Monday, February 24, 2020

February 23rd

I got up early and went to the airport, where I flew to Cameron Park.  I've been playing with the antenna length on the UAT receiver, so I flew down Woodcreek Oaks, then over the house to see how far away it'd see me - about 5 miles was the result.


At Cameron Park, we put my gyro in Chris' hangar, then took the RV down to Columbia Airport.


The RV is a lot faster for doing distances - this was about 25 minutes.  We looked at the Aviat Husky that had crashed the day before (the pilot was OK), then went to lunch in town with Kim.


We flew back, and did a couple of go-arounds before finally landing at Cameron Park.


Having put Chris' plane away, I flew back to Lincoln.


While the gyro is (a lot) slower, it's a lot less bumpy :o)

February 22nd

We went to the airport early and met Randy, Jamie and Chris (who was flying with Randy as he's hurt his arm), then flew to Auburn for breakfast.


After breakfast, we flew home :o)


(The little orbit was to get some separation between us and Jamie to make the pattern easier.)

Thursday, February 20, 2020

February 19th

I spent a little time getting my ADS-B receiver in the house upgraded to PiAware 3.8.0 to pick up 978/UAT traffic as well as 1090/ES.  It's not collecting a lot, as that's going to be general aviation traffic and it's mid-week, but I'm hoping it'll be busier at the weekend.  978 doesn't seem to travel as well as 1090 anyway.  I needed to find a couple of USB cable extenders, as the slots are too close together for the built in ports on the Raspberry Pi to work, and then my old Blackberry (700mA) power supply wasn't strong enough to power it all - a 2,000mA power supply from one of my old tablets seems to be doing the trick just fine.

In the evening, I went to the EAA membership meeting and ended up cooking burgers.

Monday, February 17, 2020

February 17th

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

We went to the airport and flew to Auburn for lunch.  It was pretty windy, and Vic found it funny, heading up there sideways across the ground.  There weren't a lot of people flying at Auburn, so there wasn't a really long line for lunch.

The wind seemed to have picked up on the way back, and I managed to touch down doing about 5mph ground speed.  We sat just off the runway and let the rotor spool down before heading back to the hangar.


Funnier is the altitude / speed chart - can you see where we turned downwind?


February 16th

I got up early and went to the airport.  Chris had a couple he wanted to take for rides in the gyro, and I'd offered to help out.  The wife had decided against flying in the morning, but I went over to Cameron Park anyway (in a 20+mph headwind!).


After he'd flown the husband, we went to Auburn and had lunch.


After lunch, he headed back to Cameron Park, and I headed back to Lincoln.


In the evening, we watched "Zombieland: Double Tap".

Sunday, February 16, 2020

February 15th

I cut down more of the shrub on the side of the house, then went to the airport and took the plane out for a ride.


February 14th

I sloped out of work a bit early and went for a ride with Chris in his RV-6A.  I was his first passenger since he passed his test :o) 

February 13th

We watched "The Good Liar".

Thursday, February 13, 2020

February 12th

I got up stupid early and drove to San Francisco to heckle Dave's presentation at work.  It took about 2.5 hours to get home, but I went there and back on one charge, and arrived home with 39 miles left :o)

Tuesday, February 11, 2020

February 10th

Jen came over on her way home from work to play with Tilly.  Oh, and pick up some prawn cocktail chips I'd ordered from the old country.

February 9th

It was pretty damned windy, so I spent the day hacking lumps off the garden.

In the evening, we watched "Terminator: Dark Fate".

Saturday, February 8, 2020

February 8th

I got up early and headed to the airport - it was an EAA lunch (I wasn't cooking) and I wanted to fly beforehand.


Randy took off slightly before me, heading towards Folsom Lake.  It was really hazy that way, so I pottered around, then decided I'd join from the East rather than do an overhead join.  I heard Chris coming in, then saw Randy on the ADS-B display, so I collected him and went back to the airport.

I'd been looking forward to flying with Chris in his RV-6A, but he was in the gyroplane, so after lunch we headed over to Marysville, where we landed then agreed to do some touch and goes on the crosswind runway.  In the ~12mph wind.  A couple of touch and goes later, we headed home - me to Lincoln, him to Cameron Park.

February 6th

I managed to slope out of the office early, just as the car had finished charging on the most expensive charger I've ever seen (49c/KW/h).

February 3rd

I got up early and drove to the office for the sales / tech services kick off.

February 2nd

It was misty again in the morning, so I spent time getting ready for my upcoming trip to San Francisco.

Sunday, February 2, 2020

February 1st

A new month, so new stats:

Power billed

Power generated









I started the day at the airfield in the fog, thankfully not having to cook for once - Scott, Shirl and Amy were cooking burritos.  John and Jana came up to see the airfield, and by the time they got here the fog had burned off.  We walked about looking at things and stuff and meeting people.  Then I took Jana out for a flight in the plane - I believe it was her first flight in a little plane.

When we got back, Chris arrived in his RV-6A.  John and Jana headed home, and Chris, Randy and I flew up to Auburn for lunch - my first out landing of the year :o)


I had been thinking about playing around on the flight back to Lincoln, but it was looking a little hazy, so I just went home.

In the evening, we watched "Alita: Battle Angel".