IFMU
28th Feb 2008, 01:07
Posted this on the C140 forum, it was well received so thought I'd put it here too. Hope you enjoy it. Story was from last Sunday.
This afternoon my wife & younger son had an appointment out of town. So my 6-year old, Adam, wanted me to take him bowling. Sure, no problem. I'm not much of a bowler, but he's a little into it as the local lanes are the place to have a birthday party if you are 5-7 years old. We pull into the lot, and it is packed. I start to worry that we might not get a lane, and the disappointment I'm going to have to help Adam deal with. So, I mention that if there isn't a lane we can still do something, like fly the C140. He gets all excited, and asks if we can just do that instead and we never even get into the bowling alley. Well, that's ok with me!
So over to the EAA hangar we go. It's heated, makes for a pleasant preflight, and better yet one of our members is there working on his Navion. An extra pair of hands to move the C182 out of the way. The airport has plowed the ramp. Everything is lining up for us. Before long we are taxiing to the active, through some puddles and slush. Some of it kicks up on the bottom of the wings. Before long, we are airborne. No airspeed. I look out at the wing and see the flapper pitot tube protector stubbornly stuck in its parked position. Some of that water that splashed up must have frozen it in place. It did its job of protecting the pitot for next flight, but for this time around it didn't work out. I think that once I get to cruise airspeed it will pop open, but it never does until I put my hand to it later. I learned something today, taxi slower through the puddles when it's cold.
We are heading to Corning-Painted Post, 7N1. Not very far, but we buy gas there. Plus at 6 you don't measure fun by the hour, but by the experience. On the way over we climb briefly above the clouds. They are at 5000', scattered. Better than the briefer said, 2400 broken now, 2500 broken later. Over 7N1, it looks like we aren't landing there. The runway isn't plowed. Adam is disappointed. I decide to do a low pass, call on the unicom to see if anybody is around. One of my co-workers, Geoff, is there working on his C150. He gives me a report that there is only an inch on the runway. Nobody has landed or departed yet, but they are thinking about it. So I decide to give it a try. It was the softest landing I've ever experienced. Just a gentle whoosh and we are down and stopped. A little harder to turn with the poor braking action. My first attempt at a 180 to back taxi was a failure, but it got me close enough to the edge to do my 180 the other way successfully. On the way back I can see my tailwheel touched down about 10 feet before the mains. Then again, I guess that could mean they all touched down together. It could have been my second perfect 3-point landing. I did my first one, accidentally, in 1990 as a student pilot in a PA12.
After we pay for gas we head back out to look at Jeff's C150. He and his partner are flying it to Florida tomorrow, for a little fun and adventure. They were going to leave today but the weather earlier was no good. Our arrival turns out to be the jolt that kicks the heart of the airport back to life. A pretty yellow J3 taxis out onto the snowy runway, pulls onto the cleared ramp to do a runup, then departs to the north. The cub is off the ground quickly, but we get to watch it for a while as it doesn't depart very quickly. Geoff's C150 battery is flat and we get to watch the airport manager hand prop the airplane. Simple little things, but they are magic to a 6-year old. Maybe because it is still a little magic to me. We depart and another Cessna departs after us. Geoff's C150 taxis up to the end of the runway and we circle overhead to watch him take off. I watch the C150 separate from the ground, and its shadow, like I've done so many times before. I look over at Adam, I'm circling to the right so he can see it easily, and I can see the fascination of watching the shadow slide to the east away from the airplane, as they both translate north. He can already add, subtract, multiply, and divide. I think geometry is percolating in there too. The airspeed works this time. Adam rests his hands on the yoke. He's not brave enough yet to have me take my hand off, but he likes feeling the motions of the controls as I guide the aircraft through the sky. No rush Adam. We do this at your speed, we have years left. The one piece of advice my dad gave me was to never scare you.
Elmira clears us for a full-stop, tells us to call a 2-mile left base to Runway 6. Adam asks "are we going to do a touch and go or anything?" I ask him if he wants to, and he says yes. Hard to describe how satisfying it is to share one of your passions with your kid, and hearing him ask for more.
We pull back up to the EAA hangar, now there are two members there. Lots of hands to drag the C140 and C182 around. We get everything tucked back inside, doors closed and locked to keep the heat in. It was not much of a flight, in terms of distance, time, or anything else. But a feeling of well-being is now mine. I can make it through the insanity of work that next week will bring.
Sadly, I didn't bring my camera to get pictures. I thought I was going bowling. My wife still doesn't believe my story.
-- IFMU
This afternoon my wife & younger son had an appointment out of town. So my 6-year old, Adam, wanted me to take him bowling. Sure, no problem. I'm not much of a bowler, but he's a little into it as the local lanes are the place to have a birthday party if you are 5-7 years old. We pull into the lot, and it is packed. I start to worry that we might not get a lane, and the disappointment I'm going to have to help Adam deal with. So, I mention that if there isn't a lane we can still do something, like fly the C140. He gets all excited, and asks if we can just do that instead and we never even get into the bowling alley. Well, that's ok with me!
So over to the EAA hangar we go. It's heated, makes for a pleasant preflight, and better yet one of our members is there working on his Navion. An extra pair of hands to move the C182 out of the way. The airport has plowed the ramp. Everything is lining up for us. Before long we are taxiing to the active, through some puddles and slush. Some of it kicks up on the bottom of the wings. Before long, we are airborne. No airspeed. I look out at the wing and see the flapper pitot tube protector stubbornly stuck in its parked position. Some of that water that splashed up must have frozen it in place. It did its job of protecting the pitot for next flight, but for this time around it didn't work out. I think that once I get to cruise airspeed it will pop open, but it never does until I put my hand to it later. I learned something today, taxi slower through the puddles when it's cold.
We are heading to Corning-Painted Post, 7N1. Not very far, but we buy gas there. Plus at 6 you don't measure fun by the hour, but by the experience. On the way over we climb briefly above the clouds. They are at 5000', scattered. Better than the briefer said, 2400 broken now, 2500 broken later. Over 7N1, it looks like we aren't landing there. The runway isn't plowed. Adam is disappointed. I decide to do a low pass, call on the unicom to see if anybody is around. One of my co-workers, Geoff, is there working on his C150. He gives me a report that there is only an inch on the runway. Nobody has landed or departed yet, but they are thinking about it. So I decide to give it a try. It was the softest landing I've ever experienced. Just a gentle whoosh and we are down and stopped. A little harder to turn with the poor braking action. My first attempt at a 180 to back taxi was a failure, but it got me close enough to the edge to do my 180 the other way successfully. On the way back I can see my tailwheel touched down about 10 feet before the mains. Then again, I guess that could mean they all touched down together. It could have been my second perfect 3-point landing. I did my first one, accidentally, in 1990 as a student pilot in a PA12.
After we pay for gas we head back out to look at Jeff's C150. He and his partner are flying it to Florida tomorrow, for a little fun and adventure. They were going to leave today but the weather earlier was no good. Our arrival turns out to be the jolt that kicks the heart of the airport back to life. A pretty yellow J3 taxis out onto the snowy runway, pulls onto the cleared ramp to do a runup, then departs to the north. The cub is off the ground quickly, but we get to watch it for a while as it doesn't depart very quickly. Geoff's C150 battery is flat and we get to watch the airport manager hand prop the airplane. Simple little things, but they are magic to a 6-year old. Maybe because it is still a little magic to me. We depart and another Cessna departs after us. Geoff's C150 taxis up to the end of the runway and we circle overhead to watch him take off. I watch the C150 separate from the ground, and its shadow, like I've done so many times before. I look over at Adam, I'm circling to the right so he can see it easily, and I can see the fascination of watching the shadow slide to the east away from the airplane, as they both translate north. He can already add, subtract, multiply, and divide. I think geometry is percolating in there too. The airspeed works this time. Adam rests his hands on the yoke. He's not brave enough yet to have me take my hand off, but he likes feeling the motions of the controls as I guide the aircraft through the sky. No rush Adam. We do this at your speed, we have years left. The one piece of advice my dad gave me was to never scare you.
Elmira clears us for a full-stop, tells us to call a 2-mile left base to Runway 6. Adam asks "are we going to do a touch and go or anything?" I ask him if he wants to, and he says yes. Hard to describe how satisfying it is to share one of your passions with your kid, and hearing him ask for more.
We pull back up to the EAA hangar, now there are two members there. Lots of hands to drag the C140 and C182 around. We get everything tucked back inside, doors closed and locked to keep the heat in. It was not much of a flight, in terms of distance, time, or anything else. But a feeling of well-being is now mine. I can make it through the insanity of work that next week will bring.
Sadly, I didn't bring my camera to get pictures. I thought I was going bowling. My wife still doesn't believe my story.
-- IFMU