Welcome 2012!

Weather and work conspired to keep me firmly grounded this past week. But this weekend promised blue skies, light winds, and warmer temperatures -- despite a nagging head cold, I had to fly.

I arrived at the airport at 7:40, checked the heater, opened the doors, and watches the sky slowly transition from night to day. Preflight, push, chock, start, climb in, taxi....

Runup, check controls, trim, doors, seatbelts -- good. Centerline, brakes, full power, all good, release. Soon I was climbing out, once again enjoying the view from up here.

Lancaster County was covered in a thin veil of haze in some spots, but up here 1000' above the ground the air was clear and cool. I pointed the nose southwest and noticed the ground passing underneath at a glacial pace -- a check on the GPS revealed a ground speed of 53.6 MPH. Airspeed is indicated 80, so I'm fighting a 30 MPH headwind. Oh well, I'm in no hurry...

This is the sort of day that will make the planned trip to visit Mom and Dad in Northern NY a breeze -- a 30-40 tailwind and clear skies would shorten the trip to 4 hours -- or less! In no wind conditions it's a 5 hour flight. Or rather 5 hours total flying time with a couple of landings along the way to refuel and uncramp.

I level off, pull back the throttle to 2350 and enjoy the view. It's a spectacular January day. There's enough green below to avoid the grey tedium of winter that envelops other areas. I notice an Amish farmer driving a team over a field, trucks driving down farm lanes -- even a person running on the track at L-S High School.

Somewhere West of Lancaster

I climb a bit to avoid the bumps down low (a southerly flow will be disturbed as it rolls over the ridges along either side of the Susquehanna). Ahead is Mount Joy.  I nose back down and do some orbits over home. Janet is outside in her white sweater. I wave then waggle the wings and head towards the small grass field just east of here. I do a low pass and enjoy the sensation of speed.

I tune Lancaster Tower into the handheld in case I graze the Class D on the way back. I hear a Grumman request permission to land from 10 miles out. The Tower replied to report base for Runway 8. I remained clear of the airspace but stayed on the frequency to hear this exchange:

LNS TWR: "Grumman 1234, Can you see the field?"
GRUMMAN: "Yes, we have it on the nav..."
LNS TWR: "Grumman 1234, The field is behind you..."
Pause....
GRUMMAN: "Oh. What do you want us o do?"
Pause...
LNS TWR: "Grumman 1234, enter a left downwind for Runway 8..."

My guess is the pilot wasn't looking out the window and was instead staring at the tiny screen on the panel.

Our apartment complex, The Crest at Elm Tree. Janet is down there somewhere...

Mount Joy, PA (looking west)

Farmland south of Mount Joy

45 minutes have passed and I need to head back. The new heading results in a 100 MPH groundspeed -- nice. I fly over downtown Lancaster that seems quiet and still. Soon Smoketown is in sight. Reduce power, join the left downwind, set trim, announce, roll onto base, then final. set up for a nice easy glide to the grass. I pick a closer aim point and it helps -- I touch down within a few feet of where I planned with the wheels barely rumbling -- nice.

Smoketown Airport from midfield left downwind, 28

 I taxi back, wipe down, put everything away and drive home, wondering why our time in the sky is so brief.

Lancaster County November Flight

Today (Saturday November 26th, 2011) I was able to take the Chief up for a nice local flight over Lancaster County. It was a beautiful late November morning -- winds were still, few high clouds, good visibility -- the sky beckoned.

I pulled the airplane out, backed it up to a tie-down post, then used the Lycoming O-145 Ops manual recommended cold start technique: four shots of prime, six full rotations of the prop, check chocks and tie down, mags hot, throw prop -- chugga-chugga.. it started!

After a few seconds of cold stumbling she started running smooth and RPM climbed. I pulled it back to 600 RPM, untied the tail, pulled the chocks, climbed in, and taxied to runway 28. The runup showed 25 RPM drop on each mag, 50 RPM drop with carb heat -- great! Roll out to center, apply full power and climb out.

Yellow line shows Takeoff run -- airborne in 700' or so...

Early Morning mists

 Some days the air is smooth as liquid butter, and this was one of those days. I climbed to 1200' (800' AGL or so) and leveled off, with no particular destination in mind. There were a few patches of mist clinging to the valleys, but here above the air was clear.

Lancaster County from 1000'

I flew south towards Willow Street to stay clear of Lancaster airport airspace and approaches and also to avoid congested areas near Lancaster City. Once southwest of Willow Street I headed towards the river. I had the Garmin 496 GPS on board and while my indicated airspeed was 80 MPH, ground speed was 63.5. There was a definite southerly flow aloft but it was dead calm at the surface.

The Susquehanna here is wide and shallow, yet we've had some much rain this fall the water is as high as it normally is in spring. I flew along the northern shore past Washington Boro and along River Road.

Washington Boro on the north bank of the Susquehanna River (looking northwest in this picture)

I did a low pass over McGuinness field (8N7), just on the western edge of Columbia. I'll call them and confirm it's OK to land but the low pass revealed a nice wide runway with a carrier deck departure view off the far end of 26 about 100' above the river.

Columbia, Pennsylvania (McGuinness Field is just under the left strut)

I headed north and a bit west over the small ridge that runs parallel to Route 30. I flew over Mount Joy, did a couple of orbits, then headed for a small field just east of our place. I've never seen an airplane there and it's not on the charts but would work for me as long as the air wasn't too warm.


I was running low on time so flew back towards Millersville, then over West Lampeter before joining the pattern at Smoketown. The landing on the turf was passable but I taxied back and took of for one more pattern to make  proper landing. The second landing was better, and shorter.

Landing on Grass (Yellow line shows touchdown target and stopping point - 560' total)

 

The Lampeter-Strasburg School Campus

It was a great day to fly, and I am glad I was able to got up for an hour and 15 minutes before the day's errands.

L-S and Village Road, West Lampeter, PA

West Lampeter Fairgrounds

Farmland south of Lancaster

Millersville, Pennsylvania

Willow Valley Resort

The Crest at Elm Tree Apartments (where we live)

Shopping plaza in Mount Joy just south of our apartment

Mount Joy, PA (Looking north)

Lancaster City

The Latest Update: November 4th, 2011

I flew the Cessna 205 back to its home in Connellsville, PA (KVVS) yesterday. I had to wait for the fog to clear before I took off from the lonely Donegal Springs Airport (N71) which is a mere 4 miles from our place in Mount Joy.

Donegal Springs looks like an airplane graveyard -- there are more airplane carcasses  falling apart amid weeds then there are flyable types. The hangars are in terrible shape -- several have doors permanently open with all sorts of rusting trash laying about. The runway is clear but the markings are gone. There has been no surface treatment in a very long time. I counted four airplanes that looked like they might be flyable. The rusting fuel pumps have a twin parked in front. Several aerostars site on flat tires around what looked like an FBO.

There are a few trailers next to the parking area that have a sign for the Donegal Springs Skydivers Club. I don't thin there's been a jump in a couple of decades.

I've flown in a couple of times and it's a nice enough strip -- clear approach either end, with the first half of runway 10 slightly downhill. Too bad there's nothing else to recommend the field except proximity.

Anyway, I bid adieu to this sad little airfield and climbed to 4500'. I requested advisories from Harrisburg Approach and stayed with them until I cleared Blue Mountain. They gave me a switch to Johnstown but I was too low and too far to make contact.I tried a couple of times and then just switched back to 1200 and descended to ridge skimming altitude.

Three Mile Island behind the strut, Harrisburg Airport (KMDT) in front

 I had a conference call at 1130 so I landed at Bedford (KHMZ), parked, and set up on the lone picnic table near the ramp. It was warm enough to conduct my meeting outside with cell phone and wifi provided by the FBO.

Three Mile Island, Susquehanna River

I launched an hour later and now the air was rougher. I followed the Turnpike for a while, then turned left at Somerset towards Connellsville. I've done the flight enough times to know a straight shot to Seven Springs then the next to the gap in the ridge formed by the Youghigheny would take me right to the airport. I was high (as I usually am to clear the ridge), slowed to 100 MPH, dropped 20 degrees of flaps, and slipped a bit to reach pattern altitude. I turned final and had a nice gentle landing on runway 23.

Endless Ridges seen from 4500' somewhere near Shippensburg, PA (Looking west)

Somerset, Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania Turnpike

I put the airplane away with Bill's help. We wiped off the bugs and loaded up and headed to Dairy Queen for some fast food.

It looks like he has a motivated buyer for 8104Z, and though I'm sad to see her go I'm happy that Bill can finally sell her. He hasn't flown much the past year and hangar fees, insurance, annuals, subscriptions and the rest can add up quickly.

I had to go pick up the trailer from U-haul so headed off to Hopwood where the process took four times longer than necessary. Finally I was able to hook up and roll out 45 minutes later. I drove straight to Waynesburg where I planned to do 1/2 the loading, park the trailer in the hangar, and finish loading Saturday. But there was no way to unhitch the trailer solo with all the weight in it, so I committed to loading the rest of the stored items boxes.

I checked in on John and saw my engine back on its mounts on 24286. He was looking for a few parts so he could finish. I didn't have them in the hangar (he later called to tell me he found them). The annual should be complete Sunday and I should be able to fly it home anytime after Monday, weather permitting.

He said some of the valve clearances were way out of spec. So with the valves adjusted to book spec and the new head gaskets preventing blow-by I should have a smoother running, more powerful engine -- and every additional horse is welcome when you only have 65 to start with!

We also replaced all the pushrod tube seals (which was the cause of the nuisance oil leak).So I'm looking forward to flying behind an engine that has essentially had a top overhaul completed.

Early November over Pennsylvania

Nice view of valley in between eastern ridges of the Alleghenies: