I may be jumping the gun here a bit but you know, for us retirees every day feels like a weekend.
Went to Reus yesterday and afterwards to the lovely little Avinyonet airfield to spend the night with a close friend and business partner in Vilafranca del Penedès, home of the cava wines.
I picked the best weather imaginable. QNH 1036, not too much wind. Apart from some early morning fog, this created crystal clear air.
Yes, I know, I need to get one of these rubber contraptions that @Dan uses to stick the phone to the windshield to avoid reflections..
Just after leaving the island and climbing to 3.500 ft I could already see the mainland, some 100 NM away. Funny how this gives a sense of security. But maybe that’s just me and my irrational mind. Anyone else here suffers from this convoluted thinking? Well, it’s not entirely irrational because it enables spotting boats for just in case. I saw quite a few. I even came close to an aircraft carrier and mused a bit about what to do if my engine quit. Fly towards it but run the risk of being welcomed by an anti-aircraft missile? Or does its IFF system work and let an innocent little puddle jumper come near? Anyone here knows? It would actually be a good spot to ditch nearby, a helicopter would be there instantly I suppose. Or be a real Buck Danny and make a dead stick landing on the deck? Hmm, I did not see any exclusion of third-party damage in such a case, but maybe I’d run out of the amount covered.
While one side of my brain was working on ‘what-if’ scenarios, fortunately the other half got into a Zen-state of just enjoying slowly moving between the blue above and below. OK, poetic mode off now.
Land now clearly in sight:
Next day on the way back, same recipe:
As usual, ATC queried me about my final destination. Not many controllers know about my hidden paradise. This time I was queried three times and the third time the controller informed me that my FPL showed that my destination was listed as the mil base at LEPA. I checked the confirmation mail from SD and it said Son Alberti. Awkward, no? Did any of you ever had such a thing happen?
need to get one of these rubber contraptions that @Dan uses
Hey @aart, you got me embarrassed for a second or two here…
Not too much flying right now, but still close to 1:30 airborne time today. The mission was warming the engine up for the ensuing 50h inspection. Tomorrow will be mostly maintenance, have to reposition a couple of engine sensors, and getting my babe ready to head towards Spainland soon.
Having some friends working on their prized possession sure does not speed up my own work…
Crispy shoots mate @aart – very nice indeed! I´ve been out flying for 35 minutes today from Cascais along the Atlantic coast blocking 2-3000ft for some stalls and steep turns. Just casual flying stuff. Also having H-pressure weather (1033hpa). Have a great flying weekend everybody!
Flying to Lesce LJBL with panoramic flight to lake Bled.
I meant to fly this weekend, but the FMS was telling me NOT ON GROUND. A few phone calls later, the cause was found.
What I found:
What it should look like:
A small metal plate is missing. A mechanic must fly over from Germany to install a new one. I’m no engineering expert, but I wonder if this piece of metal is necessary to tell that the plane is on the ground. Why is it glued and not screwed or welded?
This is the second AOG in 16 hours of flying. The first one was overheating the carbon brake by doing two landings in a row. The second one probably had something to do with locking the brake and skidding for a couple of seconds. Seems this plane is not made for brutes like me. I’m used to anti-skid, which this plane doesn’t have, and the small, expensive carbon brakes have a limited thermal capacity.
By the way, any P180 pilots in the south of Portugal, willing to do some flying, please send me a message.
Went out on a local flight today, Cascais-Cascais (LPCS), with a friend. Were limited to minimum 2 nm off shore for the “X-country” part of the short trip. Double checked the inflatable life-jackets within arms reach. In reality probably better to simply wear the jackets, since they´re actually not uncomfortable as such (until you inadvertently pull the plug!! that is!). Anyways, nice 55 min block day, with light winds and not mechanical turbulence from the Sintra mountains (north of Cascais).
Nice Rallye, the shoes are not so common…
I am very jealous of the sunny flying I see in Spain and elsewhere on the continent. Here in England we have had mostly appalling wind and rain for weeks.
There has been a little weather gap though and yesterday (I also subscribe to the @aart definition of the “weekend”) I flew both the Cub and the Jetprop from the home strip at Upper Harford. In the cub we just pootled around with Therese spying on the neighbouring farms. In the Jetprop I went out to practice something which has been bothering me for some time. IE how to make a really smooth transition from climb out to AP engaged. I often find I do something wrong on the AP and the aoircraft is commanded to level etc. I am working on a new approach – hand flyh the plane into exactly the configuration I want, ie IAS 125 kts, heading approx correct and then engage roll and pitch mode on the AP, then switch to IAS climb and GPS. I know this sounds very stupid that such a simple thing can go wrong, but you can’t settle for less than perfection in a fast and powerful aircraft in IFR.
I wonder why that is a problem. On mine (KFC225) I could engage the AP at 100ft (slight mad but I know pilots who do), preselect 10000, HDG, PIT, and just sit there gradually leaning the mixture for a constant EGT (1350F) until it levels off at 10k, and all is smooth.
We’ve had low cloudbases here but often thin layers, so one is VMC on top, blue skies, unlimited vis (possibly 100nm) and still be below the 5500ft Class A base down here.
IE how to make a really smooth transition from climb out to AP engaged.
Which AP do you have?
