Tales from the Log of the Ruptured Duck
- Thread starter Kayak Jack
- Start date
yep you can thin them out by hunting with guns, dogs, helis and trap them but you want get them all. I believe they are a green thing? (renewable resource's) :shock: :lol:
The guy with the hog problem was at the coffee shop this morning and I told him about the hog hunting video and he said that there had been several filmed out there. He also collects and sells alligator eggs and that can get quite interesting trying to dig eggs out of a nest while dealing with a mad Momma. He just bought a Marshmaster to collect eggs with. He had been using an airboat and this would be so much faster to load and unload, use less fuel, not near as noisy, ect.http://www.marshmaster.com/products/mm-1/
Bob
Bob
The little Marshmaster can go just about anywhere , the county got one , a long time ago , for aquatic weed control and it is something. The darn thing just keeps running and running it's like a Timex Watch , takes a beating and keeps trucking along. 
FLOWN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY
We had a full day yesterday. First, we met a good friend for a 2 1/2 hour breakfast. I guess you could say, a leisurely breakfast. A few eats, and a lot of conversation. Then, we met another couple of friends at the Bestsellers Coffee Shop and Bookstore. They treated us to lunch, and lots more conversation.
Blue skies beckoned, so we responded. The fellow who provided the weather briefing had already celebrated the 4th with burgers, dogs, potato salad, and red-white-and-blue. The last item is strawberries and blue berries in a bed of whipped cream. When we got to the weather, it was good for VFR flying. We took off.
On Memorial Day, we'd gone to watch the parade in Dansville, a village about 13 miles ESE'ly of the field. It's a sleepy (REALLY sleepy) burg. Yesterday, I flew Julie over it so she could see it from the air after she'd seen it from grassroots level. About 3/4 of a mile long (east to west along highway M-36 - the road that goes to Hell, Michigan), and a quarter of a mile wide, we overflew it pretty quickly.
A couple of weeks ago, I'd flown my Granddaughter, Jasmin, around Pleasant Lake. She saw the island and a few boaters. Yesterday, Julie and I were scouting out a golf course there. She's a golfer, so while I flew she scouted. We'd been told it was on the W'ly bank. Lotsa looking, but no golf course. OOPS! There it was on the east side. Our friend had her gyro,tumbled when she was trying to tell us location. I find that ladies often don't navigate using North South East and West. They navigate by familiar landmarks with little recognition as to how they fit into the overall picture. Oh well.
Rafted up near the SE'ly corner of the island, was a large gaggle of canoes and tubes. Jazzing around the lake were 30 or 40 "circle boaters". They're the kind that aren't out there seriously fishing, just circling and making waves. We overflew about a quarter of a mile up, and headed north along US-127 towards home field.
On the way home, there is a field where, on the last weekend of this month, many old steam engines will gather. They'll huff and they'll puff, and they'll plow your house down. Many of you, I'm sure, have already seen these beautiful monsters from our past. Either way - if you ever get an opportunity to see them TAKE IT! Nothing in the world quite equals a real steam engine grunting and roaring, nothing. Aye god, these are real machines.
We reported entering a right downwind on a 45 for runway 10, turned base leg, and then final. Squeak squeak and we'd cheated death again. The Duck was on the ground.
We had a full day yesterday. First, we met a good friend for a 2 1/2 hour breakfast. I guess you could say, a leisurely breakfast. A few eats, and a lot of conversation. Then, we met another couple of friends at the Bestsellers Coffee Shop and Bookstore. They treated us to lunch, and lots more conversation.
Blue skies beckoned, so we responded. The fellow who provided the weather briefing had already celebrated the 4th with burgers, dogs, potato salad, and red-white-and-blue. The last item is strawberries and blue berries in a bed of whipped cream. When we got to the weather, it was good for VFR flying. We took off.
On Memorial Day, we'd gone to watch the parade in Dansville, a village about 13 miles ESE'ly of the field. It's a sleepy (REALLY sleepy) burg. Yesterday, I flew Julie over it so she could see it from the air after she'd seen it from grassroots level. About 3/4 of a mile long (east to west along highway M-36 - the road that goes to Hell, Michigan), and a quarter of a mile wide, we overflew it pretty quickly.
A couple of weeks ago, I'd flown my Granddaughter, Jasmin, around Pleasant Lake. She saw the island and a few boaters. Yesterday, Julie and I were scouting out a golf course there. She's a golfer, so while I flew she scouted. We'd been told it was on the W'ly bank. Lotsa looking, but no golf course. OOPS! There it was on the east side. Our friend had her gyro,tumbled when she was trying to tell us location. I find that ladies often don't navigate using North South East and West. They navigate by familiar landmarks with little recognition as to how they fit into the overall picture. Oh well.
Rafted up near the SE'ly corner of the island, was a large gaggle of canoes and tubes. Jazzing around the lake were 30 or 40 "circle boaters". They're the kind that aren't out there seriously fishing, just circling and making waves. We overflew about a quarter of a mile up, and headed north along US-127 towards home field.
On the way home, there is a field where, on the last weekend of this month, many old steam engines will gather. They'll huff and they'll puff, and they'll plow your house down. Many of you, I'm sure, have already seen these beautiful monsters from our past. Either way - if you ever get an opportunity to see them TAKE IT! Nothing in the world quite equals a real steam engine grunting and roaring, nothing. Aye god, these are real machines.
We reported entering a right downwind on a 45 for runway 10, turned base leg, and then final. Squeak squeak and we'd cheated death again. The Duck was on the ground.
Jack,
If I remember correctly one of those large steam tractors was running a thrasher in the movie 'The Quiet Man'. I would like to see one in person.
Bob
If I remember correctly one of those large steam tractors was running a thrasher in the movie 'The Quiet Man'. I would like to see one in person.
Bob
Auto Pilot
Flying cross country trips gets tiring for me. Not boring - tiring. I'm looking at getting an autopilot to take over holding altitude and heading for me, once we're up at cruising altitude and everything is all trimmed up. It would alleviate some tension for me, and give me time to do other tasks better.
Yesterday, a friend of mine let me fly one of his planes that has an autopilot installed. WOW! That's nice. Dial in a heading - and the plane turns to it. Cool! Now, I have more time to scan the horizon better, watch the gauges better, and be more aware of the situation around me. I can actually unfold a chart on my lap, double check calculations (really, just WAGs), and maybe even see more of the countryside as it rolls along underneath. I like this.
It will be a real chunk of change, and the Duck will be out of commission for about a month, maybe more. (I hope she doesn't get too used to being a hangar queen.) In the meantime, I can always ask Julie to stay home, and fly with another pilot to share the job. I must be getting REALLY lazy.
Flying cross country trips gets tiring for me. Not boring - tiring. I'm looking at getting an autopilot to take over holding altitude and heading for me, once we're up at cruising altitude and everything is all trimmed up. It would alleviate some tension for me, and give me time to do other tasks better.
Yesterday, a friend of mine let me fly one of his planes that has an autopilot installed. WOW! That's nice. Dial in a heading - and the plane turns to it. Cool! Now, I have more time to scan the horizon better, watch the gauges better, and be more aware of the situation around me. I can actually unfold a chart on my lap, double check calculations (really, just WAGs), and maybe even see more of the countryside as it rolls along underneath. I like this.
It will be a real chunk of change, and the Duck will be out of commission for about a month, maybe more. (I hope she doesn't get too used to being a hangar queen.) In the meantime, I can always ask Julie to stay home, and fly with another pilot to share the job. I must be getting REALLY lazy.
GROUND REFERENCE MANEUVERS
Once in a while, it's a good idea to go back to some basics. Today, I did that. Julie and I took off, flew SE'ly from the field to a practice area. First, I made sure that Lansing Approach had us on radar and kept watch for approaching aircraft. Then we did a 360 clearing turn to verify visually that no one was around. Then we went to work.
Steep turns were first. Roll it up to a 45 degree bank, add a bit of throttle, richen the mixture a bit, pull back on the yoke, and watch it go around. Keep an eyeball on the horizon, keep it in the same alignment on the windshield, watch altitude, watch airspeed, keep an eye out for other aircraft, what's the oil pressure? Twice around to the left is enough; level it out and roll right to 45 degrees. I seem to have difficulty holding it at the full 45 degrees, and like 30 degrees better. Not good enough, do it again - better this time.
OK, all done here. We're dropping down from 3,000' to 2,000', and looking for a long, north/south road. The next maneuver is "S" turns along a road. Wind is from the west at about 5 mph. Procedure here is to enter the maneuver heading down wind. We're cruising along going E'ly, looking for a north/south road with a straight section about 5 miles long. AHH! There's one.
Because we're going down wind, our ground speed is faster than our airspeed. Obviously, when we turn upwind, the ground speed will be less than our airspeed. If we crossed the road straight on, at a 90 degree angle and banked into a left turn, the wind will carry us out away from the road. As I continue the 180 degree turn to approach the road, I'm supposed to be complete with the turn and be back wings level and crossing the road going straight across. At this point, I'm supposed roll right and arc out into 180 degree turn and complete it as I cross the road and have wings level at that time.
Here's where the wind effect comes in. The turns on both sides of the road are supposed to be equal on the ground. But, because the wind pushes me out further on when I'm going down wind, and curtails forward progress when I'm going upwind, I have to adjust bank angle to finish quicker on one side than on the other. It's always a judgement call, and not an exact science. Today, things went better than I have ever done. HEY!
From here, we went on to do turns about a point. Again, wind drift affects the ground path. I found a pond, circled it twice to the left, and called it good. Next time, we'll do some slow flight and stalls. And steep turns too.
As we began our letdown, I switched on radio# 2 and listened to weather. Wind is straight down the runway! No crosswind to fight. A nice landing, taxi in, and put away the DUck, We'd cheated death again.
Once in a while, it's a good idea to go back to some basics. Today, I did that. Julie and I took off, flew SE'ly from the field to a practice area. First, I made sure that Lansing Approach had us on radar and kept watch for approaching aircraft. Then we did a 360 clearing turn to verify visually that no one was around. Then we went to work.
Steep turns were first. Roll it up to a 45 degree bank, add a bit of throttle, richen the mixture a bit, pull back on the yoke, and watch it go around. Keep an eyeball on the horizon, keep it in the same alignment on the windshield, watch altitude, watch airspeed, keep an eye out for other aircraft, what's the oil pressure? Twice around to the left is enough; level it out and roll right to 45 degrees. I seem to have difficulty holding it at the full 45 degrees, and like 30 degrees better. Not good enough, do it again - better this time.
OK, all done here. We're dropping down from 3,000' to 2,000', and looking for a long, north/south road. The next maneuver is "S" turns along a road. Wind is from the west at about 5 mph. Procedure here is to enter the maneuver heading down wind. We're cruising along going E'ly, looking for a north/south road with a straight section about 5 miles long. AHH! There's one.
Because we're going down wind, our ground speed is faster than our airspeed. Obviously, when we turn upwind, the ground speed will be less than our airspeed. If we crossed the road straight on, at a 90 degree angle and banked into a left turn, the wind will carry us out away from the road. As I continue the 180 degree turn to approach the road, I'm supposed to be complete with the turn and be back wings level and crossing the road going straight across. At this point, I'm supposed roll right and arc out into 180 degree turn and complete it as I cross the road and have wings level at that time.
Here's where the wind effect comes in. The turns on both sides of the road are supposed to be equal on the ground. But, because the wind pushes me out further on when I'm going down wind, and curtails forward progress when I'm going upwind, I have to adjust bank angle to finish quicker on one side than on the other. It's always a judgement call, and not an exact science. Today, things went better than I have ever done. HEY!
From here, we went on to do turns about a point. Again, wind drift affects the ground path. I found a pond, circled it twice to the left, and called it good. Next time, we'll do some slow flight and stalls. And steep turns too.
As we began our letdown, I switched on radio# 2 and listened to weather. Wind is straight down the runway! No crosswind to fight. A nice landing, taxi in, and put away the DUck, We'd cheated death again.
I could've used you sitting on my shoulder, Tom. "Hey - old man! Get this thing back up to 45!"
"Hey! We're on the down wind turn. Crank in more bank so we're done with this turn when we get back to that road!"
"Hey. Just one landing per approach. Not three!"
Etc. Etc.
"Hey! We're on the down wind turn. Crank in more bank so we're done with this turn when we get back to that road!"
"Hey. Just one landing per approach. Not three!"
Etc. Etc.
It seams to me that the most important maneuver is the controlled crash called a landing. :roll: