Ain’t it the truth?

Here

ETA: This is true as well.

And, HERE

Aesop has a good one.  Even small actions, in concert, will have a great deal of effect.

The hard part is doing so without getting caught….. or, in planning, not giving the government notice when someone informs.
Easy to plan, much more difficult to execute on a meaningful scale.

The comments, however, are priceless.

2 hours of learning.

Flew for 2 hours. The strobe control box came in (finally) at 10:30, they had the plane ready at 1.

Pulled it out, fired it up and taxied to 27 for a left turnout departure. Flew around south of the field and got a feel for the AC. Then I climbed from 2500 to 10,500 MSL and flew west for about 20 minutes. No wind to speak of and had a ground speed (according to both the 430 and ForeFlight) of 137 knots.

Turned and descended to 5K, and had a GS of 128.

Banked and turned and played with pitch, power and airspeeds leaned and played with cowl flap settings. (I did stay out of the approach path to Midway airport, which was about 10 miles from my “play” area….those SouthWest 737’s are often overflying at 5500 feet).

Turned towards home and did a downwind midfield entry to the pattern for 27. First approach was too fast, but it worked. Winds were calm to 5 220-300 variable. extended my downwind for inbound straight- in traffic.

Second one was better and the landing was a greaser. So was the third.

I can’t seem to find the point wherein people claim that the 182 series is nose heavy on landing though. Flare was easy and touching on the mains first seems to be normal. I don’t understand how folks bang the nose/damage the firewall. My worst landing might have been a little flat, but it wasn’t hard.

Taxied back and topped up the tanks (44 gallons) with 100LL avgas and put it away. The POH says I can use as low as 80/87 or 100LL. I might try the UL94 available at nearby airports just to see how well it works (it ain’t much cheaper, but no lead to contaminate the oil….)

Tomorrow, weather permitting, it’s gonna be touch and goes at a few close-by airports and me and the STec-55X are gonna get acquainted. If not, then the day after that. Gonna do a short cross country on Sunday if the weather folks don’t change the forecast again, so I gotta gain some confidence in the aircraft first.

This plane flies like a Cadillac after the Warriors, Arrows and 172’s. Not a screamer or a truck, but a good, solid, comfortable sedan. Smooth flier, fairly light on the controls. Easy to fly well.

130 knots will take me where I need to go at a decent rate, even if not as fast as I would wish….all at 12.3 gallons per hour.

As I expected, the new plane is costing me money. (this was negotiated OUT of the purchase price.)  Like a boat, a plane is a hole in the air which one tosses money into….

Flap limit switches, New strobe power supply, throttle control cable.

But, it’s fixed, and as soon as the weather is VFR (Wed, supposedly, according to the “expert”prognosticators) I am gonna go do touch and goes at all the nearby airports to wring it out and see what else is wrong, if anything. Plus burn some of that old avgas.

I’ve got most of the manuals read, and have spent enough time on the ground working with the assorted (non-obsolete) avionics that I am comfortable.

More later as it happens. 

Exactly how many ballots will “suddenly be found” in Arizona and Florida?

I mean, this is like Chicago in the ’70’s.

Will the citizens allow it?

Will the Feds allow it?

Can the Republicans beat the “Margin of Fraud”? 

The Insurance company wanted a 1 hour checkride and endorsement with a Flight Instructor before solo flight in my new plane.

My instructor had an opening (student cancelled) on Saturday. So I dropped everything and went to the airport and preflighted so I would be ready when she was.

I had no flaps, but she (and I) did not seem to be bothered by that fact.

So we flew.

Steep turns, climbing turns, spiral descents, slow flight (harder without flaps), straight and level flight, etc.

Kinda like any other checkride.

3 landings. (Still no flaps though)

I am signed off for the aircraft. Plus High Performance endorsement.

Yeah. Now I can fly it whenever (VFR conditions permitting, of course) I choose. 

Take a moment….Thank a Vet.
Today is Veteran’s day.

Speak English in this country? Thank a Vet

Live Free? Thank a Vet.

Feel safe from Russians or Chinese governments telling you what to do, or taking your country…limiting your freedoms? Thank a vet.

Get to speak your mind????Thank a vet.

Not all fought. But they Served.

And their Service kept your country and your Constitution safe…so you could live as well as you do…better than most citizens of any other country on this mudball.

Thank a Vet today. They, by their Service, kept the Wolves at bay.

To all who Served: Thank you with all my heart. 

Yes, it has some warts. It is, after all, a 1976 vintage.I knew that going in, especially after the Pre-Buy inpection. I didn’t, after all, have the scratch for a brand new one. But this one is good, even with the warts, and it does have the instrumentaton that I wanted…..So, despite the warts, I bought it.

But it is mine.

There are some issues that come from any piece of machinery that sits for long periods of time….This was owned by an older couple that didn’t fly much the past few years.

Something flakey with the flaps (they won’t always deploy), but that is easily fixed (likely a limit switch, according to the mechanic) and that did, indeed, affect the purchase price.

I’m gonna have to do the prop, as it it out of date (not time (514 hours since 2005)..)…which also brought the price down.

Other than that, she’s cherry.

Garmin 430W freshly upadated
STec 55X with all the goodies
KMD 150 MFD (needs a database update)
King 197
KNS 80
Dual HSI with glideslopes

514 hours on a factory reman

It will need ADS-B (Probably I will get a Stratus)

New(er) interior and paint in 2010

Trued out at 143 knots at 5K on the altimeter.

It was interesting during the test flight not having the flaps deploy (oddly, they worked on the ground and on the second approach, so I dunno). Made for an interesting first landing in that particular 182.  Easy though, especially with a 7200 foot runway.

I got a lot of manuals to read.

I should have closed on the 182.

So from open heart surgery for a heart valve replacement on Wednesday to going home on Tuesday.

I picked Dad up from the hospital Tuesday night at 6 pm. They kicked him out.

He ain’t ready to rassle allygators, but it still is amazing that he can be discharged after only 6 days. And he is doing very well.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.