Lots Going On This Summer

We have a great Pot Luck coming this Saturday July 28th at about Noon. After Lee Runion does a great presentation on Accidents over the past years and what are the commonalities.

There have been some good fly-ins and more are planned in the Northwest. W28 has the Air Affair coming up in August. So, make that one if nothing else.

I went to Concrete, WA for the first time this year. Pretty fun to see all the guys there and their great looking airplanes. You don’t have to spend the night if you don’t want to but go to the fly-ins. Jefferson County Airport has one coming up. I think there is one up in the San Juans soon. Check it out.

Got to see a great demonstration of airmanship the other day. I’m out cleaning bugs off my 180 and this guy goes walking by and has three other people in trail. They go over to the C-172 tied down in the grass and as I glance over people are getting in the plane and he is looking things over. They start the plane immediately gun the engine to move it with four adults in the plane and proceed to the end of the runway.

They had to wait for departing aircraft and during that time I guess he noticed his left wing was low. He turns around and goes to the North side of the hangar and then comes back out shuts down again. Now I’m curious at this time because they are checking the air in the tires.

They added air to one. So now one is 32 and the other 29 PSI. I asked “Is that why you turned around?” He said; No, I needed some fuel and the tire looked low that’s why it was leaning over to one side. But the taxi way is sloped in that area I told him. I asked where he came from and he told me it’s a rental from Renton. So, he filled the tanks for an hour flight back and loaded four adults into the plane and away he went on an 80 degree day with no wind. He used over half the runway and slowly climbed out and turned toward Renton I hope he didn’t try and go direct.

So, what I’m trying to relate is this: conduct a good preflight, check the air in the tires, check the fuel, make sure the plane isn’t overloaded for the conditions. I would be willing to bet he was overloaded for the conditions. Even in my 180 if I take four 180 pound adults with full fuel I’m 120 pounds over gross. That’s with no baggage. Make sure you’re mentally up for the flight. You owe it to the passengers and everyone else. They had get home itis. I see it all the time. How do I know that? He said we spent too much time at the Lavender Festival. I got to get the plane back.

As an example: Just this last Wednesday a DHC-2 Beaver on floats died. The young Pilot (24) years old died and the two passengers suffered burns and other non-life threating injuries.

He circled the lake three times on the hot afternoon with clear skies and a loaded Beaver trying to get the Beaver on the step. Which, when that is done, the airplane accelerates to Lift Off Speeds.

He got off the water and the Beaver crashed ½ mile away. That was the second fatality in two years for this outfit.

There have been two mid-airs in Alaska this year alone. One close to Anchorage. One plane made it back the other crashed and burned. The other crash was all fatal. Then there was one of our local businessmen who was a passenger in an Otter in Southeast Alaska that smacked a mountain. Those guys were just plain lucky. All lived.

I have a good friend that had a mid-air about three years ago. The other pilot in the twin didn’t know he hit the spreader bars of the C-206 (my friend’s floatplane) until he got back and was looking at the vertical stabilizer of the Navajo on post-flight inspection.

So, the morale to these stories is; be vigilant and very careful and please don’t succumb to get home itis. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve turned around or spent the night somewhere due to weather.

I went out this morning early to take advantage of the smooth air and flew for one and a half hours in the mountains. I went in 2000 feet over the rocks. I didn’t try to out-climb them as I went towards them. We had a wonderful time scouting around looking for hunting spots. The air was dead calm. If I wanted to look at a valley we flew from the top down to the bottom or just flew straight and level. I always had a way out and didn’t go into some canyon low and slow. Remember the HORIZON in the Mountains is different than on flat ground. Many people think it’s the top of the mountains. WRONG! It’s where the base of the Mountain curves up. If the only thing you can see in front of you is mid mountain, the Horizon is straight in front of you. Basically, no horizon. But it is not the top of the mountain. You will stall/spin the airplane looking at the top of a mountain for the horizon to stay level. It’s already been tried. The airplane will slow and stall. Always mind your airspeed in the mountains. Always have a way out. When the stall occurs in the mountains there is no room to recover straight ahead in rising terrain.

Go out burn some AVGAS during this great weather. But remember everyone else is too. So, look out and Fly Safe.

Mike Radford President, EAA chapter 430