Hmmm . . . where to begin, been so busy catching up with all the other stuff I have been ignoring to get to this point . . . preachin' to the choir here . . . . ummmmmmm -
""WHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPIIIEEEIEIEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!""
(he said, most understatedly)
I got to fly my airplane (a slight pause to reflect on that phrase: "my airplane" ----- *sigh*) for the first time Saturday afternoon. Could not fly it before, as it was out of annual. I bought it after we had done all the inspecting, but before reassembly and squawks. We have been working thru a few unairworthy items and finishing some of the routine stuff on weekends and some days off. Nothing major, a corroded stud for #2 exhaust, no nut to be found, was the worst of it and took some finessing to get out to avoid pulling the cylinder to have the machine shop do it (been tempted to name it "Studley"). Broken pitot line at wing root. New tires & tubes to replace the cracked and square. Strut and shimmy damper service. Fuel sending unit seals and hose pieces for the crossover. And. And. This airplane has been sitting for the past four years, except for 1.75 hrs and one annual (funny, that #2 nut missing was written up then . . . ). So I for one wanted to be sure of not being rushed and miss something, and decided to be impatiently patient for however long it took. Saturday was the payoff. With Gary along to be safe and legal (me still student and rusty at that), we put 1.5 hrs on it, first just orbiting close to the field, then puttering around in the local area to the south with lots of landing options (waved at Eagle's Nest - didja see us?
). No real bad habits we could tell in the afternoon bumps, engine ran smooth. The radio was the only hiccup, having an intermittent bad reception problem fixed by pushing on one side (loose/corroded antenna wire connections, I found, and will have to take it out to correct for sure). Came back in to Arlington for a low pass down the runway at first, a T&G, and a full stop landing. When we left, we had a steady +10 kts of direct crosswind, with gusts above that. (Did I mention "student" and "rusty" already? ) It had died down some by the time we returned, but only some, so Gary suggested the low pass to get the feel of the control inputs to track the runway. Thus not only a first flight in 80Q, but also the most crosswind I have ever worked with - at very (embarassingly) close to year since performing any takeoffs or landings. (Gary has big brass . . . ones, but he still walks normally
)
I'm psyched now! But I recently found out my instructor has moved on to a Falcon 20. DoH! At least "which plane is available" is no longer a factor.
Choir practice over.
