(although I have NO corroboration) that the crime rate is down this Sunday (Father’s Day) on the South and West sides of Chicago because all the black men were trying to find their fathers but couldn’t….But their confusion kept them from other endeavors….

It would appear that there are some strange things going on. But then again, this is an election years and things like this (with all those anomalies and all) happen during election years. ‘Tis a funny coincidence, but there it is every single election. year.

(yeah, I know, he rambles and is weird, don’t make him wrong though)

A Follow Up to the Detroit Splash Pad Shooting and Happy Fathers Day!

It’s liberals with a liberal cause….

Police are looking for man with red pickup who did a burnout on a pride -themed crosswalk….

https://x.com/hale_razor/status/1801596140816646430

(Sorry…. copy/paste….link won’t embed. )

Question: Why is overpainting a crosswalk with non standard colors not a crime, but overpainting the crosswalk with black rubber a crime to be pursued by the cops?

Double standards, that’s why.

But still a good time.

Pretty much nothing went as planned for the Saturday meetup (not that the original plan was well thought out, mind you) ,  but we rolled with it and it all worked out and was a good start to the weekend anyway.

The original plan was for Aaron and myself  to meet up again at KJXN for breakfast and then each of us to act as safety pilot for the other for some approaches so we could both maintain legal currency…and for me to (possibly) show him a few refinements while using an autopilot to do approaches (and autopilots can really un-task you if there is hard IFR with gusty winds or other issues)

So I did the same as last Saturday: Did a briefing, got into the car and drove to the airport…filed a flight plan, pulled the plane out, and did a preflight….all ready to go at 8 Am Central for an arrival at 10 Eastern. .then Aaron called right at engine start and said that he had no power at the airport and could not open the pod bay hangar doors…but he was assured that there were people on the way to open the doors with a generator.

This time there was a wrinkle….ERJ was coming to breakfast from Eaton Rapids…..and he was already en-route via roads. Aaron called him and informed him of the delay, and I waited for a half hour and then started up and began the taxi just as Aaron texted and said they got the doors open.

Once again, it was a beautiful day for flying.  The climb-out was pretty nice, smooth and clear.

Nice level 197 knots ground speed at 9000 ft. Smooth fight to JXN.

It really isn’t economical to go higher where I can get another few knots of airspeed, the fuel burned on the climb negates any cruise savings for a 150 mile flight (nautical miles).

Got a direct entry into Rwy 07 at KJXN. Aaron was slightly in front of me in the downwind and base and I landed right behind him. This one was as it should be…smooth and just a touch of chirp.

We taxiied to the ramp, parked and shut down.  ERJ was waiting for us. I feel sorry he had to wait though.

It was a good breakfast, and great conversation across many topics: shooting to taxes, to revenge to culture and all sorts of other stuff. Both Aaron and Joe are smarter than I am so it makes for a learning experience…and entertaining.  But like always, before too long it was time to leave…..the delay meant that Aaron and I did not get to do any approaches, so we tabled that for another day. We still have time before currency runs out, so it’s all good.

We shook Joe’s hand and he departed back to his lair, and I fueled up and chatted with Aaron for a few…We both preflighted while the fueling was taking place and then I paid the bill, sumped the tanks, and we did the startup. Aaron taxiied first while I got my clearance and then I followed him down the taxiway.

And away we went.

The flight out was kinda weird, I had conflicts with 4 different aircraft on the climb and ATC kept vectoring me all over to avoid. But eventually they turned me direct for home and I was cleared to climb to 12,000 ft…but then they stopped me at 11.5 and had me go back down to 11 due to other traffic… they kept me there until the descent for home. I even questioned it, as westbound should be an even number of thousands altitude. But that’s the way they wanted it so that’s what I flew.

The descent was normal, if a bit bumpy below 5000 ft. I made a downwind entry into the pattern and landed smoothly.

Wiped off the bugs and fueled and put the plane away for next time.

I think next time we will fly to ERJ’s AO and let him drive us to breakfast so he doesn’t have to drive that far. This time the plan had been put together on the fly so we didn’t consider that option.

It’s a good way to spend a Saturday morning…With my friends from the internet…in meatspace.

0.8 up and 1.2 back. and 2 landings. Sadly, zero approaches, but there’s time for that….

And disabled folks, and people who came to the country without a means to support them (legal or not) and people who never paid into the system and all sort of others that it was never intended for, there’d likely be enough for those of us that paid into the system….

Social Security cuts coming, maybe as much as 20+ % 

“Don’t mistake my kindness for weakness. I am kind to everyone, but when someone is unkind to me, weak is not what you are going to remember about me.”
― Al Capone

Same thing with being courteous. If I am courteous, or treat you with respect, it is not a sign of weakness. I’m just being polite. Doesn’t mean I won’t beat the shit out of you or otherwise hurt you if you can’t also be polite. Push it farther and see how it ends.

At some point, when our society breaks down, people are gonna learn those things fast, or get hurt.

Many women need to learn this about men, also. Just ’cause we aren’t assholes to you doesn’t mean we are weak. Don’t peel back that thin veneer of being civil, ladies.

So I have been waxing the 340 a bit at a time. (It’s a LOT of plane).

Pick a section, apply wax by hand, let it set up, polish it off.,…do another section. I figure the plane has enough surface area to be 6 small cars, say 4 SUV’s. 2.7 full size vans.

Sadly, my arms and shoulders can’t do that much before the arthritis starts hurting.

So I bought a cordless car polisher. It isn’t great at applying the wax, but that isn’t the hard part. Removing the wax and polishing is the hard part, and the polisher does a decent job.

Highly recommended.

Polishing the paint on the 340 is kinda a futile job, like polishing a turd….But hey, it’s a SHINY turd. Looks great from 20 feet away. The paint is, after all, more than 20 years old.

(If you don’t get the title reference, look up “Karate Kid”). .

Hunter Biden found guilty on all charges.

I guess the Left is done with Joe Biden. They let this go to trial, and they let this verdict happen, so I guess that they have decided Slow Joe is no longer defensible and worth supporting.

At least for once, justice happened. If this had been you, or me, we’d already have been in jail…..Two tiered justice as long as the Left thinks they need you or a family member.

See also: Trump for what happens when the Left thinks they can go after you and need to silence you.

So the past few days have been  unseasonably cool….like 15-20 degreed F cooler that “Normal”.

Yet do we hear anyone clamoring about Climate Change? Glowbal Cooling? Any of that bullshit? Is there a 2 10 minute segment on the news for this like there is when it is 10 degrees hotter (f) than “normal”? Are meteorologists telling us all about the “Cool Bowl” or any of that other folderol?

Nope, When it is cooler, it’s just “weather”. Odd, innit?

So Friday evening  Aaron texted me and asked if I wanted to do breakfast at KJXN (Jackson Michigan) It is about halfway between our respective AO. Since I wasn’t doing anything important Saturday morning, I said yes.

A quick check of the upcoming weather at both places and the decision was made. Meet at The Apron at 10 ET.

Left the house the next morning  at 7:30 (CT)…..got a 1-800-WX-BRIEF briefing on the way for both the flight up and the flight back.

Pulled the plane out of the hangar, did a short preflight (I had done one two days before, so really just needed to check the tires and the fuel (for water) and filed for the flight. 9000 feet to KJXN, flight time about 45 minutes.

Got the email acknowledgement (As Filed) while I was pulling the plane out, closed the hangar door, started the right engine, then the left. Checked the ASOS while the engine oil was warming and then taxiied to the end of the runway. Called Clearance, got my clearance… was told “Hold for release”….and I held. And held. And held….Aaaand I held… Finally I was about to call and tell Clearance that I would depart VFR and pick up the IFR on the way, but they FINALLY called and released me just as I was reaching for the mic switch. I think I got caught up in a shift change.

Took off, turned on course, called Departure, got cleared to climb…and began a slow cruise climb (500FPM at about 150 knots) first cleared to 3000 Ft, then 6000 Ft, then told “Climb and maintain 9000 ft”,,,which I proceeded to do.

The view was spectacular!

Settled into a nice trimmed out cruise at 9000 ft and enjoyed a nice tailwind.

You can’t read it, but that is an airspeed of 199 knots and a groundspeed of 208 in level flight.

As I was descending into KJXN’s airspace, I heard Aaron calling ATC and ask for a practice RNAV approach. Our timing was good.

As I was flying the faster airplane, I beat him to the class D and was transferred to the KJXN tower, who asked me to enter a left downwind for Rwy 25, and then asked me to make a tight approach for the traffic entering the pattern from the south….He was trying to merge airplanes entering the pattern from three or 4 directions and was doing a great job but needed a bit of help so I agreed to the tight approach……..which was challenging because I was moving at about 160 knots and the 340 doesn’t slow down easily, especially when descending.  (I really need to get some Speed Brakes) But I handled it, did a halfway decent one mile base entry and just continued the turn down into a final, all while descending. (Power to near idle, put the props at full bite so they create drag, get to flaps speed, dump the flaps to 20 degrees, get to gear speed, drop the gear, add power to compensate for drag to keep the altitude right, get down to the speed for the second notch of flaps, make sure you are on the glide slope, pitch for 75 knots over the numbers, add a bit of power, ease down land on the 1000 ft markers…..Challenging, but fun to do. Ended up with a pretty good landing, considering that it wasn’t a 5 mile approach or a normal pattern spacing.

Rolled out, made the turn, was directed to parking and parked as per the marshaller. I do want to say that the tower and ground controllers at KJXN are some of the nicest folks that I have ever worked with at any airport….and I have been to a fair number of airports. They are just cheerful and nice folks.

Parked, arranged for fuel (It was a dollar cheaper than I pay at home, so I topped up) and watched Aaron do his final approach…He did a pretty decent landing and taxiied up and parked.

We went in and ate, and talked. The service was great, the food was good, and I never had my coffee cup get below half. (I drink a LOT of coffee, so it can be a challenge for a waitress to keep me supplied). We both had the Pilots omelet:  Ham, bacon, sausage, onion, peppers, cheese. …..Hasbrowns and toast. The waitress asked if I wanted my omelete topped with sausage gravy…I said “Duh!”

We talked, and ate and talked some more, as friends who don’t see each other often will do…

After way too short a time, I had to leave as there was weather coming from the west, with the possibility of storms, so I paid my fuel bill, preflighted, filed a flight plan, called ground and departed. Aaron departed first, while I was doing my runup.

The flight back was bumpy….and slow, as my tailwind turned into a 50+ knot headwind. I tried asking to move from 10000 to 8000 ft, but that made no difference. Even 6000 feet was a 50 knot headwind.

ATC was very accommodating, giving me the different altitudes when I requested, but I ended up back at 10,000 feet so I could save fuel, if not time.

The view was nearly as nice going back:

But the damned winds were killing my groundspeed:

Yeah, that’s a 198 knot airspeed and 148 knot groundspeed.

Did a practice RNAV into the airport, Why is it that when you do a perfect landing there is no one in the plane to see it? I mean, 10 knot, 20 degree crosswind, but yet a gentle touchdown, no bumps, no chirp, just a rumble…one-two-three….and no one to witness it.

I ended up using almost 10 gallons more fuel going back than I did going up.

And that’s how I spent a part of my Saturday. ‘Twas good day.