Phantom to Secretary

[mcelrah]

Did some chores, then loaded up the glider for a trip to Ridgely.
Queen Anne forecast of 9-11 from the south in the early afternoon had
me hopeful of doing some aerotowing, but Sunny and Adam were not
encouraging. Conditions were 90 degrees cross with likely bumpiness.
John from Philadelphia was there waiting on the ground. (Kristin is in
the area with short hair - took me awhile to recognize her...) The
office has been remodeled as an upscale t-shirt showroom with hardwood
floors - far from funky. Consulted with Paul G., who had flown the
Phantom yesterday in stronger wind without difficulty. The man had
taken off the exhaust manifold, inspected the pistons/cylinders,
changed the spark plugs, polished the cylinder head temperature gauge
thermocouples and painted the manifold. (Whew!) John and I examined
the ballistic parachute system: the T-handle has been dangling in the
slipstream - one worries that it might trigger the rocket by accident.
Decided to fly with it safetied. Adam testified that the service
interval is about 8 years, so 2001 repack date is still good. Took off
about 2:40 for Secretary, near Cambridge, 20 nautical miles south of
Ridgely. Jim and Rita Riley, our next door neighbors, have a country
house there with open fields all around it. We have been discussing
for some time the possibility of my landing there. At 800 feet, the
headwind was about 10 knots, yielding a ground speed of 35-38 KTS.
Only minor ups and downs enroute - no big bumps. I was able to
identify the Riley's place by the 1000 feet of boardwalk they have
built out into the marsh (spent the money on the boardwalk rather than
glitzing up the old country house). Boxed the field to confirm wind
direction by GPS and landed uneventfully. Farmer pulled up in his
pick-up almost immediately - was just interested in the plane. Said he
will plant soy beans next week, so I made it just in time. Jim, Rita
and son Matt were very excited about my visit, invited me in for a soda
and Jim gave me gas/oil mix to have a comfortable fuel load for the
return (with a tailwind at 56 KTS groundspeed I made it in just over
half the time, so could have gone with what was in the tank, but why
worry?). Arrived at Ridgely to find Adam towing John, but both said
conditions were not very good, so I contented myself with powered
flight. Paul G. arrived right after I put the plane to bed and we had
a nice visit before his flight. Depending on what else is going on
next weekend, we may fly to the antique fly-in at Cambridge next
weekend. Drove back through heavy rainstorm near Annapolis. What will
tomorrow bring? - Hugh

[Paul Gerhardt]

Was good to see Hugh returning from his flight to Secretary just as I
arrived at the airport. It was still a 90 cross but not too strong for the
Phantom. There was not a lot of HG activity though as the 90 cross 10-15
was probably a bit much. I still have not gotten started with the Tandem AT
again as WX has not been light enough. The Phantom was refuled and the sky
still looked ok so I took off and keeping an eye to the West went off to
find Jenkins field. Arrived there and did a quick full stop landing and
then took off for Ridgley as it was getting later and the sky to the west
was no starting to look a bit omnious. Landed in a light x-wind at about
7:30 but it was darker than it should have been and just as I was getting
into the car I noticed a T-Cell about over Centreville so I was glad that I
had gotten back. Jenkins had more used airplane parts than I had seen in a
while and the runway was not fully mowed. Part of the most windward runway
had grass about 2 feet tall! I felt like was taxing through the grasslands
getting back to the end of the runway where it was shorter to take off
again. The prop was not hitting the grass but it was chopping up a lot of
insects that were being stirred up by taxing through the long grass. It is
1pm now on Sun and overcast but not as windy as yesterday so I may head back
to see if there is any HG activity. The fly in should be fun at Horn Point
next weekend. I last went when my now 24 yr old son was in a stroller and
remember seeing a lot of nice older planes. Some of the same ones will
probably still be there! I remember lusting after a very clean Cessna 140
that someone had done a great job on.
Hugh Keep in touch on next weekend.
Paul T. How is it going in FL?

Paul G
Centreille MD


Paul Gerhardt
pgerhardt@hotmail.com