More Flying

Went flying again!!! Got to control the a/c about 2 hours. There were several storm systems in the area and that was a bit nerve racking. Flew a total of 6.6 hours in 2 sorties. Dennis showed me a lot about the stability of the Cessna 172. We did several pendulums series letting the a/c get back to where it was trimmed. It was a great learning experience for me.

I was a little jittery on takeoff because I had such a screwy morning getting ready. Sir Hops-a-lot, our cat, had been in my bathroom looking for hair ties as he loves to do if I forget and leave the bathroom door open. Since Rogers is on stage 2 water conservation as in flush only when necessary I had failed to flush as well as failed to close the lid. I returned to the bathroom when he showed up in the kitchen with a hair tie and found that he had knocked several items of make-up into the open toilet. I had to reach in and retrieve them because unfortunately I know how much it costs to get a plumber to come retrieve things that have been flushed. After much hand washing I ran out the garage door and found that Joe's garage door was trying to close on a scarecrow. He had left the house about 30 minutes earlier. I had to open his door to rescue the scarecrow and then close his door before I could leave. I am now running about 15 minutes behind schedule so I decided I had to take the "fast" way on 102. As I sat at the light at the 13th most dangerous intersection in Arkansas a stupid lady talking on a cell phone while making a left turn off of 8th street turned right into my lane. I was sitting right there at the red light with my headlights on and that stupid jerk turned right into me. She corrected without hitting me bumping over the island and still talking on the phone. In that fraction of a second I thought Oh! no I'm not going to get to fly today. Do I have Dennis's cell phone number to tell him I can't come? Do I have the number of the hanger. I won't get my sorties that I need to complete my ribbon. It's absolutely amazing how much runs throughout ones mind in that split second when you think your about to get hit.

Anyway, flight following kept trying to get us to tell him what we were doing manuvering around that area for 6.6 hours. I think he was worried we were up to no good there. it was pretty comfortable at altitude but we kept having to dip down lower because of the clouds. Of course when you descend to land it gets really hot so the 96 degree air temperature when we got out of the a/c after taxiing was a big relief . While we refueled and cleaned the leading edges and windscreen I think I lost about a gallon of sweat. My car was in the sun all day so it was also a steam bath coming home. Out goes anothe gallon of sweat. I got home around five 15 and had just enough time to replenish fluid, get out of my sweaty clothes, and get to bridge.

I was bushed the next day.

Flying

I went flying today -We were up 5.7 hours. Dave, the pilot, let me take the controls a lot of the time. He tested me a bunch by having me continually changing the trim, flaps, and throttle and then getting back to stable flight. We had flight following and were maintaining altitude at 4000 in order to provide highbird communications. Clouds started building up around 11 and it was hard to maintain 4000 and stay away from the clouds. Every now and then we would suddenly encounter a cloud bank and Dave would say "Aim for that whole in the clouds over there". I was a little jittery at those points. We covered several nav techniques in the event the GPS doesn't work. My head is spinning, but it was sure exhilarating.

We barely had time to refuel and get back on station at the lunch break so we traded controlling the a/c while the other ate lunch. We were monitoring several comm's and there was continual radio chatter. I can't imagine how pilots in real busy areas keep all the communications straight.
The new tower in Rogers had us come in on runway one and expedite both times we landed there because there was so much local traffic. There was so much haze it was hard to see the horizon and the bright sun shining off the haze tired my eyes. All told, we were out a little over 9 hours. I was sure tired when I got home, of course you can tell by how disjointed this post is.

Grandma the Detective

Sometimes Grandma gets things a little confused. Well today was one of those days she got a lot confused. Joe inadvertently answered Grandma's question about Catherine's plans with a statement that she heard only part of. Somehow Grandma got it in her head that she was supposed to meet Catherine at the Crumpet Tea Room for lunch. (Catherine's lunchbreak at work is just 30 minutes and she takes her lunch with her.) Grandma had called Catherine the previous evening - after Joe had gone to bed - to inquire about meeting at the Crumpet. Catherine told her she could not go there because she had to work. Joe left the house in the morning before Catherine got up so he had not talked with Catherine. When Grandma asked Joe if Catherine was going to meet her at the Crumpet he said something to the effect that he had not seen Catherine since last night and therefore did not have a clue about her plans.

Well....... What Grandma heard was that we had not seen Catherine since the previous evening as in she hadn't ever come home from fencing. Joe didn't realize what a n impact his statement had and went on to work. Around eleven thirty Martha takes a couple of sandwiches over to Grandma's house for their lunch. Grandma is in a panic because Catherine has not been seen since last night and insists that Martha take her around town looking for Catherine's car. Martha says that can't be true and refuses. Grandma says if Martha won't take her she will call someone else to drive her around. So.... martha takes her out driving around town looking for Catherine's car and the place that she works. Now neither of them can remember the name of the place that Catherine works but Grandma thinks it is somewhere around 1st street. Around 1:30 I get a call from Martha asking where it is that Catherine works. I tell her where it is and they are there in about 30 seconds and See Cat's car in the parking lot. Grandma wants to go in and make sure Catherine is alright so Martha hands the cell phone to Grandma so I can convince her not to go up to the door. I explain that I fed Catherine breakfast and packed her lunch for her this morning and she was perfectly alright but Grandma insists that that is not what Joe said. Can't she just go in for a few minutes and make sure Catherine is OK. I told her no - do not go in. I talk with her as Martha drives Grandma back home. Martha finally got to eat her sandwich about 1:45.

Later that afternoon I get a call from Grandma saying they won't let Catherine even come to the phone at her work. Grandma has looked up the number in the phone book and called out there. Thank heavens they have one of the awful answering systems where you get a recording about extensions. I suppose Grandma asked the recording if she could speak to Catherine and they hung up after awhile. What a day!!!!