Even a Blind Squirrel…

By Ed Wischmeyer

…sometimes finds a nut.

If you’re like me, you’re probably glad you bought some things when you did and wish you had bought others before they appreciated with inflation. But…

My hangar stash of oil was down to one box (six quarts), so I went by my local oil store to get two or three more boxes of Aeroshell 100 plus. The man said that they were out of Aeroshell 100, but still had a few boxes of plus, and they (the new owners) weren’t planning to stock any more Aeroshell. 

How many boxes? Ten. Hmm.

I real quick looked up the retail price for Aeroshell 100 plus, and offered him about 2/3 of normal retail for all ten boxes. He did a bunch of looking up codes from the old company, and said the best he could do was 15 bucks more than my offer. SOLD!

So now I have a two to three year supply of Aeroshell 100 plus at basically wholesale price. 

Still need to get the alternator repaired so I can start burning through my savings.

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FLARM, for Flight alarm, is a low-cost collision avoidance system. With roots in the glider community (I think) it’s a low cost kind of, sort of ADS-B except that it doesn’t use regular transponders. It does use a barometric sensor, and I don’t know why it doesn’t use GPS altitude for separating similarly equipped aircraft. And there’s the deal – basic FLARM only talks to other FLARMs. There’s more to the story, of course, but it’s interesting in passing. It’s used in Western Europe, including Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, and I had to look it up, too), Australia and New Zealand, and South Africa. It’s simple enough to connect ADS-B in for air-to-air ADS-B, even though ground uplinks might not be sent. Then again, ADS-B in sensors are relatively cheap, as long as they can use an external display.

* * * * * * *

While the FAA says staffing is stable at most facilities, New York remains behind. That TRACON’s staffing levels were at just 54 percent of what is needed compared to 81 percent at other facilities. No wonder airlines are cutting flights to the area this summer tourist season.

* * * * * * *

The -9A is just out of the shop from its condition inspection. The only surprise was that the brake pads needed replacement.

The right fuel tank burps a tablespoon of gas through the vent onto the hangar floor, and I had them check the vent line. No fault found. No idea why it burps, but one web commenter said that his RV had the same problem, caused by a loose nut inside the fuel tank. Going into the fuel tank is doable, but a real PITA with the possibility of causing other problems. No thanks.

And sometimes in flight with the vents closed, it feels like hot air is leaking through the heater, even with it turned off. Again, no fault found.

The belly strobe burned out some time back, but it's far enough back in the tail cone to be virtually inaccessible – but not for small, female A&Ps. I had suggested that the shop abandon the old strobe and use the existing wiring for a new strobe, more accessible, but she was able to replace the old strobe, even though the new one requires a slightly bigger cutout. I'm impressed.

Associated with the shop is a detailing company, so why not? I don't have the energy nor the flexibility to detail the -9A, so we'll let them do it. Hopefully the plane will look like new, except for where the paint is chipped.

The detailers will start with the interior today [I thought – they’re unresponsive to scheduling text messages] so I can get back in the air sooner. They'll have full access to the plane today as there is an interesting storm right off the coast, and we're on the fringes of it. The radar signature looks much like a small tropical storm, but with winds forecast 18G28 and barometric pressure only 29.92-inches, it's apparent that this storm dropped out of hurricane school in the 6th grade. 

What's spectacular about this storm is that winds at 3,000 feet are out of the north at 50 knots (!). This would be a chance for duplicate membership in the 200-knot club, except that 800 feet broken isn't all that great for a first flight out of the shop, and you've got to know that the turbulence will be horrendous. (Next days, winds aloft from 9,000 feet to 30,000 feet were all less than 10 knots. Go figure).

So the “plan” is to reload the interior (fuel tank dipstick, plastic containers for miscellany used in flight and another for on the ground, headphone batteries and mic muff in the side pocket) on Sunday, then do the test flight on Monday (Memorial Day).

I'll also try a new camera setup and make a video of ADS-B traffic with two separate windows on the right side screen. I often use one of those windows for traffic, so this should not be a distraction from the test flight.

* * * * * * *

At church, there’s a ministry that works with homeless veterans, helping them with IDs, issues with the VA, homeless authority, a hot meal, all kinds of things. I’ve volunteered there for a few months.

One man who looked to be about 70 has acute PTSD and might be the one who was kicked out of the VA for misbehaving. He was threatening suicide and then involuntarily hospitalized for a few days, arguing and screaming.

One of my friends said of Viet Nam veterans that many of them had problems not of their own making, and I know of more recent veterans in the same boat. 

Sobering.

This is part of what Memorial Day is all about.