----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]----
Greg, really enjoyed your "trip". So, how many books have you written so far? Might help pay for fuel... >-----Original Message----- >From: Greg Bullough [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2001 10:14 PM >To: Coupers >Subject: [COUPERS] Lovely night > > >----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before >following any advice in this forum.]---- > >As part of my transition to N99387, I've been enjoying night flights. > >So as the dusk started dusking I cut out of work with no particular >plan in mind. I resisted the urge to go chase Marty's flaming balloon >( http://www.njballoon.com/ ) as it departed: having a vintage aircraft >circle a few times improves the tips, so they say. Marty is a V35 >pilot. He trusts some of us to put on a little airshow for his clients. >I've ballooned with him. Delightful. > >Instead, I headed north over the Poconos to N30, Cherry Ridge, >in PA. No lights there, but I made it at dusk. A family of white-tail >deer were good enough to stand next to, not on, the unlighted runway. >Thanks, Lynn, for those two landing lights. Thanks, Greg, for >putting the >quartz bulbs in them :-) > >This place has lights, but they don't work. It's getting dark. >Enter on upwind, >don't waste time, it's getting darker by the minute in the >mountains. 110 IAS >down upwind, 110 IAS crosswind, 110 IAS downwind, 100 IAS on base, make >it tight, dump the speed on final, and get down while depth >perception still >works right. Geez, sometimes you just have to love these >Ercoupes, where >you fly the whole pattern at cruise and slow down at the last moment. > >Gee, I wish Lynn could see me flying N99387 now. I was such a dolt when >I flew it on the demos down in Orlando, as she's very >different than 06H. >But now, >we've come to an understanding, and '387 does just what I ask >her to. We're >in love. > >The restrooms were locked, so I had to take my cross-country >leak behind a >blue spruce. > >As I emerged the local shop owner asked 'can we help you with >anything?' >That must have been the 'hey Coupe' I heard on 122.8 as I taxied. This >guy wanted a gam. Explains why he was leaving the airport, and turned >around when he saw the twin tails arrive just as the runway >faded from view. > >Of course he was a bit concerned, figgering I might have >arrived with a >problem. >I had thought about that in passing, as a 'what if?' Turns out >that here was a >guy who would have hung out until midnight to get me home. >Eighty if he was >a day. > >After being assured all was well, he allowed as though he had >the dowdy red >'Coupe based on the field in for annual. I invited him out to >ogle N99387, and >he was suitably impressed by the Y2K interior in a 1946 airframe. > >I said three 'Hail Marys' and one 'Our Father' in the hopes >that those deer >weren't over the hump on the runway, and lifted off in >ground-effect to be >above antlers in case they were. Soft-field, deer-field, same thing. > >Called Wilkes-Barre approach for flight following as the last >of the twilight >turned to dark over the Poconos, out of 2500 for 5500. They >did a hand-off >and I was asked what kind of 'Commander' I was. I explained I was an >Ercoupe, 'E-R-C-O' and was thanked for the by-the-book >clarification. Young >whipper-snappers! Sounded like a sweet young thing though. > >Heard worries as an 'unknown' approached the 'no fly' around a >nuke plant. >Guess that NOTAM came to be. 'Can you see him?' she asked another >flight-following customer. Damned day-late-and-a-dollar-short feds. > >The 90MPH on the way up turned into 130MPH on the way home. Wind >CAN be your friend! This was a friendly wind, as it made speed but it >didn't make any bumps. Even over the mountains. > >They didn't have a single bit of traffic to tell me about >until they gave up on >me at Stroudsburg, PA. They suggested maybe Allentown >approach. I figgered >I'd make it on my own from there, and headed down to 3500 to >be well below >the bizjets to Allentown at 5000' and the 767s to EWR at >7000'. Oh, well. At >least if Connie Continental gave up over the Poconos, they'd >be able to graph >the trajectory to find the corpse. > >Wow, but the countryside of New Jersey has a lot of lights. I >guess we're >determined to f*** it up and turn it all into Secaucus. The >Lowrance showed >the way. VFR at night might as will be IFR. There are no real >land-marks, at >least not any that aren't more confusing than not. Quick note >of the DG, >just one notch of South, to get me home if the Lowrance quits. >There's a >GPS III in the baggage box anyway. And a VOR in the panel. And >2.5 hours >of gas in the tanks. We'll sort it out, one way or another. > >Then the WalMart parking lot says we're five miles out on the '45. Sure >looks different from this angle. I've never seen it from the >North at night. >But there go the HIRL and the strobes at the end of the runway. Kill >the GPS light. It ruins the night-vision. > >Arrived a bit high, but who cares, close the throttle. Better >that than low. >HIRL so bright I near forgot the landing lights, but hit them >on final. Just as >I flared I was surprised to find a nice, soft bit of asphalt >there. The >accidental >greaser. No, I'm really that good. So I tell myself. Bull. >Just because the >last >four were that way at night. But this one, I didn't expect. That's the >difference. >This one WAS an accident. It could have sucked. Next time, try >to KNOW that >it will be right. Lazy bastard, move those eyes, use the >periphery. That's why >god gave you a flexible neck. Getting it right by chance is >unacceptable. >Not with night landings. A 'B' is a failing grade here. > >At the pumps was a 172 with a greybeard CFI and his European >lady student, >one of N99387's admirers. N99387 is like that: people just >want to be close to >the plane for a little while. She's sharp on aerodynamics, and >wanted an >explanation of how the Ercoupe works. So we talked >differential ailerons, >adverse yaw, engine offset, P-factor, and H-tails for a >half-hour or more. >What a perceptive young woman. The CFI said 'the student is now putting >the instructor to shame. What insightful questions!' He was >really excited >by her grasp of the aerodyamic implications of 2-control >flight! Looks like the >CFI-student relationship I saw 90 days ago is turning into a >romance, too. > >8 gallons for 134-odd miles is not too bad on a windy day. >Probably could >have leaned a bit more, though. The cold weather (32F at 5000 >feet) made >the engine run happily smooth at a rather high 1850F EGT, but I wasn't >that comfortable with the idea in the dark over the mountains. Not at a >hurry-along 2600RPM. > >Call the wife. I'm down and safe. She worries when I fly at >night. Talks of >life insurance. But she knows that flying is my LIFE! insurance. > >I might just get the hang of this thing. > >Only one regret. > >I really should have crashed Marty's post-balloon bash with >his clients. >Coulda had a slurp of Champagne. I deserved i > >Instead, I ran back to the office. That vibrating cell-phone signaled >an emergency at work. Reality. Yuck. > >The Yankees were playing the Diamondbacks, and the TFRs were >in force like a new-age Iron Curtain. GA was again taking it up the >you-know-what as 86 public-use airports and a total of 490-odd >landing sites were arbitrarily shut down by a Fed which can't >be bothered to provide a secure alternative to 'shut GA down but >let commercials who pose a real threat fly anyway.' > >7th inning stretch. Listen to that line cop singing 'God Bless >America.' >Operatic tenor. And he's an NYPD cop with that kind of talent? This >is why the rest of us amateur musicians keep our day jobs. > >L'chaim > >Greg > > ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?aVxiLm.aVzvvT Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
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