Check flight successful

Steve and I went for a check flight this morning in the Gullwing after wrapping up a few other maintenance items.  We flew out to Lake El Dorado, which had some lower scattered clouds.  It was a beautiful day to fly.... light winds and smooth skies.  I fueled up afterwards, so we are ready for our trip to Indy now.

Steve doing some V-77 flying

Clouds around the lake 

Our neighborhood....16 years after it started.

Maintenance day

I flew to Halstead this morning for an oil change and valve clearance check.  My friend Steve came along to lend a hand.  Mark Wiebe was our mechanic for this fun.  I taxied the airplane part way into the hangar as Mark did not have the correct tow bar.  It reminded me of a camel with its nose under a tent.  But at least we were in the shade when it got hotter in the day.  We got the oil change accomplished in about 2 hours.  There are a lot of drains and filters to remove!  Everything looked good.  We moved on to the valve clearance check and Mark got the lower 4 cylinders done before breaking for lunch.  After lunch, Steve operated a forklift and raised Mark up to a higher level where he could comfortably work on the upper cylinders.  Sure beats standing on a ladder for an hour or more.  So, we are ready for our fall adventures now which include a fly-in / cruise-in pancake breakfast in Indiana and the Stinson Summit in Arkansas.  And who knows what other fun we will find!

Oil draining

Engine now in the shade

Steve operating the fork lift

Mark checking valve clearance on the upper cylinders

Almost ready for push back in the late afternoon

Flying for pancakes

We flew to Halstead, Kansas this morning for a fly-in / pancake breakfast.  This is an annual event tied to the Old Settlers Days in Halstead.  Several of the planes leave around 10:00 AM to fly over main street to kick off their parade.  There were about 20 airplanes in attendance.  The pancakes were good and we saw several people we knew, a few we hadn't seen in a while.  We flew home before it got hot and I cleaned the airplane up from the 1-hour round trip experience.

I now have 40.9 hours on our V-77, I have taken 18 people for rides, I have done 47 landings, and all of this in a total of 36 flights.

Our V-77....out standing in a field

First half of the airplane lineup

Second half

My friend Rob's Cessna 195...a nice-looking airplane!

On our way home

Ready for the next mission

We flew home on Sunday, July 26.  While Oshkosh was VFR, I could see there was some marginal VFR airports or even IFR airports over southern Wisconsin. However, it was clear from central Iowa all the way to Stearman Field (1K1) and I had full fuel.  We departed Oshkosh just before 8:00 AM.  With the clouds about 10 miles ahead, I decided to climb above them and go VFR on top to our first fuel stop at Washington, Iowa.  By the time we arrived, it was also VFR.  We stopped again in Payola, Kansas for fuel and hoped to get some Bar-B-Q for lunch, but they had already closed.  We pressed on after refueling and had the plane tucked away by 3:45 PM.  Friend Steve invited us over for salmon that evening.  Yum!

Steve was back the next evening to help get the V-77 all cleaned up.  There was a lot of dust and oil everywhere.  With that finished, we are ready for the next mission.  I will probably fly to Halstead, KS for the annual fly-in on August 8.

Back in the hangar

Steve helping clean the V-77 Monday evening

Moon rising in the distance

I got a window sticker too!

A nice certificate for being in Vintage in Review

The certificate, Sport Aviation article, and plaque
placed together in the basement

Debbie received this medallion from a
 few Australians who really liked our plane....very cool!

Airshow photos from Oshkosh

Here are some of my better shots of the airshow.  I took the bottom picture from the Vintage web cam.  They had roped off the V-77 to keep the airshow crowd away, but they sure got close!

Planes I liked at Oshkosh

I took a lot of pictures of airplanes, but here are some of my favorites:

1949 Cessna 140A

1941 Waco VKS-7F

1936 Stinson SR-7B

Replica of the Douglas World Cruiser,
which flew around the world in 1924

1948 Aeronca 15AC Sedan

1943 Howard DGA-15P

1935 Stinson SR-6B

Grumman Bearcat

1929 Travel Air D-4-D

Getting to Oshkosh

I thought I would add a few more posts related to our recent Oshkosh trip.  We decided to fly up on Thursday and spend a few days visiting my brother, Jeff and his wife Katie. The flight was normal until we got into southern Wisconsin.  Looking at Foreflight, I could see Oshkosh was IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) as well as many other Wisconsin airports.  This was due to smoke in the atmosphere from Canadian forest fires.  We decided to divert to Iowa County Airport in SW Wisconsin.  Jeff lives about 2 hours away and would come pick us up.  Things cleared out Friday afternoon, so Jeff drove me back to the plane.  I headed to Oshkosh by air and Jeff followed in his car.  He would then drive me back to his place.

There was a mad rush by many who had been waiting once Oshkosh opened to non-IFR traffic.... like me.   Fortunately, by the time I got into the line, it was a little less crazy.  I did the Fisk approach and landed on runway 27.  I was parked in front of the Type Club hangar near the Vintage Red Barn... a prime spot.  People were really helpful getting the plane tied down and putting me into an airconditioned truck.  It was in the upper 90's.  They drove me to a rendezvous point where Jeff could collect me.  I waited about 30 minutes and then we were off to Jeff's again.

Debbie and Randy on first leg to Washington, Iowa

This shows the smoke

The Fisk arrival someone posted online

Right before leaving the Iowa County Airport on Friday
Randy (L) and Jeff

Entering the downwind for runway 27

Parked in front of the Type Club hangar