Feed Reader Issues

So Google reader hasn't been receiving updates from my blog for awhile. I've dealt with this several times before so I didn't bother fixing it. I figured I'd make a post since others have been having with their reader as well. To fix the problem, I changed the feed to this blog to be http://n951cc.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

I think Google bought out feedburner or something and screwed up this feed. Hopefully this works for you, let me know if it doesn't.

N951CC finally flies to Catalina

Last weekend we finally flew to Catalina. Originally we were just going to fly there over the summer for some camping, but that fell apart due to a lack of reservation. Since then the anticipation has grown more and more due to cancelling the trip several times. Then I found some cheap inflatable life preservers on Ebay so I picked those up for me and Michelle, but then felt bad that we had life vests and Katie didn't so I had to buy her one.

The smoke from the LA fires was terrible on Saturday, there were no airmets for reduced visibility, but there were 2 fire fighting TFRs to avoid. By the time we got to Mojave, it was getting to be IMC conditions and getting worse quickly. I asked the controller to verify visibility ahead of me and they stated that it was 0 visibility by Palmdale only a few minutes ahead, but clear above 10,500 ft. I started my climb and saw a little blue to the west when I reached 10,500, but I was still in some pretty thick smoke so I climbed to 12,500 and were were above it. You could see the thick smoke billowing up like a volcanic eruption. Since I was now too high for the Shoreline Route through the LAX airspace, I diverted west towards Pt. Mugu so I could fly around the class B airspace and descend down to Catalina Island. If LA approach wouldn't have cleared me to descend through the class B, then I would have had to circle for ever to lose 10,000 ft of altitude before landing.

Catalina is an interesting place to land, I didn't find it very difficult, but I did perceive the "illusions". The airport is on the top of of a mountain on a mountain. It is sloped the whole, but it is less sloped on the south-west end of the runway so that you cannot see the end of the runway when you are on the ground. It's like a big crown in the runway. When the runway ends, it really ends with a huge drop-off on the back side. I found it difficult to pick out the runway until I was only a few miles out. I used the altimeter as my primary altitude reference (vs looking at the ground) since the runway is 1600 feet above the surrounding ocean. When on right base to 22, I swear I was flying the flattest approach of my life, but then by the time I got to final it looked as if I was way too high. I just added my last notch of flaps and had a nice approach.

I can easily see how students could easily over work the approach due to the illusions and get themselves into trouble. You land uphill and can't see the drop-off at the end of the runway, but you know it's there so you always feel that the runway is only as far as you can see. I just didn't worry since I know I didn't land long and don't have a long roll out that I wouldn't go off the end. We took off runway 22 uphill and watched the ground fall away from us then circled a little of the island before turning northbound.

Lunch was ok, but not what it has been raved up to be by other pilots. The buffalo burger was good, but not that big and the fries were ok. It was more of a "bus stop cafeteria" than an "island airport restaurant".

After lunch, we flew over to Camarillo and met up with Michelle's sister Lisa. We spent the day at the beach (it was hot out) then headed back to Ojai and had dinner at Papa Lennon's. The had great pizza and gelato.

Sunday we packed up, ate breakfast, then headed to breakfast. We were running a little slow and I was getting concerned since the winds pick up in Inyokern in the afternoon and there was already an airmet out for moderate turbulence. We needed to pick up some gas at the self serve since the FBO waived our tie-down with a fuel purchase, but the pump was broke. That took another half hour or so and I don't think were were airborne until noon. I flew up north towards Bakersfield to avoid the smoke and flew the ILS 30R approach to verify the VOR, ILS, and Marker beacon receivers in them airplane. The VOR antennas had been removed during maintenance and I've never used the ILS or marker beacons since I bought the airplane - all worked just fine.

From Bakersfield we headed eastward back home, but started to hit the bumps over the Sierras on the way. We really started picking up moderate chop on our descent through Walker's Pass and the AWOS was reporting winds variable 25 gusting to 30 knots. This would be a good chance for cross wind practice. I set up for runway 28 since the winds were ~250 degrees, but I couldn't line the airplane up on approach and the sock had switched to favor 20, so I did a go around. A left 270 put me on right downwind for 20 and I was able to land uneventfully.

I was nervous about the hanger door since it is extremely weak and is a huge sail in the wind. The latches that lock it open also don't work that great. I managed to get the door open and the wind caught it and slammed it up into the locks. I managed to get the airplane back in the hanger with no damage (twice in a row is a record!) and close the door without too much issue. Check out the video below of the trip. As long as I can start feeling a little better (feels like I've got a cold), we'll be heading to Watsonville next weekend to visit Michelle's aunt's and uncle's in Santa Cruz.

Lame video to break the silence

Here is a video of me testing an inflatable life vest. Michelle and I plan on flying out over the Pacific, such as to Catalina Island, and although we'll usually be within gliding distance of land, the vests were cheap off ebay. I don't have to have the vests officially inspected since I don't fly for hire, but I wanted to test them before relying on them so I fired them off then replaced the CO2 containers. I know this video is lame, but that is part of the fun :)

Home to WI to visit the Brouchoud family

Michelle and I took Katie back to WI so she could see the family (meet most of them for the first time). We drove to Vegas and valeted our car at the Tropicana since we'd be staying a night there on our way back. Katie was pretty good most of the 3.5 hour flight, but did get fussy for about 45 minutes and cried for about 10 minutes. There was just too much going on and too many people checking her out for her to fall asleep. Overall, the flight was good. Michelle's parents picked us up from the airport and we went home to visit. The next morning, we drove up to Kiel to visit my brother Joe, his wife Amber, and meet my new niece Leila. Jon, Kandy, and Juliana met us there as well as my parents. We had a good time and enjoyed some really good grilled chicken and played some disc golf. Jon managed to loose one of Joe's discs, but we weren't able to get it out after hoisting Joe up in the tree.

Sunday, we played some more disc golf and I managed to loose one of Joe's discs, then my parents hosted a party and had all sorts of people over to visit and meet Katie. It was a good chance to catch up with people I haven't seen in a long time. Jon, my dad, and I went out on a hike to Todd's pond and I picked up a few birds on my lifer list. Monday we went to Sheboygan for lunch at the airport since it was rated best of the best for airport restaurants. It was pretty fancy with great food at a good price, but it was located at the end of the runway instead of centrally located near the intersection of the runways. Being at the end of the runway did have it's advantage as we watched the formation takeoff of some WWII planes heading to Oshkosh, there must have been near 40 of them. Tuesday, we went back out to Woodland Dunes and Michelle and I picked up some more lifers. With my dad's help, I was able to definitively identify them using the bird book, but I wouldn't have been able to on my own.

Wednesday we met Joe for breakfast and went to see my mom's property and Cedar Lake. Thursday, we went to visit my brother Jeff and took a tour of his company, this was Michelle's first time there. We continued on and stayed the night at Jon's after dinner at Famous Dave's. Friday, I headed for Oshkosh while my parents drove Michelle to Milwaukee to visit her family. I took a tour of the A380 that was ok I guess, but took an hour and a half of my day and I ran out of time at the end. I didn't have time to wander through the airplanes, talk to the Cessnas to Oshkosh crowd, find the CAP or Angel Flight, but I did manage to check out some engine monitors and some portable oxygen setups. I ended up buying an Aerox system that gave me a pretty good show special. Now we'll be able to fly up higher where the airplane is more efficient, the air is smoother and cooler, and I can get stronger tailwinds. It'll also give me more margin when we're flying through/over the mountains. Michelle gets a kick out of the cannula she'll wear that looks like a moustache. I'm thinking about going with the Insight G3 engine monitor although they still aren't on the market and have been 'almost there' for a few years now.

After Oshkosh I headed to meet Michelle and Katie in Milwaukee to begin our visit with her family. That'll have to be a separate post since I'm getting tired and I don't have that video compiled yet.

Some recent flights

We flew to Santa Monica for lunch on 7/12/09. Figured this would be good practice flying into the LA airspace and is along the same route we would take to Catalina island. The spitfire grill is close, but not right on the field so I wish we had brought the stroller for Katie. The Typhoon and the Hump are right on the field, but weren't open yet and were asian cuisine. The Hump seems to be only open for dinner which is RIDICULOUS since it has the best view of the runway by far.

The forecast is too hot for camping this weekend (7/18/09) so we decided just to fly for lunch. We've never been to Porterville and I see they supposedly have camping on the airport. This gave us a chance to check out the campground and see if we'd come back and camp another time. The campground was nice grass with very nice shade trees and bathrooms. The restaurant said the airport will turn off the sprinklers if people are camping so you don't have to worry about that. Even though the campground is nice, there really isn't much to do there. It would be nice for transient camping or for an airshow, but not for just camping.

Ken Block at IYK (from cell phone)

I was really stupid, I shot this video from my cell phone when I had my camcorder sitting 20 feet away in the car... See everybody standing around? There was nobody making sure the course was clear. I was standing next to the building and he was drifting away from me so I wasn't in any danger, but nobody was stopping traffic from entering "the course".

Ken Block on Top Gear at Inyokern Airport

Here is the Top Gear episode that was shot at the Inyokern airport. The close up tail shot of the orange and white airplane (around 3:15) is mine, you can see the number N951CC. I love the video, but am not happy the airport allowed this shoot at Inyokern. They didn't show him doing donuts around the tied-down airplanes, but he sure did. I went to the airport meeting today and gave my 2 cents that owners don't pay to tie their airplane down to have it put at risk. Check out how much dirt he throws up, now would you want your paint job taking that punishment? The owners weren't even told this shoot was going to happen to give them a chance to move their planes out of the way! There was practically not safety either, nobody was making sure somebody wasn't around all the blind intersections he was flying across. What was done is done, but hopefully the airport board will not permit this type of activity again at the airport.