Monday, January 28, 2019

January 27th

I met Chris and Randy at the airport, where we flew Randy's kids up to Auburn for breakfast.  It was decided that we'd go straight there, but come back down the canyon when it was hopefully warmer.  It was also decided that I'd lead, so I headed out, constantly updating them on where I was.  I turned left and ran down the canyon with the occasional ADS-B hit from somebody in front of me.  It was them - Randy had followed the wrong river, so got to Camp Far West Lake before me.  Oh well, it just meant we landed last, rather than first :o)

January 26th

I got up and headed to the airport.  A couple of the guys were talking about going to Petaluma for lunch, but the forecast had said it was going to be misty there, so I'd been toying with flying with John in his Citabria.  The AWOS at Petaluma said the weather was just fine there, so I bundled up and took my plane - it took about an hour and ten minutes, with a bit of a tailwind.  When we were joining the pattern, there was a guy who joined just after me in a (much faster) Cardinal, but he let me go in front of him to land, rather than me extend out to Seattle so as to not clog up the pattern.

Coming back, there was a headwind, so it took an hour and a half or so, but we landed with lots of daylight left.  Enough that I flew over to Marysville to do a quick touch and go with Randy.


Tuesday, January 22, 2019

January 21st

Today was Martin Luther King Jr Day, when Americans celebrate the civil rights pioneer by going shopping.

I had the day off, and it was a nice day, so I went to the airfield.  Chris was coming over from Cameron Park to see Ken, and we were going to lunch, so I got there a bit early thinking I'd fly before he got there.  I ended up a bit later than I'd hoped, so I was taxying out as he approached.  I did a couple of circuits, then toddled over to see the guys.  Chris was leaving his gyro for Ken to replace an EGT probe, so he jumped in the back with me and we flew to Auburn with Randy to meet Tony and Stacey for lunch.  When we got back to Lincoln, we puttered about talking Randy through planning a cross country, then we all headed home.

Monday, January 21, 2019

January 20th

Yesterday was beautiful, so we went to the coast, but today was cold, wet and windy, so we stayed in.

January 19th

We all went to Ocean Beach for bURNING vAN 2019.  Tilly was so tired heading out to come home that she had to be helped into the van :o)  Just as we got home, there was an awful noise when I tried to wind the driver's side window down, so I'm hoping that's not me needing to replace the window regulator again :o(

January 18th

Due to working the Australian shift, today was my Saturday, so I had the day off.  Of course, it was rainy and windy so I couldn't fly, so I spent the day playing Warcraft.

Sunday, January 13, 2019

January 13th

We met up at the airport early - Randy and I, and Chris came over from Cameron Park.  For want of anything else to do, we went for a flight over my newly discovered canyon.  Randy's allowed to solo, but not land elsewhere yet, so we headed back to Lincoln, where it was decided that Randy would ride with Chris up to Auburn for lunch.  Just after we'd landed, a couple came over and said "weren't there three of you?" - it seems we'd flown over their house earlier :o)  After lunch (in our flight suits, as we were on the patio in the cold wind), we headed back to Lincoln so I could drop the gyro off and head home to start work.  I left Randy and Chris heading out to get gas, so for all I know they're still flying :o)

January 12th

Randy wanted to go flying, so we met at the airport early, got the gyros out and went along the canyon I flew yesterday.  After an hour, we landed and I went to cook burgers for the EAA barbecue.  Chris came over from Cameron Park, but too late for lunch.  We sat on the EAA board meeting until he had to head back, then after the meeting was over, I went and "helped" John with the wiring in his RV6A.

January 11th

Today was my Saturday, as I had to work on Sunday covering Australia.  So, after playing Warcraft for a while, I went to the airport and took the plane out for a flight.  I ran up a canyon from Camp Far West Lake reservoir towards Auburn, over Lake of the Pines and home again, and it was an interesting flight.

Sunday, January 6, 2019

January 6th

It was another cold and wet day, so I started out playing Warcraft until I started work (I'm covering Australia for the next 2 weeks).

January 5th

I got up early and went and cooked breakfast for about 20 of my closest friends.  Despite the awful weather, a fair number of people showed up.

I changed out a dried out fuel vent line on the gyroplane, then went home.  We went over to Cycle Gear to look for some boots and a jacket for Vic, and other than that, stayed in out of the wind and rain.

In the evening, we watched "The Predator".  It mentions the earlier movies, but I think it would have been cute to see a cameo by one of the stars of the original.

January 4th

Jen came over for me to look at her new laptop - basically get the backup stuff set up, and figure out what we need to put a hard drive in it (it has an SSD, and a slot for a hard drive) - it needs a disc tray.

We went out and got dinner while it was backing up :o)

Thursday, January 3, 2019

January 2nd

We watched the Tom Cruise "The Mummy".  Well, that's a comic universe that isn't going to happen.

Tuesday, January 1, 2019

January 1st

A whole new year, so here are the stats:

Power billed

Power generated










I met Chris and Randy at Lincoln, where we tightened up Chris' parking brake cable, then we headed out.  Randy decided to go with Chris, as it was pretty windy - gusting 20mph.  When I pulled the rotor back to get the wind through it, I actually started going backwards, so I had to push it forward a bit to get enough ground and rotor speed to take off.  We flew to Nevada County, where it was a lot warmer, and not at all windy.  There was nothing going on there, other than a guy who's at Lincoln a lot pottering around in his RV-6A.  We didn't even get out, and headed off to Auburn, hoping to get lunch there.  We detoured on the way and played around over the Rollins Reservoir for a bit.  When we got to Auburn, the cafe was shut, so we decided to just go back to Lincoln and go to Subway.  At Lincoln, we fixed a broken bracket on Chris' plane, washed out his air filter and left it out to dry, then went to lunch.  When Chris and I got back to the airport, we oiled and installed his air filter, then he headed back to Cameron Park, and I headed home.

December 30th

I went to the airport and took the plane out for a bit.  It was a lot hazier than yesterday, so I didn't go anywhere, I just pottered around.  When I got back, I did a couple of small wiring tasks on the plane, mostly getting the ADS-B receiver moved to the front, thus freeing up a 12v socket for Vic's heated gloves if necessary.