3 for 3

I Flew a Cessna 172 today. Breakfast At Hoquim , less than 2hrs round trip in a plane, over two hours each way by car.It is just great, From the coast, see the ocean, and back to Seattle in less than an hour. The view from a plane is good anyway, but here in the Puget Sound that is magnified. Today there was a lot of low fog , it covered most of the inlets in the S. Sound area, it only added to the beauty of the scene. Of course Mt Ranier looms over all, & St Helens, Adams & Baker are all visible on the horizon. Three days, Three different planes. That I could not do if I owned only one. I might fly a different one tommorow, but the weather doesn't look like it will be ok. The 172 was cruising at 120mph @ 2500'. Not as fast as the Cherokee, but it burns less than 8 Gallons per hour.The Cherokee uses@10gph. the c150 @6gph.The Cherokee was busy today, it was taken all day before I could book it. I had to return the 172 for another club member. It had a small fuel leak from the LF wing tank sump(drain). Not a safety of flight issue. Not enough leak to affect the range, or to be a fire hazard. But I just called Tom, the maintanence officer, reported it, and advised the next pilot of the situation. We will try to burn off most the fuel in that tank & Tom will fix it or have it fixed. If I were the sole owner I would be cold & dirty, wet with fuel, to fix it myself. Yea, I think the Clubs are working well for me.

It's not fast.

It's not fast. Especially after a month of flying the Cherokee. I flew 12J today. My favorite little plane, the Cessna 150 that I trained and tested in. I mostly stayed near the airport, doing landing practice. I did power off simulated engine out landings, no flap landings spot landings even cut power on take off landed then exited the runway. It sure was not the power house the Cherokee is.. but it is a lot lighter on the controls than either the C-172 or PA28-180. As long as I am solo the 150 is fun to fly, not so good if you're in a hurry, but fun. And 12J is my favorite. 98J has a fresher engine and better radio's, I even think it it a tad faster. 12J likes a lot of right rudder at times, but it is friendly and easy to fly. Steady and predictable. I at one time departed the pattern S toward Auburn, but the closer i got the hazier it became at Auburn. I heard someone doing T&G's but could not see them, I turn bact to BFI about 3 miles out. The fog/Virga seemed to be coming closer to Boeing. I beat it to BFI , did a T&G then a full stop & taxied to parking, I sat it out but the haze never quite reached BFI & after a while it dissipated. It was clear again, I had time so up I went for some more laps. I flew over an hour before heading home to do the shopping.

It's Huge!

For my birthday, TJ, Lauri & I flew to Mc Minnville, Or., from Auburn, Wa.. In the Cherokee180 it took a mere hour & a half. The Museum built a second building as big as the first and added an Imax theater between them. The Building is barely bigger than Hughes Spruce Goose, But that is still HUGE. A B-17 parks under the right elevator. Under the right wing is a collection of WW2 & cold war fighters. Way bigger than a scarebus380. I was thrilled to see they had added Six. Having worked on the F-106 During my service, (attack radar tech),I am a big fan. It is still to this day the fastest Single engine Jet on record. 100 mph faster than the F-104. 1525mph. The plane they used was one stationed at McCord. The second building is a Space museum. It has all three type capsules, Mercury. Gemini, & Apollo. + moon buggy's a simulated missile silo, w/ a missile . You can activate s "launch sequence". The Imax was Fighter Pilot, about a F-15 jock at red Flag at Nellis. Great ! The Cherokee really hauls the mail. We had to go over 6500' to find smooth air, and the Cherokee loved it, cruising 135= @ 75%. It really made me think about buying and what I would give up. Now I can fly a variety of planes. 3-C-150, 4- C172, Pa28-180, C-182. I am not even checked out in the 182 yet. I need to fly more of these first. If I bought that Tri-Pacer, sure I would "own " a plane. And a fairly nice little PA-22. In 5-6 yrs it would have a runout engine and the skin would probably be shot from being old & outside. It burns maybe 6-7 GPH, & flys maybe 120. Nice for two, with room for baggage, cramped taking three golfers to Lopez. And, I have the risk of a breakdown. In the club, I don't have to work on it, if it breaks I call the club Maintenance officer. All I need is dry weekends. I hope I can fly on my week off between Giftmas & Debbie's birthday(New Years).