Thursday, February 28, 2019

February 27th

My new GoPro arrived, and I quickly found out that 4K video takes a lot of space - ~2Gb for 5 minutes of Tilly running around.  Also, I'll need a bigger computer and newer software to really edit it (the GoPro Quik stuff... isn't good).  I ended up downshifting everything to 1080p so I could throw together this.  Of course, the weather's going to suck this weekend so I doubt I'll be able to do any shooting from the plane to see if it fixes the vibration problem.

Monday, February 25, 2019

February 24th

The weather wasn't as nice as I'd hoped, so I decided to stay in and fix things around the house.  I also installed a smart garage door opener controller, so I can now open the garage door with my phone.  The controller supports IFTTT, so I'll have to look into that at some point.

In the evening, we watched "Bohemian Rhapsody".

Sunday, February 24, 2019

February 23rd

We went to Costco to buy cheese and Dr Pepper.  After that, I went to the airport and took the plane out for a while - I played with the calibration of the instruments a little, as they seem to be overreading.  After landing, I did a little maintenance, then headed home.

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

February 18th

Today was Presidents Day, when Americans celebrate George Washington's birthday by going shopping.

Of course, the weather sucked so I couldn't fly, so I wasted the day.

Saturday, February 16, 2019

February 16th

It was  on and off windy, cloudy and sunny, so I gave up on flying (plus I was on call) and worked on some updates to the EAA website.  I also went out and looked at the window regulator on the van.  I took the door apart so I could get the regulator out, then took that apart.  I think the problem was that it was assembled dry, so I put a load of white lithium grease in it and put in all back together.  It seems to work better, so let's hope it's fixed.  If I'd known what I know now, I'd have used the new regulator to rebuild the original Volkswagen one.

February 13th

I've been playing with cameras on the gyroplane, but vibration makes video unusable :o(  I've been looking at getting a new, image stabilised camera (we bought the Contours for hang gliding, after all, and they work great for that), and noticed that GoPro are doing $50 off the new Hero Black 7.  With a free hat and memory card.  Sold.  Wait a minute, they have a trade in program, where I can send them one of the old, broken cameras I have lying around, and they give me $100 off the list price, so I'd be paying $50 for a 64Gb card and a hat.  I've decided to go that way, and pay $25 for a 128Gb card and live without the hat.  I'm looking forward to seeing how it works out on the gyro.  And to getting the Contour mount off the mast.

Tuesday, February 12, 2019

February 10th

The window in the van stuck again, so I think I might have to take the regulator out and figure out what's going on there.

Vic and I flew to Auburn to meet Chris (who flew in from Cameron Park), Jack and Marianne (who drove) for lunch.

February 9th

I ended up at the airport, cooking burgers for the EAA.  Despite the rain, there were a load of people there.

February 8th

It was a grim looking day, so I stayed in and played Warcraft.

Friday, February 8, 2019

February 7th

I went to the airport and took the plane out for a bit.  I had been intending to do circuits for a while, but there was a helicopter practicing auto-rotation emergencies, so I left him to it.  I figure he's paying something like $450 an hour, I'm just dicking about.  I did think of telling him he needs a gyroplane, as that's always auto-rotating :o)  After over an hour, when I practiced turns and stuff, I headed back.  I was doing an overhead join, looking out for Jamie in her gyro who'd called a 45 degree join, only to find her about a mile North of the runway, where she called an extended base entry.  OK, I powered up and flew over her, then did a long final approach.  She said she was having trouble spotting the airport, so ended up further North than she thought she was.

Thursday, February 7, 2019

February 6th

I got up early and headed to the airport to fly to San Carlos with Bruce and George, so we could practice our radio work into controlled airspace.  When we got back, everybody had stuff to do, so I took the plane out for an hour or so of just playing around.  Randy landed shortly before I took off, and when I got back I found out he'd just finished his cross country, so all he has left to do is the flying test :o)


February 5th

I spent the afternoon looking at the cumulus clouds and deciding not to fly.

February 4th

I've taken the week off, so obviously the weather sucked today.  I stayed in and played Warcraft and caught up on TV.

Monday, February 4, 2019

February 3rd

It was another awful weather day, so I spent some time on the EAA website and a Powerpoint presentation for BRuce.  I also swapped out the Sony radio in the Jeep for the original one, as we're talking about replacing the Jeep and want to get it back to stock.

February 2nd

I started the day at the airport cooking breakfast - the weather was terrible, but we had a load of people show up, including a new guy who brought his grandson.  He wanted to see the gyroplane, so I took him over to the hangar and showed them.

I spent some time talking to Bruce about controlled airspace radio work, in preparation for a (hopeful) trip to San Carlos.

Friday, February 1, 2019

February 1st

A new month, so here are the stats:

Power billed
Power generated

In the evening, Jen came over so I could look at her computer, then we went out and got something to eat.

January 31st

When we got back from bURNING vAN, the driver's side electric window crapped out.  I took the door apart, and it was one of the little plastic gears in the window mechanism.  I dug around, and found that the electric window manufacturer makes a fitting kit with the part I needed.  Yay!  They no longer make them.  Boo!  I spent a while checking with everybody who has them listed on their website, and finally found somebody with the fitting kit in stock.  So I ordered 2 of them (that's 4 replacement gears - surely enough to tide me over).  Today, they showed up, and I got the door apart again and installed it.  Everything once again works as it should.