A Little Hangar Flying: If It Flies, and First Potluck of the Season!

Spring has sprung. Guys and gals are getting out and flying their air machines. The local balloon will be making morning flights over the farm land soon. Why do they only go up in the morning?

EAA 430 has some fly outs planned.

Check into those flights, listed on the Events page.

I would like to get some orders on record together for hats, T-shirts with pockets, maybe a jacket for the club. They will have our logo embroidered on them. Let’s get that done at the next meeting. 25 of each would get the program going. All proceeds would go to what ever we vote on. For suggestions, maybe the scholarship fund.

It’s time to really look over your airplane before flight. Don’t get in a hurry. Spring fever gets everyone. Take a look at the tire pressure, the inside of the cowling and all the holes a nesting bird can get into. If the plane isn’t and you’re not in top condition for the flight take a few moments and think… should I really be going up in the air?

If you have the itch to go over to the islands, make sure you go high enough to glide to the return point of the other side. Please don’t think your going to land in the water by a boat. (No one has that kind of luck). Have you practiced a glide in your airplane lately? I was showing a fellow pilot how just by pulling my prop control all the way out what it felt like when you have less drag by coursing up the pitch of the propeller. The glide is really extended. Note: you can’t accomplish that if there is no oil pressure.

We had a big day on Saturday, May 20th – first Young Eagle Flights of 2017.

Then there are the fly outs we are planning. Not to mention all the airshows going on this summer.

I’m going to Alaska. Either in my airplane or on Alaska Airlines big jet. Depends if my friend’s float plane is working. He rebuilt the engine. So, since he doesn’t fly, I get to break that in. Sure is fun to go to all the old haunts around the Great State of Alaska. I told my son Tyler, we can take Lisa and Sophia to see the bears at Katmai. He said, no let’s go fishing— we can watch the bears where we fish. He’s right! Dang bears everywhere.

There have been some great clam tides down south this last month. The way I see it… 15 razor clams per person gets real expensive. But!!! if you take a couple kids its all worth the gas. Gary Winnope goes all the time and the smile on his face when he comes back says it all. Go over to the Goose for lunch or down to Bremerton for Halibut and Chips. Head down to Chehalis for dinner at the golf course or to Tacoma Narrows for dinner. Go over to Boeing, park at Kenmore Aero, (get some fuel – it’s cheap). Ask for the crew car then go to 13 coins’ restaurant for dinner.

I thought hard about going to Alaska and flying for Branch River Air this summer for a couple of months. But then I took two Aspirin, laid down until the thought went away. It seems fun but I’ve done that dream.

I trained a Red Tail Hawk last winter. Only caught a mouse. I let him go back to the wild; will train another this fall.

It was a life long dream to become a Falconer. I’m an Apprentice right now. We will be training for a rabbit kill.

Boy, what a learning curve. So the moral to that story is if you want to do something, do it!

If you’re reading this and want to fly across the USA in your homebuilt there are a million reasons why not to. But if you don’t do it, you WILL regret it later. Some reasons why not to…cost of gas, weather, what about the chickens, the dog, what will my wife think? Lots of reasons. But get in the airplane, go to one airport at a time, buy gas then move on. If your tired, stop for the day. If the weather is bad, for crying out loud… land! Go to Oshkosh. It is not very hard. Go back home if you’re not from here and see old friends. I loaded my girls up in the 180 and flew all the way across the country to my class reunion a few years ago. Then came back the southern route. Yes, I had to stop for weather and darkness. But I will hear about it for years from my girls.

Come on out to the First pot luck at hangar 10 next Saturday, May 27th at 10:00 AM. It’s going to be a good one.

Mike Radford