Failure to Start

Well, It has been awhile (again) since I’ve blogged, and it is for good reason.  I haven’t been flying a lot.  With that said, last Monday I planned a great trip.  The idea was to do the following:

KEYE -> 40I with a short stop at I80.

40I -> KHAO

KHAO -> KLUK

KLUK -> KHAO

KHAO -> KEYE

I promise the redundancies are intentional.

Here are the details of the plan:

I would depart Eagle Creek (KEYE) for Noblesville in the club C172 (N146K).  I would do a landing at Noblesville.  I am familiar with that airport and I wanted to do a grass strip landing where no one was watching before landing at Stewart Field (40I) where there would likely be a few observers.  At Stewart Field (40I), I was going to take a tail wheel lesson in the J3 Cub.  Then I would meet up with fellow blogger Steve.  I would depart Stewart field for Butler Co (KHAO) and meet my two friends Caleb and Sarah.  We would then go to Lunken (KLUK) for dinner at the Sky Galley Restaurant.  After dinner I would drop them off back at Butler Co. and return home to KEYE.  Sounds like a day right?  I thought so too…

Before I even left for the airport I realized my plans would have to change.  I got a call from someone who was flying N146K earlier in the day.  He said the radios weren’t working properly and they could not transmit.  This would be a problem if I wanted to get into Lunken, since it was a controlled field.  At 12:30, with my planned departure between 1 and 2, I checked out the scheduler.  The other options were: C182 at Eagle Creek, C182 at Indy Metro (KUMP) and C172RG at Indy Metro.  I wish I could have taken the C172RG, but I don’t have my complex aircraft signoff.  The C182 at Indy Metro would be my preference but it was checked out that evening.  That left me wit the C182 at Eagle Creek.  This airplane is a beast, but in a good way.  It is a 2004 C182T.  It offers the G1000 cockpit, a 230 HP Lycoming IO-260-L2A and a constant speed prop.  N721ZA is a great airplane, and I love flying C182s, but I haven’t landed one on grass before.  I check the performance numbers and added some conservatism and determined that I would have no issue.  Especially with the wicked winds experienced that day...

KEYE 131653Z AUTO 26010G19KT 10SM CLR 29/09

KHAO 131953Z AUTO 25015G22KT 10SM FEW110 32/09

KLUK 131953Z 25014G19KT 10SM CLR 32/10   

I departed Eagle Creek straight north over I465 in order to avoid some transmission towers and to get out from under the Class Charlie as quickly as possible.  I reached the edge of the airspace and climbed up to 3500’ and turned east toward I80.  I’ve not ever landed at the Noblesville Airport, but it was easy to pick out.  I entered the downwind straight in (not a good practice) and performed a pretty tight pattern without much of a base leg.  I had to drop a little bit more altitude on final than normal

After my landing, I turned the plane around and back taxied to the end of the runway and took off again.  You can’t really tell on this because the track is right on top of itself.  I turned the plane back to the east, climbed to 5000’ and set the autopilot (KAP 140) for NAV mode.  I tried to relax and keep my eyes outside the plane looking for traffic.  The C182 has some traffic warning systems and it would periodically alert me, but it was usually for RJs that were 3000’ above me.  When I was arriving at Red Stewart Field, I wasn’t exactly sure where it was, but then I stopped the golf course and found the runway.  I saw there was a J3 cub taking off.  Granted, a C182 is quite a bit faster than a J3, but I entered the pattern and tried to get the airplane down on the ground and off the runway without hesitation.  The landing was successful and the trip to 40I was great.

After landing, I went in to the “FBO” and told the front desk girl that I was there for a flight lesson.  She pointed to Joe, my instructor and we did some pre-flight briefing before walking out to the airplane.  Joe said that today was not the best day to be flying, but it would be good to get used to the airplane.  We walked out to the airplane and he showed me all of the “features”, including how the airplane doesn’t have a starter, how the altimeter reads 2000’ low (it said we were underground) and the fuel gage was a bouncing stick.  It felt like I was going back in time.  He took the controls of the airplane and we went out to the runway and headed north.  We spent about 45 minutes in the airplane and did everything from slow flight to steep turns.  Even some Dutch rolls, which sound way more fun than they actually are.  We only did one landing and then taxied back to the hanger.  I chatted with Joe a little bit more than sat outside to wait for Steve.

Photo I took while waiting.  This is the C182 I flew.

Steve showed up after work, we swapped flying stories and places we have been in the plane.  We had a nice chat and then I showed him the C182 I flew over.  Next started a painful couple hours of irony…

Steve went to go fly the C152 and I walked back to my airplane.  I did my preflight, set up my GPS for the flight and then started my engine…or at least I attempted too.  All that happened was a high pitched whine from under the cowl.  I tried a few more times, then called the club maintenance officer.  He told me a few tips, including popping off the cowl and spraying some WD-40 on the starter gear.  As the sun was setting we decided to take the starter off and replace it.  There wasn’t a starter available for a C182T at the field, but one would be ordered and overnighted.  I had to cancel my plans for the rest of the day and I called my friend Caleb and told him I couldn’t make it.  He was bummed, but had no big problems.  I eventually got a ride to his place that evening and he took me to rent a car in the morning so I could make it back to Indianapolis in time for my flight to Wichita to meet with Cessna.

There were a couple of cool things that happened during this evening.

1)      When we were working on the airplane, one of guys at the airport looked at my shirt and said “did you got to Rose-Hulman?”  He was also a Rose Grad and it was really cool to meet someone else at a tiny airport in Ohio that went to your school.

2)      When we were taking the starter off, Cub Stewart pulled his Stearman out of the garage hanger and went out for a flight.  The really cool part was that Jenny Forsythe, a wing walker, was hanging around and she did a whole performance for us.  It was her birthday, yet I feel like I received the gift.

3)      After we had the starter off, realized I wasn’t flying home, we packed up the airport and went over to Cub’s garage hanger. It’s not every day you get to hang around a Stearman, in a garage hanger, while being served dinner, and drinking beers, with Cub Stewart, and Jenny Forsythe, and a fellow Rose-Hulman grad.  I am definitely going to have to come back to the air show next year!

Anyway, The Rose-Hulman grad Tom, gave be a ride back to Cinci where my friend lived. He gave me a ride to the enterprise rental place and I rented a Kia Rio for the drive home.  What a car! Hahaha. I made it back to Indy on time to stop and get my clothes from home and my work cell phone from my car at Eagle Creek.  I returned the rental car on Wednesday after I returned from Wichita.  I would like to go out and stay at Stewart Field again, but hopefully not under the same circumstances.