Celebrating Independence Day Flying

We finally had some more nice weather July 3rd.  I decided to reinstall the oil sump cooling baffle I had removed, before I went flying.

I annealed the area along the 2 sides, so I could form some more curve for a tighter fit to the sump.

It was a beautiful clear, calm evening. By the time I took off it had cooled down to about 80° F.  I only flew about 1/2 hour because the oil temp slowly creeped up close to the Red Line, 210° F.

The lake is Lake Louisa where we live, one street back from the lake.

The Race track is at James Madison's home, Montpelier.

This year's corn maze is in the field ringed with trees.  The corn wasn't tall enough to get good shadows, so it's a little hard to make out.  By the time the corn is tall the runway will be closed for a complete remake.

The next morning, Independence Day, was still calm and clear, and about 10° cooler.  You can see the ripples in our lake from a gentile NE breeze.

It was a perfect morning except right around Gordonsville Airport.  The wind must have been coming slightly across the mountains on the NW side of the airport, because it was turbulent in the pattern.  On the ground the wind was almost straight down runway 5.

Mike in the hangar next to me took some more pictures of my landing.

What you can't see in these pictures is that the approach from the SW is almost clear of any trees.  It's actually a very easy approach and that water tower is a good way from the airport.

Nice 3 point attitude for touchdown on 23.

July 4th evening I got to fly again, ending a short stretch of nice dry weather.

There's a resort, Shenandoah Crossing, a few miles south of the airport.  Looked like they had a good crowd for the holiday.

In the downwind for runway 5, ending 3 flights in 2 days.  A nice way to celebrate Independence Day.  Flying's about as independent as it gets.

I have an idea to try improving the oil cooling for my next flight, more later.