September Morning

After a few weeks of little flight time, I was able to spend some quality time in the air this morning!

The forecast was spot-on: lots of local fog that lingered past 9 AM. I arrived at the airport at 7:30, cleaned and lubed control hinges, refilled the fuel tank, then taxied over to Strope Aircraft Maintenance where we torqued down the spark plugs to 27 Ft/lbs and replaced all the old inspection access plates with brand new ones.

Once the fog lifted I started up and head to the end of runway 27. A quick runup and soon the tail was up and I was lifting off the pavement. The airplane climbed well in the cool, smooth air and the new spark plugs helped wring full power out of the fuel.

It was an absolutely perfect September morning with clear, dry air dominating the region. I felt like I could point the nose in any direction and fly until the fuel ran low. Alas I had to be back home by 1130, so I turned northeast and flew towards the Pittsburgh Renaissance Faire grounds to do some fly overs before the gates opened.

I crossed the Monongahela just north of California, then turned east to follow I-70.  I stayed even with eastbound traffic at 2400 RPM and 80 MPH indicated airspeed. Winds were light from the south and only affected my track slightly. I spotted the Route 31 exit and throttled back to descend over the fair. I was low enough to see everyone outside waving and did a few passes before climbing northbound.

I entered the busy pattern at Rostraver and landed on the grass, taxied back, and took off from the pavement. Winds were light from the south but causing some bumps down very low. I followed the river, then a heading until in sight of the water tower just south of Greene County airport. I entered a left downwind, eased the power to 1500, trimemd for 60, and started a nice long turning slip for the grass south of runway 27. POwer to idle, slip it hard until past the last few trees, straighten it out, hold it off, off, float, then the gentlest of touchdowns on all three wheels.


It was a great but fast 1.5 hours in the air. I wiped off the trace of oil from the cowling, unplug the radio battery, close up shop, and head home.

Changing the Oil

It's been a very stressful, tiring week at work with days stretching to night. I wanted to fly some this week but the mornings have been foggy and the afternoons over 90F.


I thought last night would be the night to throw the prop and putt around the sky a bit. But by the time I got to the airport it was 6:40 PM, 88 F, and I was just plain tired. I didn't need the IMSAFE checklist to know when I shouldn't fly so on the ground I stayed.

But I'm already here so...

The hangar door slid open, the light streamed in, and the cowling came off. I refilled the fuel tank with 5 gallons of premium. After that, I only intended to clean the engine compartment but since I took the cowling off I should change the oil. Snip the safety wire, loosen the drain pug, watch the oil flow down into the plastic bin. Sure, I should have warmed the engine up to operating temps, but it was 95 F here today and the oil is flowing like water. Good enough.

Replace the plug, tighten, reapply safety wire (I'm getting better -- I did miles of .032 and .020 safety wiring from 1980 to 1983 in the Air Force, but it's been awhile). I poured in Aeroshell 80W (3.5 quarts and .25 quart of Camguard) and watched for leaks. All good (there is no filter in this airplane).

I wiped down the entire engine and compartment, carefully checking for problems. I cleaned the inside of the cowling, put everything back on, wiped it down, and gave the wings and windshield and clean up.

A quick straightening up of the hangar and then close up and head home.

We don't always have to fly our airplanes -- sometimes it's good to just be around them.