the final window on the first floor. Of course when I framed it up (months ago) I framed it wrong so I had to modify the opening a bit. I did most of the work with a chain saw from the inside of the house so, of course, it made a huge mess. I knew I was going to have to buy a vacuum cleaner eventually and since I have a rug over the subfloor (which now had sawdust all over it) this was the time to buy it. I was amazed at the amount of dirt that a cheap vacuum can gather! The rug looks much better now as does (what will eventually be)the living room!

I guess I'll buy a camera for myself for Christmas so I can take some pictures. Words by themselves are so boring!

Opening day - Cotton Patch Gospel

Tonight is the first of eight performances of the "Cotton Patch Gospel", the last published work of the late Harry Chapin. I have been practicing as a guitarist in the orchestra and I hope I'm ready. I'll let y'all know how it goes.

On another note, I lost my cell phone. I don't have service, but I had all my contact phone numbers on it and I used it as my alarm clock. Since my Cannon camera quit working, the cell phone was the only camera I had. Now I have no camera. That expalins why there aren't any recent pictures on the blog, doesn't it!

Time to go camera shopping!

Wrenched some more on Wes' car on Saturday. Had to remove the lifting chain from the new engine, put the hoist in the truck, go out to the back 40 and set the old engine on the ground, next to the Cougar parts car. Went back to Wes' Tbird and proceeded to bolt the engine to the transmission and the torque converter to the flywheel. In retrospect, it was the easiest hookup I've ever done. Just a gentle shove to the transmission and it was in place, ready to bolt up. Even though it was just a few bolts, I still ended up with about 2 1/2 hours on the job, including moving the old engine.

Then I went to Sharla's house to paint on the repairs that I still haven't completed. I spent about and hour and a half there, then I went home to watch a few college football games.

On Sunday, I attended Autaugaville UMC, whcih is the new church I will be joining. At about 1:00, I went into Millbrook to volunteer with a group of people to "spruce-up" the West Elmore Christian Outreach Ministry Extension (W.E.L.C.O.M.E.) center. about 20 people from Millbrook First United Methodist showed up to demolish, clean, repair and paint. I didn't do much, but I did go through a tube of caulk while plugging up cracks in the block walls.

I went home after about an hour and a half and took in a couple of NFL games. Not much else on.

After Wes's engine spun a rod bearing and started to knock a couple of months ago, We picked up a used one with 86000 miles on it. Hopefully it will work well. Here, Wes is installing the flywheel that we forgot to do while the engine was on the ground. At the moment, the engine is sitting in the engine compartment, but hasn't been bolted in yet. Wes and I will continue next time he visits.

I worked on clearing the airstrip about 2 hours today. Progress is certainly being made. I stopped at a local equipment rental place on Saturday and learned that I could rent a tracked Bobcat skid-steer with a bucket for $225 a day. If I pick it up at closing time on a Friday, I don't have to return it until they open on Monday. I think this is what I'll do instead of hire someone with a bulldozer. Here is what the airstrip looks like at the moment:


The start of runway 24.


Midpoint of runway 24. Those trees at the end will be removed to provide clear access to the end of the runway.


Midpoint of runway 6. There will be some fill required on the right side near the end. The higher side of the clearing will be cut away to provide the fill and eventually the runway will start very close to my front yard. All the trees that will interfere with the runway will be removed on both sides.


These trees at the end of runway 24 will all be cut down. As you can see, I've already started.


As it stands right now, without any cut or fill, it appears that I'll have 300 feet with both ends clear. It will certainly be tight on both take-off and landing but I believe it will be do-able!

Working on the runway!

On June 30th, the spot that will be my runway looked like the pictures below. I've been putting in some hours clearing this small spot in hopes that it will serve as my ultralight runway. After this weekend, I'll post a picture of my progress, but it is substantial. I have only owned this property for about two years and I've been concentrating mostly on building my home. I've discovered that this spot has about a 4 foot elevation difference from one side to the other over about 100 feet. I hope this won't really be a problem because the only solution is a bulldozer.

I stepped off the distance from one end to the other and came up with about 370 feet plus or minus 25 feet. I could possibly gain another 60 feet on one end after removing some trees that would interfere with my wings when taking off.

I have learned that the local radio control (RC) airfield was 568 feet. I have successfully taken off and landed on this field. It has tall grass on either end of the mowed area and from what I can remember, the landing roll was a bit long and I went into the tall grass on the end before I stopped. Keep in mind, the grass on the runway itself is almost like a golf green, short and smooth. I'll have taller grass on my strip so I'll probably stop in a shorter distance. Who knows, might be the right time to get brakes! Somebody suggested that I have two different lengths of grass on my strip, short for takeoff and longer for landing. Sounds like a good idea. Airstrip progress photo coming soon!



The runway looking towards 243 degrees (runway 24). All of the trees you see at the far end will be removed to allow a clear approach to the short field.

The middle of the runway looking towards 243 degrees (runway 24).

The opposite end of the runway looking towards 63 degrees (runway 6).

Ultralight People

Well, I've been doing a bit of reflecting on my time spent at Mark Smith's fly-in. It's really strange. Many of the people who were at the fly-in I've met before. I remember their faces but not their names. When you have to ask, it can be embarrassing. If you still don't remember, it can sometimes be so awkward that you decide not to ask again. During the year I communicate with them through the Yahoo Quicksilverultralightowners group, but won't actually see them again for another year, or two or more.

Take Lester for example. I spoke to Lester at length at the fly-in. I didn't know his name and I didn't ask. I didn't learn until I got back that he posts as Bobo_MX on the Yahoo group. I'm certainly familiar with his posts, but I didn't associate a face with a user name. Isn't that strange? I'm sure a bunch of people at Mark's associated faces with user names and given names for the first time this weekend. Dan Umbarger is one whom I now associate with his Yahoo group name of "BOATDOC54". He said it was his first time at the Fly-in, but I would have sworn that I've met him before. Oh yeah, by-the-way, My Yahoo group name used to be RustyUL. It's now gr.weldon and the group doesn't display my actual name, even though I think my profile setting says that it should. "Norm in Cherokee Village Arkansas" told me his last name several times. Do you think I remember it? NO! I guess I'll just use the excuse everybody else does...I'm getting old, which is true.

It would be helpful if somebody could put together a list (a blog even) of peoples names, Yahoo group name, the city they live in and a picture of the airplane (or airplanes for those who are extremely blessed) that they fly. I know that some people are a bit leery of the perceived security issues, but you would be surprised how easy it already is to find somebody without anything more than a name and possibly a state. I think I could easily associate a name and face with an airplane. What do you think? Post a comment and let me know! I'd be willing to start another blog if a good deal of people would like to send their information to me. It would be like a ready reference to people who post on the group. I suppose I could even withhold real names if people wished. Like I said, let me know!

Back to the issue of people you only see once a year. It's amazing how you bond with some people even though you only see them very few hours over a long period of time. As I said in my previous post, Ultralight fliers are a really different type of people. They live different types of lifestyles and tend to be almost any age. Just about every single ultralight flier that I have ever met has been very warm, open and receptive. I know we think that it should be that way with everyone at any time, but for whatever the reason, that isn't the case. Ultralight fliers can disagree about everything...and I do mean everything. As long as they agree that flying ultralights is where it's at, they can be great friends at the flying field. They may not want to (and probably don't) associate with this person any other time, but the sport of flying brings them together. It is indeed an amazing thing.

At Mark's fly-in, Dwight told me that I needed to set aside one day a week to work on my runway. I'm beginning to think that he's right. Up to now it's been house, house, house. I think I need to direct some of my work toward the ultimate end of flying. The fly-in re-ignited the flame. All I really need to do is cut down a five or six dozen trees and mow the lawn and I possibly could have 300 usable feet. If the strip is open on both ends, I'll should have no problem taking off and shouldn't have too much difficulty landing.

On Google Earth it looks somewhat like this, but these pictures are about 5 years old. The outline is 500' long and will need some fill on both ends.


Once I get the runway workable, I'll have to assemble the pile of tubes sitting in my minivan into an airplane. I can't wait to get started.

Car almost finished

When re-installing the new EGR tube, I had to remove the DPFE sensor from the old tube to put on the new tube. Wouldn't you know, the plastic was old and brittle and broke where it connects to the vacuum likes. That will be another $35 or so plus the car will throw the check engine light until I put the new sensor on.

When testing that everything electrical worked, I discovered that neither the radio nor the climate control fan worked. Nor the rear window defroster or the windshield wipers. I'll have to troubleshoot and find out what gives but tonight, I just had to call it quits at about 6:30. At least it's drivable and gets much better gas mileage than the 13MPG F250 truck I was driving while putting the car back together. I guess I know what I'll be doing tomorrow night. I really thought this project would be complete by now!

Replacing the AC evaporator core in a Merc Sable

This 4th of July weekend was relatively productive for me. On Friday, I worked on the last bit of roofing that need to be finished. I'm still not done. It gets tricky working 20 feet above the level of the deck. I have just a few more pieces of roofing material to install. After the roofing material is all done, I have some flashing to install where the walls meet the roof. After that, the roof will finally be complete. I figure about 4 to 6 more hours.

Saturday, I started the miserable task of replacing the air conditioning evaporator core in my car. I had to remove the steering column and dashboard completely, then remove the air handling unit which involved 2 quick disconnects (they weren't quick at all), two heater core hoses, and three large nuts from inside the engine compartment. I had to remove the intake manifold from the engine to be able to get room to make the majority of the disconnections. In the process I broke the EGR valve tube and the gear selector display, the little plastic piece that shows what gear you are in. I also lost the two screws that hold the multi-function switch (turn signals, hi-beam) to the steering column.


Screw access panels and glove box removed.



Steering column, radio/climate controls and glovebox removed









Air handler still installed in car



Air handler removed


Bare naked interior firewall!



Saturday night, my wife Sharla and I went to see fireworks in Montgomery. I have to say that it was shameful! I know budgets are tight, but the show didn't even last 7 minutes! We drove 40 minutes to get there, spent about 40 minutes waiting for the show to start...for what? 7 minutes of fireworks? As I said, shameful!

Sunday morning about 9:00, I started to disassemble the air handling unit to replace the evaporator core. Because I didn't want to be taking the dash out again for any reason, I replaced the heater core as well. I then started to put things back together. About 11:00 I started to re-install components back into the car. At 5:30PM, I had to stop because of impending rain, which was the first rain in 3 weeks. When I stopped, I had the air handler back in, the dash back in, the steering column mounted, and the radio/climate control unit back in. I still have to mount the multi-function switch (when I get the screws), install the glove box, re-connect the AC hoses and heater core hoses, replace the EGR tube, reinstall the intake manifold, upper motor mount and put the passenger side tire back on. If I can easily get the old EGR tube to come off easily (doubtful), then we should be talking about 3 hours to complete. I've got about 12 hours into the project already. With the cost of the evaporator core, the heater core and EGR tube, two freon recharges (the first one told me I had a leak), the total will be just about $550. After I already paid $160 for the first freon recharge, they told me it would be at least $600 to replace the evaporator core. This wouldn't have included the heater core. You know how things like that go...It would have been more in the end. Any way you look at it, I saved about $200. If I hadn't broken anything and cheaped out by using my old heater core, I could have saved easily $300 or more. Hopefully when I take it to the service center, it will hold a charge. Then I'll have AC again! Woo Hoo! It only quit working 2 months after I bought the car about 30 months ago.



Engine compartment with intake manifold and other things removed

Mark Smith's summer 2009 Posey Patch fly-in

So, I know this blog started as a way to document my ultralight flying adventures (hence the name), but for the last two to three years I've been tied up with some personal junk in my life. I've been building a house, not contracting it out, but building it myself. Until you get to a certain point with a house, it is the ONLY priority you can have, especially since my accommodations were less than comfortable and convenient. I still don't have a kitchen or even a stove, but I get by just fine. Even though the house is a long way from being finished, I'm at a point where I can take a bit of time off and enjoy different events. Mark Smith's fly-in is one of those events that I've missed for the last two years, but made it a point to go this year!

Many of you who read this blog know Mark Smith, many of you don't. If you ever get the chance to meet him, you will find that he's a "tell it how you see it" kind of guy. I respect this in a person. He's also a wealth of information about ultralight aircraft, especially Quicksilver ultralights and copies. As I found out this past weekend, he's also a pioneer in the realm of powered hang-gliding. These underpowered regallo wings eventually evolved into the many different types of ultralights we find in the world today.

Mark was one of the first and largest Quicksilver dealers in the 80's and 90's. Now he is an independent ultralight designer, builder and parts source for many ultralight fliers who benefit from his improved aftermarket parts and modifications. His airport, the Posey Patch, consists of two large hangars and two grass runways with a water runway nestled between them. Located in the bottoms of the Ohio river near Evansville, Indiana, It is an ultralight fliers paradise! This time of year the crops are low and there are thousands of acres all around his place. You can fly low over fields for miles at a time, popping up over hedgerows and tree lines from time-to-time, then back down over the crops and meadows. It's great flying!

My trip up to southern Indiana this year was as great as every other year that I've been. At the busiest time of the fly-in, there were at least twelve aircraft on the ground, possibly a few more in the air flying around. I'd estimate 40-50 different people attended at one point or another. I think there were eight or so people who camped on the premises for a day or more. I stayed in a tent for three nights.

Ultralight fliers are a different sort of people. Most of them have great flying stories, usually about mistakes or close calls that others have made. Once in a while, you will find them honest enough to tell you about the mistakes they have made and the emotional, physical and monetary cost associated with the mistake. The best thing about them though is the fact that they love to laugh! I laughed more this weekend than I have in the past 6 months total! I wouldn't doubt that some of them actually practice comedy routines for that once in a lifetime possibility that somebody might offer them an actual audience. I won't mentions any names...oh...well, yeah, I will....Norm and Jeff! The bottom line is this, everybody that I spoke with whether they were friends I have met previously or friends that I met for the first time...All were pleasant and friendly. I just can't emphasize that enough!

The aircraft assortment ranged from several CGS Hawks in different configurations, A couple of Quicksilver GT500 planes, a few GT400 planes, MX's, Sports, Sprints and of course, Mark's modified Quick-alikes, the Gray Navy and Navette. I fell in love with flying Navette. It is plane that will fly almost as slow as the slowest Quicksilver and will almost keep up with the GT400 planes if you give it enough throttle! I would estimate that speed range to be 25 to 55. All of us ultralight pilots know that true ultralights NEVER exceed 55MPH in level flight. That would be against the rules, wouldn't it!

I flew two different airplanes while I was at the fly-in. Mark is gracious enough to rent his airplanes to individuals that he knows are able to fly well enough not to bend them up. One of the airplanes, the "Gray Navy" I flew in two different configurations, with wheels and with floats. I didn't do much float flying. Because of the heat and my heavy body weight, it just didn't climb well and in my older (wiser) age, I don't like to push the envelope. After all, the plane itself is over 100 pounds heavier with the floats attached. When I was taking off, I barely made it out of the canal with only about 20 feet to spare. I would have preferred 100 feet or so. As I was attempting to climb out, altitude wasn't coming easily and instead of just feeling the plane and it's attitude, I had to actually watch the airspeed indicator and adjust the elevator before I was able to get over 100 feet of altitude. For those who don't fly, this might sound dramatic and scary, but it all takes place in a period of 5 to 10 seconds after leaving the surface and it's quite automatic. I'm just used to flying Mark's planes that have plenty of power to climb however you want and I neglected this when flying with the floats. In any case, I immediately set up the approach to land and nailed a landing and that was enough flying for me. Andrew, the airline transport pilot weights about 40 pounds less than I and he didn't have any difficulty with the floats at all. He flew with the floats every chance he could get!

I spent the majority of my time flying "Navette". In fact, after I landed from my first flight in Navette, I asked Mark if we could work up a trade-in deal where I would end up with Navette. I was serious, but he just smiled and never answered. I assumed the answer was "no way!" Of course I spent some time in Gray Navy without the floats. It's a great flying plane as well. I practiced cross-wind landings in it on Sunday Morning when the clouds were out and the breeze was blowing the streamers straight out on the wind indicator. Probably over 10MPH or so. My plane doesn't have ailerons (yet) so it was great to be able to cross-control and approach parallel before landing. The spoilers on my plane work pretty well, but not nearly as well as ailerons.

All of the pictures of the Fly-in that are posted here were taken by either John Jones, Dan Umbarger, or Enrique Londono. This is because when I pulled my camera out to take some shots, I discovered that I left the CF card at home. If I would have checked before I went to Wal-Mart to get batteries, I could have picked up a card, but alas, I didn't and it was too hot and too far to go back to Evansville.

I reluctantly left Sunday morning about 11AM. I knew I had to be back at work on Monday and I wanted to arrive home early enough to unpack and settle-in and get a good night sleep. I got home about 6:30PM and was in bed asleep by 9:00. I plan on going again next summer. Mark also has another fly-in in October, but I think that will be too cold for me to attend. I've become quite used to the heat living in Alabama and I get cold really easy. 60 degrees with a wind chill of 40MPH while flying doesn't really qualify as fun to me so I'll have to wait for another year!

John, Dan and Enrique took great pictures so here they are:





Navette.


The cockpit of Navette.


Jeff Austin cooking the meat! It was delicious!


Anticipating the start of the feast. Click on image for a larger picture.


The feast begins!


Installing the floats on Gray Navy. I'm supervising of course! Nahh, it was a team effort involving Jeff, Enrique, Andrew (well, he was there) and Bill.


Jerad Barrett posing on Gray Navy with floats.


Andrew landing Gray Navy (obvously on floats). Click on image for a larger picture.


A good shot of Mark's Posey Patch from the air. Click on image for a larger picture.


Landing at the Patch. Click on image for a larger picture.


Typical scenery at Mark's taken from Jeff Austins MXII. It's for sale if anybody is interested! Click on image for a larger picture.

Last bit of the roofing!

I'm finally getting around to finishing the last bit of the roofing left from last year. I had to stop last November when it stopped getting warm enough to make the roofing material lay flat. As a result, the east roof on the house has wrinkles in it. Not to worry, much of the future porch roof will cover the wrinkled present roof.

As you can see from the pictures, I have the under-eave soffit just about complete on the west side of the house. Just a couple of trim strips to cover the joints and my corner trim board left and I'll be ready for siding on the lower west side. I still have the upper and lower soffits on the rest of the house to finish...in due time. There is NEVER any shortage of work to do. Most of the things that need to be done now don't really have a drastic effect on the appearance of the structure. Things like additional foundation supports. Lots of effort required with no appearance change.

I ran out of roofing material tonight. I have one 74 inch piece to finish. I had 72 inches left. One more trip into town...46 miles round trip. After finishing the last piece on the main roof, I still have the steep gable portion, but that will be relatively easy since the roofing pieces are small. It's an awkward angle, but with the deck in place it won't be too difficult.



Almost completed eave



Roofing starter strips nailed on



All but one 74" piece to complete



Steep gable left to complete

My son is carrying on the fine tradition of learning how mechanical things work and how to fix them. Today he installed a fuel pump on his Thunderbird. When he was visiting this weekend (I picked him up because his car wasn't running) we discussed and re-discussed all the things that could possibly be wrong with his car. When I inspected it on Friday, my initial thought was a bad fuel pump, but there were two or three other things that could have been the problem. We removed the old fuel pump from my Cougar (almost identical to a Thunderbird) and I let him borrow certain items that he would need to change his pump.

I took him home Sunday afternoon, and helped him get the car on the ramps. From there, we had difficulty getting the gasoline out of the tank. I eventually became soaked with gas and decided to get started back home on the 140 mile trip, in 95+ degree heat, with no air conditioning. I left him to finish the project by himself. He managed to get the gas out last night and drop the exhaust this morning. By noon, I called him and he had it all back together and running. He's turning out to be quite the mechanic. I'm very proud of him! Of course if he managed to mess it up worse than it was before he started, I'd still be proud of him. At least he would have attempted to fix it instead of being afraid to touch it. May God richly bless the resourceful young man.

I've been toying around with different deck designs and shown below is what I have decided on. The south portion of the deck, which will extend down the south wall of the house, is not shown. The south portion will also have a small upper level for entrance/egress from the second floor. The rafters for the roof on the east portion of the deck are 16 foot long 2x6's on 12" centers. They will have to be supported in the center by some sort of truss member that will connect to the eaves on the east side. Hurricane strapping will have to be employed to keep the porch roof from acting like a kite and detaching in strong winds.

The past week in review

When I came home from work on Tuesday, I was surprised to find three people loading up all of the sheet steel from the demolished barn. I contacted them a few weeks ago and since they hadn't shown up, I assumed they weren't interested. I'm happy that was not the case! The area looks much better now. Not only did they clean up the metal, they enlarged my burn pile by throwing the rotted old wood from the barn on top. I'm happy to have all that metal gone!



Wednesday, I burned an area around one of the large pine trees that I have chosen to leave standing for the moment. There was poison ivy growing on the ground and assorted debris and burning was the easiest way to clean the area up. It worked nicely, allowing me to easily see the debris that didn't burn. As soon as the black area turns green, it will look much better.

Trees cut, deck started!

My son Wes and my Daughter Kristy spent 5 days with me during Holy week. I took Wednesday and Thursday off and Friday was a holiday. We worked together as a team to get much work done! We hauled 2 cubic yards of crushed rock to the ravine in my driveway. At $25 per yard, I ran out of money before the ravine was filled, but it's a start.

Wes and I made a big dent in demolishing the old metal and wood barn that was slowly collapsing on it's own. I almost killed us both in the process when the roof collapsed, but we were obviously protected. Wes was unharmed and I just suffered a bruise on my left shoulder about the size of a small pumpkin.

We also cut down a bunch of trees. 24 in all. As soon as I cut the fallen trees into pieces, they carried them off to the burn pile. It was pretty great to see the trees disappear almost as quickly as I cut them down! The entire area in front of my house looks much more open now. The biggest reason for clearing out the trees was so that the power company could get a lift truck to my power pole. They are changing the line voltage and they have to replace the transformer. Last week a pair of dual-wheel tire tracks appeared in my yard so I now know that they were able to get to the pole with no problems. I'm really pleased with the results of the tree cutting. It opens up the area quite a bit. I still have about 10 more that need to go, but I'll wait for some other time.

A few weekends ago, I installed a window in my living room so that I could install a window air conditioner. I also burned most of the trees that we cut down a few weeks ago. It's amazing to see years of growth disappear in hours. I also started on phase one of my deck which will be 8' wide all along the north gable side of my house. Eventually it will be covered with a roof. It's really great when a day or two of work makes that much difference in the appearance of my house. Not to mention how great it will be to sit on the deck!

East side view never before seen because of the tree, now removed.

Old barn being demolished

Remains of the 24 trees that were cut down

Deck in progress

View from deck towards the northeast.

Today didn't start out so well. Between Wednesday and Saturday I got over 12 inches of rain! All this water had to go somewhere, and it decided to go down my driveway. My gravel driveway that is.

This morning when I got in the car to go to work I was surpirsed to find a gully right down the spot where I drive. I was aware that it was starting to wash away, but not to this extent. As I was carefully trying to drive around the ravine, I didn't notice the smaller trench at the bottom of the drive and plop....I drove right in. As I got out to survey the damage, I heard the car door lock as it was closing. Of course the car was still running. I hadn't even thought to take it out of gear as it wasn't going anywhere.

I didn't have a spare key to my house door, so I was forced to break the panes in one of my new $200 window. I retrieved a spare car key and turned the car off. I called work to tell them of my misfortune and my tardiness. Then I called a wrecker, which took it's sweet time getting here.

It all turned out OK. I ordered a new lower pane for my window at a cost of $73 dollars. The wrecker was $60. Costly mistake, plus I still have to pay to get my driveway fixed.

Soooooo Busy!

It seems like I have been on the go for many weeks now. Thursday I had music practice for an upcoming prison ministry event, Friday I played at another ministry reunion group, and Saturday we played at a church groundbreaking event! This week will be the only week since the end of November that I will only have one appointment scheduled after work, which is today. A friend of mine (Frank) is in the process of recording his third CD and I'm the recording engineer. I'll spend a few hours after work at the console. The rest of the week I'll be free to work on the house (or not) after work. The extra hour of daylight will be nice, but it sure was tough getting up this morning! Here are some images from the church groundbreaking

It isn't supposed to snow in Alabama

This weekend we experienced two seasons in two days. Friday night and Saturday morning we had Spring, with severe thunderstorms with damaging winds, hail and tornados. On Sunday morning I woke up to snow. I was up as 6AM and there was plenty on the ground. It snowed hard all morning and into the afternoon we had heavy showers. I ended up with about 3" on the vehicles with a bit less on the ground. About 2PM, you could hear it melting off the roof and by 9PM it was all gone!

My driveway coming in after Church at about noon.

In my front yard looking northeast toward the road at about 12:30PM.

About 12:30 PM.

My front yard at about 7AM looking east.

View out my front door at about 7AM.

Steady progress...

Since I got the priority of my TV taken care of (previous post), I've been making decent progress. I finished up the electrical and insulation on the bottom floor (except for stairwell). I installed a temporary sink in the bathroom that will eventually be used in the upstairs bath. It is really nice to be able to brush my teeth in a warm bathroom instead of a sub-freezing stairwell! I also framed up, ordered and installed the three upstairs windows. I installed the windows this weekend. The weather was beautiful!

TV Envy!

I visited all the electronic stores before Christmas, wishing I could afford a new Plasma or LCD TV. I was currently watching on a 13" with pretty crappy color. I decided that I just didn't want to go any more in debt and decided to save my money and buy one next Christmas. I ended up buying a regular TV antenna to allow me to get more channels through my digital converter box. I temporarily mounted it upstairs inside, where it worked very well. I got away with about $60 total.

On December 23rd, I went to Chicago to visit my sister for Christmas. I had a wonderful visit. My sister has a 60" LCD TV. It's a monster. It was great watching! Then I went to visit my mother. She and her husband have a 46" LCD. More great watching! When I came home and watched one of the college football bowl games (Georgia VS Michigan State) I was pretty bummed. I couldn't see anything very well unless I was a foot from the TV. Then I realized that Georgia's helmets were supposed to be red. They were YELLOW on this TV! Something had to be done.

I remember seeing digital TV tuner thingys for computers, and since I have a 19" plasma computer monitor, I thought that would be the ticket. I finally have my truck available again, so I took it to the home store and bought the materials to mount my antenna outside on the roof. Then I went to Best Buy and got a USB Digital TV tuner with digital video recorder for about $85.

I came home and spent a few hours mounting my antenna and permanently running and hooking up the RG-6 cable into my room. Then I hooked up the TV tuner and went through the setup process which took about an hour. Now I'm watching High Definition TV on my computer monitor, which provides a larger, superior picture than the old crappy tube TV. It's not a 46 or 60 inch screen, but it's night and day when compared to the other. For now, I'm satisfied. God willing, by December, I'll have a 46" plasma for my viewing pleasure!

Deck Concepts

I know it seems that my priorities may be out of order, but before the interior of the house gets completely finished, I'm going to build the deck. It will be a great place to invite people over and hang out, but it will serve a more practical purpose. It will be much easier to install the siding from a level, elevated platform.

Eventually, the deck will be two levels, opening up the second story to the outside and providing a place for the second entrance door on the first floor. All building codes require at least two means of entrance/egress and it's common sense why this must be. I don't think there is a requirement to have a separate entrance/egress for the second floor on a residental structure, but when finished the deck will provide that also.

The picture below basically shows what I'm toying around with.

New window installed

Today, I framed up and installed the window that will be in the kitchen over the counter. It looks pretty good and lets a bunch of light in. Now I can finish all the wiring and finish up the insulation on the ground level main house. It will be nice to have more room to live in than just the bedroom.

Stariwell and side roof complete

As previously mentioned, I had only one more piece of roofing to install to complete the roof over the stairwell. It was cold and windy today. The cold makes the roofing material stiff and hard to work with. The sun shone through once in a while and it was enough to allow me to do the work, but not warm enough to keep it from being miserable! I installed the last piece and installed four "cap strips" at the peak of the roof. These really didn't want to lay down right because half of each piece was angled. I'm hoping these will lay down flat when exposed to the sun that is forcast for next week. If not, I'll have to reinstall them in the spring when it's warmer.

I'm thinking that since the felt is keeping the western roof portion dry, I may wait until early spring to complete the roofing. The trees on that side of the house shield much of the sun so it will be just awful to try to work the material in this colder time of year.

On the positive side, I only have 165 more square feet of roofing to install, but that also includes the 45 degree x 16" wide portion on the front of the house, which will be even more awkward than the stairwell roof. Oh well! Isn't house construction fun?!

A bit more roofing done

Yesterday it was cloudy, cold and windy. The sun shone through once in a while, but it wasn't long enough to warm up the roofing material so it would lay flat. I nailed on the strips where the roofing cement would hold the material down and generally prepared everything so that I could install the roofing today. It was sunny and about 55 degrees today. Not really warm enough to allow the material to lay flat completely, but warm enough that I could work with it. I installed about 100 square feet today, all of which was over the stairwell, where all the water was coming in. Now I can remove the old ultralight parachute that was catching the dripping water and funneling it into containers on the stairwell landing. I only have 1 more strip of material to install on top of the stairwell before it is complete. The images below show the roofing progress and the parachute that I can now remove. Only about 125 square feet left and I'll be completely finished!


Roofing material installed.

Parachute hanging inside the stairwell.

This small portion is all the roofing I have left!

Wes' Tbird runs again!

My son Wes turned 16 in July. In 2005 I bought a Thunderbird for him when he was of driving age. Shortly after I bought it, the transmission died. I am a very big fan of these particular autos. I've owned 2 Mercury Cougars and besides this particular Tbird, two others [See February 2005 for a pic of my 1994 5-speed Thuderbird SC]. My second Cougar's engine blew up 25000 miles after I rebuilt it for a total of about 190K, but the transmission was still kicking.

In August, Wes embarked on a project to swap the tranny from the Cougar to his Thunderbird. We finally completed the project this past weekend. The car needs a bit of additional work, but we actually drove it about 40 miles on Saturday and Sunday.

He's happy and I'm happy also. The car has been promoted to the "front lot" and is now parked beside the driveway.

I Keep Pluggin' Along!

Firstly, I have an administrative issue to address. All comments to this blog are moderated and I have the option to trash them if I feel they are inappropriate. This blog is written for my own enjoyment and the target audience is family, friends and the ultralight flying community if they choose to read. If you don't like my blog the solution is simple...don't read it! It isn't helpful in any way to post profane, derrogatory remarks in a comment. They won't be published. With that out of the way....

The main portion of my roof now has roofing material on it. Rolled roofing really looks bad, so I won't post a picture at this moment. The steeper portions of my roof are still awaiting material. Last weekend I built a platform on the back of my truck to make working on these steep portions a bit easier. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet. I was playing gospel music at Whitewater Camp on Monday and Tuesday night and I just plain didn't feel like working last night. It will get done eventually.





The work platform



My cat Chuck Norris...watch out...he's vicious!

After about a 6 week "no-work" spell due to a back injury, I finally decided that I better make progress toward getting some roofing material on my house. The fact that there were four hurricanes stacked up in a line waiting to make landfall anywhere from Florida to Texas makes the matter a priority. Today, hurricane Ike is ripping Cuba apart.

The pictures below show the progress that was made over the weekend. They show about 5 rolls of roofing material attached. I still have just over 2 rolls to go to finish the "main" roof. The steeper portions at the sides and ends will still need attentions, but it will have to wait for now. My dear friend Frank just arrived out of the blue on Saturday ready to help. He was a big help indeed!

No more campers

Jeff came and got his camping trailer on Saturday and Al came and got his pop-up on Tuesday. I don't have a stove anymore, but I have a gas grill, a microwave and a small refrigerator. Life will be somewhat normal again when I get a big fridge, a stove, a washer and a dryer, not necessarily in that order. I could be running into a fridge for free from a person who works with me.

Well, I've been living in my bedroom for two weeks now. It is definitely different. It's cool in my bedroom, but as soon as you step out to go to another part of the house for any reason, it's extremely hot, as you would expect for summer in Alabama. At least there is no direct sunlight, which presents another problem...lighting. Last weekend I completed the living room circuit so I have a light available as soon as I step in the front door. Before that, the bedroom and bathroom were the only lights. Within the next few days, I'll complete one of the kitchen circuits, which will allow me to plug in a washer (when I find one I can afford) and give me another light as well.

The next major item to be completed is the roof. As stated in a previous post, a bit of water manages to get inside. The schedule, which it tentative, says that I should be finished with the roof by Saturday, August 9th. I'm not as schedule driven now that I've given the camper back, but certainly by the end of August I should have the main roof done. The stairwell roof and the decorative pitch on the front of the house should be completed sometime in September. We'll see how it goes. I usually dread the items I perceive as much work, but when I get started, they usually aren't nearly as difficult as I thought they would be. Time will tell!

I'm in!

Friday afternoon I took 1/2 vacation day to finish up the insulation and install the door in the bedroom in preparation for move-in on Saturday. I finished up about dusk and went to bed early. Saturday I went into town to my storage unit and brought selected pieces back, most importantly, the bed! I slept inside the house for the first time on Saturday night. I've met the most important part of the deadline, getting out of the camping trailer. The owner will be picking it up this coming Saturday. All I have to do now is give it a good cleaning and were good! Next goal will be to get the roofing on. I'm shooting for August 15!

Move-in day!

Tomorrow I will be moving into the bedroom of my house. Tonight the insulation will be finished and the bedroom door will be installed. The window air conditioner is already in place and working well. God willing, I plan to sleep in the house on Saturday night. I've got a bunch of work left to do before the house is finished but hopefully not at the pace I've been working for the last 4 weeks.

I've found that if I actually create a task list of items and a planned completion date that I actually get more done. It forces me to plan in advance what I'm going to do and when. Before I did this, I spent quite a bit of time surveying the progress and pondering what I was going to do next. Most often this was done at the time I was supposed to be working. Scheduling what I need to do and when is very tedious, but it pays off. Of course, I don't know how well this will work if there isn't a driving force behind sticking to the schedule.

The next major item, which includes a bunch of smaller preparatory items, is the roof. I've got 30# felt on most of the roof and it's a bit worse for the wear. It keeps about 97% of the water out! I'm planning to install rolled roofing because of it's low cost and quick installation. The plan is to have it done by the end of the 3rd week in August. The driving force to completing on or ahead of schedule has much to do with the 3% of water that gets in!

I'm going to be looking for a good used washer and dryer so I don't have to waste so much time at the laundromat. I'm keeping an eye out for a used refrigerator and stove as well. I'll take some pics tomorrow after some items are in place and post them soon.

Much progress over vacation!

Back to work today, I sure am glad! People joke when they say they are glad to be back to work where they can rest a bit! Wes and I worked our proverbial "rear ends" off last week during my vacation. We made tons of progress. Dug trenches with a backhoe for the power line and septic tank main line, finished the water supply and waste water plumbing, and finished the shower and toilet installation. My power is hooked up and the breaker box is wired, I have hot water, a utility sink, a toilet and a shower, all in working condition. The telephone line is buried, but I still have to bring it into the house. Before moving in to 1/2 of the house, I have to insulate my bedroom walls and ceiling and buy a small window air conditioner. I think I'll be ready to put a matress in this Saturday and possibly sleep inside the house!


Shower!

Utility sink. I washed 3 pairs of jeans there last night!

Toilet. Works great!

Breaker box with all breakers wired and installed.

Final connection to septic tank!

On schedule!

This weekend my son Wes and I continued working on the house, preparing to give the camper back to it's owner. We ran some more wire, installed some more electrical boxes, completed some more plumbing and completed the bedroom closet and entrance door framing. We knocked off early on Saturday because Wes was invited to the 16th birthday party of a young lady that goes to my church. Wes is coming back this weekend and staying for a week. We be will working steadily all week! On the 3rd and 4th of July I'll be renting a backhoe and we will be digging the trench for the main power cable and the main septic connection. I've also got a few stumps to remove and I figure it's as good a time as any to teach Wes how to run a backhoe! Stay tuned for pics! It's all coming together and I thank the Lord Jesus Christ for all of his blessings! Here's a few pictures of the inside. Since I don't have lights yet, most are somewhat grainy.


Here's a shot of the breaker box. No circuits are installed yet.

Here's a shot of the bedroom closet framing. That's the entrance door trim sitting in a safe place inside the closet.

A shot of the almost complete living room window framing.

Washer and utility sink plumbing almost complete.

Standing in front of the utility sink you see the stairs to the "Upper Room".

The beginnings of my shower. It should be completely installed by the end of this Saturday (6/28).

Deadline Imposed!

As you may or may not know, a very generous friend of mine from church has let me borrow and live in his 26' camping trailer since November, allowing me to be comfortable while I'm working on my house. He surprised me last week by telling me he needed it back by July 20th. I've been steadily working all spring trying to get to the point where I can have a climate controlled area to sleep in and a working bathroom and shower.

It will be pretty close, but God willing, I'll make it, but I may have to put a previously scheduled trip to one of my favorite events on hold. The annual fly-in at Mark Smith's Posey Patch ultralight flight park in Mount Vernon, Indiana is a great place to be the last weekend in June! I've been to the fly-in twice in past four years and it's a great time. I may not be able to make it this year. It's a good thing that I've scheduled this time off from work because without it I don't think I would be ready to move in by the time the camper disappears!

Of course the pop-up that belongs to my buddy Al is still there and I can always fall back on that for a few days (or weeks) until the house is ready, but like I said, God willing, I'll be ready!

The status of the house so far...11 out of 14 electrical circuits roughed-in including the bedroom and bathroom, which I'll be needing as soon as I move in. The water supply plumbing is 98% complete, with just the utility sink final connections, and the hot connection to the water heater and the final hookup to the system remaining. The waste plumbing system is 90% complete inside the house. I've got a backhoe scheduled for July 3rd and 4th to dig the trenches for the underground power from the pole and the septic final line. My plan is to have the shower installed by the end of next week, when I was supposed to leave for the Posey Patch! If I'm on schedule, I may consider going for the weekend, but we will see.

As soon as the supply and waste plumbing is complete and connected and the power connected, I just lack installing insulation in the bedroom, and I'll be able to move in!

House construction is going much slower than I expected, but it is progressing. These pictures were taken on May 2nd. Physically, the house doesn't look much different now on the outside. All the OSB sheeting and housewrap are up and I've done some work on the eaves and gable ridges. Notice that here are no gable overhangs. This was done for expediency's sake. It's a rural country home with a barn-like feel so it's not a big deal. The pic below shows the front door opening as seen as you drive in. There's actually a door there now!

The pic below shows the stairwell on the south side of the house, opposite the entrance door.

The pic below shows the west side of the house. The portion of the house that juts out is the kitchen toward the south and the living room toward the north.

On the inside, the water supply plumbing is 90% in place and the waste water plumbing is about 75% complete. I've started to erect the partition walls on the inside which is basically just the divider between the bathroom and the bedroom closet.

After wiring is complete on the half of the house that I'll move into initially, I'll install the wall and ceiling insulation, then I can move in! It sure will be nice having a space wider than about 6 feet to move about it!

Remember, this project is still aviation related since I bought the property so that I can put a runway on it and fly from it. I'm closer to that goal than I was a year ago, eh?!

There's deer in them thar' woods!

Here are some deer pics pulled from my gamespy camera yesterday. It's great living in the country. This spot is about 200 yards in a straight line from my home bulding site.

A fawn with it's mom.

Same two...probably.

Look carefully...there are two bucks.

The house is progressing, but very slowly. I work on it every night after work, or at least when I don't have praise team practice, or have to do laundry, or any of the other things that are normal parts of life. I thought I'd at least be inside by now. It's supposed to be about 45 degrees tonight. It will be chilly in the camper! I'll be OK until I have to get out from under the covers to put on my clothes!

Can't post about flying if I'm not doing any!

Well, I'm sorry I don't have anything to post about flying, but maybe I will next year! In the meantime, I'm in the process of building my house so I can have air-conditioning, (or heat by the amount of progress I'm making) and running water. I've got the septic tank installed (but nothing to hook up yet), I have temporary electric (runs the A/C in the camper) and the water line has been put in up to the house. I'm ready to start setting the ceiling/floor joists for the second floor, which I'll start this week. Pray for good weather and few other commitments! Here's a picture of what it looks like today. I'll keep y'all posted on the progress.

House construction

Well, as I stated in a previous post, the purchase of 60 acres in rural Autauga county, Alabama, is complete! I am in the process of building my house. I've got temporary power, a septic tank installed and ran 450 feet of water line two weeks ago so now I have a spigot! No more filling and transporting of water cans whenever I find myself at a water source. I now have my own.

Construction is progressing, but very slowly. I have to work on it when I have time available. In the meantime, I'm living in a pop-up camper right next to the construction site on the property. A friend of mine was gracious enough to let me borrow it as long as I need it. I've been living in it since the end of March. Pretty cramped, but since I have power now (been less than a month) I have a small refrigerator and a microwave and the camper has an air conditioner installed on top. It makes things much more tolerable!

The house is 24 x 24. Bottom level is 575 square feet, while the top will be an additional 400, plus or minus. I'm paying for materials as I go and building it myself, so I won't have a house payment when I'm finished, just the 60 acre land payment. Sure be glad when I get a roof up, but it will be a while. Here's a picture of what it looks like now.

Not much flying...but....

Ok, I haven't done ANY flying since my incident last October near the GA airport where I was newly based. As previously described, I had to disassemble my plane and put it in the van, and remove it from somebody's property. It still is in the van today, in pieces. But, in the not too distant future, things will change.

I have been going through some changes in my life. I've got a new job that is working out wonderfully! Praise Jesus! On the down side, my wife and I separated a few months ago and it's a tough time for both of us. Since I had to find a new place to live, I bought some rural property.

I am now the owner of 60.2 acres in Autaugaville, Alabama. It's very pretty woodland with hills and valleys and at least one good spot to create an airstrip! I don't imagine I'll be in any position to work toward that end until about the middle of next year, but it will be nice. I'll finally have my own airstrip and my own hangar and I won't have to drive 50 miles just to fly!

OK, I'll come clean...

Happy New Year everybody!

Ok, I'm going to come clean. I haven't posted lately because my last flight ended in a small catastrophe. Here's the brief story: This happened near the end of October. I was about to take my first flight from my new airport. There was a Cessna practicing T&G's on runway 9. I was going to take off on runway 18, which was grass. I waited until the Cessna touched down and then I took off. I watched the Cessna pass in front of me at a safe distance on his downwind leg as I was climbing out. At what I would estimate to be about 90 seconds after takeoff, my engine died! Ok, time to select a landing site. First choice, the runway I took off from...but no, can't do that because the Cessna is now turning from base to final for 9 and I would directly cross it's path if trying to land on 36.

To make a long story short, I ended up landing in a field with 7 foot tall weeds. The landing was relatively smooth, but the sudden stop caused by the weeds ripped the right-hand side of the axle off, wheel and all! I guess some pilots in the area saw me go down and called 911. I walked out of the field, found the owner of the property, and returned to the plane, only to find about 20 emergency workers looking for the pilot! Then the medivac helicopter showed up, only to be waived off by officer in charge. It was quite an embarrassing fiasco!

To top it all off, the police called me after I was home and gave me the number of the FAA representative in the area and told me that I must report the "crash" to him on Monday. I didn't really believe I had to do this and when I called the FAA guy, we talked about it. He told me that even though I was flying a legal ultralight, I would still have to file a report. Against my better judgement, I emailed him my accounting of the incident, and I haven't heard anything since. So...now I'm stuck not flying. It's OK, it's getting pretty cold these days. Frost on the car windshield in the mornings. Very cold at 1500 feet!

On the positive side of things, I start a new job in February so I should have more cash to buy repair parts! Another good thing...I just bought Microsoft Flight Simulator X the other day and have been getting a few hours of stick time in. Too bad it doesn't have a Quicksilver MX or Phantom X1 in the list of aircraft!

The flight to my new hangar

Flying from Fort Deposit yesterday was really a great trip. I was all ready to go on Saturday morning but made the decision to abort the attempt just before getting on the interstate for the airport. The wind was already gusting to well over 10 and it was only going to get worse. I chose to go on Sunday afternoon, after church.

The flight was basically uneventful with a few exceptions. I was flying through the Terminal Service Area west of Dannely Field (the Montgomery commercial airport) right at 2000 feet, which was the maximum altitude at the top of the first layer of the upside-down wedding cake that represents the TSA. Straight in front of me appeared a single-engine GA plane, low-wing, turbine-powered. I have no idea how fast he was flying, but he was flyin' (no pun intended). I didn't see him until about ten degrees to the right, and he flew right past at a heading 90 degrees to mine! I've been trying to estimate how far in front of me he was...I guess about 1/4 mile. I don't even know if he saw me at all. It wasn't close enough that I could see the pilot. If he saw me, I'm sure he was on the radio to the tower reporting my position and probably cussing me out! Where I was flying was legal, but I intended to stay below 1800 feet. There were many active thermals yesterday and I was constantly pushing the nose over to keep the altitude down.

As I crossed the Alabama river, still under the umbrella of the second layer of the TSA, I started to head to the Prattville airport as a weighpoint. I originally intended to stop for fuel at Prattville, but made the decision not to. I was carrying two gallons of fuel with me and after I was a few miles from Prattville, looking towards the Wetumpka airport in the distance, I didn't see any fields that would be acceptable to land in, but I would shortly be flying over a large field where my son and I fly radio controlled airplanes. I didn't want to chance running out of fuel (see previous post titled "Uhhh...How long can I fly on a tank of gas?) and decided to land and transfer the 2 gallons I had with me.

The landing and subsequent takeoff were uneventful. I gained altitude and continued on over areas where I continually drive, but have only flown over one time before. At one point during the flight, I was flying perpendicular to the runway at Maxwell Air Force Base, right at the end, about four miles out. I was thinking that it's a good thing that it's Sunday when the C-130s had the day off. I routinely see them flying at 500 feet AGL in the same area that I was now flying! I fly within eyesight of my house, a friend's house where we practice music weekly, and the local

As I get nearer to Wetumpka, houses get more dense and suitable landing fields get more sparse. I am able to follow small fields until about 2 miles from the airport, and then I have to follow a path that takes me over many trees with no place to land until closer to the airport. As I look around the airport, I don't see many open fields at all! I'm wondering if I've made a poor decision coming to this airport that's only 5 miles from my house. High school where I've seen many football games and fantasized about landing on the football field! Right now it didn't seem like a very good idea at all, and there was a slightly larger field a short distance away with less obstacles, should it be needed!

As I near the airport, I descend to 800 feet AGL, about 200 feet lower than the GA pattern altitude. I make an abbreviated pattern, flying just the base and final to the grass runway (0/36) and make a normal landing in the slightly cross-wind conditions. As I taxi off the runway to my hangar, an old, restored Cessna is taxiing for takeoff. There's already more action at this airport than I've seen in months at Fort Deposit! I taxi to my hangar, kill the engine and put the plane away. I call my wife for her to come and pick me up and I sit and wait, observing my new surroundings. Soon, I'll be able to see what it's like around here from the air! I'll break out my camera and post some pictures soon!

I'm changing AIRPORTS!

I'll be stopping by City Hall in Wetumpka to pay my hangar rent tonight for my MX's new home. More details to come!

Uhhh, how many hours can I fly on a tank of gas?

I had quite a good time flying this past weekend. On Saturday, I flew to a private paved airstrip about 18 miles from Fort Deposit. It was a great! Weather was fine…no clouds or haze and perfectly calm. I had such a fun time that I decided to fly a bit more. Two years ago (this weekend actually) when I was moving my plane from Tuskegee to Fort Deposit (about 80 miles), I had a crankshaft seize on me and had to make an emergency landing in a cow pasture. I decided to visit that pasture because it was only another 17 miles or so from where I was. The flight to the pasture was wonderful. Same great weather. I used the GPS to navigate to the field, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to find it. I landed, and almost ran into the fence in the middle of the field when rolling out of the landing.

This landing was more difficult than I remember it being the first time without power. I taxied to the hunting cabin that is on the property and killed the engine. Nobody was there except for a dog that was sure happy to see me! I sat around for a few minutes and pet the dog, then I climbed back into the MX and headed for Fort Deposit, straight line distance about 28 miles. I enjoyed the scenery on my 40 minute flight back. I had a good tailwind going, my groundspeed was about 47 miles per hour.

On Sunday, I flew to my friend’s strip east of Greenville, Alabama, about 22 miles away. His strip is short, but he’s been working on it to make it longer. There is about 700’ of grass and about another 300-400 feet of loose dirt that has yet to be planted. I used up all of the grass and about 100 feet of the dirt when I landed. I talked to him for a few minutes, then left to go back to Fort Deposit. I arrived back at the airport with about an hour or so of light left. I flew some patterns and practiced some landings. I flew up to 2000 feet and shut off my engine and practiced a dead stick landing.

When I got on the ground, I got out and re-started. I strapped in and took off again. I glanced at my fuel tank and decided I had enough fuel to go an play over a nearby hilly field that is one of my favorite low-and-slow places. When I got there, I flew around the field a couple of times, the I new I needed to get back because I was running low on fuel. I gained altitude so I could have a safety margin when flying over the trees on the way back to the airport. Before leaving the comfort of the field, I looked at the tank again, not sure if I was going to have enough, but decided to proceed. About two minutes away from the field, I checked the fuel again and pretty much decided I wasn’t going to have enough to get back, so I headed back to the field and landed on the lane near the field entrance. When I got out, I could see that I only had ounces of fuel left. I grabbed my GPS and cell phone and started to walk towards the city. I took a short-cut on some railroad tracks and about an hour later (3 miles) I arrived at a store where I bought some Gator-aid and begged a ride to the airport. It was dark, so the airplane was going to have to stay in the field overnight.

When I got home, I called my manager and explained the situation and told him that I had to get the plane back to the hangar in the morning so I’d be gone about half a day. About 5:30 on Monday morning, I left my house for Fort Deposit. I parked in town so I wouldn’t have so far to walk to the plane, but I would have to beg a ride from the airport when I flew back. I thought at the time is was a good compromise, but there was the possibility that I would have to walk from the airport to the town, which was about 2 miles by road.

I walked back to the plane, along the railroad tracks, this time carrying about 1 and a half gallons of fuel with me. Carrying a additional 12 pounds of bulky cargo for three miles is a tough job for a man who isn’t quite as young as he sees himself, but I managed to endure the pain. While I was arriving, I was noticing that some relatively dense fog was hanging around. You could see the sun through the fog so I figured it would burn off eventually. Arriving in the field, I poured the fuel in the tank and prepared the plane for flight. Of course, the weather wasn’t cooperating. Low, wispy clouds moved quickly over the pasture and while I was waiting for good flying weather, a short rain shower wetted everything just enough to make things nasty.

As the sun rose, it seemed the fog got higher and higher, but a gloomy grey hung over the field. I decided to fly. When I took off I climbed to about 200 feet and could barely see the ground, to I turned back and landed. I waited another 30 minutes and tried again, thinking I could get above the fog and see the airport, which was only about three miles away. When I got up, I did rise above the wispy fog-like clouds, but clouds stretched as far as I cold see towards the airport and there were no discernable bottoms to the clouds. As I kept going, I quickly lost visual reference to the ground and got very concerned, so I turned back towards the field again, descending, and landed. I had almost given up by this point and decided to walk back to my car.

After walking about a half mile or so, I noticed that portions of the sky were blue and that is seemed there was a high ceiling. I walked back to the plane, thinking I had just enough fuel for one more chance. I took off again and I could immediately see over the trees and could tell that I would be able to maintain visual reference with the ground all the way back to the airport. I skimmed the bottoms of the clouds at about 350 feet (150 AGL), flying over houses, forests, schools and apartments, past a water tower whose top was at my eye-level, and continued on to the airport. All the while I was updating my intentions of what to do if my engine quit right now! Thankfully, I didn’t have to make any quick decisions as the airport runway appeared along with the familiar fields that surround it. I landed, taxied to the hangar and put the plane away. I was relieved to have this done. All that was left was for me to walk back to my car. When I got about a half-mile from the airport, it started to rain. Thankfully, before I got drenched, a pickup truck came by and I stuck out my thumb. The kind gentleman inside gave me a ride to my car and I went home to shower. Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention all the cow pies that littered the only suitable landing spot in the field. Three takeoffs and two landings in the field really dirtied up my plane and her pilot!

I smell better now and I’m glad to have this all behind me. Thankfully, I had enough wisdom to land before I ran out of fuel. To bad I didn’t have enough wisdom to realize that I shouldn’t have flown to the field in the first place. With a loss of ½ day’s pay, 6+ miles walked and much anxiety about leaving my plane unattended with 40 cows, I’ll bet I’ll have enough wisdom next time.

In the air again!

Last Saturday, I finally found time to repair my MX and go flying. A couple of weeks ago, I replaced my fan shaft bearings again, this time with the required spacers that go between the inner races of the bearings. I had been having a problem with bearing failure after about 2 hours. I had this happen twice. After I explained the problem on the Quicksilver Yahoo group, Mark Smith asked if I used the spacers. Duh, No.... If I had been paying attention, I would have realized the importance of those little thin pieces of metal that just appeared after I removed the shaft! Sometimes I can really be an idiot!

Anyway, we went flying for about 45 minutes right around the airport. I wanted to make sure I didn't have any issues with the bearings or any other part of the engine before straying too far. The last time I went flying was on Good Friday in April. It much hotter around here now and although I know about density altitude, it's really amazing how the hot weather affects performance. It takes much longer at full throttle to reach a safe altitude.

I ascended above the airport to about 2000 feet (estimated). I was right at the flat bottoms of the sparse clouds and it got cooler and bumpier, so I throttled back and descended to pattern altitude and did about 4 touch-n-go's before landing an putting the MX back in the hangar. In just the 45 minutes I was in the air, cloud cover went to sparse with little vertical activity to 50% with thousands of feet of rising vapor. Of course, later in the day it rained, but I didn't care, we needed the rain and I already got my flying time in! Time to plan for a bit longer trip next time!

Fly-in Vacation...

It's that time of the year again! The Posey Patch Fly-in in Southern Indiana. Too bad I won't be flying in, but I'll be driving. But first, I'll be driving to Phantom Aeronautics 1st Annual Fly-in in Three Rivers, Michigan. I'll be spending a couple of nights there in a tent, then going to see my Father in northern Michigan for Father's Day. Then I'm off to the Posey Patch the following weekend to take in the sights and sounds there for the second year in a row. I hope to have a bunch of pictures when I return. Maybe I'll be motivated enough to repair my fan shaft bearings in the MX and finish my Phantom!

The source of the problem!

Well, after speaking (err...typing)with my friend Mark Smith, of Posey County Indiana, the center of Quicksilver innovations these days at the famous Posey Patch, he determined that when I reassembled my fan shaft and bearings, I omitted installing the spacers that go between the two bearings. This causes the inner races to be pulled together when you tighten the nut that holds the fan to the shaft. This type of bearing is designed to carry a radial load only, not a thrust load, so under improper loading, they fail. Duh, and I call myself an engineer? Thanks Mark for your insight and the spare parts. I'll have the situation all cleared up before I fly next!

The shit hits the fan....literally!

First off, I want to apologize that I don't have any pictures. When I went to the USAF Thunderbirds airshow at Maxwell AFB last weekend, I broke my camera. I'll post some of the pics I took at the airshow soon. I'm looking for another camera, so bear with me until I find one!

Good Friday turned out to be really good weather for my MX; she loves light winds and so do I. I arrived at the airport at about 9:00 and did a quick preflight inspection and rolled the airplane out of the hangar. My plans for the morning were to fly locally over fields because I'm still trying to access the reliability of the Rotax 503 that I recently rebuilt. I only have about 3 hours on the engine. It seems to be running well but has a quirk or two that I'm trying to work out. After flying, I was going back toward home and stop in Montgomery to have lunch with my wife. I topped off the tank and started her up, then strapped myself in.

As I taxi to the runway, I check twice for traffic in the pattern. When I get to the hold-short line at the runway, I look to my left and at the end of runway 33 is a Blackhawk helicopter and he is approaching to land. They frequently use our runway for all sorts of training. I sit idling, waiting patiently for the helicopter to take off again and free up the runway. After about two minutes, I killed the engine, and wouldn't you know, as soon as I did, the helicopter takes off! I unstrap and get out and start my engine back up. As I get back into the seat, the blackhawk flys by on the runway heading at about 50 feet. I continue to watch as the helicopter turns left to start a pattern. I don't have a radio (interference with the points-type ignition won't allow clear transmission or reception) so I can't communicate my intentions to the helicopter. I start to taxi on the runway and when I'm about at the midpoint of the runway, the helicopter makes his base pattern turn for landing. I pull off the runway to the left, onto the grass and wait. Apparently the chopper didn't see me and started his landing approach, but then saw me in the grass when he was about 50 feet above the ground and aborted his takeoff. When he was past me by a safe margin, I take the runway again and taxi to the end, and turn around. When I notice that the Blackhawk has cleared the runway to the left and made his downwind turn, I take off and fly the runway heading until the end of the runway, then start a normal left-hand pattern while climing. The UH-60 continues his landing pattern and as I'm leaving the area, I see the helicopter at mid-runway, just sitting there.

I fly over the large fields within about 5 miles of the airport, and just when I was starting to settle in and have some fun, I hear the engine sag a bit, but then go back to normal RPMs. I look at the gauges, and the Cylinder Head Temperatures are starting to rise above normal. I turn my head and look at the fan on the engine and it isn't turning. CHT's are climbing to 400+ degrees as I pull back on the throttle and decide where I'm going to land. Because I've been flying over fields the entire flight, I have multiple choices. I choose a pasture in front of a house that I've flown over and around many times. I have to use the engine for some final adjustments and the landing is smooth and uneventful, except for the fact that I AM landing in a cow pasture and it does have fresh cow patties in it! After the ground roll stopped, I get out to look at the plane. Imagine my surprise that there is a big piece of cow crap on my fan guard! The shit had literally hit the fan!

I pulled out my cell phone and called my wife to tell her I wasn't going to be making it for lunch. I walk to the house, but wouldn't you know, nobody was home. At least there weren't any mean dogs who felt it was their duty to keep me away from the house! I call my friend who lives about a two miles from where I've landed, and he comes and takes me to my car back at the airport. I drive right back to where my plane is and start disassembling my fan. It's apparent that the belt has broken because the fan shaft bearings have failed...again! This set of bearings had less than 2 hours on them. I'm confident that my belt was not too tight, so maybe the problem has been with my method of installation.

To make a long story shorter, I left a note for the owner to call me and made a trip to Motion Industries in Montgomery (Alabama) to get my bearings. They couldn't find a belt like what I needed and suggested an auto parts store. What a joke.
The belt said 10X610 on it. I assumed this was equal to an English size of 3/8 x 24". I went to two auto parts stores (O'Reily and Auto Zone) and the counter people at both stores played with my broken belt for about a minute before they did anything! Then they plugged the number on the belt into the computer and told me that the number didn't interchange. Idiots! I then went to a local lawnmower place, who at least knew what I was talking about when I told them I was looking for a 3/8 x 24" belt, but referred me to the Car Quest store two doors down. They had the belt. I bought it and went home and carefully installed the new bearings in the fan housing, ready to take my parts back to the airplane in the morning.

The next morning when I arrived at the field where my MX was parked, I started reassembling the pieces I remove the previous day. It was quickly apparent that the belt I spent several hours searching for was too short. Great. Now it's time to go looking for the next largest size in a town that was unfamiliar to me, Greenville, Alabama. To make another long story shorter, after 3 stops at different auto parts stores, I found a 3/8 x 25" belt. I wanted to also purchase a 3/8 X 26" belt just to be safe, but I couldn't find a place that had one. I returned back to the plane about two hours later and decided that the belt wasn't the correct one, but that I could make it work long enough to fly seven minutes back to the airport. I finished the installation and started up the engine, which behaved normally. After begging the property owner, I arranged a pickup from the airport to bring me back to my car, and I took off from the pasture and headed straight for the airport. The path I chose kept me over clear fields the entire way in case of unexpected problems, but I didn't encounter any. I landed and secured my plane in the hangar and waited for my ride to appear. They arrived about 15 minutes later and in a few more short minutes, I was back at my car and I drove home. Now, if I can just figure out what caused my bearings to fail prematurely...

Airborne at last!

I finally got to fly yesterday after work. It was really enjoyable. The air was relatively calm and even though it was 78 degrees on the ground, it was quite nippy up in the air. I didn't bring my GPS with me because I can't find it at the moment, but I did get up to what I estimate to be 2000 feet or so. I didn't stay that high too long. I was only wearing a flannel shirt over my T-shirt and I was starting to get cold, so I descended to about 800 feet and did some pattern work and some touch & gos. I practiced for about 30 minutes before I started to fly out over some of the field near the airport. I flew about 30 more minutes before heading back in. It was really great to get airborne for the first time this year!