Pilot's Blog

I spent 14 hours in the pilot's seat over three days. After that my back was in a knot. I don't know how the long haul truck drivers do it.

Last week I did a run to Fresno and had the day to kill while there. My Iphone has been giving me trouble and I learned that Fresno had an Apple Store, so I set out on my folding bike to find the mall. Along the way I got a good look at downtown Fresno. What a sad state of affairs. It looked as if there had been a heyday perhaps in the 30s and 40s, but today there are these impressive old buildings and wide streets with no people around to occupy them. I was, however, impressed by the hospital I saw near the downtown. The mall was impressive as well compared to anything in the North State.

I also made two round trips to San Diego area, one to pick up my sister's family to bring them to Chico for my parent's 50th anniversary party. We had a great time at Canyon Oaks while parts of Paradise burned. I will blog a bit more about my parents later.

On Sunday I will fly out to Moab, Utah for a mountain biking expedition in the San Juan Mountains. I will blog about that upon my return.

Posted by Tom Knowles at 09:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The family and I were out on the coast last week. I invited a friend of mine and his family to fly out for an afternoon and have lunch (He is a fellow pilot and owns a Cirrus SR20). The weather on the coast was beautiful so I figured it wouldn't be a problem. Later that afternoon, he called to tell me they had tried to fly out but had been forced to turn back because of the thunder heads over the mountains. He said he had climbed to 13,000 feet and the clouds were building faster than he was climbing. This condition lasted for several days over the mountains, so when we loaded up to go back to the valley the next afternoon, I was unsure of what we would find over the high country. Once at altitude and heading east, sure enough there they were. A line of tall cumulus clouds were right in our path. The clouds looked quite a bit lower to the south down towards Clear Lake, so I altered my course and started climbing. With my wife in her "condition" (she is 8 months pregnant), I wanted to stay as low as possible to avoid any negative effects of reduced air pressure. As it was, I climbed as high as 12,000 feet to get over the top. She was not amused as her tummy swelled. Once over the top I descended down to a more comfortable altitude and we were glad to be almost home.

Posted by Tom Knowles at 09:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday I flew from the mountains to the sea and back again. I was up over Lake Almanor when I heard a fellow pilot over the radio. She was describing the location of a fire in the forest east of Lake Oroville to the air traffic controller. He said he would send the information down the line. As I crossed the area a few minutes later, I could see the smoke plume rising from the green forest. This morning, there it was, on the front page of the ER. Pilots of small planes are often the first to see and report fires.

Posted by Tom Knowles at 02:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday I flew from the mountains to the sea and back again. I was up over Lake Almanor when I heard a fellow pilot over the radio. She was describing the location of a fire in the forest east of Lake Oroville to the air traffic controller. He said he would send the information down the line. As I crossed the area a few minutes later, I could see the smoke plume rising from the green forest. This morning, there it was, on the front page of the ER. Pilots of small planes are often the first to see and report fires.

Posted by Tom Knowles at 02:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Posted by Tom Knowles at 03:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The idea of flying in a single engine aircraft makes more than a few people anxious. It is not uncommon for me to have to try to calm the nerves of a passenger. I usually try to have the talk before getting into the aircraft. The most important thing for me to do is to find out what exactly is the fear based upon. Most people feel safer in a large jet than a small plane, and statistically the larger planes have fewer accidents because of better trained pilots and more reliable engines. The nice thing about small planes is that if they do lose power, the chances of a survivable forced landing are excellent. I would rather contact rough ground in a 3000 lb plane at 50 mph than in a 20 ton bullet going 200 mph. Either scenario is extremely rare. I guess thats why it always makes headlines when it happens.

This past week I flew an entire family, plus the mother in law, down to Palm Springs. I knew that I had at least one worried passenger when the husband asked me when is the smoothest time of day to fly. I told him in the morning, but that it could vary. He said he had had to do some "convincing" with his wife. It turns out her biggest fear was motion sickness. The route to Palm Springs has some notoriously bumpy air as you cross the Tehachapi, Cajon and Hemet Passes, so I was bit worried myself. I assured her that I would take every precaution to keep the bumpy air to a minimum, but I could not guarantee that there would be no turbulence. As it turned out the bumps were pretty mild as we slowly descended into the Coachella Valley, and no barf bags were needed. After dropping them off and having lunch, I headed back alone. The wind had picked up, and I was glad to be alone as I climbed because this time through the pass it was rockin' and rollin'.

Posted by Tom Knowles at 02:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The least expensive airplane fuel around is $4.63 per gallon. My airplane averages about 15 gallons per hour, so it adds up pretty fast. The cost of the fuel is only a fraction of the total costs of flying your own airplane, although that fraction has grown a bit lately. One way to save fuel is to lean out the air to fuel mixture, which burns the fuel more efficiently, but hotter. My mechanic says that this is foolish as a little extra fuel burnt is much cheaper than a burnt valve or melted piston. Everyone is talking these days about the high cost of transportation fuels and how it affecting their lives. It is definitely making people think about the choices they make, and I think that it is about time we all did, but that doesn't make it any less painful. I don't know where it will all lead in the coming years, but I doubt it will be good for my fledgling aircraft charter business.

Today is my little girl's 4th birthday and she is in seventh heaven. Zoe is amazingly smart. I think her brain is soaking up the world so fast that it sometimes makes her head spin. Having a girl has been such a joyous experience in our lives, it makes you wonder why anyone would ever choose not to. Happy birthday, little one!

Posted by Tom Knowles at 02:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Spent the better part of the day getting the winter grime off the airplane and then waxing the entire surface. The tough thing about washing and waxing an airplane as opposed to an automobile is that you must do both the top and bottom of both wings and fuselage. This adds up to the equivalent of about 5 cars. But man does she look beautiful, and she'll fly faster, too.

Every 100 hours (about 3 times a year for me) I take the plane into my mechanic and we do a full inspection of all systems. This includes a full engine check over and service, plus inspection of fuel systems, electronics, airframe structure, brakes, tires, propeller and a whole lot more. Its a big job, but its nice to know that everything is being maintained and checked properly.

Posted by Tom Knowles at 09:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

After a few idle days, the Family and I headed for Shelter Cove to check out the cabin. Haven't been out in a few months. So we loaded the babies, a few days worth of food, some supplies, and Penny, the family dog into the plane. I had to limit my fuel to 60 gallons to keep from going overweight. If you haven't been to Shelter Cove, you should check it out. There are few things as spectacular as making an approach and landing there. The cliffs and mountains against the pacific waves, fishing boats, whales and seals passing underneath as you fly the pattern over the ocean. I took a photo that I will attempt to load to the blog next time.

Posted by Tom Knowles at 06:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)