A little girl in the booth behind me, there with (I assume) her grandmother.

She was singing to herself, in the manner of little girls, and it stuck in my head:

“With a knick-Knack-paddywhack, give your dog a bone,

this old man went rolling home”

Now it’s stuck in your head as well as well.

You’re welcome.

Have a great Friday .

NTSB says women need their own Crash Test Dummies

Will they be able to park in a shopping center? Back into and out of parking spaces?  (I doubt that they can parallel park even with lessons)

I bet they really need ’em to test the wheels when they hit curbs too.

Change lanes without signaling? Hesitate at roundabouts until the entire traffic circle is clear?

And do their makeup in the visor mirror while driving…..

Stolen from MS Misfit.

(even she gets it right occasionally)

Not that I would ever, of course, condone violence……

But:

Is that the release of the Epstein files NOW, means nothing:  that at this point every bit of incriminating evidence regarding the “PeopleThatMatter” has been scrubbed and there is nothing to make any of the folks who voted  for the release (or the people who control those Senators and Congressmen) look bad. And yes, I include President Trump in that group.

All that the Justice Department had to so, all those years ago, was to give us the list of those who flew to the Island….flight logs or failing that, a list of the people that passed through the immigration system of the US Virgin Islands on the way to Epstein’s’ playground.

The powerful and influential people will have, by now, made sure that the important names were purged.

This is, at this point, really just show. The files have been hidden since 2019. Had they been released then, there night have been some belief in their veracity. As it is, they have none now. All we will see is the names of those people who were not influential enough to have their names removed

“There are toxic people in this world, Stay away from them”

“Yield to temptation; it may not pass your way again”

“You cannot change the past, but a wise man will learn from it, a fool will not”

“almost always: the kindness you put into the world will come back to you at some point”

“Keep your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark”

“You generally get out of life what you put into it”

“The truth often hurts the weak”

“The forest was shrinking but the trees kept voting for the axe, for the axe was clever and convinced the trees that because his handle was made of wood he was one of them.”

“How could the people of New York City make such a mistake?

I replied:

Especially when many of them are Liberal White women

Zohran Mamdani Horrified To Discover He Now Has A Job

An analysis of the 33-year-old’s work history shows he has been employed for only approximately three years in the time between graduating college in 2014 and being elected to the New York State Assembly in 2020; including a failed career as a rapper and working for his mom…

New York is SCREWED

But worth it to see a friend.

Due to obligations (and life in general) I hadn’t been able to fly the 340 since the first of the month..(Plus, I just didn’t have anywhere I needed to go)

But Sunday morning, I had time, and Aaron was free for Brunch, so I flew to see him.

Flew to KPTK (Oakland County, MI) Flight time was a bit over 1.2 hours. It was IFR(ish) when I left 

but climbed through it and was clear almost all the way until I did the descent.

The crosswind was EVIL though:

Once ATC started my decent (great job by the ATC folks today!!) I was in and out of the clouds as I descended though the layers.  Finally got below the final layer about 15 miles from Pontiac airport…

The approach controller asked me to keep the base turn at less than 5 miles from the runway, so after the Tower told me to do the visual approach to 27L and I was “number one Cleared to Land”, I did a tight base turn at about a mile and a half and rolled all the way around to final at about a mile, ended up on the glide slope and just a bit fast…which was OK as the winds were 290-340 at 18 gusting 26. I landed a bit fast (for the gust factor) and touched down right on the 1000 foot markers and for once there was a witness that it was a butter smooth landing with a pretty hard crosswind…() but Aaron saw it so it actually counts this time).

Taxiied, parked, chocked the plane, and met  Aaron (and his friend, who up to this point was convinced that I was an AI generated voice instead of a real person)

We got into his car and drove to a diner for a really nice brunch and conversation. Great time with him as always, and his friend is a very pretty, really sweet and nice person. I was glad to finally meet her.

But, sadly, before too long I had to leave, and so we got back into the car, drive back to the airport, and I did the preflight while Aaron showed her the 340….He pulled the chocks as I closed the door and them then I started up the right engine, then the left one. Got the ATIS, called for taxi and picked up my IFR clearance. Taxiied to the departure end of 27L, waited for a jet to land, then was told to “Line up and wait” which I did,,,…when the jet cleared the runway I was told “Runway heading, cleared for takeoff” So away I went!

Climbed to 3000 ft on a 270 hearing, then was told “On course, climb and maintain 6000 ft”, then a few minutes later “Climb and maintain 9000 ft” then a bit after that my final altitude.

Cruise home was similar to the cruise out, except the wind was a bit more of a headwind than a tailwind, and nearly as bad for a while:

Once again thought a small layer, it was VFR conditions most of the way home.

The only rub was the low oil pressure on the descent to home on the left engine…not zero but at the low end of the green….which was concerning. Temps were fine, but still, a concern.

As I did the descent, it got better, more in the green…then worse, then better…..and then, as I turned downwind, the indication dropped to zero. I got a bit busy for a moment, shutting the left engine down and feathering the prop while dropping the flaps and managing a descent into the pattern.  Did the base turn into the now-shut down engine (WRONG!)  and then turned final and dropped the gear and did the final on one engine…winds were favorable and actually helped me stay on the final centerline what with the adverse yaw and all. Did a decent touchdown and rollout and taxiied back on just the right engine. Haven’t been that busy on a landing since my last training event.

I dunno what is wrong, and will have my A&P check it out on Monday if he has time. I THINK it is a sending unit (or a gauge?) but either way, I don’t think I hurt the engine… I shut it down right quick when the indicated pressure dropped. There is oil in the engine (and the correct amount, and no smoke was visible), and the temps were not out of whack, so I expect an indication issue, but we shall see.

All told though, it was a good day. Got to see Aaron, meet his friend, got 1.2 and 1.4 hours of flying, about 0.7 IFR, and 2 landings. Got both engines hot, dried out and that is good for the plane after 2 weeks of inactivity.

After I got back I then flew for about 90 minutes as a safety pilot for a guy who is working towards his IFR certification while he was under the hood, then went home.

A longiish day of flying, and some challenges, but it was a good day for me.