Pier Glass Aviation

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Pier Glass Aviation

PILOT REPORTS

11 January 2003

The Flying Avo got the call to fetch Cap'n Dave from where he was stranded in Sacramento after dropping off his Cheyenne for refurbishing, and immediately headed out to his long-neglected Arrow for the charter. Alas, since Avo hadn't flown the Arrow in an age, it was full of birds' nests and the oil had leaked out all over the tarmac, so he was obliged to take a company 172.

According to Avo, the flight up to KSAC was quite good, with mild weather, scattered clouds, and a light wind from the south. Traffic, however, was bad -- it seemed like everybody was out flying, and Avo's head was "on a swivel checking out all the traffic alerts." The Boss takes this opportunity to remind all pilots that stiff necks are not grounds for worker's compensation claims.

Avo met Cap'n Dave by the coffee pot, and they headed out to the 172. Avo concluded that Dave had consumed too much caffeine and sugar, as the PGA Ops Manager was "bouncing off the insides of the cockpit before [they] could get in the air." Avo further reports that Dave changed his mind about where he wanted to go at least five different times, whereupon Avo put his foot down and Dave settled on Bonny Doon.

Avo reports that he "really hit the landing well" at Bonny Doon, and that the 172 is not hard to fly. Cap'n Dave apparently took off running as soon as they parked.

The Boss suggests that next time you take a passenger, Avo, you ask them if they need to use the restroom first. She also wants to know what, exactly, you meant by "[b]hit[/b] the landing well," and if it means the 172 sits any lower than it did before you took it.

Long Haul returned to work after being away for several weeks, hoping for a quick hop somewhere to help him get back in the groove. No such luck -- Junior saw his name on the list and had just the job for him -- a TV news personality needed to get from SJC to LAX via Learjet early the following morning.

The Lear was fully prepped and ready by the time the TV big suit arrived, and they were rolling by 0840. After experiencing KSJC's new "Funky Chicken" departure and an otherwise uneventful flight, Long Haul spent the day snoozing in the Lear (he says it seems he hasn't been able to get enough sleep lately) until the TV guy returned just before 2100. The TV guy slept all the way home; Long Haul implied he himself stayed awake for this leg, and reports an uneventful night return. Curiously, he makes no mention of unusual radio activity surrounding an unknown bizjet violating a TFR.

Capt. Buzzard has been hopping his Goose around the Seattle Area, and picked up the unusual job of flying a replacement solar panel from Sanderson to James Valley. Given the amount of actual sun that is seen in the Seattle area, one can only wonder what they were doing with a solar panel in James Valley. Nonetheless, the customer is always right, and Capt. Buzzard and his ever-faithful sidekick, Grommit, were on the job and agreed they could have it there by nightfall. Why nightfall? Well, the good captain soon learned...

With the solar panel secured, they set out for the return flight to James Valley. However, the sun was getting low as they approached Tacoma, and they suddenly lost all electrical power. Buzzard put down in Tacoma to have the problem fixed and was soon climbing out towards James Valley. Then, at 2000 ft, just east of Tacoma, they lost the right engine. Buzzard had Grommit feather (so appropriate...) the prop and kill the mixture as he turned the nose back towards Tacoma.

In retrospect, the problem should be obvious -- you can only fly a solar panel if you have enough light!

Captain (!) Dondo has been enjoying flying his beloved J-3 around Seattle area -- "Take off at 60, cruise at 60, land at 60. Flying made simple." Coffeepot observers commented that he forgot "climb at 60, descend at 60, and retire when you get where you're going."

Eyebrows went up at Dondo's report that he picked up 180 lbs of coffee beans for delivery to Port Angeles, and there was speculation that Dondo might have been sniffing helium to get his weight down in order to carry such a load in a J-3. However, any questions were resolved when Dondo reported that, about 5 miles out from Port Angeles, "the gas gauge in my Cub wasn't working properly and my engine began sputtering and giving me fits."

Dondo went on to make a decent dead stick landing, remembering what his flight instructor told him way back in flight school: You can recover from most problems as long as you don't run out of 3 things: Speed, altitude and ideas. As long as you have 2 of the 3, you will probably be okay.

Critter played postman for Ranger Creek, recently, flying a Piper Saratoga IFR out of Port Orchard in less-than-perfect weather. He offers the following advice:

"All I can say about getting into [and out of] Ranger Creek is make sure you have ten miles [or more] of visibility. As an afterthought, the Beaver Amphib would have been a better choice for aircraft of the day."

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