I went to the airport for the Display Day, and stood around talking to people about the plane for a while. As it was winding down, I took the plane out for a potter around. I circled over the house, but nobody came out and waved, then went and flew up Coon Creek towards Auburn, then down Bear Creek and along the Camp Far West Lake Reservoir before heading back to Lincoln. It was a bit bumpy under the clouds, and they were clearing up by the time I headed home. Obviously.
I flew over to Auburn to meet Chris and Vic for breakfast. It was crazily busy there, and I ended up going around twice because people weren't getting off the runway.
On the way home, I flew over Vic who was parked up on highway 49 so she could take pictures of me in the canyon, then flew part of the canyon before heading back to Lincoln. I was annoyed at myself for forgetting to turn my GoPro on :o(
We went out to the airport early and pulled the brakes apart on the plane to clean and rebuild them with new O rings. It seems to have fixed my dragging brake problems, so yay.
We met Randy for lunch, then Vic went home, and Randy and I went and installed a new brake cable on his plane, then went out for a quick flight.
We flew all the way around Beale Air Force base, and part of the way around the Northern part, we were caught up by a guy in a Carbon Cub who was going to land on one of the sand bars and go fishing. We followed him to where he was going to land, but there were some people already there, so he decided to head back and land somewhere else. Eh, we headed back to Lincoln, landed and put everything away.
I attended an EAA (mothership, not our chapter) webinar about talking to air traffic control. It wasn't as great as I'd hoped, but what else was I going to do on a Wednesday evening during a pandemic?
I picked Randy up on the way to the airport, then we flew to Auburn to meet Chris, Kim, Victoria and Vic for breakfast.
On the way back, the plan was for Vic to take pictures of us in the North Fork canyon. She got screwed up and got there pretty much at the same time as we did, so that didn't work out. We were also higher than usual, as there was some guy with a line across the canyon. I did turn my GoPro on, but then it took one picture and then stopped recording, because with it mounted to the mast, I can't see what it's doing. Chris also didn't bring his Insta 360 out, so we'll just have to do it again some time :o)
Chris headed out early to get home to watch the Superb Owl, and Randy and I pottered along the shore of Folsom Lake before heading home.
I had intended to fly to Jackson with Chris, but I was on call, so I decided to follow the crowd to Sutter and have lunch there.
Work didn't seem too awfully busy, so I meandered back along the Feather river and Bear Creek, then along Camp Far West Lake reservoir before heading back in to Lincoln.
I did a little bit of maintenance on the plane before heading home, dropping off Randy's empty gas cans on the way.
I'm off this week, and the plane's back in annual, so I went out and did a thorough pre-flight before taking off for a potter around. I flew over our house, Chris' house and Don's house, but nobody came out and waved at me, so I went back to Lincoln.
I went to the airport to meet Randy and Randy, and we got my annual inspection done and out of the way. We also got Randy's 100 hour maintenance done, and balanced his propeller. We checked my propeller, but it was close enough to not worry about trying to get it any better balanced.
I've taken the week off, as the annual inspection is due on the plane. Today I picked up Randy and went to the airport, where I fixed some bent pins on the hangar doors while Randy changed the prerotator belts on his plane. I suggested he break them in, and he was surprised at how grabby they are straight out of the box. After about 30 minutes running the rotor up and down in speed, he went out and did a couple of circuits - the belts seem close to broken in now... if they're like mine, a short flight'll be the last thing they need to be sorted out. I did tinker with the plane a little, but I don't want to break anything until after the inspection, so it was mostly cleaning and greasing stuff.
Chris was over at Lincoln talking to Bruce about electronic ignition systems, as one of his magnetos is due for a rebuild. Once we were all done, we flew up to Auburn for breakfast - we put my GoPro on Randy's plane so he can watch himself take off and land, and I used Chris' Insta 360. I threw in a little orbit just West of Auburn for some separation from Randy, and it's funny watching it on the Insta :)
Dave enjoyed the take off 360, so I figured I'd do a landing 360.
After breakfast, Randy and I flew down the North Fork and then to Cameron Park to drop off the camera with Chris - my plane's due for its annual tomorrow, so I don't know how long I won't be flying. I'm hoping not long.
Randy followed me (I usually follow him) so we could try and see me on the video from his plane, and I could use the Insta to look back at him. At Cameron Park, we left the camera with Chris, then headed back to Lincoln.
After putting the planes away, we headed back to look at the video we'd shot - there's still jello-effect, so it's not the length of the mount, but its location. Henry has a mount somewhere around the passenger seat, so I'll look at that maybe some time. Or just bring a passenger to hold the thing out the side :o)
I met Randy at the airport, and we flew up to Auburn for brunch.
Chris had lent me his Insta 360, so I strapped that to the gyro in front of the airbox (like he'd had it on his gyro in the past), and left it recording when we were flying. Chris has had problems with it cutting out, but I found that you need a really fast Micro-SD card, and bought a two-pack. So, this was the first test away from my desk. It recorded just fine all day - I recharged it while we ate. We flew the North Fork down to Folsom Lake, then over to do a lap of Chris' house and then home along part of the South Fork.
Randy came over, and we looked at the footage I'd shot - there's a jello-effect that makes me think I need to shorten the arm of the monopod it's mounted to. Oh, and it would be nice to mount it on the left hand side so you're looking at the airport when you're in the pattern. Doh. Didn't get around to putting anything on YouTube yet.
I took Tilly to the dog park, where she ran around like an idiot, then she spent the rest of the day sleeping or hobbling around like a little old woman. Which she is.
The weather was iffy for flying, so other than that, I stayed in and did nothing. It was everything I ever dreamed of.
I had to fly around a bigassed cloud on the way - I didn't feel like climbing to 4,000' to get over it :o)
When we left Wings, there was an Icon A5 in the transient parking by Chris' RV-6A. I don't believe I've ever seen one in the fibreglass before, it's bigger than I thought it was going to be.
Chris has lent me his Insta 360 One X2, and his monopod, so I tucked it under my leg and flew home via the North Fork - I just did a quick run so I could get something to play with. It keeps turning itself off (Chris has has this problem too), so I ended up with a pile of little videos, when I noticed that it had stopped recording again.
When I got back to Lincoln, there was a guy with an AutoGyro Cavalon getting a flight test with Ken, so we chatted for a short while before I went home again.
At home, I dinked around with some videos...
Here's the 360 video of my takeoff. It's >2Gb in size, and took hours to upload.
Here's the GoPro Hyperlapse of the canyon run.
Here's the pan and scan from the Insta - I need to mount it further out, methinks.
I went to the EAA Zoom membership meeting. It was about operations at an untowered airport, and the people who could really benefit don't go to these meetings :o)
Today Was Martin Luther King Jr Day, when Americans celebrate the civil rights pioneer by going shopping in the few stores open.
It was bloody windy.
So Randy and I gave up on flying. Vic and I went to Folsom to look at some pushbikes - she's in the market for a new one, then we went home and pottered around.
Randy called in the afternoon and suggested we go and do some cleaning on the planes, which sounded like a good idea. We cleaned the blades and gave them a coat of wax, so hopefully they'll continue to chirp rather than chuff for longer :o)
I got up early and picked Randy up on the way to the airport. The plan was to fly to Gnoss, then on to Half Moon Bay if the weather was up to it, but there was a SIGMET for turbulence East of the Coastal Range. I got beaten about, and was up to almost 3,000' when I decided to give up and go home - Randy agreed, but Chris (who was further South at 5,000') said he was carrying on.
The wind was at or above 40mph, and we saw a ground speed of around 30mph for sections of the trip back. Randy suggested we go to Auburn for lunch, so we headed up there - it was a lot clearer and less bumpy the further away we got from the hills.
We flew the North Fork canyon on the way home, and hit a little turbulence on the way back to Lincoln.
I started the day at the airport, tinkering with my squeaky brakes on the plane. The new brake pads are slightly bigger than the old ones, so I think the lip that's being ground into them is causing a squeak. So I took that lip off with a Dremel - let's see if that changes anything.
Randy showed up (late) and we flew up to Auburn to meet Chris and Vic for brunch. I'd hoped we could play with Chris' new Insta 360 camera, but he was in the RV-6A. Here's a video he's previously shot in that though :o)
Randy had his younger daughter with him, and she's never been down one of the canyons, so we flew the North Fork of the American River on the way back - I think she enjoyed herself :o)
As usual, the ADS-B tracking stuff doesn't like it when we drop below the rim of the canyon :o)
I went and got my eyes tested, and am now waiting for some new glasses.
I then took the car to get its 15,000 mile service. They rotated the wheels (which I can't easily do myself, as there are only 4 of them - usually I involve the spare) and told me the cabin air filter needed changing. Fine, I allowed that because a) I don't know where that filter is b) I don't have a filter to put in and c) it's January, I don't want to be working on the car. So, in 2 years I've now spent just over $68 in servicing on the car. They had a couple of new Corvettes there, with big signs saying "Please Do Not Touch," so I reckon they were already sold.
I went to the Harley Davidson dealer on the way home, to look at the Livewire. They had 3, one in each colour, but being a Harley Davidson dealer, disappointed me... just like when I went in there to look at the Buells, if it isn't a Village People prop, they're not interested in talking to you about it. Oh well. Oh, and apparently they don't care about people ICEing their 2 chargers :o(
I picked Randy up, and we flew to Auburn to meet Chris for brunch.
Chris was playing around with his 360 camera, so we decided to fly back down the North Fork canyon.
I had my GoPro, so I shot a hyperlapse video on the way down. We'll see what Chris managed to video, but he seemed to be having problems with the camera.
I started the day looking at the LiveSectional map again. I just couldn't get it to connect t the network, even after several restarts. Then I looked at the network and found the 2.4Ghz 802.11n was screwed up (I'm mostly using the 5Ghz 802.11ac). I restarted this and everything was fine.
Chris was going to meet me for lunch at 12:00, so I went out to the airport and took the plane out before that.
The weather wasn't great, but I was pottering out towards the river when I heard him approaching from the East, so I turned back.
The weather was still looking odd, so after lunch I just went home.
Vic had taken Tilly to the dog park for about 15 minutes (until Tilly wanted to go home again), so Tilly's spent the afternoon limping around on her sore joints. Getting old sucks.
I went and bought a lot of gas for the planes, and picked Randy up. We had hoped to see Chris, but the weather wasn't great, so we just had lunch at the Spitfire Grill. We'd also hoped to fly, but the weather didn't get better as promised, so we just filled the planes and went home.
I tinkered around with my LiveSectional map, as it keeps freezing. The problem seems to be the WiFi adapter isn't great, and it gets to the point where it can't get the updates. I tried a couple of other adapters, but neither has the drivers in Raspbian, and I'm too lazy to build them myself. I set up a little script to just test the network and restart it if there's a problem.
We didn't sleep too well, as Sun City had fireworks at midnight, and that set Tilly off. She eventually ended up on the bed, snoring, but by then the damage was done :o(
So, new month, here are the stats:
Power billed
Power generated
I picked Randy up and we flew to Oroville for lunch - no tracks, as I think we were too low to show up :o)
Chris flew the RV-6A in, and took off as we landed, so we stood around for 35 minutes or so watching his progress on Flightradar until he landed. He'd had some problem with his flaps, so we fiddled with that after lunch so he could get home OK.
We finally got around to hanging up my latest project, a LiveSectional map. It's a proof on concept more than anything, as I used old maps that I had lying around (the new maps come out in February, so why buy the current ones that are going to be obsolete soon?) We'd tried it in the dining room, but the WiFi didn't want to connect.
It still seems to have a few issues, but I'm working them out.
