(Again, as I post this in March 2024, please forgive me for the tardiness. Life has been busy, though the flying and fun haven’t ceased. In fact, besides a number of adventures I’ll cover off in the next few posts (including OSHKOSH 2023!), i’m starting a new flying adventure and will update on that as well!)
The first part of 2021 was virtually all local hops around the neighborhood—either along the shoreline or up to the NW hills of CT. One exception was when Milton hopped over to Bridgeport in the light sport Bristel plane he’s been flying from a club in Brookhaven out on Long Island. It’s a pretty airplane, small and simple, with a tiny Rotax engine that doesn’t quite roar above a purr but has enough power to do the job of flying a couple adults around while super-economically sipping gas. We did a quick little hop in the local area, just long enough to start to get a feel for how easily she flew and relatively nimble as well.
In May, I did an IFR flight down to see Dan at Central Jersey Regional Airport to do my biennial flight review with him. Besides the hour of oral quizzing and discussion about changes in regulations and areas of safety focus, we had some good practice flying around the local area. One of the skills Dan wanted to practice with me was concerning turns back to the airport after takeoff but with an engine loss. With a few different iterations, we found that for my airplane, 600’ is probably for that lowest possible altitude—but that it CAN be done, obviously depending on your reaction time and realization of what’s going on. There’s a reason it’s been called the Impossible Turn and a reason why most guidelines indicate 1,000’ is probably the safest altitude to attempt a turn back to the runway you just departed. Nevertheless, it was a great workout and a great time learning about what Gwaihir and I can do.
Later in May the airplane went in for its annual maintenance inspection and it turned into a nightmare. A Service Bulletin (SB) issued by Cessna a year or so earlier had turned into an Airworthiness Directive (AD) that becomes mandatory. This one, AD2020-18-01-39-21222 had to do with inspection for cracks where the wing structure attaches to the fuselage. The inspection of Gwaihir showed cracks, so we had to do an extensive maintenance procedure to uncover the flooring in the cabin, sever the attachment bolts that were never intended to be removed and insert the new repair kits, on both struts. Unfortunately, when a repair kit for an SB goes to a repair kit for an AD, guess what? The price jumps exponentially! Luckily we found PMA (alternate certified manufacturer) kits for half the price Cessna wanted to charge!
(NOTE TO SELF FOR SIDE HUSTLE: Pay attention to Service Bulletins as the come out and if it looks like it will become an Airworthiness Directive, acquire a bunch of the repair kits before the changeover and then reap the profits of increased demand)
The other big expense on this annual was the need for a new propeller. The inspection found some corrosion at the hub and the blades themselves were at the limits of what knicks (caused by little pebbles or other debris on runways/taxiways (called FOD or foreign object debris)) could be dressed (filed) smooth within legal limits.
So I quickly did some research and found that a new 3-bladed prop was only slightly more expensive than replacing my 2-bladed prop and the 3-blades would be quieter and more efficient for climbs. Essentially, the new blade would create three smaller noise pulses rather than two larger noise pulses—not only does this mean that the prop is quieter inside the airplane as well as outside, but it also reduces vibration which in turn reduces wear and tear on the engine, the airframe, the avionics and, obviously, the pilot and passengers.
Ownership of a plane is not cheap nor for the weak—but I am truly blessed that I’ve been fortunate to scrape and save over the years to be able to afford this habit that provides so much joy (usually! :))
After an agonizing wait for all the repairs and maintenance wrap-up, Milton and I went out to fly a slew of instrument approaches for our currency. It felt great just to be back up in the air and to have everything working properly.
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