Pics of my flight to Northern Idaho this weekend!

[FastDoc]

A Chinabike was involved. I rode Q to the airport!



The Mighty Q at the hanger.



Q in it's home for the weekend.



The very mighty Maule.



My new fancy panel. The GPS I traded the KZ for is on the top. A Garmin 496



Its almost as nice to look at as the outside!



Climbing out of the Tri-Cities to the Northeast.



This was kina cool. A Cessna Caravan passing beneath me. We were both on the radio with ATC and aware of each other's positions.



Sorry for the rotation. Photobucket has been an absolute PIA for me tonight.



Some irrigated desert below the main gear.



Downtown Spokane.



On final to Felt's field, Spokane. My runway is the little guy on the right.



The Mighty Maule on the ramp in Sandpoint.



Steady hands....



The FastDoc really going fast!



Irrigated farmland north of Pasco.



The Spokane River.



Flaps at 24 degrees on downwind...



Some leftover mountain snow north of Spokane.



A little more snow south of Sandpoint.



The mighty Columbia.



The Yakima River Delta.



Short final back home.

There are more pics of the mountains and the lakes up north, but Photobucket is making me nuts and I'm too tired to deal with it right now.

Good evening gentlemen!

[Weldangrind]

Great shots Doc! That GPS looks right at home.

[SpudRider]

Thanks for posting the great photos, Doc! It appears the weather was much nicer than you had anticipated.

Spud

[TurboT]

Awesome! If I wasn't scared of heights I'd love to learn to fly.

[Cal25]

Originally Posted by TurboT

Awesome! If I wasn't scared of heights I'd love to learn to fly.

Flight sim for PC

[FastDoc]

You can learn a lot on flight sim. :idea:

[MICRider]

Awesome pics! I marvel at how planes work and all the instrumentation on them, but flying scares the heck out of me! . My son on the other hand aspires to be a helicopter pilot... 8O

[TurboT]

I used to love Flight Sim back in the 80's and 90's. Don't remember when I first tried it, or the last time I had it.

Doc, how much maintenance you have to do on your plane? I'm interested in the amount of time wrenching to flying..

[FastDoc]

Originally Posted by TurboT

I used to love Flight Sim back in the 80's and 90's. Don't remember when I first tried it, or the last time I had it.

Doc, how much maintenance you have to do on your plane? I'm interested in the amount of time wrenching to flying..

Planes eat time and money that's a simple fact and a cost of doing business in the air. :(

The cost of upkeep is sad and almost comical. A muffler can easily cost well over $1,000, an instrument $1,500, a radio $4,000. Sparkplugs are $25 each, a quart of oil is $6 (8 are needed), an oil filter is $25. 8O

An owner is legally limited as to what he is allowed to do. There are 18 items listed in the FAR's. They include things like changing the oil, filters, spark plugs, tires, brake pads, interior bits, touchup paint, very basic electrical work like the landing light and changing bulbs etc.

Anything more complex than this requires an FAA certified mechanic to do the work, or oversee your work. Unless you have connections, you're out another few hundred bucks for simple things.

I have connections. 8)

Every year the plane gets taken apart for the annual inspection. The cost of an annual, on a simple plane like mine, can vary from as little as $500 up to many thousands. It just all depends on what if anything is found to need repair, or if anything is due for maintence or overhaul.

Speaking of overhaul, a remanufactured engine for my plane is about $35,000 plus installation. Add in carb, alternator, exhaust, magneto rebuilds your up to $50,000 real fast. :roll:

Remember my plane is a simple basic one. A retractable would be twice as much, a twin four times as much. It gets ridiculous.

That said, I do most of my own work. When needed I get a mechanic to oversee my work or check off and sign off on the completion of the work I've done.

I do owner assisted annuals. The one time I did not assist, 2 years ago, it cost me $2,500. This year it was $500. Big difference.

The oil gets changed by myself every 30 hours. Parts are about $75 and I can do it in 45 min or so.

Spark plugs and gaskets run about $200, and last about 500 hours.

The motor gets rebuilt about every 2,000-2,400 hours if all goes well (you're in a wheatfield (if you're good) if all does not go well). That works out to about 300,000 miles. The problem is you could buy a new Porsche for the cost of the engine rebuild/replacement.

Most pilots I know are ordinary working schmucks like myself. Most earn a lot less. My buddy Monty next door to me is a truck driver. Another guy is an electrician, some guy is a retired engineer.

The way we afford it is to not spend a lot of money on other stuff like Lexus minivans or European vacations.

I just work myself half to death.

Expensive, but cheaper than marriage (of didvorce for that matter), and worth every penny.

[waynev]

And that is why when i fly i keep my feet on the ground, and my engines are only $100 a shot, here's a few pics of my fleet over the past few years.











And my favorite pastime...... Cutting streamers, it's a hoot

[Weldangrind]

Those look really cool waynev. 8)

Is that one jet sitting on your plotter? It looks like a professional machine. Is that what you printed the Beast logos on (which I have yet to install)?

[waynev]

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

Those look really cool waynev. 8)

Is that one jet sitting on your plotter? It looks like a professional machine. Is that what you printed the Beast logos on (which I have yet to install)?

Yep W&G, that's my 48" mimaki plotter and yes that is what cut the beast logo's.

I also forgot to add in my post above that i love the pics FastDoc


I just got a new micro video cam that i'll be straping to one of my planes to get some aerial vids, so far i've only got camera shots though from my full size kodak camera on one of my planes, here one from the other side of my town ( also much cheaper to get these aerial pics eh Fast Doc )

[FastDoc]

Boy I love those RC's! Thanks for posting thr pictures!

I've tried RC, with a buddy cord. I really had a hard time with them. It's a different feel alltogether without the sensory input and the instruments. I've heard it said that it is especially hard to teach a pilot to fly RC and I believe it.

The quality of that aerial pic is excellent. If I was flying that low over a neighborhood I'd be worried about someone calling in my N-number... :roll:

[waynev]

Originally Posted by FastDoc

Boy I love those RC's! Thanks for posting thr pictures!

I've tried RC, with a buddy cord. I really had a hard time with them. It's a different feel alltogether without the sensory input and the instruments. I've heard it said that it is especially hard to teach a pilot to fly RC and I believe it.

The quality of that aerial pic is excellent. If I was flying that low over a neighborhood I'd be worried about someone calling in my N-number... :roll:

Yes, they say most real pilot have a hard time with RC, mostly because as you are flying toward yourself everything is backwards when you are used to always looking in front of you.
You may want to check out FPV, this is a camera that mounts on the RC plane and the user wears goggles which displays the camera view, as you move your head the camera will pan and tilt to follow your movements, it would be more like actually being in the plane.

[katoranger]

The first cessna I flew in burned up on the runway. 8O