I have not been up in the Cub for a while. Between schedules for both the restorer and me and mentally not being up to going out when the weather has been good, it had been too long since my last altitude fix.
Summers are always prime flying weather, yes there are concerns that need to be considered like afternoon storms are more prevalent along with heat and humidity creating conditions that make it harder to fly, density altitude.
National Aviation Day is celebrated yearly on Orville and Katharine Wright’s birthday, August 19th. Usually, a hot and or humid day as it is summer, it bears in mind the necessity to always be aware of conditions being operated in.
The Wright brothers began a ball rolling with their scientific approach toward gliders and eventually powered flight, the things they told us about each condition helped to lay the groundwork for understanding more weather phenomena experienced both flying and in everyday life.
In initial ground school classes, density altitude is discussed as necessary to understand how to fly safely on a hot day.
Operating from long runways relatively free of obstructions such as trees for most of my flying experience, spending time at New Carlisle’s two thousand-foot paved and grass runways has been an eye-opener.
Airplanes (and people for that matter) operate less efficiently as altitude increases. It’s harder for us to breathe at higher elevations and airplanes need more runway to takeoff at higher elevations.
On summer days with heat and humidity, the conditions make airplanes perform as if it was at a higher elevation. The runway length present may not be enough to take off.
The only thing to do is wait for cooler weather when it is possible to fly.
Airports each have a feel of their own. Busy airports, like O’Hare, are about getting from point A to point B safely in almost all conditions, using a minimal amount of time for the maximum benefit. Thousands of people committed to parameters to allow for flight of most kinds of weather.
I knew a few people at the airport I had been based at in Chicago. Mostly through work at the air ambulance or my flight training. Not many from the other hangars on the field.
Both the airport that Sis is based at and the restorer’s airport are quite different.
People know who is based in each hangar and what is going on with their projects or airplanes. Flying is a shared passion by all but viewpoints on how to get there are not always shared.
Altitude fixes are indeed good for the soul – taking the Cub up to the restoration shop was necessary for multiple reasons. We missed our friends and were curious about what has been going on since we have been working on our own projects at the moment and it’s been too long since the restorer and I have been flying.
The restorer got takeoffs and landings done in the Cub before we took off for the restoration shop. The runway at Urbana is more like the ones I’m comfortable with and operations there make me smile because of that and it’s a neat place to visit.
This past week we were able to spend time at the restoration shop catching up on the progress they are making on current projects. Recovering the B-17 flight controls has been moving along as has research on the Gee Bee QED.
The restorers and Rosie have worked with fabric for some time. The restoration shop has produced award-winning airplanes at past Airventure conventions in Oshkosh, WI.
Not all of their projects will be up for judging, but all receive the care and attention to detail that they would if they were going to. When we had last been at the shop, the structural surfaces were being inspected and repaired after the removal of the adhesive that had held on to the previous fabric surface.
On our last day there, the restorer and I had trimmed fabric already glued on the aileron and ironed some areas to fit more closely around the metal structure.
The fabric is now glued down and reinforced appropriately with tapes of fabric in necessary areas.
The process of strengthening the fabric was underway when we were there. The restorer had mentioned calibrating an iron for specific temperatures. Seeing a small device, a bimetallic thermometer, being placed on one was quite interesting.
Fabric is ironed with increasingly hotter temperatures to tighten the fabric and give more strength. Pencil marks indicating what temperature the last ironing was indicated on areas to remind those ironing where they are at in the process.
Heading back to our projects it felt good to get out and fly.
We both remarked on how much we had missed being up in the air. Life was at a point for both of us where spending time at the airport and doing things we enjoyed was possible again.
A couple of days later, friends mentioned a fly-in they were going to, and we thought it might be fun to go.
As life goes, we ended up not going to the fly-in but did end up getting an altitude fix and filling in my mental map as to what is around New Carlisle.
I took off and headed north of the airport finding some roads to do both turns and steep turns to get comfortable in the airplane again. While the restorer commented the turns were good as they were within test standards (50 feet of altitude deviation throughout the turn) I was a bit irked with myself there was no ‘bump’ from running into the wake of my own turn.
Not all days are of that caliber.
After a bit, the restorer suggested we head towards some airports he’s mentioned in conversation. Rather than having him tell me where to fly to, I sat back and enjoyed the smooth afternoon skies as he showed me the area he has flown for most of his life.
Doing circles in the sky over friend’s houses and airports I smiled to myself; this is the type of flying I had dreamt of before moving here.
Low and slow flying, with a different purpose. Going from point A to point B is not always the mission, sometimes the mission is to enjoy the moment and let go of the day.
Relaxing but not lazy.
Flying by numbers and headings is what I have been used to; a more precise way of flying. Instruments to tell you where you are at and where you are going, are necessary for life in this modern world.
This more relaxed way of listening to the airplane and seeing what is possible that day is different from the regimented way of modern flying. Some days conditions don’t allow for as much as others either the air and moisture or the airplane itself perhaps even the pilot.
Pilots are very much a part of the machine they control; they are the heart and the mind.
Some days everything works as it should – a well-oiled machine. Others something just isn’t right. You can’t put your finger on what’s wrong it just isn’t there. Then there are the days when it’s not right to fly – either the pilot isn’t there mentally or physically or the airplane needs attention before going airborne.
Each of us is a different person or pilot every day.
Each day’s journey is different though often similar from day to day.
Where will your wings take you next?
Leave a Reply