Let's take a moment to review 2014, since I didn't post at all last year. I did fly some; generally a few shorter trips into the foothills, probably a couple of bay tours, a flight review, some maintenance flights, and some practice approaches.
My second to last flight was in October. I went to Marina (KOAR), and was tons of fun. I flew down and landed, and went to refuel, but my engine died before I got to the fuel island. I couldn't get it started again, so there I sat on the thankfully-quiet taxiway. I got out and got my towbar, and pulled the plane up to the fuel pump. A guy who had just refueled his Van's RV-7 (I think) asked if I needed help - by that time I'd already gotten the plane there, but he and I got to talking; he let me sit in his RV, which was awesome, and eventually, he helped me push my Centurion into a tie-down. Then he and his (wife? girlfriend? I don't remember...) significant other drove me to the beach (in their Fiat 500E!), stopping for ice cream, hung out with me on the beach for a little bit, and drive me back to the airport! Nicest people ever! I eventually got the plane started (with difficulty) and flew home. I don't have their contact information, and I've forgotten their names because my relatively-new-dad brain is a sieve. If you're reading this, please get in touch with me!
My last flight was on January 3, 2015, and was incredibly frustrating. I flew to KCPU, Calaveras County airport, and read my flight plan wrong so didn't descend or slow down nearly in time. So I dilly-dallied around the foothills for several minutes trying to bleed off some speed, before getting into the pattern and landing. As I taxied back, I saw the fuel pumps and decided to go for it. I filled up, and....couldn't get the plane started, again. Now this time, the plane's battery was low as well, so while the initial trouble was probably that I flooded the engine, after a time, the battery was too low to start the plane anyway. So I had to wander around and get help, which is always fun - luckily, more nice people here! Not only did the guy I met give me a jump start, he also gave me a second jump start when my engine died because I'd left the fuel pump on (the jump start is done with the master switch off, so when I flipped the master on, the fuel pump came on and re-flooded the engine).
Since then, I've read a lot about Continental start procedures, and I think I know what to do next time: 1) Throttle open, mixture full lean, high fuel pump for 30s. 2) Throttle most of the way closed, mixture full rich, fuel pump OFF, crank the engine.
Today, however, I chose not to stop the engine. I flew from SJC to LVK, and after bouncing through some turbulence, arrived way too fast and too high (sound familiar?). After I broke off my pattern to go descend and lose some speed, I did a nice gusty crosswind landing. I taxied back and took off toward SQL, and as I approached Coyote Hills (fast!), the tower frequency was nonstop. I found a gap and said quickly, "Centurion 6824R, Coyote Hills, 1500', landing, negative ATIS." I wasn't receiving ATIS for some reason; "negative ATIS" wasn't a great thing to say to a busy controller, but my options were limited. I got to the sunken ship, and still hadn't heard back, so given the madness of the airspaces around there (HWD and SQL below, OAK and SFO above), I got down to 1200' and started making a hard circle. But thankfully the controller acknowledged me and routed me inbound. I landed decently and taxied back.
The flight back to SJC was great. Right downwind off runway 30, handoff to PAO, handoff to NUQ, handoff to SJC, left traffic for 30L, and actually squeaked the wheels on landing.
As I look at the sequence of flights, going back to the one in January, I was clearly underestimating how fast the plane is, arriving at airports too high, too fast, not in front of the airplane enough. Today, my arrival at LVK was crappy, but then at SQL was better (though still too fast initially) and at SJC was good. Just another "rust" phenomenon to work through. In any case, it was great to fly again!
My second to last flight was in October. I went to Marina (KOAR), and was tons of fun. I flew down and landed, and went to refuel, but my engine died before I got to the fuel island. I couldn't get it started again, so there I sat on the thankfully-quiet taxiway. I got out and got my towbar, and pulled the plane up to the fuel pump. A guy who had just refueled his Van's RV-7 (I think) asked if I needed help - by that time I'd already gotten the plane there, but he and I got to talking; he let me sit in his RV, which was awesome, and eventually, he helped me push my Centurion into a tie-down. Then he and his (wife? girlfriend? I don't remember...) significant other drove me to the beach (in their Fiat 500E!), stopping for ice cream, hung out with me on the beach for a little bit, and drive me back to the airport! Nicest people ever! I eventually got the plane started (with difficulty) and flew home. I don't have their contact information, and I've forgotten their names because my relatively-new-dad brain is a sieve. If you're reading this, please get in touch with me!
My last flight was on January 3, 2015, and was incredibly frustrating. I flew to KCPU, Calaveras County airport, and read my flight plan wrong so didn't descend or slow down nearly in time. So I dilly-dallied around the foothills for several minutes trying to bleed off some speed, before getting into the pattern and landing. As I taxied back, I saw the fuel pumps and decided to go for it. I filled up, and....couldn't get the plane started, again. Now this time, the plane's battery was low as well, so while the initial trouble was probably that I flooded the engine, after a time, the battery was too low to start the plane anyway. So I had to wander around and get help, which is always fun - luckily, more nice people here! Not only did the guy I met give me a jump start, he also gave me a second jump start when my engine died because I'd left the fuel pump on (the jump start is done with the master switch off, so when I flipped the master on, the fuel pump came on and re-flooded the engine).
Since then, I've read a lot about Continental start procedures, and I think I know what to do next time: 1) Throttle open, mixture full lean, high fuel pump for 30s. 2) Throttle most of the way closed, mixture full rich, fuel pump OFF, crank the engine.
Today, however, I chose not to stop the engine. I flew from SJC to LVK, and after bouncing through some turbulence, arrived way too fast and too high (sound familiar?). After I broke off my pattern to go descend and lose some speed, I did a nice gusty crosswind landing. I taxied back and took off toward SQL, and as I approached Coyote Hills (fast!), the tower frequency was nonstop. I found a gap and said quickly, "Centurion 6824R, Coyote Hills, 1500', landing, negative ATIS." I wasn't receiving ATIS for some reason; "negative ATIS" wasn't a great thing to say to a busy controller, but my options were limited. I got to the sunken ship, and still hadn't heard back, so given the madness of the airspaces around there (HWD and SQL below, OAK and SFO above), I got down to 1200' and started making a hard circle. But thankfully the controller acknowledged me and routed me inbound. I landed decently and taxied back.
The flight back to SJC was great. Right downwind off runway 30, handoff to PAO, handoff to NUQ, handoff to SJC, left traffic for 30L, and actually squeaked the wheels on landing.
As I look at the sequence of flights, going back to the one in January, I was clearly underestimating how fast the plane is, arriving at airports too high, too fast, not in front of the airplane enough. Today, my arrival at LVK was crappy, but then at SQL was better (though still too fast initially) and at SJC was good. Just another "rust" phenomenon to work through. In any case, it was great to fly again!
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