Home Again - Flying around Chattanooga · · PAGE 228. 

July 30, 2006:  The date at the left is for the day of these photos, although I published this page on the evening of July 31.  I had worked on the airplane to change the oil on Saturday the 29th.  Local pilot Mike Manceaux called and wanted to get a ride in my RV-9A since it is much more responsive than a Cessna 172.  Mike is finishing a restoration of a Lancair 235 and will be going to California next week for transition training.  His airplane has a Lycoming O-320 engine with a fixed-pitch prop on it.  I flew over to the Collegedale Airport to meet up with Mike just before 10 AM on Sunday morning.  I was surprised at how out-of-focus this shot was when I first saw it on my computer.

I took off and let Mike fly the airplane for the rest of the flight except for the landing.  My insurance guy has this thing, and I agree.  This whole flight was to give Mike the feel of a responsive airplane.  He got the point very quickly when he took hold of the stick.  It was a very warm day and I watched the engine monitor CHT's and oil temp as we step-climbed up until we finally reached 10,500 MSL.   It was cool up high and we continued flying around the Chattanooga area for about a one-hour flight.  The ground track of that flight and my trips from Wendell's field to Collegedale are shown in the map overlay below.  Mike had a chance to also experience the slow flight characteristics of the Roncz air foil wing on my RV-9A.  I reminded him that the Lancair would not be as forgiving in a stall.  He told me that other Lancair 235 pilots had told him to be at 100 MPH on approach since the wing on his airplane is built for speed and not the wide envelope that is the RV-9 and -9A.  With full flaps down, we flew around for a short time at 10,500 feet with about 58 MPH indicated air speed holding us up.  Mike got to see my LIFT RESERVE INDICATOR doing what it was designed to do at low speeds as he performed stalls with flaps up and flaps down.

When I was refueling the airplane, Mike went inside the FBO and out to his car.   Later after he had left, the guy on front desk duty commented that Mike was on CLOUD NINE when he came in from the ramp.  I guess he REALLY enjoyed the flight.   I remember my first RV flight and the comparisons I made to the Cessna 172.   Let's face it, MOST pilots have flown in the 172 in their early years of flying.

When I was getting ready to fly back to Folks Field at Chickamauga, I started the engine and heard that familiar CLUNK sound of the red cup being blown off the left wing and striking the step.  I stopped the engine, got out and picked up the cup, which popped open of course.  You can see what was left of the ICE and the water under the flap on the asphalt.  I also found my digital still camera minus the two AA batteries.  I went behind the airplane and found them, put them in, then took the picture below just to test the camera.  This photo came out better than the one above.  My camera is getting quite battered now, but sometimes it does a really good job.

Oshkosh AirVenture Videos  

August 2, 2006:  The video files from my approach and landing at Oshkosh are processed for download.  This is not a job for a dial-up connection, and here is why.  The files from my JVC digital video camcorder were downloaded to my computer in MPEG format.  I then converted the files to Windows Media Audio/Video files (.wmv).  I selected low-resolution for the video, and a good audio format to let you hear what Wendell and I heard during the actual VFR arrival from Ripon, to Fisk, to Oshkosh, Wisconsin on Sunday July 23rd.  And of course, you will see the propeller strobed as a result of the engine RPM and the video frame rate of the camera on the dash panel.  If you are a patient dial-up user and have unlimited connection time, then click on the links below when you have time to do something else, or when going to bed in the evening.

Save my bandwidth!  Save these files on your hard drive for viewing later. 

The Ripon approach video runs 1 minute 54 seconds during the descent from cruise altitude.  You will get a sample of the radio traffic from the air traffic controller standing on the ground at Fisk talking to the arriving airplanes passing his position.  Nobody talks to him unless he asks for a verbal response.  He asks for pilots to rock their wings when he identifies them by aircraft type approaching Fisk.   You will also hear me talking with Wendell about monitoring the digital video camcorder during the arrival.

The Ripon railroad  file lasts for 1 minute 52 seconds approaching Ripon and turning on course to follow the railroad tracks toward Fisk.  You will hear Wendell and I talking about scanning the sky for more airplanes.  You will also hear the controller chastising some pilots ahead of me.  If you notice the airplane "waggling" along the railroad tracks, remember that we are down low in the thermals rising from the ground on a hot summer Sunday afternoon.  The ride that low was not very smooth like it is at cruising altitudes up higher.

Fisk to Oshkosh Landing runs 6 minutes and 1 second.  It begins with our arrival at FISKE intersection and continues to the landing on runway 36 LEFT at the airport.  Listen to the radio and you will know when we change to tower frequency.   Wendell and I have things to discuss as we continue to watch for other aircraft.   If you look closely, you will seen the white wings of a Cessna about a mile ahead and down lower near the trees about 3 minutes 20 seconds into the tape as we cross U.S. 41 highway.  At about five minutes into the video you will hear me thank Wendell for watching the lift reserve indicator.  The needle came off the peg at the right of the green zone before we turned final and that got his attention.  When he tries to say something as we near the runway, you will hear me "shush" him since I am waiting for final landing instructions from the tower controller.  The segment ends when I turn off the runway and put the home-built camping sign (HBC) in the windshield and block the video camera view.

The last segment uploaded today is the Oshkosh Taxi video that runs 7 minutes 15 seconds.  It begins right after we turn onto a grass taxiway marked with orange cones.  The video begins after I relocated the HBC sign to be clear of the video camera mounted on the dash panel.  The video ends when we get to our parking spot in the home-built camping area.  Watch for the surprise during the taxi across the camping field.  The video ends just before the engine stops.

I will have more videos to share with you from the Wednesday morning departure and during the flights home, but those have to wait until I have more time to work on the computer and online.

August 5, 2006:  It is a hot Saturday afternoon and Wendell and I won't be getting together today since he has other commitments.  My youngest son and I have plans for tomorrow to celebrate his birthday with lunch and a movie near his home about an hour south of me.  I won't be flying the airplane for that meeting.  Weather permitting, I will be flying on Monday morning up to Frankfort, Kentucky to meet a customer.  After that, the flight will continue down to Greenville, South Carolina for another customer meeting, then home again in the late afternoon. 

I am monitoring the monthly bandwidth on my web server and it appears that I may not use it up this month from the Oshkosh video downloads.  I have the remaining videos from the Oshkosh departure transcoded and here they are.  

The Oshkosh Wednesday morning video is taken in Home-Built Camping at 6 AM Central Time before going off to breakfast and to the flight service station for an official weather briefing of the SIGMETs spread across Missouri, Illinois, and lower Michigan.  I pan the camera 360 degrees from a vantage point near my airplane to get a good look at the area.

The Oshkosh taxi and takeoff video begins as we arrive at the first flagman along the taxiways after being escorted out of the camping area.  There are four of us going out as a group, but you won't get a chance to see the others.  One will be seen in a later video while we are enroute.  Watch for the EAA 1929 Ford Tri-Motor "Tin Goose" taking off ahead of us.  This is the takeoff and climb to 1,300 MSL on the runway heading out of the Class D airspace.

Oshkosh departure begins with Wendell and I having a discussion of the max gross weight takeoff.  Listen for the marker beacon west of the Fond du Lac Airport as we fly over it.  The radio gets tuned to the popular air-to-air frequency of 122.75 MHz as we listen to other departing traffic from Oshkosh and our flight of four check in on the frequency.  Wendell and I compare true airspeed with both Garmin GPS units we have aboard.

Oshkosh Climb to 4,500 MSL shows the climb through the scattered cloud layer south of Fond du Lac airport.  The weather near Chicago comes into view as it becomes apparent we will have to fly parallel to the weather front that stretches from the St. Louis area past Chicago.  Those of you who are non-pilots will hear me monitor the automated weather station at Fond du Lac to get the barometric pressure to set my altimeter.  You will also hear Wendell and I looking at the GPS 396 NexRad weather radar presentation to confirm  how far away the weather is that we see out front.

The Oshkosh to Mike Oscar Eight file shows the scattered cloud layer below as we fly along at 4,500 MSL after passing Madison, Wisconsin.  You also get to see Eight Alpha Kilo come along side for a video air-to-air shot.  You will also notice I sometimes forget to key the microphone when I talk to the pilot flying alongside me.   Wendell and I discuss the power system for the video system, and you will hear other pilots discussing the weather as they fly inbound to Oshkosh and outbound like our flight of four.

I had to really compress the videos to keep the file size down.  I did keep the audio tracks up to better than voice quality so you can hear the various radio transmissions and the intercom better.  Feel free to email me with any comments on the videos.

August 7, 2006:  This was a day of flying for my "day job" to meet with two different customers.  The first leg of today's flight was from the Chattanooga area to Frankfort, Kentucky.   Here is a shot taken on the ramp right after I landed at Capital City Airport (KFFT).  The takeoff from Folks Field was fine, then as I rounded the west side of the Chattanooga Class C airspace, it started to turn into marginal VFR conditions.  The infrared or visual satellite sequences I had seen about 30 minutes before flight time did not indicate anything like this.  All the precipitation shown on radar was already moving out of my proposed flight routes for the day.  My departure was about 8:20 AM and I was surprised to see the atmosphere had heated enough that early in the day to generate those hazy conditions.  I got to the top of the haze at 11,500 MSL and could still see the ground through the haze, but just barely.  Interstate and major four-lane highways were visible in Tennessee, and things cleared a bit as I got into Kentucky.

My departure from Frankfort was uneventful, passing around the southwest side of the Lexington, Kentucky Class C airspace, then going direct to the Greenville, South Carolina area.  The route took me over the London, Kentucky airport which was easily visible as I cruised over it at 9,500 MSL.  I climbed to 13,500 MSL briefly over the Smoky Mountains and the cloud buildups there and then back down past the west side of Asheville, NC to contact Greer Approach and get into Greenville Downtown Airport (KGMU).  The temperatures were nice at Frankfort, but absolutely steamy at Greenville.  When I returned to the south ramp at Greenville after my customer meeting, the thermometer at the entry gate read 101 degrees.   I opened up the canopy as I untied the airplane and made my preflight checks.   I touched the slider rail on the side of the fuselage when I opened it and later when I was ready to get inside.  There was a noticeable difference in the temp of the rail to the touch after the canopy was open for the 10 minutes of the untie/pre-flight process.  The trip home to the Chattanooga area took about 1.2 hours while dodging the cumulus clouds building over the mountains of North Georgia and Western North Carolina. 

I landed at Collegedale to refuel before heading home, which meant I would get back to my home field with the same amount of fuel in the tanks that began the day.   By the time I landed at Folks Field, the time was 4:45 PM Eastern Time.  The total flight time for all flight segments today was 4.8 hours on the Hobbs meter.

My oldest son (also a private pilot) spoke with me over the weekend about my Oshkosh videos.  He asked if I could make him a couple of CD-ROMs with the original full resolution MPEG videos on them.  My question to each of you is whether this is something you would like to receive, for a reasonable fee of course.  Let me know via email if this interests you via (jerry at n2prise dot org) for your answers.  The full resolution videos would be raw and unedited, allowing those of you who have not flown the Oshkosh VFR arrival to see what the experience is all about via video and full intercom and radio traffic sound track on the videos.

August 14, 2006:  I worked with Wendell tonight to get him further along on his instrument panel as seen on his new PAGE 24.  We discussed the coming steps in his RV-8 project and will be spending evenings this week reviewing Van's drawings and procedures to keep him busy when I have to go out of town for a business trip next week.  The engine mount will be temporarily installed on the firewall to give him some outlines of where NOT to drill any holes in the stainless steel firewall.  We will be reviewing the placement of the various access holes for the throttle, mixture, propeller, and carburetor heat control cables.  The location of the starter solenoid and the route of the heavy power cables must also be decided and have their access holes drilled through the firewall.

As for my trip next week to Florida, I have stops in south Florida as well as the Orlando area to make.  Considering the weather patterns down there this month, trying to take my airplane on that business trip would not be desirable.  Last week's one day trip to Kentucky and South Carolina was made for general aviation travel, but this trip to Florida with all the stormy weather is one where taking my car makes the most sense.  It can easily carry all my demo inventory and catalogs.

August 15, 2006:  Another evening session with Wendell.  He is excited again now that his Dynon D10-A arrived and all the big holes in the instrument panel are now filled.  You can get all the details of the work session tonight on his page 24.

I have been exchanging emails with RV-9A builder and pilot Matthew Brandes about my HIGH RESOLUTION MPEG videos from this year's trip to Oshkosh Airventure.  Matt has a web site with LOTS of download bandwidth per month and offered to host my Oshkosh Arrival and Departure videos.  When he has them online and ready for download, I will post the links on this web page.  These are really large files that I plan to offer on CD-ROM for those who don't have a really fast cable modem or other very fast internet connections.  The two largest files are over 600 megabytes and would not be easy to download.  For those of you who want to get a copy of my Oshkosh 2006 VIDEO CD-ROM, send me an email at (jerry at n2prise dot org) with your request, mailing address, etc.

August 17, 2006:  Matt Brandes and I have been collaborating to post my HUGE HIGH-RESOLUTION MPEG video files from my flights to and from Oshkosh Airventure 2006.  Do NOT attempt to download these files unless you have a REALLY good high speed internet connection.  If you are using a DSL connection, you may want to try downloading the big ones when you go to bed at night.  Dial-up customers don't even try to get the files.  You might be on line for several DAYS if you could keep the connection alive that long.

The best thing to do is download the files to your hard drive for viewing on the Windows Media Player to get the biggest picture.  RIGHT CLICK on the links below, then select "Save Target As" to store the file on your hard drive.  The windows browser will save the file in the temp directories during the download, then save it to your target directory after the download is completed.  Since these big files are on your hard drive in TWO places, be sure to delete all temporary files when you finish getting your copies of the files saved to your hard drive.  You may also want to burn the files to a CD-ROM for safe keeping, and just in case you want to show any friends the videos without the need for them to download the files, etc.

I downloaded these files from the server to be sure they were good and to check cable modem download times.  The Ohio River video took less than two minutes at around 530 kilobits per second.  The OSH2006 Arrival took around 17 minutes averaging 575 kilobits per second.  The departure video took about 20 minutes to download.   The Missouri file took about one minute.

September 4, 2006:  Labor Day holiday in the USA.  I spent part of the morning and the afternoon with Wendell and had time to update the software in my Dynon D-10A and in Wendell's unit as well.   The HSI page is visible and it rotates with the compass sensor changes in the unit.   I drew the wiring diagram for the connections from the GPS-296 and the Garmin AT SL-30 NAV/COM radio to drive the HSI page in the Dynon unit.  I will also be connecting the GPS 296 to the SL-30 to send radio frequencies to the SL-30 from the Jeppessen database in the 296.

I also worked with Wendell to get him closer to getting his RV-8 fuselage up on the landing gear.  You can learn about his progress on his PAGE 25.