Sky the Tour Guide

Sky and I spent part of the morning giving a a HARM Museum tour to his Science teacher, Mrs. Jungbluth and her husband. It was chilly but with the enthusiasm of the tour guide, the morning flew by in no time.

Happy Campers

My class of 23 after passing the written test.

It's onto CPT (Cockpit procedures Trainer) from here.

To the Carving table.

One of the turkey's our Instructors cooked for us for Thanksgiving heads to the carving table.

The new torture (sim) chamber

I was able to get a quick tour of the torture chamber (flight sim) they are preparing for me next month. It's not as big as I thought it would be but takes a different thought process because the airplane is so big and has so much mass.

Creve Coeur's Got Talent! or So You think you can dance???

"Dolly and Kenny" opened the show with "Islands in the Stream."

The Local Pickers.

Comedian Les Grotpeter.

Al Stix plays guiter?

"I can't play guitar."

"How about a poem?"

Albert's Daughter, Chloe.

The youngest Stix enchants the crowd with

her rendition of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."

And fun was had by all.

Rick Ramin

My friend Rick Ramin poses with his recently purchased 1971 260 Comanche on a nice Sunday morning.

A few tasks to finish before I leave.

Sky and I went out to the airport this afternoon to help Glenn with an annual on the late Ken Kotik's Cub which has been sold and is going to Texas next week. We helped him remove the greenhouse glass, which is being replaced and then went over and hooked up the aileron pulleys on one wing and made the control cable for it.

I have a class date November 1, so will do a little touch-up on the compresson struts on the butt-end of the wings and then put everything away until after I finish training.

Aha! Found It! I think?

Found a box of parts with lots of pulleys in it at home. It was in a poly-whatever box along with about 30 inspection covers and the spinner for my prop. Must have gotten mixed up when I took the paint home.

I'll take it out tomorrow and see if they're the right size. There are also some pulleys inside the fuselage but I have them so hopefully I'm set.

Now where I'd put that....

I'm almost ready to cover the wings. I went to put on the aileron cable pulleys and I can't find the ones (there are two of the buggers) that go on the top of the wing.

I've looked in 7 boxes 6 times of all my parts and they're not there.

Crud...looks like another trip to Wicks.

Beautiful Night for a Balloon Glow.

Beautiful night on an early-fall evening in Forest Park as the Great St Louis Forest Park Balloon Race held it's annual Balloon Glow.

Plenty of food and drink, things to do for the kiddoes and a great weather had probably 100k people basking in the glowing balloons, taking pictures, chatting with friends and just enjoying the evening.

We all had a great time until Lindsay said "Put Lindsay to bed!" so we missed the end of the evening's fireworks.

Friends

My friends Don and Ann Pellegreno were up at Blakesburg, as usual. They brought their Fairchild XNQ-1 again for the celebration of Fairchilds. I've known this wonderful couple since I was Skyler's age as they were in the same EAA Chapter my dad was in Des Moines.

I had a great time talking with them and I really want to thank them again for letting Skyler and myself sit in the airplane. It's a beautiful, rare bird that they've saved and it just glowed sitting there on the flightline.

Blakesburg Report

Friday they closed the field due to strong crosswinds. The wind was really blowing but helped to dry out the 3" of rain the airport had received the previous day. A T-6 misjudged, landed long and groundlooped into the trees.

An AAA volunteer stands with a trophy which is supposedly from the Rhimes, France 1909 Air Gathering.

Andrew King fires up the Vintage Aero Flying Museum's replica Fokker D.VII in prep for a photo-shoot with my friend Gilles Auliard.

Russell Williams's Ryan SCW sits under the beautiful Blakesburg night sky.

Went out Saturday and looked in the Fly Market for parts for the Monosport for Glenn with our friend Wayne Muxlow. Wayne spotted one that Glenn needed and he bought that one.

Mike Gretz grabbed me on the way by for a picture op of a Trophy supposedly awared at the 1909 Rhiems Air Meet. The Air Power Museum is checking on the provenance of the trophy.

Hy-Vee did a superb job with the food again this year and we were never hungry. A little thirsty but if I'd take a water bottle with me that would be solved.

Went to the Aero-cinema Saturday evening to see Pearl again. I liked it even better the second time. DJ Carlton, the screenwriter, Angela Gair, Lucy in Pearl, David Mars (who supplied the Curtiss Robin for Pearl), Clay Adams, Ted Davis and Jim Hammond (Pilots who did the flying) were also on hand. It was a rather cool night, but the masses huddled and everyone seemed to enjoy the movie.

Saw a bunch of friends that I knew and was surprised by greetings from people I didn't that told me they read this blog and asked where Skyler was at the moment. Thank you all, it makes me feel like I haven't totally fallen off the face of the earth.

Headed up to Blakesburg this morning.

Sky and I will be fighting a strong headwind in the mighty Civic as we head up to the Antique Airplane Association Fly-In at Blakesburg, Ia today. If you like to see lots of vintage airplanes, this is the fly-in to go to.

Covering lesson of a different sort.

Sky and I went over to our friend Roger Teagarden's house this afternoon for a lesson on covering balsa-wood models. Roger offered a few precovering airframe finishing tips and then showed Sky how to prep the frame for covering. Sky's homework for the week is to do this prepwork and to come over next Saturday for the lesson on attaching tissue paper.

New Job

As many of you know, I accepted a position with a freight hauler last month. Not with Fed Up, but with a smaller, expanding company. I'm starting out as a First Officer on a 747-200. They have professional engineers who have a lot of time on the airplane. I'll be doing mostly international flights.

I was told that class was starting either Aug 23 but it may be moved back to Aug 16th. I was about to crawl out of my skin yesterday when I finally broke down and called the Chief Pilot's assistant.

She said that managment had been in meetings all week and that class was not postponed yet and she didn't think it would be. She just didn't have to go-ahead to call and set up plane tickets and hotel rooms yet. I thanked her and told her I was ready to go at a moments notice.

I talked with one of my friends who works there yesterday and he told me that the bids for the 747-400 had come out.

She called today at noon to tell me the class had been postponed til Sept. 13.
I'm hoping the delay is to let them fill slots in the -200 caused by the -400 acquisitions. Two other freight haulers are hiring for heavy jets but I really want to work for these guys because I have at least 3 friends there.

Oh well, another 3 weeks to study the systems before I go to class.

How many of you want a grass runway at Oshkosh?

Simple Poll. How many of you want a grass runway at Oshkosh? Just respond yes in a comment to this message. I'll give it personally to the new president of EAA.

I know this blog doesn't get out to all antiquers, but this will give me an idea.

Thanks and let the responses begin!

My world is awfully small.

So Skyler and I are sitting there Sunday night after the airshow, drinking beers (him =root, me=sam adams) when a green truck pulling a 5th-wheel trailer pulls out a couple blocks down from us. We wave and I wonder to Sky where they're headed to this evening.

The truck comes down the street, pulls in besides us and a guy hops out. He checks a couple connections, the trailer doors and lights. I ask him where they're headed to and he says "Louisville".

"You look familiar to me, ever work at Smokin' Hole?"

"Is your name Don?"

He goes back and tells his son to shut down the truck. "Scot Evanson".

"Oh my god." I turn to my son. "I've known him for 25 years, he used to be an instructor and Winona and then I flew with him at Package Air."

They grabbed a couple chairs and we talked until the 'squito's drove us out. They were headed south, hoping to make it to Chicago tonite.

Only at Oshkosh do you run into someone you haven't seen in 25 years.

Really have to hand it to the Oshkosh Crew and Volunteers.

They did a marvelous job with the less than ideal circumstances they had to deal with for this years fly-in.

There were a lot of people there along with a lot of mud and standing water but it didn't seem to damped anyone's enthusiasm. Aircraft parking was slightly messed up, but considering everything, no one seemed to mind.

Hats off to the crew, excellent job this year!

Oshkosh 2010 Report

Sky and I left home at 5:45 Friday morning for Spl'oshkosh.

Andy Parks and Andrew King discuss flying the Fokker's.

Beginning of the nighttime airshow. This was wonderful and they're planning on doing it next year.

Made friends with the cast of "Pearl" the movie. It's the story of a 13-year old Oklahoma girl who got her pilots license becoming the youngest licensed pilot in the US. We also met the songwriter for the music in the movie, including "Just one Dream". Incredibly nice people, they all loved the flying. David Mars, Ted Davis and Clay Adams did the flying for the movie.
Look up Pearl on facebook.




"You gettin' this camera guy. Order in the next ten minutes, and we'll send you an additional mini-shamwow!

The North Dakota Zero. It has an R-2800 engine and is built-up from three Zeros.

Matt Younkin does a routine in his Beech 18.

SNJ peel-off during the Warbird show. Not many warbirds there on the last weekend.

Chuck Greenhill's Mustang.

Wildcat dives out of the clouds Sunday afternoon.

The Zero on top of a smoke layer.

Sky takes a shower sunday evening.

Notice the mostly empty campground.

Quick glimpse from Osh

While we're wearing our legs down to nubs at Oshkosh, here's a quick one to keep you happy. The Zero flying by right before the start of Saturday's night airshow.

This trip was more social, so it will be light on the airplanes I post. I'll put more up later.

Creve Coeur pilot named President of EAA!

Creve Coeur Stearman Pilot and an ulta-nice guy was named the new President of EAA today in Oshkosh, WI.

I couldn't be happier as Rod is a friend and a stand-up guy. I've known him for years and always liked him and considered him a friend. We've gone flying in his Stearman, sat around and swapped stories. He always has a smile on his face.

Here's to ya Rod! A new chapter in your life and in EAA has begun.

Punks

. Some a-hole threw a baseball thru our front window about 3:15 this morning. They also drove thru several neighbors yards in the area. We were awoken by a thumping noise, sounded like one of the kids or dogs fell out of bed. Upon further investigation, we found this.

We called the cops and they were here immediately. They stopped a couple teenage boys who had seen the car driving by, flipping them off and taunting them. It was a black Ford Ranger.

The police said they already had other reports. The took the baseball and swabbed it for prints, so hopefully something will come of that.

Getting ready for Big O.

Here's the deal. I've been hired by a freight company, start class on Aug. 23. Be flying the big kahuna. More on this as it gets closer to my class date.

Since ground school runs 9 weeks, I've decided on a little last getaway for the boys up to Oshkosh. We're planning on heading up at o'dark-thirty friday morning and staying for the weekend. Going to drive because it doesn't make economic sense to insure the airplane for one trip of eight hours.

Oshkosh has had 17" of rain since the middle of last month, they're saturated. The campgrounds are a mess. We'll probably take my wifes van up and sleep in that to stay dry. We can take out the rear seats, take our hiking boots and poncho's and get along just fine.

Glenn got the Triplane delivered fine and is back in town. He's working on the Monosport fuselage while he awaits the return of the fuel pump and carb from the shop.

Update on Glenn's Cross-country with the Triplane.

They made it to Grand Island, NE last night at 7 PM before calling it good for the day.

Leaving early the next morning, they blew a tire on the trailer about 100 miles east of the Wyoming border and had to go to a gas station (that had a repairman on duty on Sunday July 4th no less-kudo's and thank you!) to get a new tire.

He not only had a new tire, he had 4 so Glenn bought two to have one as a spare. He also had them check over the other tires on the trailer which they pronounced good.

Back on the road at 2 PM.

Can we get a biplane dad?

Sky trying on a Creve Coeur Stearman for size. Now he's got the "Stearman-cough!"

Go west young man!

Went out early Saturday morning to see if Glenn needed any help with the final loading of Ken Kotik's triplane onto the trailer for the trip to Schellville. Glenn had done a wt & bal. on the trailer and decided to move one of the crates back a little bit to take some of the weight off of the trailer tongue. He used Al's forklift and quickly accomplished that task.

He and Barb hopped into the truck and headed of towards the flatland of Nebraska, a 30-hour drive ahead of them.

Glenn's got Mono...

Monosport that is. Manufactured in 1929, this is the fourth Monocoupe Monosport built out of 16 in all. Powered by a Kinner K5 of 100 hp, it has a listed cruise speed of 110 mph. The Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum obtained this aircraft from the estate of Bud Dake, who was the 3rd owner.

Glenn is starting work on this airplane while he waits for the carb and fuel pump off the Standard's Hisso to be overhauled.

The aircraft will be painted black with orange wings, at least at this point.

Off Topic: Quick Trip to Des Moines.

Tackle Box 1 of 4.

"Which lure do you want?"

Rod 3 of 8.

Found out Friday that Gina has an interview this afternoon for a new and exciting job. Since my dad had been unable to make the trip down to see Boo's Dance Recital, mom came down alone on the bus. We decided to take her home, get out of the house so Gina could prepare for her interview and also let Sky get his fishing stuff from his grandpa.