$100 Hamburger: Plaza Inn at Mount Victory
The first flight after we brought Sis to New Carlisle wasn’t long afterward. A few days later, the weather was beautiful for early January and a Friday; my stomach knew what it wanted – fried walleye.
The Plaza Inn at Mount Victory (Elliots Landing, O74) has an all-you-can-eat fish fry every Friday. The restorer has been talking about it for ages – and I’m always up for a new food destination or, in this case, trying a new meal at an old standby.
The restorer would fly today as he is more familiar with the airport and refamiliarizes himself with Bonanzas. When he is comfortable, then I will get some more time flying Sis, too.
In the meantime, I am using my time in the right seat to get familiar with the sight picture for takeoff and landing at our new home.
As we are breaking in the overhauled cylinders on Sis, the restorer is monitoring engine temperatures closely and flying with high manifold pressure when possible to ensure heat and pressure within the engine.
The break-in period and what is the process during that time. 5-10 hours has been mentioned before inspecting the oil filter for metal.
We aim for hour-long flights during the break-in period to help with engine temperature and seating the rings inside the cylinders.
During the breakin process, the piston rings are wearing against the inside of the cylinders to find their groove and seat. Cylinder head temperatures will drop after rings have seated.
As winter is upon us and temperatures are not getting terribly high, we are unsure if we will even see the temperature reduction.
Engine start
The restorer turns the key to start engaging the starter briefly. The blade isn’t moving much. He takes the key off the starter for a moment before engaging again – bumping the starter – this time the prop blade is moving further before stopping. He comes off the starter again briefly before engaging again the propeller keeps moving with the engine roaring to life.
Waiting for oil temperatures to rise, the restorer goes through the checklist to pre runup items sitting in front of the hangar.
Flight instruments are brought on line and through their checks as ever so slowly the oil temperature makes its way to 100 degrees.
The restorer taxis out to the runway completing the runup before taking our place upon the runway direction numbers.
Applying full throttle, with the 10 degrees of flaps Sis leaves the ground quickly. The restorer climbs at 100 miles per hour while raising her gear and then flaps, both with 100-mile-per-hour limits.
After both have finished retraction, the nose is lowered slightly to gain airspeed for a cruise climb of 120 miles per hour.
Climbing to 2500 feet for a cruise altitude, we head off in the direction of Mount Victory.
Setting the engine for another high performance cruise, we flew for an hour overflying the destination and circling back to ensure a longer duration for the engine break-in.
During the course of the flight, cylinder head temperatures did not get much over 300 degrees even after closing the cowl flaps to increase the temperature.
As the outside temperature was cold, we used cabin heat during the flight while monitoring the co-detector for any readings.
As co is odorless, the use of cabin heat can be harmful if ducts supplying heat to the cabin are damaged.
After a few minutes of heat, the readout on the detector began to indicate the presence of carbon monoxide. Once we closed the cabin heat, the detector returned to zero.
As we approached Mount Victory, no other airplanes were in the area. The windsock indicated landing to the south, away from the restaurant. Landing past the first 300 feet of the runway misses some rough patches, ensuring a smooth landing downhill.
Taxiing up to the grass ramp next to the restaurant, we shut down without issue and looked forward to the yumminess inside.
Plaza Inn
On Fridays throughout the year, Plaza Inn has a walleye fish fry in addition to their usual menu of comfort food favorites.
After ordering, we discussed the flight up and using cabin heat on the way back again with the co detector. The restorer had an idea of what projects he wanted to focus on first now that Sis is flying. Replacing cabin heat ducts is on the list, though it may move up if we get consistent readings.
Regardless of the cabin heat, we would fly another high cruise leg on the way back to New Carlisle.
The walleye did not disappoint and the restorer had a second helping of the all-you-can-eat buffet. I had the berry cobbler, a delicious way to finish off.
Afterward, we waddled ourselves back out to Sis for the flight home.
Taking off on the downhill runway, the ground fell away as we departed the ground.
Climbing back up to altitude, cylinder head temperatures remained steady in the 300-degree range even after closing the cowl flaps. Settled into cruise, we turned on the cabin heat once again with the co-detector on.
The detector began to indicate low levels of carbon monoxide. Once again, we closed the cabin heat and watched the levels drop back to zero.
Happy I had warm layers on!
Heading back to New Carlisle, I smiled, picking out the airport further out than before.
After shut down, the restorer checked Sis’s oil level. Still right where we left it. Things are looking good.
We have an idea of what we will be working on next and will fly some longer flights to continue with the engine break-in.
After all, life isn’t a destination; it’s a journey meant to be experienced.