Winter flying is fun, sort of
 

Had to go up one more time this year, half hour at 30 degrees is about enough.. And yes that is a real rabbit on my head

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...nterflying.jpg

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...terflying2.jpg

Do you prop it by yourself? Cool photos.

No, I have full 12V system on it and some heat, yea I know, I'm a pussy;)

heat? in an open cockpit? I'm betting it was real chilly.

Better climb performance, but that looks awfully cold.

Kudos to you for toughing it out!

That is the ultimate in flight. Very cool!

That's awesome man.

I've flown various GA aircraft but the best I've come close to in cool factor to yours is an Aeronica Champ.
I flew F/A-18s for 10 years and they're a hoot...but still not nearly as cool as your plane.

Did you build her yourself or is it a restored original?

Its an 85% which I built myself and first flew back in 1989, took about 6 years to build. I have about 500 hrs in it myself, that explains the hair loss I guess..

Looks great and thats real flying.

We are flying today but its no where near as fun as what you fly, but we do have a full coverage windshield in front and heat and a flight attendent in back!

Fly safe!

Joe

Joe, off topic a wee bit, but do you have Universal in the jet? Or other??? I had a pilot pooch an FMS arrival yesterday, claimed an error in the Universal database, the right folks were not home there at their Tuscon office today for me to verify......

Cheers

I was talking with my wife's grandfather recently about icing. He is retired USMC and flew open cockpit airplanes before WWII. There I was telling him about how the winglets and windshield iced up on an approach into Lincoln.

He tops that by telling me about icing up his helmet and goggles. Other than typing 100 words per minute into the FMS I don't work nearly that hard!

I think Joe has a Collins like we do. We had Universals in the Brasilia a long time ago but they were replaced by a newer setup years ago.

Hmmm, icing in an open cockpit, now that puts hair on a guys chest......

This was a LJ60 and the folks at Universal were nice and friendly, but I will find out Wednesday.....

We had tons of trouble with Jepp, nearly sewered a multi million dollar airspace project, but never any issue with these guys. I still think the pilot might be pulling my leg a little, but we will see!

Happy new year!

Cheers

That looks like some cold flying-

Bundle up warm!

So what are those Lycoming valve covers doing poking out of the sides of that cowling?

N!

Jeff,

Our jet uses Collins ProLine 21, so no Universal on this one.

I have an old friend working at Collins but he is on vacation right now. If no luck from Tucson pls let me know.

I know that there are some approaches that are not correct in certain FMS boxes. The paper or electronic Jepps box takes precidence.

Joe

Thanks Joe, we had fun with Collins, Honeywell and Jepp in the spring, nearly casued me health problems.........

The strange thing is that I don't have the different databases available to compare to. We publish the info, and I sign off on that, but I can't get access to the different database suppliers product to quickly check when a deviation occurs. Guess I am going to be putting a paper together to justify why I need this info every pub cycle........

Cheers

Jeff,

I can look on Jeppesen JeppView and see what their chart says if that would help.

Let me know...

Joe

Craig, what engine does the aircraft have?

Cheers

Its a Continental (C-85) converted to an O-200

Jeff, I've got dual Universal FMS's and have flown with them for six years and 4000+ hours. Our 200+ Embraer RJ fleet all have them and I've never heard of a problem with ANY procedure in our database...ever. It's possible that what the guy in the Lear was telling you (between the lines) was that his database was expired. We update ours every two weeks.

Craig, incredible pics. It reminds me of my time spent based out of ORD.

Scott,

There are some procedures on several FMS units that ARE incorrect. This came out several years ago when it turned out that the FMS memory was just not large enough to hold all the approaches and so the makers put one in and tried to cut corners to save memory. Forget the details but remember something like this.

Will be interesting to see what Jeff finds out... and I flew a Lear 60 for 3-4 years with Collins and Universal boxes.

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

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.

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5O5w2-JsLeM&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5O5w2-JsLeM&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

very cool!!

Cheers

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! :D

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. :(

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.

Is this it? I think its OH02

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...mer91/OH02.jpg

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: <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BbnUSz1z-00&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BbnUSz1z-00&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

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

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?

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

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/yP0aFbI1S4k&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yP0aFbI1S4k&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

DAMN! You're so lucky-

N!

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#

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
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1199290343.jpg

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

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1199290463.jpg

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.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...flightplan.gif

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

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.

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

Ferg

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..

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...1/100_5412.jpg