Kate's Aviation Journal

Maybe Santa will finish our Ercoupe project! :-)

Here's a picture of Todd landing his Ercoupe on September 17th:

I'm all Oshkoshed-out and don't feel like spending any more time at the show.  This morning I gave a ride in the Ercoupe and then sat around to watch the Lambada motorglider and Flight Design CTs fly. Last night a pilot in a Swift had to keep his plane here overnight because the Oshkosh airport closed at 8:00... and he was a little too late. I watched the Swift depart today.

I flew the Ercoupe back to its home at Brennand Airport. It's been stuck at Clintonville since the July 4th weekend when I last flew it. My landing was so soft I literally did not realize I was on the ground until the nosewheel touched. Nice!

I was off the ground in Crandon (Y55) at about 8:30 for about a 35-minute flight to Prickett-Grooms airport in Sidnaw, MI (6Y9). It was a beautiful morning with just a slight breeze, good visibility, and only a few clouds in the sky. The plane flew completely hands-off in the smooth air.

There were trees, trees everywhere... trees all around... the green carpet that I remembered from last year's flight. Beautiful and creepy at the same time. I made an effort to pay attention to my map and not rely solely on the GPS, because if that thing would have died, I might not otherwise have a clue where I was. In fact, it was pretty much impossible to tell north from south except for guessing by the position of the sun. I also stayed constantly aware of the few little fields that were cleared out here and there in case of an emergency.

I listened to music on my iPod which was connected to my headset. I had an in-flight meal of banana nut muffins. I had sent a text message to Ed in Sidnaw and knew he'd be there to pick me up, and I guessed there might be more food involved.

Descending below about 3,000 feet, my smooth air was only a memory as I got jostled around in constant turbulence. The ground was starting to heat up and the morning's thermals gave me a run for my money in trying to control the plane. I spotted the tiny town of Sidnaw and its half-hidden grass runway, set up for approach, and landed on the grass a little after 9:00. Ed was waiting for me and took me to the cabin to join the rest of the group for breakfast.

The airport has a story of its own, with info available on a web site. In a time when so many airports are closing, this out-of-the-way field was rescued from closure by the people I was there to visit.

I had some eggs and sausage that were cooked over a campfire in cast-iron cookware. Dessert was freshly cooked trout that also came from the fire. I met the other people in the small group and we all discussed options for what to do for the day. Originally I thought I wanted to go four-wheeling like I did last year, but I felt in the mood for something more relaxing. Our group split up and I went fishing with Brad and Tom for several hours. They caught several too-small pike and bass, and I caught a pike and a half -- one totally unseen before it got away, and the other that bit my lure off before we could lift him into the boat. That's OK, it was entertaining enough to hear the guys kid each other about catching "foul-hooked fry" and "fish that don't count."

When we finally wandered back to the cabin in the early evening, everyone was getting ready to go to dinner. I really wanted to join them but wasn't sure about the weather.

"Do you have internet?" I asked.

"No."

"Land-line phone?"

"No."

Turns out the only way to contact civilization in this town of almost no cellular reception is to go to the pay phone near the airport. I called Flight Service and got a full weather briefing from a human being, which I almost never do because I mostly use the computer.

I asked for an outlook briefing for tomorrow morning from Sidnaw to Brennand.

"Oh, you're up there in God's country!" the briefer said, and I told him how I was standing in a phone booth in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, and that noise he was hearing was the train.

The outlook briefing did not sound too good, with a forecast of strong southerly winds (headwind!), haze, and eventual showers and thunderstorms.

"Okay, could you please give me a standard briefing for a departure about an hour from now?" I asked.  The weather for this evening sounded much, much better.  So although I really wanted to camp out with the group at the cabin, I had to play it safe and leave tonight.

Before I went, Ed's mom couldn't let me go hungry. She made me a hot dog and brought me some noodle salad. Mmm! Better than the Pop Tarts that were in a bag in the plane.

The group went to the airport to watch me take off. When I cleared the trees with a safe margin in my trusty steed the 172, I thought, I'm glad I'm not in the Ercoupe right now. I am still not convinced it would have made it.

The air was quite rough for the first 20 minutes of the flight and I had a little bit of a headwind. It looked drastically different than this morning, with a lot of haze and some mid-altitude clouds. Eventually the turbulence stopped. I got a couple pictures of the place where a tornado tore a 40-mile-long path of destruction last year.

I decided to land at Shawano where I had tied down the Ercoupe instead of going all the way to Brennand. I had flown 1.4 hours. The Ercoupe is more weather-sensitive than the 172, so I hoped to take advantage of tonight's good weather to get it back to its home and into a hangar before tomorrow's storms hit. I tied down the 172 and moved some of my stuff to the Ercoupe with the intent to go back for the 172 as soon as possible.

I took off with the Ercoupe and flew over the Cloverleaf Lakes south of Shawano, where they were going to have fireworks later. I circled the lake once hoping my friends might see my spiffy paint job including the American flag designs on the tail.

And there was that noise again. And the vibration. I could feel it in the instrument panel. Then the tachometer went haywire, indicating anything from something normal, to zero, to 3000 RPM and back. This was an old instrument so this wasn't surprising me. Then it just conked out. Good, I thought, now I can at least make it back to Brennand in peace. Of course not though. It started going nuts again. Arrgh! I diverted to Clintonville, my hometown, and tied the plane down. Now my car was still at Neenah, the 172 was in Shawano, and the Ercoupe was stuck here. Luckily my friends gave me a ride home later.

After this long day I was happy to finally be in my own bed. I really did have a lot of fun flying though. I was already dreaming about my next up-north trip, hopefully next time somewhere in the Ercoupe... once it gets its tachometer fixed.

While the highways were clogged with people heading off to their 4th of July weekend vacations, I was crisscrossing the sky for about six hours today.

I started my Friday morning by taking my student Tony for a ride in the Ercoupe. Then he and I did a 1.4-hour lesson in the 172 doing short- and soft-field takeoffs and landings at New Holstein. It was a nearly calm, sunny day and even though it was turbulent, Tony decided it would be good to fly extra today. So when we got back from the first lesson, we sat down together to plan his first dual cross-country. In the early afternoon we took off for Watertown and flew 1.7 hours round-trip. I took a picture of the windmill farm south of Fond du Lac.

Later in the afternoon I packed the Ercoupe full of baggage: a backpack full of clothes and supplies, a tent, a folding chair, and some food. The owner, my student Todd, was off to Chicago and said I could go ahead and fly the Ercoupe all weekend. I planned to take it to Sidnaw, MI (in the upper peninsula) where some pilot friends were hosting a weekend get-together. I had been there once before: last year on Labor Day weekend when they held a big camp-out, which was an annual event.

Meanwhile my former student Chris called to ask if he could take the 172 to Shawano for dinner with his dad, and I said sure, no problem! After he and his dad took off, I realized the antenna for my GPS was still in that plane. My route would take me past Shawano, so I planned to stop there and fetch it.

About halfway through my half-hour flight the plane started making an odd high-pitched whirring noise that I couldn't pinpoint. At first I thought it might be air hitting something in the baggage compartment, but no, this noise was coming from up front somewhere. It came and went, and there seemed to be an associated vibration. It went away by the time I landed in Shawano.

I got the GPS antenna from the other plane and didn't see Chris or his dad anywhere, so I knew they must still be eating. I checked my oil which still measured fine, but just as in the last few flights there seemed to be small oil leaks everywhere inside the cowling. I've heard that Ercoupes with C-85 engines are prone to leak. But how much is normal? Hmm. I figured on making an intermediate stop or two enroute to keep an eye on the situation.

I set up the GPS for Prickett-Grooms Airport in Sidnaw (6Y9) and took off to head further north. During takeoff, only my second solo takeoff in the plane, I paid close attention to how much runway I used. This plus my Brennand Airport takeoff started convincing me I might not be able to make it in and out of the airport in Sidnaw, which is a grass strip with obstacles.

While my mind mulled over alternate plans such as going to a different airport in the U.P., I flew north over the Menominee Indian reservation, which is such a solid mass of trees that you can see it from space. Then that strange noise started again. I was not sure what it was, and everything seemed to be functioning normally. But I wouldn't want to keep putting up with this noise, plus I was thinking about the oil and the possibility of not having the performance to get in and out of Sidnaw. There would be nothing but trees between me and my destination with very few places to put a plane down. Yes, it was time to turn around. False start. I should have taken the 172 in the first place.

I got back to Shawano just in time to move all of my gear into the 172 and catch a ride back to Brennand with Chris and his dad. Rather than waste time trying to figure out what was going on with the Ercoupe, I tied it down and left it there. During my ride back (in the back seat) I looked over my maps and tried to pick out a place where I could camp for the night. I knew I could no longer make it to Sidnaw before dark because I had used up too much time. But I knew I could make it at least most of the way north and still have fun camping somewhere under the wing.

As soon as Chris and his dad hopped out of the plane, I topped it off with fuel and headed out solo. Destination: Crandon, WI (Y55). I had never been there, but it seemed to look like somewhere I could pitch a tent. It took me 1.2 hours to fly there and I landed about 15 minutes past sunset. I knew I was officially "up north" when two eagles flew right over me after I got out of the plane. There were only a few planes tied down outside and not a soul around. Before getting anything out of the plane, I went to check to see if there was a bathroom open on the field somewhere-- if not, I would have taken off and flown to somewhere else, such as Tomahawk, which I hear caters well to camping. Luckily there was a building accessible 24 hours a day. It was still light enough to see while pitching my tent. I could see the town's fireworks from the inside of my tent without being eaten by mosquitos.

The temperature fell to the upper 40s overnight and I kept being awoken by coyotes howling, but other than that, I was enjoying myself. I hadn't seen so many stars in a long time. Unfortunately I missed out on the party in Sidnaw with the fireworks and band, but oh well. I didn't mind the solitude. I can't remember the last time I took a flying trip alone, going wherever I wanted, completely unrelated to work. I need to do this more often. I have forgotten what it means to be a pilot!

Even my tent had somewhat of a history: I bought it in 2002 to camp with another pilot under the wing of a Super Cub. It had finally come full-circle.

Earlier today while I sent a student up for a solo flight, I took the Ercoupe out of the hangar, started it up, and taxied it around for about 15 minutes to start getting used to it. I went up and down the runway and all over the grass, experimenting with its turn radius and brakes. I wanted to get used to "driving" with the yoke to help prepare for my flight later in the day.

In the evening, Tony Van Kampen flew in with his Ercoupe and rode with me during my first flight in N87086. He gave me some pointers on the preflight, airspeeds, and definitely the landings. There was a slight crosswind tonight and my first landing was a little sloppy. I did better and better with each landing, and my last couple were smooth. When I skimmed along the runway just right, the wheels would just barely graze the surface at first, and the plane would gently settle down with hardly a feeling of hitting the ground. Thanks to the huge amount of travel built into the main landing gear struts, good landings are almost a guarantee in this plane once you figure out the trick.

There was still enough daylight left after my checkout flight to take a couple people up for rides. Number one on my list was Jim, the mechanic restoring our school's Ercoupe. After he and I toodled around a bit, our pilot friend Butch went up with me next.

I regret I did not take any pictures but I will post a good picture of me and the plane here soon.

A few weeks ago, he spotted an Ercoupe for sale on Barnstormers.com and jumped on the deal quickly enough to get the plane. I guess there were several other eager buyers in line right behind him. These days, when a flyable light-sport-eligible Ercoupe goes on the market, it's gone in a flash. (Our school was interested in two other Ercoupes before we finally got our hands on a third, and that was only after paying a deposit sight-unseen.) So not only is Todd lucky to get ahold of an Ercoupe on the first try, but it appears to be a pretty nice airplane too.

The airplane was located only 80 nautical miles northwest in Merrill, WI. I would have liked to help fly the plane to Brennand, but I have not flown an Ercoupe since 2006 and thought I'd better leave it to a more current Ercoupe flyer. So my Ercoupe-expert pilot friend Tony Van Kampen, who has more than 300 hours in his own Ercoupe, accompanied Todd for the flight today. They landed just as I was getting ready for a flight lesson. I could only gawk at the plane for a couple minutes before getting back to work.

There is still a lot of work to be done: wings, flight control rigging, windows, and interior.  But the major work firewall-forward is complete.