Month: March 2018

Quick Flight Before Church

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Aviation, Six Chuter P32 Comments

I took a quick flight this past Sunday before heading off to church.  Weather was good if not chilly: 38 degrees F and 2-3 MPH crosswind from the right.  Otherwise wonderful flying conditions.  Thanks to some tips from a local group of PPC pilots I’m finally learning how to land!

Sorry for the low audio at the end.  What I basically said is that I’d like to thank J Bird Aviation and Six Chuter International for their amazing customer service.  They’ve been calm and helpful even when I wasn’t.  It’s a good machine and now I just need to learn to fly and enjoy it!

Back In The Saddle

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Aviation, Six Chuter P3Leave a comment

 

We finally got a break in the MUCH needed rain storms here in central California on Sunday.  So in the afternoon I hitched up my hangar on wheels and drove out to New Jerusalem Airport (1Q4).  The day was perfect for flying a powered parachute; no wind and a high overcast so no thermals either.  I pulled in and got set up.  Within about 15 minutes the engine was warmed up and the chute was laid out.  I was set up on the displaced threshold on runway 30 and noticed an aircraft on final.  I turned my strobe on to increase my visibility.  When he was on short final he went around and flew off with absolutely no radio calls.  Well, it is an uncontrolled airport.  Radio calls are not mandatory but definitely suggested.

I strapped in and with one last look around the areas called “clear prop” to no one as the airport was completely empty, and fired up the engine.  Feet on the rudder bars and gave the throttle a smooth jab forward.  The little P3 lurched forward, pausing only briefly as the chute popped up and due to the lack of wind locked in overhead immediately.  I looked up and everything looked good, no tangles or sticks in the lines so I applied full power.  The P3 lifted off smoothly and glided skyward.

One of my primary missions today was to keep an eye on my cylinder head temperature gauge.  Ambient air temperature was 58 degrees F and happily the CHT never went above 350 degrees.  Exhaust gas temperature stayed below 1050 degrees.  Seeing my temps were stable I relaxed and set about flying around the area.  I did some sight seeing over the farms and river areas and then noticed my CHT was at 200 degrees!  That was odd.  I turned back toward the airport when the CHT went to 150 degrees.  Okay, that had to be a loose connection or something similar.  I was starting to get cold anyway so I continued back to the airport.

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I was a little high upon turning final so I pulled power back and the P3 began dropping down nicely.  After I had cleared the fence I applied a bit more power but not enough, the P3 landed SOLIDLY.  Well, what do I expect after 3 months of not flying?  Even so it was a great flight.  It felt good to be in the sky again.

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20 Lbs Down

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Opinion4 Comments

I hadn’t really wanted to chronicle my weight loss journey because I’ve been on these journeys so many times.  However, I’m at a minor milestone so I just wanted to mark the occasion.    Back in December I had decided I had finally had enough.   My feet were hurting (still are), clothing was not fitting correctly, and in fact it was becoming harder to find clothing.  My (overweight) doctor has been nagging me for years to lose weight.  I have lost weight before but for the wrong reasons (which I won’t go into) but I always gained it back.  This time, it was strictly for me.

So, again, back in December I changed my eating habits.  First of all, portion control.  Restaurants serve really BIG portions of food.  I tried to eat the vegetables first, and then the meats, and then the starches.  I tried to eat only until I didn’t feel hungry any longer and then stop.  Also, I did not limit the types of food I eat.  I hate diets where you can only eat this or that.   I eat whatever I want, just less of it.

Which brings me to the second change I made: I only ate when I felt hungry.  Meaning; when my stomach started to growl.  Eating on a schedule just doesn’t seem to work for me.  Rather, it works too well.  In other words, letting my body tell me when I was hungry rather than the clock.  The third major change was to cut out soda, period.  In fact all sugary drinks and fruit juices.  I still have fruit juice on occasion but I try to shoot for no more than once per week.

That’s pretty much it.  I haven’t really increased my exercise regimen at all, just trying to keep up the activity I engage in now.  All of this has had the net effect of helping me to lose 20 lbs as of yesterday.  I’ve gone down two pant sizes and about to have to buy the next size smaller.  Do I think this would work for everyone?  Nope.  But it’s working for me.  I don’t really have a target weight in mind but I’m going to keep this going for as long as it does NOT affect my health.  In fact I’m hoping it improves my health.  I have a lot of life planned for the future!