Every two years a pilot must complete a flight review with a certified flight instructor. Now, there are many different kinds of these reviews or proficiency checks but for an old private pilot like me, I just get my 2 year review and call it good. I called the instructor who did it 2 years ago and he told me he is still doing them and would be happy to go fly with me. I won’t name him but the nice thing about him is that he knows I don’t want to be a professional pilot when I grow up. I’m just trying to fly to Los Banos and back for breakfast so that’s how he conducts his training for me. We don’t do flying on instruments or unusual attitude recovery. The Champ I fly doesn’t have instruments and it would be VERY hard to get it into an unusual attitude so no point.
He showed up at Oakdale at 8am and I had the airplane pre-flighted and ready to go at 8:30. Pilot and instructor were all loaded up so off we went. My friend Tommy was gracious enough to give me a prop so we could just go. That means he swung the prop until the engine started, by the way. My CFI guided me southward towards Turlock until we found a road that was straight, long, and the (fairly stiff) wind was blowing across it. He had me do some S turns across that road while we chatted about flying, fly-ins, and which one of those we would and would not go to. Finally he have me a heading to fly (straight toward the Purina Feed Mill, and keep going) so I rolled out on-course.
He guided me toward his family’s ranch airstrip and talked me through the approach and what to expect on landing. We shot two landings. Even in the wind both of them were greasers. He must have been pleased with both my airmanship and my landmanship because he invited me to their yearly fly-in. Even sent my a web link via text while I was climbing out after the second landing.
I was too busy to take pictures but here is a Google earth image of the strip. It is a beauty. Grass strips make even bad tailwheel pilots look good.
He then had me fly over to the east side of Turlock near Denair. He told me that next we were going to practice some cross-wind landings at his home strip. Told me about all the rotors I could expect coming off the almond trees upwind of the runway, and the redwood trees on the downwind side of the runway. I asked if the redwood trees were in the runway, he said no. So I said, “What redwood trees?” It was a pretty sporty approach and I would lie and tell you I wasn’t worried because I’m a steely-eyed flyin’ man. The rotors were right where he said they would be so I landed a little long so I would be just above the runway when I encountered them. I still set down in the first 1/3 of the runway and was stopped well before the last 2/3. I taxied back and took off again and expected him to tell me to go around the pattern and do it again. To my relief he told me, “Alright, let’s head back to Oakdale.” He either didn’t want me balling up James’ airplane at his home runway or he thought I had a pretty good handle on this flying stuff. Turned out to be the latter.
That building with the blue roof is his home. The white roofed building is his hangar. That dirt road right about where the Google marker is, is his crosswind runway. Must be nice. Oakdale doesn’t even have a crosswind runway. I suspect we landed at his runway so he can just tell me to come pick him up next time I need a BFR.
We headed back to Oakdale, landed and filled out our paperwork. His paperwork largely involved writing in my logbook. My paperwork involved writing a check. All in all it was really a great BFR. It stretched me just enough to show me that I can still land at unfamiliar runways, that are not paved, in sporty conditions. Good to go for another two years!
RIGHT AFTER we got back from Paso Robles I just had time to drop Cristy off, get some fresh clothes, some food, a decent shower, and a comfy night’s sleep in my bed at home before jumping back in the trailer the very next day and heading up to the Red Hills to my friends’ ranch. Every year on the weekend leading up to Memorial Day I put on a fly-in and Jack and Myrna Moyle’s ranch just outside of Chinese Camp in the Sierra Foothills. If you’ve ever driven to Yosemite on Hwy 120 you will come to Yosemite Junction where you have to make a right turn to continue up to Yosemite. Just as you get to the railroad tracks and over the hills to your right is my friend’s ranch.
Attendance was low last year because two years ago Jack and Myrna said they didn’t want to host any more fly-ins, as it had become too difficult for them to manage the cleanup. So everyone made other plans for last year. At the last minute they told me that Hannah and Tanner, their grandson and his wife, had offered to take over set up and tear down for the fly-in. A few were able to change their plans and show up. It was disappointing to them. But they understood after I explained to them that people simply made other plans because they had said, “no more!”
This year they made sure that I understood that the fly-in was back and and to be sure to get the word out. We still had lower turnout than in previous years but it was better than last year. We had over 20 people show up and 10-15 airplanes either fly-in to camp, or just visit for a while and then leave. As usual I took my travel trailer up there because I’m done sleeping in tents. There were also more people this year because I extended the invitation to the guys up at Lincoln Powered Parachute Field just north of Sacramento. Many expressed interest but only three showed up. However, the photos and trip reports they shared on Facebook with the rest of their group will ensure that more show up next year. I know them because I went to LPPF to have my powered parachute inspected and for some flying tips.
I show up Friday and set up camp as did the powered parachute guys. I greeted everyone but spent much of the afternoon up at my trailer setting up Star Link and the antenna my friend had loaned me for my POTA activations. I got the highest number of activations ever because I was able to work far into the night. Using my friend’s antenna I also got some of my most distant contacts; two in Ukraine, one in France, and one in Russia.
More folks flew in on Saturday with the intention of staying for Saturday night’s potluck and to camp overnight. Unlike last year there was too much food this year! We could have easily fed double our number. The next morning, Sunday, Hannah and Tanner invited everyone to the house they are building on Jack’s property. It’s already mostly built but with their new addition, Brinley, they are adding more bedrooms. Tanner assured me he’s only adding TWO bedrooms, one for each child. I joking said he could always buy bunk beds. He unjokingly told me Hannah had already said that to him! 🙂 Hannah made us her delicious sourdough pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausage. Again, too much food!
After breakfast folks started packing up and heading home to celebrate Memorial Day with their families. The last one to leave was myself, around 2pm or so. This year I got a question about Red Hills merchandise so I developed some. Here is the logo I came up with for this year’s fly in.
Initially, I’m going to offer two or three hat colors and a men’s and women’s T shirt. We’ll think about mugs in the future.
All in all a great fly-in. Looking forward to 2027.
This year’s Red Hills Fly-In saw a much lower turnout than in previous years. This was primarily due to 2 factors. The first is that last year Jack Moyle told me that it had to be the last year. It was just too tiring for he and his wife Myrna to host the fly-in. I sadly relayed the news to the other pilots. Less than a week later I got word from Tanner and Hannah, Jack’s grandchildren, that they wanted the fly-in to continue and would take over duties for hosting the fly-in. But I think the pilots all made other plans for the next year. The second factor was a lot of last-minute cancellations. We even had one that didn’t want to show up because Donald Trump won the Presidential election. True story. That being said we did have a bunch of drop-by’s and one other camper aside from Cristy and myself.
On Saturday, Charlie took his PPC flying in the early morning before it got too bumpy and windy.
Saturday evening we had a nice little pot-luck with Charlie’s paella as the center piece. Never knew Charlie was a retired chef! We know now!
Sunday morning Charlie took another flight and this time took Tanner flying with him. Then we had a home-cooked breakfast and home tour next door at Tanner and Hannah’s house. They built it next door to their grandparents. When I say they built it I mean THEY BUILT IT. All on their own. And now they are getting ready to add on an extra room… for the baby Hannah is expecting! They will be welcoming their little girl to the world in October.
Our new hosts and expectant parents; Hannah and Tanner Moyle!
All in all for me it was a very enjoyable weekend. It was nice seeing the few people who did stop in. It was really nice camping in a super peaceful setting. Looking forward to next year!
Ten years ago my friend Joey Myers and I were sitting in the living room of our dear friends Jack and Myrna Moyle. They have a 110 acre ranch near Jamestown in the Red Hills Area of Environmental Concern which is managed by the BLM. Joey and I had flown in to say hello. After a bit I mentioned that his ranch would be a beautiful place to host a fly-in and campout. Without hesitation Jack said, “Well you should put something like that together.” So I did.
But before I tell that story, I need to tell the story of this ranch. Jack and his wife Myrna bouth the ranch over 50 years ago. There was one small shack on the property, no trees, no electricity, no utilities of any kind. Jack and Myrna were raising their family of 7 in a one room shack. When they weren’t working Jack and Myrna disassembled some chicken houses on another property they had purchased. Myrna pulled the nails out of the wood and straightened them while Jack was hammering those same nails back into those same boards to expand their small home. They added on three more rooms, a barn, some other makeshift outbuildings and planted a bunch of trees to keep their house cool in the summer. No utilities remember?
One day a mutual friend named Jim Hembree landed on a dirt road that ran through Jack’s property to stop for a visit. Jack was enthralled and wanted to learn to fly too. He firgured that dirt road would make a great runway to fly from. Being a heavy equipment operator by trade he expanded that dirt road and graded it and then had a runway! He bought a Piper Cub up at Columbia Airport and began getting flight training in it. He had the instructor fly him down to his runway on his ranch and teach him how to land there. After that Jack completed his pilot training by taking off from his runway, flying up to Columbia, taking his lessons, then flying back home to his runway.
Fast forward a few years and a few months and we had our first annual Red Hills Fly-in on Memorial Day weekend. This past weekend was our 10th annual and likely last fly-in. So much could be written about it but I like pictures so I will let the pictures tell the story.
We got to spend two wonderfully peaceful nights in the company of friends in a beautiful setting. You can’t ask for more.
It’s been a heck of a summer between me and my Powered Parachute (PPC). Between the carburetors clogging and the machine losing power every time I climbed steeply I’ve been struggling to gain trust in my machine. It seems it all boiled down to dirty gas. Well, old gas actually. I let the gasoline sit in the tank for more than 8 months and many of the additives began to solidify and clock the narrow ports in the carburetors. After many times removing both carburetors and cleaning them I finally got the machine to run reliably. I also added Sea Foam to my tank and soaked my carbs in it. Pro tip: If you’re going to let gasoline sit in your tank for extended periods, add this stuff to it prior and let it run through the entire engine before you let it sit. You’ll be glad.
So the last issue to tackle was the engine stopping when climbing steeply. What the heck was causing that? Well a friend looked at the carbs and asked, “Should they be angled like that?”
Well… no. No they shouldn’t.
If you look at #24 in the above diagram, those are the two carb floats. They float in a pool of gasoline in the bottom of the carburetor. They are independent of one another and both work to lift a lever that closes the float valve (#26), it looks like a little pencil. When the fuel reservoir in the bottom of the carb gets too full, the floats will push the valve closed, as the level of the fuel drops, the floats drop and allow the valve to open up and allow more fuel into the reservoir (bowl).
Well, the carbs were oriented vertically on the ground. What this mean is that when climbing steeply the fuel in the bowl was staying level, because that’s what fluids do. The rear most float was higher than the front float and was therefore closing the valve, causing the engine to start to die. When I leveled out, the fuel in the carb bowl leveled out and allowed the valve to open again and the engine would again run normally. The solution was surprisingly simple, to rotate the carbs on their mounts so that they would be a little more level in a climb than they were before. Sounds strange but it worked like a charm!
The last thing I did was finally select a name for my flying machine. I think it’s perfect.
I have nothing earth-shattering or deeply philosophical to add in this post. Just gratitude for the ability to fly. Gratitude that I’ve been given the opportunity to fly a Christian brother’s airplane. Gratitude that I could fly my own flying contraption, even for a short time. All within the span of one weekend.
One day, I took James Davis’ Aeronca 7AC Champion (Champ) for a flight. It was a beautiful, maybe slightly breezy, morning. The flight was gorgeous but starting the engine after getting gas was a bear. You see, the Champ’s engine doesn’t have a starter. You have to swing the prop by hand to get it started. It can be daunting when the engine is warm. I’d forgotten how much. Still, it was a pleasure to fly.
Two days later I finally pulled my powered parachute out of the garage and hauled it out to New Jerusalem for a test flight. I had detached and reattached the parachute after getting it flipped and fairly messed up. I put it all back the way I thought it should be but the true test would be a taxi test, kiting the wing, and then flying it. Got that accomplished. It was a short flight because the air was a little sporty for so early in the morning. Still felt good to get it up and around the pattern a few times.
Grinning like an idiot! And before you ask, my jacket is puffed up with air. No, really!
And to top all this off we had both the kids over to celebrate our country’s independence from Britain. Have fun at work today England! It’s been a great weekend.
This past Memorial Day weekend I attended the Red Hills fly in! The fly in was started years ago by.. well me! I flew in to the Red Hills strip with a friend and paid a visit to my dear friends Jack and Myrna. The reason for the visit was to introduce them to my friend Joey so that he could fly in there when ever he wanted. We told them about our flying and camping adventures and I mentioned that their ranch and strip would be a great place for a fly-in and camp out. Jack thought it was a great idea and so Memorial Day weekend was selected and the Red Hills Fly-in was born! I tried to keep up with organizing these fly-ins for a few years but my day job kept getting in the way. Also getting rid of my airplane made it so I spent less time on the back country airplane forums. We’re very grateful that Rich Finkle decided to take on organizing the fly-ins and keeps up with it today. Now I can just show up and enjoy myself!
This year saw the lowest turnout of any year we’ve held the fly-in. Mechanical issues and weather kept most pilots away. Even though I don’t have a plane to fly there anymore I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I loaded my powered parachute on my trailer, threw my tent and some clothes in the back of my truck and headed up the hill to Moyle Valley Ranch in the heart of Red Hills. No matter if I flew my plane in past years, or drove my truck up this year, it takes an hour door to door to get there.
I pulled into the ranch after navigating the serpentine dirt road to get there. I saw one airplane parked in the parking area and Jack Moyle with a big smile on his face walking up to greet me. I said hello to him and Myrna Moyle and then was introduced to the pilot who and flown in. I’ve met him before but I always let Jack introduce me to people if he wants to. I proceeded to set my tent up and after I was all settled it was time to drive into Jamestown for dinner. As there were only 5 of us there, (Jack and his wife Myrna, John and ladyfriend Gayle, and me playing the role of bachelor) we rode into Jamestown in Jack’s truck to forage for dinner.
Jack suggested a place he and Myrna hadn’t been to yet called The Service Station. They have standard pub food and a decent selection of beers and wines. And a darn-good iced tea as well! All agreed that the food was pretty darned good. Conversation mainly hovered around hearing aids. 😀 Comparing features and prices. Then things got really good when Jack and John started arguing over whether Jack was going to pay for his dinner or not. As I was sitting between then I thought it best to move to a safer position in case they came to throwing punches. I’m not sure who won but no one got a black eye and all the bills were paid.
After dinner Jack ran me by Dollar General so I could buy some batteries for my air mattress pump. The rest of the group wandered the streets (street?) of Jamestown looking at all the closed shops. Jamestown is still small town America and they close up pretty early at night. Especially on a holiday weekend. I got my batteries and Jack swung back by and picked the rest of the group up and we headed back to the ranch.
When we got there Joey Meyers, his wife Suzanne, and their daughter Kylie had arrived and set up camp. They had driven in with Joey’s powered parachute packed up in the back of their toy hauler. Apparently it was quite the adventure getting from Vacaville to Red Hills. Highway closures and holiday traffic turned a two hour trip into a 4 hour ordeal. They finally made it and decompressed a bit as we all caught up on everyone’s news. We shivered in the wind for a bit but once it got dark we all decided to turn in early. It was cold, VERY windy and Jack didn’t want to chance starting a campfire that night so we all called it a day. I crossed my fingers and hoped for a less windy Saturday as I drifted off to sleep.
When I woke up on Saturday morning it was just starting to get light out. The birds were singing and it sounded like the wind had stopped! Then after laying in my sleeping back for about 2 minutes I heard a big “whoosh” sound in the trees and my tent started flapping again. I peeked out and looked at the windsock, it couldn’t make up it’s mind which way it wanted to point. I zipped my tent shut and crawled back into my sleeping back and went back to sleep. It was STILL windy.
When I heard people talking and could smell campfire smoke I finally crawled out of my tent and joined Jack and John by the fire. Myrna made fresh coffee and set out some banana bread for breakfast. Before long Mike (can’t remember last name) and his wife showed up from Modesto in his PA-11 and made possibly one of the shortest no-flap landings I have ever seen at Red Hills. More importantly he brought donuts from Mr. T’s in Modesto. They are a local legend in our town. Shortly afterwards Jon and Tom Marring showed up. Jon in his carbon cub and Tom in his Scout. Jon brought sever flats of apricots and a bunch of cantaloupes. Joey also brought some lemons that were the size of grapefruits. And for a while we all sat around the fire and did what pilots do best; tell stories.
Mike and his wife didn’t stay long as they had an afternoon engagement back in Modesto. Tom and Jon left soon after for the same reasons. Other than John Pfaff these were the only other airplanes to show up. The winds had slackened a little when they all left but picked up again soon after. Wind was to be the recurring theme of the weekend and is probably what kept most pilots away.
For the remainder of the afternoon we all just relaxed, took walks, and just talked among ourselves. Joey found a few squawks on my powered parachute and pointed them out to me (thank you Joey). He ran his motor up just in case the wind died down at some point during the weekend (it never did) so he would be ready to hit the skies.
We all decided to have dinner a little early so we started putting food out at around 4:30pm. My wife had arrived with some jalapeno-cheddar sourdough bread from Klean-Eatz Market and Bakery. There was plenty to eat for everyone thanks to Jack and Myrna’s family showing up with lots to eat. We had a nice little buffet with the Moyle family and after they left, we all retired to the campfire. We stayed around the fire until 10pm or so and then retired because the wind was just relentless.
The next morning the wind was… still blowing. Myrna was busy making coffee, scrambled eggs, ham, sausage patties, and PANCAKES! Their son Jim and his son Tanner showed up and helped with breakfast. Then they helped eat breakfast. Everything was delicious and I was stuffed. I don’t normally eat breakfast but I never miss out on Myrna’s pancakes.
After breakfast John and Gayle packed up his 182 and departed for the northern coast. I hung out a bit longer and chatted with everyone. I had already packed up and hitched up my PPC trailer before breakfast so I could just relax afterwards and enjoy my last minutes of peace and quiet. At about 1pm I bid everyone farewell and made the one hour drive back to the flat lands and my home.
As an addendum Joey did stay one more night and was able to get a quick flight in on Memorial Day morning. He said it was smooth on the ground but pretty sporty up in the air. He cut his flight short and got back on the ground.
All in all it was a great fly-in. Far fewer people showed up than signed up. However, it was nice because everyone who did show up was able to talk to each other more. I guess you could call it a more intimate fly-in this year. Even so I’m really hoping for better weather next year and more airplanes. We never know how many more fly-ins we have with these wonderful people. I want to make each one count!
Well, as that overly-hyped title says today marks my return to flight status. As I wrote in this post I had to make repairs due to what happened when my PPC fell off the trailer. This morning was perfect flying weather. I headed out to New Jerusalem just as the sun was coming up. I started setting up shortly before 7am and left the ground at 7:18am.
This is NOT the runway I took off from! It’s over to the left. This is the old parallel runway that is leased by local farmers.
I climbed to about 200 feet and just started cruising around the field making sure everything still works. It all did. So are started wandering a little farther afield. That’s really not too far considering my airspeed is only 27-30 mph. But the Pink Panther just kept purring like a little pink kitten.
As you can see, the California Central Valley dust harvest is in full swing!
So it wasn’t a very long flight today, maybe about 30 minutes or so. I have to find a solution for the seat. It only comes up just to my lower back and my back starts to ache after about 20 minutes or so. It’s sure building up my core muscles!
Front and back seat of my powered parachute
As you can see from the above photo, the back seat passenger has full back support, the pilot has to rely on the back seat passenger for back support – they ARE the back support! Without anyone in the back seat I have no back support. I’m going to try to rig up some pillows to lean against for more comfortable, longer flights. Still, it’s great to be back in the sky!
When we last tuned in our intrepid pilot was kicking himself for crashing his pink flying thing while it was still on the ground and he wasn’t even in it! Well, about $500 later we’re back to having an airworthy flying machine again! It took about three weeks total to order the repair parts and have them delivered. It took about a day and a half to actually make the repairs.
The propeller was sent back and recondition back to good as new. Each blade was rebalanced and sent back. This was the first repair I made. After receiving the blades back I re-assembled the propeller, attached it to the engine, and set the blade angle at 12 degrees (as measured from the hub of the prop).
Then, a few days later I received the aluminum tubing back. It took about 8 hours to re-drill all the holes and bolt the tubes back on the airframe. Here is the end result:
Tubing finally drilled out and mounted
All damage repaired!
As you can see from the photos, the grey unpainted tubing are the repairs. I will disassemble one tube at a time and repaint them gloss black. I will paint the ring section in place as it is riveted in. That will take about a week. I should be flying next Saturday, painted or not!
Air Prayer 