Love was in the air

A big smile from Denise, who made the evening's decorations

"let me think about it"

"Hi there, welcome to the dinner dance"

Love was all around, thanks to our decorations chairperson, Denise Kowal, who is one of our newest Kiwanians and also the Founder & CEO of the Sarasota Chalk Festival.   Denise would not tell us what she had planned to do for table decorations, but instead wanted to surprise us.......she did.

Five figurines made of cellophane wrapping paper in various poses (see upper left, "the thinker") and to the left side (below) "the greeter", were crafted by Denise and friends - each one taking a day's labor and involving a number of her students.  Very lifelike, because they were originally created from the human form.  They were made by wrapping ladies (and one gent, on bended knee holding a ring) with the Saran clinging wrap, and then CAREFULLY cutting them out of the form, and giving each figure a few final turns.  Denise recounted how the only fatality was somebody's shirt tail, during the scissors surgery.

Denise was also gracious to allow us to put these remarkable table decorations up for auction, which resulted in our Kiwanis Foundation gaining an additional One Thousand dollars.  That and other auctioned items, plus the money earned during the Casino Party portion of the event will go to help local students in need, with grants and scholarships.   Ms Kowal, you are one of the faces of Kiwanis, and in this case provided five very lifelike bodies to help make Valentine's night memorable.

Oh, by the way - it was not a piñata, however one buyer mistakenly took my intro wrong when I said that there was something inside - which, of course, WAS true (but we released the model for good behavior).   Next year if Denise is willing, maybe we'll actually place a $100 bill in ONE of the figurines, but only one - bidding might be a bit more spirited that way.

A Gathering of Eagles

A church full of veterans gather for lunch

And of course, one turkey - me.  Just a short photo entry into my pantheon of heroes blog - you see assembled the Christ Church - Presbyterian, of Longboat Key veterans group.  The fellow sitting (left) closest to the camera is Chuck Fuller, age 90, who was part of a B-29 aircrew in the air over Japan.  The youngest member is the guy in the Hawaiian shirt, age 66, who was "on the air" over Thailand and Vietnam.

Each guy told about his most memorable times during their service.  One guy ran a PX in Korea, another was also in the Army Air Corp in B-29's.  There was a post WW II dentist on Okinawa, and a Marine Infantry Captain from Vietnam (he's the guy next to me, wearing white, still looking fit).  One fellow told of dancing his way into special services - he was an original Jet in West Side Story, and proved his talent by hopping on the recruiter's desk and tap dancing.  There was one fellow who was not a US vet, but we adopted him into our group.  A Canadian, he was a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.  Sadly, his name wasn't Dudley - that would have made this blog do right.

Diamond Head and bare shoulders

Diamond Head, Island of Oahu, State of Hawaii, USA

This is Diamond Head.  On Friday morning, I was able to look outside my balcony at the Hyatt

Place on Waikiki Beach and view this in the distance.  Later I was able walk to the beach and snap a few more pictures, before leaving to pick up a rental car and visit the North Shore, and Pearl Harbor.

We did that on Friday, and on Saturday walked up the the Honolulu Zoo and took in some art on the fence (literally - street art hanging on fence).  From there the picture of Diamond Head was shot.

We rented some sort of small Honda from Enterprise and managed to see not only the North Shore but visit the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor.  A very moving picture (pun unintended) about the attack brought tears to many eyes, and actually explained the events leading up to it for a war that had begun in China in 1937.  It was politically correct, yet I think the producers found the right tone, and time has healed many of those wounds - about half the people there were Japanese, and they too were crying.

North Shore book lover

Body surfer paddles out

Surf Camera Dog

This post mentions bare shoulders, so now you understand the artful pictures of surfers and students.  The surfer was off Waikiki Beach, the girl with the book was on the north shore.  The clown in the Florida State ("go Noles") T-shirt was at Chinaman's Hat, also north shore.  Like so many on holiday, we've also learned that if you volunteer to take another couples picture, they'll be willing to reciprocate.

Elizabeth and John at Chinaman's Hat 

I actually got wet on the north shore, and had one heck of a time re-climbing the steep (and deep) sandy hill.  I'd left my shoes at the bottom of the hill, after half walking, half sliding down.  Elizabeth had a great laugh and took multiple shots of me trying to get back on all fours, with bare feet and tennis shoes in my hands.

My rating of North Shore:  Better sand than that of Longboat, but not as nice as Siesta Key.  Better girls too.   My rating of Honolulu - cosmopolitan, big city, too many people, and better islands to visit  in the following week,   And following blogs.........

Local artists street fair at Zoo

Banyan Tree, not all that large

Hawaii has many of these

Colorful Tour Bus - I rented a car instead, saw more

Beach Volleyball, Waikiki

Enjoy the pictures, I enjoyed the opportunity to take them and share with you.

817 SP goes into the shop

Our plane getting some new NAV/COM's 

basic instruments, plus Weatherscope (square upper right)

There she sits, this past Monday, in the hanger at Sarasota Avionics.   No flying that day, anyway - the fog was thick as my son did a slow taxi from our FBO at Rectrix North down to the Dolphin Aviation side (the other Fixed Base Operator).  By week's end, she'd be pushed back deeper into the hanger and the right side of her panel would be open and exposed.

We're replacing the upper left hand gauge which is actually a clock that performs other functions during instrument flight.  My son told me I shouldn't worry myself about what is going on, since I'm destined to be a VFR pilot forever, provided I get that far (ha ha).  When we purchased the plane, we knew we'd have to make some improvements, so now the dance has begun.

I've included a picture of what her instrument panel looked like last Monday morning.  When we get her back, it will look a bit different although the changes won't be all that apparent to the uneducated.  I may be the poster boy for the uneducated, mind you.

What we do know is that the plane will now have TWO working radios, allowing me to pre-set four different frequencies for ATIS (weather conditions), Ground (to taxi), Tower (to take off) and Tampa approach and departure (once I'm airborne).   We've had contact with the avionics shop, which is installing a Garmin 650 Nav/Com.  There were two radios (4 potential channels) in the plane, but we learned that the prior owner switched them, thus disabling a perfectly good glide slope indicator.  Faceplates were replaced on one of the radio's, the other had issues therefore we couldn't easily set them to different stations.  The "good" radio stays, and the 650 Garmin becomes the primary as a Nav/Com includes both Navigation AND Communications.  The stack will appear different, on the right side.  The basic "six pack" will remain on the left.

So, while the aircraft was manufactured in 2001, new instruments were installed in 2008, which included a KX155A Nav/Com, which will be replaced with the Garmin "touch screen" 650, and a second KX155A with Glide Slope, which stays.  Once installed, the confusion between the actual NAV unit and the glideslope indicator will get sorted out.  Sort of a 1=A and 2=B, instead of the current 1B, 2A setup.   The Garmin GTN (Garmin Touchscreen Navigation) 650 will offer a visual display will make it possible for my son to get his entire instrument training in our own plane.  That's a significant savings from having to use the school's aircraft with the Garmin 1000, which costs $150 an hour to rent.  What I like is the redundancy - two separate radios, independent of each other, and two glideslopes.   Shucks, even I might be able to operate with this stuff, and of course the autopilot.

The autopilot (as shown below) is really nifty - you simply set the heading "bug" to where you want to go, and flip it on - and Otto flies to that heading.  He also makes better banking turns than do I.  The other autopilot is 36, and calls me "Dad", when not calling me an immature teenager masquerading as a respectable sixty something.   I admit to a certain boldness, but only in the Corvette.   While there are Old Pilots, and there are Bold Pilots, there are very few Old, Bold Pilots.

If not perfect, damn close

Sitting on the ramp at Rectrix North FBO

Taxiing out for takeoff

It's been a month now since I flew over to Ft. Lauderdale Executive Airport to look over this Cessna 172 SP, contemplating a purchase of same - and after a lot of paperwork, she's now all mine.   Well, mostly mine - the bank holds title and about fifty percent of the purchase cost, with me paying down the loan about 1,000 bucks a month.   I've had the opportunity to log perhaps six hours in the plane, while my son has flown it to Key West, Naples, and Ft. Meyers, Florida.  On Monday, she goes into the Sarasota Avionics shop to have some small "squawks" fixed, so we'll both be grounded for up to a week.  That shop is very busy, and they were working on several aircraft when we scheduled a nag/com upgrade, including a great looking O-2, which was
also known as a Cessna Skymaster, in genuine Vietnam era livery.  I've posted a clip art photo of the "push-pull" in-line engined twin, which Cessna sold as a model 337 to civilians.  The Air Force purchased 532 of this aircraft, with deliveries to SE Asia starting in March of 1967.  I got there in May of 1967 and got to ride in one (not assigned but as a broadcast journalist) later that same year.

USAF 0-2 - aka Cessna 337 Super Skymaster

When I was in Thailand, we had several of these planes, used by FAC's (Forward Air Controllers), and from Ubon field, they'd fly east toward Laos and Cambodia and spot North Vietnamese truck (and bicycle) traffic along the Ho Chi Minh trail.

Generally flown by young Lieutenants and Captains, these aircraft were so loaded down with smoke marker rockets and multiple radios they often were forced down by the loss of one of the two engines.  The last USAF O-2 was decommissioned in 2010, having served with distinction in the Vietnam War during the 1960's and 1970's.  It was powered by two 210 horsepower engines, cruised at 144 mph, could sprint up to 199 mph, and had a range of 1,060 miles and a ceiling of 19,300 feet.  As if you could see people from that high up.

If the O-2 is still over at the Avionics hanger, I'll try and get a picture of her to share.  The one I saw last week in Sarasota was an O-2A - complete with four underwing weapons stations.  A lesser number of O-2B's were used for psychological warfare, equipped with loudspeakers and provisions for leaflet drops.  The leaflets read Chu Hoi (surrender), but were used by the eventual winners (North Vietnamese) as toilet paper.
                                                                                                                                                                                                          My 172 is powered by one four cylinder 180 horsepower engine.  It has a 53 gallon fuel capacity and burns 100 octane low lead gasoline.   Oil capacity is 8 quarts, but we tend to fill to the minimum of six.  When we bought the plane, it had a bit over 1,300 hours total time (TT) and between JB and me over the month of December, we've added maybe twenty hours.  When the plane's engine gets to 2,000 hours. we'll have to start thinking about overhauling it, as recommended.  While the basic 172 Skyhawk goes back to the 1950's, the S model started in 1998, following the limited edition (96 & 97 172-R)  The R had 140 horses, my S has 180, and the Cessna 182 (a six person plane) runs 210 HP.

Cessna 172, tail number N817SP

So, far more than you probably ever wanted to know, with a bottom line of I love my plane, my son loves my plane, and someday he will actually be a CFI (certified flight instructor) and can actually teach his old man something.   And he won't get a dime out of me, as he's already done enough damage to the family net worth (per his mother, mind you) to equate this purchase with flushing money down the toilet and out into Sarasota Bay.  There's an old joke about the two happiest days of your life about boats - which also goes for planes.  The day you buy it, and the day you sell it.  I'm still basking in the radiance of that first part.

In Search of the Perfect Plane

So today found me flying over to Ft. Lauderdale to look at yet another Cessna 172 SP 180 HP single engine aircraft.  Why, you ask?   Well, I guess it's because I can and choose to do so.

Now, wife is not so shot on the idea, claiming this type even used is three or four times the cost of our first house.  I remind her that that was forty damn years ago, and a 1971 Piper Cherokee still costs 26,900 (this week's Controller ad as a source).  So, sure - 42 years of marriage later and I doubt she'd want to live in a $27,000 home - and figuring that she would live in a 300,000 thousand dollar home in St Louis, a 120,000 aircraft is relative.   So, maybe I found a suitable aircraft for my son (and ultimately me) to build hours in, as he next pursues his instrument rating, later his single engine instructor and a multi engine rating.  He wants to pursue a career as an Air Transport Pilot, but when a single engine aircraft costs 150 an hour to rent, and he needs a good 1,500 hours to get there, one can actually see the value of owning a plane.

I figure we can both build hours and then sell the plane when he gets a job flying jets.  He intends to keep his night job, pursue his CFI (certified flight instructor) and once he has that he can use it to teach his own students.

When you consider it costs $150 a hour to rent a same type aircraft and he needs a good 1,000 hours, by buying your own aircraft, you're saving $150,000 dollars, and can later turn around and sell it for probably 90% of what you paid for it.  That's a damn fine return on investment.

No need for Google Earth

This is where I live, Bay Isles Assn, Harbourside

Today, I had the opportunity to fly over Longboat Key, on the way across the state of Florida to Ft. Lauderdale Executive Airport.  While aloft, I snapped a few pictures.

Sometimes you get lucky and find a shot that gets everything you wanted, and this was it.  At the bottom, you note the Marina, and around the square "island" in the middle, you shall see Ripley Wild's favorite golf course ponds where he enjoys a cool dip on a warm day.

Within the island, you'll see two very distinct housing types - 2 and 3 bedroom condos on the right, and single family homes on the left (to the west).  That's the gulf far left, the Intercoastal Waterway and Sarasota Bay to the right.

See the small body of water inside the condo neighborhood - that's ours, that is Winding Oaks, and adjacent to that is the Winding Oaks Pool.  Leave that pool, and head roughly 265 degrees (assuming top of photo is 360 North) and you'll find my unit on the corner of Winding Oaks and Harbourside.

Or I suppose you could just strap on a chute and drop in..........or then again you could be conventional, call ahead so we can clear you and your vehicle beyond the security post where you must get a pass to clear the second set of gates.  This might explain why visitors just don't drop in, unless of course the door is ajar and the pilot pulls a bank greater than fifty degrees.  See ya!

Oh, and if the chute fails, I'd try for the golf course ponds - our pool has a no diving restriction.