September 29th

I went over to the airfield and pulled the plane's instrument panel apart again, so I could solder in the ADS-B out connection to the right wire (I wasn't sure which one I'd needed, so I'd soldered wire to both pins on the serial connector).  Having got that done, I went for a short flight, then requested the FAA performance report.  It works, but it's an older version of the link protocol, so it won't work for the controlled airspace requirement.  Still, it's cost me ~$50, rather than the >$1200 a compliant system'll end up costing me.  For the moment, I'm going to leave it and see what happens after the rule comes in to effect in 2020.  It's not like I fly in controlled airspace anyway (I don't have the endorsement for that yet).

September 28th

We went to the airport with Jen, so I could take her out in the gyroplane and make a nice landing.  We flew over to the Titan 1 missile silos (that I've recently found the location of) and back again, and I think that's a decent enough little circuit to fly the kids on for the Young Eagles event - I figure it's about 15-20 minutes air time, and then there's the getting in, taxying etc.

My landing was judged a 9.7.

September 26th

I was covering our Australian support dude, so I didn't have to start work until 14:00.  I went to the airport and took the plane out for a quick flight, then came home.

September 25th

We went over to the airport and waxed the rotors on the plane.  That's not a euphemism :o)  Sadly it was too dark in the hangar to do the wiring work I wanted to look into, so I'll probably hit that at the weekend.

September 23rd

After getting some work done, I went out and bought some metric hardware at Orchard Supply because they're having a going out of business sale, then went over to the airport.  I had intended to get some work done on the plane, but ended up just flying it for a bit then going home to get some work done.

September 22nd

I got up early and got some work done (I was on call) before waving yo Vic (off to her mother's for the weekend) and headed over to the airport.  I put gas in the plane before going and working on the EAA hangar doors.  We were putting in insulation, but wanted the weatherstripping on the bottom done first.  I did the weatherstripping on the North door while others started cutting the foam sheets, then went to fly Randy's 9 year old daughter in the gyro while they got that door done.  Randy doesn't have his gyro endorsement yet, but has bought Don's old Magni, and doesn't want his daughter to have to wait to try flying in a gyro.  We waited a stupid length of time for everybody to sort themselves out so we could get on the runway, then went out in a large circle, with turns and slow flying and stuff.  She was a little worried about doing steep turns at first, but we worked up to that and she really enjoyed them.  We got back just before Randy was due to go out for his flying lesson, so he could see I hadn't killed her, but Don was running a little late.  We were chatting when Scott came and asked me to come and talk to the scholarship committee about putting stuff on the web.  Done.  When that was over, we went back to the hangar, where the first door wasn't finished yet, so I sorted out the weatherstripping on the South door, then helped with the projector screen mount.  Eventually we got to the South door, and got that all finished up.  I chatted to Chris about his gyro for a little bit, then headed home to get some work done.

September 20th

I went and lifted the tank on the DRZ (which means removing the seat and radiator side panels... jeez) and found the vacuum hose that had come off the carb.  The end was all stretched out, so it wasn't likely it'd stay when put back on, so I trimmed it off a little bit and reinstalled it.  Here's hoping it stays there, but with the larger Clarke tank, the tap is lower than stock, meaning the hose is possibly a little tighter than it should be.  Still, it's been like that for ~10 years, so meh.

September 19th

So I set off for the EAA meeting on the motorcycle, as Vic had the van to carry stuff for her employee picnic.  After stopping for gas, I got on the freeway, and shortly ended up on the hard shoulder, as it felt like it had run out of gas.  I fiddled with the choke, the gas cap and the gas tap (turn it to "reserve"), and got it started again.  It then stopped again, and I applied my massive intellect to the problem and decided the vacuum hose that opens the gas tap when the engine's running was split or something.  Sure enough, it started and ran on "prime", and I got to the airfield.  When I got there, I found the vacuum hose was completely missing.  Well, that'd be it.

I cooked about 40 burgers, and we had an interesting presentation on the RQ-4 drone that they fly out of Beale.  I was sitting by John Tate, who used to fly them too - he had to stop when he couldn't pass the USAF medical (to fly a drone with a mouse and keyboard), so he retired to fly 787s for United.

September 18th

We watched "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom".  It was a movie.

September 16th

Yesterday I'd been talking to Tom, an EAA member, at the pancake breakfast, and his 79 year old mother-in law who's visiting from Scotland.  She was very interested in the gyro, and I said I'd be happy to take her up before she goes home early next month.  So I called them this morning and suggested we meet at Lincoln.  I pulled the plane out, we had a quick pre-flight briefing, then went out and flew over Tom's house, over to the West to go over the crashed airplane sculpture, then back to Lincoln - just short of an hour, all told.  She was really impressed.  She's walking the Great Wall of China next year for her 80th birthday :o)

I took the gyro over to Marysville and back, but the wind seemed to be getting gustier, so I called it a day at that.

September 15th

I started the day helping cook breakfast for 31 visitors at the display day.  After I put the plane away, Tom, John and I took John's Bonanza down to Livermore to take part in a formation flypast at a veterans event.

September 14th

Jen came over and we went to the airport and took the plane out for a bit.  After a couple of crappy landings (need more practice with a passenger, methinks) we went and gt dinner.

September 11th

I went out to the airfield and took the plane out.  When I got back, Randy was tinkering with his gyro, so we talked until we were sick of getting bitten by mosquitoes.

September 9th

I dug out a couple of sprinklers that had been leaking - looked like the problem was just the roots around them that were bending them out of the way.  We also painted a lot of rocks for Victoria's Employee Picnic thing that's going on in a week or so - I just primed them, so the visitors can immediately throw paint at them.

September 8th

I went over to the airport to cook lunch before we had a presentation on model rocketry.  After the meeting, there was a chat about the scholarship programme, which I sat in on.  After that, I took the Magni out for a bimble around the area, then went home.

September 3rd

It's Labo(u)r Day, when Americans celebrate the progress of the unions (5 day working weeks, holidays - they still don't have paid vacation and healthcare for all yet...) by going shopping.

I went to the airport, and having texted Randy before I left, I waited for him to get there before we went up for a flight - he's wanted to go in the gyro for ages, but Ken sold it to me before he got his chance :o)

After that, I headed home and got some work done :o(

September 2nd

We went out and got breakfast, then went to the BMW dealer and took a used i3 for a test drive - we've talked about getting one to replace the Jeep, and I wanted to see the intelligent cruise control, which is, indeed, intelligent.  Vic wasn't used to the one pedal driving (lift off the throttle completely, and it'll start regenerative braking), but we're sure that's something she'd get used to - assuming she doesn't use the cruise control to get everywhere :o)  Interestingly the Tesla has profiles for drivers, so we could turn that off for her, and on for me.

In the afternoon I went out to the airport and took the Magni out again.  I wandered around over by Camp Far West Lake, and the lake seems to be pretty low at the moment, as do the rivers leading in to it.

September 1st

It's a new month, so here are the solar stats:

Power billed

Power generated

I went to the airport and cooked breakfast for ~20 of my closest friends, then met CJ, Gwen, Vic and Jazebra so I could take CJ up in the Magni.  Despite the poor visibility, she seemed to enjoy it - we didn't stay out too long as obviously everybody was waiting for us.

After everybody left, I pottered around chatting to people, getting in the way of others and so on until it was time to head home.

August 31st

I went out to the airport and washed the Magni, then took it out for a potter around.  The sky seems to be getting smokier again :o(