Visibility was nearly unlimited and there were FEW clouds at 11000. A beautiful day to fly.

We met at the airport and preflighted. The plane was full of fuel, and we got in and taxiied.

Ian had never flown before, but had a great deal of time in a gaming flight simulator. He knew what all the instruments were for and he asked intelligent questions as we taxiied.

We taxiied to the runup area at the end of Runway 18, and started the runup checklist. Up to this point, everything was perfect….

When it came time to check the mags, there was a BIG drop on the right mag (more than 300 rpm), so I pulled the mixture to a leaner setting to clean the plugs.

The engine died. I pushed the mixture back to full rich as it was winding down, but it still died.

It wouldn’t restatrt either, until I primed it. Normally, with a warm engine, the restart is after only a blade or two, no prime required. This time, it needed priming and ran like dogshit.

When the engine DID restart (and there were 3 planes waiting behind for me to take off(or get out of the way)!) it ran very rough and backfired. Acted like a fuel issue..as if it were running lean. Very rough. Wouldn’t idle, I had to keep the throttle at half in order to keep it running at all.

“Doesn’t look like we are flying today” I told Ian. “Sorry”.

I waited for the aircraft on a long final and the one on base to land (just in case I corked up the runway with a dead engine) , then announced on CTAF  that I was having engine issues and would be taxiing on RWY 18. I taxiiied down the runway as fast as I could (not very fast) to the first turnoff and got off the runway. I was afraid the engine might die and I would be blocking the active runway, but we got there. I waited for 2 more taxiing aircraft to go past, then taxiied as best I could to the crossing at 9/27 and since there was no one on either runway, we crossed as fast as the engine power would let us (again, not very fast) and returned to the hangar, backfiring engine and running rough all the way. (There is really nowhere else to go or I would have pulled off and walked to have gotten the towcart, but the only place would have been the grass alongside the  taxiway).

I’m glad it happened on runup, as there wasn’t enough engine power to get us fast enough to take off (I’d have had to abort), nor would it have been enough to keep us in the air had it happened after takeoff. I don’t know if it is a mixture cable or a linkage issue, or some other fuel flow issue. Either way, I ain’t flying for a while…

I checked the fuel, (again, after the flight taxi, did so during the preflight as well) and it appeared good (slightly blue (100LL)) and smelled normal. I checked with the person who had been fueled up immediately before me, (A flight school airplane) and they had had no issues. I don’t think it is fuel quality (same fuel/same truck, 10 minutes apart). I had good fuel flow when I opened the fuel strainer bowl drain, more than enough to run the engine, so the issue is after that….like in the carburetor or something else past the fuel strainer.

Poor Ian didn’t get his first flight today though.

We will see what the mechanic has to say on Monday.

Either way, I am grounded until the thing is fixed. It was a bit disconcerting though. Makes me REALLY want a twin now too.

I mean, if they had spent all the effort that they have in somehow damaging Trump finding a way to make a decent budget, or passing some laws to help find a way to combat illegal immigration and help those who would be legal immigrants…perhaps a Guest Worker program….Perhaps combat poverty rather than continue it…..find ways to actually help the environment rather than create regulations that don’t help but do strangle prosperity….

And if the Media were to spend as much effort telling the truth as they do propagandizing for the DNC causes…..

Yet this happened three years ago,,,

The French court sentenced five Muslim women to lengthy prison sentences for attempting to blow up the Notre Dame cathedral.


The women, all converts to Islam, plotted to detonate a car bomb outside the cathedral in September 2016.

“I would like Swalwell, Biden, O’Rourke, and Harris to note that what US gun owners consider play time is what a major news outlet can mistake for a major military offensive by the Forces of a NATO nation. Tell us again how resisting a tyrannical government is futile.”

He’s referring to the Knob Creek video mess

‘Cause if y’all  are gonna let us pick and choose what ideas and speech are ok, then you aren’t gonna like how that ends, either.

And if it takes violence, well, I think the Right has better ability to do it. Just best not to make it happen here, folks.

The only thing allowing your disgusting and outrageous speech and behavior is that we believe in the rule of law….
But if y’all wanna take that away, I think you will dislike the result.

Leftists Threaten To “Bring Out The Guillotine” If Theaters Show Jordan Peterson Documentary

Seems that someone in the ABC file video department has some answering to do…

ABC issued a correction and apology Monday for reportedly using video from a Kentucky gun range while falsely claiming it depicted a fierce battle between Syrian Kurds and Turkish forces.

Notice all the folks with cell phone videoing the “Massacre” at Knob Creek in the video.

Remember, these news organizations think they can sell you dogshit and tell you it is Bean Dip…they think you (and all of their audience) is stupid enough to believe whatever they tell you…Sadly, for much of their audience, this is true, if only because no one questions what they see.

I WAS gonna take MC to visit her sister in mid Michigan on Sunday.

Was planning on flying. But Ma Nature had other plans.

Sadly, the winds were a bit too much. While I CAN fly in 30+ knot winds, the crosswind component for my airport of intended landing (and the 3 closest alternates) was such that it would have been greater than that which the manufacturer recommends. And since I have to pay for the tires, I chose not to fly and instead drove.

‘Twould have been a fast flight up though. forecast winds were 48 knots in an almost perfect tailwind at 5500 ft….The flight back, however, would have taken forever.

I obviously need to upgrade my airplane. Faster and more powerful. It’s only money (and LOTS of it)/

As soon as I win the lottery…..

And really, I doubt she has stopped using (private) air travel to move about the country.

One wonders how she plans on getting from home to that arrest site each week?
I sincerely doubt she will be walking…….

I suppose an aging actress must do something to keep herself in the spotlight though. 

And, of course, the stockholders of the company.

But hey, he made a good effort and I am sure all his Woke friends are impressed by his efforts.

Of course, this gesture made ZERO difference on the streets of Baltimore and Chicago and LA and other Democrat controlled cities where “Gun Violence” is so prevalent.

But hey, he made his point about “Assault Rifles” too. and his useless gesture only cost about a quarter of a billion dollars of stockholder money.

But I bet it makes for GREAT conversation at cocktail parties…