Winter flying is fun, sort of

[Jeff Alton]

Craig, that looks like a fun machine, never been in an open cockpit before, what is the wind noise like?

LJ60 closed the approach on his own, no clearance, off the RNAV STAR, when we had him call he claimed there was no indication to continue present heading after the DTW if approach clearance not issued.... If this is true, than there is a big concern for us...


Cheers

[cgarr]

Originally Posted by Jeff Alton

Craig, that looks like a fun machine, never been in an open cockpit before, what is the wind noise like?

Lots of wind noise through the wires, engine too: Took a lot of different mic muffs to get one just right for the radio, Hard for the towers to understand me sometimes, till they see the plane then they ask me to buzz the tower, thats always a lot of fun. I did a lot of instrument flying a few years back, its setup very nice, Mode C, 720 comm, Collins Nav, GPS electric T&B, just enough stuff to get me in trouble Here is a trip around the patch, you can hear for yourself.

[Jeff Alton]

very cool!!

Cheers

[Tim Hancock]

Good job Craig, making yourself go out in the cold for a nice flight on a crisp day over the beautiful winter landscape! I know how cold it is! I flew a friend's open cockpit Hatz bi-plane around the patch once on a 25 degree day with a ski cap, light gloves and a leather jacket and in that 5 minutes I thought I would freeze to death for sure! 30 minutes without extreme cold weather gear is hard core for sure!

I planned to put the skiis on my Minimax today as we were supposed to get 4-8" last night, but I woke up to zero snow.

[cgarr]

Tim, what field are you at? I think I have gone by your place on my way to the WW1 gatherings at WPAFB I am at 41c, always looking to go somewhere, when it warms up.

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by cgarr

Tim, what field are you at? I think I have gone by your place on my way to the WW1 gatherings at WPAFB I am at 41c, always looking to go somewhere, when it warms up.

I have a 2500' grass strip (E/W) at home. On the Detroit sectional it is listed as "Eickmeier" but the official designator is OH03 (edit: OH02) which rarely shows up in many GPS databases but does show up on Airnav.com. It is about 20 miles SW of Toledo Express (TOL). The Airnav database probably lists it at 2300' N/S, but that old runway got plowed up last year and now my 2500' is the only one there. My house and hangar are at the west end of the runway and I am nearly always out in the hangar weeknights and weekends. By all means, stop by and chat if you are ever passing thru.

I will look up 41C tonight and if I ever get up that way, I will look you up.

[cgarr]

Is this it? I think its OH02

[Normy]

I was thinking about your post about your airplane today while I was cruising my 928 through Fort Lauderdale.

"Man! That's what I'm missing with aviation. Everytime I go to fly these days it is for work, and its just no fun."

My YouTube site:

This sort of flying is fun, but you know...what you are doing, flying over fields and trees like that? That is FUN. I can't afford my own airplane at this point, but I seriously need to get back involved with general aviation some time. That, and that biplane is totally cool!

Fly safe-

N

[Normy]

Originally Posted by Tim Hancock

I have a 2500' grass strip (E/W) at home. On the Detroit sectional it is listed as "Eickmeier" but the official designator is OH03 which rarely shows up in many GPS databases but does show up on Airnav.com. It is about 20 miles SW of Toledo Express (TOL). The Airnav database probably lists it at 2300' N/S, but that old runway got plowed up last year and now my 2500' is the only one there. My house and hangar are at the west end of the runway and I am nearly always out in the hangar weeknights and weekends. By all means, stop by and chat if you are ever passing thru.

I will look up 41C tonight and if I ever get up that way, I will look you up.

I think I've seen that on a sectional chart. I grew up in Temperance, Michigan, about 5 miles north of Toledo, and flew around that area a few times.

You don't know a pilot from the area named Jeff Altmann do you?

[cgarr]

Here is a fun one from this summer: I miss warm weather!!

[Normy]

DAMN! You're so lucky-

N!

[cgarr]

Whats nice too, at least for me is it falls into the sport pilot class so I can fly it without a medical, I have never been denied a medical but was on an annual due to my kidney stones. Its gross is 1150#, empty is 800#

[Tim Hancock]

Edit: My indentifier is OH02 not 03. Brainfart, as I rarely reference it by the indentifier. http://airnav.com/airport/OH02

Yep Craig, that is it (I think that satellite pic is about 10 yrs old)! The N/S strip is no longer there, but I am at the west end of the E/W strip. I am the house and hangar with the small pond. The place is difficult to spot sometimes from the air, but if you look closely, there is a 1/2 mile row of pine trees lining the east side of my road going north and my hangar building has a silver colored aluminum roof. Both ends are clear and the runway is crowned with good drainage tiles, so even in the wet spring, it is always firm enough for general aviation singles.

Normy, the name Jeff Altmann sounds familar, but I am not sure I know him. I originally lived closer to Toledo and am a member of Toledo EAA chapter 582, but have been slacking off with airplanes the last several years (d@mn Porches and other hobbies have somewhat sidetracked me ). I intend to get back on my One Design project this winter sometime (90% done....90% to go)

FWIW, I do have car gas on the field should anyone ever needs a fill-up.

Pic from west-southwest


pic of MiniMax from last winter (we got about 2" last night, so I may put the skiis on today).

[cgarr]

Excellent: I was hoping you would have fuel, its 1 1/2 hours and I have a 2 1/2 hour range, well the plane does I don't! 130 miles, a perfect Saturday flight, now wait for the weather to warm up.

[Tim Hancock]

Craig, you are pretty close to Lendaddy. Is that thing a two seater? (Lendaddy just LOVES to fly )

Is there still a restaurant at Jackson? It has been a while, but I used to go up there for the aerobatic contests. Looks about half way to Calkins.

[mikeferg75]

Can you Buzz my Mom's house next summer she's in Caledonia at 100th Street on the Thornapple river.

Ferg

[cgarr]

I have talked to Lendaddy but never met him, I think he hangs out at Calkins? The SE5a is only a single seat, and we just sold our 39 J4 cub coupe what was a two place, I sure miss that plane..