In September and October I took two trips that involved some great flying experiences.
They were important milestones for me and they deserve a dedicated entry in this blog.
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They were important milestones for me and they deserve a dedicated entry in this blog.
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On September 18, 2021 I was finally able to return to Canada to attend the Canadian Historical Aircraft Association's Annual General Meeting and do some flying. There were a lot of new bureaucratic hoops to jump through; proof of vaccination, negative COVID molecular test within 72 hours of travel; online ArriveCAN application, etc. I left early that morning, not knowing how bad it would be to get across the border. As it turned out, the trips through the tunnel from Detroit to Windsor and back were surreal... on both trips I was the only car in the entire tunnel in both directions. The border crossing was easy because of the online processing and I got to the airport much earlier than expected. Fortunately a fellow volunteer was already on the job and I was able to come inside and settle in for a long productive day.
Some big changes had occurred since I had last been there. The CH2A museum has become the Canadian Aviation Museum; progress has been made on the restorations of the Mosquito, Lancaster and Tiger Moth; a Cornell and another Tiger Moth have been added to the fleet; the second Chipmunk in long-term repair is almost airworthy and the famous FlightChops RV-14 was finished just in time to make it to OSH this year in grand style. As I walked around taking photos of the current state of the museum aircraft, chief pilot Dave Carrick was already getting planes outside and ready for the day's flying, including the Harvard, Chipmunk and RV-14. Dave would have a busy day, flying all four airworthy museum aircraft. He started with an introductory flight in the RV-14, we did some circuits in the Chipmunk so I could get used to the aircraft again and he continued with honor flights in the Harvard and Stearman. Steve Thorne arrived and we talked about our plans for the day. He would be flying the RV-14 several times and invited me to come along for one of his flights.
My circuits in the Chipmunk went better than expected; I think my recent Decathlon time may have helped. It had been so long since I'd flown the Chipmunk I was still a bit nervous at first. But the takeoffs and landings were pretty decent and Dave was complimentary. He took the controls for the last circuit and showed me a perfectly executed initial approach, break and circle to land which I captured on video with my phone.
After my training flight I enjoyed taking more photos and video of the day's activities before Steve and I went up in the RV-14 and played around in it for about an hour. Steve and Dave were trying to build more time on the engine which is showing some reluctance on the break-in process. Steve allowed me some stick time in the plane and it felt a lot like an RV-10 to me; very stable yet very responsive. Steve bemoaned the protracted break-in time; they're still trying to run the engine hard and that's keeping him from doing circuit work (Canadian-speak for pattern work) and getting some real landing practice. It was a fun flight on a beautiful day and I got more photos and video of Steve's landing, which was pretty good considering the lack of practice. After the flight we went to lunch at the Route 42 Diner across the street from the airport. Their food is top-notch; this time I tried their homemade shepherd's pie and it was fantastic!
We got back just in time for the Annual General Meeting which was interesting and enjoyable. It was tempting to hang around afterward, but I wanted to get through the northbound construction traffic on I-75 early, get home and process the photos and video. I made a compilation video and shared it on my YouTube channel; it includes all the photos and video I took during the trip, plus some candid audio accidentally captured by my cell phone while it was in my pocket. Hopefully you won't find it boring... for me, it makes a great archive of a great day!
Return to Canada: CH2A Trip 210918
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My next trip was to Houston, Texas to get my RV-8 transition training with Bruce Bohannon. I'd been planning this trip for over two years; it was originally scheduled for September 2020 but Bruce said it would be better if we scheduled it much closer to the first flight of my airplane.
I departed DTW on October 3, switched planes in Atlanta and arrived in Houston that evening. I picked up my rental car and checked into the Home2 Suites in south Houston, which would be my ops base for the week. My first room had a not-so-great view of the Holiday Inn next door, so I swapped rooms and got a great view of a typical Houston freeway interchange; much better than staring at other hotel rooms. Online research revealed that there was only one restaurant within walking distance, and I didn't want to go there just yet. Fortunately the hotel commissary supplied the same Lean Cuisine frozen dinners I've been living on for years so I nuked dinner, had ice cream for dessert and went to bed. I'd follow that pattern for most of my evenings during my stay.
I departed DTW on October 3, switched planes in Atlanta and arrived in Houston that evening. I picked up my rental car and checked into the Home2 Suites in south Houston, which would be my ops base for the week. My first room had a not-so-great view of the Holiday Inn next door, so I swapped rooms and got a great view of a typical Houston freeway interchange; much better than staring at other hotel rooms. Online research revealed that there was only one restaurant within walking distance, and I didn't want to go there just yet. Fortunately the hotel commissary supplied the same Lean Cuisine frozen dinners I've been living on for years so I nuked dinner, had ice cream for dessert and went to bed. I'd follow that pattern for most of my evenings during my stay.
Monday morning I got up very early as usual, got coffee and continued online reconnaissance while waiting for the breakfast bar to open. After breakfast I headed south toward Angleton, TX. Bruce's home field is Flyin' Tiger Airport (81D) that features two grass runways. I arrived a little earlier than our scheduled 9 a.m. appointment and we got right to work on ground school. I won't get into the details of what Bruce teaches or how he teaches it; if you want that information, contact Bruce directly. I will say that he is a tremendously experienced pilot who is an expert on how to fly the RV-8. He has checked out hundreds of RV-8 pilots over the course of two decades. He debunked some myths about the airplane and taught me techniques that will make me a much safer and wiser pilot. After the ground instruction we got me fitted to his cockpit; he checked out my seating position and made sure I was positioned for optimal visibility over the nose. After a short break we went flying. His airplane has a particular nonstandard startup procedure; he didn't want me to memorize it because the routine for my own aircraft will be different, so he always talked me through each startup. Our first flight covered the basics: airwork; steep turns; stalls; slow flight, etc. We went over to nearby LBX for some pattern work and I began to learn the right ways to handle the RV-8. We stopped for lunch at the Runway Cafe on the airport ramp; this stop would also become part of the daily routine. More pattern work followed lunch until I became task saturated; we did a total of 11 landings at LBX before heading back to 81D and I got my first taste of what it takes to land an RV-8 on a short grass strip with obstructions. Bruce likes to keep focused during lessons but after the teaching is done for the day he doesn't mind hanging out and trading stories with students. Some of the stories provide valuable lessons of their own. I drove back to the hotel with my brain somewhat overloaded, but still tried to take some notes on the day that would help me retain the lessons given. That would become another part of my daily routine: take notes, process photos and plan ahead as much as possible.
I decided to walk to the nearby restaurant for dinner. Bombshells was exactly what I thought it would be; another cavernous themed restaurant/sports bar full of young males being served decent food and expensive drinks by a platoon of beautiful young waitresses wearing very skimpy outfits. I'm not sure if it was because I wasn't drinking or if I was just getting old, but all I kept thinking was that despite the attractive scenery it all seemed somewhat quaint and contrived. At least the food was good.
I decided to walk to the nearby restaurant for dinner. Bombshells was exactly what I thought it would be; another cavernous themed restaurant/sports bar full of young males being served decent food and expensive drinks by a platoon of beautiful young waitresses wearing very skimpy outfits. I'm not sure if it was because I wasn't drinking or if I was just getting old, but all I kept thinking was that despite the attractive scenery it all seemed somewhat quaint and contrived. At least the food was good.
Tuesday morning followed the same pattern with a shorter briefing and more flying. We returned to LBX and did some circuits before heading to other airports to sample different conditions. We went to BYY and AXH before returning to LBX for lunch. As we walked into the patio we were greeted by a young mother with three children who were fascinated by airplanes. Bruce welcomed them out to the airplane and let the young tykes take turns sitting the cockpit. The kids loved it and the mother was very grateful for our hospitality. After lunch we went to LVJ, AXH and BYY before returning to 81D to debrief. For the first two days Bruce handled the radio and navigation chores; he wanted me to focus on learning to fly the airplane. But as the lessons progressed he would leave more of the planning and navigation up to me (usually without notice) to see how much I could handle. There were times when I would start feeling saturated and Bruce would have me power through it; he's taught enough students to know when a student is is truly saturated or just wanting a break. He knows the value of showing a student that they are capable of more than they think. I found that to be a very enlightening and encouraging way to be taught. During debrief he said he was surprised at how quickly I was progressing; apparently the recent Decathlon and Chipmunk time helped a bit because I was handling the airplane better than either of us expected. I had planned to be there as long as ten days to allow for weather delays or more acclimation time, but he advised me to not drag out this training. Once he sees that I have demonstrated the skills needed to be considered a qualified RV-8 pilot, I should save money by going home early and getting my airplane finished. When my airplane is finally airworthy and the first flight is done by a highly qualified test pilot, I should come back and do one day of recurrency with him, then get back home and fly my aircraft as soon and as often as possible. Recent currency is more important and more helpful than a lot of practice followed by a long absence. Although I really didn't want to have to take two trips, I fully agreed with his assessment of the situation. When I returned to my hotel I looked into changing my travel plans and learned it would be easier and more cost-efficient than I thought. I shortened my stay by three days and changed all reservations accordingly. The savings in hotel and car rental costs would help offset the cost of returning for one day.
When I arrived at 81D on Wednesday morning, Bruce was preparing for the arrival of one of his friends Shawn and Ernie. Ernie and Bruce share ownership of a few planes; this morning they were getting the RV-3 ready for a pending sale to Shawn. Bruce took care of some maintenance items and gave the plane an engine run before Shawn and Ernie departed and we got busy flying. Two flights with lunch in between; lots of pattern work at LBX; emergency procedures; engine-out circles to land; 3 point with no flaps, half flaps and full flaps; a lot of landings in a short amount of time; some good, some not. I was still intimidated by landing at 81D, but with Bruce's help we arrived safely back at base. A thorough debrief and long conversation was a good way to end the flying day. I made the mistake of seeking out a Jack In The Box for dinner for old times sake. I waited behind one car in line forever; construction detours got me lost on the way back and when I finally got to eat it, it wasn't as good as I remembered.
We had planned to start flying earlier than usual on Thursday morning because of Bruce's schedule that day. I got up early enough to leave right after breakfast and head south to Angleton for some exploring. I caught the sunrise just east of town and drove through downtown, then a bit further south along the highway to Texas Gulf Coast Regional Airport - LBX, the airport I'd been flying into all week. I thought I'd see it from the outside for a change. From there I doubled back north to make it to Bruce's field by 8:00. We took off fairly quickly to do some more pattern work at LBX; practicing emergency landings to touchdown before heading back to 81D by 10:00 to close the sale of the RV-3. Ernie was already at the field in his RV-12; Shawn and Brian arrived in a Cessna Cardinal soon afterward. As I greeted them I asked if it was ok for me to take photos; Shawn happily approved. They went through their process while I captured photos and video as unobtrusively as possible. This was a great mid-morning break for me; I could relax and do something I loved to do that came naturally. As the sale concluded I caught their takeoffs on video, then went back into pilot mode. We flew a long leg to PVX, then back to LBX for lunch where I was introduced to the owner of the Runway Cafe. He was from Cambodia and I mentioned that we adopted our youngest daughter from Vietnam; the conversation that followed was quite interesting. He took photos of the RV-8 and a few of me with the plane before we took off. We headed east and Bruce talked me through a typical Phase 1 test sequence, watching the cylinder head temperatures like a hawk until they stabilized where we wanted them, then doing a stall series before we went back to 81D and I braved another short field landing. It was a very satisfying day; even more so when we debriefed and Bruce told me at this point he considered me a qualified RV-8 pilot. He stressed that recent currency would be important before flying my airplane for the first time. I will definitely want to go back and spend a day with him to shake off the rust before my first flight. I was feeling great as I returned to my hotel; I made my usual afternoon call to Amy to share the good news. Coincidentally, Terry Lutz called me that evening; we talked of the build, my training with Bruce and future plans for first flight. I organized the photos and video clips of the day's activities; after returning home I put together a video for Shawn. He gave me permission to share it on my YouTube channel; I'll include the link below.
On Friday I awoke and packed up my stuff before breakfast. I caught the sunrise through a dew-soaked hallway window and checked out of the hotel before heading south for my last training day of this trip. As I had done with Budd Davisson, I planned our last flight to be mainly for fun and video. We took off and headed east to Galveston, turned to follow the Gulf coast south to Freeport before heading north and overflying LBX as we returned to 81D. As we approached the field Bruce took the controls demonstrated an engine-out emergency landing to touchdown. He has practiced this maneuver many hundreds of times and he talked us through the procedure all the way to the ground. The talking may have distracted him a bit as we arrived a bit firmly, and we laughed about it. I told him he was just trying to make me feel better about some of my landings. We did our final debrief and said our goodbyes for now. I'm looking forward to returning for a day of recurrent training, hopefully in the near future.
As I drove away I pondered the best way to spend the afternoon. I was booked into the Hampton Inn next to HOU where I would be departing early Saturday morning. I had considered visiting Space Center Houston and the NASA Control Center but I only had a few hours available and didn't want it to be a whirlwind tour, so I just headed to the Hampton Inn and checked in early. The hotel was in the midst of a renovation; some amenities were unavailable and some floors were unfinished. Despite that, I was still able to get a room with a view of the airport on the top floor and that was good enough for me. I dropped off my rental car at Enterprise just a block away and walked back to my hotel room. There were no restaurants nearby; I settled for a Blimpies sub for dinner from the Shell gas station next door. I caught a great sunset from my hotel room window and got to bed early; I had to be awake at 2 a.m. to make sure I could get to my 6 a.m. departure flight on time.
I packed out of my room at 3 a.m. and the hotel provided a Lyft ride to the terminal. As it turned out I had to wait until 4:00 to check my bag as the self-serve kiosks were not operating yet. The flights home were smooth and scenic and my sister Peg gave me a ride home from the airport. Amy and I relaxed that afternoon and debriefed. It was good to be home.
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These two training trips were both epic and their memories and lessons will stay with me forever. I regret not being able to share the video of my Gulf Coast flight yet; it remains unedited. Events that followed have been shared in my previous post; build issues remain unresolved, for now. Fall is falling and I'm happy to wrap up all this documentation so that I can get back to work. Stay Tuned...
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