Flying 3 Days in A Row - After Waiting 2 Months

 After 2 months of poor weather and being crazed busy with work, I finally got to fly again.

It won't last long.  The 1st of August they are closing the runway for 120 days to re-pave/re-construct it.  Around 1955 they scraped up as much dirt as they could from the airport property and created the existing paved runway.  It's 40 feet wide by 2,300 feet long, has a big rolling "S" from one end to the other, and the cracks in the 65 year old pavement have become weed gardens.  The wizards of smart have decided they can scrape up more dirt to mostly flatten it, but not level it.  The south, high, end of the runway is at the property line so there is no way to lower it without cutting down the neighbors property.  There will never be enough dirt to raise the north end high enough for level.  It will be nice to have the cracks gone, but it looks like we'll loose our grass taxiway/landing area.

We had a couple afternoons in the mid 80s and calm, very nice flying.  The motor is still running hot but I have more ideas to try.  I did manage to fly about 40 minutes with the cylinder head temp at 400 degrees F.  By then the oil temp was creeping up on the red line so I gave up.  I had fun though.

Below is Montpelier. President James Madison's home.  He's the guy responsible for much of our Constitution.  When Mrs. DuPont owned it she kept here WACO at the Gordonsville Airport.  The airport is just behind Merry Mountain, the tallest of the 3 peaks beside our downwind.

I went back out this morning for some cooler air.  It was hazy looking east but nice otherwise.  I flew for almost an hour before the turbulence started and I headed home.

Mike Colburn, who keeps a C-172 in the hangar next to me, took these pictures of my landing.  I'm landing on 23.  The trees are not as close as they look unless you're taking of on 05 on a hot day.

I felt a small bounce, but his pictures make it look perfect.  The Fly Baby is easy enough to keep straight as long as you are quick and gentle with the rudder and fly it until it stops.  

Happy pilot heading back to the hangar.

I do like the paint job.  The research and effort were worth it.