1/24 - Flight to Grants Pass to paint N4404J

On the 24th, I flew my airplane down to Grants Pass Oregon to have it painted.  I am having the work done by Evolution Graphics and from what I have seen they do great work.  I bought a round trip ticket to get me home and back and set out planning for the trip.  I am hoping to have pictures of its progress to post here as they happen.

The morning was cold and frosty as normal but I was getting off a little later and the plane had already thawed.  The sky looked a little overcast but this was at 9000ft or so which is well above 

my planned 6500ft.  I checked the precip radar and everything looked good.  There was a little blob over Medford but I was not going that far.  I started up the plane and taxied to the fuel pumps.  I filled it to the tabs (36 total gallons) and started off to the runway.  I called Portland tower and took off from Pearson.  I was again given a mid-field crossing and I was on my way.  As i passed Salem, OR I noticed that there was a lower layer of clouds below me ahead.  I pressed on and found my self flying between two cloud layers for about an hour and a half.  I was trying out the Mountain Scope software which has a synthetic vision component.  This proved very useful as I could not see the mountains below but I knew right where they were.  

When I was about 80 miles from Grants Pass I noticed that my DG began to spin at about 3RPM.  Aparently there was no filter on the gyro instruments and they has sucked in some insulation from the dash.  I was also growing concerned that there was no opening in the clouds to decend through.  At this time I realized that I should have looked at satellite images rather than radar to see the solid cloud cover.  Too late now I guess :-)  I finally saw a ridge in the clouds and went to investigate it.  It turned out to be an opening about 1.5 miles long and about 2000 ft wide.  I passed over it to see what was below.  I was so relieved to see a runway down there.  It was Roseburg.  I made another circle to decend through the opening and down into Roseburg.  Once below the cloud layer it was totally clear.  The clouds were unfortunately all the way down to the mountain tops so I was in an enclosed space.  I used the Mountain Scope software to determine the best path to fly so I could stay well below the couds and well above the terain.  I got stuck a few times and had to make a few canyon turns but I managed to keep going.  I looked the the computer and saw there was just one ridge between me and the airport and I followed the path that I-5 made through it.  It was such a relief to pop out on the other side.  I could see the airport and I made straight for it.  I got in the pattern and made a nice landing at the field.  I taxied to the paint shop, got out and was greeted by Merl the owner.  We talked for a little bit and went inside to talk about what we wanted to do with the paint.

My mom showed up, because she was taking me to the Medford airport to catch my flight home.  We all sat down and worked out a color scheme for the airplane.  What i thought we were going to do and what we decided on were totally different.  We choose metallic forest green for the belly, metallic silver for the top and a metallic charcoal grey for the accent.  I will post a drawing as soon as I get it.  After all that was decided, my mom and I went to lunch at a nice sushi place and talked for a while.  then we went to the Medford airport so I would have time to get through security.  It turns out that there was no one there.  THey have a nice new terminal though, which was exciting to see.  My dad showed up which was really nice since I do not see him often either.  Then I boarded my plane and flew home as a passenger.

1/17 - First cross country

               My girlfriend is a huge fan of bowling and the PBA tour had a stop in Medford, OR.  This is where we use to live so naturally she went there for the week.  I had been trying to come up with a place to fly to for some time so I thought it would be fun to fly down and have lunch with Stacey and my parents.  I got up early and went down to the airport.  There was a thick layer of frost on the airplane so I could not take off.  The side facing the sun was beginning to melt so I let it get mostly defrosted and then got out the tow bar and turned the airplane around so that the other side could melt as well.  After a lot of melting and drying I had removed the ice from the airframe.  This took almost 90 minutes so I was glad to be done with it.  I still had 20min until my scheduled departure time.  I finished the walk around  and tried to start the airplane.  Click…  nothing!  I tried for about ten minutes and then walked over to Aero Maintenance where the gentleman behind the counter offered to jump start the airplane.  It worked and the engine roared to life.  I was very thankful to him and that I already had fuel in the airplane. 

I took off almost an hour late but I got my flight plan opened and appended.  I was given a mid field crossing departure over PDX which was great as I had been wanting to see the Portland airport from the air.  This also afforded me a spectacular view of Portland from the air.  You can see it in the picture here.  There is still some moisture on the window from the cold morning.  The flight was pretty calm up until Eugene.  I had been navigating solely with a handheld aviation GPS as I had not tested the VOR equipment in the airplane.  The other instruments seemed to be working fine adn I got no complaints from ATC about my newly repaired trandponder.

The fog covering Eugene was impressive.  I was only able to make out the airport when passing directly overhead.  It was a solid layer from there almost to Medford, with the exception of the mountains which were sticking up high above the fog.  “4404J are you VFR?” asked Seattle Center.  “Seattle Center, Yes I am 4404J.  “  They informed me that Medford was IMC and that I would not likely be able to land there.  I figured this might happen so I planned on landing at S03 as an alternate.  As can be seen in this picture, Medford was not an option, but Ashland (S03) was clear and a million.  I texted Stacey and told her that I would be diverting to Ashland and to meet me there.

We had a nice lunch and I was very happy to get to see her and my parents.  We ate at Big Al’s which is a nice little burger stand in Ashland.  It was my first $100 cheeseburger J.  We had to make lunch short as my colorblindness prevents me from flying at night.  We headed back to the airplane for pictures and a send off.

Of course the airplane would not start and I was running out of time.  I had not made plans for my dog Flirt to be taken care of overnight so I needed to get home.  I asked around for a new battery but it was the weekend and there was essentially no one around.  My parents offered to jump start the airplane which is not very convenient.  The battery is under the back seat and is difficult to get to so I had the back seat propped up with the tow bar and hooked up the cables.  I am thinking that I just want to get the cables unhooked as soon as possible since I do not want sparks in that part of the plane.  It would not turn over fast enough with the car engine at idle so I had my mom rev it up.  This time it turned over and started.  Whew….now to get those cables unhooked.  I started unhooking and I suddenly hear the car horn blaring.  I look outside to see what is happening and I notice the plane is moving and the stabilator is passing between the hood and top of my mom’s car.  I quickly grab the brake handle and stop the plane.  That was nearly an expensive disaster.  I yelled goodbye and I love you and I was off again.

Racing against the descending sun I headed back to Pearson field.  I tuned in the Eugene VOR and the to/from indicator shower I had a signal and I picked up the Morse code but I had no deflection on the needle on any OBS setting.  I went back to GPS nav and continued home.  It got dark quickly around sunset so I was racing home.  The GPS had my ground speed at 157mph due to atail wind.  The moment the sun dropped below the mountians the air got really rough.  I was being thrown all over the cabin.  I was given a mid-field crossing at PDX and I flew over the Columbia river.  I saw my home airport all lit up as if it had been waiting for my plane and me to return home.   The turbulence got worse as I reached the other side of teh river.  "4404J squak VFR, frequency change approved" I heard over the radio.  Before I could respond, the tower barked back at me.."4404J do you copy?"  I responded to the tower and let them know that I was having trouble staying upright and that I was unable to respond because I was responsible for the safety of the sircraft and those aboard.   I read back their call and suaked 1200 and changed to the Pearson frequency.  The landing was relitivly smooth and I was relieved to be home.