More Air-to-Air photos

It was another beautiful day in Juneau, so my friend and I went out on a photo mission. We had to get while the gettin' was good since I have to go back to work tomorrow...

You can see the full gallery here: http://picasaweb.google.com/GeronimoDriver/ApacheFlying#
and click on the pics to see full resolution.

Full moon over the Delta...

Fun day!

Saturday was a good day.
We got out of bed and I just felt like flying, and actually doing something useful with the plane instead of just burning gas...
I called up my friend Sean (that's his Tripacer in the pics) and we went back and forth trying to decide where to go. Eventually we settled on Hoonah, because it is close and he has a Jeep stashed there. But what to do when we got there? How about a drive out the road in the Jeep, followed by a short hike to get to a sandy beach at Spaski Bay? Sounds good! So we gather the dog, lawn chairs, marshmallows and hot dogs and set off for a day on the beach!

We had a great time cooking hotdogs over the fire, flaming marshmallows, throwing sticks for Noni, and just watching the world go by.

We also got some great air-to-air shots of each others planes as a bonus.

Moose!

You always hear the stories about Moose in "urban Alaska".
Well, they are true. I see moose almost every time I go to Anchorage, just walking around town.
This last week I saw two, one by the airport and this one just outside the hotel I stayed at. Amazing how close she let me get to take her picture...

New Video

I made this from clips I took while at work.

Featured are the Navajo and 207 in Bethel, Emmonak, Stebbins, Yukon River, Russian Mission, Toksook Bay and Kwethluk.

Minor Remodel Project

I just finished a small remodel project on the house. We had some really annoying cabinets hanging over the bar between out kitchen and dining room that were always getting in the way. A couple days ago I pulled them down then had a friend of our come over and wire in some new pendant lights to go in the place where the cabinets were. We also installed a dimmer switch for them as well as a new outlet while we were at it. After some painting the area looks much better, and is much more functional now. It also feels a lot more open and bright, with a nice ambiance provided by the stained glass pendents. This of course snowballed into removing the hideous old ceiling fan in the dining room and replacing it with a matching chandelier. That looked great once I got the chain looking right, but because the lights face down and the glass is heavily tinted the new light made the room much darker, although the table was very well lit. Perfect for dining and relaxing but sometimes you just need the room lit up. This led to yet another trip to Home Depot last night to get a new ceiling light to replace one that had stopped working right after we bought the house. We had assumed the bulbs were burned out and had gotten used to it not working since I could not get the glass unstuck from it to change the bulbs. I ended up taking a hammer to it. The glass doesn't exist anymore. Turns out the bulbs were fine and the problem was with the installation itself. Whoever put that light in did not know what they were doing since they just twisted the wires together, and the ground had come loose... Well, now there is a properly installed and matching lamp up there that puts out plenty of light when we need it.

Dining Room

Pendants and Chandelier from Kitchen

New Chandelier, also fixed and hung our mirror

Light Shades

New Ceiling Light

Photo Journal: 12-4-09

Sorry I have not posted anything with substance lately, I have been busy with work... However yesterday I went flying with a friend in his '58 Tri Pacer. He had never been up over the Ice Fields, and we could not have picked a better day for him to experience it. What do you think?

Photo of the Week

A double this time!

Caravan w/ Rainbow

Sunset over frozen lakes and tundra between Hooper Bay and Bethel, from 11,500'

I am the "Pavement Muncher"!

...With a shark-toothed grin, Don't know if my gear will come down again!

It is time to tell this story, the Saga of N417PM over the last couple months.

It all started with "Papa Mike" (Now also known as "Pavement Muncher")
Sitting in the maintenance hangar for a while, I forget why. One of our pilots, Taka, got the idea to paint a shark mouth on the plane. Since we were short on planes, Taka and I were not flying and pretty bored so with an OK from the boss, we drew up a plan and got to work:

Myself, masking the design.

Now, this would have been the end of the story. Nose art done, time to fly right?
Sure, except I had made a comment to Taka while painting to the effect of "You watch, I bet this thing gets balled up in the next two months and we'll have to repaint it all over again..."

Well...

A month Later:



A hydraulic line in the nose wheel well had broken, which caused all attempts to lower the nose wheel to fail, dumping all her hydraulic fluid overboard in the process.

After flying around for a couple hours to burn off fuel, the plane landed in a textbook perfect emergency landing. Both props were feathered just before touchdown and the plane slid to a stop with only minor skin damage to the nose, a broken stringer and two pancaked pitot tubes.
There were no injuries to the pilot or passengers, who exited through the overwing exit on the right side.

This month, after scavenging a new nose from a carcass Navajo and a little spray paint, "Papa Mike" returned to the skies in all its eclectic glory. She was my ride for most of the shift this month and other that being a bit nose heavy (all that paint?) she performs great, maybe I found a new favorite Navajo?

Taken a few days ago at Mekoryuk, on Nunivak Island.

The Cycle of Airplane Ownership.

Yup, that about covers it...

Photo of the Week

Foggy Fall morning in Bethel, Alaska.

Photo of the Week

The Apaztec* resplendent in the early dawn sunshine at Walsenburg Colorado.

Click for full size.

*Apaztec= A Piper anomaly, built as an Aztec but called an Apache. Suffers from an acute identity crisis, being that it is not quite 100% Aztec, but hardly is she an Apache by any definition. You Decide, If it quacks like a duck...

Update!

For all those that have not followed our vacation (July 25 to today) on Jen's Blog I'll give you a brief update and add some pictures for everyone to enjoy here, here and here. Its about 1500 pictures and I have only added captions to about half of the ones that I want to on the first set. Thw last set is a mix of pics from my Dad's and Grandma's cameras, including some more pics of our flight up from Bellingham in the Apache.

Needless to say, we have had a great time flying the plane around the Lower 48 for a couple weeks, then returning home and spending a couple weeks with visiting family. It was a great time for Jen and I to "play tourist" at home and do some activities we don't normally enjoy or to see them from a tourists point of view... A good time was had by all as we went to the Mendenhall Glacier, Mount Roberts Tram, Downtown Juneau, a back country tour of Hoonah, whale watching, a trip to Skagway with Ice field tour, Dog Sledding, a trip "out the road" and much more...

I will be going back to work in Bethel tomorrow on my original 15-day schedule. I think work will be a lot more tolerable with the shorter schedule. Twenty days out there is way too much.

I'll try to post more often, no guarantees however...

IT'S ALIVE!!!

After many, many months of hard work, our plane finally flew today. Everything seems to work and the new interior is nice to sit in while the airplane makes its own noises without me supplying the soundtrack... Now we just gotta put a few hours on her before we head to America for vacation next month.

Happy Birthday Noni!

Our dog, Noni, is four today!

Happy birthday Noni!

Details...

Having finished the bulk of the work on the plane, I am now concentrating on all the little finishing details. Today's project: Operation Spinner Shine. I am a sucker for polished spinners, so it was inevitable that I should tackle the project on the Apache. I had previously done this on my Wife's Tri-Pacer years ago, however, I have since learned to polish aluminum better (that means this time it took longer and cost more). Interestingly, the last time I polished a spinner, it was for a friends Apache in SLC. Upon finishing one side, I had one of those "Gee, I love owning a twin" moments when I thought "Aww crap, now I get to do the other side". It can wait until next month.
I also replaced the air filters today, which prompted me to repaint the covers for them. Hmm... New spark plugs, oil change and maybe a fresh battery and she's ready to unleash the fury in search of the perfect $100, umm, I mean $200 latte.

Oh yes.

Noni keeps guard, lest the evil snowplow get too close.

She's starting to look like an airplane again.

Finished! (for now)

The interior of my plane is finally "done". There are still a few little things to take care of but its ready to fly now.

Just as soon as I change the air filters, spark plugs, oil, bleed the brakes, service the hydraulic fluid, grease the landing gear, overhaul the left prop, wash and wax, oh yea, and put gas in it...

Freakin airplanes....