The Last Check Ride

I hope there’s a place way up in the sky,
where old flyers can go on the day they die.
A place where a guy can buy a cold beer,
for a friend and a comrade, whose memory is dear.

A place where no doctor or lawyer can tread,
nor an FAA type would ‘ere be caught dead.
Just a quaint little place, kind of dark, full of smoke,
where they like to sing loud, and love a good joke.

The kind of a place where a lady could go,
and feel safe and protected by the men she would know.
There must be a place where old flyers go,
when their flying is finished, and their airspeed gets low.

Where the whiskey is old, and the women are young,
and songs about flying and dying are sung.
Where you’d see all the fellows who’d flown west before,
and they’d call out your name, as you came through the door.

Who would buy you a drink, if your thirst should be bad,
and relate to others, “He was quite a good lad”.

And then through the mist, you’d spot an old guy,
you had not seen in years, though he taught you to fly.
He’d nod his old head, and grin ear to ear,
And say, “Welcome, my son, I’m pleased that you’re here.

For this is the place where the true flyers come,
when their journey is over, and their war has been won.

They’ve come here at last to be safe and alone,
from the government clerk, and the management clone,
Politicians and lawyers, the Feds and the noise,
where all hours are happy, and they’re all good ole’ boys.

You can relax with a cold one,
maybe deal from a deck, this is heaven my son…..
You’ve passed your last check!”

Author Unknown

Angel Flights and Dog Rescue Flights are two of the selfless activties with which some pilots have the opportunity to become involved. They take quite a bit of time, commitment and actual dollars (in the guise of donated fuel and airplane expenses). However, they are also innately rewarding. I would love to get involved in the Dog Rescue efforts but realize that my Ercoupe cannot carry much more than a very small pet carrier with “maybe” one of the toy breeds. My rather “sedate” cruise speed would also limit the effective range over which I could transport a rescue dog.

But I figure I can help Bob a bit with his activities. As a “web guy” he recently started a site about Cute Dogs and Personal Checks. Everybody needs checks from time to time and we know how fond most people are of their dogs. In fact, dog checks are among the most popular “theme” checks sold online or through banks.

Sooo…if you’d like to help out just a bit (or a lot) you can. Please take a look – and buy dog checks from CuteDogChecks.com and help support Pilot Bob and his rescue flights.

Bob is based in New York State along the Hudson Valley and I am in Northeast Maryland near the Susquehanna Valley. We had been planning to meet for lunch – somewhere on a route between our two respective homes – since I bought my own airplane in September of 2008. After the third cancellation we began referring to this particular mission as the “Bally Jinx.” We did manage to complete other “meet up” type missions but this one eluded us from October last year to (finally) September of this year. We had a gorgeous day in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions for a day of flying. Bob actually had additional missions for this flight, having stops planned for two other airports during his day-long flying.

So…on to Butter Valley Golf Port (Airport – 7N8), which is located just east of Bally, Pennsylvania. On first glance at Airnav and the comments posted there, some pilots may be a bit apprehensive about landing at this small airport. Of the six comments posted thus far, here are five quotes: “Challenging place to land and take-off,” “to practice an unusual landing strip,” “definitely a challenge the first time. I would do it again, but not in a Cirrus,” “one fun and challenging airport!,” and “the runway keeps the pilot on his/her toes.” What that all means is: make sure you are up on your short field landings and takeoffs – if you consider 2400′ to be short, that is. I am used to flying out of an airport with the longest runway being 2000 feet long.

We arrived as a flight of two – a C-172 (from the northeast) and an Ercoupe (from the southwest). The runway is a bit different in that it is part paved and part grass. Both surfaces are in fine condition with a smooth transition from one surface to the other. There is a displaced threshold to get your flare over/after the golf cart and road crossing. It also has a slight roller-coaster effect because of a small hill at about the half way point and, overall, is slightly uphill. With that said, the preferred runway is 34 – to take advantage of the uphill slope to keep you from needing much brake power, considering the field length. We landed into a 50 degree crosswind from the right side at about 12 knots. There was a bit of a “burble” on long final over some trees, but everything smoothed out on short final and seemed negligible during the flare. That was my experience in my Ercoupe – but Ercoupes are very easy to land in crosswind conditions (no need for rudder pedals at all). My colleague in his 172 also had no problems either with the runway length, the roller coaster or the crosswind. (He flies out of an airport with a looong runway.)

Neither of us would label Butter Valley airstrip as “challenging.” A bit different, maybe, but not difficult at all. We arrived within ten minutes of one another and met up in the tie-down area, which has ample space for a dozen or so transients. There were marked tie-downs but no ropes at the ones we chose. So bring your tie-down rope. We parked on grass and I had wheel chocks for the nose gear so I did not bother with wing-tie ropes. We said our “Hellos” and headed to the restaurant. Walking across the parking lot, I was stopped by an older golfer who asked about my Ercoupe – to see if it was mine. It seems his father had owned one for many years – from the 50′s until his passing in 1990. I am used to questions and/or comments about my airplane no matter where I fly it. (It really is a nice example of a well-cared for 1946 aircraft.)

Lunch was the main reason for our meeting – not the flying. Yeah, right! Neither of us are avid golfers so I cannot comment on the quality of the golf course but it sure did look nice. It was very beautifully kept and was picturesque with trees, hills and bunkers all around the runway, clubhouse and restaurant. It may be surprising, but many small airport (General Aviation) restaurants are not over priced. To the contrary, many are very reasonable – and Butter Valley was no exception. One of the posted “specials” was a Chili Dog for $1.95 and a Grilled Chicken Salad for $5 (if I recall correctly). The place was clean and service was efficient and friendly. And, this is a biggie for me, they served breakfast all day. Well, all day for them was Breakfast and Lunch – closing by mid-afternoon. So I ordered a usual (for me) breakfast of two scrambled eggs, bacon, home fries and toast. Bob had a cheeseburger and later added on a hot dog (hungry boy that day). We both had iced tea. The entire bill was only $14 and change. The breakfast was priced at $5.95 – which seem s about average for a breakfast place. However, the surprise was that the price INCLUDED coffee or tea AND a glass of orange juice. Nice place, friendly service, good food and very reasonable pricing. This place is a “keeper” – for sure. We will be back.

~~|~~

My last flight in the Ercoupe was just before Christmas, then a few “life events” seemed to get in the way. The Monday before Christmas was settlement day on our new “second home” at the beach. “Moving in” over the holidays and weekends thereafter kept me away from the airport. Then a business trip to Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas (in January) took me away for almost a week.

The winter of 08-09 was a bad one – not snow wise, but the temperatures were colder than average and there were prolonged periods of high, gusty winds. Then in late january we had an ice storm – one icy step in our back yard didn’t like me – and caused a fractured ankle. I hobbled on crutches into the FBO and made arrangements to have the Annual Inspection on the Ercoupe moved up to NOW. I figured, correctly, that an unscheduled Annual and taking care of a couple of Squawks would have the bird being finished up about the time I could climb back onto the wing. Well, the timing was about right and the weather cooperated yesterday – so takeoff I did – up I went – back in the saddle again.

The flying really felt good. The earlier breeze and bumps had calmed down and I had smooth air at 2500 AGL. I wanted to get away from the airport for a bit and flew north to test the newly installed elevator trim cable (one of the squawks), which had all but frozen after I bought the airplane. The trim worked perfectly, I could set it up to hold altitude quite well, a poor-man’s autopilot for sure.  The ‘Coupe tries to make a slight left turn – not because it’s out of rig, but because my butt takes up 40% of our useful load. If I move to the other side, the tend is turning toward the right. With a passenger, hands off flight should now be “straight and level.” Yay…

Then it was back to the airport for five landings. However, a close friend was doing some pattern work with his (our) CFI in preparation for his anticipated solo flight. So after two pattern trips and two nice landings I decided to tie down and watch my pal fly. I also didn’t want to distract him by being in the pattern and making CTAF calls in opposition to his. I know he needs to learn to handle a crowded pattern, but thought his solo evening should be as free of distractions as possible. It all worked out – HE DID SOLO – Congratulations!

Next trip I’ll knock out a few more takeoffs and landings. Then I’ll be legal and current. Of course those two attributes do not make a pilot safe and proficient. We (pilots) all need to keep working on those important attributes. But my first two landings in over three months were “chirp-chirp” greasers. (Ya gets lucky every once in a while.) In fact, the CFI called on the radio to say the one he saw (1st one) looked cool – crosswind crab on the short paved runway. He got to see it from above. (Pilots find it interesting to see the ‘Coupe touch down in a crab. LOL) So, I’ll reach around, pat myself on the back, and look forward to getting back in the saddle again in the next few days.

Bob has begun the intensive work (fun) required to become instrument rated. Admittedly, all flying is fun to some of us “hard cases,” but some of the training is very, very intense. So, his email stated, “I tell ya, I wanna get out tomorrow for some RECREATIONAL flying. Soo… badly, I’m seriously considering coming down to see you. I was supposed to go to Alton Bay with my Cuz on Thurs, but that looks like it’s going to get weathered out. He doesn’t think he can get off tomorrow. So… I’m looking your way.”

My response was, of course, to “come on down, I’ll take you to lunch.” (One of those $100 hamburgers that pilots talk about. One of us, however, enjoyed the Jambalaya special at Coakley’s in Havre de Grace.)

Now, by car, we live 275 miles and five hours of drive-time apart. Obviously, that is not convenient for a “lunch meeting” (which we can call a meeting because we are in the same business and collaborate on occasional projects).

With about an hour and a half of flight time in a C-172 (that’s a Cessna, small 4-place aircraft). Bob’s last email gave his time of arrival and departure like this: “I have to be back at home by 5p…wheels off by 2/2:30p so how’s a 12:00 arrival sound? I’ll need fuel, probably upon arrival would be best.“

That’s all I needed, I arrived at the airport about an hour before noon. I wanted to check on my airplane’s Annual Inspection (which is going well and should be finished next week). About 10 minutes ’til noon I heard a radio call from Bob, asking about wind and runway information. We gave him an advisory and soon watched him fly the pattern to a smooth touchdown. He taxied to the ramp near the fuel tank, shut down and climbed out of his plane. It was EXACTLY NOON. Great flight planning, eh? Harford Air Services (the FBO at Churchville’s airport) fueled the plane and then we headed to town to fuel the pilot(s).

We had our lunch meeting in Havre de Grace, whose name means Harbor of Mercy. I also threw in a short driving tour of this quaint and picturesque waterfront town at the head of the Chesapeake Bay. We then headed back to Harford County Airport for a sightseeing flight of the surrounding area.

Bob’s flight effectively demonstrated/implemented one of the great things, one of the “joys,” of general aviation. It would have been ridiculous for either of us to drive to visit one another for lunch. Some folks might claim it was silly to fly three hours for a lunch/meeting. But this was a multi-purpose endeavor. Bob needed some “recreational” flying as a break from the intensity of Instrument Flight training, we both wanted to meet to discuss an Internet project on which we were collaborating. It’s true we can collaborate via email and phone, but the occasional face-to-face meeting is also important and effective in the business world.

For me, the local sightseeing flight was a great way to familiarize Bob with the area and to get me back in the air. Because of life events I hadn’t been “up there” in a little over two months

So…it will soon be time for me to work on a mission list, get back in my Ercoupe for some (Takeoffs Are Optional) “practice” and begin making some trips. The ride in Bob’s plane certainly has my batteries recharged and ready to go. Hopefully be the end of next week the Ercoupe (currently in for Annual), the weather and my ankle (broke it during an ice storm in late January) will be ready for action. It has been 40 years since I touched a control yoke from the right seat (Bob let me fly a bit) – t’was cool. I am now eager for Jamie, my CFI, to begin training me to be PIC from the right side. That’s another goal, earning a CFI-Sport rating, and another story – to be determined.