Flights of the Intruder

It was a nice day for flying today...just over 40F but clear and calm.  I got in 4 flights of the Intruder.  The OS 91 Surpass II ran well all day with no adjustments necessary.  The only adjustment needed today was to the nose wheel to make the plane track straighter on the ground.  It is pulling left much less now.  I also had the 60 size Shoestring with me and made one nice flight.  Before I took off for the second one, I checked the cowl and found that two of the lower hardwood mounting blocks were not fixed to the firewall anymore!  I don't get it because those were epoxied on by me.  I will get them stuck on good with CA this time, since it seems the epoxy might have not been compatible with whatever came stock on the firewall?  I thought I coated the whole firewall with epoxy too though.  Nobody else came to fly on the last day before more rain is supposed to arrive.

Boxster Fun

Enjoyed inspecting several Boxsters at the dealership again today, while waiting with Tad for his CR to have an oil change.  Spent nearly 2 hours there, which went relatively fast.  I just began reading my book when the service manager told us the car was ready.  I got to inspect the dark blue metallic base Boxster that we test drove 20 days ago, as well as a newly arrived platinum silver with red top and interior, and an aqua blue with black top and interior, both base Boxsters; and one white with black top and interior S version.  Geez, any color looks pretty nice.  Still leaning towards my choice of mahogany metallic brown with brown top and espresso interior although the dark blue one has similar feel and effect...understated richness and sophistication being basically monochromatic in either dark browns or dark blues.

Look at this silver with red though 

(very nice but loaded up to $68k).

New Membership Card

After using the same background for our KRCA membership card for a few years, I wanted to create something different for a change.  I looked for pre-printed business card stock at Office Depot and online, and found the same ones as usual...either the USA flag (good but it is what we used for years) and the clouds.  I decided to find online images related to aviation to use as a background, and to fit the winner onto plain business card stock, using my own printer and ink. I figured with only 60+ members and 10 cards to a sheet, that I would only be printing 8 or so sheets, allowing for mistakes.  The printing is done in two steps of course.  First I print the plain business card sheets with the background on them.  Then I print the club name and member info onto those sheets, as members submit their yearly dues.  The final product is pictured here:

I issued and mailed the first 7 membership cards for 2013 a few days ago, and was really pleased to get a call from Doug the other night.  He said he liked the new card so much that he just wanted to call to express his opinion.  Made me feel good, and I hope most everyone else also likes the new card.  Note that I noticed the uncentered line that says "2013 Member", and will have it centered on the future cards printed.  BTW the color on the actual cards is a little more vivid than in the photo.

Beautiful Weather on Thanksgiving Day!

After a week of continuous rain, we got a break from Mother Nature, who gave us a cool but calm and dry day at the field!  It was in the low 40's when I got there around 10AM, but the fog was high and breaking up, and the wind was non-existent.  Only Bob Ross was there with his Pulse 60 and we had a great time alternating flights with each other.  I think I had 4 flights with the Toledo Special, just playing with throttle a lot and  cruising around doing some loops and rolls and Cuban 8's between low throttle upright and inverted spells.  As we ended, Wilfredo showed up with a chopper.  Had a great time!

The Boxster Beautiful

What follows is a replacement for my original entry on Nov 6, 2013.  Somehow I managed to lose it as I tried to reformat it to look better.  I had copied it from my entry on Planet-9, but it pasted with underlining.  I know now to paste it as plain text.  

Before today, I really wanted a 2013 Boxster. Now I REALLY REALLY REALLY WANT a 2013 Boxster!!! My son had the day off and asked if I want to go up to test drive a Boxster this morning. I was not that convinced we should go, but he called the dealership to check if they have one to demo, and when they said they have both a base and S to test drive, he said we'd be up there around 11AM! So he called me back and I agreed to go and put off some chores. Off we went in his Cayman R, now a year old. We got to the dealership and the salesman was ready to let us drive either a white S or a dark blue base. Based on a lot of posts here, I wanted to drive the base Boxster. Just as an aside, my son and I were both surprised that the car had only 24 miles on it, indicating to us that there have not been many test drives of that particular car. I expected to see more miles on any car we demoed. I asked the salesman to demo lowering and raising the roof, which he did. Very nifty. I like those neat little plates that flip out to cover some of the openings on each side when the top is fully down. After some very nice orientation to the various cockpit controls by the salesman, we headed out for about half an hour of driving. 

After just a few minutes, the car felt like heaven! Test driving the car put me over the top, I was on the fence before, now I am pretty sure I will order one very soon. Everyone talks about the smooth and precise shifter, and I loved it. My shifter in my 02 Corvette feels long and clunky in comparison (but I still love that Corvette.) I liked the electronic steering...light, immediate, precise. Power was not bad, and while it won't give me whiplash, it makes up with great sound from the engine and exhaust. Very sexy. And I think at higher RPM, I would feel the torque more, but I was gentle with the demo car. Suspension felt right to me...not stiff like my son's CR, but stiff enough to get some feel from the road and to stay flat in the turns. I liked the cockpit feel, not small not large, just comfy and soft enough for my aging body, and very rich feeling in terms of materials, technology, and execution. Very sophisticated car...it suits a baby boomer like me who worked long and hard and wants to enjoy life to the max now. So where was I...my son took a turn at the wheel too as he was interested in how it compares to his CR. Sure the base Boxster doesn't have the power, but he could see it really would be enough for me touring around the countryside. He was slightly taken aback by how much improved the interior is, how much richer it feels, than his CR. He kept saying he loves his CR though, lol. 

When we returned to the showroom we talked about colors. The salesman said he would get some color chips, and he returned with good sized painted and upholstered pieces more like the size of saucers. That sure helped in seeing colors. We viewed them inside and outside. Right now I am leaning towards Mahogany Brown, Brown Top, and Espresso leather, convenience package, Sport Design steering wheel, Boxster S wheels, light design package, and Sports Plus seats. I am not ready to order just yet as I don't want to get delivery in the middle of the long wet Winter here, so the salesman is going to contact me in a month or so, targetting delivery mid or late April when the light at the end of the Wintry tunnel will start to beckon. 

So I am not an official "waiter" yet. I am a "waiter in training"? What I really am is excited about the test drive experience today with my son. We are sharing some great times and making fond memories, first with our Corvettes, and now with Porsches. Looking forward to being a Waiter and then an Owner of the Boxster. Sure got charged up and convinced to get one after the visit to the dealership and the demo drive today.

Here are pics of the color combination that I would love to have, as well as the rims I would choose:

Delightful Day...Almost

It was overcast and under 50F, but still hardly a breath of air, and NO rain.  I made another 5 flights with the Sbach, trying to tune the engine to decrease the black oil residue that spits onto the bottom of the plane from the JTec pitts style muffler.  Leaning out the high end did not seem to help, nor did both opening and closing the low needle by a smidge.  The engine runs strong and smooth to me, and the residue is just a minor issue.  It does make cleanup necessary though, to have that black spit on the entire length of the fuse bottom at the end of the flying session.  In any case, the plane flew great again today, with all good landings.  Slow rolls are so effortless with this plane, and the rolling circle is easier to get done in four rolls with this plane.  Like yesterday, nobody showed up for the nearly 2 hours I was at the field.

Delightful Day

Wow, it was a gorgeous day at the field.  Clear up at my house, I arrived to find sparse fog dissipating.  By the time my Sbach was assembled, the sky was fogless with scatter high clouds and lots of blue.  It must have been 50F at least since it was almost that at my house.  Not another soul came while I stayed for over 2 hours and got in 6 flights on the Sbach.  The DLE-30 gave its first bark after about 16 flips, and then started in another 5 flips.  After several flights, I observed the engine is still spitting out black on the underside of the plane so I turned the high needle in just a 1/16th of a turn or so, then after another flight tried the low needle too.  Had to back off on the low needle when it would not run as reliably on low idle.  Looks like it still spits a little but I will fly a few flights next time and then  recheck for black residue.  No prob with running  WOT and transitions are fine.  Had all good landings today...just have to keep above lowest idle to bring her in with a little speed and enough air under the wings to prevent stall.  The Sbach is turning out to be a real nice airframe.  I added a little more up elevator mixed with left rudder because the plane still wanted to tuck to the belly in right KE.  It is way more present in right KE than left KE (right rudder).  Not sure why.  All in all a fun time and I got more adjustments made to the plane and engine, very beneficial time spent.

Indian Summer?

I'll take these beautiful days of Indian Summer, breezy or not.  It might have been 5-10mph this AM, but I saw the breeziness at home, so I brought my SNAFU to the field for playing in the wind.  It was plain old FUN, just horsing the light and agile SNAFU in the the breeze.  Mike came out too, and did the same with his Uproar, and Steve E with his Blade 450.  He must be good because he made the chopper look very stable in the gusty conditions.  Wind was out of the south so I did all takeoffs and landings on the short N/S runway, with landing rollouts of under 5 feet all  the time.

The wind and sun were perfect for drying off the roads, so upon returning home from flying, I changed into clean jeans immediately and vacated the premises in my Corvette.  Ahhhhh, it was sublime taking about a 45 minute drive just around town...from West Salem south on Commercial/Liberty/Skyline, east on Kuebler, north on Turner Rd, 22 and 25th St, back west on State, Marion, and Edgewater.  I love this Corvette and have to wonder about the benefits of switching to the 2013 Boxster.  I would love that roadster, but would I love it enough to warrant spending nearly $60k on it?  Just the thought of being able to do it gives me a charge, and it is the only other brand car (Porsche) that I lusted for in all my previous years besides the Corvette.  Great dreaming!  Life IS good!

Flight Log: 11/02/2012

The weather has been wet and/or windy so flying has been rare lately.  The wind and rain stopped for half a day during which I was able to fly this AM.  Bob B mowed while I was there, so the grass was short for the three flights I made.  Rudy and I were the only die hards today.  The T-28 had a weird start.  When I turned on the radio, it was like it was set for the wrong model.  Flap trim was way off, and the end points for each flap were different!  I finally got them programmed to throw the same amount and trim properly, but it scares me to that somehow the settings got disturbed.  A similar situation has occurred on another model with this transmitter, but I forget what exactly was off trim.  I will have to be sure to check each model before flying, which is the norm anyhow, but I need to be extra careful.  I am wondering if it is time for a new xmitter battery, as the one in it is likely over 2 years old.  The T-28 flew fine after the flaps were programmed correctly, and the Saito 82 ran well.

Oh, I also got in a little hovering with the Blade 400.  I did not freshly charge the three packs.  One ran fairly long while the other two were low in a minute.