I had to head back to Texas to attend to some matters and I left Niner-Zero in Maryland tied down at Bennett Field. My daughters were already in Maryland visiting my mom when I returned and since then we have been joined by my son and my older daughter’s boyfriend.  My younger daughter got a ride a couple of months ago when I picked her up and brought her “home” for a visit. But none of the others have had rides yet. My older daughter, Meghan, is a photographer so there are lots of pictures with this post so the entire ritual that has developed around flying Niner-Zero has now been recorded.

One of the first things I do after taking the cover off is to “burp” the engine. The oil cap is removed and the prop is pulled through to force oil from the crankcase into the oil tank. After the last of the oil has transferred, some air is forced into the tank and makes a burping sound as it bubbles up through the oil. Then I can check the oil level. It takes between 4 and 25 “blades” before the process is complete. I’m not sure what Meghan’s boyfriend, DJ, is doing here but I am pulling the prop through.

The ropes holding the airplane down have to be removed along with the pitot tube and fuel vent covers. I like to get all of the stuff done that requires anything to be removed done before the preflight  walk around so I don’t have anything in my hands.

 

 

At this point I often have to push the aircraft forward to lock the tailwheel in position. This allows the tailwheel steering to function properly. If not done the initial taxiing may be a bit erratic which is not appreciated in tight quarters near building and other aircraft.

 

 

Then I basically start at my door and walk completely around Niner-Zero checking just about everything in sight.

 

 

 

Then it is time to load up my passenger, DJ, in this case and get rolling. Which we are doing here as you can see by the way my mighty engine is blowing the grass. We usually leave the doors open when taxiing in warm weather to keep things cool.

 

 

Meg got this shot of us taking off on runway 35. After we reached about 1000 feet we opened both doors and flew out over the river to do some site seeing and then back to Bennett Field so Meghan could have her turn.

 

 

Meghan took this of the two of us shortly after takeoff. That is the look she has when she is seriously working on something. Ever since she was little, the wrinkled forehead. We opened her door for the entire flight and she took a couple of thousand pictures. She really enjoyed the view and I took her down the river almost to the bay and then back up the river all the way to Salisbury then back to Bennett field.

So here are a few of her pictures from the flight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DJ took this picture of us coming in for a landing on runway 35. Meghan commented on how close we got to the trees on final approach. You can’t even land on the first portion of the runway because of those trees. But we don’t need much runway to land Niner-Zero and we were turned around before the mid point of the runway. Got her all tied down and put away.

My son, Erik, did not arrive until the next day and this morning he and I went flying. We did a little site seeing and then headed to the “big” airport so I could fuel Niner-Zero. Erik decided to take on a little fuel also, a Dr. Pepper and some cookies. Then we headed back to Bennett Field and he took the controls for most of the flight back. Did a really good job too. My plans when I started building Niner-Zero back in ’97 was to teach my children to fly. By the time it was done, they were gone. But today Erik and I made plans for a future trip and maybe then he can do some more flying.

 

 

My next trip will be tomorrow as I will be heading back out on the “road” again. I plan to leave tomorrow morning for Van Sant Airport in Pennsylvania. I have some friends nearby that I want to visit then it will be off to Cleveland, Ohio. Back to where I first started learning to fly. You never really stop learning. I am going to visit a friend who, upon learning of my desire to be a pilot, took me out to a nearby airport to sign up for lessons. Every adventure has a beginning and this adventure really began on that evening back in 1979. Within about four months I was a private pilot. Hopefully, in few days, he’ll get a ride in my airplane. After that, it is off to Oshkosh for the annual EAA fly in. Stay tuned.