Flying the Circuit
On Sunday November 24, 2002 I flew out to Redlands airport (L12) to practice traffic patterns (take-offs and landings). My father's airplane's home airport is Redlands and he wanted me to come out and do a little practicing with him. He met me there and took some pictures.
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Me on the ground waiting for my father to get in.
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Taxing over to runway 26 for take-off.
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Throttle full speed ahead... We need all the available power to get this 160 hp plane into the air.
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Hey, we made it off the ground!
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We're in the traffic pattern, just turned downwind to be technical. Notice the airport in the middle left of the picture? We're 1 mile away from it. Can you imagine how hard it would be to see it from 10 miles away? A valuable skill that is not taught but definitely learned is the ability to find the airport you are going to land at. One of the best ways to find an airport in the haze is to look for the hangers. Hangers are usually easy to spot because they are long narrow rows of buildings.
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Still on the downwind leg, you can just see a tip of the airport on the right. Man it takes forever to get this airplane to move!
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Just turned to final approach. Is it my imagination or are we left of the runway?
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Oops! we are defiantly off-center and if I don't fix it soon, we'll be landing on the taxi-way.
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That's better, now for a nice safe landing.
Now, why would I be showing you pictures of me flying an old rental airplane that I flew twice while a student pilot? Well, I thought I'd show you the current condition of N8465R. I flew N8465R on two occasions because it was the only airplane I could schedule. Both times I noticed the smell of avgas fumes in the cockpit when throttling the engine down after cruise. It only had a 160 hp motor, the instruments were all original and only one radio would work if the airplane was cold. I didn't like it. Well to my surprise, on September 14, 2003 I discovered that this airplane had a little accident. This is what it looks like now:
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I asked one of the mechanics at Air Desert Pacific what happened. He told me that while flying out in the desert near Baker California one of the propeller blades separated from the hub. Needless to say the airplane was not flyable. Here's what the NTSB said in their report #LAX03LA130
It is a little freaky to have an airplane you flew just 5 months earlier suffer a catastrophic mechanical problem. I'm glad I wasn't flying it. And, well, since I didn't really like the airplane in the first place, its just as well. I'm also glad to say that I no longer rent at ADP. I've heard from many of the instructors that ADP doesn't really take good care of their airplanes. This, of course, is here-say, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.
posted by Eric Lindley @ 8:00 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Great pictures! I don't see the hangers! That's scary about the plane. Glad you weren't in it too!
It's so cool that you are flying. I remember in college you were into Flight Sim. Those were the days.
That's the point!! Its a challenge to find the airport sometimes. Especially in hazy conditions at an airport you've never been to before. Actually, I always have a hard time finding El Monte airport and its the one that I fly in and out of the most! I'll do a blog about finding airports and post pictures to see if you can find it.
Well I can tell you that flying for real is easier than with a Sim. To this day I cannot land the stinking airplane on a Sim. I gave up :)
I'm relieved to see your post about not being able to land in SIM ;-). So far, I've only been able to land the Learjet (It's much easier to fly too). I have never been able to succefully land in the 'easy' Cessna 152.
I have noticed that borrowing the controls on your father's Piper is easier than any of the airplanes in SIM with the possible exception of the Learjet. It's hard to stall with that much thrust! Nice pics BTW.
Hello.
I am one of the pilot who know what really happened that day with the N8465R because I was inside....
But I don't believe that the plane actually is on fly. 😡
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