Phantom to Cambridge Sunday

[mcelrah]

Started bustling around the house at 0630 this morning getting ready to
leave. Loaded gas tanks from the boat (pure auto gas for the
four-stroke outboard), motorcycle suit, helmet, gloves, extra socks,
boots, GPS, chart cutout in plastic sleeve, 2-stroke oil - stopped at
the boat to pick up siphon pump - made it out to Ridgely at 1000. It
was blowing NW 15-20 - I was surprised, having expected less wind,
maybe even shifting to SE later in the day. Proceeded with siphoning
gas from the boat tanks into the plastic jerrycan, mixing gas and oil,
then siphoning the mix into the airplane's tank. Took a couple of
jerrycans full since the plane was pretty empty - and about an hour.
This was OK since I was waiting for the wind to moderate. Mike, the
South African with the pristine yellow RANS S-12S in the next hangar
bay, showed up to wash his plane after landing in sloppy fields last
weekend. (I couldn't see any dirt on it, but promised to give him a
white-glove inspection when I got back - hoping to schmooze a ride in
this beautiful plexiglass-nose two-seater with a Rotax 582 pusher that
Mike takes to Florida for Sun 'n Fun each spring). George showed up
and warmed up the Decathlon for Cindy to fly later (now there's a good
husband on the day before Valentine's Day!). Sallie surprised me by
showing up with Jasper, Jay (the dog), and two of Jasper's friends.
I was all suited up and ready to go, but killed time introducing her
all around while the wind backed off to 10-15. Finally took off at
1255 and headed south. Jumped the Choptank at Denton and settled in at
60 knots ground speed on the GPS (Cambridge-Dorchester airport shows as
27 nautical miles from Ridgely). Swung east to sight a couple of
little private grass strips along the route. At Cambridge, I couldn't
see a windsock, so used the GPS to determine wind direction (heading
160 showed 60 knots groundspeed, turning around to 340 showed 30 knots
- aha! - looks like a 15 knot wind right down the throat for runway 34
- also, when throttled back, the Phantom generally does 45 knots in
still air). Taxied down to the end of the flight line and got lots of
looks from the windows of the Signature Cafe. Sallie and the kids
bailed on brunch in Cambridge, so I ate my eggs benedict alone (syringe
of hollandaise on the side for direct injection into my arteries). The
friendly waitress came up with some batteries for the GPS - alas, they
died, too - but another couple in the plane parked next to mine had
some fresh ones. They were waiting to see me take off in this strange
contraption. On the way back, I scoped out our next door neighbors'
country house near Secretary (east of Cambridge). We visited them by
boat a couple of years ago - dinghied in at night with Jim Riley
shining his car headlights out from the landing and talking us in by
cell phone - we felt like smugglers! Going to land in the field in
front of their house next time... Despite the quartering headwind, the
trip back seemed short. I spotted a couple more small private strips
south of Ridgely. As I was putting the plane to bed, George showed up
in the borrowed 182 he's using to prepare for his instrument checkride
since the 180 got wrecked. He did a 180 on the ramp and tried to park
with one wheel on the grass so Mike and I could get our vehicles out -
and got stuck in a huge divot left by the snowplow. Mike hooked his
truck to the tail tiedown and yanked him out. Paul Gerhardt called to
make sure I was back, then came out, broken wrist in cast and all, flew
and DID SPINS! He told me about a draincock in the bottom of the gas
tank on the plane - using this will give me a lot more peace of mind
about sediment/water in the fuel. I loaded about 8 gallons of gas,
burned about 5 - 30-45 minutes each way, ergo, about 3 gallons per
hour. 45 minutes is about all I want to be out in an open cockpit in
46 degree weather - but being able to fly at all in February is a gift!
- Hugh

[Scott]

Great story Hugh! I especially liked the syringe full of Hollandaise. You seem to have a found a great combination of sports---riding the motorcycle out to Ridgely, and then flying!

Scott

[mcelrah]

I do ride out to Ridgely when the only game is the ultralite (unless I can get someone else to drive my glider out), but this time and had to carry full gas tanks, so used the car. The BMW has hard cases including a top case, so I can carry some stuff, but not those. The motorcycle suit and helmet are for warmth/wind protection! I look forward to warmer weather - for one thing, I would like to take pictures - can't push the button on the camera with thick skiing gloves! Let me know if you want to use any of my stuff for the newsletter (how about the post about the Harrisonburg run?). Yeah, I know - posting it kinda ruins it for the newsletter. Thanks for the feedback.
- Hugh
>
> From: "Scott" <sw@shadepine.com>
> Date: 2005/02/15 Tue PM 12:38:22 GMT
> To: ot_forum@chgpa.org
> Subject: Phantom to Cambridge Sunday
>
> Great story Hugh! I especially liked the syringe full of Hollandaise. You seem to have a found a great combination of sports---riding the motorcycle out to Ridgely, and then flying!
>
> Scott
>