Flying with Friends

This morning my wife, Laura, and daugher, Elyssa, and I got up and drove to Tarkio, Missouri, land of some of the most interesting roads I’ve ever seen.

Our purpose for this 88 mile drive was to attend the 10^th Annual Wing Nuts Flying Circus!
  I received a flyer in the mail a couple weeks ago that advertised fun and adventure for aviation enthusiasts.  Count me in!  My wife and I have made a couple of trips there over the past couple of years.  On our first flight to Tarkio (Gould Peterson Memorial Airport – K57), we met a guy named Sam Graves, and he showed us around the airfield.  There wasn’t anything extraordinary about the airfield, other than a guy who seemed deeply in love with aviation.  He showed us a hangar that had two military trainers, which were amazing.  Then he took us to the upper level of the hangar, where he told us the local flying club met regularly.  It had a nice bar-like set up.  Off the top upper level of the hangar was a large deck, and what looked like an air traffic control tower.  He told us that the tower used to be at Offut Air Force Base.  Laura and I climbed the tower and looked out.  It was quite a novelty.  Later, he gave us an invitation to come back down to visit them when they have their air show.

My first desire was to fly to the event but in the end, I opted to drive.  Trust me; flying there is easier than driving there.  By the time we got there, police and the EMS had blocked off the main drive to the air field, which runs along side of the runway so we had to find a back way in.  Laura, Elyssa and I took all kinds of paths.  One dirt road we took ended at a river with no bridge across.  The dirt road was for one lane only and was over-grown with grass so we had to back the car out in reverse for at least ½ a mile.  Someone else had the same bright idea that we had so there were two cars backing out of this wonderful road.  To say the road was minimum maintenance would be a stretch.  On to a different set of paths and 45 minutes after we arrived at Tarkio, we made it to the air field.  What an adventure.

Nonetheless, once we arrived, I was really glad we came down.  Before coming down to Tarkio, I had coordinated with Darren Koehn, a feller Skyhawk Flying Club member, to meet at the show.  Darren and I have flown together on a couple of occasions; he was my safety pilot as I worked on my instrument rating.  It was nice to see a familiar face when we were looking at the rows of planes that attendees had flown in.  We had a nice conversation then we parted ways.

While looking at the many planes that were flown down to the show, I saw a bright orange bi-plane that piqued my interest.  Sitting behind the tail of the plan was the apparent owner.  I asked if I could peek inside.  After giving his approval, he stopped over and introduced himself as Greg Schildberg from Greenfield, IA.  I know Schildbergs of Greenfield as they operate several rock quarries across Iowa.  It was great to meet him and to check out his Meyer bi-plane.  He is an aviation enthusiast and the president of the Iowa Aviation Museum in Greenfield, IA.  It’s a very neat exhibit if you ever get the chance to see it.

Dennis Oliver was another man I met who was resting in the back seat of a Super Decathlon, which is a tandem aerobatic plane.  He’s a farmer from Williamsurg, IA.  I suspect he’s done very well in his career as a farmer as he’s got two other planes at home and a 4000 ft. runway to go with them.  He also told me that he raises camels.  In writing this posting, I did a little background check on him and found out that in 1980, he set a Guinness World Record with the most take-offs and landings in one day, 138!

Some childhood memorys came to light when I saw Glen and Linda Anderson from Winterset, IA.  I grew up with their son, Brad Little.  They fly a Cessna 172 based in Creston, IA.  We chatted about life and flying and just caught up since the last time we ran into each other.

Laura, Elyssa and I took pictures of planes, enjoyed some brats, and then headed back for home.  Did I mention that there was an airshow?  Well, there was a fantastic show which we enjoyed immensely.  But frankly, even more than watching the airshow, I enjoyed the camaraderie that fellow pilots share in their love for planes.  Get out and do something that you love.  I’m always amazed by the friendships I’ve formed and the people I’ve met.  What an adventure!

Doing More with Less

I love to fly. I talk about it a lot with my friends, relatives, wife, kids, strangers or anyone who might be interested. Of all the people that I talk about flying with, I enjoy conversations with other pilots. I have friends who have been flying for years and have gone all around the country, to the Caribbean Islands, below the rim of the Grand Canyon (back when you could still do that), up to the highest airport in North America, through mountain passes and landing on muddy grass runways. I also have a lot of friends who love to fly and have taken a couple of lessons as student pilots but have stopped before getting their license. This is why.

Flying is expensive. These are some of the reasons that it costs so much to fly.

• Most small aircraft, such as what I fly, use 100 octane, leaded gasoline with no ethanol. Can that be purchased at your local gas station? No way. All gasoline purchased at a gas station is unleaded and you’re lucky to buy higher than 92 octane around Omaha at about $3.25/gallon currently. We have to use aviation grade gasoline in the plane and it costs around $5.75/gallon. The plane burns about 10 gallons per hour so an hour of flying, just for the gas, approaches $60.00/hr.
• Airplane engines are expensive! Imagine if you blew the engine in your car. You could probably get a brand new engine $3-5k, plus installation costs. If you drive your car 150k miles, the replacement cost is about $2 per hour. For the Cessna 172, plan on spending $30,000, plus installation for a new engine. Plane engines in the Cessna are rated for 1,800 hours. Divide 30k by 1.8k and that’s another $17/hr.
• You can’t park a plane in your home garage (typically). While I realize that some could argue that a plane could be parked in the garage at home, try that on a Cessna 172. Our airport charges around $115/month for hangar space. That’s a cost of $1,380 each year. If you fly 50 hours/year, tack on another $28/hr.
• Insurance ~$1,200 year. At 50 hours flown, add $24/hr.
• Annual inspections are required for all general aviation airplanes. The base cost for that inspection varies but could be $1,200-$1,500. If there’s something wrong with the plane, adjust accordingly. At a minimum, that’s $24/hr.

That’s roughly $153 per hour!! True, if flying more, the fixed costs will decrease but it is still not cheap. I, like many of my dear friends, have a finite amount of money. The only way flying becomes a reality for me is if I can get more flying for the money, reducing my hourly costs. So, how can I get more flying in for the money? Here’s what I’ve done.

My friend, Lamar and his 1947 Luscombe.

• Rent a plane at the local airplane rental facility, knows as the “FBO” or “fixed base operator.” plan on spending around $100 for every hour that the engine is running. That’s still pricey but it sure beats paying $153 per hour.
• Join a flying club. Flying clubs have have as many or as few members as desired but all of the fixed costs such as annual inspections, hangar, insurance, are shared across the club. With my flying club, Skyhawk Flying Club, I only pay $83/hour to fly the Cessna 172. The bigger planes are more, but they’re faster, burn more gas, cost more to maintain, etc.

What do others do? Some of my friends save money in different ways. For example, my friend Lamar purchased a 1947 Luscombe tail-dragger with three partners to share the costs. It runs on non-ethanol car gas! That’s a big savings right there. It also has a smaller engine so the replacement cost on that is somewhere in the $15k range which reduces the hourly maintenance costs. He also assists inspectors who do the annual inspection, which saves around $500. Instead of having the inspector do all the work, he does it instead. All that brings the hourly costs of flying to an even more acceptable rate.

Flying is expensive and I image that there are other things that I could do with my money but there is little that I feel more passionate about. If you feel the same way about it as I do, figure out a way to make it happen. I’ve touched on some ways to reduce the costs of flying but there are others as well. Get creative and make it happen. And if you ever want to go flying with me, let me know and we’ll split the charge! (Oh, another way to reduce the costs.)

Crosswind Landings

Elyssa had a soccer game and I wanted to go see her play.  Winds 070 at 12 knots was wind readout when calling the nearest airport (Lincoln). I was 10 miles out of Seward, NE (KSWT) this past Tuesday and I needed to figure out how I was going to land the Cessna. Runway options were 16 and 34. Doing the math, I had the option of landing on either runway. I was getting a 90 degree crosswind at 12 knots either way. The Cessna 172’s limitations are 15 knots demonstrated crosswind component.

100% crosswind component

Now Seward also has a grass runway which would have much more direct to the wind but it had been raining for three days straight and I had a bad feeling that I could rip the gear off in the mud. Turf landing was out of the question.

So, it’s time to see if I know what I’m doing. There’s a lot of technique that instructors will talk about when landing in crosswind situations and I’m sure they’re all right. Some will say to crab the plane until you’re almost touching down then quickly straighten the plan. Others will say to tip the upwind wing down to counteract the effects of the wind.

For me, it’s always just been a feel. Thinking about one technique or another doesn’t really enter my mind until I’m already on the ground. I just know is that it’s important to keep the plane’s final approach path lined up with the runway. Most of the time, that means I’m crabbing the plane but sometimes, that means I’m tipping the wing. I just do what I need to do to keep the plane’s path straight to the runway.

Wind from the East, crabbed to compensate

It’s Thursday now and I didn’t crash the plane so obviously, I had a successful landing, got to watch Elyssa play soccer and live to fly another day. I crabbed the plane down to the run way, but the winds were so strong, I ended up switching to a wing low on the upwind side strategy to get it on the ground. This was a great experience (despite the pucker factor) and appreciated the challenge.

Pilgrimage of a Cessna

I love flying. There are several aviation destinations that I’ve got on my checklist over the next couple of years. One of those involves flying from my home airport, Millard, Nebraska (KMLE), to the highest public airport in North America, Leadville, Colorado (KLXV). This isn’t just a hop, skip and a jump in my Cessna 172 four-seater-but-only-carries-two airplane. No, this trip will require all my skill and everything this little plane has to give.  There’s a couple of big reasons that this is such an interesting trip.  One, it’s in the mountains and that brings all kinds of different wind changes to be aware of.  Two, there are mountains and mountain passes that reach or exceed the altitude capacity of the Cessna.

Laura and I were in Colorado a couple of weeks ago and visited Leadville airport after skiing at SkiCooper, a smaller yet very friendly little ski resort in Lake County. Side note, if you’re ever in Leadville, check out a restaurant on mainstreet called “Quincy’s,” home of the $8.95 filet minon.

   Laura at the highest public airport in North America

 

The trip starts bright and early. I’ll have to be up bright and early; 3:00 a.m. should do it. Showered and dressed in hiking pants and a t-shirt, I’m on the phone with 800-WXBRIEF to find out the latest weather patterns and what I’ll expect along my route of flight. The weather briefer will also tell me if there are any flight restrictions to watch out for. While on the phone, I’ll be on the computer pulling up www.aviationweather.gov to check satellite, radar, winds aloft, temperatures and so on. I’ll do double checks on the tablet to make sure that the sectionals, low-enroute and approach charts for airports along the way are up-to-date on Fltplan.

Laura will be packing some snacks and drinks for the flight and also gathering some emergency supplies. You never know, it is better to be prepared than to be left wanting in the middle of nowhere with engine trouble. All packed up, we’re out the door at 4:00 a.m and heading to the airport.

The sky is still dark when I open the hangar door at 4:15. Laura starts loading our supplies while I do pre-flight checks. In the pre-flight, the lights inside and outside the plane check out. All the connections appear good, nothing is loose that shouldn’t be. The fuel is full, oil sits at 6.5 quarts and we’ve got a spare quart in the back. Laura gets in and buckles up. She’s excited whenever we fly and this is no exception. I pull the plane out and we’re headed out on one great adventure.